So I've been looking for an OnDemand type streaming service for my phone to so I can connect it via HDMI to my TV and skip the cable companies all together. I found this TmobileTV app which looks promising, but that has a monthly fee. I'm not looking for live television, just something with a program guide that can access streams from Comedy Central, ABC, Food Network, etc. These networks broadcast their own content for free on their webpage, or even have apps, but of course you have to navigate to them and install a bunch of apps if you want to use it this way. I've used a Roku before with PlayOn and it somehow aggregates all of the popular web-shows and puts them in a nice channel guide for you so you can pick and play what you want.
Does anyone know of anything like this for android? Remember, I dont care about LIVE tv, I just want a nice convenient way to watch online of streams from various broadcasters.
UPDATE: Looks like Hulu+ is the only answer.
netflix? or that doesn't have tv shows? been awhile since i used netflix
I got my Fire TV primarily to use for Netflix and XBMC. We had a trial Prime membership which was then cancelled.
I did enable Parental Controls with a PIN for purchases, but apparently my children were able to somehow sign up for Prime using the remote without a PIN.
Amazon support was very nice about cancelling it again, but I would like to disable the ability to signup for Prime from the Fire TV box completely
Just a warning for anyone else who wants to use it without Prime.
Guess it's time for me to either remove the menu listings for everything I don't want or set XBMC to auto launch and then add shortcuts to the other android apps I want.
This was on a rooted device with 51.1.4.1_514013920fixed ROM.
Chromecast advantages
1. Cast anything from PC , especially streaming videos from browser tab.
2. Cast entire desktop, but mostly useless if you do not have proper internet connection.
Fire Tv advantages
1. Sideloading any android app
2. can work independently
Will fire tv ever get casting support for windows ? amazon cast plugin or something ... if it gets that i will easily ditch chromecast
Just get both lol. That's what I did
Fire stick is closer to a tablet than anything
depakjan said:
Chromecast advantages
1. Cast anything from PC , especially streaming videos from browser tab.
2. Cast entire desktop, but mostly useless if you do not have proper internet connection.
Fire Tv advantages
1. Sideloading any android app
2. can work independently
Will fire tv ever get casting support for windows ? amazon cast plugin or something ... if it gets that i will easily ditch chromecast
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The way I see it, AFSTV is a tablet used for streaming. Chromecast needs more apps and a native browser; maybe chromecast II will be able to compete in the same league (if it ever shows up).
depakjan said:
Chromecast advantages
1. Cast anything from PC , especially streaming videos from browser tab.
2. Cast entire desktop, but mostly useless if you do not have proper internet connection.
Fire Tv advantages
1. Sideloading any android app
2. can work independently
Will fire tv ever get casting support for windows ? amazon cast plugin or something ... if it gets that i will easily ditch chromecast
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4. Most US FTV's from Amazon, Staples, BestBuy, Radio Shack can still be rooted.
depakjan said:
Chromecast advantages
1. Cast anything from PC , especially streaming videos from browser tab.
2. Cast entire desktop, but mostly useless if you do not have proper internet connection.
Fire Tv advantages
1. Sideloading any android app
2. can work independently
Will fire tv ever get casting support for windows ? amazon cast plugin or something ... if it gets that i will easily ditch chromecast
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have 2 of each, but hands down the Fire Stick is a better device with may more uses.
FS has MUCH MUCH(get the idea) better wifi.
The one thing I've found that the CC is better at is taking on a trip since you don't need the remote to get it connected on a new wifi. FS you MUST have remote so far as I can figure out.
gottahavit said:
I have 2 of each, but hands down the Fire Stick is a better device with may more uses.
FS has MUCH MUCH(get the idea) better wifi.
The one thing I've found that the CC is better at is taking on a trip since you don't need the remote to get it connected on a new wifi. FS you MUST have remote so far as I can figure out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as taking it on a trip, if you stay in a hotel that requires you to accept the terms of service through a browser good luck connecting the chromecast.
I have both, and I never use my Chromecast. The only reason I could think of why I would use it is for my 2 movies in Google Play... The Fire Stick is just better in every way.
adfurgerson said:
As far as taking it on a trip, if you stay in a hotel that requires you to accept the terms of service through a browser good luck connecting the chromecast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes neither works perfectly traveling, but having to bring remote just to get it to connect to phone sucks. The only thing chromecast did right was the private wifi setup with devices.
Both are good I'm leaning more to aftv just has more features.. But I also have chromecast connected as well it's good to have back up to send media to the tv with my phone
adfurgerson said:
As far as taking it on a trip, if you stay in a hotel that requires you to accept the terms of service through a browser good luck connecting the chromecast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. Although having just experienced this, you'll need to sideload a browser and some mouse mode (controller, mouse, phone mouse,etc) to actually navigate and accept terms.
What I do is tether to my phone and cast predownloaded movies using All cast.
Chromecast is great for basic stuff and used with a tablet. When using my phone, everything gets paused and occasionally locks up when getting calls and messages on my phone.
Fire TV stick is also a pretty good emulator player for retro gaming on the go.
Unless you need to stick with the small form factor or the budget doesn't allow, the correct answer if you can't decide between the two is to get a Nexus Player. If you are not in a hurry, wait until spring when I'm sure the market will be flooded with cheap Chinese Android TV boxes (Android TV version of Android, not just Android on a stick). Essentially the same as FireTV, but with Chromecast functionality built in.
If I had to choose between a Chomecast or AFTV stick I'd take AFTV stick every time.
Comes Down to Apps
You should research the App you know you want to use. I really just want a Chrome cast with a physical remote. I was excited when I grabbed a FireTV stick for $25. I was not excited that the Showtime Anytime app doesn't support on Dish on FireStickTV but does on Chrome cast?
I would tell you make a list of the apps you really want and see what platform has them.
thats what i did too
No brainer.. AFTV.
Maybe its just me, but i really dont have the urge to "cast" everything from various devices. A nice standalone box that can connect to networked drives on its own while having native streaming capability nicely beats a simple "casting" box...
If you have a miracast compatible computer, you can use that with the firetv.
Youtube on chromecast is good in "social" settings. Friends can queue up videos (eg. songs) to be played.
ziddey said:
If you have a miracast compatible computer, you can use that with the firetv.
Youtube on chromecast is good in "social" settings. Friends can queue up videos (eg. songs) to be played.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't seen 1 person post that Miracast works from a PC to the Fire TV.
See this thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/help/miracast-t2954237/
After using both for a few weeks apiece, the fire stick with xbmc and a remote >>>>>>>>>>>> the chromecast.
It gets tiresome having to keep turning my phone etc and having some files need transcoding with the chromecast. The stick, since they updated the firmware and fixed the video quality problems, is almost perfect and I love that remote
The only thing chromecast has over the fire tv is the ease of use with the phone with the little cast button but I can live without that
As soon as the fire sticks go on sale again, I'm picking up another 3!
The AFS seems to be a more flexible platform. It's essentially a Android Stick computer. Will be even better when someone figures out how to root it. For the most part you can sideload the same working apps that work on other Android devices. That's pretty useful.
The Chromecast seems to be more of a one trick pony. The casting feature is interesting but why would you not want to just run apps directly to control it?
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I have both.
I bought the Chromecast last year. The biggest use I got out of it was binge watching to catch up on Game of Thrones via HBO Go app. Video was definitely grainy, lower quality than the On-Demand HD from Comcast. Since then, I've rarely used it. Having to start everything via the phone or pad, then "casting" feels clunky. Casting videos/movies from my PC browser was choppy at best.
The Fire TV Stick is pretty smooth. I like having the physical remote and looking at the TV when I do things (i.e. not having to use/look at the phone). YouTube works (although I'm not able to play Purchases). Plex works well, as does SPMC (XBMC fork). NBC Live Extra app seems to work ok, but I'll get a better feel for that tonight watching football. HBO Go isn't officially available for the FireTV STICK yet. On my Fire TV (box) I am disappointed that HBO Go and Showtime Go (I would be there are some other apps too) do not have the ability to sign in for Comcast/Xfinity customers like the apps on iOs and Android do. I do realize that is a COMCAST limit, but it still stinks.
As @alton987 said earlier, it important to know the apps you want to use, and what is available on a particular device.
I bought a Fire TV Stick the day before Thanksgiving at Best Buy for $24.99. I bought it primarily for Amazon Prime.
So far, it's been working perfectly. Along with Prime movies and tv, I'm also using Prime music, Netflix, Crackle and AllCast. All work perfectly except for Netflix. On Netflix, video freezes about 10-15 minutes before the end of the movie, audio continues. I have to back out and then resume. Only takes a few seconds but it's annoying. It's the only app that's giving me a problem.
I also sideloaded BS Player and ES File Explorer. I wanted to use them for playing movies stored on my PC. Both are working just fine. I have mine connected to my A/V receiver (Yamaha). Picture quality is excellent, as is audio through my system.
I'm VERY pleased with the stick, and will buy another one for a second tv.
I have no experience with the Chromecast so I can't comment on it.
But the Fire tv stick is, for me, a no brainer if you subscribe to Amazon Prime. Terrific add-on to my system.
I know the unit wasn't designed for this, but in theory can a Fire TV or even Fire TV Stick be used to just play back locally stored content?
I'm on the fence to get one of these for my home use (especially seeing it run Kodi/XMBC), but if I could use it for work presentations or backyard projectors, I'd be sold in a heartbeat! To be clear, these are situations in which there is no WiFi signal or device streaming to it... rather, I'd like to have locally stored media that it can play back in either Kodi or the Android version of VLC. Having a nice little device and remote seems far simpler and enjoyable versus hooking up my honking laptop to do those things.
Thoughts?
I was going to just pick up a Stick today for the $24 sale price and figure it out myself, but it appears I was too late. Am I better off with something else?
It should work as a local player with apps like MX Player, Kodi and VLC. Just that the stick has a few gbs of storage that can be used to store movies and to add movies you need to do it wirelessly or through adbfire. The Fire TV box can use HDs which can help with having the movies there. But if a portable player is what you want just use your phone with movies in a microsd, install mx player or Kodi and use a HDMI to microusb cable. That way you always have your player with you and only need that 6 dlls cable.
solorzano_felipe said:
It should work as a local player with apps like MX Player, Kodi and VLC. Just that the stick has a few gbs of storage that can be used to store movies and to add movies you need to do it wirelessly or through adbfire. The Fire TV box can use HDs which can help with having the movies there. But if a portable player is what you want just use your phone with movies in a microsd, install mx player or Kodi and use a HDMI to microusb cable. That way you always have your player with you and only need that 6 dlls cable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might want to double check that.... In theory you are correct, but in personal experience no internet means no loading of the home menu, meaning can't run anything at all. This may have changed or there may be a way around it, not 100% sure.
Solorzano, the idea is to have a dedicated player, not use my phone. That's why I originally dismissed the idea of a Chromecast... Sometimes I set up these boxes at fundraising events and hand all the hardware over to someone else to project. I'm often handling other technicalities of the event, or not even on location once they play it! I've been using my laptop to feed the presentation until now, but I'd rather not dedicate my laptop to the cause each time.
I'm actually leaning more towards one of those Kit-Kat quad core media boxes from china for this reason. They have USB ports (multiple ones!) and are much faster than the Fire TV Stick, maybe even faster than the Fire TV Box, for half the price. Only catch is that I won't be able to stream Amazon content if I ever wanted to do that at home (looking to make this a dual-purpose work and home purchase), but I think its a better suited device for everything else I want to do.
Thanks guys!
I posted a similar question elsewhere here, one responder stated that if you have Firestarter installed then you can go to that home screen and use apps, even though you can't go to the standard FireTV home screen. I haven't tried it yet, I'm not home where my Stick is.
Regarding a "standard" Android box, I have a Matricom G-box Q, I can watch Amazon videos with it using the Amazon Instant app. It basically takes you to the Amazon Instant home page (I have this defaulted to use Chrome), then when you select a video just choose the Amazon Instant app for playback. I seem to remember it was a little weird to install, something like: I installed it, I ran it, and then during the first run it asks if you want to install the app again, if you do it seems to work.
Terry T, yes with firestarter you can get to kodi. You can also go to the settings manage apps way of launching provided parental control is not on. The pin is verified on Amazons server. However, assuming you at least have wifi with an internet outtage you can also launch Kodi with firestarter, wukong remote or Apps Shortcut for FireTV. These methods bypass the parental PIN number
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Thanks guys! Next question: If I go with the Stick version, which lacks expandable storage or USB storage, is there a relatively easy way to load files onto the internal memory? For example, if I need to play a specific mp4 file at an event, can I sideload it over Wifi at home first, then show up the event and play it with kodi?
Yes, sideload ES File Explorer. You can cut or copy (long press, then the file is selected and options are at the bottom of the screen) from either a shared drive on your network or from a cloud source like Dropbox to the Stick. You will have to tell Kodi or whatever video player you are using where you saved the file.
I forgot to block OTA updates so I'm on the latest firmware (5.2.6.3). From the many hours of googling I've done it seems it can't be rooted right now. I'm hoping somebody tells me I'm wrong there. I fudged some stuff up so I did a factory reset so I'm working from a pretty much clean install.
My main complaint really is that I hate the launcher and the UI. It's soooooo slow and clunky from the get go. I saw ways of uninstalling bloat ware and using a different launcher, but they were only for older firmware or other FTV devices. I'm totally fine with losing any Amazon apps. Nothing against Amazon I just don't need those apps.
I looked into casting instead because I saw how awesomely smooth and easy the Chromecast is to use and I really regret not getting a Chromecast. I feel like I've tried every casting receiver on the play store, and a few that weren't, with very little success. I can really only cast YouTube with AirScreen.
The Netflix app on my phone acts like it can cast to the firestick right out of the package. But when I hit the cast button on my phone it opens Netflix and loads the user selection screen. Then I have to use the remote to pick the user and the thing I wanted to watch. Defeating the purpose. It's pretty much the same story for every app that that allows me to cast to the firestick.
Sorry for writing a novel full of dumb rookie questions. I've spent a lot of time trying a lot of stuff with no success at all. I just want this thing to work better somehow. Right now I kinda wanna just install Kodi and sell it as jailbroken so I can get a Chromecast.
To cast YouTube use this app
YouTube App
Goto YouTube settings on both fire tv app & your YouTube app on phone & select watch on TV & choose to link to TV via code
Enter the code on your phone that the fire app gives you & then you can cast (the fire app must be open for the cast icon to appear)
You can cast Spotify easily by using the Spotify TV version of the app on the firestick
You can cast any video/audio/picture on your phone using allcast (playstore) and also installing the receiver app on the firestick
You can cast any video/audio from your media server (pc/laptop/nas drive) using bubbleupnp
There's no such thing as a "jailbroken" firestick
Kodi is just a media player - what you use it for is your choice - for example you can use it with bubbleupnp to create a media server on your pc to cast all videos on your pc to the firestick
TheFixItMan said:
To cast YouTube use this app
YouTube App
Goto YouTube settings on both fire tv app & your YouTube app on phone & select watch on TV & choose to link to TV via code
Enter the code on your phone that the fire app gives you & then you can cast (the fire app must be open for the cast icon to appear)
You can cast Spotify easily by using the Spotify TV version of the app on the firestick
You can cast any video/audio/picture on your phone using allcast (playstore) and also installing the receiver app on the firestick
You can cast any video/audio from your media server (pc/laptop/nas drive) using bubbleupnp
There's no such thing as a "jailbroken" firestick
Kodi is just a media player - what you use it for is your choice - for example you can use it with bubbleupnp to create a media server on your pc to cast all videos on your pc to the firestick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YouTube, music and videos files I own are the only things I don't need help casting. But thank you for your quick reply. They make it crazy easy to stream files from your phone/pc. I just don't have any movies or TV shows downloaded on any of my devices. I forgot to mention I have been able to stream music I have on my phone/pc no problem. And the music apps casting sends to work pretty decently.
I know there's no such thing as a jailbroken firestick. But most people think a firestick with Kodi installed is a jailbroken firestick and will pay you $10 to $20 more for it :laugh: