Develop Bugs

[Q] Can FireTV + XBMC replace AppleTV 2?

I currently use a jailbroken AppleTV 2 for 2 purposes - streaming media off my NAS device through XBMC, and watching Netflix. That is it.
Is XBMC for FireTV yet stable enough to replace my AppleTV? A jailbroken Apple TV 2 still goes for $150-$250 on eBay so I could even turn a profit if I switch to FireTV, plus I would have access to more apps.

Yes it is a complete replacement solution, also you get full 1080p
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martyxng said:
I currently use a jailbroken AppleTV 2 for 2 purposes - streaming media off my NAS device through XBMC, and watching Netflix. That is it.
Is XBMC for FireTV yet stable enough to replace my AppleTV? A jailbroken Apple TV 2 still goes for $150-$250 on eBay so I could even turn a profit if I switch to FireTV, plus I would have access to more apps.
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Absolutely. You might also want to look at a blu ray player - many of the smart players can read SMB or NFS shares and have Netflix and other stuff baked in, and then you get a movie and music transport for physical media, too. You do need to shop carefully for them - the codec support in some dvd players isn't great, and some are dlna-only.
The fireTV has pretty good codec support in XBMC, basically as good as the WDTV live plus box it replaces for me - the WD was solid but was never going to get Prime and I wanted the flexibility of having Prime as well.

yes, i sold my apple tv 2.
the atv2 is very low compared to Fire TV

I sold my Jailbroken ATV2 on eBay for about $225 about a month ago and got a FireTV instead. Loving it!

Yep, sold mine also. Realise the value of it now. Far superior. I'm running a heavy skin on XBMC (Aeon Nox 4.1.9) and it zips through everything, no crashes.

Cool. Thanks a lot guys! Looks like there is no reason for me not to sell my Apple TV at a PROFIT after several years, and get a brand new device for FREE! I just ordered a Fire TV.

Yes, I am selling mine having test the Fire TV for a few weeks.
Steve

[Q] Need another player. Buy another FTV?

I want another player - for Kodi and occasional simple games.
I have the FTV and although I'm happy with the performance, I don't like the inability to root (inc. custom recovery etc) and to use external storage.
Any alternative suggestion at a nearby price? Or is FTV the only way to go at that price mark?

Id wait now, unless you're desperate.
There may be some android tv boxes coming out soon which may be better than the fire tv or amazon might have a sale.

Amazon might cut a tenner out of the price of FTV, but I really want to have the ability to root and not to be afraid that my box will one day be locked forever.
The minix X8 looks tempting

papars said:
Amazon might cut a tenner out of the price of FTV, but I really want to have the ability to root and not to be afraid that my box will one day be locked forever.
The minix X8 looks tempting
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do this. search on ebay for new sealed firetv's. ask the sellers to send you the serial number. Pick up a rooted one. Once rooted you are golden. I essentially got an extra rooted new one in my bunker for future use or I may hook it up in the bedroom in future. I'm glad I picked up an extra rooted one when I could.
The biggest thing you will loose when getting out of an architecture from amazon is the native apps like Netflix, bbc etc. I would stick with amazon ftv and find a rooted one. I'm sure if you look hard you will find yourself a rooted one If you disable the updates you should be fine.

Your suggestion is valid but I'm in europe and not really in need for netflix.
The price for sealed older FTVs seems somewhat high and by reading articles I see that even the SN wont warranty a rootable box.
In the meantime I will try to h/w root my box and see what comes out of this.

I recently shelfed my Fire Tv for the same reason. I have to many streaming boxes kind of a habit of mine (Fire Tv, Google Adt1, Ouya, Madcatz Mojo, Tronsmart Draco). Fire Tv still has the best commercial content but the hardware is getting outdated for games and the OS is way to restrictive. AndroidTV devices are still open to root and side loading but the commercial content is lacking has a great interface. On the opposite end is the Mojo and Draco with raw Android out of the box. They allow root without risk to warranty. I have gone with the Draco for now as it is very fast, Antutu test out at almost 60,000 with Power VR graphics. Madcatz has great quality and controller.
There are allot of consoles coming in the next few months, Razer Forge, Snail Games Obox, Nvidia Shied, Roku 4, Apple TV, others. You will be able to take your pick. My opinion for what its worth

Pure xbmc, get a rasp pi 2. Fast, cheap and simple with openelec And no amazon os to deal with. My living room fire tv has been relegated to the drawer since getting one.

I have raspberry pi first gen. It works ok and decoding is great but is sloooooow as death.
I've replaced it with AFT and I don't want to go back.
pi 2 could be faster but the cost of getting it operational (case, psu, remote etc) is near the cost of a commercial box. I will check out the options listed in above posts.

papars said:
I have raspberry pi first gen. It works ok and decoding is great but is sloooooow as death.
I've replaced it with AFT and I don't want to go back.
pi 2 could be faster but the cost of getting it operational (case, psu, remote etc) is near the cost of a commercial box. I will check out the options listed in above posts.
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Click to collapse
i've moved my fire TV to a bedroom and have been running 2 s802 m8n china boxes and if you dont care about android and games.. openelec is flawless on it for me, full CEC control, refresh rate changing, etc etc.. best 75$ i've spent so far.. after using these for a while you really notice how much better openelec runs than kodi on android.

nhumber said:
i've moved my fire TV to a bedroom and have been running 2 s802 m8n china boxes and if you dont care about android and games.. openelec is flawless on it for me, full CEC control, refresh rate changing, etc etc.. best 75$ i've spent so far.. after using these for a while you really notice how much better openelec runs than kodi on android.
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Click to collapse
Openelec is an operating system which runs the XBMC/Kodi program the same way that Android is an operating system that runs XBMC/Kodi. The only difference is that Openelec is a minimal operating system that uses just enough to run XBMC/Kodi, while Android is a full operating system able to run several programs. A couple years ago when XBMC came to Android it sucked and I quit using it after about a week, but it has came along way since and my Openelec system running Kodi cannot compare to my Fire TV running Kodi.

papars said:
I have raspberry pi first gen. It works ok and decoding is great but is sloooooow as death.
I've replaced it with AFT and I don't want to go back.
pi 2 could be faster but the cost of getting it operational (case, psu, remote etc) is near the cost of a commercial box. I will check out the options listed in above posts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to chime in here. With some smart shopping ill bet you could get all you need for 60 or less. My rpi is still the most consistent , reliable kodi device but like you, i thought it was too slow (even running off usb 3.0)
But ive heard good things about rpi 2 just running it on a class 4 sd card. My advice--dont use a case, its not needed unless theres reason to think itll get damaged. My tv remote works fine with it and this might not matter cuz if you have b+ you should have a lot of the stuff u want or need. I heard you might want to upgrade the power supply. I bought one for the b+ that worked great for 8 bucks on ebay. If i didnt care about netflix thatd be the way imight go. Of course that could change in the upcoming months.

porkenhimer said:
Openelec is an operating system which runs the XBMC/Kodi program the same way that Android is an operating system that runs XBMC/Kodi. The only difference is that Openelec is a minimal operating system that uses just enough to run XBMC/Kodi, while Android is a full operating system able to run several programs. A couple years ago when XBMC came to Android it sucked and I quit using it after about a week, but it has came along way since and my Openelec system running Kodi cannot compare to my Fire TV running Kodi.
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thanks, im aware of the setups, had a firetv since day one.. had fedora installed on it at one point even, what im saying is that Kodi for linux (openelec in my case) is much more stable than kodi for android or maybe its just linux stability vs android stability.. i dunno. but you dont get hangs or freezes like you can sometimes get with the android boxes, i also said the main things that are better with openelec than with kodi on the fireTV are fulling working CEC control, refresh rate changing since im kind of an videophile and watching any movie on the fireTV results in less than perfect playback, and HD audio support is also another nice feature you cant get on a fireTV.

porkenhimer said:
Openelec is an operating system which runs the XBMC/Kodi program the same way that Android is an operating system that runs XBMC/Kodi. The only difference is that Openelec is a minimal operating system that uses just enough to run XBMC/Kodi, while Android is a full operating system able to run several programs. A couple years ago when XBMC came to Android it sucked and I quit using it after about a week, but it has came along way since and my Openelec system running Kodi cannot compare to my Fire TV running Kodi.
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Click to collapse
Depend on the hw that your OE is running on, got myself an Asus Chromebox that costs slightly more than the Fire TV when it was on sale last Black Friday, it runs like a dream.

As for running Kodi/XBMC on FireTV vs generic Android box vs OpenElec/Xbmcbuntu/Linux + XBMC I'd say it doesn't matter any longer. I've run all 3 ways, and it used to make a difference. A cheap booksize miniPC running OpenElec or Xbmcbuntu was much better than any Android based solution for a variety of reasons. That just isn't the case any longer. Of course if you have better hardware things like menus or the time it takes to start streaming a show will be a bit quicker, but otherwise you can get a solid stable Kodi/XBMC environment on any of these.
Back to the original question, personally I'd hold out until some of the Google Android TV boxes (not generic Android boxes) start shipping. Not because I think they will be better than GATV boxes, but because there should be a better selection of options and one might be a better fit than your two AFTV choices. Either way, it's hard to beat AFTV and I expect similar results from GATV boxes. Side-loading isn't as easy as just installing from the app store, but there are options that have all the plug-ins ready to go. Unlike other setups, you don't have to figure out which remote to use or how to get it configured (yes, I know some generic Android boxes come setup for XBMC and even have their own customized XBMC, I have one).
In short, I used to have a mix of generic Android boxes and mini HTPCs running OpenElec/XBMCbuntu. Now I have AFTV boxes in daily use and two Rokus that are almost never used. For the price point, ease of use, stability and extra functionality above and beyond Kodi the AFTV and presumably GATV boxes just make more sense.
One last thing I almost forgot - the space limitation on the AFTV is a huge drawback. Until (unless) Amazon releases an update to let us use USB drives for apps and data this could be a big issue. If for some reason you absolutely require plenty of disk space, perhaps you don't have network storage and need all your media on the device itself, then AFTV may not be an option.

GATV might have the same lock as amazon regarding custom updates / root.
I would like to escape the proprietary ecosystem opposed by amazon and google if possible to avoid possible lockouts in the near future.
I like the amazon box, is fast and easy to use with its remote. I use a NAS for my media but I would like to have root and extra storage option on it.
The mojo looks like a good option, I might go for this.

I've been using a Fire TV Stick for about a week now, after you sideload Kodi (and then use your Amazon account to install Kodi on another device, so you trick the FireTV into showing Kodi in your Recent apps on the home screen) I don't think you can beat the bang for the buck.

I'm about to order the Minix X8-H Plus. This thing seems a lot better than the AFTV! I have a 256gb SD card lying around, so I can't wait to throw it in this thing. It has 2gb RAM, 2.0ghz Quad-Core Processor, SD slot, three USB 2.0 ports, gigabit ethernet, 16gb eMMC, 4K2K UHD video playback, Octo-Core Mali-450 GPU, Dual-Band Wi-Fi 802.11ac and 4K H.265 / HEVC Hardware Decoding Support.
It looks like they're going for around $150-$160. Check it out:
http://www.minix.com.hk/Products/NEO-X8-H-Plus-Android-TV.html

papars said:
Your suggestion is valid but I'm in europe and not really in need for netflix.
The price for sealed older FTVs seems somewhat high and by reading articles I see that even the SN wont warranty a rootable box.
In the meantime I will try to h/w root my box and see what comes out of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got a firetv from ebay and its rootable. I've done about 28 mods and haven't seen one with series 305 which are the incorrect ones.

shutterslaps said:
I'm about to order the Minix X8-H Plus. This thing seems a lot better than the AFTV! I have a 256gb SD card lying around, so I can't wait to throw it in this thing. It has 2gb RAM, 2.0ghz Quad-Core Processor, SD slot, three USB 2.0 ports, gigabit ethernet, 16gb eMMC, 4K2K UHD video playback, Octo-Core Mali-450 GPU, Dual-Band Wi-Fi 802.11ac and 4K H.265 / HEVC Hardware Decoding Support.
It looks like they're going for around $150-$160. Check it out:
http://www.minix.com.hk/Products/NEO-X8-H-Plus-Android-TV.html
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Thats a sweet box for sure.. I am not too sure its a fair comparison though.. My AFTV cost me $80 and came with a remote. The $145 standalone box is more than twice as much if you get a controller. My Android MiniPC's (older) have been disappointing when trying to run Kodi etc.. which led me to the snappy performance of AFTV.. This box looks to have all the power you could need. Should be fun to have
This note on the webpage should be noted as well - The NEO X8-H Plus only supports standard definition Netflix. Netflix 1080p HD and 4K UHD resolution are not available on any MINIX NEO Series devices
I have been watching the Razer Forge TV box as well it looks to be a beast for $99

amazon fire vs Droidzone 2gb MXQ M10 ?

ok lads whats the best box between amazon fire box vs Droidzone 2gb MXQ M10 for specs

tomsta79 said:
ok lads whats the best box between amazon fire box vs Droidzone 2gb MXQ M10 for specs
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...or NUC, Raspberry Pi, Roku, AppleTV, Chromecast, etc. It's an arbitrary question, as everyone's got an opinion, and there is no "best box." I've never even heard of that device, so FireTV!

tomsta79 said:
ok lads whats the best box between amazon fire box vs Droidzone 2gb MXQ M10 for specs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It really depends on your intent for the box. Specs don't tell the whole story. I used to be into those android boxes. Now that Official Android TV and Amazon Firetvs are out I personally wouldn't consider buying one. The FireTV and is real Android TVs negotiate with content providers and had their device approved for the appropriate DRM to play premium service like Netflix in HD. Boxes like the one you mentioned play those services in 480p.
Spec Wise the droid box probably is faster, is likely rootable and it is capable of 4k. Probably makes an excellent Kodi box.
But If you want premium services as well; Firetv runs Kodi fine. It also will have apps and specifically designed for use with a remote control and to be displayed on a TV. Get the FireTV
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Thinking of getting Fire TV Stick

Stationed overseas, looking at buying a FireTV Stick to run Kodi and other apps on it.
What are the pro's and con's of it?
What apps should I install on it?
I have a ton of movies/tv shows, could I stream from my iMac to it? (This isn't needed to much)
I've had Kodi before on my devices, so figured a FireTV Stick would be a cheap alternative to have it on my Sharp Smart TV.

May be as you said, FireTV Stick would be a cheap alternative, but if you have the extra money, the FireTV BOX is always the best solution, because it is faster, have USB Port and more memory, that can be expanded with memory stick (on the 1st Gen.) or use Micro USB Cards (on the 2nd Gen.), to move some some data of the installed APPs...
I am the owner of: 2 FireTV Sticks and 2 FireTV Units (1st Gen. and also 2nd Gen.), and I really think that you should better consider to get the Fire-TV BOX instead of the Stick, because I started using my FireTV Stick for KODI, and I was forced to rapidly change, and I had to decide to install KODI and TVMC on my FireTV BOX, because the FireTV Stick was too Slow and was not enough to handle KODI!
So, I although the processing power and the memory of the FireTV Stick are too limited, it can run programs like: KODI, TVMC, SPMC and XBMC, but all of them always will run very slow and with lags...
I don't want to force you to buy the FireTV BOX version, but when the BOX and STICK are compared, you immediately notice a very big difference in speed between these two models and then will understand why the FireTV it's cheaper!
I think that you should wait a little, because it could be possibly that Amazon will offer some kind of discount or special price for all FireTV products, in the next coming months...
I really hope this information could help you to make a good decision!

I have a fire tv stick and like you I find it slow to handle kodi, I want to confirm if Amazon improved the specs on the new fire tv stick 2015?
I really want to update to a newer model with better specs but don't want to invest in a fire tv yet.

What is your budget and goals? Do you plan to use other streaming services such as Amazon instant video or Netflix or Hulu? How do you feel about installing Plex server on your iMac?
Kodi can be a bit of a resource hog for a device like the (original) FireTV stick, but I find that Plex runs just fine. I gave my FTV stick to my parents and set it up so they have access to my Plex server over the internet and their crappy DSL and it's great. Netflix and Hulu also work just fine. A FireTV is a step up for sure, and a nVidia Shield Android TV is an even bigger performance boost that will also get you into console quality gaming.

Hello Silenus21,
I am not fully sure because Amazon has not released yet the FireTV (2015) with the New Voice Remote yet, but I think that Amazon has Not improved the hardware specs on the new FireTV Stick (2015), only difference is that now it came with the new WIFI Remote and Also FireOS-5, that supposedly all FireTV Sticks are going to receive it today October 22nd!...
http://www.aftvnews.com/fire-tv-stick-may-receive-update-to-fire-os-5-tomorrow-october-22nd/
However, I thought that you would like to know, that Amazon has delayed all orders for the Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote bundle, and that will Give a $10 Credit to all customers who ordered the new Stick bundle:
http://www.aftvnews.com/amazon-dela...ick-with-voice-remote-bundle-gives-10-credit/
Edit:
Unfortunately it Seems that today again Amazon has now changed their FireOS-5 release date to the 13th November!

I have 2 sticks and I spent a couple of weeks with a box (gen1) setting it up for someone else:
- The box is excellent, I think the best set top box on the market, especially for $100.
- The stick is good, and unbeatable for $40.
For me, the stick has two drawbacks and one important quirk:
- Wireless only can be a problem. Personally I was impressed by the wireless strength, but you want to make sure you have a decent signal wherever you are going to place the stick. For reference, I was getting ~18Mbps with a FTV stick vs mid-20Mbps with an Android box vs. mid-30Mbps with a FTV box (2.4G wireless n).
- No USB port means (1) no way to play local media except through your network, via wireless, so you're back to the importance of the wireless signal, and (2) no way to connect an average air-mouse, so you have to go through hoops a little if you want to use apps like Showbox or Movie HD (Plex and Kodi both work fine with the standard remote). To get around (2), there are bluetooth air-mice (relatively expensive), bluetooth touchpads (not my favorite), and Mouse Toggle for FireTV (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fluxii.android.mousetoggleforfiretv), which I haven't tried yet.
- The quirk is, don't plug the stick into a surge protector. Two different sticks, plugged into two different surge protectors, ran like crap for me. Each of them when plugged directly into an outlet or a standard extension cord were just fine, responsive enough to make me happy and running Kodi with no issues.
In terms of use (of either the stick or the box):
- Kodi is a one-stop-shop for access to local media (if it's in a shared folder on your PC) and nearly unlimited media streaming from the internet. Personally, I don't like the way many addons require you to manually check one source at a time to see which will play effectively.
- Plex is very god for local media (requires you to run Plex Media Server on your PC in parallel) and ok for internet media streaming.
- Showbox and Movie HD are excellent for internet media streaming, better than Kodi in my opinion but not with the same breadth of content, and they will not function with only the standard remote.
- Firestarter is a must-have to access your non-Amazon Appstore apps.
- Curnchyroll works well, with the standard remote

Thank you, I'll hold off for now I suppose. ****ty part about holding off though is Amazon doesn't ship FireTV outside the US, so I'd have to wait until I'm stateside again or mail it to a family member and they can mail it to me.

I have Amazon Prime, so I'll be using that along with Kodi for movies/tv as well.
I can set up a Plex server on my iMac, I've done it before but ran into issues of using the DLNA on my Smart TV. But shouldn't Xbox One see the Plex server?
Reason for wanting to use Kodi is for the streaming add-on's for TV. Being in Europe, we don't get to many US channels.

Fire tv 2- doesn't not display kodi or vlc in 4K

I was super excited to finally get a 4K tv. But kodi and vlc run at 1080p. What's going on? It's set to auto 4K resolution.

jateshk said:
I was super excited to finally get a 4K tv. But kodi and vlc run at 1080p. What's going on? It's set to auto 4K resolution.
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Only apps that amazon allows can run in 4k. It is what drove me to get a Shield TV, and I do NOT regret it at all!

I guess I'll be selling my 2 fire Tv. Looking at the minx box
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jateshk said:
I guess I'll be selling my 2 fire Tv. Looking at the minx box
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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I'm telling you, you will NOT go wrong with the Shield, especially if you like to game. The quality of the interface and video output in 4k is phenomenal and Nvidia has been doing excellent on the updates area.

OK let me think about it. Not sure i want to spend another $200-300. I just ordered this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NQCFXGA?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
Will use it with my XPS 18
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-xp...lack/5942012.p?id=1219174624599&skuId=5942012
Any thoughts of using an actual PC for an HTPC experience in 4K??

arunningpir8 said:
Only apps that amazon allows can run in 4k. It is what drove me to get a Shield TV, and I do NOT regret it at all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am pretty sure, this is a limitation that can be circumvented when rooted - it's IMHO only a question (of a
short period) of time - but of course one can't promise this.
And you're right - if one wants 4k on kodi immediately out of the box - shield tv isn't a bad idea - albeit more expensive.
I bought the Fire TV(2) Gaming bundle while it was on sale (first week of the new year) - Shield TV + Gamecontroller + Remote would have been at least twice the price...
Greetings
Medizinmann