Develop Bugs

XBMC customization help

Hi all.
I've played with XBMC a little in the past but nothing too in depth. When I saw the Fire TV come out I ordered day one. My main goal is to completely replace all my Windows Media Center machines and switch to XBMC + Fire TV for each location in my house. The reason for this change is I believe that it will be easier to add-on a few features i've been missing with my WMC setup.
So far ive loaded XBMC and configured it. I repurposed a WMC to be my TV/DVR server in the basement using PVR.WMC. I found a few tricks and this is now functioning as my whole house DVR.
My main issues that need addressing are as follows:
Add "Fire TV" apps to XBMC main menu (Amazon Prime movies, Netflix, and Pandora)
Remote Music Channels from the PVR menu in PVC.WMC
BluRay playback
I have all my DVDs/BRs stored in ISO format on a NAS in my basement. DVDs are fine. BR is a challenge. Am I better off converting to MKV? Does anyone know a way to make a library that is also shared with PLEX?

According to this wiki
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Amazon_Fire_TV
It is possible to add android apps to the xbmc menu if you are using Gotham. I tried doing it and as soon as I went to android application xbmc 13 final just crashes to the fire TV main menu.

nba1341 said:
According to this wiki
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Amazon_Fire_TV
It is possible to add android apps to the xbmc menu if you are using Gotham. I tried doing it and as soon as I went to android application xbmc 13 final just crashes to the fire TV main menu.
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im having the same issue. it would be a perfect box for me iff i can load the streaming services that are built in (netflix, amazon prime, hulu, pandora) from XBMC.
personally i can skip the entire Fire TV menu and live in XBMC if i can load the very nice a pretty customized fire tv apps from XBMC. kinda like using XBMC as a launcher

KCHASE731 said:
im having the same issue. it would be a perfect box for me iff i can load the streaming services that are built in (netflix, amazon prime, hulu, pandora) from XBMC.
personally i can skip the entire Fire TV menu and live in XBMC if i can load the very nice a pretty customized fire tv apps from XBMC. kinda like using XBMC as a launcher
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Wonder if it's just a problem with the final version. I am running a older version and I am able to load android apps just fine.

ahoslc said:
Wonder if it's just a problem with the final version. I am running a older version and I am able to load android apps just fine.
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What version are you running? are you able to load the Fire TV versions of the apps from XBMC?

ahoslc said:
Wonder if it's just a problem with the final version. I am running a older version and I am able to load android apps just fine.
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I will have to check when I go home it's like a week or 2 old. I can launch all the apps except for Amazon Prime.

[Q] 1080i deinterlacing?

Has anyone found a way to deinterlace video in XBMC on the FireTV? I realize that streaming content isn't interlaced and therefore the box really was never intended to play back 1080i content however one of the purposes of my FireTV boxes is to serve as a front end for MythTV which means that Live TV and much of my recorded content (unless I transcode) is interlaced.
I'm don't need any of the real fancy deinterlacing algorithms, something as simple as Bob would be enough. It really doesn't look that bad from my viewing distance but in fast motion scenes it is noticeable. I'm certain the FireTV can handle it, it's just a matter of finding the software to make it happen.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
EDIT: Should probably note that my boxes are rooted.

I am having the same issue. I have an HDHomerun Plus feeding my Win7 box. I have tried XBMC 13.2, Kodi 14, and SPMC 13.4 on my FireTV. I have toggled hardware acceleration, MediaCodec, de-interlacing, etc. Any 1080i broadcast with fast horizontal movement (like football) is awful. I have tried both NextPVR (feeding the NextPVR Client) and Windows Media Center (feeding the WMC Client) on the Fire TV. Same result, which is expected since both are providing the same MPEG-2 1080i content.
My existing setup is an HDHomerun Plus WMC feeding a Ceton Echo box, which deinterlaces 1080i great. I'm trying to migrate off of that so I can have a single device (FireTV) that handles TV, online streaming, local streaming, etc.
I haven't tried this yet, but the HDHomerun Plus can transcode in hardware to x264. I've had it disabled because the Ceton Echo doesn't like x264 much. I'll try it with the FTV and see how it goes...
My FTV is rooted as well, running the latest pre-rooted firmware.

ctaranto said:
I am having the same issue. I have an HDHomerun Plus feeding my Win7 box. I have tried XBMC 13.2, Kodi 14, and SPMC 13.4 on my FireTV. I have toggled hardware acceleration, MediaCodec, de-interlacing, etc. Any 1080i broadcast with fast horizontal movement (like football) is awful. I have tried both NextPVR (feeding the NextPVR Client) and Windows Media Center (feeding the WMC Client) on the Fire TV. Same result, which is expected since both are providing the same MPEG-2 1080i content.
My existing setup is an HDHomerun Plus WMC feeding a Ceton Echo box, which deinterlaces 1080i great. I'm trying to migrate off of that so I can have a single device (FireTV) that handles TV, online streaming, local streaming, etc.
I haven't tried this yet, but the HDHomerun Plus can transcode in hardware to x264. I've had it disabled because the Ceton Echo doesn't like x264 much. I'll try it with the FTV and see how it goes...
My FTV is rooted as well, running the latest pre-rooted firmware.
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Any update on having the HDHR Plus do the transcoding? Considering picking one up if it let's me use the FireTVs as nice Live TV extenders.

Does anyone know if the new aftv2 can handle 1080i content such as live TV from hdhomerun tuners?
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

gmp029 said:
Does anyone know if the new aftv2 can handle 1080i content such as live TV from hdhomerun tuners?
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
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ive been messing with it lately.. PQ has not been great yet.. ive used both the hdhomerun add-on and server-wmc pvr method via kodi... would rather get 1080i working great from the pvr.. hard to beleive that its 2015 and we cant get de-interlacing right in xbmc/kodi... the old mce 2005 worked better on old ass hardware.. very frustrating
i came on here hoping to find an answer... im thinking maybe i can root and install my own mpeg2 decoder for kodi? who knows
edit: looks like the BOB-inverted works best for me... very usable.. KODI FTW

Any tips or help you can offer on getting this setup right?
I had a 1st Gen Fire TV that worked fine with SPMC 14.x for some interlaced recordings I've made with my Hauppauge HDPVR2, and/or DVD's converted to MKV using VideoRedo..
I've updated to a 2nd Gen Fire TV with Kodi 15.2 (since SPMC stops at 15.0) and none of the interlaced videos I have tried play correctly.
EDIT: Never mind.. this seems to be 2nd gen Fire TV related, as it does it in Kodi and Plex.

Blurriness on FireTV Stick and software version

Hello
I got the Kodi 14 RC1 install on my Fire Stick. It works really well despite one problem, blurriness despite at high resolution like 1080p. For example, if I watch a twitch stream through XBMC or Twitch app itself, the picture looks like it runs on 360/480 despite I select 1080p. I read in some of posts that this seems to be some software codec issues since for certain video files it runs fine without the blurriness issue. Also, Netflix is not working, it will starts to play then stop. I wonder if Amazon is aware of this and they are going to fix it soon.
On another note, my FireStick is running the original firmware (54.1.0.0_user_100211520). They have and updated version of the software, version 54.1.0.1_user_101016220. I want to know if anybody is running this newer version. Is the newer version fix the blurriness issue and Netflix? If yes, then I will upgrade it to the newer version since it is annoying since I can't read any small text at higher resolution because it is too blurry.
Thanks for your help.

Just got my stick yesterday and I allowed the system update. I can confirm Netflix works without issue. I'm also running TVMC which is based on XBMC Gotham 13.2, this also runs great, crisp picture on 1080p movies. Maybe the newer codecs in Kodi 14 not optimized for FireTV stick?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

RickG13 said:
Just got my stick yesterday and I allowed the system update. I can confirm Netflix works without issue. I'm also running TVMC which is based on XBMC Gotham 13.2, this also runs great, crisp picture on 1080p movies. Maybe the newer codecs in Kodi 14 not optimized for FireTV stick?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
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Hello,
Thanks for the info. I just did an upgrade to the newer version and you are right. Netflix runs great on it. However, Kodi 14.0 RC1 still has the same blurrines. I guess I will just wait till the official 14.0 is released. Thanks for replying.

Yup, same here, Kodi UI is crisp but videos are blurry. . I hope this gets ironed out.
Sent from my S5 using XDA Free mobile app

I concur. I'm having the same issue on my FireTV Stick. I'm running it on a 720p display. I will also try it on a 1080p display and see if it's any better.
I have tried both XBMC 13.2 and SPMC (13.3 I think) and they are both not as sharp as the native FireTV Stick apps even though I'm playing Blu-Ray rips through XBMC.

Was having the same issue with my stick and gave up and sold it, hopefully someone can find a fix and I'd buy it again, great value

Blurry Firestick with Green line aross the bottom and doubled focus
I just joined to say thank you for helping me figire it out.....i turned on game mode in the device manager on my samsung 65 inch tv and it FIXED it completley....i have been workinf trying to figur it out for months...SOOOOOOOOOOO .thank you THANK YOU THANK YOU

Netflix and XBMC 14.0

Forum,
I am having trouble with XBMC 14.0 and Netflix playing nicely. They both work fine independently of each other but together they do not work. After launching XBMC 14.0 and then launch Netflix it only loads 99% and hangs. The only way to fix this issue is to quit XBMC 14.0 and then Netflix works no problem. I know this may seem like a simple answer but this wasn't and issue when I was running XBMC 13.2. I was hoping someone had a fix since its nice to not have to wait for XBMC to load when I finish watching Netflix. Any ideas would be awesome. Thanks!
Josh

Which kodi version recommended for the FTV Stick?

I currently have kodi 14.2 installed, but HD Videos are a little choppy. Definately watchable, but still a little annoying. I don't know where the prolem lies exactly because the CPU is only at about 30% load and there are no dropped and skipped frames.
So i thought maybe someone can recommend a version of kodi that works better on the FTV stick.
Any suggestions?

Try using SPMC 14.2. SPMC is basically tailored to Android devices like the Fire TV and works great.

DaPhinc said:
I currently have kodi 14.2 installed, but HD Videos are a little choppy. Definately watchable, but still a little annoying. I don't know where the prolem lies exactly because the CPU is only at about 30% load and there are no dropped and skipped frames.
So i thought maybe someone can recommend a version of kodi that works better on the FTV stick.
Any suggestions?
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its probably the fact your watching 24hz videos at 60hz... huge downfall of the fireTV imo.

Thanks guys. I thought SPMC is specifically for RockChip devices. I will give it a try on my FTV Stick.
And about the 24hz vs. 60 hz thing: Is there a way to circumvent this?

So i installed SPMC today.
Unfortunately the only difference i saw was that it uses more than double the amount of CPU load than official kodi.

DaPhinc said:
So i installed SPMC today.
Unfortunately the only difference i saw was that it uses more than double the amount of CPU load than official kodi.
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did you try the nightlies of Kodi? I moved out of SPMC back and forth and now am at one of the recent nightlies with my backup which has the root enabled for suspend / etc. I do like Kodi but its getting a little dated and crashes very often. specially when live streaming from a website.

I've been using SPMC 14.2 on my new fire stick without issue and have it on my AFTV also. I've never had any issues with it.

Run any version of Kodi you want for a week to get used to it, then switch to SPMC, the results will be noticed quickly. Thats what I did and within seconds of playing live streams from my favorites list I realized that SPMC was the only version of XBMC/Kodi for Android that played every stream format smoothly. Every version of XBMC/Kodi I have ever used on android never played all stream formats without having some problem on certain formats, except for SPMC.

porkenhimer said:
Run any version of Kodi you want for a week to get used to it, then switch to SPMC, the results will be noticed quickly. Thats what I did and within seconds of playing live streams from my favorites list I realized that SPMC was the only version of XBMC/Kodi for Android that played every stream format smoothly. Every version of XBMC/Kodi I have ever used on android never played all stream formats without having some problem on certain formats, except for SPMC.
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That was precisely my experience when I switched to spmc last summer on aftv. Some said it was placebic because from Gotham on there shouldn't be any real reason spmc runs faster than kodi. But after a couple of weeks I moved back to kodi because I found similar glitches. Maybe I should've given it another try?...probably not for my boxes because they generally run well and its a pain amending file paths for advanced settings among other minor reasons, but you've got me intrigued about using it on the stick. Helix 14.2 isnt running optimally.

KLit75 said:
That was precisely my experience when I switched to spmc last summer on aftv. Some said it was placebic because from Gotham on there shouldn't be any real reason spmc runs faster than kodi. But after a couple of weeks I moved back to kodi because I found similar glitches. Maybe I should've given it another try?...probably not for my boxes because they generally run well and its a pain amending file paths for advanced settings among other minor reasons, but you've got me intrigued about using it on the stick. Helix 14.2 isnt running optimally.
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When I first tried SPMC, I had the official XBMC installed. I installed SPMC, copied my addons and userdata folders. Then I tried the same exact streams from the same exact favorites.xml and they played so much smoother with SPMC than with the official build. It was very noticable. The official build did not have problems with every stream format, but it did with some, while SPMC has had no problems with any format. I ran them side by side on the same device and SPMC had better results so I ran with it instead of the official build. Like I said the official build is fine too, I just got tired of watching channels that made every movement look robotic and SPMC does not make any streams look robotic so for me its better.

Fire TV user here.
I really don't like SPMC's skip steps feature that it's backported from Isengard. It's even worse in every Isengard build I've tried.
Plus how it exits back to the Amazon home screen if you hold down the back button. That's really annoying.
Helix 14.2 gets my vote.

I've been using TVMC without issue. Wonder if I should make the switch to something else. Not really sure what I'm missing though.

Well I installed SPMC and copy/paste the appropriate folder to keep my settings/add-ons.
Performance seems the same except that now spmc is listed on recent apps.