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I have a simple question and to be honest, I am a little surprised that googling the issue resulted in nearly no hits. So I am trying my luck now here in the forum:
Part of the reason to buy the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 was for me to be able to use it as a playing device for movies on my HDTV. I also bought the official amazon HDMI to Micro HDMI cable to connect the kindle with my TV. The problem I am now having is that my HDTV (Philips 52PFL9632D) produces two vertical black bars to the left and the right of the picture, i.e. it doesn't offer the full 1920x1080p resolution, but something a little smaller (I guess around 1700x1080p).
Yes, I tried all the scaling options on my TV to no avail. And my Xbox, my BluRay-Player and my Dell Notebook do produce a flawless Full HD 1920x1080p experience on that TV Set on the exact same HDMI port. So it must be a problem of the HDMI output of my Kindle.
I suspect that the reason for that behaviour is the fact that the Kindle 8.9 display features a resolution of 1920x1200, which is not 16:9 but 16:10.
So as a result my TV probably squeezes the picture to fit it and thus produces the black bars left and right. It also doesn't matter if I am playing a video using VLC, surfing the web with Silk or just display the Kindle App selection screen on the kindle. There are always the black bars left and right.
(BTW: amazon customer service acknowledged the problem, but couldn't find an immediate resolution and promised to call be back.)
Does anybody have any idea what I can do to get the full resolution on my HDTV? I was so looking forward to not having to unplug my Notebook everytime and hook it to the TV, but being able to use my Kindle for watching movies instead.
What I am really surprised about:
1. Why does amazon produce a default signal output on the HDMI port larger than 1920x1080 anyways? Most people probably would want to hook it up to their TV and except for some monitors I don't know any TV featuring a resolution of 1920x1200.
2. Why does the kindle not offer any configuration option to at least choose the HDMI output?
3. Why is the net basically not producing any results when I am looking for a solution for that issue? Am I the only one hooking up his Kindle to his HDTV? Or am I the only one having that problem? Or am I the only one being annoyed by seeing two vertical bars on the TV?
ANY help how I can get rid of the vertical bars would be greatly appreciated!
I am going to throw a guess at why its not full 1080, someone can correct me if I am wrong because like I said this is just a guess. From what I heard, the kindle fire HD 8.9" model uses a set amount of ram towards the GPU to render out in the resolution it uses, and from what I read it was just barely enough memory for it to use that resolution, so using anything higher than that would probably not be possible. Lemme see if I can find where I read this.
Edit: found it!
ignoramous said:
The wallpaper service public APIs were selectively disabled to alleviate the memory pressure on system_server. Amazon's default Kindle Launcher doesn't need wallpapers (yeah I hear you when you say apps with FLAG_SHOW_WALLPAPER however do need wallpapers... but that functionality was apparently deemed not *that* important).
We freed about 14MiB+ worth RAM from system_server. This change was primarily targeted at the 8.9 Kindles, as 1GiB RAM was barely holding up to Kindle's massive resolution.
I see that having a bool in framework had work cut out for you guys... so I guess props for us to have made it "configurable" eh?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HD running CM10.1 Tablet UI using xda-developers app
Interesting theory. But I read elsewhere that amazon claims the output of the HDMI socket of the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 would be FULL HD.
I think that the output is in fact 1920x1200 (equaling the native resolution of the kindle display) and thus even MORE than full HD, which is only 1920x1080. And my TV is trying to sequeeze the full 16:10 information into the 16:9 screen and as a result has to display two vertical black bars left and right. So I am looking for a way to actually REDUCE the output of the HDMI socket to the lower (HD standard) 1080 instead of 1200 pixels.
Well I seriously have doubts about this working on amazon's stock os, but supposedly the full version has experimental support for HDMI resolution changing. Give it a shot, though if it doesn't work on Amazon's os I'm more so convinced it will on cm. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nexter.miniscalerfree
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HD running CM10.1 Tablet UI using xda-developers app
Same Issues
I actually have had very similar problems using my Sony television. I'm curious if you ever found a solution.
stunts513 said:
Well I seriously have doubts about this working on amazon's stock os, but supposedly the full version has experimental support for HDMI resolution changing. Give it a shot, though if it doesn't work on Amazon's os I'm more so convinced it will on cm. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nexter.miniscalerfree
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HD running CM10.1 Tablet UI using xda-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Kindle is rooted, so maybe it works. Thank you very much for the great tip.
I asked the question in the ROM-AOSP CM10.2 forum, since they even have a line under features saying
"HDMI video out is now correct and work across several resolutions. YMMV"
but so far nobody in that forum cared to answer...
I will try out your tip asap and report the results here.
Still I am wondering why I only found so few hits for this issue including in the amazon.com kindle discussion forum.
If nobody uses their kindle to connect it to their TV, why is amazon selling their own branded version of MicroHDMI-HDMI cables?
Ok. Time for an update. I think I am a step closer to a solution.
First I tried the app "Resolution Changer Lite" as recommended by stunts513. In theory it looked great. I was able to select a resolution 1920x1080 and as a result the kindle had a black bar at the bottom and only used 1920x1080 of the 1920x1200 pixels on its display.
So full of expectation I connected the Kindle with my TV. Unfortunately the TV still displayed black bars to the right and left but in addition now also a black bar top and bottom. So while it indeed reduced the displayed area, somehow the Kindle seems to still send the 16:10 information throught the HDMI port, making my TV scale down the picture. I tried all kinds of settings and resolutions to no avail.
As a next step I bought the full version of "Resolution Changer", because it was talking about an additional HDMI feature. Again full of expectation I started the app. Instead of selecting one out of several preset resolutions (like 1920x1080 or 1280x720) the app allows you enter any values for Width and Height. I again tried 1920x1080 with the exact same result as in the lite version.
But the full app has a second tab called "HDMI" and I did the same thing there. Unfortunately again to no avail. After some testing and reading of the description I came to the verified conclusion that all this additional feature does is DETECT if somebody connects a HDMI cable to the port of the Android device and then AUTOMATICALLY changes the screen resolution to the values chosen. So instead of having to invoke the app manually every time you in theory just set the wanted values on the 2nd tab and any time you plug in your TV your android device switches to the defined resolution.
Unfortunately there is no value to edit to stop the Kindle from sending out a 16:10 information to the TV or the app maybe doesn't even change anything that is sent to the HDMI port, but only influences the built-in screen.
But then unexpectedly Amazon's Customer Service sent me a message! They basically confirmed that if you connect your Kindle to a TV through HDMI it sends out it's 16:10 resolution and thus makes your TV scale down the picture.
BUT when you switch to the NATIVE INTERNAL VIDEO APP, the signal sent to the HDMI port automatically switches to 1920x1080 and a 16:9 ratio information. So as a result the native amazon services like "instant video" or other streams will be displayed without any bars. They claimed to even had it tested on a LG Full HD Plasma.
THIS EXPLAINS WHY MOST PEOPLE DON'T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS and thus you can't find much about in the forums.
I have to say I was sceptical, but since I had only used VLC so far to play back the movies, I now used the original video player. And to my surprise the black bars left and right went away and I had a full screen picture!!!
That's why I am saying, I am one step further!
Unfortunately this only helps me partly. For starters VLC plays a lot more formats than the native video player app. In addition I like to watch the movies with subtitles since I am not a native english speaker. VLC plays them automatically if the .srt-file is named the same as the movie itself, but of course the native video player doesn't. I don't even know it is capable of that.
Anyhow the big questions I have now:
1. does somebody know how to make the regular android Video Player display subtitles for example in the format .srt?
2. is there an option in the Android version of VLC (I don't think so, since it is still BETA) to configure the HDMI output?
3. Now that we know, that the regular Video Player can influence the format sent to the HDMI port, is there an app to set the HDMI output permanently to 1920x1080 and more important 16:9 ?
Again any help appreciated...
Ah, I wish I had known you were using vlc I would have suggested a few things. It didn't occur to me you might be using it because I got my from the play store, but it said it wasn't available in the USA, so I had to proxy through another country to get it. Anyways, I know in vlc's options there's a few different output methods, though I don't think that will affect it. Another thing I was thinking of is in vlc, u can change the aspect ratio, I believe the button is on the bottom left above the playback bar while playing a video, when u tap it it switches they various modes, don't know if this will affect the HDMI at all though, as I don't have a minihdmi cable because most of my TV's are CRT, only 2 of them have HDMI plugs, and of those 2 only one has 1080 capabilities, and its a PC monitor so it has no sound output.
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HD running CM10.1 Tablet UI using xda-developers app
Hashcode's CM10.1 and HDMI 1920x1980
Hi Tronar,
Saw your post (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=45044803&postcount=579) but I'm not allowed to answer in that thread.
I have Hashcode's CM10.1 (20130812) running on my Kindle Fire HD 8.9. I connected the Micro HDMI port to my Samsung Full HD TV, and also saw the 2 vertical black bars (about 2 cm). Using apps like Resolution Changer doesn't help, as I get some weird screen flipping, turning landscape into portrait.
Cheers, S
stunts513 said:
Ah, I wish I had known you were using vlc I would have suggested a few things. It didn't occur to me you might be using it because I got my from the play store, but it said it wasn't available in the USA, so I had to proxy through another country to get it. Anyways, I know in vlc's options there's a few different output methods, though I don't think that will affect it. Another thing I was thinking of is in vlc, u can change the aspect ratio, I believe the button is on the bottom left above the playback bar while playing a video, when u tap it it switches they various modes, don't know if this will affect the HDMI at all though, as I don't have a minihdmi cable because most of my TV's are CRT, only 2 of them have HDMI plugs, and of those 2 only one has 1080 capabilities, and its a PC monitor so it has no sound output.
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HD running CM10.1 Tablet UI using xda-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, plenty of stuff to respond to.
First of all VLC was available in the regular Kindle Store. So I didn't even have to root my phone and install the Google Playstore to be able to install it.
In addition VLC is still beta. The configuration options are quite minimal compared to the PC version.
And of course I tried the various screen size and ratio options in VLC. But they only affect the way the Kindle display of 1920x1200 is used, i.e. how the available pixels are filled with the video. So you can achieve all kinds of effects using only part of the Kindle display. But whatever option I chose, the black bars left and right always remained on my TV. To make it simple all I could do was further add more black bars by shrinking the image or distort the image by changing the ratio. None of it seems to have any influence on the HDMI output. I think it is a very special option or feature, the regular Kindle Video Player is using there and would have to implemented explicitly in the VLC player.
Nonetheless this gives me the idea to send some feedback to the VLC developers to add this feature to their wish list. :good:
Anyhow, I really appreciate your help. Please keep the good ideas flowing.
smeitmeister said:
Hi Tronar,
Saw your post (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=45044803&postcount=579) but I'm not allowed to answer in that thread.
I have Hashcode's CM10.1 (20130812) running on my Kindle Fire HD 8.9. I connected the Micro HDMI port to my Samsung Full HD TV, and also saw the 2 vertical black bars (about 2 cm). Using apps like Resolution Changer doesn't help, as I get some weird screen flipping, turning landscape into portrait.
Cheers, S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it seems like nobody is allowed to answer in that read, because so far I haven't received any answer.
Neither in the CM10.2 nor in the CM10.1 thread, where there seems to be at least some kind of life.
Thanks for confirming that the Resolution Changer doesn't help on the CM10.1 ROM. That saves me hours of work of trying out that app on this ROM.
But my question was actually a little more specific. The first page of the thread states under Features:
"HDMI video out is now correct and work across several resolutions. YMMV"
I was wondering if that means that there is some way in this CustomROM to change the resolution of the HDMI video out signal.
Update:
I tried the App "MX Player" to see, if that app would behave more like VLC or more like the native Video Player.
I don't know if I should laugh or cry, but this is what happened:
I started a movie using the freshly installed MX Player and was happy to see, that the subtitles were showing on the Kindle Display. I connected my Kindle with the Micro-HDMI-Cable to my TV and was also happy to see that the vertical black bar were NOT showing, but instead it was using the full resolution of my TV. I was totally excited. And then it hit me:
While the subtitles were showing on the Kindle screen, they were NOT showing on my TV!!! Otherwise both screens showed an identical picture, but the subs were missing.
So I tried out all kinds of options in the subtitles settings. To no avail.
Then I tried switching from using the Hardware accelleration to Software accelleration. The app offers three modes called SW, HW and HW+
And here comes the funny part:
When I switched from any of the two HW modes to the SW modes, suddenly my TV was showing the subtitles. And for a moment I was like "Yeah, I finally found the solution". And then it hit me: now my TV was showing the vertical bars again.
My conclusion from this test:
When you switch to software acceleration, MX Player behaves like VLC. You get the subtitles on your TV, but you have to live with the vertical black bars effectively reducing the resolution.
When you switch to any of the two hardware acceleration options, MX Player behaves like the native Video Player and gives you the correct 16:9 1920x1080p output on the HDMI-out. But for whatever reason the subtitles are only displayed on the Kindle screen and not on the TV any more.
My guess: by using the HW acceleration, the app automatically triggers the built-in feature of reducing the resolution from 1920x1200 to the standard 1920x1080 on the HDMI-out. Apparently amazon has built in that feature into the Hardware acceleration of the Kindle.
I don't know why this kills the subtitles. Either it is a bug in the app or for some reason the Hardware acceleration does not allow the blend-in of the subtitles over the video.
And when you switch to SW acceleration, the Kindle apparently thinks of the app like any other standard app and sends the full 1920x1200 resolution not only to its own screen but also to the HDMI-out.
It would be great to know, if superimposing subtitles is technically impossible when using the HW acceleration because the Kindle chips do not support that at all or if it could be achieved with the right algorithm.
I am unsure if it is the exact same thing offhand but vlc has an option to enable hardware decoding, if it is the same thing try it and see if vlc works . also I don't know much bout HDMI, but if its a digital stream and subtitles aren't showing up, try enabling captions on your TV and see if anything happens, I would think that they would be part of the digital stream in one way or another.
Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire HD running CM10.1 Tablet UI using xda-developers app
Thank you for the tip with Hardware Decoding option in VLC, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to make any difference. The picture remains shrinked with vertical bars left and right, no matter if you enable that setting or not. The subtitles also remain visible in both settings.
So my guess is that the current VLC beta isn't really enabling the Hardware Decoding on the Kindle. At least not the way, MX Player and the native Kindle Video Player seem to do it.
About the subtitles still being part of the digital stream in the HDMI output: sounds like a great idea as well.
So I tried it out by activating the subtitle setting on my TV. Unfortunately to no avail. It MIGHT be, that the way US-TVs receive and display subtitles from TV broadcasts is different than the one used in Europe (here subtitles are sent through a quite old system called Teletext oder Videotext (depending on the country)).
Or it might be, that the HDMI protocol just does not support this way of transfering subtitles to the TV.
In any case, unfortunately I am not any closer to solving the issue.
But thanks for the good ideas and tips, please keep them coming as I will keep attacking that problem.
I currently use plex for my media management solution, which is fantastic. I have a quad processor server with 18TB of storage, 12TB usable as its configured for Raid6. I chose plex due to the fact that plexapps are available for my Samsung smart tvs, and for simplicity with my chromecast.
The wife knows my love of tinkering and that I've been eyeballing the AFTV for a while now. Can anyone provide some insight? I'm looking to further enhance my cord-cutting future as we are moving to South Korea next year and will need to rely on my server as well as streaming content for entertainment.
I'm tired of horrible firstrow streams for my football games, as well as UFC matches and indycar/rally races. Are there "alternatives" available with much improved quality?
Anything I should do first to the AFTV? How can I integrate it into my existing content delivery system?
Thanks in advance!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
cliff p said:
Anything I should do first to the AFTV? How can I integrate it into my existing content delivery system?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might want to see if you can root the Fire TV before you ever hook it up. This allows for harnessing the power of the device with XBMC and the addons that are available. The How to setup a new Fire TV without blocking Root guide is a great starting point. Otherwise, the Fire TV will primarily be an Amazon centric box. And where is the fun in that?
That was generally the idea (to root the device first before doing anything else with it).
When I first started looking into Media Servers, I worked very little with XBMC. A few friends with Plex suggested it to me, and it seems to fit the bill more for me. With that being said, can XBMC be integrated or coexist with PMS?
EDIT: Disregard the XBMC question, I did a quick search and found that I can install PlexBMC that will work with the PMS backend.
So I've rooted the AFTV, Installed BB and SuperSU, and XBMC. Added a few "add-ons" like 1Chan and some others. Pretty cool little device! Kinda wishing there were more HD capable streams for certain programs, since there isn't much difference streaming the actual website steam via my laptop to my TV via HDMI.
I may put it in my VPN route and see if I can get my NFL games in HD at least.
Quite honestly wondering if it was worth installing Plex on, since my Samsung TV already has Plex and is a bit more seamless. I may use the device in place of the Chromecast dongle I have in the bedroom, though.
Can anyone point me in the right direction for some higher quality feeds, etc?
Almost forgot: Themes for the XBMC? Is it more worthwhile to have XBMC autostart on boot? I don't have a subscription for Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, etc. I use Plex, and use it heavily with Sickbeard/Couchpotato/Headphones/Etc.
THX.
Take a look at the [LAUNCHER] XBMC for Fire TV (Root). This XBMC launcher replaces the Fire TV launcher and at the same time allows access to it if you were to have Amazon content.
mjbxx said:
Take a look at the [LAUNCHER] XBMC for Fire TV (Root). This XBMC launcher replaces the Fire TV launcher and at the same time allows access to it if you were to have Amazon content.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works great! Thanks!
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
I'm looking to purchase another Amazon TV that's already preloaded with extras. There's so many people doing it I don't know who I should go with...?? I've looked at them on eBay some are going for $200 others less and one guy says this guy is copying me the other guy says that guy is copying me an back-and-forth. So I'm looking for some direction. Any recommendations for A preloaded Amazon TV? I don't want all of the adult channels and porn channels or whatever you call it loaded on to it. I don't know if I can customize it so they are not there....
Also with all those "free" movies and TV shows and such can you get in trouble with your Internet provider or whatever like the DMCA and get notices from your using such features as all of these add-ons that are provided?
I had gotten A notice in my e-mail from Comcast once when I downloaded something I didn't know about. Just wondering if that can happen again a notice of copyright infringement
superfly611 said:
I'm looking to purchase another Amazon TV that's already preloaded with extras. There's so many people doing it I don't know who I should go with...?? I've looked at them on eBay some are going for $200 others less and one guy says this guy is copying me the other guy says that guy is copying me an back-and-forth. So I'm looking for some direction. Any recommendations for A preloaded Amazon TV? I don't want all of the adult channels and porn channels or whatever you call it loaded on to it. I don't know if I can customize it so they are not there....
Also with all those "free" movies and TV shows and such can you get in trouble with your Internet provider or whatever like the DMCA and get notices from your using such features as all of these add-ons that are provided?
I had gotten A notice in my e-mail from Comcast once when I downloaded something I didn't know about. Just wondering if that can happen again a notice of copyright infringement
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just buy a regular AFTV somewhere and follow the steps in the link. You get XBMC/Kodi with pretty much everything you could ask for and with the tool mentioned in that link you don't need to be a rocket scientist to install it on your AFTV
http://www.tvaddons.ag/install-kodi-amazon-fire-tv/
And if you are scared to get caught watching movies or tv shows like this, don't do it. It depends on the laws of your country how they treat people that don't really download content but stream it (which is basically downloading).
It looks like a massive amount of customization when i look at what some of the pre programmed ones have on ebay??? At least when you look at the options they give you on the pre programmed amazon TVs. I basically would want the live TV, hbo and some movie channels I don't really need the most current movies like the handy cam versions I would rather see it in HD and I would not like any of the porn channels LOL not interested in that.
Thanks for the link! I'll read through it and see what I can do. I don't remember if I mentioned it I already have have an Amazon TV with XBMC on it but it's the Gotham version. I was trying to get it so it would recognize my silicone dust network tuner but couldn't get that to work. I have to work on it more yet... I also was trying to get my synology NAS recognized so I can share the files I do have on it but was having trouble with that as well... I'll figure it out eventually just wish it was sooner than later. Thanks for the advice I'm going to give it more of a go. i still am interested in those pre set amazons as an option. but ill work on mine too!
thanks again!
superfly611 said:
It looks like a massive amount of customization when i look at what some of the pre programmed ones have on ebay??? At least when you look at the options they give you on the pre programmed amazon TVs. I basically would want the live TV, hbo and some movie channels I don't really need the most current movies like the handy cam versions I would rather see it in HD and I would not like any of the porn channels LOL not interested in that.
Thanks for the link! I'll read through it and see what I can do. I don't remember if I mentioned it I already have have an Amazon TV with XBMC on it but it's the Gotham version. I was trying to get it so it would recognize my silicone dust network tuner but couldn't get that to work. I have to work on it more yet... I also was trying to get my synology NAS recognized so I can share the files I do have on it but was having trouble with that as well... I'll figure it out eventually just wish it was sooner than later. Thanks for the advice I'm going to give it more of a go. i still am interested in those pre set amazons as an option. but ill work on mine too!
thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have hdhomerune prime there is many ways to watch live tv,my provider is fios and I will need to learn how to use the PVR addon for xbmc but I saw it works great!
If you have an HDHomeRun you probably want to setup a PVR backend for watching live/recorded shows through XBMC/Kodi. It's not too difficult but you need (or probably highly desire) to set this up on a computer that is always on. Here is a good place to start: http://kodi.wiki/view/PVR_backend
As for which pre-loaded FireTV to buy - none of them. Spending $200 for a $100 device is a waste. There are plenty of great guides and videos to help you set it up however you want, just ask here or on an XBMC/Kodi forum or do a bit of googling to get started. You are going to want to know how to do it yourself anyway to keep up on updates, side-load different apps, and generally set-up your device the way YOU want it. Once you go through it the first time and have an understanding of it all it's easy.
I have to agree with skeptic_always and Ultraschorsch, Buying a plain FTV and installing yourself is very easy.
You mentioned you already have XBMC, download TVMC and install it. It won't overwrite your XBMC, it will load as a separate app and it will install many addons when first started... probably the same addons Ebay sellers are installing for that $100 premium.
wqwrqrfq said:
I have to agree with skeptic_always and Ultraschorsch, Buying a plain FTV and installing yourself is very easy.
You mentioned you already have XBMC, download TVMC and install it. It won't overwrite your XBMC, it will load as a separate app and it will install many addons when first started... probably the same addons Ebay sellers are installing for that $100 premium.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't TVMC same as XBMC? just with some tweaks.
patt2k said:
Isn't TVMC same as XBMC? just with some tweaks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has a lot of tweaks, repos and plugins installed by default. You pretty much just start it and you are good to go.
thanks all Very cool! I have TVMC installed and it's working! I am having trouble with my PVR. I would've liked to have conneted it wirelessly but not sure if thats the problem or what. I am only 10 feet away from my router wouldve thought wifi is fine. I had set up Live TV viewing before but maybe I did not do it correctly?? When I go to live TV then TV channels I get a listing of TV channels that I'm guessing is from my silicone dust TV tuner. When I select the channel it shows me what is on the channel but it does not play. Also it does not show me that HD stations abnormal TV such as ABC, Fox, NBC and such. It goes from 1 to 541. On my Comcast it goes all the way up to the 800s I believe and that's where the HD stations are. Even when I select channel 3 which is not HD but regular prime channel I guess it does not display it just sticks. Also, it's mind-boggling how many things there are for the TV MC.
Is there a list for guide for installing the best channels or whatever you call it such as these below. . . . Really wouldn't want channels that are just crappy like. My ultimate goal would be at a set when these and make it easy enough for my parents to use and get rid of cable TV which I'm not sure my parents will ever learn LOL
HBO Entertainment, HBO 1, HBO 2, Disney XD, HGTV, National Geographic,
Discovery, TNT, Fox, Fox 11, Sky Movies, Comedy Central, The CW, USA Network,
Spike, Cinemax, Animal, History HD, Food Network, A & E, FilmOn, Animal Planet, BIO, CNN,
Comedy Net, The Country Network, AMC, Fox Movies, Fuel TV, FX, NBC, RMC Top 40, TLC, TNT, Toons, TruTV, NASA, Starz HD, Discovery Turbo, Discovery Science, Bite TV, Bravo, CBS, ABC, ABC Family, NHK World, SYFY, TLC, BBC HD, iTV 2, iTV 3,GM Channel, Fox 2 Detroit, Film HD, icefilms, 1channel, ..........
I definitely don't want the adult channels on it but I do want live TV which I'm still trying to get my PVR running. I'm probably not doing something right. I will keep trying.
Also I read somewhere that the new Amazon fire TVs you can't jailbreak or put XBMC on it? If that's the case where's the best place to buy another one that I can customize before they become too scarce?
Thanks in advance again
superfly611 said:
Is there a list for guide for installing the best channels or whatever you call it such as these below. . . . Really wouldn't want channels that are just crappy like. My ultimate goal would be at a set when these and make it easy enough for my parents to use and get rid of cable TV which I'm not sure my parents will ever learn LOL
HBO Entertainment, HBO 1, HBO 2, Disney XD, HGTV, National Geographic,
Discovery, TNT, Fox, Fox 11, Sky Movies, Comedy Central, The CW, USA Network,
Spike, Cinemax, Animal, History HD, Food Network, A & E, FilmOn, Animal Planet, BIO, CNN,
Comedy Net, The Country Network, AMC, Fox Movies, Fuel TV, FX, NBC, RMC Top 40, TLC, TNT, Toons, TruTV, NASA, Starz HD, Discovery Turbo, Discovery Science, Bite TV, Bravo, CBS, ABC, ABC Family, NHK World, SYFY, TLC, BBC HD, iTV 2, iTV 3,GM Channel, Fox 2 Detroit, Film HD, icefilms, 1channel, ..........
I definitely don't want the adult channels on it but I do want live TV which I'm still trying to get my PVR running. I'm probably not doing something right. I will keep trying.
Also I read somewhere that the new Amazon fire TVs you can't jailbreak or put XBMC on it? If that's the case where's the best place to buy another one that I can customize before they become too scarce?
Thanks in advance again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The fire TV should ALWAYS be able to have XBMC put on it, no need to worry.
As far as all those channels you'll just have to do a search for those (i.e. "XBMC Discovery", XBMC "TNT", etc.) ustvnow.com gives you 6 channels free and if you want more there's a minimal charge. There's a repo(sitory) named Superrepo which when installed gives you hundreds of possible addons, I'd be surprised if you don't find everything you need in there.
bought mine at staples yesterday and it was still running the old firmware.
dcmtnbkr said:
bought mine at staples yesterday and it was still running the old firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's that matter? Are you saying that because with new firmware you cannot load all the add-ons? Just curious...
User "wqwrqrfq" stated that you should always be able to load XBMC and add-ons.
One question for everyone... How long should it take to load certain Channels? By the way am I calling whatever each connection or option you can select right? Are they called something else? Just want to make sure I'm referring to it right. Also originally I had my Amazon TV connected on Wi-Fi but I know wire would be better. I connected by way of ethernet but it still takes A minute or more sometimes to load. Is that normal? Is that because of processing power from the Amazon TV or connection speed? I get about 30 to 40 Mb per second on my Internet connection.
thanks in advance
superfly611 said:
What's that matter? Are you saying that because with new firmware you cannot load all the add-ons? Just curious...
User "wqwrqrfq" stated that you should always be able to load XBMC and add-ons.
One question for everyone... How long should it take to load certain Channels? By the way am I calling whatever each connection or option you can select right? Are they called something else? Just want to make sure I'm referring to it right. Also originally I had my Amazon TV connected on Wi-Fi but I know wire would be better. I connected by way of ethernet but it still takes A minute or more sometimes to load. Is that normal? Is that because of processing power from the Amazon TV or connection speed? I get about 30 to 40 Mb per second on my Internet connection.
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thought someone had asked above where you could still buy one that can be rooted.
Oh okay. you don't have to root the Amazon fire tv to put XBMC on it right? What is the benefit of rooting it?
Change launchers, remove crap, edit system files, install google play store, etc
You can install most apks by sideloading via abd and the ip address. It plays emulators surprising well.
Hi,
First time on this forum and am looking for some advice if possible? I am looking at getting an Nvidia Shield TV (either for Christmas if a relative is feeling generous, or if not will buy one after) Ideally, I want it to replace all the kit I've got and make it my main TV box, but the important thing is it's good (and easy) enough for the kids and wife to use without getting angry at me
Currently I have a Now TV box, Youview box, DVR box, and DVD player, with a Soundbar (I'm based in the UK, so in case there is any confusion, Now TV is a Sky over network offering, and YouView is BT's set top box) So loads of different remotes, I do have a Logitech Harmony, but think the Shield will be a very good option for me.
Now I know, that I can't get it replace everything, but if I can get it close enough, and have gaming capability too, I'll be very happy. So, questions are as follows-
1. Live TV -
I have looked through the forums, and see that there are some USB tuners that work with it, as well as this -
Not allowed to post the link, as it's my first post, it's a HD homerun, available on Amazon. If anyone knows of a cheaper alternative, that would be great.
Which all look good, but I need to be able to record and have good EPG functionality. Has anyone tried these, is recording possible, to either a networked server, or an external USB 3 drive?
2. Now TV- Is there an app available for this, or are you able to Googlecast it from Ipad, Android phone, etc?
3. BT sport App- anyone been able to cast BT sport to it?
4. Gaming- I will probably sign up to the Nvidia streaming service, as my home desktop is not particularly powerful. However, I would like the flexibility of using my home PC as a game streamer. Does anyone know the minimum specs needed to successfully use a PC to stream games to the Shield? Does anyone have a preference Nvidia streaming, or home network gaming?
5. Would like to install Kodi on it for media streaming? Anyone have experience of this, does this work well?
6. This is certainly not a deal breaker, but anyone know if it can integrate with Philips Hue Lights, and Nest thermostat?
I know there's a lot of questions here, I have trawled through the forums and found a few answers, just need to get it all clear in my head, so any advice/info gratefully received.
Thanks
Dan
Hi, I'm from the UK too. Most of your questions are about paid streaming services which I don't use, so I can't help you there. As for minimum streaming PC requirements, I bought a GeForce laptop, which is more than capable of playing the games which I want to play. However I later found out that GameStream is restricted to GTX cards only (even the oldest GTX cards, but not even the latest non-GTX). Nvidia kept that quiet. I completely regret spending the extra money on what I thought was a GameStream ticket. There are alternative game streaming services which do work without GTX (even without Nvidia graphics at all) but they're quite buggy and not very polished.
I haven't used it extensively but Kodi runs as smoothly as you would expect on the hardware (exceptionally smoothly). As for replacing your current setup, I've heard that you can hook up a USB optical drive and play DVDs (but not Blu-Rays) through KODI. However it lacks many UK streaming services, like Channel 4, Channel 5 and ITV. So you might want to keep the Now TV box around for a little while.
BenjiHansell said:
Hi, I'm from the UK too. Most of your questions are about paid streaming services which I don't use, so I can't help you there. As for minimum streaming PC requirements, I bought a GeForce laptop, which is more than capable of playing the games which I want to play. However I later found out that GameStream is restricted to GTX cards only (even the oldest GTX cards, but not even the latest non-GTX). Nvidia kept that quiet. I completely regret spending the extra money on what I thought was a GameStream ticket. There are alternative game streaming services which do work without GTX (even without Nvidia graphics at all) but they're quite buggy and not very polished.
I haven't used it extensively but Kodi runs as smoothly as you would expect on the hardware (exceptionally smoothly). As for replacing your current setup, I've heard that you can hook up a USB optical drive and play DVDs (but not Blu-Rays) through KODI. However it lacks many UK streaming services, like Channel 4, Channel 5 and ITV. So you might want to keep the Now TV box around for a little while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great, that's very helpful. Thanks. I plan to integrate it slowly, so that might work well. Is there another game stream service you can recommend?
hdhomerun can that run sky services?
kyrusdemnati said:
hdhomerun can that run sky services?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not as far as I'm aware, but I could be wrong
i dont think it does... after research on sat forums
A while back, if I recall correctly, at one time the Flixster app allowed us to watch movies in our UltraViolet collection, albeit in a lower resolution, but later the app was changed and didn't play movies back...
While I don't have many Ultraviolet movies, I have a few, so I was disappointed not having a way to play them back on my Fire TVs.
I haven't seen it mentioned, but I can confirm that sideloading the "Vudu Movies & TV (Android TV) 4.1.15.40985" app from apkmirror DOES work on my Fire TV 2nd Gens to access and play my Ultraviolet movie collection. http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/vudu/v...du-movies-tv-android-tv-4-1-15-40985-release/
The playback shows HDX (on the screen). The box in my living room (connected to 10+ year old Pioneer Elite VSX-21 receiver... HDMI audio is split to optical via a box from Monoprice) gives me DD5.1 per the Pioneer. For the box in my bedroom, which is connected via HDMI directly to my Sony XBR-43X800D, when I hit the INFO button on the TV's remote, the TV says Dolby Digital Plus. (I don't have a DD+ capable receiver)
The app itself shows under "my apps" or when you hold the home button down and get to your apps. I haven't seen it pop up to the "recent" section yet.
Unfortunately this seems to only work on my 2nd Gen Fire TV Boxes, not my first gen boxes....
My 1st gen with OS 5.2.4.1, the app installs, shows under the "manage applications" list, but not on the normal menus, or the apps list when you hold the home button on the remote. You can launch it from "manage applications" It runs, I can sign in, and start a movie. Unfortunately it says "SD" but I never see video, and only hear audio.
My other 1st gen box didn't get 5.2.4.1 OS update yet. The Vudu app doesn't show under "manage applications" nor does it show on the menus. I have Appstarter installed on that box. IT does show the Vudu app. Just like the 1st gen box with 5.2.4.1, it seems to indicate only "SD" video, and attempts to play result in audio only, no video.
So it looks like this doesn't work on my 1st gen boxes, only my 2nd gen boxes.
Well, one of my 1st gen sticks is on 5.0.5 with the Android TV play store installed. From there, I installed the Vudu Movies & TV app. This showed up alongside the rest of the apps in the different menus, FireStarter (except for recents). Only have one movie on there so far, but I think that purchase was in "SD" anyway. Seems to play back as expected. Guess I would assume this to work on the 1st gen box the same way, unless something odd is going on with the newer Fire OS versions or root access?
EDIT: Seems to work fine after all.
This is an awesome development. Has anyone tried this with a second gen Fire Stick? First gen apparently doesn't work.
Thanks for this!
Confirmed working on a 2nd gen fire TV, with no issues that I can see.
I tried installing this on my new Fire TV (non-Stick) and I keep getting an error when trying to install. Can anyone provide assistance on getting this up and running? I find it odd there isn't an official Vudu app for Fire TV.
New update for Vudu?
In was able to run the side loaded app on my Fire tv box for a few months perfectly. Now, the app tells me I'm using an old version and to update. But if I try to update in the app it states it is trying to open a link to an external market that is not available on the device and if want to go to the app store instead, which fails.
Is there a new version that works I can side load? The newest versions on apkmirror all fail installation.
Thank you!
September 2017 Fix for Vudu on Fire TV
Hey all,
After getting the message that I was running an old version of Vudu, needing to reinstall it, I uninstalled my Vudu app, went back into ES File Explorer and couldn't open Dropbox for some reason. Weird. Searched for a new version of Vudu on my phone and found it at apkmirror. Look for this file version of Vudu. 4.1.21.51938
I uploaded it using One drive because it didn't give me an error like Dropbox did on the Fire TV ES File Explorer. Download and installed the file from the One drive section of ES File Explorer under the Network--Cloud tab. Vudu is super fast now. Love it. Trust me, it works.
Good luck!
Thanks for the update! After a bit of dorking around, installing a new transfer and install app, I finally got the new version on and working.
Thanks!
Vudu not sideloading 2nd gen FireTV
I tried all the apk listed above and they are not working. I am getting an error on install. I can use app2fire to install app from my android, but its unusable, every is squished. i have attached the error
You dont need VUDU app if you use the MOVIES ANYWHERE app that can link to your VUDU account and play all the movies. The only catch is that you can not download your movies to your FIRE TV with MOVIES ANYWHERE, as it can play the stream only.
Movies anywhere won't play all your movies. At least not yet. A couple of pretty big studios, MGM, Lionsgate, don't support it, so their movies don't show up in the app. And likewise, no TV show support in the movies anywhere system either. There is no Vudu substitute period. But the Android TV app does work, near flawlessly on the second and third gen fire TV devices. You just have to make sure you have the newest version installed at all times. For some reason Vudu kills access to their service for older versions of the app.
Just some follow up since I've been away from this thread for a while...
1. I've seen a few posts mentioning to just use MoviesAnywhere (MA). Keep in mind, this thread was started BEFORE MoviesAnywhere, back when it was still DISNEY Movies Anywhere which only supported Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars movies, and linking your Disney library to iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, or Google Play.
2. With the advent of MA, while it connects to UltraViolet (UV) compatible services like Vudu, MA only supports 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Disney and Warner Bros. It does not support Paramount, MGM, Lionsgate and possibly others. MA it does NOT support UV directly.
3. The only UV movies that will show in MA are those that are marked as both UV and MA compatible... For example, visit Vudu and look at the listings for Terminator: Genisys or Transformers: Age of Extinction.. they are marked UV, but not MA. Movies like this do NOT show in MA, nor across the linked services like Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, etc. for playback, and therefore a UV compatible app/service like Vudu or FandangoNOW must be used to play them. As a result, I have quite a few UV movies that I could not play without Vudu or FandangoNow apps on my Fire TV. Compare that to the Vudu listing of Ready Player One, where you'll see both the UV and MA markings. Movies marked like this ARE available across services. They can be watched in any service linked to MA such as Vudu, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, FandangoNow, etc.
4. The Android TV Vudu app works to watch any UV or MA movie in your linked libraries, even the UV only titles that are not available via MA.
5. Since the initial post, Vudu still doesn't show under Recent Apps on my FireTV's menu... But it continues to show under Apps & Channels, and you can move its icon anywhere. I moved it to my 2nd app, so its the main Fire TV home screen.
As mentioned in the OP, I have two different 2nd Gen Fire TV boxes. Here are the versions of the Vudu app I've been using on them.
On my 2nd Gen Fire TV Box connected to 1080p TV... this newer version of Vudu works fine for SD/HDX (UHD is not an option due to the TV) and also provides 5.1 audio per my Pioneer Elite VSX-21 receiver (see OP)
air.com.vudu.air.DownloaderTablet_4.1.45.96620-1236620_minAPI21(armeabi-v7a)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/vudu/...android-tv-4-1-45-96620-android-apk-download/
On my 2nd Gen Fire TV Box connected to UHD TV... this version works and also plays UHD/4K movies... (as mentioned in the OP, this box is only connected to the TV, and its info display says Dolby Digital Plus)
air.com.vudu.air.DownloaderTablet_4.1.23.60526-1200526_minAPI21(armeabi-v7a)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/vudu/...android-tv-4-1-23-60526-android-apk-download/
NOTE: when I tried 4.1.45.96620-1236620 on my 2nd Gen Fire TV connected to UHD TV, it failed to play UHD movies. They looked like they were starting to play, but they immediately exited back to the previous menu. So I rolled back to 4.1.23.60526-1200526 which still works for SD/HDX/UHD movies. I have not tried any other more recent versions, and likely wont until 4.1.23.60526-1200526 stops working.
I have not done any further testing on my Gen 1 Fire TV boxes.
zhzaen said:
I tried all the apk listed above and they are not working. I am getting an error on install. I can use app2fire to install app from my android, but its unusable, every is squished. i have attached the error
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if you ever got this fixed... but I'm using ADB from my PC to push the APK to my Fire TV's. I haven't tried pushing from my Android Phone.
Another update... So I got a FireTV Cube recently... and loaded up air.com.vudu.air.DownloaderTablet_4.2.52.110309-1250309_minAPI21(armeabi-v7a)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk
From -> https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/vudu/...ndroid-tv-4-2-52-110309-android-apk-download/
VUDU app reports 4K UHD HDR10 and ATMOS on most/all of my 4K movies I stream. My Pioneer VSX LX103 receiver reports the video signal input is 4K(3840x2160)59hz YCbCr420 30bit while the movies are playing. The cube is set for Auto up to 4K, Frame Rate matching on, Color Depth up to 12bit, and Color format as YCbCr
KidJoe said:
Another update... So I got a FireTV Cube recently... and loaded up air.com.vudu.air.DownloaderTablet_4.2.52.110309-1250309_minAPI21(armeabi-v7a)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk
From -> https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/vudu/...ndroid-tv-4-2-52-110309-android-apk-download/
VUDU app reports 4K UHD HDR10 and ATMOS on most/all of my 4K movies I stream. My Pioneer VSX LX103 receiver reports the video signal input is 4K(3840x2160)59hz YCbCr420 30bit while the movies are playing. The cube is set for Auto up to 4K, Frame Rate matching on, Color Depth up to 12bit, and Color format as YCbCr
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried the latest version that I have installed on my phone 5.5 something and it was pretty hard trying to get logged in. Ended up loading the above version on my fire tv cube and it worked right away.
Update on the new 4K Fire TV stick w/HDR and DV support...
With the new 4K Fire TV stick connected to my (new) Sony XBR65X900F TV (the TV supports 4K, HDR and DV), Vudu can be sideloaded and work, but it also seems I need to be using a wired ethernet adapter or I get errors when trying to start playing a movie.
I'm using 4.1.23.60526.... It DOES do DV/ATMOS/UHD when the 4K Stick is connected to my Sony XRB65X900F in the family room. If I then move the stick (with that same Vudu installed) to my Sony XBR43X800D in the bedroom which supports 4K and HDR, but NOT DV, the Vudu app shows 4K/HDR/ATMOS for movies.
The stick is set for resolution Auto up to 4K, Frame Rate matching on, Color Depth up to 12bit, Color format as YCbCr, and Dynamic Range as Adaptive.
air.com.vudu.air.DownloaderTablet_4.1.23.60526-1200526_minAPI21(armeabi-v7a)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/vudu/...android-tv-4-1-23-60526-android-apk-download/