Firetv Stick - Casting youtube + other question... - Fire TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Whenever I use youtube app on my android mobile there is a small casting button on top, when pressed it directly opens the video on my smart TV.
Now, can I use the Fire Stick the same way to instantly cast youtube videos to my non smart TV ?
PS: I want to Cast not Mirror.
Also, off-topic... many of my videos does not play or doesn't have sound when played on TV via USB saying format not supported. What kind of simple device do I have to buy/use so that I can play all by personal videos and also have services inbuilt like Netflix and Amazon prime ?

Related

[Q] My Top AFTV Working Apps List

My Top AFTV Working Apps List
Adobe Flash Player
AGK Fire
Amazon Cloud Drive Photos
Amazon Fire TV Remote App
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Shopping
Application Organizer Pro (Fire TV Edition)
Asphalt 8: Airborne
Baby Channel
BBC I-Player
BBC News
BBC Sport
BBC Weather
Blinkbox
Bollywood Channel
BT Sports
Caller-ID (Fire TV Edition)
Care World TV
CartoonHD
ChannelLive
Chinese Food
Chrome Browser - Google
Clock
Curzon Home Cinema
Daily Mail Online
Dance Trippin TV
Demand 5
Domino's Pizza
Dropbox
ES File Explorer File Manager
Facebook
Fire Fox
Fired TV Launcher 1.1.5
Fireplace
Flixster
Foggy Waterfall for TV
Food network
FoodyTV
Freesat
Frequency
Gmail
History Channel
iFood.tv
ikono TV
Indian Recipes
ITV Player
KODI 14.0 - with the Navi-X Plug-in - Black Nova Skin
Live Sports Tv Channels HD (Kindle Fire Supported)
Live TV Player
LiveNow!TV
Llama
Mexican Food
Microsoft Outlook Preview
Microsoft Remote Desktop
Ministry of Sound Radio
Mobdro
MTV Trax - Free Music Player
musiXmatch TV
MUZU
Netflix
NOW TV: Movies, TV & Sport
PLEX
Pluto TV
Popcorntime
Prime Instant Video
Qello
Serenity for Android
Show Box
Sky+
Sky Go
Sky News
SKY Now TV
Sky Sports for Android
Snow Ambience Free
Sports Live Tv HD Free
Sports TV Channels Live Streaming
Spotify Connect
STV Player
Thai Food
Trip Asia
TuneIn Radio
TVCatchup
TVPlayer
Twitter
VEVO - Watch HD Music Videos
Vimeo
Vimu Player
WWE Network
YouTube
YuppTV
What are your favorite working apps?
Can you categorize the applist with fire tv remote and external mouse needed to control?
that will be very helpful.
mrhoque said:
Can you categorize the applist with fire tv remote and external mouse needed to control?
that will be very helpful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. That would be most helpful. I rather not have to use a mouse for most my apps and if someone already knows they could post so we don't all have to test..
Do you have links to Bollywood channel and Indian recipes apps?
..
I am not sure how I can go about downloading the apks you have listed to install these with adbfire on my unrooted firestick ( Sky Sports for Android) but they do look like a good list
I suggest the global use of an extra abbreviation for FireTV Stick to end the confusion.
Also,make a seperate list since some apps don't work on the stick. (I heard retroarch had more issues)
Abbreviation: AFTV-Stick
Its better than confusion.
Also,YouTube is a PITA now because of the broken services 7.3.29 issue.
The 4.4.11 (v5b) YouTube MOD works without even needing root access since it also doesn't need Google Play Services.
retroben said:
I suggest the global use of an extra abbreviation for FireTV Stick to end the confusion.
Also,make a seperate list since some apps don't work on the stick. (I heard retroarch had more issues)
Abbreviation: AFTV-Stick
Its better than confusion.
Also,YouTube is a PITA now because of the broken services 7.3.29 issue.
The 4.4.11 (v5b) YouTube MOD works without even needing root access since it also doesn't need Google Play Services.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google Play Sevices is not broken, 7.3.29 is not built to work on the Fire TV. 7.0.99 is actualy the same version as 7.3.29 with a different version number and is meant to work with the Fire TV hardware. 7.3.29 is the latest version that works on certain hardware and 7.0.99 is also the latest version for other devicess. Not all devices use the same verion of an app. Thats why if you go to the actuall playstore every app will say "latest version - varies from devicess", cause depending on your hardware the version number will be different. Also, I am using the lastest version of Youtube with 7.0.99 and it works great. The only problem is that when ram gets too low videos won't play, but the solution is to either force close Youtube or run fast reboot. After that videos will start playing again, at least that is what works for me. I have Dock4droid installed with a fast reboot shortcut so when Youtube acts up I just close it, do a fast reboot and all is well.

YouTube and Fire TV problem

In the last day or two whenever i try to play a YouTube video it kicks out to the main Amazon Fire TV menu. I'm going to YouTube from the Fire TV main menu....not Kodi. Thanks for any info!
Try "force stop" and open it again.
Which YouTube app?
I personally use the 4.4.11 YouTube MOD because it does not require anything special.
It even works on non-rooted FireTV as well.
A reboot of the Fire TV did the trick.
I use the default YouTube that comes up in the Apps menu...but i will look into the mod you suggested.
Thank you very much for the reply!
Which YouTube app?
I personally use the 4.4.11 YouTube MOD because it does not require anything special.
It even works on non-rooted FireTV as well.[/QUOTE]

Youtube Alternatives

So I'm having extreme frustrations with the native Youtube app for my Fire TV Stick. It's often slow, randomly crashes, CONSTANTLY lags without fail, and I can't even use the Amazon Fire TV Android app to type to search. It's just not an overall well done app for the Stick at least. I can't speak about the Fire TV Box, which I might purchase due to some sluggishness with the Stick (i.e. Youtube, Kodi, etc) So, I've tried other alternatives on the Amazon Appstore. Namely OneTube. It works decently, but it doesn't look too pretty, is difficult to find things when I don't know what I want to watch, and no Cast/pair support.
The older Youtube for Google TV works well, but unfortunately, when using the remote, I can't click the search box to search anything lol.
I've used the Youtube for Android TV 1.0.5.5 app(sideloaded) and, minus the regular complaints about the app itself, runs great! No lag, videos work fine, and I can type to search with the Amazon Fire TV app on my phone. Downside is that I can't seem to find a pair device setting in the app itself :/ Now maybe I need to sideload google play services in order to get it to show up? I'm not sure, but I thought that was only necessary if you wanted to sign into your YouTube account.
So my question is are there any alternate YouTube players that work well, or is there a way to pair my device with the new Youtube for Android TV app?
The kodi YouTube app works very well and you could use yatse to cast videos to it.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

Android TV VUDU app on Fire TV to watch UltraViolet movies...

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/

How to best send youtube videos from multiple smartphones to fire tv?

Hi,
I'm having a FireTV1. My main goal is to install something with that multiple smartphones can be used to control youtube streaming on the firetv.
Important is that it should work without having to login to a youtube account on the firetv. Because eg my wife and me having different youtube accounts, both active on the smartphone.
As both of us should be able to stream youtube content to firetv directly, it would be bad if the firetv has to be logged in to one of the accounts. As in this case only one of our smartphones could take control of the firetv.
If there is some app, but that requires installing custom systems like kodi, that would be fine.
I'm a bit lost in the possibilities and would be happy for any advise how to achieve that.
Thanks!
membersound said:
Hi,
I'm having a FireTV1. My main goal is to install something with that multiple smartphones can be used to control youtube streaming on the firetv.
Important is that it should work without having to login to a youtube account on the firetv. Because eg my wife and me having different youtube accounts, both active on the smartphone.
As both of us should be able to stream youtube content to firetv directly, it would be bad if the firetv has to be logged in to one of the accounts. As in this case only one of our smartphones could take control of the firetv.
If there is some app, but that requires installing custom systems like kodi, that would be fine.
I'm a bit lost in the possibilities and would be happy for any advise how to achieve that.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your first issue is there is no YouTube app for FireTV. You can thank the Amazon vs Google war for that. You can only screen mirror Amazon devices to Fire TV devices.
Secondly, what you’re describing would function best using a Google Chromecast, that way anyone on your WiFi, can cast YouTube and many other apps, from their phone to the Chromecast device.
Ok I see. Though our primary use is amazon prime video. So I hoped for having just one player...
So there is no way throwing videos on firetv in any case?
(I'd like to avoid screen mirroring. I tried that multiple times without satisfying results).
membersound said:
Ok I see. Though our primary use is amazon prime video. So I hoped for having just one player...
So there is no way throwing videos on firetv in any case?
(I'd like to avoid screen mirroring. I tried that multiple times without satisfying results).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can have just one player, but the Fire tv devices are cheaply made. I’ve not had great success with them.
Now I’m using Roku, which still will let me do Amazon video. Not sure on screen mirroring but it does have a YouTube app. I’ll have to check if it will support multiple accounts in the app.
Without doing mirroring, I’m not sure what you mean by “throwing” videos on the screen.
You can cast YouTube to the fire stick pretty easily. I followed this guide to set it up. https://youtu.be/Fpjaqw7CAMg
@Jeffro2700 great, thanks! that worked.
so the only tradeoff is that I first have to start the youtube firefox/silk browser page before I can send videos from my phone to firetv, correct?
If you're a Kodi user with an Android phone, I highly recommend installing the youtube addon for kodi, and installing the yatse remote for kodi app. Once you've done that you can use Share > Play on Media Server (an option enabled with a Yatse installation), and it will cast it to the Kodi system the yatse app is currently controlling. Those are the broad strokes. If you want more info, like how to enable youtube videos > 720P/30 in Kodi, let me know.
Alternatively, you could try sideloading the Smart YouTube TV app from here: https://smartyoutubetv.github.io

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