Help!! Philips 75PFL5604/F7 Android TV - Philips, Sony, TCL Android TV

My Android TV lost power during a firmware update and is now in a bootloop. In the case of the 5000 Series TV's, Philips removed the built in hardware feature(Standard on all Android Devices) to boot into bootloader/fastboot or recovery using hardware buttons on the TV. Why I ask? They don't disable that on their European model TV's, so why only in the US? when i should just be able to boot to bootloader and reflash the firmware myself, I now can do nothing and my TV is an expensive brick. I'm not a baby and I can work on my own stuff Philips, no need to disable standard features and render my device junk for no reason other than from a bad update flash! Their website claims to have the update file but of course they give a dead link. Customer support says they have no updates to give and that the update they claim to provide on their website doesn't exist(still claims to be available on their support website). They also claim that the low level flashing mode used by their updates, explained in their update instructions, again, don't exist and I made it all up. I was repeatedly told they couldn't help me, when asked to be put into contact with someone who could help me, I was simply asked if there was anything else they could help me with and the same cycle repeated, at which point I terminated the call. When i asked to speak with a supervisor in hopes of escalating the issue to someone that was in a position to have an actual conversation with me, I was told they were all busy and that I would be called back. I was never called back. After my own testing and extensive research, I found that the blue upgrade screen explained in their update instructions from their website, does indeed exist, as I was able to rename a zip to the naming scheme the tv wants, and the blue upgrade screen comes up, but because I don't have the proper signed .pkg file, the reflash fails. Multiple attempts with customer service has done nothing, they are all programmed, braindead robots and I just wanted to scream into the phone from frustration, that's how ridiculous the interactions were. It was clear to me that these customer service people are payed to not think or use any sort of logic and instead just continue reading off their rhetoric on the screen in front of them. It was a very toxic environment from the moment someone picked up and it was akin to some sort of warfare tatics I would imagine are being used by the likes of the CIA and such. I called customer support for support, instead of support what I got was the runaround, felt belittled and bullied into the belief that I am wrong, when the information presented to me, as well as personal testing has shown otherwise, not to mention my own extensive knowledge of the Android ecosystem. At the core, this TV is just an Android device with a giant non-touchscreen. I have an update file from another user on XDA in zip format, but without the ability to boot into the bootloader or recovery, I can't use it. I would need the untouched upgrade_loader.pkg file for this tv to be run from usb in order to reflash the TV and recover from my brick. If anybody was smart enough to grab any files from the tv, any of the updates, ota updates, .pgk files, anything that could possibly help me get this TV going again, please reach out to me.
[email protected]
Luckily, this TV is still under warranty and if I can't get this fixed myself following the proper channels, then I will def be getting it either repaired under warranty or just telling them I want my money back and going to a more customer friendly company. If Philips wants to be Anti-Consumer and disable standard built-in hardware features, offer non-existent files on their website and then treat their paying customers like crap with their dodgy customer support practices, then fine, they can pay for the damages caused by their practices and decisions, and never again will I spend another penny to support or help keep this company afloat, and I encourage others to rethink their purchases as well, across the board.....
I strongly encourage Philips to rethink their position and to stop stiff-arming their customers and instead work with them. When I call to inquire about an offered firmware file on their website, I don't expect to be asked why I want the file. The fact I want it, their website claims to have it available for download and just the plain old fact that I want the file for my $900 TV for my own personal archive for instances such as this, I don't feel any explanation is required. I have no issue taking this over to YouTube and placing my terrible experience with this into the proper hands of somebody that will get this info out there to the masses and attempt to get several million more sets of eyes on this in the hopes of maybe putting some pressure on these people to stop being so trivial and petty about dumb things. I need the .pkg file to fix my TV, Philips, not a big deal, stop pretending it is please.....
TV Webpage: https://www.usa.philips.com/c-p/75PFL5604_F7/5000-series-android-tv-with-google-assistant
TV Support Webpage: https://www.usa.philips.com/c-p/75PFL5604_F7/5000-series-android-tv-with-google-assistant/support

why? because planned obsolescence is not forbidden per law

Related

The Junkheap – Experimental Device Donations

I've noticed that a some developers (myself included) would be substantially aided in their efforts if they had access to one or more Galaxy S test devices.
I don't know how successful this will be however I've created this thread as a central place for developers to “apply” for device donations and for members to put their (presumably broken) devices up for donation.
My phone is broken, can someone fix it?
If your phone is broken and you want it fixed then a Samsung Service Centre or your place of purchase is the place to get it done. However if for some reason Samsung won't fix your phone then you can list it here and it might inadvertently get fixed, but please make sure you read this whole post very carefully!
Deciding to donate... zero liability!
If you do decide to list a device here regardless of whether you're donating or lending it to someone the developer that you donate/lend it to is in no way liable for what happens to your phone. The purpose of this thread is so users can donate devices for experimental development. As such there is definitely a chance devices could get bricked or permanently damaged (if they're not already). If your warranty isn't already voided then it certainly will be. If you're not willing to accept this then do not donate!
I would like to think that developers who have been donated devices will return the device to the donator upon request, regardless of whether the phone was donated or lent. However, just in case I would like “donators” to make clear what they expect in regards to their donation, whether they intend to donate, lend, donation time-frame etc.
Which developer gets which phone?
I think it should be up to the donator to decide what projects are more worthy or more relevant to the donator. I'm not going to assign phones to projects unless the donator requests that I do so.
How are broken devices useful?
Obviously that depends on what the developer is doing. To some developers a bricked device may be totally useless. However, for developers working on low-level interfacing (JTAG etc.) then bricked devices are basically the perfect test subject.
Shipping the device and costs.
I think it's only fair that people donating their phone shouldn't have to pay the cost to ship the phone to the developer. However, the return shipping costs (if the donator wants the phone returned) should be negotiated on per donation basis.
If the phone turns on the donator MUST disable all security features, in particular the mobile tracker functionality!
Applying/Listing
Developers or donators should fill out the following forms respectively.
--- Developer Application ---
Project Title:
Project Description:
Device Requirements:
Example 1. A Bell I9000M that in the past had access to download mode.
Example 2. Any device that charges.
Location:
Extra Information:
--- Donator Application ---
Donation Type: [Donating/Lending]
Phone Type:
Phone Status:
Example 1. Stuck in boot loop. Never had access to 3-button download mode... even tried the oven!
Example 2. Doesn't respond to power button or charger... it's dead!
Location:
Developer Requirements:
Example 1. Need the device back in a month.
Example 2. If the device gets fixed I would like it returned.
Extra Information:
----------------------------------- Developers -----------------------------------
Benjamin Dobell < celtichazard* (Returned)
dagentooboy
----------------------------------- Donators -----------------------------------
celtichazard -> Benjamin Dobell* (Returned)
Bold - Assigned
Regular - Unassigned
* - Lent
Project Title: Heimdall (and JTAG Research)
Project Description:
Heimdall is an open-source, cross-platform replacement for Odin. It is currently in alpha and is in need of testing. For more detailed information refer to the Heimdall thread.
I'm also interested in doing some JTAG research that will hopefully help bring "fully bricked" phones back to life.
Device Requirements:
Any Galaxy S (or derivative) phone in any state what-so-ever.
Location:
Melbourne, Australia
Extra Information:
I'm good with being lent or donated devices. I'm also happy to return donated devices if I'm able to fix them.
It might be worth also having "qualifications" as one of the things. Because otherwise, even 10 year olds can request phones...
I am concerned about the liability statement though honestly.. I live in Melbourne, but I am concerned that there isn't a reasonable expectation that the mobile will be working when it is returned (but yes, I'd love to see Heimdell succeed). Also, there isn't any clauses which ensure that provide leverage for mobile's to be returned.
andrewluecke said:
It might be worth also having "qualifications" as one of the things. Because otherwise, even 10 year olds can request phones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it should be up to me to decide who is qualified. However I will add something to the original thread that makes it clear it is the donators choice as to who they donate to (I'm not going to automatically assign phones to people).
Lending
--- Donator Application ---
Donation Type: Lending
Phone Type:Samsung Galaxy S i9000 european version
Phone Status:
Stuck in boot loop. Never had access to 3-button download mode... even tried the oven!
Location: Country : Mexico State: Chihuahua City: Juarez
Developer Requirements:
If the device gets fixed I would like it returned.
Extra Information: The device was flashed with AT&T Rom
celtichazard will be lending me his bricked phone so that I can perform some JTAG research into unbricking Galaxy S phones.
If anyone is interested in this research and would like to donate to help cover the cost of shipping, JTAG adapters, wires, components, solder etc. that would be very much appreciated.
The Junkheap sounds like a really good idea .
The JTAG research you are talking about; I have no clue what it is. Is it also related to your Heimdall project? Because that did sound interesting.
Also, I checked out your website at the donate link, and the subjects are so horribly technical, I have no clue what that is about either. So I guess it must be really low-level high-tech ^^.
Edit: donated a little bit. Heimdall could potentially be very practical for all of us .
jjwa said:
The Junkheap sounds like a really good idea .
The JTAG research you are talking about; I have no clue what it is. Is it also related to your Heimdall project? Because that did sound interesting.
Also, I checked out your website at the donate link, and the subjects are so horribly technical, I have no clue what that is about either. So I guess it must be really low-level high-tech ^^.
Edit: donated a little bit. Heimdall could potentially be very practical for all of us .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, thank you very much for the donation.
The research that I'll be doing with celtichazard's phone is in regards to finding a way to unbrick any bricked Galaxy S phone. The research is not immediately related to Heimdall. However, if I do manage to work out how to unbrick a phone it will definitely be beneficial for everyone. It will also have a positive effect on the development of Heimdall, as it will allow me to try more experimental functionality without worrying about having to send my phone off to the UK for repair if something goes wrong.
Project Title: JTAG
Project Description:
Trying to figure out a way to unbrick "fully bricked" phones.
Device Requirements:
Any Galaxy S (or derivative) phone in a "fully bricked" state.
Also a fully working one would be nice so I can dump the bootloader.
Location:
Madrid, Spain
Extra Information:
JTAG can bring a bricked phone back to life. If I figure out how to make this work your phone will be fully working. If not then it will still be bricked. I would be willing to return the phone in whatever state it is in when I am done. If you are in the United States a USPS flat rate priority mail box to me is $15. If you have a device that you want to ship let me know and if I need it I will pay for shipping one way.
andrewluecke said:
I am concerned about the liability statement though honestly.. I live in Melbourne, but I am concerned that there isn't a reasonable expectation that the mobile will be working when it is returned (but yes, I'd love to see Heimdell succeed). Also, there isn't any clauses which ensure that provide leverage for mobile's to be returned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only just realised you edited your post.
The liability statement is mostly in place to ensure developers aren't held responsible for damage (which may or may not have been their fault) or postage related issues.
I understand your concerns in regards to having the device returned, but quite simply there is absolutely no way to enforce such a policy. International law is largely a myth so attempting to enforce any such clause would be near impossible. If you're donating to someone within the same country then you certainly could write-up a contract. I'm not a lawyer, but if a donator wants to organise such a contract with a developer then they're certainly free to do so.
The best thing you can do is to make sure you donate to a reasonably well known developer. If the person you're donating to has a reputation to uphold then you've definitely got some leverage if things get nasty.
Regardless I sincerely hope that we won't see that sort of situation here.
dagentooboy is still looking for someone to donate or lend him a phone. His JTAG research is similar to the work I'll be doing and is extremely important. The more people we have working on it the more likely we'll come across a fix.
If someone has a bricked phone they are willing to donate/lend that would be fantastic.
I suggest to link the developer requests and the donator offers in the first post.
This should help to get a faster overview what is needed/offered.
The link to each post is in the upper right corner of each post.
And i would suggest to use this junkheap for all SGS phones (captivate, vibrant, epic 4g, fascinate & i9000), because most of rom/kernel mods could easily be ported to all sgs phones and development would be faster if developers could have access to all sgs phones.
neldar said:
I suggest to link the developer requests and the donator offers in the first post.
This should help to get a faster overview what is needed/offered.
The link to each post is in the upper right corner of each post.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great idea, I just finished updating the first post.
neldar said:
And i would suggest to use this junkheap for all SGS phones (captivate, vibrant, epic 4g, fascinate & i9000), because most of rom/kernel mods could easily be ported to all sgs phones and development would be faster if developers could have access to all sgs phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah all phones are accepted depending on what particular developers are after. However thus-far I believe myself and dagentooboy have been willing to accept any SGS phone (including derivatives).
yeah any GSM galaxy s phone would be fine... if it is CDMA I won't be able to test the cell side (to make sure I didn't break it).
Project Title: UnBrickable Mod
Project Description:
An end user solution to unbricking fully bricked phones with only a wire and soldering skills
Device Requirements:
an i9000 device which can have the processor removed and not replaced.
Location:
Louisiana, USA
Extra Information:
UnBrickable Mod has been performed on the Captivate and I'd like to get this modification out to you guys in the i9000 sector. This mod allows you to flash bootloaders and not think twice. Thereby increasing development and allowing for repurposing of our phones at the end of their lives as a Ubuntu device, or similar.
This modification will be fully documented and open-source. It will help the entire community get out of a jam without any additional hardware if they have the skills to solder two points on the board. I must locate these points and it requires removal of the processor. I can return the device which will be inoperative if required.
See video for explanation of how easy it will be to unbrick with UnBrickable Mod.
The execution of a single device will allow resurrection of all others.
Project Title: Thor (an alternative to Heimdall)
Project Description:
Thor is aiming to be more stable and up-to-date.
Here is an XDA thread about it.
Here is a list of new features that I want to test:
1) Ability to flash from BL/AP/CP/CSC .tar archives directly
2) Ability do download latest firmware and flash it automatically
3) Ability to flash compressed (.lz4) files directly (newly discovered)
4) You can shut down the device from GUI immediately (no reboot)
5) PIT viewer built-in, with more accurate information
6) Ability to do NAND Erase All (actually it just erases userdata)
7) Ability to do DevInfo (information about the device: model, carrier id, region, serial code)
Device Requirements:
1) Any Samsung device with Odin v3 protocol
2) Lending only, as my parents would tell me to **** off
Location:
Obviously you don't need this.
Extra Information:
None
Project: PostmarketOS, UBPorts on galaxystmd
Old device: but I have multiple. Willing to send one to device to multiple developers with experience and desire to port for proof-of-concept and/or restoring functionality to this device via mainline Linux (PMOS).
UBTouch would be a secondary effort: as it had been ported during the initial launch, but did not get migrated to the UBPorts project.
3rd effort would be porting latest Lineage, modded/optimized ROM, stripped down/optimized kernel. "One final rodeo."
1 Device per person Per Effort.
So realistically I would give each person up to three devices.

Bootloaders, Rooting, Manufacturers, and Carriers (long read)

Original Article
Background​I don't believe that I need to introduce myself, but if I do my name is P3Droid. I am a phone enthusiast and have been working in the Android platform for 17 months. I have been very lucky in my short time on the Android platform. I think more than anything I have been lucky enough to be in the right places at the right times. The day I first saw and played with the Droid (OG) I thought “that is the ugliest damn phone I've ever played with”. Then I was asked back into the store by my friend (nameless) to get some time with the Android platform and he began to explain to me how open the phone was and how a “smart” person could do anything they wanted to the phone. That turned what I thought was an ugly phone into the sexiest beast ever. I guess that was approximately October of 2009, and I was excited about the possibilities and dove right in without checking the depth of the water.
I spent much of the year on an open phone and an open platform, and sometime in July I picked up a Droid X. I soon found a great bunch of friends and we formed Team Black Hat. Really wanting to break the bootloader, we spent more hours working on it than we did our 9 – 5 jobs. Eventually we came to the conclusion (with help from some unique resources), that we were not going to accomplish our objective. Every so often we still pluck away at it, but we have moved on to other things that will help people enjoy their Droid phones.
Fast forward to October 2010. I'm still in love with the concept of android, and I've done more than my share of developing, themeing, creating ROMS and even hacking. *Having been involved in so many things and having developed some unique contacts, I have been privy to information that is not disseminated to the masses. Some of this information I was asked to sit on. Some information I sat on because I felt it was best to do so for our entire community. You have probably seen me rant on occasion about what I thought the community was doing wrong and causing itself future pain. Each of those days I had received even more disheartening information. So where does this leave me? It leaves me with a difficult choice to make. What to tell, how much to tell, and do I want to give information out that could possible be slightly wrong. I've worked very hard to verify things through multiple sources, when possible, and some other information comes from sources so reliable that I take them at their word.
This brings me up to today. I've tossed and turned regarding how to say this, and how to express all of the information and my feelings in regards to this information. I guess the solution is to just let you all decide for yourselves what you think and what you want to do.
One Shoe Falls​
Beginning in July, we (TBH), began hearing things about Motorola working on ways to make rooting the device more difficult. This was going to be done via Google through the kernel. No big deal we thought, the community always finds a way. When Froyo was released and there was no root for some time we became a bit concerned but soon there was a process and even 1-clicks. This was good news and bad news to me, because it simply meant that they would go back to the drawing board and improve upon what they had done.
During this time there were still little rumors here and there about security of devices, and other such things but nothing solid and concrete. Until November.
The Other Shoe Falls​
Beginning in October, the information began coming in faster and it had more of a dire ring to it. It was also coming in from multiple sources. I began to rant a little at the state of our community, and that we were the cause of our own woes. So what did I hear?
1. New devices would present challenges for the community that would most likely be insurmountable, and that Motorola specifically – would be impossible to hack the bootloader. Considering we never hacked the previous 3G phones, this was less than encouraging.
2.Locked bootloaders, and phones were not a Motorola-only issue, that the major manufacturers and carriers had agreed this was the best course of action.(see new HTC devices)
3. The driving forces for device lock down was theft of service by rooted users, the return of non-defective devices due to consumer fraud, and the use of non-approved firmware on the networks.
I think I posted my first angry message and tweet about being a responsible community soon after getting this information. I knew the hand writing was on the wall, and we would not be able to stop what was coming, but maybe we could convince them we were not all thieves and cut throats.
Moving along, December marked a low point for me. The information started to firm up, and I was able to verify it through multiple channels. This information made the previous information look like a day in the park. So what was new?
1. Multiple carriers were working collaboratively on a program that would be able to identify rooted users and create a database of their meids.
2. Manufacturers who supply Verizon were baking into the roms new security features:
a. one security feature would identify any phone using a tether program to circumvent paying for tethering services. (check your gingerbread DroidX/Droid2 people and try wireless tether)
b. a second security feature would allow the phone to identify itself to the network if rooted.
c. security item number 2 would be used to track, throttle, even possibly restrict full data usage of these rooted phones.
The Rubber Meets the Road​
So, I wish I had more time to have added this to the original post, but writing something like this takes a lot of time and effort to put all the information into context and provide some form of linear progression.
Lets get on with the story. March of this year was a monumental month for me. The information was unsettling and I felt as if we had a gigantic bulls-eye on our backs.
This is what I have heard:
1. The way that they were able to track rooted users is based on pushing updates to phones, and then tracking which meid's did not take the update. There is more to it than this but that is the simple version.
2. More than one major carrier besides Verizon has implemented this program and that all carriers involved had begun tracking rooted phones. All carriers involved were more than pleased with the accuracy of the program.
1. What I was not told is what the carriers intended to do with this information.
3. In new builds the tracking would be built into the firmware and that if a person removed the tracking from the firmware then the phone would not be verified on the network (i.e. your phone could not make phone calls or access data).
4. Google is working with carriers and manufacturers to secure phones, and although Google is not working to end hacking, it is working to secure the kernel so that no future applications can maliciously use exploits to steal end-user information. But in order to gain this level of security this may mean limited chances to root the device. (This item I've been told but not yet able to verify through multiple sources – so take it for what you want)
5. Verizon has successfully used its new programs to throttle data on test devices in accordance with the guidelines of the program.
6. The push is to lock down the devices as tight as can be, but also offer un-lockable devices (Think Nexus S).
The question I've asked is why? Why do all this; why go through so much trouble. The answer I get is a very logical one and one I understand even if I don't like it. It is about the money. With LTE arriving and the higher charges for data and tethering, carriers feel they must bottle up the ability of users to root their device and access this data, circumventing the expensive tethering charges.
What I would like to leave you with is that this is not an initiative unique to Verizon or Motorola, this is industry wide and encompassing many manufacturers.
So what does all this mean? You will need to make your own conjectures about what to think of all of this. But, I think that the rooting, hacking, and modding community - as we know it - is living on borrowed time.
In the final analysis of all this I guess I'll leave you with my feelings:
I will take what comes and turn it into a better brighter day, that is all I can do because I do not control the world.
Disclaimers:
I am intentionally not including any names of sources as they do not want to lose their jobs.
This information is being presented to you as I have received and verified it. *
I only deal with information pertaining to US carriers and have no specific knowledge concerning foreign carriers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thoughts? Is there a future for Rooting?

[Q] Fire TV. HDMI to VGA converter.

Hi this is my first post. I'm looking at buying the Fire TV stick but my TV has no HDMI socket. My TV is a Panasonic Viera TH-42PE30 and I'm wanting to know what converters will work with this TV and the fire TV stick. I've been told that some converters haven't worked for some people. Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated as I'm looking at purchasing both the fire TV and the converter together.
They make HDMI to DVI and VGA cables should work fine. That's how my PC is running at the moment HDMI out of video card to DVI on my monitor. The HDMI port went bad
Keep in mind that there might be problems with the HDCP copy protection of the HDMI output. If it´s activated within the FireTV many converter may delivered only a black picture on VGA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection
edit removed wrong links provided.
No comments about quality, because those things have to do a signal conversion. Its not a simple "cable", all of them are doing signal processing.
Also you might run into problems with HDMIs copy protection.
No comments about quality, because those things have to do a signal conversion. Its not a simple "cable", all of them are doing signal processing.
Also you might run into problems with HDMIs copy protection.[/QUOTE]
So do you think both of those might work?
How likely do you think it is, that I spend the 10 dollars and the effort of hooking up the Fire TV to a VGA port, just to figure out which parts of the video output amazon encrypts with HDCP?
Also - there is a hint in there what you should google next to find out how android devices usually are set up in regards to a certain form of copy protection.
Or you just spend the 10 USD and then come back to tell others - highly unlikely concept, trying something and then reporting back... Nobody does it on social platforms today. Not enough upvotes. people care about the occasional insight into a field, because it makes them feel like they are diverse in their interests, but really, the second time around, it already feels somewhat old. Ask into the aether, wait for the Answer to come back. No filter, no quality control, just random noise. And if you feel like you really want a more valid answer, just venture out and try to exploit a tech community. XDA made a video for this demographic once.
Also, just as a tip - there is a reason that I cant tell how the image quality on these things would be today - even in third world countries - and I mean this in no way demeaning - the proliferation of HDMI enabled TVs is high enough that they start to reach lower income households. Thanks to offbrands. There is absolutely no market anymore for those converters. Thats why they now are in the 10 dollar impulse buy category.
Now you want buying advice on that... Ask your walmart sales rep often which 10USD coffee is the best? Ask some one who worked at those specially retailers, who now go bankrupt, because they were in the business of hiring people who understood what they were selling first, and were salesmen only after that? Then buy it on amazon. You know - the difference between Rhine capitalism ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Albert ) and whatever form americans are living in contrast to that today.
The economy in an internet forum is really not made for such requests. You bring nothing, you've invested nothing, you take value, you learn nothing that would prevent you from needing personal treatment the next time around, then you repeat the process whenever another need comes along. You exploited others when this still was a job they were paid for by companies - now you are exploiting nameless random people on the internet.
Face it - at least to some extend. Or be happy with the "there be cables" answer, because - there is no middle ground. The economy to provide you with informed and detailed answers simply does not exist.
Do something for yourself, show engagement, search before you ask - and dont fake it, because it just makes you a person who now knowingly abuses others for their benefit.
(And please follow, click subscribe and become a premium member of my one person brand. I get 20% of the proceedings. - You know, the new type of artist, we currently all like so much. Clickingly.)
---------- Post added at 09:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 PM ----------
Also, this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/help/to-disable-hdcp-t2888934
Thank god for copy protection.
edit: And if you are really in need for a solution, read this: https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com...magic_intensity_ps3_owners_read_here_101.html
I can sum it up for you. Just buying a cable that says HDMI to VGA will not work. You have to actually have a converter. Converters for what you are wanting to do usually cost around $40 minmum. The cables are usually used in conjunction with PCI type converters. PCI type converters will not work with the Fire TV since they only work with PCs, so you will need a converter that plugs into an electric outlet.
Actually - I learned something today.
I learned, that amazon.com now does freely sell devices that strip HDCP out of the signal into the american market. Which of course is illegal.
So search for hdmi vga dac hdcp
and read the product descriptions and or comments.
Whatever those boxes cost, they cost 16+ USD from an asia based vendor. Also - because they are this cheap in production (it doesn't count that some vendors sell them for tripple their price), your monitor better supports 1080p natively. With the correct scaling (picture not squished or cut off) and everything.
According to a german amazon post by a customer who talked to their technical support, the FIre TV (not the stick) needs at least a HDCP 1.3 compatibility - at least this was suggested by an answer regarding potential sound issues.
So whatever device you end up buying in the end, it should have the ability to strip HDCP 1.3.
Also - Im suddenly much more forthcoming, because I accidentally, initially provided two links to devices that will not fit your questions profile (just looked for the right connectors (male/female), didnt read that they still werent dac (Digital to Analog converters - which is what you need)) - so I'm in "making good" mode. Because if you are talking as harshly as I was, imho you have to be correct down to the last details.
Wow, thank you all so much. I'm not really a tech guy but I can tell you I'm very appreciative of all the information provided. I will have a look at some converters and let you know how I get on. Thank you again
Its just a very unfruitful question - because the real answer is "buy something that has a HDMI port, everything does - nowadays". The followup answer is, to achieve this your way, you need something that converts the signal. Which is not just "buying a cable" - this thing has to have a chip in it. The follow up answer to that is, that those devices commercially only make sense anymore, if they are dirt cheap, which might lead to signal quality issues (also, potential scaling issues).
The next problem is the copy protection layer (HDCP 1.3) which has to be removed so you can even convert the digital HDMI signal to analog VGA. This wasnt always possible. Also - I would not openly talk about this information, if not amazon themselves were suddenly selling those devices in their store. So I'm choosing just not to share links.
At which point you also have to take into account the different versions of HDCP (because the industry doesnt like broken copy protection standards and writes new ones) and which one you have to circumvent.
And what for? First - copy protection at a point in the signal path, where currently only game streamers rip anything. And second - all that for something that increasingly even woulndt be an issue anymore in third world markets. Because everything nowadays has a HDMI port (- supporting or stripping HDCP). So this is all theoretical, and practical for almost no one in here. Which is why "should I buy this one, or that one" is even harder to answer.
harlekinrains said:
Its just a very unfruitful question - because the real answer is "buy something that has a HDMI port, everything does - nowadays". The followup answer is, to achieve this your way, you need something that converts the signal. Which is not just "buying a cable" - this thing has to have a chip in it. The follow up answer to that is, that those devices commercially only make sense anymore, if they are dirt cheap, which might lead to signal quality issues (also, potential scaling issues).
The next problem is the copy protection layer (HDCP 1.3) which has to be removed so you can even convert the digital HDMI signal to analog VGA. This wasnt always possible. Also - I would not openly talk about this information, if not amazon themselves were suddenly selling those devices in their store. So I'm choosing just not to share links.
At which point you also have to take into account the different versions of HDCP (because the industry doesnt like broken copy protection standards and writes new ones) and which one you have to circumvent.
And what for? First - copy protection at a point in the signal path, where currently only game streamers rip anything. And second - all that for something that increasingly even woulndt be an issue anymore in third world markets. Because everything nowadays has a HDMI port (- supporting or stripping HDCP). So this is all theoretical, and practical for almost no one in here. Which is why "should I buy this one, or that one" is even harder to answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate its not easy to answer but thank you for trying to do anyway. You've really helped me out so thanks! I'll be sure to let you know how I get on.
Does not work. Tried it. You need a converter that has its own power source, cable or other so called converter powered by USB will not work. You need something like this:
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B00AQMZI0Y/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AGP6GC0L2FALW
Most cost effective one I've seen with good reviews.
I'very tried a few others that have not worked which is why I'm confident in what I'm saying. Good thing about AMAZON, hassle free return if it doesn't work.
To reiterate again, I wouldnt have answered the question properly, If I hadn't indadvertedly messed up and linked to two wrong items in the shortform statement. (The hints toward solving the problems were right, the links were wrong.)
I dont care how much this helped your case specifically . I simply dont accept a simple line of heartfelt gratitude as "currency". Is it decent - sure. I'm just not motivated by it at all. Not before I read the question, not after the fact.
And if you feel the need to emphasize your gratitude again I have clearly done something wrong here - my motivation was to show, that it is not ok, to drag a picture perfect example of an egoistically motivated request into a public forum, without any research or intellectual investment on your part - and then expect a short solution delivered to you on a platter.
The investment of people who are clued in is so much larger on their part, and is almost solely concentrated on you personally - without any chance, that this will help many others, that it becomes necessary to demand work from you as well. Not gratitude. You acquiring information yourself and therefore rethinking the approach of exploiting the community.
This goes differently, when a community is highly active and you have many people reitering the snippets of information they just learned and helping each other out, because it is encouraging for them. Which is by the way what support forums sell to advertisers (Context matters).
See the difference in the approach, see the resulting difference in motivation.
If you dont want to learn or reciprocate yourself - do what the last poster did, and exploit a company that factors in consumer support/returns into a business model. That way it can at least be measured by capitalism as a social structure.
What you are doing is effectively destroying social structures. You take all efforts that go into problem solving, and give back no value in return. Again, gratitude does not count.
And by the way - you are lucky and in the end some one else had the very same problem and had to solve it for themselves. When they have done so - they put in the work for themselves (in this case by exploiting a companies return policy), and sharing doesnt take much effort on top of it. But looking for others to solve your problem - not parts of it, just the problem entirely - is a different animal. My motivation then is to first refute the false answers that come out of the "well I dont care who..." "well I dont care so much about how either, but I have heard" exchanges that follow. At the end of which no one even cares so much about if its factually correct or not - or even to mention the outcome.
I made an error at that stage.
And this is the only reason, why I have become this active in here - because suddenly it potentially impacted my reputation negatively.
The problem with information ecosystems is, that information nowadays is practically free, but filtering and researching it - is not. Always try to remember that.
harlekinrains said:
To reiterate again, I wouldnt have answered the question properly, If I hadn't indadvertedly messed up and linked to two wrong items in the shortform statement. (The hints toward solving the problems were right, the links were wrong.)
I dont care how much this helped your case specifically . I simply dont accept a simple line of heartfelt gratitude as "currency". Is it decent - sure. I'm just not motivated by it at all. Not before I read the question, not after the fact.
And if you feel the need to emphasize your gratitude again I have clearly done something wrong here - my motivation was to show, that it is not ok, to drag a picture perfect example of an egoistically motivated request into a public forum, without any research or intellectual investment on your part - and then expect a short solution delivered to you on a platter.
The investment of people who are clued in is so much larger on their part, and is almost solely concentrated on you personally - without any chance, that this will help many others, that it becomes necessary to demand work from you as well. Not gratitude. You acquiring information yourself and therefore rethinking the approach of exploiting the community.
This goes differently, when a community is highly active and you have many people reitering the snippets of information they just learned and helping each other out, because it is encouraging for them. Which is by the way what support forums sell to advertisers (Context matters).
See the difference in the approach, see the resulting difference in motivation.
If you dont want to learn or reciprocate yourself - do what the last poster did, and exploit a company that factors in consumer support/returns into a business model. That way it can at least be measured by capitalism as a social structure.
What you are doing is effectively destroying social structures. You take all efforts that go into problem solving, and give back no value in return. Again, gratitude does not count.
And by the way - you are lucky and in the end some one else had the very same problem and had to solve it for themselves. When they have done so - they put in the work for themselves (in this case by exploiting a companies return policy), and sharing doesnt take much effort on top of it. But looking for others to solve your problem - not parts of it, just the problem entirely - is a different animal. My motivation then is to first refute the false answers that come out of the "well I dont care who..." "well I dont care so much about how either, but I have heard" exchanges that follow. At the end of which no one even cares so much about if its factually correct or not - or even to mention the outcome.
I made an error at that stage.
And this is the only reason, why I have become this active in here - because suddenly it potentially impacted my reputation negatively.
The problem with information ecosystems is, that information nowadays is practically free, but filtering and researching it - is not. Always try to remember that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Clearly you have too much time on your hands.
harlekinrains said:
To reiterate again, I wouldnt have answered the question properly, If I hadn't indadvertedly messed up and linked to two wrong items in the shortform statement. (The hints toward solving the problems were right, the links were wrong.)
I dont care how much this helped your case specifically . I simply dont accept a simple line of heartfelt gratitude as "currency". Is it decent - sure. I'm just not motivated by it at all. Not before I read the question, not after the fact.
And if you feel the need to emphasize your gratitude again I have clearly done something wrong here - my motivation was to show, that it is not ok, to drag a picture perfect example of an egoistically motivated request into a public forum, without any research or intellectual investment on your part - and then expect a short solution delivered to you on a platter.
The investment of people who are clued in is so much larger on their part, and is almost solely concentrated on you personally - without any chance, that this will help many others, that it becomes necessary to demand work from you as well. Not gratitude. You acquiring information yourself and therefore rethinking the approach of exploiting the community.
This goes differently, when a community is highly active and you have many people reitering the snippets of information they just learned and helping each other out, because it is encouraging for them. Which is by the way what support forums sell to advertisers (Context matters).
See the difference in the approach, see the resulting difference in motivation.
If you dont want to learn or reciprocate yourself - do what the last poster did, and exploit a company that factors in consumer support/returns into a business model. That way it can at least be measured by capitalism as a social structure.
What you are doing is effectively destroying social structures. You take all efforts that go into problem solving, and give back no value in return. Again, gratitude does not count.
And by the way - you are lucky and in the end some one else had the very same problem and had to solve it for themselves. When they have done so - they put in the work for themselves (in this case by exploiting a companies return policy), and sharing doesnt take much effort on top of it. But looking for others to solve your problem - not parts of it, just the problem entirely - is a different animal. My motivation then is to first refute the false answers that come out of the "well I dont care who..." "well I dont care so much about how either, but I have heard" exchanges that follow. At the end of which no one even cares so much about if its factually correct or not - or even to mention the outcome.
I made an error at that stage.
And this is the only reason, why I have become this active in here - because suddenly it potentially impacted my reputation negatively.
The problem with information ecosystems is, that information nowadays is practically free, but filtering and researching it - is not. Always try to remember that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure who this is aimed at or what you are trying to say. My gut feeling is that you're offended that I asked for some information to something. It was merely a question that I asked. For your information I have done a lot of research but am not the most technically savvy person when it comes to this. Why some people feel the need to have knowledge and not share it is beyond me, but that is your choice.I thanked you for your help, just as I have everyone else for theirs, accept it or don't, that's up to you. I did not intend to offend but am thankful for the help I have received
I agree with the post above, maybe you have too much time on your hands.
I'm using this one, you can extract the sound from the HDMI too.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-HDMI-Ma...473?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35d40dfe01
chuandinh said:
I'm using this one, you can extract the sound from the HDMI too.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-HDMI-Ma...473?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35d40dfe01
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow I didn't think anything like this would work. I have an old Panasonic viera so I'm hoping something like this might work as would be a lot cheaper that way. Thank you for posting:good:
>Wow I didn't think anything like this would work.
If you had read amazon reviews, you' have found out that some of those models strip HDCP as well. Just saying. They advertise it as "compatible with DVD players, Playstation 3 and XBOX", because its illegal.
harlekinrains said:
>Wow I didn't think anything like this would work.
If you had read amazon reviews, you' have found out that some of those models strip HDCP as well. Just saying. They advertise it as "compatible with DVD players, Playstation 3 and XBOX", because its illegal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was there really any need? I have read reviews about this so stop making such a big deal about this. People are trying to help, yet you seem intent on making out what I've done is wrong. Nobody else has reacted like you, I suggest you don't post if it annoys you so much
Yes there was a need. Focusing on the form factor is harmful, when more than half of those adapters (same form factor) dont strip DHCP from the signal.
Linking to certain ebay sellers or product rebrands is solicitation. Also ebay auctions are gone within a few weeks which might induce the search for similar looking models. "I never thought it would be possible within this form factor" - without context - is drawing potentially harmful conclusions that others could copy and end up with non working devices.
Those are two reasons why It was necessary to break the focus on form factor - and focus on the stripping DHCP part again. As far as price point is concerned, 16USD from some sources also was old news. (This one is 10 USD with no mention of DHCP stripping in the product description (could still be in it) and one anonymous recommendation from someone on the internet.)
This is enough for me to feel the need to become active again.

[Q] Can Amazon stop Kodi from working?

I'm Curious....I have a Fire TV with Kodi and love it. Thinking of getting another…BUT can/will Amazon send out an update that will stop a Kodi from functioning on a Fire TV Box?? Don't want to waste money on another if it's destined to fail.
Thanks
I'm curious about this as well. It kind of boggles my mind that a simple exploit can give you access to everything.
If you are not rooted, Amazon can do whatever they want with firmware updates. It is their ecosystem. However, as long as they allow sideloaded applications (which if they want development of apps, they have to allow) Kodi can continue to be sideloaded.
That said, what "exploit" is the previous poster referring to?
Yes they can.. Would they. highly unlikely..
Lots of people asking this question now that kodi has been removed from app store. I actually understand amazon removing the app (don't like it) but it makes sense. They do after all, sell media and having that app in their store is a little like Starbucks advertising the special deals Dunkin Donuts is currently offering. But most people who know better than I do don't think you need to worry about kodi no longer working.
Btw--Ive never been clear about the rules regarding android. Its basically Linux which has always been open source. From what I gather that means you can modify it however you like but you need to leave it open. The word "open" must be interpreted very liberally because when you look at AFTV it runs android but it seems pretty well locked down to me. But I can't really comment on it. If anyone can share some good info on the legal reasons behind it, please do so.
It seems to me the vast innovation here was started by the public. And technology in general is a government subsidized industry. The pentagon uses tax dollars usually in the name of "security" and over decades develop things that go from very undesirable even by big business then get polished up and made into consumer products. Often times its just handed over to big business. This isn't really a commentary on capitalism. Im just taking a look at how we get from the public funding and/or the public actively developing tech to the point where people here can't even mess around with a product they paid for? I don't know that it makes sense but you certainly can argue its profoundly unfair.
Thank you for all the answers and im sorry for what I have caused!!! I love the Fire TV... I don't personally care if its Android 4, 4.4 etc.. As long as it works for Kodi im happy!
Ok everyone,
Thread cleaned....
As you all can see almost all posts have been removed. The OP asked a rather simple question. It wasn't an open invitation to rant and rave about assorted topics ranging from Kodi to your displeasure with xda-developers.com and what you think this website is personally not doing for you. In addition to all kinds of other off-topic nonsense. Also, it's still a mystery why some people can't have a discussion without it turning into personal attacks and flaming. Some of the posts removed were downright awful and disgusting.
This isn't the streets. This is a private website where rules and respect for one another apply. If any of you have trouble following the rules as they were laid out here, please find a new website to frequent.
Regards...
I've posted a response here after the fact - that mentioned again, that the moderators here are also cleaning any evidence of a political standing against the crisis facilitated by Amazons move, to retract the most frequently used open source media player from their store and engaging in a smear campaign against "ownership of device" interests. Which translates to - users rights to use a file player on a device they own. And in this process harmed my standing more than any of the slanderous comments that spiraled out of control here before.
The response got deleted subsequently, without any indication or even a comment as to why.
The political statement, I'd like to repeat, was -
Amazon crossed a line here. The company violated the trust relationship they had established in regards to their early adopters. They used their monopoly on distribution within their device infrastructure to remove a legal competitor and started a public smear campaign against him, based on a lie. Use and even heavily (ab)use the Fire TV you have already bought, if you have to, but stop recommending it to your peers and parents. There are cheaper, more up to date, more potent TV boxes on the horizon ( http://goo.gl/z1n9fj ), from companies that arent primarily interested in making this a fight about licensing and subscription models, chained to the hardware itself. Following a standing, where no user should be allowed to use a media player on a device they have bought from them anymore.
Amazons anti competitive move came unprovoked and is aimed at removing common ground between users of their product and company interests. They changed their position, it is time to change yours.
Background information can be found here: http://www.aftvnews.com/amazon-apps...piracy-while-google-play-store-approves-kodi/
Please do not censor political speech. The original post had more room for positional nuance and argumental flashing out of positions, and frankly was a better posting - this one is more concise.
When people are reduced to a state of waiting and worrying - structurally this cant be accepted as normal.
https://kateheddleston.com/blog/how-our-engineering-environments-are-killing-diversity-introduction
@harlekinrains: return your device and go away if you hate it that much
That way nothing could be learned from it. You dont hate the product. You hate the entity that killed of the common ground principle and mounted a campaign against the normal use of open source video player software on their device.
This is a pivotal moment. We have to be able to talk about it.
Oh get off it. This is not a pivotal moment for anything. You are straight up delusional.
You are wrong. I'll explain again.
The company just killed off the only remaining public sign, that they honor the silent agreement, that users have to be able to use video player software on the device, by banning the most commonly used open source media center from their entire distrubution infrastructure. And moreso - openly declaring it illegal, on their grounds, without giving any explanations.
Remember there is no independent judicial system to aid the consumer in the case of this being anti competitive behavior.
In technology and business relations, we refer to those important public facing signs as "canaries in the colemine". Killing them is considered to be an aggressive act, because you are eliminating the signs of there being a common interest you, as the company, care to honor as well.
Thats what activates people like me.
Because the issue we suddenly are facing is, that we do not get any more public indications of policy changes, before they can go into effect.
If you proclaim "Amazon will still honor other agreements, because they really have to...." you are proclaiming this, totally blind and only out of trust. This is what characterizes a dependency.
Remember - Amazon themselves didnt allow for Kodi to be installed on the Fire TV through their infrastructure. This already wasnt normal as far as Android distribution agreements are concerned. What they did now is to publicly position themselves against it (the most commonly used open source media player software out there).
Now you get these threads popping up with people being more and more uncertain, because they are confronted with conflicting proposals what they should be allowed to use on hardware they bought. This is a new and recent development, which is why we have to talk about it now.
And the way to address it, is not to calm them down - but to explain to them, that all bets are off, and we simply dont know anymore if, or when Amazon will retaliate further.
Because there is no public sign of mutual recognition left and their last move already was unprecedented, and hostile - and was executed without any prior provocation.
You can see that something is very "off", by the fact that even the companies "product bloggers" are taking an open stance against this move.
It is my opinion that whoever removed the Kodi app didn't understand the purpose. And Amazon will go the way of reinstating it (vs. removing every other media app that can play an internet link) once there is enough feedback and it gets the attention of a manager somewhere.
It is also my opinion that you are delusional in the depth of your concern over this app removal and the FireTV in general. There are far more concerning issues in life to be angry about. A media streaming device is not worth your emotions. Which is why this is the most I have ever, and will ever write about this. I am here to help contribute by answering questions and learn from the developers. You made a great contribution in one of your posts. You are obviously capable. Stick to that and check your soapbox at the door.
There are lots of other hardware options out there to put Kodi on, there always will be. There are many other media center applications on the Amazon app store. Nothing is "pivotal" about Kodi not being listed now. I put my money where I want. No one is forcing me to do anything. So no, I am not wrong. Because it is my opinion and choice. Nothing you can say will change my opinion on this. Especially coming from you.
Lastly, I assume this will all get deleted again and I hope so. This has nothing to do with the question from the OP. Kodi was never even a compatible app for the FireTV in the App Store. It always had to be sideloaded. So Amazon has changed nothing regarding the usage on the FireTV. And they won't be doing anything further in the future to stop it from being sideloaded either.
Edit: Don't reply to me. I am not going to respond to you. You keep editing your prior post over and over. You are obviously too emotional about this topic and I don't engage with people that are crazy.
You might be right.
But I dont care about opinions (*hm* double entendre.. ), I need coverage. And we are starting to get it right now.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/17/bezos_bozos_swing_ban_hammer_at_media_player/
@aftvnews, we still might need you later. Start thinking allegiances.
I take internet/consumer rights VERY seriously but its hard to get worked up here. I was sort of annoyed by the abrupt tone of the note amazon sent to team kodi but this changes almost nothing for aftv. Maybe some tablet or fire phone users are upset?
Imho this is team kodi's fight. And i would support them if they choose to better educate amazon.
Thread closed.
Certain people or particular person can't seem to stop with the long-winded rants (spam). Please either take your grievances to Amazon.com or Google+. No one here can provide you with the "help" that you need.
Regards...

[Q] HDMI to Component/audio

I am trying to connect a FireTv box to an older 70" XBR Sony TV with only DVI and component inputs. Can someone direct me what would I need to make this work. Thank you
Nope, because it gets boring pretty quick.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/general/fire-tv-hdmi-to-vga-converter-t3116404
What you didnt do so far.
Look on page 2 of this forum.
Search Amazon for HDMI to component.
Ask how hdcp is handled.
So get your answers from the thread I linked to instead.
Also at some point dragging along people that still dont have HDMI ports gets too bothersome. I dont care how much you spent back then - if people in third world markets have adopted a standard you still are scrambling with, something is very wrong. 70" wasnt economical back then (dont care), and now you want a cheap solution for a problem almost no one else has. Which also isnt economical (from a different POV, and now I care) right now. It will always be a cheap solution, because there is no market for it. Amazingly this means - that there are no consumer grade "brand" products. Amazingly this might also correlate with the fact that you have to strip DRM in order for it to work. Amazingly this means - this just doubled the unlikelyhood for there being branded products.
tldr to is it possible - yes. Even with the copy protection problem.
Translation: Hi - I want illegal, cheap, eastern market converters to degrade my video signal, or strip the audio from the HDMI chain - to facilitate the use of my 10+ year old TV which cost me a small fortune back then. Who is the expert here - that can solve this (partly industry created - see DRM) problem for me? For free.
No, no - thank you.
Chop, chop. Even though Radioshack has gone bankrupt, because the middle of society has turned to the internet to ask their very specific case problem questions - this still doest make this Radioshack. You see - the people you would ask before did get paid to listen to your very interesting case problem, then sell you a gadget. You had value to them, regardless of what you said, because you were a sales target. Question in return, what value do you bring to this forum - with this question?
Especially to those experts who surly would want to help you with your problem.
What you need is an IBM service rep. IBM, where you buy overpriced electronic solutions that will last you for decades. Hint - those are the guys with pocket protectors in a company suit, that still occupy the mental spot of "what electronics as a field is" to probably the majority of an aging society.
Wow! what a lecture for a simple question and BTW I did not ask you (in special) for any illegal options.
And after the rant:
http://www.amazon.com/E-More®-Conve...pebp=1435681310873&perid=0H04E8YTJV3JE9B58KMG
DVI is the better solution, since the video signal doest have to be touched.
Does it work? It should (educated assessment), but I dont care. Is there something better? There is no comparative level also no one would be interested in finding out at that point. Could there be a problem when I... Yes.
Did you really just use the amazon search for me? Yes.
At this point we can stop it - short, but hopefully not entirely uneventful.
---------- Post added at 06:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:26 PM ----------
@bula1ca: Thats the entire problem - you did (ask for an illegal solution).
You just dont care about any of the ramification, about whose support we are "playing" here, about who created the issues along the way (DRM which requires an illegal solution, but dont threat, amazon will gladly sell you one), about prolonging certain behavior models, about what a community is, about what motivates it - and what behavior actually destroys it and so forth
This is the prototypical example of being ignorant (part of that also includes not knowing how exactly) and in the end still getting an answer out of it. You did - but hopefully it wasnt entirely painless.
In short - the industry has abandoned you, some of the problems you are facing are industry created, there is no popular interest whatsoever in answering your question, you didnt bring anything to the table (searching, asking the right questions), your electronics buying and usecycles are adding to the problem and you are mistaking a forum for a support site. Also you want free. Thank you.
So at what point would we both find it easier to ignore this question entirely and behave like it didnt happen? And at what point would this discourage others from, in a very distinct way, abusing this platform?
This is the only cause I'm putting this much effort into answering it. To make people like you realize, that if you treat communities like a zero sum game that do your bidding (Hey, I just searched amazon for you! Doesnt that make you feel grand?), you dont do any of us any good.
If you are ignorant to whats causing problems ("Those hackers will always crack DRM!" "Pirates are bad, mkay") - this causes additional problems in the long run. You have managed to get this far without thinking about DRM. Congratulation - but maybe this should change.
Also - I write fast.
edit: As a further notice, if the solution linked to above doesnt work, the DRM on the FIre TV is to new. Is it? Well, find out. Do some research.
bula1ca said:
I am trying to connect a FireTv box to an older 70" XBR Sony TV with only DVI and component inputs. Can someone direct me what would I need to make this work. Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before I upgraded my amplifier, I did something similar.
This cable will get you from HDMI-out to DVI-in without any perceptible loss in picture quality. I'd offer my old one for the asking, but it's huge and they're cheap. That takes care of the video.
For the audio, you'll need something like this. I used it because my old amp had optical inputs but no HDMI switching. As with the cable, you can have it for the asking, but I'd recommend getting a newer one. The first gen ran hot and the LEDs are blindingly bright (easily fixed with electrical tape ) But if your old TV has optical inputs, you'd be set.
If your old TV doesn't have optical audio inputs (most only have outputs), it's time to start thinking about HTiB or Home Theater in-a-Box. You can have all my old stuff, but by the time you've paid for the shipping, you can get something newer and shinier.
P.S. Try to ignore the trolls. Eventually, they will get bored and go back to the sandbox.
wellersl said:
Before I upgraded my amplifier, I did something similar.
This cable will get you from HDMI-out to DVI-in without any perceptible loss in picture quality. I'd offer my old one for the asking, but it's huge and they're cheap. That takes care of the video.
For the audio, you'll need something like this. I used it because my old amp had optical inputs but no HDMI switching. As with the cable, you can have it for the asking, but I'd recommend getting a newer one. The first gen ran hot and the LEDs are blindingly bright (easily fixed with electrical tape ) But if your old TV has optical inputs, you'd be set.
If your old TV doesn't have optical audio inputs (most only have outputs), it's time to start thinking about HTiB or Home Theater in-a-Box. You can have all my old stuff, but by the time you've paid for the shipping, you can get something newer and shinier.
P.S. Try to ignore the trolls. Eventually, they will get bored and go back to the sandbox.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks much appreciated, LOL. I had it hocked up with a HDMI to DVI cable (used for my cable box) however I had a very choppy picture when any video played. This box is the basement very close to the router and should not be a wifi problem. BTW I even plugged in a cable direct from my router and no difference in video quality. My 1st unit on the 2nd floor and plays without any issues.
"Something like this" is also stripping HDCP - so it is in fact the same solution (HDMI goes into a powered black box, ...). With a unnecessary switch added to it. And you made him/her buy an additional cable that arguably isnt needed. (But thats a minor thing.)
When people would at least be surface educated about DRM (HDCP) in this case "just strip it out using these fine products you find on Amazon" wouldnt be an acceptable answer.
Still there is a faction that thinks that we should ignore that, and find it totally normal that we have to point to illegal applications to solve legacy problems, that this is our function on XDA - and please do that politely and mostly silent - because thats what good product support does. Please be so understanding and you get a LOL out of it in return - for your efforts.
I dont see myself as a product support kind of type. Much.
I have different interests - like talking about issues, when they are so obvious. They cant be ignored.
Luckily some are still willing in assisting you in "buying them away". There is just a little problem to it. There is no guarantee that this will work after the next revision of HDMI, or the one after, or the one...
And as we have established, no one is willing to educate, search, or reflect on the issue at hand.
I insist, that the OP is more of a troll than I ever was, not intentionally, but in effect.
Thank you to everyone participating - especially the members of this community that still think skipping the "learning something" part and getting right to the product endorsement was what was needed in this case.
Also, thats just the "ignoring DRM" part. The selfentitlement in not finding out anything about where the problems lie, and how to circumvent them (thread was on page 2) is an entire different chapter. I've covered that one as well.
That is enough. No need for you ignorance and sarcasm to a simple question.
When did I request any support from you?
I asked a simple question. Do you really think it is OK with Sony building all these TVs and now we are left behind with no support?
That is the only reason we are looking for a solution so give us a break and go find someone else to irritate with your stupid remarks.
Thanks for the flavor text.
HDMI and DVi are entirely digital. A choppy image that is caused by the signal connection from the box to the screen is basically impossible (maybe after 50 feet of cable, but still - *neh*). But it surly isnt the wifi. Why even look at the player cache?
When flavor text is used to "simulate" being "technically interested" it changes the entire mood of the situation. Im always appreciative of that one as well.
But thank you for mirroring the "being ignorrant" mantra on to me.
My reaction was animated - but it is justified.
If you can find someone that is willing to give you a product endorsement, you win.
You had little to no effort opening this thread, the other person had little effort answering the question. You learned nothing and no expertise was needed. ("i found that on amazon" was successfully transfered from one person to another) Thats minimal effort, no harm done - maybe the wrong forum, but who cares.
And tomorrow two of you follow.
edit: As for the question "are you ok with this being Sonys fault and us not getting any support from them". Again - your question basically is a paid support question ("dosnt work with what I bought"). You get no support from Sony, because the screen at this point is over 10 years old, or was sold as a professional screen, produced not with consumer devices in mind. Understand that. Companies factor in support, they pay for it, and after a few years, you cant get it anymore. Also, it isnt Sonys fault, because the push towards HDMI always was at least "accompanied" by content provider interests. Your problem to the largest extend is a DRM problem and not a compatibility problem. Solving the DRM problem requires illegal solutions. That are openly sold on amazon (lets not talk about that) - so amazon can profit from it, but we should solve it for you, right?
In addition you havent read up on the problem behind your issue, have bought the hdmi/dvi cable that doesnt solve it for you (but you can now buy a switch for that will strip HDCP), and way back when bought a 70" screen with none of the conventional inputs (maybe an age issue). Again - what have you brought to the table, and why should anyone on XDA cater to your problem - when it was discussed already in a thread on page 2.
Again - "looking for a paid solution, getting it of amazon, followed by an "oh it works" moment - then sharing it with another one" is easy. But it ignores all structural issues with it, the approach, the solution, the problem itself...
And to be very frank - I would even have reacted if someone had just posted an amazon link not contextualizing that this vendor (and amazon) are profiting from an illegal solution to an etirely made up problem (DRM) that was factually "produced" to harm users (legacy issues), on behalf of the content industry.
Why is it in your interest that none of this gets addressed?
I'll gift you not talking about your product buying cycles and why XDA should be the last source to frequent to get support for "whale" (industry term, not derogative) like behavior..
Reduced complexity. Not having to learn anything. But that lets these threads pop up one after the other, and I dont get my chance to point the finger at who actually is responsible for the problem (not you. For the most part. Although you could have done your research.). Because everything becomes "just a simple question" in this light.

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