Develop Bugs

How well does XBMC work on Fire TV

Any problems with it? Is it buggy in any way? I'm looking for a cheap xbmc device but a raspberry pi is too much work.

I am using it and it works amazing well for me. Before I had pivos xios, ouya, MINIX neo x7 and they all their own issues. Finally for TV gives best of all of them. Only con is you have to tinker a bit but it's not too hard.

heyredy141 said:
I am using it and it works amazing well for me. Before I had pivos xios, ouya, MINIX neo x7 and they all their own issues. Finally for TV gives best of all of them. Only con is you have to tinker a bit but it's not too hard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No bugs at all? If I am using XBMC, will I be able to access Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Instant Video? Also, is it easy to unroot and factory reset?

HenryTheUnicorn said:
No bugs at all? If I am using XBMC, will I be able to access Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Instant Video? Also, is it easy to unroot and factory reset?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't go wrong. You don't need to root to install it. See the XBMC wiki or FireTV News. (I can't post urls.)

urls
XBMC Wiki: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Amazon_Fire_TV
FireTVNews: http://www.firetvnews.com/tag/guide/

jmerrilljr2 said:
You can't go wrong. You don't need to root to install it. See the XBMC wiki or FireTV News. (I can't post urls.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you don't need root, but it would help alot. How well does XBMC work for you?

I would say I works near perfectly for me
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

collindv said:
I would say I works near perfectly for me
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Near perfect? What problems do you have? And I hear that MPEG2 isnt supported, should I be concerned about that?

HenryTheUnicorn said:
you don't need root, but it would help alot. How well does XBMC work for you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No flaws. I'm rooted but root is really not relevant to running XBMC. For years I ran Plex on a MacMini. This is way better. Just to start -- DTS pass-thru.
Sideloading is really easy. So is uninstalling. I can't see a down side here.

HenryTheUnicorn said:
you don't need root, but it would help alot. How well does XBMC work for you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jmerrilljr2 said:
You can't go wrong. You don't need to root to install it. See the XBMC wiki or FireTV News. (I can't post urls.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is all true. However, to get the best possible XBMC experience on the KFTV will require root and to setup an XBMC Launcher (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2790392). This launcher replaces the KFTV launcher while still providing access to it and Amazon Prime. It's literally the best of both worlds.

mjbxx said:
This is all true. However, to get the best possible XBMC experience on the KFTV will require root and to setup an XBMC Launcher (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2790392). This launcher replaces the KFTV launcher while still providing access to it and Amazon Prime. It's literally the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the links. How do I do a factory reset or unroot my device just incase I decide to return it?

HenryTheUnicorn said:
Thank you for the links. How do I do a factory reset or unroot my device just incase I decide to return it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fire TV News (link in a prior post) has guides for all your issues. I would also recommend downloading ADBFire which you can find in the Fire TV Themes and Apps subforum of this forum

Hi.
I've rooted my AFTV and installet XBMC. It works good, but I have some problems.
1) IPTV PVR SIMPLE addon not working. When I whant to play any channel it freezes and can't go back to menu. Only reset helps.
2) Some kind of shifting in rewind when making step forward or backward fo 30 sec. Very long time of buffering.
3) Sleep mode in XBMC not working properly. It reboots AFTV every time, but no sleep.
4) And the biggest problem in Audio. When I use Direct output with ac3, dts, etc the video playback begins to slow.

Madline said:
Hi.
I've rooted my AFTV and installet XBMC. It works good, but I have some problems.
1) IPTV PVR SIMPLE addon not working. When I whant to play any channel it freezes and can't go back to menu. Only reset helps.
2) Some kind of shifting in rewind when making step forward or backward fo 30 sec. Very long time of buffering.
3) Sleep mode in XBMC not working properly. It reboots AFTV every time, but no sleep.
4) And the biggest problem in Audio. When I use Direct output with ac3, dts, etc the video playback begins to slow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. So if I don't use this addon, it won't affect me?
2. What do you mean?
3. Does this fix your problem? http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Amazon_Fire_TV#Sleep_while_XBMC_is_Open_.28Requires_root.29
4. Is there a way for audio and video playback to run smooth without this problem?

HenryTheUnicorn said:
1. So if I don't use this addon, it won't affect me?
2. What do you mean?
3. Does this fix your problem?
4. Is there a way for audio and video playback to run smooth without this problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. May be You know any other way to play IPTV playlist without installing additional server soft (such as Tvheadend)? On my HTPC I use "PVR IPTV Simple Client" and it works perfect. On AFTV it stucks.
2. Fast-forward causes everything to look choppy. I think I should edit advancedsettings.xml
3. I made all steps by this wiki. I've installed this Android Screensaver and it worked normally till today. Now my AFTV every minute reboots instead of sleep mode.
4. Yes. In standart settings it works. Without enable passthrough. But this is not acceptable for me.

Madline said:
1. May be You know any other way to play IPTV playlist without installing additional server soft (such as Tvheadend)? On my HTPC I use "PVR IPTV Simple Client" and it works perfect. On AFTV it stucks.
2. Fast-forward causes everything to look choppy. I think I should edit advancedsettings.xml
3. I made all steps by this wiki. I've installed this Android Screensaver and it worked normally till today. Now my AFTV every minute reboots instead of sleep mode.
4. Yes. In standart settings it works. Without enable passthrough. But this is not acceptable for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Darn. What should I get? Amazon Fire TV or Raspberry Pi?

HenryTheUnicorn said:
Darn. What should I get? Amazon Fire TV or Raspberry Pi?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fire TV and do not look back. Besides, you have a 30 day return period throught Amazon. Try it out and see if you like it. You have absolutely nothing to lose doing so.

HenryTheUnicorn said:
Darn. What should I get? Amazon Fire TV or Raspberry Pi?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had a raspberry pi with raspbmc for over a year. I bought the firetv two weeks ago. While I enjoyed tinkering around with the pi and tweaking it to get the best experience for xbmc, the fire tv is much better. It's just so much more powerful and as a result everything is very smooth, menus, video playback - all of it. In addition, you have the added benefit of having access to netflix and amazon prime which you will not get on raspbmc. Now I have to turn on one less device when I want to watch netflix. Finally, it seems like there are some devs working on unlocking the bootloader - so I would imagine that custom roms can't be far off. So if those things sound good to you, I would highly recommend the FTV.

jmerrilljr2 said:
No flaws. I'm rooted but root is really not relevant to running XBMC. For years I ran Plex on a MacMini. This is way better. Just to start -- DTS pass-thru.
Sideloading is really easy. So is uninstalling. I can't see a down side here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DTS pass-thru is something that I was banging my head against the wall to make it work, then I just saw "advanced settings" on the left bottom of menu just to find out that you need to activate this to have access to audio pass-thru. Then it worked flawlessly.

Spmc
You guys should look into SPMC for an alternative solution to xbmc. Its the same app but custom made that was designed for Ouya.works better on Amzon Fire Tv

[Q] KODI with 24hz somehow?

Got my FTW today with the latest actual firmware - so no point in downgrading.
I just installed the latest KODI nightly (helix based) within FTV. There's no chance in selecting 1080 @ 24hz, because the resolution-options are greyed out. Also SPMC is not able to select those setting. So - is this version not able to select resolution options at all? Is there ANY way to force XBMC/KODI to use [email protected] constantly? With 60 (or 50) native 24hz movies are nearly not smootly watchable.... stutters every few secs

fattymcdirty said:
Got my FTW today with the latest actual firmware - so no point in downgrading.
I just installed the latest KODI nightly (helix based) within FTV. There's no chance in selecting 1080 @ 24hz, because the resolution-options are greyed out. Also SPMC is not able to select those setting. So - is this version not able to select resolution options at all? Is there ANY way to force XBMC/KODI to use [email protected] constantly? With 60 (or 50) native 24hz movies are nearly not smootly watchable.... stutters every few secs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its 60hz only, afaik its not possible to change refresh rates in android.

Android L has auto frame rate switching, so hopefully the Fire TV is updated to that OS. Its not a Kodi thing, but and Android issue which has not supported 24hz till this day

ars_92 said:
Android L has auto frame rate switching, so hopefully the Fire TV is updated to that OS. Its not a Kodi thing, but and Android issue which has not supported 24hz till this day
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seeing as it's still on 4.2... somehow I doubt that. Custom AOSP builds is a different story though.

Linux May Be The Solution
rbox said:
Seeing as it's still on 4.2... somehow I doubt that. Custom AOSP builds is a different story though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Openelec and AmLinux have auto-refresh rate switching. How hard would it be to get a Linux build on the Fire TV?:fingers-crossed:

zahir32 said:
Openelec and AmLinux have auto-refresh rate switching. How hard would it be to get a Linux build on the Fire TV?:fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They already have Fedora running on it. But it's more about kernel support and the kernel video driver than the Linux dist.

rbox said:
Seeing as it's still on 4.2... somehow I doubt that. Custom AOSP builds is a different story though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 2013 kindle hdx was updated from 4.2 to 4.4 when the 2014 kindle hdx was launched. So who knows, when the fireTV 2 launches with android L/android TV next year they might just update this device with the identical firmware too. Just trying to be optimistic here lol.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

Hi,
is there any news on this? My Raspberry supports it perfectly, so I would like to get a faster hardware, and the Fire TV seems to be a nice option, but without framerate switching, its worthless

could someone port this script over from another android tv setup to help with the 24p /24hz
http://www.freaktab.com/archive/index.php/t-14440.html

ars_92 said:
Android L has auto frame rate switching, so hopefully the Fire TV is updated to that OS. Its not a Kodi thing, but and Android issue which has not supported 24hz till this day
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My asus cube running google tv was able to output at 24hz.

Fire Tv & XBMC and Noob questions

Hi all,
I am glad I found this great forum and I hope I am posting on the correct subforum.
I am considering getting a Fire TV. It is currently at a great price on Amazon.de (84 euro), but since I want to replace my WD Live that i currently use, I want to have xbmc on it. On ebay there are many pre-rooted Fire TV with xbmc and add ons. but at an average of about 150 euro, I think it is stupid to buy them now if I can do it myself and if I can avoid rooting even better.
My main needs for the Fire TV (in priority irder) are :
1. SInce I am a Prime User of Amazon, I want to use Instant Video of Amazon
2. Stream HD video from my libraries from NAS drives
3. Other streaming add ons on xbmv like xStream, Navi-X, Sportsdevil
4. Web browsing, emulators, amazon apps
So my questions are ;
1. If I buy right now a new Fire TV, can I install xbmc using one of the guides without rooting it ? Are there sepcific models/versions of Fire TV that won't allow it ?
2. Can I use the streaming and other add ons of xbmc without rooting , or are there specific ones that require root ?
3. Do any of the streaming add ons using Bittorent ? In Germany while you currently have no issues with streaming or download , using torrents will get you quick and easy problems with the law. Feedback of german members is highly appreciated here.
Sorry for a very long first post, I hope the questions are clear and easy to answer. Please feel free to add anything you think it might be helpful in my case.
Many thanks and cheers !

Nf13 said:
Hi all,
I am glad I found this great forum and I hope I am posting on the correct subforum.
I am considering getting a Fire TV. It is currently at a great price on Amazon.de (84 euro), but since I want to replace my WD Live that i currently use, I want to have xbmc on it. On ebay there are many pre-rooted Fire TV with xbmc and add ons. but at an average of about 150 euro, I think it is stupid to buy them now if I can do it myself and if I can avoid rooting even better.
My main needs for the Fire TV (in priority irder) are :
1. SInce I am a Prime User of Amazon, I want to use Instant Video of Amazon
2. Stream HD video from my libraries from NAS drives
3. Other streaming add ons on xbmv like xStream, Navi-X, Sportsdevil
4. Web browsing, emulators, amazon apps
So my questions are ;
1. If I buy right now a new Fire TV, can I install xbmc using one of the guides without rooting it ? Are there sepcific models/versions of Fire TV that won't allow it ?
2. Can I use the streaming and other add ons of xbmc without rooting , or are there specific ones that require root ?
3. Do any of the streaming add ons using Bittorent ? In Germany while you currently have no issues with streaming or download , using torrents will get you quick and easy problems with the law. Feedback of german members is highly appreciated here.
Sorry for a very long first post, I hope the questions are clear and easy to answer. Please feel free to add anything you think it might be helpful in my case.
Many thanks and cheers !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1/ No, you can install without need for root.
2/ No, addons install in XBMC does not require root.
3/ No, streaming protocol is different from bit torrent. You can choose to install an addon that acts as a bit torren client to download files and watch it, but it is your choice. No addons in XBMC will trick you into using bit torrent without your acknowledgment. If you are worry about piracy,you are better off paying for Hulu and such since using primewire or 1channel is the same as illegal torrenting.

vi6s said:
1/ No, you can install without need for root.
2/ No, addons install in XBMC does not require root.
3/ No, streaming protocol is different from bit torrent. You can choose to install an addon that acts as a bit torren client to download files and watch it, but it is your choice. No addons in XBMC will trick you into using bit torrent without your acknowledgment. If you are worry about piracy,you are better off paying for Hulu and such since using primewire or 1channel is the same as illegal torrenting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many thanks for your answer :good:

Ordered it today, still at the same good price, but I have to wait a week for delivery as the demand was probably high (until 2 days ago it was next day delivery). They also had the Logitech K400 keyboard at a reduced price today so I added this as well, from what I read through the forum it is well supported. I have to search a bit more about game controller though.
I downloaded ADB, xbmc Gotham 13.2, copied all video files from various HDD to the NAS drives, and now we wait....

You are going to love it. I was using a WD Live TV unit previously as well. It did not have support for Amazon Prime and it was very slow when loading directories with a lot of files. The Fire TV with XBMC/Kodi loaded is a great replacement!

jpage101 said:
You are going to love it. I was using a WD Live TV unit previously as well. It did not have support for Amazon Prime and it was very slow when loading directories with a lot of files. The Fire TV with XBMC/Kodi loaded is a great replacement!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am quite excited to be honest, amazon also send me an email that it will arrive today instead of Monday as originally planned (so now I have to find somewhere to send my wife and the kids until I set everything up , a day pass at theme park probably )
The lack of Amazon Video and the speed was the main reason for me too. Especially after the root on WD to use Movie Sheets for the movies it became slower that death ...
As I am not familiar with xbmc, if I have a movie file , named after the movie (as it appears on imdb), is there an add on that creates a movie sheet (info, thumbnail, etc) or do I have to create them manually ? Any link will also help.
Cheers

Really enjoying it so far !
Everything runs smooth and I found the answer for anything xbmc related in the xbmc forums.
Sideloading apps was extremely easy following one of the guides found, the only issue (if you can call it "issue") was the command :
adb install blahblah.apk
it failed because of multiple devices. I run adb devices and it was an emulator-5554. Did some research you can either kill it or use this command :
adb -s <Fire TV IP: Port> install blahblah.apk instead and it works like a charm.
Hope it helps if someone faces this issue.
Cheers !

jpage101 said:
You are going to love it. I was using a WD Live TV unit previously as well. It did not have support for Amazon Prime and it was very slow when loading directories with a lot of files. The Fire TV with XBMC/Kodi loaded is a great replacement!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Curious how you use this as a replacement local streamer over WD TV Live.
I have WD, it's UI is terrible, BUT. I need full non transcoded blu-ray video(H.264,VC-1), 7.1 DTS-MA and True-HD sound. Am I missing something or is none of this really possible with Fire?
Not trying to be a jerk, but want to make sure I am not missing something about the Fire. If so PLEASE fill me in.

gottahavit said:
Curious how you use this as a replacement local streamer over WD TV Live.
I have WD, it's UI is terrible, BUT. I need full non transcoded blu-ray video(H.264,VC-1), 7.1 DTS-MA and True-HD sound. Am I missing something or is none of this really possible with Fire?
Not trying to be a jerk, but want to make sure I am not missing something about the Fire. If so PLEASE fill me in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As local streamer, I use xbmc and NAS drives and it works perfectly. I don't have the same needs in sound, so I am more than ok with the formats supported. H.264, VC-1 is supported afaik.
Cheers

Nf13 said:
As local streamer, I use xbmc and NAS drives and it works perfectly. I don't have the same needs in sound, so I am more than ok with the formats supported. H.264, VC-1 is supported afaik.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting specs say vc1 but ...
according to this http://kodi.wiki/view/Amazon_Fire_TV it dont work nor does dtsma passthrough. Too bad.

Video Issues w/ Side Loaded Kodi

So I decided to pick up AFTV a week ago after reading so many good reviews about the device and how well it runs Kodi, but I am having an issue running certain MKV files with dual audio. When I try to play the videos Kodi either crashes to the FTV menu or restarts the whole device. I tried to disable the accelerators in settings and the video starts to play with stuttering and no audio. Anyone know what could be the cause of this and is there a fix available.
BTW I'm running Helix 14.0

hyelife said:
So I decided to pick up AFTV a week ago after reading so many good reviews about the device and how well it runs Kodi, but I am having an issue running certain MKV files with dual audio. When I try to play the videos Kodi either crashes to the FTV menu or restarts the whole device. I tried to disable the accelerators in settings and the video starts to play with stuttering and no audio. Anyone know what could be the cause of this and is there a fix available.
BTW I'm running Helix 14.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same issues with both XBMC 13 and 14.. After lots of searching I found
I cant post links yet, but google "Work in Progress - Experimental simple deinterlacing" and you will get the Kodi forum that has an updated kodi for the issue.
Hope this helps

Try SPMC. I had problems of somekind with all versions of XBMC that I have tried on the Fire TV til I installed SPMC. I have not had one problem with SPMC and could instantly tell a difference in the smoothness of streams and video playback.

I think i've tried them all.
porkenhimer said:
Try SPMC. I had problems of somekind with all versions of XBMC that I have tried on the Fire TV til I installed SPMC. I have not had one problem with SPMC and could instantly tell a difference in the smoothness of streams and video playback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My problem with any version of XBMC whether it be SPMC or KODI is that 720p MPEG-2 always stutters. I've tried everything I think including.
SW only
Listagefright only
Mediacodec only
Listagefright and MediaCodec
SPMC 13.4 & 14.2 (I think these are the final versions i used)
KODI 13.4 & 14.2 & 15.1 (I think those are the final versions)
My next try was going to be to use MX player and the playercorefactory.xml but so far I haven't been able to get that to work. It just flashes really quick and does nothing when I click on a channel.
BTW....I have comcast so everything is in MPEG-2 and I use an HDHOMERUN prime that feeds a windows 7 machine with WMC running serverWMC and Plex (w/ serverWMC plex plugin). I also have an xbox 360 and that works perfectly but the only way I can get fire tv stick to work reliably is by transcoding to h.264. But this adds at least 10 seconds to a channel change and It really complicates the setup and maintenance. I would really like to not have to transcode and use KODI on the firetv stick as my front end. However, without mpeg2 720p support I can't.

Which kodi version recommended for the FTV Stick?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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