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RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - hmagoo - 2014-07-02

(2014-07-01, 14:36)ktrdsl23 Wrote: +1 for [LAUNCHER] XBMC for Fire TV (Root)

Set it up yesterday following the instructions in the wiki and am very impressed with it. Having XBMC as the default for my Fire TV but still having access to the KFTV launcher when we want to load Amazon Prime is awesome. My wife (who usually doesn't care about this type of stuff) just told me this is the best thing I've ever set up for us. Now we have an easy way of getting our kids's movies up quickly in our bedroom. I'm still setting up the rest of my XBMC goodies but the basics are done. Unfortunately I wanted to set it up this time with NFS from my server but I guess Flexraid (which I use) doesn't support it so I'll have to stick with SMB.

Another benefit of this setup is that the launcher allows the Fire TV to go to sleep while in XBMC.
NFS not working? do you have an "insecure ports" option for exporting your shares on the server? Android devices need that to find NFS shares.


RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - LRa - 2014-07-02

Just install stickmount to finally overcome the only drawback of the FTV.

Quick question, do I need to un mount each time I want to remove the stick connected ? (Safe removal....)


RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - yaqh - 2014-07-02

(2014-07-02, 01:01)kye Wrote:
(2014-07-01, 21:55)yaqh Wrote: thinking of ordering this from US amazon site. how does xbmc compare with other devices on the market.
Has anyone ordered this from the US?

I picked up my FireTV from BestBuy as it is $99 no matter where you buy it from and I did not want to wait for shipping.

I have been running XBMC since the early days and have ran it on various hardware such as Xbox's, PC's, Mac's and AppleTV's. The FireTV is hands down the best XBMC hardware for a reasonable price. I have only recently gotten my FireTV, about a week ago, but have made some major strides with it. This is my first Android device so I did not have any familiarity and am learning it all for the first time. I have been able to replace the FireTV startup with XBMC as many people have been discussing. More importantly I was able to directly connect a USB HD and load files off that, something the AppleTV is unable to do. I just started working on having the FireTV run it's own MySQL server for a centralized XBMC database.

My dream setup with the FireTV should be possible and will look something like this. One main FireTV on the living room TV which acts as the MySQL server and SMB server to share all the data stored on a USB HD (I do have a NAS but want to see what is possible without it). Then other FireTVs in the house will be connected to any other TVs and they will play the videos and access the MySQL database from the living room FireTV.

Being able to create a whole house XBMC network for a few hundred is very attractive and I do not think any other devices come close to the quality and power of the FireTV as it stands.

Are you in the UK? I'm in the Uk, so need to find a reliable source.


RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - noggin - 2014-07-02

(2014-07-02, 09:30)yaqh Wrote: Are you in the UK? I'm in the Uk, so need to find a reliable source.

If you are in the UK beware Android solutions. You don't get automatic refresh rate/frame rate switching based on content (Android doesn't allow apps to access the video output settings of Android devices)

If you watch 25/50Hz UK content (DVDs, iPlayer-4oD-ITVPlayer etc., Live/Recorded TV, BBC Blu-rays etc.) which needs to be displayed at 50Hz refresh to look decent, and you watch 24Hz content (or 60Hz) like US TV shows, movie Blu-rays, US DVDs etc. which need 24 or 60Hz refresh to look decent, then you will get bored of refresh rate switching in the OS very quickly (if the FireTV supports 50Hz output at all. Being a US box it may not...)

I tried XBMC on Android and this was a total deal breaker for me.


RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - ktrdsl23 - 2014-07-02

(2014-07-02, 07:10)hmagoo Wrote:
(2014-07-01, 14:36)ktrdsl23 Wrote: +1 for [LAUNCHER] XBMC for Fire TV (Root)

Set it up yesterday following the instructions in the wiki and am very impressed with it. Having XBMC as the default for my Fire TV but still having access to the KFTV launcher when we want to load Amazon Prime is awesome. My wife (who usually doesn't care about this type of stuff) just told me this is the best thing I've ever set up for us. Now we have an easy way of getting our kids's movies up quickly in our bedroom. I'm still setting up the rest of my XBMC goodies but the basics are done. Unfortunately I wanted to set it up this time with NFS from my server but I guess Flexraid (which I use) doesn't support it so I'll have to stick with SMB.

Another benefit of this setup is that the launcher allows the Fire TV to go to sleep while in XBMC.
NFS not working? do you have an "insecure ports" option for exporting your shares on the server? Android devices need that to find NFS shares.

It has to do with the fact that I use Flexraid for my storage pool. There are some attempts at a workaround for NFS and Flexraid but from reading those forums I don't think there is a true solution at this point.

Thankfully SMB seems to work fine and I haven't noticed any streaming performance issues.


RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - PatK - 2014-07-02

Just ran into this over on Slash regarding the FireTV, I suspect the Kindle and Amazon FireTV are one in the same?

In all the plus features of this device, comes a bug that is kind of nasty. One of the screen blanker options keeps downloading images instead of caching to the tune of over 50 gigs a day. Looks like it's not the default setting (Mosaic) and Amazon is aware of this issue.

Heads-Up: http://www.itworld.com/offbeat/42536...kindle-fire-tv


RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - mjbxx - 2014-07-02

The fireTVnews blog (http://www.firetvnews.com/bug-in-screensaver-could-be-consuming-extra-bandwidth/#more-915) reported yesterday about the bug. Amazon is aware of the issue as noted below. Just be sure to not enable the mosaic screensaver until Amazon comes up with a software fix.

“There is a small possibility if a customer uses the ‘mosaic’ feature—not the default setting—on the screensaver, images will not be cached,” an Amazon representative said. “We’re working on a software update that will fix the bug, and in the meantime customers can turn off the mosaic view for the screensaver to avoid the issue.”


RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - voip-ninja - 2014-07-02

(2014-07-02, 07:12)LRa Wrote: Just install stickmount to finally overcome the only drawback of the FTV.

Quick question, do I need to un mount each time I want to remove the stick connected ? (Safe removal....)

Hate to break it to you but FTV has more than "one drawback".


RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - Tinwarble - 2014-07-03

(2014-07-02, 21:18)voip-ninja Wrote: Hate to break it to you but FTV has more than "one drawback".

That could be said about any device. "Drawback" is subjective since it depends on one's needs, one person might see something as a drawback where another might see it as unnecessary.

By the way, Amazon just rolled out a firmware update for the remote.


RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - underworld123 - 2014-07-03

(2014-07-03, 00:57)Tinwarble Wrote:
(2014-07-02, 21:18)voip-ninja Wrote: Hate to break it to you but FTV has more than "one drawback".

That could be said about any device. "Drawback" is subjective since it depends on one's needs, one person might see something as a drawback where another might see it as unnecessary.

By the way, Amazon just rolled out a firmware update for the remote.

Moreover, no device is "perfect". For $100, this is very close to a perfect device (at least for me). I would love to see other options that trump the cost/benefit ratio of the Fire TV.


RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - c0mm0n - 2014-07-03

I bought it as a XBMC box and for now it's hard to replace my current setup (NUC i3 which I think is overpowered)

My gripes are :
- XBMC works but it's far from rock stable
- FF and RW are clumsy (+/- 30s too)
- CEC half working (no back button don't see to be the only one)
- No IR = No easy harmony (latest expensive models handle bluetooth). Ok can get the Flirc but 25% of the device price isn't a great move considering the overall performance.
- No deinterlance (knew it not a surprise)

So as i'm in France and not benefiting from netflix and co, this is for now a very average XBMC box. Compared to a NUC2820 (more expensive but not that much), I'd advise the NUC anytime.

As a pure XBMC level, bar the fast interface, I'd even consider taking a rpi over it. Rpi is limited but seems better at playing videos (as of today) and has a few benefits like instant CEC.

I like the device a lot, the look, the horsepower, the remote, and hope it can become a better XBMC box in the future.

It must be a great Plex device, not using it.


RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - LilSnoop40 - 2014-07-03

Hello, I just switched all my RPI's/OpenELEC combo boxes to the Amazon Fire TV. I was having issues using Gotham 13.1 stuttering during streaming on any add-on ESPN, CNN etc, last night I installed SPMC (spmc-armeabi-v7a_12.4.2.apk) onto one of the boxes and its seems to be better. I came how an watch something on the box today and it ran pretty smooth what version is everyone running on there AFTV? please advise.

Using the SPMC build anyone know how to change the SPMC boot logo to that of an XBMC logo please?

Thanks


RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - Tinwarble - 2014-07-03

(2014-07-03, 03:54)LilSnoop40 Wrote: Using the SPMC build anyone know how to change the SPMC boot logo to that of an XBMC logo please?

Thanks

It's in the wiki: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Amazon_Fire_TV#Update_Splash_Image_.28optional.29

Just change /org.xbmc.xbmc/ to /com.semperpax.semper/


Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - ilovemymac - 2014-07-03

Anyone not have the new OS update with the free time and menu for prime video?? I have 2 units that do have it 2 that so not but it says I have current when I click on check for update


RE: Amazon Fire TV for XBMC - squarecut1 - 2014-07-03

I don't have the new update either, even after manual check for updates