yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Fire TV General] xdadev42:
Hello, first time visit, post #1. :)

So, the spmc 12.4.2 works great on my fire tv and i have the dts/optical passthrough working.

I came today and see that there is xbmc 13.1 that has the dts passthrough.

So, clicked on the link above but that just takes me to the,

Index of /test-builds/android/arm:

, and i do not know which one to download.

Then saw on following page,

ouyaforum.com/showthread.php?8220-SPMC-Koying

, that Koying posted following,

Gotham on Ouya

This is an XBMC Gotham build with Ouya specifics, i.e.

- Ouya icon

- Ouya passthrough

- Reboot, ... on rooted devices

It is an "original" XBMC apk, with same signature, so it replaces any XBMC gotham/nightlies you might have.

13.1 rc1:

mirrors.xbmc.org/test-builds/...rmeabi-v7a.apk

Then downloaded,

mirrors.xbmc.org/test-builds/android/arm/xbmc-20140527-b0c75d6-ouya-gotham-armeabi-v7a.apk

, used

adb install -r xbmc-20140527-b0c75d6-ouya-gotham-armeabi-v7a.apk

Brought up xbmc 13.1, but i do not see the same sort of system audio output settings as i have with spmc 12.4.2. And dts passthrough does not sem to work like 12.4.2 does.

Just to see if uninstall would help, did following,

adb shell pm uninstall -k org.xbmc.xbmc

adb install xbmc-20140527-b0c75d6-ouya-gotham-armeabi-v7a.apk

Brought up xbmc 13.1,same result.

So, anyone has success with Koying's 13.1 Gothem on Fire TV that has dts passthrough working like the spmc 12.4.2 does?

Thanks much!
[Fire TV General] xdadev42:
Yes, RTFM. :(

The passthrough settings are in the Expert level setting.

Confirmed, working. Thanks much.
[Fire TV General] jrgx19:
Working hardware

I just tested the Logitech MX5500 Keyboard and mouse combo. It works great as long as you used the Logitech provided dongle. great for chrome and any app which you may need either device
[Fire TV General] Montisaquadeis:
jcjr81 can you see if the android version of XBMC will work? It should considering this has standard Phone guts in it. and it works on my Kindle fire HDX 8.9"
[Fire TV General] SanDiegoSteve:
Can you install a browser on there and see how it works? It looks like Opera or Dolphin are valid for the device in an Amazon search for Fire TV apps.
[Fire TV General] HemRoyd:
Someone on XBMC forums got it sideloaded. Not sure of ultimate success yet.
[Fire TV General] reddragon72:
He has the wrong version installed. It is working but it's Frodo and it is studdering. He is getting Gotham B3 on it soon as well as another guy.
[Fire TV General] Sean09:
Is there a working web browser?
[Fire TV General] mejdam:
This guy has a video on Youtube running XBMC 12.3. i asked him to install the Ouya version of XBMC. he also got HBO go to work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3PK-hT7Jvk
[Fire TV General] daweeze02:
I'm posting over in that thread as well. I'm going to try SPMC(ouya version) today after work. I'm gonna try and load autopilot also which is the work around on ouya to get 5.1 to work. Basically I will be setting xbmc to boot first when turning on the fire tv
[Fire TV General] HemRoyd:
Fire TV Teardown

Amazon Fire TV Teardown - iFixit
[Fire TV General] bkai:
Plex is nice on it but there's a known issue with audio that's currently being fixed. XBMC latest nightly of Gotham works as well... albeit with a few bugs, one of which is a nasty green screen at the start of videos (can be skipped over) and sometimes choppy playback. I've been playing around with libstagefright and MediaCodec, as suggested, but I'm not getting the same results that a few others are.

The good news... it doesn't even need to be hacked/rooted. It just needs compatible apks for the Amazon version of Android (Mojito). Sideloading through adb is cake (wireless cake at that). The FTV has a ton of potential with all the tools already available to make this happen. :good:

FYI - I've been going through a bunch of apks seeing what will work and what won't :) So far I've tried Play Music, ESFE, Google Earth, Feedly, Dolphin, and MX Player Pro. ESFE is the only one of those that actually works. MXP might but I installed the pro version and it's checking for "purchase history" which it can't do without Play Services (I believe).
[Fire TV General] PHAMOS1:
APKs I sideloaded

I have sideloaded the following APKs so far and they work

Firefox

Remote. Media Center TV

ES File Explorer

MX Player

AirReceiver

HBO GO

What I tried but did not work

Chrome (force closes)

Dolphins (error during install)

UC Browser (orientation issues)

Avia (force closes)

Stock GS4 Browser (error during install "NO SHARED FOLDER")

XBMC Gothem beta 3(loads but when video comes on I get a green screen with sound only)

I got the APKs from backups using Titanium Back Up on my GS4.

I used the adb method on Amazon website to install.

What I use for a mouse and keyboard

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B9996LA/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1
[Fire TV General] bkai:
For Gothem, go to Settings, Video, set to Expert settings level and browse Acceleration. Enable libstagefright and disable MediaCodec. You might still get the green screens on videos but just skip ahead about 1 minute. Starts working fine from then (aside from the occasional stuttering issues).

Here are the latest nightlies for Gotham: http://mirror.jmu.edu/pub/xbmc/nightlies/android/arm/
[Fire TV General] HemRoyd:
So maybe it might be better to get backed up apks from a Kindle Fire?
[Fire TV General] PHAMOS1:
You beat by 1 min :)

I don't know how my paid apps(Remote Media Center TV and AirReceiver) are working but they are.

---------- Post added at 05:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:44 PM ----------

Thanks Krakatoa I'm going to test this now
[Fire TV General] bkai:
Indeed! I, however, do not have one of those :(

I'm not sure either... perhaps it's just the way in which each one checks for a license, or if it does at all, etc. Do you have MXP pro?
[Fire TV General] PHAMOS1:
No just the regular MXP
[Fire TV General] jus2sho:
I'm very interested in purchasing this box. Is it able to access my network drives to play media?
[Fire TV General] HemRoyd:
Dumb question...I never used ES File Explorer much - If sideloaded, can an SMB connection be made where I can just have a folder of apks and then sideload apps exclusively through ES File Explorer?
[Fire TV General] PHAMOS1:
I use Remote Media Center (sideloaded)to get to my network folders on the FTV. Not sure if there is an app that doesn't have to be sideloaded to do what you need tho
[Fire TV General] mickliq:
Yes you can. Under LAN, add a New Server, and then enter the IP, Username and PW of the Samba share. I just tried this on my phone and it mounts my Samba Share (a Timecapsule) with no problem. Only issue I see is getting a keyboard to work with the Fire.
[Fire TV General] bkai:
Yes, just tried it. Works fine and it brings up the Fire onscreen keyboard.

EDIT: I just read your question again and realized you were asking about installing from a share... I just tried that and got a security error:

(even though I have ADB Debugging enabled)

So it appears that you can only install via adb commands and not directly from the ftv itself.
[Fire TV General] fabianosan:
To avoid this skip navigation in harmony with ORtek we need to go to harmony.com setup and change speed of the commands in device from 4 to 1. It's solved here.
[Fire TV General] vi3tl23n3gad3:
Anyone update to 13,1 yet? Any issues? What't he command line to side load without losing info?
[Fire TV General] lightning413:
adb install -r <apk-file-name>
[Fire TV General] vi3tl23n3gad3:
thank you. are you on 13.1?
[Fire TV General] lightning413:
Haven't had the time yet. I'm on RC1 and it works very well.
[Fire TV General] mejdam:
used both tablet and phone version, sound works fine but no video appears.
[Fire TV General] gomavs123:
any plans to enable local file playback?

Sorry if this has been discussed already- if you can let me know where it has been discussed, that will be great.

I am actually in the market for a streaming player, and am torn between roku 3 and amazon fire tv- I was leaning towards the fire tv because of the numerous amount of apks that can be played, and the games available to play, all made possible by the works of xda here.

However, I heard that although there is a usb port available, the fire tv wasn't configured for local file playback yet. For me, my connection isn't too good, and therefore local streaming via xbmc etc of hd movies tends to not work well. Therefore, if possible I would like to have both options for streaming and local file playback (thus the reason why I am thinking of the roku 3).

What is the current status of local file playback in amazon fire tv? Is anybody planning to release something for it somewhat soon? Any updates will be very helpful! Thanks very much.
[Fire TV General] lightning413:
Local file playback is possible through a NAS or a share on a computer but not by attaching a drive to the FTV.
[Fire TV General] gomavs123:
thanks for the information. So I presume that there is no immediate plans to try local playback on the fire tv?
[Fire TV General] Hemorrdroid:
I'm running 13.1 just fine, have only used it to stream from my router's external drive. Didn't have to change any settings to play my movies.
[Fire TV General] earlgrey_44:
Skins for AFTV

I don't know about you guys, but skins for this thing have been a mess for me. Skins for the FTV are not merely aesthetic, but vary quite a bit in functionality and customizability.

Confluence, the default skin, is stable, but not very flexible. I like the Amber skin, but could not invoke the Addons/Programs button more than a few times before doing so would crash XBMC.

Ace and Aeon MQ5 would either freeze XBMC or crash the FTV.

Thus far, Back Row is the only stable, legible, and highly customizable skin I've found.

Othwise no problems running 13.1 - Mashup runs very well. Device speed is very good.
[Fire TV General] bravomail:
Local playback - NAS with XBMC, Dice Player, FileManagerHD+MXPlayer

Local playback - NAS with XBMC, Dice Player, FileManagerHD+MXPlayer

It's fast enough even over Wifi, especially if you use 5.8GHz band.

And

if it's still slow

there is damn ethernet jack. Which is really fast.
[Fire TV General] rsohne:
Vimu was released as an app in the Amazon store for free which will connect to Nas also. I still prefer XBMC 13.1 but it is an alternative. For anyone wondering my Roku 3 has been in a drawer for weeks. The Fire TV is the best box I've owned since my WD TV Live. It does everything I need.
[Fire TV General] mulliganman:
wiki gotham 13.1 question

Was looking at the wiki and was trying to find the 13.1 modified Gotham version from the wiki that allows the DTS and Dolby Digital Passthrough (when you click the link in the wiki there are many different downloads available).
[Fire TV General] z31fanatic:
You don't need a modified version of Gotham for DTS to work.
[Fire TV General] ~Craig~:
Edit: Whoops in my haste to post I replied to the wrong thread, Sorry guys
[Fire TV General] umdivx:
On the first post it says "XBMC 13.1 *Thanks Koying from XBMC* modified gotham version that works with fire tv and allows DTS, Dolby Digital passthrough. - Download"

So which is it, do all versions now work or is there a special version we need to download and install?

If so can you link to which one we need to install? the current XMBC I have installed doesn't appear to support passthrough.

-Josh
[Fire TV General] z31fanatic:
I have the stock 13.1 build and DD and DTS work. Just get the ARM build for Android from XBMC's website and you're good to go.
[Fire TV General] umdivx:
Thanks, got what I needed and figured it out. Good to have passthrough working with this box, just opened it up to a whole new world for me.

Wanted to really like and use Plex but lack of surround sound was killing it for me. XMBC pulls through again.

Now onto getting live tv working.

-Josh
[Fire TV General] z31fanatic:
Yeah, the sound issue with Plex on FTV is very frustrating. The FTV has been out for 3 months now and Plex has not fixed it yet. It's simply not acceptable to charge $5 for their app and only give you stereo sound.

You can tell Plex to use an external player for playback, and can choose xbmc as the player, but that kinda defeats the purpose of using Plex if you have xbmc.
[Fire TV General] mejdam:
thats my fault, orginally there was a special AndroidTV build that is no longer needed since koying added it to regular gotham
[Fire TV General] mbh017:
Thank you very much for this!

So if I buy a Fire TV, install this and root my Fire TV, I will be able to play any kind of movies I had (mkv with DTS audio), on an external hard drive without problem?
[Fire TV General] stewiebee:
Plex blame fire tv

When i posted on plex forum i was told it was amazon fire tv that was the problem and they were aware of it and was going to fix the sound problem.Strange that when xbmc on fire works great.
[Fire TV General] z31fanatic:
Of course they will tell you that. We live in the age of no one owning to their mistakes. It's always someone else's fault.
[Fire TV General] Luxferro:
That maybe be true lots of times, but Plex uses android media player to playback, and Amazon limits specific codecs to specific containers.

So unless you have all your movies in MP4 containers, and at the right profile level, it won't play them correctly. XBMC on the otherhand doesn't use the media player built into fire OS, it uses it's own, which is why it can properly decode and playback. So the Plex team isn't lying. Either they are trying to get Amazon to change the container limitations, or they are waiting for them to work on it, since I'm sure they could work around these limitations by transcoding, or whatever the process is of just changing the container before sending it to the Fire TV.

Amazon Fire TV codec support page: https://developer.amazon.com/appsandservices/solutions/devices/fire-tv/docs/media-specifications
[Fire TV General] z31fanatic:
I know all that and it doesn't matter. I bought the app and there is no excuse not to have plain DD and DTS. If free open sorce players like xbmc and VLC give me DD and DTS then so should Plex which is a paid app. I do not accept that excuse. Either fix it or refund me the money.
[Fire TV General] Luxferro:
I wasn't happy that I can't get surround sound with Plex either. But I really don't think Amazon cares too much about people playing local media. They want you to use their services.

I'm somewhat over it. Android TV has me excited.
[Fire TV General] ~Craig~:
Does anyone happen to know the power output of the USB port on the FireTV?

I ask as when using a 1TB USB powered hard drive on mine there is not enough power the light on it just flickers on and off however when using a 500GB USB it is fine.

So I assume my larger drive must use more power. I know I could use a hub but I would prefer not to.

Thanks

Craig
[Fire TV General] Smithy71:
Does the Right Stick work ok?
[Fire TV General] toe-rag:
how would knowing that fix your problem?
[Fire TV General] ~Craig~:
Because I could perhaps find another drive which requires less power.
[Fire TV General] toe-rag:
AHH! I thought you just wanted to get the 1tb drive working... perhaps you can review the power requirements of the 500gig, and shop for a 1tb that uses the same or less?
[Fire TV General] ~Craig~:
I would love to get my 1tb working without having to seek out another drive but I don't think its possible without some kind of extra cable / powered hub.

That's a good idea, I was thinking something similar. I cant find any info on the power consumption of the 1tb drive but according to the web my 500gb uses 2.5watts, The same brand has a newer 1tb model which uses 2 watts so that could potentially be an option :)
[Fire TV General] toe-rag:
the 'cat's ass' would be the New SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE1T0BW 2.5" 1TB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

only uses ..0.24W power

the only problem .. is $499.99
[Fire TV General] ~Craig~:
Would be great but I think I will save that as a back up option :good:
[Fire TV General] mattgyver:
You would want a USB power injector like this http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?p=5vusb&d=mikrotik-5vusb-5v-power-injector-for-usb-(5vusb)

Sent from my TARDIS
[Fire TV General] mejdam:
updated a couple of items in the thread.
[Fire TV General] krasny2k5:
Hi all!

I been thinking last weeks that it would be a good idea to organize a bounty project to unlock bootloader. Jcase seems to be very busy (he was/is) at Vegas Black Hat / Defcon and has a lot of new projects (BlackBerry and BlackPhone as he stated here). So i think that if we organize a bounty project to collect some founds we can motivate other developers to look at this wonderful box, or maybe Jcase can publish what he has.

I don´t do it myself because my english is bad (I´m Spanish) and I don´t have enough reputation here. A member with enough reputation to collect the founds and give to the first to unlock Fire TV bootloader can boost develop to this box. Something like this. We can make some achivements (bootloader unlock, port of TWRP (rbox have it working on his box), first working AOSP rom, etc...).

It´s only an idea, but i´m tired waiting for something that maybe never happen.
[Fire TV General] retroben:
Where's the guy that organized the bounty for Fire TV rooting?
[Fire TV General] krasny2k5:
That´s not the idea. He offered a bounty for who rooted HIS aftv. Not for everyone, not for distribution.
[Fire TV General] tysonaylmer:
Is there a working on browser?
[Fire TV General] mejdam:
firefox

http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/?id=org.mozilla.firefox
[Fire TV General] nhumber:
put me down for 25$ USD via paypal to the person who provides me with a method to unlock my bootloader.
[Fire TV General] retroben:
That's the amount that SunShine usually costs for unlocking one device,and I don't have that kind of spending money because I am in a bad spot.

I do have a little more than five dollars to buy a money card for spending it online if the original sunshine dev makes it cheap enough for Fire TV.

(I hope there is a card for small sums of money that can be used for online purchases)

{I have to stay in secrecy (I can't bring too much attention to myself) because I am not supposed to have something that can play games.}

I think a group-effort-supported bounty via donation would be a great idea if enough $ can get donated to reach the agreed goal amount.
[Fire TV General] elister:
HDHomerun Prime

XBMC works fine for the FireTV when it comes to playing back 1080p mkv files and all. But watching sports channels like NFL Network is a tad difficult as the video streams easily becomes De-interlaced and somewhat unwatchable. Fine for most other channels. Ive tried a number of things from installing XBMC 13.2, 13.1, 13.0, 12.3 and even SPMC. Disable libstagefight or mediacodec, software rendering, nothing really works.

Raspberry Pi w/OpenELEC, which supports MPEG2 decoding, actually works, but struggles to keep up with the video stream, so lots of pauses and buffering. Fire TV doesnt pause or buffer, it just cant interlace the video and its mostly due to the fact that the FireTV doesnt support MPEG2.

I might have to return the FireTV.
[Fire TV General] grandzu:
]

For NFL Network and NFL Gamepass I used this add-on

https://github.com/Alexqw/xbmc-gamepass

In terms of whats functioning , NFL Network works fine, good playback. The NFL Gamepass part doesn't fully work yet, but it seems to be a work in progress.
[Fire TV General] grandzu:
Remember infinitec pocket tv's air remote keyboard and mouse? It works with AFTV. I plugged the USB dongle to AFTV and it weekend instantly. Keyboard and mouse. You have to use either lock button next to the circle button as the mouse click.
[Fire TV General] jamez243:
I've searched from my phone and can't figure out how some have the YouTube app
[Fire TV General] byrdcfmma:
Its in the amazon app list and its pretty much a standard addon in xbmc.
[Fire TV General] Ipse_Tase:
Some of us are unable to install the Youtube app (mine won't be pushed to the AFTV despite having "purchased" it) so an alternative would be FireTube from Amazon...or better, the XBMC YouTube add-on as mentioned.
[Fire TV General] rayosx:
What about installing it directly from the playstore?
[Fire TV General] jamez243:
Yeah it doesn't even show up on mine as an option.
[Fire TV General] DHeffernan:
Any idea how I can remove some of those apps from the amazon tv that come preloaded?

I have like less than 1gb left on the device.. and I barely have done anything but put on XBMC and some addons..
[Fire TV General] nyder:
App Master is what I use on my tablet: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.droidware.uninstallmaster&hl=en

I installed it on my AFTV, but i haven't installed anything. While you can just use the normal controller to move around, you might need a mouse to do the actual clicking.
[Fire TV General] DHeffernan:
But what can you actually uninstall? Like prime and stuff? Will this cause issues?
[Fire TV General] nyder:
I haven't tried anything. I am not probably going to be using most the default stuff, but I figured if I get 30 free days of Prime I might use that for the 30 days.

I will probably be doing more exploring and doing stuff over the next couple of weeks. Just got a usb stick for it today. I'll let you know how it goes.
[Fire TV General] mag13:
Is it possible to play mkv with dts from USB?
[Fire TV General] man1acc:
Thats kind of what my question is:

What do I have to do so that its possible to plug in my USB Storage Device and watch Series/Movies (mkv)?

What about Subtitles? I'd like to watch everything in english with english subs.

(Before you ask: I am from germany and will get the FTV at the end of september (I think most of my problems are related to the installed firmware and the possibility to root?)
[Fire TV General] alex1301:
I think you have to install rot and stickmount to get USB device working.
[Fire TV General] d0zer:
Firmware 51.1.2.0_user_512073320 is not rootable afaik. Can someone confirm this?
[Fire TV General] mejdam:
That's correct, you can't root.
[Fire TV General] d0zer:
but you need root for xbmc?

damn it, my fire tv will be delivered in november and will be 99% latest firmware :(
[Fire TV General] cmart4:
don't need to root for xbmc.... just need to sideload the apk SPMC or the XBMC apk from xbmc.org
[Fire TV General] deewad:
So which advanteges brings root for XBMC? Just that it can be launched at startup or with an alternate App Launcher?
[Fire TV General] DroidIt!:
I had seen in a different thread that a user said they were able to root with that firmware. Haven't rooted yet myself, just making you aware you might want to dig a bit more ;)

---------- Post added at 10:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:25 PM ----------

Yep. Otherwise XBMC itself functions just the same from everything I've seen ?
[Fire TV General] deewad:
That's nice. So only Stickmount will keep root necessary for me but if i get an unrootanle FTV i think i can live without it [emoji4]
[Fire TV General] d0zer:
hey guys, do you need root for accesing external hard drive on fire tv?
[Fire TV General] deewad:
XBMC wiki says so, yes
[Fire TV General] z31fanatic:
Yes, you need root.
[Fire TV General] shadowcliffs:
Help: xbmc on fire tv can't resume

Is the xbmc on your fire tv able to resume when playing files via Windows Samba Share from File manager (instead of from video library)? Mine can't. Once stop then play again, it will start from the beginning instead of the previous point. I tried to tweak all kind of settings in vain. This happens to both of my two fire tv devices with Gotham 13.1 installed on one device and both Gotham 13.1 and SPMC on the other.

Resuming function seems fine if playing from video library.
[Fire TV General] sammy98:
Resume works here with my movies and series - no tweaking done in xbmc so far

Sammy98
[Fire TV General] Ipse_Tase:
Are you talking about an addon or just playing videos? If it's an addon, some might not support the feature - but at least you should test local content to see.

Mine works fine for BOTH - at least with the addons I normally use.