yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Fire TV General] porkenhimer:
The latest version of SPMC is the only way to go. I have tried about every version on the Fire TV and the only one I have found that will play all streaming formats without jitters is SPMC. I watch a lot of live streams and live streams come in several differnt formats and are encoded in a veriety of different ways and SPMC is the only one to handle every format I have tried. The other versions worked well too, but depending on how some streams are encoded they would not play streams as smoothly as SPMC will. I ran two Fire TVs side by side comparing SPMC and other versions while playing the same stream and it was very noticable how much smoother SPMC was than the other version of XBMC/Kodi. Most streams ran fine on all version, but not all, and I want all streams to run smoothly so SPMC is the only version I will use. Its not a placebo effect, SPMC is better To prove this, go to several live TV addons and find working stable streams and add them to your favorites. Get them from several different addons so that they are not all from the same source. Now play those streams for a week or two and I guarentee there will be multiple live streams that stutter and have jitters or look robitic. Get used to how all the different streams play for a week or two. Now after a week or two, install SPMC and copy your favorites.xml over to SPMC and there will be no more jitters stutters or robotic like movements when you play the same exact streams. You will instantly notice everything plays much smoother.
[Fire TV General] harlekinrains:
Treat this for what it is. An embarrassing attempt to crowdsource research the thread starter wasn't willing to undergo. In fact - he wasnt even able to populate the poll with three correct alternatives he faked to be interested in. He wanted to be told which fashion he should use, because - the majority of something gives this great feeling of belonging and being on the right side of choice.

I hate everything that motivated this thread.

And this should be the only message that is sent to the OP.

Also - the posting right before this one offers circumstantial anecdotes. Those are unusable. If you dont hold yourself to any standards, dont expect others to want to share in your principals (Stuttering most likely is caused by bandwith issues on the side of the hoster - but the doctrine that is developed in here would like you to believe otherwise.).

People are trying to manufacture religions in here out of the inability of the majority to RTFM and use the on board diagnostics within Kodi. They see everything that happens on the way for them to enjoy their daily soap operas as "magic". Now they are holding a townhall meeting to discuss which magic is best. The problem? It isnt magic - therefore it should not be discussed as if it is.

Come on, you are better than that.
[Fire TV General] porkenhimer:
See this is where you are wrong, cause you do not know what you are talking about. Anyone can pick random streams and pay them on different versions of Kodi and get different results, so don't pretend like its something that cannot be recreated, cause I recreated the situation many times with SPMC and streams were noticably smoother. Also 9 times out of 10 stutters are caused by the stream and not your connection. There are many factors that can cause streams to play poorly other than your connection. As a matter of fact your connection usually is not the cause of streams playing poorly. The streams are usually encoded too high or the right codecs are not being used. Thats why you can take different network media players and play the same streams and get different results.

Lets get to my facts. I know exactly which streams will play smooth and which streams will not, as soon as they start playing, cause all I have to do is hit the menu button on the Fire TV remote and it will tell me all about how the stream is encoded. I guarantee I could turn my back to the TV and have someone read me the stream info and I can tell you if the live stream is playing smooth or isn't on very version of Kodi running on the Fire TV. It is a fact. I can send you my favorites.xml and tell you which addons you need to have installed to see the whole favorites list, and can tell you before hand which streams from my favorites.xml will be jittery on any version of Kodi besides SPMC. Put your money where your mouth is. I'll post my favorites.xml right here in this thread and everyone can see for themselves. Lets do this so I can end the debate and embarass you at the same time.

Also the OP did not ask what version he should use, he asked which version we are using. If he had asked which version he should use I would have told him not to ask us cause we cannot make the choice for him. I have told several people on here to never ask what apps or skins etc they should use, cause they should make that decision for themselves. The OP could simply be trying to start a poll to see which version is most widely used. Who know his intentions? I don't think anyone can assume he is asking because he is too lazy to try out different versions on his own. As a matter of fact its more likely that people would simply see his post for what it is, a question about what version others are using. Man you are way too serious about his motives. All he did was ask a question and all you hd to do was answer instead of assumiing his intentions. You talked about us trying to "manufacture religion", but instead of putting the guy down, maybe you could have helped him setup the thread the right way. Nobody is perfect including you. You seem intelligent, so why waste it trying to insult others? You seem like one of those guys that goes around telling people to stay on topic, but never stays on topic. Stay on topic and be nice or move on.
[Fire TV General] KLit75:
This thread is getting eerily reminiscent of the ending to Fight Club :)

Heres my 2 cents

Its perfectly ok to ask for opinions/feedback

And if someone wants mine here it is

I havent found the need for spmc since the release of Helix 14.0

But thats just my experience. Im currently running isengard because it works with ftv skin (which i love btw!)

Ive found no bugs or performance flaws that are not consisted with a typical kodi setup (occassional crash, mostly stable). That includes live streams through iptv stalker which is great for me because ftv doesnt have live tv support. But stalker plus ivue tv guide gives me the live tv experience in kodi that im used to. No stutters and the sources are much more reliable than the m3u lists I've used in the past.
[Fire TV General] vipercoyote:
You are wrong. My survey is valid and have valid options. Im not asking about which version you are using.

TVMC is on the survey

Kodi is on the survey

SPMC is on the survey

The XBMC fire tv and android is on the survey

So what are you talking about?
[Fire TV General] jpeg42:
Your link to "XMBC fire tv" is a blog for how to install SPMC or Helix on the FireTV. And please show me where XMBC is the same thing as Kodi. What does that even mean?? Search for XMBC, the only thing that comes up in Google are typos and this thread.

But I will certainly go away, this thread is one of the biggest cesspools I have ever seen on XDA. These behaviors are certainly putting a nail in the coffin of what was left of the helpful FireTV developer community.
[Fire TV General] harlekinrains:
[MENTION=1694289]porkenhimer[/MENTION]:

The criticism wasnt that you might not have been methodical - it was, that the method is flawed. If it is not independently reproducible, I wont give it any credence - because it doesn't mirror my experience, or the one of others in this thread (seemingly).

To be independently reproducible youd have to name the codecs (one difference between mainline Kodi and SPMC a while ago was this for example: http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=213395 ), and or the source all of which you (probably intelligently - depending on which source) chose to withhold. The rest is just a logical assessment, that we cant filter for your ISPs performance, your local network or the data providers infrastructure (slow server?) using your method of "feeling out the problem" - and that therefore it sounds a bit bogus.

Back your findings up with math and the on board diagnostics of Kodi - different story.

The "stuttering" error profile sounds like a buffering issue - simply because even 1080p decodes on a FireTV stick dont even tax it halfway. And buffering certainly isnt something where Kodi fails more likely in any conceivable way. And thats the real problem - perception wise.

Regarding the phrasing of the OPs posting - yes I'm interpreting the intent. And I might add - with 2 wrong listings out of 4 in a poll creation it is not very hard do end up at the cognition, that someone didnt want to do any work and threw something up in a few minutes to get a response.

Here is why.

Two of the listings are misnamed.

One of the listings represents an older port that was primarily driven by copyright issues before the project changed its name.

One of the listings is a custom bundle of the project from a darkgrey source that has gotten it in to their head, that promoting their "easy to setup solution" would be a viable business model and most certainly not alienate the coders that do the work on their behalf.

One of the listings just differs by its distribution method.

One of the listings isnt even technically possible.

There is no comparison to be had. Thats it.

Not really.

If there is a fringe issue I'm missing, i'd be interested in learning it myself.

But you already had about 20 people that were willing to bite. Apple is better, because I own one. *crunch* Croudsourcing ftw.
[Fire TV General] vipercoyote:
Your the only one complaining. Everybody knows what I meant which is XBMC.. i spelled it wrong. You failed at your sluggish attempt to have sarcasim. Go away. Im blocking you
[Fire TV General] vipercoyote:
hahaha thanks everyone for posting and voting. My suspicions ere right that most use SPMC which is what Im using because it iS smoother with no stutter.

I would say MY let me repeat MY poll was a success and thanks for everyone who did not have the brain of a pigeon to not say anything about the minor misspelling and could figure out what was meant.

Thanks jpeg for allowing me to add you to my blocklist
[Fire TV General] jpeg42:
[MENTION=4090599]harlekinrains[/MENTION] was actually right on with this one. what a troll. pleasure is all mine to block you too [MENTION=5202150]cpugeeker[/MENTION].
[Fire TV General] harlekinrains:
For the ones interested in the differences - you can read most of them in the changelogs.

http://spmc.semperpax.com/

To simplify - around the rebase to the Kodi 14.2 source - some of the differences concerned -

Implementation of deinterlacing,

preliminary h265 support,

allowing for multicore decoding, if HW decoding fails,

a backport to an older version of ffmpeg,

device specific tweaks;

Is it conceivable that some of those changes resulted in noticeably different playback performance. Yes. Is it likely? Hell no. Should it inform your decision as someone grasping for mass feedback as an uninformed consumer. No. Are the changes even still relevant? Hard to tell, because there were two Kodi revisions since the bulk of the changes listed - which since was used as a new base for spmc.

So what the OP is now trying to construct is pure and simple BS, with the "smoother performance" most likely being a either a placebo, a connectivity problem, or something to do with multi threading while fallback software decoding. Which I havent experienced in my extensive use of the software and which is literally impossible to occur with "scene releases" like indicated by the "one is smoother by feel in 9 out of 10 cases" poster. Because those sources know how they should encode their video. As a one word phrase: Stuttering isnt normal on either one of the named (or almost named) forks, of exactly the same base project. On neither one of the two FIre TV devices.
[Fire TV General] porkenhimer:
Man look you are rude to everyone on here and you try to push you opinions on to everyone. You're a joke! Maybe you should stop assuming and ask questions. For one I never said I use m3u list and I do not use them. Also, i never said my streams buffered, I said they stuttered on most versions of Kodi, meaning there will be little slight jerks in playback every now and then, which never happens on SPMC. This is a fforum and everyone has a voice and can share their opinions. Your way is not always best. Its better to help people than to put them down.

here are a couple rude post you have made on this site

'Most people dont even recognize it, but then - who cares about most people"

"People who depend on Plex, for me are lost."

The quote about Plex was rude as hell, cause you responded to the guys question then told him you would not help him because he uses Plex, and demanded that someone else help him or that he go elsewhere to look for help. To the people reading this post, the last couple lines are 100% true. This guy has the gull to quote someone just to tell them he isn't gonna help them because they use Plex. I know its funny right. You cannot treat people like garbage and expect to get treated like a king. You are a str8 pee-on. I undertang people thining that others are being rude, cause just a week or so ago a couple guys thought I was being rude cause they misunderstd me, but I wasn't actually being rude to anyone, but you go out of you way to talk down to people. If you did not lie this thread, why even comment? Makes no sense.

Plain and simple, SPMC is the best version I have ran on the Fire TV, if you get a different result, thats totally fine, but ther is zero reason to be rude about it. I gave fact and even challenged you so that I could prove my facts. You cannot discount someones finding based on info you read on Google. My findings about SPMC vs other versions of Kodi are 100% fact and I can 100% prove them. I have three Fire TVs that give the same exact results running different versions of Kodi, and SPMC performs better on each device. I am sure you would also get the same results on your Fire TV as well.
[Fire TV General] harlekinrains:
Tested out a HEVC encoded file on Kodi 14.2 - where Kodi and/or the SOC does not support hardware decoding - and the system maxed out at 100% CPU use on both (FIre TV Stick) cores. So multi core software decoding isnt a differentiating factor either. Slowly even theoretically probable reasons are running out....
[Fire TV General] harlekinrains:
Thread on the kodi forums that talks specifically about SPMC on the Fire TV:

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=201783

The dev is in there as well.

edit: And here is what the dev has to say about SPMC 14.2 in comparison to Kodi 14.2 on his own:

>> Koying: Probably the

only

advantage of spmc is that what will be in next release of Kodi regarding android is there first because I release more often.

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=201783&pid=1969970#pid1969970

I've now spent an hour sussing out the differences. And the most noteworthy thing I have found is a correction to something I have said earlier. Koying is not putting in older versions of ffmpeg, but more current ones ("backporting"), that are already integrated in the Isengard (15.0) repo.

As far as other differences to Kodi 14.2 are concerned - deinterlacing is in. A newer version of Samba is in, that might fix problems on OSX, i have never experienced.

So whats the definite answer to the question asked in here? Should you use SPMC over Kodi, unmotivated? Not if you are still in the process of figuring out Kodi. Because you will suddenly only have a subset of people that can support your version - apart from that- it is up to you. If you want to be on the forefront and experience changes to your media center early and often (And face it, how many of you even know to use adb install -r to benefit from a more frequent release cycle? Both apps have to be sideloaded.), in an environment that is less likely to break things than the Kodi Alpha builds - try it. Do you want to be able to run two versions of Kodi in parallel - switching in between apps, try it. The "stuttering video" problem that ought to appear in Kodi 14.2 but not in SPMC is a myth as far as I am concerned.
[Fire TV General] porkenhimer:
Adb is not needed at all on the Fire TV to install or update apps. Not one time have I ever needed adb to install anything. Get ES File Explorer, turn on remote manager, connect using Filezilla or your favorite FTP program, move your favorite browser apk to the Fire TV. After doing this you will never need adb to install anything. You can simply install third party app stores like 1Moile Market, Aptoide etc to install and update apps, or you can simply download any apk you may need from your browser directly to the Fire TV. Its really simple to update or install any verion of Kodi without the need of adb. Just google the version you want, download it then install it. Its like magic.
[Fire TV General] harlekinrains:
Yes, and it is really simple to install and use adb as well. Or do what you are suggesting, by having a adb file system plugin for an explorer program like Total Commander. That way you dont even have to run an ftp server on the Android client. Also, afaik all second party app stores have to be launched to then (load (can be automated)) and) install updated apks manually. You can even use the file explorr within Kodi to copy apks to the internal SD right over SMB, then launch and install it in an android file explorer. That said, I don't see the majority of people flocking to any of those kinds of layered solutions.

After I've read up on the release philosophy of SPMC Im actually fine with it. Its developer doesnt position it as the next best thing after lemon cake, oh - and so individual, and some of the tweaks are/were meaningful for users of some other (non Fire TV) Android devices (SoCs). Also the developer is accessible and does respond to feedback.

Still - none of you named differentiating factors that would be worth noting (except the "stutterin issue" which I still dont buy as a decoding issue), and that made me immediately suspicious, because I can almost certainly reconstruct the way most of you ended up at SPMC in the first place. It has something to do with critical mass being reached, while SPMC was in the Android Appstore, and Kodi still wasnt.

Apart from the name being thrown around a bunch at that stage - there werent many reasons given, as to why it is worth noting.
[Fire TV General] mjbxx:
SPMC launcher is the way to go on a rooted Fire TV. Just saying.
[Fire TV General] porkenhimer:
Actually most third party apps stores work exactly like the Play store, you open it, search for an app, install the app. The update process is done the same exact way as well. There are a lot of people that use third party app stores cause when I talked about using them a while back instead of using adb, I got flooded with private messages about where to get them and which were the best to use, cause adb, though simple is not nearly as practicle as having an app store to install apps. I am unrooted running three third party apps stores and there is not one app I cannot find or install and keep updated without ever needing to transfer it from my PC. The only app that I have ever transfered fro my PC is Maxthon Browser and since then there has not been one single reason to transfer anything from my PC. The First day I got my Fire TVs it went like this, unboxed it, plugged it in, set it up and connected it to the internet, installed ES File Explorer, got on my PC and tranfered Maxthon Browser through Filezilla, installed Maxthon Browser on the Fire TV, downloaded 1Mobile Market, Blackmart and Aptoide, then proceded to install all the apps I wanted to install on my Fire TVs without ever needing to transfer anything ever again. See man your way is not always best and is not always the way others will do it. I am totally happy without using adb to install apps and there is no reason for me to ever use adb to install apps. Not sure what you think is hard about installing a browser on the Fire TV and downloading a couple third party app stores so that you can install anything you want, but it takes about thirty seconds for anyone to set it up. That is not a layered solution it a better solution. Not one time have I had to turn my PC on to downlaod and transfer a file or install an app, not only is my way better, its easier and saves money on electricity. The same reason I do not use Plex is the same reason I do not use adb, cause I refuse to use two devices to accomplish a task on one device, not to mention its a waste of electricity. Technology changes so fast that whats good yesterday is not good today. Like upnp, I still think it a good choice for people who wanna watch their media on other devices, but I think Pushbullet is better. Thats my right to make that choice and if someone has a different opinion its fine. There is no reason for you to push your views on to others. If someone uses a program you don't use or don't like, why get rude with em? There are enough choices for everyone, so let people use what they want.
[Fire TV General] harlekinrains:
Is auto update working on the app stores you use? The answer should be no - because none of the app stores (that isnt amazons own one) gets the necessary rights granted. As a result you have to open - and in most cases on purpose downloads the updates, then and there - after opening, and then manually install them (Android Install dialogue is a security feature). Thats the point I was making, and which you so gallantly missed and instead interpreted as me not knowing the ramifications.

And here are the overarching standpoints:

Me - normal users wont update SPMC (with a more frequent release cycle being the only stated benefit the developer cares to mention -- while it is highly debatable if you want to leave a known stable media center environement "more frequently" - unprovoked) - because they dont know the right adb command - hint its this one.

You - but it is so easy installing a third party app store and updating from there

Me - ..but not fully automatically - and adb is easy to use as well..

You - No, I REALLY want people to use third party app stores, so here is why they are so easy to use and...

---------- Post added 7th June 2015 at 12:01 AM ---------- Previous post was 6th June 2015 at 11:48 PM ----------

Also - the technology changing point is laughable.

FTP is obsolete in literally all usecases. ADB is a newer protocol. ADB is the only reason, cause and security you have that ANY filetransfer on the Fire TV is working.

UPNP is a security risk - that died not because of "technological advancements", but because it was unfixable. Pushbullet has NOTHING TO DO WITH IT, it isnt even a protocol - its a service -- a bad one, I might add...

NEVER instrumentalice "technological development" in your arguments again. You are dependent on lackluster, service based solutions with more overhead, and a tendency to put just enough distance between you and your device, that you need to register a username -- to "solve" your day to day problems. Its a damn near wonder, you arent promoting Plex as well.

Dont talk about technological advancements, when you get more and more dependent with every solution you choose to employ on your part. I know it is a web 2.0 problem, I know you are solely dependent on your "app ecosystem" - but please, do me the favor and dont be so jolly, while pressed into your consumer facing strangleholds of "service over protocolls" - BECAUSE ITS NOT AN ADVANCEMENT, THAT "you want a service for that" and "do you want that with cloud?". Just register here, and here - sign here, and here -- and the tell a friend, that you are part of a technological advancement.

Pushbullet is so great - it...

You know what? I give up. Thats it. I have no interest in prolonging this fallacy any longer. Top 10 apps - thats the state of todays "tech consumer" world. Please, pretty please - with a crowdsourced individual support team that tells us, to which apps we should switch tomorrow.

Take this forum and run with it. Be happy.