yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Shield Android TV Android Development] KingNothing81:
Since I don't know if will.blaschko, the developer of Prime Launcher, is still following this thread, maybe I can give some information for those that are looking for a way to use Prime Video on their device outside US/UK/DE.

Please be aware that the Prime Launcher is basically just a TV friendly user interface that let's you browse the Prime content that is available. In its current version there is only support for Amazon US/UK/DE. So the launcher can only display the content that is available on Prime in these countries, depending on which one you have selected.

The launcher fetches the information from JustWatch, not from Amazon. JustWatch API is very slow sometimes, even if you use their dedicated app. And not all information is right. Sometimes there can be missing items or it shows content as available although it's not. At least this is my experience with using it in Germany.

But since the launcher only supports this three countries, you will not be able to browse the content of Prime Video for any other country.

To playback the videos the launcher links to the Amazon Video Mobile App. Alternatively you can use Webview Playback in the Beta. But the apps that are linked in the first post and the app you can download through Prime Launcher are quite old now. And I'm pretty sure they will not work in the countries where Prime Video started recently.

For all countries where Prime Video started recently the Prime Video App that is now available in the Playstore should be the right one to use.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.avod.thirdpartyclient

If your device is not listed as compatible you could try to sideload it. If the app doesn't work, another and in my opinion most promising way is to try out the playback in Chrome as I described a few posts above.

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=70121791&postcount=545

If the solution in the Chrome browser and the current Prime Video App both don't work for you, I'm afraid you won't be able to playback Prime Video on your device. At least there is no other solution I would be aware of. And you should complain about it and tell Amazon that you want to use their service on the device of your choice instead of being forced to buy their hardware.

Edit: Sony TVs are listed as compatible devices on primevideo.com, but it's not clear if this includes the Android TV models. If these would be supported too and your device is running Android TV, you could sideload the app from Sony Android TV and try if you can access Prime Video this way. But if accessing Prime Video this way is not supported in your country, you could get redirected to Amazon US in the app. So please watch out that you don't accidentally sign up for Prime US by logging in.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] MaxRink:
wtb mirror for the eu versions
[Shield Android TV Android Development] OnePoint8T:
Anyone find a newer version to side load than 4.1.70?

Hey everyone,

First off I'm an Android newb and my Sony Android TV is the only Android device I've got to work with. Wanting to take advantage of my US Amazon Prime subscription for their video content I wanted to load the Amazon Video Android App on my TV. Through this thread I was able to find com.amazon.aiv.us_4.1.20 hosted on apkmirror, which has since been removed (FYI I have a copy if anyone is looking for it, please PM me).

I had com.amazon.aiv.us_4.1.20 installed on my Sony Android TV (XBR65X850C) and it was working flawlessly, and was able to get the 4K streams. My understanding is that one of the forum members was able to extract it from his Sony Android TV. I have to mention that Amazon Prime Video isn't/wasn't officially available in Canada at the time and I was using a DNS redirection/proxy service.

Fast forward to today where my Sony Android TV updated from Android 5.1 to 6.0.1. The Amazon Video app was removed via the update and when I try to side load com.amazon.aiv.us_4.1.20 back onto my TV it prompts me to update 4.1.70 which is is reportedly already installed. Hence, running 4.1.20 against 4.1.70 fails, which I figured wouldn't work as it would really be a downgrade.

Thing is, I can't find 4.1.70 anywhere on the TV via the GUI so I figure it must be disabled/hidden and is possibly part of the system ROM. I tried changing the region for the TV to U.S.A. and doing a reboot, and I did get some new US-based apps but no Amazon Video.

So two questions:

First, does anyone on here in the US with a Sony Android TV running 6.0.1 that has the Amazon Prime Video app showing up in the launcher? This would indicate to me that somehow my TV is geo-blocking the app, or my Google Play Store account is tied to a Canadian address and blocking the app.

Secondly, I'm thinking if there was a way to extract 4.1.70 from the system ROM I may be able to side load it back onto the TV, or if someone has a version that is newer than 4.1.70 I may be able to upgrade the current version. Thoughts?

I did get v3 of the app to install and work on the TV, but the quality is crap, 720p to SD at best so that is a show stopper for me.

Thoughts?
[Shield Android TV Android Development] baggerbodo:
Are there no amazon apps on apkmirror? Can´t find they anymore. :(
[Shield Android TV Android Development] KingNothing81:
https://plus.google.com/+apkmirror/posts/hZKeebkuFXR

DMCA is short for "Digital Millennium Copyright Act"... So Apkmirror is not allowed to distribute the Amazon Apps on their site anymore.

Here is a link for downloading both US Versions of the Sony Android TV Amazon App (Version 4.x should work in EU too)...

https://plus.google.com/+ZainAjam/posts/doF4S7xcCRU

It seems Amazon wants all of us to get a Fire TV for christmas... :mad:

Edit2: Sony Android TV EU Version 4.1.20 (Link fixed)

http://beste-apps.chip.de/android/getfile/cxo.82755365/
[Shield Android TV Android Development] OnePoint8T:
Turns out that Sony Android TV's do in fact have this built in. After fighting to try to side load the Amazon Prime Video app yesterday when I sat in front of my TV this evening the Prime Video v4.1.70 app was listed in the featured apps list. Don't know if this is due to the region change and it took a while to kick in or if it just got enabled en mass, but it's there now.

If someone can walk me through extracting the v4.1.70 app I'd have happy to do that for anyone that wants it.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] sei4eto:
Unfortunately eu version's link is broken. :(
[Shield Android TV Android Development] raleigh22:
I'm in india and have a sony Android TV. Can confirm that the Amazon app appeared in the featured apps for me too. Works well.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] KingNothing81:
Yes, the app should be part of the firmware but is normally hidden if Prime isn't avaiable in your country. But since the app showed up for a user in India too, maybe Sony or Amazon enabled it for all users. So sideloading this app could be a solution for other owners of Android TV devices too.

It's quite easy to extract the app. I would recommend ES File Explorer, because you can install it via Play Store on Android TV. In ES go to the Library menu point on the right and expand it. There you chose "App" section. You will then see a list of all your installed apps. Long press the Amazon App until it gets selected. Then press Backup at the bottom. Then you will find the app in sdcard/backups/apps folder. It also shows the path for a short while at the bottom when you backup if its different on your device. You can then move the Apk around, for example copy it to a USB Stick and upload it on a PC. Or you can add your Gdrive Account in ES and upload it directly. If you need further advice, just tell me.

---------- Post added at 05:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:13 PM ----------

I guess it had a session ID that is not valid anymore.

Try this one and click on the blue button to start the download.

http://beste-apps.chip.de/android/getfile/cxo.82755365/
[Shield Android TV Android Development] OnePoint8T:
Thanks KingNothing81. I was able to grab the 4.1.70 APK following your method using ES. Only thing I'd note for others looking to do the same is that in ES you have to specify System Apps in the top left of the icon screen to find the APK.

If you're looking for 4.1.70 US it's located here: https: // www . sendspace . com /file / gb6l2n (recombine the link, the forum won't let me post links as I am new)

I don't have any file sharing sites so if someone wants to take it from sendspace and repost for the community that would be cool.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] MaluNoPeleke:
Does anyone have that version for the EU as well?
[Shield Android TV Android Development] KingNothing81:
Thanks for the app and the information. I always extracted non-system apps so far, so I was not aware of that switch to display system apps in ES. :good:

If you don't mind, I repost your link so it's "clickable"...

Amazon Sony Android TV App 4.1.70 US (should work in EU too):

https://www.sendspace.com/file/gb6l2n

The file should be available there as long as there is at least one download every 30 days.

---------- Post added at 08:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:11 PM ----------

Did you try the US version? With version 4.1.20, the US version worked for EU too. Maybe this is also true for 4.1.70. I will check for myself too.

Edit: US version 4.1.70 works for me in Germany.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] bunny0007:
Yep but the app still crash on play
[Shield Android TV Android Development] DrKaotica:
Installed the US version on my xiaomi mi box and while the UI is great (much better than the mobile app I was using), It doesn't let me actually play anything.

It says a problem occured. We are unable to play this video at this time.

Did I miss a set up step here or something?
[Shield Android TV Android Development] KingNothing81:
Like previous version the app outputs DD+ audio. If your equipment doesn't support decoding of DD+, the app will crash. This is a known issue. You would have to use version 3.x in this case.

---------- Post added at 04:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:37 PM ----------

I don't know what's the problem on the Mi Box. It has the same Winedevine and Playready support like the Shield, but I haven't heard of a user so far that was able to get this working on the Mi Box. There is a user in Nvidia Forum who was able to watch an episode of "Man In The High Castle" on Mi Box, but the next day he only got a spinning circle when trying to playback a video.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/...eld-updated-nov-1-2016-/post/5040737/#5040737

There is no solution for this I would be aware of. You can try playback in Chrome. Maybe a future update for the Mi Box will make this work.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] Transient77:
I'm also requesting support for Amazon Canada. Perhaps the easiest way is to allow manual entry of the domain in the settings?
[Shield Android TV Android Development] iibosshog:
In my TV Box both 3.x and 4.x crash at startup anyway and the launcher doesn't recognize them (EU versions). It only recognizes and download the mobile app. Is there a way to let the launcher see the Sony TV app?
[Shield Android TV Android Development] pducharme:
+1 requesting Support for Canada! I think this project need a little Love now that Amazon prime video launched in lots of new market !! :)
[Shield Android TV Android Development] iibosshog:
And also it would be great to have a EU version of the launcher linked to primevideo.com via WebPlayer. Thanks.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] will.blaschko:
Hi all, I can't test this, but I can have everything that isn't US/UK/DE go to primevideo.com. Let me know if this works. Uploading a new APK shortly.

--EDIT--

New data structure looks more complicated than originally expected. Stand by... hopefully I can deliver.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] KingNothing81:
Maybe good news for all of us waiting for official Amazon Video support for the Shield TV:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/comments/5jvqgj/looks_like_amazon_video_officially_coming_to/
[Shield Android TV Android Development] pogar:
Hi

I have Philips PUS6561/12 . Amazon Instant Video 4.1.70 or 4.1.20 works for me, but I cannot get 4K stream (The Grand Tour for example). My internet connection is fast (120MB/s), TV is connected to 5GH AC Wireless, which is 2 meters from TV.. I know that I can try cable connection, but any other ideas ?
[Shield Android TV Android Development] KingNothing81:
It's not a matter of connection speed... The APKs from Sony TV don't deliver 4K on any other device than a Sony TV.

But there is Amazon Video support for Philips TVs too... Here is a post from a user who was able to install the app via Philips App Gallery. He got 4K (UHD) working with it. So you should try the Philips Version.

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=70072732&postcount=535

If you can't install via App Gallery on your device, I would suggest that you write the user with the Philips TV a PM and ask if he/she can send you the APK from his Philips TV. Because there are no Amazon Apps available anymore on apkmirror and I don't know where you could get the Philips APK elsewhere.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] pogar:
awesome. thanks.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] ckilps:
Mi box

I have installed the launcher and the beta I'm my mi box. It does not work right it showing the same image in each genre. Search does not show anything relevant. Also it takes forever to load. Please be me not the app.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] 7mojo:
I have managed to install it on MiBox, however, assuming the launcher supports only US, UK and Germany accounts, it's being rendered useless for me here in India. Is there a way to keep launcher settings generic, or allow it to pick country settings from the login details of the user.

It's a shame that Amazon is hindering it's own paid customers.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] BinaryFabric:
Please Help, sorry if this is the wrong place to ask!

So I installed Amazon Instant Video for Android TV 4.1.20

After opening up the application, I am unable to control the application. None of the buttons on the controller, besides the volume, seem to work.

Anyone experience this, and if so how was it fixed.

Thanks,
[Shield Android TV Android Development] iibosshog:
I managed to make Primevideo.com work on a TX5 Pro Android TV Box. I put Chrome on desktop mode and (you never know) changed the user agent to Chrome Desktop with User Agent Changer for Chrome app. The videos play pretty fluidly at 1080p. No DD, though. But i don't care.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] pogar:
com.amazon.aiv.us_4.1.20, com.amazon.aiv.eu_4.1.20, or com.amazon.aiv.us_4.1.70 are not able to play The Grand Tour episode 7, while episodes 5 and 6 works... .

from another side I can play the episode 7 in app installed by com.willblaschko.android.primelauncher, but then quality is low (even when I set the player to Wifi only)..
[Shield Android TV Android Development] KingNothing81:
The app doesn't support control with the gamepad. You have to use a remote. I think keyboard does work too. In my opinion this is intended behaviour because Amazon doesn't want the app to be used (comfortably) on any other device than a Sony TV.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] mihir24:
APK

Could you please share APK?

I managed to get this working with latest beta version of Prime Video Launcher and Amazon Instant Video v2.x. If I update to latest version prompted by Prime Video Launcher app, the video doesn't start, it keeps waiting.

I can start the video from launcher but the amazon app doesn't open. It just prompts to open url in the browser when I launch the app.

Since I can't get the amazon app to launch, I can't figure out how to start subtitles/CC. Any tips?
[Shield Android TV Android Development] paratox:
would be nice if we could get HD quality. after some testing all videos look like SD quality.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] nobo2k:
Did you try changing the settings in the menu before starting a stream?

I know from the kodi plugin that amazon limited the streams to SD content for non-amazon apps.

It could be possible that the amazon video checks for the build.prop and also limits the stream to SD if the device is not approved
[Shield Android TV Android Development] hawkwind:
When it comes to installing the Prime Video Launcher app i get a parsing error, i have tried downloading it numerous times with the same error.

I can however get videos to play via the VOD APK although everything is in SD and i have tried different settings (best and wifi only)

Thanks for this though, at least i can play prime video now.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] earl.grey:
(amazon germany here) im also currently in holiday. will check and give feedback when im back home. lets get AIV working on our shield.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] Kovs:
works great on the Shield.

Nexus player on 6.0.1, I cannot get it to work. I get: "unfortunately instant video has stopped"
[Shield Android TV Android Development] will.blaschko:
What device are you using and what is the Android version? I'm not sure if the Leanback library (or other library) I'm currently using has a higher minimum SDK than what you're running.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] will.blaschko:
I've added Crashlytics so the next update I post will give me information about the crashes :).
[Shield Android TV Android Development] will.blaschko:
If anyone wants to try to get past the upgrade screen on the Sony Bravo TV Amazon VoD app, this intent gets you to the player:

String asin = "B00TU9UFTS";
Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.amazon.aiv.us", "com.amazon.avod.playbackclient.EdPlaybackActivity"));
intent.putExtra("asin", asin);
startActivity(intent);

It still doesn't deal with the auth issues, I just figured I'd share what I have so far (as little as it is).
[Shield Android TV Android Development] will.blaschko:
It looks like the newer Amazon VoD apps won't play on the nVidia Shield at all because of the LeftNavSpacer null pointer exception. I'm wading through code to see what the cause is, since we know it works for phones just fine.

-- Update--

I think the cause is the res/layout-sw540dp-television-v13 folder--it has different navigation resources than the mobile app so the elements probably are missing, as expected. Anyone with the tools installed want to decompile, try to copy over the XML file from /res/layout (player_user_controls_layout.xml), compile, and see if you can get the app running on the TV?
[Shield Android TV Android Development] xaudiblex:
I can give it a try if you can guide me on what to do. :D I know how to decompile apks & some other basic things.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] PeterPan6754:
Thx for the Files

i test it on my shield TV, it works, but only sd content. (amazon germany )

is there some tricks to change ist to HD or UHD ? ;)
[Shield Android TV Android Development] hawkwind:
Sorry I should have said it is the zoomtak T8 V2 running android 4.4.2

So far your VOD apk has been the only way to run Amazon prime UK albeit in sd only.

If I then install the update from Amazon then the videos won't load.

I was just about to order a Roku 3 until I saw this thread.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] BenjiHansell:
Great app. Works well with Amazon Underground app instead of Amazon Shopping app. The only problem is that there's no way of navigating the video once you're actually watching using the controller. I think a mouse or other pointing device is needed. Works well in the UK. I managed to get through the entire installation process without attaching a mouse to the Shield.

I would say the biggest and simplest improvement that could be made would be the app's icon. Just the Amazon Video logo on a plain background would fit in much better among the other video apps like YouTube and Netflix. Of course you might consider that Amazon owns the trademark so idk.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] will.blaschko:
I started playing around with this last night and, honestly, it seems rather unsustainable. Both the VoD and the Store app would have to be re-signed with the same key. As a one-off this could work, but trying to always have the latest version would be difficult.

I didn't notice much difference between the 3.x and the 2.x apps as far as options for video quality (granted, I wasn't able to play anything with the 3.x). I'm going to give it one more go today and if I can't find a useful solution, I'll probably just suggest that people stick with the 2.x versions for the video player--the Underground app can be whatever version, as we see now.

If Amazon suddenly allowed 4k streaming in 4.x, then it would be worth the effort to make it work. Otherwise my time is probably better spent figuring out how to use Amazon's proper APIs so the full list of playable content is available (not just what JustWatch has).
[Shield Android TV Android Development] will.blaschko:
I agree; I originally had a different logo (much more in line with what you suggested), but I don't want to infringe on trademark. If there are any aspiring designers on the forum, let me know, and I can pass you the specs for the app banner (seen on the Android TV home) and the app logo (see in Settings).
[Shield Android TV Android Development] will.blaschko:
So I got 3.x working, one just needs to decompile, change all resource folders with "-television" in them to "-watch" (that way references don't break, it just will only show up for Android Wear), and then recompile. The shortcoming is this new app is not compatible with Underground or any other version of the Amazon store, due to the dissimilar signing keys (which isn't 100% required for watching video, only for browsing) .

The controls for the player still don't work, but the video looks like it might be better quality (1080p?)--I'll post updates here soon for someone with a sharper eye than my own once I fix a few more small issues.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] JonDeutsch:
Sadly, this is not working for me on my Nexus Player. When I click on a movie, the orange circle spins for a bit, and then I invariably get the message: "Unfortunately, Instant Video has stopped."

I'm using:

Amazon 5.4.3.200.APK

com.willblaschko.primelauncher.apk

com.amazon.avod.thirdpartyclient.apk

I've seen mention of using amazon underground, but it's not in the official instructions so while I did install it at one point, I uninstalled it. It seems to conflict with 5.4.3.200 store APK.

Any insights?

Thx!

Jon
[Shield Android TV Android Development] will.blaschko:
I just updated the instructions as well as added the new 3.x based edited Amazon Instant Video APK.

Summary of the changes:

Neither Underground nor any other app store is required (this was previously true)

Option for either the 2.x unedited, or the 3.x edited Instant Video player

Added Crashlytics for better crash tracking

If you are going to upgrade, I would suggest uninstalling all Amazon apps and installing either one or the other VoD app as well as the new version of the launcher.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] will.blaschko:
Try the new version of the VoD app (edited 3.x) that I just posted, let me know if that works. At some level the inner workings of the Amazon Instant video apps are a black box, so I won't be able to fix everything.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] readonly24:
For me it works. Didn't try a lot, but in general it's working. Thanks.
[Shield Android TV Android Development] iibosshog:
If you are subscribed to Primevideo.com you should just: 1) download Chrome Dev which has an experimental full support to HTML5 2) Download User Agent Changer for Chrome app. 3) Open it and set it to immediately load Chrome after changing the settings. 4) Change the UA to Chrome Desktop. Connect to your Primevideo account. 5) Try to play some content and boom! There you have it! Prime Video at 1080p. No Dolby Digital, though. But it's awesome anyway, innit? ;)