amazon FireTV and FireTV stick

gizmofreak

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Hi all

I have had a fireTV for a year now (I imported mine from the USA when they first launched).
Hands down the best android TV box for the following reasons:

-Super fast navigation due to the quad core processor and also 2GB RAM
-Native app store with apps OPTIMISED for the fireTV remote
-Ability to 'sideload XBMC which works excellently with very few tweaks. I personally use the SMPC fork
-Smartphone control
-USB storage

Yes other Android boxes have emerged which 'technically' better specs than the fireTV HOWEVER, they do not have an app store with apps optimised to work with their remote. Take the T8 box fro example, if you want an app such as BBC iPlayer on this box you'll need to download from the Google Play store which is fine, but these apps are normally optimised for use on touch-screens, not handheld remote controls. even if you remote has a built in fly mouse the experience isn't great and this is where fireTV excels; taking the example of BBC iPlayer the fireTV's version of the app works perfectly with the fireTV remote.

One area previously lacking was USB storage, this wasn't enabled on release but has been enabled as of a recent firmware update. Currently only FAT32 formatted pen drives are support for NTFS / external hard drives will be possible.

Also the trend these days towards home-automation bodes well for the fireTV; for those lamenting the fact this teh remote works by bluetooth rather then Infra-Red (for exmple those with a node-zero / HDMI matrix setup) well amazon have released a smartphone app for both iOS and Android which allows you to control the fireTV from your smartphone.

fireTV stick is similar to the fireTV box but less power, no Ethernet (wifi only) and no USB storage. It's still a damn fine 1080p streaming box which handled XBMX / KODI / SPMC just fine.

If ANYONE wants any help setting up the either fireTV device including side loading apps or getting the most out of XBMC please do holler at me.
 
Hi all

I have had a fireTV for a year now (I imported mine from the USA when they first launched).
Hands down the best android TV box for the following reasons:

-Super fast navigation due to the quad core processor and also 2GB RAM
-Native app store with apps OPTIMISED for the fireTV remote
-Ability to 'sideload XBMC which works excellently with very few tweaks. I personally use the SMPC fork
-Smartphone control
-USB storage

Yes other Android boxes have emerged which 'technically' better specs than the fireTV HOWEVER, they do not have an app store with apps optimised to work with their remote. Take the T8 box fro example, if you want an app such as BBC iPlayer on this box you'll need to download from the Google Play store which is fine, but these apps are normally optimised for use on touch-screens, not handheld remote controls. even if you remote has a built in fly mouse the experience isn't great and this is where fireTV excels; taking the example of BBC iPlayer the fireTV's version of the app works perfectly with the fireTV remote.

One area previously lacking was USB storage, this wasn't enabled on release but has been enabled as of a recent firmware update. Currently only FAT32 formatted pen drives are support for NTFS / external hard drives will be possible.

Also the trend these days towards home-automation bodes well for the fireTV; for those lamenting the fact this teh remote works by bluetooth rather then Infra-Red (for exmple those with a node-zero / HDMI matrix setup) well amazon have released a smartphone app for both iOS and Android which allows you to control the fireTV from your smartphone.

fireTV stick is similar to the fireTV box but less power, no Ethernet (wifi only) and no USB storage. It's still a damn fine 1080p streaming box which handled XBMX / KODI / SPMC just fine.

If ANYONE wants any help setting up the either fireTV device including side loading apps or getting the most out of XBMC please do holler at me.


As you did offer, I will be in touch.................
 
I've had a FireTV for several months now, and for streaming its really smooth. I've sideloaded Kodi so far, but if I'm honest, I'm now leaning towards Plex, for the simple reason it's easier to manage as the DB is central to my NAS so I don't have to update every device with new content (plus I can stream over 4G from the same box). Sadly Plex seems to be a bit annoying in respect of having to pay £4 to activate it on the FTV, when it's free on any normal android device/smart TV

The only downside (for me) at the moment is that I have and still am to a degree quite a lover of apple products (not necessarily the company itself), and given so still want features like Airplay, which at present is a bit hit and miss on the FTV with the available addon's.

I have three ATV2s at the moment JB'd with Kodi 14.1, but I need to replace the other two with FTV's and move these on, when I can be bothered.
 
I've had a FireTV for several months now, and for streaming its really smooth. I've sideloaded Kodi so far, but if I'm honest, I'm now leaning towards Plex, for the simple reason it's easier to manage as the DB is central to my NAS so I don't have to update every device with new content (plus I can stream over 4G from the same box). Sadly Plex seems to be a bit annoying in respect of having to pay £4 to activate it on the FTV, when it's free on any normal android device/smart TV

The only downside (for me) at the moment is that I have and still am to a degree quite a lover of apple products (not necessarily the company itself), and given so still want features like Airplay, which at present is a bit hit and miss on the FTV with the available addon's.

I have three ATV2s at the moment JB'd with Kodi 14.1, but I need to replace the other two with FTV's and move these on, when I can be bothered.


Mate I was in the same position about a year ago but I had two ATV2's not three. I sold both of my ATV2's for around £150 each, bought 2x fireTV's from the USA with change to spare and haven't looked back since. I'm surprised your using Kodi 14.1 on the ATV's as I've had discussions with some of the xbmc dev team, they don;t recommend anything above 12.3 as the ATV struggles with any version above that; I'm surpised they are still releasing new versions for ATV2 to be honest with you.

Also with reagrds to Airplay this was a MASSIVE issue for me going from ATV2 to FireTV. I has a big debate with the main Android dev guy for team xbmc (called Memphiz) and was so desperate to have it fixed that I was willing to pay an external coder to complete the missing code that would make Kodi's internal Airpay engine work reliably. However I then discovered a paid app through the amazon store called AirPlay/DLNA Receiver (PRO). This is almost as good as apple own Airplay but it is a paid app. Paying actually entitles you to use it on TWO devices, but you'll need to email the developer with the MAC ID (both wifi and ethernet) of your devices so he can enable it on his side.

With regards to Plex, yes it's a paid app and arguably it's better for a client/server setup in a home. However kodi smashes Plex when it comes to streaming and as such, I decommissioned my NAS some time ago. If you're annoyed about paying for plex, have you tried sideloading the normal Android version? This will probably allow you to get it for free but it won;t be the amazon version which will be optimized for the fireTV remote.

Let me know your thoughts on the above, am seriously surprised (pleasantly I guess) that you've persevered with the ATV2's despite their lack of processing power.
 
I've just received mine and I can connect via adbfire and apps2fire but nothing actually sideloads it just hangs:Chainsaw:. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong?
 
dont use the usb. connect it via network and make sure you enable the debug mode in settings
 
Yeah everything seems to connect but nothing installs. I'm gonna leave it for now and try again over the weekend if not looks like it'll be going back haha

Sent from my HTC One_M8
 
Managed to sideload kodi and a few others to try so all seems ok for now. Thanks for the help guys

Sent from my HTC One_M8
 
Can u post link or file u used to side load I need something to use with windows 7 ta
 
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