[Q] 35 tablets running at the same time - Hardware Hacking General

[Q] 35 tablets running at the same time - Hardware Hacking General

Feel free to move this thread, but I thought I should ask somewhere people know about hardware.
I own a local store which has about 35 stands for each product, and me and my team want to run slideshows (picture+video) in each one.
My guess is that I should use tablets.
Why tablets?
a) Slideshows needs a software to run them. Displays are just displays.
b) KODI (XBMC) app is a good option, as each Kodi would also run a Samba server and I could send the media I need to play to each one from one computer.
c) I looked for digital photo frames, but they don't support any kind of networking, and the few ones I've found are as expensive as tablets.
My questions are,
1) Is it fine if they are connected to AC power all day 24/7? Our local is opened 24hs. Should I take off their batteries? I don't know if tablets are prepared for that purpose.
2) Is there a difference between generic tablets and Samsung Galaxy Tabs 3? In fact, I really don't need high-end tablets, I just need to run the slideshows. But my only fear is the device-life.

When its plugged in it runs off ac power an keeps the battery's charged so as long as there is power you are good it won't hurt it. I can make a app that's a slide show for them if you want just install the app an open it an itll play. The send the videos an slide show pics an I'll work on when I can. 12 hour shifts this schedule

afox27 said:
When its plugged in it runs off ac power an keeps the battery's charged so as long as there is power you are good it won't hurt it. I can make a app that's a slide show for them if you want just install the app an open it an itll play. The send the videos an slide show pics an I'll work on when I can. 12 hour shifts this schedule
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate your help.
I actually found out a solution to this. Not the best but fine.
I've installed Kodi and configured everything to block everything but the slideshow.
I needed to rooted them. Installed Xposed framework, and a Xposed addon to blocked hardware keys (leaving a combination to escape).
Installed Touch Blocker, to disable touch.
Installed Samba Filesharing app (running on default samba port thanks to root)
Configure Kodi to autostart Slideshow when it opens, and made a custom service-addon to auto refresh slideshow when new media is detected after 2 minutes, skipping if files are still transferring.
That took a lot more time to replicate in all 35 tablets because there is no cmw or teamwin recovery for Galaxy Tab 4 8'', or at least I haven't found, so Titanium Backup and Helium for some other stuff

Related

New from AppleTV-land

Hey All! So I got tired of waiting for either a root for the AppleTV3, or for Apple to man up and start allowing some of their App store love on the AppleTV. I was using both an ATV3 for Netflix and MLBTV and an old ATV1 for XBMC to stream SD content from a media server....
I got a discount on the MOJO, and it's been great, very easy setup process and rooting wasn't so bad either. Not nearly as cumbersome as the AppleTV was back in the day. Didn't realize I had an account on here from 10 years ago with a nifty Palm phone I had (Treo 700wx)... This was pre-iPhone mind you!
My challenges so far have been:
1) screen scaling - the edges of the screen are <just> off of my TV. XBMC on the appleTV had a scaling factor, and my TV doesn't have any options... I don't see anything in the App store either.
2) XBMC streaming just stops randomly from time to time, about 5 times per hour. I think it might have been the "full!screen" app. I'm going to keep an eye on it. I hope the wifi on the MOJO isn't to blame.
3) NTFS write: I have been able to unmount the stock android mount with Paragon, and then mount it back up with stickMount. But it doesn't happen automatic on startup. Maybe there's something in the startup "ini" that can turn off the stock mount? Then stickMount can run at startup...
4) "mirror" content - Rather than stream my content, I would like to setup a mirror, probably with FTP and Cloudberry backup.
But that's all gravy, basically I have been happy with the box. Happy to be here!

joecacti said:
Hey All! So I got tired of waiting for either a root for the AppleTV3, or for Apple to man up and start allowing some of their App store love on the AppleTV. I was using both an ATV3 for Netflix and MLBTV and an old ATV1 for XBMC to stream SD content from a media server....
I got a discount on the MOJO, and it's been great, very easy setup process and rooting wasn't so bad either. Not nearly as cumbersome as the AppleTV was back in the day. Didn't realize I had an account on here from 10 years ago with a nifty Palm phone I had (Treo 700wx)... This was pre-iPhone mind you!
My challenges so far have been:
1) screen scaling - the edges of the screen are <just> off of my TV. XBMC on the appleTV had a scaling factor, and my TV doesn't have any options... I don't see anything in the App store either.
2) XBMC streaming just stops randomly from time to time, about 5 times per hour. I think it might have been the "full!screen" app. I'm going to keep an eye on it. I hope the wifi on the MOJO isn't to blame.
3) NTFS write: I have been able to unmount the stock android mount with Paragon, and then mount it back up with stickMount. But it doesn't happen automatic on startup. Maybe there's something in the startup "ini" that can turn off the stock mount? Then stickMount can run at startup...
4) "mirror" content - Rather than stream my content, I would like to setup a mirror, probably with FTP and Cloudberry backup.
But that's all gravy, basically I have been happy with the box. Happy to be here!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear over all your enjoying it, can't remember the exact process but somewhere in the xmbc settings there is the ability to resize the display manually, I had to use it with my TV to remove the boarders properly too.

Ash180287 said:
Glad to hear over all your enjoying it, can't remember the exact process but somewhere in the xmbc settings there is the ability to resize the display manually, I had to use it with my TV to remove the boarders properly too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So that's interesting... If XBMC can do it, then it can be done in any other apps (or across the whole interface)... I saw another post about /sys/devices/platform/.../fb0 (http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?7948-SCRIPT-Modifying-Display-Scale). I checked that path on the M.O.J.O., but of course the hardware is different, plus I'm not sure if there are native methods to handle scaling. Something to look into more for sure. I'll start by finding the fb0 interface I guess...

joecacti said:
My challenges so far have been:
1) screen scaling - the edges of the screen are <just> off of my TV. XBMC on the appleTV had a scaling factor, and my TV doesn't have any options... I don't see anything in the App store either.
2) XBMC streaming just stops randomly from time to time, about 5 times per hour. I think it might have been the "full!screen" app. I'm going to keep an eye on it. I hope the wifi on the MOJO isn't to blame.
3) NTFS write: I have been able to unmount the stock android mount with Paragon, and then mount it back up with stickMount. But it doesn't happen automatic on startup. Maybe there's something in the startup "ini" that can turn off the stock mount? Then stickMount can run at startup...
4) "mirror" content - Rather than stream my content, I would like to setup a mirror, probably with FTP and Cloudberry backup.
But that's all gravy, basically I have been happy with the box. Happy to be here!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi welcome,
#1 sounds like tv overscan
#2 I doubt it's a wifi issue, could be a XBMC buffering setting? (I don't use it much)
#3 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=52750447#post52750447, maybe more, do a search for ntfs
#4 I'm looking at the same, probably will just use filezilla

Heavily Customized Fire TV Overview (With Video)

I was lucky enough to purchase a rootable Amazon Fire TV and have customized it to be quite the awesome device, thanks in part to the wonderful XDA community for providing all sorts of hacks. I wanted to show off what this little device can do so here is a video showing my setup, including the hardware I use and all the customizations I've done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1nf2ffZT3s
HARDWARE
-----------------------------------
First off, I want to discuss hardware. Here is what I have connected to my FTV.
Insignia Powered USB HUB
(http://www.insigniaproducts.com/products/computer-speakers-accessories/NS-PCH5431.html) - Without a powered USB, I wouldn't be able to do much. This one was cheap at Best Buy and is working flawlessly.
Logitech K700 Wireless Keyboard (http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Keyboard-Controller-Google/dp/B004VD4F1W) - I bought this several years ago to use with my old HTPC. It works well with the FTV, but not all the buttons function as it was designed for the Google TV. The keyboard itself works great, as does the trackpad and the navigation controls. This does function in CWM to, so I don't need a wired keyboard.
Motorola Bluetooth Mouse - Just a simple BT mouse that works.
Logitech F710 Game Controller (http://gaming.logitech.com/en-us/product/f710-wireless-gamepad) - I've had this for use on my PC games, but it works well for the FTV. More about game controllers below.
Ouya Game Controller (http://shop.ouya.tv/products/ouya-controller) - This works well with the FTV, both as a controller and as a touchpad. More about game controllers below.
MODIFICATIONS
-----------------------------------
I followed many guides on http://www.aftvnews.com/ to modify my FTV and get it to do what I wanted. Here are a few. I won't go into details about them, you can get that on AFTVNews. But I wanted to list what I've done.
Root (http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-root-the-amazon-fire-tv/)
Custom Boot Menu (http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-install-a-kernel-boot-menu-on-the-amazon-fire-tv/)
ClockworkMod (http://www.aftvnews.com/recovery/)
Pre-Rooted Stock Update (http://www.aftvnews.com/roms/)
Customized Menu Items (http://www.aftvnews.com/menu-item-remover-mod-updated-with-51-1-4-0-compatibility/)
Mount System and Data to USB Drive (http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-use-a-usb-drive-as-the-fire-tvs-internal-storage/) - This was a must for me. Once I was able to have virtually unlimited memory, it allowed all the customizations and extras to happen.
APPLICATIONS
-----------------------------------
SPMC [XBMC/KODI] (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.semperpax.spmc&hl=en) - An awesome media player with tons of addons. There is plenty of discussion over this on the XDA forums.
Google Play Store Install (http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-install-the-google-play-store-on-the-amazon-fire-tv/)
Google Plays All Apps! (http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-trick-google-play-store-into-allowing-all-apps/) - Make the FTV more compatible with apps on Google Play
OUYA Framework (http://www.reddit.com/r/ouya/comments/2d6byk/turn_any_device_into_an_ouya_tutorial/) - Turn your FTV into an OUYA.... sort of. Once installed, this sort of messes up the home button, taking you to a messed up OUYA system screen instead of the Amazon Launcher. I found a work around to allow the OUYA games to still function, but not mess up the system. Install this alternative OUYA launcher then disable the OUYA Launcher using Titanum Backup. (http://ouyaforum.com/showthread.php?4436-BAXY-Custom-Launcher).
NOVA Launcher (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher&hl=en) - My launcher of choice. It works well with the remote.
Wallpaper (http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/themes-apps/background-t3029985) - The FTV has system wallpaper turned off, making most custom launchers only have a black background. This hack turns it on.
ISSUES
-----------------------------------
Game controllers - The short, not all controllers work with all games. This is a hit or miss area with some buttons not working on certain games. One issue I did find was that having my keyboard connected seems to mess up certain games. For example, Shadowngun. When it's connected, the L2 and R2 buttons do not work on either of my controllers. I do not know if this would be the same with the Amazon Controller. If I unplug it and reboot, the L2 and R2 works. My suggestion, if you have a wireless keyboard, test games without it plugged in first. A BT keyboard might not have this issue though.
OUYA - Having the OUYA framework is wonderful for increasing the available games. It's downfall is that it screws up the home button functionality. A work around is to disable the OUYA Launcher using Titanium Backup, and have the alternative OUYA Launcher (BAXY) installed. This gives games access to the OUYA framework without screwing with the default launcher.
I hope this helps people see the capabilities of the Fire TV and unlocks it for those lucky enough to have a rootable FTV. My future goals are to mess with the game controllers to see if I can figure out why some games work and others don't. I want to get an Amazon controller and see how that works with the OUYA framework. unfortunately they're on backorder at the moment.

Lots of useless junk too. You even point to the fact that a lot of the games you have installed do not work, so why not uninstall them? It just seems like your setup is over doing it. Not tryin to be rude just stating my opinion. The thread is good and I like that you would point people to where they can find tweaks, but the video is horrible.

xm41907 said:
I was lucky enough to purchase a rootable Amazon Fire TV and have customized it to be quite the awesome device, thanks in part to the wonderful XDA community for providing all sorts of hacks. I wanted to show off what this little device can do so here is a video showing my setup, including the hardware I use and all the customizations I've done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1nf2ffZT3s
HARDWARE
-----------------------------------
First off, I want to discuss hardware. Here is what I have connected to my FTV.
Insignia Powered USB HUB
(http://www.insigniaproducts.com/products/computer-speakers-accessories/NS-PCH5431.html) - Without a powered USB, I wouldn't be able to do much. This one was cheap at Best Buy and is working flawlessly.
Logitech K700 Wireless Keyboard (http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Keyboard-Controller-Google/dp/B004VD4F1W) - I bought this several years ago to use with my old HTPC. It works well with the FTV, but not all the buttons function as it was designed for the Google TV. The keyboard itself works great, as does the trackpad and the navigation controls. This does function in CWM to, so I don't need a wired keyboard.
Motorola Bluetooth Mouse - Just a simple BT mouse that works.
Logitech F710 Game Controller (http://gaming.logitech.com/en-us/product/f710-wireless-gamepad) - I've had this for use on my PC games, but it works well for the FTV. More about game controllers below.
Ouya Game Controller (http://shop.ouya.tv/products/ouya-controller) - This works well with the FTV, both as a controller and as a touchpad. More about game controllers below.
MODIFICATIONS
-----------------------------------
I followed many guides on http://www.aftvnews.com/ to modify my FTV and get it to do what I wanted. Here are a few. I won't go into details about them, you can get that on AFTVNews. But I wanted to list what I've done.
Root (http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-root-the-amazon-fire-tv/)
Custom Boot Menu (http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-install-a-kernel-boot-menu-on-the-amazon-fire-tv/)
ClockworkMod (http://www.aftvnews.com/recovery/)
Pre-Rooted Stock Update (http://www.aftvnews.com/roms/)
Customized Menu Items (http://www.aftvnews.com/menu-item-remover-mod-updated-with-51-1-4-0-compatibility/)
Mount System and Data to USB Drive (http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-use-a-usb-drive-as-the-fire-tvs-internal-storage/) - This was a must for me. Once I was able to have virtually unlimited memory, it allowed all the customizations and extras to happen.
APPLICATIONS
-----------------------------------
SPMC [XBMC/KODI] (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.semperpax.spmc&hl=en) - An awesome media player with tons of addons. There is plenty of discussion over this on the XDA forums.
Google Play Store Install (http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-install-the-google-play-store-on-the-amazon-fire-tv/)
Google Plays All Apps! (http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-trick-google-play-store-into-allowing-all-apps/) - Make the FTV more compatible with apps on Google Play
OUYA Framework (http://www.reddit.com/r/ouya/comments/2d6byk/turn_any_device_into_an_ouya_tutorial/) - Turn your FTV into an OUYA.... sort of. Once installed, this sort of messes up the home button, taking you to a messed up OUYA system screen instead of the Amazon Launcher. I found a work around to allow the OUYA games to still function, but not mess up the system. Install this alternative OUYA launcher then disable the OUYA Launcher using Titanum Backup. (http://ouyaforum.com/showthread.php?4436-BAXY-Custom-Launcher).
NOVA Launcher (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher&hl=en) - My launcher of choice. It works well with the remote.
Wallpaper (http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/themes-apps/background-t3029985) - The FTV has system wallpaper turned off, making most custom launchers only have a black background. This hack turns it on.
ISSUES
-----------------------------------
Game controllers - The short, not all controllers work with all games. This is a hit or miss area with some buttons not working on certain games. One issue I did find was that having my keyboard connected seems to mess up certain games. For example, Shadowngun. When it's connected, the L2 and R2 buttons do not work on either of my controllers. I do not know if this would be the same with the Amazon Controller. If I unplug it and reboot, the L2 and R2 works. My suggestion, if you have a wireless keyboard, test games without it plugged in first. A BT keyboard might not have this issue though.
OUYA - Having the OUYA framework is wonderful for increasing the available games. It's downfall is that it screws up the home button functionality. A work around is to disable the OUYA Launcher using Titanium Backup, and have the alternative OUYA Launcher (BAXY) installed. This gives games access to the OUYA framework without screwing with the default launcher.
I hope this helps people see the capabilities of the Fire TV and unlocks it for those lucky enough to have a rootable FTV. My future goals are to mess with the game controllers to see if I can figure out why some games work and others don't. I want to get an Amazon controller and see how that works with the OUYA framework. unfortunately they're on backorder at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I really liked it and I envy that screen! It looks pretty clear even from the camera.
Just 2 random things I noticed...I used nova launcher with xposed but probably wouldn't have reverted back if I got it looking the way you did. I played around with it on my phone awhile until I tried Google now with a few exposed tweaks. But I'm always on the lookout for a good launcher. Lots of people using nova but haven't found many good tutorials.
The other was fast reboot. I had this installed but the one persistent bug I have dealing with cec wasn't fixed by fast reboot. It needed an actual reboot. Then I read that those types of apps aren't always good for android. They included other "memory boosting" type apps as well. It didn't scare me but since it didn't help much I just uninstalled it. Then again, at the time I wasn't using a launcher so getting to the app was too tedious to make it worthwhile. Do you have any thoughts on that? Heard it might not be good for the device?
I enjoyed the video. Very impressive setup! Thanks for sharing!

porkenhimer said:
Lots of useless junk too. You even point to the fact that a lot of the games you have installed do not work, so why not uninstall them? It just seems like your setup is over doing it. Not tryin to be rude just stating my opinion. The thread is good and I like that you would point people to where they can find tweaks, but the video is horrible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is because many of them I have not tested out yet to see which work well and which do not. Sort of a mass install of games over the last two weeks and I've not had the time to sort through them all. Many will be uninstalled I'm sure, but frankly, that doesn't concern me at this point. They don't take up resources beyond hard drive space and I have 320 gigs worth. I've not even touched 10% of available space yet. The point of the video is to show what the FTV is capable of, not to show a well polished and final system.
The video isn't great because I'm on a projector, lighting is difficult. Too much light and the screen is washed out. Too little and the camera sensor suffers.

KLit75 said:
Well I really liked it and I envy that screen! It looks pretty clear even from the camera.
Just 2 random things I noticed...I used nova launcher with xposed but probably wouldn't have reverted back if I got it looking the way you did. I played around with it on my phone awhile until I tried Google now with a few exposed tweaks. But I'm always on the lookout for a good launcher. Lots of people using nova but haven't found many good tutorials.
The other was fast reboot. I had this installed but the one persistent bug I have dealing with cec wasn't fixed by fast reboot. It needed an actual reboot. Then I read that those types of apps aren't always good for android. They included other "memory boosting" type apps as well. It didn't scare me but since it didn't help much I just uninstalled it. Then again, at the time I wasn't using a launcher so getting to the app was too tedious to make it worthwhile. Do you have any thoughts on that? Heard it might not be good for the device?
I enjoyed the video. Very impressive setup! Thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the support. I've been using both NOVA Launcher and Fast Reboot for about three years now and on multiple devices. I like how simple NOVA can be, yet is very customizable. Having it work well with the FTV remote was a big reason I went with it though. A more graphically pleasing look would be nice, but this does what I want it to do. I've read up a lot on the various memory clearing apps. Fast Reboot is simple and doesn't muck around in the weeds. I've been nothing short of happy with using it for several years now. It doesn't fall into the "memory boosting" apps, that try to tweak the system. Simply a quick way to clear memory cache.

xm41907 said:
That is because many of them I have not tested out yet to see which work well and which do not. Sort of a mass install of games over the last two weeks and I've not had the time to sort through them all. Many will be uninstalled I'm sure, but frankly, that doesn't concern me at this point. They don't take up resources beyond hard drive space and I have 320 gigs worth. I've not even touched 10% of available space yet. The point of the video is to show what the FTV is capable of, not to show a well polished and final system.
The video isn't great because I'm on a projector, lighting is difficult. Too much light and the screen is washed out. Too little and the camera sensor suffers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was not talking about the quality of the video, I meant that the video in general was horrible. The video capures what a lot of people do wrong when they post video of their devices. For one, you have too much going on in the video. If you wanna show us your setup, fine, but why do you have to show us every gadget you have? I for one think people that post videos about their device and for no reason show us 20 other devices are laughable. It takes away from what you are supposed to be showing us. Plus you have a lot of apps that you make no mention of. Like when you open up your utilities folder, you show the folder and do not say the names of any apps inside or what you have them installled for. I am not trying to say you did a bad job, cause like I said, the thread is nice, maybe you could go through your apps and tell us what they are and why you have them. You opened some games and showed off your launchers, but you should have gave us some more info on what your installed apps are. I will use the utilities folder as an example again, I like utility apps so I am sure others do too, but you have an awful lot of utility apps to not give us a simple rundown of what some of them are. Its different if you have a folder full of games that we can identify by looking at the icon, but when you have a folder full of apps that we cannot recognise then you should give us some input. Also, not everyone uses their Fire TV to play games or play with XBMC, so maybe you could show us something else besides launchers, SPMC and gaming. You have the important stuff listed on this thread, which is awesome, so you probably could have just made a video sayin to visit your thread for all info on the mods you have installed, maybe even showed them off a little, then got to the other less graphical non cool type of apps you have installed. Like I said its just an opinion, but the video really did seem like it was for show and nothing technical. Maybe you can make a part two and show us some of the other apps you have, and tell us what they do. People are into discovering new apps so maybe you can help someone discover something new besides something media or graphic driven. The video kinda reminds me of the unboxing videos where someone spends more time focusing on the cool accesories they have rather than the device itself.

porkenhimer said:
For one, you have too much going on in the video. If you wanna show us your setup, fine, but why do you have to show us every gadget you have? I for one think people that post videos about their device and for no reason show us 20 other devices are laughable. It takes away from what you are supposed to be showing us. Plus you have a lot of apps that you make no mention of. Like when you open up your utilities folder, you show the folder and do not say the names of any apps inside or what you have them installled for
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I humbly disagree with your take on my video. My intention was to show you what modifications I have done with my system and I did just that. The specific devices I have are key to these modifications. I will give you that showing both a bluetooth mouse and a wireless keyboard/trackpad are slightly redundant, but if you're going to nitpick something like that, then just move on. I did not show every installed app, because again, it was to show you what modifications I have done, not to show you recommended apps I have installed. I believe you have completely missed the spirit of my post.
porkenhimer said:
You opened some games and showed off your launchers, but you should have gave us some more info on what your installed apps are. I will use the utilities folder as an example again, I like utility apps so I am sure others do too, but you have an awful lot of utility apps to not give us a simple rundown of what some of them are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The vast majority of apps in my Utility folder are stock apps on the FTV that I put into the folder because I have no need for them. Such as the Game Circle, Superuser, etc. If you want a video of me explaining what apps I have, I can do that, but that does not fall in the spirit of my post. The apps I mentioned were the key apps necessary for my mods. Others are insignificant to the modifications.
porkenhimer said:
not everyone uses their Fire TV to play games or play with XBMC, so maybe you could show us something else besides launchers, SPMC and gaming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, I did not post this for people to copy my setup, but to show functionality of mods.
porkenhimer said:
but the video really did seem like it was for show and nothing technical.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. If I were making a tutorial video on how to accomplish these mods, then it would have been a totally different type of video. It was simply to show some of the mods that can be used on the FTV with a little bit of personal experience using them.
porkenhimer said:
Maybe you can make a part two and show us some of the other apps you have, and tell us what they do. People are into discovering new apps so maybe you can help someone discover something new besides something media or graphic driven. The video kinda reminds me of the unboxing videos where someone spends more time focusing on the cool accesories they have rather than the device itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did spend a fair amount of time today weeding through the apps I have installed and maybe I will do an app video to accompany my setup. In a sense, you are right that this video is more of a unboxing video. My intention was to provide a glimpse into the modifications available for the FTV. A "modifications of" type of of unboxing video. I provided the links to many of the various modifications so that if someone wanted to achieve a function that I have, they would have the means to follow the tutorials that I followed.

Your setup is soooooo decent...thanks for the share!
Do I install Titanium and kill the AFTV launcher to use Nova as my main launcher? how do you go from Nova to Aftv back to Nova so easy? Now that i can do backgrounds I'll certainly like to use Nova instead of another custom one i'm using

nickyb003 said:
Your setup is soooooo decent...thanks for the share!
Do I install Titanium and kill the AFTV launcher to use Nova as my main launcher? how do you go from Nova to Aftv back to Nova so easy? Now that i can do backgrounds I'll certainly like to use Nova instead of another custom one i'm using
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, it's been a little while so I don't recall exactly how I got it functioning. I was toying around with lots of things and stumbled upon getting it working. Here's what I believe got it to work right. There isn't a function to set NOVA as the default launcher like on most android devices. Instead, you have to do some fiddling. Here is basically what I did.
Installed FiredTV Launcher - I used this for awhile before using the Llama app
Installed Nova Launcher - Froze KFTV Launcher using TB. This worked but I lost Amazon movies
Froze FiredTV Launcher and unfroze KFTV. This seemed to do the trick. I also have the Ouya framework installed, but with the Ouya launcher frozen or else it takes over.

Thanks for the video. I had given up on FiredTV and never got any launcher working right but you showed it could be done, so I went looking and found my answer.
Through the Xposed framework, I loaded a module which intercepts the "home" key and lets you define a launcher. I still use the fire tv stock launcher when absolutely required, but I launch it from within nova and when I press Home, I'm back to Nova.
I wanted to ask you about the USB drive. I had a flash drive and used the hack to mount data (or whatever it was) to the flash drive. Everything was SLOW -- unbearably so. I have a USB hard drive coming, so wanted to ask if you find the speed acceptable with the hard drive. I believe some of the tweaks from tvaddons.ag for xbmc were actually part of the problem. I ended up just starting over at one point.

ractar28 said:
Thanks for the video. I had given up on FiredTV and never got any launcher working right but you showed it could be done, so I went looking and found my answer.
Through the Xposed framework, I loaded a module which intercepts the "home" key and lets you define a launcher. I still use the fire tv stock launcher when absolutely required, but I launch it from within nova and when I press Home, I'm back to Nova.
I wanted to ask you about the USB drive. I had a flash drive and used the hack to mount data (or whatever it was) to the flash drive. Everything was SLOW -- unbearably so. I have a USB hard drive coming, so wanted to ask if you find the speed acceptable with the hard drive. I believe some of the tweaks from tvaddons.ag for xbmc were actually part of the problem. I ended up just starting over at one point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome! That is why I wanted to post a video and provide links. Are you refering to Rbox's Xposed module? I installed that too, but completely forgot about having it.
As for the flash drive, I tried one at first, it was horribly slow. Many others have had similar experiences. It's reference in one of the guides I posted. After switching to my external hard drive, it was just about as fast as stock. I was actually surprised, because my drive is a WD Passport, no external power supply. I simply used a powered hub and it works great. I would like an SSD, but not going to spend the money on one now.
The tweaks from tvaddons would only affect XBMC. They shouldn't have any affect on the FTV itself.

Yes, the addons only impacted kodi, BUT, kodi was the app I used the most at the time. I know kodi has a pretty small footprint for an android app, so for it to become painstakingly slow, pretty much ruined my fire tv experience. Of course, I was also using gotham "customizations" on kodi, which was also possibly a contributing factor.
Is a powered hub required for an external hard drive? I had purchased one powered hub and tried it with fire tv and it could no longer see my flash drive through the powered hub. With a powered hub, can the fire tv (via stickmount) see multiple storage devices?

ractar28 said:
Yes, the addons only impacted kodi, BUT, kodi was the app I used the most at the time. I know kodi has a pretty small footprint for an android app, so for it to become painstakingly slow, pretty much ruined my fire tv experience. Of course, I was also using gotham "customizations" on kodi, which was also possibly a contributing factor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still doubt it was anything with kodi. FLash drives are known to be very slow for this.
ractar28 said:
Is a powered hub required for an external hard drive? I had purchased one powered hub and tried it with fire tv and it could no longer see my flash drive through the powered hub. With a powered hub, can the fire tv (via stickmount) see multiple storage devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I first tried using it without a hub and the FTV didn't even register it was connected. Once I got a powered hub, all was well with the world. I just picked one up at Best Buy.

xm41907 said:
I was lucky enough to purchase a rootable Amazon Fire TV and have customized it to be quite the awesome device, thanks in part to the wonderful XDA community for providing all sorts of hacks. I wanted to show off what this little device can do so here is a video showing my setup, including the hardware I use and all the customizations I've done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1nf2ffZT3s
I hope this helps people see the capabilities of the Fire TV and unlocks it for those lucky enough to have a rootable FTV. My future goals are to mess with the game controllers to see if I can figure out why some games work and others don't. I want to get an Amazon controller and see how that works with the OUYA framework. unfortunately they're on backorder at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im glad to see two of the modifications that i posted to good use. The Ouya Framework that i pulled from my madcatz mojo and freezing kftv launcher using titaniumbackup. the way that i got ouya to boot was i used autopilot to launch it at startup and when i need to exit i would simply hit the home button.

mejdam said:
im glad to see two of the modifications that i posted to good use. The Ouya Framework that i pulled from my madcatz mojo and freezing kftv launcher using titaniumbackup. the way that i got ouya to boot was i used autopilot to launch it at startup and when i need to exit i would simply hit the home button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you looked into the BAXY launcher for OUYA? Withe the normal OUYA launcher, it was hijacking my home button. I couldn't play the OUYA games unless it was active, but freezing it and running BAXY worked.

xm41907 said:
Have you looked into the BAXY launcher for OUYA? Withe the normal OUYA launcher, it was hijacking my home button. I couldn't play the OUYA games unless it was active, but freezing it and running BAXY worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have not used baxy, matter of fact i only own one fire tv left, i mostly changed to nexus player and im slowing getting rid of all my legacy boxes and making room for the razer forge tv.
i loaded the tv launcher so once autopilot booted into the ouya launcher i would install all the ouya apps and just go back to the tv launcher and launch the apps from that screen instead. im not really a gamer so all this was more for a proof of concept.
BTW, have you seen my thread of configuring IPTV on your fire tv? if not i would really look into it.

mejdam said:
i loaded the tv launcher so once autopilot booted into the ouya launcher i would install all the ouya apps and just go back to the tv launcher and launch the apps from that screen instead. im not really a gamer so all this was more for a prove of concept.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That works too, but the OUYA framework would still hijack my home button at times, no matter what launcher I was using. Perhaps I might be able to keep that from happening with autopilot. I've just not taken the time to bother with OUYA stuff much once, games are installed, I haven't needed to go into the OUYA menus.
mejdam said:
BTW, have you seen my thread of configuring IPTV on your fire tv? if not i would really look into it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I played with it and have it working some. I have been really busy with a different project, until last Saturday. Now I've got some free time to fiddle more. I have some controller things I'm going to fiddle with first.

Awesome customization.. but wud be great if you could post some instructions to newbs like me on how to setup the NovaLauncher/Live Wallpaper and the external
HD for storage. I know it's a long list but hoping you could put some instructions down. (Or) @aftVNEWS if you happen to look at this post please try to put something if you can.
Cheers !

ncube2 said:
Awesome customization.. but wud be great if you could post some instructions to newbs like me on how to setup the NovaLauncher/Live Wallpaper and the external
HD for storage. I know it's a long list but hoping you could put some instructions down. (Or) @aftVNEWS if you happen to look at this post please try to put something if you can.
Cheers !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Did you not see all the links I posted below the video? They're there. Well, minus the Nova Launcher setup, but look at post #9.

Nice video, thanks for the info, checking out setting up the live wallpapers & nova launcher.
I have an Amazon Game Controller for the AFTV and I don't have a problem with compatibility with any games like I did using my Xbox 360 controller & a PS3 controller i have. Glad I picked one up.
Shadowgun HD 2.5 is what I have and it works great with the AGC. You can program which keys are what and it works with the shoulder buttons (tops ones, didn't try the bottom ones).
I do want to point out that the 2 shoulder bottom buttons don't work with many games unless they are program to use an analog steer & analog break (or at least something like that, forget what the games that see them call it).
And as for loading up a ton of games to check out later, I'm down. I've done the same thing. Most are crap or the ones the would be fun just don't work, but you know, it's the journey, right?

[Q] - Best setup for NP using KODI??

I am setting up a media streaming device for someone who isn't tech savvy but wants to use NP for movies/tv/Netflix.. What are the best basic settings/config for using NP with Kodi and Netflix? They may or may not use external usb or mouse/keyboard.
5.1.1? Android M preview 3?
Rooted?
TWRP?
Custom Rom? CM12 / other??
**UPDATE**
Here is what I did which seems to work great:
- Unlocked Bootloader
- Flashed TWRP
- Flashed 6.0 firmware (fugu) from Google's site
- Kodi installed from google play.
- Used “http://fusion.tvaddons.ag” addon to help with installing/updating streams. Selected "hubwizard" and "addoninstaller" under "start-here" directory to get basic addons/content/features working.
- Saw an issue with constant buffering. Used: Programs > Maintenance Tool > System Tweaks > Zero Cache (Yes when menu popped up). This expands the space where the download is stored, allowing a longer buffer than default. So you can pause a slow loading tv show/movie and let it load so you dont have viewing issues.
- Enabled Autoplay option on Genesis settings which is easier than searching thru the links provided.
- Added the xml file shown here so that I could use the Play/Pause button as a "right-click" option when content isn't playing.
Let me know if there is anything else I can change to make things run smoother. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with the set up.

didn't see any response so I kept digging and came up with this...
- Using stock 5.1.1 from the standard update. Waiting until M preview is in a more final state.
- Kodi installed from google play.
- Installed “http://fusion.tvaddons.ag” addon to help with installing/updating streams. Help link here.
- Installed Genesis and Phoenix right away for basic content.
- Saw an issue with constant buffering. Used the TV Addon program to "Clear Cache" and enabled "Zero Cache". This expands the space where the download is stored, allowing a longer buffer than default. So you can pause a slow loading tv show/movie and let it load so you dont have viewing issues.
This seemed to get content streaming pretty good, but I could use any additional tips to make it better.

mmgill said:
didn't see any response so I kept digging and came up with this...
- Using stock 5.1.1 from the standard update. Waiting until M preview is in a more final state.
- Kodi installed from google play.
- Installed “http://fusion.tvaddons.ag” addon to help with installing/updating streams. Help link here.
- Installed Genesis and Phoenix right away for basic content.
- Saw an issue with constant buffering. Used the TV Addon program to "Clear Cache" and enabled "Zero Cache". This expands the space where the download is stored, allowing a longer buffer than default. So you can pause a slow loading tv show/movie and let it load so you dont have viewing issues.
This seemed to get content streaming pretty good, but I could use any additional tips to make it better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm currently searching for some options as well. I will let you know what I find.
Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

I used TVAddons for a long time, on Ouya, an HTPC, and the Nexus Player. But I have recently been using The Beast by Chris B http://chrisbkodi.uk
I installed on my NP with this method: Install Kodi from the Play Store. Go to System>File Manager>Add Source type http://spartanpixel.net/repo click OK
Go to System>Addons>Install From Zip , select repo as the source, then select the zip and click OK. Wait about 10-15 seconds, you should see a message that the wizard has been installed.
Go to Programs, and select the config wizard. You should see the option of installing two different builds: The Beast or Spartan. I have tried both, I don't know what the major differences are other than the skin for Spartan is pretty cool. It's going to take a few minutes to install, so don't worry if it's slow and you will see another install progress bar after the first one finishes. After the entire process is done, you will get a message saying that installation is complete. So click OK, now THIS part is VERY important: The next message will say that you need to force shutdown Kodi, DO NOT click the button saying to go ahead and shut down. You will need to actually pull the power cord out from the back of the Nexus Player, and then plug it back in. Wait for it to boot up, go to Kodi and you should now see The Beast splash video. Everything will be configured for you, but you may want to go in and disable the adult stuff if you dont want it, and get rid of anything else that you dont want. I find some of the IPTV stuff is a little difficult to work with so I dont use much of it.
The only other thing I have done is go into Video settings, and set it to sync to my display refresh rate. You will also want to use ES File Explorer to upload a keymapping xml for the remote. https://www.dropbox.com/s/c1r944j93oj8sq6/nexus_remote.xml?dl=0

mmgill said:
didn't see any response so I kept digging and came up with this...
- Using stock 5.1.1 from the standard update. Waiting until M preview is in a more final state.
- Kodi installed from google play.
- Installed “http://fusion.tvaddons.ag” addon to help with installing/updating streams. Help link here.
- Installed Genesis and Phoenix right away for basic content.
- Saw an issue with constant buffering. Used the TV Addon program to "Clear Cache" and enabled "Zero Cache". This expands the space where the download is stored, allowing a longer buffer than default. So you can pause a slow loading tv show/movie and let it load so you dont have viewing issues.
This seemed to get content streaming pretty good, but I could use any additional tips to make it better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guys, I follows this and went with the xbmc repo, a lot of the channels are dead.
How do I install Genesis?
Also, how do I undo what I did? Uninstall fusion and start from scratch. I'd like to try some other builds above.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

mmgill said:
I am setting up a media streaming device for someone who isn't tech savvy but wants to use NP for movies/tv/Netflix.. What are the best basic settings/config for using NP with Kodi and Netflix? They may or may not use external usb or mouse/keyboard.
5.1.1? Android M preview 3?
Rooted?
TWRP?
Custom Rom? CM12 / other??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mmgill said:
didn't see any response so I kept digging and came up with this...
- Using stock 5.1.1 from the standard update. Waiting until M preview is in a more final state.
- Kodi installed from google play.
- Installed “http://fusion.tvaddons.ag” addon to help with installing/updating streams. Help link here.
- Installed Genesis and Phoenix right away for basic content.
- Saw an issue with constant buffering. Used the TV Addon program to "Clear Cache" and enabled "Zero Cache". This expands the space where the download is stored, allowing a longer buffer than default. So you can pause a slow loading tv show/movie and let it load so you dont have viewing issues.
This seemed to get content streaming pretty good, but I could use any additional tips to make it better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cadillax02 said:
I'm currently searching for some options as well. I will let you know what I find.
Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wendellc said:
Guys, I follows this and went with the xbmc repo, a lot of the channels are dead.
How do I install Genesis?
Also, how do I undo what I did? Uninstall fusion and start from scratch. I'd like to try some other builds above.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to your Programs section in Kodi, there is a Fresh Start option that the fusion installer should have added. Run that and it should put you back to vanilla Kodi.
If you are able to side load, and you want the TV Addons build, maybe try side loading TVMC you should be able to put the APK on a thumb drive and access via ES File Explorer, be sure to enable Unknown Sources in Android.
One combo that worked well for me was side loading SPMC and then running the fusion installer.

wendellc said:
How do I install Genesis?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Follow the instructions above for Fusion.
Select Lambda repo zip for Genesis
Select XBMChub zip for TVAddons (Phoenix)

Setting up the pirate side of Kodi for somebody else with no knowledge of the world you are getting them into is a bad deal for you. These pirate addons are not for the uninitiated. They are unreliable at best. Make sure you are willing to be their continual tech support. In the past 45 days or so everything mentioned in the thread have undergone some catastrophic failure or complete relaunch. Make sure you teach your friend how this stuff works so there are no unrealistic expectations of availability or reliability.

pawdog said:
Setting up the pirate side of Kodi for somebody else with no knowledge of the world you are getting them into is a bad deal for you. These pirate addons are not for the uninitiated. They are unreliable at best. Make sure you are willing to be their continual tech support. In the past 45 days or so everything mentioned in the thread have undergone some catastrophic failure or complete relaunch. Make sure you teach your friend how this stuff works so there are no unrealistic expectations of availability or reliability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe with the Live TV feeds they are. But Genesis is fairly rock solid. I can do without the others (for the most part).
Loaded THE BEAST.
I really like the interface (large fonts; cool backdrop images) for KODI.
I just had to turn off every other section but the main MOVIES/SPORTS/LIVE TV sections though because it's so laden with adult content links.
I wish it would come more like stock (without all the adult) and a wizard to add on the adult stuff if people desire.
Otherwise, it has been stable.
The LIVE TV links are still very hit and miss with THE BEAST.

S4F4M said:
Maybe with the Live TV feeds they are. But Genesis is fairly rock solid. I can do without the others (for the most part).
Loaded THE BEAST.
I really like the interface (large fonts; cool backdrop images) for KODI.
I just had to turn off every other section but the main MOVIES/SPORTS/LIVE TV sections though because it's so laden with adult content links.
I wish it would come more like stock (without all the adult) and a wizard to add on the adult stuff if people desire.
Otherwise, it has been stable.
The LIVE TV links are still very hit and miss with THE BEAST.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
still debating on rooting the nexus player, I downloaded the kodi app, and installed kodimaster? (not sure of exact repo) but I did read about the the beast repo being pretty solid as well. I think for the most part I'm happy with the nexus player at $24.98 and the kodi app does pretty much everything I need it to do with movies & shows. I still have more to learn with live tv, nfl network, and what else itll provide

osugsxr said:
still debating on rooting the nexus player, I downloaded the kodi app, and installed kodimaster? (not sure of exact repo) but I did read about the the beast repo being pretty solid as well. I think for the most part I'm happy with the nexus player at $24.98 and the kodi app does pretty much everything I need it to do with movies & shows. I still have more to learn with live tv, nfl network, and what else itll provide
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting is a toss-up.
If you want to keep 5.0, then you need to root.
If you want Marshmallow, then do not root right now.
Root and flashing to older images (if needed for whatever reason) is pretty straight-forward.
Tons of guides on the internet/Youtube.
Live TV is hit or miss.
With movies and shows on Genesis, play is fine unless I pick a bad stream. Then, the data feed is too slow to keep up and the show/movie pauses/buffers.
Last night, though, I wanted to check the score of the game, so I loaded ESPN from cCloudTV. It was buffering every 5 seconds. Basically unwatchable.
Not sure if it was due to the stream (# of people streaming = low data feed) and/or my connection speed (20 mbps). But live TV does not really "buffer" like movies/shows as it is not a DVR, so when it buffers, the live action wants to catch up, so you get skips/stutters, etc.
Likewise, I do not know if I'm missing addons or the streams are not reliable, but channel surfing is not really reliable. I get error messages that I need to check the log.

I got Kodi setup with all the 'free' stuff = thanks to this thread.
I am trying to add my own local content, but when I go to add the SMB share, I can see all the computers on my network, I can select my home server (windows 8.1), but after I select it, I get an error and I cannot connect to the share.
My windows based Kodi setup finds my server just fine and I can add the seperate shares with no issues. Anyone else experience this issue on the NP?

i definitely need to do the play/pause right click mod

I was able to setup a SQL server and one HTPC a firetv and my new nexus player are able to connect. no issues.

I gave up on garbage Kodi, everyone tells me how great it is well, if you mean about 30 minutes searching through dozens and dozens of stupid streams to get one that will actually play and not buffer, then yeah works great. I was told, use autoplay then you won't have that issue, well, I turned on autoplay and stupid POS still didn't work, either the video wouldn't play/buffer/stutter, or it just wouldn't load any streams at all. Also kept getting cache was full errors constantly so I gave up and went back to simple easier torrents.

S4F4M said:
Maybe with the Live TV feeds they are. But Genesis is fairly rock solid. I can do without the others (for the most part).
Loaded THE BEAST.
I really like the interface (large fonts; cool backdrop images) for KODI.
I just had to turn off every other section but the main MOVIES/SPORTS/LIVE TV sections though because it's so laden with adult content links.
I wish it would come more like stock (without all the adult) and a wizard to add on the adult stuff if people desire.
Otherwise, it has been stable.
The LIVE TV links are still very hit and miss with THE BEAST.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Start out with a fresh copy of Kodi 15.2 then add all the sources for repos(srp.nu, tvaddons.ag, etc.). Then install all the repos. And Then install all the add-ons from the repos you just installed. Then load elmerohueso' s repo from fusion so you can use his helix ++ skin (it allows you to use "any" 7 icons under "any" of the main screen sections (pictures,videos,music,..etc). This way you have access to all the addons add-ons you want without any of the stuff you don't.
S4F4M said:
Rooting is a toss-up.
If you want to keep 5.0, then you need to root.
If you want Marshmallow, then do not root right now.
Root and flashing to older images (if needed for whatever reason) is pretty straight-forward.
Tons of guides on the internet/Youtube.
Live TV is hit or miss.
With movies and shows on Genesis, play is fine unless I pick a bad stream. Then, the data feed is too slow to keep up and the show/movie pauses/buffers.
Last night, though, I wanted to check the score of the game, so I loaded ESPN from cCloudTV. It was buffering every 5 seconds. Basically unwatchable.
Not sure if it was due to the stream (# of people streaming = low data feed) and/or my connection speed (20 mbps). But live TV does not really "buffer" like movies/shows as it is not a DVR, so when it buffers, the live action wants to catch up, so you get skips/stutters, etc.
Likewise, I do not know if I'm missing addons or the streams are not reliable, but channel surfing is not really reliable. I get error messages that I need to check the log.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alternatives to ccloud: You need to install dextertv(plays live tv really well even on 3mbs time warner connection but you need to sign in with a valid email- I just use a temp email generator easily found on google search), and UFO stalker clone(youtube kraz inabox) or i4ATV which are both stalker clones and play over 800 channels really well without buffering. Google search, DexterTV, Kraz inabox, newtechevotution, Joenobody010101, husham memar, soloman for awesome turorials on the latest greatest add-ons
Shftup said:
I got Kodi setup with all the 'free' stuff = thanks to this thread.
I am trying to add my own local content, but when I go to add the SMB share, I can see all the computers on my network, I can select my home server (windows 8.1), but after I select it, I get an error and I cannot connect to the share.
My windows based Kodi setup finds my server just fine and I can add the seperate shares with no issues. Anyone else experience this issue on the NP?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get a micro usb to regular usb hub and insert a zip drive with the content you want and then transfer it from the zip drive to kodi by using file explorer you can download from the play store. With the hub you can also install a keyboard/track pad combo like the logitect k400 keyboard (ususally on sale for 19.99) and its makes using/navigating kodi or the nexus player much easier.
ninerpride said:
I gave up on garbage Kodi, everyone tells me how great it is well, if you mean about 30 minutes searching through dozens and dozens of stupid streams to get one that will actually play and not buffer, then yeah works great. I was told, use autoplay then you won't have that issue, well, I turned on autoplay and stupid POS still didn't work, either the video wouldn't play/buffer/stutter, or it just wouldn't load any streams at all. Also kept getting cache was full errors constantly so I gave up and went back to simple easier torrents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree about kodi being garbage. It's awesome software. If you were Genesis...make sure to clear cache and sources from within genesis tools section. Autoplay does work but you need to configure the streams you prefer from the information section of genesis. Also make sure you're on version 5.1.4. Some of rhe other great add-ons: phoenix, primewire/one channel, SALTS, projectfreetv, navix, movie night, movied hd, ...etc. With a decent connection all of these addons feature great content and have search functiions to find whatever you're looking for. STAY away from torrents. They provide way less anonymity than you might think...

ninerpride said:
I gave up on garbage Kodi, everyone tells me how great it is well, if you mean about 30 minutes searching through dozens and dozens of stupid streams to get one that will actually play and not buffer, then yeah works great. I was told, use autoplay then you won't have that issue, well, I turned on autoplay and stupid POS still didn't work, either the video wouldn't play/buffer/stutter, or it just wouldn't load any streams at all. Also kept getting cache was full errors constantly so I gave up and went back to simple easier torrents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't despair. I've some good news for you. Unlike cable companies, which you are obliged to subscribe to if you live in a certain area (Laissez-faire at its best), no one has to use the POS called Kodi. And no one will do bad things to you if you don't. You always have the choice of forking out a hundred bucks or more a month for the rubbish that would stream flawlessly on your tv (Freedom at its best - where you consistently get 15 minutes of consumerism-driven "information" out of a 25-minute program) if you can't stand the minimal work one has to put in for the stuff you get for free and whose content you totally control.
I'm sure the people who designed the POS (your opinion) did the best they could, and do not get justly compensated for it. What you said don't sound really appreciative of it to me.

Maybe can help
I using this ROM pure nexus 6.0 from dhacker29 http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-player/development/rom-pure-nexus-t3260232
As well after all done, download kodi from the play store and them follow this threat http://www.geek.com.do/mejores-fuentes-repositorios-kodi-xbmc/ ah sorry its is Spanish, use Google translate

I just did the whole Kodi install thing with the repos that the kids are selling these days on Ebay for like $80+ installed on a Amazon Firestick. Pretty funny that they are making money off of doing that. I only found out about that from my friend who actually paid $$ for one of those and decided to research it and attempted to do it on my NPlayer.
I agree with @ninerpride somewhat. While I don't think it's Kodi that is "garbage", its more the streams fault. It DOES get annoying attempting to go down the list to try and find a stream that actually plays. @graphdarnell, I concur with you, my Time Warner cable bill is over $100 USD and I get nothing for it. I'm always looking for ways to cut the cord and get out of this because the bill just keeps going up every year.
I heard that Genesis, etc is no longer being supported because the DEV found out about the "hacker kids" selling his work on Ebay pre-loaded onto those Amazon Firesticks. Anyone hear the same? Someone suggested to instead install "SALTS" but while it's much better, it's still annoying trying to find a stream that works.

Using the BEAST build installed from AresWizard.cok.uk/zip and it's been great so far. Phoenix based and most of the content is decent. Live TV is pretty good. Best I've used for KODI so far

Amazons Fire TV (5.0.5) from a usability perspective

With my AFTV2 currently broken down about one day after I set it up - I mentally went through some of the steps I'm likely to repeat very soon and - also seeing that some people in here still are struggling with some aspects of it, that I already learned long ago how to cope with - I thought I share some of my reflections.
This is by the way not meant to be a usability review - or tips guide of Amazons own interface - which I find abysmal for the most part. Let them struggle on their own - and also, for some reason there already are in depth "reviews" of it on aftvnews (which I came to slowly accept and even somewhat like.. ) - which mostly highlight aspects of it deemed positive. Bravo and lull Amazon into false confidence I say...
So here we go.
1. Best launcher (rooted or not) still is Firestarter. Basically because of its deep integration to app settings - which allows you to stop apps, delete their data or uninstall them in the fastest way possible. You'll need it more often than you think and its great that its there.
Change icon PPI to 144 and for your own sake - change the background to something more uplifting and also enable the text background bubbles so you get a higher text contrast, regardless of the BG image you chose.
2. Fire OS v5 and its limitation to one adb connection only isnt the enormous setback I thought it would be. Firestarter literally changes its default automatically within the first 3 seconds of it not being able to access adb - and the one click>double click combo to launch it from anywhere is good enough. Also in OS 5 there are no screen transitions, so switching to Firestarter feels more "instant".
Not having Firestarter use adb frees up you using adb from different devices. Once you are connected via adb from a PC f.e. you can also open different shells, or transfer a file and simultaneously perform another action in the shell - so thats a non issue. Also I rewrote all the scripts I use to cleanly exit adb with adb disconnect - and ultimately that works fine.
Through the two days of setting the Fire TV up and testing use cases I got a "cant connect via adb" error (because there already was another process using it) only twice - which in return can be promptly fixed by toggling adb on and off - and again - Firestarter provides a shortcut to that menu as well - so its fast, and if you use adb disconnect as intended, you dont need it very often.
3. Drop adbFire or equivalent "Helper Tools" as fast as possible - because they prevent you from learning even the simplest command line instruction, that will speed up your life in the long term. Seriously - just do it.
Also, explore the file structure of Kodi and the Fire TV (as in "look at it", try to make sense of it - not as in "I wander what happens if I delete this..."), so you can actually learn how they work. This again brings me back to the do not use adbFire or other "prepackaged" (and poorly laid out and documented) tools.
4. If you transfer single files - and most of them you usually want to drop to /sdcard/ first, you use the adb push command, because it simply turns out to be the fastest way to move stuff - at least if your OS allows you to drop a file onto the command line window to autopopulate the filepath.
If you want to transfer files and folders not directly located in /sdcard/ - either use something more GUI orientated - like AAFM ( https://github.com/sole/aafm ) (Windows cant use it to its fullest extent in its current state (on Windows you can use Total Commander (Windows Version - this time it will cost you something ) - which also has an adb plugin available) and or - zip the folder you want to transfer locally, then push it to /sdcard/ and then use Total Commander to unzip it into its desired location on the Fire TV.
Transferring .zip files wirelessly ultimately almost always turns out to be faster than transferring the individual files themselves. That also goes for zipping files on the AFTV using Total Commander, and then backing them up to a PC.
5. Use Total Commander. No seriously, download it from the Amazon App Store today. I know how popular ES File Explorer became from being the only free filemanager left, that was popular back in the day - but its approach to be iconographic to a fault and hiding away features in sub menus hurts its usability on any device where you try to perform actions with a remote. TC is simply better suited for the usecase.
TC also can write to the sdcard1 partition in Android 5 - either using root, or using a scripted workaround - so you generally dont have the "its not writable" issue. Also adb shell with su can write to it as well - so also use that if you need to.
You can also install Total Commanders LAN plugin ( http://www.ghisler.com/androidplugins/ ) and thereby access network shares.
6. There even is a usecase for the Amazon Voice button - because from Kodi - you can use it to launch Total Commander with just three button presses (say: "Total Commander") - which is faster than it was before - and you can also exit back to Kodi with only a few presses of the back button. Other than for this, the voice button of course is entirely useless - as we generally arent especially interested in how bad the Amazon Store is stocked (at least over here in europe... ).
7. Dont use the RC3 of Kodi 16 (Jarvis) right now. With Kodi 14.2 and 15.2 you can pause a video, drop back to Amazons launcher, then into Firestarter - then launch another app, then leave it and return to Kodi - with the video (usually - if you have enough free memory) still being in the paused state. In RC3 for Kodi 16, the video auto stops as soon as you switch away from Kodi - which in the long run causes much frustration and the need for additional button presses. Just remember to manually stop a video if you dont plan on returning to it anytime soon so Kodis bookmark your current position feature triggers.
8. If you want to install a Kodi repo - its much faster to download it as a .zip file and then adb push it to /sdcard/ where Kodi can find and install it - than to "start typing" anything in Kodi itself.
At some point - create a shell script for your pc that allows adb to connect to your Fire TVs IP address by just typing adb.sh (for example) - so you dont have to type in your Fire TVs ip address each time you want to connect to it.
9. If you dont already have a NAS -get an old router with an USB port that runs dd-wrt and has NTFS support (= all newer firmwares with at least 16mb package size should have it integrated - if you use ddwrt, even some with a 8mb package size). You get a very low power NAS that also can mirror as an FTP server (faster file transfers), and can become a torrent box in case you use that stuff. The negative only is - that with 4.5-6MB/s transferspeeds tops (WLAN, but actually limited by the individual routers CPU - they are low powered, remember) compressed 1080p is the most you can wish for - out of a 10-30 USD device. Preferably run it as a stand alone and not as your main router (reboots can be performed without bringing down your whole network, processor load, ...).
edit:
10. Kodi runs a little faster on the AFTV2 than on the Fire TV Sticks - which turns out to cut out just the right amounts of seconds on Kodi plugins with an "lets aggregate everything" approach.

You failed to mention what is "broken down" lol
You did quite abit of modding there so what "broke" it.

Playing a GPU intensive 3D game and then watching a video.
No, really.
The part you describe as "modding" went perfectly well - and what I describe above is mostly normal Android use for anyone not depending on "prefab click button to do thingy" stuff. Thats actually what I want this community to explore more - because at some point it literally becomes pointless - watching another in depth video analysis of Amazon taking out a row of items from their spreadsheet inspired Smart TV interface..
Amazon should have done more chip testing before they let their devices out of their factories. Or they should have done more testing regarding the 5.0.5 update. Slowly rolling out firmware updates in case you missed something important - is no substitute for proper testing...
All banter aside - the rooting process doesnt modify the kernel of the device, and on mine the GPU seems to have run into problems. From "working perfectly fine" to "full brick" (slightly different colors of black screens flashing, then settling on a full black screen) after playing a game and then watching a video.
AFTV - quality you can trust in.
Also - somehow its curious - when you buy a laptop these days - where you have root rights from the start, most complaining centers around stuff the manufacturer has messed up in producing the device and the software. But if you - as a manufacturer - take away the actual rights (permissions) from people - the discussion suddenly shifts to "OMG what have you done to the device".
But people usually dont get suddenly less educated or less cautious, once you take certain rights away from them - so the only explanation I have come up with is, that actually taking away permissions and property rights from people for some reason surfaces more voices that now very publicly campaign for this being a much more desirable state in the first place.
On a related note - If I had bricked my device during the rooting process, or while the TWRP custom recovery was installed - or by modifying system files (which now that TWRP runs on the Fire TV is easier to fix then ever), my first action would have been to give a full report of what happened (which I have actually done in a separate thread, in this case as well), so potential flaws or stumbling blocks in the rooting method could have been sussed out.

Mine has had 0 issues.. then again i rooted mine and have twrp, xposed, adaway, v4a, play store, firestarter, busybox, kodi, plex leanback youtube, debloated (removed most Amazecrap) etc.
Does more than I expected and then some.. even better than Nexus Player imo

Good - then we only agree that it isnt the rooting process.
And with TWRP you now have the means to entirely wipe and factory reset the device - so even if you for some reason had messed up the entire system partition (system files) - you still have a fallback, in fact a much better one than on a stock Fire TV, to "start over".
But that sadly doesnt fix hardware issues. Believe me, I tried. And documented it along the way. Look for it in another thread.
edit: Also this isnt me taking a jab at the device itself. I dont agree with Amazons product policies (= politics), but I was perfectly happy with my AFTV 2 as well. For as long as it worked..
In fact my fall back was to go back to the Fire TV Stick I had still laying around and I had the same functionality back (including all this "modding" you see in the OP ) within around 15 seconds (I missed the power socket in the wall twice... ).

harlekinrains said:
Good - then we only agree that it isnt the rooting process.
And with TWRP you now have the means to entirely wipe and factory reset the device - so even if you for some reason had messed up the entire system partition (system files) - you still have a fallback, in fact a much better one than on a stock Fire TV, to "start over".
But that sadly doesnt fix hardware issues. Believe me, I tried. And documented it along the way. Look for it in another thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea.. no device is perfect lol.. but the fact it has a gpu processor (when it works) is great! probably one of the cheaper 4k capable boxes available..
For the price, its a great option with root/recovery for what it does do and to achieve what its capable of.. theres bound to be a few bad devices and surely pushed to the max it can die

Sure.
Love the device. Dont love Amazons policies and product politics. Will use any chance to heckle them, that comes my way.
Thats me in a nutshell.
If you like the product, but dont like the company, their Store UI, their Store, the way they managed their store (app removals) in the past, the content thats in their store, their "underground" store program (that puts price pressure on devs)... thats not only possible - but also valid.
I dont think of Amazon as "a package deal".
When I criticize certain aspects of their infrastructure, I dont say that others are bad.
And I also dont proclaim that there is a high failure rate with Fire TV 2s on the 5.0.5 firmware. For me its just a nuisance and another chance to throw some banter..
But look - there is also something good, that came from it - I wrote an entire post about usability and how to best interact with the Fire TV on 5.0.5.
Because people just demanding updates (and root) - isnt enough..

yea.. i can write a banter on any device lol..
chromecast is great but cant say i like it..
the stick is worse..
nexus player is decent but also limited and if you install a full rom its essentially no longer a nexus player etc.

Deleted

Just one little additional tidbit -
Amazon still prevents the Fire TV 2 from using SD Cards formated with exFat. They literally write it out of their firmwares. Their Fire tablets of course support it - because, well its fun to play with your customer, and prevent usecases you see unfit for your current business model.
If you by any chance have purchased a 64GB Micro SD - Windows doesnt allow you to format it in Fat 32 - but this can be circumvented, by following this tutorial:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/sdxc_formatting.md
Of course the 4GB filesize limit still holds up.
edit: Also tested Kodi 15.2 by now - which shows the same pause state/app switching behavior as 14.2. I've edited the OP to reflect that.

harlekinrains said:
Just one little additional tidbit -
Amazon still prevents the Fire TV 2 from using SD Cards formated with exFat. They literally write it out of their firmwares. Their Fire tablets of course support it - because, well its fun to play with your customer, and prevent usecases you see unfit for your current business model.
If you by any chance have purchased a 64GB Micro SD - Windows doesnt allow you to format it in Fat 32 - but this can be circumvented, by following this tutorial:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/sdxc_formatting.md
Of course the 4GB filesize limit still holds up.
edit: Also tested Kodi 15.2 by now - which shows the same pause state/app switching behavior as 14.2. I've edited the OP to reflect that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kodi installs repos fine for me on 15.2.. of course i dont use the remote I use the fire tv app and then the keyboard so it doesnt take forever

It does on all versions.
Installing repos by downloading their .zip files first, then pushing them to /sdcard/ using -
adb push /path/to/zipfile.zip /sdcard/
is just faster - because you dont have to type something you see on one screen, letter by letter - into an app on another screen. You download the file, you open a command line window, type adb push , then drag/drop the downloaded file onto the command line window to get its filepath into it - then finish typing /sdcard/ and press enter. In Kodi you then just use the "install from zip file" option.
You dont switch devices, you dont switch keyboards, you dont have to look at two screens, you dont have to copy a url. But using a BT keyboard probably in the end isnt that much slower...
Its just good practice to not see the Fire TV (stick) as a device that has to be managed on its own. It is a always on, connected Android device. You can look at its contents, you can move files from and to it, you can give it instructions...
adb and adb shell
make it open enough.

Two more usability tips.
1. If you are rooted, sideload WiFi ADB ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ttxapps.wifiadb ) - its just a quicker way of disabling and reenabling ADB - when you cant connect (since 5.0.5 the Fire TV only allows one ADB connection at a time) from your PC.
I also tried to replace adbd (the adb daemon file on the FIre TV) - but so far have only found one from API level 21 (and Fire TV 5.0.5 needs 22 (as it is based on Android 5.1)) - that one didnt work at all. Even if replacing it with the exact API 22 version would work, this doesnt necessarily mean that the "one adb connection limit" is gone - but it is something I though would be worth giving a try.
2. If you have WiFi connection issues on a Fire TV 2 - especially with the Fire TV repeatedly failing to connect, It turns out that Amazons Wifi Implementation REALLY, REALLY wants you to have WMM enabled on your router. If you don't the connection tends to drop every day and the Fire TV then has problems to reconnect. With WMM enabled I now run three days without the slightest issue - and I also have changed WiFi networks within seconds, and not as previously - it taking about 10 minutes until thats successful. Before I came by this little quirk of the FIre TV , switching bands - even temporarily on 2.4 GHz would kickstart the Fire TV reconnecting to the same AP, just fyi.
Also when you are on the 5 GHz band, the Fire TV has a "drop off" if you are on any band higher than the first few (five or six), the Fire TV has problems even "seeing" the network. Also the last channel it still "sees" it has problems connecting to - so drop even one below that if you want it running on 5 GHz.
This quirk is more widely reported than the first one, but just as annoying.
Also just a big "really?!" into Amazons direction for messing up the Wifi implementation on the device this badly. I'm sure MediaTeks proprietary drivers play a part in this, as might the Fire TV 2 always running its own ad hoc WiFi network in the background - but still Amazon is selling that stuff.
I could test it with two different routers - on largely uncongested bands in both the 2.4 and 5 GHz space - and I have half a dozen other devices that never displayed any problems with the way I had my network set up in the past - but for the Fire TV 2 I had to reconfigure my routers just so it would stop dropping out - or start finding the respective network in the first place.

Getting your android app to communicate with a pc app.

Hi guys,
So recently I've come up with what I guess is an idea that may or may not have been achieved done before. The app I'd like to create is fairly simple right now and literally consists of a tally counter. Actually, very simple.
I'd like to also make an adjacent PC app that's also a tally counter... Very simple.
However, I'd like them to communicate with each other. Why and how you may ask?
First, the why. I knit as a form of relaxation as it's quite therapeutic for me and if you don't know how knitting works, let's just say there's a lot of counting rows. A few rows is easy to remember, but when you start getting closer to 128 rows and take a break for a couple days, you forget.
Anyway, I digress. I currently have a tally counter on my phone but... That's just it, it's on my phone and I constantly have to unlock it as I don't want to leave the screen on so it can drain my battery quickly. So I thought that it might be a good idea to have an app on my phone which I can use when I'm not near my PC, but when I am, I can plug in my phone launch the app on both devices and they communicate with each other.
So if I have say 18 on my PC because that's where I left it the other day, and 48 on my phone, when I launch both apps, the PC receives that the value has changed to 48 and updates to that number. Ditto for the other way around.
Is this possible? If so, how can I get both apps to communicate with each other?
Thanks.
Jamie.

10 Apps To Connect Your Computer To Android Devices -
1. AirDroid
2. Airstream
3. Polkast
4. Desktop Notifications
5. Pushbullet
6. Message Beam
7. MightyText
8. TeamViewer QuickSupport
9. Mobizen
10. Splashtop 2 Remote Desktop.

Just had a look for any form of source code I could have a look through and there's nothing...
All I know is it can be done but not how it could be done.

Bump...
Anyone got an idea of how I could do this?

Hello Jamie,
I am with Zco Corporation, we would be happy to help with your idea. Please give me a call 603.718.3616 or email [email protected]
George Markwell
603.718.3616
Zco Corporation
zco.com

Jamie_Edwards said:
Just had a look for any form of source code I could have a look through and there's nothing...
All I know is it can be done but not how it could be done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The most used method is using one socket connection between your phone and pc.

Database Users

welcome