2017 Shield adding USB memory - Shield Android TV Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Been seeing the dreaded "Low on memory" message for the first time since buying my Shield TV and I think that might be my large Plex database. All my media is on a NAS so I was thinking a 16gb USB drive is enough?
Any and all advice welcome.
Thank you!

Related

After the Update - My thoughts

I received the update on my Amazon TV a couple of hours ago.
My thoughts:
Kodi and all other third party apps WORK PERFECTLY.
I paired my Parrot Zik Bluetooth headphones. What I noticed is that there was a lug between the controllers moves and the click sound you usually get. When I started KODI, and streamed a movie or an episode, I had to adjust the sound offset to +1.175 secs in order for the sound to match the lips of the actors. This was also mentioned by other users that had installed a third party .apk settings file that could connect to other Bluetooth devices.
Having said that, I noticed something else. The lug of a second USB might cause a few problems if people are using a USB mouse/keyboard. I guess we could try pairing a Bluetooth keyboard but I haven't seen a Bluetooth airmouse. It remains to be seen.
Overall, I can say go ahead and upgrade
athosk said:
I received the update on my Amazon TV a couple of hours ago.
My thoughts:
Kodi and all other third party apps WORK PERFECTLY.
I paired my Parrot Zik Bluetooth headphones. What I noticed is that there was a lug between the controllers moves and the click sound you usually get. When I started KODI, and streamed a movie or an episode, I had to adjust the sound offset to +1.175 secs in order for the sound to match the lips of the actors. This was also mentioned by other users that had installed a third party .apk settings file that could connect to other Bluetooth devices.
Having said that, I noticed something else. The lug of a second USB might cause a few problems if people are using a USB mouse/keyboard. I guess we could try pairing a Bluetooth keyboard but I haven't seen a Bluetooth airmouse. It remains to be seen.
Overall, I can say go ahead and upgrade
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the feedback hopefully my fire tv will get the update today and I can test these new features.
athosk said:
The lug of a second USB might cause a few problems if people are using a USB mouse/keyboard. I guess we could try pairing a Bluetooth keyboard but I haven't seen a Bluetooth airmouse. It remains to be seen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried a USB hub?
tech3475 said:
Have you tried a USB hub?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thought about that but didn't get the chance to do that..it will be too many parts hanging around it
athosk said:
Thought about that but didn't get the chance to do that..it will be too many parts hanging around it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might be able to use a USB extension cable to hide it somewhere or have a hub somewhere more preferable.
did a factory restore,many reboots , flash drives formatted to fat32. Any tips on how to get it to work? cheers
UPDATE: the update somehow broke my USB port does not work at all no mouse no nothing.
I have the Blueooth delay also with Headset but with Plesk, I don't have an option to adjust the delay
guessing there's no changes to surround support. haven't been pushed the update yet
Updates
I think that the devices from the US are the first ones to get the updates. I own a device from the US and one from the UK. The US received its update the day I posted the post. The other devices, including my friends' deveices which were also bought in the UK, have not received anything yet..
Further Findings
USB drives connected to the Fire TV are, according to Amazon, to be used for storing apps and games. This feature was added to the Fire TV so that you can store more apps than the internal 8GB storage allows. There is, however, a huge disappointing shortfall with this new feature. You can only move an app’s main files to USB storage. An app’s “data” files must remain on the Fire TV’s internal storage. Many popular large games like GTA: San Andreas and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic store the vast majority of the game’s files as “data”. This means these games essentially cannot be moved to USB storage.
To get an idea of how much of an app can be moved to USB storage, look at the app’s “Size” value listed on the app’s detail/product page. The amount listed is usually how much can be moved to USB storage. For example, GTA: San Andreas lists a size of 77.2MB, which means the majority of the game will remain on the Fire TV’s internal storage. NBA 2K15, on the other hand, lists a file size of 1.8GB so you can be pretty sure that most of the app can be moved to USB storage.
As for other uses of USB storage, Amazon explicitly states that “you cannot access any media that you side-loaded onto the USB device.” The good news is that Amazon is not going out of their way to block apps from accessing USB external storage. Apps like Kodi and VLC can play media stored on an attached external drive without any issues. Files stored on a USB drive attached to the Fire TV can be found under the directory: /storage/extUsb/ source: www.aftvnews.com
Further Findings
USB hubs work with the Fire TV and external USB storage. Since the Fire TV only has one USB port, you can use a USB hub to connect both a USB drive and other USB devices like a FLIRC, mice, and keyboards simultaneously. You cannot use a USB hub to mount two USB drives. The Fire TV will only mount the first USB drive it detects.
Both powered and unpowered USB hubs work with the Fire TV. Some powered USB hubs will cause the Fire TV to freeze on the white Amazon logo during boot up. This is due to the Fire TV detecting power coming into its USB port which makes the Fire TV think it’s plugged into a computer which causes it to enter fastboot mode. If your powered USB hub does this, then you will need to unplug or power down the powered USB hub every time you reboot your Fire TV and then plug it back in once the Fire TV has booted.
source: www.aftvnews.com
athosk said:
USB drives connected to the Fire TV are, according to Amazon, to be used for storing apps and games. This feature was added to the Fire TV so that you can store more apps than the internal 8GB storage allows. There is, however, a huge disappointing shortfall with this new feature. You can only move an app’s main files to USB storage. An app’s “data” files must remain on the Fire TV’s internal storage. Many popular large games like GTA: San Andreas and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic store the vast majority of the game’s files as “data”. This means these games essentially cannot be moved to USB storage.
To get an idea of how much of an app can be moved to USB storage, look at the app’s “Size” value listed on the app’s detail/product page. The amount listed is usually how much can be moved to USB storage. For example, GTA: San Andreas lists a size of 77.2MB, which means the majority of the game will remain on the Fire TV’s internal storage. NBA 2K15, on the other hand, lists a file size of 1.8GB so you can be pretty sure that most of the app can be moved to USB storage.
As for other uses of USB storage, Amazon explicitly states that “you cannot access any media that you side-loaded onto the USB device.” The good news is that Amazon is not going out of their way to block apps from accessing USB external storage. Apps like Kodi and VLC can play media stored on an attached external drive without any issues. Files stored on a USB drive attached to the Fire TV can be found under the directory: /storage/extUsb/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
athosk said:
USB hubs work with the Fire TV and external USB storage. Since the Fire TV only has one USB port, you can use a USB hub to connect both a USB drive and other USB devices like a FLIRC, mice, and keyboards simultaneously. You cannot use a USB hub to mount two USB drives. The Fire TV will only mount the first USB drive it detects.
Both powered and unpowered USB hubs work with the Fire TV. Some powered USB hubs will cause the Fire TV to freeze on the white Amazon logo during boot up. This is due to the Fire TV detecting power coming into its USB port which makes the Fire TV think it’s plugged into a computer which causes it to enter fastboot mode. If your powered USB hub does this, then you will need to unplug or power down the powered USB hub every time you reboot your Fire TV and then plug it back in once the Fire TV has booted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not just providing a link to AFTNews ?
AFTV NEWS
I did provide the link www.aftvnews.com in a previous post so i guessed my readers would know about it
I want to add this though.....I did try a USB hub and connected the MINIX air mouse and keyboard on it. Unfortunately no connection. So i am not so sure if the HUB will work as mentioned by AFTV news or which kind of HUB would be best to connect both the drive and the mouse

Fire TV 4K and USB Storage

What's the deal with USB storage. I'm getting conflicting messages here, Are we able to use USB storage on the Fire TV for app installs or not?
I already have Posted a Question about the same problem on the last AFTVnewscast #15 (Friday Nov, 13):
"Have you noticed that when you use a MicroSD memory (with some APPs installed), and then you plug other USB memory, the FireTV2 does some weird things (app icons disappearing from FireStarter screen), also sometimes the FireTV2 crashes and resets?"
http://www.aftvnews.com/post-your-questions-topics-for-tomorrows-aftvnewscast-15/
http://www.aftvnews.com/aftvnewscast-15/
Although Elias Saba (AFTVnews Moderator) said that he has not noticed problems with the FireTV2 USB-Port and MicroUSB-Card, I must said that if you are using a Micro-USB Card and plugs a USB, sometime times the FireTV2 does weird things and don't find the USB Port...
So, apparently there are some conflicts with the way that the FireTV2 is using to access both ports (MicroUSB and USB) at the same time!
Haven't ran into the crashing/freezing issues yet. I keep seeing images if Fire TV allowing for USB storage of apps but I guess they were all for the older model. I have a 1TB HDD and over 200 games I'm trying to transfer over from my OUYA. A bunch of micro SD cards won't cut it. I guess I'll have to wait for an easier way to root this thing. I'm surprised that nobody has tried kingroot yet.
I only had experienced the crashing/freezing issues some times, so I attribute it to the apps I have used to access the MicroSD memory and the USB-Port, such as ES File Explorer.
I Forgot to mention that if you Power Up your FireTV2 with the two memories, one MicroSD-Card and one USB-Flash-Drive, then the FireTV always recognizes both memories without problems, so this problem occurs only if you inserted a USB Flash Drive with a FireTV2 unit that is already powered ON.
The question still remains. Are we not able to install apps directly to USB storage on the Fire TV?
While on the Original FireTV 1st Gen., that only have one USB Port, can use this port to connect a USB Drive to move the installed APPs.
The FireTV 2nd Gen. can use both USB Drives and also MicroSD Cards, however you can move the installed APPs onto the MicroSD Card ONLY.
Damn! That needs to be changed ASAP. Guess I'll be waiting for a easier root method before inacting my OUYA to Fire TV migration.
lightykd said:
Damn! That needs to be changed ASAP. Guess I'll be waiting for a easier root method before inacting my OUYA to Fire TV migration.
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Click to collapse
I finally got a Fire TV 2. This really is kinda ridiculous that you can still only move the app not the data to the sdcard on the new Fire TV. Have'nt tried a USB drive yet but tried to install a few games to the sdcard Asphalt 8 being one...and out of 1.5 gigs of data it moved like 60mb to the sdcard... to me this almost makes the Fire TV 2 not worth upgrading from the Fire TV 1st gen. I have not spent very much time with the new Fire TV but I really have not noticed much of a difference other than Alexa.
What I find ridiculous is the Fat32 requirements for stuff like external hard drives. No > 4GB files? That's just stupid.
Has anyone found a way to get around this without rooting?
That is really bad, thanks for noting this. I have the same problem with my AFTV1 - Asphalt is installed and I'm not able to move it to USB. I was hoping the AFTV2 could overcome this issue.... Does it mean the AFTV2 handles the microSd card the same way AFTV1 was handling the USB storage - no progress at all?
uzi74 said:
That is really bad, thanks for noting this. I have the same problem with my AFTV1 - Asphalt is installed and I'm not able to move it to USB. I was hoping the AFTV2 could overcome this issue.... Does it mean the AFTV2 handles the microSd card the same way AFTV1 was handling the USB storage - no progress at all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope someone knows something I don't but from what I have seen it's the same way the USB drive is handled. It will move the app but not the data. It seems on some games if the data is small enough it will move some of it. The fact that Amazon removed an Optical Audio port to add an sdcard slot that does the same thing the USB port does just seems really stupid to me. 128 gig sdcard that you can't even install games to. What was the point of that. All this powerful hardware, 4k video, 128 gig sdcard, usb port and you can still basically only install apps and games up to the limit of your internal storage....I really didn't want to root my AFTV2, but it seems a waste not too. Sorry for the rant but this just really puzzles me. Hope someone has something to share to prove me wrong on this.
Hopefully Amazon will release an OS update based on M in the not too distant future... That should resolve the storage issues. Knowing Amazon, it could be a while.
skeptic_always said:
Hopefully Amazon will release an OS update based on M in the not too distant future... That should resolve the storage issues. Knowing Amazon, it could be a while.
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Click to collapse
Well, I'll be damned if I have to wait a whole year for this update. This is stupid on Amazon's behalf.
skeptic_always said:
Hopefully Amazon will release an OS update based on M in the not too distant future... That should resolve the storage issues. Knowing Amazon, it could be a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought M removed micro SD support from stock android to prevent further lawsuits/royalty payments to Microsoft and devices running M would only support it if the hardware vendors added it back in themselves.
Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
lightykd said:
Well, I'll be damned if I have to wait a whole year for this update. This is stupid on Amazon's behalf.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only solution for me(without rooting at least) is keeping my old firetv along with the new AFTV2 until it is sorted out. There is more or less enough storage for two bigger not usb-friendly titles per box...

best way to return my Nvidia TV 2017

Hi,
I'm returning my Shield TV to Amazon with remote tv controller issues. I've set up my Shield with my favorite apps and settings and wonder if I can just use my external USB I've set up as the mounted drive. It has all my apps and settings. Can I just switch to the new device and use the USB or will I have to setup all my stuff again on the new Shield? Also any advice on wiping all personal data from the Shield before I return it would be a great help. Thanks for any ideas.

Best Plex Media Server Setup for Nvidia shield 2017 16gb

So I dont have a NAS right now and just have a 5tb HDD connected using usb 3.0 to my shield. I have a 7.1 receiver and 4k tv and right now when using SPMC I get issues and have to restart it or the plex server and when using the Plex app I get audio drop outs. I also dont like getting the space limitation warning
I am thinking of rooting and want to know is it possible to have 1 usb SSD for most things with plex on my 5tb HDD? Is there any speed improvement here or should I just leave it how it is for now if trying to maximize speed and reliability.
What is the optimal setup rooting or not with what I have now a 16gb, and 5tb HDD. I can buy a SSD but will have to hold on the NAS
Thanks!
motomd1 said:
So I dont have a NAS right now and just have a 5tb HDD connected using usb 3.0 to my shield. I have a 7.1 receiver and 4k tv and right now when using SPMC I get issues and have to restart it or the plex server and when using the Plex app I get audio drop outs. I also dont like getting the space limitation warning
I am thinking of rooting and want to know is it possible to have 1 usb SSD for most things with plex on my 5tb HDD? Is there any speed improvement here or should I just leave it how it is for now if trying to maximize speed and reliability.
What is the optimal setup rooting or not with what I have now a 16gb, and 5tb HDD. I can buy a SSD but will have to hold on the NAS
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see the point of rooting from your description.
If the 5TB storage is as internal, you will experience slower system response. It shouldn't impact your multimedia experience though. Unless the media is really badly encoded, which happened to me.
I would keep the internal 16GB as primary just for apps. The rest would go to external storage. If you have loads of games installed and running out of internal space, then consider getting a SSD and have it as internal storage.

Questions about using a hard drive attached to my Router

If I attach a USB hard drive to my Netgear R7000 (readyshare) will I be able to access it on my Nvidia Shield? I'm afraid that if I mount the usb drive to shield It'll be locked down to the shield only.. Also, if I can access all my data off of readyshare through the shield, can I mount an additional hard drive(or a usb flash drive) to my shield for even more combined storage?
Yes. I had R7800 for about a week and it worked fine. I have an external drive attached to my Asus Rt-AC86 now. I use Plex to access the media but have used Kodi also. With Plex I pay for Plex Pass.
Strangely, it works better this way than when I had the drive connected directly to the Shield.
I can still plug other drives into the Shield and access media/files on them also.
As to your concern of the drive being locked down to the Shield, I've never encountered that unless there is a way to mount it where that could happen.
*** After further thought, I only used Kodi while the drive was connected to the Shield.

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