Hello guys
EDIT: I have to mention that for some reason it seems Amazon has managed to bypass whatever cleverness Genesis Addon uses to give access to all the movies you want to see... so for people wanting to use FireTV as an XBMC box to watch movies (illegally) you will have big challenges. They have locked it down... so you'd have to try use proxy servers, virtual networks etc to get around that... but it is nowhere near as easy to use as a good Android TV box like the Tronsmart s89.
Having used it for about two hours, I've concluded the device is great if all you want to do is to watch Amazon prime video or netflix... but to run most other android apps, it is simply an awful experience. , these are a few of my least favourite things:
1/ Apps you sideload are not visible on the home screen. It takes you 19 (NINETEEN!!!) clicks to get from HOME to the list of apps you can "manage". From there you click more to scroll down to your app of choice and click to select it then click to load it.
2/ you cannot use the remote for inputting text via voice within an app, so in XBMC if you want to enter "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", you cannot do a voice search, so all input is very clunky.
3/ if you use a usb wireless keyboard/trackpad like the Logitech k400r (superb on an android box) you are limited to what keyboard commands the amazon stranglehold will allow
4/ xbmc is not listed as a recent app. If you press HOME by mistake, it is approximately 35 (THIRTY FIVE) clicks to get back to xbmc (more if you have sideloaded more than 13 apps... which makes me hesitant to sideload any more!) Alt-TAB works on the wireless keyboard to get back to the last app, but XBMC is not listed there - as it is on generic android tv boxes.
5/ on spotify, you cannot use just the remote, pressing Down does not take you to the next song, left and right do not navigate menus etc... so you have to use another device... the Logitech k400r is great, but again, you cannot do everything with that even... down arrow does not move to next songs, there are no keyboard shortcuts to move to the next song etc.
6/ TennisTV android app does not work at all... works on all my android phones, devices, tablets. This seems to be a common theme, extremely poor app support.
7/ apps added to your apps on Amazon.co.uk online do not (mostly) show up on your device after you have "synced amazon content" . Looking for apps on the device in the amazon store is a mystery, voice search does not work... so is one expected to BROWSE the whole library with the remote to find apps you want? Wow.
7/ Go online to get apps for Fire TV and Amazon says: no TED no IMDB no Wikipedia no ES File explorer no Facebook no Ebay no Google apps of any kind, no Dolphin or Chrome, no Box, no Dropbox, no Evernote no BBC Sport, no TVCatchup... the list goes on and on... pretty dismal IMO.
There is probably a LOT more, but Amazon have successfully strangled and suffocated a very nice bit of hardware. The interface is good, the fluidity is excellent... and for xbmc it is great but also censored by Amazon... but if you are used to a generic android tv box like the tronsmart vega s89, the FireTV does not come close, because what you can do with it is extremely limited. The cheap chinese android tv boxes in my lounge and bedroom are going to stay put, I cannot live with this FireTV. Buy this unit if you want a very good Amazon Prime Video / netflix box for £80... but if you want more than that, stay away.
Mark.
fredphoesh said:
Hello guys
Having used it for about two hours, I've concluded the device is great as an XBMC-only box an/or if you watch Amazon prime video or netflix... but to run most other android apps, it is simply an awful experience. , these are a few of my least favourite things:
1/ Apps you sideload are not visible on the home screen. It takes you 19 (NINETEEN!!!) clicks to get from HOME to the list of apps you can "manage". From there you click more to scroll down to your app of choice and click to select it then click to load it.
2/ you cannot use the remote for inputting text via voice within an app, so in XBMC if you want to enter "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", you cannot do a voice search, so all input is very clunky.
3/ if you use a usb wireless keyboard/trackpad like the Logitech k400r (superb on an android box) you are limited to what keyboard commands the amazon stranglehold will allow
4/ xbmc is not listed as a recent app. If you press HOME by mistake, it is approximately 35 (THIRTY FIVE) clicks to get back to xbmc (more if you have sideloaded more than 13 apps... which makes me hesitant to sideload any more!) Alt-TAB works on the wireless keyboard to get back to the last app, but XBMC is not listed there - as it is on generic android tv boxes.
5/ on spotify, you cannot use just the remote, pressing Down does not take you to the next song, left and right do not navigate menus etc... so you have to use another device... the Logitech k400r is great, but again, you cannot do everything with that even... down arrow does not move to next songs, there are no keyboard shortcuts to move to the next song etc.
6/ TennisTV android app does not work at all... works on all my android phones, devices, tablets. This seems to be a common theme, extremely poor app support.
7/ apps added to your apps on Amazon.co.uk online do not (mostly) show up on your device after you have "synced amazon content" . Looking for apps on the device in the amazon store is a mystery, voice search does not work... so is one expected to BROWSE the whole library with the remote to find apps you want? Wow.
7/ Go online to get apps for Fire TV and Amazon says: no TED no IMDB no Wikipedia no ES File explorer no Facebook no Ebay no Google apps of any kind, no Dolphin or Chrome, no Box, no Dropbox, no Evernote no BBC Sport, no TVCatchup... the list goes on and on... pretty dismal IMO.
There is probably a LOT more, but Amazon have successfully strangled and suffocated a very nice bit of hardware. The interface is good, the fluidity is excellent... and for xbmc it is great... but if you are used to a generic android tv box like the tronsmart vega s89, this does not come close, because what you can do with it is extremely limited. The cheap chinese android tv boxes in my lounge and bedroom are going to stay put, I cannot live with this FireTV. Buy this unit if you want a very good xbmc box for £80... but if you want more than that, stay away.
Mark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i picked one up last night, my impressions:
the UI is horrendous. ever review i read complimented the UI, but, nothing i want to use (plex) is easy to get to from the homescreen. have to scroll down, then over, etc. finding new apps, movies and tv shows is also difficult. i wish amazon allowed us to alter the homescreen to customize it to how we want it.
plex on firetv, again, the ui is just... just... i don't know, i don't use on deck, or que, or whatever. i have to scroll over, then down to get to what i want. again, i wish plex gave us more opportunity to customize how our splash screen is setup.
otherwise, i like the prime video on demand. this is the first time we have subscribed to an on demand stream service, having the content there, my kids like that there's spongebob and other nick shows. otherwise, our last 3 years of cord cutting has been handled through a rather extensive HTPC that i built running XBMC, sickbeard, couch potato and plex. i picked up the firetv to replace this unit because i'm tired of maintaining it.
fredphoesh said:
Hello guys
Having used it for about two hours, I've concluded the device is great as an XBMC-only box an/or if you watch Amazon prime video or netflix... but to run most other android apps, it is simply an awful experience. , these are a few of my least favourite things:
1/ Apps you sideload are not visible on the home screen. It takes you 19 (NINETEEN!!!) clicks to get from HOME to the list of apps you can "manage". From there you click more to scroll down to your app of choice and click to select it then click to load it.
2/ you cannot use the remote for inputting text via voice within an app, so in XBMC if you want to enter "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", you cannot do a voice search, so all input is very clunky.
3/ if you use a usb wireless keyboard/trackpad like the Logitech k400r (superb on an android box) you are limited to what keyboard commands the amazon stranglehold will allow
4/ xbmc is not listed as a recent app. If you press HOME by mistake, it is approximately 35 (THIRTY FIVE) clicks to get back to xbmc (more if you have sideloaded more than 13 apps... which makes me hesitant to sideload any more!) Alt-TAB works on the wireless keyboard to get back to the last app, but XBMC is not listed there - as it is on generic android tv boxes.
5/ on spotify, you cannot use just the remote, pressing Down does not take you to the next song, left and right do not navigate menus etc... so you have to use another device... the Logitech k400r is great, but again, you cannot do everything with that even... down arrow does not move to next songs, there are no keyboard shortcuts to move to the next song etc.
6/ TennisTV android app does not work at all... works on all my android phones, devices, tablets. This seems to be a common theme, extremely poor app support.
7/ apps added to your apps on Amazon.co.uk online do not (mostly) show up on your device after you have "synced amazon content" . Looking for apps on the device in the amazon store is a mystery, voice search does not work... so is one expected to BROWSE the whole library with the remote to find apps you want? Wow.
7/ Go online to get apps for Fire TV and Amazon says: no TED no IMDB no Wikipedia no ES File explorer no Facebook no Ebay no Google apps of any kind, no Dolphin or Chrome, no Box, no Dropbox, no Evernote no BBC Sport, no TVCatchup... the list goes on and on... pretty dismal IMO.
There is probably a LOT more, but Amazon have successfully strangled and suffocated a very nice bit of hardware. The interface is good, the fluidity is excellent... and for xbmc it is great... but if you are used to a generic android tv box like the tronsmart vega s89, this does not come close, because what you can do with it is extremely limited. The cheap chinese android tv boxes in my lounge and bedroom are going to stay put, I cannot live with this FireTV. Buy this unit if you want a very good xbmc box for £80... but if you want more than that, stay away.
Mark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can use something called llama to create a shortcut to the homescreen (so to speak) of all side loaded apps and this is well documented on these forums.
Got my FTV at work so will give it a go when I get home to see if the list of apps is as bad as you say and if so will just use an amazon USA account.
Has anyone tried sideloading the prime video app on one of the tron boxes? They're interesting looking boxes.
As far as the UI goes: if you're able to root your system, you can set it to use xbmc as the launcher and only drop into the Amazon side when you want to watch prime video.
I don't mind the UI too much, either in xbmc or from Amazon, as I have low expectations for what a UI for a TV should be.
It's nice to see that if this dies, there may be other fairly competitive boxes which I can get Netflix and Prime on as well as xbmc.
roustabout said:
Has anyone tried sideloading the prime video app on one of the tron boxes? They're interesting looking boxes..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
Actually there was a recent change by Amazon, making the Prime Video app (supposedly) work with Android, but AFAIK it has not been achieved yet. When I tried last a couple of months ago, it would look like it was going to play, then crash. See the thread on Freaktab:
http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?17026-Amazon-Instant-Video
Mark.
fredphoesh said:
Hi
Actually there was a recent change by Amazon, making the Prime Video app (supposedly) work with Android, but AFAIK it has not been achieved yet. When I tried last a couple of months ago, it would look like it was going to play, then crash. See the thread on Freaktab:
http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?17026-Amazon-Instant-Video
Mark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazon video works on my phone and tablet pretty well. I did need to sideload the app from my phone to my tablet, but once I did so it was good.
I wonder if some of the issue being described in the thread above is like the one that some folks have with xbmc on the fire: XBMC won't 'let go' of the video hardware easily, so launching a video app from within the Android Apps menu of XBMC results in video not playing. I deal with it by killing XBMC once firetv launcher or netflix are running.
fredphoesh couldn*t summarize it any better. The hardware is great but the software does indeed cripple and limit the use beyong anything. This device is entirely made to only exist in the Amazon world and makes you buy Apps from their own App store and pay for instant video. Nothing else should and could be done with it flawless. See how hard the locked it. Unfortunately there are some more examples of locked down hardware in past time: Apple TV 3rd gen, Surface RT & 2 etc.
Thats why I put this useless brick on ebay as long as people go crazy for it - for whatever reason I don't know. For the same money you can get a very decent Android Box without and restrictions and full root access!
sebr said:
Thats why I put this useless brick on ebay as long as people go crazy for it - for whatever reason I don't know. For the same money you can get a very decent Android Box without and restrictions and full root access!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem that a decent Android box alternative, with the possible exception being the new Android TV, is they do not get Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu type apps to go along with XBMC. This is the very reason why people are going crazy for it. It is nice to have everything I need and that Amazon provides it all in one OTT box.
Might take a bit of effort but if you set it up right the fire TV can work very well. Mine is being used not only as an XBMC box but also as my download center and NAS. Couldn't be happier with it.
Nedle said:
Might take a bit of effort but if you set it up right the fire TV can work very well. Mine is being used not only as an XBMC box but also as my download center and NAS. Couldn't be happier with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am guessing rooted. The problems is that the folks doing the reviews now have never had the option to root. UK & GER shipped with rooting blocked.
Clearly out of the box the AFTV is not the most open/flexible experience. It is really easy to mod though. Root, install custom recovery, flash latest rooted rom, install Xposed (Fire TV Mods), alternate launcher, Google framework/play store and it's a completely different experience.
It is fine to complain, or give a bad review about a stock interface, but not here. XDA is a modding/tweaking community, I don't know why you are giving a review on a stock rom's nearly out of the box interface. A bit of work and most (if not all) of your complains are moot.
At least look around first to see if there are solutions to your complaints before just whining about them. :laugh:
Don't count this box out yet...now that someone has the ability to write custom kernels and we have a custom recovery I can only hope someone brings out an amazing AOSP build for the box or someone is quick to port over Android TV to it. Unfortunately I am not one of those capable of but would donate
goggles99 said:
Clearly out of the box the AFTV is not the most open/flexible experience. It is really easy to mod though. Root, install custom recovery, flash latest rooted rom, install Xposed (Fire TV Mods), alternate launcher, Google framework/play store and it's a completely different experience.
It is fine to complain, or give a bad review about a stock interface, but not here. XDA is a modding/tweaking community, I don't know why you are giving a review on a stock rom's nearly out of the box interface. A bit of work and most (if not all) of your complains are moot.
At least look around first to see if there are solutions to your complaints before just whining about them. :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps you have not read much of what's being said about the newest Firetv boxes... Unrootable and heavily censored blocking movie streaming sites on xbmc, and dismally poor app support too.
As it is now, it is useful for two things only, Amazon prime video and netflix... Neither of which I want or need.
fredphoesh said:
Perhaps you have not read much of what's being said about the newest Firetv boxes... Unrootable and heavily censored blocking movie streaming sites on xbmc, and dismally poor app support too.
As it is now, it is useful for two things only, Amazon prime video and netflix... Neither of which I want or need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was this confirmed outside of just one person's experience?
Also, devices get updates that prevent root all the time. Often, the devs figure out a way to root them. I'm waiting on my Fire TV I ordered from eBay, hoping it's rootable. But even if not XBMC and Netflix is all I really wanted it for anyway (and not to use the crappy streaming add-ons but my own collection)
If Android TV is somehow ported to the Fire, then this box will become a great device. Right now it's worth the 100 bux alone just to play around with imo.
fredphoesh said:
Perhaps you have not read much of what's being said about the newest Firetv boxes... Unrootable and heavily censored blocking movie streaming sites on xbmc, and dismally poor app support too.
As it is now, it is useful for two things only, Amazon prime video and netflix... Neither of which I want or need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think your having more of an "operator error" than anything.. amazon isnt messing with xbmc. The fireTV has been working fine for everyone else for like 6 months now. if you dont like it send it backm sucks theres no root for UK people yet.. but no need to whine about it on here..
From a new UK Fire TV user - I totally agree "DISMAL EXPERIANCE" :¬(
Spent a lot of money on Plex only to find it has to use fire tv sdk and so no 5.1 DD surround sound over HDMI - if you have MKV content :¬(
I can sideload xbmc which works! and is the reason why it cant be on the amazon store - But I cant find a skin that is nearly as nice as plex)
Blocking root is way annoying too
I sideload'ed chrome and firefox and they seem to have patched it so that the remote does not work - nice one fire tv peeps (the browser in ES file manager works better - grr)
Sometimes I think they try to PISS people off on purpose
guess it makes them chuckle all the way to bank
at least it only cost 49£ so im going to ritually destroy it and jump up and down on it till I get blisters
AND also bye bye amazon prime!
Did anybody do any research before pre-ordering & before & after the German launch (around 9/16/2014) to know what to expect. The majority if not all of this "issues" where known weeks or a month ago.... And some of this are not real issues at all. Like demanding not promise features. Or "operator error" issues... There is usually a FW update shortly after a launch to deal with true issues that arise from it. So be on the lookout for one.
fredphoesh said:
Perhaps you have not read much of what's being said about the newest Firetv boxes... Unrootable and heavily censored blocking movie streaming sites on xbmc, and dismally poor app support too.
As it is now, it is useful for two things only, Amazon prime video and netflix... Neither of which I want or need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I can see, you are the only one to have experienced this. Perhaps the dns servers for these sites are being recently blocked by your UK ISP (Your other devices may have the dns entries cached for a while). In any case, one person having this problem is not much proof of this, thus is hearsay.
Why go on a long tirade when your real complaint is that you cannot obtain root? Why post a non-modded devices shortcomings on a modding site that has solutions to all but one of your problems? join one of the other "rant because I can't root" threads.
goggles99 said:
Why go on a long tirade when your real complaint is that you cannot obtain root? Why post a non-modded devices shortcomings on a modding site that has solutions to all but one of your problems? join one of the other "rant because I can't root" threads.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually i dont care about root
i want to have the apps I can have on my android tv working on this box.
they dont
it is a giant fail largely due to facist isp's in the UK and control freakery by amazon.
fredphoesh said:
actually i dont care about root
i want to have the apps I can have on my android tv working on this box.
they dont.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They do for me
fredphoesh said:
it is a giant fail largely due to facist isp's in the UK and control freakery by amazon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong forum/web site then. This is what I have been saying all along.
Is there any way to keymap on android tv?
Yea, you have to root it and manually edit one of the files in the system partition, I've done it on other Android devices but I forget where the files are, they're in a folder called keymap IIRC.
I don't know, what are you exactly want to do.
But if your problem is that a connected hardware-keyboard has another keyboard-layout than qwerty, you can use an app to change to your countrys layout.
I can recommend "External Keyboard Helper Pro" from Playstore. It's a paid app, but worth the money, until Google implement other keyboard-layouts in future Android TV updates.
http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apedroid.hwkeyboardhelper
You need to buy this app with another android device and than, you can push the app installation to NVIDIA Shield TV from playstore on your PC web-browser, because it's not listed on Android TV Playstore.
scorpio16v said:
But if your problem is that a connected hardware-keyboard has another keyboard-layout than qwerty, you can use an app to change to your countrys layout.
I can recommend "External Keyboard Helper Pro" from Playstore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does this app really work on the Shield? I'm asking because I already installed a different app which claimed to solve the problem ("RS - Hardware Keyboard Layouts"), and that one doesn't seem to work - it claims to add more options to the keyboard settings, but nothing can be found there. Thus, I'm a little skeptical of shelling out (not that many) $$ for some other apps which - as far as I can see - claims to do the same thing.
Has anyone actually tried this app (or any other app for this keyboard layout problem, for that matter) with any success?
So, I have a PM a while back about Webkey app on FTV. Here it is
@clembo100 said:
Hi there, I have just installed webkey on my Amazon TV Firestick in order to remote access Kodi installation configs etc.
When starting the app on the browser I can connect but get a plain replica of a phone on the screen with a small android icon on it but no actual way of viewing the screen or controlling anything. The mouse pointer changes when over some of the edges of the screen as though to do something but nothing seems to be working correctly. I wondered if you had come across this or can help with a fix? Thanks for reading this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem on my FTV2 running version 3.2.6. The new version is not as feature rich (no terminal, no file transfers, no file system navigation, no way to input text easily) as the old one. Alas, you cannot run the older version on FTV2, it will refuse to start, either manually or auto-boot.
But, I have playing around with it and found that you can navigate menus using the keyboard arrow keys. Certain menu items can be invoked using mouse clicks as well (eg, if you go to Applications and open an app., you get different choices like "Run App" or "Clear Data". You can click on them and it seems to work). Also, usually once you are within an app, you can point and click using your mouse. So, even though it is crippled, it does work, though not as seamlessly as the older version. You can get the latest one at http://webkey.cc/ and there is a link for direct apk download.
One of the best uses I have for it right now is to interact with Google Play (system app). I have frozen my GPlay app at 5.6.8. As others have indicated, the mouse does not work (using K400) in the app. But, I can point and click in the GPlay app using Webkey and it makes it easy. Tip, if you need to click on the rectangle formed by 3 horizontal lines at the top of the page to get into your settings, click on the top left corner of that rectangle (of just those 3 lines) and the menu should pop down.
An interesting thing I found, if you install GPlay (5.6.8) as a user app, the mouse works, but it stops working when GPlay (same version) is installed as a system app. Of course as a user app, you get the error (976?) that won't allow you to install apps from within GPlay.