My Amazon Fire TV Test...

[woodyear99]

So I bought an Amazon Fire TV to use primarily with XBMC. Made a new thread to document my findings.





Included in the box are a remote, aaa batteries, power adapter, the fire tv unit itself and a quick start guide.



The device itself feels very solid and isn't very thick.





For reference, size compared to a Samsung Galaxy S4.

Ok so I used this guide to get XBMC onto the Fire TV, it was very straightforward. I opted to go with SPMC for now though there is a stable Gotham build available, will try it out when I get chance.
Instructions I followed are here:
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Amazon_Fire_TV

And here it is, I played a 1080p file from my Raspberry Pi over my network to the Fire TV. It handled it quite well. 



So far the only issue for me is that there is no way to place sideloaded apps onto the home screen. To access them you have to go to Settings -> Applications -> Installed apps. The workaround right now is to set it to autostart when the Fire TV is turned on. Hopefully root will allow for placing sideloaded apps onto the homescreen.

Overall I am impressed with the performance, it is pretty fast and runs silent as it is passively cooled. Definitely would recommend to those looking for a cheap way to stream content over a local network and also from Hulu, netflix, Amazon Instant Video etc.

Update: So after some more tests I realize that there is some stuttering occurring in several videos. It doesn't seem to be connected to hardware as CPU usage is well under 60%, also it happens using both wired and wireless connections. I ruled out my raspberry pi server as the culprit since the same videos play flawlessly when streamed to my Samsung Smart TV. After checking out XDA forums it seems as though others are getting the same issue since the XBMC builds for Fire TV aren't quite there yet. I tested both SPMC and the latest Gotham nightly build of XBMC, same results. So my verdict right now would be to hold off on the Fire TV for a few weeks until this is resolved. Will keep yall posted when I get the Fire TV running 100% with XBMC.




 

[UltimateGamer]

I was looking for a solution for home theater for my parents. They currently use a laptop connected to the television with xbmc. My pops (who is the main user) is not tech savy at all, and teaching him to use xbmc was a task in itself.

I was looking at getting a roku 3 but heard that doesn't support xbmc. Now that you have posted this, I may be leaning in this direction. But I need to confirm something. Is there a built in browser that supports flash in this?

[woodyear99]

The good thing is that once he has used XBMC on the laptop, he will feel quite comfortable using the included remote with XBMC on Fire TV.

Actually that is the main reason why I got the Fire TV. Plan to leave it with my parents to watch movies. It will be replacing their Roku 3 since the Fire TV has better specs and handles local network streaming way better than the Roku. This is thanks in part to XBMC, could not find a viable alternative app for Roku.

I'll look into Flash in browser when I get chance. It's nice that the Fire TV allows you to sideload Android apks, gives alot more freedom in terms of functionality.

[UltimateGamer]

Brilliant! Thanks man.

He streams cricket on hitcric and it requires flash, so I can't take away the laptop without giving him a replacement that covers all bases yuh kno.

[TriniXaeno]

Fantastic review woody.

Do keep us posted on root. I would really like to hook up an external drive to the fire TV for storage.

Any chance of using this as a download box as well?

Or would that also require root?

and one more thing, are Amazon videos still region locked? (I haven't checked recently).

Do you need vpn/dns shenanigans to access them with the Fire Tv?

+5

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[Berzerk]

using amazon videos on wii u without issue so don't believe they are region locked.

great review woody, this is a serious consideration here now thanks to this.

[Qloxx]

Still region locked I got prime and downloaded prime vide for the psv and it's a no joy situation and i just dont feel like setting up a vpn.

[firekyler]

using amazon videos on wii u without issue so don't believe they are region locked.

great review woody, this is a serious consideration here now thanks to this.

how is this possible when everybody getting issues with this video

[woodyear99]

Prime instant video (basically a Netflix streaming competitor) is free with prime membership and can be accessed once you have a dns service. I don't think you can buy / rent any of the pay titles however. I'll never know since I don't buy/rent video.

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[TriniXaeno]

Hmm. Conflicting reports.

On the one hand zerk says it is working without any VPN or dns shenanigans

On the other woody says it needs a USA dns service.

Can we dig deeper and confirm?

I will try amazon prime again when I get home and report back.

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[woodyear99]

Update: So after some more tests I realize that there is some stuttering occurring in several videos. It doesn't seem to be connected to hardware as CPU usage is well under 60%, also it happens using both wired and wireless connections. I ruled out my raspberry pi server as the culprit since the same videos play flawlessly when streamed to my Samsung Smart TV. This seems more to be a codec issue since some of my files play flawlessly while others stutter, I believe the culprit to be AC3 and DTS audio files.

After checking out XDA forums it seems as though others are getting the same issue since the XBMC builds for Fire TV aren't quite there yet. I tested both SPMC and the latest Gotham nightly build of XBMC, same results. So my verdict right now would be to hold off on the Fire TV for a few weeks until this is resolved. Will keep yall posted when I get the Fire TV running 100% with XBMC.

Read some good things about the Xbmc for Ouya version so gonna try that one today to see if it works better.

@UltimateGamer - I tested out Firefox and was able to install flash. Is there a particular website you want me to check out?

[TriniXaeno]

Woody....the only version said to work fine with the Fire Tv was the XBMC for Ouya. We discussed this in the other thread remember?

Seems the xbmc for ouya is working well on it too

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2703716



Fantastic

Now I firmly believe you don't read my posts! lol

Did the Amazon Prime tests just a second ago.

Still region blocked.

You will have to use Unblockus or Hola reverse dns service to get around. (see attached, 1st pic with regular dns, second pic with USA reverse dns)

Zerk.....how are you getting it to work on the Wii??

[firekyler]

Yea I wanna know how he getting that too work too. Maybe it only works on a wii u. Hmmm anybody else own a wii u to check

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[woodyear99]

Woody....the only version said to work fine with the Fire Tv was the XBMC for Ouya. We discussed this in the other thread remember?

Seems the xbmc for ouya is working well on it too

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2703716



Fantastic

Things have changed since you posted that. Others have had success with the latest nightly gotham builds so decided to try that first, no luck. Also I used SPMC since it is the same base as XBMC for Ouya version but modified to support AC3 & DTS which is a must for some, unfortunately stutter in that too. I just tried out the XBMC for Ouya version and unfortunately getting stuttering in that as well. Perhaps I am doing something wrong, will keep playing around in the settings. I know for a fact my files work since they can be played back properly on my Samsung TV. I am confident in those nightly gotham builds, they have made much progress in a matter of days.

To be continued...

In terms of region blocking yes it still exists. I use Unblock-US as there are several services that I use which are region blocked including Hulu Plus and Pandora.

[TriniXaeno]

wow, you're saying the gotham builds have now surpassed the Ouya XBMC version 12.3.2 in performance?

I'd love to see that.

Also, I thought the Ouya XBMC had DTS and 5.1??

Technology is a helluva drug.

PS...just checked the xbmc forums...they're up to 100 pages of posts....in the fire tv thread which started just two weeks ago. lol

[Arcmanov]

Tha WiiU like it have vpn built-in yes. 

Amazon Prime Instant Video is very much region-blocked...yes, still.





SM-N900 / VN-ROM v11.1 (KitKat 4.4.2) / SwiftKey / Tapatalk Pro

[TriniXaeno]

Tha WiiU like it have vpn built-in yes. 

Like the Japanese wasn't joking when they said the Wii U would be region free. lol

VPN iymc

[firekyler]

Lol wat if that was really true.  You can just buy a wii u and never have to pay for vpn again forever. Just run everything on the console

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[woodyear99]

Zerk just told us that he in fact uses Unblock-Us as well.

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[TriniXaeno]

Steups @ zerk

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