[Q] Oculus Android, Stereoscopic remote desktop idea. - Oculus Rift

First of, I'd like to say I'm new to posting on here so I'm sorry if I've posted in the wrong place or something.
Anyway, we all know about the Oculus rift and some of you might have heard about the Newest version of it using Samsungs amoled screens? Well it's got me thinking.. "what's stopping me from turning my Galaxy note 2 into a an Oculus?" The answer to that is software, I know Google has developed Cardboard which by all means is a great "parody" of the Oculus but for time being that's all it is. What I would like to do is have an app like SplashTop's remote desktop app (which allows you to view your pc monitor from your phone or tablet via wifi) but with stereoscopic view and the ability to control the mouse using the accelerometer, Then theoretically anyone could run the app, mount the device onto something resembling Google Cardboard/Oculus Rift and essentially have a wireless VR Headset ready to play all their favourite games on pc with their mobile device.
Now if I knew anything about developing app and what not, I would probably already be in some kind of production but unfortunately I don't.. So if anyone feels inspired by this post or knows about someone who's had the same idea and has actually done something about it please let me know! I seriously can't be the only one thinking about this?

You probably looking for this app:
http://trinusvr.com/
I use it for almost 4 months. and it work really good with my xperia.
Its need some serious power, especially CPU, but even with my laptop with dual core it can run games like Half-Life 2 really good.
Use only USB, not wireless conenction, and before you use your phone as a VR goggles, close ALL apps and put it to flight mode. Why? Because VR really need some serious power to run smooth.
Even if its not Oculus Quality with USB connection and clean phone ram, you can get smooth experience.
Its also gonna take some time to configure it but I can assure you that I finished whole Doom 3 and Half-life 2 using this app and my phone and it was amazing... annoying sometimes, but amazing.
Its not good with really quick action games, but when you get used to it, and you finally get how to move your head, you can play and use any app with it.

Related

I need to impress a small group with the EVO's capabilities...

I don't want to get into the details of my upcoming presentation, I'm not in sales. We're looking into potential tools in my workplace. I need suggestions for reasons why the Evo is an ideal smart phone. I've already outlined the obvious (Android's apps, large screen, 4G, fast...) and I DO NOT want to compare it with the iPhone.
I'm looking for bells and whistles (because of my target audience), things that other phones can't do--stupid cell phone tricks like, using your laptop remotely with your android device, that sort of thing...
I just need a few suggestions... thanks.
-jac
** I can't root the phone either.
I always get the best reaction out of Layar and Google Sky.
everytime i show phonemypc app to my coworkers they freak. might give that a look worth the 10 bucks
Presentation you say? How about HDMI?
Plug your phone into a massive projector or TV.
Then play a video on youtube about some features and you're good.
Also mobile hotspots/tethering means people can connect to your phone through wifi and use your 3G-4G internet on any device.
It has an err kickstand.
If you really wanted to you could run a desktop operating system on it, though you would need to root..
8MP camera for great still shots in ample lit rooms.
Some cool games in the market.
Of course theres flash!!
Can't think of anything else right now..
if we're talking stock unrooted, i really like the intergration sense did with contacts/facebook/twitter/gmail. i also show off the kickstand (it gets more oooh/aaah reactions than i expected).
tethering and a good cellular signal (lol you'd be surprised how many people ask me that) also comes up.
Show them Proxoid and explain the free tethering if they root.
Get a copy of LogMeIn Beta (it's floating around on here...) and show it.
Qik/Fring video chat
Google Voice
Google Maps + Navigation (If any of the people you're showing to are travelers/sales, show them the turn-by-turn navigation on the BIG screen, for free.)
SwiftKey and Swype
Voice Dial/Search
Gesture Search
Show them all their Google stuff syncs to it (email, contacts, etc.) so if they lose their phone, it breaks, whatever, they still have everything important.
Dropbox (Very useful for sales, doing presentations and whatnot)
Just let them use it for a little while, the EVO sells itself
How about voice-to-text feature.
Show them the screen; all 4.3 inches
if they are iphone users, show them you can install an app from the sd card without rooting your phone, the turn by turn is good to show off, facebook intergration, high quailty youtube vids,
Tell them how it f*cking prints money, builds you an island, and then flies you to it
All kidding aside, the kickstand is a huge one. If you're in a 4G area, big seller there, notification LED for missed calls/texts/emails/etc, front camera, HDMI if you have a good TV there.
Take off the battery cover and show them the MANLAND hiding inside!
scev5 said:
everytime i show phonemypc app to my coworkers they freak. might give that a look worth the 10 bucks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, PhoneMyPC is exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for. That is an intense app. Thanks, I'd never heard of it. I'll try it tonight.
RemoteDroid - use your phone as a trackball keyboard to control your computer on the same wifi network, useful for powerpoint presentations etc (it's also been recently open sourced)
USB webcam - although in its infancy, allows you to use the evo's camera as a webcam on your pc. Its choppy, but it works if you're in a pinch.
Touchdown - An email client with activesync support for exchange accounts, one of the only mail apps that allowed me to access mail at work
Rockplayer - Plays a variety of multimedia files without the need to recompress, simply drag/drop to sdcard and play
Astrid tasks - An open source todo list manager that you can schedule notifications for, also has a widget for easy viewing of pending tasks.
PureCalendar - Self explanatory
Gmote.
With Gmote, you can use your phone as a remote control for your PC or laptop, including using it as a keyboard if you want. I use it often for PowerPoint presentations.
Geniusdog254 said:
Tell them how it f*cking prints money, builds you an island, and then flies you to it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't forget it can grant you 3 wishes
redrazr7791 said:
Don't forget it can grant you 3 wishes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And one of those wishes can be for an iPhone 4 with the bigger geebees, the whyfies, and the three-gees. And it has apps.
TiKL - push to talk function to other Android phones for free.
Check out my thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=715767
Cool apps not found in market and some great unknown apps that are in the market. You'll get some cool ideas here as well as download links.
Don't forget to highlight Google Maps & Navigation...as it's hands down the best maps GPS application out there BAR NONE - and it's free.
A few people also mentioned this, but the text-to-speech integration is also insanely cool.
And Swype (or really swapping out any stock keyboard) is a nice touch, as most phones are locked to a single input type.
If your phone is rooted, it also wouldn't hurt to use ShootMe or the other screenshot app I'm drawing a blank on ATM...I believe you can even remotely display the phone interface on a PC, which does wonders for any kind of presentation.
Then there's the cheese - games, live wallpaper.

[Q] Gaming on the transformer

I have a little question:
Is it possible to play games on the transformer through a remote-desktop app such as teamviewer? And with possible I mean is the quality acceptable, is it fluent, is the keyboard-dock usable etc. and with games I mean stuff like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft etc.
So, anyone has an answer to this...?
it is if your connection is good enough. Screen is sort of small though.
Pretty sure you're gonna end up padding someone's k/d ratio if you try to play CoD this way, as well as failing miserably in arena/raiding. Questing and instances should be ok though, but its not going to be nearly as good via a remote client as it would be if you were right there. Also, i havent tried to reconfigure it, if its even possible, but in android the there is no right click so the RDP/VNC clients all interpret right clicks as the back button, so good luck trying to ADS in CoD using right click...but i guess you can work around it by mapping it to a key instead.
I hope it works out for you better than it did me =P
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Could be neat to try the onlive gaming service lol
So what I understand from here is that you have tried but the biggest problem is not being able to right-click? Also I'm aware that the quality will not be as good as on your normal pc would be, but I just wanted to know if it's playable.
Does anyone know a remote-desktop app that let's you configure the right-click key? I know it's probably possible since teamviewer let's you use some other keys like ins and home that your Android device normally doesn't have, but I haven't found an option for right-clicking yet.
Edit: by the way, I don't have a transformer (yet) that's why I can't test it out myself. One of the things that will decide whether or not I'm getting one is this factor, so I hope you guys can help me .
yes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cdfsf0BSGA
That's just what I've been wanting to see, thanks!
I'm sure that's laggy in real life, and I'm sure it's not ideal, but at least we know it's possible, and not just a slideshow.
This made me smile...
Thanks!
Anyone gotten the scuum emulator to work on it yet?
RiffyDivine said:
Anyone gotten the scuum emulator to work on it yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure....I've managed to get monkey island 1 and 2, sam and max and broken sword all working pretty well. Just have to download the relevant plug ins from the market and providing you have the necessary files from the original games you're good to go.
Still one question... Is it possible to configure an easy right-click button?? (Most ideal would be the possibility to actually right-click with an external mouse instead of going back)
Perhaps I'm missing something, but does anyone know how to get input from the keyboard dock to go to a game via Splashtop, or if it's possible? Every game I've tried will take touchpad/mouse input, but nothing on the keyboard.
I just got confirmation from someone that my idea does work and it's playable without any noticeable lag.
There are 2 problems though:
1. Full-screen doesn't work, so you have to find a way to play it in window-mode
2. The mouse input isn't complete. What I understand is that in the game Duke Nukem Forever you can't move the screen with your mouse, what makes the game rather useless on the transformer. However, I have seen some videos of call of duty where the mouse input does work, so I'm not sure what's the problem here.
Anyone has a solution for this? Maybe something for a transformer dev?
dr0ne57 said:
Perhaps I'm missing something, but does anyone know how to get input from the keyboard dock to go to a game via Splashtop, or if it's possible? Every game I've tried will take touchpad/mouse input, but nothing on the keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I definitely played just a little bit of Transformers War for Cybertron and was able to use the keyboard!
I have had mixed results with trying to play games. Some games work in fullscreen, even though it says they can't (I was able to play Guild Wars this way). Unreal Tournament 3 and Sacred 2 were a no go though. It would just stop streaming when I launched them.
There is some slight lag no matter what, even on the desktop, and that is with me sitting 10 feet from my router and my PC wired, not wireless, to help reduce lag. Some say it is indiscernible, but I definitely notice. Overall I find this setup to be playable for MMO games like Aion, Guild Wars, etc, but not instant action games where the half a second ping can miss you a shot. Just my opinion.
P.S. I love playing games using my PS3 controller in bluetooth mode with the PC in the other room! (I'm using MotioninJoy on my PC so I can play Gamecube games on my Transformer)
@ryukeima
You're the first person I heard complaining about lang, so maybe it's your Internet connection?
Anyone here plays the game league of legende? I want to know some more about that game on the transformer .
I've played Civ 5 and The Witcher on my tablet using the included Splashtop. It wasn't too bad, but I don't know that I would do it on a regular basis. The play experience was good enough for me to believe that if someone came out with remote desktop software with this use in mind it would be very playable (Hey, if the Wii U can do it, I should be able to pull it off with my monster gaming PC and the Transformer, which has to be better than the tablet Nintendo is using).
Splashtop's user interface is a little weird which causes issues. I think I am going to try the Citrix ZenDesktop and see if it works out better.
AS A SIDE NOTE, I looked at PocketCloud remote desktop software for this use as well, but only the RDP protocol on PocketCloud supports sound and if you are running Windows Home edition (even Premium) you don't have an RDP server. The VNC protocol in PocketCloud does not support sound.
Is something like this hard to make? If not, then xda could maybe start developing their own remote desktop app with this idea in mind...?
bluejay2345 said:
I've played Civ 5 and The Witcher on my tablet using the included Splashtop. It wasn't too bad, but I don't know that I would do it on a regular basis. The play experience was good enough for me to believe that if someone came out with remote desktop software with this use in mind it would be very playable (Hey, if the Wii U can do it, I should be able to pull it off with my monster gaming PC and the Transformer, which has to be better than the tablet Nintendo is using).
Splashtop's user interface is a little weird which causes issues. I think I am going to try the Citrix ZenDesktop and see if it works out better.
AS A SIDE NOTE, I looked at PocketCloud remote desktop software for this use as well, but only the RDP protocol on PocketCloud supports sound and if you are running Windows Home edition (even Premium) you don't have an RDP server. The VNC protocol in PocketCloud does not support sound.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I could see, RDP dosen't do DirecX, so no games at all. At least on XP.
Anyway... it seems to me that Splashtop uses the same idea behind Sony's Remote Play! It's essentially an audio/video stream with inputs going the other way.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

Smart IR control with the Edge

Warning this is a long post grab some tea or coffee.
Coming from a Note 2 the IR capabilities on a phone was a new concept for me. I played around with performing some smart control with peel and a few other apps. Nothing really fit like a professional Universal Remote branded custom programmed remote. Much like a very advanced version of Logitech Harmony. I wanted the WAF (Wife Approval Factor) . This means multiple rooms, devices, scenarios with single button clicks with a remote that changes given its room location and control type. Out Note Edge if you didn't know has an amazing wide spectrum infrared transmitter that can work with a mind blowing array of proprietary devices. Like Xbox and MCE machines to name a few. Its simply needs a powerful app to drive it with a deep code library.
So I stumbled on the app in the play store called "Smart IR Remote - Anymote" . Before I go further I'll point out that I'm not affiliated with any developer and have no benefit to point this app out. I'm just a gadget junkie and a fan of great tech but I digress. This app is not on the cheep side. Its around $6 if I recall. What turned me on to it was its continuous and constant development record, the developer is interacting with users regularly and it met my minimum requirents for experiments.
Setup can be as simple as a Logitech on the basic side or complex as the professional grade. It is your choice . What struck me with aww was the adaptability to create custom remotes WITH full macro or "scene" in the pro world and integrate that in to a one button. Take multiple remotes and combine buttons from all of them to one uber remote. Control WiFi devises along with it. Yup multiple pathway control. Holy cow I was so excited I finally found something to rival some of the most expensive remotes I have ever owned for $6 bucks. It is even equipped with thermostat library's along with some home control capacity. So my brain was tingling with logic layouts and control schemes.
After some serious testing in my house im happy to report only one obscure devise did not have a library entry for its IR codes. One email to the Dev and he was on it. I have set up multiple rooms with a minimum of 3 scenes per room via macro and custom remote setup. My setup works like this . the default remote is the "Home remote" that has buttons labeled per room. Select the room you want to control, Master Bedroom for example and the Master bedroom remote pops up. Then just select one of the action options like "Chrome Cast" turns the TV on pauses and switches the input to the proper location. Then a Chromecast remote pops up with volume and other actions like "Watch Movie". This turns on my HTPC that basicly cone out of sleep, flips the input on the TV to whatever its on and brings up the HTPC remote with all the functions for navigation select and volume. Cool part on this particular scene is if you change it to something else you simply add the sleep option in the macro and the HTPC will go to sleep if you want to change to something else.
It can get far more complex but I used this on my wife's phone that has IR and have had successful WAF !
So play have fun with the infrared on your phone. If anyone is interested I'd be happy to post some examples both simple and complex. Hope this helps someone else and be sure to give a thanks if it did . Cheers.
Reserved
Nice review just some questions, can you use the edge display? It s compatible with logitech squeezebox e logitech link in wifi?
Thank you
Inviato dal mio SM-N910F utilizzando Tapatalk
danilos2k said:
Nice review just some questions, can you use the edge display? It s compatible with logitech squeezebox e logitech link in wifi?
Thank you
Inviato dal mio SM-N910F utilizzando Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The edge display is not effected. Works just like with any other app. You can add a app icon in to the edge display as a shortcut. Not app specific but handy for any apps you use regularly.
As for question 2 the short answer is no. I had to lookup the Logitech Squeezebox since I don't have one. It looks like they don't have a library entry for it but I'm sending a message to the Dev team and inviting them to this forum.
Great post! I too tend to find the IR capabilitied that Samsung phones have a very cool feature. It amazes me that so many people dont even take advantage of it, but then again there are so many people that dont tske advantage or know how to use 90% of the features on their phones. I sold my friend a nice Sony LED TV a couple weeks ago and after a few hours he called me asking for the remote because the buttons on the side were a pain to deal with and he didnt have a universal remote.. I was blown away by this because not only had i sold him my Galaxy S5 over a month prior to the TV, he had the Galaxy s4 for probably a year befote the 5, and when i told him to just use his phone its better anyway he had no clue what i was talking about... Anyway, sorry to ramble. Lol Thanks again for the info.
thank you
That's what keeps us, the developers, going. Seeing appreciation like yours makes me want to improve the product, makes me ashamed of the occasional bugs you probably encountered, but all things added, leads to a better product.
By the way, @Cab121, make sure to make a backup of your remotes in Settings -> Backup / Restore. You seem to have put a lot of work into yourself, and only I know how many customers relied on (eventually broken) Helium backups when switching roms, cleared the app data accidentally or not knowing what they were doing, losing precious of their work.
As for some of the other questions in the thread:
- using the Edge - No, right now Smart IR Remote doesn't make use of the Edge feature. It's certainly something we want to add, but we have so much stuff on our platter right now that it might take a while to get on this. Have you seen AnyMote Home ?
- Logitech Squeezebox - yes, that's supported over InfraRed, in our Game / Media Manager category
- Logitech Link - sorry, access to that is closed. We've tried, but no luck.
By the way, if anyone has any support questions (missing devices, bugs, stuff like that..) please email [email protected] - that way you have the highest (guaranteed) chances of getting a reply.
Source: I'm one of the Smart IR Remote - AnyMote devs.

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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 !
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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?

Why isn't there a PC app with Wear API support?

I live in a rural area where my best chance of getting service relies on having my phone shoved in a window. However, I carry a Samsung Gear Live on a daily basis, and it's very convenient and capable.
Because of where my phone is placed, I often have no access to it, and I do a lot of things at home that don't warrant wearing a watch, not to mention it's not exactly comfortable. Because of this, I've searched for various solutions to the problem of using my phone when I'm away from the phone. Thus far, there's obvious options like AirDroid, but that's unappealing since you need to leave this tab open at all times.
Yappy was an idea, but what made it most painful is it hardly ever sent my texts, and there was no configuration or history for the notifications when it passed through. Apparently, Microsoft's Cortana can integrate with the phone to allow notifications and texting from the PC.
What just baffles me is... why is there no app or extension that just uses the Wear API? Am I missing something, or is there just nothing out there that can connect via the Wear API, to offer as many features as a Wear watch, and not need to do much more than that? I imagine a simple app that connects like that would work just fine. I do understand the case of there being Wear apps that it would wanna use, but I also know that 4.4W was very rudimentary. So rudimentary, I couldn't even install much more than a Wear Bottle Spinner app. No new watch faces, no Skype or Music integration. It's so simple, I could imagine someone using the basic 4.4W framework to create an app to connect to Android Wear.
I'm unimpressed by the existence of apps that do their own thing, like Desktop Notifications, or Yappy, that ask you to use their apps together to achieve the best results. A Chrome extension, a Windows application, something simple that just connects with Android Wear over Wi-Fi. I think it's so simple, but so capable.
Have I just not searched enough? Am I missing something, a core aspect that makes it impossible to use the API in a simple Chrome extension, or has there just been no one who wanted to do it?
UltimaXtreme said:
I live in a rural area where my best chance of getting service relies on having my phone shoved in a window. However, I carry a Samsung Gear Live on a daily basis, and it's very convenient and capable.
Because of where my phone is placed, I often have no access to it, and I do a lot of things at home that don't warrant wearing a watch, not to mention it's not exactly comfortable. Because of this, I've searched for various solutions to the problem of using my phone when I'm away from the phone. Thus far, there's obvious options like AirDroid, but that's unappealing since you need to leave this tab open at all times.
Yappy was an idea, but what made it most painful is it hardly ever sent my texts, and there was no configuration or history for the notifications when it passed through. Apparently, Microsoft's Cortana can integrate with the phone to allow notifications and texting from the PC.
What just baffles me is... why is there no app or extension that just uses the Wear API? Am I missing something, or is there just nothing out there that can connect via the Wear API, to offer as many features as a Wear watch, and not need to do much more than that? I imagine a simple app that connects like that would work just fine. I do understand the case of there being Wear apps that it would wanna use, but I also know that 4.4W was very rudimentary. So rudimentary, I couldn't even install much more than a Wear Bottle Spinner app. No new watch faces, no Skype or Music integration. It's so simple, I could imagine someone using the basic 4.4W framework to create an app to connect to Android Wear.
I'm unimpressed by the existence of apps that do their own thing, like Desktop Notifications, or Yappy, that ask you to use their apps together to achieve the best results. A Chrome extension, a Windows application, something simple that just connects with Android Wear over Wi-Fi. I think it's so simple, but so capable.
Have I just not searched enough? Am I missing something, a core aspect that makes it impossible to use the API in a simple Chrome extension, or has there just been no one who wanted to do it?
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