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I got my Shield tv console delivered yesterday, (late as possible damn ups) and love it so far, haven't had enough time to play more, but after work today I will. I have an asus rtac68w, which according to nvidia is a held ready router, but I need to know what and how to set up my router to optimally perform for my shield tv and streaming.
Any help people?
The Shield is like any tablet or smartphone. There is nothing "special" to set up in the router for it
It's just highly recommended to use a wired connection for the Shield but have wifi configured too because they're known bugs with current firmware when the network isn't wifi. So sometimes you need to switch to wifi to do some stuff then back to wired for optimal performance. They'll fix this later I guess.
ps: go there : https://forums.geforce.com/default/board/159/ instead of XDA, you'll find official NVidia reps. XDA is ignoring the Shield Android TV so let's us leave.
Basically, to set it up best; Connect it to ethernet that goes straight into the router. That said, You want to make sure it connects to your 5GHz network, that your 5GHz network does not have legacy support enabled (AC only if possible with no N or A support). WMM and BeamForming is helpful sometimes. Those are the basics.
So, whatever you would do to optimize your WiFi for GameStream or GRID on the Shield Tablet or Shield Portable, you could do the same things here, plus the option of straight gigabit ethernet.
I hadn't heard of the issues with the Wired ethernet personally, hopefully they fix that pretty quickly. It may be specific to certain environments or other issues. Also, I know that the controllers use WiFi-Direct (rather than BT), however anything with that causing part of the networking fails would be pure speculation on my part.
I haven't had any issues with Ethernet
ryocoon said:
Also, I know that the controllers use WiFi-Direct (rather than BT), however anything with that causing part of the networking fails would be pure speculation on my part.
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Click to collapse
Actually it's the wired connection that 'might' mess with the initial controler pairing:
from a NVidia rep:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/836884/?comment=4546797
If you are unable to pair your SHIELD Wireless Controller during initial setup and your SHIELD Android TV is connected to your network over ethernet, try temporarily disconnecting your ethernet cable to go into WiFi mode and check if pairing issue is fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't had problems either hardworking the console or using the Shield Tablet in console mode and using a Micro USB ethernet connector to hardwire the tablet. I must say that I get less lag streaming games in 4K from my PC using the console vs the tablet. I just wish I could sideload Amazon Prime Instant Video and M-Go so I could stream whatever 4K video content they offer besides only Netflix and YouTube video in 4K. No studdering, no buffering, just good quality 4K video from this thing. I must say, this console could have a major impact over how games could be delivered in the future. No latency at all except 1st person shooters being streamed via Grid. This is the best device I've bought in a long time.
I had some issues with DHCP when first setting up my unit on a wired connection. It kept disconnecting from the internet even when showing a connection. I set up my IP manually and updated to 1.2 and have had no issues since...it is super fast but may still setup wifi as you said just incase.
Rolldog said:
I haven't had problems either hardworking the console or using the Shield Tablet in console mode and using a Micro USB ethernet connector to hardwire the tablet. I must say that I get less lag streaming games in 4K from my PC using the console vs the tablet. I just wish I could sideload Amazon Prime Instant Video and M-Go so I could stream whatever 4K video content they offer besides only Netflix and YouTube video in 4K. No studdering, no buffering, just good quality 4K video from this thing. I must say, this console could have a major impact over how games could be delivered in the future. No latency at all except 1st person shooters being streamed via Grid. This is the best device I've bought in a long time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What happens when you side load Amazon video and M-Go? I was able to side load a bunch of apps (including M-go but didn't run it yet) from my rooted samsung Note 2014 by backing up my apps with Titanium to the micro sd. I then moved the micro sd to the Shield TV and used ES File Explorer to auto open some of the zips that contained the APK and installed from there. From my memory, since I'm not at home to check what else I side loaded, I have the following working so far:
Chrome Browser
Dolphin Browser
Dropbox
Google Drive
Popcorn
Showbox
Helium
Facebook
Hulu Plus
Photo Circle
Speedtest
Ppsspp
And jut tested m-go
I'll add that when I first set up the Pro yesterday on a wired connection, it had all sorts of problems -- including not being able to download the update. Had to go wireless to get the update, but by that point it was acting so strange I did a full factory reset right after. (1.0 seemed quite buggy, but 1.2 feels fantastic so far. HUGE strides!). Haven't had problems since.
kgersen said:
The Shield is like any tablet or smartphone. There is nothing "special" to set up in the router for it
It's just highly recommended to use a wired connection for the Shield but have wifi configured too because they're known bugs with current firmware when the network isn't wifi. So sometimes you need to switch to wifi to do some stuff then back to wired for optimal performance. They'll fix this later I guess.
ps: go there : https://forums.geforce.com/default/board/159/ instead of XDA, you'll find official NVidia reps. XDA is ignoring the Shield Android TV so let's us leave.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only problem I have with the GeForce forum is there is no way to be notified if you get a reply from anyone. Is there any work around for this?
lartomar2002 said:
The only problem I have with the GeForce forum is there is no way to be notified if you get a reply from anyone. Is there any work around for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not that I know of. The NVidia forum software is very old and bad, everyone agree on that.
I use Feedly and a RSS subscription to monitor the GeForce forum, it's a bit easier.
I have Amazon Prime Video sideloaded, and it works great. Unfortunately, I think a different version utilizes UHD video because I haven't been able to find any 4K content. Netflix and YouTube have some 4K content, and I've been able to stream some games in 4K, but until the UHD content providers start releasing their content to more devices instead of them signing exclusivity contracts (Samsung) to help them offset the royalties on the H.265 content, which is quadruple what H.264 was, I think most people will be limited on 4K content. Sucks.....
New software updates for the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick have been rolling out since July 1st. I haven't fully analyzed them yet to uncover all the changes, but we do know that apps and games can now be marked as "Favorites" in order to bring them to the front of your app/game list. Full overview of everything that has changed to come. Let us know if you notice any changes yourself.
Fire TV version 51.1.6.0_user_516009820 - Download Link
Fire TV Stick version 54.1.2.0_user_120060220 - Download Link
Attention @rbox
Could you please check if its possible also to set sideloaded apps as favorite? THX in advance.
Still using Anroid 4.2.2 so the update is a major fail. Any updates for the Fire TV that do not run Android 4.4+ will all be failures. Sure they may fix bugs or simplify the default launcher, but til they upgrade to at least Android 4.4 aall updates wil be worthless. They can add all the featurs to the Fire TV that they want, but it will never be as good as it could be unless they ugrade to a newer version of Android. Compatibiity issues are nonsense this day in ag with Android and I am hving several comptibility issues with the Fire TV all because Amazon refuses to upgrade the Fire TV t at lest Android 4.4. A month ago when the news of fire OS 5.0 came out I predicted that the Fire TV would not be running it in ten months and I hve nine months left to prove everone wrong that said I was wrong. Wait and see, nine months from now the Fire tablets and the Fire Phone will be running FireOS 5.0, but the Fire TV will be running either 4.2.2, 4.3 or if a miracle happens it might be running Android 4.4. I love the Fire TV and I am not jumping ship, but the Fire TV can not do what it should be doing if Amazon is not going to upgrade it to Android 4.4 I do not care about root or mods, but I do care about compatibilty issues, and more and more things are becoming incompatible with Android 4.2.2 and 4.3. Come on amazon, step it up and give us what we should've already had six months ago.
Nice update! Really looking forward to the shopping feature. Wonder if this feature will go live on July 15th with "Prime day"?
Looking forward to a flashable version of this.
Calibaan said:
Could you please check if its possible also to set sideloaded apps as favorite? THX in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, only those downloaded from their App Store can be set as favorite.
You go into either "Games" or "Apps" to pick which ones you want to favorite, which brings them to the front of the Recent list in "Home" or the other mentioned sections.
Another change is they've added in the storage bar in Applications > Manage Installed Apps, now sit at the bottom of the screen.
porkenhimer said:
Still using Anroid 4.2.2 so the update is a major fail. Any updates for the Fire TV that do not run Android 4.4+ will all be failures. <snipped>
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Seems a new Fire TV Stick may be on the way running Lollipop 5.1 - http://liliputing.com/2015/07/amazons-next-gen-fire-tv-stick-may-be-coming-soon.html
This one will likely be left in the dark forever run on 4.2.2
Well, here is something...
For the longest time, when I hooked my Fire TV Box via Optical Audio to my Pioneer Elite VSX-21 (circa 1999-2000), SPMC/Kodi set for pass through did give me Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS (and show icons for each speaker). However, with the box set for Dolby Digital over Optical when playing movies from Amazon Instant, Netflix and Plex my Pioneer would always display only Dolby ProLogic (no speaker icons, indicating 2ch audio).
It looks like the v51.1.6.0 fixed that.
Today, playing a movie via Amazon Instant, I noticed Dolby Digital led on the receiver along with icons for each speaker.. Same with Netflix.
Plex however gives me no audio when playing movies from my server, but did give me stereo audio when playing a TV show via CBS channel in Plex.
Gilly10 said:
No, only those downloaded from their App Store can be set as favorite.
You go into either "Games" or "Apps" to pick which ones you want to favorite, which brings them to the front of the Recent list in "Home" or the other mentioned sections.
Another change is they've added in the storage bar in Applications > Manage Installed Apps, now sit at the bottom of the screen.
Seems a new Fire TV Stick may be on the way running Lollipop 5.1 - http://liliputing.com/2015/07/amazons-next-gen-fire-tv-stick-may-be-coming-soon.html
This one will likely be left in the dark forever run on 4.2.2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like just wild guess, and what spoils it is that there would be zero reason to put and accelerometor in an Android stick, which tells me that its not a new fire TV stick. I am sure there will be a new Fire TV stick at some point, but the page you gave the link to is 100% not a new Fire TV stick. You shold never link people to pages with unconfirmed info.
First up, it features WiFi and Bluetooth, but no GPS, compass, accelerometer, light sensor, camera, or SIM card. You’d expect most phones, tablets or other Android devices to have at least a few of those things.
Gilly10 said:
No, only those downloaded from their App Store can be set as favorite.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx, not really what I hoped for.
porkenhimer said:
Seems like just wild guess, and what spoils it is that there would be zero reason to put and accelerometor in an Android stick, which tells me that its not a new fire TV stick. I am sure there will be a new Fire TV stick at some point, but the page you gave the link to is 100% not a new Fire TV stick. You shold never link people to pages with unconfirmed info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure what your reading but it states clearly it does NOT have an accelerometer inside, only bluetooth & wifi are ticked, certainly fits the bill of being a Fire TV Stick of some kind going off the other specs (or lack of), guess we'll just have to wait and see...
This is the page the article is about - https://gfxbench.com/device.jsp?benchmark=gfx31&os=Android&api=gl&D=Amazon+AFTS&testgroup=info
Gilly10 said:
Not sure what your reading but it states clearly it does NOT have an accelerometer inside, only bluetooth & wifi are ticked, certainly fits the bill of being a Fire TV Stick of some kind going off the other specs (or lack of), guess we'll just have to wait and see...
This is the page the article is about - https://gfxbench.com/device.jsp?benchmark=gfx31&os=Android&api=gl&D=Amazon+AFTS&testgroup=info
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The specs fit the billing for many devices. Who knows it could be a new type of device, or it could be a tablet. Til there is proof the articles are just people making wild guesses. Like I said, go back and look at all of Amazons tablets and yo will be amazed at the features some of them do not have that almost every tablet mae by other companies do. They even took the gamble of leaving cameras out the first Fire HD tablet. Amazon does strange things with their devices. They have left rear cameras of some of their tablets and said their study shows that people do not use rear cameras on their tablets then released the next tablet with a rear camera. they have left out HDMI ports saying people with tablets barely use them then for some reason released other tabets with HDMI ports. I would not rule out that the device is a tablet at all. Its very likely that it could be a budget tablet. Their newer tablets have been getting more expensive compared to their older ones so it could be a cheap tablet.
jpeg42 said:
First up, it features WiFi and Bluetooth, but no GPS, compass, accelerometer, light sensor, camera, or SIM card. You’d expect most phones, tablets or other Android devices to have at least a few of those things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And what would these sonsors be good for on an mediaplayer device?
GPS? I know where my TV is.
Compass? My TV doesn't change its direction so often.
Accelerometer? I hope it never falls off the wall.
Light Sensor? For a divice without display?
Camera? Would be nice for skype but better use an external one.
SIM card?
So where is the point?
Hmmmm and off topic anyway .. Sorry for that.
Zaaap72 said:
And what would these sonsors be good for on an mediaplayer device?
GPS? I know where my TV is.
Compass? My TV doesn't change its direction so often.
Accelerometer? I hope it never falls off the wall.
Light Sensor? For a divice without display?
Camera? Would be nice for skype but better use an external one.
SIM card?
So where is the point?
Hmmmm and off topic anyway .. Sorry for that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, proof that this is likely the next generation FireTV or Stick, and not another phone or tablet from Amazon.
i've been unable to 'adb connect' to my unrooted fire tv box since around the time it received the latest update. i've rebooted several times - computer and fire tv. no luck. can anyone else confirm or deny this with their box? maybe something funky going on with my routers...
Probably you need to re-enable the ADB debugging within the FireTV System > Developer Options.
Calibaan said:
Probably you need to re-enable the ADB debugging within the FireTV System > Developer Options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, but i already checked that. i even tried turning it off, restarting, turning it on, restarting again. still can't adb connect to my box.
Probably the IP changed. Had this one time that my router assigned another IP than the regulary IP to the AFTV.
again, thanks for trying. firetv has a static IP. it has not changed. my router shows that the firetv is connected with the IP it is supposed to have. everything on my firetv works. i can't ping the firetv from my computer but maybe that is normal. i never tried before when adb connect was working. i tried doing a port scan from computer using nmap but it doesn't see the firetv at all. i feel like i'm losing my mind.
---------- Post added at 11:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:37 AM ----------
well, i've got adb connect working again. i told firetv to forget the network then i re-added it. this time i didn't specify IP/subnet/etc. i let it get it all from DHCP. now adb connect works. weird.
WORK IN PROGRESS: UPDATING
STOP PRESS: FIRESTARTER 3.0 RELEASED. SANITY RESTORED.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/themes-apps/app-root-home-launcher-replacement-app-t3118135
Before sending your Fire TV/Stick back to Amazon in disgust, beware of its limitations, and try these tips.
Bottom line is it's going to be a solid step up from Fire TV 1. But right now, it has a few issues.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room: the angry reviews. Almost all the complaints are about the glitchy remote (we have a fix), battery cover (sometimes the customer isn't always right), audio issues (Amazon is patching, stay tuned). No question, it's got some bugs out of the gate, but Amazon has responded and hopefully all will be resolved shortly . Enjoy:
http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-DV83YW-Fire-TV/product-reviews/B00U3FPN4U/
Fire TV 2: hardware shortcomings by design that many regard as substandard.
If these are important, you might need to look elsewhere.
1. USB 2.0 not even USB 3.0. USB-C is the new standard appearing on phones and laptops.
2. Ethernet 10/100 not GB.
3. No optical port. Possible solution: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B010JQMHNW/?
4. HDMI 1.4, not HDMI 2.0, limited to 4K at 30fps.
Software bugs and annoyances, most probably due to OS 5, but yet to be confirmed.
Could be fixed either by Amazon or developers.
1. Audio limited to stereo other than for Amazon Prime. Quiet audio.
As promised, Amazon has released a patch (extremely quickly):
“By this coming Monday, October 12th, you will receive an automatic software update that enables Dolby Digital Plus for customers who have a Dolby Digital Plus system (including support for Netflix and Amazon Video). An update for older Dolby Digital systems (not Dolby Digital Plus) will be distributed on November 30th.” -Amazon
Update from AFTVNews:
One of the new device’s largest complaints, a lack of Dolby Digital surround sound support, which has been partially fixed already, stems from changes made to support Netflix. I’m told by my source at Amazon that Netflix gave the Fire TV engineering team a new version of their software at the last minute which required changes to the Fire TV’s software to work correctly. Those changes conflicted with Dolby Digital surround sound support. With not enough time to fix support for both, Amazon was faced with the decision to ship without Netflix or without Dolby Digital surround sound. They chose the latter which, in my opinion, was the right choice.
http://www.aftvnews.com/amazon-is-d...-internal-testing-pool-for-bug-fixing-effort/
2. Fire TV 2 WiFi Remote drops out, glitchy, lags, etc.
Do this when setting up if you're connecting via Ethernet: disconnect your LAN cable, connect to WiFi, reconnect your network cable.
And then do this anytime if your remote becomes laggy: disconnect Ethernet cable, reconnect Ethernet cable.
That should fix it. Really, it's usually that simple.
If not, there could be interference, you could try changing channels or frequency on your router or restrict the available protocols (just N or AC, for example). Let us know if you're still having problems.
3. Highly inconvenient to launch Kodi and other sideloaded apps.
Long story, somewhat shortened: The Fire OS only shows icons for apps obtained from Amazon's App Store. That, unfortunately, doesn't include Kodi, everyone's favourite media player, and about 99% of the reason the AFTV has a cult following. There have been two popular ways to get around Amazon's belligerence: by having Kodi launch as proxy of another app (usually Ikono TV) using Llama; or by employing Firestarter to bind it to the Home button.
Both can be loaded via ADFire.
Unfortunately, Llama no longer works (for this purpose) in OS5/AFTV2, so skip that route and install FireStarter:
ADBFire : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2786505
FireStarter http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/themes-apps/app-root-home-launcher-replacement-app-t3118135
Kodi: http://kodi.tv
I recommend mapping the Home Button single click to Kodi, and the Home button double-click to Amazon Home. Or if you'd prefer to use Firestarter as your home screen, then map it to the double-click. The added bonus to this setup is every time you're in Kodi and hit the Home button inadvertently, instead of losing your **** yet again, it'll just flash in and out of the app and then pause whatever you're watching.
Here's a guide on sideloading to the Fire. Again, I strongly recommend ADBFire:
http://www.aftvnews.com/sideload/
If you have an Android tablet or phone, there are several apps that can push apps across to the Fire, such as Apps2Fire. That way you can download your apps direct from the official Google Play Store. Don't forget they won't automatically update. You'll need to push those updates across as well.
4. Can't connect via ADB to sideload using ADBFire etc since using FireStarter
First up: make sure you have ADB enabled. Settings>System>Developer Options> Both ADB Debugging and Apps from Unknown Sources need to be On.
FireStarter has two methods of intercepting Home button presses: one using ADB, and one not using ADB. The issue that's arisen since the introduction of Fire OS 5 is that the operating system no longer permits parallel ADB connections, so if FireStarter is using it to intercept Home button presses, you won't be able to connect to the Fire TV using ADB, and thus you won't be able to sideload apps and files using ADBFire.
We now have two options:
Option 1 (Firestarter won't use ADB): Open FireStarter, under Settings, uncheck "Home Detection via ADB."
Advantage: You only need ADB enabled to connect with ADBFire. No need to touch FireStarter.
Disadvantage: Only detects your customized Home button choices within the Fire TV's home screen, and not within apps. Pressing Home within Kodi, for example, will return you to the Home screen. Pressing it again will send you back to Kodi (or whatever action you've chosen. A potential advantage is this now gives you three variants of the Home button: a single and double-click from the Home screen; and the traditional Fire TV Home shortcut from within any app.
Option 2: (FireStarter uses ADB): Open FireStarter, check "Home Detection via ADB"
Advantage: FireStarter will now obey your Home button choices (single and double-click) from anywhere.
Disadvantage: You will either need to kill FireStarter (see below) or temporarily revert to Option 1 in order to do your ADB stuff. Note: there's now a handy shortcut direct to the ADB Debugging toggle within FireStarter.
Tip: If you go with Option 2, you can quickly kill FireStarter's grip on ADB by going: Settings>Manage Applications>FireStarter and Force Stop. And then restarting FireStarter or the Device once you've finished your ADB business.
5. External storage limited to disks formatted in FAT32.
There's no reason why Amazon couldn't enable other formats, but there's little incentive to bother. Even Macs don't support NTFS out of the box. Either format your drives in FAT32 (and split larger files if necessary) or move them to a network share. Not hard to work around. Here's a tip:
http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-play...b-off-the-fire-tvs-fat32-usb-storage-in-kodi/
6. Difficult to remove battery cover?
No it's not. Slide it back then lift it up. Dead easy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3t1GOCzjzY&
7. Can't move Kodi to external storage.
http://www.aftvnews.com/some-apps-like-kodi-cannot-write-to-external-storage-yet-on-fire-os-5/
Upgrade to Jarvis (still in alpha but perfectly acceptable).
8. LED only glowing when it detects a remote button press
Either a bug or a new way of doing things. Either way, it's not ideal.
9. Can't Chromecast from Android device to Fire TV
Yes, you can cast from Youtube, but nothing else (that I can find). Blame Google for that:
http://www.aftvnews.com/google-has-chromecast-receiver-app-pulled-from-fire-tv-appstore/
You can, however, Airplay to it. Via Kodi is one method, that usually works, but can be flaky sometimes. There are a bunch of apps you can try. Some work better than others. I picked up this one when it was free, it works:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/x9F99-x65B9-x513F-AirReceiver/dp/B00L5HQRGS/
And for those of you with other Amazon devices, there's always Fling:
https://developer.amazon.com/public...g/docs/understanding-the-amazon-fling-service
How about Bluetooth controller frequently loses connection to the AFTV? Mine drops it's connection probably 2 or 3 times every hour.
sudman said:
How about Bluetooth controller frequently loses connection to the AFTV? Mine drops it's connection probably 2 or 3 times every hour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't the AFTV2 remote Wi-Fi?
I will be watching this thread closely. Thank you for posting.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Free mobile app
list additions
I would add to the list:
Issues with day 1 software update, (several resets, issues to get working)
Wifi remote constantly cuts on/off (taking out batteries seems like temp fix)
Stutters in apps like WatchESPN
Second the dropping of lama/kodi icon support
Despite better hardware, little change in actual performance (yet to be fully seen)
Claude Koch said:
Isn't the AFTV2 remote Wi-Fi?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was under the impression that it was BT same as the original but cant find a definitive answer eitherway. Eitherway the damn thing keeps discontecting!!!! Will be sending mine back if things dont improve fast.
sudman said:
I was under the impression that it was BT same as the original but cant find a definitive answer eitherway. Eitherway the damn thing keeps discontecting!!!! Will be sending mine back if things dont improve fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.aftvnews.com/list-of-all-fire-tv-and-fire-tv-stick-remote-and-game-controller-specs/
Claude Koch said:
About time we compiled a tally of what's broken, missing or just plain annoying on the new Fire TV, and what's (about to be) broken by the official release of OS 5 on the old Fire TV.
4. More to come.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this. I was criticized elsewhere for bringing up some shortcomings of 2. I am very interested in the gizmo you linked that breaks off the 5.1 via Optical and 2ch mini-jack from the HDMI stream. The product dates back to 2013 which makes me skeptical. I've bought a few of these that did not work. I have 4 port Monoprice HDMI switch that has the 5.1 and 2ch breakout. It disappoints as it is 5.1 OR 2ch, not both. The one's I have had tried similar to your post would pass sound to all six speakers but it was in reality Stereo which will fool some people. The clue for me is, does the blue Dolby light come on? A quick test for DD Plus handling is "House of Cards". If you get a blue light viewing that, it's good to go. It's been almost a year since I last fooled with them so maybe there is something that is NEW and works.
I am still looking for one that really works. The only thing I know that splits off 5.1, for real, is 1's Optical connector.
What's funny is that I pitched my Roku3 over the DD+ impasse. Now Roku4 is coming out and it HAS an optical connector.
I have an Echo/Alexa too and waiting to see how all that works out with my 1 if it does at all. I'm rooted so unless Rbox comes through, I'm out of luck. Right now my Echo is pretty much a party novelty but it can now control my Nest and Insteon devices. Just found the most useful feature is using it as a meat timer.
It's a shame 2 isn't all of 1 but better and more.
I had problems with the connection with my remote too.
Are you used ethernet at the first start to connect with your router? Never set up wifi connection?
Try this
1. disconnect fire tv from ethernet
2. connect fire tv to wifi
3. reconnect the remote to fire tv
4. connect fire tv to ethernet again
for me i think it works... I am not 100% sure because the connection lost was very rare before. but give it a try.. :laugh:
There are huge issues with the WiFi the gain on the 5GHz 802.11ac is terrible in addition to issues above. I sent two of them back. Returning all of them is the only way Amazon will fix this!
I hate to say it, but it's looking like a lemon.
Edit: things are looking much better today.
What is an "Accessory Port". On my 1 I use a little dongle called Flirc to allow my Logitech Harmony One unified remote to control it. Needed it to feed the "Menu" command to 1. I now have a Harmony Ultimate with Hub and just imported the same settings.
I wonder if 2's "Accessory port" will allow a Flirc dongle to support unified IR remotes. Also wonder if it is even necessary with the 2. The Ultimate remote is still totally IR but the Hub is WiFi allowing it to talk to some smart devices. Guess I could test but hate to fix something that ain't broke. That's the main reason I'm afraid of 2. See no benefit except for 4K and I don't have that. My 1 setup works pretty well.
What I want to do is ditch my $160/mo DirecTV bill and replace it with another DVR option. SBC (aka AT&T) ate them and nothing good will come from that. "Repeating" myself, the Tivo Bolt is intriguing. Would replace FireTV and DirecTV. On the other hand, my rooted 1 with Nova Launcher and a Logitech K400 KB is a pretty nice little big screen Android box.
Nothing is just right.
sudman said:
How about Bluetooth controller frequently loses connection to the AFTV? Mine drops it's connection probably 2 or 3 times every hour.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's an abomination. Seems like the wifi keeps dropping out.
Edit: fixed.
Claude Koch said:
It's an abomination. Seems like the wifi keeps dropping out.
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Click to collapse
But it's ON SALE. hurry while the supply lasts. Pulling 2 1/2 Stars. Not good.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U3FPN4U/?tag=aftvndeal-20
The Main Reason AFTV 2 Is Not For Me
Root and Nova Launcher
Claude Koch said:
It's an abomination. Seems like the wifi keeps dropping out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A page back i posted a method to fix that if you are used ethernet cable at the first start o AFTV2.
Try this
1. disconnect fire tv from ethernet
2. connect fire tv to wifi
3. reconnect the remote to fire tv
4. connect fire tv to ethernet again
For me no connection losts between remote control and AFTV2 after a couple of hours.
I know the Apple TV was looming, but I don't get why Amazon felt the need to rush this out so fast. There just really isn't a reason to refresh a video streaming device annually. I understand they wanted to beat Apple to 4K, but looks like it cost them this time. I am sure updates will make it better, but this box might be the dud when we look back and the history of these things. I just hope it doesn't flop so bad they stop future revisions.
MajorWinters said:
A page back i posted a method to fix that if you are used ethernet cable at the first start o AFTV2.
Try this
1. disconnect fire tv from ethernet
2. connect fire tv to wifi
3. reconnect the remote to fire tv
4. connect fire tv to ethernet again
For me no connection losts between remote control and AFTV2 after a couple of hours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip. I'm going to let it be for a couple of days, then try your fix. Otherwise, I won't know it it helped.
Been trying to get it to detect the bluetooth remote from my other Fire TV but not having any luck.
EDIT: Great tip, seems to have done the trick! Added to list.
I sent mine back. I can't believe that the newer Fire TV performs much worse than my 1st Gen Fire TV. Here is what I find annoying.
Remote cover is very hard to open. Broke my nail and it took me nearly a half hour to get it open. Once it is open it is much easier after.
Remote freezes and stops responding. Have to take out batteries and put them back in. At first I though the unit froze but my BT keyboard works fine. Had to use that quite often.
Netflix no 5.1 surround sound. Also it takes much longer to get up to 1080p. On my old Fire TV 1080p instantly and if not just restart the stream. On the 2nd gen Fire TV mud quality sub 480p which can take up to 40 seconds or longer to get to 1080p unless I fast forward and rewind the stream but then it ends up ruining what I am watching when there are spoilers in the beginning of the program.
Other third party apps actually run worse. They stutter and skip frames like trying to watch a HD video on a Celeron PC from 2008.
The external storage option is a joke. First thing is they should have included more than 8gb of internal storage because the external microSD is useless. I moved all the apps and games I can to the external storage however most apps and some games still store at least half the data on internal storage so even then I was already running low on space while my 64gb microSD barely used any space.
Box runs much warmer than before and I have it on a cooling pad.
To me the picture quality seems worse. I don't have a 4k TV just 1080p but the picture is much darker and reds look more pixelated.
That is what I can think of off the bat but in the end I ended up sending it back like many others and I see a recall soon from Amazon. They should have never released this thing as the 1st Gen Fire TV was pretty much perfect. Yes it had issues when it first came out mainly the once outdated Netflix app and having to occasionally clear the Amazon video data app when it would not play but otherwise it performed much better than this new thing does.
It's looking like under OS5, external storage is sandboxed as read-only to Kodi. The same seems true of Android TV (Nvidia Shield), so I suppose it's a Lollipop security issue. If I'm right, this means no moving Kodi data/thumbnails to external storage and using the /sdcard/xbmc_env.properties to redirect. Can anyone confirm/disprove this?
I got in on the $50 NP deals a little bit ago. It's been a neat little device aside from a couple issues. First, nothing can cast to it. Various phones, tablets try to connect then give up with a "Unable to connect to device" error. I have Chromecasts and they work flawlessly. I have done a factory reset or two without any improvement. Another oddity is that from my desktop computers, most of the time the device doesn't even get listed from the Chromecast icon (No cast devices found). One exception seems to be Youtube. There it shows the device, but still never sends anything to the Player.
The other issue I've had is that Netflix plays 1-5 seconds of a show before popping up it's aip-703. Netflix's web site gives a few suggestions, remove and readd account and the like, but that hasn't helped.
The only other thing I can think of is that the upgrade to Marshmallow might magically fix things, but I'm not holding out much hope. Any other suggestions?
I bet the casting problems you're getting are due to the NP's dodgy wi-fi connectivity. It's got compatibility issues with loads of different routers. I for example have a dual band router and since I moved the NP over to the router's 2.4GHz band, I have been able to cast without issues. And this sucks since I prefer it to connect to the 5GHz band for throughput and interference reasons. If you get any chance to try this with a different router you'll most likely see that those issues go away...
I was wondering that too, so I picked up an OTG cable and connected my Wii's ethernet adapter. Devices still aren't able to connect to the NP's casting receiver. So much for that...
In dealing with the Netflix thing, I decided to give their support a try. Surprisingly, they were very easy to deal with as far as tech support phone lines are. We tried a few things, but weren't able to settle on anything more than maybe it's the ISP's fault (Comcast). One interesting thing was they were able to pull up a demo movie that displays the current bitrate that you're getting. It was only pulling 1700kbps before getting the error. At other devices I get a similar rate, up to 3000kbps. I don't see how if Comcast were throttling Netflix connections, it should fail on any device rather than just this one (phones, tablets, computers, Chromecast, GoogleTV work just fine).
I've been able to cast on both NP I have without an issue. They were both running 5.1.1 and connected through 5Ghz wifi. I updated one to 6.0 and now I have the high brightness issue.
Both the casting and Netflix app got updated yesterday. Hopefully that will fix your problems
Casting no longer powers on TV via HDMI
Has anyone else experienced that casting no longer wakes up a powered-off TV?
Since I got my NP, starting to cast (with the TV off) would power on the TV and set it to the correct input (via HDMI commands sent from the Nexus Player). But, since yesterday (6.0 upgrade and new Cast Receiver - not sure which is to blame) this no longer happens. Is this now a configurable setting somewhere? I do observe that I can still use my TV remote's d-pad to control the Nexus Player, so believe HDMI-CEC is still active and configured correctly on the TV.
I loved this feature (prevented me from needing my TV remote!) and sad that it's now broken.
I received the Fire TV 3 yesterday and though I'd share a few observations about the gadget.
1. I'm in a rural area and internet here is 'almost' not existent at home. We do have an account and receive about 2-3 Mbs speed. I offer this as the Fire TV 3 works only by wi-fi and has no ethernet plug-in. Even with my low speed, I could run the Fire TV 3 alright, but of course streaming is strained. We hope to have the internet speed issue resolved in a month or so.
2. No SD port. Had about 4.89 Gigs free of 5.34, or so before putting my apps on. Currently 3.53 still avail.
3. You can use the Android app, "Apps to FireTV" which works just fine. In fact for me the transfers/installs are much quicker than on my Fire TV 2. When using the app for 'installing', the app does say at the end that the transferred file was successfully uploaded to the Fire TV 3, but the install 'failed', even though every app did end up installing just fine, it just took a few seconds longer than the app transfer allowed for with the notice.
4. AppStarter works just fine for me.
5. Cetusplay and MouseToggle 1.06, 1.07, 1.08 (most recent version) do not work for me. Cetusplay loses the mouse cursor near the buttons I need to activate, and with MouseToggle, the mouse size/resolution has changed so the mouse is much smaller and does not activate what it rests over. At this point in time, both useless. I suspect that the background screen resolution of Fire TV 3 has changed and that may be the reason the Mouse Toggle may be smaller and 'off'.
6. Other apps installed, YouTube, Netflix, PIA, etc work just fine. Netflix HDR movies do view in HDR and I get the HDR 'notice' on my LG OLED tv screen.
7. I wish I could find a good internet browser that would work with the Fire TV 3 remote, and a mouse toggle that works with this new Fire TV 3 OS, and web browsers, as well.
8. SET TV works, but as the download speed is slow, I do get lagging. SET TV is about $20 a month subscription for 3 or 4 devices, 300+ channels, movie channels, CNN, HBO, et al. Very worth the monthly fee. Can't wait to have a reasonable internet connection speed soon... so I hope.
The Fire TV 3 is about as quick as the Fire TV 2 in terms of screen and page freshening. I did mention that Apps to Fire TV installs and uploads seem much quicker. The Fire TV 3, as you know, is much smaller and lighter, and hangs off the HDMI port on the TV. Velcro will work for that. Other than the new HDR output option, I can not say I am 'excited' about the Fire TV 3 yet, and whether to keep it or put my Fire TV 2 back up and wait for a Fire TV 3+, which has ethernet and an SD port.
That's about what I've come up with so far.
JeffDC said:
I received the Fire TV 3 yesterday and though I'd share a few observations about the gadget.
1. I'm in a rural area and internet here is 'almost' not existent at home. We do have an account and receive about 2-3 Mbs speed. I offer this as the Fire TV 3 works only by wi-fi and has no ethernet plug-in. Even with my low speed, I could run the Fire TV 3 alright, but of course streaming is strained. We hope to have the internet speed issue resolved in a month or so.
2. No SD port. Had about 4.89 Gigs free of 5.34, or so before putting my apps on. Currently 3.53 still avail.
3. You can use the Android app, "Apps to FireTV" which works just fine. In fact for me the transfers/installs are much quicker than on my Fire TV 2. When using the app for 'installing', the app does say at the end that the transferred file was successfully uploaded to the Fire TV 3, but the install 'failed', even though every app did end up installing just fine, it just took a few seconds longer than the app transfer allowed for with the notice.
4. AppStarter works just fine for me.
5. Cetusplay and MouseToggle 1.06, 1.07, 1.08 (most recent version) do not work for me. Cetusplay loses the mouse cursor near the buttons I need to activate, and with MouseToggle, the mouse size/resolution has changed so the mouse is much smaller and does not activate what it rests over. At this point in time, both useless. I suspect that the background screen resolution of Fire TV 3 has changed and that may be the reason the Mouse Toggle may be smaller and 'off'.
6. Other apps installed, YouTube, Netflix, PIA, etc work just fine. Netflix HDR movies do view in HDR and I get the HDR 'notice' on my LG OLED tv screen.
7. I wish I could find a good internet browser that would work with the Fire TV 3 remote, and a mouse toggle that works with this new Fire TV 3 OS, and web browsers, as well.
8. SET TV works, but as the download speed is slow, I do get lagging. SET TV is about $20 a month subscription for 3 or 4 devices, 300+ channels, movie channels, CNN, HBO, et al. Very worth the monthly fee. Can't wait to have a reasonable internet connection speed soon... so I hope.
The Fire TV 3 is about as quick as the Fire TV 2 in terms of screen and page freshening. I did mention that Apps to Fire TV installs and uploads seem much quicker. The Fire TV 3, as you know, is much smaller and lighter, and hangs off the HDMI port on the TV. Velcro will work for that. Other than the new HDR output option, I can not say I am 'excited' about the Fire TV 3 yet, and whether to keep it or put my Fire TV 2 back up and wait for a Fire TV 3+, which has ethernet and an SD port.
That's about what I've come up with so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats a crisp and neat review. I am from India and i was confused bw fire tv2 and 3. My requirement is to install some games on fire tv and play it. Ex i want to know if i can install asphalt8, real racing 3, modren combat games on it.
Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk
There is indeed an ethernet adapter made for this device sold directly by Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B074...g_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=DNC38R95V66GWW829SZN
I suppose you could also use OTG ethernet since it supports OTG
I also just got my FireTV3 2 days ago. So far it's been freezing up more often than my FireTV2. I'm not sure if it's because of the WiFi connection (tried both 2.4 & 5Ghz), but I was able to stream a 4K movie (Spectre) for 2 hours without any hiccups last night. I'm on FiOS 75/75 internet and my router is 15ft away.
I did order the Ethernet Adapter but haven't tried it yet. I wanted to see if WiFi would be good enough. I have my FireTV2 setup in my living-room on a wired LAN connection. This new FireTV3 is in my bedroom replacing my Gen1 FireTV stick. I might go ahead and connect the wired LAN this weekend if I find some free time.
The biggest hiccup I've come across was the Apps & Games section wouldn't load. I found a fix online = clear the cache for the Amazon App Store app.
Just like OP, Mouse Toggle app doesn't work at all with FireTV3. I've loaded it 3 times through Apps2Fire and through the new in app interface. It's just stuck on 'starting'.
PIA works just fine, but it's really stretched out. Unlike on my FireTV2 it shows up with black bars on the side.
Is there a big OS difference between FTV2 ad FTV3?
JUSTINMARMER said:
There is indeed an ethernet adapter made for this device sold directly by Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B074...g_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=DNC38R95V66GWW829SZN
I suppose you could also use OTG ethernet since it supports OTG
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Justin, thanks for that info. I will likely get one as I don't think Amazon is going to put out a Fire TV 3+ anytime soon!
FlipMarc said:
Just like OP, Mouse Toggle app doesn't work at all with FireTV3. I've loaded it 3 times through Apps2Fire and through the new in app interface. It's just stuck on 'starting'.
PIA works just fine, but it's really stretched out. Unlike on my FireTV2 it shows up with black bars on the side.
Is there a big OS difference between FTV2 ad FTV3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Re: Mouse Toggle, after the install and setup, mine also said ... starting. I then went into System Setup, Developer Options and turned adb off and waited a few seconds, and then back on. Then I rebooted and the Mouse Toggle would come up with the double press of the play/pause button. It's resolution and hotspot are off enough on many screens/apps, that it's about useless for me.
For example, I can run the mouse down to the bottom of the screen, which would normally scroll down with a real mouse, or down press on the button, and the mouse disappears...
but is actually located on the page, still... but over some item you can not see/get to. It will select the app or place you can't see, so it's a toss up what you are activating at that point.
My PIA redresses itself upon loading and works as on my FireTV2, lower resolution, but it does work.
I'm not sure of the differences with the change of OS, other than HDR and I suspect static screen resolution, as Mouse Toggle is off, and Cetusplay, as well.
XDA Labs app works pretty good, as long as you have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse connected.
Sent from my needle using XDA Labs
---------- Post added at 12:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 AM ----------
and it looks like the codename for Fire TV 3 is needle.
Sent from my needle using XDA Labs
JeffDC said:
Re: Mouse Toggle, after the install and setup, mine also said ... starting. I then went into System Setup, Developer Options and turned adb off and waited a few seconds, and then back on. Then I rebooted and the Mouse Toggle would come up with the double press of the play/pause button. It's resolution and hotspot are off enough on many screens/apps, that it's about useless for me.
For example, I can run the mouse down to the bottom of the screen, which would normally scroll down with a real mouse, or down press on the button, and the mouse disappears...
but is actually located on the page, still... but over some item you can not see/get to. It will select the app or place you can't see, so it's a toss up what you are activating at that point.
My PIA redresses itself upon loading and works as on my FireTV2, lower resolution, but it does work.
I'm not sure of the differences with the change of OS, other than HDR and I suspect static screen resolution, as Mouse Toggle is off, and Cetusplay, as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Press the fast forward button for scrolling down. Press the button with 3 lines to scroll up
sd_shadow said:
XDA Labs app works pretty good, as long as you have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse connected.
Sent from my needle using XDA Labs
---------- Post added at 12:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 AM ----------
and it looks like the codename for Fire TV 3 is needle.
Sent from my needle using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought Needle was the new stick and the box was Stark.
---------- Post added at 09:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:10 AM ----------
JUSTINMARMER said:
There is indeed an ethernet adapter made for this device sold directly by Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B074...g_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=DNC38R95V66GWW829SZN
I suppose you could also use OTG ethernet since it supports OTG
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got my new FTV3 box and it remains in the box. It does support OTG per AFTNews.
http://www.aftvnews.com/amazon-fire-tv-3-supports-usb-peripherals-via-otg-cable-including-usb-drives-keyboards-mice-flirc-ethernet-hubs-etc/
They have some suggestions. I ordered a powered OTG cable and an USB A Ethernet dongle. I will be sending the AFTV Ethernet adapter back. With the OTG I will be able to plug in my existing powered USB hub that supports my Flirc, USB stick, KB dongle, and cheaper USB Ethernet dongle. I use a HDMI switching AV receiver so I am not happy with no HDMI input. I will get around that with an HDMI coupler.
That is if I get 3 out of the box. All the hoops to jump through is a downer. Reading that this thing will flood your screen with marketing crap makes me more leery. I may send it back and get a Shield. The only plus I see is the price. I got the Dot for $10 more offer. I can try it and junk it if it is annoying.
schneid said:
I thought Needle was the new stick and the box was Stark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The new Fire TV "pendent" (aka/codename Needle) is officially being called the 3rd generation Fire TV. Codename Stark is an unreleased Fire TV "cube" that I leaked last month. No idea what Amazon will end up officially calling that device.
schneid said:
. Reading that this thing will flood your screen with marketing crap makes me more leery. I may send it back and get a Shield. The only plus I see is the price. I got the Dot for $10 more offer. I can try it and junk it if it is annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is one banner you can easily disable.
sd_shadow said:
XDA Labs app works pretty good, as long as you have a bluetooth keyboard and mouse connected.
Sent from my needle using XDA Labs
---------- Post added at 12:24 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 AM ----------
and it looks like the codename for Fire TV 3 is needle.
Sent from my needle using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll have to look that app up. Not familiar with it.
JUSTINMARMER said:
Press the fast forward button for scrolling down. Press the button with 3 lines to scroll up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that!
Could someone from uk with FTV3 pull itv hub, my5 and all4 for me please? hoping they were updated for later versions of android
As I haven't found anything yet, I know its brand new, this 3rd Gen FTV is my first, I assume someone is working on root access, or do older routes work, if anyone knows. TIA.
Well, I packed up my Fire TV 3 today and have a pickup/return to Amazon scheduled for tomorrow.
Overall the Fire TV 3 worked ok. It was quick 'enough', etc, but after gaging against Fire TV 2, other than HDR, I don't feel there were benefits sufficient to change from the Fire TV 2. Given our poor internet here, just getting by with 1-3 Mbs, currently, I need the ethernet. I also did not like the SD slot being removed from the Fire TV 3.
Overall, other than the HDR addition, the Fire TV 3 seems a step down from the Fire TV 2. It is a little slower than the Fire TV 2 in testing, but not notably by 'experience' of daily use.
I have an Nvidia Shield coming this week, and will see how that compares.
Ronin3178 said:
As I haven't found anything yet, I know its brand new, this 3rd Gen FTV is my first, I assume someone is working on root access, or do older routes work, if anyone knows. TIA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far I've have not seen any for this device.
JUSTINMARMER said:
There is one banner you can easily disable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How? There's a whole thread on it in this forum and the conclusion is the banner can't be disabled on the FTV1/2 with current software. Is the FTV3 software different in that?
I'm back to my Fire TV 3, after having the Nvidia Shield Pro for about a week. The first one arrived, started updating, got to about 15% download, went black, and could not be hard reset. Returned.
Got a replacement Shield and have been messing about with that for the last 4-5 days, along with hours with Amazon support and Nvidia support. In the end it turns out that the Shield can not do Dolby or HDR in some standard format, so Netflix 4K HDR & Dolby out. That's how I get the ending, at any rate. Remote is abysmal. That Shield is going back.
Now back to the Fire TV 3. Simply, easy to use, and the remote is effective, over all.
rodalpho said:
How? There's a whole thread on it in this forum and the conclusion is the banner can't be disabled on the FTV1/2 with current software. Is the FTV3 software different in that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think there is much, if any, info on the Fire TV 3. I sure haven't seen any.