Related
Anything in the TV Guide realm that works on the Rhodium?
I have TV Guide Mobile made by Handmark but the interface is not finger friendly and the channel listing isn't exactly up to date. For example, not too long ago Comcast in the Bay area added Setanta Sports to their lineup, channel 300, but I cannot find that in the listing.
I can circumvent that by selecting DirecTV as the provider, but another limitation is that the app has realtime data downloads rather than a daily updated guide.
devis said:
Anything in the TV Guide realm that works on the Rhodium?
I have TV Guide Mobile made by Handmark but the interface is not finger friendly and the channel listing isn't exactly up to date. For example, not too long ago Comcast in the Bay area added Setanta Sports to their lineup, channel 300, but I cannot find that in the listing.
I can circumvent that by selecting DirecTV as the provider, but another limitation is that the app has realtime data downloads rather than a daily updated guide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too would love this! I don't even care if it uses realtime data, although daily update would be better.
TV Guide Mobile is no longer available for download.
Here it is...
the initial setup screens are a little screwed up mostly due to the different resolution. But you'll figure it out. Everything is changeable in the setup menu later anyway.
But you'll see that the realtime data is a bit of a pain, not to mention really not finger friendly. The nice thing is that it works on regular and panoramic screen formats.
There is always Zap2It for US listings.
I use a Program called Sage TV at home for a whole house A/V distribution system and it has a webserver plugin that I can get my guide data from. It even allows me to schedule recordings to watch when I get home and when I used to record in MPEG2 SD I could even stream recordings and live tv from my house to my WinMo phone over 3G. Unfortunately I am now recording everything in H.264 and usually HD so it won't squeeze thru my limited upload bandwidth.
S
devis said:
Here it is...
the initial setup screens are a little screwed up mostly due to the different resolution. But you'll figure it out. Everything is changeable in the setup menu later anyway.
But you'll see that the realtime data is a bit of a pain, not to mention really not finger friendly. The nice thing is that it works on regular and panoramic screen formats.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!! Does it have digital channels? The one I had previously did not, which is why I stopped using it.
it seems to me that this is another one of thoes north american programs that dont work any where else...
...confirm my suspicions...!
Hi all,
I am new to this forum and if I have posted anything wrong or annoyed anyone, please let me know nicely.
Background:
I am very new to andriod (have not used it before) and I am very interested in learning to use it very well (including rooting it). I can write some programming language but I am not familiar with java or anything as fundamental at all, but I am sure I can learn it.
At the moment, I am planning to buy a nexus 7 to build up my android experience simply because it is not expensive and it should run the latest available Andriod being a google device.
Question:
At the moment, I am studying for a professional qualification (with BPP), and their online VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) is extremely annoying on browser, what is even more annoying is that they have "security" to the online streaming lectures, I cannot download them (even with softwares) nor stream them on tablets.
I was wondering if streaming these videos would be possible on a (moded) android? - I have put as much details of the type of streaming below
Dilemma:
Another totally off topic question is regarding nexus 7 2. Should I wait? I was thinking of just buying a 2nd hand or refurbed nexus 7 first and then cut the loses and buy the 7 2 when it comes out. Opinions on this would also be appreciated!
Reference:
Details regarding the videos - this is from their FAQ regarding the videos:
If you still cannot launch the online lectures please run the three diagnostic tests linked to below. Allow each test to complete and then take a screen shot of each result screen. Paste each screen shot into a single document and upload the document with the screenshots when you submit your issue to us using our Contact Form. Some of the tests may take a minute or so to run. Please wait until either 'Test Completed' appears or the flowplayer spinning circle is replaced with an image.
Check your bandwidth using the bandwidth speed test
We use a high compression ratio to make the size of our online lecture files as small as possible. However, to prevent poor quality there is a limit we can go to. This means that anyone launching one will need a minimum download speed of 512kbps. If you have less, then you may not get smooth playback. Carry out a bandwidth speed test to check what your download speed is.
Check you have streaming access using the protocol test
We use RTMPE and RTMPTE protocols to securely stream video to your browser. RTMPE is tried first. If this fails then we try to use RTMPTE. One of these protocol types needs to be enabled. This may be the reason why you can't see anything load. To test for these two protocols please run the protocol test.
The last test is the port test
The ports used for streaming are ports 80, 1935 (TCP) and your default port (normally set to 443). If they are not open for the streaming servers we use then you won't be able to see the lectures. To test the ports please run the port test.
If you need more info please ask - I am very keen to get this working, as I will need it for the next 3 months...
Thank you all very much in advance
So this is a very poorly disguised question about "How do I download a stream" which has absolutely nothing to do with the Nexus 7.
I suggest you contact the folks who administrate the streams to see if there are other alternatives.
khaytsus said:
So this is a very poorly disguised question about "How do I download a stream" which has absolutely nothing to do with the Nexus 7.
I suggest you contact the folks who administrate the streams to see if there are other alternatives.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, khaytsus. Thanks for your advice, they say "it can be viewed via streaming and on a computer only" and thats it.
I was just wondering if anyone would have any ideas around it. I'll try edit my thread and move it to a more appropriate place..
j1ra said:
Hi all,
I am new to this forum and if I have posted anything wrong or annoyed anyone, please let me know nicely.
Background:
I am very new to andriod (have not used it before) and I am very interested in learning to use it very well (including rooting it). I can write some programming language but I am not familiar with java or anything as fundamental at all, but I am sure I can learn it.
At the moment, I am planning to buy a nexus 7 to build up my android experience simply because it is not expensive and it should run the latest available Andriod being a google device.
Question:
At the moment, I am studying for a professional qualification (with BPP), and their online VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) is extremely annoying on browser, what is even more annoying is that they have "security" to the online streaming lectures, I cannot download them (even with softwares) nor stream them on tablets.
I was wondering if streaming these videos would be possible on a (moded) android? - I have put as much details of the type of streaming below
Dilemma:
Another totally off topic question is regarding nexus 7 2. Should I wait? I was thinking of just buying a 2nd hand or refurbed nexus 7 first and then cut the loses and buy the 7 2 when it comes out. Opinions on this would also be appreciated!
Reference:
Details regarding the videos - this is from their FAQ regarding the videos:
If you still cannot launch the online lectures please run the three diagnostic tests linked to below. Allow each test to complete and then take a screen shot of each result screen. Paste each screen shot into a single document and upload the document with the screenshots when you submit your issue to us using our Contact Form. Some of the tests may take a minute or so to run. Please wait until either 'Test Completed' appears or the flowplayer spinning circle is replaced with an image.
Check your bandwidth using the bandwidth speed test
We use a high compression ratio to make the size of our online lecture files as small as possible. However, to prevent poor quality there is a limit we can go to. This means that anyone launching one will need a minimum download speed of 512kbps. If you have less, then you may not get smooth playback. Carry out a bandwidth speed test to check what your download speed is.
Check you have streaming access using the protocol test
We use RTMPE and RTMPTE protocols to securely stream video to your browser. RTMPE is tried first. If this fails then we try to use RTMPTE. One of these protocol types needs to be enabled. This may be the reason why you can't see anything load. To test for these two protocols please run the protocol test.
The last test is the port test
The ports used for streaming are ports 80, 1935 (TCP) and your default port (normally set to 443). If they are not open for the streaming servers we use then you won't be able to see the lectures. To test the ports please run the port test.
If you need more info please ask - I am very keen to get this working, as I will need it for the next 3 months...
Thank you all very much in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In situations like this, I find it easier to just use something like splashtop and connect to your computer.
With my AFTV2 currently broken down about one day after I set it up - I mentally went through some of the steps I'm likely to repeat very soon and - also seeing that some people in here still are struggling with some aspects of it, that I already learned long ago how to cope with - I thought I share some of my reflections.
This is by the way not meant to be a usability review - or tips guide of Amazons own interface - which I find abysmal for the most part. Let them struggle on their own - and also, for some reason there already are in depth "reviews" of it on aftvnews (which I came to slowly accept and even somewhat like.. ) - which mostly highlight aspects of it deemed positive. Bravo and lull Amazon into false confidence I say...
So here we go.
1. Best launcher (rooted or not) still is Firestarter. Basically because of its deep integration to app settings - which allows you to stop apps, delete their data or uninstall them in the fastest way possible. You'll need it more often than you think and its great that its there.
Change icon PPI to 144 and for your own sake - change the background to something more uplifting and also enable the text background bubbles so you get a higher text contrast, regardless of the BG image you chose.
2. Fire OS v5 and its limitation to one adb connection only isnt the enormous setback I thought it would be. Firestarter literally changes its default automatically within the first 3 seconds of it not being able to access adb - and the one click>double click combo to launch it from anywhere is good enough. Also in OS 5 there are no screen transitions, so switching to Firestarter feels more "instant".
Not having Firestarter use adb frees up you using adb from different devices. Once you are connected via adb from a PC f.e. you can also open different shells, or transfer a file and simultaneously perform another action in the shell - so thats a non issue. Also I rewrote all the scripts I use to cleanly exit adb with adb disconnect - and ultimately that works fine.
Through the two days of setting the Fire TV up and testing use cases I got a "cant connect via adb" error (because there already was another process using it) only twice - which in return can be promptly fixed by toggling adb on and off - and again - Firestarter provides a shortcut to that menu as well - so its fast, and if you use adb disconnect as intended, you dont need it very often.
3. Drop adbFire or equivalent "Helper Tools" as fast as possible - because they prevent you from learning even the simplest command line instruction, that will speed up your life in the long term. Seriously - just do it.
Also, explore the file structure of Kodi and the Fire TV (as in "look at it", try to make sense of it - not as in "I wander what happens if I delete this..."), so you can actually learn how they work. This again brings me back to the do not use adbFire or other "prepackaged" (and poorly laid out and documented) tools.
4. If you transfer single files - and most of them you usually want to drop to /sdcard/ first, you use the adb push command, because it simply turns out to be the fastest way to move stuff - at least if your OS allows you to drop a file onto the command line window to autopopulate the filepath.
If you want to transfer files and folders not directly located in /sdcard/ - either use something more GUI orientated - like AAFM ( https://github.com/sole/aafm ) (Windows cant use it to its fullest extent in its current state (on Windows you can use Total Commander (Windows Version - this time it will cost you something ) - which also has an adb plugin available) and or - zip the folder you want to transfer locally, then push it to /sdcard/ and then use Total Commander to unzip it into its desired location on the Fire TV.
Transferring .zip files wirelessly ultimately almost always turns out to be faster than transferring the individual files themselves. That also goes for zipping files on the AFTV using Total Commander, and then backing them up to a PC.
5. Use Total Commander. No seriously, download it from the Amazon App Store today. I know how popular ES File Explorer became from being the only free filemanager left, that was popular back in the day - but its approach to be iconographic to a fault and hiding away features in sub menus hurts its usability on any device where you try to perform actions with a remote. TC is simply better suited for the usecase.
TC also can write to the sdcard1 partition in Android 5 - either using root, or using a scripted workaround - so you generally dont have the "its not writable" issue. Also adb shell with su can write to it as well - so also use that if you need to.
You can also install Total Commanders LAN plugin ( http://www.ghisler.com/androidplugins/ ) and thereby access network shares.
6. There even is a usecase for the Amazon Voice button - because from Kodi - you can use it to launch Total Commander with just three button presses (say: "Total Commander") - which is faster than it was before - and you can also exit back to Kodi with only a few presses of the back button. Other than for this, the voice button of course is entirely useless - as we generally arent especially interested in how bad the Amazon Store is stocked (at least over here in europe... ).
7. Dont use the RC3 of Kodi 16 (Jarvis) right now. With Kodi 14.2 and 15.2 you can pause a video, drop back to Amazons launcher, then into Firestarter - then launch another app, then leave it and return to Kodi - with the video (usually - if you have enough free memory) still being in the paused state. In RC3 for Kodi 16, the video auto stops as soon as you switch away from Kodi - which in the long run causes much frustration and the need for additional button presses. Just remember to manually stop a video if you dont plan on returning to it anytime soon so Kodis bookmark your current position feature triggers.
8. If you want to install a Kodi repo - its much faster to download it as a .zip file and then adb push it to /sdcard/ where Kodi can find and install it - than to "start typing" anything in Kodi itself.
At some point - create a shell script for your pc that allows adb to connect to your Fire TVs IP address by just typing adb.sh (for example) - so you dont have to type in your Fire TVs ip address each time you want to connect to it.
9. If you dont already have a NAS -get an old router with an USB port that runs dd-wrt and has NTFS support (= all newer firmwares with at least 16mb package size should have it integrated - if you use ddwrt, even some with a 8mb package size). You get a very low power NAS that also can mirror as an FTP server (faster file transfers), and can become a torrent box in case you use that stuff. The negative only is - that with 4.5-6MB/s transferspeeds tops (WLAN, but actually limited by the individual routers CPU - they are low powered, remember) compressed 1080p is the most you can wish for - out of a 10-30 USD device. Preferably run it as a stand alone and not as your main router (reboots can be performed without bringing down your whole network, processor load, ...).
edit:
10. Kodi runs a little faster on the AFTV2 than on the Fire TV Sticks - which turns out to cut out just the right amounts of seconds on Kodi plugins with an "lets aggregate everything" approach.
You failed to mention what is "broken down" lol
You did quite abit of modding there so what "broke" it.
Playing a GPU intensive 3D game and then watching a video.
No, really.
The part you describe as "modding" went perfectly well - and what I describe above is mostly normal Android use for anyone not depending on "prefab click button to do thingy" stuff. Thats actually what I want this community to explore more - because at some point it literally becomes pointless - watching another in depth video analysis of Amazon taking out a row of items from their spreadsheet inspired Smart TV interface..
Amazon should have done more chip testing before they let their devices out of their factories. Or they should have done more testing regarding the 5.0.5 update. Slowly rolling out firmware updates in case you missed something important - is no substitute for proper testing...
All banter aside - the rooting process doesnt modify the kernel of the device, and on mine the GPU seems to have run into problems. From "working perfectly fine" to "full brick" (slightly different colors of black screens flashing, then settling on a full black screen) after playing a game and then watching a video.
AFTV - quality you can trust in.
Also - somehow its curious - when you buy a laptop these days - where you have root rights from the start, most complaining centers around stuff the manufacturer has messed up in producing the device and the software. But if you - as a manufacturer - take away the actual rights (permissions) from people - the discussion suddenly shifts to "OMG what have you done to the device".
But people usually dont get suddenly less educated or less cautious, once you take certain rights away from them - so the only explanation I have come up with is, that actually taking away permissions and property rights from people for some reason surfaces more voices that now very publicly campaign for this being a much more desirable state in the first place.
On a related note - If I had bricked my device during the rooting process, or while the TWRP custom recovery was installed - or by modifying system files (which now that TWRP runs on the Fire TV is easier to fix then ever), my first action would have been to give a full report of what happened (which I have actually done in a separate thread, in this case as well), so potential flaws or stumbling blocks in the rooting method could have been sussed out.
Mine has had 0 issues.. then again i rooted mine and have twrp, xposed, adaway, v4a, play store, firestarter, busybox, kodi, plex leanback youtube, debloated (removed most Amazecrap) etc.
Does more than I expected and then some.. even better than Nexus Player imo
Good - then we only agree that it isnt the rooting process.
And with TWRP you now have the means to entirely wipe and factory reset the device - so even if you for some reason had messed up the entire system partition (system files) - you still have a fallback, in fact a much better one than on a stock Fire TV, to "start over".
But that sadly doesnt fix hardware issues. Believe me, I tried. And documented it along the way. Look for it in another thread.
edit: Also this isnt me taking a jab at the device itself. I dont agree with Amazons product policies (= politics), but I was perfectly happy with my AFTV 2 as well. For as long as it worked..
In fact my fall back was to go back to the Fire TV Stick I had still laying around and I had the same functionality back (including all this "modding" you see in the OP ) within around 15 seconds (I missed the power socket in the wall twice... ).
harlekinrains said:
Good - then we only agree that it isnt the rooting process.
And with TWRP you now have the means to entirely wipe and factory reset the device - so even if you for some reason had messed up the entire system partition (system files) - you still have a fallback, in fact a much better one than on a stock Fire TV, to "start over".
But that sadly doesnt fix hardware issues. Believe me, I tried. And documented it along the way. Look for it in another thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea.. no device is perfect lol.. but the fact it has a gpu processor (when it works) is great! probably one of the cheaper 4k capable boxes available..
For the price, its a great option with root/recovery for what it does do and to achieve what its capable of.. theres bound to be a few bad devices and surely pushed to the max it can die
Sure.
Love the device. Dont love Amazons policies and product politics. Will use any chance to heckle them, that comes my way.
Thats me in a nutshell.
If you like the product, but dont like the company, their Store UI, their Store, the way they managed their store (app removals) in the past, the content thats in their store, their "underground" store program (that puts price pressure on devs)... thats not only possible - but also valid.
I dont think of Amazon as "a package deal".
When I criticize certain aspects of their infrastructure, I dont say that others are bad.
And I also dont proclaim that there is a high failure rate with Fire TV 2s on the 5.0.5 firmware. For me its just a nuisance and another chance to throw some banter..
But look - there is also something good, that came from it - I wrote an entire post about usability and how to best interact with the Fire TV on 5.0.5.
Because people just demanding updates (and root) - isnt enough..
yea.. i can write a banter on any device lol..
chromecast is great but cant say i like it..
the stick is worse..
nexus player is decent but also limited and if you install a full rom its essentially no longer a nexus player etc.
Deleted
Just one little additional tidbit -
Amazon still prevents the Fire TV 2 from using SD Cards formated with exFat. They literally write it out of their firmwares. Their Fire tablets of course support it - because, well its fun to play with your customer, and prevent usecases you see unfit for your current business model.
If you by any chance have purchased a 64GB Micro SD - Windows doesnt allow you to format it in Fat 32 - but this can be circumvented, by following this tutorial:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/sdxc_formatting.md
Of course the 4GB filesize limit still holds up.
edit: Also tested Kodi 15.2 by now - which shows the same pause state/app switching behavior as 14.2. I've edited the OP to reflect that.
harlekinrains said:
Just one little additional tidbit -
Amazon still prevents the Fire TV 2 from using SD Cards formated with exFat. They literally write it out of their firmwares. Their Fire tablets of course support it - because, well its fun to play with your customer, and prevent usecases you see unfit for your current business model.
If you by any chance have purchased a 64GB Micro SD - Windows doesnt allow you to format it in Fat 32 - but this can be circumvented, by following this tutorial:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/sdxc_formatting.md
Of course the 4GB filesize limit still holds up.
edit: Also tested Kodi 15.2 by now - which shows the same pause state/app switching behavior as 14.2. I've edited the OP to reflect that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kodi installs repos fine for me on 15.2.. of course i dont use the remote I use the fire tv app and then the keyboard so it doesnt take forever
It does on all versions.
Installing repos by downloading their .zip files first, then pushing them to /sdcard/ using -
adb push /path/to/zipfile.zip /sdcard/
is just faster - because you dont have to type something you see on one screen, letter by letter - into an app on another screen. You download the file, you open a command line window, type adb push , then drag/drop the downloaded file onto the command line window to get its filepath into it - then finish typing /sdcard/ and press enter. In Kodi you then just use the "install from zip file" option.
You dont switch devices, you dont switch keyboards, you dont have to look at two screens, you dont have to copy a url. But using a BT keyboard probably in the end isnt that much slower...
Its just good practice to not see the Fire TV (stick) as a device that has to be managed on its own. It is a always on, connected Android device. You can look at its contents, you can move files from and to it, you can give it instructions...
adb and adb shell
make it open enough.
Two more usability tips.
1. If you are rooted, sideload WiFi ADB ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ttxapps.wifiadb ) - its just a quicker way of disabling and reenabling ADB - when you cant connect (since 5.0.5 the Fire TV only allows one ADB connection at a time) from your PC.
I also tried to replace adbd (the adb daemon file on the FIre TV) - but so far have only found one from API level 21 (and Fire TV 5.0.5 needs 22 (as it is based on Android 5.1)) - that one didnt work at all. Even if replacing it with the exact API 22 version would work, this doesnt necessarily mean that the "one adb connection limit" is gone - but it is something I though would be worth giving a try.
2. If you have WiFi connection issues on a Fire TV 2 - especially with the Fire TV repeatedly failing to connect, It turns out that Amazons Wifi Implementation REALLY, REALLY wants you to have WMM enabled on your router. If you don't the connection tends to drop every day and the Fire TV then has problems to reconnect. With WMM enabled I now run three days without the slightest issue - and I also have changed WiFi networks within seconds, and not as previously - it taking about 10 minutes until thats successful. Before I came by this little quirk of the FIre TV , switching bands - even temporarily on 2.4 GHz would kickstart the Fire TV reconnecting to the same AP, just fyi.
Also when you are on the 5 GHz band, the Fire TV has a "drop off" if you are on any band higher than the first few (five or six), the Fire TV has problems even "seeing" the network. Also the last channel it still "sees" it has problems connecting to - so drop even one below that if you want it running on 5 GHz.
This quirk is more widely reported than the first one, but just as annoying.
Also just a big "really?!" into Amazons direction for messing up the Wifi implementation on the device this badly. I'm sure MediaTeks proprietary drivers play a part in this, as might the Fire TV 2 always running its own ad hoc WiFi network in the background - but still Amazon is selling that stuff.
I could test it with two different routers - on largely uncongested bands in both the 2.4 and 5 GHz space - and I have half a dozen other devices that never displayed any problems with the way I had my network set up in the past - but for the Fire TV 2 I had to reconfigure my routers just so it would stop dropping out - or start finding the respective network in the first place.
Hi Guys,
I managed to root my FireTV a few days back, and yesterday decided to look at the voice search to see if I could use it for other things.
After reversing some code, I found the actual voice search is handled by com.amazon.vizzini.apk
The SearchOverlay.class has this piece of code, which calls back to the amazon fireTV UI SearchResultsActivity upon completion with the search result returned as a string.
I replaced the fire TV UI with my own code, which receives the search text, and then sends a JSON rpc to KODI's web interface, and brings KODI to the front after the search is completed.
Here is a video of it in action.
http://youtu.be/hpgKci_gJYY
android studio project
http://uptobox.com/ccykod7zua1l
mirror
http://www107.zippyshare.com/v/mAhl3UuM/file.html
***** I have a FireTV v1 updated to fire os 5 ******
I have no idea if this will work on older versions of software.
To make it work you will require ROOT, and you will have to uninstall or move the existing fireTV amazon UI.
Reason for this is that the vizinni.apk calls back to
localIntent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.amazon.tv.launcher", "com.amazon.tv.launcher.ui.SearchResultsActivity"));
So your activity has to be in that package, and called SearchResultsActivity.
The only other way to possibly get round this would be to modify the vizinni.apk to call a different package instead, but then voice search wouldn't work on the amazon UI anyway. I wasn't really bothered about the amazon UI working myself which is why I did it the way I did.
I just moved the original system/priv-app/com.amazon.tv.launcher/com.amazon.tv.launcher.apk to /system then installed my code via android studio.
mount -o rw,remount /system
mv /system/priv-app/com.amazon.tv.launcher/com.amazon.tv.launcher.apk /system/
You will also need to change KODI's settings to enable web interface control on port 8080.
On my setup it was .. system.. services.. webserver.. and tick the box that says "Allow control of kodi via http" and make sure the port is set to 8080.
edit: 07/07/2016
I did start work a few months back on an Xposed module (works but not 100%), I was going to add a settings page but I think there was issues with xposed on android version that the fire tv runs on, due to permissions etc.
You can set a prefix in the code (currently hard coded to KODI) so if you say " kodi star wars" it would pass the param of "star wars" to kodi.
If you just say "star wars" without the prefix it would pass this to the normal amazon UI.
If anyone wants to take it further, it's attached on the link below.
http://uptobox.com/ensqll4a7r65
Mick
Thats actually pretty great.
Conventional wisdom was that both voice recognition and response "results packaging" was done server side - and the only return query you could get were preexisting amazon database references - not the result of the initial voice recognition.
I've actually read that multiple places - but as it turns out, no one had bothered reversing the process I guess.
Major props and thank god for overlays containing strings... Finally - that microphone might not be so useless after all..
Next step - implement it to interface with google search. (Weather in ...)
edit: Actually - there are three interesting usecases I can think of on top of my head...
1. Launch other Apps (maybe even with "fixed Keywords (App 1 f.e. would work edit: "Number 1" delivers better results. )" if App names arent known to Amazon) - so thats text>launcher app - see if sphinx02 has any interest in coding that as part of Firestarter..
2. google search (Whats the weather in.. ) text>google search app (if possible)
3. direct text input as seen in the POC video
edit 4. forward to Amazon - not to "break" their implementation
This could be realized by a quick 4 way select screen (just confirm with the direction button) after you select the string in the overlay.
great find and implementation. would love see more expansion as above post mentions. Are you planning to share fire tv UI code?
I was playing with voice search strings and found that Amazon tends to strip out "Google" in front of search queries -so instead of "Google how is the Weather tomorrow" only "How is the weather tomorrow" will get returned.
But - Alexa as a trigger word will be returned fine, so - I vote for using "Alexa" as a trigger word to forward all search queries to the google search app.
Ok - maybe not - but conceptually, this would be a great "work of art".
An even better idea than Harklekinrains' would be to check the foreground app and do different things based on that. For example, if Kodi is open it could send the intent to Kodi. If the Fire TV launcher is open it could fall back to default functionality, etc. Simulating keystrokes could also cover 99% of the other applications. I'm excited for this. It really makes the Fire TV so much less of a novelty.
I've just updated the original post with a copy of the android studio project, and a few more details.
Mick
Great mate,thanks! gonna check it out soon!
One question (as im not firm with intents and stuff): aint there a possibility to listen for intents sent to the amazon ui and catch them? Personally, i dont care too much about it right now as im using nothing but kodi, but maybe some day when wanting to use prime or similar stuff?
dafunkydan said:
Great mate,thanks! gonna check it out soon!
One question (as im not firm with intents and stuff): aint there a possibility to listen for intents sent to the amazon ui and catch them? Personally, i dont care too much about it right now as im using nothing but kodi, but maybe some day when wanting to use prime or similar stuff?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so as the actual code in the vinizzi apk is as follows:
Intent localIntent = new Intent();
localIntent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.amazon.tv.launcher", "com.amazon.tv.launcher.ui.SearchResultsActivity"));
localIntent.putExtra("identifier", null);
localIntent.addFlags(402653184);
localIntent.putExtra("term", str);
localIntent.putExtra("text", str);
localIntent.putExtra("source", "VOICE");
localContext.startActivity(localIntent);
So basically when it receives the voice search response from amazon's server, it's starting the activity com.amazon.tv.launcher.ui.SearchResultsActivity from package com.amazon.tv.launcher
Mick
Integrating the search attempt based on the previous foreground app would mean that "voice search" could never "initate a new attempt". This would prevent the "lets just ask google, or lets launch an app - impulse use" of the feature. Still - in the long term it might turn out to be the right approach - f.e. if
"People tend to use the the google search only lets say "half a dozen times", and in the majority of cases just want text input in Kodi" Also - without having a select screen with "four (dont make it too many) predefined "use options"" discoverability is pretty non existent. People would have to read readmes to find out which interactions are supported.
Also Amazon wants you to "be able to always reach the Amazon content search from anywhere" - so, political implications.
Also - each time a new app would want to integrate the voice to text feature - they would have to contact the devs of this project - if you dont use "just text input" as a default in the "use the previously open app as an indicator of intent" approach. So make sure you default to "just text input" in that case. (Amazon launcher > forward query to Amazon (do not break functionality), ....)
Dont implement it as a mixed approach though as "Kodi is open most of the time" probably for most people - and the intent (message) gets "confusing".
--
What you probably shouldnt do - regardless, is to use "trigger words" as an "indicator of intent" - because Amazon can start blocking them. "Number 1" is probably generic enough so they wont try to block that - but in principal, they can. Also Amazons "voice to text" engine is optimized for "short phrases" - the longer your input query gets the more prone to errors their results become. Leave the actual "voice input" as "natural" as possible (dont embed logic there). Imho.
I'm in the USA and uptobox.com is not available in our country.
I want to give the source a look and see what I can do to contribute.
Can you put it on github or somewhere else?
Much appreciated.
kratosjohn said:
I'm in the USA and uptobox.com is not available in our country.
I want to give the source a look and see what I can do to contribute.
Can you put it on github or somewhere else?
Much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've just uploaded it to zippyshare too. Link added to original post.
Mick
It would be nice if this could be generic way of entering text in any app, similar to the FTV Remote App that has keyboard support. I am surprised Amazon has not done this already. If you are in a text field voice search would fill in the text, else it can continue with normal Alexa functionality letting you " always reach the Amazon content search from anywhere". Should be an easy solution for Amazon to implement, not sure if it could be added with the progress here, and it would really make the voice control so much more useful.
Hey Mick, as im still very exited about that (so frustating to enter searchphrases with a dpad...), i thought about what your great find could develop to. I hope u dont get me wrong, as i unfortunatly cant contribute any programming (if u need something made with tasker let me know ), its not that i want to demand anything - rather share my thoughts or ideas...
- I think its a good thought not to 'blow it up' by adding many keywords, make it more complicated, and avoid amzn to lock features down. even if it may be an abstract fear. I think with a well-structured menu in kodi, all apps one will need to start are just 2-3 clicks away.
- if i got it right, xposed could hook into every module and alter it, right? so basically it should be possible to avoid to exchange the amazon ui and/or alter the vizinni.apk,but just modify the SearchOverlay.class? wouldnt it be (on top) the most convenient way to decide wether one is on e.g. Amazon Prime, or on kodi, and either hand over the result to the original module, or hand it over to kodi?
So, please understand my post as a mixture between sugestions and questions, not as a demanding 'please make it how i want it asap'. Im really excited about your finding, appreciate your sharing, and want to contribute what i can do - unfortunatly its rather thoughts and suggestions. Cheers mate!
Great Work !!! I totally understand this is for amazon Fire products only. My question is would we be able to port for generic Android TV box like nVidia Shield which also has mic capability and comes with root support.
Good job @is0-mick it's great to see you accomplish something that Netflix doesn't even want to be bother with on their app.
harlekinrains said:
No you dont understand. You havent even read or understood the first posting - but you have bought another device and now want others to move in your direction on your behalf.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously mate if XDA bothers you so much, you need to take a break from it for your own sanity!
fach1708 said:
Seriously mate if XDA bothers you so much, you need to take a break from it for your own sanity!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I really don't think he needs to take break, his argument is completely understandable. This is not a Shield forum (btw before we make judgements, I own both devices). We need to get this fixed for one device, before even mentioning whether other devices are an option.
is0-mick said:
To make it work you will require ROOT, and you will have to uninstall or move the existing fireTV amazon UI.
Reason for this is that the vizinni.apk calls back to
localIntent.setComponent(new ComponentName("com.amazon.tv.launcher", "com.amazon.tv.launcher.ui.SearchResultsActivity"));
So your activity has to be in that package, and called SearchResultsActivity.
The only other way to possibly get round this would be to modify the vizinni.apk to call a different package instead, but then voice search wouldn't work on the amazon UI anyway. I wasn't really bothered about the amazon UI working myself which is why I did it the way I did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it not usefull for this to create a xposed mod? I thought xposed was made for this...
Perhaps you should talk with rbox in his thread about a integration into version 1.5 of his mods, look here.
is0-mick said:
I just moved the original system/priv-app/com.amazon.tv.launcher/com.amazon.tv.launcher.apk to /system then installed my code via android studio.
mount -o rw,remount /system
mv /system/priv-app/com.amazon.tv.launcher/com.amazon.tv.launcher.apk /system/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So does that mean, while you are using your proof-of-concept you can not use the normal Launcher-UI?
Really great your work! I hope we got more
Sadly I am with my FireTV-Stick (hardware-Rooted-superSU) and my FireTV box gen1 (hardware-Rooted-superSU+custom-recovery+unlocked-bl)on the old FW. I wait for custom roms.
Greetings by Idijt
EDIT:
I forgot to ask you something. Did you got the kind of search-request back?
Can you see if amazon-voice-rgn knows if it is a app or a video or a moviestar?
This looks pretty cool since I don't like typing the name of the movie in the search box... now I can just speak it.
As a novice I have one question, You wrote:
is0-mick said:
I just moved the original system/priv-app/com.amazon.tv.launcher/com.amazon.tv.launcher.apk to /system
Mick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The code I downloaded was in .RAR format not .apk. Do I need to covert it to .apk or rename it to .apk before replacing the original?
I've not rooted my device yet so I haven't looked at the file structure, but I'd be willing to root to get this feature. OR is the adding of this code better done by someone other than a novice?
Thanks
carpenter940 said:
The code I downloaded was in .RAR format not .apk. Do I need to covert it to .apk or rename it to .apk before replacing the original?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the source code. You have to compile it and create the apk with AndroidStudio.
Firstly, apologise if in wrong thread - cant think where else to post this
I've been avoiding getting any 'Smart assistance' device as I personally couldn't see the point - I usually use mobile phone for reminders/notes/ shopping list etc
Anyway, this Xmas got one as a present (As mentioned in title - it's the Dot 5th Gen, the plain version with No built in clock/temp display)
Looking into what can ACTUALLY be done with these now that I have one & I'm beginning to like the idea of turning on/off stuff based on times/schedules etc
e.g When sunset switch on living room side lights / If rooms is too hot (The 5th Gen dot has a temperature sensor) then switch on a fan - you get the idea
So been looking at 'Smart plugs' / 'Extension leads' & (I think they're called 'WiFi inline switches' where you cut the cable & wire them inline) like a 'Sonoff'
Here's the problem
- there's so many to choose from & (based on Youtube videos) they all seem to require you to download an App to 'pair' the socket with phone, sign up an Account THEN you use Alexa App to pair with the downloaded app, so I'm getting confused over which is better/easier etc.
I don't what to be 'tied in' to a certain company, in case they go bust, discontinue products or change their policies (I've seen stories of companies changing their Free services to subscription after a time)
On subject of having to 'sign up for an account' - Why ??
What is the point of signing up for an account if (most probably) I would only be using the device(s) while in the house using my own Wifi - as in Phone/Dot sends a request through my Wifi to the attached socket directly
- it's not as though my on/off requests are being sent via my Wifi over the internet to the 3rd party servers, they then check my account & what devices I own, then send a signal BACK over the internet to my wifi to turn on/off device - Or DO THEY ??
(FYI I doubt I'll will EVER use devices remotely while out of the house anyway, I'm on a PAYG mobile plan that doesn't give 'Free Data' so doing this would cost me ££££ if I tried)
What is the benefit of 'Having an account' ?
Why do we NEED to have one ??
What's the benefit of having a 3rd party app doing the same thing the Alexa/Dot app can do ? - (other than needed to pair with socket)
So.......
[Q] Can anyone recommend suitable power plugs, Extension leads etc that easy to set up, preferably without having to have 'yet another app' installed & especially where the company doesn't require you to sign up an account.
I know Amazon do their own plugin sockets that Alexa app can see without additional pairing/3rd party app, but 1: more expensive, 2: seems bulkier than others I've seen & 3: they only do a plugin socket - they don't offer stuff like extension leads.
Are there any other devices that work the same way as Amazons own version that connect directly to the Alexa App ??
Any help appreciated & Thanks in advance