Amazon Fire TVs are slowly receiving the devices second software update since launch. This update takes your Fire TV to version 51.1.1.0_user_511069920. Amazon is releasing the update slowly, so it may be a few days before your Fire TV receives the update. The update can be downloaded here, but we haven’t yet found a way to manually apply the update. Read on for a full overview of what has changed with this new software version.
Rooting & Rooted Fire TVs
If your Fire TV is rooted or you plan to root, you’ll be happy to know that this software update does not block the current towelroot rooting method. You can safely install this update whether your Fire TV is rooted or not. Once installed, you will need to launch the towelroot app and press the “make it rain” button to re-root the Fire TV. All of your apps, including sideloaded apps, will remain on the Fire TV after updating.
Prime Video Section
Amazon has listened to our requests and has made it easier to find Prime eligible movies and TV shows by adding a dedicated Prime Video section to the Fire TV’s main menu. You will still see Prime content mixed in with non-Prime content in the Movies and TV sections, but now you can go into a separate Prime Video to see only Prime movies and TV shows. The Prime Video section consists of the following subsections:
- Recently Added Prime TV
- Recently Added Prime Movies
- Recommended Prime TV
- Recommended Prime Movies
- HBO on Prime Instant Video
- Prime Member Exclusives
- Top TV on Prime
- Top Movies on Prime
- Kids’ TV on Prime
- Prime TV Genres
- Prime Movie Genres
Music Section
As promised when the Fire TV was launched back in April, Amazon has added a music section to the Fire TV. In the music section you have access to all the music you’ve purchased through Amazon in addition to the music you’ve imported to your cloud library. You can import 250 songs for free or pay $24.99 a year to import up to 250,000 songs. The music you important does not use any of your allotted Amazon Cloud Drive storage. Notably missing is Amazon’s recently released Prime Music service which allows Prime members to stream over 1 million songs for free. Amazon says Prime Music will be coming to the Fire TV later this year. The music section is composed of the following subsections:
- Recently Played
- Playlists
- Artists
- Albums
- Genres
FreeTime Parental Controls
Lastly, Amazon has added FreeTime which allows parents to setup profiles for their children to limit access to the Fire TV. With each profile you create, you can add individual apps and videos that child has access to. Additionally, you can specify both how long and what time of day the child can use the Fire TV. While you can add access to purchased videos, there is no way to add access to Prime videos. For this, you will have to subscribe to FreeTime Unlimited, which is a subscription service that grants children access to kid friendly videos and apps. Once a profile is created and activated, the Fire TV background turns blue and the menus change to kid friendly versions. To exit out to the regular menus you must enter a 5 digit PIN. If you have no use for FreeTime, there is the option to remove the section form the main menu all together.
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AFTVnews
Do we still need to block future updates after updating?
Basically, would the package dcp stay disabled after the update?
If you have disabled com.amazon.dcp, then you will need to enable it with the following command to receive the update: pm enable com.amazon.dcp
Once the update finishes installing, yes, you should disable com.amazon.dcp again to ensure future updates don’t block rooting.
It is likely this update did not block rooting because Amazon didn’t have time to modify the update in time. It is likely the next update will block the towelroot rooting method because towelroot takes advantage of an exploit that Amazon will need to patch for security reasons. Meaning, they wont necessarily be actively trying to block rooting, but rather, they will likely block this rooting method as a side effect to fixing the currently present security hole.
Hi fireTVnews, after executing the shell command to enable, go the reply back as ‘Killed’. Rebooted the Router/fireTV and when I go to – Check for System Update, it’s still says ‘Checking now…’!
What else would be the variable(s)? Did I miss any?
DR
You did not enter ‘su’ before running the command. Enter these three commands to re-enable updates:
adb shell
su
pm enable com.amazon.dcp
..Oops, I missed that ‘su’ command, now got the response back as ‘new state: enabled’! Thanks!
Now it displays the installed and last checked date. And now, I’m waiting for the new update…
I did ‘pm enable com.amazon.dcp’ before I went to ‘Check for System Update’. Why my FT is not getting new firmware update?
Thanks
Monica
Be sure to enter ‘su’ before enabling. It also may just not be your turn as the update is still only being released to certain devices.
As per instructions a while back I had also added the host entries. Do those need to be removed also. My FireTV has had the other service enabled a week and still no update.
Yes, those host entries must be removed in order to receive any updates.
Finally! Nice to see that Amazon finally listened to their customers and created a “Prime Video” section. It was difficult to argue the merits of Fire TV when it didn’t even have the same basic functionality for Prime content that Amazon apps on the Playstation, Xbox and Roku had. Now all they need to do is add HBO Go, MLB Tv, and Vudu to Fire and it’ll be perfect.
Hey amazon news I followed your instruction blocking the update adb shell>su>pm disable com.amazon.dcp everything work out fine but when I tried to enable it is still saying killed the command I used was adb shell>su>pm enable com.amazon.dcp can you tell me what I’m doing wrong thank you and love your site
Getting the word ‘killed’ when trying to run the command usually means ADB does not have root or you have not gone into ‘su’ mode. Keep an eye on your Fire TV screen after entering the ‘su’ part. You should see a message appear near the bottom for a second. That message acknowledges that ADB was given root access. Perhaps you have lost root or SuperSU is not granting root access. If you’re sure you have root, I would try clearing SuperSU’s data and cache. Then launch SuperSU initialize it before trying again.
If u didn’t root but side loaded xbmc, there is nothing to block or worry about?
That’s right. The only reason to block updates is if you don’t want to lose root.
What is the benefit to root vs side load?
thanks
The two are very different things. Sideloading just means you’re installing apps that are not being downloaded through the Amazon Appstore. Rooting means you are gaining access to parts of the operating system that is normally blocked/restricted. With root, you can do things like enabling external USB storage. But you have to be very careful with root since you can easily render your Fire TV unusable. If you are not familiar with root or haven’t found a feature/task that requires root that you want, then it’s best not to root.