Something the Amazon Fire TV appstore has been missing is a podcast client. There are various services available, like TuneIn through Alexa, that can stream podcasts, but not a classic client that lets you enter your own podcast feeds manually. MiniVOD is a new app here to change that. It allows you to enter the RSS feed URL of your favorite podcasts and stream them through the Fire TV or Fire TV Stick. If you’ve got a bunch of podcasts that you don’t want to manually enter one by one, the app is able to import podcast subscriptions in OPML format. It’s worth noting that it does not have the ability to store the podcast files locally. It will only stream the files, so it will not automatically download anything like you’d expect from a more traditional smartphone podcast client. If you’ve been wanting your podcasts accessible through the Fire TV, give MiniVOD a try.
Actually there was an appcalled Feeds before this one. Looking forward to try this out.
Has anyone tried MiniVOD and got it to work at all?
I purchased it, but I am unable to it in any way.
I tried to add various Podcasts via name and URL and just get an error regarding the URLs.
Then I tried to import an OPML file with all my Podcasts from my smartphone, but I am unable to proceed with the import, as MiniVOD cannot locate the OPML file from a local folder on the Fire TV.
I can’t help the feeling, that this App is just a means to get money from us …
Not working for me either. OPMLs do not import.
Finally was able to add a few Podcasts manually.
MiniVOD is a little picky regarding the URLs, but I managed to add some and it works.
The App is very basic, but functional enough and to me this is sufficient.
Regarding OPML import I wrote the developer an e-mail and he replied within a few hours:
“I have reproduced the problem you describe on my local Fire TV
device. I am investigating it and will let you know if I can fix
it. Sorry for the trouble.
In the meantime, as a workaround, if you are able to put your opml
file on a web server, you may have better luck if you put the full
URL of the opml file in the Import dialog box, e.g.
http://example.com/podcast_opml.xml”
So, if he is looking into it and improving the App, everything is fine and I’m happy.
I have no idea how to use it
It has a search function also, which searches based on iTunes search (but try searching for Python, I get a JSON error as soon as a type the ‘n’!)
The fast-forward skips exactly one second ahead. Gets the job done, though.
I was able to to work around the searching for Python issue by changing the search engine in settings to “Digital Podcast” instead of iTunes