I’ll be live streaming another episode of the AFTVnewscast tomorrow at 1:30pm PT, as I do every Friday. Post your questions or topics in the comments below for me to answer and discuss during the episode. Anything goes for questions, whether it’s about the old or new Fire TV, the new Fire TV Stick voice bundle, AFTVnews, or tech in general. Even if you can’t watch live, ask your question now and catch the episode on YouTube later.
@AFTVnews
AFTVnews
It looks like ADB is no longer an option on Android Marshmallow. If the Fire TV gets that update eventually, what are the repercussions of losing ADB?
Also have you rooted your AFTV2 yet? If so how’s it behaving? What’s your first thing you install post Root?
AFTV NEWS 4 LIFE !!
“It looks like ADB is no longer an option on Android Marshmallow”
I cannot find any information to verify that. Where did you see this?
Not where I originally saw it but. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/33449039/where-is-adb-in-android-6-is-it-removed. Would love to be wrong here.
You don’t really review many things on AFTVnews (like the Fire TV 2, Apple TV, Harmony remote etc..) even though you mention buying/owning them on the podcast. Why is that? Is there a specific reason?
can someone tell me would i have more software problems after rooting firetv 2 gen,
should i just be happy that kodi at least runs on it for now, without more root problems mismatching the hardware .
Any hope for “Location Services”? I really would like to use apps that require it (ex. Sunday Ticket).
I have a 2nd gen aftv, in the box since day october 5th. Should i keep it in that state or let it connect to lastest fw?
I want to software root if it ever becomes available.
Both of my 1gen are rooted and work like a charm. Looking to reduplicate that type of experiance.
Lastly can these be used as Homerun hubs? I dont want to rent digital converter boxes from my ISP ($3.99 each per month not HD) .. kodi + pc w/ tuner video card + ftv box/stick = all in one?
Thanks for all your help.
Why is the 4K capability limited to only specific apps. In other words, why will it not play a 4K clip on my SD card in 4K? (It plays that clip in 1080p). Likewise,it will not display a 3840×2160 JPG image. If there are others like me who wish these features, I suggest they log their request with tech support.
I hope folks are aware that you can get FireTV tech support to call you via phone right away by navigating to Settings and Help and then ‘contact us’ on the Fire TV.
Hi again Elias, thanks for all you do here, as always. I like to ask you about the Fire TV2’s implementation of Dolby surround sound.
I have an HDMI audio splitter that sends sound to my optical-only 5.1 sound system. Among its output options are one for “5.1” and one for “Pass”, meaning of course, passthrough. The developer of the splitter told me that there is no difference between 5.1 and Pass. Both pass the Dolby Digital, or DTS to the sound system.
I confirmed this with Kobi. Both the 5.1 and Pass option appear to work flawlessly in passing the Dolby on to my sound system.
Here’s where it gets curious. When I try to do the same thing with Amazon Prime videos or Netflix, I get Dolby ONLY when I use the 5.1 option, not when I use Pass. Not only that, but when I do use the 5.1 option in Amazon Prime or Netflix, I get this harsh static sound initially before Dolby surround sound starts. In Kodi, both the 5.1 and Pass options give me Dolby surround sound, and do so without any static sound.
Any insight? Is Amazon doing something unique with its transmission of Dolby surround sound that Kodi doesn’t?
Thanks, and love the story about how you started the site.
I will give this a shot as well since I have pulling hair regarding this issue – The handshake happens in software. I believe Kodi ignores the Sound Settings on the Fire TV and uses its own logic. Currently apps on the main FireTV ecosystem (non-Kodi) relies on the OS to determine which type of encoded audio to send over HDMI. The current firmware only sends DD+ or Stereo. It never sends DD.
– The PassThrough option on the HDMI switch sends the EDID info from your sound system to the Fire TV. The sound system indicates to the fire TV that it cannot handle DD+ … so the FireTv drops the audio down to stereo.
– The 5.1 option on the HDMI switch allows the switch to send it own EDID to the Fire TV. This EDID tells the Fire TV that it can handle DD+. The Fire TV sends the DD+ audio which the switch promptly downconverts to DD 5.1 and sends to the sound system.
Your Kodi subsystem never sends DD+ … so the behavior is the same for either of those two options. I could be wrong but thats my take.
I read on XDA that supposedly there´s a new software root method for the FTV 2 Gen.
Did you check it out? Is it reliable?
Assuming a jailbreak for Fire TV 2 becomes available, is it technically possible for someone to modify Kodi to take advantage of the voice capabilities? For example: use voice where keyboard input would be needed or even search for content available through Kodi?
Thanks!
I have finally installed Firestarter 3.2 and then from within installed kodi 15.2 on my ftv2 but I can not get the airplay function to work. I turned on the option in kodi and then see it on my ipad using ios 9.1 using the tnt app and when I hit airplay icon the ios device mutes but nothing happens on kodi.
Also why should I root my ftv2 if it ever becomes available that is?
Oh people staples have a 25% off on a item and i used it on the new ftv2 with ni problems. Just head to staples site and hit coupon if i remembered.
Hi, a lot of AFTV2 Owners who use PLEX App habe Problems with the AC3 / DTS Sound. At FW 5.0.3.1 the PLEX Movie are stuttering (direct play and streaming) if the AC3 in PLEX App ist activated.
(Details: https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/190541/stuttering-on-fire-tv-2-cause-and-solution-and-bug-reports#latest)
The only workaround seem to deactivate AC3 in PLEX App … but this results in only Stereo Sound.
Sadly there is no feedback or reaction from the PLEX Support.
Is this a known issue? Is a fix in sight (perhaps with a AFTV2 FW update)?
regards
Markus
HI, looking for a game controller that works with both my AFTV1 and the new AppleTV. Apple sells the SteelSeries Nimbus Wireless Gaming Controller, is it compatible with the AFTV?
Thanks!!
hi there, ive just purchased the AFTV2 yesterday ive managed to get kodi installed, I would like to get the logo onto the main screen but with the new updates it seems this is not possible more confused than ever, any help would be great thanks to all rob
sorry guys firmware is 5.0.3.1
Have to use Fire starter program for now……can’t do it witj llama
Hi Elias,
Hope you are doing fine.
1. The new fire starter is great. however when I want to update my kodi from 14.2 to 15.2 is gives an error msg. It says something like filename already exists or something. Any idea what can be the issue. What other ways are there to update my Kodi with keeping all the settings, data and (legal) add on’s.
2. How are you with the ”hacking” of the apple TV. You did a lot of great stuff comparing the fire TV sticks and remotes so maybe no time yet.
Thanks as always. Take care!
Lodewijk
Do you think that voice search on the Fire TV will ever become so good and so efficient that it will equal or almost equal the capabilities of Echo?
Do you foresee a second generation Echo? How would you expect Amazon to improve upon the first generation Echo?
I’ve been trying to side load Apple Music For Android Beta APK using ES File Explorer (AFTV Gen 1) since its launch this week but had no joy only getting an “error parsing the package” message. I have got it working on my Fire HDX tablet using this method so I assumed it would be possible on the AFTV?
Any news on gen1 upgrades to get alexa?
Hey, Elias. I have a Nexus Player and have purchased some games/apps from Google Play. Is there a way to transfer these purchases from the Nexus Player to the Fire TV….and vice versa? I’m not sure if this is frowned upon, but I don’t see this as piracy since they are both Android.
Now that Amazon Cloud has Photo Albums when will we see this transfer to the FTV?
Good Q – also will these Albums support 4K (like Roku 4).
I was just wondering if there is a way to avoid uninstalling and reinstalling Kodi every month or so when I start getting messages from fire TV while watching a movie on Kodi, telling me that I need to remove some apps. These messages continue every two minutes or so. I only have two or three apps that aren’t fire TV apps, and have them on a usb drive plugged into the fire TV. Clearing the Kodi cache and data from Kodi does not help. I find myself having to uninstall and reinstall Kodi every time that this happens. It’s not really that big of a deal other than losing all of my settings and favorites on the Kodi app each time that I do this. I’m sure you will have a simple answer, it’s just that I am not as tech savvy as I’d like to be. Thank you in advance for your answer! I asked a couple of questions of you a while back, and you answered them thoroughly, and I really appreciate your help.
zero cache issue? check your advancedsettings.xml file if you have one.
Yes I have tried the zero cache but even with that after a mont or so, I still get the same popup asking me to delete apps from the fire tv
I was wondering if anyone has put kodi on a 4th gen Apple TV yet? I read a month or so ago it might be possible with using Xcode from a Mac to sideload it.
audio sync is off
Hello Elias,
I am currently watching your AFTVnewscast #15 live, for me this being an obligation every Friday!!
I would like to see the internal hardware details of the new FireTV2, as you did with the FireTV-Stick.
I’ve looked elsewhere as iFixit, but I don’t find this information, could you do an article with some details and pictures of the internal hardware of the FireTV2?
Have you noticed that when you use a MicroSD memory (with some APPs installed), and then plug other USB memory, the FireTV2 does some weird things (app icons disappearing from FireStarter screen), sometimes crashes and resets?
As always, Thanks Elias for this informative and Excellent site!!
watching on youtube and aftvnews.com and audio/video sync is off….You also have chat enabled on youtube stream; MetalKettle says hello…
Just 3 of us and only me noticed audio/video sync is off
better audio
audio has improved
800 fixed it
700 is good too
can I use ubuntu instead of linux to root fire tv 2?