How to stream Dolby Atmos surround sound on Amazon Fire TV devices

Posted by Elias Saba on September 1, 2018 — 56 Comments

Yesterday’s premiere of Amazon’s latest original series, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, marked the arrival of the first Prime Video content to support Dolby Atmos surround sound. Some Fire TV owners eager to finally fully utilize their advanced home theater audio equipment have been perplexed to find that the new TV series isn’t lighting up the Dolby Atmos indicator on their A/V receiver. That’s because Dolby Atmos is not automatically enabled, like other surround sound formats, and must be manually selected. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: Dolby, Dolby Atmos, Guide, Surround Sound

How to change the Alexa wake word and ESP behavior of an Amazon Fire HD 8 / HD 10 tablet

Posted by Elias Saba on July 15, 2018 — 7 Comments

Now that Show Mode and the new Show Mode Dock have been released for Amazon’s Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10 tablets, there’s now more reason than ever to use the hands-free Alexa capabilities of these tablets. If you’re looking to change the Alexa wake word on one of these tablets and are confused to not find the setting in the Alexa app, which is where it is changed for all Echo devices, here is how to do it on a Fire tablet. If you’re wanting to change the wake word because the tablet is not working well with another Alexa device nearby, there is an ESP Behavior setting you can adjust as well. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: Guide

How to install sideloaded apps like Kodi on the Amazon Fire TV Cube, Box, or Stick

Posted by Elias Saba on June 21, 2018 — 22 Comments

This guide is out of date. Follow THIS updated guide instead.

Since many will be looking for a fresh guide on installing 3rd-party apps like Kodi on Amazon Fire TV devices, now that the new Fire TV Cube has been released, here is a new 2018 all-in-one guide for sideloading apps on any Fire TV device, including the Fire TV Cube, Fire TV boxes 1 and 2, 4K Fire TV pendant, Firestick, and both Element or Toshiba Fire TV Edition televisions. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: Guide, Kodi, Sideload

New 2018 guide for installing Google Play Store on a ROOTED Fire TV or Fire TV Stick

Posted by Elias Saba on June 19, 2018 — 15 Comments

A user by the name of rainman74 on XDA has just posted a new guide for installing the Google Play Store and Google Services on a rooted Fire TV or Fire TV Stick. For apps that are not available in the Amazon appstore, it’s usually a lot simpler to just sideload them on Fire TV devices than to install the Google Play Store, but that’s not always an option, especially for paid apps. For those scenarios, this guide should give you the access you need. Remember, your device must be rooted to follow this guide. To learn if your device can be rooted and how to do it, see my rooting guide. Note that this new Google Play Store guide instructs you to install the ARM64 version of GApps for Fire TV Boxes, but that’s actually incorrect. Only Fire TV 2 owners should install the ARM64 version, while all other devices, including the Fire TV 1 box, should use the ARM version.

Posted in Article Tagged with: Google Play Store, Guide

How to watch YouTube TV on an Amazon Fire TV or Fire TV Stick

Posted by Elias Saba on June 15, 2018 — 107 Comments

Due to the ongoing spat between Amazon and Google, it’s unlikely that YouTube TV will officially be available on Amazon Fire TV devices anytime soon. Note that I’m referring to the YouTube TV paid subscription cable service, not regular YouTube, the free video sharing site, which is still and has always been accessible on Fire TV devices. Fire TV owners who are subscribed to Google’s over-the-top streaming subscription service have tried sideloading the official YouTube TV app, taken from Android TV devices, onto their Fire TV devices but haven’t had luck getting it to work. Now, an unofficial YouTube TV app, made by an independent third-party developer, has appeared that works on Fire TVs and Fire TV Sticks. Here’s how to install and configure the app. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: Guide, YouTube TV

How to set and use Alexa as the default voice assistant on an Android device

Posted by Elias Saba on May 7, 2018 — 6 Comments

This guide will show you how to configure an Android device to use Alexa as the default voice assistant. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: Alexa, Guide

How to continue using DirecTV Now on older 1st-Gen Fire TVs and Fire TV Sticks

Posted by Elias Saba on April 21, 2018 — 42 Comments

Earlier this week, DirecTV Now dropped support for the 1st generation Amazon Fire TV and the 1st generation Fire TV Stick. Several people have reported that the latest version of the DirecTV app works fine on these older devices if you sideload the app. You can use my Downloader app to sideload the app by entering the URL bit.ly/dtvfireapk or bit.ly/dtvfireapkmirror on the app’s home screen. For those of you who need detailed step-by-step instructions on how to sideload the app, see this guide. Just be sure to substitute the URLs from this post. There’s no way to know how long DirecTV Now will work with this method, but for now it does seem to work.

Posted in Article Tagged with: DirecTV Now, Guide

How to fix grayed out disabled apps on the Amazon Fire TV or Fire TV Stick

Posted by Elias Saba on April 21, 2018 — 15 Comments

The latest Fire TV software update seems to have a bug that causes apps, specifically sideloaded apps, to be grayed out and disabled on the Fire TV home screen. Trying to access a gray app results in the message “This app is not associated with your Amazon account” appearing. It’s unclear why this is happening, but it likely has to do with changes the changes made to the apps row that allows Amazon Channels to appear. Thankfully, if you run into this issue, the fix is very simple. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: Guide

How to disable Alexa’s new Brief Mode in order to bring back “Okay” responses

Posted by Elias Saba on March 15, 2018 — 24 Comments

Amazon is starting to roll out a new Brief Mode for Alexa that reduces how much the voice assistant speaks in response to requests. The new mode appeared from some customers and then disappeared shortly after, but now it seems as if it’s here for good. While many customers love the new setting because it replaces Alexa’s verbal “OK” response with a quicker non-verbal confirmation chime, Brief Mode is catching a few people off guard because Alexa is offering to turn the mode on for you, instead of it simply being an option in the Alexa app. If you accepted Alexa’s request to enable Brief Mode but want to revert back to Alexa giving more verbal responses, here’s how to turn off Brief Mode. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: Alexa, Guide

How to continue using the original YouTube app on an Amazon Fire TV or Fire TV Stick

Posted by Elias Saba on January 1, 2018 — 74 Comments

Since Google hasn’t actually blocked the use of the old YouTube app on the Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire TV Edition television, this guide shows you how to install the old app so that you don’t need to use the Silk Browser or Firefox to access YouTube. Read more ›

Posted in Article Tagged with: Amazon vs Google, Guide, YouTube