Amazon Fire TV

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1368 posts

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# 1358648 4-Aug-2015 12:52

Got a Fire TV last week and find it works well with the Emby app (and associated server). Doesn't require sideloading. Believe Kodi is better with playing different formats though, so stuff requires less transcoding, and the Emby app is $5 after the 2 week trial. Maybe give it a go though.....

On a different note - Got mine from the UK, but it only wants to download apps from the US. I use Unotelly so that it gets Prime and Netflix from the US (and iPlayer too) which is what I want. On the other hand, my Default Address is set to my UK Youshop address. Its probably not very important but it would be nice to know why. Any ideas maybe ?

rb99

robjg63

2994 posts

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# 1358687 4-Aug-2015 13:56

rb99: Got a Fire TV last week and find it works well with the Emby app (and associated server). Doesn't require sideloading. Believe Kodi is better with playing different formats though, so stuff requires less transcoding, and the Emby app is $5 after the 2 week trial. Maybe give it a go though.....

On a different note - Got mine from the UK, but it only wants to download apps from the US. I use Unotelly so that it gets Prime and Netflix from the US (and iPlayer too) which is what I want. On the other hand, my Default Address is set to my UK Youshop address. Its probably not very important but it would be nice to know why. Any ideas maybe ?

I think its the psotal address that 'tells' it what amazon market it should show.
So if you have your amazon account set to the UK - that FTV app store should show BBC iplayer/4od etc

If you change the Amazon account address to the US - it should then show USA apps.

The good thing is that you can switch the region in your Amazon account and download the apps you need - then switch to another region and download some more apps - the FireTV will keep the apps installed from both areas.
You can then use unotelly to configure the individual apps unblocking.

So you can have BBC iplayer/4od/Hulu etc and the apps can appear to be accessing from the correct part of the world.

There is a post on page 36 on this thread.
For the record - this is what you need to do:
http://www.eyeondemand.com/2014/10/24/how-to-combine-us-uk-and-de-apps-on-the-amazon-fire-tv/

There is some talk about payment methods - I never had to set that up....

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

rb99

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# 1358740 4-Aug-2015 14:57

Thanks for the info. As mentioned, have Netflix, Prime and iPlayer working fine to the US and UK regions (even though they were all downloaded from the US). Just downloaded Demand 5 from the US (as the UK wouldn't work). My current country is set to United Kingdom (as is my address).

Looking at the link you kindly gave, am thinking its maybe needing a UK credit card with a UK address. Might have seen someone mention using the Youshop address as the credit card address. Might try that next, though considering I paid for the Fire TV with my NZ credit card and I just received some DVD's from the UK paid for with said card, don't see why it would be that particularly. Oh well, c'est la vie, etc, etc

rb99

robfish

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# 1358767 4-Aug-2015 15:36

I have a FireTV and a Nexus Player.
One of my sons has another FireTV and another has two of them.

We use them primarily for NetFlix, Kodi and YouTube

All I will add (to all of the previous "reviews") is that the Nexus Player is easier to install NetFlix and Kodi (by simply using the Play Store) but you need to "Null-route" the Nexus device which has the DNS addresses hard coded.

No such problem with the FireTV. Setting up an easy access icon for Kodi on the FireTV is not so easy though.

Rob

jonathan18

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# 1358772 4-Aug-2015 15:44

robfish: ... No such problem with the FireTV. Setting up an easy access icon for Kodi on the FireTV is not so easy though.

Using a substitute app worked fine for me, but I had to give up trying this on my sister's Fire TV - in the end I went with FireStarter (http://www.aftvnews.com/firestarter-is-a-non-root-launcher-replacement-with-fantastic-home-button-detection/), which to be honest is kind of easier in that I've set it up that a double-click of the home button starts Kodi. It's the only sideloaded app I want easy access to, so this works well.

marlinz

442 posts

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# 1358774 4-Aug-2015 15:47

One person supports this post

Plex works great on the Fire TV

Amazon Echo

Amazon Dot

Lifx Bulbs

Nexus 5X
Magic TV 3600
Sony EX700

Unblocking service
Amazon Fire TV x 2 = Netflix USA + Amazon Prime
Lightbox

Kiwifruta

1060 posts

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# 1360319 6-Aug-2015 22:05

jonathan18:
Kiwifruta:
jonathan18:
kiwifidget: Hi, I am new to this thread (at least I cant recall being here before) and I apologise for not reading the entire 56 page thread.
I think I would like to buy a FireTV box, to run Netflix and Kodi(XBMC).
I already use an Apple TV2 but at 720p output it is falling behind my video requirements, and it wont run the new version of Kodi(15).
Though I like the simple interface and remote.
I have tried a Pivos and was disappointed, also an Intel Tiny Stick left me cold.

I clicked the link up the top for buying a FireTV but it says it does not ship to NZ.
How are you able to buy one? And are they really any good?

I think they offer excellent value for money.

They now work with USB drives which has given them a lot more flexibility - but note they're compatible with FAT32 format only, so this limits the usuable file size. I've always run my own accessing content from the network, so this isn't an issue for me.

I've just also set one up for my sister, who's a bit of a technophobe, and she's really happy with it; I've set it up with Kodi, BBC iPlayer and created her a Netflix account, so it manages all content she wants outside of terestrial TV. Works fine with a USB hard drive, though the file size limitation on the drive meant I couldn't transfer all her content.

Note that you need workarounds to get much of this going, eg apps like Kodi need to be sideloaded, plus they don't automatically get their own icon for easy access (there are workarounds for this). Still worth the effort I reckon.

How did you get BBC iPlayer on the FireTV? I know how to sideload an app, but for the life of me, I cannot seem to find the right iPlayer app.

It's a matter of going to your Amazon settings in a browser. Select the page for managing your devices (sorry, can't confirm the name as don't have access at the moment); on that page there's also a tab for managing your location. Add a UK address to this (any address will do); select that so the system thinks you're operating from that location. You'll then be able to search for iPlayer and install it onto the Amazon Fire (via the browser - no sideloading required). Just be aware there are two apps that come up when searching for that - select the more recent one from BBC.

Thanks jonathan18, worked a treat. Happier wife.

kiwifidget

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# 1360774 7-Aug-2015 17:01

I just got a second hand FireTV and have managed to load Kodi on it and that works fine.
I thought that would be the hard part.

No, I cannot see for the life of me how to setup Netflix with my credentials.
I have Googled but the results from that do not seem to help.
Netflix does not appear in the "Manage Installed Apps"list so I guess its not installed.
When I select Netflix from the Featured Apps and Games menu it displays a box that says "Unavailable Pricing Unavailable".
My router is setup with Unotelly addresses so I'm not sure why the FireTV is stopping me.

I am using a US Amazon account. But my UK one didnt work either.

Any help?

Life is too short to remove USB safely.

richms

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# 1360778 7-Aug-2015 17:10

Try going to amazons website and buying it there instead of adding it on the device.

Richard rich.ms

kiwifidget

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# 1360780 7-Aug-2015 17:13

richms: Try going to amazons website and buying it there instead of adding it on the device.

I tried that. It says Netflix is incompatible with my device, how can that be?

Life is too short to remove USB safely.

rb99

1368 posts

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# 1360786 7-Aug-2015 17:34

kiwifidget:
richms: Try going to amazons website and buying it there instead of adding it on the device.

I tried that. It says Netflix is incompatible with my device, how can that be?

Did you try both your US and UK accounts ? (I got my Fire TV from the UK but can only download stuff from the US, guess its a settings thing somewhere)

rb99

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# 1360790 7-Aug-2015 17:41

Fire TV is 59 pounds today only BTW, if you don't mind the VAT.

rb99

kiwifidget

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# 1360793 7-Aug-2015 17:51

rb99:
kiwifidget:
richms: Try going to amazons website and buying it there instead of adding it on the device.

I tried that. It says Netflix is incompatible with my device, how can that be?

Did you try both your US and UK accounts ? (I got my Fire TV from the UK but can only download stuff from the US, guess its a settings thing somewhere)

Amazon-US says device incompatible, Amazon-UK says not eligible due to geographical restrictions.
I'm sure there must be some sort of work-around, and there is probably some wee setting I haven't got right but I've been trying most of the afternoon and I think my brain has officially had a melt down.

Life is too short to remove USB safely.