[PeaceMkr]

Hey Guys, searching around here for a while now and didnt get the answer.

is FireTV capable of passthrough DTSHD and TrueHD to dedicated Cinemareceivers?

How far is the progress with xbmc + android right now. Are there major problems with the FireTV-Releases that should be known?
What about the PVR-Extensions (i use VNSI-Addon)?

I use xbmc on all platforms except android and im thinking about buying a firetv if it has some advantages as compared to the rpi im running right now.

Best regards, Peacemkr

[hdmkv]

is FireTV capable of passthrough DTSHD and TrueHD to dedicated Cinemareceivers?

No. Core only or 2.0 downmix.

How far is the progress with xbmc + android right now.

For lack of a better work, good. Not a dedicated home theater PC replacement as NUC, Chromebox are better for that.

Are there major problems with the FireTV-Releases that should be known?

Not problems per se, but shortcomings like lack of HD audio, lack of VC-1 playback (pretty major), choppy 1080p/60 camcorder video playback, and some H.264 MKV's of full BD rips exhibiting pixellated green strobing/lines ('The Dark Knight Rises', 'Bedtime Stories', few others).

What about the PVR-Extensions (i use VNSI-Addon)

I'm not familiar with VNSI, but I'm using ServerWMC as my PVR backend just fine.

[jpreville]

i'll throw in my 2 cents on your post.

i don't think firetv will do dtshd and truehd at the moment. not sure if its a xbmc thing or firetv thing. when i run that kind of files with passthrough turned on. its say its seeing lpcm 48 content. if its dts 5.1 or dolby 5.1. the receiver show the correct type coming to it.

i know my receiver supports the hd content. because i also have mythtv linux box hooked up to same receiver.

as far as pvr support. i don't use the vnsi addon. but the cmyth addon . which seems to work ok. except for some crashing here and there.

don't get me wrong. xbmc works great on a firetv. with a couple downfalls here and there. which i would think down the road might get fixed.

Finding that perfect all and one box to run xbmc and other apps . netflix..amazon.. etc.

I've personally gotten closer with firetv.

John

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@hdmkv

i had the same problem. with the bd rips. had to re-encode to something else. esp on the vc-1 content.

[PeaceMkr]

Thank you for your infos. So for me it seems more or less be the same like the rpi-release and is not worth buying a new box.
I want to go one step further like using HDAudio but seems to take some time or will be never like @ the raspberry.

[Apothis]

i'll throw in my 2 cents on your post.

i don't think firetv will do dtshd and truehd at the moment. not sure if its a xbmc thing or firetv thing.

It's an android thing, it only offers a 2 channel LPCM sink, so cannot passthrough DTSHD-MA or TrueHD which require up to 8 channels.

[hdmkv]

Not yet anyway, but likely yes by year's end.

[blueribb]

I bought an Android TV box on June 20th (2015) and returned it the next day. It did not handle DTS-HD MA or TrueHD. Kodi was very unstable and crashed with most of my HD files. I have a gigabit wired network and all other devices work great. This was my first experience with Android and it left a sour taste in my mouth.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W1H85KM

[wrxtasy]

Bit hint when buying Android devices.
Don't go for the cheapest unless you have on going Android Firmware support from either the manufacturer or a very knowledgable developer.

You basically get what you pay for in this media player space. I guarantee if blueribb had have gotten an AMlogic device from say MINIX his Android experience would have been 100% better.

[blueribb]

Bit hint when buying Android devices.
Don't go for the cheapest unless you have on going Android Firmware support from either the manufacturer or a very knowledgable developer.

You basically get what you pay for in this media player space. I guarantee if blueribb had have gotten an AMlogic device from say MINIX his Android experience would have been 100% better.

The box I bought and returned has the exact same components and specs as the top MINIX model.

[wrxtasy]

The components were the same but MINIX provided top class Firmware in their device and ongoing support, especially for Kodi media player compatibility. Thats what you pay for.
Hardware specs are nothing without top notch software, especially in the Android market.

Amazon and the some of the big Android guys have the resources to iron out Firmware and video driver bugs quickly, what is a real pity is that some of them just don't care about valuable Kodi media player features like flawless TV deinterlacing and 23.976fps video output. They sell these DRM streamers at cost or a loss and recoup the money via paid content. You do get HD streamed content tho.

Its the OpenSource guys in the Android media player space that have the best Kodi support because they share common code. Namely AMlogic guys like MINIX, Wetek and Hardkernel.