[djkilla]

I've read multiple threads but need expert advice. I believe, based on my needs, that either the Fire TV or Fire Stick is what I need. Here's my info:

- I don't plan on adding any apps at all in Kodi
- I would like to use the Aoen Nox skin
- My main use is streaming mkv, avi, xvid, mp4
- MUST be able to stream iso files of full dvds with menus and bonus features
- Everything will be streamed using Windows sharing (No Nas, NFS, etc.), would like to be able to plug in a USB flash or external drive with my media if possible
- I live in the USA

I'm ready to buy now! Which would be best for my needs, Fire TV or Fire Stick? Should I root install Kodi (Helix) or side load it? Any issues I need to know about? Pros or cons between the two? I currently own the WDTV Live Streaming player and I'm looking for a more powerful media player for playing the above. Settings do not scare me so I'm up to learning and tweaking anything. Also, I'm assuming all info will automatically be scraped on my media files or do I have to create movie sheets with all the info for tv shows and movies? Thanks to anyone taking the time to answer my questions. I REALLY appreciate it and plan to buy a couple of these Amazon devices.

[Tinwarble]

Both can do what you want, but if it's between the 2 then the Fire TV is going to be the better choice.

Mainly because you're talking about a quad-core Snapdragon SoC with the Fire TV vs. a dual-core Broadcom SoC with the Stick, making the AFTV a good deal faster. As well the AFTV has a ethernet port which, although is not necessary, makes streaming more reliable and the Stick is wi-fi only.

As for rooting, the Stick is not rootable at all and the Fire TV is rootable but only if you can get one with older FW and since Amazon sold out over the holidays it may be harder to find one that can be rooted.

[Ned Scott]

I have both, and if I had to buy another one for only Kodi usage, then it would probably be the Fire TV Stick. The only thing that bothers me at all is the PVR EPG is a little slow to load on the Stick. Aside from that, I often can't tell when I'm using the box or the stick.

[RockerC]

The only thing that bothers me at all is the PVR EPG is a little slow to load on the Stick.

Looks like they are now working on improving that here https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/6246

[whitebelly]

Both are good values. I have two sticks.

Of course the stick has no USB ports, so plugging in a USB drive is not an option, you'd have to share it from another computer. Also, the stick has no hardwire port so you would want to have a good wireless connection available.

With the non-stick FTV, you can plug in a IR remote dongle and then possibly use a Harmony or other remote that would eliminate the need for using two remotes. That's probably the only thing about the stick I don't like, but I believe some folks have used their AVR or TV remote to control the stick via HDMI CEC. If you have a super whamodyne bluetooth universal, I suppose that might work as well.

[djkilla]

Looks like I'm going to get a couple of the $99 Fire TV. So after side loading Kodi (Helix), it WILL play complete iso DVDs with menus and bonus features without a problem?

[Ned Scott]

DVD ISOs seem to work without issue, with menus and all. Bluray is a different story, and I'm not sure what the exact status is on that as I don't have any bluray ISOs.

[gguerra333]

Old thread I know, but I am interested in getting a stick for my bedroom. I use a Win 7 laptop with Kodi for my main room.

A couple of questions

1. Since the storage on the stick and the box for that matter is limited to 8gb or whatever it is, what about add-ons? those take up storage space, will I eventually run out?

2. I have good bandwidth through my wifi. I usually get 15 to 20 mbps from the internet through my android phone/speedtest and it is only 2.4ghz.
Will this be fast enough to steam online content (1080p ) and/or play media files (mkv's) from a windows shared drive?

[Ned Scott]

Add-ons don't typically take up a lot of room. It's possible that there is an exception to that, but it wouldn't be normal ;)

If that speed is good enough depends on the bitrate of the file itself. Even at the same resolution, different videos can have different bitrates.

If you are in the US or in a place with Nexus Players on sale, I would say to go for that instead, because they're about $50 USD, which is just $10 more than the Fire TV stick. It's got better wifi and is more powerful.

[gguerra333]

Thanks, yes I am in the US. The $50 price tag is fine and what I am looking at spending.

Also, I do plan to use Netflix and Amazon Prime (I am a member), both of which are not well supported in Kodi. Netflix should be OK I would think.

I am not sure about Amazon on the Nexus? Is it native? Will it run through side loaded browser if not?

[gguerra333]

OK, been doing some more reading. It seems the jury is still out. As for Nexus/Kodi, that still works. There is a Nexus ROM update from google (5.1) that will disable much or all of the side loading of regular android apps. There is also a custom rom out for the nexus which will restore that. Here is an article on this topic.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-...lease.html

[learningit]

Old thread I know, but I am interested in getting a stick for my bedroom. I use a Win 7 laptop with Kodi for my main room.

A couple of questions

1. Since the storage on the stick and the box for that matter is limited to 8gb or whatever it is, what about add-ons? those take up storage space, will I eventually run out?

2. I have good bandwidth through my wifi. I usually get 15 to 20 mbps from the internet through my android phone/speedtest and it is only 2.4ghz.
Will this be fast enough to steam online content (1080p ) and/or play media files (mkv's) from a windows shared drive?

I run both sticks and a AFTV, as well as an assortment of other crap for testing addons being developed. Addons are not the major concern for storage space, thumbnails are my problem. I've had to redirect the thumbnails to a USB 3.0 external drive that I run as a SMB off my router, which works fine for me. You need to keep an eye on stuff that builds up in the addons/packages directory depending on how and where you load addons from. It can be 3-5x larger than the addons directory itself as it keeps several versions back - I actually don't know what the rule is for retaining previous versions, it looks like it keeps all but maybe there's a setting somewhere to limit it.

I have no problem at all with live 1080 streams streaming at 8-12mbps on the either the AFTV or my sticks. I actually have 6 sticks in my house right now, though I usually only have a max of 3 running at any time. I'm pretty happy with the performance of everything. I don't see a lot of difference between the sticks and the AFTV in my configuration because the DB and thumbnails are off loaded on to an external drive. I would use sticks and put some extra money into a better LAN/WLAN setup.

[DJDJDJDJ]

Old thread I know, but I am interested in getting a stick for my bedroom. I use a Win 7 laptop with Kodi for my main room.

A couple of questions

1. Since the storage on the stick and the box for that matter is limited to 8gb or whatever it is, what about add-ons? those take up storage space, will I eventually run out?

2. I have good bandwidth through my wifi. I usually get 15 to 20 mbps from the internet through my android phone/speedtest and it is only 2.4ghz.
Will this be fast enough to steam online content (1080p ) and/or play media files (mkv's) from a windows shared drive?

I run both sticks and a AFTV, as well as an assortment of other crap for testing addons being developed. Addons are not the major concern for storage space, thumbnails are my problem. I've had to redirect the thumbnails to a USB 3.0 external drive that I run as a SMB off my router, which works fine for me. You need to keep an eye on stuff that builds up in the addons/packages directory depending on how and where you load addons from. It can be 3-5x larger than the addons directory itself as it keeps several versions back - I actually don't know what the rule is for retaining previous versions, it looks like it keeps all but maybe there's a setting somewhere to limit it.

I have no problem at all with live 1080 streams streaming at 8-12mbps on the either the AFTV or my sticks. I actually have 6 sticks in my house right now, though I usually only have a max of 3 running at any time. I'm pretty happy with the performance of everything. I don't see a lot of difference between the sticks and the AFTV in my configuration because the DB and thumbnails are off loaded on to an external drive. I would use sticks and put some extra money into a better LAN/WLAN setup.

Hi,

Mind sharing how you redirected thumbs? I use a MySQL setup with all my media on a NAS drive. Currently, all my devices have their own thumbs cache. I do export the library on a regular basis so I have the full library details with each item on the NAS drive. Having a single copy would be great and make the setup a bit simpler.

Thanks.

[learningit]

Hi,

Mind sharing how you redirected thumbs? I use a MySQL setup with all my media on a NAS drive. Currently, all my devices have their own thumbs cache. I do export the library on a regular basis so I have the full library details with each item on the NAS drive. Having a single copy would be great and make the setup a bit simpler.

Thanks.

I don't keep a single copy for all devices, I'm not sure that you can. I just redirect the thumbnail folder to my NAS drive in advancedsettings.xml, I redirect to separate folders for each device. I use path substitution, which I believe is frowned upon and might not be supported in the future based on some posts I've read. It works for me at this point, so I use it. The main reason I do redirection to a NAS is because the thumbnails folder on some of my sticks was more than a GB. There is a performance penalty but it's quite tolerable.

I think that you might be able share the texturesxx.db file through MySQL and then redirect all the thumbnails to a common folder, but I've never tried it. I need to delete stuff from the textures db fairly often as I do addon development, so it makes sense for me to keep them separate.

Code:

<pathsubstitution>
<substitute>
<from>/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/userdata/Thumbnails/</from>
<to>smb://READYSHARE/USB_Storage/Kodi/Thumbnails/</to>
</substitute>
</pathsubstitution>

[Razaldo9]

I'm looking for some similar advice if possible.

I don't think I require a high performance device, but I'm not sure which best suits me.

I currently have a laptop and ps4 which I connect via HDMI. Laptop for Kodi, PS4 for other streaming apps.

Ideally I'd like to remove the laptop from the wired connection. Is the fire TV stick all I need?