[ozkhan1]

Just wanted to share some personal experiences with FTV, Kodi after the recent updates

The new Fire TV updates have introduced some much needed and interesting features but the two important ones in regards to Kodi are

1. USB port can now be used for storage without rooting the box
2. Pressing and holding the home button can now give you the option to put your device to sleep.


Just wanted to share because lately I have noticed people complaining about the inability to "turn it off".

Unrelated to the updated, I also recently used a custom launcher called "fired tv" that can be used to avoid the unnecessary cluttered main menu of FTV. It provides a nice overlay you can customize and only add shortcuts to your favorite apps.

[danfloss]

the usb port change is great news. I may actually get one

[hdmkv]

Just be aware it's FAT32 only.

[Dark_Slayer]

Unrelated to the updated, I also recently used a custom launcher called "fired tv" that can be used to avoid the unnecessary cluttered main menu of FTV. It provides a nice overlay you can customize and only add shortcuts to your favorite apps.

Yep, rbox's launcher I believe. Put two Fire TVs at my family member's this past Christmas. Both run Emby, but now that there is an upcoming emby add-on for Kodi that allows http streaming and transcoding but retains the speed of the native library I'll probably be switching them to Kodi when the add-on comes out of beta.

Immediately rooted, blocked updates, and put the FiredTV launcher on default. The standard interface is too cluttered and junky IMO, and they aren't going to use 99% of that stuff. Actually they both only use Emby at the moment, and it will be exclusively Kodi after that. The xbmclauncher may have worked instead, but I like that they do at least have the Amazon Prime and Netflix backups if my server goes offline

[ozkhan1]

Its mainly useful to those who dont use prime and have netflix and other apps to use which by default play second fiddle to prime based on ftv's native interface. I think it raises the waf factor of the box a lot.

Cant get anymore user friendly to be honest.

[Ned Scott]

I'm disappointed that the FireTV stick didn't also get the bluetooth updates that the Box got. Being able to use bluetooth headphones is very nice on an HDMI stick that you can travel with. We already know it's possible to add the feature by sideloading configuration apps to force the pairing, so it's weird that Amazon didn't include it yet.

[essential]

Just be aware it's FAT32 only.

Seriously? Why cripple the feature. I mean, I'm sure others will find it useful, but every single one of my bluray rips is over 2GB which is the FAT32 limit.

Unrelated to the updated, I also recently used a custom launcher called "fired tv" that can be used to avoid the unnecessary cluttered main menu of FTV. It provides a nice overlay you can customize and only add shortcuts to your favorite apps.

I'm going to try this tonight, the pics look interesting. Three questions

1) When you start up the FireTV does this launch automatically after setup or do you have to set a Llama event to boot it when the system starts up.

2) When you hit the home button on the remote, often by mistake for me, does it go back to the normal FireTV home screen or will it bring you back to the FiredTV launcher screen?

3) Can you put a Kodi icon in the shortcut menu of FiredTV or do you still need to put an IkonaTV shortcut which then launches Kodi when selected (with a Llama event)?

[ozkhan1]

Just be aware it's FAT32 only.

Seriously? Why cripple the feature. I mean, I'm sure others will find it useful, but every single one of my bluray rips is over 2GB which is the FAT32 limit.

Unrelated to the updated, I also recently used a custom launcher called "fired tv" that can be used to avoid the unnecessary cluttered main menu of FTV. It provides a nice overlay you can customize and only add shortcuts to your favorite apps.

I'm going to try this tonight, the pics look interesting. Three questions

1) When you start up the FireTV does this launch automatically after setup or do you have to set a Llama event to boot it when the system starts up.

2) When you hit the home button on the remote, often by mistake for me, does it go back to the normal FireTV home screen or will it bring you back to the FiredTV launcher screen?

3) Can you put a Kodi icon in the shortcut menu of FiredTV or do you still need to put an IkonaTV shortcut which then launches Kodi when selected (with a Llama event)?

1) When you start up the FireTV does this launch automatically after setup or do you have to set a Llama event to boot it when the system starts up.

No Llama required. It launches automatically when the FTV boots up.

2) When you hit the home button on the remote, often by mistake for me, does it go back to the normal FireTV home screen or will it bring you back to the FiredTV launcher screen?
Either/or, this is one of those things you can set up either way based on your preference. I have of course set it up to go back to the launcher menu if I hit the home button (and not the default FTV home screen)

3) Can you put a Kodi icon in the shortcut menu of FiredTV or do you still need to put an IkonaTV shortcut which then launches Kodi when selected (with a Llama event)?
That has been resolved for a while now. There is an official Amazon Kodi app you can purchase for free and it adds to your Amazon profile so you don't have to do the whole sacrificial app triggering Kodi thing using Llama. And yes you can put the Kodi icon on the home screen of the launcher.

My Launcher home screen currently has Kodi, SlingTV, Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, Amazon Free Time and Settings right now. Trying to keep it simple.

[hdmkv]

There is a workaround to the FAT32 filesize limitation:
http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-play-file...e-in-kodi/

[essential]

Thanks for the comments ozkhan1. I'm ganna try FiredTV tonight one of my FireTVs and if I like it then I'll put it on all three.

Also thanks hdmkv. While I'd never convert my collection using that method I could see it being helpful when I travel if I wanted to bring a movie or two somewhere without WiFi. However, it's still annoying it's only FAT32, I wonder if that's a conscious choice on Amazon's part of if that's a limitation based on something in the build.

[hdmkv]

Probably as they want us to consume, pay for their content. Probably also why Kodi must still be sideloaded as it's "not compatible" with FTV, at least officially. Why they allow PLEX then I don't know.

[Vanillakilla69]

Probably as they want us to consume, pay for their content. Probably also why Kodi must still be sideloaded as it's "not compatible" with FTV, at least officially. Why they allow PLEX then I don't know.

Probably because KODI's free streaming add-on capabilities. While Plex is just a media center.

[hdmkv]

PLEX also has unofficial 'UnSupported AppStore' with the same type of movie/TV sources.

[jacklb]

cant get movies to download to usb .shows that it is downloading but file is not there

[Vanillakilla69]

PLEX also has unofficial 'UnSupported AppStore' with the same type of movie/TV sources.

Huh. Been a while since I've used Plex. This is news to me.