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Full Version: 2018 - Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K
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(2018-11-01, 06:39)wrxtasy Wrote: [ -> ]Micro USB Host OTG Cable with USB Power cable:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C452XFO/

UGreen USB3 > Gigabit Hub adapter: (I've seen these cheaper elsewhere)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LLUEJFU/
 I almost feel bad and underqualified for posting here. I will say upfront that I have no idea what 75% of the stuff in this thread is but I am seeking help/opinions.

I just bought my first 4k tv (TCL 55R617) so now I plan to buy the Firestick 4k. Some googling brought me here and I saw this post above.

The issue I always have with Kodi is buffering. I was hoping to see the 4k stick solved that issue but now I am not so sure.

My questions: Should I buy these two items? I am on wifi. I have a gaming PC wired in my basement which takes priority over Kodi. I have tried to snake an ethernet cable down there unsuccessfully in the past so I am just looking to see what my options are.

I will install the latest Kodi, this Leia or whatever it is and read more about this whitelisting but are there any other options to eliminate the buffering? OR should I just buy these 2 ethernet items and start drilling up my house? I do not have Gigabit internet available in my area.

Edit: I see amazon makes an Ethernet adapter as well. Is it safe to assume it is inferior to these others?
Buffering from what source? Your own local network or the internet?
(2018-11-20, 23:47)Maddnotez Wrote: [ -> ]
(2018-11-01, 06:39)wrxtasy Wrote: [ -> ]Micro USB Host OTG Cable with USB Power cable:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C452XFO/

UGreen USB3 > Gigabit Hub adapter: (I've seen these cheaper elsewhere)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LLUEJFU/
 I almost feel bad and underqualified for posting here. I will say upfront that I have no idea what 75% of the stuff in this thread is but I am seeking help/opinions.

I just bought my first 4k tv (TCL 55R617) so now I plan to buy the Firestick 4k. Some googling brought me here and I saw this post above.

The issue I always have with Kodi is buffering. I was hoping to see the 4k stick solved that issue but now I am not so sure.

My questions: Should I buy these two items? I am on wifi. I have a gaming PC wired in my basement which takes priority over Kodi. I have tried to snake an ethernet cable down there unsuccessfully in the past so I am just looking to see what my options are.

I will install the latest Kodi, this Leia or whatever it is and read more about this whitelisting but are there any other options to eliminate the buffering? OR should I just buy these 2 ethernet items and start drilling up my house? I do not have Gigabit internet available in my area.

Edit: I see amazon makes an Ethernet adapter as well. Is it safe to assume it is inferior to these others? 
i'm happy to try and help however there is so many different scenario's and you will also get different guidance from different people.

my take is that unless it's 5Mhz wireless and it's really close to the router then you should think about wired... I never trust wireless when running 1080p never mind 2160p so with that in mind, my advice.

- amazon ethernet adaptor not as good as the UGREEN one above.. I've tested!
- ensure you content is local
- store the content on a pc or nas
- connect the pc or nas to a gigabit switch
- connect the firestick 4k (with above adaptors) to the same gigabit switch
- use Leia latest BETA

- then most content will play and a few tweaks with settings will get you 100%..... Having a gaming rig and Kodi on a gig switch will not affect each other

Hope that helps a bit
(2018-11-21, 00:14)redroberts Wrote: [ -> ]
(2018-11-20, 23:47)Maddnotez Wrote: [ -> ]
(2018-11-01, 06:39)wrxtasy Wrote: [ -> ]Micro USB Host OTG Cable with USB Power cable:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C452XFO/

UGreen USB3 > Gigabit Hub adapter: (I've seen these cheaper elsewhere)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LLUEJFU/
 I almost feel bad and underqualified for posting here. I will say upfront that I have no idea what 75% of the stuff in this thread is but I am seeking help/opinions.

I just bought my first 4k tv (TCL 55R617) so now I plan to buy the Firestick 4k. Some googling brought me here and I saw this post above.

The issue I always have with Kodi is buffering. I was hoping to see the 4k stick solved that issue but now I am not so sure.

My questions: Should I buy these two items? I am on wifi. I have a gaming PC wired in my basement which takes priority over Kodi. I have tried to snake an ethernet cable down there unsuccessfully in the past so I am just looking to see what my options are.

I will install the latest Kodi, this Leia or whatever it is and read more about this whitelisting but are there any other options to eliminate the buffering? OR should I just buy these 2 ethernet items and start drilling up my house? I do not have Gigabit internet available in my area.

Edit: I see amazon makes an Ethernet adapter as well. Is it safe to assume it is inferior to these others?  
i'm happy to try and help however there is so many different scenario's and you will also get different guidance from different people.

my take is that unless it's 5Mhz wireless and it's really close to the router then you should think about wired... I never trust wireless when running 1080p never mind 2160p so with that in mind, my advice.

- amazon ethernet adaptor not as good as the UGREEN one above.. I've tested!
- ensure you content is local
- store the content on a pc or nas
- connect the pc or nas to a gigabit switch
- connect the firestick 4k (with above adaptors) to the same gigabit switch
- use Leia latest BETA

- then most content will play and a few tweaks with settings will get you 100%..... Having a gaming rig and Kodi on a gig switch will not affect each other

Hope that helps a bit 
It does and thanks for replying.

I just don't know what these mean:

- ensure you content is local
- store the content on a pc or nas
- connect the pc or nas to a gigabit switch - Edit I found what a gigabit switch is but still not sure what the other things mean.
Got my FTV Stick 4K today and did a few tests with Kodi 18 Beta 5. Wireless, streaming from my Synology NAS, best I can get is 50Mbps Birds & Jellyfish bitrate clips w/o stutters. However, wired, I can get the max available 400Mbps Jellyfish to play stutter-free. My AMLogic S912 LibreELEC box and nShield Shield TV both perform a lot better over wi-fi. I'm using Google Mesh wi-fi.

Wired is the way to go... I'm using this USB 3.0 hub.

Tested 1080p and 4K 23.976 and 59.94/60 video samples and movies, and it plays them perfectly. Proper framerate switching & HDR. Stick 4K is a bit faster than Pendant 4K.
(2018-11-21, 02:02)hdmkv Wrote: [ -> ]Tested 1080p and 4K 23.976 and 59.94/60 video samples and movies, and it plays them perfectly. Proper framerate switching & HDR. Stick 4K is a bit faster than Pendant 4K.

Confirming the Stick does Kodi Leia auto - Resolution Switching ?
@madnottez

Sorry for the messy way of responding but i am on my phone and not very user friendly but here goes:


- amazon ethernet adaptor not as good as the UGREEN one above.. I've tested!
- ensure you content is local
*** means you are streaming personal files from a PC or network attached storage (NAS) from inside your home connected to your home network or on a drive directly connected to the media streamer. Thats what local is as compared to over the internet streaming such as Netflix
- store the content on a pc or nas
**** see above. I suggest googling NAS. These are basically hard drives always on by themselves, without a PC and you can use them to share data over your network. Very useful, most medium to high end Kodi users use NAS drives or servers for personal media.
- connect the pc or nas to a gigabit switch
*** again i suggest googling. Ideal in your situation. If you have only one ethernet cable running from your router to the basement, you can use a switch. It can be described as an internet extention cord with more outlets just like a power strip. It gives you the flexibility of connecting more devices using ethernet.
- connect the firestick 4k (with above adaptors) to the same gigabit switch
** once you have a gigabit switch, you plug the firestick’s ethernet cord from the usb adapter to the switch so you have a hardwired connection.
- use Leia latest BETA
**** kodi has nightly test builds which are called beta versions. Not considered stabke but you can download them from the download page
(2018-11-21, 02:02)hdmkv Wrote: [ -> ]Got my FTV Stick 4K today and did a few tests with Kodi 18 Beta 5. Wireless, streaming from my Synology NAS, best I can get is 50Mbps Birds & Jellyfish bitrate clips w/o stutters. However, wired, I can get the max available 400Mbps Jellyfish to play stutter-free. My AMLogic S912 LibreELEC box and nShield Shield TV both perform a lot better over wi-fi. I'm using Google Mesh w-fi.

Wired is the way to go... I'm using this USB 3.0 hub.

Tested 1080p and 4K 23.976 and 59.94/60 video samples and movies, and it plays them perfectly. Proper framerate switching & HDR. Stick 4K is a bit faster than Pendant 4K.

Very interesting.. so the PQ HDR and SDR is comparable to say Shield or better (in kodi and other apps)?

Would you say this can be a good replacement for the shield?

I was about to pick one up at best buy myself but stopped short because i read some people were having issues with it. Sounds like you are not.

And of course the remote is a huge plus!!
Refresh rate switching, yes. Resolution switching, nope! Yes, PQ is comparable to Shield, and device is fairly snappy. And, agree remote is nice (is able to control my Yamaha RX-A3050).

Pics: https://imgur.com/a/7uCI76k
watch gallery
Resolution switching is working but there's currently a problem with 4K videos if you have any 1080p options whitelisted. It definitely switched to the correct resolution when I tested using 720p and 576i test files.
Yes resolution and refresh rate switching is working. It just lacks the power of the shield and wireless is so so.
@hdmkv
How dit you hook up that hub to your stick?
(2018-11-21, 02:02)hdmkv Wrote: [ -> ]However, wired, I can get the max available 400Mbps Jellyfish to play stutter-free. 
 I therefore feel cheated on my gig network the fastest file copy to an SMB share is 200 Mbps or 25 MB/s..... i'll test the same with the second firestick that should be arriving soon.
(2018-11-21, 02:02)hdmkv Wrote: [ -> ]Got my FTV Stick 4K today and did a few tests with Kodi 18 Beta 5. Wireless, streaming from my Synology NAS, best I can get is 50Mbps Birds & Jellyfish bitrate clips w/o stutters. However, wired, I can get the max available 400Mbps Jellyfish to play stutter-free. My AMLogic S912 LibreELEC box and nShield Shield TV both perform a lot better over wi-fi. I'm using Google Mesh w-fi.

Wired is the way to go... I'm using this USB 3.0 hub.

Tested 1080p and 4K 23.976 and 59.94/60 video samples and movies, and it plays them perfectly. Proper framerate switching & HDR. Stick 4K is a bit faster than Pendant 4K.
Thanks for the report. I've ordered two, should get them next week so I'll share my experience two. I'm going to use USB 3.0 hub that looks just like yours, just with different brand (Unitek Y-3045). Both are based on AX88179 chip.[href^="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/external-search?"]
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So I bought the new Fire Stick 4K a couple of days ago and set it up last night.  I'm very impressed with the speed of it compared to an old Android box I've been using upstairs but I have one small issue and that's audio sync in Kodi.

I'm using Wifi but I've run a speedtest and it's good enough for what I'm doing and I'm not getting any buffering or anything like that.  Just that all audio is a little out of sync.

I have a Shield downstairs and that is fine.

Should I be using Leia rather than Krypton with it?  Is that likely to help me?

Cheers.