[wrxtasy]

Updated November 2020.

Kodi Fire TV users should be using the latest fritschfiretv Kodi builds, found HERE (click)

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I think this is worth talking about, especially with the great, chipset Tech it is packaging...

Amazon are releasing their new 2019 FireTV Cube, this time including the most powerful chipset in the AMLogic lineup - the S922Z - which includes a Neural co-processor for much faster, local voice recognition / control and also supports all the latest HDR technologies including HLG, DolbyVision and HDR10+

Android TV benchmarks compared to every Fire TV — 2020 Chromecast, Shield TV, Tivo Stream 4K, and Mi Box (click)

The underlying AMlogic v4.9 Linux Kernel should also support all manner of USB3 > Gigabit Ethernet adapters like the ASIX chipset ones.



Traditional strengths with recent 4K Amazon FireTV devices are:

• Bang for the buck is usually fantastic, especially when devices are on discount sale
  
• Reliable auto switching color spaces for SDR / HDR / DV
  
• the underlying OS is Android v9.0, which Amazon modify and optimise and call it FireOS
  
• Ongoing bug busting Firmware updates from a massive, major Tech company.
  
• *
  
• Properly implemented Dolby Audio Licensing to support older audio systems not capable of EAC3/DD+
  
• (this is not supported on the older 2015/2017 Nvidia Shield)
  
• lossy DD+/Atmos for various copy protected video streaming Apps.
  
• *
  
• The best Wireless remotes in the business
  
• better upscaled picture output quality for non 4K content vs the 2015/2017 Nvidia Shield, simply due to the more modern GPU.
  
• better Apps support for auto Frame Rate matching vs any Android TV devices.
  
• *
  
• a better, App ecoSystem vs the competing Android TV devices, like...
  
• 4K HDR YouTube
  
• an Apple TV App
  

What is supported in Kodi:

• auto Frame Rate Matching.
  
• auto Colorspace Switching
  
• VC-1 Bluray Rips playback properly, see HERE (click)
  
• *
  
• lossy 5.1 DD, DD+, DTS, DD+/Atmos audio support Confirmed HERE (click)
  
• Multichannel (7.1) HD audio decoding is supported and output as lossless LPCM, see HERE (click) for details.
  
• HDR to SDR Tone Mapping
  

Weaknesses for demanding 4K Kodi usage:

• Having to sideload Kodi (many guides, easily done)
  
• No Gigabit Ethernet included, a (Ugreen) USB3 > Gigabit USB Hub adapter would need to be used.
  
• No NTFS formatted hard drive support. FAT32 only.
  
• *
  
• No HD audio passthrough so no Dolby TrueHD/Atmos from Bluray Rips.
  
• an in your face Amazon FireOS user interface, that includes advertising. It really needs an GUI refresh as well.
  

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2019 Amazon FireTV Cube (click)

• SoC - AMLogic S922Z
  
• CPU - ARM A73 Quad Core @ 2.2GHz + Dual Core ARM A53 @ 1.8 GHz
  
• GPU - ARM Mali-G52 MP6
  
• RAM - 2GB of DDR4
  
• Storage - 16GB of eMMC 5.1 Flash
  
• Netflix Approved inc. legit DRM
  
• SoC licensing for DolbyVision & Dolby Audio.
  
• WiFi - Dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi supports 2x2 MIMO 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
  
• Bluetooth 5.0 + LE
  
• Ethernet, includes an Amazon Ethernet adapter, it's 100Mbit only.
  
• 1 x micro USB
  
• HDMI 2.1
  
• Amazon Alexa Built in with 8 microphones.
  
• Built-in 1.6'' (40 mm) speaker
  
• Wired Infra Red, extension cable support.
  

W.

[m.r.f.]

- better Apps support for auto Frame Rate matching vs any Android TV devices.

FireOS not work to.
Netflix in Fire TV Stick 4k no have auto Frame Rate matching.

[hdmkv]

Think I'm sticking w/Stick 4K, at least until they release an updated stick or box version w/S922 w/o Echo built-in.

Hoping we'll see Elias Saba's (formerly of aftvnews.com) influence as product manager w/the Fire TV team at Amazon at some point soon.

[wrxtasy]

Hoping we'll see Elias Saba's (formerly of aftvnews.com) influence as product manager w/the Fire TV team at Amazon at some point soon.

Yes I saw that and thought it was a VERY smart move by the FireTV guys to employ a knowledgable User centric guy.

The Big advantage Amazon and Apple have with their media player hardware and ecoSystems is lack of device fragmentation which leads to tighter, more consistent, OS, Firmware and App implementations.

Proper (Dolby) licencing also helps a lot as well for end users, especially those with older audio systems or those using ARC audio setups.

[lightsout]

Too bad you can't flash these with a different rom. Or even a different launcher would be sweet. The UI is bad. Hardware sounds great, at least in the video department. Audio seems to be lacking. Strange that they went for a more expensive box type but still left out HD audio. I get it on a cheap stick. But these should have it.

[DarrenHill]

There are ways to change the launcher on the sticks (not 100% perfect, but usable), so I'd be surprised if something similar doesn't migrate to the cube as well if it gains enough traction to be worthwhile to the authors. That is presuming the existing ways on the stick don't work already on the cube.

[88keyz]

The new 2019 Cube has been out almost a week now and no feedback yet on Kodi performance or issues.  Anyone out there with the new Cube care to chime in with your experiences with Kodi so far?  What bitstreaming formats work?  Multichannel PCM?  Audio sync issues?  Interlaced video playback performance?  Frame-rate matching issues?  Wi-Fi performance?  Or whatever other thoughts you care to share with us.

[jaxter]

Watched a review of this yesterday and was impressed, although i assumed that because it can do Atmos  it would be able to bitstream all formats, e.g DTS X, i think if this was a definite id order immediately

[wrxtasy]

Watched a review of this yesterday and was impressed, although i assumed that because it can do Atmos  it would be able to bitstream all formats, e.g DTS X, i think if this was a definite id order immediately

I know the underlying v4.9 Linux Kernel and AMLogic specific Android 9.0 Firmware pretty well that this 2019 Cube will be running on.

There is NO - IEC61937 - audio support for Kodi Leia HD audio passthrough or lossless TrueHD/Atmos audio in that 9.0 Firmware.

This is all you will get (click)

YES for - Lossy audio - support for DD, DD+ and DTS
YES for - Lossy DD+/Atmos - from copy protected video streaming services, however the very picky Netflix service might not support this.

[jaxter]

Watched a review of this yesterday and was impressed, although i assumed that because it can do Atmos  it would be able to bitstream all formats, e.g DTS X, i think if this was a definite id order immediately

I know the underlying v4.9 Linux Kernel and AMLogic specific Android 9.0 Firmware pretty well that this 2019 Cube will be running on.

There is NO - IEC61937 - audio support for Kodi Leia HD audio passthrough or lossless TrueHD/Atmos audio in that 9.0 Firmware.

This is all you will get (click)

YES for - Lossy audio - support for DD, DD+ and DTS
YES for - Lossy DD+/Atmos - from copy protected video streaming services, however the very picky Netflix service might not support this. 

Thats a real shame seems like it would of been a killer box had it included this ability, for me its gone from instabuy to ill get one if i spot a 2nd hand bargain.

[zenji2010]

Hi,
Can anyone report that Kodi runs as expected on this box?

May be interested in getting one if it does ....

Cheers.

[Nimbus000]

Hi,
Can anyone report that Kodi runs as expected on this box?

May be interested in getting one if it does ....

Cheers.

Not very knowledgable with Kodi but got the *bleep* on the fire tv cube and it runs very smoothly.

Is it possible to get Atmos content from Kodi? Is so if anyone could share the settings that would be Great.

Only getting 7.1 audio from 4K movies that claim to have Atmos soundtracks.
(Using *bleep* and playing with various Addons)

can anyone also recommend the best movie Addon for 4K to use with *bleep* ?

* Edits done by moderator

[Klojum]

can anyone also recommend the best movie Addon

Do not ask around for Kodi add-ons that facilitate video piracy.

Read (again) the forum rules (wiki) you have accepted during your forum registration.

[axbmcuser]

Is someone able to test the Fire TV Cube regarding the infamous vc-1 stutter the Fire TV Stick 4k suffers from? (while only using about 50% cpu)
Thanks!

[fritsch]

I am curious if someone could test my forceraw build on this device to see if it supports dts-hd / truehd via this "alternative" method. Just building it, will result here: http://mirrors.kodi.tv/test-builds/android/arm/ with forceraw in name. Curious.