• 1
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90(current)
  • 91
  • 92
  • 119
2018 - Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K
Hi,

Venturing into using my Firestick for Kodi for the first time, but can't see the fritschfiretv in the download page. I'm sure I saw it a few days ago but seems to have gone! Am I being blind?
Reply
No you aren't it's rotated. I will also focus on v19 now, therefore if you find it somewhere, great - if not -> forward it goes.
First decide what functions / features you expect from a system. Then decide for the hardware. Don't waste your money on crap.
Reply
(2020-12-04, 07:24)crawfish Wrote:
(2020-12-04, 05:25)krugz101 Wrote: I just turned off passthrough in Kodi, I still seem to get dolby digital + on almost everything I use it for and this doesn't affect the sound on other apps I use on the firestick. Let's hope a fix gets found soon cause this greatly dimishes the value of the stick for me...

Please see the ETA I just added to my message before yours. My problem at least seems to have magically solved itself.
I tried numerous restarts and power cycles but it didn't change anything for me. Audio passthrough still gives me no sound at all, the receiver doesn't seem to receive anything soundwise... The only thing I can see is that you are on Matrix beta 1 and I'm on 18.9, maybe I'll try installing the beta version to see if that works...
Reply
(2020-12-04, 23:31)krugz101 Wrote:
(2020-12-04, 07:24)crawfish Wrote:
(2020-12-04, 05:25)krugz101 Wrote: I just turned off passthrough in Kodi, I still seem to get dolby digital + on almost everything I use it for and this doesn't affect the sound on other apps I use on the firestick. Let's hope a fix gets found soon cause this greatly dimishes the value of the stick for me...

Please see the ETA I just added to my message before yours. My problem at least seems to have magically solved itself.
I tried numerous restarts and power cycles but it didn't change anything for me. Audio passthrough still gives me no sound at all, the receiver doesn't seem to receive anything soundwise... The only thing I can see is that you are on Matrix beta 1 and I'm on 18.9, maybe I'll try installing the beta version to see if that works...

Tried installating Matrix beta 1 and it's half a fix, if I choose AudioTrack(IEC), Kodi IEC packer as the passthrough outpout device, I get basically the same result as 18.9 no sound at all on most files and pcm on some. But if I choose AudioTrack(RAW), Android IEC packer then passthrough works fine with AC3 and E-AC3 files but is very buggy with dts and dts-hd ma files I either get pcm after a while or the firestick reboots... Well at least I can have passthrough working on AC3 and E-AC3.
Reply
(2020-12-04, 16:23)ADringer Wrote: Hi,

Venturing into using my Firestick for Kodi for the first time, but can't see the fritschfiretv in the download page. I'm sure I saw it a few days ago but seems to have gone! Am I being blind?

Some mirrors have longer retention than others.

https://kodi.mirror.liteserver.nl/test-b...droid/arm/

http://ftp.igh.cnrs.fr/pub/xbmc/xbmc/tes...droid/arm/
TV: Sony XBR-65X950G  A/V Receiver: Denon AVR-X3600H (Atmos 5.2.4)  UHD: Panasonic DP-UB820  BD: Sony BDP-S6200 (Region Free)
Media Players: 2019 Nvidia SHIELD TV Pro, 2015 Nvidia SHIELD TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max, S905X3 CoreELEC Device
Reply
(2020-12-05, 01:20)krugz101 Wrote:
(2020-12-04, 23:31)krugz101 Wrote:
(2020-12-04, 07:24)crawfish Wrote: Please see the ETA I just added to my message before yours. My problem at least seems to have magically solved itself.
I tried numerous restarts and power cycles but it didn't change anything for me. Audio passthrough still gives me no sound at all, the receiver doesn't seem to receive anything soundwise... The only thing I can see is that you are on Matrix beta 1 and I'm on 18.9, maybe I'll try installing the beta version to see if that works...

Tried installating Matrix beta 1 and it's half a fix, if I choose AudioTrack(IEC), Kodi IEC packer as the passthrough outpout device, I get basically the same result as 18.9 no sound at all on most files and pcm on some. But if I choose AudioTrack(RAW), Android IEC packer then passthrough works fine with AC3 and E-AC3 files but is very buggy with dts and dts-hd ma files I either get pcm after a while or the firestick reboots... Well at least I can have passthrough working on AC3 and E-AC3.
These reports make it sound like Kodi needs to completely overhaul the playback backend to keep up with the latest Android media developments.
Reply
(2020-12-05, 09:57)Kodroid Wrote:
(2020-12-05, 01:20)krugz101 Wrote:
(2020-12-04, 23:31)krugz101 Wrote: I tried numerous restarts and power cycles but it didn't change anything for me. Audio passthrough still gives me no sound at all, the receiver doesn't seem to receive anything soundwise... The only thing I can see is that you are on Matrix beta 1 and I'm on 18.9, maybe I'll try installing the beta version to see if that works...

Tried installating Matrix beta 1 and it's half a fix, if I choose AudioTrack(IEC), Kodi IEC packer as the passthrough outpout device, I get basically the same result as 18.9 no sound at all on most files and pcm on some. But if I choose AudioTrack(RAW), Android IEC packer then passthrough works fine with AC3 and E-AC3 files but is very buggy with dts and dts-hd ma files I either get pcm after a while or the firestick reboots... Well at least I can have passthrough working on AC3 and E-AC3.
These reports make it sound like Kodi needs to completely overhaul the playback backend to keep up with the latest Android media developments.

I think that may not quite be the case.  Amazon Fire OS is a fork of Android - and Amazon seem to frequently change the way they implement stuff in their own way (rather than following all the Android API standards). There are established standards for bit streaming in Android I believe, but Amazon aren't implementing them consistently (if at all?)

Other Android platforms and Android TV platforms - such as the nVidia Shield TV - are bitstreaming all flavours of audio (DD/AC3, DD+/E-AC3, DTS, DTS HD MA, DTS HD HRA, Dolby True HD, DTS:x and DD+/Dolby True HD with Atmos extensions) with no issues.

@fritsch has worked incredibly hard, with others, to deliver the best results possible with Fire OS - but he can't change what Amazon does.

Bottom line seems to be that Amazon are really only interested in supporting PCM stereo and DD+ output from their devices. (Possibly also DD legacy)
Reply
(2020-12-05, 10:55)noggin Wrote: I think that may not quite be the case.  Amazon Fire OS is a fork of Android - and Amazon seem to frequently change the way they implement stuff in their own way (rather than following all the Android API standards). There are established standards for bit streaming in Android I believe, but Amazon aren't implementing them consistently (if at all?)
They seem consistent with their fork of Exoplayer, though.

We may have to look into that for the future of Kodi playback.
Reply
(2020-12-05, 10:55)noggin Wrote:
(2020-12-05, 09:57)Kodroid Wrote:
(2020-12-05, 01:20)krugz101 Wrote: Tried installating Matrix beta 1 and it's half a fix, if I choose AudioTrack(IEC), Kodi IEC packer as the passthrough outpout device, I get basically the same result as 18.9 no sound at all on most files and pcm on some. But if I choose AudioTrack(RAW), Android IEC packer then passthrough works fine with AC3 and E-AC3 files but is very buggy with dts and dts-hd ma files I either get pcm after a while or the firestick reboots... Well at least I can have passthrough working on AC3 and E-AC3.
These reports make it sound like Kodi needs to completely overhaul the playback backend to keep up with the latest Android media developments.



Other Android platforms and Android TV platforms - such as the nVidia Shield TV - are bitstreaming all flavours of audio (DD/AC3, DD+/E-AC3, DTS, DTS HD MA, DTS HD HRA, Dolby True HD, DTS:x and DD+/Dolby True HD with Atmos extensions) with no issues.

Actually, nVidia Shield TV is the ONLY android tv device with such capabilities. Hard to say it's the standard.
Reply
(2020-12-04, 07:24)crawfish Wrote: Please see the ETA I just added to my message before yours. My problem at least seems to have magically solved itself.

Spoke too soon! Another day with this Amazon 6.2.7.7 release, and funky new behavior has resumed.
 
  1. I switched my Pioneer VSX-1124 to the stick and found it in the Amazon UI, on the home page. As I've disabled sleep and leave it on Kodi, this only happens if the stick has rebooted since I last used it, or, perhaps, if Kodi has crashed. In any event, my AVR reports "Stereo."
  2. I started Kodi, and the AVR says Dolby Digital Plus, which is the first time I've seen this. Everything is transcoded to DD+, despite Kodi being set to Fixed 7.1. When I went into Kodi audio settings, the Output device was grayed out and set to "AudioTrack (RAW), Android IEC packer," whereas before, I had the option of "AudioTrack (IEC), Kodi IEC packer (recommended)", which is what I had set it to.
  3. I exited Kodi using its Power button, and when I loaded the app again, AVR said PCM 7.1. When I went to Kodi audio settings, they hadn't changed, but the "recommended" option was again available, and I selected it. Everything now plays in PCM 7.1.
  4. While I was typing this and viewing the Kodi audio settings for maybe 30 seconds, the stick spontaneously rebooted. After it was finished, I immediately restarted Kodi, the AVR said PCM 7.1, and the Kodi audio output device was still "recommended." Looked fine, but after rebooting the stick again, I found things were back in the DD+ loop.

This is not working stably. I'm going to try changing the stick's Surround Sound option from "Best Available" to "Always PCM" and see if that helps. After doing that, I found that Kodi switched back to "AudioTrack (RAW), Android IEC packer," and "recommended" is no longer available. I don't know the significance of that, but it seems to work fine for my desired Fixed 7.1 output. Hope this configuration is stable.
Reply
(2020-12-05, 14:22)crawfish Wrote: This is not working stably. I'm going to try changing the stick's Surround Sound option from "Best Available" to "Always PCM" and see if that helps. After doing that, I found that Kodi switched back to "AudioTrack (RAW), Android IEC packer," and "recommended" is no longer available. I don't know the significance of that, but it seems to work fine for my desired Fixed 7.1 output. Hope this configuration is stable.

That didn't help the stability. I left Kodi on its home screen overnight, and when I switched to the stick just now, it was back on the Amazon home screen. The Android uptime is over a day, so the stick didn't reboot. When I loaded Kodi, it overwrote the log file, and the previous log file didn't indicate it had shut down. So I'm thinking Kodi crashed, like it did when I was simply viewing Audio settings while writing step (4) in my prior message. It would seem Matrix beta 1 hates this Amazon 6.2.7.7 release.

ETA: I guess the stick could no longer be respecting sleep_timeout set to zero (which it still is) and is automatically closing Kodi. But if that were happening, would Kodi load its bootup "Matrix" image and overwrite the log file? I've left the stick on another app and will check after another day or so.
Reply
Sorry for the questions, but having an issue.

So to make use of Kodi on the FireStick I bought a new Asus ac86 router so I could plug in my WD Elements HD into the USB3 port to use as a NAS.

I've bought the ethernet adapter mentioned in the first page and set this all up Friday night. I have it a quick test using Lord Of The Rings 4k and watched it for 15 minutes without any issues.

I've come back this evening to watch something and now it seems like the network speed is pretty much non existent. 4k videos start and then buffer after a few seconds and then buffers for about a minute before continuing. 1080p plays longer before buffering but does still happen.

I've tried rebooting both FireStick and router, and disabled WiFi on the router to make sure nothing else was hogging the network (it was the only thing plugged in) but no luck.

Doing fast.com comes back with 200mbps and I've tried Kodi on my mobile over WiFi and it plays the 4k video fine from the same NAS.

I know this probably could be any number of things, but is there anything that could cause a network speed issue with Kodi/FireStick without any obvious changes?

Thanks
Reply
(2020-12-06, 23:23)ADringer Wrote: Sorry for the questions, but having an issue.

So to make use of Kodi on the FireStick I bought a new Asus ac86 router so I could plug in my WD Elements HD into the USB3 port to use as a NAS.

I've bought the ethernet adapter mentioned in the first page and set this all up Friday night. I have it a quick test using Lord Of The Rings 4k and watched it for 15 minutes without any issues.

I've come back this evening to watch something and now it seems like the network speed is pretty much non existent. 4k videos start and then buffer after a few seconds and then buffers for about a minute before continuing. 1080p plays longer before buffering but does still happen.

I've tried rebooting both FireStick and router, and disabled WiFi on the router to make sure nothing else was hogging the network (it was the only thing plugged in) but no luck.

Doing fast.com comes back with 200mbps and I've tried Kodi on my mobile over WiFi and it plays the 4k video fine from the same NAS.

I know this probably could be any number of things, but is there anything that could cause a network speed issue with Kodi/FireStick without any obvious changes?

Thanks
Sorry, can't edit my post yet so posting an update here.

So I've been doing a bit of testing to try and narrow down the issue. Watching the network traffic for the Firestick showed that Kodi was trying to stream the video at something small like 2Mbps which obviously isn't fast enough 4k streams. The Firestick network speed does go a lot higher than this when I did fast.com test or Netflix.

Based on this I thought I'd test out the USB HDD on the router to see if that is the issue. I can run Kodi fine on my laptop streaming via wifi using the USB HDD, so this wasn't the issue.

I have got Plex configured so tried that on the Firestick pointing to the same USB HDD. This played the streams fine. Note that Plex Server reported it as 'Direct Stream' so I guess it was streamed full size? 

I then tried Kodi on the Firestick unplugged from the network and used wifi instead. This now worked fine, so by this point thought it must be something to do with the connection.

Plugged the cable back in and is now streaming fine using ethernet, so not sure what the issue was! Is there anything in Kodi that could limit the bandwidth of a hardwired connection? I had previously unplugged the cable to test in my laptop, but hadn't switch to wifi and back again which seems to have kicked it into life.
Reply
(2020-12-07, 15:33)ADringer Wrote:
(2020-12-06, 23:23)ADringer Wrote: Sorry for the questions, but having an issue.

So to make use of Kodi on the FireStick I bought a new Asus ac86 router so I could plug in my WD Elements HD into the USB3 port to use as a NAS.

I've bought the ethernet adapter mentioned in the first page and set this all up Friday night. I have it a quick test using Lord Of The Rings 4k and watched it for 15 minutes without any issues.

I've come back this evening to watch something and now it seems like the network speed is pretty much non existent. 4k videos start and then buffer after a few seconds and then buffers for about a minute before continuing. 1080p plays longer before buffering but does still happen.

I've tried rebooting both FireStick and router, and disabled WiFi on the router to make sure nothing else was hogging the network (it was the only thing plugged in) but no luck.

Doing fast.com comes back with 200mbps and I've tried Kodi on my mobile over WiFi and it plays the 4k video fine from the same NAS.

I know this probably could be any number of things, but is there anything that could cause a network speed issue with Kodi/FireStick without any obvious changes?

Thanks
Sorry, can't edit my post yet so posting an update here.

So I've been doing a bit of testing to try and narrow down the issue. Watching the network traffic for the Firestick showed that Kodi was trying to stream the video at something small like 2Mbps which obviously isn't fast enough 4k streams. The Firestick network speed does go a lot higher than this when I did fast.com test or Netflix.

Based on this I thought I'd test out the USB HDD on the router to see if that is the issue. I can run Kodi fine on my laptop streaming via wifi using the USB HDD, so this wasn't the issue.

I have got Plex configured so tried that on the Firestick pointing to the same USB HDD. This played the streams fine. Note that Plex Server reported it as 'Direct Stream' so I guess it was streamed full size? 

I then tried Kodi on the Firestick unplugged from the network and used wifi instead. This now worked fine, so by this point thought it must be something to do with the connection.

Plugged the cable back in and is now streaming fine using ethernet, so not sure what the issue was! Is there anything in Kodi that could limit the bandwidth of a hardwired connection? I had previously unplugged the cable to test in my laptop, but hadn't switch to wifi and back again which seems to have kicked it into life.

Spoke too soon, has started happening again when wired. It seems to be related to when I import the files to the library, it seems to slow down all of kodi generally it seems (I only have 5 movies at the moment though). Again tested through Plex and it can play it fine, so must be a Kodi issue?
Reply
Like others I can't get 5.1 to work with FireOS 6.2.7.6 or 6.2.7.7. It's always downmixed to 2.0.

It's a risk with a device like this that auto-updates (unless you block updates somehow) - updates rarely make things better, but they can make things worse.
Reply
  • 1
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90(current)
  • 91
  • 92
  • 119

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
2018 - Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K3