2017 - Amazon 4K HDR Fire TV for $69.99
#31
(2017-10-26, 02:58)wesk05 Wrote: 6) There is the reported HDR issue which Amazon is already blaming on the AVRs. (I personally think that this is a Amlogic bug which has been reported on some of the older SDK firmwares). I know what is happening here. You could say that this is the fault of AVRs. When BT.2020 color space is enabled, it is also sending the Dynamic Range and Mastering InfoFrame with "Traditional Gamma - SDR Luminance" data type. This is likely confusing the AVRs. I haven't seen this with other media players, but this is actually within CTA 861-F/G specs.

Do Amazon/Netflix master SDR UHD content in Rec2020 SDR - if so that makes sense.  Ditto if they are mastering SDR UHD in 709 space and the Amazon Fire TV is doing a 2020 to 709 conversion (is that non-trivial?) and generating SDR UHD Rec 2020?  You'd expect SDR Rec 2020 to be flagged SDR / Traditional Gamma woudn't you?   (Rec 2020 itself is not a purely HDR standard is it - the HDR OETF and EOTFs are separately defined ITU Rec 2100?)

What is the issue that AVRs are having ?
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#32
(2017-10-26, 03:54)wrxtasy Wrote: Reading the review the Amazon main screen GUI even pushes unwanted advertising to users. Sad

I have two for PSVue... and even the older models do this. I hate the amazon ecosystem.
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#33
I would like to sound in defense of the new device.  One important feature for this device is low(er) cost HEVC or H.265 hardware decoding.  The H.265 was announced fro fire stick 2, but it never worked right in Kodi or elsewhere.  The only amazon device so far that supported HEVC was fire tv 2, but it is $89.  This device is a cheaper alternative to fire tv 2 that supports HEVC.  I would not call it fire tv 3, but instead fire stick 3. Under SPMC DD,DD+ and DTS work fine. Bitsreaming did not work, oh well.  I am also surprised that auto resolution switch is not implemented.  But none of these features worked well on the stick anyways.

Another useful feature is that now one can use this device with computer monitors.  Computer monitors traditionally are set up to expect full range RGB (0-255).  Both fire TV 1,2 and sticks 1,2 output limited RGB (16-235), resulting in washed out picture when used with most computer monitors.  The new device outputs full range color (0-255) when set to YCbCr.
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#34
1080p HEVC works fine for me in kodi 17 with a fire stick 2. Not sure what you are talking about? 


If the file is resized a certain way, you can get a green bar at the bottom, but most everything else works fine.
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#35
(2017-10-26, 17:22)honcho Wrote: 1080p HEVC works fine for me in kodi 17 with a fire stick 2. Not sure what you are talking about? 


If the file is resized a certain way, you can get a green bar at the bottom, but most everything else works fine.

I could not get 25fps x.265 1920x1080 file to play in Kodi 16, 17 or SPMC or MrMC on fire stick2.  Plays audio with blank gray screen video.  24p HEVC works for fire stick 2. 

Same file works fine on FTV2.
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#36
(2017-10-26, 05:28)wrxtasy Wrote: Android recovery, in the absence of a Reset Button on AMLogic Hardware can be booted into by using a Android Terminal App and issuing a "reboot recovery"
Similarly a "reboot update" can initiate LibreELEC initial installs from a USB stick.

This is all convoluted because this thing has only a micro USB connector which is also the power connector. You can install a terminal app, but the remote doesn't bring up any keyboard to type in the app. I will have to search for my micro USB hub. It has to be there somewhere in the house Smile

I did adb reboot recovery and this is the screen that I got.

Image
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#37
(2017-10-26, 10:12)noggin Wrote: Do Amazon/Netflix master SDR UHD content in Rec2020 SDR - if so that makes sense.  Ditto if they are mastering SDR UHD in 709 space and the Amazon Fire TV is doing a 2020 to 709 conversion (is that non-trivial?) and generating SDR UHD Rec 2020? You'd expect SDR Rec 2020 to be flagged SDR / Traditional Gamma woudn't you?   (Rec 2020 itself is not a purely HDR standard is it - the HDR OETF and EOTFs are separately defined ITU Rec 2100?) What is the issue that AVRs are having ?
From Netflix original content delivery specifications, it isn't clear. It mentions Rec. 709  and Dolby Vision SMPTE ST 2067-21 workflows. Dolby Vision has to be in P3 D65. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B37xotB...Nwcmc/view)
Amlogic Nougat code does have Rec. 2020 <-->Rec. 709 and HDR <--> SDR conversion algorithms. 
Yes, CTA 861-F/G standard allows you to specify the EOTF to be used. It can be 1) traditional gamma - SDR luminance range, 2) traditional gamma - HDR luminance range 3) SMPTE ST 2084 (PQ) or 4) HLG (with BT.2100). This is independent of the colorimetry (as per the standard).
The issue with with some AVRs (Denon/Sony/Samsung reported so far) is that once ST 2084 EOTF is activated, the AVRs cannot go back to the SDR EOTF mode. They get stuck and keep sending the HDR10 metadata of the last HDR video that was played. This is not how it is implemented on other Amlogic devices (including MINIX U9H). They use the Dynamic Range and Mastering Infoframe only for HDR videos.
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#38
I'm no expert, but I got this new Fire TV yesterday. Running ARMv7a release. H.265 HEVC 1280x528 24FPS does not play smoothly at all. I'll be sending this back and try to find another FIre TV 2nd gen as it plays all videos fine. Plus the unit gets hot as a firecracker. Wish DTV Now would offer something for Shield. I may keep it just cuz its cheap and plays DTV now but this is not a step forward if you have an H265 library like I do. Definitely a step back.
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#39
the new 4k hdr fire tv is showing 1.39gb instead of 2gb in system info, even in fire os debug mode shows it at 1.39gb.

kodi at 4k with this fire tv runs at 18fps, if you want to get better results then change it to 1080p in the fire tv display settings, then it'll run at 60fps.

4k and hdr seems to run fine with amazon video so my guess is either kodi is not optimized for the new fire tv cpu/gpu or the fire tv is not optimized for 3rd party apps like kodi for 4k. the performance of this fire tv is between the 1st gen and the 2nd, this should be the fire tv 1.5.

anyone else can confirm this or having these issues.
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#40
I'm having the same problems with 4k too, stock 4k apps work fine but watching any 4k content in kodi, using different sources, results in lag with audio and stuttering in video. Image quality looks great but without it being smooth makes it pointless. Think this new fire TV might be fixed with an update or should I return it while I can? I really only bought it for 4k kodi. I have 4k apps on my TV that work fine. I have several firesticks that work great, pretty disappointed in performance with this new fire TV. Glad I found this thread, I was going crazy trying to get the settings just right trying to fix it.
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#41
Does the 2017 Fire TV or the Xiaomi Mi Box have a built in Ethernet port ?
Is there a Kodi Logo on either box's packaging ?
They are virtually the same hardware internally.

Both boxes are designed to stream relative low bitrate 4K video with DRM Apps over N or AC WiFi and that is about it.
If Amazon or Xiaomi wanted you to stream high bitrate 4K Kodi they would have included an Ethernet port at the very least and tested 4K Kodi video playback.

No one should be buying either device for 4K Kodi video playback period - that is definitely not what they are for at all.
Return it and get an AMLogic S912 device and run LibreELEC Kodi Krypton - where 4K HDR Kodi video playback actually works properly with auto everything. S912's will also be faster Kodi boxes when used with a Wireless remote.

A Firmware update will very likely NOT fix 4K Kodi problems with the 2017 FireTV.
Amazon are not interested in bug busting for improved Kodi compatibility at all.

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#42
my 2nd gen fire tv will stream a 60gb movie 4k via wifi (ethernet is too slow at 100 it's the same with the optional for the new fire tv) The new fire tv will not stream the same file via wifi or the optional ethernet adapter buffers over and over. They should have named this the fire stick 3. the 2nd gen fire tv is better. i would return it, if 4k is why you bought it. I ended up getting the shield tv last week does everything and DTS-HD TrueHD audio 1gb ethernet also.
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#43
(2017-10-27, 04:04)wesk05 Wrote:
(2017-10-26, 05:28)wrxtasy Wrote: Android recovery, in the absence of a Reset Button on AMLogic Hardware can be booted into by using a Android Terminal App and issuing a "reboot recovery"
Similarly a "reboot update" can initiate LibreELEC initial installs from a USB stick.

This is all convoluted because this thing has only a micro USB connector which is also the power connector. You can install a terminal app, but the remote doesn't bring up any keyboard to type in the app. I will have to search for my micro USB hub. It has to be there somewhere in the house Smile

I did adb reboot recovery and this is the screen that I got.

Image

Have you tried this app; Reboot to LibreELEC ?
I am also interested in knowing if this will work?
Failures always have an excuse, the most common one being; "It's somebody else's fault."
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#44
Can someone with the new Fire TV test if it is doing amlogic deinterlacing when using SPMC or Kodi 17/18? Maybe this is known already and someone can comment on that.

Thanx for any info Smile
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#45
(2017-11-03, 11:45)wrxtasy Wrote: Does the 2017 Fire TV or the Xiaomi Mi Box have a built in Ethernet port ?
Is there a Kodi Logo on either box's packaging ?
They are virtually the same hardware internally.

Both boxes are designed to stream relative low bitrate 4K video with DRM Apps over N or AC WiFi and that is about it.
If Amazon or Xiaomi wanted you to stream high bitrate 4K Kodi they would have included an Ethernet port at the very least and tested 4K Kodi video playback.

No one should be buying either device for 4K Kodi video playback period - that is definitely not what they are for at all.
Return it and get an AMLogic S912 device and run LibreELEC Kodi Krypton - where 4K HDR Kodi video playback actually works properly with auto everything. S912's will also be faster Kodi boxes when used with a Wireless remote.

A Firmware update will very likely NOT fix 4K Kodi problems with the 2017 FireTV.
Amazon are not interested in bug busting for improved Kodi compatibility at all.
To be fair - Amazon do sell an Ethernet adaptor as an optional extra and quite prominently advertise it.  (It plugs into the Micro USB power port and then passes through power.  Not a million miles away from the approach Google took with Chromecast - though they integrated into the PSU)
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2017 - Amazon 4K HDR Fire TV for $69.991