Amazon Firestick 4K Max for Surround Music

[HomerJAU]

New version of the Kodi Install zip file is now uploaded (updated Kodi v21 Omega for Android t support 24 bit audio and 4 channel quad playback, updated advancedsettings.xml)

Get the 'How To' pdf doc here (with a link the the zip file):
https://reva.blob.core.windows.net/kodimods/How To - Kodi on FireTV.pdf
This is where the latest Kodi v21 Omega nightly builds are posted by the Kodi dev team (for future reference):
https://mirrors.kodi.tv/nightlies/android/arm/master/
Today's build - the one dated 2024-Jan-23 03:04 is in my zip above - Only builds from today onward support 24bit multichannel audio on FTV 4K Max 2nd Gen**. If your FTV is older it may not play 24 bit audio (no testing data yet)

** For clarity: No recent past Kodi Android release will play 24 bit multichannel PCM (FLAC or WAV) audio other than the Nvidia Shield Pro - This and future Kodi Android builds on modern Android devices will play 24 bit PCM with a new Kodi advanced setting: allowmultichannelfloat=true: See the Audio section on this page:
https://kodi.wiki/view/Advancedsettings.xml
That new setting above is preset to 'True' in the advancedsetting.xml file included in my zip file (i.e Force 24 bit PCM output on the FTV 4K Max Gen2)

Garry

 

[MrSmithers]

More news after deep diving into Android audio support MPEG-H 3D in Kodi Android

The FTV 4K Max 2nd Gen (current) is Android 11 which uses API version 30.

We need API 31 to do MPEG-H 3D (Android 12), so I'm going to stop further work on getting Kodi to passthrough MPEG-H until there is an FTV firmware update to Android 12 or a new FTV is released with Android 12.

(The modified Amazon Music player does play MPEG-H, maybe I should at that to see what they did...)

Bummer, the Chromecast HD is on Android 12 API Level 31. Weird that Amazon didn't update with the new devices...

 

[HomerJAU]

Thanks Will. I never checked the API level on the FTV, only an Android version listing I found (Android version vs API Level). I thought it strange the FTV and play MPEG-H on level 30. I’ll check my FRV today to confirm.

EDIT: My FTV 4K Max (Gen 2) is only API level 30.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Bummer, the Chromecast HD is on Android 12 API Level 31. Weird that Amazon didn't update with the new devices...

Thanks Will. I never checked the API level on the FTV, only an Android version listing I found (Android version vs API Level). I thought it strange the FTV and play MPEG-H on level 30. I’ll check my FRV today to confirm.

Jeez... You guys are speaking a foreign language to me!

I wonder how mature the 'Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max' is going to be when it's running Amazon's new operation system!

 

[steelydave]

@HomerJAU if I could ask one more pedantic question, will Kodi on the 4K Max Firestick convert DSD to PCM for AVRs not equipped to handle DSD? That's what Kodi on my NUC does (DSD is output as 192/24 PCM) for all my .dsf-ripped SACDs.

 

[HomerJAU]

@HomerJAU if I could ask one more pedantic question, will Kodi on the 4K Max Firestick convert DSD to PCM for AVRs not equipped to handle DSD? That's what Kodi on my NUC does (DSD is output as 192/24 PCM) for all my .dsf-ripped SACDs.

Are you are using the SACD add-on? @steelydave

 

[steelydave]

No, not as far as I know it's just straight Kodi Nexus 20.2 with no add-ons - it's worked for me this way back a few full versions now.

 

[HomerJAU]

No, not as far as I know it's just straight Kodi Nexus 20.2 with no add-ons - it's worked for me this way back a few full versions now.

First I've heard of DSF support in Kodi, without the addon. My immediate reaction was to see when it was added but I found nothing.

I’ll dig out a DSF file and try it on my current NUC (Linux) and then FTV, but looking at the Kodi Android code it not a codec that’s supported. So it iwould need to be converted to PCM prior, hence me asking if you have the SACD add-on installed.

 

[steelydave]

You must've known about it at some point

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...-through-kodi-advice-needed.25360/post-412030

 

[HomerJAU]

I am now playing Beck - Sea Change 5.1 DSF rip from my SACD on my FTV 4K Max! @steelydave

It’s converted to PCM by a Kodi standard audio decoder (audiodecoder.sacd) that is installed by the Kodi installer for all Kodi version (Windows, Linux, Android).

Kodi plays DSF files converted to PCM ‘out of the box’ - no need to configure anything, it just works.

FYI: I have the whole album split into DSF files (one file per track). The files were tagged with MMH.

Edit: Now playing a test stereo DSF - all ok shows 352.8kHz on the Kodi skin visualisation (the source file sample rate, my AVR showing 48kHz)

 

[steelydave]

I am playing Beck Sea - Change 5.1 DSF rip from my SACD on my FTV now! @steelydave

It’s converted to PCM by a Kodi’s standard audio decoder (audio decoder.sacd) that is installed by the Kodi installer for all Kodi version (Windows, Linux, Android).

Kodi plays DSF files converted to PCM ‘out of the box’ - no need to configure anything, it just works.

FYI: I have the whole album split into DSF files (one file per track). The files were tagged with MMH.

Edit: Now playing a test stereo DSF - all ok shows 352.8kHz on the Kodi skin visualisation (the source file sample rate, my AVR showing 48kHz)

Once again, thanks for checking, that's awesome - this thing just keeps getting better and better!

 

[HomerJAU]

Here's how to stop your FTV from getting internet (OTA) firmware updates: @himey
(run these commands in a Windows batch file after connection adb connection to your FTV)

adb shell cd /system/etc/security
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.amazon.device.software.ota.override
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.amazon.device.software.ota

See the first few lines in one of my two Install.bat files in my zip to see how to connect to the FTV

 

[MrSmithers]

I am now playing Beck Sea - Change 5.1 DSF rip from my SACD on my FTV 4K Max! @steelydave

It’s converted to PCM by a Kodi’s standard audio decoder (audiodecoder.sacd) that is installed by the Kodi installer for all Kodi version (Windows, Linux, Android).

Kodi plays DSF files converted to PCM ‘out of the box’ - no need to configure anything, it just works.

FYI: I have the whole album split into DSF files (one file per track). The files were tagged with MMH.

Edit: Now playing a test stereo DSF - all ok shows 352.8kHz on the Kodi skin visualisation (the source file sample rate, my AVR showing 48kHz)

Hey Garry do you think there could be a way to bypass that decoder and passthrough the native DSD audio to an AVR that can decode it? Ha sorry to 'punk it up' and be completely different. I know for other Kodi platforms it was said it needed (non existent) driver support but just wondering if in Android it could somehow be different?

 

[HomerJAU]

Yes, the most recent Android SDK Level 34 (Android 14) supports DSD pass through but we don’t have any devices yet that ship with Android 14 (none I’ve found with HDMI).

One way would be to install Android 14 on an existing device but you’d most likely lose Dolby Vision licensing, but not sure. Thats not critical for a music player though. Installing a new version of Android will probably kill the existing apps etc.

I’ll do a bit more investigation and see what I find.

At this stage I’m thinking about buying a new AVR that supports both MPEG-H and DSD decoding via pass-though, a 2023 Denon AVR-X6800H (neither of my two current AVRs can do that), then find a suitable device to install Android 14 and use that to test my Kodi Passthrough code for those two codecs.

I’m so new to Android I don‘t even know what you get with a fresh install as far as UI goes, I would probably end up booting directly to Kodi. I assume Netflix and other apps could be reinstalled, but primarily it would just to develop the code and prove it can be done in Kodi, then find official Android 14 devices (for DSD & MPEG-H) or Android 12 (for MPEG-H) we could install that Kodi code for consumers. Maybe the next FTV release?

A current FTV 4K Max is cheap enough to ‘destroy’ with Android 14 (I could probably back it up and restore later back to its original Amazon FireOS version). Maybe even a Chrome HD as it’s cheaper.

Anyway, early days but DSD will come to Android at some stage in the near future.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Hello everyone,

Some time ago I created a couple of DSD64 compliant 'Channel ID/Speaker Mapping' test files. One has a .dff file extension, the other has a .dsf file extension.

Cheers

 

[woody]

New version of the Kodi Install zip file is now uploaded (updated Kodi v21 Omega for Android t support 24 bit audio and 4 channel quad playback, updated advancedsettings.xml)

Get the 'How To' pdf doc here (with a link the the zip file):
https://reva.blob.core.windows.net/kodimods/How To - Kodi on FireTV.pdf
This is where the latest Kodi v21 Omega nightly builds are posted by the Kodi dev team (for future reference):
https://mirrors.kodi.tv/nightlies/android/arm/master/
Today's build - the one dated 2024-Jan-23 03:04 is in my zip above - Only builds from today onward support 24bit multichannel audio on FTV 4K Max 2nd Gen**. If your FTV is older it may not play 24 bit audio (no testing data yet)

** For clarity: No recent past Kodi Android release will play 24 bit multichannel PCM (FLAC or WAV) audio other than the Nvidia Shield Pro - This and future Kodi Android builds on modern Android devices will play 24 bit PCM with a new Kodi advanced setting: allowmultichannelfloat=true: See the Audio section on this page:
https://kodi.wiki/view/Advancedsettings.xml
That new setting above is preset to 'True' in the advancedsetting.xml file included in my zip file (i.e Force 24 bit PCM output on the FTV 4K Max Gen2)

Garry

Thanks for all the hard work put into this Garry.

I have just tried to install on the 3rd Gen Firecube- with Kodi installed from Batch1, however Batch 2 only loads a blank black screen. (Installed according to instructions with no major problems noted.) Reinstalling Batch2 did not fix unfortunately.

 

[HomerJAU]

I have just tried to install on the 3rd Gen Firecube- with Kodi installed from Batch1, however Batch 2 only loads a blank black screen. (Installed according to instructions with no major problems noted.) Reinstalling Batch2 did not fix unfortunately.

Hey Anthony.

A couple of questions:
Did you have Kodi installed previously on your FCTV?
What is it connected to? TV/AVR or computer screen?
Did you see Kodi running after Install-1.bat and did you Force Stop it before running Install-2.bat?


Try this:
Force Stop Kodi again (or restart the FCTV).Then uninstall Kodi from your FCTV from the FCTV settings, apps, manage apps. Then run Install-1.bat again. When Kodi Starts you should see the new skin.

Also, ensure you hit enter at every pause during each batch file run until the command window closes. You will then have completed every command.

Please let me know how it goes.

 

[HomerJAU]

@MrSmithers I bit of googling this morning and I’m out to buy a ‘Google Chromecast with Google TV (4K)’ (what a mouthful) to test my Kodi MPEG-H code. It now has Android 12 (as you know) but indications it will updated to 14 very soon. I can test Kodi DSD code when that happens, likely a beta release soon.

I’ll start coding tomorrow maybe. The Denon is not yet available in AU so you can be my official tester (please).

 

[slmccaul]

Hey Anthony.

A couple of questions:
Did you have Kodi installed previously on your FCTV?
What is it connected to? TV/AVR or computer screen?
Did you see Kodi running after Install-1.bat and did you Force Stop it before running Install-2.bat?


Try this:
Force Stop Kodi again (or restart the FCTV).Then uninstall Kodi from your FCTV from the FCTV settings, apps, manage apps. Then run Install-1.bat again. When Kodi Starts you should see the new skin.

Also, ensure you hit enter at every pause during each batch file run until the command window closes. You will then have completed every command.

Please let me know how it goes.

Hi Garry, I've been using Kodi since 2016 running initially on Raspberry PI, then Windows and finally ending up on Lubuntu Linux. My interface preference has right along been Confluence and I notice you prefer the one you have customized. My PC has been experiencing some issues of late and I'm going to be replacing it. I'm thinking about going the Firestick Pro Max route as described by you in this thread. Any downsides you can think of by going this route over a PC? I know it's only $50 and I can always return to Amazon if I don't like it but I had to ask. I also have LibreElec running on a Raspberry Pi 4 and the performance for 4k video is just not there so a PC is my only alternative right now besides the FTV Pro Max,

Can I use your set of instructions for getting the FTV all configured and just leave out configuring the interface, etc.?

Also, thanks for all the great work you do on this site. I use your MMH suite quite frequently and I must say that you are a tremendous asset for this site to have. Keep cranking it out and we'll continue to be appreciative.

BTW - all of my files are ripped and organized to my liking on a Synology NAS.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

@MrSmithers I bit of googling this morning and I’m out to buy a ‘Google Chromecast with Google TV (4K)’ (what a mouthful) to test my Kodi MPEG-H code. It now has Android 12 (as you know) but indications it will updated to 14 very soon. I can test Kodi DSD code when that happens, likely a beta release soon.

Oh wow... I guess this means a new dedicated topic