Amazon Firestick 4K Max for Surround Music

[woody]

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.

Answer to the questions posed.

No prior install. Connected to AVR. I saw Kodi running prior to Batch 2.

Just about to uninstall, and will keep you posted.

Thanks

 

[woody]

Answer to the questions posed.

No prior install. Connected to AVR. I saw Kodi running prior to Batch 2.

Just about to uninstall, and will keep you posted.

Thanks

Did the uninstall and noticed that prior to completion of Batch 1 that the Kodi went from standard configuration skin to a black screen. Trying now installing Batch 2 - but not confident given the above phenomenon.

 

[woody]

Did the uninstall and noticed that prior to completion of Batch 1 that the Kodi went from standard configuration skin to a black screen. Trying now installing Batch 2 - but not confident given the above phenomenon.

Just noted when retrying whole process that error response given at -Set the kodi app to have access to external storage folders- with “Unknown Operation string: org. Xbmc. Kodi’

 

[HomerJAU]

Let me take a look. Give me 30 min as I’m not on my PC (preparing a Chicken Tikka for tonight’s dins)

 

[woody]

Let me take a look. Give me 30 min as I’m not on my PC (preparing a Chicken Tikka for tonight’s dins)

Ohhhh, nice . Will be around when I smell it cooking across the bay.

 

[HomerJAU]

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.?

Good to hear from another Kodi user.

For 4K HDR/Dolby Vision etc the FTV 4K Max (2nd Gen 2023) is performing fine but you will need to either use a usb to Ethernet adapter (see post #3 in the thread) or a very good wifi signal. Full 4K UHD BD rips with Atmos can be > 100Mbps for don’t buy a 100mbps Ethernet adapter, like the one Amazon sells for FTVs.

The Kodi GUI is pretty fast on the FTV but (despite my earlier report) wants to run in HDR mode (too bright). The workaround would be to turn HDR off in the FTV settings when doing anything except actually playing a 4K HDR movie. (Switch it on for 4K only). Maybe I can find another work-around or Kodi devs will do something if they can.

Yes you can just install Kodi and not my customisations (and of course you can simply switch to another skin in Kodi if you prefer another skin. The confluence skin is no longer supported in Kodi. You’d need to install someone confluence files for Omega. You should use the new Omega as it’s the only Kodi Android version with 24 bit PCM output. Linux is fine of course.

So far in my testing it’s doing everything my NUC with LibreElec is doing. My NUC is faster (full 1GBE Ethernet) and NVME SSD. The FTV with a 1 GBE usb to Ethernet is limited to 480mbs (theoretical max) by its usb 2.0 port). This does not effect playback but is makes library scanning a little slower than my NUC.

I much prefer a standalone media player than using a PC for music and movies. I’d recommend buying a FTV (the 2nd 4K Max) and giving it a trial run. (But aware of wifi limitations and the recommended Ethernet and OTG cable workaround to get best performance over your network).

 

[HomerJAU]

“Unknown Operation string: org. Xbmc. Kodi’

Did you uninstall Kodi from the FTV Settings UI or from ADB? If from adb then please do it from the Settings, apps, manage apps, Kodi

Are you ok to edit the Install-1.bat? If so remove all the lines with '@echo off'

Uninstall Kodi one more time (from the FTV)

Then run it again and look at the system response to each adb command and report any errors or things that look abnormal to you, or screen grab or copy the command window text and post here.

 

[HomerJAU]

Hang on, I just looked at the Amazon specs and your device has Android 9! That could be an issue, maybe the adb commands are not supported (as Android 12). I'll check.

Please run this:
adb shell getprop ro.build.version.sdk

And let me know what is returns.

 

[MrSmithers]

@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).

Oh fantastic stuff Garry, yes happy to test away...

 

[HomerJAU]

@woody The auto permission line doesn’t work on Android 9.

You can set the permissions for Kodi to manage files in the FCTV settings, apps, manage apps, find and click Kodi.

then find Permissions and set it to ALL Files.

you need to do that before you run Kodi so put a pause in the Install-1.bat after the install apk, then on the FTV do the above, after that’s done, you can continue the install-1 and run Kodi once, then install-2.bat

 

[woody]

@woody The auto permission line doesn’t work on Android 9.

You can set the permissions for Kodi to manage files in the FCTV settings, apps, manage apps, find and click Kodi.

then find Permissions and set it to ALL Files.

you need to do that before you run Kodi so put a pause in the Install-1.bat after the install apk, then on the FTV do the above, after that’s done, you can continue the install-1 and run Kodi once, then install-2.bat

Hi Garry.

When I set the permissions it gives me two options (like it did within the initial set up instruction to either allow or deny 'microphone' and 'storage'. [There is no 'all file' options per se]). I allowed both of these variants, and entered after the pause and received this error message again:

 

[HomerJAU]

When I set the permissions it gives me two options

No. Use the FTV Settings menu (before you run in Kodi): Applications, Manage Applications, Kodi, Permissions, set that to All files

All that BEFORE you run Kodi for the first time.

Everything in that screen grab looks normal.

But without the Kodi permission to ‘manage all files’ Kodi cannot move its files to the user accessible ‘SDCard‘ folders on the device. So when it starts it can’t find what it wants.

 

[woody]

No. Use the FTV Settings menu (before you run in Kodi): Applications, Manage Applications, Kodi, Permissions, set that to All files

All that BEFORE you run Kodi for the first time.

Everything in that screen grab looks normal.

But without the Kodi permission to ‘manage all files’ Kodi cannot move its files to the user accessible ‘SDCard‘ folders on the device. So when it starts it can’t find what it wants.

So I need to do the stream install of kidi via Batch 1 which then givesthe option to alter Kodi permissions whereby i have provided screenshots of my options (when batch then runs Kodi following this I get the blank screen)

 

[slmccaul]

Good to hear from another Kodi user.

For 4K HDR/Dolby Vision etc the FTV 4K Max (2nd Gen 2023) is performing fine but you will need to either use a usb to Ethernet adapter (see post #3 in the thread) or a very good wifi signal. Full 4K UHD BD rips with Atmos can be > 100Mbps for don’t buy a 100mbps Ethernet adapter, like the one Amazon sells for FTVs.

The Kodi GUI is pretty fast on the FTV but (despite my earlier report) wants to run in HDR mode (too bright). The workaround would be to turn HDR off in the FTV settings when doing anything except actually playing a 4K HDR movie. (Switch it on for 4K only). Maybe I can find another work-around or Kodi devs will do something if they can.

Yes you can just install Kodi and not my customisations (and of course you can simply switch to another skin in Kodi if you prefer another skin. The confluence skin is no longer supported in Kodi. You’d need to install someone confluence files for Omega. You should use the new Omega as it’s the only Kodi Android version with 24 bit PCM output. Linux is fine of course.

So far in my testing it’s doing everything my NUC with LibreElec is doing. My NUC is faster (full 1GBE Ethernet) and NVME SSD. The FTV with a 1 GBE usb to Ethernet is limited to 480mbs (theoretical max) by its usb 2.0 port). This does not effect playback but is makes library scanning a little slower than my NUC.

I much prefer a standalone media player than using a PC for music and movies. I’d recommend buying a FTV (the 2nd 4K Max) and giving it a trial run. (But aware of wifi limitations and the recommended Ethernet and OTG cable workaround to get best performance over your network).

Garry, thanks for the information. I was doing some reading about the issue I've been having with my main Kodi PC (Asus VivoPC VM62) and I took it out to the garage and blew it out with my air compressor. It had been making lots of noise and actually shut down a couple of times. Anyway, it seems to be working much better now, noise has gone away. I might continue to use it until the noise starts again and then decide whether to replace the fan or replace the PC.
I've actually tried to install LibreElec on this unit but I can never seem to get it to boot. It will boot Ubuntu v22.04 properly and that's what I'm running now. I guess I will just continue until I'm forced to make the decision. Still might give the FTV a shot just for shits and giggles.....

 

[HomerJAU]

So I need to do the stream install of kidi via Batch 1 which then givesthe option to alter Kodi permissions whereby i have provided screenshots of my options (when batch then runs Kodi following this I get the blank screen)

Click on 'Storage' and see if what the options are, on the Android 11 FTV it has 3 options

Need ALL Files on the FTV 4K Max:

 

[HomerJAU]

Just on a side note: I bought a Google Chromecast 4K device today and setting it up. What a pain compared to the Amazon FTV set up.

Google won't allow me to start the setup without me allowing precise location (that should be illegal - no privacy). It wants my address 'so they can send my orders' (WTF). The whole process is WAY harder and longer than the FTV. Its asks for all sorts of access to my contacts, etc WTF. Its taking forever now 'Setting up your TV'...

Now finished. I have got Kodi running but the Permissions is a little different than the FTV. Anyway now ready to test any code for MPEG-H pass-through...

@MrSmithers All I can do is test my code will run. You will need to test if it actually plays A few days away, probably. All I';ve done is look at the current code so far...

 

[woody]

Click on 'Storage' and see if what the options are, on the Android 11 FTV it has 3 options

Need ALL Files on the FTV 4K Max:
View attachment 100673

No such option on the Firecube TV. Just toggles access on and off. I note however that the Firecube has a UBS port that can accept external drives for app access/storage.

 

[HomerJAU]

I’ll see if I can find another permission for Android 9.

 

[MrSmithers]

Just on a side note: I bought a Google Chromecast 4K device today and setting it up. What a pain compared to the Amazon FTV set up.

Google won't allow me to start the setup without me allowing precise location (that should be illegal - no privacy). It wants my address 'so they can send my orders' (WTF). The whole process is WAY harder and longer than the FTV. Its asks for all sorts of access to my contacts, etc WTF. Its taking forever now 'Setting up your TV'...

Now finished. I have got Kodi running but the Permissions is a little different than the FTV. Anyway now ready to test any code for MPEG-H pass-through...

@MrSmithers All I can do is test my code will run. You will need to test if it actually plays A few days away, probably. All I';ve done is look at the current code so far...

Yeah it's funny every media device I've had seems to have certain annoyances but the Google Chromecast is very near the top. I think from memory it wants to link everything to the Google Play Store, which is why it asks for the Stasi permissions? But even the Apple TV 4K has made me want to throw it out the window on certain occasions...

Sure no problem Garry, all set...

 

[gwlbe]

Gary excellent work. A true Jedi. As stated earlier I go way back to the modded XBMC box. This is my first encounter with this skin (Confluence user) and using fanart. Very nice. Initially, I had a black screen after the first install which was caused by prior install Kodi data folder. I had to delete the folder using an app called X-plore which is very handy for the Fire Stick file structure. Also there is a Kodi Remote app available in IOS and Android. I mostly use Kodi for shuffling my 7000+ music videos from my server. Thanks for this and M^2 Helper.