Amazon Firestick 4K Max for Surround Music

[SeeMoreDigital]

Please let me know if you are interested in trying it out. Before release I will have tested it on a 2nd FS 4K Max here, so it should work correctly. But as first users there maybe more questions regarding understanding my documentation etc. I’d like to make it as easy as possible.

Once the Firestick is setup (the standard first run after purchase, including connection to your wifi) users must:

• Download my files into a working folder on a PC.

All my audio and video files are stored on an Synology NAS. Is there a way to do this?

 

[shokhead]

Like my directv box that goes through my Denon 4700h and since it's passthrough I don't have to turn on the denon. Can you do that with a firestick, plug it into a receiver and it with passthrough?

 

[HomerJAU]

I have multiple fire sticks and cube to try it on. I assume this works on all android platforms. Much appreciated for your efforts.

All the Kodi mods and addons in my file set are supported across all platforms, not just Android but the Kodi installer I will provide will be Amazon FireTV specific and the batch file may only work on Amazon FireTV devices.

Users could install a generic Kodi Android build with the batch by downloading it from the Kodi website and the batch may work ok on other Android devices, but I can’t test it here as I only have Firestick 4K Max devices.

 

[HomerJAU]

All my audio and video files are stored on an Synology NAS. Is there a way to do this?

A NAS is the ideal setup. Yes, Kodi will support Source files on server shares. If you use NFS you will need to set permissions on your NAS for the FS to read /write to your music folders (IP Address of your FS). The only writing is Kodi will save metadata to your Artist Information folder and save fanart. It never changes media files or tags.

WiFi should be ok for audio but you may need to use Ethernet (with an additional usb to Ethernet adapter ) for 4K video. Ethernet is faster for me when I scan my Synology NAS music files but my office is not that close to my wifi router.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

I've been playing around with the UGREEN Ethernet Adapter with three USB 3.0 ports I bought a few days ago.

I added an external power supply for the USB ports and have been pleasantly surprised at its data-transfer speeds. Essentially I'm now able to transfer data from my NAS directly to say, a USB flash-drive or HDD without the data having to pass through my laptop. So that's a plus

Cheers

 

[HomerJAU]

Like my directv box that goes through my Denon 4700h and since it's passthrough I don't have to turn on the denon. Can you do that with a firestick, plug it into a receiver and it with passthrough?

I believe so, yes. That’s how my testing is being done with FS in my AVRs. Although I have not tried with the AVR off. But having said that, Kodi needs the AVR to decode Atmos and DTS etc so for surround the AVR needs to be on.

 

[JediJoker]

I've been playing around with the UGREEN Ethernet Adapter with three USB 3.0 ports I bought a few days ago.

I added an external power supply for the USB ports and have been pleasantly surprised at its data-transfer speeds. Essentially I'm now able to transfer data from my NAS directly to say, a USB flash-drive or HDD without the data having to pass through my laptop. So that's a plus

Whoa... So this works without a USB host controller? It will just allow you to transfer files from an Ethernet-connected device to a USB-connected device? And you just plug the USB A pigtail into a charger?

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

A NAS is the ideal setup. Yes, Kodi will support Source files on server shares. If you use NFS you will need to set permissions on your NAS for the FS to read /write to your music folders (IP Address of your FS). The only writing is Kodi will save metadata to your Artist Information folder and save fanart. It never changes media files or tags.

WiFi should be ok for audio but you may need to use Ethernet (with an additional usb to Ethernet adapter ) for 4K video. Ethernet is faster for me when I scan my Synology NAS music files but my office is not that close to my wifi router.

Primarily I use SMB shares, but this is only because I'm too thick to get NFS shares to work... Lol

My Synology NAS and playback devices all have fixed IP addresses. Maybe I need to start from scratch!

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Whoa... So this works without a USB host controller? It will just allow you to transfer files from an Ethernet-connected device to a USB-connected device? And you just plug the USB A pigtail into a charger?

It has a dedicated USB-C port for power, so it's able to pull/share more than 5 volts/3 amps across its three USB-A ports.

 

[HomerJAU]

My Synology NAS and playback devices all have fixed IP addresses.

That’s recommended and what I do. Since my Kodi devices all use nfs and their IP address is what gives them access to my two NASs.

Apparently NFS is a little faster. It’s easy with Synology.

My PC to NAS is smb. Nfs for my media devices only

 

[dabl]

I'm very interested in having the files, including your ‘Artist Information‘ data and Kodi related including the 'QQ Codec' mod and set up, skin customization, add-ons etc. In my case I would want to use these on my Nvidia Shield TV Kodi installs initially independent of the Firestick focus of this thread. I seem to remember another thread where you advised on how to use your stuff on general Kodi setups independent of device etc. I figure you'll probably update that thread at some point with any of the new additions developed for the application in this thread. Thanks for all this, very helpful!

 

[aoxomoxoa]

This might be a stupid question and forgive me as I am new to the forum.
If I buy one of these fire sticks, Do I need a 6G router to pair it up with?
I currently have a 5G router.
Also is it worth while ?
because I just subscribe to amazon music.
It looks like they have atmos mixes available there.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

That’s recommended and what I do. Since my Kodi devices all use nfs and their IP address is what gives them access to my two NASs.

Apparently NFS is a little faster. It’s easy with Synology.

My PC to NAS is smb. Nfs for my media devices only

That sounds like a good plan...

 

[HomerJAU]

Do I need a 6G router to pair it up with?

5G will be fine for Amazon Music Atmos streaming. (Welcome to the forum)

Edit: The FS 4K Max Amazon Music app plays Atmos but not from files

 

[JediJoker]

It has a dedicated USB-C port for power, so it's able to pull/share more than 5 volts/3 amps across its three USB-A ports.

So, you just leave the pigtail unplugged? Because if it's plugged into a computer, all the data will be passing through that computer's USB host controller.

 

[HomerJAU]

I'm very interested in having the files, including your ‘Artist Information‘ data and Kodi related including the 'QQ Codec' mod and set up, skin customization, add-ons etc. In my case I would want to use these on my Nvidia Shield TV Kodi installs initially independent of the Firestick focus of this thread. I seem to remember another thread where you advised on how to use your stuff on general Kodi setups independent of device etc. I figure you'll probably update that thread at some point with any of the new additions developed for the application in this thread. Thanks for all this, very helpful!

I will update the thread as soon as Kodi v21 Omega is officially released and the skin I customise is officially updated. But I may post the files from this FS work sooner for those on current Kodi versions, but they’d need to update to latest Aeon Nox Silvo skin first. I’m not sure if that’s available yet for Kodi v20.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

So, you just leave the pigtail unplugged? Because if it's plugged into a computer, all the data will be passing through that computer's USB host controller.

The UGREEN ethernet adaptor is plugged into one of my laptops USB ports. It's taken over from my laptops crappy 100mbps built-in ethernet port.

Previously to buying the UGREEN I used a Cable Matters USB to Ethernet Adapter but this took away one of my laptops USB ports.

 

[JediJoker]

The UGREEN ethernet adaptor is plugged into one of my laptops USB ports.

The data are passing through your laptop, then.

 

[himey]

I have multiple fire sticks and cube to try it on. I assume this works on all android platforms.

Last time I checked, 1st gen, Firestick 4K's didn't support 5.1 FLAC. It did originally, but a firmware update removed it. 2nd gen Cube should be fine. Looking forward to your results.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

The data are passing through your laptop, then.

It seems to be acting more like a prompt.

When I copy the same files onto the same USB flash-drive plugged into the fastest USB port on my laptop, I get nothing like the same transfer speed as when I plug the same USB flash-drive into UGREEN...