Mass Media & Technology

Amazon Fire TV and Stick

News, updates and gossip about the Fire OS (March 2016)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
LL
London Lite Founding member
I've purchased a Fire Stick, the standard version rather than the voice activated version.

For a £35 stick, the performance is on a par, if not slightly better than the Chromecast 2 and helps that I don't need to download apps to cast from. Frustrating that Demand 5 is publicised on the box (and I think when I watched the start up video?) but isn't in the appstore.

This may be old hat to existing Fire users.

Advantages: Can change settings to a whole range of picture settings, including 720/1080p and 50/60Hz, TV Player along with PLUS channels (except the UKTV channels due to licensing issues), is reasonably easy to sideload apps from Android using .APK along with the infamous Kodi player. Ensuring you have the correct picture/aspect ratio is a ridiculously simple task of ensuring you can see the arrows on the tv set, which saves you from fiddling with the tv settings. Amazon Video obviously streams a lot better than through the LG app, this despite the TV connected via Ethernet.

Disadvantages: If using a VPN/Smart DNS, you need different Amazon accounts for the US, UK and Germany. While you can download Zattoo from .de, if you use it while signed into your UK account, it will stop working as the apps require authorisation, so will need to regularly de register to switch between apps from other countries. However Netflix will work regardless if you've downloaded the app from the UK signed into your UK account and watching American content for example.

There is no NOW TV, although you can sideload the Android app, however NOW TV don't endorse this and quality is nowhere as good as a tv app.
BA
bilky asko
Won't Demand 5 be called My 5 now?
LL
London Lite Founding member
Won't Demand 5 be called My 5 now?


Ah, just found it in the Amazon app store!
DV
dvboy
UKTV Play is in the app store too
LL
London Lite Founding member
dvboy posted:
UKTV Play is in the app store too


Yes I already downloaded the Fire apps for UKTV Play, along with the ITV Hub, All4 and iPlayer.

Incidentally for those who use Fire TV for Kodi, there are unofficial add-ons for the ITV Hub, UKTV Play, iPlayer and All4. Bar the All4 one which I haven't tried, they all work.
LL
London Lite Founding member
When I go into 'Manage My Applications' the app is still called Demand 5 and the UI is still the Demand 5 template.
Last edited by London Lite on 28 March 2016 2:05am

100 days later

LL
London Lite Founding member
Capital and Heart TV apps from Global have been added to Fire TV.
DJ
DJGM

. . . is reasonably easy to sideload apps from Android using .APK along with the infamous Kodi player .


BiB ... what exactly is infamous about Kodi? It's a harmless open-source media centre program originally known as XBMC.
LL
London Lite Founding member
DJGM posted:

. . . is reasonably easy to sideload apps from Android using .APK along with the infamous Kodi player .


BiB ... what exactly is infamous about Kodi? It's a harmless open-source media centre program originally known as XBMC.


Kodi is more associated with streaming pirate content via add-ons than the advantages it has as an excellent all round piece of media software. I doubt most use the player for other reasons such as using a TV tuner with it.
DJ
DJGM
So really there is nothing "infamous" about Kodi itself, but various unscrupulous 3rd parties are effectively destroying it's otherwise good reputation by bundling it with unofficial piracy add-ons.

This article fully explains the problem to anyone unaware of this, or just thinks Kodi is a distributor of pirated content:
The Piracy Box Sellers and Youtube Promoters Are Killing Kodi
NG
noggin Founding member
Yep - very annoying that Kodi has effectively been hijacked, The community developing it do their best to discourage illegal add-ons (and ban their discussion on the official forums)

Kodi + TV Headend is a really good quality, low-cost PVR and TV viewing solution, and if you add a low cost server you can create a great library of your own DVDs, Blu-rays and CDs.
LL
London Lite Founding member
DJGM posted:
So really there is nothing "infamous" about Kodi itself, but various unscrupulous 3rd parties are effectively destroying it's otherwise good reputation by bundling it with unofficial piracy add-ons.


Of course it's bloody infamous for piracy. Noggin correctly states that Kodi has been hijacked, but that's how the general public associate Kodi with piracy. Same for Bit Torrent and other software which can be used for perfectly legitimate reasons.

There was a FB convo I spotted from a friend who wanted to know what to use to watch 'free' movies. While there were a couple of streaming sites suggested blocked by the main ISPs, Kodi was the most suggested. "You can get everything on there" one replied.

I like the software and use it myself on the Fire Stick and on my PC, but lets not beat around the bush, it has a reputation and Kodi itself can't distance itself from it, despite it's good intentions, however much they try.

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