I am now a big fan of Amazon Fire TV due to its exceptional ability to host Kodi (formerly known as XBMC). The Amazon Fire TV box comes to ethernet connection so probably great for streaming those huge MKV movies.
How about the Amazon FireTV Stick which depends on the wifi, rather a ethernet link ? I did not have a good experience with Google Chromecast (and its ability to stream movie files from my server) and so for Amazon FireTV Stick, I don’t hold much hope. If it is good enough to stream those American TV serials in MP4 format (rather than HD movies in 720p or 1080p MKV movies), I will be glad…
But I am going to find out 🙂
Got one from Amazon ! Where else !
Unboxing !
Hello world:
Turns out the number of accessories are more complicated than the Amazon FireTV. Need to understand what each is for ! 🙂
Explanation of each part:
Instructions here:
Mmm. need to plug into a power point ? Would not plugging into a USB port in the TV works (just like Chromecast ?). I have to try that as it is pretty useless to have this if I need to powered it by a power point far away from TV.
So when I power up the Amazon Fire TV and using one of the available USB ports on my TV..
NO go.. need a power point.. UURGGGHH 🙁
[update] interestingly, I moved the completely set up Amazon Fire TV to a much latest Philips TV and it works with the USB port of the TV. Now I don’t know if this will work because of the set up was already completed and no need for power or because the Philips TV was much more recent TV and hence has a better USB output ?
I was reminded of it being a wifi stick 🙂
And soon that familiar guy appears..
Okie. Here’s the fun part. Going to install Kodi on the Amazon Fire TV stick.
This time I use the Excellent Amazon Fire TV Utility as described here in this post.
I use it to
(1) install Kodi
(2) install Llama
(3) switch the ikono TV icon to a Kodi icon
(4) install Kodi custom splashscreen
(5) change the Kodi remote control keymapoing to Version 4
All easily done with the wonderful software !
Kodi in the Installed Applications
Kodi running for the first time in Amazon Fire TV stick
Familiar Kodi screen
And then here comes the test. Remember this is a Wifi only TV stick.. so I am wondering how it performs
RMVB file over wifi for a Hong Kong TV serial.. the latest one !
Works great:
Downton Abbey (Season 1) – An AVI file over wifi.. works great too:
Okie.. now pushing my luck a little more.. a 720p movie over wifi.. still looking great:
Now pushing my luck a little further. Air Force One in 1080p.. not good.. stuttering a little here and there.. never mind.. never plan to use this for 1080p movies.. probably some changing of the Kodi video caching might help but never mind :0
Happy as it is.. except for the need of a power adopter ! 🙂
