Amazon Fire TV

Amazon Fire TV
Manufacturer	Amazon.com
Released	2014-04-02 (US)
OS	Fire OS 3.0 "Mojito" (Based on Android)
CPU	Qualcomm Krait 300, quad-core to 1.7 Ghz
Storage	8 GB internal
RAM	2 GB RAM
Display	1080p
Graphics	Qualcomm Adreno 320
Connectivity	HDMI, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0, Wifi (802.11n), 10/100 Ethernet, Optical audio, CEC
Dimensions	115 × 115 × 17.5 mm (4.53 × 4.53 × 0.69 in)

Amazon Fire TV ports

Devices

Android

Amazon Fire TV

The Amazon Fire TV is an Android-based (Fire OS) set-top-box that contains a very powerful ARM processor (that can even handle some of the more heavy XBMC skins). Fire TV stands above some of the other Android-based offerings due to Amazon's strong product support and because it contains more remote friendly versions of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and other video service clients, making it a good pairing with XBMC.

Builds

Official Builds

XBMC 13 builds for Android (ARM): http://mirrors.xbmc.org/releases/android/arm/

Stable builds

Frodo

• SPMC 12.4.2

Note: This build can be installed alongside the official XBMC builds, as they have different package names.

Gotham

All Fire TV patches have been added to the main Gotham code. As of April 17, 2014, Nightly builds of Gotham can now be used.

• XBMC for Android (ARM) Nightlies (get builds from of after 17-Apr-2014)

Note: Currently, only Libstagefright video acceleration is working. MediaCodec acceleration should be disabled.

Gotham and the Fire TV are still being tested and log files may be needed to help with testing. If you are unfamiliar with doing so, please take a look at the easy guide to getting a log file.

SPMC and Gotham have different signatures, so they are completely independent from each other (i.e., will be installed as separate apps). You can use adb install -r <apk-file-name> to update without losing all your settings.

Installing

General Steps

1. Setup the ADB Utility, often done through the Android SDK. https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
2. Follow these instructions to connect ADB to your Amazon Fire TV: https://developer.amazon.com/sdk/asb/connect-adb.html
3. Follow these instructions to install the XBMC app onto the Fire TV (using the ADB tool): https://developer.amazon.com/sdk/asb/app-install.html

Setup ADB on Your Host

Note: Your host must be connected to the same network as your Fire TV..

Windows

1. Download and unzip the ADB Utility from http://d-h.st/TYa
2. Find the extracted winadb folder containing adb.exe, and copy the complete folder path
3. Add the copied path to your PATH environmental variable in Windows System Properties
4. Follow the below instructions to complete the installation of XBMC

OS X

To be completed

Linux

To be completed

Android

The ADB utility is built into Android. However, you will need to install a Terminal Emulator app.

1. Open Google Play Store
2. Install Android Terminal Emulator
3. Follow the below instructions to complete the installation of XBMC

Enable USB Debugging on the Fire TV

1. From the Fire TV Home screen, select Settings
2. Go to System -> Developer Options
3. Select ADB Debugging to turn it ON
4. Go to System -> About -> Network, and take note of the Fire TV's IP address

Install XBMC to the Fire TV

Note: If your APK file name contains spaces, make sure you put quotes around it in the adb commands. On OS X and Linux, you may need to prepend ./ to the adb commands.

1. On your host (PC or other Android device), download your desired XBMC APK
2. Open a Command Prompt (Windows), Terminal (OS X/Linux), or Terminal Emulator app (Android)
3. Navigate (CD) to the directory with your XBMC APK
4. Run the following commands

   >adb kill-server

   >adb start-server

   >adb connect <ip-address-of-fire-tv>

5. ADB is connected when it reports the message "connected to <ip-address-of-fire-tv>:<port>"
6. Run the following command

   >adb install <apk-file-name>

7. Installation is complete when it reports the message "success"

Launch XBMC on the Fire TV

1. From the Fire TV Home screen, select Settings
2. Select Applications
3. Find and select your XBMC installation (it may be named "XBMC", "SPMC", or "XBMC on OUYA")
4. Select Launch Application

Note: Users have reported that you can autostart XBMC after boot using an Android automation apps such as Tasker, AutomateIt, or Llama. Alternately, you can use Autopilot to autoboot to XBMC.

Copying files

Copy userdata settings (optional)

Run XBMC at least once to initialize the userdata folder on the Fire TV

Copying from PC to Fire TV

Copy files to Fire TV userdata folder using adb push <local> <remote>

• For example, to copy advancedsettings.xml from your local folder to your Fire TV XBMC userdata folder:

  >adb push advancedsettings.xml /sdcard/android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/userdata

where org.xbmc.xbmc is replaced with your package name such as tv.ouya.xbmc (XBMC for Ouya) or com.semperpax.spmc (SPMC)

Copying files from Fire TV to PC

Copy files from Fire TV userdata folder using adb pull <remote> <local>

• For example, to copy advancedsettings.xml from your Fire TV XBMC userdata folder to your local folder:

  >adb pull /sdcard/android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/userdata/advancedsettings.xml

You can use adb shell to open a remote shell on the Fire TV. Use standard Linux commands such as cd and ls to navigate the file structure. Type exit to exit adb shell.

See userdata folder for more information on the contents of the userdata folder.

Update Splash Image (optional)

Run XBMC at least once to initialize the userdata folder on the Fire TV

• If the splash image file is splash.png, you can run the following command to copy the file to Fire TV (you may need to update the folder name):

  >adb push splash.png /sdcard/Android/data/tv.ouya.xbmc/files/.xbmc/media/splash.png

Here's a splash image created by elmerohueso.

Controls

Bluetooth remote

To make the remote work with XBMC's on-screen-keyboard, go to XBMC -> Settings -> System -> Input devices and enable Remote control sends keyboard presses

Note: For slightly improved keymaps for the Fire TV remote, see Alternative keymaps for Fire TV remote.

Button	Global action	Fullscreen video action
3	Directional pad: Up Down Right Left	Directional pad: Up: Next chapter or go forward 10 minutes Down: Previous chapter or go back 10 minutes Right: +30 seconds Left: -30 seconds
4	Select	On-screen-display menu
6	Context menu	Playlist
7	Fast forward	Fast forward
8	Play/pause	Play/pause
9	Back	Back out of fullscreen video (does not stop playback)
10	Rewind	Rewind

To reboot the Fire TV with the Bluetooth remote, hold Play/Pause (8) and Select (4) for 5 seconds.

CEC

People are reporting that the Amazon Fire TV has basic CEC support.

USB

USB port allows for various additional remote types, such as FLIRC, various RF dongles, etc. Most of these devices will show up as a keyboard type input.

• Logitech K400r, K520, K700 and K800 and DiNovo mini wireless keyboards are said to work, as reported in the forum http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=191109&pid=1673921#pid1673921 (and the next post).

• Logitech DiNovo Edge keyboard works, but touch pad and media keys do not work. DiNovo Edge doesn't have a menu key.

• MCE (IR) remote - 2nd generation works. Turn on the Fire TV after plugging in the IR receiver and it should work.

• IOGEAR GKM561R wireless keyboard/mouse combo works (although Shift/Capslock does not in 12.x, apparently an issue addressed on Gotham)

• FAVI Entertainment SmartStick Wireless Keyboard with Touchpad Mouse, FE02RF-BL

• See keyboard controls for how to control XBMC using a keyboard. Additional Fire TV controls goes as followed:

Key	Action
F11 or "browser search" media key.	Voice Search (Does not send mic audio)
F12	Fire TV home screen
Esc	Fire TV back button
Ctrl+Esc or "Menu" (to the right of the Windows key on the right side)	Fire TV menu button
Alt+Tab ⇆	Recent App
Ctrl+Alt+Delete	System reset

Flirc

The rewind, fast forward, and play/pause keys on the Fire TV controller operate the same as a keyboard's media keys. Use the "Media Keys" controller in the Flirc application to set these on your remote. Netflix and Pandora on the Fire TV (and possibly other apps) do pick up the other media keys such as stop. XBMC also picks up these keys.

Esc can be used as the back button. Remapping XBMC's back to Esc would be required to use one button for both commands.

"Menu" (the button to the right of the Windows key on the right side on a keyboard) works as the Fire TV's menu button and does not have the issues Ctrl+Esc has. Ctrl+Esc usually results in duplicate keypresses and will sometimes act as just Esc. At this time the Flirc GUI does not have a button to map "Menu" on the "Full Keyboard" controller, but on the command line flirc_util record_api 0 101 can be used.

Other bluetooth devices

It should be possible to pair other bluetooth controllers and remotes to the Fire TV. Most of these devices will show up as a keyboard type input.

Uninstall XBMC

1. From the Fire TV Home screen, select Settings
2. Select Applications
3. Find and select your XBMC installation (it may be named "XBMC", "SPMC", or "XBMC on OUYA")
4. Select Uninstall

Alternatively, you can do the uninstall over ADB with one of the following commands. OUYA

adb uninstall tv.ouya.xbmc

SPMC

adb uninstall com.semperpax.spmc

XBMC

adb uninstall org.xbmc.xbmc

Known issues

• Hardware video decoding is semi-working. See the #Builds section above.
• VC-1 and MPEG2 are not hardware decoded in XBMC on the Fire TV.
• USB cannot currently be used for drive storage.
• The fast forward and rewind buttons on the Fire TV remote are not yet working in XBMC. However, the directional buttons do work for normal and big "steps" forward and back.
• A static click or pop may be heard when opening a Dolby Digital file in Gotham. One workaround is to turn off NAVIGATION SOUNDS (Settings > Appearance > Skin) and KEEP AUDIO DEVICE ALIVE (Settings > System > Audio Output). NOTE: This may cause playback issues with DTS-HD or TrueHD files.

Random notes

Feel free to place various notes, tips, and links here. As this section of the wiki gets more organized, those notes will be properly sorted. Consider this like a dumping ground for when you're not sure where to put something.

• The USB port seems to work with keyboards and mice.
• Debug information in the Fire TV's Netflix app can be accessed by pressing Ctrl+Alt+⇧ Shift+D.

Links

• XBMC forum thread about the Amazon Fire TV: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=191109
• Amazon Fire TV product page: http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-CL1130-Fire-TV/dp/B00CX5P8FC
• iFixit teardown: http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Amazon+Fire+TV+Teardown/23856
• Supported codecs: https://developer.amazon.com/sdk/asb/media-specs.html
• Wikipedia article on Amazon Fire TV: wikipedia:Amazon Fire TV
• Qualcomm Blog: http://www.qualcomm.com/snapdragon/blog/2014/04/02/new-amazon-fire-tv-powered-snapdragon-600-processor
• XDA Developers Fire TV forum: http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv