Kodi/Amazon Fire TV as a WMC replacement

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makryger

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Kodi/Amazon Fire TV as a WMC replacement

#1

Post by makryger » Mon Mar 09, 2015 11:10 pm

After seeing Mike's glowing review of the AFTV, and the possibility of a Kodi PVR with a WMC backend. Unfortunately, I gave up after spending hours trying to set it up.

I thought now would be an appropriate time to post, as MissingRemote also posted their walkthrough of Kodi:
http://www.missingremote.com/blog/amazo ... lient-kodi

In my experience, this is what I encountered.
The system was slow to load a channel, slow to channel change (on a gigabit network), the remote was too limited, The home button on the remote could not be reprogrammed. The HDMI-CEC support was too limited. The AFTV can turn the TV on and switch inputs, but it doesn't actually turn the TV off, and it's sleep mode doesn't actually send a no-signal to the TV to go to standby, so I couldn't use the auto-sleep function of my TV either. I had a lot of trouble setting up the ServerWMC as the instructions are quite complicated (why should I have to create a whole new user account on my backend for this to function?!). Recording series was convoluted. Finding shows was complicated. As was mentioned above, the guide took two minutes to load unless you significantly reduce how much it loads at once. Kodi did not always keep in perfect sink with what was recorded on the main TV. Live TV did not open properly. Subtitles did not work for Recorded TV. I had to load a whole other add-in to get Kodi on the AFTV home screen. No real volume buttons that affect the Kodi interface. Then I started looking at the other sections of Kodi. No good interface for looking at local pictures (had to download an add-in!)

Unfortunately, (still) nothing compares to the original WMC for Cable TV Consumption. Sure, for other media streaming, there are better machines out there. But I'd rather stick to the native google chromecast/AFTV/Roku streamining interface for all my internet consumption, and then use WMC for TV.
My Channel Logos XL: Get your Guide looking good! ~~~~ TunerSalad: Increase the 4-tuner limit in 7MC

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#2

Post by Ed  » Tue Mar 10, 2015 1:26 am

I've been using the Live TV functionality of my Google ADT-1 a lot since I got it. Now I only boot my XBOX 360s/WMC to watch recordings (I do any scheduling/series management through the MMC app mostly, if the XBOX isn't on and WMC up), or for the PBS/FXNow apps via Xbox Live. Other apps I either use the ADT-1 or Chromecast.

My biggest gripe with it (the ADT-1/Android TV in general) is the lack of apps ATM; though most of the big ones are already there (Youtube, TuneIn, iHeart, Pandora, Vevo, Google Music, Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, and Plex). However, it's still missing PBS, FXNow, ESPN, HBO and Showtime apps (for me. Others might not care for them, or, need other apps). Roku is still the king of apps.

Though, the Chromecast took a long while to get where it's at too - I remember being disheartened with the lack of apps it had for a while as well. That really isn't the case now though. So I'm optimistic that will change.

Also, once that opens up more - I'm hoping someone (either SiliconDust or some 3rd party - don't think Google will do a native one) will come out with a DVR style app I can use my HTPC/network storage on/with along with my Silicondust network tuners.

Then I can have my one box (BR aside) and not be reliant on some outdated and unsupported HTPC software.

With literally only 2 (one retail - the Nexus Player, one non-retail - the ADT-1) Android TV boxes out in the wild, with more one the way (Razr unit, Nvidia Shield unit, Every Sony 2015 Smart TV, Sharp and Philips TVs); I still am optimistic Android TV will be the thing to let me either fully rid of, or almost completely rid of (cause even in your Kodi setup, you're still reliant on WMC) WMC. I would hope the former, it's just taking longer than I'd like.

Oh also, game streaming via Limelight on the ADT-1, from my gaming rig upstairs, is now something I can no longer do without as well :thumbup:

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Scallica

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#3

Post by Scallica » Tue Jul 14, 2015 2:54 am

I want to share my feedback using the Amazon FireTV as a WMC replacement, mainly for LiveTV.
The short answer is, we're not quite there yet :think:

1. The HDHomeRun View App for FireTV


PROS: Support for copy-protected channels, stable performance
CONS: HD channels are choppy and unwatchable, (I think it's because the FireTV doesn't have a hardware MPEG decoder???)
CONS: No full grid EPG, except for that menu on the side
Image

2. The HDHomeRun View app for Kodi (formerly known as XBMC)

PROS: Smooth playback of HD channels, slightly nicer interface than the HDHomeRun view app for FireTV
CONS: No support for copy-protected channels
CONS: No full grid EPG, except for that menu on the side

***Can someone explain why the HDHomerun View app can't play HD channels smoothly, but the HDHomerun plugin for Kodi has no trouble?!

Image

3. Kodi using ServerWMC backend

PROS: Beautiful EPG
CONS: No support for copy-protected channels
CONS: Sluggish performance; the EPG takes 30-45 sec to appear
Image

4. Emby app for FireTV

PROS: Beautiful EPG, excellent picture quality (I had to enable all streams in the HTTP tab of ServerWMC)
CONS: No support for copy-protected channels
CONS: No way to see scheduled and series recordings (at this time, maybe soon)
Image
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RyC

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#4

Post by RyC » Tue Jul 14, 2015 3:08 am

You mean just watching protected content, not recording currently right?

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#5

Post by deihmos » Tue Jul 14, 2015 3:23 am

For faster performance with server wmc you should enable dlna mode. It isn't going to be as fast as wmc but acceptable.

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#6

Post by Scallica » Wed Jul 15, 2015 1:32 am

RyC wrote:You mean just watching protected content, not recording currently right?
Correct.
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deihmos

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#7

Post by deihmos » Thu Jul 16, 2015 7:15 pm

The HD channels will be choppy on fire TV because it is just wireless N 2.4ghz

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#8

Post by Scallica » Thu Jul 16, 2015 7:36 pm

deihmos wrote:The HD channels will be choppy on fire TV because it is just wireless N 2.4ghz
The FireTV stick is wireless only. I have a full size FireTV which has an Ethernet port. Mine is hard wired.
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#9

Post by deihmos » Thu Jul 16, 2015 7:40 pm

Oh I see. It isn't gigabit which is recommended for streaming HD TV channels. That's not a good box. I read it can't do mpeg2. That's the issue.

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#10

Post by deihmos » Mon Jul 20, 2015 1:26 pm

I just purchased a nexus player and playback was very smooth using the HDhomerun app. Maybe your problem is emby.

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#11

Post by 3rob3 » Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:40 pm

deihmos wrote:I just purchased a nexus player and playback was very smooth using the HDhomerun app. Maybe your problem is emby.
I just got one too. If you install the Android M developer preview you will get Mpeg2 hardware decoding.

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#12

Post by Scallica » Tue Jul 21, 2015 1:18 am

The Nexus may have better hardware, but it does not support popular apps like HBO-Go, Showtime Anytime, Amazon VOD natively. I believe you can only Chomecast those apps.
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#13

Post by Ed  » Tue Jul 21, 2015 1:22 am

Scallica wrote:The Nexus may have better hardware, but it does not support popular apps like HBO-Go, Showtime Anytime, Amazon VOD natively. I believe you can only Chomecast those apps.
Correct, until they publish a native Android TV app. You also can't cast Amazon, Amazon hasn't added it to its app.

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#14

Post by deihmos » Tue Jul 21, 2015 1:28 am

Scallica wrote:The Nexus may have better hardware, but it does not support popular apps like HBO-Go, Showtime Anytime, Amazon VOD natively. I believe you can only Chomecast those apps.
The fire tv has better hardware than the nexus. I don't have any of those services. Just netflix and amazon the latter I barely ever use. I am pretty sure they will be added.

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#15

Post by 3rob3 » Tue Jul 21, 2015 12:51 pm

I had a Fire TV but returned it. I didn't like the UI and how it shoves it's own content front and center, and how you have to jump through hoops just to get a side-loaded app to show up without drilling down 10 menus. I did like the built in Ethernet, and the remote control was better. Other than the UI it was a nice little box, with a large enthusiast community.

With either device I am having a hard time coming up with an acceptable remote control solution. I have an FLIRC but am not having very good performance. Thinking my TV may put out a lot of IR interference because my Xbox 360 performed horribly in there as well.

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