The Droid TV thread

[Hazelbag]

Cool thanks

 

[Yotch]

@Phrozin: If you want to check your Netflix streaming bitrate, search for the video clip, El Fuente 60MP10 on US Netflix. This should show you the current bitrate and resolution in yellow on your TV screen while the stream adapts. If you are running two streams simultaneously I think that 500kbps is most likely - IIRC the next step up is 1350kbps so two of these streams will not be possible on a 2Mbps line.

As far as the best flash browsers go, I did try to look into this a while back. Here are some of the apps that I have tried. Let me know if you find something better.

Photon Flash Player and Browser Premium version is probably the best currently. Apparently flash is built in and does not require a plug-in. Unfortunately you need to pay before the version in the Play Store will allow you to switch to full screen mode. Try this version first to see if it has any potential.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appsverse.photon&hl=en

I found another version of 3.4 which seems to allow full screen mode but has many popup ads (might be able to block them). The 2.3 cracked version does not appear to work as well as the more recent ones.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/rlncye
Zipped archive ...
https://www.sendspace.com/file/xj5esj

I have also added a cracked version of Puffin browser which doesn't seem to work very well on the MX for streaming purposes. Flash only works from 8AM to 4PM in the Play Store version which is quite ridiculous. I think I have also included a cracked version of Flashfox.

 

[balky]

@Phrozin: If you want to check your Netflix streaming bitrate, search for the video clip, El Fuente 60MP10 on US Netflix.

What I've noticed on my Roku is that with a normal show on Netflix, within 1 or 2 minutes the video quality is very good, however with El Fuente (ignoring the bitrate data on the screen) it takes a lot longer to reach a good quality, and my perception is that it doesn't even get to the same quality as a normal show. I feel like they are throttling El Fuente. Maybe I'm imagining this?

 

[Yotch]

@Balky: Do you see the same behaviour with Example Short 23.976 on the Roku? I always thought that Example Short 23.976 reaches higher speeds than a normal show since it is so short.

@imranpanji: The FireTV is a good choice if you predominantly want to make use of paid services such as Amazon/Netflix/Hulu+. I think that you may find it quite a bit more complicated if you want to install XBMC or other non approved streaming services. It is much easier to tinker with one of the Chinese machines like the M8/MXIII as you already have access to the Play Store, a range of different flash enabled browsers etc., more USB ports, extensive range of peripherals like air mice, keyboards etc, wider range of supported codecs etc.

Take a look at some of these YouTube Guides for loading apps/XBMC/Play Store on the Fire TV to see what is involved ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KsN3Ugaz6A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX7JBDX8Qb4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3IucEcOKgs
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Fire_TV

XBMC runs very well on the Amlogic processors as one of the developers was employed by a distributor to make this possible. Android was designed for touch screen phones/tablets so you will probably need to attach an air mouse/keyboard as you may find it very difficult to use apps that have not been designed for the FireTV remote.

 

[Hamish McPanji]

@Balky: Do you see the same behaviour with Example Short 23.976 on the Roku? I always thought that Example Short 23.976 reaches higher speeds than a normal show since it is so short.

@imranpanji: The FireTV is a good choice if you predominantly want to make use of paid services such as Amazon/Netflix/Hulu+. I think that you may find it quite a bit more complicated if you want to install XBMC or other non approved streaming services. It is much easier to tinker with one of the Chinese machines like the M8/MXIII as you already have access to the Play Store, a range of different flash enabled browsers etc., more USB ports, extensive range of peripherals like air mice, keyboards etc, wider range of supported codecs etc.

Take a look at some of these YouTube Guides for loading apps/XBMC/Play Store on the Fire TV to see what is involved ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KsN3Ugaz6A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX7JBDX8Qb4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3IucEcOKgs
http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Fire_TV

XBMC runs very well on the Amlogic processors as one of the developers was employed by a distributor to make this possible. Android was designed for touch screen phones/tablets so you will probably need to attach an air mouse/keyboard as you may find it very difficult to use apps that have not been designed for the FireTV remote.

Thx Yotch

I already have a air remote which I use on my LG TV. I have a rapbmc/openelec and a small plex windows media server running already, but it's too confusing for my wife....so essentially my choice was Roku or FireTV. I opted for the firetv because it will be easy to use, run Netflix, Hulu and Amazon apps....and a great possibility for me to fiddle a bit as well

 

[Yotch]

Has anyone Successfully mounted a network share (samba or NFS) in Android? I've tried with Busy Box and Mount Manager, Mount manager refuses to load the CIFS.ko module that I have. Any suggestions @Yotch @avsupply

Maybe these links have some ideas ...
http://minixforums.com/threads/cifs-ko.28/
http://www.netzgewitter.com/2013/10/troubleshoot-cifs-on-android/

 

[silkman]

I've been reading about mapping of keys for xbmc with the mx3 airremote. What exactly is this?

 

[JerryMungo]

I've been reading about mapping of keys for xbmc with the mx3 airremote. What exactly is this?

Not sure if the same thing, but it's possible to map any android 'click' or other event to any key on your remote. What I did for example was map play/pause to the esc key on my F10 pro air remote since I didn't need that key and it lacked a play/pause button. That is relatively straight forward.

 

[AVSupply]

I've been reading about mapping of keys for xbmc with the mx3 airremote. What exactly is this?

Hi silkman

What required keys are missing on the MX3 remote?

If you would like a "stop" or "info" button, you can install the keymap editor and assign some of the numeric keys to XBMC functions.

The keymap editor is available from the XBMC.org repository. Go to XBMC System >> Addons > Get Addons > XBMC.org > Program Addons > Keymap editor

 

[silkman]

Hi silkman

What required keys are missing on the MX3 remote?

If you would like a "stop" or "info" button, you can install the keymap editor and assign some of the numeric keys to XBMC functions.

The keymap editor is available from the XBMC.org repository. Go to XBMC System >> Addons > Get Addons > XBMC.org > Program Addons > Keymap editor

I was actually looking for a stop button.
Thanks bro- will check it out.

 

[AVSupply]

I was actually looking for a stop button.
Thanks bro- will check it out.

Cool

Once you've downloaded the addon, go to the "Programs" category to launch it

Remember to "Save" before exiting

 

[JerryMungo]

Hi silkman

What required keys are missing on the MX3 remote?

If you would like a "stop" or "info" button, you can install the keymap editor and assign some of the numeric keys to XBMC functions.

The keymap editor is available from the XBMC.org repository. Go to XBMC System >> Addons > Get Addons > XBMC.org > Program Addons > Keymap editor

Nice! Didn't realise XBMC had this built in.
On a side note, I use project free tv and one or two others on XMBC for streaming. Sometimes it times out trying to pull a stream, sometimes (on the same stream) it works. Anyone know what the deciding factor for working or not is?

 

[Phrozin]

@Phrozin: If you want to check your Netflix streaming bitrate, search for the video clip, El Fuente 60MP10 on US Netflix. This should show you the current bitrate and resolution in yellow on your TV screen while the stream adapts. If you are running two streams simultaneously I think that 500kbps is most likely - IIRC the next step up is 1350kbps so two of these streams will not be possible on a 2Mbps line.

I stream at 500kbps according to El Fuente(lowest quality setting locked in @ Netflix account). So if running 2 streams, they supposed to bet 1000kbps. This is kilobit per second? . I did test 2 streams a while back and it did play without buffering on my 2mb line, both locked on the lowest quality setting so they can't go above SD

See here is another member who could stream 2 profiles at once on 2mb line
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/503992-Minimum-ADSL-Line-Speed-for-Netflix-Hulu

Thanks for the info on browsers, will test Photon(heard good things about it) ;-)
I think Photon could be solution because of what you said about no plugins and flash built into it, will give feedback

 

[balky]

@Balky: Do you see the same behaviour with Example Short 23.976 on the Roku? I always thought that Example Short 23.976 reaches higher speeds than a normal show since it is so short.

Hi Yotch, You asked me once before about "Example Short 23.976", and I told you that it did not display the data on the screen. Well it turns out I was watching "Example 2 hour 23.976", which does not display data. I searched Netflix for "Example Short" and only Netflix icons were shown. I clicked on the 1st icon and it turned out to be the correct video, with data shown. To answer your question, the video quality was very similar to El Fuente.

 

[silkman]

XBMC is making me pull my hair out!
- very often when I try view my playlist and click to watch something, I only hear audio. I navigate to the home screen and then click full screen- sometimes it works, sometimes not. I often have to turn off the Droidtv then restart to get video going again. What's up with that?
I found this but doens't know what it means:
"The three most common causes of only having sound, but no video, when playing a video file are:

The hardware in the box is AMLogic-based and another video/media app is running in the background. Quit the other media apps or restart the device and XBMC should display video again.
The hardware in the box is AMLogic-based and the firmware (Android installation) didn't set certain permissions correctly and isn't rooted. The easiest way to fix this would be to either root the device, so that XBMC can set the file permissions, or update to a better firmware that sets the correct permissions.
XBMC thinks the video can be decoded using video hardware/acceleration, but the encoding just isn't right"
- Every time I start up xbmc I keep getting errors "failed to start common cache" or Superuser denied XBMC or Remote communication failed.
- If I exit XBMC and try to watch something else later, when it starts a paused frame of the last watched movie always pops up.
- Is XBMC always so buggy? Must say, I like my droidtv but XBMC is definitely not what I expected it to be.
- I tried key mapping to restart XBMC every time I press "3" but now whenever I press 3 XBMC freezes. Need to shutdown and restart.


Please help guys.

 

[AVSupply]

XBMC is making me pull my hair out!
- very often when I try view my playlist and click to watch something, I only hear audio. I navigate to the home screen and then click full screen- sometimes it works, sometimes not. I often have to turn off the Droidtv then restart to get video going again. What's up with that?
- Every time I start up xbmc I keep getting errors "failed to start common cache" or Superuser denied XBMC or Remote communication failed.
- If I exit XBMC and try to watch something else later, when it starts a paused frame of the last watched movie always pops up.
- Is XBMC always so buggy? Must say, I like my droidtv but XBMC is definitely not what I expected it to be.
- I tried key mapping to restart XBMC every time I press "3" but now whenever I press 3 XBMC freezes. Need to shutdown and restart.


Please help guys.

That shouldn't be happening

I suggest you uninstall XBMC and try a newer version. See here -> http://www.datafilehost.com/d/4f1bb435

 

[Phrozin]

@ Silkman, no video,but audio could mean a hardware accelration problem with the specific Xbmc, the only version I know that works out of the box is "Oman's Xbmc" which does have all three hardware buttons selected by default. Normally it's the AMcodec @ Settings/video/acceleration. try deselecting it and test. It's true box must be properly rooted, think your's would be. If selecting/deselecting has no effect, try Oman Xbmc, it's the one I use and recommended by a few on Freaktab
I use the 13.1 version of his, saw now he has updated version as well, but I didn't test that one yet. I'll link his thread for download as the forum members there doesn't take kind on hotlinking and credit stays to Oman
http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.php?12919-xbmc-which-can-Play-4k-rmvb-h265-video-on-amlogic-s802-platform

@post 4 you will see it does play rmvb as well and his version doesn't need root
Hope it gets you sorted

 

[silkman]

Thanks dude
Will try deselecting it. If that doesn't work don't wanna mess around loading another version. I'm not very good with tech stuff.
Or is it as simple as uninstalling like a normal app and installing the 1 asupply suggested?

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

 

[AVSupply]

Or is it as simple as uninstalling like a normal app and installing the 1 asupply suggested?

Yes, go to Android Settings >> Apps, and remove XBMC

Next, copy the downloaded XBMC.apk file to a flash drive and insert it into the MX. Go to Applications >> App Installer, and find the XBMC.apk on the flash drive

Install

 

[silkman]

I d/l the apk but app installer can't find the apk.
If I use es explorer to search for the file and click on the file I get error "there was a problem parsing the file" ??WTF am I doing wrong?