I've got a Fire TV 4K from launch. Yes at first there were problems, but they've all been pretty much fixed now with the last update. The only problem I have is that the voice search doesn't always notice I'm talking even though I'm pressing the button. It's rare, but does happen.

Netflix does do 5.1 audio now, and the audio is louder than it used to be.

Side loading is easy when you know how. Kodi works fine, at least for the stuff I use it for. The use of a fast microSD comes in handy as well. The only problem though is that not all apps will work from the SD card, so you have to be a bit picky. That's because of the way the programmers have done things, not the Fire TV's fault. (The same would happen on a phone/tablet)

The only real thing missing is "All 4", but that's rumoured to be heading to the Fire TV, since it can be used with a Chromecast now.

I of course have iPlayer, ITV Hub, Channel 5, UKTV Play, TVCatchup, Netflix, etc installed. (STV as well, if you live outside of Scotland, you can just find a postcode for Scotland and enter that to make it work).

I use on the Fire TV 4K, installed from Amazon:

Total Commander File Manager, is what it says it is, it's easy to use with the remote, unlike ES File Explorer. It'll also allow copying/deleting/etc with the microSD card. Unlike other file explorers.

Moonlight Game Streaming for use with a PC that has modern Nvidia gfx cards for remote game play. (You can also sideload this if you want the newest version, but the one that Amazon offers up works well enough)

Allcast, to make it a little easier to cast photos etc.

Sideloaded stuff,

Firestarter to allow me to double click the home button, to go directly into Netflix, but it can be used to bring up a menu for launching your installed and sideloaded apps. It can be used to autolaunch apps as well from booting.

Kodi of course

Ftp Server by The Olive Tree Well for FTP stuff, this thing actually works with the remote and is free unlike the FTP servers that Amazon will show you. This comes in really handy, when you want to put your Emulator game files in the right place straight away instead of just to the Fire TV storage, then copying to the microSD card, you can do it directly!

Wukong Remote and Wukong input plugin. You guessed it, it's so you can use your phone/tablet as a remote / mouse / gamepad / etc.

And then of course you can stick on your favourite emulators.

For an Android phone/tablet to use with the Fire TV, (There might be iOS versions or apps like the following, but I've no clue since I don't own such a device)

The other half of Allcast

Apps2Fire to side load apps from your device to the Fire TV. It makes life a lot easier than messing about with a PC.

Wukong remote for what I explained above.

And of course Amazon's own Fire TV remote app.

I hope that helps someone? All of the above should work on the older version of the Fire TV as well, but some might not work so well on the "stick" because they just don't have the processing power needed.

I hope all that makes some sense? :sunglasses:

Beware - this new box has no optical out..

Not voting either way but heard it's very buggy and has problems.

You can install Kodi on it.

Oh I read few week back kodi had serious issues in that case heat

f**k Kodi you are saving £15 on the thing

isnt this the same as a Fire stick? in which case you can certainly install kodi onto it.. also better to use certain firestick launchers .. which make it better to use if side loading your own stuff.
because my fire stick wasn't working with all the stuff I wanted, I bought a proper android box in the end.. but heat for the deal!

Meh blu-ray quality you need a 4k TV for

Just bought the M8 , 2gb , quad core . Runs really quick and smooth

do these have netflix UHD app?

Bought this late week and runs Kodi absolutely fine. I don't have 4K so I can't test that but everything else works as expected. It's a much better spec than the stick and also has a USB and Ethernet port. Got Prime, Netflicks, iPlayer, ITV Player and Kodi.

How easy was it to install kodi onto it ?

No....kodi is easy to install as always, what it is the OS broke lambada ( the thing everyone used to launch kodi) but there are other launchers anyway....the lambada dev is long gone and won't update it to work... But it is no problem using a different launcher.....but all you see if the community claiming it is broken, which is 100% incorrect

​get an MIII-G runs perfectly

Do you want the best? Then the shield tv is it...there is no comparison....after that nexus player

Agreed, Sheild TV is head and shoulders above the rest

Amazon already price match who prefer to buy from them

Great video , and kodi works really smooth and fast

My fire tv stick/kodi/Genesis setup has begun struggling to buffer properly, sometimes stuttering with hd and hq sources. I'm on fibre, so it won't be my connection. Tried clearing cache and setting advanced settings but to no avail. Would getting the actual to box help with this (as it has increased processing power/ram)?

although a great deal be warned the 1st Gen overall has better performance if you want to run Kodi. soon the 2nd Gen will be all you can buy so if you can snap up a 1st Gen I would. even through the 2nd Gen has slightly better hardware the overall performance is better on the 1st Gen

http://www.htpcbeginner.com/amazonfire-tv-2014-vs-fire-tv-2015/

Beware - this new box has no optical out..

The 1st Gen also has Optical Out for SPDIF. I wouldn't have bothered changing over from the first gen anyway but to drop the Optical port was a little annoying.

For me the Jarvis beta build of Kodi works better, in that there is no small noticeable juddering anymore when playing back MKV movies.

Overall the Fire TV (1st Gen) has been great and now compliments our Prime membership.

However I have gone back to a traditional HTPC type Kodi box.

Nice find OP - heat!

It's oos now?

Does anyone know if these have a setting for 50hz? Almost every streaming box I've looked at has terrible motion judder on things like iplayer as it can't play back the content at it's native refresh rate due to the box only supporting 60hz. The same goes for content that is 24p too.

Hi can you send the fix please?

Be interested to know how to fix Genesis too

I think Amazon should be paying me to have one of these. For example, the Nexus player and this are both android-based, and both voice controlled using the remote. If I ask the Nexus player “what’s the weather like outside?” I get a useful response — it’ll vocally summarise what it is like out, and graphically show me a more detailed weather display for my location. If I ask the Amazon fire tv (mk1) the same question it says “your search does not match anything in our catalogue”. Thanks Amazon, you money-sucking leeches, it seems all you exist for is to repeatedly and continuously syphon money out of me and offer me absolutely nothing in terms of quality of life in return.

I've had kodi on mine for about a year works great, easy to put on(via android phone) if you've got prime it's probably worth it if not you need to get kodi. 90% of Amazon you have to pay for

Hi can you send the fix please?

Could you also PM me the fix instructions for Genesis! Interested to give it a try

​Hi could you send the change host genesis look up pls

yup, just use firestarter, no need for anything else, even updates kodi for you. the issues are, where once xbmc, could only installed on modded xbox's, folks knew what they doing, it was a great media indexer for your own content, now every man and his dog, can buy an android box and think its going to be a free replacement for sky, with streaming add ons having many thousands of users causing buffering, and devs of addons being threatened for copywrite infringement, its only going to get worse!

good devices though, prefer the box to the stick.

genisis development has stopped, while they say they are working on something new.

I've got a Fire TV 4K from launch. Yes at first there were problems, but they've all been pretty much fixed now with the last update. The only problem I have is that the voice search doesn't always notice I'm talking even though I'm pressing the button. It's rare, but does happen.

Netflix does do 5.1 audio now, and the audio is louder than it used to be.

Side loading is easy when you know how. Kodi works fine, at least for the stuff I use it for. The use of a fast microSD comes in handy as well. The only problem though is that not all apps will work from the SD card, so you have to be a bit picky. That's because of the way the programmers have done things, not the Fire TV's fault. (The same would happen on a phone/tablet)

The only real thing missing is "All 4", but that's rumoured to be heading to the Fire TV, since it can be used with a Chromecast now.

I of course have iPlayer, ITV Hub, Channel 5, UKTV Play, TVCatchup, Netflix, etc installed. (STV as well, if you live outside of Scotland, you can just find a postcode for Scotland and enter that to make it work).

I use on the Fire TV 4K, installed from Amazon:

Total Commander File Manager, is what it says it is, it's easy to use with the remote, unlike ES File Explorer. It'll also allow copying/deleting/etc with the microSD card. Unlike other file explorers.

Moonlight Game Streaming for use with a PC that has modern Nvidia gfx cards for remote game play. (You can also sideload this if you want the newest version, but the one that Amazon offers up works well enough)

Allcast, to make it a little easier to cast photos etc.

Sideloaded stuff,

Firestarter to allow me to double click the home button, to go directly into Netflix, but it can be used to bring up a menu for launching your installed and sideloaded apps. It can be used to autolaunch apps as well from booting.

Kodi of course

Ftp Server by The Olive Tree Well for FTP stuff, this thing actually works with the remote and is free unlike the FTP servers that Amazon will show you. This comes in really handy, when you want to put your Emulator game files in the right place straight away instead of just to the Fire TV storage, then copying to the microSD card, you can do it directly!

Wukong Remote and Wukong input plugin. You guessed it, it's so you can use your phone/tablet as a remote / mouse / gamepad / etc.

And then of course you can stick on your favourite emulators.

For an Android phone/tablet to use with the Fire TV, (There might be iOS versions or apps like the following, but I've no clue since I don't own such a device)

The other half of Allcast

Apps2Fire to side load apps from your device to the Fire TV. It makes life a lot easier than messing about with a PC.

Wukong remote for what I explained above.

And of course Amazon's own Fire TV remote app.

I hope that helps someone? All of the above should work on the older version of the Fire TV as well, but some might not work so well on the "stick" because they just don't have the processing power needed.

I hope all that makes some sense? :sunglasses:

Here you go guys

http://www.koditips.com/genesis-5-tips-genesis-hosts-order/

this tells you which order to put them in to cure all these buffering problems

http://www.koditips.com/genesis-5-tips-genesis-hosts-order/:smiley:

yep, and the more and more it is getting as easy as 1 2 3 to install and start watching streams the much more likely it is that something will have to give

I've got the 1st gen Fire box so it has optical out but no 4K etc. I've got Kodi on mine. Is there any need to get the new one which had this ant-buffering feature? Thanks

The end is nigh... servers won't cope with all the additional traffic

Thanks for that - I guess most servers aren't there anymore. I tried your list, but the shows I have on Genesis don't seem to use any except primewire and vidics... So I guess it's not a stick v box issue, but a servers one!

This won't stream 4k at 60Hz due to the fact it has HDMI 1.4 ports lol. Wait for fire TV 2 which is inevitably coming. Whoever designed this wasn't thinking straight.