NEW: FireTV app for Channels DVR (experimental)

Would like to test the FireTV app. Using new 4K FireTV. Thank you

Would like to test the FireTV app. Using new 4K FireTV. Thank you

Iā€™ve seen lots of requests to test, however, not much feedback on testing.

Iā€™d really like to see some reports of results from those users testingā€¦including FireTV model, like stick V# and box V#.

Thanks

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Been using the beta AFTV app for about three weeks now. Comp skip works quickly ā€œalmostā€ all of the time. Once in awhile, it takes about five seconds to skip the commercials. Live TV and DVR playback works well but does pixelate at times. Home network is Lynksys Velop system, server is Synology DS218+, AFTV is newest 4K version. I have tried adjusting the web transcoder settings on the DVR to a lower rates with no change. Overall, app for AFTV is working decent for beta version. ATV 4K on other TVs in my household work flawlessly.

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I would like to test this on the new FireTV.

I would like to test the Fire TV version. Thanks.

I would like to request an invite. Just received the new FireTV 4K and would like to test it out on that.

My old NAS definitely isnā€™t powerful enough. It tries though. It really, really tries. I havenā€™t been able to try the FireTV version yet, but Iā€™m planning on retiring my NAS and using my 2011 Mac mini server instead.

One thing thoughā€¦ since I have an HD HomeRun Extend, I shouldnā€™t really need to transcode since the HDHR already does so? Would live TV work (in theory) on the FireTV for the HDHR Extend if itā€™s using the Heavy profile (or even a mobile profile), or is it still not the correct format?

Using mobile should work. Heavy is interlaced so it still requires decoding/re-encoding.

Iā€™d like to try the FireTV app!

@tmm1 Would you please add me to the test. I have a Fire TV 4K. I think you sent me an invite before but perhaps to my Amazon.com account which I donā€™t use rather than my Amazon.co.uk I do. The UK account did not have the AppStore emails enabled. Thanks.

Thanks.
First impression. Itā€™s actually really great. I have always liked the Android TV style UI. It plays Live TV and Recorded TV well. I assume it uses the transcode settings set in the web interface. I would obviously like to see it not have to rely on the DVR transcoding but to do whatever the aTV does to play the original stream because the buffering delay is annoying and if I had more than 1 device that required transcoding my PC would not be able to keep up.

The FireTV canā€™t play directly like other aTV devices. The FireTV 4K specifically does not have a hardware mpeg2 decoder available. Older models have a hardware decoder, but it doesnā€™t deinterlace so the video looks terrible.

Can the FTV deinterlace H264? I assume not. If it can then at least the DVR could provide the original h264 stream to a FTV client. Most of my TV recordings are H264 anyway as only SD recordings in the UK are MPEG2.
Any chance the DVR could transcode/deinterlace after recording like comskip? Once done it could then serve the video to the FTV in a format it can play natively.

Good questionā€¦ Iā€™ll have to see if the FTV can deinterlace H264. My guess is probably yes, in which case we can skip the transcode.

Is there any plans of making this a full proper release in the future?

I would like to test this as well. I have 1st Gen Fire Stick and two 2nd Gen FireTV boxes.

Also, I second mynameismrpinkā€™s question - any plans to make this a proper release?

The FireTV app is in beta and only works for Channels DVR users.

Sorry - you responded quicker than I could subscribe. All signed up now, and ready to test on FireTV. Setting up my server as we speak.

Amazon recently pushed out a software update for the new FireTV4K which fixes the mpeg2 decoder and deinterlacer. We plan to enable direct playback in an update after the holidays, so your DVR will no longer need to be transcoding capable if you have the 4K device.

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