Amazon Fire TV

Amazon Fire TV is an Android-based (Fire OS) set-top-box that contains a powerful ARM processor (that can even handle some of the more heavy Kodi 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.

Amazon in addition recently released Amazon Fire TV Stick as a low cost version in a HDMI-stick format, and while the Amazon Fire TV Stick also uses the same Android-based (Fire OS) software platform it contains less powerful ARM processor hardware it should still technically provides all the same video playback features and capabilities as its big brother, the Amazon Fire TV, at least as far as running on it.

Fire TV stick differences
In a nutshell: slower processor (which won't be a huge difference for average Kodi usage), only 1GB of RAM, no USB, no Ethernet, just HDMI, power, wifi, and bluetooth. Still works pretty well from a Kodi standpoint.

installing Kodi
Kodi can be installed on any Fire TV or Fire TV Stick. Root is not required.

Launch Kodi from Recent on the FTV Home Screen
The trick to launch Kodi from the "Recent" menu is no longer possible, because Amazon decided to remove Kodi from their app store.

Launch Kodi from an Existing App on the FTV Home Screen
There is a alternative way to invoke Kodi from the FTV Home Screen using Llama. This method uses a “sacrificial” app that you have installed from Amazon that you will use to access Kodi. The app can be anything you have installed but don’t need to use; however, some apps behave better than others (some apps will enter a loop when exiting Kodi). One app that has been tested and works well for this purpose is “Classic TV”.

The advantage of this method is that using the sacrificial app you have Home Screen Access to Kodi and you can exit Kodi to the FTV Home Screen just as you would any other FTV app.

Prerequisites

 * 1)  Llama side loaded on your FTV.
 * 2)  The app called “Classic TV” from the Amazon app store.
 * 3)  One Llama Event (described below).

Setting Up Launcher

 * 1)  Install / side-load Llama.
 * 2)  Install “Classic TV” (or “ikono TV” in the UK) app from Amazon app store.
 * 3)  Launch Llama (From FireTV - Settings > Applications > Llama > Launch Application).
 * 4)  Go to EVENTS on top menu and click '+' to add a NEW EVENT.
 * 5)  In your NEW EVENT select ADD CONDITION then, from the Menu select 'Active Application' and select 'Choose App’.  Scroll through the list of apps until you find “Classic TV” and select this app.  Doing this should return you to the Events Menu.
 * 6)  Next, select ADD ACTION and select 'Run Application' from the Menu list.  From here, select whatever the name of your Kodi build is.  That should create your event.  At this point you can also name your event to distinguish it from others.

Replacing the "Classic TV" images with Kodi

 * 1) Download thumbnail and preview images (you'll need to either load the link in a new window/tab or right-click and "Save Link As..." so that you avoid saving the auto-generated smaller version that kodi-wiki created):
 * 2) thumbnail_43127692f3ed9671e079492a40a450bbd51543bd84d74bba24baf55fe7e06afa.png (file name should be thumbnail_43127692f3ed9671e079492a40a450bbd51543bd84d74bba24baf55fe7e06afa.png)
 * 3) preview_43127692f3ed9671e079492a40a450bbd51543bd84d74bba24baf55fe7e06afa.png (file name should be preview_43127692f3ed9671e079492a40a450bbd51543bd84d74bba24baf55fe7e06afa.png)
 * 4) Double check that your file names are correct and not capitalized at the beginning (as koki.wiki forced when they were uploaded).
 * 5) Using adb, upload to FireTV (/sdcard/.imagecache/com.amazon.venezia/com.adrise.profilms/B00IPRAZB4/): > adb push thumbnail_43127692f3ed9671e079492a40a450bbd51543bd84d74bba24baf55fe7e06afa.png /sdcard/.imagecache/com.amazon.venezia/com.adrise.profilms/B00IPRAZB4/  > adb push preview_43127692f3ed9671e079492a40a450bbd51543bd84d74bba24baf55fe7e06afa.png /sdcard/.imagecache/com.amazon.venezia/com.adrise.profilms/B00IPRAZB4/
 * 6) Reboot FireTV and new images should appear. (Rebooting can be done through Settings -> System, or by holding
 * 7) Troubleshooting:
 * 8) If images don't update, make sure the filenames match what is in /sdcard/.imagecache/com.amazon.venezia/com.adrise.profilms/B00IPRAZB4/
 * 9) For apps other than Classic TV, locate path and filenames using "adb shell ls sdcard/.imagecache/com.amazon.venezia/". For example, if using iKono TV the path will be sdcard/.imagecache/com.amazon.venezia/org.ikonotv.smarttv/B00NEJS7ZO/

Now when you start the “Classic TV” app from the Home Screen, it should automatically open XBMC. Feel free to experiment with other apps from the FTV app store. Just be aware that some will loop back and re-start Kodi when you try and exit Kodi to get back to the FTV Home Screen.

Copy userdata settings (optional)
Run Kodi 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
 * For example, to copy advancedsettings.xml from your local folder to your Fire TV Kodi userdata folder: >adb push advancedsettings.xml /sdcard/android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/userdata


 * Copying files from Fire TV to PC
 * Copy files from Fire TV userdata folder using
 * For example, to copy advancedsettings.xml from your Fire TV Kodi userdata folder to your local folder: >adb pull /sdcard/android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/userdata/advancedsettings.xml

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

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

Update Splash Image (optional)
Run Kodi 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):

For Gotham >adb push splash.png /sdcard/Android/data/org.xbmc.xbmc/files/.xbmc/media/splash.png

Fire TV splash images:
 * Non-version specific
 * Created by elmerohueso: v1 v2
 * Created by reaven


 * Version specific
 * Gotham 13.1 created by Tinwarble
 * Helix|Alpha created by Tinwarble
 * Helix|Beta created by Tinwarble

Note: The "Non-version specific" splashscreens can also be applied using elmerohueso's "XBMC Tweaks for FTV" program addon, which is available from elmerohueso's Kodi repo.

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

Bluetooth keyboards and gamepads
Any Bluetooth input device, such as a keyboard or gamepad, that works in general on the Fire TV will also work in Kodi.

CEC
People are reporting that the Amazon Fire TV has basic CEC support. Reported working keys are UP, DOWN, RIGHT, LEFT, SELECT, PLAY and PAUSE (depending on the TV brand).

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.

See keyboard controls for how to control Kodi using a keyboard.
 * USB keyboards

Additional Fire TV controls goes as followed:
 * {| class=prettytable

! Key !! Action or "browser search" media key. || Voice Search (Does not send mic audio) or "Menu" (to the right of the Windows key on the right side) || Fire TV menu button
 * || Fire TV home screen
 * || Fire TV back button
 * || Fire TV back button
 * || Fire TV back button
 * || Recent App
 * || System reset
 * }
 * || System reset
 * }

USB gamepads
Any USB gamepad that works in general for the Fire TV will also work in Kodi.


 * Examples
 * Logitech F710 Wireless Gamepad (uses a small USB dongle)
 * Xbox 360 wired gamepad
 * Xbox 360 wireless gamepad works if you use the Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows

Known issues

 * VC-1 / WMV9 encoded videos is currently not hardware decoded in on the Amazon Fire TV box or stick
 * Live IPTV (via multicast UDP/RTP) is currently not supported due to missing kernel support.

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.


 * Debug information in the Fire TV's Netflix app can be accessed by pressing.
 * The FireTV will not go to 'sleep' when Kodi is the active application. In the Gotham builds, you may set the Power Saving -> Shutdown Function to Quit, and choose any time between 5-120 minutes. This will Exit the application after being idle, which allows the FireTV screensaver to run (the screensaver should pop up right when Kodi exits; test this by using the 5 minute Quit timer). This also appears to function correctly and allow the device to sleep even if you are using the Llama settings to always keep Kodi running.
 * You can change the FTV to use non-US Time Zones by using TimeZone Changer.
 * Micro USB port on the Amazon Fire TV Stick does not support USB host functions (no hard drives or USB input).

Links

 * Kodi forum thread about the Amazon Fire TV: http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=191109
 * Amazon Fire TV product page: http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-CL1130-Fire-TV/dp/B00CX5P8FC
 * Amazon Fire TV Stick product page: http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-W87CUN-Fire-TV-Stick/dp/B00GDQ0RMG
 * Amazon Fire TV Stick Device and Platform Specifications https://developer.amazon.com/public/solutions/devices/fire-tv/docs/device-and-platform-specifications
 * 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: Amazon Fire TV
 * Wikipedia article on Fire OS (Amazon's Android based OS): Fire OS
 * 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
 * TechRepublic teardown: http://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/cracking-open-amazon-fire-tv/18/
 * AFTVnews (News and Guides): http://www.aftvnews.com/
 * Amazon Fire TV Utility App: http://goo.gl/woVu0s or http://goo.gl/lUNWaT