Firestick general discussion thread

advertsfox · 02-09-2020 12:27pm

irishproduce wrote: »

Excellent response, thanks for the explanation. I will buy one of these Mi devices so. I have an android H96+ pro under the tv at the moment, it allows me to put in a usb stick and record from iptv xtreme. I would lose this functionality yeah? No usb on that Mi stick

Correct, the next up Android TV device with USB is the Mi Box S but those are being phased out, they still work of course for €50. The Nvidia Shield is an absolute powerhouse with fantastic software support and features with USB (I've a Shield and Shield Tube). This would be €220 but completely worth it!

Alternative, you should switch to a service that offers VOD or catchup functionality.

02-09-2020 1:15pm

I'm considering buying a Mi Stick soon. Never had something like that before. I don't like smart TVs but devices that plug in are nice.

Thargor · 02-09-2020 8:33pm

I just got a new 4k Firestick to replace the old version, but now when I try to cast a Youtube video with the button underneath every video it just says "Source Not Supported", I can see other devices in the house like the Xbone and my Firestick is top of the list but its greyed out, any clue what thats about? Old one still casts fine.

MarcusP12 · 02-09-2020 9:50pm

Thargor wrote: »

I just got a new 4k Firestick to replace the old version, but now when I try to cast a Youtube video with the button underneath every video it just says "Source Not Supported", I can see other devices in the house like the Xbone and my Firestick is top of the list but its greyed out, any clue what thats about? Old one still casts fine.

Sorry, I know I'm not answering your query but just wondering where you got your firestick? Amazon don't seem to deliver it here....

mossie · 02-09-2020 10:08pm

MarcusP12 wrote: »

Sorry, I know I'm not answering your query but just wondering where you got your firestick? Amazon don't seem to deliver it here....

Use AddressPal, or parcel motel

Thargor · 02-09-2020 10:28pm

mossie wrote: »

Use AddressPal, or parcel motel

Yeah Parcel Motel.

Thargor · 02-09-2020 10:30pm

Thargor wrote: »

Is there a video player like VLC or Media Player Classic that I could set up so that it behaves exactly like the "Send to Firestick" option in Youtube? As in I could be watching a file on my laptop but then just hit a button and have it pause on the pc then appear on my tv screen and let me go back to browsing on the laptop?

Plex is the answer to this btw, made my Downloads folder my Library and it works flawlessly.

Just need to sort this Youtube issue now :mad:

Thargor · 03-09-2020 10:29pm

Thargor wrote: »

I just got a new 4k Firestick to replace the old version, but now when I try to cast a Youtube video with the button underneath every video it just says "Source Not Supported", I can see other devices in the house like the Xbone and my Firestick is top of the list but its greyed out, any clue what thats about? Old one still casts fine.

OMG Im a fecking idiot, the Youtube app wasnt installed! I just assumed it came as stock, also when I searched for it in the Amazon store it said "You Own It!" so not technically all my fault...

One More Toy · 03-09-2020 11:27pm

Anyone any joy getting NBC peacock working?

Electric Nitwit · 04-09-2020 2:02pm

One More Toy wrote: »

Anyone any joy getting NBC peacock working?

Yep, I've had it working a while now. I use KeepSolid SmartDNS

dougm1970 · 04-09-2020 3:40pm

One More Toy wrote: »

Anyone any joy getting NBC peacock working?

yea...expressvpn on dallas 2 server....but its slow.
useable...so not that slow it cant be used..but does feel slow.

One More Toy · 04-09-2020 4:07pm

How does one get the peacock apk?

tonc76 · 04-09-2020 4:34pm

anyone else having problems accessing BBC iPlayer with expressvpn? Haven't been able to access all week

pavb2 · 05-09-2020 2:29pm

Hi all Having problems with buffering so set up a trial version of Express vpn just watching some live football on the Firestick And all Seemed to be much improved until it reached a penalty shoot out and the whole thing started buffering and eventually froze.

Internet connection is ok I’ve done all the Firestick resets, clean ups using apps like refresh your firetv Etc the Firestick is about 2 years old so any ideas. What is best Location setting for the vpn, will upgradIng the Firestick to a 4K help?

chrisire · 05-09-2020 7:45pm

tonc76 wrote: »

anyone else having problems accessing BBC iPlayer with expressvpn? Haven't been able to access all week

Yeah its not working for the last week or so,they said they are looking into a fix.

Invincible · 06-09-2020 10:12am

pavb2 wrote: »

Hi all Having problems with buffering so set up a trial version of Express vpn just watching some live football on the Firestick And all Seemed to be much improved until it reached a penalty shoot out and the whole thing started buffering and eventually froze.

Internet connection is ok I’ve done all the Firestick resets, clean ups using apps like refresh your firetv Etc the Firestick is about 2 years old so any ideas. What is best Location setting for the vpn, will upgradIng the Firestick to a 4K help?

The server you were getting stream from got overloaded.

mccard · 07-09-2020 12:09pm

chrisire wrote: »

Yeah its not working for the last week or so,they said they are looking into a fix.

Changed over to NordVPN last week and it's working again for me.

Thargor · 07-09-2020 9:04pm

Wish they'd piss off with this Marvelous Miss Mazel banner across the top every time you turn it on these days, its been there for months now and annoys me every time I turn it on.

BKWDR · 07-09-2020 9:41pm

Anyone know the cheapest place to buy the 4k stick?

Technique · 07-09-2020 10:53pm

Thargor wrote: »

Wish they'd piss off with this Marvelous Miss Mazel banner across the top every time you turn it on these days, its been there for months now and annoys me every time I turn it on.

Must be just yours. They're currently advertising The Boys on mine.

blondeonblonde · 09-09-2020 9:32pm

I can't find the Virgin media player app via search. Is there an apk I need?

Thanks

IrlJidel · 12-09-2020 3:22pm

Custom Launchers and home button works again.

See TechDoctorUK youtube tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG6bkiRjJeI

Make sure you uninstall your previous FireTVSettings app.

Working for me now using Wolf Launcher - its a bit more cumbersome now to go back to stock home screen to access settings - but seems to be working fine so far.

mossie · 12-09-2020 8:39pm

I have a firestick and I'm having big issues with lipsync on videos, particularly Amazon Prime videos. Anyone have similar and any ideas how to solve this? Thanks.

bobbyg · 16-09-2020 12:11pm

Just checking if Peacock is working ok for the premiership games?

Electric Nitwit · 16-09-2020 2:10pm

bobbyg wrote: »

Just checking if Peacock is working ok for the premiership games?

Yep, working for me with SmartDNS.
I have Peacock Premium, but I did read that it's available on their free service at the moment, don't quote me on that though

The picture quality is great, the delay about 15s. Both better than NowTV

They're not showing all the games though, I thought they were. About half by the look of it

Ohmeha · 16-09-2020 2:46pm

I'm having constant problems watching anything on Peacock either on the side loaded app or my laptop, sometimes it's fine but most of the time it's either freezing, buffering and outright nothing playing. Going by reddit I'm not the only one, luckily I still have about 6 weeks left on my trial to see if they sort things out

Thargor · 16-09-2020 9:24pm

Stupid fecking Google/Youtube have crippled the voice control of the Youtube app for no reason, now when you tell it to do anything it still starts the Youtube app but they've added a pop-up every time asking "Are you sure you want to play this video?" and it just sits there waiting for you to physically press yes on the remote! First world problems but they've completely ruined a pretty handy feature for no reason like they seem to love doing.

FFS I just held down the microphone button and said "Play Sky News Live on Youtube", Im pretty sure thats what I want it to do.

bobgaf · 17-09-2020 9:01am

Anyone having issues with Getflix SmartDNS on the Firestick ?
On WiFi, with the Getflix DNS set, the Amazon Home page will not load, saying it cannot
connect to the Amazon servers.
This happens, even though the Network test on the Settings page is successful with no errors.
I then reset the WiFi settings to the standard Virgin Media DNS settings and the Amazon Home page
is visible.
However, I cannot use the UK tv players unless I then change the WiFi DNS back to the Getflix DNS settings
and then I can use BBC and ITV players.
So, is anyone using Getflix SmartDNS settings on the Firestick ( standard version ) and if so are there any issues ?
Thanks..

Johnny Storm · 17-09-2020 9:47pm

On the Getflix app (on my phone) I have Amazon Prime set to "off". I think you have to have it either set to off or else to the country where your Amazon account is set up.
Once I do that my Firesticks work fine with BBC iplayer, ITV etc

bobgaf · 18-09-2020 8:54am

Tried your suggestion above and so far so good.
Initially, I logged an issue with Getflix and they suggested two new DNS addresses.
These did not work initially and I had to load the Amazon Home page with the default VM DNS addresses
and then switch to the Getflix DNS addresses to get the UK players. That worked for a while but got the same issue
this morning with the Amazon Home page not loading.
Have now Amazon Prime set to "off" in the Getflix account and the Amazon Home page has loaded after a few restarts
and power-downs. Will test further over the weekend and update then.

K.C · 18-09-2020 8:29pm

Hi all,

Got the 4k firestick and the amazon ethernet adaptor. I didn't realise the adaptor is capped at 100mb so my wifi is actually faster than a wired connection. Does anyone know of a ethernet adaptor compatible with the 4k firestick that allows me to attain higher speeds?

Thanks.

Trevord · 19-09-2020 10:28am

K.C wrote: »

Hi all,

Got the 4k firestick and the amazon ethernet adaptor. I didn't realise the adaptor is capped at 100mb so my wifi is actually faster than a wired connection. Does anyone know of a ethernet adaptor compatible with the 4k firestick that allows me to attain higher speeds?

Thanks.

Isn't it more likely you bought the ethernet adaptor for the stability of the connection compared to wifi rather than the actual max speed it can do?

IF you really need 1000mb then the Ugreen is a good choice
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/UGREEN-3-Ports-USB-3-0-Gigabit-Ethernet-Lan-RJ45-Network-Adapter-Hub-to-1000Mbps/152201585121?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

K.C · 19-09-2020 10:40am

Trevord wrote: »

Isn't it more likely you bought the ethernet adaptor for the stability of the connection compared to wifi rather than the actual max speed it can do?

IF you really need 1000mb then the Ugreen is a good choice
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/UGREEN-3-Ports-USB-3-0-Gigabit-Ethernet-Lan-RJ45-Network-Adapter-Hub-to-1000Mbps/152201585121?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Thanks for the reply. I have seen that product online. There seems to be some confusion as to whether a OTG cable is needed to convert from usb 2.0 to usb 3.0 and if indeed it will actually work as the firestick is usb 2.0?

joujoujou · 19-09-2020 10:23pm

Even 100Mbps is more than enough for 4k firestick.

K.C · 19-09-2020 10:34pm

joujoujou wrote: »

Even 100Mbps is more than enough for 4k firestick.

I'm running 2 simultaneously and having problems with buffering.

joujoujou · 19-09-2020 11:09pm

Are you running both on the same ethernet adaptor? :eek:

K.C · 19-09-2020 11:11pm

joujoujou wrote: »

Are you running both on the same ethernet adaptor? :eek:

Nope. 1 on adaptor, 1 on wifi.

joujoujou · 19-09-2020 11:14pm

Apparently your network is your problem, not the adapter. :cool:

K.C · 19-09-2020 11:25pm

joujoujou wrote: »

Apparently your network is your problem, not the adapter. :cool:

Network is fine. Thanks for your input anyway.

joujoujou · 20-09-2020 5:25pm

4k streaming requires 20, maybe 25 Mbps at most.

You're welcome.

Ohmeha · 20-09-2020 6:01pm

Ohmeha wrote: »

I'm having constant problems watching anything on Peacock either on the side loaded app or my laptop, sometimes it's fine but most of the time it's either freezing, buffering and outright nothing playing. Going by reddit I'm not the only one, luckily I still have about 6 weeks left on my trial to see if they sort things out

Peacock now working brilliant for me this weekend on the Firestick

One More Toy · 20-09-2020 7:33pm

Ohmeha wrote: »

Peacock now working brilliant for me this weekend on the Firestick

Could someone help me get peacock on the firestick? I have VPNsecure lifetime licence but don't have it on the stick yet

loyatemu · 20-09-2020 10:01pm

K.C wrote: »

Network is fine. Thanks for your input anyway.

I'm with joujoujou on this one, 100Mb is more than sufficient for video streaming, assuming it's stable.

IrlJidel · 20-09-2020 11:18pm

K.C wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. I have seen that product online. There seems to be some confusion as to whether a OTG cable is needed to convert from usb 2.0 to usb 3.0 and if indeed it will actually work as the firestick is usb 2.0?

The 4k only supports usb2 so using an otg and usb3 hub with giga adapter could get you up to 300-400Mpbs. Tbh this is purely academic - can you help explain why you feel that reliable and low-latency 100Mpbs ethernet is constraining you? This is a classic case of trying to perf optimize in the wrong place. Suggest you look at debloating - turning off unneeded services to free up mem and cpu if these kind of things appeal to you.

bobbyg · 22-09-2020 9:33pm

Could someone post a dummys guide to setting up peacock subscription? I've bought the keepsolid lifetime vpn and logged into peacock on my android phone. I'm trying to activate the free trial using PayPal baut keep getting an error message. I've used a random new York address

Ohmeha · 23-09-2020 12:05am

bobbyg wrote: »

Could someone post a dummys guide to setting up peacock subscription? I've bought the keepsolid lifetime vpn and logged into peacock on my android phone. I'm trying to activate the free trial using PayPal baut keep getting an error message. I've used a random new York address

If you have a Revolut card try setting this up temporarily as your preferred card on Paypal and then make USD as your primary currency on Paypal, this worked for me signing up

bobbyg · 23-09-2020 8:19am

Ohmeha wrote: »

If you have a Revolut card try setting this up temporarily as your preferred card on Paypal and then make USD as your primary currency on Paypal, this worked for me signing up

Cheers that didn't work although I couldn't see how to make usd my primary currency on PayPal. I noticed after the payment has failed my address on peacock has reverted back to my home address. Also noticed peacock tried to take £1 gbp from revolut

bobbyg · 23-09-2020 4:41pm

Think I tried everything today but couldn't get it to work, it is no longer brining me to the PayPal page just get the error message when I try now. I think they must be blocking PayPal based on the location of the account.

Ohmeha · 23-09-2020 6:36pm

bobbyg wrote: »

I think they must be blocking PayPal based on the location of the account.

Could be. I just logged into my Peacock settings I can no longer see my fake US address, in the Payment Method section it displays Paypal with my Dublin address, however everything still working for me on my trial

jeffk · 24-09-2020 10:49am

IrlJidel wrote: »

Custom Launchers and home button works again.

See TechDoctorUK youtube tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG6bkiRjJeI

Make sure you uninstall your previous FireTVSettings app.

Working for me now using Wolf Launcher - its a bit more cumbersome now to go back to stock home screen to access settings - but seems to be working fine so far.

So much easier than old way where I had to ADB from pc, might try it on other firesticks now :cool:

Firestick general discussion thread

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