JeremyG 20 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Need to play with it more, but I got one of the new Fire TVs yesterday and the VLC player did not work very well with this new hardware. While some videos played well others did not. It looked like mp4s were fine but m4Vs had issues. With the vlc player turned off everything played fine. Keep us posted. I canceled my pre order for one of these, but the second I hear that 5.1 passthrough is working i'm going to buy us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14958 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Need to play with it more, but I got one of the new Fire TVs yesterday and the VLC player did not work very well with this new hardware. While some videos played well others did not. It looked like mp4s were fine but m4Vs had issues. With the vlc player turned off everything played fine. I just un-boxed mine and haven't experienced any of these playback issues (but I don't have any m4v files). The device is definitely faster and looks great on my Panny 1080 TV. Not sure if it is related to the new hardware or software (these new ones are running Fire OS 5.0) but I can now get 5.1 audio from both DTS tracks via VLC and our transcoded streams in the internal player (meaning hls with aac audio). So, I imagine anything able to direct stream using the internal player would also produce 5.1. The bad news is that VLC cannot pass thru DD on the device. In fact, playback basically doesn't work if we attempt it. There is no audio, the picture stutters and it will eventually just crash the app. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWebsmith 598 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 would you say its enough of a bump to warrant a purchase to replace the gen1 FTV? or hold a bit more and jump to a shield if i want to do that path? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14958 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 If we could get the DD pass-thru to work, I would say yes so, unless all your 5.1 tracks are either DTS or aac, I don't think it would be worth replacing an existing one yet. Keep in mind too that I've had it going for all of about 2 hours. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilWhite 64 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Yes, it looks great. Playing with it more since I didn't have time to troubleshoot last night. I noticed that cpu usage was 20-40% and shooting up to 100% trying to playback tv recordings, so I restarted the jail and server and rebooted the Fire TV. Turned vlc back on -- earlier I couldn't reliably play tv recordings. Right now everything is playing fine with the vlc player on -- with ts files recorded last night. And cpu usage is undetectable. I think there was a problem with the server after the last freenas update and not an issue with the Fire TV; I need to play around more. But right now I need to relax and watch Colbert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bret1958 26 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 (edited) (New fire tv) I'm ready to box it back up after an hr.. no HDMI pass through as advertised.. ? Roku 3 does a better job with audio and works out of box. "PCM" unless i am missing the boat on something. love the Emby app and the live tv works perfect..... but the box is most likely waiting for a firmware update right out of the gate. IDK maybe like I said it may be me. Remote looses connection randomly. I know its to soon and i have 30 days to fiddle so I will calm down and enjoy a movie on it and see how it behaves with the server. Interface 10 setup 10 audio so far a 3 but if I stop looking at the amp i may not know the difference CPU is maxed out I will play with settings.. Edited October 7, 2015 by bret1958 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leebo 8 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I'm ready to box it back up after an hr.. no HDMI pass through as advertised.. ? Roku 3 does a better job with audio and works out of box. "PCM" unless i am missing the boat on something Are you meaning no HDMI pass through with ANY app, or just the Emby app? The Wiki page states, "support for Dolby Digital Plus and 7.1 surround sound pass-through". With my Fire TV Stick I get surround with other apps like Netflix and Amazon, but not with Emby. With the new Fire TV box, ver. 2, it says on the box, support for up to 7.1 channel DD Plus surround sound. I have that device connected to a sound bad so I have no way to check. Just wondering. Signature edited to appease the OCD's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14958 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 (New fire tv) I'm ready to box it back up after an hr.. no HDMI pass through as advertised.. ? Roku 3 does a better job with audio and works out of box. "PCM" unless i am missing the boat on something. "PCM" is the raw digital format that all audio tracks ultimately end up in. It is fully uncompressed digital audio. When you see that on your receiver it simply means the decoding of the compressed audio (DTS/AC3) was done at an earlier stage. The current beta of the Emby app will play 5.1 for all tracks on transcoded streams and for DTS or AAC tracks on direct-streamed ones. The only thing we can't handle at this point on the new box is Dolby Digital when direct streaming through VLC. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyG 20 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 "PCM" is the raw digital format that all audio tracks ultimately end up in. It is fully uncompressed digital audio. When you see that on your receiver it simply means the decoding of the compressed audio (DTS/AC3) was done at an earlier stage. The current beta of the Emby app will play 5.1 for all tracks on transcoded streams and for DTS or AAC tracks on direct-streamed ones. The only thing we can't handle at this point on the new box is Dolby Digital when direct streaming through VLC. This is excellent news!!! Think I might have to pick up one of these now! Out of curiosity...does the lack of Dolby Digital mean "We haven't figured it out yet"? Or "the FireTV wont let us"? I don't care either way, I don't think I even have any DD in my library, just more curious about restrictions on the device itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bret1958 26 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 (edited) Are you meaning no HDMI pass through with ANY app, or just the Emby app? The Wiki page states, "support for Dolby Digital Plus and 7.1 surround sound pass-through". the 7.1 or passthrough is missing in setup... Dolby digital plus through hdmi (that is how its stated) is in the options but no 7.1 passthrough as with nvidia shield I assume some of this will need third party support. I did notice streaming "mockingbird" from Amazon prime..the red digital symbol lit up on the amp.. I got to use in my theater at main residence for all of 5 minutes and could get nothing but 2 channel on the trusty Denon 4308 so i threw the roku 3 back in and took the new firetv back here to the apartment with a more up to date amp albeit a cheaper Onkyo with newer options.. I see a little more presence in the audio and again the digital light lit up. Not seeing that behavior on plex or emby with my mkv rips. Edited October 7, 2015 by bret1958 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bret1958 26 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 (edited) After a little digging, it will pass-through Dolby Digital Plus to the amp with Netflix and Prime content.. MKV's on Emby or Per...Plex is PCM. Never used the Firetv smart phone app before ... Pretty Nifty... I am sure the devs will get it up an running... Edited October 7, 2015 by bret1958 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalgipsy 4 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I just un-boxed mine and haven't experienced any of these playback issues (but I don't have any m4v files). The device is definitely faster and looks great on my Panny 1080 TV. Not sure if it is related to the new hardware or software (these new ones are running Fire OS 5.0) but I can now get 5.1 audio from both DTS tracks via VLC and our transcoded streams in the internal player (meaning hls with aac audio). So, I imagine anything able to direct stream using the internal player would also produce 5.1. The bad news is that VLC cannot pass thru DD on the device. In fact, playback basically doesn't work if we attempt it. There is no audio, the picture stutters and it will eventually just crash the app. So pass through wont still work on gen1 fireTV or is it likely with the FieOS5 update it will get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyG 20 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 FYI: FireTV is on sale today for $80 ($60 if you belong to Amazon Student) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14958 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 FYI: FireTV is on sale today for $80 ($60 if you belong to Amazon Student) Be sure that isn't a 1st gen box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBers 6783 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Be sure that isn't a 1st gen box. Probably correct, as the new 4K model is only £80 in the UK, the same price as when I bought my 1st gen 18 months ago. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UH2O6T2/ref=cm_sw_r_em_awd_P8sfwbZBXJVYR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalgipsy 4 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 How do I get hold of the beta of the FireTv app? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bret1958 26 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 (edited) quote from review on amazon... "I learned that Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (AC3) is only supported with Prime Video. That means that any 5.1/DTS/DD audio from Plex, Netflix, etc., is all in 2.0 audio, downgraded. This is unacceptable--grounds for immediate return, and honestly, shame on you Amazon for misleading consumers! An email from Amazon support confirmed this for me." many pissed off reviews... It works with a Netflix stream also but nothing from the apps like plex or emby Amazon Response: Thanks for the feedback on Dolby surround sound and Netflix. We have identified the issue and will be releasing a software update to resolve it. We expect all devices to be updated by October 22nd. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused. Edited October 7, 2015 by bret1958 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalgipsy 4 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 There is an offical Amazon ticket to fix this as they have registered at as a bug, whether it happens is another thing. http://www.amazon.com/forum/fire/ref=cm_cd_tfp_ef_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2L8EBNTOXFSA7&cdThread=Tx34XTLYQD6DSLA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bret1958 26 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 How lazy they beta tested it with a boob tube.. probably never thought to hook it up to a real receiver.. I think one of the dev's here mentioned it in another post. 90% of folks are running things through a sound bar or just the TV speakers they will never know the difference.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalgipsy 4 Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Hopefully its sorted quickly. Didn't they have issues at launch with the 1st one I know Plex never worked with DD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilWhite 64 Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Hope the 5.1 sound issue is resolved soon as well -- sounds like just a few weeks. Still can't play m4Vs with the vlc player, but since I can direct stream those files using path substitution with vlc off, it's a wash. So far I like the new Fire TV. Alexa is good but I don't know that it's that much an improvement over previous voice search. It's nice to search for weather and sports scores but not all that important. I do like being able to search for a music artist and then getting immediate shuffle service. Biggest problem I encountered was the remote. I can't get the back off it to put batteries in; so I'm using my old remote and my Harmony remote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14958 Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Biggest problem I encountered was the remote. I can't get the back off it to put batteries in; so I'm using my old remote and my Harmony remote. Heh - I had the exact same problem. Once you pull it back such that it should open, lift it gently from the side instead of from the top or bottom and it should come off. However, even once I put batteries in mine, I could never get it to pair with the device. My old gen 1 remote paired right up but not the new one. I've ignored the problem for now because I can operate everything with my Harmony by using CEC but I do get an annoying warning launching Emby each time telling me that no remote or controller is attached. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilWhite 64 Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 (edited) Thanks ebr. I haven't been able to get the door to slide up so that I can lift from the side yet, even with a lot of pressure on the back indentation and arrow; guess I'll keep trying. But the old remote works fine and paired with the new Fire TV fairly quickly. The packing tape trick suggested by a customer at Amazon did the trick. That back would not budge without serious added leverage. Paired quickly. Now I have three remotes I can use. Edited October 10, 2015 by PhilWhite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeremyG 20 Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Got my new FireTV and hooked it up today. Sounds great with 5.1!!! Volume is fine with Emby but other apps like HBO Go the volume is very low....with my HTS audio turned up all the way it's still not "loud". Gotta figure that out, but overall $80 well spent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14958 Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 Volume is fine with Emby but other apps like HBO Go the volume is very low....with my HTS audio turned up all the way it's still not "loud". Gotta figure that out, but overall $80 well spent. I've found that stereo audio is very low but 5.1 is "normal". For instance, if a DD track is played in our app we force it to stereo (due to the issue right now with the device and DD) and that audio is about half the volume it should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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