I'm getting ready to cancel my cable and are going to stream most of my content. I have a 1st generation chromecast that I have had for years. It performs pretty well, but since I will be streaming more of my content, I wanted a remote (other than my phone) and a UI. Nearly every review I read said that Shield is easily the most powerful and capable streaming box. I've had mine for about a week now and are having serious doubts. I hope that some of you can help.
First off, I knew going in that there are not as many Android TV apps as there are Roku channels. I also knew that apps could be sideloaded, so I didn't consider this that big of an issue. However, I'm noticing more and more that sideloading apps is pointless. I sideloaded the Cinemax app. After installing it, I can't do anything. I guess since it was made for a touchscreen, I can't use the arrows on the remote to select anything. I also tried sideloading the Charter Spectrum app. Same thing, I can't select anything. Even though this is not Nvidia's fault, I also can't use HBO GO, as Charter Spectrum allows me to sign in on an android mobile device, but not an Android TV, which makes absolutely no sense to me. I know that I can use my phone and cast to the Shield, which brings me to my next problem.
It seems that when I cast to the Shield using my phone, the stream is not smooth. It kind of stutters every few seconds. My internet speed is not great, but I don't have this problem when streaming to my old chromecast. I have tried them back to back with the same results. Also, on my last attempt to cast HBO Go on the Shield, along with stuttering, it paused itself. I went to my phone and hit play again. A few minutes later, the same thing. I thought it may be my internet connection, but I switched the cast over to the old chromecast and never experienced a single problem.
The remote seems to freeze up pretty often as well. If I watch something for a few minutes and then try to use the remote, it is unresponsive for several seconds, if not a minute.
I don't know if it is a problem with the apps or the Nvidia. Although it hasn't done it in the past day or 2, the Netflix app was freezing after only a few seconds of opening. In the middle of scrolling titles, the app would freeze and the entire Shield would seem to freeze with it. No buttons on the remote would work for several minutes. The FXNow app was also acting up. When browsing movie titles, some thumbnails would not show up and when clicking other titles, it brought up a different movie than the thumbnail. The Youtube app seems extremely slow to open. After clicking the app on the homescreen, I watch the spinning wheel for at least 10 to 15 seconds before the app opens.
Lastly, I was a little disappointed in the voice search. I used the microphone to search for a movie that I knew was streaming on one of my apps. However, it only showed me results to buy the movie on Google play. I had hoped that it would browse your apps to see if it was available free before showing results to buy.
I know this post is extremely long, but I am hoping some of you can help fix these issues. I have a hard time believing that a device as powerful as the Shield suffers from these simple problems. Most of which, the 5 year old chromecast still performs well.
I would either install full android or return the shield. Me personally, I have been running full android for over a year and will never go back to stock.
What are the benefits of running full android? I imagine you gain access to the full play store, but will apps actually work?
Yes. Full Android lets you run both normal and TV apps. There are a few that may not work, but I haven't run into any major problems so far. One other thing - to get the full use out of it, you will need a mouse and keyboard such as the Logitech K400.
I just run the stock nvidia android TV rom but I have a wireless mouse attached. That lets me run the majority of sideloaded apps that require touchscreen input, but I get to keep the custom shield programs and apps that make use of the regular remote. It's the best solution for me.
I have had mine for 4 weeks and love it for several reasons:
- I use youtube TV and YoutTube TV is not supported on Roku
- It is fast (I do not have the problem you describe with YouTube)
- I like my 4K picture
Other people love the Shield because of Kodi, but I do not use Kodi, so I cannot comment about it.
Having said that, if you are not using YouTube TV, Kodi, do not get into gaming, and/or do not care to run stock Android, I think you are better off with a Roku 4K and you will be fine. You can probably get 2 Roku 4Ks for the price of a Shield and it will have all the channels you ever want.
Again, for me it was YouTubeTV, Netflix, Amazon, HBO GO (works great for me), WatchESPN, Hulu, Vudu. Hulu does not support profiles in Android TV yet, but everything else works great and fast for me.
Related
Hello,
Just a couple of quick questions regarding Netflix, maybe it only involves a simple fix. Went through and got cm11 running very smooth on the ouya. No hiccups, bugs, or major setbacks with anything. Everything that I use seems to be working fine, except for Netflix.
It loads properly and seems to work, but ever since I hit the "expand" button in the lower right corner, it won't back out of full screen. It would pull any controls whether I click on screen or press any buttons on my keyboard. The only way to back out is by pressing ESC on my keyboard.
I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling the app, rebooting after logging in, deleting the data/cache from the app, also tried installing a couple of older apk's(3.0 & 2.4?) And the problem is still there. Granted its such a minor setback in a huge breakthrough overall, but I was just wondering how to fix that.
Factory reset? Maybe just a bug with Netflix for android? I don't have any other means of trying this out. Regardless, cm11 has brought new life into this console, thanks !!
Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk
Yeah, apparently that's normal behavior for us CM11 folks.. (Actually not sure if it's the same in stock ROM because I didn't try it on stock)
I get the same thing no matter what controller or remote I try. It seems like Netflix doesn't recognize or acknowledge player control / commands on the device or ROM. It does respond to 'left' and 'right' arrow commands for rewind a scene/chapter and skip, respectively, however... But to pause you have to hit 'Back' or 'Esc' and hope it actually picks up in the same spot you exited out of the video stream... I don't seem to mind it so much compared to the other issue I'm seeing: Sometimes the video gets stuck or freezes on a frame, but the audio will continue. The video will eventually catch up, but apparently it occurs most often when another device is using just a bit of Internet bandwidth... However, my WDTV box seems to handle that much better. I'm assuming because I never see Netflix do any buffering on the Ouya, and I don't see any setting that helps with that.
I managed to get netflix on a stockplus ROM. I honest don't remember how the controls were, didn't use it much. I also don't remember which apk it was, other than it had a black loading screen.
Overall, its not a deal breaker, since I mainly use xbmc, but having netflix would be a plus. Are all netflix apk's responding that way? On the cm11, I mean.
Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk
You can just go to the Play Store and install the "regular" Netflix app on CM11. Works like any tablet version would with a controller.
brandogg said:
You can just go to the Play Store and install the "regular" Netflix app on CM11. Works like any tablet version would with a controller.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried that and it seems to retain the full screen setting, which is the problem in question. Even after uninstalling it & reinstalling it, from the play store.
Plus, how do you sync an ouya controller to cm11? That's not that important since I've been using the k400, but to play gta it would be nice to know.
Thanks dude
If you've flashed the zip with all the button layouts, pairing the controller is as simple accessing the Input and Controllers menu, and holding down the U on the Ouya controller until it enters pairing mode. I know I'm missing a step in the menu, but its there, you'll see it. Promise
Sent from my K00C using XDA Free mobile app
Got the Amazon fire TV one week back and its not rooted, but Installed XBMC.
When I try to watch a video on you tube after 5 to 10 minutes, it starts buffering and the video doesnt play afterwards, I have to go back and open it againa, and forward it to the original place and watch it, again after 5 minutes samethign happens..
Same with XBMC, after 5 minutes video buffers, but after couple of minutes if click play button video resumes, but after couple of minutes buffering starts...
I watch youtube on my laptop or chromecast, it works perfectly , so i dont think there is any problem with wifi. Also I have download speeds of 20MBPS +
Is it because of faulty device or anythign else. Yestereday i cleared youtube apps data, still the problem continues.. Please suggest me how can I resolve it??
TIA
I can't help but blame and jab qualcomm with a stick when it comes to Fire TV problems.
Especially Fire TV is stuck with older v5x instead of v66.
I have my own video issues where it fails entirely.
After long enough,videos completely refuse to work (error ocurred) on YouTube and many others until I restart with ctrl+alt+delete hotkeys.
I haven't seen it happen in quite a while though since modding several minor aspects with various performance tweaks.
I talked to staples, they are sending me a new device, but looking at the problems that people have, the new device may not solve the problem... Lets see..
Hello all,
I've had my Fire TV for a while now. It has been working fine. It is rooted and has XBMC/Kodi on it, but that is about it. It had been working fine until a few days ago when I attempted to listen to an MP3 file through XBMC. It played, but it kept cutting out every few seconds and was very choppy. I noticed when it cut out, my receiver seemed to lose audio protocol as well. I thought maybe it was an XBMC issue but when I got back to the main Amazon Fire TV operating system, it was extremely laggy just to navigate. I rebooted the machine, same issue. Event he screensaver that shows photos s laggy.
I am wondering if there is something that is running on startup causing a problem. I am not using the remote that came with it, instead using a wireless keyboard. I have been using it this way for 2 months without issue.
My next thought it to do a factory reset, but would rather not if I didnt have to. Is there a way to look at what is going on similar to task manager in Windows (sorry, not too familiar with Android itself) or should I just factory reset?
Seems really silly, but I have solved the issue. I guess something with the HDMI connection had changed. I unplugged it from the HDMI 2 port on the tv and plugged it into HDMI 3 port - rebooted and it worked. Leaving this here incase someone else experiences the same issue. I wanted to get technical with it, but the solution was so simple I didn't even think of it (Amazon support requested I try this.)
Part of the reason why I got and rooted my FTV was for Stickmount so I can play my MKV files off my external HD. Even though it works sometimes, I have significant problems with it and I was hoping I could get help with it or if it's just unfixable. Note that these problems are all off of playing a file directly off an external HD, so I don't get why it doesn't work.
1. Even though my movie has chapters and it even indicates the chapters on the top of the player, it is not possible to choose chapters or skip chapters.
2. Fast forwarding barely even works at all. Hitting the up arrow on the select wheel is supposed to fast forward it by something like 10 minutes, but it basically does nothing. Hitting the right arrow is supposed to FF it by 30 seconds, but it likewise does nothing. And then when I try to fast forward it normally, the time indicated it is fast-forwarding a lot but when I hit play, it has barely gone anywhere at all and has lag to catch up to the fast forward which only went a minute or so in real time when the time counter indicates it was supposed to FF by 10-15 minutes.
3. The FTV has frozen the last 2 times I've been watching a movie and when I restart, I have to start again from the beginning and basically let it run for an hour or more before I can even start watching where it froze on me before.
I just don't understand why this app's functionality is so terrible. It's so bad for me that it practically makes it unusable. I sold my WDTV Live because the FTV was supposed to be amazing, but the WDTV never had a single issue playing back local storage, while the FTV with Stickmount is unusable. I would get the WDTV Live back but the FTV offers infinitely more possibilities and features.
Can anyone direct me perhaps to an alternative program to Stickmount, or try to help me to solve these issues I have been having? Was I just expecting too much from this player/Stickmount? It's so bad that I am considering selling the FTV since this was one of the key reasons for me buying it.
brtdud7 said:
Part of the reason why I got and rooted my FTV was for Stickmount so I can play my MKV files off my external HD. Even though it works sometimes, I have significant problems with it and I was hoping I could get help with it or if it's just unfixable. Note that these problems are all off of playing a file directly off an external HD, so I don't get why it doesn't work.
1. Even though my movie has chapters and it even indicates the chapters on the top of the player, it is not possible to choose chapters or skip chapters.
2. Fast forwarding barely even works at all. Hitting the up arrow on the select wheel is supposed to fast forward it by something like 10 minutes, but it basically does nothing. Hitting the right arrow is supposed to FF it by 30 seconds, but it likewise does nothing. And then when I try to fast forward it normally, the time indicated it is fast-forwarding a lot but when I hit play, it has barely gone anywhere at all and has lag to catch up to the fast forward which only went a minute or so in real time when the time counter indicates it was supposed to FF by 10-15 minutes.
3. The FTV has frozen the last 2 times I've been watching a movie and when I restart, I have to start again from the beginning and basically let it run for an hour or more before I can even start watching where it froze on me before.
I just don't understand why this app's functionality is so terrible. It's so bad for me that it practically makes it unusable. I sold my WDTV Live because the FTV was supposed to be amazing, but the WDTV never had a single issue playing back local storage, while the FTV with Stickmount is unusable. I would get the WDTV Live back but the FTV offers infinitely more possibilities and features.
Can anyone direct me perhaps to an alternative program to Stickmount, or try to help me to solve these issues I have been having? Was I just expecting too much from this player/Stickmount? It's so bad that I am considering selling the FTV since this was one of the key reasons for me buying it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see that Stickmount is the problem. All it does is mount your external drive, which it does. So, what media player are you using? What file format? What remote? Kodi? There are alternate keymaps you can try.
Oh I was not aware that there were different players before. I have Kodi and I just go to Videos > Files and click my movie and it plays it
I got MXPlayer and it actually worked without a problem on the video, but I really don't want to have to use it because it is very messily organized with my files and takes more steps to open it.
I thought there was just a default player in Kodi?
brtdud7 said:
Oh I was not aware that there were different players before. I have Kodi and I just go to Videos > Files and click my movie and it plays it
I got MXPlayer and it actually worked without a problem on the video, but I really don't want to have to use it because it is very messily organized with my files and takes more steps to open it.
I thought there was just a default player in Kodi?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out these two :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/general/mounting-external-usb-to-data-t2889319
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/development/busymount-v1-0-t2920146
Iv got a dozen AFTV 1's and sticks!
However my first AFTV2, after opening and turning it on for the first time, it updated and then booted into a blank screen, nothing! Could not get into the resolution settings, nothing dead! Kaput! sent it back!
2nd AFTV2 I had issues with connecting to the wifi, and then when it was downloading the update, the wifi kept dropping out so I had to download it in bits, when it finally downloaded it installed but the new Wi-Fi remote keeps dropping off! Difficulty in pairing it up at times - so annoying! I tried everything in the end I just give up and used my fire tv stick remote!
I have found that apps I used on the AFTV1 like Advanced Task Killer no longer works as it does not show the correct RAM and does not show the processes that are currently running, so I can’t kill Kodi if Kodi crashes! Works perfectly on AFTV1.
On AFTV1 I use the standard amazon 4 USB amazon hub with a wireless mouse dongle and usb drive and both work, on the AFTV2, the hub doesn’t work, I haven’t tried to power it to see if that would work!
No optical, I guess no big deal as HDMI to TV then optical out to sound receiver! Will try this way! But I would of thought going directly would be better!
Apps like CCleaner and others the screen goes small like an android phone! Or stretched on some apps! On the AFTV1 the screen would at least get filled to the whole screen! It makes these side loaded apps look crap!
I can’t find the 4K content? Although I don’t have a 4K TV! Do you need to connect to a 4K TV for this content to suddenly become available?
The AGK FIRE app doesn’t work! My AFTV2’s don’t even appear on the list, so I can’t side load apps from say another AFTV or phone!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/fire-tv/general/official-fire-tv-2-fire-os-5-including-t3219023