Fire TV or Fire TV Stick
You need one of these. It connects your TV to your home network and the Internet. The Stick is the cheap version for much less money, $40 vs. $100; it does not have a LAN port (WiFi only); and its CPU is slower. A remote is included.
After you connect it to your TV, powered on and connected to your network (WiFi or LAN), you'll be prompted to register. You may use your exist Amazon account, or create a new account on your computer. You may use a fake email address and don't need a credit card, if you are not going to download any apps from Amazon. You can change this account anytime, so no need to consider too much about what account to use.
After the initial registration and a short welcome video, you are in:
If you're going to use it as it is, i.e. what Amazon offers, you may stop now. If you want what you see in above Youtube, then continue.
Side load
First thing first, you must install at least one app. If you know how to use adb, then life is easy; otherwise follow this guide on how to side load apps to Fire TV.
Now side load the FireStarter. From now on, you simply press the home button on your remote to access all the apps you are going to install. Like this:
Chinese TV
In order to watch Chinese TV and soaps, you need to side load Shafa Market. Then you can have pretty much everything you need, as showing in above Youtube. To get you started, I recommend TV Plus 2.0 for watching TV stations like CCTV and etc. Later you can add more - whatever you like, such as UC Browser for TV.
For Chinese input, install Sougo Input for TV and watch above YouTube for how to enable/disable it anytime.
Kodi
Kodi is extremely powerful. Find it here and then side load it. You add contents by adding addons. To get you started, just click on VIDEOS and Add-ons, then Get more... You'll see a long list of available addons. Click on any one interesting to you and install, this content will be listed in Add-ons for you to watch.
More apps
Of course you may side load virtually any Android apps. But keep in mind that most apps are not remote friendly, because they are not made for Android TV but for phones and tablets that have a touchscreen. To get you started, give Mobdro a try. It is quite remote friendly and you'll be amazed, I guarantee.
Why not other such products?
It is not a restricted device - it is open Android. As you have seen above, you can do virtually anything you like. It is very good quality and extremely stable. It is cheap, often on sale for $75 or $20. No any fee, totally free, vast contents.
As always, I try to make the article focus on essential points without covering all the details; so please ask if any question.
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Thank you for your posting. In order to watch a movie smoothly with this device, how fast the internet speed should be? LRJ
ReplyDeleteIf your home has a cable service, you can watch smoothly anything. DSL might not be fast enough. EVDO (Sprint and Verizon 3G) and EDGE are not fast enough, while HSPA (T-Mobile 4G) and LTE are.
DeleteFor most Chinese HD content, you need at least 2M, and 4M will be ideal. DSL is usually 3M, so not so adequate. 3G is similar to DSL. Cable is at least 5M, similar to 4G.
I have Fire Stick, cable speed 75mb, but most Chinese TV still stuck often time.
ReplyDeleteDo you use TV Plus? I found it almost always totally smooth. It has been working so well, I never bothered to try others.
DeleteI did not use TV Plus. Have you ever introduce it here also? I might be missed the article.
ReplyDeleteNot before this article. I used to use Taijie.
DeleteI installed Kodi but did not find the TV section. Only Pictures, Video, Music, etc. How to add the TV section?
ReplyDeleteIt is not enabled by default, so you need to enable it. You also need to have a TV add-on such as NextPVR and a TV server such as NextPVR for Windows.
DeleteThe easiest way might be HDHomerun if you don't want to set up a TV server.
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