Kodi on 4k Fire Stick Max

SoAdCrAzY said:
Here is the MediaInfo stuff on a movie that didn't work (Aliens) and one that did (Poor Things).

I'm sorry if there are things I shouldn't have posted.
Click to expand...

Best to remove the filenames from the titles. Search engines might start directing traffic to this forum, for people searching for your BD rips.
 
SoAdCrAzY said:
I have found out that the new stick has known issues with playing certain high quality h264 files so think the issue is to do with the hardware of the stick.

Does anyone have any possible solutions?

Thanks,
Matthew
Click to expand...

If the MediaInfo data you've posted is accurate, then on the face of it there's nothing about either of those files which should prove even remotely challenging to a Fire Stick of any generation. In fact, the bitrates are rather low for 1080p AVC files, so I doubt if the "high quality" issue you mention is a factor.

I notice that the Aliens file has a higher bitrate than Poor Things, albeit still quite low - have you ruled out possible network problems as a limiting factor? Otherwise, my guess is that the troublesome files are corrupted somehow and Kodi itself is barfing on them for this or some other reason.

Unless you're absolutely wedded to the Kodi interface(s), if I were you I'd do as suggested above and install Plex or Jellyfin server on your PC and the corresponding client on the Fire Stick, which IMO makes for a nicer user experience than Kodi/SMB in any case. If the files can't be played directly they'll be transcoded on the fly (with the reason for the transcode), although obviously that will reduce the video quality still further. If they still won't play at all, perhaps you could, errmm, acquire an alternative encoding and see if the problem persists.
 
CaptainCrash said:
I notice that the Aliens file has a higher bitrate than Poor Things, albeit still quite low - have you ruled out possible network problems as a limiting factor? Otherwise, my guess is that the troublesome files are corrupted somehow and Kodi itself is barfing on them for this or some other reason.
Click to expand...

I was going to suggest network. Is the PC hardwired or on Wireless? If on wireless you're asking for a world of trouble there as there are so many links in that chain that could fail. If wired do a speedtest in network settings for the Fire Stick and see what it's coming back with. Also stick VLC or MX player on your firestick and play the file via that to see how it plays.
 
TheMightyTen said:
I was going to suggest network. Is the PC hardwired or on Wireless? If on wireless you're asking for a world of trouble there as there are so many links in that chain that could fail. If wired do a speedtest in network settings for the Fire Stick and see what it's coming back with. Also stick VLC or MX player on your firestick and play the file via that to see how it plays.
Click to expand...
I got an ethernet adapter for my Fire Stick Max and streaming wouldn't work at all with it connected. It is connected via WiFi but seems to be fine.

At the moment, I have installed Plex and got that working. Finally, I can rewatch Aliens!

I much prefer Kodi's interface (or maybe I'm just so used to it). I liked the ability to change the artwork, off-set subtitles and scan certain folders with different scrapers if information isn't accurate. I'm sure these settings are probably buried somewhere. I'll just have to find it. Thanks.
 
Last edited:
SoAdCrAzY said:
I got an ethernet adapter for my Fire Stick Max and streaming wouldn't work at all with it connected. It is connected via WiFi but seems to be fine.

At the moment, I have installed Plex and got that working. Finally, I can rewatch Aliens!

I much prefer Kodi's interface (or maybe I'm just so used to it). I liked the ability to change the artwork, off-set subtitles and scan certain folders with different scrapers if information isn't accurate. I'm sure these settings are probably buried somewhere. I'll just have to find it. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I think PLEX is awful.

I'll repeat for the third time, delete KODI, go and find 19.4 and install.
See if that improves it.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
I think PLEX is awful.

I'll repeat for the third time, delete KODI, go and find 19.4 and install.
See if that improves it.
Click to expand...
Thank you. I have been looking for a link to Kodi 19.4 but have had no luck yet. Everywhere says to go to the Kodi website which only has the latest version. Is it not possible to downgrade or do I have to remove all of my history and uninstall it?
 
I have just uninstalled everything and got 19.4 (I've taken several photos to restore my wife's TV show progress!). The issue still remains unfortunately. The video stops and the sound continues for a bit and then the whole playback fails.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
is this with every video you try and play?
Click to expand...
Strangely no. So I have posted an example of a film that failed (Aliens) and a film that didn't fail (Poor Things). Also TV Shows seem to be fine. Maybe it is a duration thing? I have tried converting files to mkv but that didn't work.

[EDIT] I just set the minimum and maximum SMB protocol to 3 on Kodi as I've heard that may help but it didn't.

[EDIT] I have turned off Hardware Acceleration and playback hasn't stopped yet. Fingers crossed that this has worked.
 
Last edited:
Have you tried playing the files direct through something like VLC? If they play fine then it's not the 4k stick itself.

I've got a 4k stick at home and don't have any issues other than playing av1 which doesn't look to be supported. I use Jellyfin media server rather than Kodi though.
 
maj said:
Have you tried playing the files direct through something like VLC? If they play fine then it's not the 4k stick itself.

I've got a 4k stick at home and don't have any issues other than playing av1 which doesn't look to be supported. I use Jellyfin media server rather than Kodi though.
Click to expand...

I have and every file runs fine.
 
Kodi is now not working and I have gone off Plex. I'm not sure what the problem is. Watched a few films fine but Dumbo has just crashed.

TLDR; it seems that Kodi crashes streaming mp4 files (but if these are converted to mkv, it still crashes).

[EDIT] I have disabled hardware acceleration on Kodi which seems to have worked for now. I think I have tried this before though...
 
Last edited:
*bump* I thought I'd update this thread with a strange issue that I've just noticed.

It seems that disabling hardware rendering in Kodi has fixed the issue of films constantly crashing. Although, some TV shows (especially The Jinx) have a very choppy frame rate unless this is enabled.

Maybe this stick is just not up to the job. Or Kodi need to release an update for it.
 
Last edited:
SoAdCrAzY said:
*bump* I thought I'd update this thread with a strange issue that I've just noticed.

It seems that disabling hardware rendering in Kodi has fixed the issue of films constantly crashing. Although, some TV shows (especially The Jinx) have a very choppy frame rate unless this is enabled.

Maybe this stick is just not up to the job. Or Kodi need to release an update for it.
Click to expand...

Have you tried going backwards, I have zero problems on 5x Fire Sticks on Kodi Matrix 19.4.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom