Hmm I pluged my ethernet straight in, didn't bother with WiFi but all the guides sort of elude to using a wifi then forgetting it to progress, will take a look this weekend.

Got mine today. Really impressed so far. The picture on Amazon instant from the device is fantastic. Only problem I am having from it so far is not being able to logon on Netflix from the device. It keeps on saying the password is wrong when it isn't. I can still logon via other devices. Anyone else having the same problem.?

^^ I had a Netfix problem last night, worked fine while I was messing around setting up etc, then crashed so had to re-enter password again, then just refused to play anything. I tried clearing the cache and force quitting the app, still wouldn't play. In the end just before I went to bed I forced the Fire TV to reboot (hold home button and the select button down) that sorted it out and then played fine.

I have it working now so it must have been a temporary glitch.

Thanks to ovbg for an excellent guide!

I've now got Hulu, PBS from the US store and Zattoo from the German store sitting alongside all my UK apps. The DNS service I use allows me to watch Swiss Zattoo channels which basically means all the main Swiss, German, French and Italian channels and also BBC, ITV, 4 and 5 live amongst others which is great! I don't really watch ITV so the absence of its player isn't a major issue for me personally, however if you input a Scottish postcode into the STV Player, you can see most ITV programmes on that (from the main channel at least).

Otherwise other impressions: The TuneIn app is such a joy after the very hobbled one on Roku (which doesn't support half the number of stations). Hulu transitions between programmes and ads are a bit sluggish compared to the Roku but not enough to matter that much. The general responsiveness and crispness of the interface is excellent and I think the only way is up in terms of new apps and markets.

ok must be missing the obvious here, get to step 5 in the guide, but how do I install the apps, continue just sends me to a download page for the amazon app store?

I had quite a productive weekend, got unblock us working and got the "airbuddy" ap up and running allowing me to "airplay" from apple products. It appears you can't "cast" non amazon content to the fire tv. I use a certain streaming (not porn) website on my ipad and airplay it to the apple tv. I bought a kindle fire tablet to allow me to continue doing this. But fire tv doesn't support it, it looks like only prime streaming allows "flinging" to another device, you can of course "mirror" the screen, but thats not the same.

Glad you got it all working David. Just out of interest, Zattoo, when on a sub, has near HD quality streams for BBC and ITV1 channels, with near SD for the rest of the UK line-up. It also automatically records every show from every channel to their cloud server for 7 days so you can catch up on everything, and this includes shows on channels which don't have great on-demand portals, as well as content that is otherwise not available via catch-up.

You can also record 250 of your own shows which remain as long as you have a sub. (with the ability to record shows from the 7 day catch-up as well, so if you came back from a holiday and a programme only had two hours left on catch-up, you can still record it for any time).


Hmmm, when IO click the download button at step 5, it just downloads right there and I'm not redirected. Do you have one-click purchasing enabled on your account, and associated with the required payment method? Perhaps this is the problem?

@ovbg 👍

Thanks for that guide mate, I've now got US hulu+ on both (mine & my gannies) FireTV! 👍

Much appreciated!!!! 👍

Looks like a fire tv stick is on the way http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/...gle-chromecast

Am I correct in saying, that to enable, unblock us with Netflix on the Amazon Fire TV, that I require a US credit card with a US address?
If so, would that mean that I would not be able to use my UK Amazon Prime account on the same machine?

No. If you already have a Netflix account, just use the one you already have. If you don't have one yet, just sign up for the UK version of Netflix. Unblock-US will unblock (nearly) all regions including the US.

Then set up the Amazon Fire TV as normal with your UK account and add Netflix. Both Amazon Prime UK and Netflix (all) will work via Unblock-US. You shouldn't even need to do the hack to add apps from other regions.

Thanks, so all I need to do is to change the DNS settings on my Amazon Fire TV and I will be ready to go.

Correct, although from memory, this means a full new network configuration for the Amazon Fire TV (i.e. delete current WiFi connection and start from scratch)

Tip: Here's a little tip here.
Plex, which used to cost a couple of pounds for the Amazon Fire TV, is now free. Don't know how long this will last, so if you want it, grab it now.

It should also be free on the Amazon store as well.

It is it flashed up for me today on my tablet even though i already have it haha

Going to try to get "Hulu" again this weekend, having hopefully sorted a way to pay for it. Managed to download the app, but I think I switched it back before, sycing to my Fire TV. Did cause a few problems with Amazon though as I have several devices and it changed them all to US, and I was being constantly told "thank you for moving to Amazon.com", think it's sorted now though.

One other tip which got me stumped for a while. I had switched over to the US version again to install a couple more apps, but when I went back to the UK, my "Prime" account was missing (and still set to US$). Back on the website, everything seemed to indicate that it was back to UK, so I was a bit confused. Turned out I needed to return my Kindle library back to UK, which was especially odd, as I don't have a Kindle library on this account. That sorted it though, so if anyone also finds after switching around that they lost access to their normal UK Prime, don't panic, it could be something like this.

In the first few days of having the Fire TV it would switch itself off after not being used for 30 minutes but now it stays on and just goes to screensaver. I haven't changed anything in the settings so does anyone know what has caused this to happen?

Updates maybe or have you got something running like plex etc, stopping it from going to sleep. Mine still goes to sleep, but I noticed the other day that the bleeps had stopped when moving between apps etc.

If you have a roku set it for usa then create a new usa roku account, download hulu to your roku you'll get a 2 month free trial and you can just use your ROKU account to pay afterwards, you just simply set your ROKU back to your original account afterwards.

I've never really understood Plex but I've still signed up, downloaded the server and the app for Fire TV.
Having done that can someone please explain what exactly it's for? Does it do anything that iTunes does not?

To be honest, I find it a little dodgy to download and install something, without even knowing what it is.

But anyway, Plex is safe and it is a media center to play one's own media.

Most people tend to use it for videos, and so if you have a pile of films or TV shows, and want easy access to them, then Plex is a great way to do this. (Many people acquire these by ripping their DVDs or Blu-Rays)

Basically, you need to first install the Plex server. This can sit on your main computer, but for it to work at its best, it should be on a computer somewhere on your network that can stay on 24/7. This of course is better when it is a low energy device, but don't go too far down in power as Plex needs a bit of grunt to transcode on the fly (convert one type of video format to another).

Once you have Plex installed as a server, you point it to a network folder that contains all your videos (films and TV series). Plex is really really picky about the naming conventions and folder structures you use. So if you just put in a TV show called Star Trek 012342 etc, it won't see it. I don't want to go into too much detail here, but generally speaking you will have to rename everything to fit the right convention which could look like name - s00e00.xxx (where s is the series number, e is the episode number) and we haven't even begun with file structure or specials.

This means there is quite a bit of server administration to be done every time you add new content.

So, when everything is named right and found (Plex will usually find all the meta data and posters automatically - but it must be checked and locked as some are quite simply wrong), you will need a Plex player.

The client end can be any PC, iPhone, iPad, Android or a pile of set-top-boxes and smart TVs. The client is a bit like Netflix (or iPlayer) in that you can browse shows by name, poster etc and then play them.

So far this is not that different to XBMC (a popular alternative), except the server part (XBMC has no server as is a one off bit of software).

But it is that server side that makes Plex so much more powerful. You then have a real Netflix style service for your own movies in your home, where you can start on one device and finish on another. It will remember where you left off, so if you start a TV show on the main TV and the wife & kids come home demanding attention, you can return where you left off on your tablet in the peace and quiet of the toilet.

All in all, it is rather amazing and for the most part free.

Thanks for that. I'll give it a go.

Just a word of warning, forgot to mention this the other day. Becarefull if you have a data limit on your BB. Apparently Fire TV can eat into your data allowance as it is continually, loading up shows etc, even the screen saver can be streamed if you haven' the room on your device. Amazon are looking into this as a guy in the states had over 250gb downloaded in one month.