Everything you can do with the Amazon Fire TV...
The official support for expandability that comes with it is something that greatly differentiates the Amazon Fire TV Cube from the Fire tv 3.If you are reading this, you already know that the port is more than just where you connect the included cable modem.Come with me on a magical voyage as I explain in detail how wonderful the Fire TV Cube's microusb port is and how it shows that Amazon is listening to our feedback.
First and foremost, the Fire TV Cube's expandability options through its microusb port are not as good as the built-in Ethernet port, standardUSB port and microSD card slot found on the fire tv 2All of the built-in ports on the Fire TV 2 can be accessed through the fire TV cube's microusb port.It's a good sign that Amazon has heard our complaints and put in the effort to address them, because this isn't true for the microUSB OTG capabilities of the Fire TV 3.
The Fire TV cube can be used to connect to a wired network using the microusb port.This is the same device that is sold separately for $14.99 for use with the Fire TV 3 and the fire tv stick 2, so it is interchangeable among those 3 devices.
You don't need to connect a power source to the Fire TV Cube when you use the Ethernet adapter with it.The port is only used to provide pass-through power to the Fire TV Stick 2, and no purpose is served by it.The Fire TV Cube won't be damaged if you connect the power to the Ethernet adapter while it's being used.I risk damaging my Fire TV Cube to test this, so you are welcome.
It is not possible to daisy-chain otherusb devices to achieve both Ethernet and other expansion/peripherals because of the microusb port.It is not possible to connect all of the devices to the Fire TV cube at the same time.I don't think it's necessary to have the extra features out of the box in order to use it with the Fire TV 3 and FireTV Stick.
Let's move on to other options now that we know what Amazon can and can't do.You will need an OTG adapter for that.There is a list of great options.Whether you just want to connect one thing, a few things, or everything all at once, there is an OTG adapter that fits each scenario.The Smays USB Hub with built-in Ethernet ports is one of the accessories that allows you to easily connect your devices to the Fire TV.
A lot of people will want to connect ausb drive to the fire tv cubeThis can be a flash drive, a spinning external hard drive or a memory card in a card reader.All of them will be treated the same by the Fire TV Cube.
The Fire TV Cube will mount the drive and display a message in the lower right, but the FAT32 drive is now accessible by any app, including media player.
The behavior of the Fire TV 3 is very different when it comes to mounting and making the drive universally accessible.The device doesn't mount external drives in a way that all apps can access them.To access data on the drive, an app must be able to mount it onto the Fire TV 3.External drives are nearly useless with the Fire TV 3 due to the fact that the only two apps that can do this are Total Commander and ES File Explorer.
This new behavior, or rather, the return of this old behavior forUSB drive mounting that was available on the Fire TV 2 is a good indication that Amazon is listening to our feedback and bringing back functions that were lost with the fire tv 3
As has been the case with all previous Fire TV models, the drives must be formatted with FAT32 for them to be read.The above message will be displayed if you plug in a drive with any other file system format.
All apps can read and write to the drive if the external storage option is selected.The "Device Storage" option will prepare the drive so that it can be used to store Fire TV apps.Most computers can't read a file system that is unreadable.The drive will only be used for app storage.
If you want to clear up internal space on the Fire TV Cube, you can use a drive for Device Storage.The "Limited Drive Access" message displayed when connecting a FAT32 drive simply refers to the fact that the drive can't be used to store apps.You can either press the menu button or go to the Fire TV Cube's settings to convert the drive from FAT32 to app storage.
The Fire TV cube supports both standard external storage and expandable storage for apps, which is something that hasn't been possible with a new Fire tv device since the fire tv 2It supports both at the same time.If you connect two drives through a hub, one with FAT32 and the other with app storage, both will work.There may be issues with multiple drives, but both drives were mounted in my initial testing, so it seems to work.I was able to connect two FAT32 drives and a drive for app storage at the same time.The Fire TV 2 cannot do that since it only mounts one drive for each purpose.
The Fire TV cube has a microusb port for peripherals.It's possible to connect things like keyboards and game controllers.The Fire TV cube is compatible with the K400 keyboard.You can connect both peripherals and drives at the same time.The FLIRC IR Receiver works perfectly with the Fire TV cube.
While more built-in ports for the Amazon Fire TV Cube would have been ideal, it is great to see that the device officially supports all the expandability features of the past Fire TVs.Thankfully, Amazon has made the Fire TV Cube much more of an enthusiast device by supporting numerous expansion options, even though it could have easily been the same thing.
Why do you think this is a wonderful thing?They should have put a port on the ugly cube.This is a no buy for me.They should have included it in the first place.
I haven't been able to get my cables to work on my tv for a while.I don't know if people will have the same issues with the cube.The firetv 2 is still the best device I have.It is still the best.
I have a fire cube but am not a teckie.I want to add more flexibility to my cube.
Most people don't need the internet now.The device is separate from the box.
I plugged my cube into an old Synology device, but I didn't know it.I had 4 terabytes of storage after I installed Plex.There were no problems.I have access to my music library.I am getting a digital signal from the Cube that the built-in DAC handles well.The audio part of the video is sent directly to the receiver with a minimum number of cables.
I found that I could use the VLC app to access my music and videos when I added it to the cube.I use the VLC interface because I like it better than the Plex interface.I didn't do any testing, but I think that VLC plays hi-res FLAC better than Plex.I don't know if the installation of the Plex server on my NAS was necessary to use VLC, and I'm too lazy to start over as a test.
That is an interesting way to do things.It sounds like an elegant solution.I might try it myself.
I'm with you Phil.I can't get the cube to access an external drive.We need to know if our cubes are good or bad.
I had trouble as well.Before it works, you have to switch it to internal.I watched a video.Some aps will not move to the storage, but I found a few that would work.The TV wouldn't function properly if it moved to theusb.
My list is already massive and I will add this to it.I don't think there would be a slowdown.There is enough bandwidth for both because the file transfer speed is not going to saturate the remaining 380Mbps.
I'm not sure if you're saying that the read/ write speed of an attached drive won't be able to saturate the old standard or not.
Many drives have sequential random read write scores which are far beyond what you point out.A quick search shows that theWD Passport scores over 100MBps sequential read/write and 45-60 MBps random read write, all well beyond the 380mbps you mention.
I was not referring to the speeds of the storage.I have not tested the internal storage speeds of the cube yet.
I used an AmazonBasics one plugged into the above hub.I have a 32gbusb device storage, a Flirc, and a Logi400KB dongle.
Why don't you use the cube's OTG port?There is no benefit vs a powered usb2 hub.
The Fire TV Cube screensaver kicks in when you stop watching.
I did not have that problem.I got the setup after the cube arrived.
The screen went completely black after 30 minutes when I tried to set the screensaver to 15 minutes.Couldn't recover by hitting or saying Home.
Is there a better way to transfer your apps and data from your FireTV 2 to a cube?Is there an app that can backup and restore the devices?
This was a deal killer for me.There is no dedicated memory card slot or dedicated ethernet.What is the point of a sleek cube with an absurd amount of wires and wires coming off it to make it functional as a 3 year old FireTV Box?
Fire TV boxes have never had NTFS as a standard.If Amazon had truly been listening, they would have delivered on the key features we all wanted.I can't watch movies with file sizes over 4GB because it's slower.They couldn't put the ethernet jack in the box itself.Is it possible that space constraints were tight?It can be used for both the ethernet and theusb sticks.It leaves me scratching my head.
Microsoft is the owner of NTFS.It would have to be licensed by Amazon.If we are realistic, that would raise the price of this product from a $120-$200 box to probably closer to $275 minimum.
The standard is exfat or fat 32 and is mostly used by windows.
I visit homes on a daily basis as a service technician.I have seen absolutely zero wired for the internet.Some of the people who complain don't have internet, they just like to be negative.
You have to acknowledge that anyone posting here is going to be a part of a self selected niche that is not representative of most people.
Most new homes built in the last few years come pre-wired for ethernet, and my home was built about 6 years ago.
I wouldn't consider 6 years to be "really old" if you lived in the country.
It depends.It is an option for many builders.Many still use the same type of coax.Is it where you need it?
There are many electricians and installers in the world.It has been 20 years since I replaced my 34 year old home with cats UTP and four 8P8C jacks in every room.I replaced all the wire with a solid cat6 STP.
I have been a sparky for a long time.I have seen hundreds, though most of them were in a large new McMansion development that advertised itself as a high tech community.A 1600sq.ft shithole with cat6e throughout and a pair of 8P8C jacks in the laundry room was just sold.Every 4x room has 1xPOE in the garage.That is one thing I have never seen in any residential property other than one that I own and renovated, POE.
Here is a question.Will it have a TV tuner?I have an eight port hub from my Pendant that supports my Logi keyboard.I have a plug in but I don't know if it works anymore.It was necessary for my 1 to not have the menu key.
The article makes me feel better.I didn't see anything other than the extra memory.As Logi Hub and Ultimate ran the system, I was going to turn it over to Amazon.
I own 3 ftv2 and 2 gen 2 sticks and finally purchased 2 roku ultras because of the NTFS issue along with no Spectrum cable app and Vudu.
You should get yourself a media server like plex or emby if you want to dive into the home media world.You sound like a good choice for it.You could play those 4k files from any of those devices.
Do the otg port on the ethernet plug work or do you have to buy a different one?
I am not sure if there is a lot of expansion.I tried to use 64 and 128 gigabyte Micro SD's.It only has a small amount of storage after it's formatted as a device storage.
My FTV3 supported 4k 2160/59, YCpCr420color, and 12bit audio.It is pushing 4k.
I will only be able to listen to 8bit audio, and have aRGB color.My phone won't support it.I did 48bit audio with the Pendant.
They suggested trying and failing to blame the customer support solutions such as deregister and reset.
I decided to send it back after three days.It is the first device that I have not been happy with and is making me feel like a tester; I own an Amazon device and am very happy about it.The integration of music, voice control, and control of all my audiovisual devices is vastly superior to that of my Fire TV Stick.The Cube won't control anything other than my TV and soundbar and will not integrate with my household-wide music group, which makes it hard to control everything with voice.I need at least two remotes at all times, one for the soundbar and the Cube remote, because I can't navigate everything on the cube by voice when it changes its own volume.I am not happy with the firstAlexa-based product.Since I don't have a 4K TV, there's nothing gained in the "upgrade" from the Stick.
I am with you.After spending four years getting my Harmony Hub and Ultimate tamed, I thought Amazon's device control was stupid.
1.There is double RAM 2.There is device storage for apps.It only has 26gb on two cards.3.There is no 3.
I don't think these streamers are a good idea with the exception of Prime.I am 4K with 5.2.2 Atmos.It makes my DirecTV Sat look great, with a great guide and DVR scheduling.All in one package.
Setting up audio passthrough with fire tv cube is a problem for anyone.I can't seem to get 7.1 to work.Can't seem to get it to work on the cube.I can try settings on anyone's cube.The last version of SPMC is installed on me.None of them can send the audio to my device.
Amazon made a mistake in the design of the hardware by keeping the only available port,usb2.
If most people don't use an ethernet port, I can keep costs down by removing it.Your average user may not use the SDCard slot, so removing it is less understandable.The functions can be reproduced via the port.
You need to upgrade the only available port if you want the device to function at its full potential.I understand that a portion of the theoretical bandwidth can be used for storage.Saturating the BW will cause issues.
It would work with less of a performance hit if the functions were shared.
Fast storage access would be possible with a gigabit ethernet connection.
Will the cube mount a hard disk drive and read both?I was wondering if I could use both partition for Kodi.Will not be used in other places.
I answered my own question.I was able to partition my 4tb drive and use it to read and write.
Is it possible to buy a bunch of dongles if we don't include ethernet and sdcard?I will buy a firetv2 from ebay.
I have trouble mounting anything larger than a thumb drive.Will Fire TV Cube be able to recognize larger objects?Several San Disk 64 gig cards that I have do not work.
One powered even 16 gig thumb drive and Fat 32 gig San Disk micro card works fine.
I got the 64gig memory cards to work after re-booting.I got the 500gig drive after I tried the OTG hub.Next, I will try some spinning external hard drives.I will try some enclosures.Confidence is high.Thx
Please let me know how you make out with the larger hard drives.Is it not possible to format larger hard drives as fat32 only exfat?What powered hub do you have?
I was able to get the device to recognize the San disk card after playing with the Iogear OTG model GOFRH 202 attached to my Fire TV cube.Several other Sd cards as well as a couple of thumb drives did not work out.I was trying to get the device to recognize the 64gb San disk card.
If you read my comments, I have done some more testing.I've been involved with an Android TV box as well.The Fire TV Cube has worked on every memory stick and card I have thrown at it.The 500 gig drive has worked.The one that takes external power is the only one of the three types that worked.
An external spinning hard drive does not seem to work.I have a spare drive, but I can't seem to get it to work.
The Android TV Box has taken everything I have thrown at it.I like the fact that the Fire TV Cube is faster and more refined.I use the Cube to control my TV because I am a big user of it.The TV Box is much slower than a phone, but it can do a lot more with a wireless keyboard.There are advantages and disadvantages to both platforms.
I've been on a learning curve.I'm researching the purchase of a mini PC.The processor has limits on how big of a storage can be.I thought the only limitations were for on-board memory and RAM.Sometimes the tiny processors can only take so much external storage.I usually see processors that can only take 128 gig in sticks, and up to a limit of 2 tb in external storage.I wonder what is in the Fire TV cube as a processor, that would explain why my hard drive won't work by my 500gig will.
Carl.After reading about your success in getting higher storage capacity recognition, I decided to pursue my 64gb San disk card.When I plugged the micro chip in the OTG device directly, it worked even though my Iogear device wouldn't recognize it.You have tried 3 OTG devices with your cube.What were the 3 attempts you made?
This is an Amazon link to the first one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076BKN49Q.
All of them worked with a memory stick or card.I had to buy a $8 power supply for the third time.
I can't make it work with an otg cable.One or the other?Thanks.
It works well for mine.I own a cable with four tails.There are three of them, one is for power pass-thru.Three of them are used for a keyboard, a memory stick and temporary memory sticks.Did you try to connect to the internet with the unit?I might try other dongles because one might be conflicting with another.
Can anyone tell me how to record to the thumb drive instead of the internal memory?I can't get internal memory from any program.A 128 drive has a 133g mem.
Is it possible to use an external DAC to play 24/192 tracks from Amazon Music?
Can I ask again, in light of Amazon Music HD now being supported up to 24/192 quality on the Cube and other fire tv sticks, and recent Fire Os and Amazon music app updates?Is there a way to enable audio on the cube so that it can be plugged into a capable amplifier?Is there a way to discuss the use of Amazon Music HD on Fire Tv devices?Thanks.
I would use it for a headset.It's possible to get rid of the headset.
Allowing the cube to stream Amazon music without the TV being on would be more practical.