Fire TV (w/ KODI) Quick User Guide

Welcome to your new Amazon Fire TV.  Amazon's GUI is very well designed and intuitive to use.  This post will instead help you to quickly enjoy KODI and its many video add-ons.

Basic Fire TV Setup

Step 1. Insert batteries into the remote

Step 2. Plug the Fire TV Stick to into an HDMI port (included extender may or may not be needed)

Step 3. Attach power cable to Stick

Step 4. Switch TV input to the appropriate HDMI port

Step 5. At the this point you should see the screen below.  Push the “RETURN” button on your remote to setup your WIFI connection.

(screenshot)

Step 6. After WIFI setup the next step requires you to setup an Amazon account.  To enjoy the many benefits of Fire TV, it is recommended that you set up an Amazon account.  The account is free.  If you already have an Amazon account, just sign in.

Step 7. Once you’re signed in, the Fire TV home screen should appear

(screenshot)

Step 8. Your device has Fire Starter installed, which is basically a “start menu” for KODI and any other apps you may install in the future.  To invoke the start menu, simply press the “HOME” button again when you’re on the home screen, and Fire Starter menu will pop up.

(screenshot)

Step 9. Navigate over to the KODI icon with your remote and hit the “SELECT” button.  This will launch the KODI app.

IMPORTANT:

At any time you may hit the “HOME” button to return to the home screen.  A second press of the “HOME” button will take you to Fire Starter.

 

KODI Basics (Video only)

The home screen for the KODI app looks like this:

(screenshot)

Navigate over to “add-ons” just underneath the “VIDEO” menu and hit “SELECT”.  The next pop-up shows up all the video add-ons or channels that you have currently installed on your device.  At the bottom of the list is an option is to get more add-ons (“Get more…”).  FYI because there are so many add-ons, the easiest way to get that menu option is to push the up button a couple of times to wrap around to the bottom.  To watch a channel simply hit the “SELECT” button.

About the Channels

There are thousands of channels to choose from so it’s impossible to describe every single one of them.  Feel free to explore and find the right channels for yourself.  You may want to start with some of the channels shown below.

Popular channels for Movies and TV shows:

Genesis

IceFilms

FilmOn

ProjectFreeTV

Popular channels for Sports:

SportsDevil

NBCSports Extra

WWE

UFC

For a complete list of all available channels please visit the following for more information:

https://superrepo.org/kodi/list/categories/video

IMPORTANT:

NEVER clear the cache under Amazon Settings as this will remove the KODI app. 

How to Quickly Launch Kodi on Fire TV

Once Kodi is installed, you'll notice that the Kodi app does not appear on Fire TV's home screen.  The only way to run this app is to go through settings and managed installed apps.  Well, this will become tedious in no time.  Luckily, adbFire (v2.01) allows you to install something called "FireStarter".  I like to think of it as a start menu for Fire TV.  It runs in the background and pops up when you press the home button twice.  An example FireStarter looks something like this:

Click on Kodi on this "start menu", and it'll launch Kodi... that's it so much easier :)

There are other instructions on the internet on how to put the Kodi app on the home screen.  I've tried a couple of these methods, but neither of them is easier than just installing FireStarter.

So here are the instructions:

Step 1. Launch adbFire again

Step 2. Re-connect your Fire TV to the PC (follow my previous post on installing Kodi step 5)

Step 3. Click on  the "FireStarter" button



Let the install finish and then reboot your Fire TV... that's it.

How to Install Kodi on Fire TV

How to Install Kodi on Fire TV and Fire TV Stick

I have owned both Fire TV and Fire TV Stick for nearly 6 months now.  I love them so much that I've recommended them to many family, friends, and co-workers.  They are remarkably well designed and easy to use.  I use them primarily to watch Sling TV and Prime videos.  There are other apps to watch Hulu, NetFlix, and etc.  In this article I will provide simple step-by-step instructions on how to install Kodi (formerly XBMC).  You can find many internet guides on this topic, but many of them are outdated.  I still can't believe how much Fire TV Sticks sell for on eBay, especially those with Kodi installed.  Save yourself some money and do it yourself.  The instructions are incredibly simple... if I can do it anyone can.



If you don't already own one, buy one at Amazon.


Fire TV Stick

Fire TV


Although they share many of the same features, Fire TV costs $60 more than the Stick.  Fire TV comes with more memory, faster processor, and most importantly voice search on the remote. 


OK let's get started...

Step 1. Download adbFire (v2.01) to your PC

IMPORTANT: Make sure you actually unzip the download.  I had a lot of problem with adbFire not talking to the Fire TV on my first try because it was not unzipped.  I was running it from the preview folder... dumb mistake.  Right click the downloaded file and click "Extract All..."

Step 2. Download Android Kodi TV (ARM version) to your PC

Step 3. Enable Developer Options

• Navigate to the settings screen
• Scroll over to System option and select "Developer Options"
• Turn on "ADB debugging" and "Apps from Unknown"

Step 4. Obtain IP address of your Fire TV or Stick

You will need this IP address to allow your PC to communicate to your Fire TV or Stick so write it down.  It will be used in the next step.

Step 5. Launch adbFire

1. Click "New" to create a new profile for your Fire TV
2. Type in the IP address in the "Device address" field and hit the "Save" button
3. Click the "Connect" button and you should see the IP address of your FireTV in the box for "Connected devices"
4.  Click on "Install APK"
5. Enter the Kodi APK file and hit start

Wait until the progress bar reaches completion... hit Stop ADB server and you're done!  In the next steps you will test your install.

Step 6. Reboot your Fire TV or Stick

Step 7. Launch Kodi

• Navigate down to Settings, scroll over to Applications and hit the select button
• Scroll down to "Manage All Installed Applications"
• Scroll down until you find Kodi and hit select

You might realize at this point that this is a painful way to launch Kodi.  Don't worry in my next post I will discuss how to launch this app from the "Recent" menu.  Stay tuned.

Here are some additional accessories you may consider for your Fire TV or Stick: