Fire TV: can't enter authentication for SMB share

[John Stimson]

Hello,

I have a samba server set up with username/password authentication. I can connect to it just fine using VLC for Android on my Google Pixel phone, by entering the username and password when prompted.

The problem:

I just set up an Amazon Fire TV (Fire TV Home Version 5.7.3-17, Fire OS 5.2.4.1) and then installed VLC for Fire from the built-in apps list. It reports version 2.1.3.

When I start the app, then go to the local network file locations and choose SMB share, it shows the local SMB and upnp/DLNA servers. When I select an SMB server, a box pops up extremely briefly that looks like the username/password authentication screen, and then is immediately covered by a text entry box. The text entry box allows me to type one character, which is displayed at the top. Any subsequent entries clear the text at the top. Clicking next results in a click sound and animation, and the same happens when clicking back. I can't exit that screen in any way other than pressing the home button on the remote.

One of the main reasons I had for purchasing the Fire TV was support for the VLC Android app, which I had verified would work using my Pixel phone. It's really important to me to get video playback from an SMB share working on the Fire TV.

It seems I'm not the only one experiencing this problem: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-revi ... GKPCC9ME2/

Have I installed the best version? Is there a workaround or is this a known bug? Is there anything I can do to help?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

This is fixed in an updated release, numbered 2.1.6, but Amazon is refusing this update. We'll wait for the next one.

[John Stimson]

Thanks for the information! Silly Amazon.

Is it possible to download an install package for that version? I can only find up to 2.0.6 on the videolan download page: http://get.videolan.org/vlc-android/

[John Stimson]

I found it and got it installed. 2.1.6 does indeed fix the issue I described. Now to figure out how to get the side-loaded VLC app to show up on the home screen...

[doomedtx]

Can you share if you've been able to make the side-loaded app show up on the home screen? Did you remove the old version before side-loading the new one?

Also, I'm assuming you found the new version here: https://download.videolan.org/testing/android/2.1.6/. Which apk did you use for the FireTV?

[doomedtx]

I had the time to look through this and was able to answer my own questions, and (I hope) yours as well.

For the Fire Stick, ARMv7 is required. FireTV 2 can use ARMv8. I removed the old version first, and then side-loaded the new one using ES File Explorer: http://www.aftvnews.com/how-to-sideload ... e-fire-tv/. Annoyingly, pasting the URL into the text window on my phone's FireTV app didn't work. All I got was the final "k." However, after manually typing the URL, it downloaded and installed fine.

To get it on the home screen, run it at least once from the "Your Apps and Games" section where it will be near (or at) the end. It will now appear at the top in the recent items list. While in the Apps and Games section, you can also use the menu and choose "Move to Front." The next time Home is reloaded (by restarting, for example), VLC will be at the front of the apps list. That way you'll have quick access even if the app drops off the recent list.

[bmcelvan]

Thanks for this information, it is great!!...I'm going to try this out.

Can anyone of you tell me whether using the side loaded version will output anything other than 2.0 pcm? Like DD, DD+ or even multichannel PCM?

Thanks

[lexicon]

A 'quick fix' for this is to use the Fire TV App on your smartphone/android device/whatever.
You can use the app's pop-up keyboard to enter the logon credentials instead of the Fire remote - worked for me anyhow.

[doomedtx]

lexicon, we were doing that. The problem was a bug in the Amazon store version 2.1.3 that wouldn't allow the credentials to be entered, no matter what you used to enter them. Hopefully the new version has been accepted to the Amazon store by now; I'm still using my side-loaded version without any issues.

[mpeg-lover]

I had to use lexicons work-around on a Fire TV stick 2 yesterday sometimes, too. (Installed VLC 2.0.6 from Amazon's App store at July, 01.)

[tobywonkanobe]

Using the VLC App (V2.1.11) and cannot get authentication to be accepted by my Mac OSX Server Shared Volume. Tried SMB, SFTP with the same results. Not familiar with sideloading, lexicons or other workarounds. Any help?