Since an Amazon Fire TV update in Q3 2020, the Dance Sensation and Disco in Hue Essentials no longer work. This is because Amazon removed the functionality that Hue Essentials needs to analyse audio from the TV. We are in contact with Amazon to find a solution for this.
For now, there is a workaround for this issue using ADB. ADB allows you to control your TV from your PC or Mac. Follow the instructions below, you only need to do this once.
Enable USB debugging
- On the main screen of your Amazon Fire TV, select Settings.
- Select Device (or My Fire TV).
- Select Developer Options.
- Turn on ADB Debugging.
Install ADB
This will guide you through installing ADB on your PC or Mac. If you already have ADB installed, skip these steps.
Windows
- Download ADB from Google here.
- Extract the ZIP file.
- Open the Windows Explorer and browse to the extracted folder. This folder is named
platform-tools
folder where you see anadb
file. - Hold the Shift button on your keyboard and right-click within the folder (when no files are selected). Now release the Shift button. In the popup menu select Open command window here or Open PowerShell window here.
macOS
- Download ADB from Google here.
- Extract the ZIP file.
- Open the Terminal app.
- Browse to the folder where you extracted ADB. For example:
cd ~/Downloads/platform-tools
Linux
- Download ADB from Google here.
- Extract the ZIP file.
- Open the terminal.
- Browse to the folder where you extracted ADB. For example:
cd ~/Downloads/platform-tools
Connect to Amazon Fire TV
- Make sure your PC/Mac and Amazon Fire TV are on the same (WiFi) network. This is needed to connect using ADB.
- On your Amazon Fire TV, in the settings, go to Device (or My Fire TV), select About, select Network. You should see an IP Address, you will need this in the next step.
- On your PC, enter the following and press enter. Replace
ipaddress
with the IP address from the previous step.
For example:adb connect ipaddress:5555
If you get a command not found error, please replaceadb connect 192.168.86.61:5555
adb
with./adb
for all commands in these instructions. - On your Amazon Fire TV, allow USB debugging in the dialog that just appeared.
- Now your Amazon Fire TV should be connected. To verify this, enter
adb devices
on your PC/Mac. You should see something like the following:
If you do not see the IP address of your TV and “device”, it was not connected properly.List of devices attached 192.168.86.61:5555 device
Grant permission for Hue Essentials
-
On your PC/Mac, enter the following to grant Hue Essentials the record audio permission:
adb shell pm grant com.superthomaslab.hueessentials.amazon android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO
You can copy the line above and paste it in your terminal or command prompt.
-
Now the Dance Sensation / Disco in Hue Essentials should work again.
Disable USB Debugging
After the steps above, you should disable USB debugging again. The USB ports on your Amazon Fire TV may not work if USB debugging stays turned on.
- On the main screen of your Amazon Fire TV, select Settings.
- Select Device (or My Fire TV).
- Select Developer Options.
- Turn off ADB Debugging.