If you already have an Amazon Fire TV app, the Fling SDK provides both playback control and a synced second screen type of experience where customers use the mobile device as a smart companion accessory. Additionally, a new Remote Install API we announced in November lets customers remotely discover Fire TV apps from mobile devices.

Today we highlight several apps that have chosen to leverage the Amazon Fire TV built-in media playback receiver for Fling. This means your controller app can send supported media content to Fire TV without the need for a specific companion Fire TV application. Your controller application can discover the Fire TV using the publically available unique service identifier (SID) "amzn.thin.pl" of the built-in receiver and send media content to it.

‘The Fling Media Player on Amazon Fire TV is very stable out of the box and saves a lot of work compared to building a custom media player’ says a developer from Video and TV Cast, an Android mobile app that lets customers’ stream webvideos, online movies, live TV channels and camera roll videos to the Fire TV.

How Are Developers Using It?

Here are some other great examples of how developers are already leveraging the Amazon Fling built-in media receiver:

• SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick helps consumers easily cast and share their photos and videos to Amazon Fire TV. Whether the user is on an iPhone or any Android device – they now have the ability to easily cast precious moments with family and friends on to a TV screen.

• BubbleUPnP can send media to your Fire TV device from various sources like local media stored on your Android device, popular cloud media storage providers (Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive), music services (TIDAL, Qobuz) and media from web browsers and file managers.

• Tubio leverages the Fling SDK to cast videos from Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Vimeo and Youtube from iOS and Android mobile apps to Fire TV.

• LG Connect, an open source framework that connects mobile apps with multiple media device platforms, also integrated Amazon Fling to facilitate their partners’ apps interoperating with the Fire TV.

• NexStreaming integrated Amazon Fling SDK into NexPlayer SDK, making it ready to go for the more than 200 video service providers who include NexPlayer in their apps.

The built-in media playback receiver is one of the quickest ways to leverage the power of Amazon Fling and the built in functionality of Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. Even developers who don’t have an existing Amazon Fire TV app can take advantage of the Fling SDK’s media playback capabilities since the default built-in receiver plays these for you automatically.

Rich Set of Features For Your Controller App

With the built-in receiver on the Amazon Fire TV you can:

• Send video clips, audio clips, as well as images
• If your app provides closed captioning for video content, closed captioning may be displayed on the Fire TV
• Show title and description of the media clips
• Show album art when playing audio
• Control how the end of playback is handled, in case you want to send media clips continuously

How to Control Playback?

The setMediaSource API allows you to control how the playback works on the built-in receiver. The metadataJson parameter of this API is responsible for setting values for UI elements on the playback interface. You should set it in your controller application in the following format:

Get Started Today

Check out Working with the Built-in Receiver on the Fire TV Platform to get your mobile app flinging media content to Amazon Fire TV.

Here are some additional links to help you get started:

• Amazon Fling SDK
• Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick
• Build Engaging Second Screen Experiences for Amazon Fire TV with the New Amazon Fling SDK
• Register for a developer account
• Test your app’s compatibility on Amazon Fire TV

- Rafa Maranon (@rafaelmaranon)