FireTV ADB Control – v2.0

Crestron SIMPL# module for controlling Amazon Fire TV via ADB over IP (TCP port 5555). Full RSA-2048 authentication, real-time feedback, launchable app discovery. Now supports both 3-Series and 4-Series Crestron processors via a single SIMPL+ module.

Platforms:

• 4-Series (CP4, MC4) — FireTVADB.clz (.NET Framework 4.7.2)
• 3-Series (CP3, MC3, PRO3, AV3) — FireTVADB_3Series.clz (.NET CF 3.5 / SimplSharp)

This does also work for Android based devices (Like Shield, Mi Box etc.) with ADB access.

3-Series Support

What's new

The FireTV_Control_v2.0.usp SIMPL+ module now uses compiler directives to automatically load the correct S# library for the target processor:

#IF_SERIES3
#USER_SIMPLSHARP_LIBRARY "FireTVADB_3Series"
#ENDIF
#IF_SERIES4
#USER_SIMPLSHARP_LIBRARY "FireTVADB"
#ENDIF

A single .usp file compiles correctly for both platforms — no separate module needed.

3-Series S# source

The FireTV_3series/ folder contains the full C# source for the 3-Series library (FireTVADB_3Series.clz), targeting .NET Compact Framework 3.5 / SimplSharp:

File	Description
FireTVDriver.cs	Main driver — ADB connection, commands, polling
AdbClient.cs	ADB protocol client
AdbSocket.cs	TCP socket wrapper
AdbAuth.cs	RSA-2048 authentication
AdbMessage.cs	ADB message framing
AdbAndroidKey.cs	RSA key storage and loading
BigUInt2048.cs	RSA math (no BigInteger on .NET CF 3.5)
WakeOnLan.cs	Wake-on-LAN magic packet

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First-time Setup

Fire TV prerequisites

Settings → My Fire TV → Developer Options:

• ADB Debugging: ON
• Network Debugging: ON (port 5555)

RSA pairing

On the first Connect pulse, a confirmation dialog appears on the TV screen: "Allow USB debugging?" → check "Always allow from this computer" → OK.

With Key_Store_Path$ set, this dialog only appears once. The RSA key is saved to the controller's flash and reloaded automatically on every subsequent connection.

Key_Store_Path$	Behaviour
\user\FireTV_ADBKey.xml	Key persists across reboots — pairing needed once
(empty)	In-memory key — TV must confirm after every controller reboot

Recommendation: always set a path.

Connection flow

The module does not connect automatically on program start. The TCP connection is only opened when the Connect input is pulsed. The RSA key is pre-loaded in the background at startup so the first Connect responds immediately.

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Symbol Parameters

Parameter	Default	Description
FireTV_IP$	—	IP address of the Fire TV
FireTV_Port	5555	ADB TCP port
Key_Store_Path$	\user\FireTV_ADBKey.xml	RSA key file path on the controller
Poll_Interval_Sec	10s	Polling interval for app / volume / NowPlaying (dropdown 2–20s)
WOL_Mac$	—	MAC address for Wake-on-LAN
WOL_Broadcast_IP$	255.255.255.255	Broadcast address for WOL

Note on Wake-on-LAN: Fire TV typically remains reachable via ADB even in suspend mode, so WOL is rarely needed. It is included as a fallback in case the device enters a deep sleep state where the network stack is fully shut down. To retrieve the MAC address, send the following to Send_Shell$:

ip addr show wlan0

The MAC address appears in Shell_fb$ on the line starting with link/ether.

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Signals

Digital Inputs

Signal	Description
Console_Log_Output_Enable	1 = send log messages to the Crestron console
Connect	Open ADB connection to the Fire TV
Disconnect	Close connection, disable auto-reconnect
Btn_Home	KEYCODE_HOME (3)
Btn_Back	KEYCODE_BACK (4)
Btn_Menu	KEYCODE_MENU (82)
Btn_Up	KEYCODE_DPAD_UP (19)
Btn_Down	KEYCODE_DPAD_DOWN (20)
Btn_Left	KEYCODE_DPAD_LEFT (21)
Btn_Right	KEYCODE_DPAD_RIGHT (22)
Btn_Select	KEYCODE_DPAD_CENTER (23)
Btn_Play	KEYCODE_MEDIA_PLAY (126)
Btn_Pause	KEYCODE_MEDIA_PAUSE (127)
Btn_PlayPause	KEYCODE_MEDIA_PLAY_PAUSE (85)
Btn_Stop	KEYCODE_MEDIA_STOP (86)
Btn_FastForward	KEYCODE_MEDIA_FAST_FORWARD (90)
Btn_Rewind	KEYCODE_MEDIA_REWIND (89)
Btn_SkipForward	KEYCODE_MEDIA_NEXT (87)
Btn_SkipBack	KEYCODE_MEDIA_PREVIOUS (88)
Vol_Up	KEYCODE_VOLUME_UP (24)
Vol_Down	KEYCODE_VOLUME_DOWN (25)
Vol_Mute	KEYCODE_VOLUME_MUTE (164)
Power_Toggle	KEYCODE_POWER (26)
Btn_Search	KEYCODE_SEARCH (84)
Btn_Settings	KEYCODE_SETTINGS (176)
Poll_Now	Trigger an immediate poll cycle
WOL_Send	Send Wake-on-LAN magic packet
Get_Launchable_Apps	Query installed Leanback apps → populates App_Launch$[]

Digital Outputs

Signal	Description
Is_Connected	1 = ADB connection active
Is_Playing	1 = media session PlaybackState = Playing

Analog Inputs

Signal	Range	Description
Set_Volume_Level	0–15	Set absolute volume (400ms debounce)

Analog Outputs

Signal	Description
Volume_Level	Current volume level
Volume_Max	Maximum volume level (typically 15)

String Inputs

Signal	Description
Launch_App$	Launch an app: package/Activity format (see below)
Send_Shell$	Send a raw ADB shell command — output appears in Shell_fb$
Input_Text$	Type text on the Fire TV (spaces sent as %s)

String Outputs

Signal	Description
Current_App$	Currently focused app (package/Activity)
NowPlaying_App$	Package name of the app currently playing media
Shell_fb$	Shell command output, delivered in ≤250-byte chunks
App_Launch$[1..50]	Launchable app list, populated by Get_Launchable_Apps

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App Launch

Launch_App$ expects a package/Activity string — the same format used by am start -n on Android.

Discovering installed apps

Pulse Get_Launchable_Apps. All installed apps registered as Leanback Launcher activities are queried and their launch strings written to App_Launch$[1] through App_Launch$[N]. Pass any of these directly to Launch_App$ to start that app.

Device-specific examples

App package names vary by Fire OS version and device. Always use Get_Launchable_Apps to verify the correct string for your device.

App	Typical Launch_App$ value
Prime Video	com.amazon.firebat/com.amazon.pyrocore.IgnitionActivity
Netflix	com.netflix.ninja/.MainActivity
YouTube	com.amazon.firetv.youtube/dev.cobalt.app.MainActivity
Disney+	com.disney.disneyplus/com.bamtechmedia.dominguez.main.MainActivity
Kodi	org.xbmc.kodi/.Splash

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NowPlaying

The module polls dumpsys media_session at the configured interval.

Output	Content
NowPlaying_App$	Package name of the active media app (e.g. com.netflix.ninja)
Is_Playing	1 when PlaybackState = 3 (active playback), 0 otherwise

Note: Netflix and some other apps deliberately suppress media session metadata. NowPlaying_App$ is reliable; title and artist are not exposed by most streaming apps and are therefore not implemented.

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Shell Access

Send any ADB shell command to Send_Shell$. The output is returned via Shell_fb$ in chunks of up to 250 bytes. For long outputs (e.g. dumpsys) multiple sequential updates will arrive.

Example commands:

Send_Shell$	Purpose
ip addr show wlan0	Get IP and MAC address
dumpsys battery	Battery / power state
getprop ro.build.version.release	Fire OS version
settings get global airplane_mode_on	Airplane mode state

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Expected Console Log

First connect (new key)

[FireTV] Initialize 192.168.1.x:5555 (key loading async...)
[FireTV] Generating RSA-2048 key (may take a few seconds)...
[FireTV] RSA-2048 key ready.
[FireTV] RSA key saved: \user\FireTV_ADBKey.xml
[FireTV] Connecting 192.168.1.x:5555...
[FireTV] AUTH → Signature sent (256 bytes).
[FireTV] AUTH → Public key sent. PLEASE CONFIRM ON TV SCREEN!
[FireTV] AUTH → Signature sent (after confirmation).
[FireTV] CNXN: device::ro.product.name=...
[FireTV] ADB connected
[FireTV] Polling started (10000ms).

Subsequent connects (saved key)

[FireTV] Initialize 192.168.1.x:5555 (key loading async...)
[FireTV] RSA key loaded: \user\FireTV_ADBKey.xml
[FireTV] Connecting 192.168.1.x:5555...
[FireTV] AUTH → Signature sent (256 bytes).
[FireTV] CNXN: device::ro.product.name=...
[FireTV] ADB connected
[FireTV] Polling started (10000ms).

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Notes

• Volume control targets STREAM_MUSIC (stream 3). This may not reflect HDMI ARC or optical passthrough volume depending on the audio output mode.
• Auto-reconnect is active while connected — the module retries every 10 seconds after an unexpected disconnect.
• Input_Text$ escapes single quotes and replaces spaces with %s as required by the Android input text command.

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Versioning

Type	Example	Trigger
Major	2.0	On request / breaking changes
Minor	2.x	New features / new signals
Bugfix	2.x.x	Bug fixes

This programming is not created by Crestron Electronics. This programming is not supported by Crestron Electronics’ support team. Crestron Electronics is not liable for any damage caused by this programming.