IT aboard

[socaldmax]

Looks like the best Android TV box is $47 over on Ebay:

marsking a95 | eBay


Here's the Logitech MK270 wireless usb mouse/KB for $17 on Ebay:

Logitech MK270 Wireless Keyboard Mouse Combo USB Receiver | eBay

[clownfishsydney]

HDD plugged directly into the TV, works perfectly. Simple. No extra power needed.

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by clownfishsydney

HDD plugged directly into the TV, works perfectly. Simple. No extra power needed.

What brand of TV plays videos? I have 2 smart TVs (LG and Mitsubishi) and both of them display pictures, but neither of them will play videos.

A lot of devices won't play h.264 or h.265, which are excellent formats.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Thorne

I love it....

Spoken like a true geek.


I'm one myself and I've catch myself making statements like that once in a while..

It's so easy, You just do this, and this, and then this, and if that makes a noise you do this and this then that, but if not then just do this and this and that.

See how easy that was?
BTW I created a universal credit card system using raspberry pi's and Windows Core for Raspberry, gotta love those things.... but easy?
Ok, I think they are easy too, but others who don't know how to reflash.... ( Actually wrong term. we are not dealing with an eprom here ), the card.

Or where to get a good 2 to 3 amp 5 volt power source, or how to.........

Love to chat about RP's but this is not the right web site.

Have you tried osmc? It really is that simple, stick a sd card in your laptop, follow a few instructions, stick the card into a pi and plug into any old usb power source and a monitor and start watching films. Just need a usb mouse. (& wifi dongle for the net if it isn't a pi 3,I'm using a zero)
OK, you'll need a powered usb hub to run a usb drive instead of, say, a 64g pen drive but that's easier then getting a dc/dc power supply for your laptop.

https://osmc.tv/download/

Anyone who can't manage that shouldn't be let loose with as much as a screwdriver on a boat.

[Zephyrcat229]

oh fer...
really

cheap ebay android media player, xmbc,miracast, chromecast support, updateable, runs multi-hdd-sdd,ect.. works great, dirt cheap. I've lived off grid for decades on low power mode and have burned through a number of these, highly recommend!!

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

What brand of TV plays videos? I have 2 smart TVs (LG and Mitsubishi) and both of them display pictures, but neither of them will play videos.

A lot of devices won't play h.264 or h.265, which are excellent formats.

Use open source Handbrake to convert to a compatible format that the tv can read. Our cheapo LG (which also works direct off 12vdc,which is nice) plays heaps of formats straight off of a USB hdd. Nice and simple.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Sandero]

I am a low tech guy... we bought a smart tv....(samsung inexpensive) and stream via a local hot spot from the phone. We can see YouTube, netflix and so on... and any content on the phone. We can also plug the old lap top directly into the tv. TV has 2 USB for a mouse and or a keyboard.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

What brand of TV plays videos? I have 2 smart TVs (LG and Mitsubishi) and both of them display pictures, but neither of them will play videos.

A lot of devices won't play h.264 or h.265, which are excellent formats.

Samsung

[Thorne]

Originally Posted by Sandero

I am a low tech guy... we bought a smart tv....(samsung inexpensive) and stream via a local hot spot from the phone. We can see YouTube, netflix and so on... and any content on the phone. We can also plug the old lap top directly into the tv. TV has 2 USB for a mouse and or a keyboard.

I guess even though I do andoid/windows/web/database/...... development for a living I TOO am a low tech guy.

I use a simple miracast off my Galaxy phone, any android device that can play a video will work.

Whatever is on the phone's screen is displayed perfectly on my low tech 40 inch flat screen HDMI TV.

So when I play a video that is stored on the phone the picture and audio are displayed perfectly on the tv. Great to watch.

I stream Netflix/YouTube/AmazonPrime from my cellular connection ( I have the unlimited data plan )

The catch is that the Miracast uses the WIFI signal to broadcast from the phone to the Miracast device that is plugged into the back of the TV's hdmi connection.
( it might work with the WiFi from the marina, just haven't tried it since my cell data is unlimited and I don't use others wifi bandwidth if I don't have to )

If I want to stream from WIFI from a marina or other wifi connection like Hughesnet ( pronounced HUGELY EXPENSIVE NET), I use the Chromecast device, it works over the same WIFI network, the only thing the phone does when using this device is select the web site to stream from, then the chromecast device streams directly from Netflix or whatever.
Works sweet.

It plugs into the low tech HDMI connection on my tv also.

So total equipment required :
1. HDMI capable tv
2. Android device like a phone or tablet w charger
3. Miracast from Belkin
4. Chromecast from Google.
5. 5V 2 amp power supply for the miracast or chromecast. ( mine plugs into the 5 volt usb on the tv )

Learning curve...... zip.
One component quits the others still work. ( hasn't happened yet )
Power consumption ( except for the tv ) is pretty small. If I am low on battery I use my 24 inch low tech flat screen hdmi monitor. It uses hardly any power.

Pretty happy with this setup for 2 years now.

[FollowingCs]

Roku works pretty decent also. It has a USB port and you can 'cast' to it from most devices. Then if you do have internet or wifi at some point, you could NetFlix with it.

~ Following Cs ~

[jamhass]

Correct. The WD connects to USB drives (2 ports). You would not NEED an NAS with the WD box, but the WD might be able to communicate with the NAS. It will connect (via either wifi or ethernet) with your existing network and therefore to most streaming services, etc. Moreover, since the WD is actually a 12v device, one may be able to run without the inverter (unless, of course the TV requires 120v, our LED TV also runs on 12v)

We use the WD both at home and on the boat.

The WD can also play music.

[Thorne]

Originally Posted by FollowingCs

Roku works pretty decent also. It has a USB port and you can 'cast' to it from most devices. Then if you do have internet or wifi at some point, you could NetFlix with it.

~ Following Cs ~

I have a Roku, and I have heard you can extract a "Saved" movie and put it on your phone or whatever. Have you had any luck with doing that?

[Bob666]

Originally Posted by jamhass

Correct. The WD connects to USB drives (2 ports). You would not NEED an NAS with the WD box, but the WD might be able to communicate with the NAS. It will connect (via either wifi or ethernet) with your existing network and therefore to most streaming services, etc. Moreover, since the WD is actually a 12v device, one may be able to run without the inverter (unless, of course the TV requires 120v, our LED TV also runs on 12v)

We use the WD both at home and on the boat.

The WD can also play music.

Seems the WD + USB disk is the way to go with my old TV without USB IN.

Playback from Android + Chromecast, why not, but I want to have the movies on a USB disk, not on the phone. I suppose I could connect a USB disk to the phone, I bought dozens of various adapters as I wanted to try to import movies from the digital camera right into our Sony XPeria Z2 tablet.

Or I could connect to a NAS from the Android device, but I don't feel like a NAS any longer, you've convinced me on that point.

Cheers

[Bob666]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

I started out using Western Digital Live TV media players with 1TB WD portable drives. 1 wall wart for the media player, and the HDD runs off of the USB. THen I graduated to 2TB HDDs.

Now I've switched over to Android TV boxes. Small box about the size of 2 packs of cigs., 4K UHD out via HDMI, 5v wall wart power supply, runs android 5.0 and Kodi 16.1, with 100MB ethernet and wifi B/G/N, 4 USB ports and A/V out.

I added a Logitech wireless mouse and keyboard and it's basically an android tablet (computer) with internet browser that can read 3 portable USB drives at once. It can play any movie, sporting event or TV show on Kodi from anywhere in the world and upconverts most sources. SD looks like 720p, 720p looks like 1080p, but I don't think it makes 1080p look like 2160. It also has all of the standard stuff - Netflix, Hulu, Skype, Pandora, Facebook, Iheartradio, Spotify and everything on the Google play store. It automatically updates all apps and Kodi repositories.

The box sells for about $30 on Amazon, the Logitech KB/mouse sells for $20 on Amazon. The video output is truly amazing, even when the bad guy is hiding in the deepest shadows, you can still see features when other devices just show all black (like my $1,000 Windoze 10 media server with $300 graphics card.)

It also does DLNA, miracast, windows and Mac network shares, will stream to or from any device on your network, including smartphones.

Or this solution...

socaldmax - do you recommend brands please so I can read up on specs?

Cheers

[Bob666]

Originally Posted by socaldmax

What brand of TV plays videos? I have 2 smart TVs (LG and Mitsubishi) and both of them display pictures, but neither of them will play videos.

A lot of devices won't play h.264 or h.265, which are excellent formats.

I heard Smart-TV:s aren't that smart.

I missed a link earlier:
Marsking Nexbox A95X Android TV Box 5 1 Powered by Amlogic S905 64bit Kodi 16 1 | eBay

This seems to be a nice product.

Didn't see the forest because of all the trees. Similar to what I got at home, just that this is newer, less power hungry etc etc. Will be sweet in the boat. I'll ask them to put "sample" on the package, could only find it in USA on eBay and doesn't seem available over here. I won't get any hassle with PAL vs NTSC, right? We use PAL in Europe I think.

Will it power a USB disk via its USB ports I wonder? I'd rather buy USB disks that are powered that way. Less hassle.

Can this be correct?:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2TB-1TB-512G...Vx5l8e3WwNyToQ

2 Tb for that price?! Not possible...

I can surf also and stream with it, will get a wireless keyboard with touchpad, so I can lie in the bunk while surfing, separate mouse is problematic.

I wonder if it supports SVT Play (Swedish Television streaming)? However hard to play SVT Play outside of Sweden. Unless you fool their service via a proxy. I'll investigate that and post something maybe.

We have Netflix also, but won't pay for that while cruising. However one might want to rent a movie online in a marina, when having wifi. Will work.

Cheers