IT aboard

[socaldmax]

Originally Posted by Bob666

How does the other devices discussed stand out in comparison, regarding the power consumption, please?

The android box power supply is rated at 5v, 2A. Keeping in mind that it has to be able to support up to 4 USB devices at 500mw ea, the box itself apparently draws very little.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by jamhass

hmmm...
RPi Zero ...$5
Powered USB Hub ... 40 (needs power to run HD)
Bluetooth ... 5 (to run keyboard & mouse)
rpi power supply ... 5
Keyboard & mouse ... 0 (on hand or need for Android box?)
HDMI adapter ... 5
SD card ... 5
Total ... $65. without case or cables.

Unless you want to play, go the commercial unit.

And, yes, I do have an RPi for play, but using a WD box for simplicity...

Those seem a bit high, don't need a powered hub for pen drive(mines 64G), probably yes for usb drive. Though they can be had for 10 on ebay, power the Pi off the same hub with cheap ebay usb supply . Pi zero plus adaptors can be had for 8ukp. Don't need a keyboard, just cordless mouse. Then plug and play, osmc is dead easy.

[hellosailor]

KISS. If your goal is to watch movies on a TV, get a TV that can play videos. For at least 5 years now all(?) the Samsung tv's have been able to play .MP4 files and some other formats. Just plug in a USB device with the movies and fiddle with the remote control. Memo, Samsung also makes some buggy TV's. (Big argument about why so many of them are refusing to turn off, you turn them off, they turn back on. Samsung says buy a $200 replacement board.) And the free route to converting discs to MP4 and other formats (handbrake, etc.) can also be incredibly slower and buggy compared to some of the commercial conversion apps. All the other approaches and options are nice--but they ain't KISS. Anything that can play videos from a USB device directly, will also give you all the other options for Wifi and other connections. Some have better support for DNLA or WiFi but anything that fits the USB port will work around that. Flash drives up to 256GB are easy to find, as are SSDs. An "external" SSD won't care about the boat bouncing, will plug right into the USB port. And those 2TB miracle sticks on eBay? Are probably the same sellers who finally got thrown off Amazon for the same scam. Stick to a brand name for the media, and the vendor. (As if that's news.)

[Bob666]

Originally Posted by conachair

Those seem a bit high, don't need a powered hub for pen drive(mines 64G), probably yes for usb drive. Though they can be had for 10 on ebay, power the Pi off the same hub with cheap ebay usb supply . Pi zero plus adaptors can be had for 8ukp. Don't need a keyboard, just cordless mouse. Then plug and play, osmc is dead easy.

Yes but appreciate previous answer, why the hassle. I'll go the commercial route.

Originally Posted by hellosailor

KISS. If your goal is to watch movies on a TV, get a TV that can play videos. For at least 5 years now all(?) the Samsung tv's have been able to play .MP4 files and some other formats. Just plug in a USB device with the movies and fiddle with the remote control. Memo, Samsung also makes some buggy TV's. (Big argument about why so many of them are refusing to turn off, you turn them off, they turn back on. Samsung says buy a $200 replacement board.) And the free route to converting discs to MP4 and other formats (handbrake, etc.) can also be incredibly slower and buggy compared to some of the commercial conversion apps. All the other approaches and options are nice--but they ain't KISS. Anything that can play videos from a USB device directly, will also give you all the other options for Wifi and other connections. Some have better support for DNLA or WiFi but anything that fits the USB port will work around that. Flash drives up to 256GB are easy to find, as are SSDs. An "external" SSD won't care about the boat bouncing, will plug right into the USB port. And those 2TB miracle sticks on eBay? Are probably the same sellers who finally got thrown off Amazon for the same scam. Stick to a brand name for the media, and the vendor. (As if that's news.)

Regarding KISS. Yes and no. For most people Yes. I think I know enough within IT to handle this. So KISS is more of an issue for all other areas of the boat. And being able to watch a movie is not critical.



Cheers