Info Needed: How to make HDTV and Home theater Wifi ready and accept data from Samba server

vercetti

vercetti

Skilled
Hey Guys,

I have recently made a (poorman's) NAS setup by hacking my pogoplug V4.
Now, I am able to play movies from the hdd (connected to the pogoplug) on all my phones, laptops, tabs, etc.

Problem Statement;
  • My TV and home theater do not have WiFi or ethernet.
  • Is there a way by which I could directly see the data in the NAS on my TV or play music in my HT?

Budget around 3000 for any additional hardware procurement
 
Yes, you can install Droidmote and then control it through an android phone/tablet. Alternatively, you can use a wireless mouse which I do, much more convenient. 1080p streaming works fine for me using BSPlayer but I have it in the same room as the wifi router. Not sure how good the speed is over large distances. There are other models with external antennae, better processors, more RAM etc. but they'd be more expensive.
 
Last edited:
manu1991 said:
Buy an Android TV Stick:
http://www.ebay.in/itm/MK808B-Andro..._Players_Recorders&hash=item58a3589223&_uhb=1

AIRTELMNY1 for 15% off if you have an airtel number.
Click to expand...
Android stick is what i thought of first but how many cpus & RAM do these sticks come with ? Rs.5k does not buy a lot. Wifi on this will be some crap realtek chip so only good if the router is in the same room as the tv.

Is the performance smooth or flakey. Depends on the load i suppose. Second gen (whenever it comes out) of these sticks might be more promising.

manu1991 said:
Though I don't think you can output 5.1 channel sound in Android.
Click to expand...
Yeah, not that i know off.

This means some sort of media streamer. picks out the signal from the air, has some sort of HDD capacity. and outputs its signal through HDMI. Can smart enable a not so smart tv.

which streamer to get is the question.

OP's going to have to increase the budget if he wants anything more than a proof of concept.
 
Last edited:
Mate...just checked in Amazon.com and Mk808b comes with a air mouse as well..unlike the one in ebay
http://www.amazon.com/Cozyswan-Android-Rockchip-Cortex-A9-Gyroscope/dp/B00DSKKIOW#productDetails

Also, I heard the below is better
http://www.amazon.com/CX-919-RK3188-Bluetooth-Android-Google/dp/B00CRTCTVA

manu1991 said:
Yes, you can install Droidmote and then control it through an android phone/tablet. Alternatively, you can use a wireless mouse which I do, much more convenient. 1080p streaming works fine for me using BSPlayer but I have it in the same room as the wifi router. Not sure how good the speed is over large distances. There are other models with external antennae, better processors, more RAM etc. but they'd be more expensive.
Click to expand...


Somehow, i don't like the idea of android phone only being able to compare...as I have 2 windows phone and 1 ipad, 2 iphones as well in my house
 
I already mentioned there are better models, but none in a 3k budget. Why do you even need to control it from your phone? Just get an airmouse/wireless mouse.

Best to buy a popular model. MK808B has very good custom ROM support. People have ported Kitkat to it as well. The GPU is a Mali MP400 so decoding most video formats is not a problem, it's not meant for gaming obviously.

This is the next gen model of the 808: http://www.geekbuying.com/item/Tron...x-RK3188-Quad-Core-2G-8G-BT-Black-315155.html
Has 2GB RAM instead of 1, dual wifi antennas, dual heatsink and a quad core processor

There are some other advantages to having Android as well:
1) BSPlayer automatically downloads subtitles
2) I have installed the StarSports app and can stream football matches directly on it
3) You can download torrents directly on it
 
@manu1991
Got your point...My budget is flexible and I can even double it given that I see a real worth in what you have suggested:)

Also, I was under the inpression that I wouldn't be able to use a bluetooth mouse and keyboard directly but looks like I was wrong. I guess a keyboard and mouse would auto detect once they are plugged in the USB port (Bluetooth usb dongles).

Just out of curosity,,,do u recommend the MK908?
 
The one I am using, MK808B (B stands for Bluetooth) has inbuilt Bluetooth so you don't need to plugin any dongle if you have a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse.

I see no reason why the newer generation model shouldnt be better, looks like the MK908 has a new iteration as well: http://www.geekbuying.com/item/Tron...8G-BT-External-Wifi-Antenna-Black-318432.html

Has an external wifi antenna so range should be better and supports Bluetooth 4.0
 
Thanks a ton...Will see if I can source this from USA. the up side is that this can be used with all displays even my PC monitor and I don't have to switch on my 700 watt PC to watch a movie in my HT:)

manu1991 said:
I see no reason why the newer generation model shouldnt be better, looks like the MK908 has a new iteration as well: http://www.geekbuying.com/item/Tron...8G-BT-External-Wifi-Antenna-Black-318432.html

Has an external wifi antenna so range should be better and supports Bluetooth 4.0
Click to expand...
 
vercetti said:
Hey Guys,

I have recently made a (poorman's) NAS setup by hacking my pogoplug V4.
Now, I am able to play movies from the hdd (connected to the pogoplug) on all my phones, laptops, tabs, etc.
Problem Statement;
  • My TV and home theater do not have WiFi or ethernet.
  • Is there a way by which I could directly see the data in the NAS on my TV or play music in my HT?

Budget around 3000 for any additional hardware procurement
Click to expand...
Which wifi router do you have and how far away is your tv from it. mention number of walls and their thickness.

What definition content are you hoping to stream ?
 
I use a RT-N13u...as of now I am able to stream 1080p's in my phone.

the router is in my room and there in 1 wall between my room and TV....and around 30 feet difference
blr_p said:
Which wifi router do you have and how far away is your tv from it. mention number of walls and their thickness.

What definition content are you hoping to stream ?
Click to expand...
 
Thing with these media players is how actively the vendor will support them in the future.

youtube tends to change things whenever they want. A little config change and you can no longer see youtube anymore unless the vendor patches the firmware.[DOUBLEPOST=1393488403][/DOUBLEPOST]
manu1991 said:
Best to buy a popular model. MK808B has very good custom ROM support. People have ported Kitkat to it as well. The GPU is a Mali MP400 so decoding most video formats is not a problem, it's not meant for gaming obviously.
Click to expand...
And its only a matter of time before he will want to play android games with a bluetooth enabled game controller.

these sticks are just not ready. maybe in a couple of years we will get quad-core 2GB RAM for under 10k.
 
Its already available for around 5.5k (80$)...aka MK908 with quad core and 2GB ram; bluetooth and additional wifi antenna ....all included
http://www.amazon.com/Tronsmart-Mk9...ie=UTF8&qid=1393488580&sr=8-1&keywords=mk+908

blr_p said:
And its only a matter of time before he will want to play android games with a bluetooth enabled game controller.

these sticks are just not ready. maybe in a couple of years we will get quad-core 2GB RAM for under 10k.
Click to expand...
[DOUBLEPOST=1393488713][/DOUBLEPOST]I am against media player...1 - it costs too much and 2- it does not support many formats (DTS in case of WD).
The option of Google TV(MK908) is better as I can do much more and would also have a better processor
Kneo said:
Get a Wifi enabled media player like WDTV Live. Check what's available at your budget
Click to expand...
 
blr_p said:
And its only a matter of time before he will want to play android games with a bluetooth enabled game controller.
these sticks are just not ready. maybe in a couple of years we will get quad-core 2GB RAM for under 10k.
Click to expand...
its only a matter of time before he might want to use it as a microwave oven as well, that doesn't mean its not suitable for what it does at the moment. For the price, depsite the drawbacks, I don't see a better option.
 
vercetti said:
Its already available for around 5.5k (80$)...aka MK908 with quad core and 2GB ram; bluetooth and additional wifi antenna ....all included
http://www.amazon.com/Tronsmart-Mk908II-Cortex-a9-Android-External/dp/B00EO0MKMI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393488580&sr=8-1&keywords=mk 908

[DOUBLEPOST=1393488713][/DOUBLEPOST]I am against media player...1 - it costs too much and 2- it does not support many formats (DTS in case of WD).
The option of Google TV(MK908) is better as I can do much more and would also have a better processor
Click to expand...
This looks good for what you want. it also has the option of usb to ethernet if necessary in the future.

Let us know how the streaming works out. Seems like a N150 in this unit.
 
FYI - WDTV does support DTS. It had lack of support for DTS-MA, but that too has been fixed in the latest release of firmware for WDTV Live Streaming player.
 
@vercetti I am using a RaspBerry PI which is connected to my TV via HDMI and to my router.
It picks up 1080p files from my laptop and plays on my TV.
I have installed OpenElec (XBMC) on the RPI.
I use my laptop/Android phone to control the RPI and XBMC playback.
The quality is impressive and it left me wondering why the hell I did not think of this earlier. I am planning to add one more device to my bedroom setup now.
The most amazing thing I found was that RPI could actually pass 5.1signals to my TV over HDMI and then the TV is connected to my Logitech Z906 via optical out. The 5.1 dolby feed was sent all the way to the Z906 and the Z906 decoded it and played it. I dont know which component to credit for this but the experience was fantastic.
2 more things.
Since it is XMBC you get all the benefits/plugins etc of XBMC
and I have a g band wifi at home which is like 54megs. but still streaming is perfectly fine. The max file size I have tried is a 6GB vdo file being streamed from my laptop.
Its strange that noone has yet suggested the RPI.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top