I am a newbie and I am looking for some sort of way to get my Amazon Instant Video to work with my non Smart TV. I was considering purchasing one of the Android TV sticks and read how you could put XBMC on them and install Amazon Instant Video. My question is can this be done and if so what is the best stick to get for this?
I am unfamiliar with TV sticks so any help would be much appreciated. Not looking to break the bank but would love for something that worked and was able to stream without sync issues/lag.
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For the past few days I have been racking my brain and searching multiple forums for the answer(s) and I finally turn to XDA to hopefully help answer.
The thought: I would love to be able to take my DroidX connect it via HDMI to a 7" monitor in my car to have a nice view of the navigation, access to my music and all of the other items that the phone has to offer (which include data connection and accurate GPS). Sure I can buy an android based headunit or build a carPC but why when I have what all of that has to offer in my pocket? Then I got to thinking, to take it a step further, why not use a 7" touchscreen monitor so that I am not just passing video and sound via the HDMI but that the monitor registers touches to the phone.
WebTop is a great middle of the road solution as it would output the HDMI and allow the user to utilize the phone as the mouse touchpad on the screen. Sadly it is only offered for a select few phones. So on to my questions.
1. Did I some how miss a WebTop project being worked on that would do what I am talking about?
2. Am I wrong in thinking that drivers need to be worked out depending on the phone AND which 7" TS was used?
3. Most, if not all, android phones have video out capabilities, so outputting to the screen would be workable, but is there a better way to get the input hurdle worked out.. not a question just an open suggestion box.
Looks like a few more days or looking would have helped. Customgadz has what I need.
so what did you find? I searched for Customgadz, with no results. did you use hdmi mirroring with Android, or does this work with webtop?
Looks like the australian website has a solution to control an android device with a 4 wire external touchscreen using a module.
search for "customgadz remote touch"
Only pre-order now and the website states they start delivering end of januari
Hey there,
Ive bought the Prime with 64gbs, and added a SD with another 64gb. So Ive got storage enough for a few time of HD videos to watch on the go. Also I take a mini HDMI and boy, that works great. The Prime doesnt struggle at all even playing 1080p through the HDMI port also sends the sound to the tv AWESOME. (I dont know if it sends the sound as 5.1 since the hotels i usually go they dont equip my room with 5.1 sound what a shame).
Now, im staring at my Prime wishing I could control it using my laptop or my SGS2. Is there any app that allows me to do that? just like the XBMC on the pc, that gives me access the library, and control the whole experience using the XBMC remote on the play market?
Just for the record - you do know you can connect an external hard drive to the Prime via the USB dongle or port on the dock?
Even better, it can be formatted FAT32, exFAT and (amazingly) NTFS. I would recommend a drive case with an external powersupply though - although I've been able to power almost anything I throw at the dock (not so much the Prime on its own).
As for controlling the Prime as a media player - I have to be honest here - you're kind of doing it the "wrong" way around.. usually, you'd get a cheap PC (like an Acer Revo) and add a TV tuner and use that as an HTPC, then use the Prime to control it - so you're kind of swimming upstream...
But, given the relative power of a Prime, I'd be surprised if XBMC doesn't come to it.. although I do have to point out - VLC has taken a LONG time to get to Android and they are working on it... so it may be a problem with the Android OS that's holding it back.
Update: Checked the home wiki for XBMC for Android - and there is just such a project - but it's not even in the starting phases yet. As I expected. the problem is that it requires a lot of work to get some of the code into Android.
There are quite few remote apps on the android market that will do what you want to do. With apps like MV Player, it will play anything you throw at it. It works great when you want to kick back and watch something from your tablet. HTPCs are kind of going the way of the dinosaur IMO with gaming consoles and things like Airplay, mini and regular HDMI ports, and Intel's WiDi technology continuing to improve on powerful mobile devices.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2
I've looked at what's out there, although the sticks themselves look really small it appears that most of them need (obviously) external power as well as some kind of remote which I'm guessing would be bulky. Is there anything that can be controlled without a keyboard/mouse? Can it be controlled with another Android device?
Unlike most people, who seem to want to use the devices at home for Netflix/cordcutting purposes, I actually want one I could keep in my bag with some kind of storage (SD or USB) full of movies so I could watch them wherever I've got an HDMI screen.
Portability is important, but so is playback of local files. I care less about streaming. Ideally the device would support playing everything up to MKV direct blu-ray rips with subtitles (really critical that subtitles work). Are these android sticks fast enough to do that kind of thing off USB smoothly, with mxplayer or something?
I purchased Minix Neo G4. It plays everything including 1080p mkv via WiFi (150N).
bkam84 said:
I've looked at what's out there, although the sticks themselves look really small it appears that most of them need (obviously) external power as well as some kind of remote which I'm guessing would be bulky. Is there anything that can be controlled without a keyboard/mouse? Can it be controlled with another Android device?
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This is a reason I went with the MK802IIIS....I can use my smart phone to control..
Remember that (most of) these sticks won't do (as the software can't) dts/ac3 passthrough over HDMI.
So expect to be using only 2.0 stereo over hdmi.
airdale said:
This is a reason I went with the MK802IIIS....I can use my smart phone to control..
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can u use your web browser from phone and see it on the TV ?
i am not meaning to the You Tube Aplication And Etc' i mean really web browse to ANY site from the phone and seeing it on the TV?
and if u can with the minix neo g5 u can do it to???
sagib0 said:
can u use your web browser from phone and see it on the TV ?
i am not meaning to the You Tube Aplication And Etc' i mean really web browse to ANY site from the phone and seeing it on the TV?
and if u can with the minix neo g5 u can do it to???
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Are you talking about having the android stick mirror what is on your phone? I don't think so. Some phones with HDMI out can plug into the HDMI port on the TV and mirror.
When people talk about controlling the android stick with their phone, it means they can use their phone as essentially a touchscreen. The stick should be able to browse to any website that you can browse to on your phone. Unless you've got some kind of restrictions on your router. In that case if your phone is rooted, tether off your phone.
neo g4 come with a remote, that makes it more portable to me
Been looking around for an Android box to use with my TV so I can watch movies on my TV, found one on Amazon that supports hard drives via a sata port on it, seems like a cool idea if it works.
I'd be interested to see how well XBMC works on it, what the performance is like. Anyone have experience with this device?
http://www.amazon.com/Orealo-Dual-C...ie=UTF8&qid=1378336843&sr=8-1&keywords=orealo
I'm looking to upgrade my first or second gen WDTV Live, I'm not sure to what though. I was looking at the Razer Forge TV but that doesn't have a release date yet. The Nexus Player is also a possibility although I'm not strongly considering it because of it's lack of ethernet port. Searching Amazon for "Android TV Box" I see a couple of very highly rated Gbox MX2 and Gbox Q media players. But are those full Android roms instead of the new (hopefully more user friendly (media player specific)) Android TV roms?
I'm most likely only interested in media playback (I don't know much about the Forge TV's pc game streaming). Any recommendations on whether I should go for one of these options or wait 6 months until the Forge TV is out and/or other players are available?
Thanks
I thought about putting this in the Android Stick Computers subforum but I'm really looking for a full media player box with remote...
I would wait for the Forge TV
It looks to me like the Forge TV is going to come out end of Q1 ( less then two months). I am personally waiting for it as it will do more then any box on the market at that price .
I am new so can not link the sub but there is a sub reddit for androidtv /r/androidtv
More info if you need it in this subreddit.
EvanVanVan said:
I'm looking to upgrade my first or second gen WDTV Live, I'm not sure to what though. I was looking at the Razer Forge TV but that doesn't have a release date yet. The Nexus Player is also a possibility although I'm not strongly considering it because of it's lack of ethernet port. Searching Amazon for "Android TV Box" I see a couple of very highly rated Gbox MX2 and Gbox Q media players. But are those full Android roms instead of the new (hopefully more user friendly (media player specific)) Android TV roms?
I'm most likely only interested in media playback (I don't know much about the Forge TV's pc game streaming). Any recommendations on whether I should go for one of these options or wait 6 months until the Forge TV is out and/or other players are available?
Thanks
I thought about putting this in the Android Stick Computers subforum but I'm really looking for a full media player box with remote...
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Click to collapse
I guess you don't have enough posts even to thank, but thanks for the reply. Yeah I'll probably wait until at least the Forge TV is released so I can see the reviews/community thinks about it. Maybe something different will be announced in the mean time as well.
EvanVanVan said:
I guess you don't have enough posts even to thank, but thanks for the reply. Yeah I'll probably wait until at least the Forge TV is released so I can see the reviews/community thinks about it. Maybe something different will be announced in the mean time as well.
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What are the good features of forge tv? Is it expensive approximately?
Hey guys, heres some useful information to help you out .
So google tried to launch GoogleTV but failed when too many 3rd party hardware developers released it on bad peforming low end hardware.
Google has abandoned GoogleTV and created AndroidTV, and this time around they have set a minimum hardware requirements to run it, hopefully meaning that anyone should get the same experience, reguardless of what hardware box they purchased.
So technically it shouldnt matter if you buy NexusTV or ForgeTV, or any of the many hardware releases that will come out this year, they should all perform the basics the same
I also know of the NZXT Doko, but again, wait two or three months and you are garunteed to see heaps of androidTV boxes hit the markets, doesnt look like early adopters will be punished (hopefully)
Beelink R68
I am looking at the Beelink R68 TV box... It's fairly new. Seems to have the best features and latest Android version available in a TV box... But, New enough that I can't find how to root it.
So, I have 3 questions...
1. Does it have to be rooted to watch live PPV TV?
2. Does anyone have one and what's your opinion...
3. Does anyone know a good TV Box root site?