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Bruce
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Bruce is offline
Wollongong, Australia
Joined: Apr 2012
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31-10-2019, 04:17 AM
1

Android Streaming Media Player

I was looking for a secondhand WD TV Live Media Player on Ebay recently for my camper. While I was browsing I came across many ads describing:

Mini Android 7.1 Smart TV BOX HDMI Quad Core Media Player 2GB+16GB 4K WIFI

They were generally about $30 (£15) including postage in Australia, presumably much cheaper from a China seller. Anyway at that price I wanted to try one out so I had to buy one.

As I really only wanted it to play MP4/MKV files from a HDD I picked one that had two USB ports but otherwise they are generally the same with Wifi, HDMI port, Ethernet RJ45, optical port, AV output and one or two USB ports.

This neat box arrived today:





Inside was an Australian power adapter, HMDI cord, remote control (no batteries) and, of course, the device, plus the briefest of instructions (useless). I will go on line later to see if there are videos or write ups about them



Fired it up and here is the opening screen:



I have only had a short time with it and with a HDD connected it does what I want by playing movies. Because it is Android all the Play Store Apps are available. Apparently you can connect a keyboard and mouse which will make initial operation and set up much easier but I haven't tried that.

I have tried streaming from my NAS Server and that works fine too. There is a slot for a micro SD card too presumably for memory expansion (haven't tried it)

Anyway if you want a cheap streaming player, a social media device, Netflix, Spotify or even a basic computer using your TV etc it would be hard to go past one of these.

BTW I did get a secondhand WD TV Live Media Player (my fourth) they are much easier to use but as they age these are a much cheaper replacement - the current WD models have a built in HDD and are quite expensive in my opinion especially compared to these.


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SW England
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31-10-2019, 02:54 PM
2

Re: Android Streaming Media Player

Interesting Bruce. there are lots of options these days for turning you TV into a (almost) smart TV and that looks good. I remember you were interested in the Roku that I bought some time ago (all going well so far).

You say you need it for your camper so does it work on 12v or do you connect up to a mains supply?
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Bruce
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Bruce is offline
Wollongong, Australia
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31-10-2019, 10:54 PM
3

Re: Android Streaming Media Player

Originally Posted by Longdogs ->
Interesting Bruce. there are lots of options these days for turning you TV into a (almost) smart TV and that looks good. I remember you were interested in the Roku that I bought some time ago (all going well so far).

You say you need it for your camper so does it work on 12v or do you connect up to a mains supply?
I was looking for a device for the camper - the TV does read a HDD directly which is how I have been using it but there are logistical problems with that. (eg It can only handle 256 files per directory - cheap TV)

At the same time as I bought this I bought a second-hand WD TV Live media player which will go in the camper. The TV, HDDs and WD TV player work off 12v or mains.

This thing was bought just out of interest to look at particularly because it was so cheap.

The X96 Mini works off 5v so it could work off one of the four 5v 2amp USB outlets in the camper one of which is permanently taken up with the clock. This seems to be a trend and I guess there wouldn't be many people without lots of spare phone chargers lying about.

Since I put the first post up I have played about with the loader interface and set it up so it could easily go in the camper.

Basically it is like using an Android phone but without the screen (obviously that is the TV) all the Google store apps and more are available. I have downloaded Firefox and BOM Weather onto the device, it already comes with Skype, Facebook, Spotify, Netfix and many others preloaded. I uninstalled Chrome as a test.

It is better using it with a mouse rather than just a keyboard though both would be excellent but neither are needed. I have streamed video and music from my phone, my tablet and my NAS Server as well as a connected HDD so it is very versatile.

Will probably play with it for a few more days setting it up how I like it then it will end up in a drawer with other interesting but discarded gadgets.

However if I had not been able to buy a WDTV Media Player I would definitely use it in the camper because it is surprisingly good and does exactly what I wanted it to do.

BTW there are plenty of YouTube videos about it, some going back several years and older versions, it is not a new concept - beware of any longer than about 10 minutes they just bore.
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SW England
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01-11-2019, 02:53 PM
4

Re: Android Streaming Media Player

Originally Posted by Bruce ->
I was looking for a device for the camper - the TV does read a HDD directly which is how I have been using it but there are logistical problems with that. (eg It can only handle 256 files per directory - cheap TV)

At the same time as I bought this I bought a second-hand WD TV Live media player which will go in the camper. The TV, HDDs and WD TV player work off 12v or mains.

This thing was bought just out of interest to look at particularly because it was so cheap.

The X96 Mini works off 5v so it could work off one of the four 5v 2amp USB outlets in the camper one of which is permanently taken up with the clock. This seems to be a trend and I guess there wouldn't be many people without lots of spare phone chargers lying about.

Since I put the first post up I have played about with the loader interface and set it up so it could easily go in the camper.

Basically it is like using an Android phone but without the screen (obviously that is the TV) all the Google store apps and more are available. I have downloaded Firefox and BOM Weather onto the device, it already comes with Skype, Facebook, Spotify, Netfix and many others preloaded. I uninstalled Chrome as a test.

It is better using it with a mouse rather than just a keyboard though both would be excellent but neither are needed. I have streamed video and music from my phone, my tablet and my NAS Server as well as a connected HDD so it is very versatile.

Will probably play with it for a few more days setting it up how I like it then it will end up in a drawer with other interesting but discarded gadgets.

However if I had not been able to buy a WDTV Media Player I would definitely use it in the camper because it is surprisingly good and does exactly what I wanted it to do.

BTW there are plenty of YouTube videos about it, some going back several years and older versions, it is not a new concept - beware of any longer than about 10 minutes they just bore.
Glad to hear you are happy with it so far. i didn't realise it had been around that long.
Bruce's Avatar
Bruce
Chatterbox
Bruce is offline
Wollongong, Australia
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 15,218
Bruce is male  Bruce has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
02-11-2019, 08:26 AM
5

Re: Android Streaming Media Player

In a odd coincidence (no, it's not) my Youtube recommendations threw up this video about a new Roku just this afternoon.



I watched and I can say Roku is definitely the posh version of what I have and I suspect you pay for that quality, reliability and it's own operating system but the X96 Mini is the poor man's version. On the plus side if you are familiar with an Android phone then setting up the X96 is easy enough.

As an aside I find it interesting how many major companies are turning to free operating systems like Linux and Android for their devices. I don't know if Roku is based on either of these - but my NAS boxes (Netgear and Western Digital) use Linux Sever as the basis of their operating systems to produce very different interfaces.
 

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