Getting live TV to Nexus players? - Nexus Player Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So I just ordered a couple Nexus Players and after searching around Google I am not able to see how to get Live TV on the unit without getting the HDHomeRun gadget. I'd be looking to get signal from an OTA Antenna or cable. Right now I have a HTPC with a Ceton PCI tuner. I watch cable TV through my HTPC and WMC, and my OTA Antenna sits in the box at the moment since it really serves no purpose as long as I have cable. I plan to hook up both Nexus Players via ethernet cable to the home network. What are my options to get TV to them? Again, either cable or OTA Antenna signal. Thanks!

Kodi w/ ServerWMC

Yes kodi/serverwmc is one way but you will need to keep your htpc around and turned on.
HDHomerun is the other way that I know works, as that's what I use.

The Tablo network DVR. It is similar to the way the Silicon Dust tuners work but it is a complete DVR, except for the USB hard drive that you need to add. EPG is optional and you can do manual recordings without it if you wish to save on costs. If you prefer to have EPG service it is available for either: lifetime (unlike Tivo it is account based instead device based, you only pay once no matter how many you own); yearly or monthly. Lifetime is $150, yearly is $50, and monthly is $5. There is a 30 Day free trial included when you first activate the Tablo that expires if no subscription is made.
Storage is done by user supplied USB hard drive. The currently supported maximum HDD capacity is 5TB. Flash drives are not compatible. You can use spare desktop and laptop HDDs with certain USB hard drive enclosures, Sayba and Sabrent are known to be compatible. Which ever HDD you go with make sure to go to its maker's website and download whatever tools it has for your drive. Make sure whatever sleep or power down modes are disabled as they can cause disconnects. A new HDD being installed will be formatted causing the loss of all existing data. You can not upload content onto the Tablo to use as a NAS.
All TV, live or recorded is transcoded to H.264 for video and AAC stereo/prologic for sound to support the largest number of devices. Android TV devices are the strongest for Tablo playback on a TV Chromecast and Roku tend to be the weakest in terms of load up times and remote response. Because of the transcoding overhead it can take 6-15 seconds to tune into a new channel depending if you have Enable Fast Live TV Startup enabled or not.
Local streaming is supported out of the box. Out of home streaming requires EPG subscription.

THGDTH said:
Because of the transcoding overhead it can take 6-15 seconds to tune into a new channel depending if you have Enable Fast Live TV Startup enabled or not.
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Click to collapse
That was one of the biggest reasons I ended up selling my Tablo. It takes away from the trigger finger surfing experience.
I ended up getting a HDhomerun Extend and love the idea of a network tuner. I love the quick tuning times in the Google Live Channels app. However, I wish it was more stable. I may have to give InstaTV a try and see if it works better. I am really hoping Silicondust gets their act together with their HDHomerun DVR system and improve the stability of their Android TV app.

Related

TV Tuner and FM Tuner for Athena

Hi
I see in these sites a SDIO TV Tuner and A SDIO FM Tuner
Do they work with athena?
http://msmobiles.com/news.php/4782.html
http://forum2.mobile-review.com/showthread.php?t=43515
Not much of a help here, but that's what I think
Radio, I can get a radio for £1 which I think those SDIO stuff will cost much more than that, and consider that it may also takes up my phone battery. It is ok that you stop listening to radio, but having a phone with dead battery isn't very good.
TV: The SDIO seems small enough, but I wonder how big an antenna it needs. I have those WinTV USB adapter, which has a size of a PC mouse and seemingly portable. However, it won't work unless I have a massive antenna attached to it. At my area, even with the massive antenna with booster still gives me relatively poor quality. Just make sure you will be using it on a good signal area.
hanmin said:
Not much of a help here, but that's what I think
Radio, I can get a radio for £1 which I think those SDIO stuff will cost much more than that, and consider that it may also takes up my phone battery. It is ok that you stop listening to radio, but having a phone with dead battery isn't very good.
TV: The SDIO seems small enough, but I wonder how big an antenna it needs. I have those WinTV USB adapter, which has a size of a PC mouse and seemingly portable. However, it won't work unless I have a massive antenna attached to it. At my area, even with the massive antenna with booster still gives me relatively poor quality. Just make sure you will be using it on a good signal area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tanX Radio is not very imporstant
but TV Tuner on mobile is very interesting
i want to know to they work with athena or no?
that thing you say work with athena or no?
is there any Bluetooth TV Tuner like Bluetooth GPS Reciver?
tanX
Wow - thats lucky, I was just thinking about this.
I was wondering how feezable it might be to use a WinTV type tuner with a WM5 device, namely the Athena via the external USB cable. I can get a reasonable signal here where I am on DVB-T, and it would be cool to be able to listen to the radio/watch TV via the Ameo without needing a seperate 'remote' device. I currently have the WinTV hooked upto our desktop machine @ work for this purpose, but it would be good to be able to do it via Ameo. You used to be able to get a CF TV adapter for Windows Mobile devices, but it was anallog and used seperate batteries to run the tuner.
Three problems, would the Ameo have the raw processing power to be able to do decoding of the data coming in from the TV tuner. I.e., Does the USB Stick do the decoding then the computer/pda just have to display the image/control the tuner e.t.c.
and
Drivers:- I'm guessing drivers arn't available from Hauppage/someone else, but I believe linux drivers are. For an intelligent programmer (not me ), would it be difficult to convert the drivers to WM5?
Power:- Would the Ameo be able to supply enough power to powerup the USB Stick - I'm guessing the battery would wear down pretty quickly if it could (not a problem if running on mains, like id expect to do).
Another alternative for WinTV decoder would be to install the TV Tuner on your home pc and then watch the home pc via orb.com. This would allow you to have cable and/or satellite connected at home and be able to watch live tv on your athena.
A better solution if it is available in your country is to purchase Sling Tv Tuner and watch Cable/Satellite tv on Athena. The picture quality of SLing is a little better and you don't have to leave your PC on all the time.
I find the sling tv tuner better, but others like ORB because you can also stream mp3 or other videos also.
Check them out at
www.orb.com (need a tv tuner card to watch tv)
www.slingmedia.com
Yeah, I've considered the sling, but the problems with it are that a) I'm not allowed access via our corporate firewall and b) I'm 'technically' on a data plan that doesn't allow for streaming services. Unfortunatly I'm 100m shy of being able to access the BT Openzone that's around here, so no chance for me to connect that way either.
Also seen a few comments on here that says the Sling Resolution on the Ameo is rubbish, which kinda puts me off a bit.
Its not something I was desperate for, but it would be quite a cool function to be able to connect up a USB tuner!
tv +radio
i have ameo and i have tv and radio all the time over umts
in my home i have some dreamboxes. ( dvb-s sat and dvb-c cable recievers...
1 of this nice box is with audio& video cable connected with a small server .
on this server runs windows media server 9
over internet i can choose programm ( http://amd.co.at/anti/webif.png ) and server give me this signal via umts to my ameo.. thats all
very fine quality and good sound
i use tmobile flat rate / non traffic and all good run..
regards
I'm using my Slingbox Pro with my x7500 and it works great. Just used it last night to control my cable box while eating at my favorite Italian restaurant.
The Athena has a MiniSD slot so SDIO devices will not work with it.
Bluetooth TV tuner
Anyone take a look at this:
http://www.permian.com.cn/en/products_06.asp
Looks interesting. Does not show any details for pricing or anything else.

Nvidia Shield TV Console & Router settings?

I got my Shield tv console delivered yesterday, (late as possible damn ups) and love it so far, haven't had enough time to play more, but after work today I will. I have an asus rtac68w, which according to nvidia is a held ready router, but I need to know what and how to set up my router to optimally perform for my shield tv and streaming.
Any help people?
The Shield is like any tablet or smartphone. There is nothing "special" to set up in the router for it
It's just highly recommended to use a wired connection for the Shield but have wifi configured too because they're known bugs with current firmware when the network isn't wifi. So sometimes you need to switch to wifi to do some stuff then back to wired for optimal performance. They'll fix this later I guess.
ps: go there : https://forums.geforce.com/default/board/159/ instead of XDA, you'll find official NVidia reps. XDA is ignoring the Shield Android TV so let's us leave.
Basically, to set it up best; Connect it to ethernet that goes straight into the router. That said, You want to make sure it connects to your 5GHz network, that your 5GHz network does not have legacy support enabled (AC only if possible with no N or A support). WMM and BeamForming is helpful sometimes. Those are the basics.
So, whatever you would do to optimize your WiFi for GameStream or GRID on the Shield Tablet or Shield Portable, you could do the same things here, plus the option of straight gigabit ethernet.
I hadn't heard of the issues with the Wired ethernet personally, hopefully they fix that pretty quickly. It may be specific to certain environments or other issues. Also, I know that the controllers use WiFi-Direct (rather than BT), however anything with that causing part of the networking fails would be pure speculation on my part.
I haven't had any issues with Ethernet
ryocoon said:
Also, I know that the controllers use WiFi-Direct (rather than BT), however anything with that causing part of the networking fails would be pure speculation on my part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually it's the wired connection that 'might' mess with the initial controler pairing:
from a NVidia rep:
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/836884/?comment=4546797
If you are unable to pair your SHIELD Wireless Controller during initial setup and your SHIELD Android TV is connected to your network over ethernet, try temporarily disconnecting your ethernet cable to go into WiFi mode and check if pairing issue is fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't had problems either hardworking the console or using the Shield Tablet in console mode and using a Micro USB ethernet connector to hardwire the tablet. I must say that I get less lag streaming games in 4K from my PC using the console vs the tablet. I just wish I could sideload Amazon Prime Instant Video and M-Go so I could stream whatever 4K video content they offer besides only Netflix and YouTube video in 4K. No studdering, no buffering, just good quality 4K video from this thing. I must say, this console could have a major impact over how games could be delivered in the future. No latency at all except 1st person shooters being streamed via Grid. This is the best device I've bought in a long time.
I had some issues with DHCP when first setting up my unit on a wired connection. It kept disconnecting from the internet even when showing a connection. I set up my IP manually and updated to 1.2 and have had no issues since...it is super fast but may still setup wifi as you said just incase.
Rolldog said:
I haven't had problems either hardworking the console or using the Shield Tablet in console mode and using a Micro USB ethernet connector to hardwire the tablet. I must say that I get less lag streaming games in 4K from my PC using the console vs the tablet. I just wish I could sideload Amazon Prime Instant Video and M-Go so I could stream whatever 4K video content they offer besides only Netflix and YouTube video in 4K. No studdering, no buffering, just good quality 4K video from this thing. I must say, this console could have a major impact over how games could be delivered in the future. No latency at all except 1st person shooters being streamed via Grid. This is the best device I've bought in a long time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What happens when you side load Amazon video and M-Go? I was able to side load a bunch of apps (including M-go but didn't run it yet) from my rooted samsung Note 2014 by backing up my apps with Titanium to the micro sd. I then moved the micro sd to the Shield TV and used ES File Explorer to auto open some of the zips that contained the APK and installed from there. From my memory, since I'm not at home to check what else I side loaded, I have the following working so far:
Chrome Browser
Dolphin Browser
Dropbox
Google Drive
Popcorn
Showbox
Helium
Facebook
Hulu Plus
Photo Circle
Speedtest
Ppsspp
And jut tested m-go
I'll add that when I first set up the Pro yesterday on a wired connection, it had all sorts of problems -- including not being able to download the update. Had to go wireless to get the update, but by that point it was acting so strange I did a full factory reset right after. (1.0 seemed quite buggy, but 1.2 feels fantastic so far. HUGE strides!). Haven't had problems since.
kgersen said:
The Shield is like any tablet or smartphone. There is nothing "special" to set up in the router for it
It's just highly recommended to use a wired connection for the Shield but have wifi configured too because they're known bugs with current firmware when the network isn't wifi. So sometimes you need to switch to wifi to do some stuff then back to wired for optimal performance. They'll fix this later I guess.
ps: go there : https://forums.geforce.com/default/board/159/ instead of XDA, you'll find official NVidia reps. XDA is ignoring the Shield Android TV so let's us leave.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only problem I have with the GeForce forum is there is no way to be notified if you get a reply from anyone. Is there any work around for this?
lartomar2002 said:
The only problem I have with the GeForce forum is there is no way to be notified if you get a reply from anyone. Is there any work around for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not that I know of. The NVidia forum software is very old and bad, everyone agree on that.
I use Feedly and a RSS subscription to monitor the GeForce forum, it's a bit easier.
I have Amazon Prime Video sideloaded, and it works great. Unfortunately, I think a different version utilizes UHD video because I haven't been able to find any 4K content. Netflix and YouTube have some 4K content, and I've been able to stream some games in 4K, but until the UHD content providers start releasing their content to more devices instead of them signing exclusivity contracts (Samsung) to help them offset the royalties on the H.265 content, which is quadruple what H.264 was, I think most people will be limited on 4K content. Sucks.....

Nexus Player vs Chromecast 2015

Hello
Does the nexus player have all Chromecast features? I mean can i stream my files from my phone to the nexus player? The new Chromecast had improvements in streaming speed, so which device is faster?
Sorry for my english
I've used both. On WiFi they are the same speed, however both work faster when plugged into Ethernet.
For the price, nexus player has many many more features, well worth the additional $15
Markolc said:
I've used both. On WiFi they are the same speed, however both work faster when plugged into Ethernet.
For the price, nexus player has many many more features, well worth the additional $15
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you recommend an ethernet adapter that works well with the NP? TIA!
This will work fine
Can't get much simpler and reviews are good enough.
Get A 5 Port Ethernet Adapter Always
qualitymove13 said:
Can you recommend an ethernet adapter that works well with the NP? TIA!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go
guy, the beast, always get a 5 port Ethernet adapter, also you will need a OTG cable http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D8K3GGO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00 !
qualitymove13 said:
Can you recommend an ethernet adapter that works well with the NP? TIA!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the one I bought. Works fine for me!
http://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Gigabit-Ethernet-Converter-Network/dp/B00IJU0K2Q
I like my NP, but I think it's unfair to simply assert that NP wins because "it does everything that Chromecast does." The NP has great features that the Chromecast doesn't (onscreen UI, remote, gaming, etc.) have; if you want those features, the NP is great (but probably not as good as other products on the market with bigger app ecosystems, like Fire TV or Roku). If casting video content is your top priority, it's worth noting that the NP does not perform as well as Chromecast as a Google Cast device. The two main issues are:
1. My NP (on my main TC) doesn't always show up as a castable device, even when my Chromecast (bedroom TV) appears without issue.
2. It turns out that some Chromecast-compatible apps do NOT support Google Cast on the NP, as was the case with the HBO Now app that was released a couple of months ago. This is pretty rare, and basically every other cast-enabled app I've used seems to support both Chromecast and the NP, but the HBO Now debacle (when combined with #1) clearly suggests that the Google Cast implementation on the NP differs from what we see on Chromecast.
In addition to Cast issues, I've experienced a lot of bugs/crashes/etc. with my NP. Things on my NP seem to be stabilizing, but it's clear to me that Chromecast is a more mature and stable product at the moment. Given that so many more people own Chromecasts than NPs, updating Chromecast will probably remain Google's higher priority.
Overall, I'm still happy with my NP, but it's still a work in progress. I'm not sure that I'd recommend it over Roku or Fire TV (or even Apple TV) for people looking to add smart features/apps to their TV... and if you're looking for a cheap way to watch Netflix on your TV, you can't really beat Chromecast.
whmaurer said:
I like my NP, but I think it's unfair to simply assert that NP wins because "it does everything that Chromecast does." The NP has great features that the Chromecast doesn't (onscreen UI, remote, gaming, etc.) have; if you want those features, the NP is great (but probably not as good as other products on the market with bigger app ecosystems, like Fire TV or Roku). If casting video content is your top priority, it's worth noting that the NP does not perform as well as Chromecast as a Google Cast device. The two main issues are:
1. My NP (on my main TC) doesn't always show up as a castable device, even when my Chromecast (bedroom TV) appears without issue.
2. It turns out that some Chromecast-compatible apps do NOT support Google Cast on the NP, as was the case with the HBO Now app that was released a couple of months ago. This is pretty rare, and basically every other cast-enabled app I've used seems to support both Chromecast and the NP, but the HBO Now debacle (when combined with #1) clearly suggests that the Google Cast implementation on the NP differs from what we see on Chromecast.
In addition to Cast issues, I've experienced a lot of bugs/crashes/etc. with my NP. Things on my NP seem to be stabilizing, but it's clear to me that Chromecast is a more mature and stable product at the moment. Given that so many more people own Chromecasts than NPs, updating Chromecast will probably remain Google's higher priority.
Overall, I'm still happy with my NP, but it's still a work in progress. I'm not sure that I'd recommend it over Roku or Fire TV (or even Apple TV) for people looking to add smart features/apps to their TV... and if you're looking for a cheap way to watch Netflix on your TV, you can't really beat Chromecast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing about it is, a new Chromecast is $35, though I've seen it for $30 on sale recently. I've seen the nexus player on sale for $40 at a few places. For the extra $10, the nexus player does much more than the Chromecast, and can function essentially the same as a Chromecast, save for the HBO now app.
Also I perceive casting to the NP is much quicker than my Chromecast on wifi. It's a stronger machine.
For those of you suggesting the RJ45 + USB3.0 hubs, isnt the microUSB port on the back of the NP just a usb2.0 connection? Does adding a USB3.0 hub for expanded memory actually do anything since it should be throttled down to 2.0 speeds at the back of the NP? Or should we just look at getting a 2.0 hub and save a few extra $$$?
Im asking because Im currently looking into my options to expand my memory now that Android6.0 has hit our devices.
Correct, its only 2.0 speed. Save some money. No reason the adapter should cost more than the NP.
whmaurer said:
I like my NP, but I think it's unfair to simply assert that NP wins because "it does everything that Chromecast does." The NP has great features that the Chromecast doesn't (onscreen UI, remote, gaming, etc.) have; if you want those features, the NP is great (but probably not as good as other products on the market with bigger app ecosystems, like Fire TV or Roku). If casting video content is your top priority, it's worth noting that the NP does not perform as well as Chromecast as a Google Cast device. The two main issues are:
1. My NP (on my main TC) doesn't always show up as a castable device, even when my Chromecast (bedroom TV) appears without issue.
2. It turns out that some Chromecast-compatible apps do NOT support Google Cast on the NP, as was the case with the HBO Now app that was released a couple of months ago. This is pretty rare, and basically every other cast-enabled app I've used seems to support both Chromecast and the NP, but the HBO Now debacle (when combined with #1) clearly suggests that the Google Cast implementation on the NP differs from what we see on Chromecast.
In addition to Cast issues, I've experienced a lot of bugs/crashes/etc. with my NP. Things on my NP seem to be stabilizing, but it's clear to me that Chromecast is a more mature and stable product at the moment. Given that so many more people own Chromecasts than NPs, updating Chromecast will probably remain Google's higher priority.
Overall, I'm still happy with my NP, but it's still a work in progress. I'm not sure that I'd recommend it over Roku or Fire TV (or even Apple TV) for people looking to add smart features/apps to their TV... and if you're looking for a cheap way to watch Netflix on your TV, you can't really beat Chromecast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would've said the same, prior to the Marshmallow upgrade; whether the Cast icon would appear in Cast enabled apps was a matter of pure luck, as well as the "cast screen to" feature on Android devices. I got a lot of Cast connection losses as well, while the content was then still playing on the TV, without any possibility to control it (other than stopping it via the Nexus Player remote).
But all of those issues are fixed now with the Marshmallow upgrade (and I guess the various Google Cast Receiver app updates, that have been released since then).
The one thing that I find absolutely unacceptable is the following fact which you have mentioned as well: That the Nexus Player seems to be a 2nd class Google Cast device, which is e.g. not supported by Spotify, while working perfectly fine on Chromecasts. Google is allowing fragmentation of their Cast ecosystem because of this and this might be the beginning of the end of its acceptance, especially when it comes to Smart TVs that are shipped with Android TV and for which all companies involved are especially advertising the Cast functionality.
To the user who mentioned that both, the Nexus Player and the Chromecast are loading/streaming faster over Ethernet than over Wi-Fi: I strongly doubt that this is the case, especially since, as mentioned above, the available Ethernet adapters are only USB 2.0 capable. If you're talking about an Nvidia Shield TV I'd believe you, since that one supports Gigabit Ethernet natively, but regarding Chromecasts and Nexus Players... maybe if your wi-fi is horrible or you're using 2.4GHz wi-fi only... otherwise...no, not at all.
Anyway, since the original question was something like "Chromecast vs. Nexus Player": I have both, and I fully replaced my Chromecast with my Nexus Player since I have found that it makes the Chromecast redundant.
Some advantages of the Chromecast that should be considered:
-It's perfectly suited for taking it with you when traveling, while the Nexus Player is more of a fixed device that you set up once, connect it to your TV and leave it there.
- The Chromecast might reboot a couple of seconds faster than the Nexus Player, in case you shut off your devices often.
- The Chromecast allows you to adjust the backdrop e.g. with weather data and specific background images; the similar looking stock-backdrop of the Nexus Player cannot be modified at all.
- The Nexus Player wants you to sign into a specific Google account, whereas the Chromecast only requires you to set up a wi-fi.
- Chromecast doesn't need a wall socket and can be powered by your TV's USB port (even though using a real power adapter is recommended due to stability reasons).
- As mentioned, Chromecast isn't treated as a 2nd class Cast device by e.g. HBO (lol) and Spotify.
- You won't have to deal with yet another remote control in addition to your TV's, your audio system's and what-not remote controls, if using a Chromecast
- Google so far hasn't dared to release a firmware upgrade for the Chromecast which increases the brightness to a bazillion % and causes all blacks to look washed-out as hell.
I'm not gonna mention any advantages of the Nexus Player here as I've already said that I, personally, prefer the Nexus Player; I think it comes down to personal preferences regarding the above-points. Some things might be more important to some people, while others aren't, the same goes for what compromises are acceptable to the specific user.
Markolc said:
Correct, its only 2.0 speed. Save some money. No reason the adapter should cost more than the NP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only problem is there are no USB 2.0 ethernet adapters that also have USB passthrough.
priddyma said:
Only problem is there are no USB 2.0 ethernet adapters that also have USB passthrough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't quite know what you mean? I have a 2.0 USB hub\ethernet hybrid plugged into my nexus players. It gives me 3 full size USB ports and Ethernet.
Anywhere I have searched didn't have a plethora of USB 2.0 hubs with ethernet that were that much cheaper than the 3.0 models.
I don't see the point of an ethernet adapter for the Nexus Player any way, the theoretical speed limit of USB 2.0 is 480mbps which equal 60MBps meaning that you are throttling yourself compared to your WiFi speed.
priddyma said:
Anywhere I have searched didn't have a plethora of USB 2.0 hubs with ethernet that were that much cheaper than the 3.0 models.
I don't see the point of an ethernet adapter for the Nexus Player any way, the theoretical speed limit of USB 2.0 is 480mbps which equal 60MBps meaning that you are throttling yourself compared to your WiFi speed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And realistically you would be lucky to get even half that 60 MBps speeds on the 2.0 port. Chances are your only seeing about 25-30, and a Ethernet port adapter has to share the data with all the other devices you may have plugged into the hub as well. The WiFi AC is every bit 5-10 faster than the USB port on this device. The Ethernet adapter idea is only reasonable if that is all you have for a connection. Otherwise your 5ghz N or AC will blow away the USB port, depending on your network and internet speeds of course.
SkOrPn said:
And realistically you would be lucky to get even half that 60 MBps speeds on the 2.0 port. Chances are your only seeing about 25-30, and a Ethernet port adapter has to share the data with all the other devices you may have plugged into the hub as well. The WiFi AC is every bit 5-10 faster than the USB port on this device. The Ethernet adapter idea is only reasonable if that is all you have for a connection. Otherwise your 5ghz N or AC will blow away the USB port, depending on your network and internet speeds of course.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All I can tell you is this. On my 5ghz WiFi, nighthawk ac1900 router, I will get occasional drops and hiccups streaming my uncompressed bluray rips, and on occasion streaming from my HDHomerun Prime. When over WiFi, I get none of those issues ever. It's just a more reliable connection. Downloading from the Play store, the WiFi wins, however streaming a 2 hour movie (30gigs), the hard wire connection will give me a flawless performance. It just takes a few seconds of WiFi interference to interrupt a movie or good football game on TV.
Markolc said:
All I can tell you is this. On my 5ghz WiFi, nighthawk ac1900 router, I will get occasional drops and hiccups streaming my uncompressed bluray rips, and on occasion streaming from my HDHomerun Prime. When over WiFi, I get none of those issues ever. It's just a more reliable connection. Downloading from the Play store, the WiFi wins, however streaming a 2 hour movie (30gigs), the hard wire connection will give me a flawless performance. It just takes a few seconds of WiFi interference to interrupt a movie or good football game on TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your WiFi should have big enough buffer to handle a few seconds of WiFi interference... Never had a single problem on a Chromecast wireless in a highly congested 2.4GHz area....
The Chromecast app from Google in the Google PlayStore doesn't even detect my Google Nexus Player (on the same wifi network).
The "Video & TV Cast | Nexus Player" app does. The developer for that app has a separate version for Nexus Player, Chromecast device, Samsung TV, etc.
Nate2 said:
The Chromecast app from Google in the Google PlayStore doesn't even detect my Google Nexus Player (on the same wifi network).
The "Video & TV Cast | Nexus Player" app does. The developer for that app has a separate version for Nexus Player, Chromecast device, Samsung TV, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure why the Chromecast app would ever need to detect your NP. It's not like you could use that app to configure it.
Maybe it was just my assumption that the Google Nexus Player (which supports casting) would use the Chromecast protocol(?) from Google.
Apparently, there is also a Googlecast protocol that is different from Chromecast?
My Samsung phone has it's own casting protocol that works great with my Samsung HDTV.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

Nvidia shield as a fileserver/torrentbox/Kodi-box?

Hello there peeps!
Im thinking of getting rid of my old laptop as my torrentbox/Kodi and fileserver. Its noisy, draws lots of power and it can barely handle 1080p HEVC movies. So Im really longing to buy a Nvidia Shield TV 16GB
Im thinking of buying the 16GB version, putting a 128GB micro-sd card in it and use a powered usb3.0 HUB to connect my current 3 external HDDs to it.
My plans is to let the 128GB micro-sd card act as the torrent partition and storage for the games and apps. When the apps are finished Im moving the stuff to the three external NTFS HDDs and store it on them. All this would be nice to be able to manage with my Android phone. Im thinking that it might be hard on the unit to handle torrents at the same time we watch movies or play games. Is there an app to paus the torrents if the rest needs more resources, or make some kind of script?
Will all this work? Ive read that the Shield TV cant handle more than two external USBs thanks to the limitatons of Android but this can be fixed by rooting it. Is it correct?
You need to get a SMB server app working on it. Google: Funkyfresh Samba
uTorrent has an Android version.
I think Android can handle more than two ext HDD's. My sister has 4-5 HDD's connected to her AFTV, same with my cousin. Try StickMount.
I don't know but I think it's going to be hard to do what you want. I'd buy an Asus ChromeBox, put Win10 on it and use that for Kodi MySQL server, torrent, media, etc.
Ive been curious about this, when you say your sister had 4-5 HDDs connected to AFTV, im assuming she has them connected via some sort of usb hub?
I wouldn't use an SD card for long-term torrenting as they're not very good at handling frequent writing.
hobs0n said:
Hello there peeps!
Im thinking of getting rid of my old laptop as my torrentbox/Kodi and fileserver. Its noisy, draws lots of power and it can barely handle 1080p HEVC movies. So Im really longing to buy a Nvidia Shield TV 16GB
Im thinking of buying the 16GB version, putting a 128GB micro-sd card in it and use a powered usb3.0 HUB to connect my current 3 external HDDs to it.
My plans is to let the 128GB micro-sd card act as the torrent partition and storage for the games and apps. When the apps are finished Im moving the stuff to the three external NTFS HDDs and store it on them. All this would be nice to be able to manage with my Android phone. Im thinking that it might be hard on the unit to handle torrents at the same time we watch movies or play games. Is there an app to paus the torrents if the rest needs more resources, or make some kind of script?
Will all this work? Ive read that the Shield TV cant handle more than two external USBs thanks to the limitatons of Android but this can be fixed by rooting it. Is it correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So heres my experience so far: Currently I have 1 external usb 3.0 HDD connected to my shield tv. using an android app called servers ultimate pro, I was able to create multiple file servers. The nice thing is that shield tv is already low powered, but can even go into sleep mode and still run the server (i have a feeling sleep mode just turns off the screen). with servers ultimate, you can get lots of configuration options, limiting the amount of users, ip addresses that can access, you can set up basic rules, and notifications for things like if the server stops or starts, to email, text, pop up a notification, etc. Its pretty nice.
But heres the catch: I've been searching for a solution for over a month now, but transfer rates are slow im getting 5-10MBps on average, but i know the network is capable of more. after searching, it seems to be a limitation of either android, or the protocols the app is using. Another user on here pointed out to me that the SMB protocol for instance, seems to be running SMB v1 (which is already up to like V3- or V4, which are more feature rich and capable of much faster speeds)
then theres the issue of what devices will be accessing it. So far, ive tried my android phone, my windows 10 PC, and an iphone. the android phone can see the servers just fine when configured properly, iphone didn't seem to want to work without any sort of specialized app (which honestly i didn't even try after that point), and windows 10 works, but if you want to map a network drive, your going to need the SMB protocol, and even then it took several weeks of google searching until several tweaks, registry settings, etc finally allowed windows 10 to see my server.
I don't torrent, so unfortunately can't help you on that front, but like another user pointed out, using the sd card will just wear out the amount of times it can read/write. if it does work out for your needs, why not just save directly to the external HDDs?
For the record, I was able to stream using things like kodi or another media player, but i do notice that any initial loading takes several seconds. for example, initial playback will take several seconds to load, but once the video plays, it plays smooth and doesnt stutter or pause, UNLESS i were to try fast forwarding or skipping to another section, then the video takes several seconds again. this all works for my personal needs (for now) but other users might want more demand.
hope any of this helps.
unvaluablespace said:
Ive been curious about this, when you say your sister had 4-5 HDDs connected to AFTV, im assuming she has them connected via some sort of usb hub?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, both my sister and cousin have the 10 port USB 2.0 hub from Amazon working fine on their Amazon Fire TV's.
Cool, thats good to know. I've been kind of curious about this for in the future (i don't see myself using more than 4 HDD's for whatever server setup i use) Hopefully the shield wont have an issue with this, either. Now just trying to figure out my transfer speed issue. lol
Thank you very much for the experience and help!
This certainly learned me very valuable points
what is the point of putting a server on shield tv?
can you download torrents directly to the shield (hd)?
and would plex be able to see these files?
I have personally done exactly what you are looking for with one of my shield boxes. I installed a Linux chroot on my shield tv (I ended up flashing foll android as it was easier), installed transmission-cli in there, and ran kodi on top then enabled media sharing, and put an ssh server on the machine. Works fantastically.
what does this all enable to do?
This is pretty close to my plans, minus the torrent box and fileserver.
my plan is to load up my new external drive and copy everything from my laptop and existing externals into one location (so I can eliminate duplicates) and then move it to the SHIELD TV and setup KODI so it sees all my files and use it for playback (I can always routinely plan file transfers to it manually thru the USB and computer when I need to add new content), but it would be nice to be able to access the external over the network if possible.
kdb424 said:
I have personally done exactly what you are looking for with one of my shield boxes. I installed a Linux chroot on my shield tv (I ended up flashing foll android as it was easier), installed transmission-cli in there, and ran kodi on top then enabled media sharing, and put an ssh server on the machine. Works fantastically.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhm so you are running some kind of Linux or what is foll Android?
unvaluablespace said:
So heres my experience so far: Currently I have 1 external usb 3.0 HDD connected to my shield tv. using an android app called servers ultimate pro, I was able to create multiple file servers. The nice thing is that shield tv is already low powered, but can even go into sleep mode and still run the server (i have a feeling sleep mode just turns off the screen). with servers ultimate, you can get lots of configuration options, limiting the amount of users, ip addresses that can access, you can set up basic rules, and notifications for things like if the server stops or starts, to email, text, pop up a notification, etc. Its pretty nice.
But heres the catch: I've been searching for a solution for over a month now, but transfer rates are slow im getting 5-10MBps on average, but i know the network is capable of more. after searching, it seems to be a limitation of either android, or the protocols the app is using. Another user on here pointed out to me that the SMB protocol for instance, seems to be running SMB v1 (which is already up to like V3- or V4, which are more feature rich and capable of much faster speeds)
then theres the issue of what devices will be accessing it. So far, ive tried my android phone, my windows 10 PC, and an iphone. the android phone can see the servers just fine when configured properly, iphone didn't seem to want to work without any sort of specialized app (which honestly i didn't even try after that point), and windows 10 works, but if you want to map a network drive, your going to need the SMB protocol, and even then it took several weeks of google searching until several tweaks, registry settings, etc finally allowed windows 10 to see my server.
I don't torrent, so unfortunately can't help you on that front, but like another user pointed out, using the sd card will just wear out the amount of times it can read/write. if it does work out for your needs, why not just save directly to the external HDDs?
For the record, I was able to stream using things like kodi or another media player, but i do notice that any initial loading takes several seconds. for example, initial playback will take several seconds to load, but once the video plays, it plays smooth and doesnt stutter or pause, UNLESS i were to try fast forwarding or skipping to another section, then the video takes several seconds again. this all works for my personal needs (for now) but other users might want more demand.
hope any of this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the all the valuable info!
Using the Shield TV as a torrentbox/fileserver/NAS is only temporary until I can afford a real NAS, or preferably get a mini Linux box running as a VPN server and router but that's in the future, in fact Shield tv is also in the future since I can't afford it now =)
But back to your comments, I checked out Ultimate Pro and it seems it's dead but maybe some of its servers works good Regarding SMB I'm thinking of getting another app for SMB sharing.
Another thing I'm wondering is the multitasking abilities of the Shield TV, sure it's by far the most powerful Android TV box but how can it handle torrenting, SMB sharing, running Kodi at the same time? Or do you have to manually manage it? Or get some apps that let you set up certain priorities? And will it be able to game on the Shield while Kodi/SMB/torrents running in the background?
hobs0n said:
Thanks for the all the valuable info!
Using the Shield TV as a torrentbox/fileserver/NAS is only temporary until I can afford a real NAS, or preferably get a mini Linux box running as a VPN server and router but that's in the future, in fact Shield tv is also in the future since I can't afford it now =)
But back to your comments, I checked out Ultimate Pro and it seems it's dead but maybe some of its servers works good Regarding SMB I'm thinking of getting another app for SMB sharing.
Another thing I'm wondering is the multitasking abilities of the Shield TV, sure it's by far the most powerful Android TV box but how can it handle torrenting, SMB sharing, running Kodi at the same time? Or do you have to manually manage it? Or get some apps that let you set up certain priorities? And will it be able to game on the Shield while Kodi/SMB/torrents running in the background?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't torrent, so unfortunately I can't help you there, but I have tried using my file server in multiple ways: file transfers & streaming video, while running another app, even streaming games. Here are a few examples of things i've tried:
file transferring a big file to my pc, while gamestreaming on the nvidia shield tv at the same time (worked great. I saw no issues during this time)
file transferring a big file to my pc, while running a local app such as netflix, emulators, youtube, (as you can see i tried both maximizing bandwidth, while even testing lag with cpu intensive tasks. again, worked great)
streaming a 1080p movie from the shield tv, to my pc, while gamestreaming from the same pc, back to the shield tv (seemed to work fine. honestly didnt test this for extended period.)
streaming a 1080p movie from the shield tv to my pc, while running local apps on shield tv such as netflix, emulators, youtube, etc (once again, seemed to work fine)
So as you can see, the shield tv seemed to handle everything i threw at it rather well. i even tried multiple apps for multitasking on the shield and i just honestly did not see any performance hints with the media server, aside from anything youd normally expect on the shield tv. keep in mind i am running on a gigabit ethernet network, wired on both ends, from the shield tv to the router, and router to the pc.
my only issue with it all is as mentioned before: transfer speeds are just barely fast enough, even though i know my network and the device is capable of much faster speeds, but the cpu and ram on the shield tv seemed to handle everything i tried rather well.
as for your comment about trying other smb apps, ive gone through several, and the ones i was able to manage to get working, all ended up with the same speeds as with ultimate servers pro. :\ If you can find something that gives you faster speeds, i would love to hear about it so i can try it. i tried ftp server, smb server, webdav server, etc and all seem to max out at about the same speed.
Thanks for your reply!
It really seems the Shield is awesome and powerful to handle multitasking! I'm longing to get my own!
Crappy about the SMB speeds, let's find solutions to that problems
Hm I havent found any real data on the speed between a computer and an Android device when it comes to SMB...
When I transfer between my old gaming laptop from the external usb2.0 HDDs to my Xperia Z3, I get between 700KB/s to 1100KB/s.
The laptop is connected with Ethernet cable to the Netgear CG3799 router and the Z3 is connected with full connection on 802.11N 5Ghz. Altho the laptop is pretty sweaty atm, its converting old DVDs to HEVC and downloading around 15 torrents
Ill compare speeds later when the laptop isnt as busy
What kind of speeds do you peeps get when transfering between Android devices other devices?
Which Samba app are you using?
Hey folks,
I'm trying the same now. Had an Odroid XU4 as file and MySQL Server and try to replace it for an all in one Shield TV Solution.
I'm running a rooted Shield with SambaDroid for the SMB Share which works fine. And KSWEB Server for MySQL and ftp.
Sometimes it seems like the apps are closing in the background, I don't know why, seems to be a android multitadking problem to free up RAM.
But my biggest problem is the transfer speeds. No matter what protocoll (smb/ftp) I'm not getting more then 8 MB/s read out of the box. I tried to read from internal memory, sdcard and my external HDD. All came out with the same speed connected over GBit LAN to my PC.
Write side it much faster with 20 MB/s what I do not really understand but you need root to write to external memory like sdcard or usb.
So far it works, but it is less then optimal compared to my Ordoid XU4 what did 80MB/s but has no HDMI 2.0 output :/
Maybe Android 6.0 brings more speed for the network because It has to be bottlenecked somewhere in the OS, FTP and SMB showing the same speeds.
What's funny is I was actually doing the reverse of what you're doing. I got my Shield as an Android media center device since my Odroid U2 never seemed up to my standards with Kodi. When HardKernel came out with the XU4 I scooped it up and made it my webserver, after seeing an Android TV rom out for it, I flashed it and now Kodi's UI will lag like crazy after about a half hour of usage.
Sent from my Pixel C using Tapatalk

Nvidia Shield TV questions

I am probably going to buy one of the 16gb Nvidia Shield TVs but I have some questions or want feedback if I am on the right
track with this.
I currently have a Roku Premiere Plus(with problems with HDCP 2.2, etc) but it works with the Spectrum App which gives me local channels that
I think the Shield can't do or can't do easily without side loading the app with bugs.
I have plenty of IT hardware(have worked IT for 40+ years) so I will probably use one of my spare PCs as a Plex server...can I connect an OTA antenna
to that(locate it near the antenna) instead of having to route coax through my house to the Shield? I am also on the distance border for this at about
45 miles from nearest towers(Rochester, NY).
Is a separate Plex Server better as I don't need additional hw attached to the Shield but can still access it via my Meshed WiFi environment(Ubiquiti)? Or
will my wifi performance be slower than a usb 3.0 connected drive on the Shield? If I don't go with a separate Plex Server then should I go with a powered
USB Hub to allow more toys to be connected to the Shield at one time?
I will add the Rii keyboard to ease use...any best ways to manage a single(recommendations?) universal remote to get down to just one remote for my
TV(Samsung 4K HDR), Denon AVR, Shield, Samsung BluRay DVD player, etc? I also have two XBox 360 controllers that I will add to my list of things to
try after figuring the device out better.
What else am I missing? Thanks in advance for any feedback/tips.

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