Hi,
i'm looking for an inexpensive media.
it is solely being used to connect a portable HDD to a TV which has HDMi but no usb inputs (5 year old panasonic viera!)
just for watching movies.
nothing else.
my big priority is a reasonable user interface ( so I can flick through the hundreds of movies easily.)
thanks
inexpensive.
You can get a chromecast for $50 and use a phone for the interface, or maybe a cheap TV Box running Kodi for about $30-40 from china.
$29.99 USD delivered ($39 AUD)
http://www.geekbuying.com/item/MX-PLUS-II-RK3229-4K-Bluetoot…
Very inexpensive. includes an IR remote
If you want to go the DIY route there's Raspberry Pi3 for around $50 AUD… but you have to go through the hassle of setting Open Elec on it, also put it in a case and stick in a MicroSD card plus also find a 2 amp USB charger for it.
cool. thanks scrimshaw. grabbed one from everbuying for US$27.39 delivered.
care to add a review once used for a week or two?
will do.
received it today.
set up was no problem. found wifi network and logged on sweetly.
came loaded with android 4.4.4.
XBMC/KODI is there.
plugged in my .99cent Zapals wireless mouse and that worked straight away.
plugged in wired keyboard - need to adjust keyboard as it is a british english PC keyboard i.e keyboard says "2" key is """ and "3" is "pound" sign.
2tb seagate portable HDD played straight away.
installed VLC from PlayStore as the media player. no problems.
I'm pretty impressed with this US$27 android box.
the only thing I'd love (and it's probably do-able) is a better file manager. currently when looking at my movie list I can only see 7 movie titles at a time. but it does scroll very very smoothly with the mouse and remote control.
wait, there is a button on the remote to bring up 12 titles at a time. it's a big TV im using so more titles would be cool.
my first android box and I'd give it 9/10. not 10/10 as I haven't used any other android boxes to compare and there are probably better and faster ones. but this one is fast, does everything I want and was cheap.
shipping time by everbuying from china was 18 days.
Old core2 duo desktop.
Popped it into a mini tower.
Old 30gb ssd.
My kodi box.
(Powerline adapter mediaPC setup if no eternet port nearby)
Steam stream games fine from my 780Ti gamingPc in office.
*kodi is youtubeable to setup.
Exodus had been working for me since late 2015.
yeah totally, however this is for my parents. had it been for me I would have gone this route (or headless laptop).
I have been told you can setup/ format a hdd/usb to boot pc with kodi only.
(Unsure if kodi will let u play ur media files via usb)
My parents also have a core2duo as their media centre.
Windows 10 (not activated - watermark)
And Kodi as an app on desktop for them easy to locate.
They are very happy with the wireless keyboard and trackpad.
android media player on ebay. there are heaps for under $60