Can I do this with a TV stick/Mini PC?

[cmayo]

I've become incredibly frustrated over the past few years, trying to work out a simple home media sharing/streaming solution that will let me stream audio and video from my computer to my various TV's in the house. I'm looking for good performance for lossless audio and HD/1080p video, i.e. fluid playback without starts and stops, quick and easy fast forward/rewind/scrolling to a specific place in the video, and full support for subtitles either burned in or via .srt files.

On a PC, I can load up a free VLC player and get all that stuff without even trying, but I've been attempting to use Sony Media Players (SMP-N100, SMP-N200) streaming content from a Serviio DLNA server, and they pretty much suck at everything but playing DLNA streams from start to finish.

So what I'd be looking for from a TV stick or mini PC (like the Tronsmart units?) is a platform (Andriod, I assume) capable of running a fully-featured native video/audo player which will connect to the shared files on my PC and play them on my HDMI-equipped TV... i.e. plug in the stick, go to Google Play and install a feature-rich video player, have the stick attach to my shared storage and start playing HD content on my TV.

Hopefully, the Andriod video/media player would provide the same full support for subtitles, effecient fast-winding, time-location features available with VLC on my Windows PC.

Am I on the right track here? It seems like a multiple-core PC plugged into my TV would do everything I want it to do, but I really have no idea what I can do with these devices or which device would be my best choice.

I'd really appreciate any comments...

[Pain]

Re: Can I do this with a TV stick/Mini PC?

All you really need is a good quad core android box and MX Player which has hardware decoding. ES file explorer is what I use to browse network stored movies.

Mini box is generally more reliable than a stick.



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[cmayo]

Pain, thank you for the quick response. I'm a total noob with this tech, can you or someone else suggest a specific unit I should look at? I'm thinking that under $100 is about all I'm willing to spend, otherwise I might as well just buy a cheap PC off Craigslist and plug it in to the TV.

[Flumpster]

Take a look at this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvVAcbgqsQs

[cmayo]

Interesting video, Flumpster. I had XBMC installed on my Windows PC a few weeks ago, but can't recall if I was looking for a media server or for an app that would collect subtitles and other metadata for my video files.

XBMC has a gorgeous interface, but it looked more suited for a phone or tablet than a PC and as I was looking for server software, I didn't dig very far into it. I'd love to be able to use it for my client platform and will defilitely dig into it now that I've seen more of what it does.

Still lots to figure out, but I think I have the client software piece slotted in now, thanks!

[Pain]

Re: Can I do this with a TV stick/Mini PC?

You definitely want Flumpster's BeyondXBMC :-) I have it working on a CR11S/TV01 but the one thing it can't do is use MX Player to play movies stored on my windows server.


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[cmayo]

I'm sure you're right. I've just started playing around with XBMC tonight, got it loaded on my Android tablet and really liking it. When I'm mroe familar with the stock XBMC I'll take a closer look at BeyondXBMC.

I haven't had a lot of luck researching the CR11S/TV01 you mention. They're apparently a Chinese company and the only retailer I'm finding for their stuff is AliExpress and I haven't had a ton of luck buying Chinese electronics from Chinese companies lately.

And I have to ask... doesn't the XBMC client software have an integrated player? Why would one use MX player with XBMC?

[Flumpster]

You definitely want Flumpster's BeyondXBMC :-) I have it working on a CR11S/TV01 but the one thing it can't do is use MX Player to play movies stored on my windows server.


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I know mx player won't work thru it over smb but do you really need it still? I included it for people just to stop some asking but I have never had to use it. All my hd content is streaming fine over smb thru the inbuilt player. What vids are you needing mx for mate?

[Flumpster]

I'm sure you're right. I've just started playing around with XBMC tonight, got it loaded on my Android tablet and really liking it. When I'm mroe familar with the stock XBMC I'll take a closer look at BeyondXBMC.

I haven't had a lot of luck researching the CR11S/TV01 you mention. They're apparently a Chinese company and the only retailer I'm finding for their stuff is AliExpress and I haven't had a ton of luck buying Chinese electronics from Chinese companies lately.

And I have to ask... doesn't the XBMC client software have an integrated player? Why would one use MX player with XBMC?

They used to use it because stock xbmc has no hardware acceleration and they would use mx in it to play hd content.

[Pain]

Re: Can I do this with a TV stick/Mini PC?

I have not actually tried SMB with Beyond XBMC beta 3.1 but now that I know it has hardware decoding I will have to try it. Beta 2 seemed slow to navigate and the sound was sometimes out of sync, but beta 3.1 really works well in the couple days that I have used it.



As far as buying a RK3188 box they are all from China and everyone is on holiday for the next week. Search TV01 Geekbuying.com. I am sure there are other models with the same chip which also work.


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[cmayo]

Given that both dongles (like the Tronsmart MK908) and set-top boxes (like the Minix Neo x7) are driven by the RK3188, why would a box outperform a dongle in streaming network-shared video with XMBC if they're all running the same processor?

[Pain]

Theoretically it is the same but the main difference is heat buildup in a small stick causes instability and connections like full size HDMI and USB for your remote transmitter, keyboard, mouse.

[cmayo]

Thanks again, Pain. You and Flumpster have been a tremendous help and I think I'm really closing in on my solution.

I was really liking the idea of sticks... I love their size and portability and that they're half the price of boxes but if they won't do the job for me, I guess I need to eliminate them from consideration.