Samsung.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Samsung.

TonTon wrote: I read that as pies server, and was excited for a moment. What is a Plex server?

Plex is software that enables media streaming—audio, pictures and video.

I have a home server (ie a NAS) tucked in the corner with about 5TB of hard drives. I can stream media through pretty much anything (iPad, phone, TV/Chromecast). I could stream remotely if I could be bothered setting it up.

[Posty Webber]

Samsung.

NAS are dope.

[anton pulisov]

Samsung.

It ain't hard to tell.

[anton pulisov]

Samsung.

Anybody have any experience with any of these Android TV boxes?

I am thinking of getting one. Mainly so that I can stream stuff through a dumb TV. And the advantage of one of these boxes is you can fiddle with the DNS servers and stuff, meaning that you can get around geoblocks.

[Sam]

Samsung.

Not quite one of the boxes, but I've got a Slimport which I use to plug my tablet into the telly. It's perfect for the job, as long as you don't mind having the tablet near the television so it's not too convenient to use as a remote (but if you just want to stick an episode of something or a film on Netflix, say, it's fine).

[Stumpy Pepys]

Samsung.

Antonio Pulisao wrote: Anybody have any experience with any of these Android TV boxes?

Yeah, I've got one. It's similar to one of these.



I bought it to run XBMC, which is does perfectly well. And yes, you can fiddle around with Android settings to your heart's content.

Problem is, it's not great for much else; it's not particularly fast (at least mine isn't) and operating it and inputting information via the remote control is a pain. Playing a YouTube video via Chromecast is much less hassle than doing it from the Android home screen with one of these.

Then again, I'm not sure if there's a cheaper option. A friend of mine uses a Raspberry Pi for XBMC and the Pi 2 is now available.

[Ginger Yellow]

Samsung.

The FireTV is supposed to be pretty good, especially for Amazon content (it's pretty easy to sideload/root it. It's basically comparable to a Roku but with, ironically enough, voice control and a better UI.

I am thinking of getting one. Mainly so that I can stream stuff through a dumb TV. And the advantage of one of these boxes is you can fiddle with the DNS servers and stuff, meaning that you can get around geoblocks.

Could you not do that on your router with a smart TV?

[anton pulisov]

Samsung.

I looked into that. When you first use a smart TV, you have to choose a "region", or worse, the smart TV comes with the region already hard-coded. In other words, if you buy a smart TV in Germany, it won't present iPlayer as an option, even if your router is properly configured.

[Ginger Yellow]

Samsung.

Oh, right, that makes sense I guess. I barely use the built-in iPlayer (or Plex) on my semi-smart TV because it's so much easier to just AirPlay it. If that's the main issue, just pick up a FireTV stick or a Chromecast. If you actually want a fully fledged set-top box, the current best ones seem to be Roku 3 or FireTV, though the Roku is due for a refresh sometime this year (as is Apple TV maybe?).

[hobbes]

Samsung.

I have a first gen smart tv (that wasn't my motivation for buying it.)
I don't use any of the features, because they're also on the sky box, the Xbox, the PS3 and also in a lot of cases on the AV amp too. And they're all easier to use with the Harmony Remote or an app on my phone.

[anton pulisov]

Samsung.

Ginger Yellow wrote: Oh, right, that makes sense I guess. I barely use the built-in iPlayer (or Plex) on my semi-smart TV because it's so much easier to just AirPlay it. If that's the main issue, just pick up a FireTV stick or a Chromecast. If you actually want a fully fledged set-top box, the current best ones seem to be Roku 3 or FireTV, though the Roku is due for a refresh sometime this year (as is Apple TV maybe?).

Google were also clever re the geoblocking and it's not possible on the Chromecast.

Perhaps I'll just buy a really long HDMI cable for from the TV to the couch

[Ginger Yellow]

Samsung.

Google were also clever re the geoblocking and it's not possible on the Chromecast.

How? Surely it's possible to just mirror your appropriately DNSed/VPNed browser tab.

[anton pulisov]

Samsung.

AFAIK, the Chromecast stick doesn't take the picture from your laptop and rebroadcast it on the screen. Your laptop tells the Chromecast's built-in browser to go to a certain webpage.

[ad hoc]

Samsung.

I have children. Thereby not really having much option whatsoever to ever watch the TV, and now, it seems, not needing to understand a whole new set of vocabulary words and technical information.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Samsung.

Antonio Pulisao wrote: AFAIK, the Chromecast stick doesn't take the picture from your laptop and rebroadcast it on the screen. Your laptop tells the Chromecast's built-in browser to go to a certain webpage.

Yeah that's right.

You could use the Chromecast to mirror the Chrome browser tab, but the results can be choppy.

Is it possible to run a VPN or connect to a proxy at the level of the router? I guess that would work.

[anton pulisov]

Samsung.

I have a wireless router/modem provided by the telecom company and it is fairly limited in what it can do. So I would have to buy another router to put behind that one.

I'm actually starting to think that a 10 m HDMI cable along the wall fromm the dumb telly to the couch is quite a handy idea. I could run the telly off the laptop as a second screen. Sport on the second screen, internet browsing on the laptop screen.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Samsung.

Make sure you get gold-plated plugs, and keep it off the floor to avoid interference.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Samsung.

Which reminds me – audiophile ethernet cable. Only $10,000.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Samsung.

Wow.

[hobbes]

Samsung.

"Audiophile" and "hilariously credulous bellend with more money than sense" are basically synonyms aren't they?

[Elvis Wilbury takes a turn]

Samsung.

You don't need gold plated plugs to improve picture quality, they make not a ha'pence of difference, it's just a wheeze to get you to spend more money than you need to.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Samsung.

Well, on analogue signals they actually do improve signal quality. On digital ones, however.....

[Felicity, I guess so]

Samsung.

deleted

sorry. miles behind (as usual with techno-pokery)

[Tactical Genius]

Samsung.

Toby Gymshorts wrote: Well, on analogue signals they actually do improve signal quality. On digital ones, however.....

Good quality cable does not improve signal quality on analogue sources, they minimize signal degradation which becomes noticeable over longer distance cable runs.
They make no difference to Digital signals though which are a series of 1's and 0's and the signal either gets through the cable or not.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Samsung.

Yeah, the first bit is what I meant. Not enough sleep last night has rendered me a bit fuzzy-headed.