Media player or Android box?

Chelon

Got a lot of video files on the PC and looking to put them on a device to play on the TV via the HDMI port.

In the past the little 1-2TB media players were popular. Would I still be better off going for one of these, if so could someone recommend one?

Alternatively would I be better off going for something like an Android box with a hdd, killing 2 birds with one stone?

tommynsr150

Chelon wrote: »

Got a lot of video files on the PC and looking to put them on a device to play on the TV via the HDMI port.

In the past the little 1-2TB media players were popular. Would I still be better off going for one of these, if so could someone recommend one?

Alternatively would I be better off going for something like an Android box with a hdd, killing 2 birds with one stone?

Amazon TV box I have is amazing. You could set up a plex server on your PC and download plex app on the box and play them over your network. It'd save you transferring files or buying hard drives. Very simple to set up mate

Chelon

tommynsr150 wrote: »

Amazon TV box I have is amazing. You could set up a plex server on your PC and download plex app on the box and play them over your network. It'd save you transferring files or buying hard drives. Very simple to set up mate

Thanks but the PC is running short on space anyway plus ideally don't want to leave it running all night if I don't have to, so was looking for something I could just plug into the TV and go.

tommynsr150

Chelon wrote: »

Thanks but the PC is running short on space anyway plus ideally don't want to leave it running all night if I don't have to, so was looking for something I could just plug into the TV and go.

I think cyclone make an adaptor where you plug it into the hard drive and it allows you to turn the hard drive into a media player and hook up to the TV

degsie

A lot of modern TV's support direct connection of HDD's.

tommynsr150

degsie wrote: »

A lot of modern TV's support direct connection of HDD's.

True but I find a lot of them though don't support all file formats

Chelon

The tv is around 7 years old, I doubt it would support hdd anyway. Any idea if I could just get an Android box with built in hdd then I could just copy the files to it via USB and could also use it for Kodi etc?

tommynsr150

Chelon wrote: »

The tv is around 7 years old, I doubt it would support hdd anyway. Any idea if I could just get an Android box with built in hdd then I could just copy the files to it via USB and could also use it for Kodi etc?

Yea of course you could but just research the boxes. Lots of crap ones there. You'll need at least a quad core at the very least

Suckit

What about a mini PC and an Air remote?
For example Intel NUC, Asus VivoPC or Gigabyte BRIX

the_syco

Have used Tronsmart andorid thing in the past, and found it to be a good brand. Have also used Minix.

Although they all now use SD cards, and USB slots, there used to be android boxes that took a HDD inside it.

Personally, before getting Plex, I used to have an FTP server running on my android box that I'd transfer files to from my PC.

the_syco

Suckit wrote: »

What about a mini PC and an Air remote?
For example Intel NUC, Asus VivoPC or Gigabyte BRIX

Don't think the NUC is meant to be that good for transcoding.

rtron

As mentioned the Amazon fire TV is fantastic for what you need.Its a cut above other Android boxes as it's regularly updated. Well made etc...

tommynsr150

rtron wrote: »

As mentioned the Amazon fire TV is fantastic for what you need.Its a cut above other Android boxes as it's regularly updated. Well made etc...

Yea my amazon fire tv is amazing. All the usual like Netflix and so on, play your media files on it through USB and you can sideload apps like kodi on it. But you'll need the fire tv box not the stick. Massive difference between them but well worth the money

Suckit

the_syco wrote: »

Suckit wrote: »

What about a mini PC and an Air remote?
For example Intel NUC, Asus VivoPC or Gigabyte BRIX

Don't think the NUC is meant to be that good for transcoding.

It does a decent job (the higher the price though, unfortunately), but the newer models (more pricey) are supposed to be pretty good.
The Asus Vivopc was the one i was mainly thinking of anyway, just threw out a few
options. The barebones obviously the cheaper option. The Gigabyte Brix can start from as little as £70.

Suckit

Raspberry Pi, Odroid also definitely worth considering.

degsie

Invest in a nvidia shield and you are done for the foreseeable future.