Device to playback movies on a TV?

Movie Maestro

Looking for some advice please.

Elderly inlaws need a device to connect to their TV to playback movies from a USB hard disk. They have no broadband in their home and no USB ports on their TV. They do not have a laptop or desktop PC. They have a free HDMI connection on the TV.

What is the best device currently for them to use to achieve this please?

frozenfrozen

Do they have some kind of freesat + saorview box? Might be an idea to get one of those that also will playback from a usb stick if they don't already have one?

K.O.Kiki

Nvidia Shield TV Pro, probably.
A wee bit expensive, mind.

Movie Maestro

@ frozenfrozen They have an ancient Virgin subscription using an ancient UPC box with only a scart connection to the TV

@ K.O.Kiki I had considered that but way over budget, maybe some kind of cheap android box would to the Job?

frozenfrozen

Do they already have a laptop? You could have a usb stick you plug into it with kodi on it, set boot priority to usb over hdd, stick in and restart the laptop to get into kodi, restart it with the stick out for back to normal laptop business? I've done it here, eventually they stopped taking it back for normal laptop stuff and it's just kodi now.

(And reason I do it that way is so it boots in with the screen on the laptop turned off and no random popups or anything tabbing them out of kodi)

tscul32

My husband built one with a raspberry pi. Use a wireless mouse to control it and connects to tv with hdmi cable.

JoyPad

+1 for raspberry Pi running the OSMC image.
If the TV has an HDMI-CEC connection, you don't need keyboard and mouse, control OSMC with the TV remote.

tscul32

JoyPad wrote: »

+1 for raspberry Pi running the OSMC image.
If the TV has an HDMI-CEC connection, you don't need keyboard and mouse, control OSMC with the TV remote.

I can't get that to work, have LG tv, have turned on the Simplink (LG's hdmi-cec) but while I have a pointer on screen it doesn't actually do anything.

JoyPad

tscul32 wrote: »

I can't get that to work, have LG tv, have turned on the Simplink (LG's hdmi-cec) but while I have a pointer on screen it doesn't actually do anything.

I have checked this and it's working with four different TVs in the house (2x Samsung, 1x Sony and 1x JVC). The arrow keys on the remote act like arrow keys on a keyboard connected to the Pi, and the OK key (usually in the middle of the arrows) acts like an Enter key. Also, if there's a Back key (or Return), it should be useful as well, for closing the current screen and going back once.

You shouldn't need to configure anything, it just works out of the box, as long as you have plugged it into the CEC connector. Most TVs have multiple HDMI ports, but only one is CEC enabled. There can only be one CEC device plugged in, or else the TV would not know which one to send commands to.

tscul32

JoyPad wrote: »

You shouldn't need to configure anything, it just works out of the box, as long as you have plugged it into the CEC connector. Most TVs have multiple HDMI ports, but only one is CEC enabled. There can only be one CEC device plugged in, or else the TV would not know which one to send commands to.

Will have another look, thanks

Movie Maestro

frozenfrozen wrote: »

Do they already have a laptop? You could have a usb stick you plug into it with kodi on it, set boot priority to usb over hdd, stick in and restart the laptop to get into kodi, restart it with the stick out for back to normal laptop business? I've done it here, eventually they stopped taking it back for normal laptop stuff and it's just kodi now.

(And reason I do it that way is so it boots in with the screen on the laptop turned off and no random popups or anything tabbing them out of kodi)

They are pensioners, wouldn't be technical and don't have a laptop

Movie Maestro

tscul32 wrote: »

My husband built one with a raspberry pi. Use a wireless mouse to control it and connects to tv with hdmi cable.

Another good option thanks but unfortunately they are not technical at all. Haven't ruled this out though thanks!

Movie Maestro

Cheers for the feedback guys, it's very much appreciated thanks

JoyPad

Movie Maestro wrote: »

Another good option thanks but unfortunately they are not technical at all. Haven't ruled this out though thanks!

This is by far the cheapest option, and, if it works with their TV, the easiest to use.
As the good son-in-law, you should get the thing, set it up and test it at home, then go over to them and install it and show them how to use it.

It's still a device that needs to be plugged into a power socket, connected to the TV with an HDMI cable, and then controlled with the remote. This applies to all other devices suggested here.

Charles Babbage

And old laptop which booted on start up into software which dealt with the videos might be a reasonable solution though.
Not sure what that software would be though.

Hellrazer

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sumvision-Cyclone-Micro-Player-Adaptor/dp/B0052X04MO

Got one of these in the past for elderly relatives.

Literally all it does is play movies / TV shows from a usb stick,sd card etc.
No internet connection needed.
A really simple menu - I loaded it up with a few gb of movies and tv shows and then updated it every few weeks if they wanted new stuff on it.

Movie Maestro

JoyPad wrote: »

This is by far the cheapest option, and, if it works with their TV, the easiest to use.
As the good son-in-law, you should get the thing, set it up and test it at home, then go over to them and install it and show them how to use it.

It's still a device that needs to be plugged into a power socket, connected to the TV with an HDMI cable, and then controlled with the remote. This applies to all other devices suggested here.

Thanks Joypad, it looks like a Raspberry Pi running KODI seems to be the popular choice. I'll look into that.

JoyPad

Charles Babbage wrote: »

And old laptop which booted on start up into software which dealt with the videos might be a reasonable solution though.
Not sure what that software would be though.

Kodi

Movie Maestro

Hellrazer wrote: »

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sumvision-Cyclone-Micro-Player-Adaptor/dp/B0052X04MO

Got one of these in the past for elderly relatives.

Literally all it does is play movies / TV shows from a usb stick,sd card etc.
No internet connection needed.
A really simple menu - I loaded it up with a few gb of movies and tv shows and then updated it every few weeks if they wanted new stuff on it.

Brilliant and cheap suggestion Hellrazer thanks!

Movie Maestro

Thanks again to all for the suggestions, I've just ordered Hellrazers suggestion - the Sumvision Cyclone Micro 2+ Full HD HDMI 1080p Multi Media Player, it's cheap and cheerful and should do the job

Hellrazer

Movie Maestro wrote: »

Thanks again to all for the suggestions, I've just ordered Hellrazers suggestion - the Sumvision Cyclone Micro 2+ Full HD HDMI 1080p Multi Media Player, it's cheap and cheerful and should do the job

Just a tip - Buy 2 of what ever flash media you are going to use - fill one up and while youre waiting for the relatives to finish watching what you've put on it you can be filling the second one up.

thegills

An old DVD player with a USB port is also an option. Loads of them for sale.

srsly78

tscul32 wrote: »

I can't get that to work, have LG tv, have turned on the Simplink (LG's hdmi-cec) but while I have a pointer on screen it doesn't actually do anything.

The fancy pointer thing is LG specific and doesn't work over hdmi-cec. However all the other functions do, use the arrow buttons on remote etc.