Hi everyone,
I have this old (5-year-old) 21" BenQ monitor lying around the house, gathering dust and cobwebs, and I'd like to put it to a good use as a makeshift workstation, but I don't want to invest in PC central unit, not even a barebone one.
The monitor has an HDMI port and two USB 2.0 ports, so I was wondering if an Android TV stick like this one (hope the link translates to your country, mine is in French, sorry) can be used to power it, provided I'm not looking for something too powerful, just a way to surf the Web and occasionally watch videos (no gaming of any kind).
Keyboard and mouse would be Bluetooth, of course, and I don't much care about storage, since I can use an external HDD via one of the monitor's USB ports (done that in the past when I was using it as a extra television).
So, what do you think? Is it doable, and can I just plain forget it?
Related
At the risk of sounding like a wanna-be Borg, I'd like to use Myvu glasses with my new Fuze.
There's already a thread out there http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=417616 showing what the TV-out function can do, and the Myvu gogs will work fine with video and such.
But you have to run the TV out program, which only allows a limited set of programs to be used (Powerpoint, internet, photos and videos, and youtube).
I'd like to use Office programs on Myvu.
Using mobile Word or Excel with the glasses on would be like having a big computer screen.
Plus, no laptop to haul around (just a bunch of cables, adapters, and batteries - but you're already doing that, right?).
It'd be like a REDFLY application (http://www.celiocorp.com), but for video goggles, not as a laptop substitute.
You'd be totally VR then - if you had heading (compass) information you could do some really cool on-the-fly navigating too.
Does anyone know of a way (or if it's even possible) of porting ALL of the video output of a Fuze to TV-out?
thanks
fuse
possible, yes - I'm doing that now w/ my myvu - but it's bulky (lots of cables)
I'm trying to figure out how to get a shorter htc usb --> 1/16" cable (myvu's input..)
-mark
Just picked up one of these an hour ago. Comes in 500 gigs worth of wireless happiness.
I'm dumping video clips I took with a digital camera, pictures, ebooks and my music onto it now.
The way you connect to it is it creates it's own wireless network that you connect to to access the drive. So looks like you lose wireless internet connectivity while accessing the drive.
Haven't tried to access it from the doubleshot yet, but i'm impatiently awaiting the transfer to finish.
I'm pretty sure this will alleviate the lack of decent storage space all phones and tablets suffer from.
I'll post back later today with how well it works and a link to the device's product page. Making links in posts is tedious on the Nook i'm typing from.
Edit:
Product webpage
I bought mine from BestBuy for $199.99+tax. So far worth every penny.
I can't wait to hear the results. Carrying around a movie library in conjunction with the Doubleshot's TV Out function sounds pretty awesome!!
Okay, slept and took my lady out for dinner.
Now that i'm back, the info is fully copied over and the device is charged.
First impressions are pretty great.
Comes with a proprietary usb cord to connect to a computer with, supports up to usb 3.0 (sweet!)
Also comes with an AC adapter to usb, and a car charger to usb. The coolest tiny little car adapter i've seen on the market to date, btw.
The usb cord that plugs in for just power to the device connects to the device through the tiny, round power input and not a straight usb connection.
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Connecting wirelessly to the device is done one of two ways:
-Any web browser
(mixed results with both opera mobile and the stock browser)
(web browser preferred for downloading content from the wireless HDD to the MT4GS)
-Through the Seagate GoFlex App (preferred for video or browsing content on the wireless HDD)
Browsing the contents of the drive is much, much preferred through the Seagate app, it works much better.
Yes, you can stream media directly from the device to the MT4GS and output to a television. ( As noted above by siani_8 - the whole reason I got the drive in the first place )
Video:
You can play video using QuickPic Which is my current and favorite gallery app, but it falls short on video due to one big failing: no option for soft decoding.
It doesn't matter playing video on the device itself, but as soon as you output to television ( from the MT4GS in general, not just the wireless HDD specifically ) you MUST default to soft decoding on any app you use or you will get skippy video on the television screen.
Can't help it, it's a limitation of the device. The hardware decoding (at least for an .avi file ) can't both output to television and keep up with decoding the video. It's okay, though, because with a dual-core Gen3 Snapdragon and a hefty amount of RAM the MT4GS is more then capable of soft-decoding without a loss of performance.
To this end, i'd love to point you in the direction of Mobo Player - my absolute favorite video player on any android device. Handles .avi and other file formats, is free, and works fantastically well.
So, quick recap so far:
Use the Seagate GoFlex app to access the wireless HDD, and when you tap on a video use Mobo Player to view it.
Enable soft-decoding by default in Mobo Player, and you'll be able to plug into a television and watch any movies you want streamed directly from the wireless HDD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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Pictures:
You can view pictures from the wireless HDD using the GoFlex app.
Trying to download pictures to the MT4GS from the wireless HDD using the GoFlex app is not functional, but viewing is fine. Trying to download pictures or folders of pictures results in force close of the GoFlex app.
Recommend to use the web browser for downloading, but the GoFlex app for viewing.
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That's what i've got so far.
This thing is pretty awesome, i'm happy with my purchase, and watching Hackers as I type this up.
With any new technology, i'm sure there will be hiccups (such as the app force closing when trying to download pictures) but so far it seems pretty solid.
The info is on the device and works on several computers tested on (win xp an win 7) so far through usb.
Tried accessing it from my MT4GS running my own custom ROM, a hacked up version of the stock OS, and also from my Nook Color running the latest CM7 stable.
From both android devices the wireless HDD was no problem to connect with and use, and works just as you would imagine it should when you buy it from the store.
I think this is the beginning of a new future in mobile storage, and honestly, streaming video straight from my pocket to a television couldn't be easier.
Definite win, more info to come over the next few days as I play with it more.
Thanks for the post. I was on the fence about picking this up for my droid tablet
My friend has one of those and loves it.
Sent from my HTC myTouch_4G_Slide using xda premium
Sometimes I have trouble connecting to it, but not often.
I haven't tried to use the app for it in ages, which is probably a lot better by now.
I also haven't checked for firmware updates - ever - so it's likely some of those small hiccups are rectified.
Either way, it's way awesome, nothing like walking around with some 400 gigs of space just a button push away.
You can even just reach in a pocket or backpack and press the button then just do your thing walking around or whatever with access to whatever is on it.
Very handy, very nice despite it's small aggravations from time to time - for the prototype commercial product of what they will all be like in the future i'm thoroughly impressed.
Doesn't get hot when running from the battery, either, even in hard drive zipper case in my cargo pockets.
All in all, a solid win and definitely a quality offering for a new product type launch.
If I could go back to the store with the cash in my hand and stand in front of it to make the choice over, i'd get it in a heartbeat without hesitation.
OBJECTIVE:
Webtop from Atrix 2, via standard HDMI, to standard laptop HDMI input.
PROBLEM:
Most HDMI ports on laptops are output only.
SUGGESTED SOLUTION:
HDMI to USB or HDMI to IP converters. not sure this even exists
Update to this post:
The original product link was in error (pointed out by "IceFragmatic"). As suggested by IceFragmatic, most USB video INPUT for laptops/netbooks, are intended as capture devices, although I am not sure what he means by "due to DCHP", regarding HDMI being a very rare capture source.
Has anyone attempted this?
The item you link to is USB to HDMI...again outout only.
You would need to use a capture device (which for HDMI is very rare due to DCHP)
Why not just buy a cheap screen with DVI and/or HDMI input?
I know that for the last few years, that there have been a small handful of expensive giant laptop PC's that provide for HDMI INPUT (yes, input), but there are as yet no netbooks or UMPC's that have a means to provide this .... would you agree with that statement?
(this is interesting from a hardware perspective, not necessarily from a business strategy perspective)
You're better off just using a VNC server program on the phone and a VNC client on the netbook while connected to a solid wifi. That will allow you to control the linux environment running on your phone from your laptop and doesn't require expensive video capture hardware. One does not simply use one's netbook as a monitor.
Sorry, should have referred to HDCP (not DCHP).
HDCP is a copy protection protocol used to stop digital copying of comercial DVDs and some TV streams.
The movie studios and owners of the HDMI licences do not want HDMI recorders without some form of protection to stop copying of DVDs. If this copy protection did not exist you could make perfect copies of DVDs and BluRay. Therefore HDCP has be introduced. This makes HDMI input/recorders useless for anything but home-made movies (and therefore not a big seller).
Your homework is to read the following....
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9870317-1.html
John
I'm thinking of possibly replacing my desktop computer with the Microsoft Surface Pro 2 in the future. So while at home I would want to connect it to my monitor and peripheral setup. The Plugable UD-3000 will have everything I will need including a USB 3 to DVI adapter. I'm not a big gamer but I still do want to play some mid-range games. I read in review that the USB display performs fine in normal use and video watching but not recommend for playing games. I could not find much information on this subject so I would really appreciate if anyone can shed some light on how this would compare to a dedicated video output port.
My monitor setup -
http://www.asus.com/Monitors_Projectors/VE228H/#overview
http://www.ergotron.com/ProductsDetails/tabid/65/PRDID/351/language/en-CA/Default.aspx
Bump...
Hello,
I'm new here so please pardon my 'newbiness' .
I've been searching around for an affordable tv box/stick that would enable me to:
1. Stream my laptop's desktop on my Smart TV. My idea is to use a wireless keyboard and mouse and do some work on my laptop, but sitting on the couch and looking my Smart TV.
2. Stream my xbmc from my laptop in HD quality to my Smart TV. I would love to stream Movies and TV series from my laptop's XBMC to my Smart Tv in HD quality without any lap or errors.
Is this doable with a TV stick or TV box that is affordable?
Thank you for your time and looking forward to your replays.
Kind Regards,
Luka
I am pretty new to TV streaming etc and am having a lot of fun with a cheap UBOX I bought. reading what you say though suggests to me that you don't need to spend any money at all!
if you are happy using your laptop in the way that you say (and assuming it has an hdmi slot) -why not simply run an HDMI cable to the TV and clone the screens?
perhaps I'm being dumb here, but methinks you are complicating matters -
all the many cheap boxes one can get will simply plug into your tv, pick up your wifi, run kodi etc and away you go -
so why bother with the laptop at all?
Also what do you class as "cheap"? What's your budget?
just these simple usages,u ve got 2 ways,1st,buy a wifi display stick,2nd,hdmi direct plug