Folks,
Is there a somewhat alive newsgroup (preferably not a web-based one) for Android TV boxes?
I just got one and many "apps" are very recalcitrant. For example, Skype blitzes off every time I sign in. Works on the PC, not on Android. Similar for other stuff, like VLC videos where Android never plays the audio part. The whole experience is more frustrating that I thought it would be. Certainly not plug-and-play.
What? No iPhone ?>:-} ...Jim Thompson
Certainly not. But also no smart phone at all. Don't need one.
This Skype seems to me more like a toy, I prefer professional services such as Zoom or Go-To. But a lot of non-biz folks use Skype, so ...
No knowledge about TV boxes, but have used a couple of Android tablets, as well as some Internet - Video boxes , and the same applies. Flaky, to say the best. My impression is the apps are just thrown together, and as long as it just barely works, under really ideal conditions, then its released. In the case of stand-alone things, its probably even worse, those things are only meant to do one ( or a most a few ) jobs, and at a severely limited price.
Yeah, I am beginning to understand why the TV boxes are so cheap. The Android phone stuff a friend uses works very well. Unlike this TV box.
Oh well, if it does half of what the ads promise it could be worth the $60 paid. It does play Youtube videos nicely and that's what I wanted most. Because TV just ain't worth much since it became digital.
I'd just like to find out some tricks. Like how to make it show up on the LAN so I can push files over instead of carrying them on a USB stick. Plugging in the stick makes the whole screen flicker a lot until you press ESC a lot.
an android box is just a smartphone that can't make calls
love my chromecast, it plugs into hdmi (power via usb) and any smart phone on the same wifi can use the tv as display
However, the stability of the apps seems to be worse on this TV box when compared to friends who have Samsung and HTC phones.
Some things are great on the TV box. I just watched a nice clip of a mountain biker tearing down a trail I sometimes also use. Fun. That way my wife who doesn't ride can see where I am riding despite the fact that I don't wear a helmet camera.
A PLEX server can do that if you can find a PLEX app for the Box. My Roku has a PLEX app, but my Samsung Blu-ray player does not.
Cheers
Android apps probably require a Google club membershiop sign-up and I'd like to not have to do that.
I just bit the bullet and signed up. Downloaded the Skype app. The "permissions" alone make my neck hair stand up but oh well, it's just a TV device. I'd never agree to that on a phone.
Anyhow, updated to the latest Skype app. Result: Skype works on the PC. On the Android device with the very same login parameter it ... does not work.
Had a chat with Microsoft about it, couldn't solve it. If my designs had that sort of reliablitity I'd be somewhere else now.
Some have bluetooth, so I can use them with the MagicJack app to make or receive calls, on my acount.
My new Octacore OTT Box arrived yesterday.
I watched some old movies, and some TV shows that I had missed, starting a few minutes after I opened the package. I watched for over five hours without a glitch. I use the HDMI input on one of my computer monitors, so I can still use a computer on another monitor.
I haven't installed the same add-ons that are on the old quad core box. Some of the add-ons didn't work on the older box because of version conflicts in Python. If all else fails, you can download the PC version of KODI for your desktop or laptop.
...
I just stream it off my home web server (my router/gateway as well). Doesn't everybody have a web server at home? I also use it to develop and test other apps.
Exactly, and the newer TVs have Chromecast built-in. I've only so far used it to stream YouTube videos from my Android phone.
Michael
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