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morock
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jun 2018 07:44
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Now that hockey is done, there isn’t much on the rabbit ears. I’m able to download Netflix shows on my Android phone at home and take them with me. Using a cheap Roku stick plugged into the tv I can cast my phone screen to the TV. This works without having wifi. AppleTV and chrome cast both require a wifi network to work. It is a little frustrating to get it going, but once you get the hang of it. Its awesome on a rainy weekend  .
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jun 2018 09:35 - Edited by: Wilbour
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Well this is news to me!
I have a chromecast and was disappointed that they only work over your home WiFi.
You say Roku does this without home wifi?
I will definitely look into this.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jun 2018 10:47
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Well it looks like one can mirror your screen to watch what's playing on your 'droid. All this through local wifi.
If this tech works, one can just download your movie/tv content to your phone and take it to camp when you go. When you play the media on your phone it simulcasts onto the TV screen.
Now in my case the TV is not a whole lot better than watching my phone since the TV is so small. But not having to hold the phone to watch leaves both hands free to eat chips.
I likey 
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Borrego
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jun 2018 11:43
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Well this is great news!!!
I will check it out, thanks for posting this!
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morock
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jun 2018 14:13
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Sorry it’s a little confusing, that you don’t need a wifi network but the connection is actually wifi. Its called wifi direct, which just means it point to point....no router. This is not restricted to Netflix either, obviously.
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Borrego
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jun 2018 15:37
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Quoting: morock Its called wifi direct, which just means it point to point....no router
Do you need any special equipment...? Besides Roku or Firestick or similar.....
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jun 2018 15:53 - Edited by: Wilbour
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Tiny fellow, no?
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jun 2018 15:56 - Edited by: Wilbour
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Got one on hold from Kijiji. This could be a game changer
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morock
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jun 2018 17:00
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Borrego- I’m using an old ( 4 years) roku stick I had laying around. That’s it. Mind you, it has an HDMI output. So you need a tv from this century. All android phones support wifi direct now. Good luck.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jun 2018 17:38
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Quoting: morock Mind you, it has an HDMI output
There are some fancy Rokus that come with an output for older TV's that only accept RCA type connectors.
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Borrego
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jun 2018 17:41
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Is Roku the same as an Amazon Firestick?
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Whiskey Jack
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jun 2018 02:07
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We've been doing this since last fall. We just download onto my laptop since our bunkie is only 108 sq ft. Can't get very far from the screen if you try.
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RiverCabin
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jun 2018 09:08
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Amazon Prime has the same capability and that's what we use.
Using a cheap ($49) Kindle HD Fire 7, you can download movies available on Amazon Prime. If you are not on wifi, you have 48 hours to watch the movie from when you start watching. HDMI out cables are available for the Kindle Fire and I understand you can also link it with an Amazon Forestick.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jun 2018 14:07
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Looks like google will let you do this too
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Borrego
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jun 2018 14:36
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Quoting: Wilbour Looks like google will let you do this too
And I assume Youtube etc... as well? This really good news! Already looking forward to next season...
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2018 15:36
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Here's what I learned so far.
Each iteration of Android calls "Casting" different things. Casting, mirroring , smart view ect.
My Samsung A8 calls it Smart View and when I enable it from the notification bar, everything on my phone shows up on my Roku. With the exception of Google content I bought and downloaded.
In order to play that I had to load the Google Movies app on my Roku and watch it from there. But I could only see the last show that was playing on my phone. Therefore I have to start watching an episode on my phone the open the app on the Roku.
As for YouTube. I'm not sure about watching a video off-line. They don't mind you casting to a tv but the video source cannot be downloaded previously. Yes there are ways to do this but I don't believe YouTube offers a solution.
Bear in mind that I have had success here at home but have yet to try this at the cabin where there is not a router. In that instance I will have to rely on the direct communication of phone and stick.
This sort of entertainment is not for the folks who hate experimenting. Each Android and TV react differentially so you must try different options
Good luck
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 24 Jun 2018 12:56
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Well there are some surprising results. I was eventually able to watch a video I downloaded from the internet using the built in player on my android phone and mirror or cast it to my Roku. Took a lot of messing around.
What stumped me is playing a purchased tv show from Google Movies. I had downloaded it from home but could not get the Google Movie channel on the Roku stick to see my phone (latter turned out to be my Google account)
If I turned on Tethering I could connect the two and was able to view the purchased show. I believe it is playing the file from my phone as it only offers what was recently being viewed on the phone but I'm not positive.
If I cancel tethering the video ends. So the question is, is the video truly streaming from my phones memory or is it still using my data to access the file from Google?
It could be that the connection has to be maintained as just a handshake in order to validate the stream so severing the tethering breaks the handshake and ends the video.
I definitely don't want to use my phone data to watch a movie I specifically downloaded at home.
This all ended up being MUCH more difficult than I had hoped.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 24 Jun 2018 14:46
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I ended up running a test with Google movies only to see that it indeed used almost a gigabite of data using my phones hotspot.
Too bad we just cannot pay for and watch it off-line.
There are alternatives but....
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creeky
Member
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# Posted: 24 Jun 2018 18:34
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Can you copy your movie to a usb stick and plug it into your TV?
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 24 Jun 2018 21:15
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I wish I could. The TV is a small RCA tv that specifically says that the USB port is for service updated only.
Otherwise that would have been a great option
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 14 Jul 2018 20:31
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Well I have tried a few other solutions. I ordered an Android box for $29 +tax with free 2 day shipping. Nice.
The box let's you run a portable hard drive with all my recorded tv shows and movies I record with a homebrew PVR. It also has all my music on it as well. That worked out well.
I signed up for Netflix and was able to download a show and Smart View it to the Roku. Apparently Netflix doesn't mind if you mirror a screen from your phone to a tv at the same time. Something Google won't let you do.
I'll be honest, paying for something and watching it this way is quite frustrating. It's easier to find less than honest ways to view a movie and it shouldn't like that.
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Borrego
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jul 2018 13:12
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Quoting: Wilbour I ordered an Android box for $29 +tax with free 2 day shipping. Nice. The box let's you run a portable hard drive with all my recorded tv shows and movies I record with a homebrew PVR. It also has all my music on it as well. That worked out well.
So this the 'solution'?! Can you share the brand of box and where you got it?
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jul 2018 16:55
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Online from Prime Cables. ca MXQ 4K
Promo $29 with free shipping with $29 order. All Canadian.
It's not the latest Pro version but it handles playback of prerecoreded shows well.
It had an alternate media player called KD which I believe copied the code from Kodi. When I tried to install kodi Google said it was already on the box. I uninstalled KD Player and was able to install a fresh copy of Kodi.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jul 2018 17:03
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I hope this helps. Definitely not a simple solution as you must have a copy of your shows on a usb drive or portable hard drive.
Most offices have a coworker who can help you out with obtaining the media, wink wink.
I don't go that route because I have a lot of TV shows I record and save at home.
Oh by the way. I tried casting to my Roku with my Samsung A8 and it dropped connection about 5 times on a 45min period. This little fellow will be going back on Kijiji when I get back home. Why do companies make it so hard to do this stuff the honest way?
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Borrego
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jul 2018 18:57
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Quoting: Wilbour Definitely not a simple solution as you must have a copy of your shows on a usb drive or portable hard drive.
Guess I'm confused....I thought that the Droid Box 'was' the external hard drive......?
Shouldn't be so hard to record a show and take it our to the cabin, plug it in to the TV and hit 'play'.....
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jul 2018 21:24
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Most droid boxes have very limited space. I guess you could put a movie or two on it but a portable hard drive works well. Bonus is having all my music with me. That alone is about 1500 songs.
Hard to record and play? Well not for me. Bear in mind my tv is really cheap so it cannot play video by itself.
Funny. As I write this an ad for my droid box is displayed on the web page
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Brian Ray
Member
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# Posted: 16 Jul 2018 18:24 - Edited by: Brian Ray
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We found a solution that works nicely for us.
At our primary residence, we use Playon https://www.playon.tv/ to record Netflix and Amazon .mp4 video to a portable hard drive. At the cabin, we play the videos on a Western Digital media player called WD TV. The WD TV has both HDMI and RCA outputs. My WD TV is an older unit, I’m sure there are newer alternatives on the market.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 16 Jul 2018 20:50
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I was gonna buy a used WD TV but couldn't pass up on the $29 deal
Playon you say... hmmm.
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Borrego
Member
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# Posted: 17 Jul 2018 18:51
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Yep, $29 Lifetime license right now instead of $69. I sent them an email asking if it will do what I need. We'll see what they say, but sounds good. Could be the answer we've all been looking for....
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Brian Ray
Member
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# Posted: 17 Jul 2018 20:06
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For the most part Playon has been reliable for me, but there is one minor annoyance. During the first and last few seconds of the recording, a screen pops up stating who the video was recorded by. Maybe an attempt at reducing piracy?
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