Streaming computer signal to TV?

[balo]

I tried before but it ended up in a mess.

I just use a cable to the TV from laptop , external drive and a wifi keyboard . Why make it more complicated than it is?  

 

[JHolmesJr]

2 hours ago, SoiBiker said:

…good luck setting up Kodi...

 

LOL…from what I've seen of kenny202, kodi seems out.

 

The first rule in setting up this kind of system is simplicity.

 

Either use your macbook and chromecast.

 

Or forget the macbook and get another dedicated computer (aka android box) that is permanently connected to tv….download the ILIKEHD app and stay with it….will have thai tv plus all the usual farang tv choices.

[SoiBiker]

13 minutes ago, balo said:

I tried before but it ended up in a mess.

I just use a cable to the TV from laptop , external drive and a wifi keyboard . Why make it more complicated than it is?  

 

 

How is that less complicated than just plugging one tiny device into your TV's HDMI port?

[bino]

I use an android box, with the Netflix app. Works well.

 

Additionally, if you have media stored on your computer, you can access it with a free app called "ES File Explorer".

 

You will need to public share your media folder, and assign a fixed IP to the PC. Once this is done, ES File Explorer can find your PC and stream the media directly. When you open the media in ES File Explorer, you are presented with a choice of all the media players on your android box to play the video on your TV.

[partington]

I think most, if not all, replying here do not have a Mac, and so the advice  may not be absolutely applicable to your situation, as Macs and android often have a slight problem interacting.

 

I can tell you what worked for me (2016 macbook, running El Capitan,  non smart TV with cheap Lazada android box MXQ Pro Android 5.1 Lollipop UHD TV Box 4K  price 2,200B bought last year plugged in with HDMI cable), but again, your Mac is old and this relies on the Mac having Airplay on its display preferences (which I am not sure models from 2009 did).

 

So this box comes with a pre installed app called MediaCenter. When you open this it will have a menu item called "Airplayer- support for ios network display." 

 

When you click this it displays an on-off clickable switch "Start Airplay - Start service when start apk."

 

When switched on, and when you have Airplay switched on on your Mac, simply choosing Airplay from the menubar of the Mac will show the android box as a device, and choosing it will mirror your screen wirelessly via the android box.  Movies played on any player on the Mac full screen will be perfectly rendered on the TV.

What's more in YouTube under each video is an Airplay symbol, and you can mirror Youtube videos directly from the Youtube site to the TV. Where the video would play in the YouTube page is a black screen with  a "video playing on Media center device" message.

 

Kodi is advertised as being compatible with Airplay, and within kodi you can switch on Airplay Services but it does not work at all with the current version of Kodi and it is not going to be fixed.

 

However within Kodi there is a second way to play media from a Mac , however this is not screen mirroring, and will play media files from the Mac hard drive or any external drive plugged into the Mac.  Briefly, you turn on file sharing on the Mac [under Filesharing in System Preferences] and choose the folder or external drive(s) you want to share. Then in kodi turn on  zeroconf  announce services to other systems under System then Services menu (there is also a setting here to turn on Airplay, you can turn it on also but Airplay will never work):  under Systems then File manager, choose add source. A  choose source  menu appears with a browse button. Clicking browse displays a menu with zeroconf as one choice. Clicking on this should show your Mac on the network, and clicking on the Mac  name should show the folders you have set as shared. Choose each one, click on it,  and then navigate to OK to set it as a remembered media source.  

 

The shared folders will then show up on the first menu you get when you choose File manager from the Systems menu item on the kodi home page. Clicking on these will display your video files and these will play directly on your TV wirelessly from your mac to the android box plugged into TV.

 

Here you can use a free app called Yatse which when downloaded onto your android phone will work as a complete remote to control all the functions of Kodi, wirelessly.

 

Again this refers to a 2016 Mac....I have no idea what the file sharing settings on a 2009 Mac will do. This works for me though.

 

 

EDIT: I just checked and Airplay mirroring from Macs wasn't available until 2011.  So your Mac almost certainly isn't Airplay capable, and the Airplay section above won't work for you. Check any device you buy doesn't specify you need an Airplay capable Mac for mirroring.

Edited August 21, 2016 by partington

[SoiBiker]

I use a Mac. Works smoothly with Chromecast, which is why I recommended it. 

[Chicog]

1 hour ago, SoiBiker said:

I use a Mac. Works smoothly with Chromecast, which is why I recommended it. 

 

Out of interest, does the Mac support the Chrome browser with Videostream extension?

Or do Apple block it?

[mtls2005]

That Yatse app. is pretty cool. Thanks (Need a fixed IP on my android box.)

 

And thanks for the reminder about the Chrome extension (Google Cast) which allows you to cast from a PC (or MAC) to my Chromecast. 1080p content on Youtube looks brilliant.

 

I should be able to also cast to my android box using that browser extension, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet.

 

Out of interest, does the Mac support the Chrome browser with Videostream extension?

 

Yes. if you're using Chrome browser just add the Google Cast extension. It works fine.

Edited August 21, 2016 by mtls2005

[SoiBiker]

1 hour ago, Chicog said:

 

Out of interest, does the Mac support the Chrome browser with Videostream extension?

Or do Apple block it?

 

Chrome works just fine. I've never used the Videostream extension, but I can't imagine why (or even how) Apple would block it. Most of my content is streamed from a linux box server via Plex, but if I need to stream a video from the Mac itself I just drag it into a chrome tab and use the Google Cast extension to send it to the Chromecast. 

[Kenny202]

6 hours ago, SoiBiker said:

If you can't work a forum, good luck setting up Kodi...

Jesus you're a miserable ahole. Always lurking around with a nasty or negative comment. Never any positive advice or anything useful. You are a total ckhead

[SoiBiker]

4 minutes ago, Kenny202 said:

Jesus you're a miserable ahole. Always lurking around with a nasty or negative comment. Never any positive advice or anything useful. You are a total ckhead

 

Just poking a little fun at you, dude. Don't be so sensitive. 

 

Seriously, though, Kodi is great if you have a lot of time on your hands. But there are much simpler solutions. I used to swear by it, but I barely touch it any more. 

[Kenny202]

4 hours ago, partington said:

I think most, if not all, replying here do not have a Mac, and so the advice  may not be absolutely applicable to your situation, as Macs and android often have a slight problem interacting.

 

I can tell you what worked for me (2016 macbook, running El Capitan,  non smart TV with cheap Lazada android box MXQ Pro Android 5.1 Lollipop UHD TV Box 4K  price 2,200B bought last year plugged in with HDMI cable), but again, your Mac is old and this relies on the Mac having Airplay on its display preferences (which I am not sure models from 2009 did).

 

So this box comes with a pre installed app called MediaCenter. When you open this it will have a menu item called "Airplayer- support for ios network display." 

 

When you click this it displays an on-off clickable switch "Start Airplay - Start service when start apk."

 

When switched on, and when you have Airplay switched on on your Mac, simply choosing Airplay from the menubar of the Mac will show the android box as a device, and choosing it will mirror your screen wirelessly via the android box.  Movies played on any player on the Mac full screen will be perfectly rendered on the TV.

What's more in YouTube under each video is an Airplay symbol, and you can mirror Youtube videos directly from the Youtube site to the TV. Where the video would play in the YouTube page is a black screen with  a "video playing on Media center device" message.

 

Kodi is advertised as being compatible with Airplay, and within kodi you can switch on Airplay Services but it does not work at all with the current version of Kodi and it is not going to be fixed.

 

However within Kodi there is a second way to play media from a Mac , however this is not screen mirroring, and will play media files from the Mac hard drive or any external drive plugged into the Mac.  Briefly, you turn on file sharing on the Mac [under Filesharing in System Preferences] and choose the folder or external drive(s) you want to share. Then in kodi turn on  zeroconf  announce services to other systems under System then Services menu (there is also a setting here to turn on Airplay, you can turn it on also but Airplay will never work):  under Systems then File manager, choose add source. A  choose source  menu appears with a browse button. Clicking browse displays a menu with zeroconf as one choice. Clicking on this should show your Mac on the network, and clicking on the Mac  name should show the folders you have set as shared. Choose each one, click on it,  and then navigate to OK to set it as a remembered media source.  

 

The shared folders will then show up on the first menu you get when you choose File manager from the Systems menu item on the kodi home page. Clicking on these will display your video files and these will play directly on your TV wirelessly from your mac to the android box plugged into TV.

 

Here you can use a free app called Yatse which when downloaded onto your android phone will work as a complete remote to control all the functions of Kodi, wirelessly.

 

Again this refers to a 2016 Mac....I have no idea what the file sharing settings on a 2009 Mac will do. This works for me though.

 

 

EDIT: I just checked and Airplay mirroring from Macs wasn't available until 2011.  So your Mac almost certainly isn't Airplay capable, and the Airplay section above won't work for you. Check any device you buy doesn't specify you need an Airplay capable Mac for mirroring.

No. I mentioned that before. Mac pre 2011 actually has airplay audio and that works great streaming music to my stereo etc but not airplay video capable. Otherwise I probably would have bought an apple TV.

 

Having said that, Samsung tablets etc don't have airplay and apparently can connect to the Android box albeit Im not 100% sure how, over wifi? I assume the Mac should have the same capabilities as the Samsung tab?

 

The unit I bought was the MXQ as someone mentioned. Comes highly recommended and seems to have tons of features so should do the job. There is a good You tube video showing how to set up to get around a few of it's quirks with initial set up. If not for 750 baht I'll toss it and try Chromecast.

[SoiBiker]

Android devices - and other devices - can stream to each other using UPnP. BubbleUpnP is a pretty decent app for this, but a lot of others support it too, including Kodi. 

[mojorison]

I'll give you my latest IT enigma. I've got a dedicated plex server, dual xeon, 30 TB raid array, 256GB ram, nic teaming Cisco 10G network. Designed to serve media to a large radius. 50 simultaneous transcodes no problems, and hundreds of direct plays. However in my home I have a LG web os2 TV, that I presently either remote web view it or Chromecast it (over gigabit lan.) Plex serves locally and remotely from a 127.*.*.* local server address to a Plex.tv browser interface. It is smart enough to know what's remote and what's not. It's very slick software. LG supposedly have a Plex app, which would mean no browsers and chromecast. And a lower system requirement on the TV. But it's not in the LG app store. Where oh where can it be. It's on the Plex site, and on the LG Thai site saying is available. But I can't find it. Any one else use it this way?

[Chicog]

11 hours ago, Kenny202 said:

 

24 minutes ago, mojorison said:

I'll give you my latest IT enigma. I've got a dedicated plex server, dual xeon, 30 TB raid array, 256GB ram, nic teaming Cisco 10G network. Designed to serve media to a large radius. 50 simultaneous transcodes no problems, and hundreds of direct plays. However in my home I have a LG web os2 TV, that I presently either remote web view it or Chromecast it (over gigabit lan.) Plex serves locally and remotely from a 127.*.*.* local server address to a Plex.tv browser interface. It is smart enough to know what's remote and what's not. It's very slick software. LG supposedly have a Plex app, which would mean no browsers and chromecast. And a lower system requirement on the TV. But it's not in the LG app store. Where oh where can it be. It's on the Plex site, and on the LG Thai site saying is available. But I can't find it. Any one else use it this way?

 

Ignore Kenny's name, TV leaving residuals in the quote box again <grrrrrrrrrrrr>

Does this help?

"PLEX is now called PLAYz on the LG App Store "

[Scotwight]

6 hours ago, Chicog said:

 

It's not him.

TV is still very unstable.

The posters or the site?

[partington]

49 minutes ago, Kenny202 said:

No. I mentioned that before. Mac pre 2011 actually has airplay audio and that works great streaming music to my stereo etc but not airplay video capable. Otherwise I probably would have bought an apple TV.

 

Having said that, Samsung tablets etc don't have airplay and apparently can connect to the Android box albeit Im not 100% sure how, over wifi? I assume the Mac should have the same capabilities as the Samsung tab?

 

The unit I bought was the MXQ as someone mentioned. Comes highly recommended and seems to have tons of features so should do the job. There is a good You tube video showing how to set up to get around a few of it's quirks with initial set up. If not for 750 baht I'll toss it and try Chromecast.

 Well Samsung Tablet and Android box are both running the Android OS ,  so should be no problem in communication between two Android devices with many Android apps available: Airplay is specifically Apple OS.

 

If you have an MXQ box (quite a lot of generic Chinese boxes are called this  and are not made by the same manufacturer even) then if you try downloading Kodi on it, you could test whether it will see your Mac on the network as I have described. At least you'll be able to play media files wirelessly on the TV then....

[Kenny202]

Yes its an MXQ box. Haven't received it yet but it runs off Kodi or has the app preinstalled anyway. I DL Kodi to my Samsung note this arv and I don't see anywhere where you can select a streaming point or find other Kodi devices or anything like that? Maybe Im misunderstanding something

[Mooner]

If u have a android box u don't need anything else.

Sign in to Netflix on the box and watch. Other apps like kodi or whatever can be added. 

[partington]

16 hours ago, Kenny202 said:

Yes its an MXQ box. Haven't received it yet but it runs off Kodi or has the app preinstalled anyway. I DL Kodi to my Samsung note this arv and I don't see anywhere where you can select a streaming point or find other Kodi devices or anything like that? Maybe Im misunderstanding something

 

I actually went into quite a lot of detail of how in the second part of my post! Mac and Android device (phone) must be on same wifi network.

 

To find , firstly the main home page of kodi when you open the app has a set of main menu items , one of which is called "system".  Underneath this "system" are sub menu items including one called "File Manager"

 

For the first part (after you have turned on "file sharing" in your Mac, and chosen folders/ external hard discs etc to share-if the Mac doesn't have this no point in going further)

 

Click on the main menu  word "System" in Kodi. This opens up a menu that includes video-audio-weather-skin settings and so on. Scrolling to bottom of this menu you see "Services"  . Clicking on this gives a menu including UpnP  - zconf- remote control and so on.  I have described what to do above.

 

When you have switched on zconf, go back to the Kodi main menu home page (by pressing back arrows/navigation button repeatedly) and this time open the sub menu item under "System"  called "File Manager"  . This opens up a double list (A &B.  )of identical items .  Scrolling to the bottom of this list on menu A,  is "Add Source". Click on this and do what I said above.

 

It may take a lot of clicks on the name of your Mac (if it appears on the zconf section you will see if you follow my post above, and shows therefore that your Mac is being seen by Kodi on the network) before the names of the folders/disks you have chosen to share actually appear.  Sometimes I have to keep clicking 5 to 10 times before they appear - I think this is a Mac/Android communication glitch.

 

Once you have entered and stored these file sharing folders in Kodi (by following post above and clicking OK ), then every time you open Kodi, and go to the "File manager" sub menu part these folders will show up on the list that you get by clicking "File manager".  Clicking on the names will open the folders and allow to play what's in them.

 

I am not able to be clearer than that.

[Peterw42]

16 hours ago, Kenny202 said:

Yes its an MXQ box. Haven't received it yet but it runs off Kodi or has the app preinstalled anyway. I DL Kodi to my Samsung note this arv and I don't see anywhere where you can select a streaming point or find other Kodi devices or anything like that? Maybe Im misunderstanding something

 

In System, services, UPnP and DLNA. share this library or be a player etc etc (settings level to expert),.

After you add some movies to your kodi library, you should be able to play movie to tablet PC etc Any other device running kodi server or player.

There is a Mac version so you should be able to play a movie from mac to tablet

[Peterw42]

26 minutes ago, partington said:

 

I actually went into quite a lot of detail of how in the second part of my post! Mac and Android device (phone) must be on same wifi network.

 

To find , firstly the main home page of kodi when you open the app has a set of main menu items , one of which is called "system".  Underneath this "system" are sub menu items including one called "File Manager"

 

For the first part (after you have turned on "file sharing" in your Mac, and chosen folders/ external hard discs etc to share-if the Mac doesn't have this no point in going further)

 

Click on the main menu  word "System" in Kodi. This opens up a menu that includes video-audio-weather-skin settings and so on. Scrolling to bottom of this menu you see "Services"  . Clicking on this gives a menu including UpnP  - zconf- remote control and so on.  I have described what to do above.

 

When you have switched on zconf, go back to the Kodi main menu home page (by pressing back arrows/navigation button repeatedly) and this time open the sub menu item under "System"  called "File Manager"  . This opens up a double list (A &B.  )of identical items .  Scrolling to the bottom of this list on menu A,  is "Add Source". Click on this and do what I said above.

 

It may take a lot of clicks on the name of your Mac (if it appears on the zconf section you will see if you follow my post above, and shows therefore that your Mac is being seen by Kodi on the network) before the names of the folders/disks you have chosen to share actually appear.  Sometimes I have to keep clicking 5 to 10 times before they appear - I think this is a Mac/Android communication glitch.

 

Once you have entered and stored these file sharing folders in Kodi (by following post above and clicking OK ), then every time you open Kodi, and go to the "File manager" sub menu part these folders will show up on the list that you get by clicking "File manager".  Clicking on the names will open the folders and allow to play what's in them.

 

I am not able to be clearer than that.

 

A great explination how to do it all. 

Coudnt you simpify by putting kodi on the Mac (scan local drive, set up a library)and Dlna upnp turned on, share library etc. Kodi on the tablet, Dlna upnp, be a player etc. Then you can just right click a movie on the mac, play using (list of dlna players) kodi on tablet.

Thats how I do it PC to android. Not familiar with Kodi for Mac, possibly it cant do that.

[partington]

8 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

 

A great explination how to do it all. 

Coudnt you simpify by putting kodi on the Mac (scan local drive, set up a library)and Dlna upnp turned on, share library etc. Kodi on the tablet, Dlna upnp, be a player etc. Then you can just right click a movie on the mac, play using (list of dlna players) kodi on tablet.

Thats how I do it PC to android. Not familiar with Kodi for Mac, possibly it cant do that.

 

 

This certainly sounds like it would work fine as well, but never tried it myself because I set it up for my Mac the way I've described and it was OK. 

 

[Peterw42]

I think you ( Partington) are  explaining an airplay setup and I am explaining a DLNA setup. From what I can recall, after turning on all the upnp/dlna settings, one kodi can see another kodi. 

[mojorison]

22 hours ago, Chicog said:

 

Ignore Kenny's name, TV leaving residuals in the quote box again <grrrrrrrrrrrr>

Does this help?

"PLEX is now called PLAYz on the LG App Store "

Yeah, but the Plex is listed on the LG desktop site, playZ isn't... but neither appear in the apt store through the TV's web os. Plex can't be side loaded, but Playz can be. So I'll good that's what I'll do. As I understand it, Simon someone developed an app and called it Plex, Plex said it was okay but change the name. LG on the other hand have only recently approved the official plex app... but I'm buggered if I can find it. It's not a regional thing cos it's on the Thai LG site. The TV is new. So it's a bit of a time waster. I'd prefer the native app, because smart tv browsers are generally sluggish and performance challenged. I'll side load playz, but I don't want to brick the telly...

[Kenny202]

 

I actually went into quite a lot of detail of how in the second part of my post! Mac and Android device (phone) must be on same wifi network.

 

To find , firstly the main home page of kodi when you open the app has a set of main menu items , one of which is called "system".  Underneath this "system" are sub menu items including one called "File Manager"

 

For the first part (after you have turned on "file sharing" in your Mac, and chosen folders/ external hard discs etc to share-if the Mac doesn't have this no point in going further)

 

Click on the main menu  word "System" in Kodi. This opens up a menu that includes video-audio-weather-skin settings and so on. Scrolling to bottom of this menu you see "Services"  . Clicking on this gives a menu including UpnP  - zconf- remote control and so on.  I have described what to do above.

 

When you have switched on zconf, go back to the Kodi main menu home page (by pressing back arrows/navigation button repeatedly) and this time open the sub menu item under "System"  called "File Manager"  . This opens up a double list (A &B.  )of identical items .  Scrolling to the bottom of this list on menu A,  is "Add Source". Click on this and do what I said above.

 

It may take a lot of clicks on the name of your Mac (if it appears on the zconf section you will see if you follow my post above, and shows therefore that your Mac is being seen by Kodi on the network) before the names of the folders/disks you have chosen to share actually appear.  Sometimes I have to keep clicking 5 to 10 times before they appear - I think this is a Mac/Android communication glitch.

 

Once you have entered and stored these file sharing folders in Kodi (by following post above and clicking OK ), then every time you open Kodi, and go to the "File manager" sub menu part these folders will show up on the list that you get by clicking "File manager".  Clicking on the names will open the folders and allow to play what's in them.

 

I am not able to be clearer than that.

Appreciate ur effort and time mate. Thank you very much

[partington]

10 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

I think you ( Partington) are  explaining an airplay setup and I am explaining a DLNA setup. From what I can recall, after turning on all the upnp/dlna settings, one kodi can see another kodi. 

 

 I described Airplay in the first part of my first post, yes, but the second part, and all the subsequent  post describes simply file sharing over the network between Mac and Android , and doesn't involve Airplay at all. It's not mirroring, just adding the Mac to the set of media sources Kodi can use.

[Kenny202]

Ended up buying the android box off Lazada. After 30 mins I rang True vision and cancelled. It's sensational! Easy set up. Most of the main apps installed but easy as pie to add more. Hasn't been a movie or TV show I haven't been able to find. Little bit slower and more clunky than a Truevision box but free and choice of programs is limitless. Added the TV Thailand app so the missus can stream all her Thai channels live. Delighted! We are in the city and have fast True fibre internet connection. I notice tonight though (Friday) streams have been a bit jerky. Must be a high usage time. That's the only limitation. If ur internet speed slows ur frked