Connect TV to internet via WiFi - newbie needs help

[taotoo]

Assuming that I have

• A 3BB internet connection with stock 4 channel WiFi router
• A TV with a HDMI port

 

Can I

• Put the TV in my bedroom, while having the router in a different room
• Watch YouTube on the TV (can be preset to the Sky News stream - I don't need to browse).
• By buying some sort of box? (android? chromecast? something else?)

 

Any tips appreciated!

[WorriedNoodle]

Yes to all the above. Since the TV is not smart (i.e. no internet access by itself) then attaching item #3 in your list is essential.

[taotoo]

5 minutes ago, WorriedNoodle said:

Yes to all the above. Since the TV is not smart (i.e. no internet access by itself) then attaching item #3 in your list is essential.

 

Thanks - any idea of what box I should buy (I don't have any experience of this sort of thing)?

[WorriedNoodle]

It's been a couple of years since I bought a Minix Neo X8-H but any similar spec generic Android box might fit your needs. Latest models can handle 4K streams but I have no chance of that on my internet speeds. Lucky to get a good 720p stream at best. 

[taotoo]

4 hours ago, WorriedNoodle said:

It's been a couple of years since I bought a Minix Neo X8-H but any similar spec generic Android box might fit your needs. Latest models can handle 4K streams but I have no chance of that on my internet speeds. Lucky to get a good 720p stream at best. 

 

Thank you, that's very useful as a starting point. Will see what's available similar to the Minix. 720p's good enough for me - the TV's a plasma at only 1024 x 768, but 720p satellite broadcasts look great on it, to my eyes at least.

[thedemon]

I have bought a couple of these and they seem fine. The Lazada price is only slightly higher than ordering from China.

 

http://www.lazada.co.th/mxq-pro-smart-box-android-51-amlogic-s905-4k-quad-core-64bit1gb8gb-by-egreat-7394419.html?boost=1

[Chicog]

IF you want TV over Wifi, you should go for 802.11n or 802.11ac.

Better to use an Android box or even better an Amazon Fire TV Stick.

[taotoo]

12 hours ago, thedemon said:

I have bought a couple of these and they seem fine. The Lazada price is only slightly higher than ordering from China.

 

http://www.lazada.co.th/mxq-pro-smart-box-android-51-amlogic-s905-4k-quad-core-64bit1gb8gb-by-egreat-7394419.html?boost=1

 

Thanks - looks good. To watch YouTube would I just install the YouTube app?

[taotoo]

22 minutes ago, Chicog said:

IF you want TV over Wifi, you should go for 802.11n or 802.11ac.

Better to use an Android box or even better an Amazon Fire TV Stick.

 

Thanks - apparently I have N so hopefully that's okay.

 

Does the Amazon Fire give me anything over a generic Android box?

[thedemon]

1 hour ago, taotoo said:

 

Thanks - looks good. To watch YouTube would I just install the YouTube app?

 

Yes you can do that. There are other ways too e.g. install KODI and use a youtube addon.

[taotoo]

10 minutes ago, thedemon said:

 

Yes you can do that. There are other ways too e.g. install KODI and use a youtube addon.

 

Thanks - suspect I'll keep it simple and use the YouTube app. Gonna see if I can get one of these boxes locally today.

[BrainLife]

Check PM

[sandrabbit]

bought the Leotech X2 stick android device today for a 1000 baht, already had their larger android box with hard drive interface. the best app for tv is mobdro and it only works on android, it used to work on pc's with win using an android emulator but since mobdro updated to version 2.019 it's stopped working. mobdro has all the premium movie and sports channels and literally has 100's of channels but can be changed to language specific in settings. the x2  stick is a bit of a pain to set up if you have no android experience (it's not a usb stick it plugs into the hdmi socket) and it's made easier if have you have a wireless kbd/mouse with an usb interface as the remote that comes with it is hard work. for uk tv just use filmon.tv website for free to air channels.  you can install kodi on a pc if you don't want to use an android device but personally I find the interface clunky and think it's worse than setting up an android device. if you buy a Thai made android device like the Leotech stuff it will be set up in Thai and most apps will be Thai so you'll need someone to translate to convert it to English..

 

Good Luck

Edited October 28, 2016 by sandrabbit

[ttl]

Have a look  at TOT  iptv box set up

fairly new,versastile system they say.800bt per month ,incodes fibre,with add on available 

for an extra 390bt per month

Really need an opinion from an expert which I am not

Comments please

[PoorSucker]

I use a cheap android box from Lazada.

Like this one.

 

http://www.lazada.co.th/android-smart-box-mxq-pro-uhd-4k-64bit-octa-core-ram-1gb-ddr3android-lollipop-51-7265284.html

 

As I have a 200 MB line I use a cable to the router instead of WiFi.

[sandrabbit]

4 minutes ago, ttl said:

Have a look  at TOT  iptv box set up

fairly new,versastile system they say.800bt per month ,incodes fibre,with add on available 

for an extra 390bt per month

Really need an opinion from an expert which I am not

Comments please

You might as well buy a digital terrestrial tv box as it only shows Thai tv channels in Thai, channels like Mono 29 have dual language with a lot of English content and a few of them show European football on a Saturday in dual language on dtv. We had the TOT box more than 3 years ago when it was free and we gave it back when they wanted to start charging about 2 years ago, I think you can get all the channels over the internet as freeview anyway. Another option is the IPM satellite system which has a few movie channels in English and it's subscription free although you only have Royal tv same as terrestrial tv on it at the moment.

[sandrabbit]

This is what I bought today for 1000Baht and it has an usb port so a mouse or kb can be connected although it does run quite hot and seems a bargain going buy Lazada price

 

http://www.lazada.co.th/leotech-smart-box-x2-stick-android-tv-502549.html?boost=2

 

and this is what I bought a while back for about 3200Baht I think.

 

https://www.appdisqus.com/2013/12/24/review-leotech-smartbox-x2-storage-android-box.html

 

I recommend both but as previously said they are set up in Thai

[Chicog]

4 hours ago, taotoo said:

 

Thanks - apparently I have N so hopefully that's okay.

 

Does the Amazon Fire give me anything over a generic Android box?

 

Portability more than anything else. Otherwise it runs Kodi same as the Android.

But it's cheap.

And you can power it off USB to free up a power socket.

[dotpoom]

On 10/27/2016 at 4:15 PM, WorriedNoodle said:

It's been a couple of years since I bought a Minix Neo X8-H but any similar spec generic Android box might fit your needs. Latest models can handle 4K streams but I have no chance of that on my internet speeds. Lucky to get a good 720p stream at best. 

 

And I thought I was well advanced connecting my computer to TV with a HDM1 cable?

[taotoo]

4 hours ago, sandrabbit said:

bought the Leotech X2 stick android device today for a 1000 baht, already had their larger android box with hard drive interface. the best app for tv is mobdro and it only works on android, it used to work on pc's with win using an android emulator but since mobdro updated to version 2.019 it's stopped working. mobdro has all the premium movie and sports channels and literally has 100's of channels but can be changed to language specific in settings. the x2  stick is a bit of a pain to set up if you have no android experience (it's not a usb stick it plugs into the hdmi socket) and it's made easier if have you have a wireless kbd/mouse with an usb interface as the remote that comes with it is hard work. for uk tv just use filmon.tv website for free to air channels.  you can install kodi on a pc if you don't want to use an android device but personally I find the interface clunky and think it's worse than setting up an android device. if you buy a Thai made android device like the Leotech stuff it will be set up in Thai and most apps will be Thai so you'll need someone to translate to convert it to English..

 

Good Luck

 

Thanks - that looks like another good option. I've always had Android phones, so have some experience of it. Kodi probably overkill for me. If the box is Thai I can probably figure it out. Anyway this is all very useful as I'm getting an idea of how it works now.

[taotoo]

4 hours ago, ttl said:

Have a look  at TOT  iptv box set up

fairly new,versastile system they say.800bt per month ,incodes fibre,with add on available 

for an extra 390bt per month

Really need an opinion from an expert which I am not

Comments please

 

Thanks - I think I looked at that in the past, but if I'm going to pay a monthly fee I'd probably just get True, but to be honest only really need a UK news channel.

[taotoo]

3 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

I use a cheap android box from Lazada.

Like this one.

 

http://www.lazada.co.th/android-smart-box-mxq-pro-uhd-4k-64bit-octa-core-ram-1gb-ddr3android-lollipop-51-7265284.html

 

As I have a 200 MB line I use a cable to the router instead of WiFi.

 

Thanks - that looks like it's the same box as mentioned earlier - so that's two recommendations for it.

[taotoo]

3 hours ago, sandrabbit said:

You might as well buy a digital terrestrial tv box as it only shows Thai tv channels in Thai, channels like Mono 29 have dual language with a lot of English content and a few of them show European football on a Saturday in dual language on dtv. We had the TOT box more than 3 years ago when it was free and we gave it back when they wanted to start charging about 2 years ago, I think you can get all the channels over the internet as freeview anyway. Another option is the IPM satellite system which has a few movie channels in English and it's subscription free although you only have Royal tv same as terrestrial tv on it at the moment.

 

Yes I think with satellite for me it's pretty much True or some Burmese option. It's the lack of current coverage options that's prompted me to look at this.

[taotoo]

3 hours ago, sandrabbit said:

This is what I bought today for 1000Baht and it has an usb port so a mouse or kb can be connected although it does run quite hot and seems a bargain going buy Lazada price

 

http://www.lazada.co.th/leotech-smart-box-x2-stick-android-tv-502549.html?boost=2

 

and this is what I bought a while back for about 3200Baht I think.

 

https://www.appdisqus.com/2013/12/24/review-leotech-smartbox-x2-storage-android-box.html

 

I recommend both but as previously said they are set up in Thai

 

Thanks for the additional options - will take a look at them.

[taotoo]

2 hours ago, Chicog said:

 

Portability more than anything else. Otherwise it runs Kodi same as the Android.

But it's cheap.

And you can power it off USB to free up a power socket.

 

Does it run Kodi by default, or do you have to mess around getting it going? And is it Android?

[DogNo1]

I use wireless for my notebooks and then run an HDMI cable to the TV to keep from using up bandwidth.  In my hotel many users are put on the same node so there's not much bandwidth available.  If you only have two wireless devices running, eg. your computer and the Fire TV Stick, you should have plenty of bandwidth available but people who share bandwidth in a building should be aware that limited bandwidth results in very slow streaming.  BTW, you can access youtube just by opening www.youtube.com in your browser. 

[taotoo]

2 minutes ago, DogNo1 said:

I use wireless for my notebooks and then run an HDMI cable to the TV to keep from using up bandwidth.  In my hotel many users are put on the same node so there's not much bandwidth available.  If you only have two wireless devices running, eg. your computer and the Fire TV Stick, you should have plenty of bandwidth available but people who share bandwidth in a building should be aware that limited bandwidth results in very slow streaming.  BTW, you can access youtube just by opening www.youtube.com in your browser. 

 

In my case I'm at home and seem to have a 16mb connection. There's just a PC, phone, and the Android box, but only one would get used at a time, so hopefully bandwidth won't be an issue.

 

Yes I just watched a video for one of these boxes and saw that they have Chrome as well as the YouTube app and kodi etc.

[gandalf12]

9 hours ago, Chicog said:

IF you want TV over Wifi, you should go for 802.11n or 802.11ac.

Better to use an Android box or even better an Amazon Fire TV Stick.

802.11ac would be the best choice. It will have a longer life

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 hours ago, taotoo said:

 

Does it run Kodi by default, or do you have to mess around getting it going? And is it Android?

 

Amazon has just come out with a new 2nd gen version of their Fire TV stick. It retails from Amazon for $40 online, comes with its own voice-capable remote control, and is a great deal, IF you're an American with access to Amazon or from one of the European countries (UK, Germany, a few others) where Amazon has an online presence.

 

Basically, it's a small HDMI stick that plugs into the HDMI slot on your TV, runs its own apps and operating system, and includes wifi capability so it connects to the wifi signal from your router. The device's main purpose is to serve as an access point to Amazon's many online services, such as Amazon Prime Instant Video, Amazon Prime Music, etc etc.

 

But, Amazon also has its own app store for its Fire TV devices, so you download other free apps directly from there for the device such as for YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and many others. Right now, there is NOT an official Kodi app available in the Amazon app store, but the official Kodi app can be sideloaded and used on the Amazon Fire TV device, as can some but not all regular Android/Google Play Store apps. (The Amazon Fire TV devices run a Amazon modified version of Android).

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZV9RDKK/

 

If you're someone who has access to an internet connection that shows you as being in the U.S., U.K., Germany, etc. and thus are able to use Amazon's own online services such as Instant Video (which are only available to internet addresses in certain countries, not as yet including Thailand), then the Fire TV stick is probably the best value streaming device deal on the market. But if you're not from one of those areas, don't have access to an Amazon account and simply want to run regular Android apps such as Youtube, then a regular Android device is probably a better choice.

 

BTW, another similar but not geographically limited approach to the same end is to buy a similarly low-cost Google Chromecast device, which also is an HDMI dongle that plugs into your TV and also provides it with a wifi connection. Once installed, the Chromecast allows you to play Youtube and other online content to your TV from your computer's browser, from an Android tablet, and even from an Android phone.

 

One difference between the two is the Amazon Fire TV stick is basically running and showing its own operating system on your TV, whereas the Chromecast is basically just mirroring to your TV the web content you're already playing elsewhere on your computer, tablet, smartphone, etc. But the Chromecast doesn't have the same kind of geographic/location limitations as does the Fire TV, which can only be used in conjunction with an Amazon.com account.

 

https://www.google.com/intl/en_us/chromecast/tv/chromecast/

 

Edited October 28, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Chicog]

1 hour ago, gandalf12 said:

802.11ac would be the best choice. It will have a longer life

 

Or even 802.11ad 

 

(joking! joking!).