Is there a media player or similar software which can display pdf etc files on TV?

Set up media streaming from MCloud to my Pana TV via cable.

Like to extend that for showing pdf files on my TV.

Any media player or like software to do that?

Yes, I know using HDMI from PC to TV can do the job. Since I have the ethernet cable set up already, just want to make use of that too.

Thanks.

That’s why I don’t like ‘smart TV’: you can’t just install any app you like, in this case, Adobe Reader.

So, instead, I have a ‘dumb TV’ and a cheap (£35) Android box. I use it as media player, web browser, email, Facebook, etc. Essentially, it’s a large-screen tablet. I hardly use my PC now…

Sorry, I know that doesn’t really answer your question…

I see.

Call me fussy, I prefer to stick to my big TV for all the viewing. Ha.

Question - with a ethernet to HMDI converter at one cable end to the TV, will that allow me to have the best of both worlds, streaming and also using TV as my PC screen?

 Call me fussy, I prefer to stick to my big TV for all the viewing.

That’s what I do. The Android box has no screen; it is connected via HDMI to the 40" TV. I just use the TV’s input select function when I want to do ‘smart’ stuff.

I’m not sure what you’re hoping an Ethernet to HDMI converter is going to do. You will need to connect the video output of you PC to your TV. You will also need the PC near the TV to allow you to use the mouse and keyboard.

Interested in your set up. I assume you can stream movies etc AND view pdf files on your TV via your setup (just switch to the required channel to select).

AA

Is this the setup you have?

Need a  splitter for 2 lines to the android box and TV (not shown in my diagram)?

BB

Need more infor on your Android box. What is it? Price?

Many thanks for your help.

Cheerio.

My TV has multiple HDMI inputs: most large TVs do. I simply connect the HDMI lead from the Android media box to one of these HDMI inputs, using another input for my Humax PVR.

I connect a cheap optical mouse to one of the USB ports on the Android box. If I need to do a lot of typing, I can swap that for a keyboard.

Mine has an optical spdif output, too, so I can send digital audio streams to an optical DAC, or via HDMI to the TV. Since my TV also has optical spdif output, my digital audio is routed via HDMI, then spdif to my home theatre amp.

It has USB ports that will power a small USB HDD, and, if I rooted the Android, I could run a samba file server, and replace the MyCloud… (Kodi will act as a media server)

It can run the BubbleUPnP Server, which allows me to use the BubbleUPnP media player app remotely.

Being a plain-vanilla Android, it can run whatever media, games, browse, email, social media, catch-up TV, etc apps that are available for it.

For media, I use Kodi, BubbleUPnP or VLC. For PDF, I use adobe reader. Browsing: chrome, Firefox or opera. Email: standard app, yahoo or gmail. As I said, it’s just like a big-screen Android tablet, and will run just about any app you can find on the play store.

There are dozens of these things on the market, shipped from China, or via local resellers.

Google ‘Android media box’ and pick one you like the look of. Mine is called a ‘CS908’, but the same box is given different names, and will have different rom and ram and firmware loads; there is a bit of pot luck involved…

[edit: oops, it’s a CS918]

Many thanks.

I see. I was thinking of getting WD TV. I guess your Android Box serves the same purpose as WD TV.

I got my Samsumg BluRay player for about 5 yrs now and only realised last night that I has some media features in there. Connected to the net for the first time last night. Ha.

Will think it over on how best to set this up. Maybe just upgrade my BluRay player to the latest model and it should have more advanced media features in there.

Going off topic. Sorry.

Cheerio.

 I was thinking of getting WD TV. I guess your Android Box serves the same purpose as WD TV.

Essentially yes. Only a generic Android media box has access to the full range of apps, whereas smart TV, DVD, branded media boxes usually have only a small selection of apps from their closed app source.

The downside is the lack of support for a generic device bought from some random ebay or amazon supplier…

Thanks.

The normal thought is, branded ones will have more features as they have the financial muscle to develop this. Guess I am wrong on this front.

Ruku 3 looks pretty good too with heaps more features than others.

Cheerio.

plumberwd wrote:

Thanks.

 

The normal thought is, branded ones will have more features as they have the financial muscle to develop this. Guess I am wrong on this front.

 

Ruku 3 looks pretty good too with heaps more features than others.

 

Cheerio.

Get an andriod box that has Kodi installed. Kodi has so much more than Ruku or anything else.  I had a WD TV for a while.  Then i tried an amazon fire tv with kodi installed. Kodi is vastly better.

Many thanks!

Will look into this.

Glad to have friendly and helpful forumers here in lighting up the roads to get the best! Reading reviews etc are not that good. Prefer real usage experience.

Cheerio.

It’s good that you got a second recommendation for Kodi. It’s a comprehensive and complex media centre, and I’ve barely scratched the surface of what it can do. I use it only to play Humax recordings I have transferred to the MyCloud (needing no format conversion; it plays the .TS files straight from the Humax), but it can access a huge library of Internet media sources, and control PVR dongles to record programmes for you.

It’s worth pointing out that you can download Kodi, just like any other open source software, so you don’t need to buy a box with it pre-installed. Kodi is also available for many platforms (it started out on the XBox).

http://www.kodi.tv

The other thing to bear in mind is that Kodi (and a huge array of Android apps) is free; the thing you may have missed with your point about ‘corporate funding’ is that open-source software effectively has no financial limit, and bugs are fixed out of pride. Corporations will only fix bugs if there’s a financial incentive to do so.

Things like Roku are ‘walled gardens’, and their real purpose is to sell you services. As you move through Amazon Fire, to Android, to Linux, you get further from that walled garden approach, and further from the ‘sell you stuff’ purpose.

Just remember, Kodi is a media player software. You have to provide your own content.

And most of the free add-ons you find out in the internet are not supported by the Kodi team directly.

Thanks to all for your feedback.

Got a reply from Panasonic as to why I cannot play MP3 song on the TV though MP3 is one of the format ssupported in the hardware.

Reply is, if it is a MP3 converted from another format, then the converted MP3 cannot be used on this TV. Pity.

Like to know whether Kobi differenciates between original and converted file formats (for audio and visual).

Thanks.

Reply is, if it is a MP3 converted from another format, then the converted MP3 cannot be used on this TV

Are you using on-the-fly transcoding (i.e. storing your audio media as, say FLAC, and getting the media server to transcode to MP3 as it streams the track)?

If you’re not doing transcoding during streaming, I don’t see why a file transcoded to MP3 should be seen as different from any other MP3 file (unless there’s some DRM remnant). If you have transcoded from one format ot MP3, what tool did you use?

Audio transcoding is generally done at the raw PCM sample level; i.e. tools do not do some clever conversion direct from one compression format to another. Instead, they decode the original format to PCM samples (i.e. uncompressed WAV format), and then re-compress using a new compressor. So the resulting MP3 file should look no different to any other WAV file that has been compressed directly to MP3.

I suspect the Panasonic support rep is either confused about streaming transcoding, or is making stuff up to close the case; that wouldn’t be a first for customer support reps…

As for the abilities of Kodi, well, it incorporates just about every open-source media CODEC available, and I have never had problem with any transcoded audio files (on any media player I’ve used). I use the LAME MP3 encoder under MediaMonkey to do all my MP3 compression, from WAV, FLAC, AAC (M4A) and WMA.

If you have an Android, Linux, MaxOS X, iOS or Windows device, simply download the FREE Kodi software and try it out.

http://kodi.tv/download/

Are you using on-the-fly transcoding (i.e. storing your audio media as, say FLAC, and getting the media server to transcode to MP3 as it streams the track)?

*** No on the fly transcoding. Just playing an MP3 file. 

Cannot find CS908 in my part of the country (SE Asia). Found this HiMedia H8. Is this H8 similar to CS908 category in being a more versatile unit? It is a Kodi media player.

http://www.himediatech.com/h8core.html

No on the fly transcoding. Just playing an MP3 file. 

Then I don’t see why it should cause a problem. But if it does, then it’s something weird about the Panasonic’s MP3 player.

Cannot find CS908 in my part of the country (SE Asia). 

I had mine shipped from China…

Found this HiMedia H8. Is this H8 similar to CS908 category in being a more versatile unit?

From the limited details (where’s the hardware spec: Ethernet? WiFi? SPDIF? how many and what type of USB? AVout? etc), it looks the right sort of thing. But that’s not a recommendation: I have no experience of it at all.

It is a Kodi media player.

It has Kodi installed. Kodi is just an app that can be downloaded and installed on many platforms, including most ARM-based Android platforms. The fact that it has it pre-installed at least shows that the hardware platform is compatible with Kodi.

Noted and thanks!

H8 is slightly more expensive than Amazon’s CS908. But I like the high processor speed and huge memory in H8. Ha.

Can get this H8 locally and so warranty etc will be easier to handle, if required.

Thanks again for all your help!

It started from your thread on using Twonky to stream from My Cloud to TV. Find your thread very useful. It took me some time to stream from my PC to TV using DIVX. Expected a higher hill to climb to stream from My Cloud due to its security features etc. But with your help, managed to get it done in minutes!

Cheerio.

Glad the Twonky FAQ was of help.

If you take the plunge on the H8, let us know how you get on; it looks, on paper, quite nice.