connect external DVD drive to the note 8? - Galaxy Note 8.0 (Tablet) Q&A, Help & Troubleshooti

Greetings,
I've been planning on buying an external dvd drive for my laptop. I found an interesting feature in samsung slim drives. For example, the samsung SE-208AB has an AV-Connectivity mode that turns the drive into a sort of external HDD! We know that android and the note 8 can already read flash drives via OTG. If this external DVD drive has this external HDD funcitonality, can we in theory connect it to the note 8 and get external DVD rom functionality? here's a you tube video connecting a samsung drive to the nexus 7.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvoyab75QgQ
As an external HDD, the drive is read with files in it so you can't really play the disc as a DVD rom (so no DVD menus I guess) but the VOB and other data files if present can be read. I know that samsung already released a dvd drive (Samsung 218bb) which android devices can detect but the problem there was that there was no app that could recognize DVD, iso formats.
but I recently tried XBMC! and XBMC can read ISO and even NRG images! Tried reading one off of the NAS via WLAN. with this app, is it possible to connect these samsung drives and read them as native roms using XBMC? has anyone tried it?
This is a real deal breaker for me. I don't think that the ASUS or Lite-on external drives have this kind of functionality. If a can get a drive that is read/write for my laptop and potentially "read" (in the least) for the note 8 then this is a no brainer purchase.
So has anyone tried this? Thanks.
UPDATE: after doing some more reading on XDA I found these threads:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2171111
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1086842
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2009186.
There are mixed bits. some say that the note 8 does not support external drives but here there is clearly evidence of external drives being read by android. So is it simply the MHL not supplying enough power in the case of the note 8? in another thread, an external drive with an external power source was suggested while another thread noted that this fried the drive and his note 10? These are all for different devices however. Just want to know if anyone has experience with the note 8 in particular. So far the only video showing this actually works is the you tube video with the nexus 7 shown above.

I own a Samsung Mobile SmartHub <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tsst.app.opticalsmarthub>. It works but in my experience the audio quality SUCKS. Much better to just rip the DVD and stream over standard DLNA.
---------- Post added at 01:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:26 PM ----------
Also, I've never had a USB external DVD drive work with any of my devices (as they would a laptop). Not sure if I've tried on my GN8 though.

Spidey01 said:
I own a Samsung Mobile SmartHub <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tsst.app.opticalsmarthub>. It works but in my experience the audio quality SUCKS. Much better to just rip the DVD and stream over standard DLNA.
---------- Post added at 01:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:26 PM ----------
Also, I've never had a USB external DVD drive work with any of my devices (as they would a laptop). Not sure if I've tried on my GN8 though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh? Thanks for the reply so iI guess video/audio/media playback has better alternatives. but what about reading and copying files off of the dvd while using the AV-connectivity (External HDD) Drive mode? Sometimes at meetings people still have discs instead of flashdrives, the note 8 is already slowly replacing my laptop but lacks this last functionality: reading/copying files off of a local disk. if it could do this than the laptop stays at home completely as the note 8 almost completely replaces it now for presentations, media serving/control and the like. I'll just bring the external disc drive. It's better than still lugging a laptop. Thanks again.

ProjectER said:
the note 8 is already slowly replacing my laptop but lacks this last functionality: reading/copying files off of a local disk. if it could do this than the laptop stays at home completely as the note 8 almost completely replaces it now for presentations, media serving/control and the like. I'll just bring the external disc drive. It's better than still lugging a laptop. Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't say that I've tried it in that mode. Picked up the unit dirt cheap and almost never use it because of the streaming quality. Was so disappointed I basically gave up on it lol.
Using a USB OTG cable it's possible to access FAT and NTFS volumes on USB Mass Storage devices, like flash drives and external HDDs. I'm using the one from my moms Acer A700 but they're quite cheap off Amazon. Sometimes useful. Anything that is exposed like that (class 08h / UMS) should work. Hubs, most HID devices like keyboards and mice also work via the same means. I haven't tried the drive that way, just a little ASUS unit, which doesn't function as a USB mass storage device.
USB OTG works a hell of lot better on my GN8 than my nexuses, and if memory serves tthe optical hub bridges the disc to a FAT based UMS.
At home, rather than use an external hard drive or optical discs, I use DLNA for movies and things like Dropbox/Google Drive for files. I rip my movies with MakeMKV, store them on my server machine (bigger HDDs then my gaming PC), run a DLNA server on that and point an app from my tablet at it. Least pain I've had, give or take Chromecast and video apps. I can get Chromecast to play the content via DLNA as well but where as the Galaxy Note can handle 30 Mbit/s full HD video (Wi-Fi permitting) the Chromecast really should be kept under 3 or 4 Mbit/s.

thanks for the reply
Spidey01 said:
Can't say that I've tried it in that mode. Picked up the unit dirt cheap and almost never use it because of the streaming quality. Was so disappointed I basically gave up on it lol.
Using a USB OTG cable it's possible to access FAT and NTFS volumes on USB Mass Storage devices, like flash drives and external HDDs. I'm using the one from my moms Acer A700 but they're quite cheap off Amazon. Sometimes useful. Anything that is exposed like that (class 08h / UMS) should work. Hubs, most HID devices like keyboards and mice also work via the same means. I haven't tried the drive that way, just a little ASUS unit, which doesn't function as a USB mass storage device.
USB OTG works a hell of lot better on my GN8 than my nexuses, and if memory serves tthe optical hub bridges the disc to a FAT based UMS.
At home, rather than use an external hard drive or optical discs, I use DLNA for movies and things like Dropbox/Google Drive for files. I rip my movies with MakeMKV, store them on my server machine (bigger HDDs then my gaming PC), run a DLNA server on that and point an app from my tablet at it. Least pain I've had, give or take Chromecast and video apps. I can get Chromecast to play the content via DLNA as well but where as the Galaxy Note can handle 30 Mbit/s full HD video (Wi-Fi permitting) the Chromecast really should be kept under 3 or 4 Mbit/s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply!
so there is hope that it can access data files on the disk. Plan to use it mainly for raw data transfer at work but only for those still not keen on a flashdrive. It's rare but some still use discs...(i guess it's more resistent to viruses and malware...).
Don't plan to use the external drive really for playing media. As you already enumerated, there are a ton of options for that already, The review for that samsung wifi optical disc media hub is that its a great idea introduced way too late and executed too poorly for it to compete with our NAS's and WLAN's. I personally use XBMC for android, it runs on all devices now, android, windows, linux and even iOS i think. Then I have yatze or bubble upnp as well. I realized that with XBMC, don't really need chromecast anymore, although I use "cheap cast" with my android minipc I realized it's simply easier to send the you tube link to xbmc. Instead of having a you tube play list(for chrome cast), I can send the vid to xbmc and play it there and still play another you tube video on the note 8. XBMC now also reads Iso's and NRG's so all those dvd's ripped into images just run on it even via the wlan/upnp/network. Just my take on the whole video streaming option.
But I haven't tried this MakeMKV app you suggested. I hope to compress my stored DVD collection. Is it like handbreak? Can it compress a 4 gig dvd into a smaller MKV file? My NAS is slowly getting filled up. Anyway thanks! More power to XDA!
BTW: Since we're on the topic of streeaming, I'm thinking of starting a thread on the note 8's miracast/ALLSHARE CAST/screen mirroring. I realized that Samsung's screen mirroring is not really miracast compliant (just like the S4) in the sense that it doesn't work with all screen mirroring devices (something with HDCP and samsung proprietary software which i think is just there to "encourage" you to buy they're all sharecast dongle).
Here's the link: http://android-minipc.azurewebsites...ast-fails-to-mirror-samsung-galaxy-s4-screen/
Do you know of a fix for this? or should I start a Q/A thread for it? Thanks...

With regard to MakeMKV, it seems to decrypt the disc and remux the content streams into Matroska (.mkv) files, or at least about as lossless as you can get off the disc. You'll get the same MPEG-2/AC3 stream off a DVD as what's on it. No compression.
I do conversions either via Handbrake on my gaming box or by directly running ffmpeg on my server with about the same options as handbrake uses. My server's faster at it, hehe.For DVD, I normally use H.264 with x264's constant quality set to 22 or 23, and convert the audios; normally stereo with Dolby Pro Logic II downmix and another stream that's AC-3 pass through. Good enough that I don't usually notice quality loss vs the original DVD. DVD's usually end up under 2GB and especially for things like episodes of The Simpsons, can be really small. Sometimes a movie is still like 3~4GB though.
Some of Samsung's devices are certified, never tried them with another dongle. Miracast's latency is high enough that it's more limited then the MHL cable, and my old GS3 tended to soft reboot when using any video output until the 4.1 update lol. One of the CM developers had posted about issues between Samsung, Google, and perhaps a few other implementations. I think they support different HDCP versions but I'm not sure of the details.

I finally baught the samsung external dvd drive se-208. I tried AV connectivity mode so it get's recognized as a fat 32 flash drive. Well my laptop recognizes it (but my laptop recognizes it as a disc as well so that really isn't the point). Tried AV connectivity mode and connected it to my note 8. The drive just keeps spinning but my note 8 never recognizes it. Really sad. I then connected it to my samsung TV which allegedly can play media files off of a USB thumb drive. The drive still isn't recognized. Weird cuz on you tube, they connected it to a samsung TV and it worked. I tried media files and data/doc/pic files, the drive never gets recognized. Only my laptop recognizes it as a "flashdrive." Any suggestions? (I know switching to AV connectivity means pressing the eject butto for 1.5-3 seconds so I'm sure it's in AV connectivity and not in ODD or optical drive mode). Could it be power? but the drive lights up and spins when connected to the note 8 and the TV. Thanks for any suggestions.
BTW, i'm not interested in streaming as i already have a NAS for all my videos. Just want the functionality of an optical drive reader without having to bring a laptop around. The note 8 is already amazingly functional...this would just max it out even more. Thanks.

The bottom line is the device (whether it's the tablet, computer, TV or whatever) needs to have the drivers built in not just to access the optical drive, but also to read the file system on the optical disc (which I think is UDF, but don't quote me on that). You could try to find a custom kernel that has that support, see if there's a program on the Play Store or elsewhere that has that support built-in, or compile your own kernel with that support built in. But usually, when it comes to hardware support, it almost always comes down to driver support (I'm assume there DVD drive plugs into the wall so it's not an issue with lack of power).

Spidey01 said:
Can't say that I've tried it in that mode. Picked up the unit dirt cheap and almost never use it because of the streaming quality. Was so disappointed I basically gave up on it lol.
Using a USB OTG cable it's possible to access FAT and NTFS volumes on USB Mass Storage devices, like flash drives and external HDDs. I'm using the one from my moms Acer A700 but they're quite cheap off Amazon. Sometimes useful. Anything that is exposed like that (class 08h / UMS) should work. Hubs, most HID devices like keyboards and mice also work via the same means. I haven't tried the drive that way, just a little ASUS unit, which doesn't function as a USB mass storage device.
USB OTG works a hell of lot better on my GN8 than my nexuses, and if memory serves tthe optical hub bridges the disc to a FAT based UMS.
At home, rather than use an external hard drive or optical discs, I use DLNA for movies and things like Dropbox/Google Drive for files. I rip my movies with MakeMKV, store them on my server machine (bigger HDDs then my gaming PC), run a DLNA server on that and point an app from my tablet at it. Least pain I've had, give or take Chromecast and video apps. I can get Chromecast to play the content via DLNA as well but where as the Galaxy Note can handle 30 Mbit/s full HD video (Wi-Fi permitting) the Chromecast really should be kept under 3 or 4 Mbit/s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, have you tried if screen mirroring works between the Note 8.0 and Chromecast? I'm thinking of buying the dongle, but I'm interested mainly for screen mirroring, so I wish to know if it works well.
Thanks

gabripranzo said:
Hi, have you tried if screen mirroring works between the Note 8.0 and Chromecast? I'm thinking of buying the dongle, but I'm interested mainly for screen mirroring, so I wish to know if it works well.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Performance when mirroring to Chromecast sucks but it does work. I would say latency is around 0.75 seconds to 1.20 seconds from when I scroll left or right in Nova Launcher to when I see it finish on the TV. Encoder quality also sucks at rendering transparency or anti aliasing and it tends to peg the CPU to full clockrate most of the time. I haven't tried video on it. I believe my Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 is simularly Crappy. Nexus 5 and Galaxy S5 work better, so it seems like only my Snapdragon 800+ chipsets seem to have decent mirroring performance over Chromecast. I don't think Google has optimized things very well for Exynos & Mali. I can say the GS5 will mirror to it well enough to watch a video not that I'd advise it. Really, Samsung's very crappy AllShare Cast dongle works better in terms of casting performance. Miracast is only useful for videos or stuff like email/websurfing because of the latency (e.g. not gaming) but Chromecast is the worst mirroring I've ever used, and I've even SideSync mirrored my tablets to my PC before. My Amazon Fire TV box works awesome sauce as a Miracast Display to all of my current devices (GN8, GNP12.2, and GS5) in terms of performance but sometimes will not connect; I've yet to determine why, maybe it just hates my monitor/switch more than my TV.
If cash is a primary concern and mostly mirroring: I would suggest a Fire TV Stick (which is Miracast Certified) or some real Miracast adapter like the Netgear PTV3000 ($50) or Belkin Miracast Adapter ($60). Chromecast is great for leaning back and casting video from apps like Netflix, Plex, AllCast, etc but not so awesome at screen mirroring. Perhaps like Chromecast's video decoder it will improve with time but it's just not that awesome for mirroring right now. MHL wired adapters are still better for screen mirroring IMHO.

Well, I wish to use the screen mirroring function mainly to stream videos: sometimes it happens that my Bd player hasn't the right codec for the video, so I wish to stream it directly from tablet to TV.

Related

GoFlex Satellite Wireless Hard Drive

This is something I need to look into.
A 500gb, battery powered, portable hdd with built in wifi. Plus it can also stream media.
Naturally I could choose to use my pc at home as a remote server, but it would have to remain powered on, takes time to setup ports, access rights & streaming can really lag.
Drawback for now at least, you can't reverse transfer files back to the hard drive via its built in wifi. Not a deal breaker if you ask me.
The GoFlex Satellite Wi-Fi connection can be protected with a password & WPA-level security.
It is capable of streaming in HD, up to 10Megabits per second data rate, but some devices may not support High Definition formatted videos.
And in case you're wondering:
Can I play files from my GoFlex Satellite to my Android phone or tablet?
Yes, files can be played back via the Wi-Fi capability. Videos in the formats that are compatible with the Android device can be played back using the default browser (Webkit). Unsupported video formats can be played back using third-party media players. If all your videos just download rather than play, try installing a more robust media player app. The Seagate app can be found on the Android Market.
A 500gb drive can be had on Amazon for about $173.
Any opinions or experiences with this device?
http://www.viddler.com/explore/GetConnectedTV/videos/297/
I have two that I mainly use with my iPad. The Seagate software isn't the best but they are working on it. I am a beta tester and they're starting to focus more on Android so that's good but if you're looking to stream video, there are a few DLNA players out there that are better at it. You can also hack the drives with custom firmware too.
Agreed about Seagate, and good to know that they are working on it.
If this is something you're interested in and you're ready to buy today there's a promo code available at Newegg that reduces this to $129.99 (code expires 1/8/12).
Newegg price: $173.99
promo code: -$44.00
Net price: $129.99
Promo code is STX44US and the direct link to Newegg is here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148755
$129.99 is a good deal, I got mine at Best Buy for $180. They stream to anything that can access wifi. I used one of them to stream to my friends TV to watch a marathon of the old Twilight Zone episodes on New Years day. The drive lasted just under 6 hours before needing to be charged.
Magicspell said:
If this is something you're interested in and you're ready to buy today there's a promo code available at Newegg that reduces this to $129.99 (code expires 1/8/12).
Newegg price: $173.99
promo code: -$44.00
Net price: $129.99
Promo code is STX44US and the direct link to Newegg is here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148755
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank-you much. Just ordered one. I've been browsing several forums & by far the biggest complaint is the front end user UI. As long as I can get it to play vids out the box with no problems then I'll be okay.
A site you might want to check out when you get your drive:
http://www.hackseagatesatellite.com
It's not for everyone but it can be useful and the people there are pretty responsive.
I have tried the seagatein the past not the battery powered one but the regular NAS device. I found it to be very slow to upload or download form. I switched over to the WD mybook live. And I am not trying to flame or start some crap just giving my experience it did work but was slow. I also ran into issues with my Blueray not being able to read some content. This may have been the blue rays problem but I havn't seen as many issues with the WD. However all that having been said WD not have a bettery or wfi enabled device I am aware of it has an ethernet port that you connect straight to your router.
arsmithsr said:
I have tried the seagatein the past not the battery powered one but the regular NAS device. I found it to be very slow to upload or download form. I switched over to the WD mybook live. And I am not trying to flame or start some crap just giving my experience it did work but was slow. I also ran into issues with my Blueray not being able to read some content. This may have been the blue rays problem but I havn't seen as many issues with the WD. However all that having been said WD not have a bettery or wfi enabled device I am aware of it has an ethernet port that you connect straight to your router.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Appreciate the input. The only other portable wifi drive out there that I know of is the Kingston Wi-Drive. From the plus side this device has an SSD & the UI is much better. The downside is that it only comes in 16gb & 32gb capacities.
I'll keep y'all (I'm from Texas ) posted on how it turns out.
Crap! Any chance of a new coupon? I would have bought it for that price !
OK, I just paid the premium and bought one at Best Buy when I was in the city today. I also paid for the hack posted above. It's charging tonight and I'm going to start messing with it tomorrow. I'll post updates as I go along.
Perfect: The Wi-Fi HDD + Seagate Media app. + MX Player works as expected on my E4GT.
However on my Win 7 tablet (ExoPc) I can only play videos within a browser (Opera) as no such Seagate Media UI app exists for Windows. The problem with watching a video within a web browser is lack of media controls (vol +/-, play, pause, stop etc. etc.)
If anyone with this device knows how to get it to open up within a 3rd party media player on Win 7 after selecting the video within the web UI can you please share how it's done.
subcypher said:
OK, I just paid the premium and bought one at Best Buy when I was in the city today. I also paid for the hack posted above. It's charging tonight and I'm going to start messing with it tomorrow. I'll post updates as I go along.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought about purchasing the hack myself, but wanted to test the device out first to see if I actually want to hold onto it or return it.
I can say that while watching a movie, its dropped its connection 3x & restarted the video accordingly from the beginning.
I had to fst fwd>> to the previous spot I left off at. No big deal as of yet, but if it keeps doing it then returning it will be more likely.
I'll stay updated with your replies & see if the hack omits some of the inherent problems I'm having. If so then I'll invest in the hack.
EL TEJANO said:
Perfect: The Wi-Fi HDD + Seagate Media app. + MX Player works as expected on my E4GT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had the same experience though I wish the Seagate app would allow you to choose which media player to use to play the media. I've actually found I prefer the media player used when using the phone's browser over the player invoked with the Seagate app...
EL TEJANO said:
However on my Win 7 tablet (ExoPc) I can only play videos within a browser (Opera) as no such Seagate Media UI app exists for Windows. The problem with watching a video within a web browser is lack of media controls (vol +/-, play, pause, stop etc. etc.)
If anyone with this device knows how to get it to open up within a 3rd party media player on Win 7 after selecting the video within the web UI can you please share how it's done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tried with my tablet yet, but I did try with my Win 7 laptop. The experience was a bit more frustrating to start. When I accessed the Seagate Go Flex (via IE or Firefox) it appeared to only directly play certain media files (for example it played .mp4 files but wouldn't directly play .m2ts files). I tried associating .m2ts files with WMP as well as VLC but in either case when I selected that file rather than it starting to play it would start to download the file to my laptop.
I then simply renamed the .m2ts extension to .mp4 (didn't recode the contents) and then when I selected the file it played directly in WMP. If I tried to change the player associated with .mp4 files (to VLC, for example) then the file would not directly play but again began to download. Changing the .mp4 association back to WMP did allow the media to play directly when selected through the browser interface.
Overall, I think I can live with these limitations though maybe the hack noted earlier will allow me more flexibility. I'll have to research that part.
Well at first the MX Player was working fine on my phone, then I noticed that the streaming videos would stop & then start from the beginning in a continous loop. WTH!!!
I figured okay let me reinstall the latest firmware, defrag & do a system file check to see if that works. When I tried to play my streaming content once more within MX Player the same thing happened. I figured okay it must be the app then.
So I downloaded Buzz Player & to my surprise this app has the option to connect to Network Media; when selecting that option my stored audio & video files show up within the player. Which is nice because now I don't have to use the Seagate Media app. What's even better is no freezing or restarting.
All in all the Seagate Satellite is a nice device but Seagate really (& I mean really) needs to work on their UI as well as open up some features & options.
In regards to my Win 7 tablet: Are there any windows based media players that can detect the wifi signal off my Seagate Satellite & display the directory much like Buzz Player does in Android?
I purchased this drive and the hack. I actually did the work the other day to hack it. It's fairly simple.
First, they have you download an ISO. I'm not sure why they do that, as they use it as a ZIP or RAR file. It's an archive you open and load the two files inside onto the drive. I was able to do this in Linux very easily.
Second, you use your wireless connection to talk to the drive and then use Telnet to see the files in a command line. Then you use the command line to run a file. I did all this from my phone using Better Terminal Emulator Pro, but I'm guessing the regular Terminal Emulator will work.
After the script ran, the thing rebooted. I used their videos to clean up the drive (remove the Seagate stuff and clean up the directory structure), then set up the authentication, web service and Samba. Again, all this was done through the browser on my phone because I was watching the videos on my laptop.
I was able to connect to the drive from my phone and browse the file system. I was also able to stream a few songs (no movies on my drive yet) without issue. I also used ES Flie Explorer to browse the drive through Samba and that worked very well. I was also able to stream music through that file system using whatever program I wanted to use that was on my phone.
The only problem I have is that I can't see the file system and have a data connection to the world at the same time. Perhaps this drive might be better if the connection were Bluetooth, but I really don't see why I'd need both at the same time to be honest. It's more like a "could be better" kind of thing. That being said, with the hack you can have the drive connect to a wireless network and then connect to that wireless network yourself. Once that's done you can see both, I believe. I just have not tried it myself yet.
I would highly recommend this product. I'm kind of sad I didn't get it at the $130 price mentioned before, but even at the $240 I have in it, I'm very happy with my purchase.
So yeah after thinking about it & realizing how I'll be utilizing this device, I think I'll forego the hack. But only because I really don't see myself utilizing the features. As convenient as it is to watch movies on my phone, the experience of watching movies on such a small screen, is to say the least, not really much of an experience. Though occasionally when lying in bed I'll grab my phone to watch a flick as I have the Seagate drive on standby mode.
In regards to using this with my Win 7 ExoPc tablet: Windows Media Player was able to detect and display the files on this HDD via wifi, I just had to download the proper codecs to get it to recognize .flv, .avi & .mkv video extensions. The screen on this tablet is 11.6 inches so it makes the experience somewhat more enjoyable.
Having to switch wifi clients back & forth, though cumbersome, is not really much of a deal breaker either. Hopefully in the future Seagate will address such issues with whatever firmware update they push-out (if they push it out).

Samsung Blueray BD-HDD850 PVR can't see media on my Note?

Brand new Samsung LED 6800 TV and BD-HDD 850 PVR. Obviously I'd like to use the tv to show the holiday snaps and videos. Problem is that AllShare lags and constantly buffers the videos, interrupting the viewing experience in an very unpleasant way. Not impressed.
Next option is to transfer the various files from the Note to the HD on the PVR. Surprisingly difficult to do. But the manual states just attach it via a USB and it will be seen as a storage drive. Fine, except it isn't.
My Note has an external 32G SD, which has most of my music and photos on it. But the PVR just states no media files present on device?
What? This is a Samsung phone and a Samsung PVR! Anyone got any ideas how I can get the files easily off the phone onto the PVR?
biscuitlad said:
Brand new Samsung LED 6800 TV and BD-HDD 850 PVR. Obviously I'd like to use the tv to show the holiday snaps and videos. Problem is that AllShare lags and constantly buffers the videos, interrupting the viewing experience in an very unpleasant way. Not impressed.
Next option is to transfer the various files from the Note to the HD on the PVR. Surprisingly difficult to do. But the manual states just attach it via a USB and it will be seen as a storage drive. Fine, except it isn't.
My Note has an external 32G SD, which has most of my music and photos on it. But the PVR just states no media files present on device?
What? This is a Samsung phone and a Samsung PVR! Anyone got any ideas how I can get the files easily off the phone onto the PVR?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have sort of the same setup (don't know the product numbers), but both work beautifully, don't know why your AllShare connection is lagging.
what you could do is enable "usb-debugging" in 'settings>developer options', that would most likely make your phone visible on the PVR.
good luck!
biscuitlad said:
Brand new Samsung LED 6800 TV and BD-HDD 850 PVR. Obviously I'd like to use the tv to show the holiday snaps and videos. Problem is that AllShare lags and constantly buffers the videos, interrupting the viewing experience in an very unpleasant way. Not impressed.
Next option is to transfer the various files from the Note to the HD on the PVR. Surprisingly difficult to do. But the manual states just attach it via a USB and it will be seen as a storage drive. Fine, except it isn't.
My Note has an external 32G SD, which has most of my music and photos on it. But the PVR just states no media files present on device?
What? This is a Samsung phone and a Samsung PVR! Anyone got any ideas how I can get the files easily off the phone onto the PVR?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can recommend skifta (available on the market) as a good alternative to allshare - I find it generally more stable than allshare for playing my content out through my samsung TV and my samsung blu-ray player.
Thanks guys for the suggestions - I'll give them a try tonight.
biscuitlad said:
Thanks guys for the suggestions - I'll give them a try tonight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can i just add that i generally drive my playout device from my phone - rather than the other way round. (using skifta)
e.g select phone as media source, select TV or Blu-Ray player as device then browse media on my phone and select what I want to send
Could it be a file format issue? (video) I notice the MKV's are not supported via Allshare which is shame as the Note supports them without issue.

[Q] Digital Audio Output

Does anyone know if it is possible to get a digital audio output from this tablet? Stereo is fine - don't need surround sound or anything fancy, although that would be nice too!
drb01 said:
Does anyone know if it is possible to get a digital audio output from this tablet? Stereo is fine - don't need surround sound or anything fancy, although that would be nice too!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I was surprised that when I plugged my Fiio E17 in it just worked with the standard LG ROM. Recent custom ROMs also now support USB audio.
Armpowered said:
Yes, I was surprised that when I plugged my Fiio E17 in it just worked with the standard LG ROM. Recent custom ROMs also now support USB audio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great news, but how in practice do I do it? I am hoping to plug the lg into my hifi audio amp via the coax digital input...
drb01 said:
Great news, but how in practice do I do it? I am hoping to plug the lg into my hifi audio amp via the coax digital input...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need a USB "on the go" (otg) cable, £1-2 from famous "auction" site.
Then (something I haven't used) you'd need a USB to coax converter - which seem to exist. I just tried a cheap (£11) USB sound card that I have and it happily converted the USB output of gpad into optical or analogue (not coax).
An alternative could be to look at a Bluetooth solution.
Armpowered said:
You need a USB "on the go" (otg) cable, £1-2 from famous "auction" site.
Then (something I haven't used) you'd need a USB to coax converter - which seem to exist. I just tried a cheap (£11) USB sound card that I have and it happily converted the USB output of gpad into optical or analogue (not coax).
An alternative could be to look at a Bluetooth solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As you say it seems like an OTG connector plugged into a sound card would do the trick. But is there a more direct method? E.g. my old laptop has a straight digital output. I am trying to avoid latency apart from anything, as one application would be to use it at the same time as Miracast (my surround sound pre-amp is very good but doesn't have HDMI so my blu-ray player's HDMI goes to a projector, and the sound is handled separately via coax - works surprisingly well). Would like to replicate with the LG.
drb01 said:
As you say it seems like an OTG connector plugged into a sound card would do the trick. But is there a more direct method?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've not come across a tablet with direct digital audio out via optical or coax. This is now a different question from how I originally understood it (I assumed just wanting to listen to audio).
Can't you get the audio via Miracast (I'm not getting it ATM but I thought it did when I've tried previously)? I suppose it really depends on what you are trying to play and what to, there are all sorts of possibilities.
I use the Netflix and YouTube apps on tablet to control play on recent Samsung tv / Chromecast dongle (not actually streaming). You can play audio/video via dlna to appropriate players, you can stream to Apple TV with appropriate app. etc..
Armpowered said:
I've not come across a tablet with direct digital audio out via optical or coax. This is now a different question from how I originally understood it (I assumed just wanting to listen to audio).
Can't you get the audio via Miracast (I'm not getting it ATM but I thought it did when I've tried previously)? I suppose it really depends on what you are trying to play and what to, there are all sorts of possibilities.
I use the Netflix and YouTube apps on tablet to control play on recent Samsung tv / Chromecast dongle (not actually streaming). You can play audio/video via dlna to appropriate players, you can stream to Apple TV with appropriate app. etc..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I have two needs, one for straight audio which now seems fairly straight forward (and thanks for your help), and then it would be nice to get video as well. I thought the LG was Miracast, not Chromecast or can it do both? Either way I would need to get a dongle for HDMI into my projector, and separate sound to the audio processor.
But how would it do DLNA? My Sony blu ray player BDP-S570 does DLNA and that would be a really neat way to do the video as it would handle sound at the same time...
drb01 said:
I thought the LG was Miracast, not Chromecast or can it do both? Either way I would need to get a dongle for HDMI into my projector, and separate sound to the audio processor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Miracast is the screen mirroring system, Chromecast is Google's dongle for playing some streaming video sources on TV. Matching apps on tablet/phone can control the playback on Chromecast, some recent TVs use the same control protocol (DIAL) so their respective streaming apps can be controlled in the same way
---------- Post added at 02:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:13 PM ----------
drb01 said:
But how would it do DLNA? My Sony blu ray player BDP-S570 does DLNA and that would be a really neat way to do the video as it would handle sound at the same time...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use the BubbleUPnP app, it discovers media servers and playback devices on you home network and allows you to control play. It also acts as a dlna server itself, so video stored on phone/tablet can be played on dlna player (TV/blu ray/streaming box/other mobile device).
Note that dlna doesn't guarantee playback, the rendering device needs to understand the format of media from the server, the more recent the equipment the greater the chance of success (eg my recent TV plays streamed video better than the two year old bluray player, my 4 year old TV won't even play video via dlna but will music and jpegs).
Armpowered said:
Miracast is the screen mirroring system, Chromecast is Google's dongle for playing some streaming video sources on TV. Matching apps on tablet/phone can control the playback on Chromecast, some recent TVs use the same control protocol (DIAL) so their respective streaming apps can be controlled in the same way
So I can buy either a Chromecast HDMI dongle or a Miracast HDMI dongle and both should be compatible with my LG G Pad? I see in Settings on the LG there is a Miracast toggle, but no Chromecast setting. Sorry - I guess I am a bit ignorant about all this! Ill try the DLNA when I get a chance...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
drb01 said:
So I can buy either a Chromecast HDMI dongle or a Miracast HDMI dongle and both should be compatible with my LG G Pad? I see in Settings on the LG there is a Miracast toggle, but no Chromecast setting. Sorry - I guess I am a bit ignorant about all this! Ill try the DLNA when I get a chance...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It really depends exactly what you want to do.
Miracast mirrors the tablet display, so anything you see on the tablet will appear on TV including games (but lag is too much to really be usable for this).
Google's Chromecast dongle doesn't allow you to show any random video, there needs to be a matching Chromecast app. (I've only used Netflix and Youtube). You start the matching app on the tablet, tap an icon and choose where (on which device) to view the video, you can then pause/play rewind etc. using the tablet.
Armpowered said:
It really depends exactly what you want to do.
Miracast mirrors the tablet display, so anything you see on the tablet will appear on TV including games (but lag is too much to really be usable for this).
Google's Chromecast dongle doesn't allow you to show any random video, there needs to be a matching Chromecast app. (I've only used Netflix and Youtube). You start the matching app on the tablet, tap an icon and choose where (on which device) to view the video, you can then pause/play rewind etc. using the tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again. I get the difference between the two, but I just want to make sure that my LG G Pad is compatible with both Miracast and Chromecast dongles. I have to say that these dongles don't get very good reviews on Amazon but I guess Ill have to get one or the other ...
drb01 said:
I have to say that these dongles don't get very good reviews on Amazon but I guess Ill have to get one or the other ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't mind the cable you could use a Slimport adapter to get HDMI out of the USB socket - have never tried it so don't know the pros/cons.
Armpowered said:
If you don't mind the cable you could use a Slimport adapter to get HDMI out of the USB socket - have never tried it so don't know the pros/cons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That could well be the way forward - at least it should work! I am surprised there are not people commenting on miracast etc.

[Q] Question for Nexus 7 owners..

Hello all! Been a while since I last used XDA forums..
Lately I've been trying to find the most viable solution to bringing a large music library with me in the car..
I've tried using a non touchscreen netbook, and found that it's too hard to navigate while driving (lol)
I've been using an Acer A200 with an external hard drive, but the tablet is just too slow at reading 160+GB of music from the external drive, it freezes up between every song, and goes non-responsive when scrolling through the list of artists/songs/albums, this distracting me from the road ahead.
I've tried just about every media player app on the market, and they all yield the same result.
I see a lot of people use the Nexus 7 in their cars, and was wondering if this is a good option, or if I should look for something different?
I have been reading up a bit about the OTG cables required to do such a thing, being that there are few tablets with a full size USB port.
How reliable are these? Is there one that can charge while it also reads the USB device?
How is the Nexus 7 at reading, loading, and managing a large music library?
Should I use a 128+GB usb 3.0 flash drive rather than my current 500GB usb 2.0 external hard drive?
I hope this is easy enough to understand, I'm trying to cover as many bases as possible in one post.
Thank you in advance.
A USB-otg will run a flash drive just fine, but the tablet can't put out enough voltage to run an external hard drive.
As for charging, being that there's only one port, it's one or the other.
Might I ask though, why don't you look into something like Google Play Music or Apple Music for streaming anything there is out there essentially?
I've used Google Play Music since it was released now to stream music via the Bluetooth in my car.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
sgtguthrie said:
A USB-otg will run a flash drive just fine, but the tablet can't put out enough voltage to run an external hard drive.
As for charging, being that there's only one port, it's one or the other.
Might I ask though, why don't you look into something like Google Play Music or Apple Music for streaming anything there is out there essentially?
I've used Google Play Music since it was released now to stream music via the Bluetooth in my car.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 3/4G connection out here in my small town is rarely available, thus making it impossible to stream anything. I want to have my whole library physically with me.
Do you think the Nexus 7 is capable of handling such a large library from a flash drive? I've been watching 128GB flash drives lately and have seriously been considering buying one for this purpose..
Thank you for the response and help, I really appreciate it!

note 10+ dex low resolution

Hi there, I was just wondering what you think about dex. This is my first time using it.
I downloaded the app on my macbook pro (latest) and my windows pc (full hd monitor) and I noticed that the resolution of the app in both computers is pretty bad. If I watch a video it looks good, in full hd but the app itself is low resolution. The text looks bad, the apps icons looks bad aswell and is in medium size window, not even full screen.
Just wanted to know if is just me or you guys aswell
yeah connecting my note 10+ to my pc and launching dex using the pc app makes it look absolutely terrible with a lot of input lag it's as if i connected it wirelessly it's even worse
zzcool said:
yeah connecting my note 10+ to my pc and launching dex using the pc app makes it look absolutely terrible with a lot of input lag it's as if i connected it wirelessly it's even worse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand why is that. I was looking forward to this feature.
The lag makes it unusable.
That and the fact that almost no apps actually work... Yes, it's not "optimized" for DeX. Run the bloody thing anyway. In an ugly window if you must! The phone handles "ugly" floating windows natively, so why not in DeX?
There's something seriously backwards and wrong with DeX.
daproject said:
Hi there, I was just wondering what you think about dex. This is my first time using it.
I downloaded the app on my macbook pro (latest) and my windows pc (full hd monitor) and I noticed that the resolution of the app in both computers is pretty bad. If I watch a video it looks good, in full hd but the app itself is low resolution. The text looks bad, the apps icons looks bad aswell and is in medium size window, not even full screen.
Just wanted to know if is just me or you guys aswell
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. This is my first experience with DeX and I am not impressed. I never wanted to buy the docks or cables because I figured I wouldn't use it that much. The only real use I could see for me is watching Netflix at work during lunch but when I plug in the Note10+ Netflix it says "Can't show protected content on your computer." Like WTF I pay for Netflix, what are you talking about? I have also tried to login via the Samsung browser or Chrome and it immediately tells to download the app which doesn't work? Also if you try to open the Hulu app it immediately says it doesn't support DeX....
Hi guys. I had the same issue about not being able to watch streams on Windows DeX. I was trying to use Amazon Prime Video, I was using a USB to USB-C cable. Once I used the Samsung provided USB-C to USB-C cable I was able to watch. It has something to do with HDCP security. If the cable/port can't do it you won't be able to watch.
BlueKalel
BlueKalel said:
Hi guys. I had the same issue about not being able to watch streams on Windows DeX. I was trying to use Amazon Prime Video, I was using a USB to USB-C cable. Once I used the Samsung provided USB-C to USB-C cable I was able to watch. It has something to do with HDCP security. If the cable/port can't do it you won't be able to watch.
BlueKalel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How would I use the provided Type-C to to Type-C cable with a desktop/tower computer?
this is the quality i have notice how it looks like a bad camstream
Have the same issue. Picture quality looks blurish..like 720p or even 480p. It's not sharp. (Have it connected with USB-C to USB on PC)
I thought the Dex was a very good feature, While in work i could load up Dex and keep personal personal while on my work PC.
But as others have pointed out, the limited support of Apps and the horrible Lag input has made me not want to use it.
Ive actually found more use out of the App Samsung Flow where i can load my full Phone screen onto my desktop. I can open any game or application without any restrictions! Talk about backwards!!!
I think it is an incompatability with Win10... This may be fixed over time but if you use Dex straight from device to TV it looks 10000x bettter... Nil lag with video's and crisper, sharper look...
I run it on my 65" TV with none of the faults I also experienced with Win10...
Guys, I think the issue of low resolution is because of the USB connection, meaning that I guess is the best that can be obtained with that cable connection, if you want a higher resolution I think you will need to use a USB C - HDMI connection.
Honestly I don't have issue with DeX. High res 1080p. Never any lag, doing anything including video. This is on my home PC and work PC. I use it everyday and it's genius. Btw I use 2 different USB a to USB c cables. Windows 10. Minimal spec computers too except for 20gb ram each.
So I noticed that the icons and icon text look ok, but what looks low res is the menu texts and text within any app. If I increase the font size it makes a huge difference, but it also increases the font size on my phone, which I do not want. I am using the smallest font size.
I think what's happening here is that when we connect DEX to the PC, DEX is being streamed over to the PC. The PC client is acting a video player for that stream. Hence the lag. They can certainly increase the resolution of the stream as USB C should support very high resolutions. My guess is that they want to prevent compatibility issues when people will connect the phone from USB C to USB A ports and it will start stuttering if the resolution is too high. That or that higher encoding bitrates will overload the phone.
In any case, for first time users, try the real native experience by connecting the phone directly to a monitor and it will be very crisp with no lag and no app limitations.
I understand the disappointment with Dex in its current form.
This is more of a proof of concept than of a fully functional OS. Think about what something like this will be in 5 - 10 years. By the end of that time the PC will be dead! Everything will be done with the device in our pocket!
Exciting times indeed!
same for the galaxy s10 even with a Thunderbolt 3 cable

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