Smart TV boxes
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@boomzilla said in Smart TV boxes:
@marczellm said in Smart TV boxes:
Picture quality: It's what I'm used to. I go into the consumer electronics store, look at those new TVs and I get a bad feeling that something is wrong. Like if a movie shouldn't be that crisp. Robert Downey Jr looks pretty ridiculous in those computer generated suits when the image is so clear he could be standing next to you.
I remember this when I first started watching HD content, too. You'll get over it.
And then cringe whenever you see non-HD content. Or try cleaning your eye glasses. Over and over.
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@dcon said in Smart TV boxes:
non-HD content
No joke, a (much younger) friend of mine wanted my help hooking up his phone to this portable 6" LCD monitor. Said monitor only supported Composite input. So he gets a (supposedly) HDMI to Composite adapter, and an HTC wireless dongle thing (that's apparently not a Miracast device).
All because of a crack on his screen he thought was so terrible to watch videos on.
I didn't try to reason with him, obviously he would have been satisfied with the hodgepodge of USB adapter cables and HDMI cords and what have you (I really should have taken a picture of it all "set up"). Best I could do was help him hook it all up and watch it fail.
Literally. The lights on the USB hub started flickering (it was one of those MEGA CHARGER types with power switches on each port). Didn't smell any smoke, but it spooked me enough to say, "Alright, yeah, Imma just going to say here No."But, seriously. WTF.
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@wharrgarbl said in Smart TV boxes:
@marczellm I think you should get an HDMI to analog converter, then you can plug anything
There are several devices like this on ebay ( http://www.ebay.com/bhp/hdmi-to-analog-converter ), between 10 and 20 usd
Do you have any idea why these like to declare themselves "INCOMPATIBLE with TV Sticks, (such as Fire Stick, Roku, Chromecast), mobile phones and iPad series"?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KXI8LZE/ref=psdc_280341_t2_B071XJF1HC
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@marczellm Yet Amazon showed me this
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@marczellm said in Smart TV boxes:
@wharrgarbl said in Smart TV boxes:
@marczellm I think you should get an HDMI to analog converter, then you can plug anything
There are several devices like this on ebay ( http://www.ebay.com/bhp/hdmi-to-analog-converter ), between 10 and 20 usd
Do you have any idea why these like to declare themselves "INCOMPATIBLE with TV Sticks, (such as Fire Stick, Roku, Chromecast), mobile phones and iPad series"?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KXI8LZE/ref=psdc_280341_t2_B071XJF1HC
hmm.... probably because they're not HDCP compliant. Inherently really. like their entire point is to take HDMI to analogue and you can't DRM analogue
if that's the case this will strip the DRM and allow that dongle to work:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JNYM6Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
i use it on my headless PC to allow it engage 3d acceleration to run my VR rig and use game streaming, i use it instead of just the HDCP nopn complieant dongle (like this one https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EK05WTY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) because there's some DRMs that refuse to play on non HDCP compliant devices (i also get the passrhtough so i can plug a tv or monitor in if i want to add without causing problems to the running games)
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@accalia said in Smart TV boxes:
@marczellm said in Smart TV boxes:
@wharrgarbl said in Smart TV boxes:
@marczellm I think you should get an HDMI to analog converter, then you can plug anything
There are several devices like this on ebay ( http://www.ebay.com/bhp/hdmi-to-analog-converter ), between 10 and 20 usd
Do you have any idea why these like to declare themselves "INCOMPATIBLE with TV Sticks, (such as Fire Stick, Roku, Chromecast), mobile phones and iPad series"?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KXI8LZE/ref=psdc_280341_t2_B071XJF1HC
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074DV1L1D/ref=psdc_280341_t5_B071XJF1HC
hmm.... probably because they're not HDCP compliant. Inherently really. like their entire point is to take HDMI to analogue and you can't DRM analogue
if that's the case this will strip the DRM and allow that dongle to work:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B007JNYM6Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
i use it on my headless PC to allow it engage 3d acceleration to run my VR rig and use game streaming, i use it instead of just the HDCP nopn complieant dongle (like this one https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EK05WTY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) because there's some DRMs that refuse to play on non HDCP compliant devices (i also get the passrhtough so i can plug a tv or monitor in if i want to add without causing problems to the running games)
not fake edit: It could also be because it doesn't support providing power via the HDMI port. i think most of the streaming sticks can take power via the HDMI plug, so if it doesn't provice you'd have to plug it in via USB......
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@accalia said in Smart TV boxes:
It could also be because it doesn't support providing power via the HDMI port.
Unlikely, since Chromecast get power from USB, not from HDMI
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@timebandit said in Smart TV boxes:
@accalia said in Smart TV boxes:
It could also be because it doesn't support providing power via the HDMI port.
Unlikely, since Chromecast get power from USB, not from HDMI
a point.... though i think the new ones are capable of beig powered by the HDMI device if the HDMI device supports power delivery.....
i know that was something Google was going to support, dunno if it got into the devices at manufacture though.
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@accalia said in Smart TV boxes:
though i think the new ones are capable of beig powered by the HDMI device if the HDMI device supports power delivery.....
Not knowing anything about any TV stick like devices other than the Chromecast, I'd say that feature is probably not common enough to have it be the only way to power the thing.
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@hungrier said in Smart TV boxes:
@accalia said in Smart TV boxes:
though i think the new ones are capable of beig powered by the HDMI device if the HDMI device supports power delivery.....
Not knowing anything about any TV stick like devices other than the Chromecast, I'd say that feature is probably not common enough to have it be the only way to power the thing.
granted. i expect they all support PoU
i'm just throwing theories at the wall her and seeing what sticks.
...maybe if i used some spray glue......
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So I got a Roku Express+, and a converter:
The Roku Express+ analog output is NTSC but I'm in Europe so I needed PAL output.
This is what this setup can do (in pseudocode):if output == Roku.NTSCanalog -> TV: get monochrome picture, but all else works fine elif output == Roku.HDMI -> converter -> TV: if converter.power_source == HDMI from Roku: Roku.fail() converter.output(standard color test pattern) elif converter.power_source == USB power adapter: switch(rnd()%3): case 0: Roku.fail(); break; case 1: Roku.errorMessage("Power too low"); break; case 2: Roku.failWifi(); break;
So I can watch anything in monochrome, or nothing in color. Any ideas?
(Yes I could now theoretically watch movies from a PC with the HDMI adapter, but the only device in our household that is portable and has HDMI output is too slow even for Youtube.)
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I've bought a vero 4k recently. Nifty device. Does 4k, hdr& fancy audio. Almost all of it at the same time. Everything but dolby atmos works for me.
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Okay, listen up, because this is coming from me: buy a new goddamn tv.
Even if you buy a 10-year old used LCD screen, the money you'll save in electricity alone will more than cover the costs.
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@lorne-kates Idea is great but impossible because of family objections. This is not my TV but our TV, our living room etc. Also anything bigger than the current TV would not fit on that shelf, and anything smaller is... well, smaller.
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@marczellm said in Smart TV boxes:
It's ridiculous that it's literally impossible legally to rent certain movies in this country.
Remove that constraint, and anything is possible, anywhere.
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@marczellm What size is the current TV? If it's CRT then you'll probably find you can fit a larger screen in the same space as there's a lot less bezel area on an LCD/LED
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"Oh no, some burglar broke in and smashed the TV. Luckily he didn't take anything or damage anything else in the house. Oh well, looks like we need a new TV"
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Fun Fact: the original target for Oak (the pre-incarnation of Java, circa 1991) was settop boxes of a type which were called 'Interactive Television' in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In other words, the intended primary use case for Java was embedded systems with 8-bit microcontrollers. How's that working out for you,
SunOracle?They didn't resemble the current Smart TVs very much, of course. But still.
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@scholrlea said in Smart TV boxes:
In other words, the intended primary use case for Java was embedded systems with
8-bit microcontrollersno filesystem.TDWTFTFY
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I've bought another HDMI to analog converter.
This one works better than the previous one but takes a 16:9 picture and distorts it to 4:3.
No way to set the original picture to 4:3 on either the Roku or the converter.
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@marczellm said in Smart TV boxes:
I've bought another HDMI to analog converter.
This one works better than the previous one but takes a 16:9 picture and distorts it to 4:3.
No way to set the original picture to 4:3 on either the Roku or the converter.FFS just do what @Lorne-Kates told you to do.
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@DogsB what, watch him fuck your mother? or was there another instruction
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@pie_flavor said in Smart TV boxes:
@DogsB what, watch him fuck your mother? or was there another instruction
I await the PornHub clip.
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@DogsB I await silent Tristero.
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I repeat it's a family living room. I have no write permissions.
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@marczellm said in Smart TV boxes:
I have no write permissions.
How do you write the "HDMI to analog converter" then?
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@marczellm said in Smart TV boxes:
I repeat it's a family living room. I have no write permissions.
Just tell them you're buying them a new fancy HD TV that will make everyone's life better.
That was my initial thought but I actually remember a two year saga with my father about this that was only solved when the analogue signal was shutdown.