What kind of TV Streaming Box do I need?

[Grumpy Gramps]

So, we have this "WD TV live" streambox, which has several years under its belt. And wifey's beloved Hulu has pulled its app from it, because too old. So we need some new gadget for her to indulge in her tv-addiction.

Problem and possible stumbling block is that our tvs have neither HDMI nor USB port, they are a little older, too

Soo, what kind of box should I go for? Some kind of Android tv box, e.g. somehing like this? Or a Roku-box? It should be able to do Hulu, Netflix and YouTube, ideally work with a network cable (we have wifi, but it's already clogged up pretty well, so I'd rather hook it to a copper- than an air-wire, if possible). Japanese is fine, it is mostly for wifey

I am a bit lost here and would appreciate some pointers in the right direction, tv is not my world anymore.

[wuchan]

ps4. does the same thing as those boxes, has 500GB of storage and will play any movie that comes off the net.



you probably want a new tv too. 10 man at costco will get you a 45 - 55 inch tv depending on the day.

[wagyl]

you probably want a new tv too. 10 man at costco will get you a 45 - 55 inch tv depending on the day.

And how much for the room big enough to comfortably watch a screen that size?

[wuchan]

you probably want a new tv too. 10 man at costco will get you a 45 - 55 inch tv depending on the day.

And how much for the room big enough to comfortably watch a screen that size?

45-55 isn't that big these days, costco also sells those 80 inch things.

[wagyl]

I don't dispute that large screen drug-dealer televisions are offered for sale.

I do ask whether they are appropriate in small rooms.

[Russell]

I don't dispute that large screen drug-dealer televisions are offered for sale.

I do ask whether they are appropriate in small rooms.

Good question. I have been wondering about this too.

I bought a 32 inch TV a couple of years ago, and have been very satisfied with it. Perfect size for a perfect price.

[Grumpy Gramps]

I did have a PS2 once, used it a little like for a week or so, before I got bored. Solitaire is just too awkward on a big tv screen and GTA is not my world A few years later, I asked wifey, where the PS2 is and she had brought it to hard-off or some-such, which was fine with me. Nope, a PS4 is likely not for us

Also don't need many terabytes, I guess. Wifey doesn't donwload, just watch what's on Hulu/Netflix. But if the intended box had a USB-port, where one could attach an external hard disk, if needed just in case, that would likely not be a mistake.

Wifey's tv is about 80cm, that would be ~31 inches, which is a comfy size and there is no space for much more than maybe 40 inches without serious redecorating. And who wants to binge-watch NCSI or Doctor House or bloody variety shows on such a huge screen anyway?

[Coligny]

Pretty sure you can have at least 32v for 5-6 man these days. 10 man have recorder and blueray drives ?

[Wage Slave]

I don't dispute that large screen drug-dealer televisions are offered for sale.

I do ask whether they are appropriate in small rooms.

Good question. I have been wondering about this too.

I bought a 32 inch TV a couple of years ago, and have been very satisfied with it. Perfect size for a perfect price.

Snap. We bought a 32" Sony for about 45k a few years ago. It's in a about a 12 tatami room, well 18 if you include the kitchen on the end. It's about perfect size - It can be watched from anywhere in the space but isn't unbearably intrusive. It also plugs into the internet and can stream most things. I think though that you tube have changed something at their end which means that no longer works. It doesn't have a HDD but it does have a usb port and firmware to plug one in which I did. It almost never gets used though.

Perhaps a new internet enabled TV with similar capabilities might be a better solution? Shouldn't set you back more than 50k at most.

[Grumpy Gramps]

That would then have to be a "smart tv" to be able to watch Hulu? Kind of don't like the idea of having to buy a whole new x-man yen tv every two or three years, just because one silly app decides to not work anymore for whatever reason, like it is with our WD TV box right now. A new streaming box for a few yen doesn't hurt, but a tv is a tv is a tv, they should run for 20 years, shouldn't they?

[Wage Slave]

Hmmm. Praps. As far as I know it's only you tube that no longer works but yeah, it has to be an issue.

[matsuki]

I'm about to look at replacing my HTPC and and pretty interested in the chromebox or this' http://www.minix.us/products/NEOXU1.html

As to crazy large TV's for crazy money....a decent projector on a while wall is much more satisfying and for far less.

[Grumpy Gramps]

This looks nice, thanks

Looks like HDMI is the only way to move the video signal from any of these new boxes, so we would need a new tv. OTOH these HDMI to RCA converters look tempting, but I suspect, they would fail at the DRM crap or cripple the signal somehow? Description sounds shady

[Wage Slave]

Careful with Japanese NTSC. It's ever so slightly different to everyone else's, so a lot of converter don't work. Or at least didn't use to. The old protectionism on steroids thing. It might work but it might not. The PAL to NTSC converter I bought didn't work here.

[wagyl]

Careful with Japanese NTSC. It's ever so slightly different to everyone else's, so a lot of converter don't work. Or at least didn't use to. The old protectionism on steroids thing. It might work but it might not. The PAL to NTSC converter I bought didn't work here.

And careful with that terminology!
PAL and NTSC are analog signal technology.
However, you are correct in saying that Japanese digital signal is a unique format, to permit the 1-seg broadcasts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISDB
That said, the output signal from any settop box from anywhere should be pretty consistent: it is basically an MPEG file. I suspect that your equipment didn't work because it didn't have a B-CAS slot to permit unscrambling of the signal.

[Wage Slave]

Careful with Japanese NTSC. It's ever so slightly different to everyone else's, so a lot of converter don't work. Or at least didn't use to. The old protectionism on steroids thing. It might work but it might not. The PAL to NTSC converter I bought didn't work here.

And careful with that terminology!
PAL and NTSC are analog signal technology.
However, you are correct in saying that Japanese digital signal is a unique format, to permit the 1-seg broadcasts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISDB
That said, the output signal from any settop box from anywhere should be pretty consistent: it is basically an MPEG file. I suspect that your equipment didn't work because it didn't have a B-CAS slot to permit unscrambling of the signal.

I'm clear on the terminology. The converter Grumpy is considering converts a digital signal to analogue either PAL or NTSC as the user requires. This is perhaps a solution because Grumpy doesn't have a digital input on his TV. The problem for him may be that Japan has it's very own variety of NTSC slightly different from the standard.

I don't think you are correct about the B-CAS slot either because that is to do with broadcast digital signals. Anyway the TV had one. In my case, I was trying to take an analogue PAL video signal from a VHS player and convert it NTSC analogue video to display on the TV without using the decoder. No scrambling or unscrambling required.

The result was sound and a pretty good black and white picture. I can't remember exactly but there is something unique about how Japanese NTSC video signal encodes colour information.

[wagyl]

OK, I see now that the converter supports analog output, including, incidentally, NTSC-J.

I doubt that you still have that set up and that you need to troubleshoot it, but with that more detailed information you provided, I just feel the need to check: you weren't trying to play PAL tapes in a NTSC deck, and then use a converter to convert the signal, were you? Those symptoms sound like it. You would have needed a PAL capable video deck to play the tapes, and then if the output was PAL then feed it through the converter. There are different expectations as to frames per second between PAL and NTSC, and colour data often got overlooked if played in the wrong system. As far as I am aware, the main difference between NTSC North America and NTSC Japan was in default black levels/brightness.

[Wage Slave]

This looks nice, thanks

Looks like HDMI is the only way to move the video signal from any of these new boxes, so we would need a new tv. OTOH these HDMI to RCA converters look tempting, but I suspect, they would fail at the DRM crap or cripple the signal somehow? Description sounds shady

Which is why I still think a new TV might well be the best bet. No HDMI is a real problem and means low quality pictures even if you get it working. A new internet enabled TV kills two birds. If something important stops working then you can always buy a cheap box and plug it into the HDMI input. No need to buy a new TV.

[Grumpy Gramps]

Ah, I have my own joyless experiences trying to convert J-videos to PAL, when we still lived ìn old Europe. A couple of "multi-standard" VCRs and running the signal through a Win-TV card as a converter. and never getting a result that was worth watching. If it wasn't for the DRM/encryption bovine excrement, I'd say, digital should be better.

a new TV might well be the best bet.

And possibly at least one remocon less than a stack of little boxes plus a computer screen

So I will probably tell the wifey that the unanimous conclusion of the internet to solve her problem is more cowbell tv, smart or otherwise.

Thanks a lot, guys!

[Wage Slave]

I just feel the need to check: you weren't trying to play PAL tapes in a NTSC deck, and then use a converter to convert the signal, were you? Those symptoms sound like it. You would have needed a PAL capable video deck to play the tapes, and then if the output was PAL then feed it through the converter.

It's all ancient history as you say but no I was using a PAL capable deck and trying to convert that signal. The converter was Chinese off ebay and it didn't work. I sent the first one back but the replacement was exactly the same. Just gave up after that.

[Coligny]

Careful with Japanese NTSC. It's ever so slightly different to everyone else's, so a lot of converter don't work. Or at least didn't use to. The old protectionism on steroids thing. It might work but it might not. The PAL to NTSC converter I bought didn't work here.

Japanese NTSC was allowing 50 hz and 60 hz signal while the merkun was 60 hz only. I think the color info got injured somewhere in the process....

[Yokohammer]

I always thought NTSC stood for "Never The Same Color".

[wuchan]

Careful with Japanese NTSC. It's ever so slightly different to everyone else's, so a lot of converter don't work. Or at least didn't use to. The old protectionism on steroids thing. It might work but it might not. The PAL to NTSC converter I bought didn't work here.

Japanese NTSC was allowing 50 hz and 60 hz signal while the merkun was 60 hz only. I think the color info got injured somewhere in the process....

they need to because of the fucked up power grid allowing half the country to be 50 and the other half 60. If your camera's frame rate and shutter speed isn't matched to the frequency of the lights you get rolling shutter.


despite this Japanese editors still try to export at native 60fps resulting in strange, jerky, unnatural movement.

[Yokohammer]

...If your camera's frame rate and shutter speed isn't matched to the frequency of the lights you get rolling shutter.

You get flicker and sometimes color/exposure inconsistencies. Rolling shutter is a different issue. It is also a bit of a misnomer that's used to describe the "jello effect" you sometimes get if you move a camera with a CMOS sensor while shooting video. It actually refers to the scanning readout method, as opposed to the all-at-once "global shutter" readout method. Still, the name seems to have stuck, so why not.

[/Pedantic mode ... sorry 'bout that ... occupational disease ... ]

[kurogane]

And who wants to binge-watch NCSI or Doctor House or bloody variety shows on such a huge screen anyway?

Unlike penises, with TVs bigger really is better. I bought a mondo sized Panasonic flat thingy (60 inch?) on sale 3 or 4 years ago for $500 CAD (5 Man?). It's farkin amazing. I get the space concerns, but why would you not want a bigger screen? The one I bought is about as thick or deep as a fat dictionary, so other than width and height it is very space econanomonical. I just put it on its stand on a small end table and it fit in my not very bog apartment quite well.
Good luck.

[Grumpy Gramps]

I just put it on its stand on a small end table and it fit in my not very bog apartment quite well.

That should work, if you live in a non-earthquake-zone. "Earthqhake" would in my case include a pair of rambunctious doggies who can wipe a whole coffee table free with one single swipe of their massive tails

[Coligny]

I just put it on its stand on a small end table and it fit in my not very bog apartment quite well.

That should work, if you live in a non-earthquake-zone. "Earthqhake" would in my case include a pair of rambunctious doggies who can wipe a whole coffee table free with one single swipe of their massive tails

And one day you will discover the fantastic world of wall mounted TVs....

[Coligny]

Careful with Japanese NTSC. It's ever so slightly different to everyone else's, so a lot of converter don't work. Or at least didn't use to. The old protectionism on steroids thing. It might work but it might not. The PAL to NTSC converter I bought didn't work here.

Japanese NTSC was allowing 50 hz and 60 hz signal while the merkun was 60 hz only. I think the color info got injured somewhere in the process....

they need to because of the fucked up power grid allowing half the country to be 50 and the other half 60. If your camera's frame rate and shutter speed isn't matched to the frequency of the lights you get rolling shutter.


despite this Japanese editors still try to export at native 60fps resulting in strange, jerky, unnatural movement.

Yes we know... the little powerplant blowup of 2k11 highlighted this issue...

[Grumpy Gramps]

And one day you will discover the fantastic world of wall mounted TVs....

This is, what I meant by saying that I want to avoid "serious redecoration". Update cascades and such... My wishful thinking is to just plonk the new tv where the old one was, plug in a few wires and let wifey (con)figure the rest, while I lonesomely ride into the sunset.

But then I am also aware that wifey might be aware, so not holding my breath for a happy end just yet.

[matsuki]

And one day you will discover the fantastic world of wall mounted TVs....

This is, what I meant by saying that I want to avoid "serious redecoration". Update cascades and such... My wishful thinking is to just plonk the new tv where the old one was, plug in a few wires and let wifey (con)figure the rest, while I lonesomely ride into the sunset.

But then I am also aware that wifey might be aware, so not holding my breath for a happy end just yet.

He is right though, wall mounting will get it all out of the way.

Also, this is starting to look like the next hot thing:

http://www.geekbuying.com/item/-Officia ... ce=admitad