SONY AG9, Media Player, playing content stored on a PC

[nickeggington]

Hi,

I've recently purchased a 65" AG9. I have a range of media stored on my PC and played the content to my old Sony via a Trongle KODI box.

(Kodi box used a SMB connection to a shared location on the PC and output the content to the TV).

I've had many problems with the Kodi box and want to replace it. 

Can anyone give me basics please on how best I can play the content direct to the AG9 that is stored on my AG9? If I switch between inputs there is a standard media player which seems really basic.

Through the Google Store I downloaded VLC and this connected very easily to my PC using SMB - although the interface doesn't seem as a sophisticated as Kodi.

I'm a lost as to what is best to do. Do I need to install a DNLA on the PC? VLC seems to be working with standard streaming enabled on Windows 10.

Should I used the 'standard' AG9 media player? What are you using? Should I download Kodi from the Android store?

Many thanks for any help you can give.

Cheers

Nick

[kinggo01]

well......... how about installing KODI directly on TV?

There are some limitations, mostly sound related but otherwise it works just fine.

And use NFS if you can.

KODI is the only reason why I'm considering Android TV again. No need for another box and another remote.

[nickeggington]

Hey,

Many thanks, I came to that realisation after I'd posted - not sure why I didn't think of that straightaway! This is my first Android TV so am new to being able to install programs. It makes total sense though.

Is Kodi superior to using VLC for example? Why do you recommend using NFS over SMB? Historically I've always connected my 'kodi' box by creating a SMB connection to the shared drive - but it has been problematic at times.

And final question sorry, when you use a program like Kodi on the TV is there anyway to the media statistics while a programme is playing, for example resolution, Mbps, etc. I noticed the usual I+ button on the remote doesn't work for some Android programs. And I couldn't find anywhere that maps the remote buttons to actions in Kodi.

Cheers

Nick

[kinggo01]

there's an addon for KODI so you can map buttons, keymap editor.

Regarding the full media info, I'm not sure. You can get some like audio format and such but for a full info you might need to run KODI in debug mode. Never needed that so didn't investigate further.

[nickeggington]

Many thanks again. And would you recommend Kodi over and above other apps that can stream from a PC, like VLC, etc.

I'll check into what's involved in creating a NFS. I've had so many issues with SMB that hopefully NFS is less troublesome overall.

[kinggo01]

Well, if you have everything organized on a server side and you don't care about presentation then it really doesn't matter is it VLC or just some file browser that will open up the file with some player.

You can install a few of them side by side and see which one suits you needs the best.

NFS is kinda tricky if you are not exactly at home with those things. And since KODI on android is a bit different your export options needs to be like this

mnt/mount/point          ipaddress/24(rw,insecure,no_subtree_check)

you can use just your TV ip then it is without /24 but in that case you'll need to make exports for other device again. If you use *.*.*.0/24 than it is available for every device on the network.

But I'm using linux on server side, not sure how are the thing with windows since they do not support NFS natively.

[nickeggington]

Superb, thanks again for the help.

As you're saying Win10 doesn't support NFS natively but there does seem to be a number of standard 'free' programs.

I'll take a look at NFS otherwise defer to SMB. 

Cheers

Nick

[kinggo01]

that I have zero experience with. I'm not doing much with windows for over a decade so I can't help you there.

[nickeggington]

That's absolutely fine, thanks for all the help. I've got a way forward with options which is the main thing and understand everything better now.

Cheers

Nick

[nickeggington]

Hi,

Sorry one further question - if I select through the TV inputs there's a Media Player which I presume must be Sony's own. This seems to require a DNLA on the PC.

Is there an advantage or differences in using this set-up/approach compared to an Android App like Kodi/VLC.

I'm assuming the Sony Media player functionality is limited.