USB play back for some none tech peps.

Vote 4 Pedro

Hi,

I got a new Andriod box that seems good enough (to me), it has a little remote control, OK but not great or full use.
It's description was,
Bqeel M9C Max Smart Tv Box Android 6.0 Marshmallow Amlogic S905X Chipset H.265 HDMI 2.0 Video Decoder 4k.2k Output 2.4G WIFI Streaming Media Player

The situation is where I just want the most basic/easy to use setup,
A decent easy to use media player for USB playback only, nothing else at the moment until we get this sorted then we might do more with it.
We had an older media player that was ok but it was not playing some MKV files and it was not update-able so that is no longer usable.

The wife is totally none tech and i'm nearly as bad..
It has Kodi on it and it is OK but the wife is finding it difficult to find her way through it to the files she wants with the basic little remote,

Should I put a different media player on the box that might be easyer to use, eg. VLC or something ? and if so can anyone recommend the best basic player or VLC version to install.
I did install VLC and a few others but I must have the wrong versions because I think there versions I had were for use with a touch screen phone or something because I can not control them with the little remote.

Is Kodi the one to use and just need a better way of navigating it ?
Should/can I use my phone as a remote control, (Moto G 4th Gen)

Buy a wireless keyboard just for this ?

Any suggestion please as we use the USB playback as our main/only form of watching TV and it's a little frustrating at the moment.

Thanks for looking and hopefully you might be able to guide us into the light.

Johnboy1951

Kodi should be easy to use, but you might have to do some set up for your specific needs.

You mention USB playback without giving specifics, but the first thing I suggest is that you properly arrange the media on the USB device so they are easy to find.

After that in Kodi - Videos - Files you can add the USB device and as long as it is plugged in it should be quickly accessible through Videos - Files.

The files can be displayed as a list or as thumbnails ...... move pointer to the left of the screen when the listing is being displayed to see the options.

Under System - Settings - Services you can
"Allow remote control by programs on other systems"
which should allow you to control Kodi from a phone.
There is a basic Remote Control built in and accessible in a browser using
<IP address of Kodi box>:8080

Kodi is very versatile and mostly what might not be built in can be added with 'add-ons' preferably from the official repository, but there are also lots available from unofficial sources.

Mickalus

Vote 4 Pedro wrote: »

Is Kodi the one to use and just need a better way of navigating it ?
Should/can I use my phone as a remote control, (Moto G 4th Gen)

Buy a wireless keyboard just for this ?

I have a wireless keyboard that I use (Logitech K400), benefit to this is it lives by the TV and anyone can use it. Essentially another remote for Kodi and other apps on the android box. There are other remotes that are better than the ones that come with the android boxes too.

If you want to try this out first:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.xbmc.kore
"Kore, Official Remote for Kodi" - for your mobile device(s). It's pretty good and it's free.

Vote 4 Pedro

Thanks Guys,
I have gone through the settings and tried a few things, made a few changes and downloaded the Kore app for the phone and I now think it's a lot easier to use,
I am happy enough with it now and I'm sure it will do everything we need it to.
Thanks for your help.