750 Movies to your RV TV

[Shredder]

Hello All,

So this is my first post as i only joined these forums a few hours ago but bought my first rv a used 2013 sunseeker 3010 with 16k klms thats about 9500 miles about 6 months ago after 2 years of searching.

So we are headed to mertyle from canada in the next 2 weeks and my 3 kids are a handful. So what better way to emtertain them then to be able to watch any of the 750 plus movies i have downloaded while driving.

So here is how i did this using the rv's 12 volt system. Take the main 32 inch tv from the cabinets. Pull the wires out to see where they all connect together. u will need a android box i purchased the mxq off ebay for about 25 bucks. You will also need an adapter to reduce the voltage from 12volts to 5 volts this costs about 3 bucks. And last you will need a little external drive to put your movies on i chose a 2tb drive.

Cut the plug from the 120 volt adapter that came with your android box you will need to connect it to the transformer. connect the transformer to the 12volt source. BE SURE TO PUT A FUSE IN THE 12+ A 5 AMP WILL BE FINE. Once connected mount the box to the cabinet i will post pictures later when i take a few. Connect a HDMI cable to the android box and to the tv. remount the tv and you are good to go. Hours and hours of kids tv while your driving. the total setup was about 30 dollars. I have already ordered another box and adapter to connect to the bedroom tv.

Bob

[timfromma]

I would've just bought portable DVD players and visited a Red Box.

But that's me.

[Shredder]

I guess that method would work. Im a little picky and like things neat. Where would you put a DVD player on the counter? where would you plug the 120 in the seems like it would be alot of mess and setup while driving. But i guess to each there own. I was just trying to show different option sbut hey if you want to buy a dvd and go that route the RVon fellow friend.

sorry for viocing what i though was a cool idea.

Cheers all

[Hoglou]

Welcome to club, let the mods begin! Movies for the (grand) kids really helps the drive. Never relocate the ground of the in dash dvd/cd/radio/gps to the coach other than to the emergency brake as instructed, otherwise you will get dvd video from the dash screen while you drive. Just a fun fact that I thought I would add.

Is this your first? If so then consider a stinky slinky, water pressure guage, power protect, etc......

Pics?

[Toddupton]

Yup I did the same thing except I just left everything 120 and plug it into a cheap inverter if I only have 12 volt. Although in my car I did use a 12 to 5 converter for the MXQ and can stream Netflix from my phone while we drive.

[Shredder]

i will post pics this weekend when i pick up my rv. I will show the connections and what i did.

Its interesting that you used 120 cause behind the tv there was no 120 to be found only 12volt..

Also the streaming netfix sounds like an awome idea however i only have 5 gb of data so that wouldnt last long.

[MrNiceGuy]

Shredder Thanks for the post. Always good to get fresh ideas.

[swuebbels]

The inverter that Toddupton speaks of will plug into the 12 volt DC and "converts" the DC to 120 VAC. you'll want one of these for other devices that use AC only. For instance, my bedroom TV is AC only but I use a small inverter to power it.
Stan

[Shredder]

would an inverter put more stain on the system? you have to bump from 12 volt to 120 just to use the device isnt it easier to go from 12 volts to 5?

just a thought none the less anyone is welcome to modify as they see fit

here are the items i used below

mxq | eBay

18 bucks for the mxq

and the the converter is this one

Better Waterproof DC-DC Converter 12V Step Down to 5V Power Supply Module 3A 15W | eBay

be sure to use a 5 amp fuse on the 12 volt+ side


like i said i will post pictures this weekend.

Bob

[aeblank]

I run a tablet with big SD card for in the truck. In the camper I run a Windows 10 stick computer (IBM) running Windows Media center (what we run for a DVR and media player at home). Both are USB powered, so 12v or 120v sources work.

[B and B]

Shredders system uses less current and is more efficient than using a Invertor. Great Mod and useful information for some of us. I and recording whole series of shows and we are going to take our Shaw Direct PVR with us this summer. Lots of ways to skin the cat so to speak!!

[ckabrahamson]

Sounds very similar to what I do... My TV's have USB ports, and we bought 512 Gig flash drives. Using a comparatively low resolution, we can store 700 or so kids movies on the USB stick. They just scroll to what they want. To make it faster to get to what they want, I organized the movies into folders by genre (or for TV series in folders by name of show and season). Works great!

I also wanted to point out that there's an app called PlayON that will go to numerous video websites (including Netflix), and let you download the movies to a file. I've downloaded all the kids favorite TV shows. This operates differently than Netflix's download video function - I haven't found a movie we can't download.

If you have an iPhone, and an unlimited wireless data plan, you can also connect your phone to the TV via Apple's Lightning to HDMI adapter. Signal quality varies if you're in a very remote area, but the kids don't seem to mind...

Carl

[Bocamo]

Great idea Shredder! tight, low power, not a lot of stuff to bang around while moving and best of all, cheap! I look forward to your pictures.

[Steeljag]

Originally Posted by Bocamo

Great idea Shredder! tight, low power, not a lot of stuff to bang around while moving and best of all, cheap! I look forward to your pictures.

X2 !

[Shredder]

oh my its difficult to add picture to the forum

[Shredder]

Hi all here is the photos

seems like the pics wont add to here so i will just post the URLs


converter with fuse is one pic. another is the mxq mounted. next photo is the drive mounted. and a few of the final product. Make sure to have the mxq stick out a bit so the infrared will work. and have the drive out a bit to accees it so you can add more movies to the drive.

links below

https://ibb.co/iMzYJv
https://ibb.co/eNZ0yv
https://ibb.co/gZWfyv
https://ibb.co/kSX9rF
https://ibb.co/mNKB5a
https://ibb.co/kN84Qa

sorry i tried to make it more users friendly but click the links if your interested.

Thanks all for checking out my mod..

next mod is a net to hold intems in the rear storage..

cheers fellow RVers

Bob

[ckabrahamson]

Great Install!

[Shredder]

sorry forgot to mention i used a small 2 tb hard drive i thnk it will hold another 750 movies in 720p.. but that i already had. The best parts is you dont have to worry about scrathed dvds or a movie skipping from bumps.

[ckabrahamson]

Is your Hard Disk and SSD? If so, did you find it at a reasonable price?

If it's an actual disk, and you've been having trouble with your DVD's skipping from bumps while driving, the hard disk can be damaged from the read head hitting the platters. -- Just curious...

I know what you mean about the disks. It is a perpetual battle with my kids to handle DVDs and video games properly and put them away. I can't tell you how many times we want to watch a movie, only to open an empty sleeve.

Way back when the Nintendo Wii was fairly new to the market, and my kids were very small, I found a hack that would let you rip your games to a HDD, and then choose which ones you wanted to play from a menu on the Wii. It was fantastic, but then Nintendo was able to disable the hack via forced OS updates...

For movies at home, I've got a 6TB Western Digital MyCloud drive. Have all the movies on it. The DVD players and their Kindles can access the MyCloud directly.

Thinking about installing MyCloud on the RV for the same reasons. I'm using USB sticks now, but there's contention over them...

[doc73]

I've been moving all our movies to a WD hard drive. It's great, I put a bunch on a Samsung tablet and the little one is fine for hours in the car.