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Old 04-04-2020, 08:06 PM   #1
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Movies/music while camping

What do you have for video/music entertainment while camping? I have a small (laptop size) 4 TB USB 3 hard drive connected to a Raspberry Pi which is running Kodi for a media server. It runs off the travel trailer 12v circuit via a 12v to 5v micro USB converter (make sure it is at least 3A). The Kodi software also creates a WiFi hotspot so I can watch movies or listen to music on my tablet, notebook computer or phone, as well as connected to the TV in the trailer. I also have a couple hundred books stored on the hard drive for reading.

I am retired Navy, so have been building the movie collection also when deployed on ships previously.

Anybody else have a similar setup?
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Old 04-04-2020, 08:44 PM   #2
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Interesting.
I'm running a "stick" computer with win 10 and windows media center, which we run at home too.
I copy shows, videos, and movies to a hard drive and we're all set.
Pondering a more compact setup with some dedicated media device. Roku maybe?....
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Old 04-04-2020, 09:31 PM   #3
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I think the Roku would be less suited for playing files stored on a hard drive, and more for streaming sources. Have you thought about Kodi or Plex on the Windows 10 Stick computer? For keyboard/touch pad I use this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rii-i8-mini...wAAOSwyUFcKBgz

With Kodi, though, you can also get remote apps for your smartphone or tablet.
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Old 04-05-2020, 08:01 AM   #4
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I'm just reading and learning now, I guess...
I don't much care for the stick. The tiny fan is "always" on and it's noisy. That's what makes me think some hardware based, less computer something. Or, a more normal (but reasonably compact) computer shoved in the nearby cabinet.
Dunno. That's why I read your thread.
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Old 04-05-2020, 08:35 AM   #5
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Same here, NavyLCDR. I put together a Pi 3B+ running an OSMC image (an image built just for Kodi). A 3TB drive carries the media. In fact, I have one for the house, and one for the trailer. The one on the house is set up to stream the content to all devices that can see it on the network. I love those little computers. I also added a Pi 4B to my ham radio desktop to do SDR and rig control.
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Old 04-05-2020, 10:07 AM   #6
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I'm just reading and learning now, I guess...
I don't much care for the stick. The tiny fan is "always" on and it's noisy. That's what makes me think some hardware based, less computer something. Or, a more normal (but reasonably compact) computer shoved in the nearby cabinet.
Dunno. That's why I read your thread.
The Raspberry Pi would get you away from fan noise because it doesn't need one.
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Old 04-05-2020, 10:19 AM   #7
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The Raspberry Pi would get you away from fan noise because it doesn't need one.
I see that. Too bad one won't run WMC... Haha.
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Old 05-20-2020, 09:17 PM   #8
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Pi 3 B+ with 2tb USB HD running Plex Server. 700+ DVDs converted to MP4. It’s usually a 007 James Bond Marathon (Golden Eye or Moonraker are my favorites) or Harry Potter start to finish.
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Old 06-29-2020, 05:34 PM   #9
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We love music and movies and always have fun stuff with us! I've got this covered in way too many ways, so I'll hit the highlights.

Movies and TV Shows
  • I travel with my laptop and bring an external hard drive with movies on it.
  • I bring a USB stick/thumbdrive for transferring from the HD to my iOS devices. This can also be done using AirDrop even if you have no wifi network.
  • On both the iOS devices and laptop I watch the movies via VLC. Plex might work, I've just never tried it because I've used VLC forever.
  • If we want to watch a movie on the TV, we can use the USB thumbdrive with our Firestick using Plex.
  • Plex also lets you sync movies and TV shows, which essentially let's you download for offline viewing much like you can do with Netflix. I usually have one or two TV shows on my iPad to watch if I want.

Music
  • We have Spotify and can listen to that if there is a cell signal, we also have some favorite playlists downloaded to our phone.
  • Sirius/XM receiver via portable receiver in the tow vehicle that we can move to the RV, where we have a home kit docking station.
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Old 07-03-2020, 07:15 PM   #10
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We don't really care about movies for the camper - never installed a TV in this one and removed it from the last one. Music on the other hand is important and my little laptop has thousands of songs plus we are Amazon Prime subscribers. If I want to get some streaming going with Amazon Prime I just switch to the phone and stream from there. Both devices will connect to our Jenson via BT and we have a BT speaker we can carry around to the picnic table or wherever. So far, that's been plenty for us
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Old 07-13-2020, 11:11 PM   #11
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We have a tablet with a micro HDMI port that we plug into our TV. We download shows and movies on Netflix and Prime so we don't have to use data to stream.

The only downside to this is there is no remote... But I did a workaround to this by connecting a Bluetooth mouse to the tablet.

My go-to movies are Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit. Yes, I'm a bit of a nerd.
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Old 07-13-2020, 11:59 PM   #12
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We have a tablet with a micro HDMI port that we plug into our TV. We download shows and movies on Netflix and Prime so we don't have to use data to stream.

The only downside to this is there is no remote... But I did a workaround to this by connecting a Bluetooth mouse to the tablet.

My go-to movies are Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit. Yes, I'm a bit of a nerd.
How do you download and save movies and shows from Netflix?
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Old 07-14-2020, 12:19 AM   #13
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How do you download and save movies and shows from Netflix?
I have software that grabs the video while the movie plays on my laptop and stores to an MP4 file. It wasn't free but well worth having. The downside is you actually have to play the movie and let it run for the entire movie.
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Old 07-14-2020, 04:22 AM   #14
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How do you download and save movies and shows from Netflix?
You can download movies/shows from Netflix if you have the app on your computer.
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Old 07-14-2020, 07:03 AM   #15
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How do you download and save movies and shows from Netflix?
On a phone, tablet, or Windows 10 laptop (Apple laptop is not supported yet), you can easily download a movie by simply clicking the download icon. You need to have the Netflix app to do this, rather than just using Netflix on an internet browser. That's why I choose to use the tablet with HDMI port instead of a streaming stick, as we are often camping out of cell range for streaming. I have a 128 gb SD card in the tablet, which gives us virtually unlimited movie storage for the length of our trips.
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Old 07-14-2020, 12:48 PM   #16
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I always forget that movies and things can be downloaded from Netflix (too bad Amazon doesn't) because usually the camp grounds have such poor wireless, that movies are unwatchable so we usually grab a few DVD/BluRays from the house collection in case we have a rain day or want to watch something because we are tuckered out from doing something all day.

Will have to remember that.
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Old 07-14-2020, 12:55 PM   #17
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I always forget that movies and things can be downloaded from Netflix (too bad Amazon doesn't) because usually the camp grounds have such poor wireless, that movies are unwatchable so we usually grab a few DVD/BluRays from the house collection in case we have a rain day or want to watch something because we are tuckered out from doing something all day.

Will have to remember that.
You can download movies on Amazon. I do it all the time when I used to be able to get on an airplane(damn covid) It only keeps them active for a couple of weeks though.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo...DVUQFMY3GTZVX7
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Old 07-14-2020, 01:35 PM   #18
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You can download movies on Amazon. I do it all the time when I used to be able to get on an airplane(damn covid) It only keeps them active for a couple of weeks though.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custo...DVUQFMY3GTZVX7
AHA, I never used it on my iphone, will have to try it out now. I use the FireTV, but never saw a link to download so didn't think it possible. Then again the firetv doesn't have much storage on it.
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Old 07-14-2020, 06:56 PM   #19
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For music I use my Sirrius/XM radio "head" from my truck and plug it into a separate docking station in my TT. Plays through my Stereo's Aux input.

For Movies I hit up my local Goodwill and find more than enough DVD's to keep me entertained. As low as $1 per if I buy several at a time. To play them I bought the cheapest DVD player I could find that had an HDMI port. Plug it into the same power source as my TV. The DVD player in my iRV stereo is pure "excrement". I think I paid ~#20-25 for the stand alone DVD player that works perfect for my needs.
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Old 07-14-2020, 07:43 PM   #20
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That reminds me, I use the Sirius/XM app on my phone and connect to BT to listen to music. No antenna to worry about, and it actually sounds better. Only drawback is not all stations are available on the app.
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