Help with replacing my Western Digital TV Live Boxes - yes I know this has been asked before!!

by Considerate_Ahole

OK, I know this topic has been covered in depth for years. I have researched every forum imaginable and read what many have said but I still find my questions not answered so I am trying here. I have a few Western Digital TV Lives. They work great, I just can’t play x265 content and they don’t support PLEX. So I am in need of a replacement.

Here is my issue. I don’t stream. I play my content off of external USB hard drives connected to my WDTV boxes. This is my preferred method and I don’t want to change how I view my content.

My issue with Android boxes is my inability to easily transfer files via my network to the external hard drives once they are connected to the Android box. My WDTV boxes show up on my network and I can just drag and drop content via windows explorer. I can’t seem to get that to work with an android box. (I have a KDLINKS android box currently) I have looked at OSMC Vero 4K which is a Linux based box but it looks like it has the same file transfer issues.

So is there a box out there that is a direct plug and play replacement for my WDTV boxes?

TLDR: Is there a box that has easy windows file transfer to connected USB drives via my network?

Nehemoth

As someone which had this exactly issue I would recommend go the Nvidia Shield TV path (and specifically the Pro version).

I did this with my Nvidia Shield TV 2015. In the beginning I was using the same method, copy the information to the HD and into the Shield but after a while I realize that for me would be much better to add a centralize storage. At first I was using a Raspberry Pi sharing a HD using Samba and still works until today but I mainly use it as a TorrentBox and to watch content that I don't know if I would like to retain, and that's when I added a NAS to my network.

For me this setup works like a charm.

bobniborg1

Mibox let's you plug a usb in. Here is my non streaming setup: 2 4tb myclouds (wd). I used kodi to point to them, but I've switched to nova player. Obviously switching to myclouds will also cost some $. You can get a router that has a usb plug and do it that way but I dont know if the mibox will read straight from your computer to pass files. BUT you can use xplore app and move stuff that way.

The shield, on the other hand, can be drag and dropped to and used as a plex server. I dont have one but I've seen it on here before.

I went from the wd player to nexus player to mibox s (all bought at less than 40 on sales lol)

activoice

What I do is I have a folder on my PC for staging files I need. And I share that folder on my network.

On my Shield I've got Solid Explorer installed, and I've got the view setup as Horizontal Dual Pane mode. So I can see my Android Destination folder on the left pane and my windows PC shared folder on the right pane.

Then I just select the files I need from the right pane and copy and paste them to the left pane.

I've never used it but Solid Explorer can also act as an FTP server.

There are many file managers for Android, Solid Explorer isn't free (I think it has a trial period) , but of all the File Manager Apps I tried it was the best for my needs... Solid Explorer can also connect to DropBox, OneDrive, GoogleDrive, FTP and other protocols as well.

Frankly_George

Get a PC, then install the x86/x64 version of libreelec. Pick up a cheap mce remote and receiver and add the USB drive. Scan your media into the library and enjoy.

We tried the MiBox way for several years and just kept running into issues with the limited internal storage. Much better to just get something like the HP EliteDesk 705 g3 off lease or refurbished and use the embedded Kodi distro for an operating system. With the right theme it's like having your own personal version of Netflix.

BiggussDikkuss

To keep it real simple there are a number of reasonable cheap AMLogic S905X2 / X3 chipset boxes like the Ugoos X2 and X3 or faster AM6 & other brands.

With such devices you can run CoreELEC Kodi from an external Class 10 U1 microSDHC card and they then will literally handle anything you throw at them from a connected Hard Drive.

Much better and more reliable vs Android anything. Support is excellent.

CoreELEC OS already has an Inbuilt SAMBA file server, so it's simply a matter of Plug n Play HDD's and you can then Drag n Drop files over a home network. You need Gigabit LAN devices (1000M) for network transfer speed.

There is a whole community built around such devices:

https://coreelec.org

If you want copy protected, paid for video streaming as well, then you need a Nvidia Shield.

Personally I would get a dirt cheap FireTV Stick 4K to accompany the CoreELEC Kodi box for streaming copy protected paid for video services.