Database Users

[Q] DVD Playback?

I just tried something that seems like it should be simple, but I've had no luck with it whatsoever. I plugged a USB-DVD drive into the transformer dock, and hoped to find the ability to play an actual physical DVD. I don't see anything in the default software that appears to support this, nor do (apparently) any of the media players that I've installed.
I searched the market for "DVD", and found lots of software for converting DVDs to MK4 and various other formats, but nothing that appears to play a DVD directly.
Is there a way to play DVDs via an attached drive on the transformer?
Thanks in advance for any help.

Youd need drivers to support an external optical drive and an application that would be able to read that format. Currently there isnt anything because, until recently, there wasnt anything on android that had a true USB host.
I wouldnt expect it to happen any time soon either. I dont see the demand being very high as there are only two tablets with a full USB and nothing with a built in drive.

Bummer. I think you're right, though - it looks like I'm a bit ahead of things with this attempt. It should be possible, maybe even easy, to run a USB DVD drive on Android, but it will require an application that knows how to talk to the USB interface. And since the USB Host interface was just introduced with Android v3.1, it isn't likely that these applications will exist at this point.
http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/usb/host.html

DVD playback on Tablet?

I have an Acer Iconia A500 tablet and want to use it to keep my daughter busy on road trips and such... I want to plug a small DVD player in via the HDMI cable and have the aduio/video come out onto the tablet but I dont know where to start with this... Any help??

I'm pretty sure the HDMI port on the tablet only works as an HDMI out. You'd be better off downloading the movies and put them in the tablet's memory or getting Netflix and use wifi tethering on your phone for data.

If you know a bit about custom kernels/modules you could also try adding ISO support (via USB)... I'm pretty sure there are some players around that handle MPEG2PS (but probably not CSS). Best option: run your DVDs through handbrake and be done with it (see also this thread).

Ouya a good choice for XBMC at the price point?

I plan on primarily using it for XBMC. The support looks good, along with the price and specs. What do you guys think?

I think it depends on how you plan to access your media. If you plan to use a NAS, you might be alright; if you were planning to use an external drive from the USB port, you need to wait for the OUYA team to fix the problem with detection of the hard drive. Also, you may find yourself needing to use the gamepad to control the interface--if that's a deal breaker you need to plan accordingly.
Also, bear in mind that the XBMC for Android is still in early alpha!
Sent from my Nook HD+ using Tapatalk HD

As someone who had never used XBMC or Plex (or anything else like that for that matter) prior to this past month, I am so excited about how well XBMC works with the OUYA!
You sound like someone who has used it before. If you're familiar with the basics then getting the OUYA to run XBMC in (almost) flawless 1080p is...well...easy! With the release of an official version of XBMCHUB last week, I don't think I'll ever hook my laptop up to my TV again.
Going into the OUYA, I had no idea of it's potential as a do-all media center. I was hoping it'd have Netflix and flash content, but that's about as far as I had hoped, so I'm very excited about all of this.
At only $99, I've been hearing people say there is no better box for XBMC, but maybe other, more experienced people could chime in.
EDIT/ADDITION:
bornagainpenguin said:
I think it depends on how you plan to access your media. If you plan to use a NAS, you might be alright; if you were planning to use an external drive from the USB port, you need to wait for the OUYA team to fix the problem with detection of the hard drive. Also, you may find yourself needing to use the gamepad to control the interface--if that's a deal breaker you need to plan accordingly.
Also, bear in mind that the XBMC for Android is still in early alpha!
Sent from my Nook HD+ using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure what USB port problem you mean? I am using a 1TB WD USB HDD and have no problems with read.

I personally bought the ouya strictly for XBMC. I've used xbmc streaming from smb shares since original Xbox and it was called Xbox media center. I still use original Xbox with xbmc and the ouya is its replacement. Xbmc works amazingly better on it even in its alpha state. Those guys are pros and I have every faith they will deliver on the android platform. The only caveats so far is that I'd like a remote control instead of controller and it doesn't exist yet. Perhaps in the future it will. I've set my ouya to boot directly into xbmc but like above poster said the USB support needs work and the issue with the ouya turning itself on when its asleep and not shut down. That's annoying. Also don't plan to use WiFi. Ouyas metal casing hinders WiFi too much for streaming video in decent quality.

JLCollier2005 said:
EDIT/ADDITION:
I'm not sure what USB port problem you mean? I am using a 1TB WD USB HDD and have no problems with read.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a 2TB WD drive and a 3TB Toshiba drive, both using external power. With either of them if I plug in the drive light comes on and blinks but the OUYA doesn't mount it no matter how long I wait. One is formatted as FAT32, the other as NTFS. It makes no difference.
The workaround I've found (don't remember where I saw this originally) is to plug in the drive while the OUYA is powered off and unplugged, then do a system reset. After this, the external drive is recognized and mounted as /usbdrive and the light on the drive only flashes when being read from or written to. I can install XBMC, scan my movies and shows into the library, use the external drive for my emulator roms, etc, etc. It works.
The problem is if I remove the drive for any reason or if I get an update the drive is no longer recognized and I need to do another system reset again, add back all my games, reinstall XBMC and rescan my library (import doesn't seem to work for me) and hope that I don't have to deal with another system update any time soon....
That's why I'm not currently recommending the OUYA if people plan to use an external hard drive to access their media. I'm not the only one with these issues, if you Google for OUYA and external drive you'll see many others are having the same issues.
Sent from my Nook HD+ using Tapatalk HD

Ouya is stuck on 60hz framerate. So 24hz or 50hz files will have some stutter. Maybe stutter is not the right description, it's not perfectly smooth due to framerate adapting to 60hz. I have XBMC with hardware acceleration installed, it really is framerate conversion (or whatever you call it) that causes this.
I like XBMC on Ouya but prefer a media player that adapts its framerate output to the media file, like my Boxee Box does. You'll have a perfectly smooth picture. It really is a lot better to look at.

Using the XAF edition while I wait for Gotham to become stable for android. Works amazingly well.
Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk 2

Does Dolby digital and dts work with this?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

wouwout said:
Ouya is stuck on 60hz framerate. So 24hz or 50hz files will have some stutter. Maybe stutter is not the right description, it's not perfectly smooth due to framerate adapting to 60hz. I have XBMC with hardware acceleration installed, it really is framerate conversion (or whatever you call it) that causes this.
I like XBMC on Ouya but prefer a media player that adapts its framerate output to the media file, like my Boxee Box does. You'll have a perfectly smooth picture. It really is a lot better to look at.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I read about that. Is that a limitation that can be fixed with development, or is it impossible?

bornagainpenguin said:
I think it depends on how you plan to access your media. If you plan to use a NAS, you might be alright; if you were planning to use an external drive from the USB port, you need to wait for the OUYA team to fix the problem with detection of the hard drive. Also, you may find yourself needing to use the gamepad to control the interface--if that's a deal breaker you need to plan accordingly.
Also, bear in mind that the XBMC for Android is still in early alpha!
Sent from my Nook HD+ using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a 1TB Seagate with which I used to have the problem with it not being recognized by my Ouya. Since then I have tried different OTG mounting apps. The best I've found is an app called Paragon which mounts USB drives to '/mnt/usbdrive' by default and has full NTFS read/write capabilities. Also it's automated so it mounts the USB drive at startup without any prompting. The only thing is it requires full root and superuser access. Not a big deal, but a formality nonetheless. Mainly I'm just saying that's there's simple enough workarounds for the Ouya's external hard drive issues.
Also the XBMC Android build found here (http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=152005) works great on my Ouya. Navigating using the gamepad may be a little clunky but the capabilities of using the Ouya for full media playback is already there. Hell, I'm working on turning an Ouya into a full-fledged internet/digital PVR box.

just got my Ouya yesterday and I had xbmc with the 0.6 release installed and the xbmchub fusion wizard thing installed. The issues I have encountered are typing on that xbmc keyboard with only the touchpad is a very arduous experience. Navi-x is installed alongside all the 1 channel stuff but this has a script error but does not stop it from working.
It does crash in navi-x but the speed at which this thing boots up and restarts is rapid so it does not cause that much of a headache, but dont forget that this info comes from less than 24 hours usage.
Overal i am happy with this device and the xbmc install but i would like a easier way of starting the software similar to netflix on the apple tv as the kids can play what they like and not get on my back.

Skater4599 said:
...The only caveats so far is that I'd like a remote control instead of controller and it doesn't exist yet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are two remotes for XBMC the official remote doesn't seem to work for me. But Yatse works well but drains my phones battery really fast. And as a response to a USB drive not working, I have a 2TB WD Passport for my Ouya that works like a charm.

binome- said:
There are two remotes for XBMC the official remote doesn't seem to work for me. But Yatse works well but drains my phones battery really fast. And as a response to a USB drive not working, I have a 2TB WD Passport for my Ouya that works like a charm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm talking an IR remote that can turn the console on/off as well... I have the android app remote working just fine. the official one even.

NssOne said:
I have a 1TB Seagate with which I used to have the problem with it not being recognized by my Ouya. Since then I have tried different OTG mounting apps. The best I've found is an app called Paragon which mounts USB drives to '/mnt/usbdrive' by default and has full NTFS read/write capabilities. Also it's automated so it mounts the USB drive at startup without any prompting. The only thing is it requires full root and superuser access. Not a big deal, but a formality nonetheless. Mainly I'm just saying that's there's simple enough workarounds for the Ouya's external hard drive issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps, but so far the OUYA has been the only Android device I've not felt a need to root and I'd like to keep it that way. Maybe it's just an artificial distinction, but to my mind if I have to root to get basic functionality then the OUYA ceases to be a console (plug and play) and becomes a small computer. If I'm to treat the OUYA as a small computer then I may as well simply run Cyanogen Mod and not waste any money with the OUYA games, because I'll be too busy mapping the game pad to play the many titles available in the Play Store. It becomes a silly, pointless waste of time and money, because I have several desktops which I can use on my television and had in the past been running XBMC just fine on those desktops with my 5.1 surround sound card and speakers.
I bought the OUYA because it promised me XBMC + Games + Android in a simple to use console. Most of those interested in the OUYA as and XBMC box are also people who've already run XBMC on their televisions via an old desktop or htpc, and want a console which will make doing this easier and standardized to just work. We already hacked together something on the desktop; we're looking for the easy button.
Otherwise, we'd have just bought a Midnight box or a Pivos....

I'd say yes.
I've got XBMC running on a load of devices, Raspberry Pi, Pivos Xios DS, Odroid U2, Nexus 7, HTC One X, Intel i5 w/ATI 7770... The RPi and Pivos are sluggish, the Odroid very buggy, the Nexus, One X and Ouya (all tegra 3) are very usable and provide nearly as smooth an experience as the powerful PC.
There are a few bugs still being ironed out but none are show stoppers. The current libstagefright build works nicely enough and will only get better. We should have an interim 12.2 build hit the Ouya store soon which will be mostly bug free and feature complete.
For remote the controller is ok and will be better when they finish key mapping it. You can also connect the ps3 bluetooth media remote which makes for a better experience. Other options are IR remotes that present as keyboards or the FLIRC device.
The main thing to bare in mind is that the Ouya is a pretty new device with lots of development being done every day, something like 10 OS updates in the past 4 months - give the devs time and we'll have a very nice little Tegra 3 box; I'm looking forward to seeing where we'll be in 6 months time. Not to mention the work being done on XBMCs side. A lot of core devs are working on supporting the Ouya as they all have the device.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

NssOne said:
I have a 1TB Seagate with which I used to have the problem with it not being recognized by my Ouya. Since then I have tried different OTG mounting apps. The best I've found is an app called Paragon which mounts USB drives to '/mnt/usbdrive' by default and has full NTFS read/write capabilities. Also it's automated so it mounts the USB drive at startup without any prompting. The only thing is it requires full root and superuser access. Not a big deal, but a formality nonetheless. Mainly I'm just saying that's there's simple enough workarounds for the Ouya's external hard drive issues.
Also the XBMC Android build found here (http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=152005) works great on my Ouya. Navigating using the gamepad may be a little clunky but the capabilities of using the Ouya for full media playback is already there. Hell, I'm working on turning an Ouya into a full-fledged internet/digital PVR box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am also trying to replace cable TV with my Ouya and use it as a DVR. I would love some help, tips on getting it done.
* I have XBMC installed, but it doesnt see my network drives (shared drives on a Win7 PC), although all my other PCs can see them and use them?
* I planned on downloading the TV shows from 'sources' on the web, but wasn't sure how to setup auto gather new shows?
* I heard about Sick Beard and Coach Potato, but I never used them, I would love a guide or steps to help me set it up
* I wanted to get Amazon Video working too, since I pay for Prime, no official app, and I couldn't get a good Android one yet?
* Wouldn't mind having Hulu and Netflix too, I heard the google tv apks are best - any comments on that?
Anything you could help me with, would be very appreciated. I hate overpaying for Cable, and the service/quality sux

bornagainpenguin said:
I bought the OUYA because it promised me XBMC + Games + Android in a simple to use console. Most of those interested in the OUYA as and XBMC box are also people who've already run XBMC on their televisions via an old desktop or htpc, and want a console which will make doing this easier and standardized to just work. We already hacked together something on the desktop; we're looking for the easy button.
Otherwise, we'd have just bought a Midnight box or a Pivos....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't blame the lack of XBMC support on Ouya, it was up to the XBMC team to follow through on that. Ouya only announced it was going to come to the Ouya because that's what XBMC said on their own website. They're finally working on an Ouya fork for the next XBMC release, probably integrating libstagefright into it (because those work best on the Ouya).
And you could've gone for one of those other boxes. They're around the same price as an Ouya. I was a KS backer but I supported it hoping, yet not expecting, some ROM dev support for the console. I know there's CM10 but I'm going to wait for better unlocking of the system before I go full custom ROM. Unless the custom ROMs have better overscan compensation support already (a huge issue with Ouya on my TV).
Zehrfox said:
I am also trying to replace cable TV with my Ouya and use it as a DVR. I would love some help, tips on getting it done.
* I have XBMC installed, but it doesnt see my network drives (shared drives on a Win7 PC), although all my other PCs can see them and use them?
* I planned on downloading the TV shows from 'sources' on the web, but wasn't sure how to setup auto gather new shows?
* I heard about Sick Beard and Coach Potato, but I never used them, I would love a guide or steps to help me set it up
* I wanted to get Amazon Video working too, since I pay for Prime, no official app, and I couldn't get a good Android one yet?
* Wouldn't mind having Hulu and Netflix too, I heard the google tv apks are best - any comments on that?
Anything you could help me with, would be very appreciated. I hate overpaying for Cable, and the service/quality sux
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) I don't use network shares on my XBMC Ouya setup right now. All video files are stored locally to the external hard drive I have connected to my Ouya.
2 & 3) I actually couldn't get the Sick Beard Android app to load on the Ouya. I ended up buying an app called PowerNZB which came with its own Sick Beard server. It's just not as automated right now as it would be on PC when used in conjunction with SabNZBd and I hope to see that change soon. I don't know if I can talk about what 'web sources' I use openly either, but you can figure it out. Also I'll just bluntly tell you to Google Sick Beard tutorials to get a better idea of how to use it.
4 & 5) No clue. I don't have any of these on my Ouya at all. Sorry if I'm not as much help as you'd like.

NssOne said:
You can't blame the lack of XBMC support on Ouya
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't.
As far as I'm concerned, XBMC has already produced a build for the OUYA which works quite well and which I expect to continue to get better and better. Instead I blame OUYA for being unable to (or unwilling?) to fix USB drive detection.
Sent from my Nook HD+ using Tapatalk HD

I appreciate the help
* at NssOne - Thanks, I do appreciate the help I wanted to use the network shares, that way I could have my win7 pc obtain all the shows and movies for me, using PC software, then place it on a shared network drive, where the Ouya could access them and play them. I figured that would be easier that having the Ouya run all that software and handle all those processes.
Which version of XBMC works best on Ouya, I saw several people post different versions, I know you need HW accel, but an exact file name or link would be appreciated.
Is Sick Beard better than Coach Potato? - I have never used either one? will they look for new shows and grab them for me?
Any one else trying to replace Cable TV with Ouya and XBMC? - Any advise, tips, software suggestions?

For XBMC Google the libstagefright version. And I don't know the difference between Sick Beard and Couch Potato. I've stuck with Sick Beard the whole time.

New MOJO owner. My issues + YouTube Video.

Hello All.
I'm new to the forum and I've been messing around with my MOJO for about a week now since I received it in the mail. I have been plagued with a couple issues, but the experience has been overall positive. I updated the firmware and rooted it using Mad Catz's tutorial. And recently I noticed the new OS upgrade by Unjustified Dev. I haven't decided whether I want to move forward with it yet, because it does void the warranty after all.
I downloaded a boatload of apps and games to play around with. So far no issues until 2 days ago when the MOJO started freezing. It would sometimes get stuck and then eventually respond, but other times it would freeze entirely. It froze 3 times yesterday and 2 times today before I gave up with it. Not sure what to do. Should I upgrade to the new unofficial OS, or should I just return the MOJO?
I also made a quick review of the MOJO a couple days ago before the freezing began happening. See it at /watch?v=MjALrGzpQ4A
The video shows the PSX to USB adapter I tested with much success! As well as a webcam that works with video AND microphone audio. I just can't figure out how to get it to work with Skype and Messenger, as if it were a built-in camera like any other smartphone.

I had constant freezes too using the official software. I upgraded to CyanogenMod 12.1 and it has never frozen since.

Edit: I moved this post over to the CM12.1 thead instead because it was more relevant.

UPDATE: I upgraded to CM12.1 by Unjustified Dev and it works great. Unfortunately I had some trouble getting it to work in the beginning but it seems to function perfect now. It still works with the PSX to USB adapter, but I have yet to try it with a webcam.

Hi all,
I've only had my MOJO for a week or two at this point, but I wanted to throw my two cents in since I had the freezing and didn't end up updating to one of unjustified's roms yet (although I did root with towelroot).
I noticed the freezing occasionally when I had the MOJO multitasking quite a bit.
Restarting the MOJO once a day or so seems to have kept the freezing at bay. I have limitless remote service installed so I can control the MOJO with my phone to save controller battery, so I just use that to restart the thing if I remember or if I feel like it needs it. Being an "always on device" I'm not sure if the caches being cleared etc. is what the issue was, but since I've been restarting the MOJO on a regular basis (much the way I do with my phone) it hasn't really been an issue.
Sent from my C6730 using Tapatalk

krikit said:
Hi all,
I've only had my MOJO for a week or two at this point, but I wanted to throw my two cents in since I had the freezing and didn't end up updating to one of unjustified's roms yet (although I did root with towelroot).
I noticed the freezing occasionally when I had the MOJO multitasking quite a bit.
Restarting the MOJO once a day or so seems to have kept the freezing at bay. I have limitless remote service installed so I can control the MOJO with my phone to save controller battery, so I just use that to restart the thing if I remember or if I feel like it needs it. Being an "always on device" I'm not sure if the caches being cleared etc. is what the issue was, but since I've been restarting the MOJO on a regular basis (much the way I do with my phone) it hasn't really been an issue.
Sent from my C6730 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The freezing only started for me about the same time (after 2 weeks from purchase). But after upgrading to CM12, I can confidently say that it is far superior to the Mad Catz stock version of Android, and its totally reversible. If you need any further assistance on how to get it installed, I can help. However, I didn't do the towelroot way, I used USB-USB.
I actually didn't even know that Remix 2.0 was a thing. And now that I know, I may try installing it on my old Dell netbook. Windows Starter ran like crap, but Ubuntu worked better. I can only hope that Remix 2.0 will run even more smoothly.

TwistyTravster said:
I also made a quick review of the MOJO a couple days ago before the freezing began happening. See it at /watch?v=MjALrGzpQ4A
The video shows the PSX to USB adapter I tested with much success! As well as a webcam that works with video AND microphone audio. I just can't figure out how to get it to work with Skype and Messenger, as if it were a built-in camera like any other smartphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for talking about the peripherals here and in your video. I went ahead and got the playstation to usb adapter. I just need to keymap the dual-shock 2's, and 4-player games can be a thing without having to buy more controllers.
Another side-note: I believe you were speculating in your video about if an optical drive would work with the MOJO? I tested mine out (LG GP50NB40) , but couldn't get it to work with or without extra external power. I did find out that Samsung makes one specifically meant to mount on Android devices that's supposed to work on the Nvidia Shield, so I imagine that one works.

krikit said:
Hey, thanks for talking about the peripherals here and in your video. I went ahead and got the playstation to usb adapter. I just need to keymap the dual-shock 2's, and 4-player games can be a thing without having to buy more controllers.
Another side-note: I believe you were speculating in your video about if an optical drive would work with the MOJO? I tested mine out (LG GP50NB40) , but couldn't get it to work with or without extra external power. I did find out that Samsung makes one specifically meant to mount on Android devices that's supposed to work on the Nvidia Shield, so I imagine that one works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw, somewhere on the TransformerForums, a post about that--some optical drives can be set to work with Android. (Asus Transformers, at least the older ones, are Tegra-powered Droids). If I get time I'll try to find the post, not right now for sure. Google is a good friend of mine...

krikit said:
Hey, thanks for talking about the peripherals here and in your video. I went ahead and got the playstation to usb adapter. I just need to keymap the dual-shock 2's, and 4-player games can be a thing without having to buy more controllers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I was extremely surprised that the PSX to USB adapter worked so perfectly. I do wonder if you could get 2 of them and connect them to powered USB hub and get all 4 wired controllers to be registered.
FYI, I found out recently that you can actually stream ROM files through ES File Explorer using any of Robert Broglia's emulators on a DLNA/uPnP server, which is AWESOME! That means you could have multiple Android devices streaming games to multiple emulators all from one place, without needing to be directly connected.
krikit said:
Another side-note: I believe you were speculating in your video about if an optical drive would work with the MOJO? I tested mine out (LG GP50NB40) , but couldn't get it to work with or without extra external power. I did find out that Samsung makes one specifically meant to mount on Android devices that's supposed to work on the Nvidia Shield, so I imagine that one works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the video I saw regarding the external optical drive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvoyab75QgQ
It may be a FAT32 format issue.

What I found on transformerforums.com was a link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2402880
I checked Amazon, it's available in black or white, a bit over US$100.

kevinthefixer said:
What I found on transformerforums.com was a link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2402880
I checked Amazon, it's available in black or white, a bit over US$100.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for posting this, that's a good find. I guess it's just a question of if a person's needs justify paying a bit more for a bluray drive that won't let them watch bluray's on the MOJO legally. Even if that's not a consideration, it's a clear case of proprietary garbage rearing it's self-eating head again. I digress.
It almost seems just a matter of time before Google builds this into a future version of Android (unless physical media sales continue to be replaced by digital).
Here's the Samsung DVD drive demo'd on the Shield TV that I was mentioning above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnwynmT8GVI
Apparently, Samsung has been quick to make Android compatible optical drives to enhance their Galaxy brand: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406001,00.asp

krikit said:
Thanks for posting this, that's a good find. I guess it's just a question of if a person's needs justify paying a bit more for a bluray drive that won't let them watch bluray's on the MOJO legally. Even if that's not a consideration, it's a clear case of proprietary garbage rearing it's self-eating head again. I digress.
It almost seems just a matter of time before Google builds this into a future version of Android (unless physical media sales continue to be replaced by digital).
Here's the Samsung DVD drive demo'd on the Shield TV that I was mentioning above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnwynmT8GVI
Apparently, Samsung has been quick to make Android compatible optical drives to enhance their Galaxy brand: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406001,00.asp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm thinking the question is why Google hasn't added the few necessary drivers & codecs to Android to support optical drives natively--maybe just to support Samsung's market corner? Or simply not enough interest? It's not a big deal for me, I'd as soon rip a dvd and watch the resulting mp4, store the source dvd for backup purposes. But that's not quite so easy for Windows users, they must pay for an effective dvd ripper, while Linux has several open-source ones. I like Handbrake.

krikit said:
Thanks for posting this, that's a good find. I guess it's just a question of if a person's needs justify paying a bit more for a bluray drive that won't let them watch bluray's on the MOJO legally. Even if that's not a consideration, it's a clear case of proprietary garbage rearing it's self-eating head again. I digress.
It almost seems just a matter of time before Google builds this into a future version of Android (unless physical media sales continue to be replaced by digital).
Here's the Samsung DVD drive demo'd on the Shield TV that I was mentioning above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnwynmT8GVI
Apparently, Samsung has been quick to make Android compatible optical drives to enhance their Galaxy brand: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2406001,00.asp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was gonna start a new thread to post about this but I searched DVD and this active thread will do as well as any, I suppose. Hopefully this interests someone!
Earlier today I figured out how to watch encrypted (DRM) retail DVD movies by sharing my PC's DVD drive on my SMB network. My PC is wired via ethernet but the MOJO is fully wifi. The same trick should work for a lot of Blu-Ray and all HD-DVD discs.
First off, I tried just sharing the optical drive on the network. Sorta worked, I could view the files but I couldn't play the movie. So I did a bit more research and figured out that Android doesn't have anything to decrypt your DVD's DRM (as some of you have noted) so I went back to the drawing board. Eventually I came across a Windows program called AnyDVD HD that decrypts DVDs, Blu-Rays, and HD-DVDs on the fly, seconds after you pop them into the drive. I downloaded and installed version 7.3.0.0 from a certain torrent site, you know the one. Don't worry, AnyDVD is no longer in business because they weren't allowed to be making the program in the first place, so you couldn't buy the program if you tried. Installed and patched AnyDVD HD, popped in my retail Scarface anniversary edition DVD and voila! Starts up and plays in seconds via Kodi. Even gets rid of those pesky trailers and FBI warnings. Like I said, this should work with most if not all DVDs and HD-DVDs. Blu-Rays are a little more hit or miss because as I understand it, with each new release they tweak the DRM a bit making it hard for programs like this to keep up.
It might not be as streamlined as having an external plugged directly into it, but for as often as I watch physical media I don't mind walking 20 ft over to my PC and popping the disc in the drive. Hopefully this is useful to everyone! If anyone has questions, feel free to ask!
EDIT: I'm thinking about maybe starting a YouTube channel for MOJO/possibly just general Android Box discoveries, and tips and tricks I've learned. Is this interesting to anyone/would anyone want to contribute?

tideee88 said:
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Earlier today I figured out how to watch encrypted (DRM) retail DVD movies by sharing my PC's DVD drive on my SMB network. My PC is wired via ethernet but the MOJO is fully wifi. The same trick should work for a lot of Blu-Ray and all HD-DVD discs.
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EDIT: I'm thinking about maybe starting a YouTube channel for MOJO/possibly just general Android Box discoveries, and tips and tricks I've learned. Is this interesting to anyone/would anyone want to contribute?
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Excellent work! If I thought I got surprised finding out about streaming shared ROM files, through ES File Explorer, directly to any of Robert Broglia's emulators. That totally blows my mind. But streaming DVD's wirelessly from one device to another? LOL Hot damn.
Technology... you scare me sometimes.

External optical drive - Android Yoga Book

Has anyone ever managed to get an external dvd drive working on an Android Yoga Book? I would have thought hooking it up with an OTG connector and a Y cable also going into a power bank to give the drive some juice would work. Would be great to hear if anyone has got it to work.

Risico said:
Has anyone ever managed to get an external dvd drive working on an Android Yoga Book? I would have thought hooking it up with an OTG connector and a Y cable also going into a power bank to give the drive some juice would work. Would be great to hear if anyone has got it to work.
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I was try. DVD drive was recognized but cd accelerated and stops, accelerated and stops... I think energy is too low...

Android Verizon works (With Drawbacks) Windows Verizon should work with a powered hub
Risico said:
Has anyone ever managed to get an external dvd drive working on an Android Yoga Book? I would have thought hooking it up with an OTG connector and a Y cable also going into a power bank to give the drive some juice would work. Would be great to hear if anyone has got it to work.
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Yes, for the android version most portable DVD drives that have AV mode will work.
however, there are some serious drawbacks.
1. you need a powered OTG hub as every drive I've tried, even the low powered portable ones need too much power, it often looks like its working but will have issues spinning or turn off randomly. there may be lower powered ones now but I havent found one with low enough draw not to need a powered hub.
2. its not great for movies. it only works with DVDs that are not encrypted (a lot of low budget or independent DVDs are unencrypted) or data discs with your own video files on them. (if you try to play an encrypted video it will either error out or will play the video but it will look scrambled and will blank out a lot.)
3. even if you do find an unencrypted DVD its not really straightforward to play. without a proper DVD software for android you need an app that at least will play the DVD files (MX player worked for me, I suspect VLC would work as well) the DVD basically opens like a data disk with a bunch of oddly named files, you just have to dig through and find the largest file and that's usually the main video.
as far as I can find there do not seem to be any video players for android that can decrypt a DVD (regular DVD players have built in decryption and PCs use software so its not something you generally think about until it doesn't work)
all this being said, for anyone with the windows version ignore everything above and you will probably be ok with a powered USB hub and some DVD software.
**Edit, I cant change the title now but I typed Verizon instead of Version by mistake. Sorry about that***