Screencast to your Android box

[Jason]

I'm setting up an Android box for my brother who is in the hospital. I accidentally discovered that I can screencast from my phone to the big screen through the Android box. Cool! In my case, it was done through Airplay and was super simple to set up. It's built into Android 10 which is both on my phone and on the box. Has anybody else tried this? There are other options available if you have a TV such as the Chromecast stick or it might be built-in if you have a Smart TV.

[fox]

Yep. Did it with my Samsung phone to show my google photos on the TV screen through Apple TV. Apple devices have been able to do this for years.

[ssfc72]

I have a Kodi/Minix box, but I have never tried to screencast.  I see the Airplay app, but I had no idea what it was.

[Jason]

Yep. Did it with my Samsung phone to show my google photos on the TV screen through Apple TV. Apple devices have been able to do this for years.

I believe Android devices have for years, too as they've been around that long. It's just the first time I've had one to try it. I was surprised that an Android phone had the ability to use AirPlay. Generally, Apple creates a protocol that isn't any better than anyone else's just one that they stick a fancy name on and patent. And then nobody else uses it unless they absolutely have to because of the licensing fees on the said patent. Looking at you Firewire, to name but one.

Anyway, my brother was paying $75/month for basic cable plus a small selection of movie networks (from the 70s/80s/90s). Through a local business, he can subscribe to thousands of channels for $15/month. And it actually works. I knew it was a thing but I thought it was hit and miss with people having to get boxes reprogrammed every other month.

I thought the box did it by pulling feeds from various unsavoury places on the Internet when I first heard about it and it'd have to have custom firmware installed on it. But I just bought a random Android box on line. It looks like they're using an IPTV service, perhaps reselling it? It's not as problem-free as cable; tv guides don't always show up when they're supposed to and some channels might not work. That could be related to just the location. We don't need live TV (we're allergic to commercials) but when it's $400/month for tv in the hospital, I needed to find another alternative for him. Now just to find a smallish tv or 1080 monitor to work with it. If anybody has one under 22" they can give up or sell cheaply, message me.

[gmiller1977]

What business is offering this?  What is included for the $15?

[Jason]

The business is called Satellite Tower Guys. You can phone or text them (or email, I have their address, message me for it). A friend recommended me to them. The guy I talked to, Rob, is pretty good although his emails could be a bit more professional.

They have all the main networks you'd expect in a basic service including US networks at all the timezones available plus movie networks, sports, cultural programming, specialty channels, etc. It's live programming. Basically, thousands of channels although admittedly, maybe a thousand are foreign programming. If you want to know if there is a specific channel, I can look to see. Here's a link to contact them. It works like this:

1. Get an Android Box and set up the network connection
2. Send them $15 for the first month via etransfer
3. They send you a link to download an IPTV app (side-loaded) to your box and a username/password
4. Login and enjoy!
5. Pay monthly, the service shows a due date but it's basically every 30 days. They don't offer auto payments.

I think that Android boxes are in a legal grey zone in Canada but I don't know about this service in particular. The IPTV provider they use does offer service to re-sellers.