WDTV Replacement - Without Plex - Nvidia Shield?

[voodoo_ca]

I am free falling down a rabbit hole and I need someone to catch me.

I have been trying to replace a WDTV for someone who is 1. Tech Challenged and 2. Does not have the internet

WDTV was pretty good for this - I could take it with me, load movies on it, and return it... plug it back in the TV and away it goes.

It had a simple to use remote and some type of remote is needed.

It displayed movie covers and movie info (when the IMDB connection worked)

Unfortunately the storage filled up, the movie info stopped working, and it had troubles playing some movie files.

 

I purchased a WD MyCloud Home 4Tb drive and planned on connecting it using Plex.

This has proven to be painful - mainly because of the lack of internet.

I followed steps to setup things offline and had things "working", but then the movies would just freeze after 20 minutes of watching.

Someone on the Plex forum said that this was an issue with plex offline that can happen - I am not really sure why it was freezing.

I bought a Roku 3 to use with plex and more recently a Chromecast with Google TV.

Again, without the internet, running plex is a PITA.

 

I saw another thread on here about Nvidia Shield - I almost thought about reviving that one.

There were a few people who had used it to replace the WDTV.

 

I am hoping some of those people can give me some more information.

 

Can I plug in this external drive and use the Nvidia Shield to play movie files on the drive?

Is there a way to download and show movie information (easily?)?

I am guessing I would just use a generic media player app - is there something like this on the Shield?

 

Thanks for the help,

Chad

[Alex Atkin UK]

14 minutes ago, voodoo_ca said:

I am free falling down a rabbit hole and I need someone to catch me.

I have been trying to replace a WDTV for someone who is 1. Tech Challenged and 2. Does not have the internet

WDTV was pretty good for this - I could take it with me, load movies on it, and return it... plug it back in the TV and away it goes.

It had a simple to use remote and some type of remote is needed.

It displayed movie covers and movie info (when the IMDB connection worked)

Unfortunately the storage filled up, the movie info stopped working, and it had troubles playing some movie files.

 

I purchased a WD MyCloud Home 4Tb drive and planned on connecting it using Plex.

This has proven to be painful - mainly because of the lack of internet.

I followed steps to setup things offline and had things "working", but then the movies would just freeze after 20 minutes of watching.

Someone on the Plex forum said that this was an issue with plex offline that can happen - I am not really sure why it was freezing.

I bought a Roku 3 to use with plex and more recently a Chromecast with Google TV.

Again, without the internet, running plex is a PITA.

 

I saw another thread on here about Nvidia Shield - I almost thought about reviving that one.

There were a few people who had used it to replace the WDTV.

 

I am hoping some of those people can give me some more information.

 

Can I plug in this external drive and use the Nvidia Shield to play movie files on the drive?

Is there a way to download and show movie information (easily?)?

I am guessing I would just use a generic media player app - is there something like this on the Shield?

 

Thanks for the help,

Chad

I tried a few cheaper options too before resorting to the ShieldTV which is well worth the price.  Although I only use it now for movies with DTS as its easier to use my TVs apps, although its not as good a picture as the ShieldTV with 4K upscaling.

[voodoo_ca]

I am at a stage where I am not worried about the price - IF the system can work as intended.

The last time I jumped into the PLEX, Chromecast, WD My Cloud Home idea I thought I had it solved and the Plex was a "free" way to make it work.

If the last piece to this puzzle is just the Nvidia Shield, I am ok with that.

[voodoo_ca]

I am going to add 2 more ideas to this thread - incase I am thinking about this the wrong way.

 

1. Instead of buying a $300 shield - Can I just get a new TV (for a little more money) that can plug into some storage and play movies that way?

2. Is the Amazon Fire Cube anything to even look at? (I was watching some videos, but my gut says no)