Micro PC and Sound bar for TV

[tee-bone]

I had posted in another thread about my mod for a Bose sound bar and Micro PC and had a lot of readers asking questions, so I thought I would post this.
I mounted a very small PC behind the TV. You can find these in all shapes and sizes, but mine is a Foxconn Nano PC and is the size of a paperback book. I run Linux OS and have Kodi on it to run all of my movies and music. I connect it to the HDMI of the TV and audio cable to a 3.5mm splitter that goes to a Bose sound bar on the mantle under the TV. The other 3.5mm from the splitter goes to the TV ( when watching TV using the antennae or DVD player ) My TV audi was so crappy I had to do something........ This works great, I have built up a library of movies on an external hard drive and can plug that into PC and watch movies through Kodi. Windows based Pc would work too, just use Windows Media Center. Building the movie library you will just have to google that one !!

 

[bankr63]

Do something similar with a Raspberry Pi. About $100 (www.buyapi.ca) with everything needed to setup, although my external sound feeds off back of the TV rather than from the Pi. The Pi is about the size of a deck of cards (my external HDD is bigger than the Pi) and consumes very little power.

 

[tee-bone]

Do something similar with a Raspberry Pi. About $100 (www.buyapi.ca) with everything needed to setup, although my external sound feeds off back of the TV rather than from the Pi. The Pi is about the size of a deck of cards (my external HDD is bigger than the Pi) and consumes very little power.

Yep, Raspberry Pi is very small and a great option. I have one running Linux OpenGL with Kodi and it works very good too.

 

[norty1]

I just installed an inexpensive sound bar on my tv and even it was head and heels over the built in tv speakers.

What you have sounds depressing because it makes me realize that technology has left me way behind. I used to be up on new things but most of is starting to sound like Greek!

 

[sennister]

I can't even get any sound from the HDMI ports on my TV. Maybe that is a warranty issue though.

I have a RaspberryPi in my camper but mainly for games. I could easily make it a media center as well but without sound movies would suck.

 

[Murff]

I could easily make it a media center as well but without sound movies would suck.

Maybe read the closed captions?

Murff

 

[sennister]

Maybe read the closed captions?

Murff

If I had to resort to that, I would rather read the book. Which is what I did this weekend. I think we only turned on the TV 2-3 times all weekend (Thursday through Tuesday) to try and catch the weather forecast.

 

[tee-bone]

That is where the sound bar comes in.....I use audio outputs from TV and audio out (or headphone jack ) from PC and go into Aux of the sound bar. HDMI is only pushing video.

 

[sennister]

That is where the sound bar comes in.....I use audio outputs from TV and audio out (or headphone jack ) from PC and go into Aux of the sound bar. HDMI is only pushing video.

Yeah I was thinking about just going this route.

https://www.amazon.com/3-5mm-Right-Audio-Female-Adapter/dp/B003LVDWOQ

Run that cable to the Aux input on the Furrion Stereo. I just need to get the cable.

 

[tee-bone]

Yeah I was thinking about just going this route.

https://www.amazon.com/3-5mm-Right-Audio-Female-Adapter/dp/B003LVDWOQ

Run that cable to the Aux input on the Furrion Stereo. I just need to get the cable.

I own a computer store and have them in stock.... 3 bucks each. I have male 3.5mm to male RCA L/R. That works good if speakers are in a good place. Our speakers seem spread apart and sounded like TV was in the middle of the living area.

 

[NismoGriff]

What type of software are you guys using to rip your movies from DVD and Blu-ray to media files? I've been wanting to do something like this for a while.

 

[pconroy]

What type of software are you guys using to rip your movies from DVD and Blu-ray to media files? I've been wanting to do something like this for a while.

I used to use software called DVD Fab.
This was for regular DVDs and quite a few years ago.

 

[brianca2]

I have been using a Kangaroo mini PC with a bluetooth speaker . Way better that the TV speakers and no wires . I just charge the speakers when generator or solar panels are on . The mini PC has a quad core Atom CPU and 4GB of ram so it is ok. It plays all 720P movies and TV shows using media player classic with codecs from Klite codec pack loaded . The best is the Mini PC and TV only use 26 watts of power . The Mini PC also has a battery so if I switch from AC, to my inverter I don't have to worry about turning the PC off.

Kangaroo + | Kangaroo