Some very basic questions from a total newbie to Android

LiquidAssFrance

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Please excuse me for what may seem to be questions that are outright stupid. I have never owned a mobile phone and don't want one so lots of the stuff found in my new Android TV box leaves me somewhat perplexed. I am an intermediate user with a Windows PC but that has little relation to Android so maybe someone can assist me with the following:

1. root in my box has a default setting of disabled but it can be enabled. What is root and what benefit is there in enabling it?
2. What is CEC?
3. What is Daydream?

Rather than connecting it to a TV, I am running it through a Bose Lifestyle V35 system which in turn is connected to an XGIMI H3 projector. The projector is also Android based running Android 8.1. The TV box, a Ugoos AM6 Plus runs Android 9.0 Pie. This brings up further questions:

4. the projector is 3D compatible. If the TV box, with my NAS connected to it has a 3D signal running through it, can I assume that it will not be decoded prior to reaching the projector?
5. The TV box runs all versions of Dolby including Atmos but the Boses system is only 5.1 and will not recognize Dolby Atmos. Is there something I need to do in Android's settings in order to transform the Atmos soundtrack to ordinary 5.1 surround sound?
6. Finally, my previous player was a Mede8er X6003D and it is that which is probably causing much of my confusion. The person who sold me the AM6 tells me that even though I can connect my NAS to it, it is NOT a movie player (the Mede8er was). So, am I to understand that I need to install an application like Kodi or Plex to:
a) play my movies, and
b) search for subtitles?
 
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1. Root, not sure, but you won't need it
2.CEC allows your tv remote to control other devices
3. Daydream, sort of screensaver?
4. Don't know,Kodi has 3D settings, not sure if this will get 3D on the tv
5. don't know
6.Yes, install Kodi, although most android boxes already have a media player of some sort.
Plex is similar, but, you will need a plex server, the are no android apps for a plex server, only plex clients.

Your exact model of android tv box would be a help.
 
Thanks for your replies. I did mention which TV box I have in my original post. As you missed it, it is a Ugoos AM6 Plus. I do not have a TV. The TV box feeds an XGIMI H3 projector (the link goes to the H2 which is almost the same).

I have installed Kodi Leia v18.7 but am having a few issues with it:

1. I have a 7 port USB 3.0 hub connected to the TV box's USB 3.0 port. 5 HDD's are plugged-in to that and Kodi sees all of them but I also have a Blu-ray reader/writer connected to the hub and Kodi cannot see it. If I connect the same player direct to the projector, it has no problem seeing it but I can't keep it that way as the projector is ceiling mounted. Any ideas?

2. Every time I start Kodi, it automatically scans the content on all 5 drives but it never gets more than half way before saying it cannot connect to the server. The internet connection is fine (100 MB/sec via LAN) and I can stream from Amazon and YouTube when Kodi cannot connect to the server. Do you know if this is a regular issue with Kodi or should I change some setting in it somewhere?

3. I wanted Kodi to make a separate library for the content of each HDD because they all contain different genres. For example, HDD1 - 2D movies in English, HDD2 - 3D movies in English, HDD3 - French and Italian 2D movies, HDD4 - Documentaries in English and French, and HDD5 - TV series. The problem is that Kodi has taken the lot and mixed them all together although it has its default filters like Genre, Author, Year, etc. Is there any way I can separate them out again so that each drive's content is respected?
 
Hi,
1, if you plug the bluray drive into the hub and use VLC (download from the play store) will it see the drive?
2&3, in kodi ignore the scans goto the movies or video section and select files then browse for files you should then be able to select a drive, which should list the items as you have named them.
If you install VLC that also has an option to use the attached hdds.
For atmos you need the relevant speakers which for the most part requires a amplifier or a soundbar your system will ignore the atmos and just play the correct audio whether it's stereo or multi channel.
 
I would add a couple of comments to the good advice from razy60.
The first thing I usually do after installing Kodi 18 is to switch from the default Estuary skin to the Confluence skin (do this via Settings, Interface, Skin, Get more). The Confluence skin used to be the default and in my opinion it's much easier to get Kodi configured with it than Estuary and it provides a much better user interface for music playback if you're using Kodi for that job too. If you find you prefer Estuary it only takes a couple of cliks to switch back. There are lots of other skins you can try but may advice is to stick with Confluence or Estuary initially. Once you're happy you've got everything up and running reliably then if you wish you can investigate other skins (my personal favourite is Transparency).

Second, if you can simplify your disk arrangement that can only make things easier in the long run. Eg I have all my media on a single NAS drive on which the main folders are called Music, Photo and Video. I then have sub-folders for the various categories within those main folders except for the Music folder which has one sub-folder for each all my ripped albums, no further divisions being necessary. In the Video folder I have amongst others folders for Music Videos, Timelapse Videos, 4K Videos, Dolby Digital and Atmos demos, Movie Trailers, Short Films etc etc. I have never had any of my media organised using Kodi's library facility I've always done as razy60 suggests and gone to the relevant section in Kodi and navigate to the target media via Files etc.

Finally I find it useful to make use of my Windows PC to test things out in Kodi. Once I'm happy with whatever change I'm planning I then reconfigure Kodi on my media player in the same way. I find it much easier to do this on the PC than on the media player itself.

--
JB
 
Thanks to both of you for your advice.

The Blu-ray player doesn't show up in VLC either. Nor in Total Commander. It has 2 USB 2.0 cables (one is to provide power). I tried connecting both to the player, both to the hub, and then one to the player and one to the hub. Nothing seems to work, and yet, it works when connected direct to the projector. Very odd situation!

I switched Kodi to the Confluence skin and agree, it is easier to configure. Using Files is also a simple solution. I am still unable to get Kodi to scan all the drives' contents without coming up with the 'Can't connect to the remote server' error after approximately 20 to 30 mins.
 
With regard to the Blu-Ray player I think the reason it doesn't register on the TV box is because the box's firmware doesn't include support for optical drives. The only TV boxes that I know for sure to support optical drives are some of the Zidoo TV boxes. It's not something I've investigated myself but it's possible that even then they are only supported on the HDMI inputs on those boxes not via USB.

Moving on to your error after scanning the drives for 20 to 30 minutes, I suspect you're simply asking the operating system to log too much data in one go. It's not a PC or a Mac for example it's just a TV box with only 4GB memory and 32GB storage. Compare those amounts with a typical PC or Mac. It's just not enough to do what you're asking it to do. Plug just one drive in at a time and see how that goes.

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JB
 
Excellent advice on both counts, JB. I rarely use the Blu-ray player so I will just connect it to my PC and copy my clips over to a hard drive.

I'm having another problem which is one that Ugoos support really ought to answer. They were all over me when I had questions prior to purchase but since I got the device they won't answer any of my questions. This is made worse by the fact that the user manual has practically nothing in it!

Anyway, the AM6 sees my 2 main Wi-Fi sources. I have entered the passwords which it accepted and saved but whenever I try to connect I get a message that it cannot find the Wi-Fi source. TV Box Stop covered this issue in his review but his cure of setting the box's IP setting to DHCP is not working for me. At the moment I'm connected by LAN but as of next Thursday I will absolutely need to switch to Wi-Fi.
 
Just checking you did exactly what he said in the TV Box Stop review which was to switch it to Static and then back to DHCP. I would reboot it after setting to static and then reboot it again after setting it back to DHCP just for good measure. In my experience though wi-fi connection issues are usually down either a) the distance between the wi-fi host and the client is too far or there are other wireless interfering sources in the vicinity or b) the wi-fi is using the same channel as other wi-fi users in your vicinity. You need a wi-fi scanner to verify this last point eg WiFi Overview 360 on Android or InSSIDer on Windows. If this is the case then simply changing the wi-fi channel on your router to a less popular channel might fix your problem. It's usually best to use channel 1, 6 or 11 if on the 2.4GHz band (I don't have any experience of wi-fi connection issues on the 5GHz band). However I would always recommend using an ethernet connection for the most reliable operation. Do you have no way of permanently linking via ethernet eg by using HomePlugs if not a direct cable connection?

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JB
 
Yes, I did exactly as he suggested, several times and the box has been rebooted at least 20 times since but the issue remains. TV Box Stop said I needed to make sure all firmware updates had been done and he tells me there are several. I only found a single update checking button under the About section. According to that, my box is up to date. He also said that I should file a claim for a replacement if the Wi-Fi still didn't work but Ugoos support never reply so that's not going to get me very far. I think I will try the reseller that sold me the device.

The ethernet connection is my preferred method. The problem with that is I currently have 2 different connections: 256 Kb/s (ADSL) via Wi-Fi on an Orange Livebox, and 20 Mb/s via satellite. Because the latter was the more powerful, I CPL'd it to the home cinema. This Thursday, Orange will finally connect us to their new fiber network meaning, I won't need to pay the extortionate fees for my satellite connection anymore.

The obvious solution would be to move the CPL sender to the new Orange box but, due to the limitations of the previous box and the fact that I needed the satellite connection to myself to run my business with, I had an electrician build 2 separate ring mains into the house. One runs from my office to the cinema and the other runs from our bedroom, where the Orange Livebox is installed, to the rest of the house. From that, you would likely reply that the solution is to install the Orange fiber box in my office however, my son, an avid gamer, has a LAN cable running directly to the Livebox in our bedroom which is far from my office. He needs the fiber box to be installed where the Livebox currently is. There's no way around that as far as I know because, in order to avoid the noise he makes, we placed him in our guest home (a small annexe which is separate from our home). His LAN cable passes from his bedroom window to our bedroom. In other words, other than a Wi-Fi connection, I see no solution.

Talking of the Wi-Fi issue, the distance between the TV box and the Orange connection is about 5 meters, and only 3 meters from the satellite connection's router. I do not believe there are any interfering sources for 2 reasons: the first being that we live in the mountains and our nearest neighbor is approximately 80 meters from us; the second being that prior to the arrival of this TV box, I had a Mede8er X6003D box which had no problem connecting to either Wi-Fi source.

If it helps, I can install WiFi Overview 360 on the TV box as you suggested, JBA6 but given what I have covered so far, would it still be of any value?
 
From your description I agree with you it's unlikely you'll find any interfering sources for the wi-fi but the app is free so you've got nothing to lose by using it to check. Is there no way you could run another LAN cable from the new Orange box when it comes?

What's a CPL sender? I've never come across this term before and a Google search yields no clues.

--
JB
 
The bedroom is too far from the cinema. I will try asking the installer if he would consider private work so that he might create a new mains ring. If I hire an electrician to do it, it will cost an arm and a leg.

Sorry about the CPL term. As you may have guessed from my avatar, I am French. I forget what a CPL is called in English but you can see what it is HERE. That link takes you to Amazon France and even though everything is in French, the product images should be enough for you to recognize the device. Then, perhaps you can tell me what you call that in English? 😉
 
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Assuming it's the Devolo Magic 1 WiFi, it appears to be a HomePlug with wi-fi that can be used to route your network via the mains which we typically refer to as HomePlug networking plus it includes a mesh wi-fi capability. If it was on the same ring main as the cinema room then having another one in that room would probably be a good solution but if the two locations are on different ring mains then you are indeed restricted to using the wi-fi or a seperate LAN cable. Going by their description, the Devolo mesh wi-fi network should be able to cover a pretty big area. If the Ugoos really can't make a reliable connection when it's a maximum of just 5 metres away then that would seem to imply there is something wrong with it - did they forget to wire up the two antennas?

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JB
 
My office is on the first floor. The cinema is directly below it and both are on the same mains ring. The Orange box is situated in our bedroom which is quite far away but we have a Wi-Fi repeater in our bathroom and the distance between the repeater and the TV box is only 3 meters as it is directly above.

I don't think the antennas are not connected because the box sees both connections when switched to Wi-Fi. I will go downstairs and take some photos so you can see what is happening. Back in a few minutes...
 

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