Database Develop

Nexus 7 with portable DVD r/w NAS as wireless entertainment system for car or travel

Nexus 7 with portable DVD r/w NAS as wireless entertainment system for car or travel and can be used a wireless access point if you plug into your hotel or home ethernet port. I use a car inverter plug to power the samsung optical smart hub. I can read. write or stream files from cd or dvd or flash storage or hard drive attached to the hub. Can be accessed simultaeneously by 4 people. Two people can watch same dvd at different stages in the movie or 4 people can watch stream files off usb memory. UYou do not need root for doing this. It works out of the box. see my youtube video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dKvwom5K8s
also see my other nexus 7 videos on my link in my tagline below. see my various nexus 7 and android play lists as well, which might be useful for some people. subscribe to my youtube channel if you like my videos as i will be uploading few more nexus related videos as i have shot some more but havent uploaded them yet and will do so soon.
my nexus 7 is in car entertainment system and is portable as not built into dash and can take with me while travelling. My wife and child watch live TV and tv catch up and surf the net or do skype video chats for free (excluding the cost of my unlimited data plan) by tethering it to my samsung galaxy note by wifi hotspot.
my total cost was 189.99£ for 16gb nexus 7 + about 70£ for samsung optical smarthub from amazon + 15£ for car inverter = cheap as chips in car entertainment system / NAS that can be shared by 4 people wirelesly and can play dvds, read / write / copy / stream to dvd / cd / flash drive / hard drive and do device back ups or watch internet tv and radio and skype video chats. Has got ethernet port to connect to hotel ethernet port to use a wifi access point when travelling. Can connect to laptop to act as internal drive via usb or as dvd player for TVs although i havent tried those features.

so I had obvious questions, like software, wifi setup, etc, but I guess this "smarthub" device has much of that built-in. how is it over bumps? lose data connection any? can this work with any video/media file type or does it have to be DVD movies only?

640k said:
so I had obvious questions, like software, wifi setup, etc, but I guess this "smarthub" device has much of that built-in. how is it over bumps? lose data connection any? can this work with any video/media file type or does it have to be DVD movies only?
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Click to collapse
i cant answer all the questions today but might be able to either tomorrow or over the next few days. I am on holiday for the last week and will be for about a week more. So busy travelling or making travel plans most of the time as am going on short breaks on a daily basis or recovering in between.
They sent me one with a EU plug and the fit into the inverter is a bit loose. Although i get a contact i dont like it being loose so just use an existing EU to UK plug adapter from tesco (think might have been £1 or so) to plug into my car inverter. The nexus 7 has no probs catching the signal or playing dvds or cds. I tried accessing documents and they work fine as do avi videos from what i remember but i emtied that flash drive for other stuff so cant check the formats now.
I didnt get to use the hub much as my 3y child was more interested with playing on the nexus 7 or watching cartoons on the internet television or my wife was watching television on it so i couldnt check it out as i was driving most of the time. Will try to check it out tomorrow or over the next few days.
The techradardeals website seems to have goofed up and i got an email saying my two 64gb flash drives usb 3.0 are not being delivered, so i am busy making other arrangements for my data for the trip. I had deleted some of my movies from my sd cards in anticipation of getting the drives but now have to copy them to alternate flash drives IF i can find some spares tonight as most of my existing ones are filled with other documents. But will definitely try some dvds tomorrow if my child allows it as she will be using the nexus 7 while i am driving! Today and the last few days she was busy playing on the nexus 7 in the back seat or watching internet TV or skype video chatting or my wife was surfing or watching internet TV, so i didnt get much of a chance using the device myself! Am wondering whether to get another nexus 7 now for only myself. This one was my childs present!!! which i thought i could use but my child has other ideas!!! so my PLAN to get a gadget for myself didnt work out!! I still use the tablet when at home or at night though. But my child uses the tablet the entire journey if she is not sleeping, by playing games or watching TV or listening to songs as she now wants to hear it on the tablet rather than the car stereo and she is only three soon to be four years old.
Anyway enough of me digressing from your queries.
You can see more videos and tutorials and FAQs for the device here http://samsung-odd.com/eng/
the user manual here http://www.samsungodd.com/WebManual/SmartHub/SE-208BW/en/index.html
specifications here http://www.samsungodd.com/WebManual/SmartHub/SE-208BW/en/Specifications_Product.html
you can directly connect this to compatible TVs or photo frames with usb slot function http://www.samsungodd.com/WebManual/SmartHub/SE-208BW/en/Using_AV_Function.html
I am not sure what codecs etc are supported. File sizes cant be more than 4gb. There are a couple more videos on this device on my "android accessories playlist" as far as i remember. see the one by mavericchoi if i remember the name right.

got a few dvds to test tomorrow and some videos (m4v, avi) copying to my flash drive now. will check it tomorrow or over the next 3 days and get back here. they work fine in the stationary car, so i dont see why they wouldnt work while moving unless the electrical connection gets loose. wifi signal strength is great.

640k said:
so I had obvious questions, like software, wifi setup, etc, but I guess this "smarthub" device has much of that built-in. how is it over bumps? lose data connection any? can this work with any video/media file type or does it have to be DVD movies only?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dvd works fine in my car and handles the bumps fine. Did not loose connection at any point. Flash drive seems corrupted, as my movies are not working working. But previous hard drive movies played fine.

I bought one of these as well, and it works great with the Nexus 7. I haven't put it in the car yet, as I'm still doing my testing, but here are the things I've noticed so far.
1. My MP4 files aren't playing when using the Samsung Smart Hub app. It always says unsupported media type. I used handbrake and the ATV2 setting, which works for every other third party player I've tried (BSPlayer, ES File Manager player), but the Samsung video player chokes on them. However, if I use the same ATV2 setting, but choose MKV, they play. Definitely an issue with the Samsung player.
2. The Samsung video player cannot handle any HD content without stuttering. That's pretty much a kiss of death for me, because I'm not ripping the DVDs that come with my BDs just to have them for travelling. So, instead I use ES File Manager - the navigation is very easy and the player works great for all of my HD content.
3. If you want to play DVDs using the streaming app, then the Samsung video player definitely works and does the job perfectly. The only issue I had was getting a message about setting the correct region. All of my mobile devices can play DVDs that way (HTC One X, Nexus 7, iPod touch, and iPhone 4s).
4. MP3s play great using the Samsung video player.
Those are really the only things I've noticed so far. I don't have any other media types to try, because I only use MP4 and MP3, but for me this device will do exactly what I want - have a mobile media hub during our long trips, that all of my mobile devices can use.
If you visit the Samsung ODD support website and read the manual, and watch the videos, setup is a breeze. First thing - make sure you already have a USB drive/stick/etc with some movies or songs on it, because the SmartHub will choke when you try to navigate around in the app. I have a 32GB SD card (Amazon Basics - cheap but works great) and a SanDisk MicroMate SD reader plugged into the Hub, and it works great. External USB hard drives work, too - I've tried two different 2.5 SATA drives and both had no issues. After you set it up, plug the USB drive in before doing anything else. I didn't bother with the included setup CD - I just connected the SmartHub to my home network via ethernet cable, let it acquire an IP, then I used IE and browsed to http://smarthub. I could set everything up that way, including doing a firmware update. My device came with A00, and A03 was available, so I went ahead and did the firmware update. Once that was done, I changed the SSID and password (the default SSID and password is on a label on the bottom of the device), changed the SAMBA sharing password, then I disconnected it from my home network and rebooted the device.
Next, I changed my Nexus wireless network to the SmartHub's - that's very important, because you can't use it at all unless your mobile devices and the SmartHub are on the same subnet! I think that's the biggest issue with people having problems getting things to work. I started the Samsung Mobile Smart Hub (previously downloaded from Google Play), set my SAMBA password, and I was up and running.
I don't think I'd use this for my home network streaming/playback, because I already have things in place that take care of media, but I don't think there's a better media hub type device for travelling.

Thanks. OP! I just ordered one as they are on sale for $40 at Amazon (US):
http://amzn.com/B007JUFLS0

Not knocking the Samsung thing -- especially at only $40 -- but anyone considering it should at least look at the (much more expensive) Seagate Satellite. It is a battery-powered 500gb HDD with onboard WIFI and file server. I've installed hacked firmware and can stream four different movies to four different devices simultaneously without problems. Now three kids of differing ages and tastes can watch whatever they want to watch on a long car trip.
At $40, the Samsung thing is a steal -- almost an at-the-cash-register impulse buy. At $160, the Satellite is a good value, but not an impulse buy. But being able to store 500gb of movies... well worth the money IMHO.

SoonerLater said:
Not knocking the Samsung thing -- especially at only $40 -- but anyone considering it should at least look at the (much more expensive) Seagate Satellite. It is a battery-powered 500gb HDD with onboard WIFI and file server. I've installed hacked firmware and can stream four different movies to four different devices simultaneously without problems. Now three kids of differing ages and tastes can watch whatever they want to watch on a long car trip.
At $40, the Samsung thing is a steal -- almost an at-the-cash-register impulse buy. At $160, the Satellite is a good value, but not an impulse buy. But being able to store 500gb of movies... well worth the money IMHO.
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Click to collapse
But does the HDD come with an intuitive user I interface that kids can use and understand in order to select the movie they want to watch? That's the biggest draw with the Samsung solution, even if the interface is a little spartan in design.

SoonerLater said:
Not knocking the Samsung thing -- especially at only $40 -- but anyone considering it should at least look at the (much more expensive) Seagate Satellite. It is a battery-powered 500gb HDD with onboard WIFI and file server. I've installed hacked firmware and can stream four different movies to four different devices simultaneously without problems. Now three kids of differing ages and tastes can watch whatever they want to watch on a long car trip.
At $40, the Samsung thing is a steal -- almost an at-the-cash-register impulse buy. At $160, the Satellite is a good value, but not an impulse buy. But being able to store 500gb of movies... well worth the money IMHO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for sharing this, any chance you could say where you got the firmware from? This could be pretty amazing with a head rest mount.

My experience with the Netgear Push2TV (AllCast dongle)

So just a quick review of the NETGEAR Push2TV Wireless Display Adapter PTV3000 I just bought. Got it for a bit under $60 USD from Amazon. Did the firmware update at work before coming home -- didn't even have a TV to connect it to there! You do the update from a PC over Wifi and web interface. Now, I first tried to update the firmware from a Mac laptop I had lying around but couldn't. I could bring up the update page, but when I browsed for a file, I couldn't pick it! Tried both Safari and Chrome... Either way, just used a Windows laptop and IE 9 and the update worked fine.
Anyway, at home plugged it into my TV, picked up my Note 10.1 tablet and it works great. With the latest firmware on the Netgear, connection speed is pretty quick -- a few seconds. Video from my Note 10.1 was slightly letter boxed due to the 1280x800 resolution of the tablet ... but when you played video it would go full screen. When playing video, any on screen graphics do no show up on the TV at all. Also, on the Note 10.1 when playing video through it, you do not see video on the tablet anymore. Just black where it should be. This is fine (IMHO) ....
When using the UI of the tablet, the speed on the tablet felt unaffected (butter smooth in other words) but on the TV it was maybe running at 30fps. You could see some flight artifacting but I was sitting very close to my 52" LCD.... Text was totally readable and it looked just as good as Airplay does on the Mac.
NOW, I cannot test with my phone. Why? Well, I didn't know this, but when I tried to connect, it would connect, but after about 10 seconds disconnect. On my TV it would say HDCP Connection Error (or something along those lines.) After a little reading, turned out because my phone is rooted and has a flash count of 1 and System Status: Modified, you cannot use AllShare Cast! That is crap if you ask me, but it's how Samsung set it up.
I tried flashing stock recovery and then using Triangle Away, but the phone still says "Modified" and that sets the count back to 1. Pretty lame ... I am on a stock rom/kernel and now recovery, but something is flipping the status. I'm sure if I flashed back to 100% stock it would work fine, just like it does on my bone stock tablet .....
Honestly, this is a real bummer to me as I was excited at how well it worked with the tablet and for travelling, this tiny little box would be great for using in hotel rooms.
Oh I didn't mention, the size of it is very small -- like a deck of cards, and very light. Also it has a Mini_USB input (not Micro) and while the power adapter is 5v/1amp, it says when you turn it on you can easily power it from the USB port on a TV. Very handy.
So to sum it up:
Stock phone with unmodified system status? Get it. Cheaper than Samsung AllCast dongle and more functional because it supports Miracast (Sony Xperia, Nexus 4, some LG phones) and also Intel WiDi so basically all the current crop of Windows 7 and 8 laptops running with 3rd gen intel processors.
Modified phone like me? Better stick to the MHL HDMI adapter and you will have to get up to walk to your phone to switch the video or buy a long HDMI cable.
Fire away if you have any questions.
Edit: I made a quick Youtube video showing this thing in use: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnqhZdjm16s

HTC One Dock to Desktop Solution

I came up with a simple solution for turning your HTC One into a semi-desktop environment. My goal was to create a connection path to a PC monitor, keyboard and mouse with a simple docking solution, a dock-and-go approach. Here is what I came up with and it works great:
1. HTC One (Sprint Red version, JB 4.1.2) w/ NFC Task Launcher
2. RoHS Dock (Model: I4SC-HTON) with micro-USB
3. Samsung TecTile
4. MenoTek MHL to HDMI Adapter with RCP
5. HDMI Cable
6. StarTech HDMI to DisplayPort converter
7. Lenovo ThinkVision PC Monitor
8. IOGEAR Multi-Link Bluetooth Keyboard with Touchpad GKM611B
The end result is that I come to work, dock my HTC One (NFC enabled) with the TecTile attached to the Dock to enable and search for my bluetooth keyboard/mouse. Once the peripherals are synched I toggle my monitor to the DisplayPort digital input and my Android desktop is ready to go. The entire process takes less than 1 minute. It allows me to operate independently from my business LAN using wifi or 4G, and from the comfort of my desk. The output is currently limited to 720p resolution, which I believe to be the MHL adapter, but I'm working on that. The above varies slightly with your specific hardware but the concept remains the same.
I've very happy with this solution and I wanted to share it with everyone here. :victory:

dhalmo said:
I came up with a simple solution for turning your HTC One into a semi-desktop environment. My goal was to create a connection path to a PC monitor, keyboard and mouse with a simple docking solution, a dock-and-go approach. Here is what I came up with and it works great:
1. HTC One (Sprint Red version, JB 4.1.2) w/ NFC Task Launcher
2. RoHS Dock (Model: I4SC-HTON) with micro-USB
3. Samsung TecTile
4. MenoTek MHL to HDMI Adapter with RCP
5. HDMI Cable
6. StarTech HDMI to DisplayPort converter
7. Lenovo ThinkVision PC Monitor
8. Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard K400 with Built-In Multi-Touch Touchpad
The end result is that I come to work, dock my HTC One (NFC enabled) with the TecTile attached to the Dock to enable and search for my bluetooth keyboard/mouse. Once the peripherals are synched I toggle my monitor to the DisplayPort digital input and my Android desktop is ready to go. The entire process takes less than 1 minute. It allows me to operate independently from my business LAN using wifi or 4G, and from the comfort of my desk. The output is currently limited to 720p resolution, which I believe to be the MHL adapter, but I'm working on that. The above varies slightly with your specific hardware but the concept remains the same.
I've very happy with this solution and I wanted to share it with everyone here. :victory:
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Click to collapse
Sounds like a bit much. Depending on what you're needing it for, I guess some people could benefit. I just use AirDroid. As soon as I get to work I'm already connected to the office WiFi. Just go in and log in and I'm good to go. Can answer text messages, listen to music on my phone, view pictures, etc. Not a full experience, but it's enough for me.

eXplicit815 said:
Sounds like a bit much. Depending on what you're needing it for, I guess some people could benefit. I just use AirDroid. As soon as I get to work I'm already connected to the office WiFi. Just go in and log in and I'm good to go. Can answer text messages, listen to music on my phone, view pictures, etc. Not a full experience, but it's enough for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to use AirDroid too, but I found that I didn't like my texts and emails going through my office LAN and business PC. I prefered having an parallel computing environment independent of the office, but one that transitions seamlessly. I have to agree, overkill, but fun! Go with what works for you!!!:good:

dhalmo said:
I used to use AirDroid too, but I found that I didn't like my texts and emails going through my office LAN and business PC. I prefered having an parallel computing environment independent of the office, but one that transitions seamlessly. I have to agree, overkill, but fun! Go with what works for you!!!:good:
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Click to collapse
It's a great write-up, without a doubt. I may even try it myself just because I like doing stuff like that.

so... whats the point of chromecast vs HDMI out?

So, I finally bought a chromecast and after 30 minutes was left wondering "why did I buy this instead of just getting a 15' HDMI cable to dual monitor my laptop on my TV.
It seems like casting from a tab uses more resources, uses double the bandwidth, and has limited features compared to just dual-monitoring.
In order to continue using a VPN and chromecast I have to mod the firmware on the router. chromecast uses a fair amount of resources when casting video. And as far as I can tell there's no benefit (besides it being wireless) compared to HDMI out dual monitoring... am I missing something or is it really just nothing that special?

codecobalt said:
So, I finally bought a chromecast and after 30 minutes was left wondering "why did I buy this instead of just getting a 15' HDMI cable to dual monitor my laptop on my TV.
It seems like casting from a tab uses more resources, uses double the bandwidth, and has limited features compared to just dual-monitoring.
In order to continue using a VPN and chromecast I have to mod the firmware on the router. chromecast uses a fair amount of resources when casting video. And as far as I can tell there's no benefit (besides it being wireless) compared to HDMI out dual monitoring... am I missing something or is it really just nothing that special?
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Click to collapse
Hi Codecobalt,
The main benefit is convenience. There's something just very natural about selecting content from your phone and then having it play on the TV - with how the chromecast connects it's actually the device that creates the connection to the provider and as such there shouldn't be any increased bandwidth usage (only control information is sent via your phone in most cases - excepting applications that pass your data via external services).
If you wish to use a VPN you may have to mod your router however you can normally just add a route or some mechanism to stop it's connection to google DNS servers which will force the device to fall back to locally defined DNS servers if that helps. If you require assistance with the whole router thing let me know (as I've done many of them in many different ways).
Again as I said, the main reason for the device is convienience - I personally although being a tech head don't like the idea of having to launch movies with a mouse and keyboard off a laptop and all the rigmarole that comes with it (since purchasing chromecasts I haven't used my local movie stash in around 3 months).
Well that's my speel about it, if you have any specific requests please do not hesitate to ask and I hope you grow to love the device as much as I do.

I have no real gripes about it, I just don't see the real benefit to me, but I'm a laptop user who always has my laptop in front of me. I can understand though how you like the ability to use your android phone to launch videos wirelessly. I love to use my phone to launch youtube videos on my PS3.
It just seems like so long as you already have an HDMI out connection (and a laptop infront of you at all times) it's more universal to just dual monitor. for instance while casting "Watch ESPN" on my PC to TV, I can't fullscreen the video in the tab so that the video on my TV is fullscreen and still use the PC.. which kind of defeats the purpose. but with dual monitor I can have the video fullscreened on my TV while still using my laptop screen for everything else.
If it were a wireless option to dual monitor I would LOVE IT! but that's not what it was intended to be. I like it being wireless, but since I already have a 15' ethernet cable (just prefer it to wifi when available), usb to mini usb cable to charge my ps3 controller, and a wired headset for my ps3, one extra cable (the hdmi) running across the floor doesn't really bother me too much.
It's cool tech and very affordable for what it is, but it just left me wanting much more... thought I had to be missing the point.
For people without a ps3 or xbox or multiple TV's/chromecasts I can see the advantage.. just not for me I suppose.
I mostly wanted it so that I could watch my comcast xfinity online account (watch espn/2/u, FX, FXX, etc to stream live TV as an alternative to my netflix while I'm away from home and have a real screen. the ps3 doesn't have an xfinity app and I liked the idea of being able to stream only 1 specific tab. but then I have to use the zoom function on the tv to make it fullscreen and still use the laptop.

codecobalt said:
So, I finally bought a chromecast and after 30 minutes was left wondering "why did I buy this instead of just getting a 15' HDMI cable to dual monitor my laptop on my TV.
It seems like casting from a tab uses more resources, uses double the bandwidth, and has limited features compared to just dual-monitoring.
In order to continue using a VPN and chromecast I have to mod the firmware on the router. chromecast uses a fair amount of resources when casting video. And as far as I can tell there's no benefit (besides it being wireless) compared to HDMI out dual monitoring... am I missing something or is it really just nothing that special?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Casting from a tab (or the entire desktop) is not Chromecast's core use case. If that's all you're doing, then you are better off using HDMI or WiDi.
Chromecast's advantage, in addition to the sheer browsing/usage/convenience factor that @Kyonz mentioned, is "offloading" the playback duties. Chromecast's power usage is far less than your laptop, and you're free to take your laptop/phone/tablet and run if you need to while Chromecast continues to play. Someone else in the household can easily take over control of Chromecast from another device as well (there's some annoyance/bad to this too, but it's good as long as everyone plays nicely).
Likewise, I can move where media is being played back in most apps by pausing the playback, and resuming it on another Chromecast. Sadly, it won't turn off the TV though.
The previous paragraph deals solely with Chromecast-native applications, ie, not tab-casting or desktop-casting with the Cast extension from Chrome. Like I said in the beginning, if you're mainly trying to cast your computer's tab or screen, Chromecast is not the ideal solution.

I find the chromecast handy in my TV room... No hdmi cables everywhere. Just pull out my phone or tablet and pull up whatever I want to watch then send it to the chromecast and put the phone down.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

rans0m00 said:
I find the chromecast handy in my TV room... No hdmi cables everywhere. Just pull out my phone or tablet and pull up whatever I want to watch then send it to the chromecast and put the phone down.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
+1
also a nice way to upgrade an older non-smart TV to semi smart......

I never got it to work with my jellybean android phone. installed the app but never saw a chromecast feature in anything... chrome browser, watch espn, gallery nothing... but again didn't really try too hard.. hdmi for me.

codecobalt said:
I never got it to work with my jellybean android phone. installed the app but never saw a chromecast feature in anything... chrome browser, watch espn, gallery nothing... but again didn't really try too hard.. hdmi for me.
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Click to collapse
Not all apps have the casting feature. Avia does YouTube does. ESPN and gallery do not
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

One of the Advantages is to be able to stream content to TVs in other rooms for Family and Friends without having to tie up your Laptop.
Truth is a Laptop has the fewest options available for using the CCast. None of the CCast compatible Apps will run on a Laptop and the only real benefit is you can launch a Netflix, Hulu and YouTube movie to the CCast from their Webpages.
So you can watch a movie on your TV while you do other things with the Laptop.

In the OP's case a secondary out from the computer doesn't "tie it up" much except for CPU and network usage. Well, launching a full screen game or something would likely jam things up.
Sent from a device with no keyboard. Please forgive typos, they may not be my own.

When using the hdmi out wont the graphics card be stressed also? Using the chromecast eliminates that altogether i thought...i use plex mostly for my entertainment system and debated getting a dedicated graphics card...in the end i chose casting between my devices because i have the bandwidth to support it and no desire to push my graphics card too hard if i chose to watch a 1080 trilogy....hows my logic?

That's reasonable logic too. Chromecast had hardware processing for the (limited) formats it supports, so it uses far less power than a laptop, perhaps even less power than a tablet because it's not also powering a screen. Personally I like the "start it up and let it go" aspect - no worries about what I do on my phone/tablet/computer once it's playing.

Fire Tablet 7 (2015) or Lenovo Tab 2 A7 ???

Hi guys,
i want to buy me a cheap small android tabelt. So i looked for the fire tabelt 7 (2015) and the lenovo tab 2 a7-10. Both devices have the same price. Both devices can be rooted and booth devices have nearly the same specs.
Which one would you prefeer? I want to make a dashboard for my home automation, so i want to fix the tabelt on the wall in my living room. I also want to surf in the internet, but only very rare. Most thing would be controlling my smart home - so the power of the two tablets and the free space would be enough for this.
Can someone help my with my decision? I haven´t seen one of the tablets in real.

No experience with the lenovo can tell you the fire is amazing and has amazing battery life doesn't drain in standby doesn't lag for me and I'm on stock amazon with root
Sent from my Amazon Fire 2015

I would get the Fire, there is active development, other than that they are spec'd about the same.
Both have:
7inch displays at 1024px x 600px
MediaTek® MT8127 1.3GHz Quad-Core processors
1GB ram
Lenovo Tab 2 A7 has:
GPS
Kitkat
Vibration
$69.99
Fire has:
Two cameras
Lollipop
$50 or cheaper

I´m afraid of the streched display in landscape - this is the only tablet i know about the problem. If i will watch tv with the tablet, all persons will be a little bit fat. Circles will not be fully a circle, more like an egg.
Is this a big problem?

Bib_x said:
I´m afraid of the streched display in landscape...
Is this a big problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You tell us..?[emoji67]
Just get the Lenovo though.

Bib_x said:
I´m afraid of the streched display in landscape - this is the only tablet i know about the problem. If i will watch tv with the tablet, all persons will be a little bit fat. Circles will not be fully a circle, more like an egg.
Is this a big problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an extra use that no one could have seen from op. Given prices and spec wouldn't be surprised if it's the same screen tbh. Speaker likely better on lenovo.
The reasons given for picking the fire by others above don't seem to be important for main use you envisage for it.
Is the home automation stuff all wireless? Assume you'll be leaving tablet connected to power supply when in situe so USB socket will be filled with charger

So the stretched screen is no big problem.
I want to use the tablet to control my home automation, which is running on a linux server. So the tablet will only show the dashboard - no device is connected to it directly, only wlan. The charger will be permanently plugged into the tablet.
Maybe sometimes i will watch a video-stream from my sat-receiver, when i´m in my bedroom or when my wife is in the home gym - indoor cycling or something like this.

Pond-life said:
That's an extra use that no one could have seen from op. Given prices and spec wouldn't be surprised if it's the same screen tbh. Speaker likely better on lenovo.
The reasons given for picking the fire by others above don't seem to be important for main use you envisage for it.
Is the home automation stuff all wireless? Assume you'll be leaving tablet connected to power supply when in situe so USB socket will be filled with charger
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Click to collapse
[emoji67] Home automation stuff is generally either wifi and sometimes (rarely) bluetooth. Also he could install wireless charging on the tablet which would leave his micro usb port open for other things if he wanted.

4t701 said:
[emoji67] Home automation stuff is generally either wifi and sometimes (rarely) bluetooth. Also he could install wireless charging on the tablet which would leave his micro usb port open for other things if he wanted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't know that had been done. Wonder what else is in depths of this Fire section. That's rather cool addition

Bib_x said:
So the stretched screen is no big problem.
I want to use the tablet to control my home automation, which is running on a linux server. So the tablet will only show the dashboard - no device is connected to it directly, only wlan. The charger will be permanently plugged into the tablet.
Maybe sometimes i will watch a video-stream from my sat-receiver, when i´m in my bedroom or when my wife is in the home gym - indoor cycling or something like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
-home automation
-linux server
-sat TV
-wife
-home gym
....
Sounds like a pretty nice setup you got there [emoji67] [emoji106]

I use it to watch TV via the charter spectrum app and I don't notice any distortion of the people.
---------- Post added at 11:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:44 AM ----------
Bib_x said:
So the stretched screen is no big problem.
I want to use the tablet to control my home automation, which is running on a linux server. So the tablet will only show the dashboard - no device is connected to it directly, only wlan. The charger will be permanently plugged into the tablet.
Maybe sometimes i will watch a video-stream from my sat-receiver, when i´m in my bedroom or when my wife is in the home gym - indoor cycling or something like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use it to watch TV via the charter spectrum app and I don't notice any distortion of the people

Sounds like it will come down to whether you think the Fire's screen distortion might be a problem for you. I'm afraid we can't tell you how "bad" it is because it seems to vary widely from person to person. Some don't notice it, at all. Others, can not return their Fire fast enough! Despite the fact that they got it for only $35 on sale.
Imo, I'd go for a Fire. You can always return if you find you're one of the people who are greatly bothered by the distortion. Amazon's return are quite good.
Bib_x said:
I want to use the tablet to control my home automation, which is running on a linux server. So the tablet will only show the dashboard - no device is connected to it directly, only wlan. The charger will be permanently plugged into the tablet.
Maybe sometimes i will watch a video-stream from my sat-receiver, when i´m in my bedroom or when my wife is in the home gym - indoor cycling or something like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4t701 said:
-home automation
-linux server
-sat TV
-wife
-home gym
....
Sounds like a pretty nice setup you got there [emoji67] [emoji106]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1+
Would you share details of your linux server. Also which tv streaming solution you're using.

I have a linux sat-receiver, similar to dreambox. With this i can stream the tv-programm to any notebook, tablet or smartphone in my wlan. So i don´t need to install another big tv in the bedroom, i can take the small tablet with earplugs and so my wife can sleep while i watch tv.
My linux server is a odroid u3 with ubuntu. The server-software for my home automation is openhab. And my home automation equipment is mostly KNX (EIB), i don´t know if this is known outside europe. It is a wired solution, used in hotels, hospitals or company buildings. But with the openhab server i can control anything i want, not only KNX, also enocean, z-wave, my heating pump, media equipment (TV, Mediaserver, ...) and so on.
I can control the home automation on openhab with every webbrowser or with an android-app.

4t701 said:
[emoji67]Also he could install wireless charging on the tablet which would leave his micro usb port open for other things if he wanted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you give us a link to wireless charging for the fire tablet? I want to know more about that.

Bib_x said:
Can you give us a link to wireless charging for the fire tablet? I want to know more about that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is in this thread, they didn't mention a better source than the unreliable one the pic in 2nd post links to, and I couldn't find a better one either though.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/ama...o-photo-amazon-fire-2015-motherboard-t3227808