ShoelessSmith Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 In our motorhome we're going to get a television which we wish to watch streamed programmes (we are going to get an external aerial for normal terrestrial but this isn't not the scope of the question). We have the television on order with HDMI interface and we have a 3 network All You Can Eat datacard which has to go into a phone (not a dongle, router, tablet: but has to be into a phone). I have the possibility to get a phone which has MHL interface, which casts a fortune, that can plug into the back of the television. However, there is a cheaper option I believe. That is to get a cheaper phone and a ChromeCast device. Could I get this to stream stuff from the internet via the 3 card into the phone and then cast to the television? The heart of the matter is that I read that one needs the wifi for this to work but can the 3 data card in the phone do the job? Malc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veletron Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 Hi Depending on what you wish to stream, there may be a better option - the amazon fire tv stick - this is currently on a cyber monday deal too! I have both a chromecast and a fire tv stick in my van. I use the chromecast to stream LOCAL content from my phone to my telle (using ES File Explorer chromecast extension), I use the fireTV stick for iPlayer, amazon TV and netflix. You can also sideload other android apps to the fireTV stick, but only ones that a remote control aware will work (the fire tv stick has a bluetooth remote). I have a MiFi with a shared EE sim in it so the amazon fire tv works well. You could also share your phones internet connection and have the firetv use that. The chromecast needs an internet connection even for local content (so that it can download the player app) - which can be obtained via your phones internet connection or a MiFi. Where a mifi exists, these sometimes have a micro sd slot which can be shared. Kodi on the firetv can play files from this micro sd card without an internet connection. Another advantage of a mifi is that if you buy the right one, you will have TS9 external antenna connectors on it - stick an aerial on your roof for a better signal. I also use an Alfa R36 with a Tube-U wifi adapter to obtain internet via wifi from local houses (Fon) or site wifi. The recieved wifi signal is re-broadcast inside the van, the Amazon fire tv stick connects to this. Note that you will be a 100% stable data rate of not less than 1Mbit for any of this to work! NB: Check that your mobile provider supports 'tethering' - some dont, and will moan if you try and use it! Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShoelessSmith Posted November 30, 2015 Author Share Posted November 30, 2015 Nigel Thanks for the reply. Not the 3 card doesn't allow tethering and this is what I am going to do for viewing for the television only, ie Netflix, Amazon Prime and may be other android apps I do have a mifi but this is going to be something different and has a limited broadband. I have about 1GB of data allowance (on average) per day which goes over that. This is what I use for my day to day working on the internet and writing to you now. Now the All You Can Eat data sim is a separate card and account and has to go into a phone. So if I can get the Firestick working then it can go into a cheaper phone *if* I can get the data to go from the television into the phone and then out through that sim. I do not want to go out over the mifi. Does that make sense? So, if what you are saying the Firestick does what I want then all well and good. Thanks Malc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 What phone do you have? With the right Lumia you can display your screen onto a tv with a wireless display adapter which costs £40. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShoelessSmith Posted November 30, 2015 Author Share Posted November 30, 2015 Colin, I don't have the phone yet. I am deciding whether to go for: a) a phone which has an MHL interface which will work but isn't cheap, or b) a cheaper phone which can cast to the TV from it's own data sim card and not the wagon's wifi. The question is that can Fire/Chromecast/SomethingElse work via the phone's datacard and NOT via the wifi in the wagon? If yes then I will get something, if not then it's the cheapest phone with an outrageously expensive MHL interface. Malc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 As far as phones go, I waited until there was one that would do all I wanted. To that end, I have a phone with long battery life, is easy to use, can video up to 4k (only use HD at moment), has a fairly good camera (21MP), has a worldwide free sat nav, has a 6" screen so web browsing is practical. Add all that up and it's not bad value, and only one devise to carry around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShoelessSmith Posted December 1, 2015 Author Share Posted December 1, 2015 Thanks but the idea of this phone is that it's going to be a glorified set-top box which just pulls the data down from its own 3 network card and then sends it to the television either via casting or via MHL. It won't be used for anything else other than that as I already have phones here and the main network on the mifi dongle. Malc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veletron Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 Three can indeed detect tethering activity and you will get a warning. They simply look for more than one mac addreas appearing in the IP packet headers. If using a mobile phone to provide a signal then both the chromecast and fire tv stick require the data connection on the phone to be shared, aka tethering. The chromecast is only controlled by the phone, once it has the stream to play, it streams this over the tethered connection. The only way to avoid this is to stream to the phone, and cast the phones stream to the chromecast. Then the phone is doing the downloading... But, the chromecast still needs to be tethered, it wont even start up without an internet connection! MHL is another way, make sure the MHL cable you buy matches the MHL version that the phone supports. I have a cheap ebay MHL cable £10 which works just fine with my android based sony xperia z3. There is also another way, buy a microsoft wireless display adapter. This uses miracast, and is the only miracast adapter I have found that is reliable. This requires no internet connection. It does need a compatible tv through (needs to have HDCP on its HDMI ports). This works fine for mirroring whatever is on your phone to the TV. The phone downloads the content, and miracast is not tethering so no issues with 'three'. Incidentely, for anyone else considering mobile comms for their van, I got an EE sim only contract for my phone, and added a shared sim to this (additional £8/month), this lives in the mifi in the van. I have 10GB/mnth to share between phone and van. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShoelessSmith Posted December 1, 2015 Author Share Posted December 1, 2015 Nigel Thanks for the Miracast suggestion. I think that this may be the way to go. The telly is being delivered two sites down the road from here at the moment and I will then see how it's set up for Miracast. If that doesn't work then it's the MHL route for the tethering detection reasons that you have listed. You mentioned the 10GB EE cards for £10 a month. I have found that 30GB is what I need and I can get this with two 3 cards for £30 a month. Alas I missed by about six months the special offer from 3 which offered All You Can Eat Data and tethering which would be heavily used here on the Gin Palace as our internet usage for work is rather heavy. Thanks all. I am sorting out the wagon for our next move up to Gloucestershire and I will look again when we land there. cheers Malc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veletron Posted December 1, 2015 Share Posted December 1, 2015 Hi Of note is that the 18.5" avtex TV (the new one) does not work with the microsoft wireless display adapter. It advertises to the wireless display adapter that it supports 1080p@60Hz, so thats what the wireless display adapter plays. The 18.5" Avtex is 720P, not 1080p - and appears to have issues with 1080i as well. This results in a blank screen. I have not found a way around this issue yet - requires a firmware update from avtex. If you get the 21.5" avtex then this does do 1080p and should work fine. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShoelessSmith Posted December 1, 2015 Author Share Posted December 1, 2015 Thanks for the warning but we're getting a hundred quid el-cheapo from Amazon which is about 16". When the thing arrives in two stops hence I will work out what can happen next when I read the instructions (first time for everything). Then we can get on with the next project: music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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