Playing H265 on TV

[Stan the Bat]

I have a media player box ( Sumvision Cyclone 3) that plugs into the TV , I plug an HD into the box and it plays all formats except H265.

I know that an Nvidia shield will play them, but would like something a bit cheaper.

Anyone got any recommendations ?

[Stan the Bat]

dapprman said:

H.265 was/is an oddity that too many players do not support - I suspect you watch anime fansubs as it became popular there (can't remember the reasons why, think it was the colour saturation). Fortunately KODI have long supported it and I think many of the more modern streamers are based on that.

Anime, isn't that Japanese cartoons or something ?

No ,it's TV series like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Arrested Development etc that I have downloaded en masse in the this format.

[Stan the Bat]

Radec said:

Can't you download VLC player onto the box, I'm not familiar with the box you have but if it's Android then guessing you can just download the player off the app store and play through there?

This box isn't connected to the internet, it's just a player for music and vids.

I have a FireTV box for streaming stuff.

[Stan the Bat]

dudleybloke said:

Android tv box.
I've just tested mine and it plays H265 fine and copes with 4k HDR10 content easily.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Android-Allwinner-Quad-Co...

Thanks, that looks interesting.

[Stan the Bat]

Radec said:

Can't you download VLC player onto the box, I'm not familiar with the box you have but if it's Android then guessing you can just download the player off the app store and play through there?

It not an internet item, just a media player and it's fantastic except for not playing h265, it plays the audio but not the video.

[Stan the Bat]

xeny said:

Stan the Bat said:

I have a FireTV box for streaming stuff.

Put VLC on that and the media on a network share of some sort?

Yes, have thought of that but was looking for a simple box to replace the one I have.

[Stan the Bat]

Corso Marche said:

Xiaomi MiBox 3 or MiBox S. It runs legit (licensed) Android TV, has a decent remote, and you can plug the hard drive directly into the USB port on the back of it.
Lots of players in the official Play Store which you can pick a favourite from to then watch all your content, not just the H.265 stuff.

Thanks, will have a look at those.

[Stan the Bat]

Douglas Quaid said:

Just get a shield. I have one and haven’t found anything it won’t play.

I know shield will play H265 as I have one !!

This shield is attached to another TV in another room, and I didn't want to keep moving it from one room to another.

I just wanted a small box similar to the the one I have to play H265.


I have just plugged in an old Minix box which I had put to one side and tried this--- it played some H265 content but not all ??

[Stan the Bat]

paulrockliffe said:

The new Google one will play it I think, it's only £60 and it's really very good.

Sorry, which one's that ?

[Stan the Bat]

Corso Marche said:

paulrockliffe said:

The new Google one will play it I think, it's only £60 and it's really very good.

It's not as straightforward connecting an external drive to it as you might hope.

Stan - Have you Wi-Fi at the location where the new box is intended to be used?

If yes, then plug that hard drive into your Shield and leave it there permanently. Then buy the Chromecast with Google TV mentioned above.

You then have two options;
1) Mount the drive as shared network storage through the Shield. You can then access the drive directly from the Google TV using a variety of player apps.
2) Use the Shield as a Plex server, and the other device will stream the videos from the Shield.

I've a Shield running as a Plex server, and it's the solitary TV box (no cable or satellite) in the living room.
It streams our TV and movie catalogue to 2 other MiBoxes in other rooms. The Chromecast with Google TV will work just the same if you set your Shield up as the server.

Gotcha, but would just like a simple box really as wife has to use it as well

[Stan the Bat]

Thanks chaps for all the replies.Plenty to go on now

[Stan the Bat]

There are some great replies here, but I was just originally looking for a box that comes between a hard drive and the TV that plays H265.

The one I have plays everything else but this.

No internet connection required.

I use this one at present

https://www.techradar.com/reviews/gadgets/portable...

[Stan the Bat]

dudleybloke said:

That android box I linked to will do everything you want, mine has 2x4tb drives plugged in and easily copes with anything I can throw at it, largest film I've played was over 85gb and it didn't glitch once.
If you buy this airmouse it becomes a lot easier to use too.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-4GHz-Fly-Air-Mouse-T2...

Yes, that is the type of thing I want, although don't need the ethernet connection.

[Stan the Bat]

I've got a shield and an Amazon Fire TV for all internet stuff on different tvs.

I have a sumvision box which is great except it wont do H265.

Just want a simple box to plug an HD in.

The shield does it perfectly but I dont want to move it .

Would buy another shield, but a bit overkill for what I want.

Dudleyblokes box seems ideal.

Edited by Stan the Bat on Saturday 6th March 11:34

[Stan the Bat]

Corso Marche said:

The HD plugged into your Shield and playing back in the other room over a Chromecast with Google TV, or MiStick, Fire TV etc is cheaper and will be supported for many years to come. All with the same user interface and stuff in both rooms. And the entire video catalogue available to any device in the house, in any room. That's how it was designed to work. You leave the Shield where it is, plug the HD into it, and plug the other device into the TV in the other room.

For me, it looks as if you're paying more to get less of everything. I'm only speaking as somebody who was in your exact situation and looked at all these options in the past.

But the decision is not mine, all I can offer is advice. You're free to make your own decisions.

How does the other device see the shield ?

[Stan the Bat]

Thanks