Streaming Media from your pc to your Droid X Over 3G - How To

crwys

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Not sure if a lot of people know about this but I have been searching and googling for days on streaming media from my pc to my droid x over 3g. (Not over Wifi) So anywhere I go i can stream my videos or pictures or whatever that are not stored on my phone. This can be very useful if you use a HDMI cable to stream it to a TV. Maybe this isn't a popular topic either but just in case I would rather share how I have done it. If someone wants more detailed instructions I will be glad to post them. I recommend you have fast internet for good results.

1. First we use Gmote
-Its a free android and pc application that works together.

2. You need to configure Gmote to be connected through your external IP.
-When you start gmote on your android and it asks for an ip select "enter ip manually" then enter your external ip
-To find your external ip just google "my ip" it will be in big numbers.
-Gmote will also require you to set a password and the files you want to share

3. Next thing you need to do is open your ports to your windows firewall and your router if you have one.
-Gmote will tell you the ports

4. Now a lot of people are thinking streaming over 3g must be laggy and a waste of time. Well that is where Handbrake comes in handy. Handbrake is a free pc application as well that allows you to convert your videos to work with your Droid X more smoother and can lower down the quality (but not too noticeable, or noticeable at all to stream smoothly) Here are the settings I use on each tab follows:
Container - MP4 file, large file size (box checked), web optimized (box checked)
Picture - anamorphic strict, cropping automatic,
Video filters - Default
Video - Codec H.264, FPS 15, Quality target size 400
Everything else I left at default.

5. Then just hit Encode. If your file saves as a m4v, rename it to mp4 so your Droid X default video player can recognize it.

6. So after your video is converted just place it in your shared gmote folder.
Launch gmote on your droid, have your HDMI hooked up to your computer.
Select your video, let the video load and let it start playing. Once it is playing smoothly, click the HDMI icon, dont touch anything and it will connect and start playing on your TV in about 30 seconds or so.

If you are one of those people who love HD, no bad graphics, no pixel showing movie hippys, then this is not for you. Of course your movies will be a little pixelated (and not noticeable most of the time) but not bad at all and still very enjoyable to watch.

Hope you guys enjoy this. Yes I know the instructions aren't very straight forward, if you have questions just ask.
Oh yea and I am on Liberty Gingerbread 0.8.
:icon_ banana:
 
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kevinkar

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I tend to get a lot of resulting AVI files that don't actually stream and the X says it has to download the entire thing first. Perhaps this is an issue with my media server or the app used to access the share. Any thoughts?
 
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crwys

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That could be it I haven't tested this on a Stock rom. Only on Liberty 0.8 Gingerbread 596.
Vplayer also works well but it doesn't support HDMI.
However you could use xternal display and Vplayer for a TV. Just not as big on the screen.

And I don't know if Liberty and Stock video players differ. Maybe someone can confirm this?
 
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kevinkar

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I think what you are doing is correct regardless of ROM. These files should "stream" but my X seems to take offense at my attempts to do so! In fact, I am sure I got them to stream at some point but now they refuse to do so. It's just odd. I don't have a lot of free time to figure it out these days so I just let it go but it should work and I'd like to eventually figure it out.

Your tutorial is good though. I think it's spot on.
 
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crwys

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One thing that may help more is changing the output from filesize to bitrate for those that are not converting movies. I would say 400 or 250 bitrate. I'm still experimenting with this.
 
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