Can you really watch anything for long on a Droid?

[greyghost04]

I'm amazed how well my Thunderbolt will display tv and movies. I have now HBO, Dish TV, and various other sites to watch. On another post a member questioned if they bring Netflix to Droid it will tie up our bandwith with everyone watching movies on their phone. After trying out all these providers while riding the train home I've come up with this conclusion, it's not comfortable to watch media for an extended period of time on our phones. In most cases you will be holding the phone in your hand and that is hard to do for longer than 10 minutes. If you are at home you can sit in front of a table and watch, but that will become uncomfortable in a short period of time. In addition, if you are home why not just use your big screen? I do watch Cubs games at work on it(God they suck) , but I have to be secretive about that, so not that comfortable. There are just not that many scenarios where it would be comfortable to hold the phone or sit in a chair in front of a table for 2 hours. For 15 -30 minutes it's cool to show off the phone to people of lesser phones, I just don't think it will catch on as the main stream way to watch media. The one exception would be on a plane where the seat to table ratio is just perfect.

 

[debrad0307]

I have to say I agree with you. I have Netflix but I hardly use it. I don't feel comfortable either, I can barely watch YouTube videos. I'd rather watch TV and movies in HD on my 40 inch. Not to mention I am never in a situation where I need to watch movies or TV on my phone.

Tappin' away on my DROIDX

 

[jimmydene84]

I have to say the opposite, I have watched 2 full movies at work the past weeks (been really slow at work) and have been just fine. Shut my office door, turn the lights out, put the phone on top of my monitor and kick back! I have been very pleased. I understand its a phone and small and not exceptional quality.....BUT 3 weeks ago, I couldn't have done it!! AMAZING NOW!!!

Sent from my Droid

 

[greyghost04]

Looks like playing at work is the #1 movie time for our Droid's dancedroid

 

[dezymond]

I use my Droid as a say a "last resort" device. They're good for roadtrips, if you don't get sick, but the screen is pretty good for a movie that doesn't require a big screen (action movie, special effects, etc.)

I've watch a couple episodes of South Park, Modern Family, etc and I love it. Yeah holding it in total comfortable is pretty much impossible, but hey better than looking at the roads right?

As a media device the Droid is much more than I could ask for. Music, games, and even movies all in such a small package is still quite amazing to me, even after a couple years of smartphone ownership.

You might complain about the use of the Droid as a movie device now, but imagine if you still had your old flipphone? Not complaining anymore are ya?

 

[BodyBagz]

Meh...I have watched quite a few movies on my DX since I got it late last year...its not my preferred method, but then again, you tell me how to get your 40in LCD out into the woods and power it while you are chasing OCS Candidates around while they are learning Land Navigation...

I managed to do the chasing, and still watch 2 films while sitting on my 4-wheeler...the ability has its place...its not designed to replace your TV, but to augment you when you dont have a TV at the ready.

Now, since we have NetFlix, this is even better since I can pop for a less than $10 HDMI cable to plug from my DX to any HDTV and stream content until the cows come home and not have to rely on a stand alone set-top box of an sort...win-win...dancedroid

 

[Natey2]

Now, since we have NetFlix, this is even better since I can pop for a less than $10 HDMI cable to plug from my DX to any HDTV and stream content until the cows come home and not have to rely on a stand alone set-top box of an sort...win-win...dancedroid

What software/app do you use to output Netflix to an external hdmi monitor? I tried "Xternal Display for Droid X" and it works for some other apps, but not Netflix.

Sent from my unrooted DroidX using DroidForums app

 

[BodyBagz]

Now, since we have NetFlix, this is even better since I can pop for a less than $10 HDMI cable to plug from my DX to any HDTV and stream content until the cows come home and not have to rely on a stand alone set-top box of an sort...win-win...dancedroid

What software/app do you use to output Netflix to an external hdmi monitor? I tried "Xternal Display for Droid X" and it works for some other apps, but not Netflix.

Sent from my unrooted DroidX using DroidForums app

Real HDMI should still work with no issues on the original DX....although I have not tried it.
Now, with the DX2, it comes out of the box with Mirroring, so it should as well out of the box output NetFlix with no problem...but again, I cant verify as I dont have a DX2 at this time...

 

[howzball]

One really good use for Netflix on the phone that I've found is it gives a crying kid something to watch to take their mind off whatever it is making them cry.

Fire up some Wonderpets and enjoy the silence.

 

[kodiak799]

Now, with the DX2, it comes out of the box with Mirroring, so it should as well out of the box output NetFlix with no problem...but again, I cant verify as I dont have a DX2 at this time...

What sort of bitrate/compression can you stream at? Seems Netflix will send you a scaled-down version if you are streaming from a Droid. Just asking because while it may work on a small screen, I imagine it looks like garbage on a 50" screen in 480p.

 

[Natey2]

From what I've read, the GPU in the DroidX and many other phones can't display to the phone AND hdmi output at the same time, so you either see things on your phone or on the TV: makes it a challenge if you need to navigate, select options, etc. if you know what I mean
The stock gallery is capable of outputting to hdmi without any additional software/app, and it looks very good on an external hdmi monitor.
The Netflix resolution on the DroidX is excellent. This feature alone makes the DroidX an excellent pick.
The screen dimensions of the DroidX are proportional to an hdmi monitor, so things look more in line with what you'd expect to see on a real hdmi TV. Is it the same with the HTC Thunderbolt?

Sent from my unrooted DroidX using DroidForums app