Looking to put together a travel media system that we can bring with us when going to places with limited tv/internet options.
Ideally load up a hard drive, connect to an android tv box and hook up to a tv.
Assuming this will work, what compact/portable/usb enabled android tv boxes will work best?
Or any Chromebook with any number of different video players apps.. Use a USB C adapter with HDMI out, play on any TV..
The Chromebook will allow you to download offline shows from Amazon Prim and Netflix APPS as well..
Mi box with Kodi would work. You could even download all the box cover art and synopsis information. That would still be available when you hook up the device even offline.
Although it is expensive, the Nvidia Shield Pro 2019 could be viable for your use case.
It's compact, quite lightweight, has two USB 3.0 ports, and the remote can be used to control power and volume on most IR TVs.
The internal hard drive is 16GB, although if you intend to bring an external hard drive with you, that should not prove problematic.
I use a Jetstream 4K box from Walmart with Kodi and an external hard drive. Works great for travel. As others said I bet the Mi Box would be a good bet too and a bit cheaper.
I've used a Chromebook for this before, my home internet is slow so I downloaded stuff at a local coffee shop for home viewing. Amazon and Kodi worked fine but Netflix didn't like outputting to a second screen. This was a year ago so that might have changed. My current setup is an LG V20 refurb and a dongle with a good charger to run the HDMI out. Any higher end Samsung including and after the S8 would be fine as well for a setup like that but that starts to get pricey unless you've already got one in your pocket.
a t95z and you could use a flash drive with movies already loaded, because that's what use when i go on trips. very conveniant
Or you could just forgo the the android tv box and put your media straight on a USB drive. Most modern tvs will have a USB input on them which can be used for playing movies/shows. Load it up before you go and your all set.
Personally in that situation, I would probably skip Android TV and just use a Fire Stick running Kodi for maximum portability. Otherwise the new Shield seems pretty compact.
Maybe a portable Plex server would work for you? I know there have been hard drives with WiFi to broadcast a Plex server.
Here’s an old thread in /r/Plex that talks about portable Plex servers.
https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/7mox3k/portable_mini_plex_server/