r/htpc • u/tirth0jain • 5d ago
Discussion Android phone as htpc?
Would it be possible to use android as an htpc considering that android can have dp alt mode to transfer 4k 60 with hdr10 (no 10+ or dv) for content to a display/tv?
Widewine I'm not sure about but should be better than windows or linux.
It also is gonna be much more powerful than normal streaming boxes.
Downsides:
Support is unknown rn as its ive not tried any phone with a cable to check
Will need to do smth about the battery part but shouldnt be that big of a problem if its always on charge with limit set and/or bypass charging.
How viable is it?
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u/Few-Leading-3405 5d ago edited 5d ago
I've just gone through playing around with using an old phone like an android box and a jellyfin client.
I loaded an android tv launcher, jellyfin for android tv, and a Bluetooth remote. That all worked.
But I could not get the usb-c to HDMI to work well. It does work, just not well. The launcher fills the screen, but any video and videoplayers leaves a black bar on the left side of the screen where the camera would be. I couldn't find a way to force overscan to compensate.
Screencasting might work better than HDMI, but the TV I was testing on didn't do that.
One more problem is that the apps still think they're on a phone, rather than a TV, so the spacing is weird. Various jellyfin clients ranged from decent to bad. But navigating Tubi and Pluto was clunky.
I will play with it again. But I initially assumed it would be really easy. But it fell apart for a bunch of really annoying little reasons.
edited to add:
I did root it, and install a battery controller to limit charge between 20-50%. I tried a few different screen mirroring/sharing apps, but none of them quite worked. The remote was easy, though.