Streaming/File Sharing in a Car/Van

Erice

Erice

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Oct 1, 2006
Messages
202
Location
Hamburg, PA
Display Name
Erice
Home Airfield
PA92
For a LONG road trip, what would be an easy way to setup streaming/sharing files in a car/van to different wifi-enabled mobile phones or tablets? I'd like to do it without needing to purchase an app for the mobile devices (Plex charges $5 for their app). I'm thinking XBMC on a Raspberry Pi, but would I need a wifi router? Or perhaps a NAS device, but would that require a dedicated a computer for it that would need to function in the car?

I have access to a power inverter, so a low-power 110-volt source is available. How badly would the wifi bog down if it were serving, say, 4 or 5 different files at a time?

Basically, I want to my own setup like Southwest does using the Onboard Player app. Is this too difficult? Or within reach?

I suppose this could have aviation ramifications if I wanted to install it for my passengers, as long as I confirmed that it didn't interfere with the avionics!
 
XBMC could work, along with a NAS. Yes, you'd need some sort of Wifi access point. Would you be wanting Internet access as well? There's routers out there that can take a 4G USB modem to provide internet in the car. My synology NAS has a streaming player built in DSVideo, and they have iOS as well as android apps.. My one concern with a car install of something like that is the heads on the hard drives being subjected to motion while the car is moving.. One good bump could crash the head into the platter. You'd probably have to go SSD. Why not a portable DVD player?
 
We stream in the van, using the built in multimedia system in our Odyssey via the HDMI port.

Apple TV gets plugged into the HDMI and my iPhone goes on Hotspot mode.

Content is direct Internet > ATV or iPad > ATV via the sharing thingie.

I also have a Synology NAS, but it's not coming in the van with us, per post #2. A small laptop would work for a media server in this case.
 
Jaybird,

One could NAT the streaming ports on the Synology NAS, and stream via the Internet.. Verizon XLTE gives speeds of 40-50 mbit, so would be plenty of bandwidth.
 
I can remember 3 of us exchanging data between our Palm Pilots.... at 5,000' over downtown DC in our Maule.

"44Foxtrot, say your heading"

"One Seven Zero degrees"

"Please turn 10 degrees right so you don't fly right over Bill's house"

"Ten degrees right, 44Foxtrot"​

Obviously this was back in the day.
 
Bill Watson said:
I can remember 3 of us exchanging data between our Palm Pilots.... at 5,000' over downtown DC in our Maule.
"44Foxtrot, say your heading"

"One Seven Zero degrees"

"Please turn 10 degrees right so you don't fly right over Bill's house"

"Ten degrees right, 44Foxtrot"
​
Obviously this was back in the day.
Click to expand...
You communicated using the IR Port?
 
Jaybird180 said:
You communicated using the IR Port?
Click to expand...
Yep, IR port. We were exchanging various phone records of people we knew.

At the time, I used the old RF Palm to run the Cheapbastard app - producing the first Nexrad images for the cockpit. Quite an elegant little app.
 
Seagate makes a portable media hard drive that has built in wifi signal for devices to connect to. It allows for file sharing like and any media playing. It's small and USB rechargeable. We load all our movies on it, throw in center console and all 5 girls connect their iPads to it to watch whatever movie or show they want. Absolutely no cords or hassle. Free app and minimal setup.
 
It was initially a concern as well but I can tell you after a year of using it in truck on all types of road and in airliners (commercial) we have had 0 problems with it. It is not primary storage of this media so for $200 for 2TB if something crashes then it was still of great value and I move on to the next. Hell, with 5 girls, one road trip of them all being happy and not fighting over which movie plays on single DVD player it is worth it for me.
 
kfvintx said:
It was initially a concern as well but I can tell you after a year of using it in truck on all types of road and in airliners (commercial) we have had 0 problems with it. It is not primary storage of this media so for $200 for 2TB if something crashes then it was still of great value and I move on to the next. Hell, with 5 girls, one road trip of them all being happy and not fighting over which movie plays on single DVD player it is worth it for me.
Click to expand...

Fair enough. :yes:
 
kfvintx said:
It was initially a concern as well but I can tell you after a year of using it in truck on all types of road and in airliners (commercial) we have had 0 problems with it. It is not primary storage of this media so for $200 for 2TB if something crashes then it was still of great value and I move on to the next. Hell, with 5 girls, one road trip of them all being happy and not fighting over which movie plays on single DVD player it is worth it for me.
Click to expand...

5 girls!

There's a saying about a father with multiple girls, about him being blessed in heaven, but I can't remember it right now.:D
 
I copy my MP3s to a flash drive and stick it in the radio's USB port. Works great. Cost: $7.99 for the flash drive.

Rich
 
I used to have a Palm VII with the little pager based RF link. There was an app called Cheap Bastard Pilots or something like that which allowed you to pull up METARS...it was one of the first datalink weather products available and it worked pretty well. I remember cruising along central Ohio with my wife flying and me looking to see if the fields were staying VFR ahead of us.
 
Cradlepoint makes good mobile routers that take cellular data and share it via wifi. They've gotten a little proud of them price-wise though.

Also almost all car stereo installers resell various other brands.

Personally I just put the iPhone or iPad into hotspot mode and connect whatever to them. Be prepared for an enormous days bill if the kiddies are streaming video from somewhere. And complaints when you drive into a 4G dead zone when it all stops working.

As others have hinted, pre- loading some sort of media storage device with media is probably a much better option. Or just preloading the gadgets themselves if they have the space.

Or just looking out the window and counting blue cars like we did as kids.

I've been thinking about putting a little low powered media server in the RV that syncs stuff from the house when home, but I can't imagine going through the headache or the data bill for five girls for just a single road trip.
 
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