Have you ever imagined of owning an JARVIS like system in your home. For those who haven't watched the Iron man series let me tell you what a JARVIS actually is... (People who know what a JARVIS is can skip the following two paragraphs :p)
JARVIS is an artificial intelligence software which centrally controls or gets the information from all the devices connected to it. It acts like a personal virtual assistant whom we can rely upon. It has the capability to learn from its previous experience (actually data) and gives suggestions to the user to take right decisions at right time. .
If you are still not clear what a JARVIS is I would recommend you to watch the Iron Man trilogy or just Google it.
Although I'm not going to say how to make your own personalized JARVIS here. But there are some apps available in the market which can make the devices in your home talk to each other and make your home entertainment experience a lot more different than it used to be now.
Oops I guess I forgot to explain what an IoT actually means. . IoT refers to Internet of Things which basically is connecting and collecting data from each device that are used in our daily lives pertaining to a unique user and using that information in helping the user with tips and suggestions for a better life. Something like this
Before it gets too boring with all those technical stuffs let's get started to give a makeover to your home entertainment. The apps I'm going to mention are available for Android & IOS.
To start with let's imagine a situation wherein you got lots of movies downloaded in your computer. You have an old LCD or LED TV which is connected to a home theater system. Now if you want to enjoy those movies in your home TV with family members there is a lot of things you need to do or simply you would upload the movie in a pen drive and play it on TV.
Suppose you have a video or want to enjoy a movie which is in your phone the process gets a little tedious, copying back and forth the same file from mobile to PC and to pen drive.
Now if you have a video in you tube. Still you can find ways to enjoy it in your home theater but again the process is tedious. . Many a times the home entertainment is used less or sparingly with the advent of technology. That is why companies these days are moving towards Smart TV's and trying to bring technology to the home.
All said and done say if all your devices (mobile, PC, TV, home theater) are connected to each other the scenario would be different. With just a click of a button you can access all the files stored in whichever device and enjoy it with full quality.
There are many ways to achieve it but if you are in one among those like me who would not like to spend much on the gadgets you just need to spend 2999/- INR from your pocket to connect all these devices. .
1. Google Chromecast device:
This is the prime unit of our IoT set up for home entertainment. Basically this device works with WiFi and it is connected to your HDMI port in TV with a power source. The device can be controlled by your mobile phone by installing the supporting app (Chromecast app). There are "n" number of uses with this device.
It is primarily used for casting your mobile screen (available in 2nd generation device) to TV , watching YouTube videos, casting the photos, videos from your phone to TV etc etc... The device costs you around 2999/-INR and this is the only investment that we are making here.
You can even play games on your phone while casting it to your TV. With NetFlix soon coming to India you will see a lot of options from International series and movies to cast to your TV. There are many other Chromecast supported apps such as Airtel's Wynk that give you more control over your entertainment.
I'm assuming that mostly all the houses have WiFi connectivity.
## If your TV does not have an HDMI port no worries there are some converters available in the market which converts HDMI to AV(Audio,Video). You can connect your Chromecast to HDMI input and connect the AV output to your TV. It will add up to your investment around 990/- INR.
Now that we have connected our TV and mobile phone. Let's connect the phone to our PC.
We have two apps to solve the purpose. One to control the PC from phone and the other is a file explorer to move files from phone to PC. Though Chromecast gives you an option to cast your files from PC you have to personally operate your PC for that. That again becomes doing many things for a simple task. The next app will solve this extra step.
2. ES FileExplorer:
This app lets you browse and access files from different locations. PC (using LAN), Mobile, Cloud (Dropbox,GDrive).- Install ES FileExplorer in your mobile along with the ES FileExplorer Chromecast plugin.
- Create a folder in your PC and share it using the share option or simply share the folders you want to access over the network.
- Open the ES FileExplorer app in your mobile and connect to your PC using the LAN option. All the folders that were marked as sharing will get displayed there.
- Long press on the file you would like to play and you will be provided with different options. Select Chromecast player to play the file in your Chromecast device.
3. Unified Remote:
This is an interesting app that lets you take control of your PC from your mobile. You can literally do all the actions (Mouse movements, Task manager, Right click, Left Click, Open a file, Play music, Power management) you do on a PC from your phone. There are many ways you can connect your PC to your phone like WiFi, Bluetooth. This will require a server application to be downloaded in your PC. I personally use it to watch movies in my PC while relaxing on my bed and control the volume and navigation without moving from my bed. I would even shutdown my PC without getting near my PC.Suppose if you forgot to add a file to your shared folder to watch it in your Chromecast this app will be handy. Because in ES FileExplorer you can only access files or folders which are marked as shares whereas here you have the control overall on your PC. You can copy and paste the file to your shared folder from your phone.
For more information about this app you can refer here.
Now that we have connected all our devices for home entertainment. Your phone acts as a remote control here. You can access any of your file stored in your PC, Cloud, or Phone or YouTube, all are just a click away. The best part is you don't need internet to view/play the files which are stored locally. Only YouTube and Cloud files needs Internet access.
Note: In order that this setup to work all the devices must be connected to a same WiFi network.
Once all these setup is done you would have created your own personalized IoT for home entertainment and all this in 2999 INR/. Why go for those fancy Android TV's and Smart TV's which would cost you around 80 K and 90 K. Think wise and be a smart.
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