Showing posts with label MiTV2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MiTV2. Show all posts

Friday, 1 May 2015

Configuring and setting up a Xiaomi USB-RJ45 converter

BY Cavarii IN , , 9 comments

Original USB to RJ45 UTP Ethernet cable for Xiaomi TV MiBox 

MiBox Gen 3 4K Edition does not come with an UTP network port, if you need to connect to the MiBox using network cable, you can purchase this optional item to convert your USB port for the MiBox to be a UTP port to connect via network cable to your LAN.


Setting Up

Go to "settings" of MiBox, as in picture below:                                  


If you are currently connected to the network via WiFi, you should see the WiFi icon on the Top Left hand corner of the screen.

The USB-to-UTP connector is a plug-and-play device, when you connect the USB port at the MiBox, and network UTP cable at the other end, the led light on the connector should start blinking, and once connected, it would stop blinking.

When UTP network cable is connected, it will disable the WiFi.

Under "Connected" you should see a Network port item instead of the Wireless icon.

Click onto "Connected", you should see "WiFi" is disabled, and under "Ethernet",


For most network, it should be running DHCP, which would automatically assign IP to your connector, you just plug in the RJ45-UTP adapter, it should start working, no configurations required.


If you are running DHCP in your network, it should auto assign an IP to your USB-to-UTP adapter, else, you will need to set settings of "Static IP" to "Turn Off" and enter your IP address and other info manually.


What if no Network can be detected?

When the converter is plug into the USB port, with the other end connected to a valid UTP cable, it should automatically grey out and disable the WiFi connection when the UTP cable is inserted, if it does not, there are a few possibilities

a) The USB port of your MiBox could be faulty 

Try mounting a USB thumb drive or USB hard-disk to the USB  port, if it works, then the USB port should be working;

b) Is the light on the converter blinking when a UTP cable is inserted into the UTP port?

If it does blink, but no IP being assigned, the possibilities is that your network router / switch may be configured with:

i) limited devices can be connected to the router, and the maximum devices had connected to it, and all IPs had been assigned, OR

ii you router may be configured to allow only certain Mac Address to access the network, and the converter's Mac address may not had been added to the allowed list;

c) Is the Converter Faulty?

Try connecting the converter to a PC, and then connect to a valid network cable, if it works, then the converter should be ok.

Friday, 10 October 2014

MiTV 2 - MIUI in English Interface

BY Cavarii IN , , , , , No comments


Since the MiTV 2 is currently only available in China, all menus, sub-menu and apps all come in Chinese interface only.

If you do not understand Chinese, it would be difficult to operate the TV, unless you memorise each icon by the graphics apperance, or guess what the actual menu means.

Unless Xiaomi starts to export the MiTV outside of China market, like what they did with their handphones, it is very unlikely the interface will come in language other than Chinese.

Currently the only way is to to root the MIUI operating system, and run some third translation tools to translate the interface to other languages.

Even if going through the rooted process and the translation tools, NOT ALL interface will be changed to English, as some of the label / menu come in hard-coded graphics, and the translation engine is not able to translate these Chinese characters done in graphics.

This is the original main menu of the MITV2, the top row and main menu items are done in text, and in Chinese.

After rooted service and translation process, notice only the top menu are available in English, the text in the graphics are still in Chinese.

This is the original Setting App, all in Chinese interface only

After Rooted & Translation
The Setting apps is now available in English, so are all the sub-menus items, all now in English. Some terms may look funny, as we guess the translation is done using Google Translate. Like the item below "With Respect to", which should be "About Us"

All sub-menu are originally in Chinese Only

After Rooted and translation, the detail sub-menus are now in English, e,g, when you click on "Image and Sound" from settings menu above


Most of the Apps are now displayed in English, apart from some of the Chinese App, which still remained in Chinese

One of the most used app would be the media player (HD Player in photo above), which you use to playback video, music and photo.

The original sub-menu are all in Chinese


After rooted and translation, even the sub-menu in the media player app now display in English:

Like the English?       

Optional items that you may need for the MiTV 2

BY Cavarii IN , , , , , , No comments


Apart from being a 4K TV, with 3D movies playback capability, MiTV 2 is also a console for games, with a major section of the main menu as "Game Center" where all kinds of games are available.

Three categories of games are available, one that can play with the remote control, one with keyboard and the most popular of all, a gamepad controlled games, either single player or multi-players games.

The following is one of the Gamepad that some vendor bundled with the MiTV 2, as optional items. Original Xiaomi MiTV 2 does not come with a Gamepad.

This is a bluetooth wireless gamepad, which you can pair with the MiTV, under the MIUI's Setting Apps, with Bluetooth.



The bluetooth wireless Gamepad can also be paired with Xiaomi TV Box, Android pad, Xiaomi Phone etc.

The Xiaomi MITV 2 come standard with TV stands, which can be mounted onto the TV, and place the TV on shelve or tables. 



However, most people would mount flat-screen TV nowadays on walls in living room or bedroom, to save space, so a wall-mount kit is required.

With wall-mount kit, you can securely place them on walls in whatever position you like.



MiWiFi
Apart from accessing all contents through online apps or stream services, the other major source of you contents (videos, music and photos) is from your locally stored devices, either a NAS or you IP devices.



One of the interesting devices from Xiaomi is their Router / NAS product called MiWiFi, which apart from being a full router, is also having an in-built 1TB harddisk as NAS, once you connect the MiTV 2 through the MiWiFi, you will see the MiWiFi appear as a menu on the MIUI OS on MiTV 2


See more detail review of MiWiFi here



You can purchase the MiTV 2 from here and MiWiFi here





Original 3D Glasses from Xiaomi for MiTV 2

Replacement Bluetooth Wireless Remote Control


Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Xiaomi's MiTV 2 - Un-boxing

BY Cavarii IN , , , No comments


The MiTV 2 arrives in two separate boxes, one with the 49-inch 4K TV inside (23KG) and another with the sub-woofer speaker inside (11KG)

When you open up the box, you will see a set of accessories coming with the original TV package

The box contain the bluetooth wireless remore control, power cable for the soundbar, and two pairs of 3D glasses

Also the audio cable to connect the soundbar to the TV, one screw driver plus a set of screw to mount the two TV stands, and TV antenna connectors.  

The two pairs of 3D glasses

The box comes with two TV stands, one left and one right

Mounting the TV stands with the screw driver coming with the tool-kit box.

After mounting the TV Stand, this is how it look like.

Another angle of the TV Stand

Connect the audio cable to the soundbar

Audio cable on the soundbar end, and the power cable

The MiTV 2 has three HDMI ports, one USB 2 port, one USB 3 port and a MicroSD slot, on the side panel


The third HDMI port is at the bottom panel of the TV, with a VGA port, RCA AV port (the red-white-yellow cable for older equipment), UTP port, audio port, and the TV antenna.

Note - The MiTV 2 comes with the China power adapters, you'll either need an multi-extension code with the two pin adaptor, OR

Get 3 traveler adapters like this, one for the TV, one for the soundbar, and the third for the sub-woofer.

Getting The Remote Control paired
After you had powered on the MiTV, and the Bluetooth Wireless loaded with the battery, you'll need to hold the "Home" and "Menu" buttons simultaneously, aiming at the bottom right hand corner of teh TV, until you hear a "beep", then release both buttons.

You'll need to hold the remote control close to the MiTV, for them to pair under bluetooth.



Connecting the Soundbar & sub-woofer 
Make sure both your soundbar and sub-woofer are connected to power supply and switch on. Connect the supplied audio cable between the soundbar and the MiTV, press and hold the "Play" button of the soundbar, you'll hear "Reconnecting sub-woofer" (in Chinese audio), hold until you hear "Sub-woofer connected successfully. Then the MiTV is now connected to both the soundbar and sub-woofer.


You can also connect the soundbar directly to the MiTV without the audio cable by pairing the soundbar with MiTV directly under Android's bluetooth settings.

Tuning Local TV Stations
While we tends to access all online streaming contents or access locally available content via NAS (e.g. MiWiFi), MiTV 2 is also a normal TV, with antenna adapters that can connect to your outdoor antenna.

Being a smart TV, the nice thing about MiTV 2 is that they can store you local TV channels as TV walls. What you need to do during initial setting up is to scan all available channels, as the smart TV detected a new channel, it will create a small tab on the TV wall..

Once all channels are created, this is what it will look like. You can always have an overview of all available channels, before you select the one you would like to watch.



Watch the following unboxing Video - 小米电视2爱极客评测 Xiaomi MiTV 2 Review By IGeek, audio is in Chinese


This is another MiTV 2 review in Russian

You can purchase the MiTV 2 from here