Android Transporter and Raspberry Pi
Here’s some good news for those of you with Android devices. Daniel from ESR labs mailed us to share a video showing the Android Transporter streaming content to remote screens in real time using a Raspberry Pi. This means that armed with an Android phone or tablet, a wireless dongle and a Raspberry Pi, you’ve got an instant media hub. This is a gorgeous demo. Enjoy!
The guys at ESR say that they’re working on even better latency (at the moment it’s running at about 150ms – they’re aiming at getting it below 100ms), and dual-screen mode. There’s more on their website.
46 comments
SteveC
What is the Netgear wifi dongle used in this video? Cant wait to get an android phone now :)
Himmele
The Netgear WiFi dongle is a Netgear N150 Wireless USB Microadapter. We used the drivers from the Realtek Homepage to make it work.
SteveC
Thanks, got one on order! :)
Jools
SteveC,
Did you get your N150, and did you get it working with your Pi?
Jools
SN
I saw something similar with Apple iPhone / Apple TV a few weeks ago – first time I was every impressed by Apple stuff – this looks just as good!
RobinP
Yeah – this can already be done easily by putting XBMC v11 on the Pi and playing from any of Apple’s iDevices or computers using Quicktime (Apple call it AirPlay – and what you saw on the Apple TV). This is just Androids ‘me too’ version.
-TheAwesome-
Yeah except that this one mirror everything on the phone, not just video/audio. Plus airplay to xbmc still doesn’t work well when trying to stream video (I haven’t tried the latest nightly, recently they haven’t been stable enough to be usable)
Lloyd Watkin
If this could be hooked into xbmc on raspberry Pi (either via openELEC or raspbmc) this would be awesome!
David R
There isn’t a version of XBMC for Android, so this wouldn’t be possible currently, but you can already control it on the raspberry pi via your android phone using the app from http://code.google.com/p/android-xbmcremote.
Simon H
If you have a samsung android device you can stream video straight to XBMC using AllShare or alternatively any DLNA enabled app/device.
I just go into video player on my Galaxy II press the AllShare button, it find XBMC itself and streams the video to it. Have streamed 1080p video to Openelec on the RPi straight from my phone.
emptybee
Does anyone know if this software will be free or is it going to be sold for the R-Pi. I’m curious as I have just pre-ordered a Nexus 7 and without MHL or HDMI there is no way to get content onto a TV (besides spending £££ on a Nexus Q). Also, as I can’t watch the video (at work at the moment) I was just wondering if anyone knows if it transmits sound across as well?
Himmele
Currently we focused on video but audio support will come soon.
We also plan to port the Android Transporter to the Nexus 7.
Stay tuned!
emptybee
Thank you for working on this, I imagine it will massively boost sales of Raspberry Pi as it undercuts the Nexus Q so considerably on price. If you release the Raspberry Pi stuff for free I would definitely pay for the Android App through Google Play (how much depends on the features you include build in). Google will hate you but only because you’re doing a great job!
I’d love to be able to run the software in a chrome window on any computer and “throw” my content from my phone – would that be at all possible at a later date? What about streaming the content from the android device on one network to a raspberry pi on another? Would be amazing to be talking to someone on the phone and then say “Switch your TV on I have something to show you”…
emptybee
Himmele
Thanks for your feedback. Some very nice ideas :-).
Let’s see where we get with the Android Transporter :).
VINOD
is it possible to install this on a Samsung Epic 4g ?
Captain Pad
Hello there
That looks like an awesome solution.
I was looking for a youTube video on how to setup the the Raspberry Pi system the same way you show on your video but I couldn’t find any. Are there instructional videos videos like that and could you send me a link???
I have a Nexus 7 pre-ordered and I’m very interested in your solution.
Thanks again and that a great job
Himmele
The Android Transporter for the Raspberry Pi is currently not available to the public. But we plan to do so in the future. Stay tuned!
yori07
Does this actually require the wireless dongle, or that strictly so that the android app can connect to the Pi over a LAN?
Himmele
You can also connect the Raspberry Pi over LAN to a WiFi Router that is connected to the same network as the Android phone.
Manis
How the hell did they get their hands on hardware accelerated encoding GPU drivers? Would be awesome if the foundation released these…
Gert van Loo
You don’t need “hardware accelerated encoding GPU drivers”. They did it in the same way as the XBMC guys did it. AFAIK all you do is put a frame in the memory and tell the GPU to display it or to H264 decode and display it. How to do that is well documented.
JBeale
I don’t see any encoding done on the Pi; rather it seems to be decoding video it has received via the WiFi, and is displaying it. Hardware decode of H.264 at 1080p is an advertised feature of the Pi and has been done by XBMC and omcplayer for some time.
JBeale
oops, I meant ‘omxplayer’ http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5543
noiseshap
Does it require a wifi network? I mean, is a wifi access point / router required, or is it direct wifi to wifi connection? If so, is the Pi wifi adapter in master or in ad-hoc mode? Thanks.
noiseshap
I’m seeing maybe it is the Android phone the one that is in hotspot (master) mode, since the Transporter requires a full firmware update on the phone. Can anyone confirm?
Himmele
You can either use a WiFi hotpost or a direct connection. Both works.
noiseshap
But, is it feasible to configure the Pi wifi adapter in hotspot (master) mode? I had read that it wasn’t easy. Thanks.
Himmele
The Raspberry Pi adapter is in WiFi managed mode. But in principal this specific adapter also supports the master mode. But I never tried that.
emptybee
Yup, that’s very true and great for streaming the epic blockbusters you’ve shot with your phone ;-) however this software (when released) will let you stream content you’ve brought or rented from google play which you can’t do via allshare (or any other dlna method I’ve tried). Also lets you play games, browse the internet, and basically do anything you can do on your android (it simply copies the phone/tablet screen) on your TV. The effect is the same as if you buy an MHL adapter for your Samsung Galaxy S2 for example but no wires (and will work on non MHL enabled devices like the Nexus 7).
Cheers,
emptybee
emptybee
*The above comment was meant to follow on from Simon H’s post*
Kamil
Sorry for little off topic. What’s the name of the racing game which is played in the movie? Anyone knows maybe? :)
Himmele
It’s NFS Shift.
Sam
Can I already download this program? Can’t find a link :s
liz
Not yet – it’s still in development.
Sam
Okay, thanks :)
root@127.0.0.1
Grüß aus ESAmerika!
You made me nostalgic for my favorite city with the screenshot culled from the end of your video. Great job on the app, too!
prodigy7
Hi!
Is there any timeline we can await the public release? Other question: Does’ it run directly with unrooted android phones or is rooting required for using it?
I hope last one!
Best regards from germany
p7
Himmele
We do not have an accurate timeline. But we try to get the first public beta ready within a month. The Android Transporter not only requires root privileges, you have to flash a complete firmware image. This is because we had to touch some parts of the Android platform to make this work.
prodigy7
Hm k … Too bad! I think that will reduce the chance that your software get public on many devices. HTC, for example, has an own solution for that which requires own HTC hardware and I think, HTC would not integrate your software if they distribute an own solution which enlarge their profit.
So – an “slim” version of your software (maybe with higher latency and limited functions but without requirement for complete firmware change) would help you, make your software pobular.
upsangel
I see! although it will not make popular among lots of android user as @prodigy7 points out. however, you can still earn a big market as a NEXUS7 dock, providing that the whole package is easier and cheaper than the HTC’s solution (since HTC’s dock is compatible with NEXUS7)
Radu
This is awesome. I’m a cable cutter and right now I’m trying to make XBMC to work with Sopcast in order to view net streams, but with the Transformer I would defiantly solve the problem. Free software, payed app or donation, either way this is something I want. thank you guys
sark666
Are you planning on making a client for other linux distributions? Like debian or ubuntu? Also, some video cards may not have the ability to hardware decode the video stream on the client side, any change of decoding using opengl?
pistol2000
I’m really impressed by this post and I’ll be ordering my Rasberry Pi as a result.
Any news on a release date from ESR labs’ Android Transporter? It’s been 3 months since this was posted…
t.J.
So is this vaporware then? did it get released?
TW Pretorius
Same question here… Most posts end in 2012, no updates on the blog after that.
TW Pretorius
Found this post… but it loads new firmware on your android, and removed play store… so what else can you do with the phone…
https://esrlabs.com/blog/android-transporter-for-the-nexus-7-and-the-raspberry-pi/#more-439
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