How do I remote administer an Android TV box?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hello, I’m looking for advice or opinion on the best way to remote administer an Android TV box please…

At work I have fitted three large TV screens in our refectory area and the idea is to have them display a rolling slide show of useful information for staff to read. They aren’t smart TVs so I bought three TV boxes from eBay which run Android 4.2.2 and hooked them up. I found a really useful app [NetSlide Business] that runs automatically when the box is powered up, looks at a network share for slides and begins the show automatically.

The refectory manager can then look at the share to change or modify the slides as they see fit and a simple reboot of the box has it re-scan for changes and run the new slides, so it all works beautifully.

I was hoping to be able to “remote desktop” the box in case they need any administrative attention so I can fix them without having to get a stepladder out and physically visit the box with a keyboard and mouse. I should add that the remote control provided is just a “change channel” type of thing that doesn’t work very well anyway as the box / infra red sensor is mounted behind the TV.

There are quite a few apps on Google Play but most seem to be geared towards remote administering phones rather than TV boxes [remote wipe if lost etc] and the VNC apps I have tried were pretty poor with dropped sessions and very slow performance. I have also seen some other remote apps that let you display on the TV the signal from a phone, eg display a phone’s camera image remotely, but nothing that was quite right. I’d prefer to use it across a LAN if possible so the box’s wifi is disabled in case any staff hack the box and display, err, inappropriate content!

So does anyone have anything in mind they could recommend, all suggestions welcome :slight_smile:

2

The exact model and maker of the boxes would be a help. I assume they are accessible via the network, wired or wirelessly?

3

Here’s a link to an identical box on eBay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MX-Android-4-2-MX2-Dual-Core-Smart-TV-Box-XBMC-Media-Player-Network-Streamer-/271490707381?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Internet_TV_Media_Streamers&hash=item3f361b6fb5

4

I’m not familiar with these exact gizmos, but they look like other devices including Rokus. Since they are net-connected, they have an IP address. I’d set a static address if they don’t default to that, then try to look them up with a browser. Barring that, the Roku does have an Android control app that needs only to be on the same internal network and be paired with the Roku box.

But I’d bet on a web interface, or a generic Android device interface that works over the intranet.

5

You can root it and start up a SSH daemon. Or maybe install one as an app.