OK Peeps,
Someone in Coolexe’s rom thread asked me what DLNA was and how to use it. As I couldn’t point them straight to a guide I thought I’d better write one. Plus I’m sure some of you don’t even know what it is!
From Wikipedia:
DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is a standard used by manufacturers of consumer electronics to allow entertainment devices within the home to share their content with each other across a home network.
So what can I use my Desire for in the world of DLNA?
1. Stream movies you have stored on your phone wirelessly to a DLNA compatible TV/device
2. Stream music you have stored on your phone wirelessly to a DLNA compatible TV/device
3. Show pictures you’ve taken on your phone wirelessly to a DLNA compatible TV/device
4. Stream movies/music/pictures wirelessly from a DLNA compatible device to you phone
Before I go into details about using DLNA I’ll give you a quick overview of what kit I’ve got that makes it all possible. Firstly, I’ve got a Synology NAS which is DLNA compatible (other brands exist!) and stores all my media files. Secondly I’ve got a Windows Media Centre 7 PC hooked up to my main TV. And thirdly a HTC Desire, this must be running a Gingerbread rom with Sense. I mostly use Robo’s roms which have been working a treat but have been trying out some others recently but with mixed results, hopefully we can get these issues ironed out though.
So to be able to send media to my TV the first thing I need to do is turn on media streaming in Media Player. Hit the Stream button and choose Turn On Media Streaming. The default settings are fine so you can keep them. Next hit the Stream button again and choose Allow Remote Control Of My Player. Now you need to grab you Desire, make sure it’s connected to you WLAN and from the Apps menu click on Connected Media and choose the type of media you want to send. You should then be prompted to select the player, choose the player you’ve just setup in Windows. If you’re not prompted there’s a little button in the bottom right, just above the full volume icon, click it. Bingo, your chosen media will then be streamed to the computer and in my case the TV that’s connected to it.
Next up the more exciting bit, and the bit I use the most, streaming from my NAS to my Desire. Different NAS boxes will have different ways to enable DLNA but on my Synology it was just a matter of clicking on the box that turns that feature on and storing media in the shares it created. On your phone in the Apps menu choose the Video app. Click the button in the bottom left, the one with 3 parallel lines, you should end up at the Albums menu. Scroll along the strip at the bottom to Connected Media where it should search you network a DLAN devices. Select the device you want to stream from and you’ll be present with the DLNA folders on you NAS. Drill in through the folders to the movie or music you want played on your Desire, kick back and enjoy!
Over the weekend I’ll try and get some screen shots added, pictures say a millions words, and see if I can reword the guide to make it simpler to follow. Just wanted to get something up quick to help a fellow member out.
Reserved reserved
nicely explaned, thanks for the tuto,
i've just checked my tv, i think i might need an RS lead or something to connect it to my laptop, problem is tv is too far from where the lapy is, but i got another solution , my satellite box (spiderbox) can be setup as a home stream server,did it from this guide http://cccam-exchange.com/viewtopic.php?f=211&t=509 it has got that feature cos i've set it up and connected already to an external server to watch the europeen leagues footie it's plugged to BT Hub, i think all i need is a wifi bridge to the sat box to save me putting the laptop by the tv, as i'm using it,don't want a long lead,gets in the way , i'll do bit of reading on that, to set it up and see when get time.
however i did plug the phone to sat box via usb (mounted), (satbox is PVR ready) , accesed the whole sd card content.using the satbox remote ,never knew that before till when this DLNA subject popped up, opened up a new feature for me.
cheers.
What ROM are you using to do this? as the video's app is not on my MIUI version?
voodooboy3000 said:
What ROM are you using to do this? as the video's app is not on my MIUI version?
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Click to collapse
Robos latest test rom. Its got to be running gingerbread and sense.
Sent from my HTC Desire
Video resolution is low. And i guess VLC stream & convert is more suited to me. So i'll mainly use this for audio. Thanks for the solution. Easiest method that I found to stream music from my computer to my phone.
Related
I tried to search for it so I'm sorry if this is a repeat...
Has anyone else tried Orb streaming service. I think it's the best thing I've found since my WM6 Rom and of course it's free and requires no new install on the phone.
Once you download an app to your computer to allow it to stream media out, you can access media on your computer over the web. This isn't a new concept, but the thing that stands out for me is the fact that it works great with the hermes - streaming stored videos, pictures, and music from the PC (among other things)
If you have a TV tuner on your computer it's even better. It will let you watch live TV or previously recorded TV. It will even let you schedule a recording from the phone if you forgot while you were at home (albeit - not through WMC rather their own, but they usually play nice).
My only recomendation is to lower the expected stream speed to 40 or 80 kbps at the bottom of mobile website to eliminate chopiness. Also, if you have a media player other than WMP on the phone - make sure the stream goes to WMP (it works well in there)
i have been using it for a couple years, and its great for live tv and i have a few hundred divx movies on my harddrive that i can stream and its free!
Yes, it is a very nice program. I've been using it for a while, too. It even supports webcams. Probably one of the best programs I've ever used.
I just wish it was able to skip commercials on a recorded tv program or skip to a point in a recorded TV show...
yeah it is a great service! i've been using it even before i got into winmo (which was in '03!!)
GreyGabe, edit the comercials out on your pc with a vid editing software...
same here, using it for years. first started to stream with it on my MPX220 (non-edge) and i was blown away then. About to stream one of my shows in an hour or so at work....
Just for live TV, have a decent computer. after i did an upgrade to a better processor and ram, the streams coppyness/buffering almost dissappeared. Also, having something better than DSL helped a lot too...
I am new to Android & would really like to us my A7 to access both online hosted Streaming Video (movies & TV shows) as well as host my DVDs on my internal network.
I had hoped to use Netflix but research on the web indicates that isn't a go on Android without newer, possibly embedded hardward based, DRM solutions. I did see a post about Amazon and RockPlayer but not really much else to go on.
Can people reply and indicate what are the best Streaming Video sites (& client being used to access those sites) for the A7? If you need to use one for movies & one for TV shows please list multiple...
Can people also reply with more insight on how they are hosting & consuming their own DVD collections? Specifically I would like to know:
What did they use to rip their DVDs?
Where do they host them (off a PC? a NAS?, etc)?
What client do they use on the Android A7 to access them?
What protocol (NFS?,CIFS?,SFTP?,etc) does the A7 use to access their DVDs?
For reference I have multiple options available to me at home inclucing RedHat Enterprise Linux & a few other flavors, Win 7, Win XP, and a central NAS device.
tv shows
for tv shows I like (tv shows stream) from the market
Playon seems to work well for me and it will let you stream Netflix and other sites kinda expensive 5amonth or 80 for a lifetime.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App
When I get back from Spring Break I want to try Playon. I don't like the idea of another subscription but it seems really flexible. It might also allow me to watch Hulu through my bluray player (which stopped supporting it) so that is a big plus... Being able to centralize all of that to a central computer and shoot it to my TV, laptop, and Android A7 would be great.
The Netflix.apk is available as beta for Android. I installed on my A7 and can manage my account, queue and search. When I launch a live stream of instant movies it says can not connect to Netflix servers please try again.
My research is that they won't allow netflix to natively run on Android without some Digital Rights Management (DRM) capabilities (currently too open) built into. Some Android device makers may be releasing some newer models that allow for this and the native netflix should work for them but maybe never for us if it is a hardware based implementation...
That being said, the Netflix over playon seems to be working OK for me as I went ahead and set it up before traveling for Spring Break... Both Netfilx & hulu worked fine on my home LAN and was working OK on my hotel WIFI for a few hours but isn't for some reason right now.
I need to replace my home router so that I can take the current router with me as it turns my 3g/4g USB device into a personal portable WiFi (kinda like a geeky MIFI). Currently that router uses both my DSL & USB cellular data card together at home and I didn't have time to do that before I left and if I took it with me my home would have been down and I wouldn't be able to serve playon from home while traveling...
Tv.com also works well on these devices
Sent from my PC36100
Hi All,
Does Xperia Play support DLNA, because I see it as listed in gsmarena but nothing in Google on how to configure and stream via DLNA.
Anyone tried it and use DLNA to stream video / game / photos.
The phone is awesome but lack to HDMI or TV Out means the only option is to stream via DLNA if it supports, can someone confirm.
--
Maddy
We have an app called Media Server ("Servidor de Medios" for me) and I believe it let's you play movies/music/images. I haven't tried it once since I stream directly from my PC to my PS3.
But forget about games, it's been discussed a lot that people is disappointed because we can't play our games in a bigger screen.
So yes, we have DLNA but it won't let you stream your screen. It'll let other devices connect to it and play media files on your phone.
Hi netorino,
Thanks for the reply, so we can stream movies and photos is it, that is still good enough.
Where I can try this app, I couldn't find it in the Android market.
I would want to try this and see how it works.
--
Maddy
It's pre-installed. I'm not 100% sure on the english name but that should be it.
The way I do it on PC-PS3: Activate software on PC to let streaming. Go on PS3 and look for videos and search for new devices (every time) then it'll show me the hard drive and I'll browse through the folders.
I'm thinking it's the same thing. Open the software on the phone to activate it, it'll probably have some instructions on what to do. Hope it works for you!
netorino said:
It's pre-installed. I'm not 100% sure on the english name but that should be it.
The way I do it on PC-PS3: Activate software on PC to let streaming. Go on PS3 and look for videos and search for new devices (every time) then it'll show me the hard drive and I'll browse through the folders.
I'm thinking it's the same thing. Open the software on the phone to activate it, it'll probably have some instructions on what to do. Hope it works for you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You were right, it's just called media server
@maddy- which version of the play do you have?
Sent from my R800x using Tapatalk
Mine is Xperia Play R800i, it does not have either "Media Server" installed.
Is it only available in the US versions?
BTW, mine is an Unlocked from UK and running 2.3.4.
--
Maddy
m2maddy said:
Mine is Xperia Play R800i, it does not have either "Media Server" installed.
Is it only available in the US versions?
BTW, mine is an Unlocked from UK and running 2.3.4.
--
Maddy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Used to be called Media Server (in 2.3.3) but now - for me at least on an unbranded/sim-free UK R800i on 2.3.4 - look for an App installed called Connected Devices
We can also stream to our phones (from say a WD TV Live, or a PC) - use "ES File Explorer" (lan - and search for your WD's IP) and stream via "VPlayer".
I use this method to stream .mkv files from my WD TV Live in my living room via my router to watch movies on my phone in my bedroom - works great .
The only issue I have is that vplayer is not free, and you can't stream via MoboPlayer (I don't think it buffers, it tries to download the whole movie). So if anyone knows any free media player that lets you strem (buffer) .mkv files then let me know.
I you want to stream from your phone to another device there are various free apps you can use; BubbleUPNP, Connected devices (preinstalled), and softMedia player
Thanks
there is a Connected Devices thing, I will give it a try today.
Try this http://blogs.sonyericsson.com/produ...our-images-in-a-big-screen-with-vscreens-com/
but you can only view images and videos..
It is great, but if the TV does not have the WiFi then it wont work fine, but for Laptop and to stream to desktop computers this is great indeed.
This is something I need to look into.
A 500gb, battery powered, portable hdd with built in wifi. Plus it can also stream media.
Naturally I could choose to use my pc at home as a remote server, but it would have to remain powered on, takes time to setup ports, access rights & streaming can really lag.
Drawback for now at least, you can't reverse transfer files back to the hard drive via its built in wifi. Not a deal breaker if you ask me.
The GoFlex Satellite Wi-Fi connection can be protected with a password & WPA-level security.
It is capable of streaming in HD, up to 10Megabits per second data rate, but some devices may not support High Definition formatted videos.
And in case you're wondering:
Can I play files from my GoFlex Satellite to my Android phone or tablet?
Yes, files can be played back via the Wi-Fi capability. Videos in the formats that are compatible with the Android device can be played back using the default browser (Webkit). Unsupported video formats can be played back using third-party media players. If all your videos just download rather than play, try installing a more robust media player app. The Seagate app can be found on the Android Market.
A 500gb drive can be had on Amazon for about $173.
Any opinions or experiences with this device?
http://www.viddler.com/explore/GetConnectedTV/videos/297/
I have two that I mainly use with my iPad. The Seagate software isn't the best but they are working on it. I am a beta tester and they're starting to focus more on Android so that's good but if you're looking to stream video, there are a few DLNA players out there that are better at it. You can also hack the drives with custom firmware too.
Agreed about Seagate, and good to know that they are working on it.
If this is something you're interested in and you're ready to buy today there's a promo code available at Newegg that reduces this to $129.99 (code expires 1/8/12).
Newegg price: $173.99
promo code: -$44.00
Net price: $129.99
Promo code is STX44US and the direct link to Newegg is here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148755
$129.99 is a good deal, I got mine at Best Buy for $180. They stream to anything that can access wifi. I used one of them to stream to my friends TV to watch a marathon of the old Twilight Zone episodes on New Years day. The drive lasted just under 6 hours before needing to be charged.
Magicspell said:
If this is something you're interested in and you're ready to buy today there's a promo code available at Newegg that reduces this to $129.99 (code expires 1/8/12).
Newegg price: $173.99
promo code: -$44.00
Net price: $129.99
Promo code is STX44US and the direct link to Newegg is here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148755
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank-you much. Just ordered one. I've been browsing several forums & by far the biggest complaint is the front end user UI. As long as I can get it to play vids out the box with no problems then I'll be okay.
A site you might want to check out when you get your drive:
http://www.hackseagatesatellite.com
It's not for everyone but it can be useful and the people there are pretty responsive.
I have tried the seagatein the past not the battery powered one but the regular NAS device. I found it to be very slow to upload or download form. I switched over to the WD mybook live. And I am not trying to flame or start some crap just giving my experience it did work but was slow. I also ran into issues with my Blueray not being able to read some content. This may have been the blue rays problem but I havn't seen as many issues with the WD. However all that having been said WD not have a bettery or wfi enabled device I am aware of it has an ethernet port that you connect straight to your router.
arsmithsr said:
I have tried the seagatein the past not the battery powered one but the regular NAS device. I found it to be very slow to upload or download form. I switched over to the WD mybook live. And I am not trying to flame or start some crap just giving my experience it did work but was slow. I also ran into issues with my Blueray not being able to read some content. This may have been the blue rays problem but I havn't seen as many issues with the WD. However all that having been said WD not have a bettery or wfi enabled device I am aware of it has an ethernet port that you connect straight to your router.
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Click to collapse
Appreciate the input. The only other portable wifi drive out there that I know of is the Kingston Wi-Drive. From the plus side this device has an SSD & the UI is much better. The downside is that it only comes in 16gb & 32gb capacities.
I'll keep y'all (I'm from Texas ) posted on how it turns out.
Crap! Any chance of a new coupon? I would have bought it for that price !
OK, I just paid the premium and bought one at Best Buy when I was in the city today. I also paid for the hack posted above. It's charging tonight and I'm going to start messing with it tomorrow. I'll post updates as I go along.
Perfect: The Wi-Fi HDD + Seagate Media app. + MX Player works as expected on my E4GT.
However on my Win 7 tablet (ExoPc) I can only play videos within a browser (Opera) as no such Seagate Media UI app exists for Windows. The problem with watching a video within a web browser is lack of media controls (vol +/-, play, pause, stop etc. etc.)
If anyone with this device knows how to get it to open up within a 3rd party media player on Win 7 after selecting the video within the web UI can you please share how it's done.
subcypher said:
OK, I just paid the premium and bought one at Best Buy when I was in the city today. I also paid for the hack posted above. It's charging tonight and I'm going to start messing with it tomorrow. I'll post updates as I go along.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought about purchasing the hack myself, but wanted to test the device out first to see if I actually want to hold onto it or return it.
I can say that while watching a movie, its dropped its connection 3x & restarted the video accordingly from the beginning.
I had to fst fwd>> to the previous spot I left off at. No big deal as of yet, but if it keeps doing it then returning it will be more likely.
I'll stay updated with your replies & see if the hack omits some of the inherent problems I'm having. If so then I'll invest in the hack.
EL TEJANO said:
Perfect: The Wi-Fi HDD + Seagate Media app. + MX Player works as expected on my E4GT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had the same experience though I wish the Seagate app would allow you to choose which media player to use to play the media. I've actually found I prefer the media player used when using the phone's browser over the player invoked with the Seagate app...
EL TEJANO said:
However on my Win 7 tablet (ExoPc) I can only play videos within a browser (Opera) as no such Seagate Media UI app exists for Windows. The problem with watching a video within a web browser is lack of media controls (vol +/-, play, pause, stop etc. etc.)
If anyone with this device knows how to get it to open up within a 3rd party media player on Win 7 after selecting the video within the web UI can you please share how it's done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tried with my tablet yet, but I did try with my Win 7 laptop. The experience was a bit more frustrating to start. When I accessed the Seagate Go Flex (via IE or Firefox) it appeared to only directly play certain media files (for example it played .mp4 files but wouldn't directly play .m2ts files). I tried associating .m2ts files with WMP as well as VLC but in either case when I selected that file rather than it starting to play it would start to download the file to my laptop.
I then simply renamed the .m2ts extension to .mp4 (didn't recode the contents) and then when I selected the file it played directly in WMP. If I tried to change the player associated with .mp4 files (to VLC, for example) then the file would not directly play but again began to download. Changing the .mp4 association back to WMP did allow the media to play directly when selected through the browser interface.
Overall, I think I can live with these limitations though maybe the hack noted earlier will allow me more flexibility. I'll have to research that part.
Well at first the MX Player was working fine on my phone, then I noticed that the streaming videos would stop & then start from the beginning in a continous loop. WTH!!!
I figured okay let me reinstall the latest firmware, defrag & do a system file check to see if that works. When I tried to play my streaming content once more within MX Player the same thing happened. I figured okay it must be the app then.
So I downloaded Buzz Player & to my surprise this app has the option to connect to Network Media; when selecting that option my stored audio & video files show up within the player. Which is nice because now I don't have to use the Seagate Media app. What's even better is no freezing or restarting.
All in all the Seagate Satellite is a nice device but Seagate really (& I mean really) needs to work on their UI as well as open up some features & options.
In regards to my Win 7 tablet: Are there any windows based media players that can detect the wifi signal off my Seagate Satellite & display the directory much like Buzz Player does in Android?
I purchased this drive and the hack. I actually did the work the other day to hack it. It's fairly simple.
First, they have you download an ISO. I'm not sure why they do that, as they use it as a ZIP or RAR file. It's an archive you open and load the two files inside onto the drive. I was able to do this in Linux very easily.
Second, you use your wireless connection to talk to the drive and then use Telnet to see the files in a command line. Then you use the command line to run a file. I did all this from my phone using Better Terminal Emulator Pro, but I'm guessing the regular Terminal Emulator will work.
After the script ran, the thing rebooted. I used their videos to clean up the drive (remove the Seagate stuff and clean up the directory structure), then set up the authentication, web service and Samba. Again, all this was done through the browser on my phone because I was watching the videos on my laptop.
I was able to connect to the drive from my phone and browse the file system. I was also able to stream a few songs (no movies on my drive yet) without issue. I also used ES Flie Explorer to browse the drive through Samba and that worked very well. I was also able to stream music through that file system using whatever program I wanted to use that was on my phone.
The only problem I have is that I can't see the file system and have a data connection to the world at the same time. Perhaps this drive might be better if the connection were Bluetooth, but I really don't see why I'd need both at the same time to be honest. It's more like a "could be better" kind of thing. That being said, with the hack you can have the drive connect to a wireless network and then connect to that wireless network yourself. Once that's done you can see both, I believe. I just have not tried it myself yet.
I would highly recommend this product. I'm kind of sad I didn't get it at the $130 price mentioned before, but even at the $240 I have in it, I'm very happy with my purchase.
So yeah after thinking about it & realizing how I'll be utilizing this device, I think I'll forego the hack. But only because I really don't see myself utilizing the features. As convenient as it is to watch movies on my phone, the experience of watching movies on such a small screen, is to say the least, not really much of an experience. Though occasionally when lying in bed I'll grab my phone to watch a flick as I have the Seagate drive on standby mode.
In regards to using this with my Win 7 ExoPc tablet: Windows Media Player was able to detect and display the files on this HDD via wifi, I just had to download the proper codecs to get it to recognize .flv, .avi & .mkv video extensions. The screen on this tablet is 11.6 inches so it makes the experience somewhat more enjoyable.
Having to switch wifi clients back & forth, though cumbersome, is not really much of a deal breaker either. Hopefully in the future Seagate will address such issues with whatever firmware update they push-out (if they push it out).
I know the unit wasn't designed for this, but in theory can a Fire TV or even Fire TV Stick be used to just play back locally stored content?
I'm on the fence to get one of these for my home use (especially seeing it run Kodi/XMBC), but if I could use it for work presentations or backyard projectors, I'd be sold in a heartbeat! To be clear, these are situations in which there is no WiFi signal or device streaming to it... rather, I'd like to have locally stored media that it can play back in either Kodi or the Android version of VLC. Having a nice little device and remote seems far simpler and enjoyable versus hooking up my honking laptop to do those things.
Thoughts?
I was going to just pick up a Stick today for the $24 sale price and figure it out myself, but it appears I was too late. Am I better off with something else?
It should work as a local player with apps like MX Player, Kodi and VLC. Just that the stick has a few gbs of storage that can be used to store movies and to add movies you need to do it wirelessly or through adbfire. The Fire TV box can use HDs which can help with having the movies there. But if a portable player is what you want just use your phone with movies in a microsd, install mx player or Kodi and use a HDMI to microusb cable. That way you always have your player with you and only need that 6 dlls cable.
solorzano_felipe said:
It should work as a local player with apps like MX Player, Kodi and VLC. Just that the stick has a few gbs of storage that can be used to store movies and to add movies you need to do it wirelessly or through adbfire. The Fire TV box can use HDs which can help with having the movies there. But if a portable player is what you want just use your phone with movies in a microsd, install mx player or Kodi and use a HDMI to microusb cable. That way you always have your player with you and only need that 6 dlls cable.
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Click to collapse
Might want to double check that.... In theory you are correct, but in personal experience no internet means no loading of the home menu, meaning can't run anything at all. This may have changed or there may be a way around it, not 100% sure.
Solorzano, the idea is to have a dedicated player, not use my phone. That's why I originally dismissed the idea of a Chromecast... Sometimes I set up these boxes at fundraising events and hand all the hardware over to someone else to project. I'm often handling other technicalities of the event, or not even on location once they play it! I've been using my laptop to feed the presentation until now, but I'd rather not dedicate my laptop to the cause each time.
I'm actually leaning more towards one of those Kit-Kat quad core media boxes from china for this reason. They have USB ports (multiple ones!) and are much faster than the Fire TV Stick, maybe even faster than the Fire TV Box, for half the price. Only catch is that I won't be able to stream Amazon content if I ever wanted to do that at home (looking to make this a dual-purpose work and home purchase), but I think its a better suited device for everything else I want to do.
Thanks guys!
I posted a similar question elsewhere here, one responder stated that if you have Firestarter installed then you can go to that home screen and use apps, even though you can't go to the standard FireTV home screen. I haven't tried it yet, I'm not home where my Stick is.
Regarding a "standard" Android box, I have a Matricom G-box Q, I can watch Amazon videos with it using the Amazon Instant app. It basically takes you to the Amazon Instant home page (I have this defaulted to use Chrome), then when you select a video just choose the Amazon Instant app for playback. I seem to remember it was a little weird to install, something like: I installed it, I ran it, and then during the first run it asks if you want to install the app again, if you do it seems to work.
Terry T, yes with firestarter you can get to kodi. You can also go to the settings manage apps way of launching provided parental control is not on. The pin is verified on Amazons server. However, assuming you at least have wifi with an internet outtage you can also launch Kodi with firestarter, wukong remote or Apps Shortcut for FireTV. These methods bypass the parental PIN number
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Thanks guys! Next question: If I go with the Stick version, which lacks expandable storage or USB storage, is there a relatively easy way to load files onto the internal memory? For example, if I need to play a specific mp4 file at an event, can I sideload it over Wifi at home first, then show up the event and play it with kodi?
Yes, sideload ES File Explorer. You can cut or copy (long press, then the file is selected and options are at the bottom of the screen) from either a shared drive on your network or from a cloud source like Dropbox to the Stick. You will have to tell Kodi or whatever video player you are using where you saved the file.