Wet Again But Not Cold

We have lived here on the Sunshine Coast for over 12 years now and we both agree this has been the coldest and wettest winter we have experienced here.  We arrived back from overseas just after the first week of winter and it has been cold and grey ever since.  The photo shows what we were greeted with this morning!

Bike riding wasn't even considered especially when you saw this.  Though the top temperature of around 22° was most acceptable.

Usually we get our cold mornings or wet days during winter previously, but these quickly left after a day or two for clear skies and days into the low 20's which usually went on for weeks on end.  The spell of extremely cold weather we experienced the other week which lasted for at least a straight fortnight is so 'out of the ordinary'.  We could expect one or two nights of cold in a row but not two weeks straight like we have just had!

But the pool is full, the grass is green so at least some things are positive.

I am keen on my movie and TV watching from files I have 'acquired'.  I use my WD TV Streaming Media Player to play them.  The little box sits beside the TV with a hard disk drive attached.  The unit is wifi so I can also stream from phones or tablets via the WD TV and play stuff on the TV and through the 5.1 sound system.

The WD TV does show its age at times and gets 'stuck' requiring a reboot to get it running again.  The firmware hasn't been updated for some time so it seems WD are no longer 'supporting' it.  On some of the WD Forums there are strings of users complaining their player no longer works properly.

My WD TV still works fairly well but I have been keeping my eye open for a replacement unit.  I did find a gadget called a Tronsmart Orion (Click HERE).

Watch the info video HERE.

It is an Android powered TV Box.  Being Android powered means it can feasibly do all the stuff an android phone can do.  It can play your movies, your music and show your pictures.

But it can also run android apps such as web browsers, games etc and all on your TV. It has connections for HDMI, Usb, Ethernet, SD Cards and wi fi.  It can run your Stan, Presto or Netflix apps for streaming media.  It can run a program called Xbmc which goes online, finds all the info about your movie or TV episode you want to watch and displays it for you.

It will play all your movie files and should do so without any hassle.  There are some new file types the WD TV won't play but this unit plays them all.

The model in the photo is an OK model and runs at around $135 imported from China.  They had a special deal going and I managed a 50% discount.  By the time I had paid my Paypal fees, I got one for $70 delivered.  The downside is delivery can take up to 6 weeks to come through.  So I will continue to wait patiently (I still have up to 5 weeks to go for mine to be delivered) and drool with anticipation!