Based in rural Minnesota, Brian Burgess worked in IT for 10 years before finding his passion for writing about consumer technology.
Brian earned his degree in computer and network technology in 2000. He held various IT positions, including help desk support, router installations for IBM, database administration, and other associate network administration roles.
He's been a personal technology journalist for 18 years and has written thousands of articles about Microsoft products and services, Android, iOS, streaming, and more. He has written for notable tech sites including XDA, InformationWeek, How-To Geek, Byte, groovyPost, and others.
When he is away from the keyboard, you will hear him playing guitar, working outdoors, and watching Star Trek.
I was tired of using my Google TV Streamer (I got it cheap earlier this year) just for streaming. I wanted a more configurable box, so I could play local media and attach devices. A Shield has two USB ports, and even Onn's budget box includes one. However, what annoyed me about the Streamer is that it has only one USB-C port, which serves as its power connection but can also handle data.
So I bought a cheap hub to expand its capabilities. With more ports, I can attach other drives to view local media files and even stream content to other devices using Kodi. The hub makes it a proper media box, not a streaming stick with an Ethernet port trapped in an Android streaming box.
Powered USB-C hub
A $15 hub instantly adds more possibilities
My Google TV Streamer box already handles streaming services as you'd expect, and can act as a client for my self-hosted media. But adding a USB-C hub expanded its ability to play local media files directly from connected drives. It also lets me connect other peripherals and accessories. But my main goal was accessing media files on external drives of all types. Instead of only watching Netflix, I enjoy watching video files I have accumulated over the years, scattered across various drives, including spinning ones.
Power pass-through was the key detail I looked for in a hub. The Streamer gets its power from an adapter via the charging cable to its sole USB-C port. A PD hub is necessary for powering the device and legacy spinning external drives. The box's 7.5W power adapter charges the box, but drives add to that demand. I found a $15 UGREEN 4-port USB-C hub, and I already had a 30W charger. My older drives need enough power from the hub to run reliably. But I have plenty for the streaming box and the drives I connect.
Ugreen 30W Nexode Mini GaN charger
This Ugreen Nexode Mini is just as compact as the Anker charger. It has a single USB Type-C port that supports 30W output with USB-PD PSS standard. It's more reliable than many other chargers on the market, too, since it has built-in short-circuit and overload protection.
Enjoying photos, music, and video from the Streamer
Sometimes I will have a flash drive full of photos I want to view on the big screen. Other times, I may leave a 250 GB drive connected with some older video files to view when I can. I usually open them with VLC, File Manager+, or Kodi when I want to watch longer-form content. I have several video and audio files on external drives that don't fit into my Jellyfin or Plex schemes.
Most are odd file types, aren't high-quality video, or I rarely watch them, so I don't need them taking up space on my server. Many of the drives are archives of old backups, and I'm not sure where everything is. It can be unorganized. Either way, I want a hub I can easily connect the drives to, browse my archives, and view the media, which improves the Streamer experience.
The Android box can't act as a self-hosted server like an Nvidia Shield with its built-in Plex server. I learned that when I tried to make the budget Onn box a self-hosted media server, it was limited. However, with Kodi running on the box, using the UPnP/DLNA protocol, and VLC (or Infuse on Apple TV) as a client on other devices, it can display local media on screens across my network. Kodi is old-school media software, but it's light and straightforward to use. It's a long way to go to share media from local drives over a network. Especially if you want constant access since the streamer needs to stay powered on, but it's doable.
Using Drives
Formats and storage access
I format my drives as exFAT, which the Google TV Streamer recognizes easily. They also support larger files and make it easier to move content between devices. The Streamer doesn't natively support NTFS-formatted drives and will want to reformat them. That, of course, will erase all your data, so don't fall for the friendly Google TV message unless you want to add the drive as system storage. It's also the perfect drive format for moving drives between cross-platform devices, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, without having to reformat.
I can play my files directly in Kodi or VLC from the external drives connected to my hub. So the hub is the most practical option for a streamer without extra built-in USB ports. The apps also need access to the drives before they can play the files. When I launch an app that can play media files on my drives, I just need to grant it file access in system settings. After a few remote button presses, I can view and play the music or video files on the big screen.
A cheap hub adds more media capability
Adding a powered USB-C hub to my Google TV Streamer turns it into more of a media center than just a streaming device. I can connect my old drives to watch all my local videos. It's not a server, but I can use Kodi to share music, videos, and photos with other devices on my network if needed. A cheap hub adds functionality my streamer doesn't include natively but should have — especially at its new price point.