For all the great high-end features of the Nexus 7, the one that is probably most missed by many is the lack of any HDMI or MHL out to enable users to easily play video from the tablet on an external display. Now Google does sell the 'Nexus Q'...which we'll be going into in-depth in a future article, that let's you play Google Play and YouTube content. But what if you have some cool movies or family videos on your tablet that you'd like to share with others or watch in the comfort of your living room on that 60 inch 1080 HDTV that you took a second loan on your home for? Enter Wi-Fi Media which offers a free app on Google Play that allows any Android device to play movies, music or still pictures on any tv or monitor when it's used with a Pure-Vu compatible hardware streamer.
Engadget tested one such gadget, the $90 HTC Media Link HD and the result was beautiful HD video filling up their screen although there were a few limitations. First off you're limited to only playing content certified via DLNA ((Digital Living Network Alliance) which means no games, YouTube or Netflix and there's also a lack of some file type compatibility most notably AVI. You'll also need a phone or other HTC compatible device to configure the software in the first place for the HTC Media Link so this particular option might be limited to those with HTC handsets like the HTC One X, One S and EVO 4G LTE. However there's no reason to believe that this approach to getting video out of your Nexus 7 and onto the big screen wouldn't work with any Pure-Vu compatible streamer so if you try it with another brand please let us know what kind of results you get. Anyone interesting in trying this out themselves...let us know in the comments or the forum!
Engadget
