Watch my local tv on my Android device I have a somewhat fancy tv that supports an external wi-fi module. If you connect that to the tv, you'll be able to stream media from a pc or other compatible device. At which point I thought, is there a way to consume that stream with an Android device?

I have searched google play, there's a fair amount of tv apps that are just shortcuts to some online tv websites. I don't want that, the idea is to watch exactly what I have on my tv, turning my phone into a portable tv.

What I imagine is a server box connected to the tv cable that streams it over WiFi, and then there's an app on my phone that consumes the stream.

I understand that may involve a combination of software and hardware that would need to be purchased. Happy with that, just can't figure what it would be. Have done my Google homework to no avail.

Please advice if there's a solution for that, or whether it's feasible at all.
It sounds as though you are using your TV as a media renderer for a media server (hosted on your PC or other computer device).

If that is the case, then yes, it is possible to use your android device as a media renderer for a media server. Download MediaHouse UPnP / DLNA Browser and a video player with a codec that supports your video file-types (VPlayer Video Player is the best that I've found).

If you instead meant that you wanted to stream the content provided to you from your TV service provider, then that is a bit more complicated. Generally, they do not allow this since they want you to pay some odd sum of money for an additional renderer that they own.

The process would go soemthing like this (if not otherwise allowed):


Use some kind of capturing device to record (temporarily or permenently) the video content transmitted through an appropriate cable (HDMI for example). You would theoretically need to split the signal or re-route it.
Then configure a media server on your PC to stream the recorded content.


This would not provide a stream however which would have to be in a protocol like MJPEG to work as an actual "stream". You would need something akin to an ethernet based capture card that provided a video stream over IP.