How to stream your own videos from Dropbox with Alexa on any Echo device with a screen
For years I was looking for an EASY WAY to play my personal videos: many trips recorded by dash cam, countless videos from my family members’ mobile phones and even a number of movies from our personal collection.
My first choice was Plex. Many people love it. Many people hate it. It’s a personal choice. For me (a software engineer) it looks over complicated in terms of setup, software and hardware upgrades. Most importantly, I don’t want to spend countless hours trying to figure out why my setup doesn’t work.
So, out of necessity I’ve created a new Alexa skill My Video
It is available on Amazon US, UK, CA, AU/NZ, IN (English).
So, what you can do with the skill?
Reliably back-up your precious videos to Dropbox and enjoy them from any Echo device with a screen (Echo Show, Fire Tablet, Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4k, Fire TV Cube,…).
How to create video playlists:
- link your Dropbox account (or create new Dropbox Free account) with the My Video skill.
- the Dropbox > Apps > MyVideo folder will be created for you by Dropbox when you linked your account with the skill.
- create sub-folders with the names of your playlists.
- copy your video files into these sub-folders.
Note: video should be encoded in one of supported formats (mainly depends on a device used for a playback): .mp4, .mov,…
- H_264_41: H.264 at a maximum resolution of 1080p @ 30fps (codec level 4.1) and supporting the main- and high-capability profiles (MP and HP).
- H_264_42: H.264 at a maximum resolution of 1080p @ 60fps (codec level 4.2) and supporting the main- and high-capability profiles (MP and HP).
Stream on multiple Echo devices. Each device will keep its own playlist.
You can resume the playback from the position where you left off last time.
No need to buy extra hardware. No need to install, update or patch any software. No need to expose your home network to the public Internet. Stay safe. Save your time and efforts.
More details about skill are here.
