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I'm devoting this post to the RTLSDR. This device is a dongle for laptops and tablets/phones that have USB ports and software written for the particular device. The SDR is a radio frequency receiver. Sounds simple. The radio spectrum is divided into segments dedicated to particular functions and by assorted agencies. The idea behind a SDR is a programmable radio that can be configured and reconfigured for different  spectra and formats. Two different agencies, e.g.,governments, may transmit data in different formats. If the format information is available, the SDR can often incorporate the standards into the unit programming and receive/record transmissions from those sources. The most common uses are to receive commercial FM radio bands, NOAA weather bands, Air traffic control bands and weather satellite imagery. Recently, digital radio, HDRadio, receiving software became available. The digital radio broadcasts are, for some reason, encrypted. A researcher decrypted t...

I found an app to replace the Google Chrome remote desktop app. The name of the app is Team Viewer and works well. The app gives me a remote trackpad on my laptop that can run the laptop remotely. I use VLC player for Windows, and the iOS VLC Remote app to play videos on my laptop using my HDTV as the display screen. I hook up my laptop  to the TV using an HDMI cable. I can select and play the videos from my easy chair using my iPhone. UPDATE: My current setup includes the Googl Chrome remote desktop app to control my PC. My PC is connected to my 55" oled via an HDMI cable. With this setup, I can watch movies stored on my laptop (using the VLC player/streamer) but not yet moved to a remote hard drive.

The idea of attaching hard drives to my router was a good one. There is a drawback: the setup is too slow for some 4K UHD content. Some 4K videos will start to pixelate and freeze. The same videos will play normally when connected to the HDTV USB ports. Lower resolution content will still play normally, but the 4K videos had to be removed. USB hubs would be of use in this situation. A hub funnels several USB devices into one USB port. As a matter of fact, I tried that earlier but found the HDTV would only recognize one or two of three drives on the hub. I have since learned that powered hubs have been working for some. The hub I tried was a passive unit. Any power needed had to come from the HDTV's USB port. My next step is to purchase a powered USB hub and make the same trial. Hopefully, the powered hub will work. The addition of one or more powered USB hubs may allow me to expand the number of drives I can use. I am currently limited to three on the HDTV and two non-UHD ...