Anyone used/bought the VLC Remote app yet?

[confusedvorlon]

Originally Posted by GrantHeppes

Every time I open a large directory on my computer through this app (My Music, My Videos) I get the error message. "No file info. Get the VLC remote may be trying to open a non-existent directory, or the connection may have been lost. Try pressing the home key to recover." Is it possible that it can't keep up with folders that have large numbers of files in them?

Right now it seems like I can just pause or play my videos, and even then it sometimes takes a minute just cause my pre is running so slow via app.

re opening the folders, it isn't something I have come across on the pre, though I have seen similar issues on the iPhone app.
Could you try the http interface on your computer and see if that handles the folders.
the url for the interface on your computer is
http:// localhost: 8080 (but without the spaces. the forum seems to interpret it wierdly if I don't put the in)


That'll let us know whether the issue is VLC struggling to make the playlist, or vlc remote struggling to handle it.

re responsiveness - it's pretty quick for me, but it is network dependant. One thing that causes issues for some people is when they have a P2P app working hard and saturating the network. Could that be relevant?

How big is your playlist? How big are the folders that are causing problems?
The playlist does get updated regularly (and javascript doesn't seem to handle background processing well) - so that could be causing issues.

[horatio8]

FWIW - I'm a huge fan of Hobbyist Software from my Treo days. I'm not a big user of VLC, but am looking forward to system enhancement apps like the Treo's Phone Technician.

[skinneejay]

Originally Posted by horatio8

FWIW - I'm a huge fan of Hobbyist Software from my Treo days. I'm not a big user of VLC, but am looking forward to system enhancement apps like the Treo's Phone Technician.

Hopefully down the line we will see Phone Technician or Butler! I know though the SDK is limited on what you can control.

PLEASE PLEASE!!!!
PRETTY PLEASE WITH CHERRIES ON TOP! I miss butler and phone tech.

[davebr]

I generally don't post on the threads but as I see the developer is replying (which I, as many others I'm sure, greatly appreciate) I wanted to see if he and or anyone else could give me some help. The only App I've paid for is the VLC remote as I think its a perfectly reasonable price if it does what it says considering how much I use VLC to watch films/ tv shows.

With that said, I can't get it to work no matter what I try. I'm on the same wireless network with my pre and my computer (windows xp) and I've even tried it on another wireless network but can't get past the screen that says

"Connection Progress:
Got pairing info from server
trying to connect to xxx.xxx.x.xx"

I've tried opening vlc connection utility (version 2.01) then the player (version 1.0.2) then the remote, i've tried vlc connection, remote, player, i've tried remote, connection, player but am at a loss.

I have no firewall active but both the networks i've tried have an encryption on the wireless but I don't know why this would matter.

anyway, i would love some help as i am frustrated and don't want to have wasted 5 bucks!

thanks

[confusedvorlon]

hi davebr

the most common issue when folks see something like this is that their router is actually running a firewall that blocks communication and they just didn't realise.

I'd suggest as a test that you
1) unplug your router from the internet
2) go into the router settings, hunt down the firewall and turn it off

if that works, then you can turn the router back on and tweak it to allow vlc remote through

failing that, there is detailed troubleshooting here
VLCRemote troubleshooting - Hobbyist Software

if that doesn't help, then let me know

[GrantHeppes]

Originally Posted by confusedvorlon

hi davebr

the most common issue when folks see something like this is that their router is actually running a firewall that blocks communication and they just didn't realise.

I'd suggest as a test that you
1) unplug your router from the internet
2) go into the router settings, hunt down the firewall and turn it off

if that works, then you can turn the router back on and tweak it to allow vlc remote through

failing that, there is detailed troubleshooting here
VLCRemote troubleshooting - Hobbyist Software

if that doesn't help, then let me know

I have all firewalls off, but I recently upgraded to Windows 7 and now my VLC remote no longer works, HELP!

[kennyidaho]

Originally Posted by confusedvorlon

My simplistic thinking was just that it was a similar amount of work - and I'm likely to get many fewer sales. (just because there are so many fewer pre owners)

I think it is worth $5 - thought in the end, you'll tell me whether or not that is true!

I used to sell my palm apps for $15-$25, so I'm kinda feeling my way around at the moment...

It's not worth $5, maybe $1, to be honest. Considering that I have a VLC Remote program on my Sprint HTC Hero for FREE. The front end and the backend all FREE. In fact there are several applications in the Android Market place that perform the same duties for FREE. In fact the one I am using now even works with Ubuntu Linux.

I don't want this to be an attack on you because I understand your situation, you put hardwork into it and would like to see a financial reward for that - I am totally not against that, I had started to develop a notes program for the Pre with the same intent. I wish you the best of luck. Sadly deep down inside I think that webOS is revolutionary, but I don't think Palm can catch up.

[confusedvorlon]

Originally Posted by GrantHeppes

I have all firewalls off, but I recently upgraded to Windows 7 and now my VLC remote no longer works, HELP!

have you tried running the setup helper again? It should check the firewall status and also reconfigure VLC if required.

[GrantHeppes]

Originally Posted by confusedvorlon

have you tried running the setup helper again? It should check the firewall status and also reconfigure VLC if required.

Yes, I even removed VLC and reinstalled it.
It said it was ready to use. I wonder if it was my upgrading to Windows 7. I am out of town and using a different network than usual. I am gonna wait to go home to see if it is working there.

[confusedvorlon]

Could well be the network. I'm assuming something like staying at a hotel and using their wifi for your laptop and pre.

sometimes routers are set up with pretty strict firewalls that would block communication between a pre and computer (by default, the pre tries to communicate on port 8080 via http).

the troubleshooting here would help you to pin down the issue

VLCRemote troubleshooting - Hobbyist Software

one possible workaround would be to connect your pre to the laptop with an ad-hoc network. That would bypass the router.

[hebhansen]

I started out on the free app. Workes well but limited as supposed

I bought the full app and it is a very cool remote for VLC
- Precise rewind and fastforward on rollers
- File browsing very nice
- Surpricingly responsive, concidering that this is LAN

When installing I was strugling a bit on my router. I followed all steps in support and everything. I guess it would have worked smooth if my router did not mess things up. This is not mentioned anywhere so I will bring it up here.

My Router is Huawei B970 3g for mobile internet. By default AP Isolation is active. This means that no units can contact other unit over the router. For VLC Remote and any other remote

Advanced settings > Wlan Settings > Basic Wlan setting

Locate the AP isolation field and disable the function.

Note: you have to restart both the PC running VLC and the iPhone

As it turned out my setup was perfect after the above and VLC remote located my VLC player right away.

[hebhansen]

Confusedvorlon - Congrats on this app! Feedback from here:

- It would be brilliant if VLC can be turned on from the remote. 1 by activating VLC 2 by selecting a media file and adding it

- Adding Power on botton to this app would be nice as well, so that you don't have to jump in and out of apps

- If I delete a file from playlist the system jams. All files dissapear and I can no longer control the VLC player. Restaring the app does not help. I have to open a file from VLC player to get it going again. In other words I have to leave the sofa...!!

- I use ISO rip'ed DVD's often. They have the dvd menu and setup of subtitles etc. Would be great if I could Mouse from the remote. Maybe a touchpad on the iPhone. This way I could also start my VLC player. Even better if the DVD menu was presented on remote.

- I have a lot of files with funny names and I can't remember what is what. Adding the thumb for filmclip when brosing as used in explorer thumbview would be great.

I plan to make a VLC VOD server and x clients. I intend to stream DVD, TV (DVB-S, DVB-T, DVB-C) to clients. Would be great if operation from clients is possible. Pause - Record - Next - Change channel etc...

[hebhansen]

As mentioned media in a clientserver environment is my goal. I ran over this via the VLC forums:

Anurag Sinha's World - Anurag Sinha World RemoteTV

Remote TV enables broadcasting of a DVB stream to multi clients. It runs on VLC and provides the client with a remotecontrol window for changing channels etc.

It seems that this is the weapon of choice from the VLC community. Is it possible to somehow port the remote interface into your app, so that RemoteTV/VLC can turn on tv,sellect channels, texttv and whatever Remote TV allows?

Henrik

Remote

[confusedvorlon]

glad you like it - comments below.

Originally Posted by hebhansen

Confusedvorlon - Congrats on this app! Feedback from here:

- It would be brilliant if VLC can be turned on from the remote. 1 by activating VLC 2 by selecting a media file and adding it

>I like keeping VLC remote 'clean' so that it only talks to VLC and doesn't need a helper app. This does mean that it can't launch VLC though...

- Adding Power on botton to this app would be nice as well, so that you don't have to jump in and out of apps

- If I delete a file from playlist the system jams. All files dissapear and I can no longer control the VLC player. Restaring the app does not help. I have to open a file from VLC player to get it going again. In other words I have to leave the sofa...!!

>Make sure you have the latest VLC version which minimises this problem. But there is currently a bug in VLC (you'll get the same with the http interface at BlackBerry Forums at CrackBerry.com ) It's annoying, but the vlc team are working on a fix.

- I use ISO rip'ed DVD's often. They have the dvd menu and setup of subtitles etc. Would be great if I could Mouse from the remote. Maybe a touchpad on the iPhone. This way I could also start my VLC player. Even better if the DVD menu was presented on remote.

>the current interface can't support that - but I do hope to add it in the future with a new improved version of VLC.

- I have a lot of files with funny names and I can't remember what is what. Adding the thumb for filmclip when brosing as used in explorer thumbview would be great.

> another VLC limitation I'm afraid.

I plan to make a VLC VOD server and x clients. I intend to stream DVD, TV (DVB-S, DVB-T, DVB-C) to clients. Would be great if operation from clients is possible. Pause - Record - Next - Change channel etc...

> probably a bit more technical than your average geeky bunny for that one...

[ay]

Originally Posted by GrantHeppes

I have all firewalls off, but I recently upgraded to Windows 7 and now my VLC remote no longer works, HELP!

Did you ever get this app to work for you? I'm in the same boat as you. I've disabled the firewall on both my PC and my router, and I've tried this on two different networks (home and work), and I can't connect on either. I too am using Windows 7, and I'm completely frustrated!

[TheSmJ]

Working fine for me in Windows 7. I have the Windows firewall disabled, though.