VLC Remote

[eazyslim123]

I recently purchased the VLC Remote app and I can say I truly love it. I have many movies on my computer and it works wonderfully.

Start off with Issues:
VLC Remote 0.1.3 will disconnect temporarily as soon as the Palm Pre screen goes to black. Why do you think this is? Wi-Fi turns off when the Pre goes black. I think it could be solved with the Wi-Fi Always on Patch or a future update giving you the option to keep it on or leave it as is. It doesn’t really bother me because as soon as the Wi-Fi signal comes back on (on the PRE) VLC Remote starts back up.

Positives:
*Fast: I was able to browse my files and folders with extreme ease. I actually was amazed because I assumed this would work slow and glitchy. *Works where you left off if you shut the app off!

*Great Interface: The layout is clean. Easy on the eyes.

*Volume Control: Works!

*Minimize/Maximize: Awesome

*Playlist: I always knew about the playlist function on VLC but I never used it. After getting this app I use it religiously.

Suggestions:
*Bigger time and volume bars, or the option for it. It works great I just keep thinking I will fast forward too much.

*Landscape mode. We all love it! We all want it! (you could also make the time and volume bars bigger here too)

*Wi-Fi Always on option. An on and off setting would be cool so that if you’re watching a long movie you don’t have to have that on draining the Pre unnecessarily.

*Trial, or at least some kind of video. I bought this head first because I love VLC but I would have got it a lot sooner if there was video or a trial of some kind.

Suggested Luxuries:
*Future updates for a video screenshot on the VLC Remote? Maybe it is too much to ask but if it is possible, please do.

*Heck, just give us the option to watch our movies on our Pre’s while you’re at it! Lol.

*VLC Launcher. I just keep VLC on in the icon tray but this would be a great add-on if this was available.

Lastly…
N00bz will have problems: The setup for me took like 5 minutes mainly because of my firewall on Windows 7 blocking Private Connections to VLC but strangely allowing Public Connections. Plus I had people on the network downloading. I used the VLC Helper from the Hobbyistsoftware.com site and it seemed to help but I just did it manually instead because the connecting time took a while and I didn’t know if it was getting through to the PC or not. I think a “Dummies guide” with Popup pictures will do wonders for those that don’t know anything about networks and firewalls yet.

Overall: I’ve used this app for about a couple hours and it was definitely worth it especially if you have movies on your PC or Laptop and you have a Wi-Fi network. Keep up the good work and updates!

[Jeffmcc]

I think that its good that it turns off when the pre sleeps....it saves battery power!

[eazyslim123]

Originally Posted by Jeffmcc

I think that its good that it turns off when the pre sleeps....it saves battery power!

Yeah, but an option to keep it on or off would be great seeing how the Pre shuts off wifi after like 10 seconds.

[eazyslim123]

Originally Posted by eazyslim123

Pre shuts off wifi after like 10 seconds.

Wow, now that I think about it, I really exaggerated there! It actually shuts off in like 45-50 secs.

[confusedvorlon]

thanks for the review - glad you like it.

re turning wifi off. As you say, at the moment, I just let the Pre do it's default thing and turn off when it goes to sleep. I think that's the best behaviour (it would be annoying to find that you'd left the remote running and had no battery at the end of your movie).

I'm not sure if the sdk allows me to set 'always on wifi' but if it does, I'll probably make that an option at a later date.

re setup - my goal is just to do everything with the setup helper app. That should even configure the windows firewall for you. Sounds like you were quite comfortable doing the manual setup, but my suggestion to others would be to trust the helper!

re landscape, and bigger sliders - yup, those are definitely planned for future updates.

[confusedvorlon]

somewhat late to reply here - but just wanted to point out that landscape has been in for a while.

Also, I have a good solution for the issue of slider-sensitivity:

[froggersloth]

Strange thing just started... without having made changes that I can recall, this has started failing to be able to find VLC on the target PC. The message is "no sign of vlc at that computer". The target IP has not changed. I reran the setup utility just for jollies. Both VLC and the setup utility are the latest versions.

When I run the pairing utility, the green check next to "Device has contacted server" does appear, so at least that part of the process seems to complete. VLC Remote still can't connect, though.

Any suggestions? Many thanks in advance.

[smith-jeremy]

@Froggersloth

I'm having the same issue. I've tried everything on the developer website and still nothing. I've been at it for the past hour trying to get this to work.