Access of mycloud by a tablet

WD Software & Mobile Apps My Cloud 3rd Party & Mobile Apps
1

I want to buy  a mycloud nas, but I have one question:

Suppose I have several videos(DVD’S) stored on mycloud, can I get a list of them on my tablet, search and choose one and play it on my TV-set by means of that tablet(not wired on the TV).

I’m not a computer specilaist, so please answer on an easy way.

2

I’m afraid you’re going to have to learn some jargon…

Digital Media systems use three components:

A Digital Media Renderer (DMR) is a component which can be sent a digital media file, and which will convert that file into audio, still or moving images. For audio or video, which involve ongoing playback, we usually say this media is ‘streamed’ to the DMR.

A Digital Media Server (DMS), is a component that stores digital media and catalogues it into a database, and allows other devices to interrogate the database, and select stored media to be sent to a DMR to be rendered.

A Digital Media Controller is a component which will interrogate the database stored on a DMS, and request the DMS to stream a media file to a DMR.

(note that the ‘components’ mentioned above can be hardware, software, or a combination of both)

These three components can be combined in various ways in a single device. For instance, an iPod provides all three components in one device, whereas a music player app on a phone may only provide a DMC and DMR, using an external DMS to store the music.

In the case of the MyCloud, it provides the DMS component, using the hard drive to store media, and Twonky media server to provide the DMS indexing, database and streaming functions.

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-My-Cloud/FAQ-Twonky-DLNA-Media-Server-Setup-amp-Use/td-p/858810

So, in order to play music or videos from the MyCloud DMS, you will need DMC & DMR components for your tablet. These can be found in apps such as BubbleUPnP on Android. These will give a view of the media files stored on the MyCloud, and allow the user to play them, either on the DMR on the tablet, or on a remote DMR, such as a TV (in your case).

In order to show streamed video on your TV, you must have a smart TV, with wired or WiFi access to your local network. It must have a DMR facility to allow it to render media sent to it (look for ‘DLNA’ or UPnP’ in the spec or user manual). If it is a smart TV, it’s likely that it will have both DMR and DMC components built in, so you can use the built-in DMC to browse and select media to playback.

If your TV is not smart, you will need an external DMR, connected to one of the external inputs of the TV (e.g. HDMI, composite A/V or SCART). This external DMR could be something like Chromecast, or a redundant phone or tablet, or an Android media box running a DLNA/UPnP app. I’ve gone down the Android media box path, because they’re cheap (£35), run stock Android, and thus have all the Play store apps available. Smart TVs tend to be very restricted in the apps that can be loaded, and the markup of a smart TV over a dumb TV is generally much more than the £35 cost of the Android media box.

https://www.google.co.uk/chrome/devices/chromecast/

“With Chromecast, your phone is your personalised remote control. You can use it to search and browse, play, pause, rewind, control the volume and even make playlists. While casting, you’re free to use your phone for other things.”

If your tablet is an Apple, you’ll probably be looking for a DMR that supports Airplay, but I’m not very familiar with Airplay.  It looks like iOS7+ supports Chromecast, too.

3

franskey wrote:

I want to buy  a mycloud nas, but I have one question:

Suppose I have several videos(DVD’S) stored on mycloud, can I get a list of them on my tablet, search and choose one and play it on my TV-set by means of that tablet(not wired on the TV).

I’m not a computer specilaist, so please answer on an easy way.

I am going to answer your question a LOT easier than the previous guy --interesting technical stuff, but WAY too techno, even for me!   Anyway, here goes my response:

You posted your question in the My Cloud APP forum, and not the My Cloud DEVICE forum.  Wrong forum, and perhaps a moderator will move it.  No matter though, I can still answer your question, and just so you know the My Cloud App is WD’s app to access many of their devices.  But, it is not the only app that can access their devices. More on that in a moment.

At this point I need to ask if you have a Smart TV,  If so, that would make getting movies on your TV easier.  If not, you will need some sort of device (e,g, a Roku, a Fire TV, Chromecast, Apple TV, etc) to cast movies from your tablet to so that it can pass it on to the TV.  So tell us if you have any gadgets like these connected to your TV.

Also, need to know if your tablet/phone is an Apple device or an Android.  This will help select a good app to cast movies from tablet with.  (The WD My Cloud app cannot do this.)

Well, as it turns out, I cannot fully answer your question until you pass on the additional info requested.  Short answer is yes, it can be done, but just how in your case remains to be determined.

4

Hi,

Thank you for the quick and extended answer.

Meanwhile I have got another solution. I bought the WD TV mediaplayer and a harddisk and now I can access and control my videos by means of the remote control  or my smartphone/tablet.

Once again thanks for you answer.

Regards, Frans

5

Glad to know you made a good decision.  I did not mention if you had a WDTV (I figured you didn’t, otherwise you would already be up and running!)  I also have a WDTV, and it does the job as you have discovered.