Downloaded movies but cannot view in airplane mode

Good Day,
I downloaded two movies successfully last night for a long flight today. Unfortunately I did not test the process by turning on the airplane mode on my IPad prior to taking off. NOw I am currently on the plane with no access to the downloaded movies. I am able to see the movies, their size and file name…for example “The Martian.m4v” is one of them. When I click either of the movies I receive the following error message: You cannot stream this file while offline. Now as I pointed out I already downloaded the movies successfully and they are in the “downloaded file section” within the WD MyCloud app. Any help is much appreciated!

If you have already downloaded the movies to your iPad simply use a file manager on the iPad to locate and open the move file. I assume the App on the iPad to play movies isn’t, for what ever reason, finding the movies you downloaded.

Hmmm, I can view movies on airplane under airplane mode with no problems. You may think you gave us enough information to solve this, but you didn’t, so some comments and questions for you.

I have put movies from my home network source on my iPad (example, from Comcast, my home network) Where did you download the movies from and which app are you attempting to view them with? From your message, I assume downloaded from your home network, and trying to watch them using My Cloud app. Won’t work, because as your error message said, you need to have your iPad online (as when you are at home) . You are stuck on a plane right now with no way to watch movies.

You need an app on your iPad that enables you to watch movies on your iPad and not needing any Wi-Fi connectivity. The iPad video player will not work for you either.

So, I have an app (other than My Cloud) that lets me watch videos at home from network source or stored on my iPad. My favorite app for this is called File Browser (aka FB), but there are other apps out there for doing this, too.

So, the procedure is to use FB to DOWNOAD m4v/mp4 MOVIES from my network NAS and save them in a FB folder I create with name I choose, and I am ready to get on plane and watch movies the next day.

On plane, I have my iPad with wireless and/or airplane mode off/on and open the FB app, find the movie I want watch in FB folder, and start watching it!. Don’t forget to put on the head or earphones!

Wife is sitting next to me on plane with her iPad doing same thing, but watching a different movie using FB.

Anyone who has an iPad or iPhone and uses it for this purpose ought to have FB installed. It is an excellent and feature-packed app that is upgraded frequently (ex: it can now cast media to Chromecast)

So, when you reach your destination and on decent Wi-Fi, download and install FB, You may have to re-download your movies again using FB to get them into a FB folder, but most likely not; you need to be on home network for that, (although FB can also be configured to work remotely, too). Yes, like many good apps FB costs a few bucks ($6) to install on all your iOS devices (put it on your phone, too). I’ll bet right now on plane you would gladly pay that amount (or more) to watch your movies!

Thank you. Quick question. When you download a video from WdMyCloud where is it stored on your device? In my case on my iPad? I use Make MKV and handshake.

Thanks!

I forgot to mention where I downloaded the videos from. My home network. The blu Ray discs were purchased.
Regarding what app…I have never tried to download the videos from MyCloud before so I guess I must not have an app to view the movies on.

Thanks for the recommendation.

Blair Kyle
Territory Sales Manager

Blair,
Hold this thought. At this moment I am testing out My Cloud app to download videos from my NAS and save them in My Cloud app’s Download folder and play them offline. I had some success, but also some issues and failures. So, it will take a while longer, because I want to download a few more videos to figure out what I could be doing wrong. I will get back to you later when I have it working (I hope)…
Mike

Thanks Mike!

I look forward to hearing about your results.

Blair

OK, before I tell you my good news for me (and likely you, too) I just wanted to reply to above comment: I believe you meant to write Handbrake rather than handshake (for those folks reading this, too.)

OK, here we go with the good news. I had success and discovered where I messed up, too. I also learned some things, which is always good. First thing I learned is that we can download our mp4 type videos from our NAS or anywhere on our network, and watch them on airplane on our iPad. So, now not sure why you could not do it. Maybe, like me, when I tried, you made a mistake or two as well.

Now, here is the procedure.

  1. At home, open My Cloud app and go to your source, It can be any one exposed on left when you tap the 3-bar icon at top left of the screen… In my case, it is my WD DL 2100 NAS or my My Passport Wireless drive. I selected the faster NAS, of course.
  1. I find video folder I want to download from, and tap the 3-dot menu near top and choose Select from drop down menu and a check box appears next to all videos. I tap the check box next to video I want to download to put a check in the box, and another menu appears, so select Download. This video will start downloading, and a tiny moving arrow appears on video thumbnail.

  2. As long as arrow moves/blinks, the file is being downloaded, and when it stops you may check the My Cloud app Download section to see if it is there. (Sometimes it was not! Don’t know why. Just tried again.) To get to Download section, tap 3-bar menu at top again. (You may need to back out of folder you are in until you see the 3-bar menu icon.)

  3. Video is there, so . . . To assure video will play in Airplane Mode, completely shut down My Cloud app and test when Wi-Fi is off or when Airplane Mode is engaged . Go to iPad Settings and remove iPad from Wi-Fi Open My Cloud app, and message says only stored content is available. Go into Downloads again, find video and play it! Success, it plays with no Wi-Fi signal needed!

A word of caution: Clearing the My Cloud cache ALSO deletes the saved content, meaning ALL the downloaded movies are deleted! Maybe you have not ever cleared cache, but I have done so to clear the last video from the screen. Can’t do this if there are saved videos in the Download section, they go bye, bye. I have a 64GB iPad, so I have my cache set for higher than the default. I have it saved for 20GB, and could go as high as 64GB or whatever is left of available storage. If you have a lot of storage capacity on your iPad, you ought to set your cache higher, too, since My Cloud saves the videos in cache memory.

When you get around to doing this, let me know how it works for you.

BTW,I still am going to use FB to download my videos for trips. No chance of accidentally deleting them like with My Cloud.

—Mike