My Book Live and "DLNA"?

[ClintonHammond]

Hey folks… 

Help an ■■■■■ out here, would ya?  

I have a 2TB My Book Live on my home network ( And a WD Live Hub too)  The two of them work AWESOME either playing media on my TV, or communicating with our computers.

However… My new Asus Infinity tablet can see content on my hub, but not my My Book…  It says it can read DLNA-enabled devices… I have looked nigh and low through the setup etc on my My Book and I see nothing anywhere that would allow me to enable any such thing (Or maybe I saw it and didn’t recognize it???  I’ve never claimed to be very bright)

Who can help me out here?  With small words in short sentences even?  

Thanks a ton!  

[TonyPh12345]

DLNA is enabled on the My Book Live by going into SETTINGS / MEDIA and enabling Twonky Service.

Then, go to SHARES

Select a Share

and set Media Sharing option to whichever option you want for that share.

[ClintonHammond]

Twonky…  

Oh.

Joy.

And if I want to view file types other than music, pictures, or video?  I just want to read the drive… all of it… without Twonky deciding what I can or cannot see…  

[TonyPh12345]

Well, DLNA is ONLY designed for Music / Pictures / Video, so that should be no surprise… 

If your Tablet is Android, then just use the WD 2go application.

[ClintonHammond]

What’s the “WD 2go” application?  This is the first I’ve ever heard of any such thing  

[TonyPh12345]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wdc.wd2go&hl=en

[ClintonHammond]

The reviews suggest it suffers from a lot of the same drawbacks that the WD Hub does, especially when playing music… 

I’ll give it a whirl though I can’t say I like that I have to install an app just to read MY content on MY drive…    

[ClintonHammond]

All WD 2Go does is sit there, a blank grey screen…

[TonyPh12345]

ClintonHammond wrote:

…I can’t say I like that I have to install an app just to read MY content on MY drive…    

If your Tablet supports Samba shares, fine.   So does the MBL.

If your Tablet supports NFS, fine.  So does the MBL.

If your Tablet supports DLNA, fine.  So does the MBL.

If your Tablet supports WebDAV, fine, So does the MBL (with some finagling; it’s not techically supported, but it does work.)

If your tablet supports NONE of that, then you can use WD 2go.

Within WD 2go, if the file type is not natively supported (and MANY are:  Text, PDF, HTML, many media types, many Microsoft Document types, etc…), you can load the file via WD 2go and open it using whatever apps you want.

You mentioned you wanted to use DLNA and I showed you how to set it up.

Then you said you don’t want DLNA because it doesn’t support non-Media files.

So I suggested you try WD 2go.

Then you said you don’t like that because it’s not playing music the way you want.

So your issue is now circular.

What exactly are you wanting?  Are you wanting your Tablet to just do everything natively?  Well, if so, you picked the wrong tablet… the issue isn’t WD’s to address…

[ClintonHammond]

Wow… way to over-react, and to put words in my mouth…

I can’t speak to how WD 2GO might or might not work… It just sits there a blank grey screen…

I said I READ the reviews that WD 2GO had similar issues to existing problems with other WD devices… Guess that must have struck a nerve or something… I never said it wasn’t playing music the way I want… It’s not playing music or anything else, at all.

As for the list of alphabet you rattled off, if knew what any of that meant (I did say so in the OP) I doubt I’d have to put any burr under your saddle at all…

Many file types are supported?? Why not support ALL file types… Seems to me that would make MBL and WD2GO MUCH more useful…

[ClintonHammond]

Now that “Twonky” is enabled on my MBL, is it ever going to “sleep” again?

[TonyPh12345]

ClintonHammond wrote:
Many file types are supported?? Why not support ALL file types

No conceivable computer supports all files.   One has to install applications to support specific files.

ClintonHammond wrote:
Now that “Twonky” is enabled on my MBL, is it ever going to “sleep” again?

Once all the metadata is collected out of your files and the full database is built, yes, it should resume normal sleep functions.

YMMV;  some people say their box never sleeps.  My three MBLs (Two MBLs and one Duo) are snoozing soundly right now, so I don’t know why some do and others don’t…

[TonyPh12345]

As to what you mean by a blank grey screen – I don’t know anything about that.  I don’t have an Android device.

But let’s see how far you’ve gotten:

Have you “Paired” it with your MBL yet?

If so, are you able to at least see the file listings?

[ClintonHammond]

I just want to be able to access my files on my network storage, over my network, using my tablet…

That ought not be rocket science… Nor ought it have to be some media server…

[ClintonHammond]

No it won’t pair with anything… when I activate WD@Go, all I get is a blank grey screen with nothing on it.

[ClintonHammond]

So how do I turn off “Meta-Data” on Twonky? I can’t imagine something I care about less than Meta-Data… I KNOW what my files are… I don’t need meta-data to tell me anything about them, thanks

[TonyPh12345]

ClintonHammond wrote:
So how do I turn off “Meta-Data” on Twonky? I can’t imagine something I care about less than Meta-Data… I KNOW what my files are…

You can’t, nor should you.

Track numbers, titles, coverart, durations, etc. etc. are important to Twonky since Twonky has no clue what your files are.  IT needs the metadata, otherwise it won’t be able to present the files in any meaningful arrangement.

[ClintonHammond]

I guess I’ll look for a less restrictive way to view my files… I have no interest in a media server, nor in meta data… I just want access to my files on my drive.

Thanks

[TonyPh12345]

Your best bet is to look for applications then that can access your drive.

For WD 2go help, check the WD 2go forum.   http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-Mobile-Apps/bd-p/wd_2go

You can also download android apps that will allow you to connect to your MBL via Samba and NFS…

[ClintonHammond]

Two days now, “Twonky” has been spinning my drive and clogging up my network…

The ability to turn off Meta-Data really needs to be in the next firmware update.

What a WOMBAT