What would you like feature wise with the WDTV

Hi all
Just wondered what cool features you guys would like to include if WD would.

Mine would be to link up your tablet wirelessly and be able to see all your movies on your HDD and simply show a list of films that you could scroll through and tap the one you want and it play it.

be pretty cool!

Hello, I agree with you, it would be a good idea to see what the community thinks a new media player should have, if they ever come up with one.

You can do that with just about any DLNA App (click “Decent DLNA remote app for android?” below for Pictures.

Is there one for apple tablets :slight_smile:

dunno … try the apple store, i guess :neutral_face:

(i only have Android Smartphones and Tablets)

I am not clear about stu_c’s request: Stu, do you want to dial up a movie using your tablet and view it on the tablet or dial a movie up on tablet and have it play on WDTV to your TV?

The viewing on tablet is real easy, and the playing on WDTV to TV is not so. You can view your movies stored on WDTV HD and cause them to play on the WDTV to TV via a Windows PC by using Play To feature…

I am going to guess as others here presumed, that you want to view movies on the iPad or iPhone. Real easy; been doing it on iPad for a few years. It was one of the first things I got going with a new iPad. I found a great app called FIleBrowser in Apple Store. File Browser is like using your computer. It allows me go in to either drive connected to my WDTV, find a movie (or music or photos) and play them on my iPad. It only cost $6, and every month or so the company has made improvements (like adding casting to Chromecast) and you get a free upgrade.

If you have a home network, you can find media anywhere you have shared it on your network and play it on your iPad. And, if your home network has any newer WD products in it, you can also use the WD My Cloud app to play media on your phones or tablets.

For Android folks looking to do what Stu wants to do, I like the free Avia app for Androids and Kindles. I use it on my Kindle tablets.

Hello mate
Sorry, What I’d like is to show the movies stores on my WDTV external device on my IPad in a list then choose a film to be played on the TV if this is possible?

yeah, … and when you tap on the Movie on your IPad the WDTV will then start playing the Movie on your Big TV ?

Right ?

If so … then as per my 1st reply, DLNA Apps will do exactly that

You just need to specify the “Source” and the “Play To” device (this is not Windows PC exclusive feature … all DLNA apps have this feature)

A post was split to a new topic: Requested by user JoeySmyth

So just need to find a good DLNA app from Apple :confused:

You don’t need to get a good DLNA app from Apple per se, you download good ones from the Apple app store like other apps. I gave you a suggestion of File Browser, and others suggested other ones that are likely at Apple store, too. Another good app is called Infuse, but my first choice for me to use is the File Browser.

Stu, you also could do a little homework yourself, so Google for some ideas. Here is a string you can Google for to get your started: “best ios video streaming app”

Hello mate
It’s not like I haven’t looked, I spent money on several apps and still don’t do want I want, they seem to find the files on the WD and play them on my iPad not choose from the iPad and play on the TV.

Tried
ZappaTV
TVAssist
VideoCast
SmartStor

And a few others

Well, now you are saying you want to do both: watch on iPad and watch on TV, That’s different procedures.

This point I’ll make next is an important one. The files on the WDTV drive are on Shared drives, and apps that can stream DLNA format movies look for devices that are Media servers. Only certain devices are Media servers, PCs are, my Pogoplug w/drives is, and so is my WD NAS where I store all my media files…

Since my favorite File Browser app only sees Shared drives, it cannot cast to the WDTV. It CAN cast a movie to a $30 Chromecast device. So, this is one solution that works.

IF you have a home network, you can also use the free app called Belkin MediaPlay in Apple app store. It explors your network and sees only servers (not shares) so I can find an mp4 movie saved on my NAS and “beam” it to the WDTV. This works well, too.

Either of the above solutions work if you have the appropriate equipment and/or a home network set up. Otherwise, just use the WDTV remote to view movies stored on its drive on your TV. That’s what I do, since using the apps is an unnecessary procedure anyway.

No I am saying the apps I have tried only play on my IPad, what I want is to choose from the iPad and play on the TV

The apps I mentioned above can do this! What they cannot do is show you a “laundry list” of videos stored on the drive. You have to access the drive with an app using iPad, see the videos listed on the drive (via app on the iPad), click on one to play it.

Your very first comment in this thread says:
Mine would be to link up your tablet wirelessly and be able to see all your movies on your HDD and simply show a list of films that you could scroll through and tap the one you want and it play it.

I think we all get it, and we have told you about apps that can do this.

OR, maybe you are asking for a WDTV Remote app for your iPad or iPhone? I see two of them in the Apple App store.

OR, maybe you are asking that you don’t want to need an app at all for using your iPad as a remote, and that a new version WDTV should communicate directly with your iPad to allow you to see the HDD contents? If so, I don’t think so, as most every gadget I have that plays on TV; the WDTV, a Fire Stick, and Roku has a physical remote, except the Chromecast which is controlled by an app on phone or tablet acting as a remote. All these gadgets also have an app that can act as a remote for use on phone or Pad.

This is getting far to complicated for something that should have been so simple, think I will give up on the idea, I told you several times the apps I have tried do not work as I expected even the paid ones so there’s nothing more I can say, I tried to explain what I wanted and seems to be conflicting ideas so I’ll just resort to a controller.

I honestly thought it was a simple explanation.
Want to see the list of films on my iPad that my WDTV has on the connected HDD and choose a film from the iPad that automatically plays the chosen film straight to the TV that’s connected to the WDTV.

Basically this!

I think the only way is android, anyone recommend an android device this would work on?

And, I told you I can do what you want to do with apps. I will go over it briefly again.

I have iOS (and Android) app(s) that shows me (LISTS for me) what is on the WDTV HD and allows me to select it from the app and play on TV from the WDTV hard drive.

The ability to download subtitles directly to wdlive