1. FF22's Avatar
    It's just amazing the number of people who reply here without reading. Netflix? Where did I say I wanted to use Netflix? I have ZERO interest in Netflix.

    Is it really THAT crazy to expect to be able to stream ANY video format from my HOME computers to my Playbook?

    Good grief...
    No, it is probably not crazy but it appears that what you want is not available at this time for the pb.
    04-08-12 12:32 PM
  2. Shao128's Avatar
    While I appreciate the helpful responses, I already said I did not want to convert movies to play on the Playbook. LAN file explorer doesn't solve my issue since I'd have to convert basically all my movies/TV to be able to watch them.

    And neither does Splashtop, since the interface is just not what I want. It's too... messy. It's crazy there's nothing clean out there we can use. It's unfathomable to me.
    I posted a solution on the 3rd page of this thread.
    bluezone1 likes this.
    04-08-12 12:38 PM
  3. torndownunit's Avatar
    Thanks for the Lan File Explorer suggestions. And thanks to everyone who tried to provide suggestions to the original questions rather than give the OP crap. I was looking for a similar solution.

    I can't believe some of the responses from some of the people to what's perfectly reasonable question. I mean, what are all the posts knocking the guy over Netflix? He never said anything about Netflix. Pretty much all other mobile devices can run something like Plex or similar to stream media from your network/computer. What's so offensive about asking if there is a way for the Playbook to do it.

    It's alarming how often I look up information on performing tasks on the Playbook and find people ripped apart for even asking.
    Last edited by torndownunit; 04-08-12 at 12:59 PM.
    04-08-12 12:48 PM
  4. Hamp's Avatar
    If anyone wishes to purchase a device (or anything) for a specific purpose, it seems the logical thing to do is research the capabilities before purchase. Maybe the reason for all the 'attacks' and negative comments is:

    A. Some people just don't know how to have some tact and chat with others so they come across as arrogant, pushy, immature and misunderstood.
    B.
    It's quite possible your full thoughts and intentions are not made clear in your questions. If you want something that just works out of the box for your specific purpose, then I again refer you to do the research before purchase in the future.
    C.
    Based on emotional and judgmental responses on both sides, there are options but none appear to fit what your specific need is and neither party is willing to accept the others response.

    Bottom line: There is fault on all sides but the average person that posts is not that patient, empathetical nor are they equipped/willing to cope when the details of what the OP wants are not clear enough. Regardless of what people like best, we all have our reasons, but when people come across appearing not willing to do the legwork to look into what they want, then EXPECT certain types of responses!
    You wouldn't go to a job interview without knowing who you are applying for; you wouldn't buy a car without at least sitting in it/test driving it; so do yourself a favor and delve a little more into what you want and find the BEST match for your needs/wants, in this case whether it's an iPad, Playbook, Acer Iconia, Toshiba Thrive, etc.
    Last edited by Hamp; 04-08-12 at 01:04 PM.
    04-08-12 01:00 PM
  5. wgrose's Avatar
    Thanks for the support, O Peoples who supported me, here.

    I posted a solution on the 3rd page of this thread.
    Are you referring SonicAir? Please could you give me more info on that? It seems to use a web interface. Based on my experience with ORB this won't work for me, but I want to be sure - can you set it up to connect LOCALLY?

    Thanks!
    04-08-12 01:01 PM
  6. wgrose's Avatar
    If anyone wishes to purchase a device (or anything) for a specific purpose, it seems the logical thing to do is research the capabilities before purchase. Maybe the reason for all the 'attacks' and negative comments is
    A.
    Some people just don't know how to have some tact and chat with others and come across as arrogant, pushy, immature and misunderstood.
    B.
    It's quite possible your full thoughts and intentions are not made clear in your questions. If you want something that just works out of the box for your specific purpose, then I again refer you to doing the research before purchase in the future.
    C.
    Based on emotional and judgmental responses on both sides, there are options but none appear to fit what your specific need is and neither party is willing to accept the others response.

    Bottom line: There is fault on all sides but the average person that posts is not that patient, empathetical nor are they equipped/willing to cope when the details of what the OP wants are not clear enough. Regardless of what people like best, we all have our reasons, but when people come across appearing not willing to do the legwork to look into what they want, then EXPECT certain types of responses!
    You wouldn't go to a job interview without knowing who you are applying for; you wouldn't buy a car without at least sitting in it/test driving it; so do yourself a favor and delve a little more into what you want and find the BEST match for your needs/wants.

    I bought the PlayBook based on how RIM promised a plethora of apps that would come from the Android store. It was a pretty safe assumption that there would be an app to stream videos from my other computers. I mean come on, that's such a BASIC function of any ~$200 tablet out there!

    Sure, maybe I should have waited, but that there's no easy way to stream is mental to me. And honestly, all somebody needed to have said was, "Sorry, there isn't any good way to do this right now. Sorry...", and I'd have been sad, but less attacked, and would just move on.

    But then people come on here and say, "Why would you want to stream at HOME? That's crazy!", or "You bought the PlayBook for Netflix?" when I've never once mentioned Netflix.

    I'm mind-boggled more by many of the responses here than by the PlayBook's shortcomings, that's for sure.
    bluezone1 likes this.
    04-08-12 01:05 PM
  7. torndownunit's Avatar
    If anyone wishes to purchase a device (or anything) for a specific purpose, it seems the logical thing to do is research the capabilities before purchase. Maybe the reason for all the 'attacks' and negative comments is:

    A. Some people just don't know how to have some tact and chat with others so they come across as arrogant, pushy, immature and misunderstood.
    B.
    It's quite possible your full thoughts and intentions are not made clear in your questions. If you want something that just works out of the box for your specific purpose, then I again refer you to do the research before purchase in the future.
    C.
    Based on emotional and judgmental responses on both sides, there are options but none appear to fit what your specific need is and neither party is willing to accept the others response.

    Bottom line: There is fault on all sides but the average person that posts is not that patient, empathetical nor are they equipped/willing to cope when the details of what the OP wants are not clear enough. Regardless of what people like best, we all have our reasons, but when people come across appearing not willing to do the legwork to look into what they want, then EXPECT certain types of responses!
    You wouldn't go to a job interview without knowing who you are applying for; you wouldn't buy a car without at least sitting in it/test driving it; so do yourself a favor and delve a little more into what you want and find the BEST match for your needs/wants, in this case whether it's an iPad, Playbook, Acer Iconia, Toshiba Thrive, etc.
    I agree with you on over-emotional responses. However, the original poster couldn't have been much clearer regarding what he was asking about. He clearly stated what he was looking for and listed similar apps as examples. The people knocking him about Neflix either know nothing about file streaming, in which case they shouldn't be responding, or they didn't even read his post before going after him about Netlfix (continually). People on this forum are just too over-sensitive about people criticizing the Playbook, even when it's constructive criticism. If everyone gets ripped apart every time they ask how to perform a task, it leads to a pretty hostile environment.
    Last edited by torndownunit; 04-08-12 at 01:11 PM.
    bluezone1 likes this.
    04-08-12 01:09 PM
  8. FreeJACLive's Avatar
    how is the streaming on pb any worse than other devices in your home that you'd want to stream to such as a blu ray player or game console? Outside of No Netflx a real beef for sure, they all have video and audio codes they support and others that they don't. Your options are to convert or transcode. So other tablets are superior to game consoles and bluray players and tv apps when it comes to streaming?
    04-08-12 01:09 PM
  9. rgohringer's Avatar
    To OP, when streaming locally on your LAN segment using ORB, have you configured to keep your stream on your local LAN? I haven't used ORB for awhile, but I recall changes to be made to prevent sending stream through your provider then back in.
    04-08-12 01:11 PM
  10. Hamp's Avatar
    Yes, we are all at the whim of the developers and providers, that...we have very little control over. I have made past purchases based on the posted reason that it will perform what I want as suggested only to find that it didn't or it wasn't quite what I needed/wanted it to do. However, there are options and if you look a little further you may find what you want.......and it may not be iPad, Playbook, etc.
    04-08-12 01:12 PM
  11. chrisrobinfollett's Avatar
    It's just amazing the number of people who reply here without reading. Netflix? Where did I say I wanted to use Netflix? I have ZERO interest in Netflix.

    Is it really THAT crazy to expect to be able to stream ANY video format from my HOME computers to my Playbook?

    Good grief...
    Some of the people are replying to other posters not just you. One did want Netflix. I tell you straight up if you want mvk files without transcoding you are out of luck so buy something else. A lot of people don't have all their movies as mkv files so may not be able to understand your distress. I gave up on mkv files long ago when just about every platform I had would not play them very well. Xbox playstation pc Mac roku iOS all had some kind of issue. Maybe iOS works perfectly now. I'll give it another try. I like iOS and playbook and probably use both equal amounts of time. playbook 7 inch form factor and LAN file explorer gets my video streaming time but iOS ipod form factor gets my audio streaming time.
    04-08-12 01:20 PM
  12. omniusovermind's Avatar
    yep, mkv sucks. Yet another good reason I thoroughly read the encoding description of torrents before I DL them
    Hamp likes this.
    04-08-12 01:22 PM
  13. chrisrobinfollett's Avatar
    yep, mkv sucks. Yet another good reason I thoroughly read the encoding description of torrents before I DL them
    Somehow I got a bunch of files in 3gp last week. Only vlc would play them. My ATV2 would not, neither would the playbook. Something else to watch out for OR desire the playbook to do.
    04-08-12 01:27 PM
  14. rgohringer's Avatar
    To OP, when streaming locally on your LAN segment using ORB, have you configured to keep your stream on your local LAN? I haven't used ORB for awhile, but I recall changes to be made to prevent sending stream through your provider then back in.
    04-08-12 01:29 PM
  15. TheScionicMan's Avatar
    it's no wonder the majority of playbook users appear to be uneducated imbeciles.
    Thanks for helping us reach a majority...
    Hamp and FF22 like this.
    04-08-12 01:30 PM
  16. torndownunit's Avatar
    Some of the people are replying to other posters not just you. One did want Netflix. I tell you straight up if you want mvk files without transcoding you are out of luck so buy something else. A lot of people don't have all their movies as mkv files so may not be able to understand your distress. I gave up on mkv files long ago when just about every platform I had would not play them very well. Xbox playstation pc Mac roku iOS all had some kind of issue. Maybe iOS works perfectly now. I'll give it another try. I like iOS and playbook and probably use both equal amounts of time. playbook 7 inch form factor and LAN file explorer gets my video streaming time but iOS ipod form factor gets my audio streaming time.
    A Jailbroken Apple TV2 will play MKV files well. Either through Plex, XBMC, or Firecore Media player. I switched over to mainly MKV awhile back, as soon as you could install XBMC on Apple TV2. As for native MKV support in iOS, I am not sure if it exists yet.

    I saw the "MKV sucks" posts, but I think it's a great format when you compare quality size to file size ratio. And there are players that deal with it completely fine. It's my preferred codec.

    As far as 'the right tool for the job', I think people 'expect' a streaming media solution because one its available on every other device out there. It's not like it's an uncommon feature. I like my Playbook, so I ideally want a solution that works on it. I don't want to buy another device. Keep in my mind, streaming media from a network or computer is not just an 'entertainment' feature. It's valuable in other situations as well.
    Last edited by torndownunit; 04-08-12 at 01:41 PM.
    04-08-12 01:37 PM
  17. chrisrobinfollett's Avatar
    A Jailbroken Apple TV2 will play MKV files well. Either through Plex, XBMC, or Firecore Media player. I switched over to mainly MKV awhile back, as soon as you could install XBMC on Apple TV2. As for native MKV support in iOS, I am not sure if it exists yet.

    I saw the "MKV sucks" posts, but I think it's a great format when you compare quality size to file size ratio. And there are players that deal with it completely fine. It's my preferred codec.
    My jail broken atv2 tends to have pauses with mkv. Could just be my network though since the mkv tends to be larger than what I normally stream which is 350mb for 42 minutes. I still can't convince myself to spend the bandwidth on a 720p 700mb avi file. Most mkv seem to be 1gb for a 42 minute show.
    FF22 likes this.
    04-08-12 01:44 PM
  18. chrisrobinfollett's Avatar
    Thanks for helping us reach a majority...
    Hey I may be an imbecile but a least I never went to school.
    04-08-12 01:46 PM
  19. Hamp's Avatar
    OK, now we're really getting to the personal attacks and this is when I back out of the immaturity that seeps through. Have fun everyone, see you in the next worthwhile posts!
    04-08-12 01:58 PM
  20. KermEd's Avatar
    Before anyone asks, I've tried ORB, and the quality is just complete crap. Framerate stutters, lots of blocky noise etc. HD video is simply unplayable with it.

    So, are there any options?
    Go to AppWorld, buy my app Connect to TVersity. Install ORB, TVersity, TWonky and/or PlayOn where PlayOn needs a subscription if you want Netflix.

    You may not reach HD quality but it will get you an awesome video stream for you 199 device. If you like Netflix, just get the 1 year subscription. All the info you need to setup is available from help when you swipe down.

    It isnt the worlds greatest app but it sure is convenient

    Ed.
    04-08-12 02:09 PM
  21. torndownunit's Avatar
    My jail broken atv2 tends to have pauses with mkv. Could just be my network though since the mkv tends to be larger than what I normally stream which is 350mb for 42 minutes. I still can't convince myself to spend the bandwidth on a 720p 700mb avi file. Most mkv seem to be 1gb for a 42 minute show.
    I get buffering on the initial start of the file, but that is only since I setup my media on a drive attached to my Airport Extreme. It's well known that a drive connected to the Airport Extreme isn't overly quick. So the file takes about 10 seconds to play, but once is starts it plays with no issues. If I try to fast forward that is kind of slow as well.

    But, when my files were stored on the same drive hooked up to my computer instead of the Airport Extreme, the files played flawlessly. I sacrifice with the Airport Extreme quirks because it allows me to not have to have my computer on to play files. Also, all my files are generally 720p.

    So I'd have to guess that network issues may be in play as you said. Because my using the drive connected to my airport extreme is not an ideal solution by far, and even it will play 720p MKV files with no real issues.


    I love my ATV2 because the interface is so great. But I have been testing out a current WD Live box, and it seems to play pretty much everything you throw at it. It's built really flimsy, and hasn't got the nicest interface but has more apps and plays way more file out of the box than the ATV2.
    Last edited by torndownunit; 04-08-12 at 02:16 PM.
    04-08-12 02:13 PM
  22. FF22's Avatar
    yep, mkv sucks. Yet another good reason I thoroughly read the encoding description of torrents before I DL them
    Frankly, for my tv torrents, I don't need the file size/quality of mkv. I just want the show and prefer the more reasonable size. Also, if I did want to burn to a dvd disk for play on my divx/xdiv dvd player, mkv does not work.

    But I can understand some folks want the quality and transcoding is just another obstacle to JUST WATCHING.
    04-08-12 02:24 PM
  23. chrisrobinfollett's Avatar
    I get buffering on the initial start of the file, but that is only since I setup my media on a drive attached to my Airport Extreme. It's well known that a drive connected to the Airport Extreme isn't overly quick. So the file takes about 10 seconds to play, but once is starts it plays with no issues. If I try to fast forward that is kind of slow as well.

    But, when my files were stored on the same drive hooked up to my computer instead of the Airport Extreme, the files played flawlessly. I sacrifice with the Airport Extreme quirks because it allows me to not have to have my computer on to play files. Also, all my files are generally 720p.

    So I'd have to guess that network issues may be in play as you said. Because my using the drive connected to my airport extreme is not an ideal solution by far, and even it will play 720p MKV files with no real issues.


    I love my ATV2 because the interface is so great. But I have been testing out a current WD Live box, and it seems to play pretty much everything you throw at it. It's built really flimsy, and hasn't got the nicest interface but has more apps and plays way more file out of the box than the ATV2.
    Now you have me convinced to try mkv again but if I do that I have to maintain two files on my network and I'll be in the same boat as the OP
    04-08-12 02:26 PM
  24. torndownunit's Avatar
    Now you have me convinced to try mkv again but if I do that I have to maintain two files on my network and I'll be in the same boat as the OP
    Way to bring it back on topic lol!

    Ya, a media player that could play MKV on the Playbook would be ideal.
    chrisrobinfollett likes this.
    04-08-12 02:35 PM
  25. baldo's Avatar
    Splashtop works, but what it does is show your Windows desktop (if you have a PC). So if you play a video fullscreen on your PC you'll see the same thing on your PB. Works much better that Orb for me.
    Splashtop does not work. The sound is terrible.They promised this would be fixed on the last update and it wasnt. I got my money back. And before you say my sound is fine. Many people have complained about the sound in these forums and to Spashgtop.
    rgohringer likes this.
    04-08-12 03:33 PM
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