[kerry6]

Yep setting here at work, and and friend bought the Goflex Satellite for her iPad2. since I had my playbook, I figured connect and see, and yes it works great, In fact, better on playbook browser than the iPad2's browser. she was a little upset as some of the stuff on my screen that did not show on her's and the Video's streamed a lot quicker but we were hooked up at the same time. Yep still McLovin my Playbook....

[ccdawg]

i've been meaning to check on this. thanks

[tweggs]

This GREAT news for me. Thanks for the information!

[Mallet21]

The GoFlex satellite works great on my PB as well. However, seeking forward in the video causes the video and audio to go horribly out of sync.

[kerry6]

The GoFlex satellite works great on my PB as well. However, seeking forward in the video causes the video and audio to go horribly out of sync.

There is a firmware update that may take care of that on the Seagate support site for the drive. The update is easy, hardest part is downloading it and copying it to the drives root directory.

[easydoesit99]

kerry6, are you running OS2 on your PB?

[bquinney]

Thanks, I'm glad the info for this has been updated as I was holding off buying one until someone could confirm its use with the PB.

[kerry6]

kerry6, are you running OS2 on your PB?

i'm using the stock os v1.8.

[_StephenBB81]

Seagate told me I was SOL with my PlayBook and my goFlex,

Care to explain what you did for access?
(Mind you I'm having other issues as well due to network settings but thats a Cisco issue)

[MOTH477]

Thanks for this. My Go Flex sits around my desk and I've been wanting to try this.

[mikeplus1]

I think this the Seagate GoFlex Satellite drive being discussed:

Amazon.com: Seagate GoFlex Satellite Mobile Wireless Storage 500 GB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive STBF500101 Black: Electronics

And a Seagate empolyee has posted a couple of times about it over here in this PB thread:

http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...ddrive-688999/

I have a 2TB Seagate GoFlex Home and another 2TB GoFlex Desk, but will have to look into this one now.

[TheRealRoland]

Just bought one.

Problem is is that this drive is not recognized by my Win7 Pro Dell laptop -- had the same issue with a non-WiFi Seagate drive a month ago.

However, since i did get the drive to work through connecting it to a VM XP machine, on that same laptop, i thought that i could deal with the stupid workaround of loading up the drive through my VM.

Anyways, the uploading of files onto the drive is slow -- i'm not using USB3, however, it's still slow. Loading up of about 50 Gb of data took more that 5 hrs. That should not be the case, i feel.

Once done uploading, i picked up the latest firmware from the Seagate website (1.2.0.0.12, if memory serves me well), installed that.

Switched on the drive, connected my laptop to the SSID that sounded like it was the Satellite. And i was on.

It comes with a basic web interface, in which you can navigate through folders, or use the media server's pages to navigate through movies, music, documents, etc.

Then switched on the PB (running OS2), connected to that same SSID. Selected a movie from the list of movies (more later about navigation :-/ ) and voila, the movie streaming onto my PB. No jutters, stutters or any connection issues. Watched for 40 mins without interruptions.

Now, about navigating around the Satellite, using their web interface.

It's almost impossible to scroll up / down within larger collections - there's simply no place to touch and drag, that results in vertical scrolling in lists.

Other than that -- it works. But slightly annoying when trying to navigate on the PB (same issue using the Remote Control over Bridge).

There's another website that offers a different firmware that you can buy for USD35 -- comes with ssh, a newer version of media server software i guess. People are happy with it, especially the ones that did not have the latest Seagate firmware installed.

Edit:
funny, right after i typed this post, hooked up to the goflex, and there was nothing but stutter in streamed movies. The overall performance of the goflex's website was poor as well.

Am not in a controlled environment (staying in hotel for work), so not sure what the deal is. Could be multiple reasons, such as a conflict with multiple networks trying to use the same wifi channel, etc. Will keep you posted on my progress...

Edit2: after restarting the goflex using the power button (rather than the option on the settings screen) everything is cool again.

One word of caution: certain videos that play directly from the pb do not stream. I have a bunch of ripped dvds, as m4v - these are not being streamed :-/

Edit3: after renaming m4v to mp4, these are now streaming as well. Apparently these types of files are using the same internal type, the extension m4v is used by Apple to tell players there's aac encoded audio in the file. Or something like that...

[CountOfGamble]

Just bought one.

Problem is is that this drive is not recognized by my Win7 Pro Dell laptop -- had the same issue with a non-WiFi Seagate drive a month ago.

However, since i did get the drive to work through connecting it to a VM XP machine, on that same laptop, i thought that i could deal with the stupid workaround of loading up the drive through my VM.

Anyways, the uploading of files onto the drive is slow -- i'm not using USB3, however, it's still slow. Loading up of about 50 Gb of data took more that 5 hrs. That should not be the case, i feel.

Once done uploading, i picked up the latest firmware from the Seagate website (1.2.0.0.12, if memory serves me well), installed that.

Switched on the drive, connected my laptop to the SSID that sounded like it was the Satellite. And i was on.

It comes with a basic web interface, in which you can navigate through folders, or use the media server's pages to navigate through movies, music, documents, etc.

Then switched on the PB (running OS2), connected to that same SSID. Selected a movie from the list of movies (more later about navigation :-/ ) and voila, the movie streaming onto my PB. No jutters, stutters or any connection issues. Watched for 40 mins without interruptions.

Now, about navigating around the Satellite, using their web interface.

It's almost impossible to scroll up / down within larger collections - there's simply no place to touch and drag, that results in vertical scrolling in lists.

Other than that -- it works. But slightly annoying when trying to navigate on the PB (same issue using the Remote Control over Bridge).

There's another website that offers a different firmware that you can buy for USD35 -- comes with ssh, a newer version of media server software i guess. People are happy with it, especially the ones that did not have the latest Seagate firmware installed.

Edit:
funny, right after i typed this post, hooked up to the goflex, and there was nothing but stutter in streamed movies. The overall performance of the goflex's website was poor as well.

Am not in a controlled environment (staying in hotel for work), so not sure what the deal is. Could be multiple reasons, such as a conflict with multiple networks trying to use the same wifi channel, etc. Will keep you posted on my progress...

Edit2: after restarting the goflex using the power button (rather than the option on the settings screen) everything is cool again.

One word of caution: certain videos that play directly from the pb do not stream. I have a bunch of ripped dvds, as m4v - these are not being streamed :-/

Edit3: after renaming m4v to mp4, these are now streaming as well. Apparently these types of files are using the same internal type, the extension m4v is used by Apple to tell players there's aac encoded audio in the file. Or something like that...

I have been waiting for someone to write their comments on the use of GoFlex Satellite with OS2.0. I'll start telling you about my experience with the GFS by copying what I originally posted in the Seagate forums a few months ago. Note that, at that point, I was running 1.0.8 with GFS firmware 1.2.0.012:

"Blackberry Playbook has tons of problems when playing files from GFS. I loaded movies with Playbook compatible codecs onto the drive. Half the time they load and play and the other half of the time I get a message that says:" Video or audio on this page is loading very slowly. It may not be possible to play it with the current connection." After pressing OK on that message sometimes the movie will still load and sometimes it won't. Unreal. Bottom line, the GFS is a great device with terrible software/firmware. I will try to revert to the old firmware if I can find the file somewhere. They should really keep old firmware accessible in the download section."

After overcoming buyer's remorse I downloaded firmware 1.1.0.005a and loaded it onto the device. I experimented for a few days by trying to play the same movie files I originally had put onto the drive and concluded that the overall performance had actually improved by going back to older firmware. The movies would load all the time and there was no error messages of any sort. At that point I shoved the drive into my drawer being unhappy that I could only play avi, mp4 files and not mkvs which make up most of my movie collection.

Fast forward to my Playbook receiving the wonderful OS2.0 and me being happy that I could finally play mkvs from the GFS. Boy was I wrong. The mkv files from the drive won't open at all in the Playbook browser. A message pops up asking me if I want to save the file onto the Playbook, and when I press OK, nothing happens. I was bummed at first and then I proceeded onto the avi files to see if they would work. Lets just say that NONE of the files that have previously worked want to play anymore nor the demo files that originally came with the drive (mp4 and m4v format). There is an endless buffering circle that runs on the browser. The movie will eventually start, run for 30 seconds, and enter the buffering cycle again. At this point I would like to smash this drive on the floor. . I will wait for the 1.3 firmware update that is due any day now and attempt my series of tests again. The Android Go Flex Media App will also receive an update and I'll try to convert the .apk file and make it work in the Android player of the Playbook. I would like to observe the difference in performance between the app and the browser itself. If all of that fails than I'll probably hack the drive with the help of the guys on hackseagatesatellite website. That's all from me for now. I'll be looking forward to your observations and experiences.

Truly yours, disatisfied GFS user.

[RicThot]

Regarding MKV... MKV is NOT a codec, it's a container. I your MKV movie is using a video codec not supported by the playbook, obviously it won't play, locally, or from the GFS.

Check the MKV file properties in Windows to see what codec and settings is used for the file and compare to the rim supported media formats document.

[osubass1]

we have a new version of the Satellite firmware being released next week.

all testing is complete, and the go/no-go decision was passed on Monday.

version 1.3.5 of the Satellite firmware will be availble by Wednesday at the latest.

[CountOfGamble]

Hi Richtot,

I know it's a container that can have any type of video or audio codec integrated to it. I test all of the mkvs directly on my Playbook first. Currently I have a file that has H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (avc1) video and AAC sound and it plays great on the Playbook itself. When I play it off the GFS drive the problem that I described in the post above arises.

[CountOfGamble]

we have a new version of the Satellite firmware being released next week.

all testing is complete, and the go/no-go decision was passed on Monday.

version 1.3.5 of the Satellite firmware will be availble by Wednesday at the latest.

I thought it was beeing released this week. . Thanks for the good news. I'm eagerly waiting for the update. What tablet devices were you testing it with?

[osubass1]

I thought it was beeing released this week. . Thanks for the good news. I'm eagerly waiting for the update. What tablet devices were you testing it with?

i, personally, tested a Samsung 10.1, Motorola Xoom on ICS, PlayBook 1.0.8 and 2.0, iPad 1 and 2.

i haven't tried converting the Android app for PlayBook, though.

[eds817]

I remember reading last year when this was released that it created its own WiFi network and thus you couldn't access your PlayBook from your computer or see your computer from the PlayBook when connected.

Is this still the case or does the GoFlex connect to your network making it view-able from the PlayBook or any other device?

[osubass1]

I remember reading last year when this was released that it created its own WiFi network and thus you couldn't access your PlayBook from your computer or see your computer from the PlayBook when connected.

Is this still the case or does the GoFlex connect to your network making it view-able from the PlayBook or any other device?

as of today, that is still the case.

next week, when the new firmware version releases, the Satellite will be able to connect to an existing network.

[melander]

A coworker of mine has one as well. So just load up thr browser and go to town?

[CountOfGamble]

i, personally, tested a Samsung 10.1, Motorola Xoom on ICS, PlayBook 1.0.8 and 2.0, iPad 1 and 2.

i haven't tried converting the Android app for PlayBook, though.

How do you find the streaming on OS 2.0? Are the files loading fast? What type of files did you try using? And last but not least, was there a difference in performance between the Android app and browser on the Samsung 10.1 and Motorola Xoom on ICS? Thanks.

[osubass1]

How do you find the streaming on OS 2.0? Are the files loading fast? What type of files did you try using? And last but not least, was there a difference in performance between the Android app and browser on the Samsung 10.1 and Motorola Xoom on ICS? Thanks.

a lot of my testing was on a new feature called Stream and Download that downloads the entire movie while playing it on the device. so, it was pretty good on all of the devices.

i'm not sure if these features will be available in the Android app next week, but it will be in the iOS version.

i tested over 70 total files with multiple different formats and codecs. too many to list.

the Motorola Xoom on iCS is a completely different beast. it works far better than it did on honeycomb. the Xoom and Samsung are failry comparable in performance with respect to Satellite.

[TheRealRoland]

Don't have many do different encoded files - I just grabbed my dvds, ripped them using dvddecrypter / handbrake, using a very generic preset.

Once the file is selected thru the browser interface, it almost immediately starts streaming (within 2 seconds). Reminder, this is already on the 1.2.0.012 version.

Can't wait until the new version from some released.

Probably should go into a different thread, but have you been able to access the drive / installed software through telnet? Tried this with the 1.2 firmware, but every time am getting a 'cannot connect.

Would like to start poking around in the Web pages that list the videos, music, etc.

[CountOfGamble]

The new firmware is up on the Seagate website. I'll try it out tonight and post the observations.