Acers Clear.fi software - Acer Iconia A500

Is this software preaty much busted for everyone? I have seen lots on net but not in these forums I am guessing not many people use it. well it loads and sees my n.a.s. device but wont files from it. or if it does load files will only load the picture files and not the movie or music.
Is anyone else having this problem with this software? If so go to market download upnplay as your client and mobo player as your media player unless you have updated to 3.1 then mobo player has stopped working with acers on 3.1 you will have to use rock player.
but with upnplay and rock payer the iconia is a strong wireless media server I stream movies from mu n.a.s. over wifi and plays perfect great for watching movies in bed. just wish acers software would work.
why is it all stock software is junk?
oh side note something very cool you can do with the iconia is use it as a n.a.s. media server I have one of the new samsung wifi enabled stero recivers and it picks up the iconia as a n.a.s device(once you enable it in the menu) so anything i have stored on the iconia will play right through the reciever wirelessly. is great i loaded the iconia up with music and then i can just leave it lay around anywhere and play all the music off it through the home stero with no wires. same with movies or pictures. I love tech

I have not gotten Clear.fi to see any of my DLNA servers, so yeah, I'd say it's more-or-less complete trash. Then again, I find the whole DLNA thing very, very limited and useless anyways.

Works absolutely fine here. What are you using for your DLNA server? I use Windows Media Player on Windows 7 and that works great.

Works for me but I have kid installed only windows machine that has the share maps.I also use this machine with my web hosting account.and can access the shared drives and info anywhere I can get net or my LAN/wifi. Linked to the latest media player updates and let it auto scan for all your media is the trick
But yes Acer clear fi is really useless
Wrong forum but Netflix rocked even tethered to my cheap zip cell phone on cricket carier

FloatingFatMan said:
Works absolutely fine here. What are you using for your DLNA server? I use Windows Media Player on Windows 7 and that works great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mediatomb. Acer.fi doesn't even see the damn thing.

WereCatf said:
Mediatomb. Acer.fi doesn't even see the damn thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I know it works fine with WMP and Windows 7, so it's probably an issue either with Mediatomb, or your OS not liking Clear.fi.

Ya works here as well.
Launch Clear.fi - start WMP, navigate to a500 and everything on the tab is accessible. Music, video, pictures... (depending on how you set it up of course)
You can also r-click a file, select properties, get the address to that file (IP+PORT+FILENAME) and open it in your browser.

Thank you all for the kind feedback. But, I think you over looked one point to my question and that is that i cant get clear.fi to see media over wireless on a n.a.s. (network attached storage device). It sees the media server (linksys router) and the attached mass storage device. It will also see all the picture files on the storage unit but if you try to open video or music it syas the device is disconected?
No other device on my network has any problems seeing the hard drive attached to the routers media server except the acer CLEAR.fi software.
But like I said before other clients like upnplay see and play the media files just fine on the acer. so must be the clear.fi software.
IM not using a comp as the server like the other replys IM useing a wireledd networ attached storage device and clear.fi is suppose to be able to work with wireless servers. It sees it but wont access the files so.....

I'm confused.
My understanding is that the Clear.fi application on our tabs is the streaming source for the media on the tab. It's pitched as a media sharing service. So, using it on the tab just means that the media on your tab is accessible from networked PC's and other devices - not the other way around (unless they too have Clear.fi installed)
At least, that's my understanding.
It reads to me that you're trying to get Clear.fi to 'see' media outside of the tablet environment and I don't believe it's suppose to do that.

gammaRascal said:
I'm confused.
My understanding is that the Clear.fi application on our tabs is the streaming source for the media on the tab. It's pitched as a media sharing service. So, using it on the tab just means that the media on your tab is accessible from networked PC's and other devices - not the other way around (unless they too have Clear.fi installed)
At least, that's my understanding.
It reads to me that you're trying to get Clear.fi to 'see' media outside of the tablet environment and I don't believe it's suppose to do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm. Here "Clear.fi" on the A500 was advertised as a DLNA-client. If it's a client then it should obviously play media. That's why I'm so confused; why advertise it as a client if it isn't one? And what's the point in sharing media ON the tablet when it's got so little storage, wouldn't it make more sense to play the media stored on your other devices on the tablet instead? I mean, you can HARDLY store much media on it, but you can easily store hundreds of gigabytes of stuff on any consumer-grade DLNA-server.
Meh. I feel so confused.

WereCatf said:
Hmm. Here "Clear.fi" on the A500 was advertised as a DLNA-client. If it's a client then it should obviously play media. That's why I'm so confused; why advertise it as a client if it isn't one? And what's the point in sharing media ON the tablet when it's got so little storage, wouldn't it make more sense to play the media stored on your other devices on the tablet instead? I mean, you can HARDLY store much media on it, but you can easily store hundreds of gigabytes of stuff on any consumer-grade DLNA-server.
Meh. I feel so confused.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the thing though - I think it 'can' be a client but only within the Clear.fi environment - that is to say, unless another device (say, a network connected PC) has Clear.fi installed and is streaming, the tablet can't connect to it to browse media files via Clear.fi.
I don't think Clear.fi is available as a stand alone application/download yet. It seems to me it's only bundled with Acer hardware for the time being.

Clear.fi works both ways, you can stream from the tab to the pc or from the pc to the tab. I have a home built pc with win7 on it and it will stream movies,pics and music to and from the tab. In win7 you need to go to "network and sharing" and "allow" it

I use clear.fi all the time both as a server and client. I can access my A500 on both my Windows 7 machines through WMP and can access media stored on both comps with my A500. All I had to do was set up Homeshare through WMP on my PCs, give access to my media files and I was up and running. As far as accessing my NAS drive, I have the drive mapped on my comps and shared so I can access it. I never could access it directly with clear.fi, but no big issue since I worked around it. I use it fairly often for watching videos in bed on my tablet. Of course, with netflix now working, I suspect that I'll do most of my late night viewing through it.

Well, I can't get Clear.fi to see my Mediatomb DLNA-server no matter what I do. PS3, XMBC and even my mobile phone however sees it just fine so the problem clearly lies in Clear.fi. Not that I'm too surprised, Acer isn't known for making quality software.

LOL I have always found if funny how threads go off on thier own direction and never answer or address the original question. Yes clear.fi is an acer only program as it made by acer. yes it is supose to be both server and client. Yes it can and will see media out side clear.fi only software and devices (or at least it is suppose too) acording to the web page. but none of these were my question.
Has anyone else tried to access media on a n.a.s. (network attached storage device) ? My clear.fi sees the device and gains access but will only play back picture files. If I try to access movies or music it justtells me the device is disconnected!
From what I am reading here everyone is juststreaming media to and from thier p.c's that aspect of mine works. what im wanting to know is if anyone here uses a stand alone media server on a wireless network? NOT a computer!
I have a linksys router wireless n dual band That you connect a hard drive to and it runs a media server from the router so all wireless devices can access media on the hard drive right through the router no need for a computer.
Everything i have sees the server and media just fine xbox,ps3,computer, nook color yes my nook color even sees it and plays the media. my wifi stereo and t.v all see and play the media just fine everythig except the iconia's clear.fi
I called acer and the confirmed it is suppose to be able to as well but mine does not. mine sees he server and will read picture files but that is it, so as it sees the server and does read some files i know its not my settingas on my network.
I really just wanted to know if anyone else has and luck with streaming media from a network storage device not other computers.
if you are having this same problem the solution i found is to not use clear.fi as I cant get it to work. I downloaded upnplay as the client and it works perfect so i know its not the iconia either it has to be the clear.fi software.
anyway if you have this same problem use pnplay instead as your client and if your on 3.1 stock rom mobo player dosent work on acer anymore so you'll have to use something different like rockplayer as your media player.

harlaquin said:
Has anyone else tried to access media on a n.a.s. (network attached storage device) ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I don't own anything such and can't help you.

I have two different N.A.S devices, a Linksys and D-Link and having the same problem here, the Clear.fi software can see both of them but says it cannot connect to them.
Going to mess around with some settings later and see if I can get something to work, since Upnplay works perfectly I really haven't messed around with Clear.fi much

What OS are you guys (trying to get Clear.fi to access NAS) using?
I might be wrong but I think Clear.fi can only access NAS in a W7 environment.
btw, a little google search and I found a way to properly access files on my PC via Clear.fi on the tab.
You have to have WMP running and under each tab in the left dropdown pane make sure you map the approrpiate folders - so, for Music - r-click Music > Manage Music Library and Add the folder(s) you want to be able to access from the tab. Same for Pictures, Videos etc...
Make sure the Stream (tab in the top toolbar) is setup accordingly, then launch Clear.fi and it should see everything you 'Added'.
So the only caveat here is that you have to have the PC on and WMP running with the correct folders added and sharing setup correctly.

gammaRascal said:
What OS are you guys (trying to get Clear.fi to access NAS) using?
I might be wrong but I think Clear.fi can only access NAS in a W7 environment.
btw, a little google search and I found a way to properly access files on my PC via Clear.fi on the tab.
You have to have WMP running and under each tab in the left dropdown pane make sure you map the approrpiate folders - so, for Music - r-click Music > Manage Music Library and Add the folder(s) you want to be able to access from the tab. Same for Pictures, Videos etc...
Make sure the Stream (tab in the top toolbar) is setup accordingly, then launch Clear.fi and it should see everything you 'Added'.
So the only caveat here is that you have to have the PC on and WMP running with the correct folders added and sharing setup correctly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gammarascal your missing the point same as all the other replies. we are not tring to access files on a pc. os is irrelavant. we are tring to access files from the network storage from our android tablets. the network stroage is not hook to any pc that is why it is called a network attached storage device. and clear .fi is suposse to access N.A.S devices weather or not you even have a P.C. in the house.
The P.C. is not a factor here.
I have come to the conclusion clear.fi is junk. should not be all that trouble to set something up and still have it not work. downloaded upnplay and all i did was open it and there was my files no setting up needed easy peasy... upnplay works on my nook color as well.
Have never understood why one small software developer can make a app that just works right out the gate but these big compaines make software that needs to be set up, tweeked, fooled with, crashed, reloaded, unistalled, reinstalled, re tweeked and then it might work.
Oh well thansk guys but im done with clear.fi..... upnplay does what I want and no setup required or software on comps.

Same thing here. I have a LaCie NAS and a TwonkyMedia dlna server under Fedora 15. Clear.fi see both of them but is unable to connect.
I guess clear.fi can only connect to a windows computer.

Related

Map networked drive?

Is there anyway to map a networked drive on a local network?
I was hoping I could connect to my home wifi and then stream videos from a shared drive on a PC.
Any way this is possible?
There is a SMB File Sharing app in the market. I never used it but it should work.
have you looked into gmote or aFile?
I was searching for the same thing a while back. What I finally did was download Gmote on my phone and Gmote server for my home computer. I set it up to allow me to connect to a Media folder over the 3G network (I'm with Sprint). I had to forward the port on my router at home and add an exception to my firewall. I also had to get a static IP for my router by using No-IP.
Once all that was done I could open gmote on my phone, pick my media folder on my home computer and start streaming my mp3s. Since it's over the 3G network I can be anywhere! The sound quality is great as well and I like the simple VLC player. My only complaint is that I wish the player would show album art in the background instead of just in the lower corner. I think it will do that over wifi but not 3g.
It takes a little bit of setup but the results are well worth it!
xdarkfluxx said:
There is a SMB File Sharing app in the market. I never used it but it should work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm seeing that it copies file... but is there a way to stream?
I'll test it out when I get home.
watzone69 said:
I was searching for the same thing a while back. What I finally did was download Gmote on my phone and Gmote server for my home computer. I set it up to allow me to connect to a Media folder over the 3G network (I'm with Sprint). I had to forward the port on my router at home and add an exception to my firewall. I also had to get a static IP for my router by using No-IP.
Once all that was done I could open gmote on my phone, pick my media folder on my home computer and start streaming my mp3s. Since it's over the 3G network I can be anywhere! The sound quality is great as well and I like the simple VLC player. My only complaint is that I wish the player would show album art in the background instead of just in the lower corner. I think it will do that over wifi but not 3g.
It takes a little bit of setup but the results are well worth it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This sounds awesome. Luckily, I have a couple of servers running on the PC already so I just need to configure the software.
Will it work for videos?
If you are just streaming Media, try out ORB. Its cool, download a server app on the home computer, it scans for all your media then login to the website and pick your song that you want to play or video, what ever. Ironically i just posted this on another thread too....
fatkitty420 said:
This sounds awesome. Luckily, I have a couple of servers running on the PC already so I just need to configure the software.
Will it work for videos?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't had much luck but, then again, I only tried one video.
Can't get remote desktop to work... I guess I need to check the settings. I'll go home and set up both servers and test both apps out. Hopefully everything will go smoothly.

Mount sFTP as local directory?

When I'm not at home behind my desktop, I use ExpanDrive to mount my sftp as a local drive on the laptop. This way I get to listen AND manage my music as if I'm at home... Same goes to when I'm at work. Easy, convenient.
How would I go about doing the similar on my mobile? I would like to mount sFTP as a local directory which I would then access with my fav media player. I believe it can be done since wm mounts microsd card as "Storage Card" and my bluetooth ftp appears as "Bluetooth" folder in the root... so how would you mount sFTP/SSH drive the similar way?
Thanks.
this would be great!
Im looking for the same solution! I have a NAS which I can access with FTP/SFTP/HTTP and would love to add my online music library to my favorite media player... Mounting as a local drive could help streaming movies with subtitles atm Im using CifsManager to hook up in LAN to my shared media and subtitles works that way in DicePlayer. (Otherwise I have to use Handbrake to burn in the subtitles and convert movies to mp4 files which takes time.) Can someone who knows about this stuff leave a comment is this possible in theory?
EDIT: Well I noticed problem with FTP / SFTP it lags like hell and the problem is not the internet connection... I tried streaming from http and it worked like a charm... So I think Im going to make a php based medialibrary and use http for streaming... Tho this means I have to Handbrake but its cool... Only thing I need to get working with http is the m3u playlists so I can pickup any song I want, shuffle and so on... Anyone else intrested about this project?
EDIT2: BTW Could this thread be transfered to better area? "Networking" seems to be about carries only....
bump.
Wondering if there has been any progress made in this area? I would use SSHFSDroid but that doesn't work on Android 4.2 anymore...
[deXter] said:
bump.
Wondering if there has been any progress made in this area? I would use SSHFSDroid but that doesn't work on Android 4.2 anymore...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It now supports Android 4.2
Sorry to bump an 9 year old thread, but it still appears in Google search on the first page, so any ideas to manage this? I have nas with debian, where I can have both ftp or sftp, going to use mountainduck on pc with cryptomator, now using freefilesync (pc) with sshfs/winfsp but it is quite complicated to mount though works as a charm. Yet looking for a complete solution for win laptop, Linux server and Android phone to be in sync on the basis of so-called transparent encryption. Any ideas or experience on this?

streaming video to hd2?

I purchased a Lacinema Classic hd, (cheap nas drive), and i have it connected to my home network. Can anyone tell me how to stream video from it to my hd2? if it is possible.
any help appreciated
Check this out: http://www.orb.com/
Hiya
I connected my HD2 via WiFi to router and i can stream movies from my pc (with Win XP, connected to router with cable) to my phone without problem, they runs smoothly and I watch them in coreplayer, its ok for me, so maybe try something lika that, good luck
yeah thats what i want to do but without using the pc. It must be possible to stream the content straight to my phone just dont know how.
i am not personally experienced with "NAS drives"...but i've always assumed these drives would be available to other network machines/devices as shared folders, accessible from windows using the "\\MACHINE\SHARE_NAME" syntax.
please verify my assumption. if such is the case, then look for "schap's htc network plugin" and download and install it. this little tool will let you map shared network folders onto the \Network folder on your HD2. once the mapping is complete, all applications on your device will be able to see and use the files on the shared folder as if these files are on your storage card. so you can then fire up coreplayer or pocket player or what have you and enjoy!

[Q] Ubuntu and DLNA?

Does anybody know of a good DLNA server for ubuntu that's fairly easy to use and configure?
I tried mediatomb but could not figure out how to set it up properly to work with the phone.
I then tried PS3mediaserver. It only worked one-way. I was able to see shared media from the PC but could not see the PC on the phone.
I gave up trying and ended up getting Estrongs Explorer and transferred the media files over wifi :-/
FWIW I just use xbmc - had it running already, and it showed right up. 90% of my videos play fine.
That is probably overkill for you but fwiw it works if you want a media center..

Anyone stream their media due to the storage space?

Does anyone know of a good app that allows you to stream your media off your PC so I can watch my tv shows and movies, listen to music on my Nexus 7? 4.5 gb is left after installing apps and that's hardly anything for media.
Ideally if there was an app to file explore into my network so i can access documents, PDF files, ebooks, pictures, etc. that would be even better so i can just sit on my bed and read ebooks over wifi or watch stuff.
For ebooks your best bet is to setup calibre on your desktop, import PDF files and ebooks into that and turn on calibre's web-server. You can then browse your library on the Nexus using any program that supports OPDS catalogs, like FBReader, Mantano, etc. You will have to download the book you're actually reading to the device, but can delete it when done with it.
For video here's a list of applications that are worth trying, or search on the Play store for DLNA, there are several other DLNA browers available.
kettlecorn said:
Does anyone know of a good app that allows you to stream your media off your PC so I can watch my tv shows and movies, listen to music on my Nexus 7? 4.5 gb is left after installing apps and that's hardly anything for media.
Ideally if there was an app to file explore into my network so i can access documents, PDF files, ebooks, pictures, etc. that would be even better so i can just sit on my bed and read ebooks over wifi or watch stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CIFsmanger (requires root) will allow you to map to shared network drives on your PC so you can access anything you share.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ws.plattner.cifsmanager&feature=search_result#?t=W10.
Tversity will share folders which contain video, mp3s, and pictures and you can use BubbleUPNP to view it on your Nexus 7. I actually use BubbleUPNP to share media (video, mp3, pics) on my phone to my Nexus 7...and vice versa.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/....android.bubbleupnp&feature=nav_result#?t=W10.
Both of these methods require no downloading of media to the device.
SMB/UpnP via "FileExpert" app to view/play any files on your PC via wifi.
"PLEX" for streaming movies from your PC.
Another alternative is "UpnPlay".
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...t#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDMsInhjeGluLmZpbGV4cGVydCJd
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImN4Lmhvb2hvbC5zaWxhbm9pZCJd
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5wbGV4YXBwLmFuZHJvaWQiXQ..
Plex client streaming from Plex Media Server
PMS can run on windows, mac, linux & various NAS
My Plex Media Server is running from a Synology DS411+II NAS, got clients for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac & Samsung smart TV
If you setup MyPlex you can even stream media over the internet from your home PMS to your client
I use the app MediaHouse its free on Play
Has anyone tried successfully to use any of these apps on their new Nexus 7?
SON OF A ..
Typed out a long response and it went away. aeklfjlk
Thanks for the help everyone. I've tried lots of apps and methods yesterday.
File explorer > SMB allows me to find my mac on the network but it will not give me access, even with the right login and password. If this could work, maybe could be good way to get access to all my files. My Mac has File Sharing on with SMB but I dont know what the problem is.
Also tried Tonido and it's alright. The interface is decent but the problem is the video player is jacked up. No progress bar and the screen size is jacked. If that works then this could be a good alternative cause it allows you to type in whatever your http URL is and have access from anywhere.
Also tried Plex and this one is probably the best one so far. The UI could be better though. It also does automatic artwork and titles and some of my videos and stuff have the wrong labels. You can't know what it actually is until you press play and watch it. I wonder if there's a way to just keep your original filenames and thumbnails..?
I would like to the UPnP stuff but I don't quite understand it. If I download those apps such as Bubble UPnP or MediaHouse, what do I have to do on my computer (Mac) to allow for the app to see the files? Do I have to install a server side software like Plex? In all honesty I would prefer to install a server program and just leave it and not tinker with IP, port and all that stuff.
Any ideas?
kettlecorn said:
Thanks for the help everyone. I've tried lots of apps and methods yesterday.
File explorer > SMB allows me to find my mac on the network but it will not give me access, even with the right login and password. If this could work, maybe could be good way to get access to all my files. My Mac has File Sharing on with SMB but I dont know what the problem is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you mention file explorers, have you given ES File Explorer a try? I use it constantly on all my Android devices for its good interfaces with SMB, FTP, GDrive/Dropbox, and a lot of other cloud/server options. It works great on my Win7 box's SMB share (under its LAN share option), and it has the ability to connect to FTP servers as well, which should be relatively easy to find step-by-step guides on setting up on a Mac. ES -can- stream files and play them with either its built-in media player or any other on your tablet, but I find it more useful for quick and easy copying media to my tablet for watching/listening then deleting.
With respect to the Plex metadata being incorrect, according to the plex wiki you can get it to use "local media assets".
Again according to the wiki, you do have the ability to edit the metadata yourself, something I wasn't aware of, got lots of updates to do on my library now!
I just found an app last night that I really liked using on my N7. It's called aVia media player. It was easy to set up and I haven't found a movie I can't play using it on my tablet. I use Plex to stream throughout the house and also have it on my N7, but I set up multiple user accts for the tablet and didn't want to have to buy Plex app again so i found this instead. It found my Plex MS from my WHS2011 box and connected using dlna no probs. Might be what you're looking for. It'll find any device on your network and stream from it provided you have everything configured properly.
I've had excellent success streaming HD movies from my home network to my n7 using as file explorer to navigate to my windows 7 share d network drive and MX player to open the files and stream. I also have wireless streaming working from my phones sd card to my n7. Need a rooted phone...1. connect n7 to WiFi hotspot on phone 2. On phone open es role manager go to settings>remote Settings> check remote manage and ,make phone ftp server 3. Es file explorer on n7 and select connect to ftp server, enter server address that is displayed on phone, navigate to movie files on phone sd card, play, stream to N7 begins.
One app I use is PlayOn. You do have to pay for it, but you can get a free trial for a couple of weeks I think.
It will stream video, pics, and music. After you connect once from your home WiFi, it will then connect from the Internet thereafter - Almost no set up required. A bonus is you can stream REGULAR Hulu. You can use it with PS3, Xbox, and Roku to your TV as well.
They have a lifetime subscription available, and often put it on sale

Categories

Resources