VLC Media Controller

VLC Media Controller For Blackberry

Available to buy from MobiHand, Buy Now and Blackberry App World
VLC Media Controller turns your BlackBerry into a fully functional remote control for VLC media player over a WiFi connection – optimized for playing and navigating video.

 

Already have VLC Media Controller?:

Setup Instructions for Windows
Setup Instructions for MAC
Setup Instructions for Linux

Support and FAQ:

Press:

“The team behind the awesome Wi-Fi File Transfer for BlackBerry app have released another hit.  Their new app VLC Media Controller lets you control your VLC Player over Wi-Fi … I have been playing with the app for a few days and am loving it”
-BerryReview.com

“Ahh, finally! A BlackBerry application that helps me control my VLC media player … Now, after a painful wait for me personally, an app to control VLC from my BlackBerry device is here and works quite well. ”
-CrackBerry.com

Features:

- All standard media player controls (play/pause, next/previous, Fast-Forward/Rewind etc)
- Live update of VLC media player status  including live progress bar, play status and playlist.
- Browse your computer’s file system from your Blackberry in real time, select a movie/music (or a whole folder), and click play to get started.
- “Click-and-Scan”:  use the BlackBerry trackball to scan through a movie to exactly where you want! See where you are scanning to on the progress bar.
- Change the volume using volume keys on side of device.
- Browse PC/Mac file system in real time (including external drives) and add to playlist instantly.
- Select from real time on-screen playlist to switch tracks/video.
- Save multiple VLC connections (home, office etc)

Some features and shortcut Keys (no need to memorize -  all available through the attractive GUI):

- Previous/Next track: o/p
- RW/FW skip: k/l
- Play/Pause toggle: space bar
- Volume:  Blackberry volume control on side of device
- Mute toggle: m
- Browse computer hard drive: d
- Add to playlist: a
- Add to playlist and play: p
- Full Screen mode/Minimize mode toggle: f

What you need:

-A WiFi network.
-A PC or Mac running VLC on the Wifi Network.
-A WiFi capable BlackBerry on the same Wifi network.

Setup: (For detailed instructions, see below)

-Make sure that the PC/Mac running VLC, and the BlackBerry are on the same WiFi network
-Activate the http web interface in VLC
-Start up VLC Media Controller, and enter the PC/Mac IP address – you are now connected!

Screenshots:

 

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In order to use the remote, the following are required:

- A WiFi network.
- A PC on the WiFi network running the latest version of VLC.
- A BlackBerry on the same WiFi network running “VLC Media Controller”.

Using VLC Media Controller requires 3 main steps:

1) Enabling the http remote interface on the VLC player.
2) Finding the IP address of the PC/Mac running VLC.
3) Blackberry settings.
(4) Firewall settings if necessary)

Step 1): Enabling http interface

1. On the PC, open the VLC settings from Tools->Preferences
2. Set to display all settings by clicking the ‘All’ button in the bottom left of the settings box.
3. Enable the http interface:
From the side bar menu, select ‘Interface’, then ‘Main Interfaces’, then check the ‘HTTP Remote Control Interface’ checkbox.
(Make sure to actually click where it says ‘Main Interfaces’ on the left hand window, rather than expanding the list and clicking on a sub-option.)
4. Press save.
5. Exit and restart VLC.

Tip: To check whether the above steps have been performed correctly, go to http://localhost:8080 in a web browser on the PC running VLC.
If the VLC media controller OR a “Forbidden” page pops up then the http interface is runnning -  move on to the next step.
If an “unable to connect” type page appears,  the VLC http interface is not running – recheck the above steps.

Step 2): Finding the PC local IP address

1. From the Windows start menu, go to “run”.
2. type in “cmd” in the popup box.
3. In the cmd window that pops up type “ipconfig”, then press enter.
4. Look for the IP address under the wireless connection. An example of an IP address is “192.168.1.20″.

Step 3): Blackberry application settings

1. Open the VLC Media Controller on the BlackBerry.
2. Type in the PC IP address that was found in step 2). The beginning of the IP address should already be written in the “Add new IP Address” field.
3. Press the “add” button, then click on the connection to test.
4. If the test result is “VLC Found“, the setup is complete.
If the result is “VLC error“  – move on to step 4).
If the result is “VLC not found“, re-check the previous steps.

Step 4): Firewall Settings (if necessary)

If “VLC Error” was seen in the last part of step 3), the firewall settings need changing.
VLC has a file called “.hosts” that controls which IP addresses can access the VLC http interface. This file will need to be edited:
1. Open Word Pad by going Start->All Programs->Accessories>Word Pad.
2. Click “open file” from Word Pad and navigate to: C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\http\.hosts
3. The contents of the file should look similar to this:

#

# Default access-list for VLC HTTP interface

# $Id$

#

# localhost

::1

127.0.0.1

# link-local addresses

#fe80::/64

# private addresses

#fc00::/7

#fec0::/10

#10.0.0.0/8

#172.16.0.0/12

#192.168.0.0/16

# The world

# (comment this out to obtain a safe default)

#::/0

#0.0.0.0/0

4. Remove the “#” marks from the appropriate lines. E.g. To allow all IP addresses to access VLC, edit the file to look like below:

#

# Default access-list for VLC HTTP interface

# $Id$

#

# localhost

::1

127.0.0.1

# link-local addresses

fe80::/64

# private addresses

fc00::/7

fec0::/10

10.0.0.0/8

172.16.0.0/12

192.168.0.0/16

# The world

# (comment this out to obtain a safe default)

::/0

0.0.0.0/0

5) Save the file, and restart VLC.

Now try testing the connection from step 3) again. “VLC Found“  should be displayed and the setup is complete.

In order to use the remote, the following are required:

- A WiFi network.
- A Mac on the WiFi network running the latest version of VLC.
- A BlackBerry on the same WiFi network running “VLC Media Controller”.

Using VLC Media Controller requires 3 main steps:

1) Enabling the http remote interface on the VLC player.
2) Finding the IP address of the Mac running VLC.
3) Blackberry settings.
(4) Firewall settings if necessary)

Step 1): Enabling http interface

1. On the Mac, open the VLC settings from VLC Menu->Preferences
2. Set to display all settings by clicking the ‘All’ button (or “advanced” button )in the bottom left of the settings box.
3. Enable the http interface:
From the side bar menu, select ‘Interface’, then ‘Main Interfaces’, then check the ‘HTTP Remote Control Interface’ checkbox.
(Make sure to actually click where it says ‘Main Interfaces’ on the left hand window, rather than expanding the list and clicking on a sub-option.)
4. Press save.
5. Exit and restart VLC.

Tip: To check whether the above steps have been performed correctly, go to http://localhost:8080 in a web browser on the Mac running VLC.
If the VLC media controller OR a “Forbidden” page pops up then the http interface is runnning -  move on to the next step.
If an “unable to connect” type page appears,  the VLC http interface is not running – recheck the above steps.

Step 2): Finding the Mac local IP address

Find the IP address of your Mac and note it down.

Step 3): Blackberry application settings

1. Open the VLC Media Controller on the BlackBerry.
2. Type in the Mac IP address that was found in step 2). The beginning of the IP address should already be written in the “Add new IP Address” field.
3. Press the “add” button, then click on the connection to test.
4. If the test result is “VLC Found“, the setup is complete.
If the result is “VLC error“  – move on to step 4).
If the result is “VLC not found“, re-check the previous steps.

Step 4): Firewall Settings (if necessary)

If “VLC Error” was seen in the last part of step 3), the firewall settings need changing.
VLC has a file called “.hosts” that controls which IP addresses can access the VLC http interface. This file will need to be edited. (Note that this file may be hidden)
1. Open a terminal window
The terminal application should be available under “applications -> utilities”.  A command window should open.
2. Use the following command to open the .hosts file (edit if your installation path is different):
open -e /Applications/VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/share/http/.hosts
3. The hosts file should open in the Text Editor.  The contents of the file should look similar to this:

#

# Default access-list for VLC HTTP interface

# $Id$

#

# localhost

::1

127.0.0.1

# link-local addresses

#fe80::/64

# private addresses

#fc00::/7

#fec0::/10

#10.0.0.0/8

#172.16.0.0/12

#192.168.0.0/16

# The world

# (comment this out to obtain a safe default)

#::/0

#0.0.0.0/0

4. Remove the “#” marks from the appropriate lines. E.g. To allow all IP addresses to access VLC, edit the file to look like below:

#

# Default access-list for VLC HTTP interface

# $Id$

#

# localhost

::1

127.0.0.1

# link-local addresses

fe80::/64

# private addresses

fc00::/7

fec0::/10

10.0.0.0/8

172.16.0.0/12

192.168.0.0/16

# The world

# (comment this out to obtain a safe default)

::/0

0.0.0.0/0

5) Save the file, and restart VLC.

Now try testing the connection from step 3) again. “VLC Found“  should be displayed and the setup is complete.

In order to use the remote, the following are required:

- A WiFi network.
- A Linux on the WiFi network running the latest version of VLC.
- A BlackBerry on the same WiFi network running “VLC Media Controller”.

Using VLC Media Controller requires 3 main steps:

1) Enabling the http remote interface on the VLC player.
2) Finding the IP address of the PC/Mac/Linux running VLC.
3) Blackberry settings.
(4) Firewall settings if necessary)

Step 1): Enabling http interface

1. On the PC, open the VLC settings from VLC Menu->Preferences
2. Set to display all settings by clicking the ‘All’ button (or “advanced” button )in the bottom left of the settings box.
3. Enable the http interface:
From the side bar menu, select ‘Interface’, then ‘Main Interfaces’, then check the ‘HTTP Remote Control Interface’ checkbox.
(Make sure to actually click where it says ‘Main Interfaces’ on the left hand window, rather than expanding the list and clicking on a sub-option.)
4. Press save.
5. Exit and restart VLC.

Tip: To check whether the above steps have been performed correctly, go to http://localhost:8080 in a web browser on the PC running VLC.
If the VLC media controller OR a “Forbidden” page pops up then the http interface is runnning -  move on to the next step.
If an “unable to connect” type page appears,  the VLC http interface is not running – recheck the above steps.

Step 2): Finding the Linux local IP address

1. Open a terminal: Menu < Accesories < Terminal OR Alt+F2 and then type “xterm”/”gnome-
terminal”/”Konsole” (without “”)
2. Type in the terminal “ifconfig” (without “”), then press enter.

Step 3): Blackberry application settings

1. Open the VLC Media Controller on the BlackBerry.
2. Type in the Mac IP address that was found in step 2). The beginning of the IP address should already be written in the “Add new IP Address” field.
3. Press the “add” button, then click on the connection to test.
4. If the test result is “VLC Found“, the setup is complete.
If the result is “VLC error“  – move on to step 4).
If the result is “VLC not found“, re-check the previous steps.

Step 4): Firewall Settings (if necessary)

If “VLC Error” was seen in the last part of step 3), the firewall settings need changing.
VLC has a file called “.hosts” that controls which IP addresses can access the VLC http interface. This file will need to be edited. (Note that this file may be hidden)
1. Open a terminal
2. Type “sudo gedit /usr/share/vlc/http/.hosts” (or just find the .hosts file in the path and open it with the
text editor of your choice, but remember to use it as admin user)
3. The hosts file should open in the Text Editor.  The contents of the file should look similar to this:

#
# Access-list for VLC HTTP interface
# $Id$
#

# localhost
::1
127.0.0.1

# link-local addresses
#fe80::/64

# private addresses
#fc00::/7
#fec0::/10

#10.0.0.0/8
#172.16.0.0/12
#192.168.0.0/16
#169.254.0.0/16

# The world (uncommenting these 2 lines is not quite safe)
#::/0
#0.0.0.0/0

4. Remove the “#” marks from the appropriate lines. E.g. To allow all IP addresses to access VLC, edit the file to look like below:

#
# Access-list for VLC HTTP interface
# $Id$
#

# localhost
::1
127.0.0.1

# link-local addresses
fe80::/64

# private addresses
fc00::/7
fec0::/10
10.0.0.0/8
172.16.0.0/12
192.168.0.0/16
169.254.0.0/16

# The world (uncommenting these 2 lines is not quite safe)
::/0
0.0.0.0/0

5) Save the file, and restart VLC.

Now try testing the connection from step 3) again. “VLC Found“  should be displayed and the setup is complete.