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Help New User - Need a Little Help

A

adt2

Newbie
So I bought my kids each a Nexus 7 for Christmas to replace their aging iPhone 3G's (they just use them as iPods - no phone service; my wife and I hand them down when we upgrade). I've been trying to get the tablets set up for them with their music, movies, books, and apps, and so far most things have either gone smoothly or been easy enough to figure out on the fly.

However...I am now working on loading some of their movies. I think I understand the workflow - plug unit into computer via USB and then copy from hard drive to "Movies" folder on device. And when I do that, the movies appear in the "Personal Videos" section of the default movie player app. BUT - the movie will not play in landscape mode. When I click on the free "Ice Age" movie, or even the "Planet Earth" episodes in the TV Shows tab, the device immediately switches from portrait to landscape and starts playing. When I click the movie in the Personal Videos section, it plays a very squished-up version in portrait mode only. There is no option to rotate.

As far as I know, I'm running the latest version of the software - 4.2 build JOP40C. When I pull down on the notification bar, there is no icon for orientation lock...and I can't figure out where else it might be located.

What am I missing here? Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Welcome to the forums!!! :D


That is very strange. The only movie I've watched on this device is the transformers movie that came with it and it was definitely in landscape mode like it should have been.

Have you tried using a different video playing app? Just a thought of something else to try. I assume you were using the google play movies app before right?
 
Okay, I downloaded a different video player (MX Player) and the video shows up in the list and plays in landscape, as it should (and looks outstanding BTW). So does that indicate a problem with my hardware? Or an OS glitch? Or something wrong with my video encoding?
 
Given no other alternatives, that's what I'll do. I prefer to use the built-in apps whenever possible (I tend to think anything built-in that I immediately have to upgrade to make useful is bad design), but in this case it's more important that my kids be able to find their Iron Man or Barbie movies (whichever the case may be) than that said movies play in a specific application.

Thanks for the tips.
 
Hi! The N7 as you mentioned is a great device but unfortunately you cant play any movie file out of the box, I know what you mean by using the built in features but sometimes its not enough, the MX player is a great player with a broad range of file types to read and there is no problem with your device..
 
Google Play Movies is really setup more to get you to buy content from google and have it play in that app. I guess I'm not particularly suprised it has issues with movies that aren't from its ecosystem.

Also, the movies/magazines/books/music apps are still fairly new, so it could just be a lingering bug in the software

Anyway, the great thing about android is that there are always alternative. Theres nothing wrong with using an app from the market in place of one that came with it. Just because it comes pre-installed doesn't mean its the best option out there. Thats just what google wants you to use so they get money from your purchases :)
 
adt2 said:
Given no other alternatives, that's what I'll do. I prefer to use the built-in apps whenever possible (I tend to think anything built-in that I immediately have to upgrade to make useful is bad design), but in this case it's more important that my kids be able to find their Iron Man or Barbie movies (whichever the case may be) than that said movies play in a specific application.

Thanks for the tips.
Click to expand...

That's the great thing about Android. You can actually use other apps to make something more useful you aren't restricted to using what they want you to use. All about choices
 
adt2 said:
As far as I know, I'm running the latest version of the software - 4.2 build JOP40C. When I pull down on the notification bar, there is no icon for orientation lock...and I can't figure out where else it might be located.
Click to expand...

Pull the notication down at the right end. This gives you a different pane and there is an "Orientation Lock" button there.

I was about to say you can go into Settings, but I can't see where in Settings the option is. I recall it being under Display in earlier versions of Android, but it's not there in 4.2.
 
jhsrennie said:
Pull the notication down at the right end. This gives you a different pane and there is an "Orientation Lock" button there.

I was about to say you can go into Settings, but I can't see where in Settings the option is. I recall it being under Display in earlier versions of Android, but it's not there in 4.2.
Click to expand...

It's under "Accessibility" in 4.2.
 
John Bean said:
Are you on version 4.2? If so there are two bars - pull down the one on the top right of the screen, not the left.
Click to expand...

That did it. I hadn't seen before where there are two different notification pull-downs. Video now plays perfectly in built-in video player.

Thanks!
 
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