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VLC Remote (Hobbyist Software): Does VLC Setup Helper supposed to be open?

The VLC Setup Helper is just a tool to help those that don't know exactly what they are doing to configure it with their computer's IP address. Once configured all you have to do is open vlc normally. However if you ever have problem you will probably have to rerun it as your IP address has most likely (i'm assuming that would be the issue) changed.

Try just opening vlc when it's paired to your device and then running the remote. That should work and give you no problems unless your computer's IP address changes.
 
i'm the only compouter on wifi at home so it shouldn't change right?

i've also noticed that i can't browse my computer's hard drive unless VLC is open. and when i close VLC on the computer, the app will lag and eventually force close. i was hoping to be able to use the app to browse files and watch them, but having to open them up first is just a tedious step :/ great app otherwise!
 
Your IP address most likely won't change if you don't have other computers connecting to it. Normally your router will hold your IP address for a given amount of time (mine saves the IP address to the mac address of the computer for 1 day). So if the time passes and my computer hasn't connected in a day a new IP address may be issued to my computer if another one takes it. Since you only have one computer that you use (if you have a router with lan + wifi they both use the same set of IP addresses) then you shouldn't see your IP address changing. If you do see it change however you can manually change it in the app without opening the VLC Setup Helper.

Just find out your local IP address in windows by going to run typing "cmd" and then a black terminal box will appear. Type ipconfig and it'll show your network's ip address and you can just alter the number in your app to the appropriate one.

From my experience of the app that you're talking about you just have to have the app open then you can go about browsing files on your computer and open them without any troubles. Just as long as vlc is open you'll be able to browse. Also as for the force close I haven't personally experienced any force closes but force closes can have many other factors to do with it (make of the phone, rom you're running, version of the app you're running, etc)
 
Hi,

I'm here from Hobbyist Software (my google alert found this thread).
As MJM128 says, you should only need the setup helper to configure VLC initially. Once you have run it once, you only need to run it again when you update VLC.

re IP addresses and whether they are changing; You can check the ip address without using the terminal by just clicking on the advanced tab of the vlc setup helper. Similarly, after pairing you can do a long press on the computer on your android and tap on edit. You'll see the ip address that you are using.

Most routers will give the same ip address every time to the same computer - but there are some that won't. If it is your router, then you can probably log in to it and find a setting which will make it give out the same ip address. Slightly more complicated would be to set up your computer with a static ip address (google for instructions if you need to do this).

re the browsing thing - you are 100% right that you can't browse unless VLC is open.
In fact - you can't do anything with vlc remote unless VLC is open. Essentially, the remote talks to VLC, so if VLC isn't open it can't do anything. Could this be the root cause of the whole issue?

On my computer, I set VLC to autostart when I open the computer. That might be appropriate for you too!
 
yeah, after playing around more with the software and watching four episodes of Dexter in a row it seems that the whole issue was because VLC wasn't open. Is there a way to auto-start VLC without having a video file/window open?
 
This is slick. The missing piece to the puzzle is how to start VLC. I run VLC on a linux box, so I could use SSH to start it (just export the display). Does anyone have any ideas how I could run a script on the server from my phone? I have seen a bunch of SSH clients out there, but are there any that accept data when you run them?

I'm thinking Tasker would be great here. Make a widget that launches the SSH client and passes on the command to execute on the server upon connect, then launch the VLC remote. Hmm...
 
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