Watch videos and stream digital TVon your mobile device with AiVideos

COURSE OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this course you should be able to:
1. Use AiVideos to watch videos from an ASUSTOR NAS
2. Use AiVideos to stream and watch digital TV
3. Remotely control video conversions

PREREQUISITES
Course Prerequisites:
NAS 138 Introduction to LooksGood
Students are expected to have a working knowledge of:
Smartphones or tablets

OUTLINE

1. Preparing your NAS

Please ensure the following before using AiVideo:

• LooksGood has been installed on the NAS.
• If you wish to use TV streaming, please ensure that a TV dongle is installed on the NAS and has good reception.
• MX Player has been installed on your mobile device.

2. Installation and Connection

2.1 Install AiVideos from Google Play

STEP 1

• Open Google Play
• Search for and install the AiVideos app.

2.2 Connecting to your NAS with AiVideos

STEP 1

• Open AiVideos and select the [ + ] button.

STEP 2

• AiVideos AiVideos is able to connect to your NAS via 3 methods:
  - Connect via Cloud ID
  - Connect via Host/IP
  - Auto Discovery
  
  In our example, we will select the simplest method (Auto Discovery) to connect to a NAS.
• After selecting [ Auto Discovery ], AiVideos will scan your Local network for ASUSTOR NAS devices.

STEP 3

• Select the NAS that is found and then enter the username and password for it.
• Select the button to connect to the NAS.

3. Smart Video Management

Features three main built-in video library categories: Movies, TV Shows and Home Videos. Smart Video Management also provides a large poster index mode, so you can easily manage and find videos quickly.

3.1 Movies

3.2 TV Shows

3.3 Video Playlists

3.4 Share Link

4. Media Explorer

4.1 Introduction to basic functions

4.1.1 Search function

Selecting the icon in the upper right-hand corner will cause the search field to be displayed. Enter the keywords that you want to search for and the results will automatically be displayed below.

4.1.2 Sorting

Selecting the icon in the upper right-hand corner will cause a drop-down menu to be displayed, giving you options that you can use to organize the way in which files are listed in the interface. The icon will change according to the option you select.

4.2 Video folder operations

4.2.1 Add to Media Converter

Select the "More" icon for a folder or file that you wish to add to Media Converter. Select [Add to Media Converter] from the drop down menu. Your NAS will then begin the media conversion or add the file/folder to the media conversion queue. If you wish to check the file status, queue status or event log, please select [Media Converter] from the main menu.

4.2.2 Set as Smart Folder

Select the "More" icon for a folder that you wish to set as a smart folder. Select [Set as Smart Folder] from the drop down menu that appears. Once a folder has been set as a smart folder, any new video files added to the folder will automatically be converted.

4.3 Video operations

To perform operations on a video file, select the "More" icon to the right of the file. A drop down menu will then appear. The [Add to Media Converter] operation is covered in section 4.2.1.

4.3.1 Selecting the video playback resolution

Selecting [Resolution] will cause a window to appear, allowing you to select the playback resolution. After selecting the resolution, playback will begin.

4.3.2 Media Information

Selecting [Media Information] will display the video’s media information page. This page includes the following information:

• General: Displays the video directory, size, length, and subtitle format.
• Video: Displays information such as the video resolution and encoding format.
• Audio: Displays the encoding format, sampling rate, audio channels, bitrate, and language.

4.3.3 Video download

Selecting [Download] will cause the video to be downloaded from your NAS to your mobile device. If you wish to view the downloads in progress or completed downloads, please select [Download Directory] from the left side of the main menu.

5. TV Recordings

5.1 Introduction to basic functions

1. Interface functions

• Refresh
• Search
• Sort by
• Live Stream

2. Basic video organization (swipe left or right to change)

• Program name
• Recently added
• Recently viewed
• My favorites

3. Video thumbnail and name

5.2 Stream digital TV programs

STEP 1

• Select the [ … ] icon.
• Select [Live Stream] from the drop down menu.

STEP 2

• A channel list will now appear. Select the channel of your choice and it will begin to stream.
• Additionally, selecting the [ > ] icon will give you the program guide for the channel.

5.3 Browsing video information and playback

5.3.1 Browsing video information

Detailed video information allows you to learn more about the video you want to play. You can browse the following information:

• Program name
• Recording start time
• TV channel name
• Length of recording
• Program description

5.3.2 Adding recorded files to Favorites

Select the button to add the recorded file to “Favorites” for convenient viewing at a later date.

5.3.3 Playing videos

Select the icon to play the video file.

5.3.4 Browsing media information

Selecting the icon will allow you to browse media information. Media information includes the following:

• Video file location
• File size
• Video length
• Subtitles
• Resolution
• Video codec
• Playable resolutions
• Audio codec
• Sample rate
• Supported audio channels
• BitRate
• Audio language

5.4. Other

The [Refresh], [Search] and [Sort by] functions accessed from the "More" icon’s drop down menu are described below.

5.4.1 Refresh

If LooksGood has a TV program that just finished recording, you can select [Refresh] and the newly recorded program will be then be displayed in the interface (thumbnail and program name).

5.4.2 Search

Selecting [Search] will cause the search window to appear. Enter any keywords you wish to search for and then select [Search] to search for them.

5.4.3 Sort by

Selecting [Sort by] will allow you to sort the videos in the interface alphabetically from a-z or from z-a.

6. Controlling Remote Video Conversions

6.1 Checking the media conversion status

Select [Media Converter] from the main menu. You will now be able to view the Media Converter status page. This page will display the conversion progress bar along with associated information. You can select "Continue", "Pause" or "Delete" to continue, pause or remove any conversions in progress.

6.2 Managing the conversion queue

Swiping to the [Queue] page, will display all video files queued for conversion. You can select and hold the "Shuffle" icon to modify the order of the files in the queue or select the "Edit" icon to remove any files from the queue.

6.3 Event log

Swiping to the [Log] page will display all successfully completed and unsuccessful conversion tasks. Selecting any log item will display the name of the file, its conversion resolution, time of completion, time elapsed and whether it was successful or not.

7. Settings

Select [Settings] from the main menu.

7.1 Passcode lock and auto login

Select the [General] page.

• Select [Turn Passcode On] to activate passcode locking. If you wish to change your passcode, select [Change Passcode].
• You can turn auto login on and off by using toggle provided.

7.2 Edit Library

Select the [Library] page. You can create indexed folders for your videos in video library.

1. Select your library type.

2. Add folders to your library.

7.3 Media converter

Select the [Media Converter] page. The settings described below will be available to be configured. After configurations have been completed, select [Apply] to make them effective.

1. Enable converting task scheduling.

2. File location (location to save converted files to): You can choose to save converted files in the same location as the original file or in a different location of your choice.

8. Notes

1. For optimal video playback quality, ASUSTOR recommends that you set MX Player as your default media player for use with AiVideos.

2. If you encounter problems or issues with sound while playing videos, please see: NAS 247 Configuring AiVideos and MX Decoder.

3. Models currently supporting hardware transcoding: AS3 / 31 / 32 / 50 / 51/ 61 / 62 / 63 / 64 / 70 series (need to enable Media Mode)

4. An incompatible TV dongle or weak signal will affect the TV recording and streaming function. For a list of compatible TV dongles please see:

https://www.asustor.com/service/tv_stick?id=tv_stick&brand_id=&type_id=27

5. The examples in this course were conducted from within a LAN environment. Users who wish to use AiVideos with their NAS from over the Internet should note the following:

• Whether or not the NAS has a static WAN IP
• Port forwarding has been configured correctly with the correct ports (9900 ~ 9908) open
• To help you understand how to remotely access your NAS from the Internet, please see: [ NAS 221 ]

EZ-Router WAN Connection Ports for LooksGood and AiVideos