Newcomer - not happy with iPad

[NSquirrel]

Select video or the folder with the videos and then you need to click download, which is loacted at bottom right of nolayer.

Once downloaded look in local, in nplayer.
I hope this helps.

 

[Thomas1977]

I just had to say this how could anyone not be happy with iPad.? iPad sometimes works better than a computer at times.

 

[NSquirrel]

Thomas1977. Thanks for your comment.

Please don't think of or take these comments as a rebuke or flaming, but I would just like to say that our Newcomer is PC and Python experienced, which with an iPad can be quite a drawback, because many things are done so differently. Hence first attempts were a perplexing failure to him. Most of us take time to get to know the iPad, possibly because we have done a fair amount of research into them before buying, or have Macs anyway, so we can adapt to the learning curve - of which there is one. Sandboxing everything being counter to Windows experience.

Our newcomer has recently been loaned the iPad and wants it to do something actually slightly complicated and impressive for a newbie and on top of that, I believe that he is having to translate my assistance into Czech -poor chap. (I would not have a hope in hell if I were trying to explain it in any other language.) What is more, I am sure that we all have our slightly different or preferred solutions to his problem.

Once he can do what he wants, then maybe he will explore the iPad more, if we haven't put him off. Then he will hopefully see what a great device it is.

Hopefully I am pointing him towards one solution, as that is all he needs at present. It may not be the most efficient, certainly not perfect, but one solution gets him 'on the road.'

Many people here, I think yourself included, have kindly pointed me in the right direction at times and that is the beauty of this forum.

 

[NSquirrel]

pdanes: First my apologies; I forgot that you had not been able to get the Shared Folder method to work, and hence downloading the files was not something you had been able to get to. I should have gone ahead and put together the step by step via Dropbox.

Also, I understood, now I see incorrectly, that you were using the Dropbox app, which as we both know wants to take our money in order to save the files locally. Going through the nplayer Dropbox connection will download them either to the download tab, or I think more likely the Local tab without any extra charges. (I would check where the files go, but my wife is currently using the ipad... I will get it back later )

Tell us how you get on downloading. It does work and did for me. My next step would be to do a simple video so that you can actually see what I am doing. You are so nearly to doing what you want to do.

 

[twerppoet]

Python? I missed that. There is a python automation app available for the iPad. Not as capable as python on a Windows computer, but more than nothing. I dont’ use it myself, but it has been mentioned several times by iPad power users in their podcasts and blogs.

Pythonista 3 by omz:software Pythonista 3 on the App Store

Worflow, another great automation app, can call scripts from Pythonista for even more fexibilty.

Sorry for going slightly off track, but it sounds like something the OP might like.

 

[NSquirrel]

pdanes: Check your PM for a link to a video...

 

[pdanes]

I just had to say this how could anyone not be happy with iPad.? iPad sometimes works better than a computer at times.

Because it does almost nothing that I want it to, and endless stuff I don't want it to. Sure, every device has some sort of learning curve, but this is beyond ridiculous. I have spent hours and hours over a period of several months, fucking with something that was *-LITERALLY-* a plug-and-play operation with an Asus/Android setup. I connected the device to my computer with a USB cable, and they immediately recognized each other. Transferring the videos from my computer to the tablet was a one-move drag-and-drop operation. Downloading and installing VLC took all of about three minutes, and the player simply worked. The iPad is constantly doing something I don't want, and regularly refuses to do what I do want. The operation is clumsy, unintuitive and constantly nags me to do twenty unrelated things before I can do the one thing I want, and often even then doesn't do it correctly. It hangs regularly, the touch interface is miserable, often requiring repeated touches to make something happen. It is by far the most cantankerous piece of electronics I've ever had the misfortune to get my hands on, and the software I've been trying to use is worse than stuff I wrote when I was first learning to program. The next person who tries to tell me that Apple products are the superior path had better hit the ground running.

 

[Brian 244]

It basically boils down to the iPad and iOS not suiting your use case. Why not just switch back to Android if that is what worked for you? I'm sure you'll be able to sell the iPad easy peasy and save yourself further frustration.

 

[NSquirrel]

Brian244. That is not a helpful comment. Please read the whole thread, understand the 'Use Case', and then you may understand what the OP is trying to do with the iPad, which for your information, is suited to his use case.

PLEASE can we get back to trying to help someone.

 

[Brian 244]

I've been following the thread since the beginning and we are at Post 82 and the OP is still not happy with the device. He says outright that Android was way easier for what he wants to do.

I'm not trying to troll your hard work and I am a huge iPad fan but in this case it really feels like trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. Or to use another analogy : yes you could easily load the sofa onto the back of a pickup truck but we are going to try our damnedest to get it tied to the top of your Ford Focus...

 

[pdanes]

Brian 244:

I also feel like it is simply not designed to do what I want. Or at the very least, the software is not written to do what I want. Some stuff works very nicely, but the main reason I have this thing is to play these short videos, and that it does miserably.

I very much appreciate Squirrel's patience and advice in trying to help me get some sort of grip on this thing. However, if you really have been following this from day one, you would have noted that in my very first post, in the very first SENTENCE I wrote that I had borrowed this thing from a friend. She had something else assigned to her by the company she works for (she's an airline pilot) and this iPad was just sitting at her home gathering dust, so she let me try my luck with it.

Squirrel assures me that I'm almost there, so I'm still trying, but quite honestly, if I had had the slightest inkling of how much trouble this was going to be, I would have simply bought a better device right from the start. The amount of time and hassle that this thing has caused me far outweighs the few dollars I saved on a purchase.

 

[Brian 244]

Sorry missed the part about it being a freebie. Guess you can’t argue about the price ...

Best of luck, hope you’re able to find a way to make it suit your needs.

 

[Thomas1977]

Perhaps it would of been better if the iPad was reset as new before it was given to you.

 

[pdanes]

Maybe so, but I don't know how to do that. Another friend suggested I reinstall the whole thing, but I don't know how to do that either. It's not mine - I don't want to trash it. I did install an OS update that it claimed it wanted, and to all appearances, that was successful.

 

[NSquirrel]

Nothing in the problem suggested an error requiring a reset.

It is worth knowing how to do a reset, which does not delete any data.

Steps to Hard Reset the iPad Mini

• To hard reset the iPad Mini, just hold down the “Sleep/Wake” button and the “Home” at the same time for about ten seconds until the Apple logo appears. The device should then boot normally.