Getting to grips with SAMSUNG ALLSHARE

NE0

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Lets face it , for those who have used Samsungs Allshare software, it's not fantastic software! it sounds like it should be, but for those who have used it, I'm sure you'll all agree, it's not!! it's Buggy! It crashes and freezes if you do anything. When I mean anything, I mean if you treat it like any other software and add or remove files it just doesn't seem to respond in the same way. In essence I've discovered that playing files on the PC via allshare onto your SMART TV is not as easy as it looks!!!!
but I believe I've now mastered it........................to a degree!!!!

Start Allshare on the PC
First create a folder on the PC with Explorer and put your vids into it.
Start Allshare! You'll find all the default folders are blank!
Then add the folder you just created via My computers shared folder option in Allshare on the top left side.
Allshare then updates itself scanning the folder. Run Allshare on the PC, do the same on the TV.
Using the TV Allshare menu, select your video and all being well....watch it!

However, you may have noticed that when you add an extra video etc to the folder
or delete some,(Allshare often freezes when I did this) the contents are not updated in Allshare! any new files simply don't appear on the TV menu.
They can't be found by Allshare because there's no refresh option!

My solution is, having added new vids, right click on the folder in the PCs Allshare (top left )and select stop sharing shared folder. Allshare updates and shows the folder is removed.
Now go back to Allshares My computers shared folder (top left)and re-add the folder again (with the updated vids) and Allshare then reloads the folder along with any updated vids etc.

Keep Your folders small as updating allshare takes forever if you've got loads of videos in the folder.
It's better to have lots of folders with a small number of vids in each one.



Playing Videos etc on the TV
I've also discovered that when you start Allshare on the TV when you select the options of Videos, photos, and music on the left side of the screen. Only folders with the chosen option will have anything in them.
i.e if you have a folder with ALL three file types: mkv, jpegs, mp3 then selecting VIDEO will only show the videos within the folder NOT the photos etc.
To see the photos in that folder you need to select the PHOTO option on the left side and then navigate to your folder and ONLY the photos will show, not the videos.

I thought ALL files would be visible..... but NO the options on the LEFT are FILTERS.

Hope this helps someone and hopefully this helps finding your new files.



.
 
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Dont waste your time with Allshare just use Serviio like everyone else, does what you need without the mess of Allshare. It has profiles for Samsung TV's and can transcode media that wont work plus can pull down media from select websites via plugins.
 
I haven't found Allshare difficult to use, compared to other software. Everything has its quirks that you have to get used to.
 
Dont waste your time with Allshare just use Serviio like everyone else, does what you need without the mess of Allshare. It has profiles for Samsung TV's and can transcode media that wont work plus can pull down media from select websites via plugins.

OK, I'm new here and not IT / PC savvy, so please bear with me.

I've been looking for a Media program for a while. I've tried using the Allshare that came with the Samsung TV's, then I tried TVMobili, following the above advice I've now installed Serviio.

I'm semi-retired living in Thailand. I have 3 Samsung LED TV's in my condo conected to a LAN. Also on the LAN I have a PC which I use for a variety of purposes, predominantly work related. Additionally there is an HP Proliant Micro-Server on the LAN, which is fitted with an O/S drive and 4 H-Drives ( 2 TB each ) for media storage. I access the Sever from the PC to instigate Torrent downloads etc, which the Server then manages. All good so far.

My issue is that I don't seem to be able to find a Media program that can effectively access all the stored films / TV pepisodes etc. stored on my Server drives. Seriio can "see" all the drives ( c, w, x, y & z ). Serviio can see, for instance, the folder "NCIS", which contains sub-folders "Season 1", Season 2" etc. these in turn contain sub-sub-folders each containing an individual episode. Serviio cannot see the sub-folders or sub-sub-folders.

I have had similar issues with Allshare and TVMobilli, so I am starting to wonder if the problem is related to the way I have arranged the folders.

Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated, please.

Thanks in anticipation, Proffesor
 
I am starting to wonder if the problem is related to the way I have arranged the folders.
Ok well it seems to me that you need to rearrange some files in order to establish whether it's the folders or the files which are the issue.

I think you need to maybe pop all your NCIS episodes into a folder for each season. Name them
NCIS/Season 1/01 - episode 1 title
NCIS/Season 2/02 - episode 2 title etc.

If that doesn't work, try moving a few up into the top NCIS folder and name them
NCIS/season 1 - 01 - episode 1 title
NCIS/season 1 - 02 - episode 2 title etc.

If that doesn't work, you could try moving them up into a root folder, but I wouldn't like having that arrangement of files.
More likely I would try renaming the files with a different extension to see whether the player is programmed to recognise files of a certain type.
That might still fail if it tries to read the file to get information and fails because the extension doesn't match the file format.
So then you need to actually try making a different file type. At that point, I would be looking round for a better player as the prospect of converting all my files to a different format would be horrific.
 
Hi, Thanks for your suggestions.

Yes, moving a couple of video files into the ( default ) "My Videos" folder on the OS ( c ) drive enables them to be "seen" - but as you say, this is hardly a solution ! The whole purpose of having a Media Server is to have access to a vast media library.

Taking away all of the sub & sub-sub folders appears to work as well; but it is not practical to sort through ( for instance ) 9 seasons of 20+ episodes of Law & Order, in order to get to Law & Order SVU - and that ignores hundreds ( if not thousands ) of folders that would be ( alphabetically ) in front of "L" ( Law & Order ).

You make reference to "a better player", could you give me a few suggestions, please.

Thanks again for your input.

Proffesor
 
Could be some sort of permissions issue or filename issue with such deeply nested folders, you ordinarily wouldn't give a file it's own folder.

Check and see if Plex is in the Samsung app store, it is a much better media playback system then DLNA although it does use the same core media player on the TV it does not use DLNA for media scanning and organization so it might fair better, add the top level folders holding all the content.

You need the Plex server installed on your PC. There is a linux version of the Plex server & it can be installed on Windows home servers too.

There are tools out there that can automate your media library with renaming/moving into folders, MyMovies I think does it, the complex SortTV definitely does it, thats it's primary purpose.
 
Seems we've moved off the topic of Getting to grips with SAMSUNG ALLSHARE.

This could have gone in its own thread for SERVIIO......:offtopic:
 
Can we stay on topic here it is not fair top the OP, if you want to discuss any of the many other programs available then feel free to do so in your own thread.

Curly
 
Strange to read these comments. I use Allshare to read my NAS files with no problems. Cant really see an issue.
 
Stumbled upon this whilst trying to remove a file I'd been watching on my USB stick when plugged into the TV.

In ALLSHARE your most recent files viewed remain (as thumbnails) on the RECENTLY PLAYED list. Great if you want to play it again, NOT so good if someone else sees what you've been watching!...... Alright then I was watching p0rn!!

Resetting the HuB does nothing!
Watching anything else replaces the recently viewed file but only moves the previous file along the list!

How to delete
Go to the menu of allshare on the smart TV where the recently watched files list is, select the file using the arrow keys on your remote as if you want to watch it again, then select TOOLS on the remote and then you have a few choices of PLAY, REMOVE, INFORMATION. Simply select REMOVE and the file is deleted from the History list.

So far I've not found a way to delete ALL, you need to delete individually.

Hope this helps someone other than me :devil:
 
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Stumbled upon this whilst trying to remove a file I'd been watching on my USB stick when plugged into the TV.

In ALLSHARE your most recent files viewed remain on the RECENTLY PLAYED list. Great if you want to play it again, NOT so good if someone else sees what you've been watching!...... Alright then I was watching p0rn!!

I also stumbled on this, when I had to return the first set I bought, and was trying to make sure all personal traces were removed. In my case it was family photographs which I had viewed -- thumbnails were still visible, even though the USB stick was no longer plugged in. Took me ages to delete them all. Samsung really need to fix this.
 
Samsung really need to fix this


As i've said in another thread....

Are you assuming Samsung 'monitor' these boards for intel on their products? i can't imagine they do.
They rely upon problems being reported by their online reporting tool or their call out engineers.


trouble is unless you've reported it to them, they won't do anything about it!
 
Do the likes of Serviio have an installable front end for the likes of the 2012 model Samsung TV's. I listen to a lot of music via my Squeezebox but was considering redeploying it and using the features of the Samsung smart TV to stream media.

Allshare is too quirky (where did all that music library that it says it has scanned go) and the front end on the TV pretty aweful to use so I'd like something that looks good.

Anyone got anything working?
 
Having tried All-share, Serviio, Tversity and a few others I finally found Mezzmo. This server was the only program that could stream and transcode MKV files to my Samsung PS51E550 Smart TV. It isn't free but works perfectly with all media types.
 
Hi,

When playing music from my Samsung Galaxy to my Samsung smart tv, all tunes on the phone appear in one long list rather than folders. Anyone know how to get the music to appear in folders on the phone? Alternatively can I see my phone from my tv and do it that way instead??

Thanks,
 
Doh just seen how to see phone from tv, but again all tunes are in one big list. Not particularly useful?
 
Ok I have always had problems with Allshare as well. But first, as a solution to the first poster OP, that wanted to update a list of videos on a shared folder, I found that selecting the shared folder I would get all the videos showing up in the right hand window. Right clicking any empty space in that window would bring up an option to refresh which would then display the new videos. Worked for me. (under Window 7)

However, my current problem is much more insideous. I upgraded to Windows 8. All of a sudden I don't have anything showing up in My Computer's Shared Folders. I try to add something by pressing the + button OR by pressing the + Add Shared Folder option in the window that shows up when I click on No Shared Folder. Either way, I get a folder list to select BUT nothing happens when I select a folder. The menu still says No Shared Folder.

I know it's wrong because I can see most of my files on my Samsung Bluray player and on my Samsung TV (separate connections). BUT I can't see them on my computer nor can I update the list with new videos.

If I use Tools | Settings I can see all my shared folders. I can even "add" to the shared folders here. But even though the new folder will show up in this list, it won't show up on my TV or on my Bluray.

I did try uninstalling and reinstalling under Windows 8. I thought it worked. All of a sudden I could set up all my folders and they showed up under the My Computer's Shared Folder list. But it was only temporary... after the first computer reboot it had again reverted to not seeing my shared folders.

FRUSTRATING - How do I get Allshare to recognize my Shared Folders under Windows 8.
 
Why not save yourself a whole bunch of trouble and not use Allshare it is a terrible and buggy piece of software.

Use the built in DLNA server under Windows 8 (in Windows media player, just enable media streaming) or if you want something more advanced install DLNA servers like Mezzmo or Serviio.
 
Don't like the $30 for Mezzmo. Testing out Serviio right now. Seems ok but missing the on computer screen view. Also trying out a new DLNA transcoder called AllMediaShare. Seems good but still in Beta.

Any program I use must be able to transcode the maximum number of video and audio formats.
 
Followed your suggestion of unsharing and resharing folder. Now no files are visible, old or new. Could it be the firewall?
 
Hi, I am also new to this but like so many others I am struggling to get to 1st base. My network LAN is setup fine I think and I can see devices in Windows. However, in Allshare on my PC I can't seem to add shared folders. Also when searching from the Smart TV, it can't find files on my hard drive - videos, photos or music. I can play files to the TV but only by using the 'Play To' command using right click within Windows Explorer. I have tried closing down firewalls without success. I never thought it would be this difficult. Maybe I should have just given in and gone with Apple!:(
 
Ok, lots of good info. So far I have uninstalled Allshare from my PC as it wanted me to turn off my Virus checker (trand) whenever the server is running. big nono and have installed Serviio (it is still searching for video/audio/pictures onPC so jury is still out).
What I have been tryingto do is set up a Samsung BD-D8500 (PVR) and BD-E5900 (BD/DVD player) so that I can play back the video recorded from free to TV on the PVR on the DVD player (they are in different rooms of the house). I have got them connected by WiFi, and the DVD can see the PVR Video, Music and Image folders, I can even play video in them. But I can not see any of the recorded TV items on the PVR! It is just for this reason I bought the DVD player (did not need another BD/DVD player) as on paper the Allshare Player funtion was just the ticket! Recorded TV looks like it is in a different folder on the PVR but I cannot see it through Allshare.

I am trying to set this up for a elderly motherlaw. When unwell she spends more time in Bed, and likes to watch TV to pass time, but when feeling better will rather sit up in her lounge room. I do not want to have to keep moving the PVR between rooms (and I am not always available).

So what is the solution. Otherwise the BD-E5900 is going back as not up to advertised functionality.
Thanks
Thought I might otherwise be able to transfer the recorded TV to USB drive (on the PVR) and then play it back on the DVD (as both have USB slots and can play from USB) but again the Samsung PVR will not let me copy a recorded TV.
 

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