[Q] Netflix on Acer Iconia Tab A500

Search This thread

Mr. Turbofan

Senior Member
Jan 20, 2011
111
17
Orem, Utah
Thanks so much for these steps! I actually prefer to use CWM since I'm familiar with it.

Everything was going smoothly until I tried to find the patch zip file through CWM, it says it couldn't mount SD card. Now, I don't actually have an SD card in the device, I'm just using the internal storage. Do I need to have an SD card installed in order to do this? I plan to buy one eventually, but I don't need one yet and would rather not spend the money quite yet.

If I need one, I have one in my phone that I could borrow for the installation but after I get everything installed I would need to put the card back in my phone... Would that be a problem?

Again, thanks for your help. I know I'm not the only person you're helping!

EDIT: I found a few other threads on this topic, but did not find a definitive answer as to whether I can do this without an external SD card or if I actually need to get one. Maybe I'll go the root explorer route since that doesn't require the use of CWM which seems to be where theproblem lies...
 
Last edited:

snickle

Senior Member
Sep 6, 2009
287
46
Thanks so much for these steps! I actually prefer to use CWM since I'm familiar with it.

Everything was going smoothly until I tried to find the patch zip file through CWM, it says it couldn't mount SD card. Now, I don't actually have an SD card in the device, I'm just using the internal storage. Do I need to have an SD card installed in order to do this? I plan to buy one eventually, but I don't need one yet and would rather not spend the money quite yet.

If I need one, I have one in my phone that I could borrow for the installation but after I get everything installed I would need to put the card back in my phone... Would that be a problem?

Again, thanks for your help. I know I'm not the only person you're helping!

EDIT: I found a few other threads on this topic, but did not find a definitive answer as to whether I can do this without an external SD card or if I actually need to get one. Maybe I'll go the root explorer route since that doesn't require the use of CWM which seems to be where theproblem lies...

You would need an sd card to use cwm. The one from your phone should be fine.

Just need it long enough to load the patch
 

entropy.of.avarice

Senior Member
Apr 29, 2010
473
50
St. Louis
You would need an sd card to use cwm. The one from your phone should be fine.

Just need it long enough to load the patch

Right - you will need to place the .zip file on the microSD card and use CWM to flash the patch. The patch will automagically create a backup of the original .so file in the same directory (/system/lib) so you can always manually restore it. You are almost there! :)
 

entropy.of.avarice

Senior Member
Apr 29, 2010
473
50
St. Louis
Thanks so much for these steps! I actually prefer to use CWM since I'm familiar with it.

Everything was going smoothly until I tried to find the patch zip file through CWM, it says it couldn't mount SD card. Now, I don't actually have an SD card in the device, I'm just using the internal storage. Do I need to have an SD card installed in order to do this? I plan to buy one eventually, but I don't need one yet and would rather not spend the money quite yet.

If I need one, I have one in my phone that I could borrow for the installation but after I get everything installed I would need to put the card back in my phone... Would that be a problem?

Again, thanks for your help. I know I'm not the only person you're helping!

EDIT: I found a few other threads on this topic, but did not find a definitive answer as to whether I can do this without an external SD card or if I actually need to get one. Maybe I'll go the root explorer route since that doesn't require the use of CWM which seems to be where theproblem lies...

The root explorer method is quite easy - just take a backup of the file before you replace it, make sure to check the properties and you are good to go. CWM would work as well, but I am 99% sure you need the .zip on a MicroSD in order to get CWM to apply it. Please direct message me or respond here if I can be of any more help, I think you are pretty close to figuring it out from the sounds of things :)
 

entropy.of.avarice

Senior Member
Apr 29, 2010
473
50
St. Louis
Did other Tablets have this issue with Netflix and has the 3.2 update fixed those?


If you check the Netflix app on the android market via web you can see the list of supported devices.

There is no "Issue" with 3.2 or 3.1 tablets - the issue is Netflix only allows it's client to run on a pretty small handful of devices. If your device is not supported (like the Acer a500) you will need to gain root and modify the system, assuming someone has figured it out for your system.

Confirming Netflix app on stock 3.1 Acer iconiatab a500 with the modification detailed here at xda results in a working Netflix client - but in my experience it breaks rear camera in video record mode. Quite easy to undo/redo the patch on the fly when camcorder is needed, however.
 

Mr. Turbofan

Senior Member
Jan 20, 2011
111
17
Orem, Utah
Got it working!

Thanks so much for your help!

A couple quick bits of clarification....

I went with "method #1" because it was more in line with what I'm comfortable with, and I feel like once I got one key bit of information it was quite an easy process. With step by step instructions and an SD card in hand ready to go, someone should be able to go from a totally stock, unrooted Iconia tab to a rooted one running netflix just fine in about 15 minutes or less.

I did have to have an SD card in, so I grabbed it out of the back of my phone, shut the tablet off, put the card in, booted up. My problem then became: how do I copy the file to the SD card? I didn't want to buy Root Explorer yet, and I'm using File Manager HD.

After downloading the patch to a place you're familiar with, long press it and select edit, move. Then tap "storage" on the left side of the screen, then tap the "up" button at the top of the screen. There you'll see a folder that says "external_sd". From there, just select the location you want to save the patch so you can find it easily in CWM, then reboot into recovery as previously described, find and install the patch from SD card, then reboot. after reboot just download and install Netflix apk and it works like a charm.

Once I found out how to access the SD card trough file manager HD, it was a breeze.

Yes, my video camera recording is broken, but frankly i'm sortof glad it is so I'm not tempted to be a total tool and hold my gimungous tablet out in front of me to record a video. I always have my Evo with me in my pocket (with the hotspot turned on, thank you CM7)so if I need to take a video or picture I'll pull it out since it has a better camera anyway. Personally I'd have happily paid $20 less and gone without a rear camera :D

Thanks again for the help. I'm loving this thing! Had a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and even though it was very slim and sleek and the screen was a little nicer, I would take the Iconia tab over it -- even for the same price. I love having ports and slots. And... I actually like the look of the Iconia tab better since it doesn't LOOK like an iPad. Woot.
 

entropy.of.avarice

Senior Member
Apr 29, 2010
473
50
St. Louis
Got it working!

Thanks so much for your help!

A couple quick bits of clarification....

I went with "method #1" because it was more in line with what I'm comfortable with, and I feel like once I got one key bit of information it was quite an easy process. With step by step instructions and an SD card in hand ready to go, someone should be able to go from a totally stock, unrooted Iconia tab to a rooted one running netflix just fine in about 15 minutes or less.

I did have to have an SD card in, so I grabbed it out of the back of my phone, shut the tablet off, put the card in, booted up. My problem then became: how do I copy the file to the SD card? I didn't want to buy Root Explorer yet, and I'm using File Manager HD.

After downloading the patch to a place you're familiar with, long press it and select edit, move. Then tap "storage" on the left side of the screen, then tap the "up" button at the top of the screen. There you'll see a folder that says "external_sd". From there, just select the location you want to save the patch so you can find it easily in CWM, then reboot into recovery as previously described, find and install the patch from SD card, then reboot. after reboot just download and install Netflix apk and it works like a charm.

Once I found out how to access the SD card trough file manager HD, it was a breeze.

Yes, my video camera recording is broken, but frankly i'm sortof glad it is so I'm not tempted to be a total tool and hold my gimungous tablet out in front of me to record a video. I always have my Evo with me in my pocket (with the hotspot turned on, thank you CM7)so if I need to take a video or picture I'll pull it out since it has a better camera anyway. Personally I'd have happily paid $20 less and gone without a rear camera :D

Thanks again for the help. I'm loving this thing! Had a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and even though it was very slim and sleek and the screen was a little nicer, I would take the Iconia tab over it -- even for the same price. I love having ports and slots. And... I actually like the look of the Iconia tab better since it doesn't LOOK like an iPad. Woot.


Glad you got it up an running. I cannot recommend a paid copy of Root Explorer enough - and remember that the patch applied with CWM automagically created a backup of your original .so file in /system/lib - using root explorer or any other file explorer with root access and the ability to mount the main file system as r/w will allow a easy undo of this patch.

Aside from rear camera not working in video mode - i have not found any issues with this patch. And if you need to record video, you can always undo the patch, record video, and then repatch.
 
Last edited:

Cjg93

Member
Aug 18, 2011
18
1
ETA Netflix

I just called netflix customer support and the guy gave me an estimated 9 months before it is working on the a500!
He then said he had heard of a hack and to google that lmao.
 

Grimcreaper

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2011
63
4
Does Netflix run on stock Iconia tablets now or no? im running the fix but i really dont like the idea of being rooted + having the changed file incase i forget to undo everything before trying to update. i dont want to mess something up :(
 

entropy.of.avarice

Senior Member
Apr 29, 2010
473
50
St. Louis
Does Netflix run on stock Iconia tablets now or no? im running the fix but i really dont like the idea of being rooted + having the changed file incase i forget to undo everything before trying to update. i dont want to mess something up :(


As far as I have seen - no. You will need root to enable Netflix support on your a500.

Undoing the mod before updating is as simple as replacing *one* file, however. Not too hard.
 

entropy.of.avarice

Senior Member
Apr 29, 2010
473
50
St. Louis
your hack requires root?


Yup. Root with Iconiaroot, install a file manager with root perms (root explorer works great for me) - back up the existing file, replace it, match the perms, done. This hack breaks the rear camera in video record mode (pictures with rear cam still work fine) - but if you need the rear camera in video record mode it is quite simple to replace the backup .so file.
 

crashpsycho

Senior Member
Jun 10, 2011
1,539
406
PHOENIX AZ
Best recommendation is to run Asus Netflix patch it simply edits the build prop and the cameras front and rear work fine. However only change I have seen is where it will label your device in system info as a xoom model besides that all is great

Acer A500 3.2 Stock rom AsusNetflix patch thor2.0 OC FTW
 

groaner

Senior Member
Jan 4, 2009
441
41
Ottawa
Best recommendation is to run Asus Netflix patch it simply edits the build prop and the cameras front and rear work fine. However only change I have seen is where it will label your device in system info as a xoom model besides that all is great

Acer A500 3.2 Stock rom AsusNetflix patch thor2.0 OC FTW

yes this works very well, until you want to update. Then you will need to revert or install the update manually, like I did.
 

wohuan

New member
Sep 13, 2011
1
0
Able to get Netflix Working But.....

Alright so I did "method 1" and backed up my Tablet with the acer recovery install just like the method said to do, follow all the steps just like it said. Now rear camera recording isn't working, which i expected to happen, but when i try to restore the tablet image to see if the rear camera would work again, turns out it isn't working...... I didn't save the libnvomx.so because I thought the Acer Recovery would do that for me but it didn't. So how would I go about restoring that file and where would I be ale to get that file from?

thank you for your time people!
 

dwreck420

Senior Member
Nov 17, 2008
133
20
unable to flash zip

So i rooted my a500 with iconia root, its 3.1, got the Acer recovery program and flashed cwm. I did a Android backup and its not on my sd card, when I go to flash the zipped patch for Netflix, its not on the SD card. Neither are the folders that show in cwm as to where the backup was made. Its like its not using the SD card for actual stuff in cwm. Any ideas? I'm pretty familiar with cwm as I use it on my evo and don't get this?
 

Top Liked Posts

  • There are no posts matching your filters.
  • 1
    Download the apk with Firefox mobile or your desktop PC instead of the default browser. AFAIK, streaming still doesn't work for us, just queue management.
    1
    Annoying that I've been able to watch netflix on a frakkin' ipod touch since what seems time immemorial

    APK: http://www.multiupload.com/3A8C4GWL8R
    Patch: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1178773

    WARNING - Virtuous Xoom HC3.2 users: Camera apps will FC if you install this (but Netflix will work). My guess is because the libnvomx.so is from HC3.1.
    1
    Don't suppose someone wants to share the original OTA 3.1 version of the libnvomx.so for those of us who got too excited and overwrote our stock version?

    Additional Info: I'm on the Acer_A500_4.010.10_COM_GEN2 stock.
    1
    Works!

    Don't suppose someone wants to share the original OTA 3.1 version of the libnvomx.so for those of us who got too excited and overwrote our stock version?

    Additional Info: I'm on the Acer_A500_4.010.10_COM_GEN2 stock.

    Here you are! This is from the leaked 3.1 rom that came out a few weeks before the official one.

    Thanks for the patch guys, works wonderfully.

    edit: Rehosted on MediaFire in case my Dropbox hits its bandwidth cap.
    1
    Camera and netflix

    My camera does not let me even open it. It force closes. Did anybody successfully have Netflix and the cameras working? Could you please let me know what ROM are you using?

    Fabian

    Acer Iconia. Virtuous Picasso 1.1.0