*New* Western Digital - WD TV HD Media Player [Text View] - Page 4

Alcatel

11-25-08, 03:58 PM

The new firmware is under development and scheduled for Jan 2009. Quote from WD below:

"Our developers are already working on a firmware update but we don't have any information yet as to which issues this firmware update will address. However when the firmware is available for download on our web site, the issues will be listed. We're not sure if it will include power management yet. The proposed date for this update is January 2009."

weird, because in a other email exchange they said power management is a high priority.

"According to an email exchange from Scott at Western Digital, a new firmware will be coming up soon which will correct the following issues. This isn't a confirmed list but they are testing the functions

*USB power-down when WDTV HD is shut off (High Priority)
*Fixed remote issues, ie. Not being able to turn the unit on or off
*VobSub subtitle support (planned but may not be included with this release)
*Go-To Function

He said these are the major fixes and there will be many many small bug fixes. He also mentioned there are many more planned features and fixes but since the WDTV HD has only been out for 3 weeks, they don't want to release updates without proper testing. He said that power management is at the top of their list, didn't mention what this would include other than USB power down".

tedmozer

11-25-08, 05:19 PM

Since it seems there is not a NAS/USB External Drive that will do what we want (allow a usb connection to the WDTV and a Network connection to the home network), I think I will shop for a USB switch. I have a "media" computer nearby that is connected to the network, so by running a USB cable from a usb switch, I can keep the files on the WDTV dedicated external drive updated.

Any suggestions on the best value (cheapest that would work) on a two port USB switch?

Also, I am guessing (hoping) that setting and leaving the switch to the computer position (when not needed for the WDTV) will allow the drive to sleep when not in use. Think???

ScottWD

11-25-08, 07:55 PM

I wanted to drop by and let everyone know that the WD TV Team is finalizing the new firmware development and close to a release candidate. We expect to have something to you soon. Again, we appreciate everyone's feedback and will have more information on the Official WD Facebook page.

-ScottWD

bigdee3

11-26-08, 12:36 AM

chmont1

11-26-08, 12:46 AM

How's playback of 720p mkv's? For now I have to convert them to wmv for playback on my 360, but that takes way too long. If this little box can playpack 720p mkv's perfectly, then I might grab this over the PCH A-110. Thanks.
the WD TV HD has played every 1080p mkv and iso i have thrown at it, flawlessly, even the ones that I have had to strip the DTS and convert to AC3. It has even played all of the 720p's, DVD iso's, DVD folders, mp4 from my sonyo camcorder. I have not had any of the problems others have had. I think it is the computer that people are downloading the torrents too or the tv people are using because, I am downloading the same ones without any problems. Yes they need to improve somethings like making ff & rw faster than x16 or puting a timed skip in it. but other than that works like a charm. I have not had any remote issues and my 1tb seagate freeagent powers down when I turn the WD TV off.

Bran81

11-26-08, 03:09 AM

esrefb

11-26-08, 04:30 AM

I wonder if the type of TV, resolution etc. has any relevance to the 1080p playing problem. I mean, some people were talking about changing the resolution from Auto to other options etc.

I don't have any L5.1 encoded movie to try. So, I think it would be great if someone could upload a small sample from a L5.1 encoded movie (or point to a site, if there's one) so that everyone can try and share their experiences.

The question for me is if WD TV is not capable of playing those files or is there more to this problem.

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-26-08, 04:49 AM

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-26-08, 04:50 AM

Bran81

11-26-08, 04:55 AM

WDTV can't play L5.1 only regular Dolby Digital 5.1. No True HD, or other lossless codecs.

no, I didn't mean 5.1 as in audio. I meant Level 5.1 matroska(.mkv) encoding. Sorry, I should have just said Level to begin with. The WD TV HD seems to stumble most often on 1080p Level5.1 .mkv files. However, L4.1 .mkv seems to work in the majority of cases.

I'm hoping for wider support of .mkv encodes. I've heard that TVIX units can handle L5.1 encodes.

erdie

11-26-08, 05:02 AM

no, I didn't mean 5.1 as in audio. I meant Level 5.1 matroska(.mkv) encoding. Sorry, I should have just said Level to begin with. The WD TV HD seems to stumble most often on 1080p Level5.1 .mkv files. However, L4.1 .mkv seems to work in the majority of cases.

I'm hoping for wider support of .mkv encodes. I've heard that TVIX units can handle L5.1 encodes.

The problem with the latest TVIX units is that they are 3 times as dear as the WDTV. I have got an old TVIX but it doesn't play any hd stuff like mkvs, and I was thinking of getting the new 6500 but it is £300 in the UK.

usil

11-26-08, 05:29 AM

BUT ---- Got lot of ripped DVD's and noticed in a VIDEO_TS folder it makes a big difference using the PLAY button instead of the ENTER button.

Beerpassion - What did you find is the difference??

Usil

bigdee3

11-26-08, 06:49 AM

Thanks for the responses guys.

shadow_cruiser

11-26-08, 08:41 AM

For the canadians, the unit is on sale at Newegg.ca for $125. Get it while its hot!. I just ordered one myself.

I can't post links since I haven't made enough posts but just search "Western Digital Media" under Neweggs site.

hooliocah

11-26-08, 10:17 AM

For the canadians, the unit is on sale at Newegg.ca for $125. Get it while its hot!. I just ordered one myself.
They replaced the Free Shipping with a discount almost equal to the free shipping. You end up saving a few dollars in tax this way.

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-26-08, 10:45 AM

Darrenph1

11-26-08, 11:40 AM

no, I didn't mean 5.1 as in audio. I meant Level 5.1 matroska(.mkv) encoding. Sorry, I should have just said Level to begin with. The WD TV HD seems to stumble most often on 1080p Level5.1 .mkv files. However, L4.1 .mkv seems to work in the majority of cases.
.

Is there any software for the mac that tells you how something is encoded? Really want to try some 1080p material but don't want to waste the huge download and ratio killer if it doesn't work. Not sure if it violates TOS but can someone post or PM me the title of 1080p movie that they have "aquired" off the web. Not asking for where they got it just the name (like who's scene release it was) If this is against the rules nevermind.

If there is no software for the mac that shows this, something that works in bootcamp or parallels? Thanks! Love this WD HD Box!!!! Thanks!

beerpassion

11-26-08, 12:01 PM

Beerpassion - What did you find is the difference??

Usil

Well I had some troubles with a couple of DVD's playing funny. When I read thru this forum someone pointed out using the PLAY button instead of ENTER.

This solved the problem for me ...

Unfortunately no DVD menu's are played

daldridge

11-26-08, 12:07 PM

Is there any software for the mac that tells you how something is encoded? Really want to try some 1080p material but don't want to waste the huge download and ratio killer if it doesn't work. Not sure if it violates TOS but can someone post or PM me the title of 1080p movie that they have "aquired" off the web. Not asking for where they got it just the name (like who's scene release it was) If this is against the rules nevermind.

If there is no software for the mac that shows this, something that works in bootcamp or parallels? Thanks! Love this WD HD Box!!!! Thanks!

I use MediaInfo Mac. It works well, if you just do a search for it on google you should find it quickly.

clicke

11-26-08, 12:22 PM

Well I had some troubles with a couple of DVD's playing funny. When I read thru this forum someone pointed out using the PLAY button instead of ENTER.

This solved the problem for me ...

Unfortunately no DVD menu's are played

But does it skip through chapters properly?

gazupnorth

11-26-08, 12:30 PM

Hiya everyone , I've been reading this great thread for a couple of weeks and would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone that has contributed the useful info.

My question is in relation to my Kameleon remote control, model number 8060. Does anyone have the code (four digit) to operate the WDTV with my remote ???
I know some people have got the harmony remote working , could I try the code that you have used for that ???

Thanks in anticipation you helpful people.

PS ............ D_I_G_I_T_A_L - you probably don't need to bother !!!!

Darrenph1

11-26-08, 12:41 PM

I use MediaInfo Mac. It works well, if you just do a search for it on google you should find it quickly.

Thanks! went to the site to download but did not see if it specifies the L5.1 or L4.1 encoding?

EDIT : Nevermind, testing it out and found what I was looking for! Thanks again!!!!!!

D-man76

11-26-08, 12:56 PM

I found out today that foreign subtitles (in my case Swedish with the letters å,ä,ö) worked fine when I saved them as UTF-8 instead of ANSI, which was the original format.

Perhaps someone can benefit from that info!

shadow_cruiser

11-26-08, 01:45 PM

They replaced the Free Shipping with a discount almost equal to the free shipping. You end up saving a few dollars in tax this way.

It came out to $9 cheaper than the last deal they offered with free shipping.

It was $99 at bestbuy a few weeks ago. :p

Still not offered at the canadian bestbuy:p

Bran81

11-26-08, 02:04 PM

This is a MediaInfo example of a 1080p.mkv file that has a garbled picture and audio that skips every few seconds. Most .nfo files on torrents will not tell you reference frames and many will not tell you if it's profile L4.1 or L5.1.

Video
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L5.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 11 frames
Muxing mode : Container profile=Unknown@5.1
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 2h 24mn
Bit rate : 8551 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 9000 Kbps
Width : 1920 pixels
Height : 800 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.400
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.244
Writing library : x264 core 57 svn-709C
Language : English

Audio
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 2h 24mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1536 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 24 bits
Title : DTS 5.1 1536kbps
Language : English

Again, I really hope Western Digital will support a wider range of 1080p.mkv files in the future.

oliverjg

11-26-08, 02:24 PM

i have had one of these boxes for a couple of days now.

i only play mpg and mkv files that i rip from hddvd/bd/dvd.

for mkv files, i merge in an ac3 5.1 trac in addition to the flac audio.

on my htpc i can pick either flac or ac3. on the wd it plays the ac3. this is fine for me because i store movies on a 1.5 tb external drive. now i can take the drive and wd player with me.

i haven't found an avc or mpeg2 1080p mkv that doesn't play.

anybody should be able to merge an ac3 trac to an existing mkv while keeping the original audio also.

KostyaNP

11-26-08, 05:23 PM

Again, I really hope Western Digital will support a wider range of 1080p.mkv files in the future.

I wonder if it's the firmware limitation... or lack of shear horsepower in the Sigma SMP8635LF chip.

Some (infinitely more knowledgeable) people came up with H x W x # of reframes <= 8,294,400 limit for WDHDTV to play matroska file. This looks to me more like limitation related to processing power. HD video with advanced codecs is no easy task, we all know that... it's a little wonder what this tiny box is already capable of .

Personally, I just love it, I hated the idea of building an HTPC, and WDHDTV is my savior, for now. I have to admit, though, I did see few mkv files not playing correctly. I'll try to gather and report more details when I get more experience with it.

Bran81

11-26-08, 05:25 PM

Here is MediaInfo example of a 1080p.mkv file that runs perfectly smooth. Although it has more than 4 reference frames, the format profile is Level 4.1. WD TV HD seems to choke on L5.1 profile with more than 4 reference frames, I believe. The problem is that more and more encodes are using L5.1 and greater than 4 ReFrames now.

Video
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Muxing mode : Container profile=Unknown@4.1
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 52mn
Bit rate : 8191 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 8624 Kbps
Width : 1920 pixels
Height : 816 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.35
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.230
Writing library : x264 core 64 r987M e71168d
Language: English

Audio
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 52mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1536 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 24 bits

Bran81

11-26-08, 06:54 PM

After scowering the web, I've found some Popcorn Hour users that say their problems with these certain 1080p.mkv were solved when they remuxed them to a .ts file. Maybe a problem with how PCH and WD TV implement .mkv. I will remux my problematic .mkv to .ts or similar and write back.

Toe Tag

11-26-08, 07:10 PM

I can't seem to get it to honor chapter marks, in DVDs nor in .mkv's. Anyone?

Logon2008

11-26-08, 09:05 PM

zombie10k

11-26-08, 09:26 PM

I've definitely run across some 1080p.mkv files that cause problems on this box. However, I've also had a number that work fine. The problematic 1080p.mkv files seem to usually be L5.1 encodes with more than 4 reference frames. The effect is like a bunch of confetti on the picture and audio that skips frequently. "L5.1" doesn't mean 5.1 audio, btw.

I have never run across a 720p.mkv that caused errors in the picture. I've had one 720p.mkv with DTS 1,536 bitrate have problems with the audio skipping every 2 minutes or so. I have never run across a 720p.mkv with ac3 audio that skips.

I sincerely hope that Western Digital can improve this machine's ability to handle 1080p.mkv.

I have 5 different 1080P MKV's that have the confetti blocking/skipping etc on the WDTV. I just received my PCH-A110 today and anxiously did a quick setup to see if it would have an issue with these exact files.

it plays them back perfect and was thrilled to see several of these classics in 1080P that won't likely see the light of blu-ray anytime soon.

The WDTV is priced well for a portable media player, but I have no desire to start re-encoding or changing these files in any way. I hope they don't abandon this product and release at least 1 firmware update to resolve the posted issues, fast forward problems, etc.

I am still going to keep the WD device for now since I like the portability and having some faith they will fix it.

keldarironfist

11-26-08, 10:00 PM

ive had all my mkv's video play fine,one file did not recognize the audio format,but by FAR my biggest letdown was subtitle support,im not talkin about vob stuff. i would like to see support SSA/ASS subtitles in MKVs (commonly found in anime fansubs.

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-26-08, 11:12 PM

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-26-08, 11:13 PM

I have 5 different 1080P MKV's that have the confetti blocking/skipping etc on the WDTV. I just received my PCH-A110 today and anxiously did a quick setup to see if it would have an issue with these exact files.

it plays them back perfect and was thrilled to see several of these classics in 1080P that won't likely see the light of blu-ray anytime soon.

The WDTV is priced well for a portable media player, but I have no desire to start re-encoding or changing these files in any way. I hope they don't abandon this product and release at least 1 firmware update to resolve the posted issues, fast forward problems, etc.

I am still going to keep the WD device for now since I like the portability and having some faith they will fix it.

Exactly why I returned the WD player.

MY PCH hour I can connect online, and get weekly firmware updates.

Bran81

11-27-08, 12:18 AM

Logan: tsmuxer 1.8.8 beta is what I used. it's small, setup to work without changing settings, requires no install and is free.

That said, WD TV displayed even worse video errors after I had remuxed from .mkv to .ts/mpg and .m2ts. The audio skipping was fixed, though.

Toe Tag, WD TV does not currently work with chapters. Rumor has it that WD is looking to implement this in a firmware update.

Although I like this little box so much, I may end up selling it to a friend and going with a popcorn hour if the WD firmware doesn't address this.

Despite issues with some 1080p.mkv, the WD TV HD is a fantastic value and it works with the vast majority of video files.

shadow_cruiser

11-27-08, 01:13 AM

disbelief

11-27-08, 06:36 AM

Dysan911

11-27-08, 08:49 AM

Guys, it hasn't even been a full month yet since the WDTV has been released and already you guys are asking when a new firmware is going to be released. Give the programmers and testers some time to develop the firmware then test.

I'm still not sure why a lot of you want to return your player. For 1.0 firmware, it does a whole lot out of the box. I think we need to be a little more patient and a little less "Will a firmware update address this issue?. When will it be released?" etc.

It would be best if we address our problems directly to WD via email. This way at least a representative from WD looks at it.

Just my couple cents.

I agree 100%.. Is it even fair to compare a 1.0 firmware device to the PCH-A110 with god only knows what firmware they're on? I'm sure the PCH had its share of issues when it was first released too.

Give WD a chance before jumping ship. Its way too soon to assume they're not going to support it and there's so far been every indication a firmware release will be coming very soon!

esrefb

11-27-08, 09:46 AM

Got this media player yesterday.

Seems its performance is related to the kind of usb HDD. My old 2.5" and 3.5" HDD enclosures showed video freeze, pixelation, etc..

Fortunately, using my 16GB transcend flash usb, was fine. 720p mkv and VOB played fine.

Was wondering if anyone had the same problem. My HDD lacked buffer and rpm maybe?

I remember some other person saying that (s)he made a defrag on the harddrive and most of the problems were solved.

Maybe you could try that and see if that works. ;)

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-27-08, 10:44 AM

I agree 100%.. Is it even fair to compare a 1.0 firmware device to the PCH-A110 with god only knows what firmware they're on? I'm sure the PCH had its share of issues when it was first released too.

Give WD a chance before jumping ship. Its way too soon to assume they're not going to support it and there's so far been every indication a firmware release will be coming very soon!

WD says firmware is coming Jan. 2009.

That's a long time.

rlw

11-27-08, 10:52 AM

I just bought one of these from Newegg, $99.99 with Free Shipping and no tax, so still $99.99 delivered to my door - sweet! And i was also able to burn up some of my PayPal credit, no dipping into my bank account - double-sweet!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136325
-RW-

Canuck-eh!

11-27-08, 11:15 AM

Guys, it hasn't even been a full month yet since the WDTV has been released and already you guys are asking when a new firmware is going to be released. Give the programmers and testers some time to develop the firmware then test.

I'm still not sure why a lot of you want to return your player. For 1.0 firmware, it does a whole lot out of the box. I think we need to be a little more patient and a little less "Will a firmware update address this issue?. When will it be released?" etc.

It would be best if we address our problems directly to WD via email. This way at least a representative from WD looks at it.

Just my couple cents.

I agree 100% with this concept. I finally found time to play with this unit. As with any new product where software is involved, there are always issues to be addressed - just look at the Windows software history!! I agree with many of the issues; however, it is the life of early adopters of any product. January is NOT that far away!! For myself, I have backed up many of my HD DVD and Blu-Ray discs to a My Book usb drive and play them on my secondary TV via HDMI. Helps extend the life of the HD DVDs and offers portability when I visit friends to show them HD content.
:) :) :)

tedmozer

11-27-08, 11:27 AM

I have music, ripped movies, home videos and home pictures on the external USB drive dedicated to the WDTV. One things I'd like to get rid of and can't seem to find to delete, is "Album Art". When I choose "all pictures" I get album covers displayed along with my digital family photos. How can I clean the drive of all the album art?

mat82284

11-27-08, 03:22 PM

Anyone else having video issues? my wd tv will all of a sudden cut the video part and still play the audio, i have to turn it off and back on in order to get the video to come back on. It happens every so often its weird but annoying! I'm trying to find out if mine is defective because if it is I'm sending it back for another one. Anyone else have this issue? I thought my 30 foot hdmi cord was the problem so i bought an amplifier and it now is capable of 100feet, but its still doing it! Although the picture looks much better with the amplifier!

DocuMaker

11-27-08, 04:02 PM

Has anyone tried plugging in one of those cheapie key-chain sized all-in-one USB cardreaders with a micro SD/SD/SDHC attached?

I would assume it would operate like a flash drive, the only difference being the memory is not hard-wired in, but is swappable with the various flash cards.

I have some spare SD cards lying around and would like to know if those would work with the WD HDTV rather than having to buy a dedicated USB flash drive.

I also saw a good price on a 6 GB SDHC card, and I don't see a lot of flash drives in this size. Usually they are 4 GB or 8 GB.

4 GB flash drives are not enough to hold a DVD, but a 6 GB SD HC card will be sufficient for most DVDs.

Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

80watts

11-27-08, 04:22 PM

@DocuMaker, just tried it and its working fine. I have a cheap SD Card reader, plugged a 2gb card into it with a 720p .mkv file and the WDTV read it fine. I actually thought that I read they were'nt working, but soon as I plugged it into the WDTV it was recognized and the file was listed and ready to play. Playback was fine too.

I have music, ripped movies, home videos and home pictures on the external USB drive dedicated to the WDTV. One things I'd like to get rid of and can't seem to find to delete, is "Album Art". When I choose "all pictures" I get album covers displayed along with my digital family photos. How can I clean the drive of all the album art?
You'll probably need to edit the tags of each .mp3 file and delete the album cover that way I would think. How about putting your pics into a "Picture" folder & viewing photos by folder

disbelief

11-27-08, 04:27 PM

Will try defrag, see if it works. Otherwise, need to get a new HDD with highere buffer and higher rpm.

I remember some other person saying that (s)he made a defrag on the harddrive and most of the problems were solved.

Maybe you could try that and see if that works. ;)

tedmozer

11-27-08, 07:06 PM

@DocuMaker, just tried it and its working fine. I have a cheap SD Card reader, plugged a 2gb card into it with a 720p .mkv file and the WDTV read it fine. I actually thought that I read they were'nt working, but soon as I plugged it into the WDTV it was recognized and the file was listed and ready to play. Playback was fine too.

You'll probably need to edit the tags of each .mp3 file and delete the album cover that way I would think. How about putting your pics into a "Picture" folder & viewing photos by folder

I just searched the drive for all the "Albumart*.jpg" files and the "desktop.ini" files and deleted them (some 5000 all together). I am currently defragging before I reattach to the WDTV.

The trouble with just showing the pictures by the "picture" folder is that you can't do a random slideshow of all the files (as far as I can tell). The only way to do a slide show of everything is to select "All Pictures" (which was where it was picking up the album art).

JHC210

11-27-08, 07:07 PM

I am still having trouble with my ripped DVD's. I use DVD Shrink. I now use the play button but still the movie doesn't jump to the next file. Does everyone use the Media Software included and convert the files to .avi? This is certainly a frustrating gadget. Is it best to play from the "folders" in the menu or from the thumbnails?

Thanks.....

deez20

11-27-08, 07:39 PM

anybody else getting this message on startup "media library compilation requires more storage space:[3814MB]"? I have an HFS+ drive with ~300-400GB left. It lets me continue on past this point it just comes up with this error unless I turn the media library off. I don't have journaling enabled and I've set all permissions to read & write.

bzie

11-27-08, 08:10 PM

Media library function is a chore, eats memory, space and processing power.

If playback works with media library off, why the need to do otherwise?

anybody else getting this message on startup "media library compilation requires more storage space:[3814MB]"? I have an HFS+ drive with ~300-400GB left. It lets me continue on past this point it just comes up with this error unless I turn the media library off. I don't have journaling enabled and I've set all permissions to read & write.

deez20

11-27-08, 08:38 PM

I will turn it off If I can't get it going I just wanted to see what it actually did and if it was useful.

shadow_cruiser

11-27-08, 08:51 PM

WD says firmware is coming Jan. 2009.

That's a long time.

Shut up already. You were asking for firmware updates only 2 weeks after the release date. If one month is too long for you, search "patience" under dictionary.com and find out the meaning. Maybe you will learn something or two.

Anyways, I just chalked you up on the ignore list. Your posts are too useless and childish here

misticjeff

11-27-08, 10:00 PM

Exactly why I returned the WD player.

MY PCH hour I can connect online, and get weekly firmware updates.

WD says firmware is coming Jan. 2009.

That's a long time.
Off Topic but fun...

Hmmm.... I love vBulletin because of the history it gives for users. Especially those who have nothing else to do but troll...

D-I-G-I-T-A-L:

Starts one and only thread on Oct. 9 asking what media streamer he/she should consider.

Posts irrelevant "one liners" to boost post count and calls other with low post counts noobs.

Makes the above comment about weekly firmware updates but doesn't do homework to support his/her broad statement. In fact the A-100 has had a total of 9 Official Firmware Updates since inception (2007), the last being October 30. The A-110 has had 3 Official Firmware Updates since inception(Late July,Early August 2008), the last being Nov. 4. (betas excluded)

I would hardly call the above "weekly" updates.

Can't wait for the response :) getting my comfy chair out, putting my feet up and getting ready to read :p Oh the excitement!

Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

aronsonstack

11-27-08, 11:28 PM

Off Topic but fun...

Hmmm.... I love vBulletin because of the history it gives for users. Especially those who have nothing else to do but troll...

D-I-G-I-T-A-L:

Starts one and only thread on Oct. 9 asking what media streamer he/she should consider.

Posts irrelevant "one liners" to boost post count and calls other with low post counts noobs.

Makes the above comment about weekly firmware updates but doesn't do homework to support his/her broad statement. In fact the A-100 has had a total of 9 Official Firmware Updates since inception (2007), the last being October 30. The A-110 has had 3 Official Firmware Updates since inception(Late July,Early August 2008), the last being Nov. 4. (betas excluded)

I would hardly call the above "weekly" updates.

Can't wait for the response :) getting my comfy chair out, putting my feet up and getting ready to read :p Oh the excitement!

Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

I already caught DIGITAL in a lie and called him on it, which he never responded. He quietly went away and now he's back as if I had forgotten. If you search his earlier posts you'll see how he rags on the WD and starts to list the things that PCH can do and the WD cannot. Then later someone harped about slow shipping time from PCH. DIGITAL then responds by saying his unit has already dispatch.

There he is listing all the things that makes PCH greater than WD, yet how can he come up with these conclusions when his unit is in the shipping process? I concluded that he's a PCH mouthpiece and he never responded.

gazupnorth

11-27-08, 11:51 PM

The trouble with just showing the pictures by the "picture" folder is that you can't do a random slideshow of all the files (as far as I can tell). The only way to do a slide show of everything is to select "All Pictures" (which was where it was picking up the album art).[/QUOTE]

What I did with my photos was to extract them all into one big folder - then when you click play and have the option set to random and repeat all - it shows all the photos in a random order whilst I have some music playing in the background. The missus is well impressed with that !! She's not really into the high definition videos - I wonder how many people have heard their wives saying " I CAN'T SEE ANY DIFFERENCE " when you've just spent hours setting up and playing your first HD file !!

gotchaforce

11-28-08, 01:07 AM

What happens if you try to play an MKV with DTS audio (and not AC3) on this thing? What does it do?

Bran81

11-28-08, 01:28 AM

1080p .mkv and faster hard drives:

I've used a 2 gig Lexar Firefly thumbdrive, a 250gig WD 2.5" Passport, and a brand new 7,200RPM 3.5" 32Meg Cache Seagate SATA 1 Terabyte HDD inside a Macally USB 2.0 enclosure with no discernible difference in playback. Complex 1080p.mkv files that choked on one drive choked the same on the other.

Since my thumbdrive is too small for my 1080p files, I couldn't tell you if they play properly. I have had no problem whatsoever playing back 720p files with Dolby 5.1 audio from this cheap thumbdrive.

The increased hdd speed and Media Library option off seems to be of no advantage.

For now, it appears that if a 1080p.mkv file has more than 5 ReFrames, it will probably choke on the WD TV HD.

1080p.mkv files encoded at 1920x816 or lower and 5 or fewer ReFrames have always worked for me on WD TV HD.

Since most people encode files for use on powerful HTPCs, there's not much need for a standard profile to encode .mkv. Shame, that, with so many people interested in media tanks. This problem doesn't just affect the WD TV HD. After pouring through forums, this is a common issue among media tanks.

Gotchaforce: WD TV HD will pass 1536 bitrate DTS 5.1 via the optical or HDMI out with no problem. It will not internally decode it and send it via the red/white rca outs.

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-28-08, 01:34 AM

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-28-08, 01:39 AM

Shut up already. You were asking for firmware updates only 2 weeks after the release date. If one month is too long for you, search "patience" under dictionary.com and find out the meaning. Maybe you will learn something or two.

Anyways, I just chalked you up on the ignore list. Your posts are too useless and childish here

Well, I understand you love your device, and I see why since it's a cheap, and scaled down version media tank that's available everywhere.

If it suits your needs, then be happy with it.

Since I don't own the WD media player no more because it didn't suit my needs (networking) (apps), (functionality), I won't reply here anymore.

:D

gotchaforce

11-28-08, 01:49 AM

Gotchaforce: WD TV HD will pass 1536 bitrate DTS 5.1 via the optical or HDMI out with no problem. It will not internally decode it and send it via the red/white rca outs.

Ah, okay... but rest of your post is sort of unsettling.. so it chokes on 1080p files huh? what about 720p from external harddrives? (not flash drives). My plasma is only 720p so i dont need 1080p.

Bran81

11-28-08, 01:51 AM

Bruce Wayne

11-28-08, 02:34 AM

Ok, so i have about 80 DVD'S that I want to keep out of the hands of my 3 year old. I do not care about youtube, bit torrent or any of that. I would like a slick interface that I can choose a movie via coverart and have it play without a hitch. All movies are standard def 480p DVD format. I will probably save to HDD in mpeg format as I have no clue what a MKV file is. Will this device work for me? The only thing I see that I'm not sold on is the cover art issue. If no cover art, what does the screen look like to select the movi?

Bran81

11-28-08, 02:59 AM

Bruce:

Here's a quick youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--077h1eGjc) of the menu system. At the 20 second mark, you can see how files display in thumbnail view. You will likely have all files display as the dark circular thumbnails rather than actual cover art. Cover art has to be embedded in the metadata of the video file, which is rare and unusual. For a large amount of videos, you can switch the view to a list style like in a folder on your computer. In that instance, it will simply display the title of the video.

You could encode all your videos to mpeg. It would work fine. It will play a DVD.iso or .vob files, too. Currently, it won't play menus and you can't skip around chapters.

erdie

11-28-08, 03:37 AM

Finally got my WD TV yesterday. When I set it up and connected my 500gig external drive it took a good 20 minutes for the WD to read it, I thought that I had a dud first off. Eventually when all the files were read, I tried to play a few 1080 and 720p mkvs and they seemed to work fine and the picture looked perfect. The only thing that didn't play was a wmv, I tried to convert this using the arcsoft software, but got a message saying that it couldn't find the arcsoft h.264 encoder? anyone else had this problem, what is the best and quickest way to covert a video file?
A few hours later when I decided to watch a whole movie and guess what? The remote control wouldn't work, I am not getting any response from it at all. I know a few other people have had problems with the remote but I thought that these may have been sorted out now. Is this a problem with the remote itself or with the receiver in the unit, would a universal remote work better. I am going to take this back for a replacement and hope that the remote works on the next one.:(

mad99

11-28-08, 06:11 AM

Glad to hear it!
Does the manual indicate whether or not USB drives formatted as NTFS are supported? Or it is limited to FAT32?

I have not seen an answer to the question yet, but YES it playsfiles from NTFS formatted drives (HFS I didnt try but should be usable (not journaled)

Achileus

11-28-08, 06:44 AM

Digital has negative reputation at the Popcornhour forum.
Take a look and have fun :)
http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=11640
This is his question for the PCH player

Digital
Junior Member
Posts: 22
Joined: Oct 2008
Reputation: -1
............................................................ ..................................
Make the Fast Foward FASTER
8x speed is too slow, even the crappy WD media player has 16x fast foward.
............................................................ ...........................................
WD media player uses same sigma chip and can 16x fast foward why can't P.C.H.
............................................................ ..........................................
You are coming across like whining chink. Your lucky I buy this made in china crap instead of WD Media player. :D
............................................................ ...........................................
Well Mr. Mod insulted me first, his explanation doesn't explain why another NMT using same SIGMA CHIP isn't as slow as PCH at fast forwarding.

With all the Firmware Improvements, and still 8x speed fast forwarding is a joke. I have to wait like 20 mins to fast forward something.
............................................................ ...........................................
Well I spend $235 on a device that should cost $99 bucks to make, and sell. :D

What's wrong with asking for some improvements. Yiou would think they would like to know what to add new in the Firmware Features.

This is funny too

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=11075
Why am I blocked from buying the HDX 1080, you really don't want my money?
Registration blocked, Contact an admin.
What kind of Micky Mouse Company you run in china?:D

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-28-08, 06:59 AM

joeycas

11-28-08, 07:03 AM

A few hours later when I decided to watch a whole movie and guess what? The remote control wouldn't work, I am not getting any response from it at all. I know a few other people have had problems with the remote but I thought that these may have been sorted out now. Is this a problem with the remote itself or with the receiver in the unit, would a universal remote work better. I am going to take this back for a replacement and hope that the remote works on the next one.:(

Mine also has a defective remote. It worked great on the first day, but the following day, it acted weird. Sometimes the unit would not respond to the remote. On other times, when I press any of the D-pad buttons, the remote would fire continuously which makes it impossible for me to navigate the menu. I thought mine was an isolated problem.

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-28-08, 07:04 AM

Mine also has a defective remote. It worked great on the first day, but the following day, it acted weird. Sometimes the unit would not respond to the remote. On other times, when I press any of the D-pad buttons, the remote would fire continuously which makes it impossible for me to navigate the menu. I thought mine was an isolated problem.

Problem is with WD remote has limited range, a LOGITECH HARMONY remote works 100x better, and easier to navigate.

Just a design problem for WD who went cheap with the Remote.

PCH gives a real nice working remote.

erdie

11-28-08, 07:44 AM

JFinch

11-28-08, 08:05 AM

I just purchased one of these WD mytv units a week ago. Sometimes it works great.. like playing files from my sony hdcamcorder. Other times it makes me nuts. Seems to have audio sync problems on a lot of my standard def files i've downloaded.

The other thing that is bugging me, is I use Proshow Gold a lot to make Slide shows, which I then render in mpeg 1080i. I tried 4 of them with the Mytv. They would play about 30 secs then lock up. Soo... I tried rendering another show, on a different computer, using Proshow, at 1080p. It did the same thing. It would play great for about 30 secs and then locks up. I can take the same files and burn them in HD on dvds for my Toshiba XA1 and they play great. I wish they would do the same on this WD box. :(

R Johnson

11-28-08, 09:09 AM

I have not seen an answer to the question yet, but YES it plays files from NTFS formatted drives (HFS I didnt try but should be usable (not journaled)
Thanks! A few days after that question, the manual became available and I found the answer. I bought the WD unit and found it to work quite well for my 10 to 15GB OTA ATSC recordings. Of course, there are some improvements I'd like to see.

shadow_cruiser

11-28-08, 11:14 AM

I had a little time today and came up with a feature request list. I thought instead of arguing what features the WD does and doesn't have, we can come up with a list and help out the WD guys. I have comprised the list of features requested by members here and features requested of my own. Once the list is complete, I will be sending it off to WD, hoping for some sort of response.

*SUB/IDX sutitle support
*SSA/ASS subtitle support
*.MKV and .VOB chapter support
*DVD menu support (.VOB or .ISO)
*VC-1 (WMVHD) codec support
*16:10 Aspect Ratio selection
*Go To option (Jump to certain part of the movie by entering the time frame)
*USB hard drive shut down when powered off
*Adjust vertical and horizontal position of subtitles
*Faster loading of slideshow pictures
*More slideshow transition options
*Option to change the defaulting mode (Pictures,Videos or Music)
*Retain bookmarks when device is unplugged
*Cover art for all video/music files and folders
*Fix remote issues ie. Not being able to turn the unit on or off
*Lip Sync feature (delays of 50ms,100ms,etc)
*Page up/down support using the previous/next buttons
*Display speed when using FF/RW
*Option to disable progress bar during start up of video file
*USB network adapter support
*Fix FF/RW with dvr-ms files
*Eastern Europe fonts/subtitles support

80watts

11-28-08, 12:28 PM

Popcorn hour takes a long time to get? :confused:

Only 4 firmware updates? The last update I got just now was listed November 23, 3008. :confused:
People are getting the PCH shipped to them in 3 days. Read the thread.
WD is good for portable travel, and doing some HD media, but there better Media Tanks like Popcorn hour, and HDX 1000. Keep your options open.
Wait, did'nt you say you were waiting 4 weeks then canceled it and bought the WDTV? Then you said you bougt one on Ebay. Do you even own a Popcorn Hour? Also in the Popcorn thread someone wrote back saying "You work for Popcorn and still have to wait 4 weeks." Now I can see why every post is an ad for Popcorn hour...

I am still having trouble with my ripped DVD's. I use DVD Shrink. I now use the play button but still the movie doesn't jump to the next file. Does everyone use the Media Software included and convert the files to .avi? This is certainly a frustrating gadget. Is it best to play from the "folders" in the menu or from the thumbnails?

Thanks.....

Make an .iso with DVDshrink instead of vob's, then you'll have no problems with folder order...
Ah, okay... but rest of your post is sort of unsettling.. so it chokes on 1080p files huh? what about 720p from external harddrives? (not flash drives). My plasma is only 720p so i dont need 1080p.
I only use 720p rips too and have no problems, they look great. It depends on the 1080p rip (profile and ref_frames I think). Some people have no probs with some files, others do.

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-28-08, 12:52 PM

Wait, did'nt you say you were waiting 4 weeks then canceled it and bought the WDTV? Then you said you bougt one on Ebay. Do you even own a Popcorn Hour? Also in the Popcorn thread someone wrote back saying "You work for Popcorn and still have to wait 4 weeks." Now I can see why every post is an ad for Popcorn hour...

Make an .iso with DVDshrink instead of vob's, then you'll have no problems with folder order...

I only use 720p rips too and have no problems, they look great. It depends on the 1080p rip (profile and ref_frames I think). Some people have no probs with some files, others do.

Yes. I got one on ebay with 30% off cashback ends up cheaper then WD media player.

Plus I have mentioned that OTHER people are now getting shipped fast now in 3 days from DHL if you bother reading the PCH owner thread here.

erdie

11-28-08, 12:57 PM

Mine also has a defective remote. It worked great on the first day, but the following day, it acted weird. Sometimes the unit would not respond to the remote. On other times, when I press any of the D-pad buttons, the remote would fire continuously which makes it impossible for me to navigate the menu. I thought mine was an isolated problem.

Mine done exactly the same today. I tried it to see if the remote was working and it was, but it was firing constanstly same as yours. Are you still having the problems with the remote. I am gonna see how my one works over the next few days and if it keeps playing up I will send it back.

onlysublime

11-28-08, 01:14 PM

As much as we would all like digital to go away, he loves the attention. even when he says he'll go away, he posts like 5 more times right after.

on other news, newegg is selling the wd tv for $99 with free shipping.

as i saw this today, netgear is about to release a new box. hopefully the price is okay, but knowing netgear...
http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/28/netgear-digital-entertainer-elite-media-streamer-says-hello-to-t/

it sounds like these sigma chips (no clue if it's in the netgear, but assuming so) will be resulting in a lot of different products.

Bran81

11-28-08, 02:30 PM

erdie

11-28-08, 03:31 PM

To those having remote issues:

Found in this thread and on others around the web, some Televisions emit signals that interfere with the supplied WD remote. The TVs I've seen reported are generally Samsung and Philips.

Someone mentioned solving it by adjusting the position of the WD TV HD unit further from the television. Another user mentioned changing settings in the tv themselves, but I can't seem to find the post. I'm pretty positive it's in this very thread and regards a Samsung TV.

Still, others have switched to using a Harmony universal remote.

I thought I had read something about changing tv settings, but I have read so much about the wd tv over the last couple of weeks that I can't remember what I read and where I read it.

Can anyone confirm that a universal remote would solve the problem. Because I am not sure if the problem is with the remote itself or the receiver in the unit.

erdie

11-28-08, 03:36 PM

I got the WD TV HD mainly for the purpose of playing the 1920x1080 M2TS files from my Sony TG3 camcorder. It seems to serve that purpose fine without showing any blocking or artefacts.

I also had the non-responding remote problem reported by others. However, I managed to narrow it down to IR interference from my Samsung 37M86 LCD TV. It seems to be a known issue with most Samsung LCD TVs. I could sort it out by disabling the "Energy Saving" and Anynet+ features and increasing the backlight to 2. The remote is working fine now.

Just had a quick search and found the post about Samsung tvs. The anynet feature on mine is already disabled. I will get around to looking at the energy saving mode later and will let you know if mine is enabled or disabled.

Do the people with remote control problems own Samsung and Philips tvs? It would be handy to find out and to see if we could narrow it down to a couple of makes and maybe even models of tv.

80watts

11-28-08, 03:45 PM

misticjeff

11-28-08, 03:55 PM

Yes. I got one on ebay with 30% off cashback ends up cheaper then WD media player.

Plus I have mentioned that OTHER people are now getting shipped fast now in 3 days from DHL if you bother reading the PCH owner thread here.
This is truly wonderful... the hole he digs gets deeper and deeper...

The cheapest its ever been on ebay is approx. $219US (based on current and completed listings back through October 2008) so even with a 30% discount it would come to $153US. Hardly cheaper than the WD (easy to find for $99).

A trolling we will go, a trolling we will go, hi ho the merry o, a trolling we will go...

drake79

11-28-08, 03:58 PM

I had a little time today and came up with a feature request list. I thought instead of arguing what features the WD does and doesn't have, we can come up with a list and help out the WD guys. I have comprised the list of features requested by members here and features requested of my own. Once the list is complete, I will be sending it off to WD, hoping for some sort of response.

*SUB/IDX sutitle support
*SSA/ASS subtitle support
*.MKV and .VOB chapter support
*DVD menu support (.VOB or .ISO)
*VC-1 (WMVHD) codec support
*16:10 Aspect Ratio selection
*4:3 Letterbox selection
*Faster Rewind and FastForward
*Go To option (Jump to certain part of the movie by entering the time frame)
*USB hard drive shut down when powered off
*Adjust vertical and horizontal position of subtitles
*Faster loading of slideshow pictures
*More slideshow transition options
*Option to change the defaulting mode (Pictures,Videos or Music)
*Retain bookmarks when device is unplugged
*Cover art for all video/music files and folders
*Fix remote issues ie. Not being able to turn the unit on or off
*24 fps output
*Lip Sync feature (delays of 50ms,100ms,etc)
*Page up/down support using the previous/next buttons
*Display speed when using FF/RW
*Option to disable progress bar during start up of video file
*USB network adapter support

Please ad Eastern Europe (polish, etc) fonts/subtitles support.

mjjckc

11-28-08, 04:42 PM

80watts

11-28-08, 04:52 PM

Paste the MediaInfo (http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en) for the file. Might be able to help if we knew more about the file...

-Actually someone else posted only SD Tivo shows working (I think thats what he's saying???). Might want to PM him...
We never discussed here yet another powerful source of perfectly legitimate files: TiVo DVR.
TiVo allows users to transfer recordings to their PC using TiVo Desktop or any freeware product. Recordings come as files with tivo extension and are actually mpg files wrapped in TiVo’s proprietary container. To either view them directly or to extract mpg user must enter MAK or Media Access Key unique for each TiVo.
This should be done only once, at first usage. After this, freeware application like T2Sami easily extracts mpg file and can concurrently extract srt file with subtitles. Mpg file keeps all audio settings and plays perfectly on WD TV (with external srt subtitles if needed).

To view later externally stored (original) tivo files user can transfer file back to TiVo. He/she can view file during transfer. This procedure works fairly well for SD recordings and fails for HD. TiVo input throughput is inadequate to allow concurrent viewing so user must wait for several hours until 10-20 GB file gets to TiVo completely.

WD TV alleviates this pain but only if original tivo file has been previously converted to mpg.
I own TiVo HD and use this option a lot with my WD TV.
However, remember that I need to convert each downloaded recording from tivo to mpg.

WD TV is not only for advanced users, who have access to super fast internet connection, are familiar with dark secrets of matroska and can afford powerful home computers. WD TV is also for laymen who only want to store some videos and view them later, their computers are often slow and old, they pay for their cable TV, they pay for their TiVo but that’s it. They cannot go through hassles of conversions and extractions, many of them even don’t suspect this is possible because they never heard about avsforum :)

I suggest to WD TV team to add support for tivo files. With TiVo available now in Canada and Australia this is the opportunity that should not be missed.

mjjckc

11-28-08, 05:16 PM

Okay, here goes for four different shows

24 Redemption

General
Complete name : F:\24\7AFF50 - ''Redemption'' (Recorded Nov 23, 2008, KKFXCOX).mpg
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 12.8 GiB
Duration : 2h 0mn
Overall bit rate : 15.3 Mbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@High
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Duration : 2h 0mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Nominal bit rate : 38.8 Mbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 59.940 fps
Standard : Component
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.703

Audio #1
ID : 189 (0xBD)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 2h 0mn
Video delay : -606ms

Audio #2
ID : 0 (0x0)
Format : TrueHD
Format profile : Dolby Digital
Duration : 2h 0mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Rear: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Video delay : -606ms

Last episode of The Office

General
Complete name : F:\TiVo Transfers\The Office - ''Weight Loss Part 1'' (Recorded Nov 27, 2008, KSEEDT).mpg
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 2.36 GiB
Duration : 29mn 40s
Overall bit rate : 11.4 Mbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@High
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Duration : 29mn 40s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Nominal bit rate : 65.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 1.046

Audio #1
ID : 189 (0xBD)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 29mn 39s
Video delay : -384ms

Audio #2
ID : 128 (0x80)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 29mn 39s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Rear: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Video delay : -384ms

Pilot episode of the Mentalist

General
Complete name : F:\The Mentalist\276040 - ''Pilot'' (Recorded Sep 23, 2008, KGPEDT).mpg
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 6.15 GiB
Duration : 1h 2mn
Overall bit rate : 14.2 Mbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@High
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Duration : 1h 2mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Nominal bit rate : 14.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 088 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : Component
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.223

Audio #1
ID : 189 (0xBD)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 1h 2mn
Video delay : -392ms

Audio #2
ID : 0 (0x0)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 1h 2mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Video delay : -392ms

random SD show from KSBYDT2, CW affiliate in San Luis Obispo, CA

General
Complete name : F:\other\0 800 pm (Recorded Nov 10, 2008, KSBYDT2) (2).mpg
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 1.99 GiB
Duration : 59mn 58s
Overall bit rate : 4 754 Kbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Duration : 59mn 58s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Nominal bit rate : 15.0 Mbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4/3
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 1.448

Audio #1
ID : 189 (0xBD)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 59mn 58s
Video delay : -262ms

Audio #2
ID : 128 (0x80)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 59mn 58s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Video delay : -262ms

esrefb

11-28-08, 05:20 PM

I was one of the people who posted about the remote problems on page 18 of this thread. Do you guys have a Philips or Samsung LCD by any chance?

Here's my original post below.

To people who are having problems with remote... this post could maybe help you solve your issues.

I got one unit about a week ago and it worked as advertised on a 47" Philips LCD (47PFL9732).

This weekend I bought another one for my brother who had another 47" Philips but a different model (47PFL5603). When I plugged the device, the remote was acting so weirdly that we almost couldn't control the device.

I was thinking that we definitely got one of the units with a defective remote which some people were talking about.

Then, I came across a message on a French forum by a user who had exactly the same model of Philips. Even though I don't speak French, a google translation made me understood that he also had the same kind of remote problems, apparently due to Infrared signals coming from the LCD interfering with the remote. He solved it by moving the unit further away from the TV and shielding it in some way.

I tried the same by moving the unit close to the ground and even turned it backwards so that it faces the wall. And all of a sudden it started to work flawlessly and we didn't have any problems since.

If this is not specific to just one model of TV then I'm guessing that some of you guys could have a similar interference problem. You may try this solution and see if it makes a difference.

Hope that helps.

Canuck-eh!

11-28-08, 06:59 PM

So far I have played a number of 720 and 1080i tv recordings with no sweat (mpg). Same with VOBs. Ripped 3 BDs with AnyDVD hd, tsmuxed and played the m2ts streams with no problems. Audio through Onkyo 606 was also great. For what it does, it does it well despite the noted shortcomings. No problems with remote.

:) :) :)

Toe Tag

11-28-08, 07:34 PM

Well this thing plays back bluray full rips beautifully! bluray fliles use the High L4.0 profile.. with only 4 reframes, and not a single weird mosaic block thing in sight. it doesnt do the menus or subtitles or anything else. Does detect multiple audio tracks... although im sure not the super tracks. I'm not sure it puts out 24 fps either.

videojanitor

11-28-08, 08:09 PM

Was enjoying this product until I hooked up my external HD with my TiVo files. I have converted each TiVo file to mpg using Direct Show Dump. While the video plays, no audio is outputted, whether the source file is 5.1 or 2.0.

Any ideas before I take it back to Best Buy disappointed?

I've been playing TiVo files without any problems. I used TiVo Decoder and VideoReDo to change from .tivo to .mpg, and they work. You might give one of those a try -- TiVo Decoder being the best bet, as it's free.

Fundamental21Kid

11-28-08, 08:48 PM

80watts

11-28-08, 09:01 PM

@Mjjckc, have you tried switching audio streams (Press Option while playing video, first selection I think is audio). I can see "24" says True HD which can't be decoded, but AC3 should play. Hopefully someone else has some more advice...

@fundamental, this cannot decode DTS, a receiver would need to. Try converting them to AC3 with Popcorn Audio Converter (the link is in this thread alot).

Bran81

11-28-08, 09:40 PM

I've just picked this up a few days ago. Everything plays fine but I can't get mkv. files to work that have DTS. I can the picture but the sound is missing. I even brought a digital ouput and connected to my hdtv but that don't work as well. Any suggestion as to how I can get the sound to work?

You can play DTS audio. I do it everyday on this box, high bitrate up to 1536, too.

In the WD TV HD settings menu, tell the audio to output as Digital. Then, use the optical output or the HDMI output to a receiver that can decode DTS audio. The box will not send DTS via the RCA red/white stereo plugs and I don't think TVs with optical/HDMI inputs will decode DTS audio streams. I connect to an A/V receiver and my 1080p/720p.mkv files w/DTS 5.1 play without a hitch.

The other option is to do as stated above me, convert the DTS to AC3.

Fundamental21Kid

11-28-08, 10:14 PM

^ What type of reciever do you use if you don't mind me asking?

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-28-08, 10:20 PM

This is truly wonderful... the hole he digs gets deeper and deeper...

The cheapest its ever been on ebay is approx. $219US (based on current and completed listings back through October 2008) so even with a 30% discount it would come to $153US. Hardly cheaper than the WD (easy to find for $99).

A trolling we will go, a trolling we will go, hi ho the merry o, a trolling we will go...

Yes, the WD cost 129.99 retail price.

You people never heard of LIVE.com cashback?

A trolling we will go, a trolling we will go, hi ho the merry o, a trolling we will go...

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-28-08, 10:23 PM

es0090

11-28-08, 10:46 PM

Yes, the WD cost 129.99 retail price.

You people never heard of LIVE.com cashback?

A trolling we will go, a trolling we will go, hi ho the merry o, a trolling we will go...

So you got your Popcorn Hour for under $130 after coupon (about $175~$180 before), nice! I'm sure some AVS members would be interested in getting that deal, especially with Christmas around the corner. If you get a chance can you post a link for deal. Thanks dude...

mjjckc

11-28-08, 10:48 PM

I've been playing TiVo files without any problems. I used TiVo Decoder and VideoReDo to change from .tivo to .mpg, and they work. You might give one of those a try -- TiVo Decoder being the best bet, as it's free.

Thanks. Tried using Video Re Do and it works now!

mkpl

11-28-08, 11:23 PM

alaindelon

11-28-08, 11:56 PM

Just had a quick search and found the post about Samsung tvs. The anynet feature on mine is already disabled. I will get around to looking at the energy saving mode later and will let you know if mine is enabled or disabled.

Do the people with remote control problems own Samsung and Philips tvs? It would be handy to find out and to see if we could narrow it down to a couple of makes and maybe even models of tv.

I also posted earlier in the thread about the remote problems but at the time i could not even dream up that my new Samsung 650 would be an issue!I returned 3 units because i could not make any of them respond at all to the remote after a while.I did a lot of testing including going with just the composite video out to several video monitors to no avail.As i think back on this,i believe i brought the monitors to the WD box as it was sitting close to the big Samsung tv and it was probably on too at this time.I think i will buy a fourth unit and keep it far away from the Samsung to test it out.

ratphink

11-29-08, 01:21 AM

Haven't had any issues so far, and my remote seems to work fine as well, but today I experienced something and wondering if anyone else has.

If the unit is left on it looks like it auto shuts down after a period of not being used. Problem is it wouldn't respond to the power button on the remote, nor would it respond as if it were in a "sleep" by pressing any other button. I have had the screen saver kick on, but it is responsive during this time.

I actually had to unplug and re-plug in the power for it to come back on. I checked the manual for anything about an auto shut down but found nothing.

Achileus

11-29-08, 03:24 AM

I had a little time today and came up with a feature request list. I thought instead of arguing what features the WD does and doesn't have, we can come up with a list and help out the WD guys. I have comprised the list of features requested by members here and features requested of my own. Once the list is complete, I will be sending it off to WD, hoping for some sort of response.

*SUB/IDX sutitle support
*SSA/ASS subtitle support
*.MKV and .VOB chapter support
*DVD menu support (.VOB or .ISO)
*VC-1 (WMVHD) codec support
*16:10 Aspect Ratio selection
*Go To option (Jump to certain part of the movie by entering the time frame)
*USB hard drive shut down when powered off
*Adjust vertical and horizontal position of subtitles
*Faster loading of slideshow pictures
*More slideshow transition options
*Option to change the defaulting mode (Pictures,Videos or Music)
*Retain bookmarks when device is unplugged
*Cover art for all video/music files and folders
*Fix remote issues ie. Not being able to turn the unit on or off
*Lip Sync feature (delays of 50ms,100ms,etc)
*Page up/down support using the previous/next buttons
*Display speed when using FF/RW
*Option to disable progress bar during start up of video file
*USB network adapter support

It would be better to make a question to the WD Support team at the Knowledge Base at Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) instead of this forum. Register and post your question. One of the team will answer you.

If you don't know the url, copy paste this link to your browser to navigate there
support.wdc.com/product/kb.asp?groupid=1001&level1=&prodid=&modelno=&lang=en

Toe Tag

11-29-08, 03:56 AM

Toe Tag

11-29-08, 04:11 AM

Even netgear is making a better device then WD with networking, more inputs, more codecs, and an internal hdd you can install inside.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/28/netgear-digital-entertainer-elite-media-streamer-says-hello-to-t/
No pricing, certainly several times the $99 benchmark established by the WD TV. Won't even be announced until CES in January. The last Netgear media player was a real PoS, I wouldn't even use it as a doorstop. But, maybe its a step up for Popcorn hour users.

esrefb

11-29-08, 04:15 AM

Most mediatanks with the same sigma chip will choke on the same files, but there are occasional exceptions.
You can use a free app called MediaInfo to see how many ReFrames are in a .mkv

KostyaNP reminded me: If a .mkv follows this formula, it will likely work without a hitch:

Width x Height x ReFrames is less than or equal to 8,388,608

Since WD TV and PopcornHour has the same chipset, does that also mean Popcorn Hour can not play those kind of mkvs that exceed the limit ? Or did they manage to overcome the problem with a firmware? Or is it that the chipset is not fast enough for these files?

Anyone knows this?

(Maybe D-I-G-I-T-A-L can inform us on this issue. Just kidding :) )

Fjolle

11-29-08, 04:58 AM

This seems to be a nice player that fits my needs ( I dont have a home network or a nas and i dont want my computer to run while i watch movies, and i dont have any money :) ). I will get this for christmas.

And :D @ the hate coming out of digital...

hcour

11-29-08, 05:09 AM

Wanted: Beta testers. Experimental new media player. Requires weekly updates to flaky firmware. To apply for this position, send $250 to popcorn hour and we will send you your player in a month or two. After you receive it, download and install new firmware every few days and let us know if it works... Welcome to the popcorn hour, where everyone's a beta tester! Actually, we're going to rename it the popcorn-hour-and-a-half to account for the time you spend constantly updating the software...Guys, I know you're responding to the troublemaker in this thread and I agree he's been totally out of line (he behaved the same way in the NMT forums if that's any consolation). I've always thought these kind of "rivalries" between different brands of gadgets or computers or software are just about the dumbest thing in the world. What possible difference could it make to me as a Windows user that you love your MAC? More power to you. It's absolutely inane.

But I have to step in here and defend the PCH. I got mine this week, 12 days after I placed the "pre-order" on the website. I had an issue w/my internal hd not spinning down when the PCH is in standby mode, but that was solved quickly, though it still seems to be a problem for others. Other than that, I've had no problems whatsoever, it's not "glitchy" or erratic, and it's played every single thing I've thrown at it w/o any major issues. I am more than pleased, I'm thrilled w/it. We watched a hi-def movie last night about a certain bat-like hero in the city of Gotham and it looked absolutely stunning on my 56" tv and played w/o the slightest hitch. And the FW updates are not weekly, they seem to be about once a month or so, and they address a number of issues each time, as well they should, so that's a good thing.

Certainly the PCH is far from perfect, but to be fair, you can go to just about any forum for pretty much any electronic goody - TV, STB, computer, what-have-you - and you're going to find the majority of posts are about problems folks are having. That's the nature of the forums, that's what they're there to do - help people solve problems and (hopefully) make the manufacturers aware of issues. Rarely do new owners come on the forum and start a thread to exclaim how happy they are with their latest toy.

I tried the WD and thought it was a great media player, especially for the price. It actually whet my appetite for these nifty little gadgets and I happen to have the cash so I went w/the PCH A-110 instead. But the WD is a significant entrant into the media player market and I'm sure if WD does right by it then w/future FW updates it will be an even better player than it is now. These little boxes are the cat's pajamas as far as I'm concerned, an easy-to-use gadget that brings the computer and home theater together at last!

Harold

disbelief

11-29-08, 05:15 AM

Curious. How big are your 1080p mkv files, that choked?

I'm wondering if it's to do with filesize or file specs.

1080p .mkv and faster hard drives:

I've used a 2 gig Lexar Firefly thumbdrive, a 250gig WD 2.5" Passport, and a brand new 7,200RPM 3.5" 32Meg Cache Seagate SATA 1 Terabyte HDD inside a Macally USB 2.0 enclosure with no discernible difference in playback. Complex 1080p.mkv files that choked on one drive choked the same on the other.

Since my thumbdrive is too small for my 1080p files, I couldn't tell you if they play properly. I have had no problem whatsoever playing back 720p files with Dolby 5.1 audio from this cheap thumbdrive.

The increased hdd speed and Media Library option off seems to be of no advantage.

For now, it appears that if a 1080p.mkv file has more than 5 ReFrames, it will probably choke on the WD TV HD.

1080p.mkv files encoded at 1920x816 or lower and 5 or fewer ReFrames have always worked for me on WD TV HD.

Since most people encode files for use on powerful HTPCs, there's not much need for a standard profile to encode .mkv. Shame, that, with so many people interested in media tanks. This problem doesn't just affect the WD TV HD. After pouring through forums, this is a common issue among media tanks.

Gotchaforce: WD TV HD will pass 1536 bitrate DTS 5.1 via the optical or HDMI out with no problem. It will not internally decode it and send it via the red/white rca outs.

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-29-08, 05:46 AM

Guys, I know you're responding to the troublemaker in this thread and I agree he's been totally out of line (he behaved the same way in the NMT forums if that's any consolation). I've always thought these kind of "rivalries" between different brands of gadgets or computers or software are just about the dumbest thing in the world. What possible difference could it make to me as a Windows user that you love your MAC? More power to you. It's absolutely inane.

But I have to step in here and defend the PCH. I got mine this week, 12 days after I placed the "pre-order" on the website. I had an issue w/my internal hd not spinning down when the PCH is in standby mode, but that was solved quickly, though it still seems to be a problem for others. Other than that, I've had no problems whatsoever, it's not "glitchy" or erratic, and it's played every single thing I've thrown at it w/o any major issues. I am more than pleased, I'm thrilled w/it. We watched a hi-def movie last night about a certain bat-like hero in the city of Gotham and it looked absolutely stunning on my 56" tv and played w/o the slightest hitch. And the FW updates are not weekly, they seem to be about once a month or so, and they address a number of issues each time, as well they should, so that's a good thing.

Certainly the PCH is far from perfect, but to be fair, you can go to just about any forum for pretty much any electronic goody - TV, STB, computer, what-have-you - and you're going to find the majority of posts are about problems folks are having. That's the nature of the forums, that's what they're there to do - help people solve problems and (hopefully) make the manufacturers aware of issues. Rarely do new owners come on the forum and start a thread to exclaim how happy they are with their latest toy.

I tried the WD and thought it was a great media player, especially for the price. It actually whet my appetite for these nifty little gadgets and I happen to have the cash so I went w/the PCH A-110 instead. But the WD is a significant entrant into the media player market and I'm sure if WD does right by it then w/future FW updates it will be an even better player than it is now. These little boxes are the cat's pajamas as far as I'm concerned, an easy-to-use gadget that brings the computer and home theater together at last!

Harold

It's nice to at least convince one person here to get the Popcorn Hour! My work is done!

WD is nice to wet the appetite, but then you crave a real media player like PCH, HDX, or TIVX.

hcour

11-29-08, 05:58 AM

My decision had naught to do w/you, lad.

Bran81

11-29-08, 09:22 AM

^ What type of reciever do you use if you don't mind me asking?

I use the optical out with a low end Yamaha receiver when I'm in the spare room and the HDMI with an Onkyo tx-sr705 when I'm in the living room.

Since WD TV and PopcornHour has the same chipset, does that also mean Popcorn Hour can not play those kind of mkvs that exceed the limit ? Or did they manage to overcome the problem with a firmware? Or is it that the chipset is not fast enough for these files?

Anyone knows this?

I read in the networkmediatank.com forum that 1 Popcorn Hour user reports better playback of 1080p.mkv files when he has the hard drive internally connected via SATA. Also, some have reported better playback when they remuxed the .mkv to .ts files. I've tried remuxing and it made no difference on the WD TV HD. Encodes that adhere to Width x Height x ReFrames < or = 8,388,608 should play fine.

Most people are encoding for HTPCs and not mediatanks, so they don't seem to care about ReFrames. It's hit or miss whether a 1080p.mkv will work if you do not know the above figures.

Curious. How big are your 1080p mkv files, that choked?

I'm wondering if it's to do with filesize or file specs.

For instance:

Batman 1920 x 1080 x 5 ReFrames = 10,368,000 (Chokes)
Bitrate = 10.3Mbps
Audio = AC3 5.1 @ 640Kbps
File Size = 10.9 Gigs

Casino Royal 1920 x 800 x 11 ReFrames = 16,896,000 (Chokes)
Bitrate = 10.5Mbps
Audio = DTS 5.1 @ 1,536Kbps
File Size = 10.6Gigs

Batman #2 1920 x 800 x 5 ReFrames = 7,688,000 (Plays Smoothly)
Bitrate = 13.2Mbps
Audio = AC3 5.1 @ 640Kbps
File Size = 9.43Gigs

Incredible Hulk 1920 x 816 x 5 ReFrames = 7,833,600 (Plays Smoothly)
Bitrate = 10.1Mbps
Audio = DTS 5.1 @ 1,536Kbps
File Size = 7.95Gigs

Fast and Furious 1920 x 816 x 5 ReFrames = 7,833,600 (Plays Smoothly)
Bitrate = 10.6Mbps
Audio = AC3 5.1 @ 640Kbps
File Size = 7.95Gigs

WALL-E 1920 x 800 x 4 ReFrames = 6,144,000 (Plays Smoothly)
Bitrate = 11.7Mbps
Audio = DTS 5.1 @ 1,536Kbps
File Size = 7.95Gigs

Jagoda

11-29-08, 09:56 AM

Does anyone know if WD is planning to include DTS downmix in the near future ?

I hear you need some sort of licence for that, so do WD have it ?

Other than that, this little machine is a perfect match for me, but I dont have a DTS receiver in every TV room and I am not planning on converting audio of every other movie I watch...

shadow_cruiser

11-29-08, 10:47 AM

It would be better to make a question to the WD Support team at the Knowledge Base at Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) instead of this forum. Register and post your question. One of the team will answer you.

If you don't know the url, copy paste this link to your browser to navigate there
support.wdc.com/product/kb.asp?groupid=1001&level1=&prodid=&modelno=&lang=en

I posted it here but I want to comprise a list with the user suggestions of this forum. Then I will send it off. Thanks guys, I added your requests

drake79

11-29-08, 11:00 AM

How to ad thumbnails to .mp4 video? Picture aded in Itunes to .mp4 video is shown in Itunes/windows but player shows nothing. What to do (steb by step if possible) to display video thumbnail on WD player?

What does it mean?:
moov/udta/meta/ilst/covr

Thank you for help.

es0090

11-29-08, 12:16 PM

natedj

11-29-08, 12:34 PM

80watts

11-29-08, 12:48 PM

^ What type of reciever do you use if you don't mind me asking?

Any receiver that handles DTS would do. Nowadays I think every receiver & 5.1 systems handle DTS. Just look at the specs on it.

Does anyone know if WD is planning to include DTS downmix in the near future ?

I hear you need some sort of licence for that, so do WD have it ?

Other than that, this little machine is a perfect match for me, but I dont have a DTS receiver in every TV room and I am not planning on converting audio of every other movie I watch...

If they did the price probably would no longer be $99-$130. The license for DTS is crazy expensive. I was reading that the main reason the Popcorn Hour 110 was $35 more than the 100 was because of the DTS license.

zombie10k

11-29-08, 01:16 PM

I have read where PCH users will say the the A-110 is great, it plays back the media flawlessly and it's better than the WD player. Althouth most of all PCH owners are willing to admit that the unit is not perfect. Can some care to list the problematic features in the PCH? Does the problems lie in the Audio/video playback or the plugins etc. ?

I don't have a dog in this fight and I'm not a fanboi of any brand, manufacturer or the like. My position is simple, the better product will get my money. So my questions is solely directed to playback of the audio/video. I'm well aware of the various pluggins that the PCH has to offer in addition to being able to house a hard-drive and it ability to to be networked, but as of now I'm only concerned with the final output.

Another thing ... when using the WD Player to play Standard Definition content the output has a superior quality due the the enhancements of the player, but when High Definition content is played through the WD player it also tries to enhance/up-convert the media and it tends to oversharpen the video causing digital artifacts and producing a slighty inferior quality. I know that this has been discussed before, but my question is, does the PCH do the same to HD content?

I have both the WDTV and the PCH-A110. The PCH is far from perfect. Certain files won't rewind while playing, hopefully they will fix this soon. I find the built in interface in the WD to be quicker than the PCH. the PCH does play back the various 1080P mkv's that I had issues with on the WDTV. It does not overly sharpen the lower res files.

I like the network functionality and ability to install an HD in the PCH. The web features like shoutcast audio, youtube streaming are neat, but not necessary for what I'm looking for.

I like the WDTV and plan on keeping it for a portably media player to bring to over to friends/family. Hopefully they won't abandon the product and update it to better handle the issues I have with a number of 1080P MKV files.

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-29-08, 01:22 PM

My decision had naught to do w/you, lad.

Sure it did, grandpa! :rolleyes:

bugme

11-29-08, 01:25 PM

obinafla

11-29-08, 01:32 PM

PCH have the same WD image quality?

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-29-08, 02:17 PM

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-29-08, 02:18 PM

PCH have the same WD image quality?

nope, PCH has a multitude of picture settings, that allow for batter picture. You can control contast, picture, and everything.

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-29-08, 02:20 PM

No pricing, certainly several times the $99 benchmark established by the WD TV. Won't even be announced until CES in January. The last Netgear media player was a real PoS, I wouldn't even use it as a doorstop. But, maybe its a step up for Popcorn hour users.

There was previous Netgear player? :confused:

The new Netgear device seems a step up for WD users.

One copycat company (WD) of PCH, deserves another (Netgear)!

digitalkid2

11-29-08, 02:51 PM

:confused:

Popcorn hour has been out for 3-4 years now, and out comes WD copying them and releasing to america.

WD is beta.
3-4 years.....I think not! 2 yrs at most.

gastonv

11-29-08, 02:56 PM

Need some help here pls.

So I got this thing (WD TV Media Player) -
I have video clips in folder - problem is I can not seem to get it to play the clips automatically in sequence. :mad:

Is a playlist file needed for this to work ???

thanks
matelot

Hi

Try pressing play button over the first movie file instead of pressing the enter button.

at least this works in photo folders and music folders.

aldy402

11-29-08, 03:08 PM

mines actually died, wouldn't power on anymore after 2 weeks
just wondering if this happened to anybody else?

LKupersmith

11-29-08, 03:11 PM

3-4 years.....I think not! 2 yrs at most.

Actually, 1 year - just since last November.

tyree91

11-29-08, 03:44 PM

I'm fairly new to the computer video game, but we deal in high end audio video and I would appreciate some advice for archiving my SD DVD collection using the WD TV. I just want to play back files in 480 as we use a DVDO VP-50pro to scale to our projector which should be better than any streamer. What tools do you recommend for archiving SD DVD's to a hard drive? I would like to retain subs and Dolby Digital/DTS audio as we will output them via the Toslink to a pre/pro. What type of video file is best for this archiving and playback? I don't care about HD as we will play those on dedicated players using True HD & DTS-MA, and I don't care to burn up the kind of storage required for HD DVD & BD. Thanks

Fjolle

11-29-08, 03:45 PM

Actually, 1 year - just since last November.

Reality has never been an issue for fanbois...

shadow_cruiser

11-29-08, 04:17 PM

So whats the rule for the AVS forum about threadcrapping?. Most of this thread is now filled up with useless posts from Digital. Can a mod just ban him please?

Monkeyface66

11-29-08, 04:51 PM

I really would be happy if WD could add 1080p24 output support! :eek:

shadow_cruiser, please add it to your list!

plus

**Fix the ZOOM problem: Videos start with small black borders on all 4 sides! Zooming in/out and back again temporarily fixes the problem.

:)

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-29-08, 05:28 PM

Actually, 1 year - just since last November.

?
:confused:

The PCH a-100 has been out for a couple of years now.

lymzy

11-29-08, 05:47 PM

?
:confused:

The PCH a-100 has been out for a couple of years now.

I don't know the reason why but D-I-G-I-T-A-L you certainly doing a disservice to PCH or the NMT brand.

FYI PCH A-100 debut this time last year.

For PCH or NMT's good, you really should leave this thread alone.

natedj

11-29-08, 06:02 PM

I've never had a problem with D-I-G-I-T-A-L touting his PCH. I'm still a newbie to all these new media tanks and as many of us here, I'm just trying to find more intel on the various units we have to choose from. But if D-I-G-I-T-A-L or any other fanbois is going to come on here and tell blatant lies just to boost his/her post count then I'll be forced to ignore them. Again I don't mind you posting specs, facts or even opinion, but to mislead the readers in this forum is totally childish seeing that you have nothing to gain from it.

Toe Tag

11-29-08, 07:13 PM

Here is a list of the 6 companies that license the media tank firmware http://www.networkedmediatank.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page including the PCH A100, PCH A110, HDX 900, HDX 1000, KAIBOER K100, IstarHD H5, Egreat M31B, EHP-600, and EHP-606. According to that list all of these use the same Sigma SMP8635 chip, as does the WD TV.

Here is the thread about the Netgear EVA9000 http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/28/netgear-digital-entertainer-elite-media-streamer-says-hello-to-t/ "Two years after the EVA8000 Digital Entertainer HD, the EVA9000 model adds support for a 3.5-inch SATA internal HDD, 802.11n and more to its predecessor's lengthy list of features." It looks good on paper, but so did the EVA8000, and that was a disappointment. It won't even be seen until CES in January. Not yet certain if it uses the sigma SMP8635. That does look like a hot swap bay for SATA drives on the front that would be handy. Given their track record though, I'm going to wait for some user reports. Reviews won't go into enough depth to reveal all the flaws.

BTW, I think it would be interesting to power the WD TV with 12V in a car, then stick in a USB key with a movie on it.

disbelief

11-29-08, 07:53 PM

Ok, now I know what you mean about choking. Just tried playing Darkknight last night (1920 x 1080 x 5 ReFrames, 11+gb). It was macroblocking/pixelating and stuttering.... is that wat you experience (choking)?

But strange thing was it happens on my pc too. Bad file maybe?

For instance:

Batman 1920 x 1080 x 5 ReFrames = 10,368,000 (Chokes)
Bitrate = 10.3Mbps
Audio = AC3 5.1 @ 640Kbps
File Size = 10.9 Gigs

Casino Royal 1920 x 800 x 11 ReFrames = 16,896,000 (Chokes)
Bitrate = 10.5Mbps
Audio = DTS 5.1 @ 1,536Kbps
File Size = 10.6Gigs

Batman #2 1920 x 800 x 5 ReFrames = 7,688,000 (Plays Smoothly)
Bitrate = 13.2Mbps
Audio = AC3 5.1 @ 640Kbps
File Size = 9.43Gigs

Incredible Hulk 1920 x 816 x 5 ReFrames = 7,833,600 (Plays Smoothly)
Bitrate = 10.1Mbps
Audio = DTS 5.1 @ 1,536Kbps
File Size = 7.95Gigs

Fast and Furious 1920 x 816 x 5 ReFrames = 7,833,600 (Plays Smoothly)
Bitrate = 10.6Mbps
Audio = AC3 5.1 @ 640Kbps
File Size = 7.95Gigs

WALL-E 1920 x 800 x 4 ReFrames = 6,144,000 (Plays Smoothly)
Bitrate = 11.7Mbps
Audio = DTS 5.1 @ 1,536Kbps
File Size = 7.95Gigs

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-29-08, 08:48 PM

ratphink

11-29-08, 09:00 PM

How bout sync issues? I've got some great looking divx avi's that play perfectly on my computer locally, played back from the same HD I'm using for the WDTV or dumped to a DVD and played back on my Phillips player. But playing the same file back from the HD connected to this device will have a slight sync problem. It's only certain files, yet some other files encoded the exact same way play fine.

Could it be that I'm playing back the file before the device scans the entire drive? Even pausing for a few seconds and resuming doesn't help.

rudiger

11-29-08, 09:53 PM

Ok have I read all the pages in this thread and I don't see an answer to a question that I have:

Has anyone connected a WD TV HD Player to a Drobo/Droboshare?

ruidger

80watts

11-29-08, 10:53 PM

I don't get it. DIGITAL says he just ordered a PCH, but then he speaks like he is the main source of knowledge on the thing. Has it been delivered yet, you said you ordered it a few days ago. I doubt he ever owned a WDTV. It makes no sense that he would spend so much time trashing the WD player in here. He seems to answer every post, but posts asking him about where to get a PCH for $130 or less go unanswered. Give us a break. There has to be other things you own that you can go brag about in other threads. Maybe you can go rant about how great your TV is in the TV boards and leave us be.

shizzzon

11-29-08, 11:01 PM

Bran81

11-30-08, 12:05 AM

Ok, now I know what you mean about choking. Just tried playing Darkknight last night (1920 x 1080 x 5 ReFrames, 11+gb). It was macroblocking/pixelating and stuttering.... is that wat you experience (choking)?

But strange thing was it happens on my pc too. Bad file maybe?

Haha, I happen to know of that exact file *wink wink, say no more...

It plays on my 1.6Ghz Core 2 Duo laptop w/2 gigs of memory, a little slow, but no pixelation or anything like what the WD TV does. Yes, that's what I meant by choking. Sorry to not be precise. I also say "confetti" for macroblocking. I'm willing to bet that if you happen to come across the nuked HD1080 release of Dark Knight (which is 1920x800) *and* it has 5 or fewer ReFrames(I don't know how many it has), it will work without a hitch.

Shizzzon: All of my posts in this thread are in regard to your issue. I now stand by that to be able to play a 1080p.mkv, it should adhere to this formula: Width x Height x ReFrames is less than or equal to 8,388,608

MediaInfo will give you these figures. Profile doesn't matter as some .mkv files are flagged with the wrong profile.

By definition, a 1080p.mkv with more than 4 ReFrames cannot be profile L4.1, regardless if it is flagged as such. All mediatanks with this Sigma chip claim to only support up to L4.1.

On occasion you might find someone claiming to have a 1080p.mkv running smoothly that goes beyond the formula above, but they are few and far between.

shadow_cruiser

11-30-08, 12:07 AM

I have been desperately trying to figure out the problem with the Dark Knight and other MKV files that playback pixelated.

Besides the Dark Knight, Starship Troopers 1080p mkv and a sample of Transformers in 1080p does it as well.

I took the Dark knight and cut it to only play the first 60 seconds-
Still pixelated - means file size does not effect playback.
I then decreased it's high Profile to 4.1 from 5.0
Still pixelated.
I then increased it's high Profile to 5.1 from 5.0
Still pixelated.

Comparing this to others - I can't find any differences that would guesstimate an incompatible problem.

SOMETHING is different with this file... i dont know what it is though and i cant find a program that can give me all the little details about how it's made.

MediaInfo came the closest but still not good enough.

I can play this back on a pc fine so it's something with how it's being decoded on the WD player.

As for the dark knight (haven't checked the other releases), the only release thats confirmed to work flawlessly on the PCH and WDTV is The.Dark.Knight.BluRay.1080p.DTS.x264.dxva-EuReKA. Its because the release is DXVA compliant.

I checked the sameple on my tv and it plays beautifully. I'm uploading it to rapidshare but as I'm probably not allowed to post the link here, I will shoot you a pm and you can try it yourself.

audionutz

11-30-08, 12:23 AM

I've been watching this thread for weeks now. Based on some posts here, I figure that if this is how people that work for PCH act, it's not a company I want to give money to. So I took the plunge on a WD.

So far works great for me. I've seen a few quirks, but overall really good.

Question is I do'nt understand whats going on with the resolution setting. I set mine to auto figuring it would output the native resolution of the file being played. However I'm getting 720P no matter what file is played. Anyone know how this setting is working?

I'm sort of assuming that for $99, I'm better off letting the WD play the file natively and letting the TV do the scaling, no?

disbelief

11-30-08, 12:25 AM

So it's safe to say, that filesize can be the first condition if mkv works or not. Anything more than 9GB is a risk.

'Cos the problem is when to know a download will work or not, as the information about the ReFrames are not available until download is finished.

Haha, I happen to know of that exact file *wink wink, say no more...

It plays on my 1.6Ghz Core 2 Duo laptop w/2 gigs of memory, a little slow, but no pixelation or anything like what the WD TV does. Yes, that's what I meant by choking. Sorry to not be precise. I also say "confetti" for macroblocking. I'm willing to bet that if you happen to come across the nuked HD1080 release of Dark Knight (which is 1920x800) *and* it has 5 or fewer ReFrames(I don't know how many it has), it will work without a hitch.

Shizzzon: All of my posts in this thread are in regard to your issue. I now stand by that to be able to play a 1080p.mkv, it should adhere to this formula: Width x Height x ReFrames is less than or equal to 8,388,608

MediaInfo will give you these figures. Profile doesn't matter as some .mkv files are flagged with the wrong profile.

By definition, a 1080p.mkv with more than 4 ReFrames cannot be profile L4.1, regardless if it is flagged as such. All mediatanks with this Sigma chip claim to only support up to L4.1.

On occasion you might find someone claiming to have a 1080p.mkv running smoothly that goes beyond the formula above, but they are few and far between.

mkpl

11-30-08, 02:11 AM

...

Question is I do'nt understand whats going on with the resolution setting. I set mine to auto figuring it would output the native resolution of the file being played. However I'm getting 720P no matter what file is played. Anyone know how this setting is working?

I'm sort of assuming that for $99, I'm better off letting the WD play the file natively and letting the TV do the scaling, no?

Is your TV a 720p set? Mine is, and the Auto mode sets everything to 720p. I'm guessing the WD TV Auto mode sets to output to match that of the display it is connected to. I've noticed photos are distorted in this mode and look much better at the 1080 settings.

aronsonstack

11-30-08, 02:44 AM

:confused:

Popcorn hour has been out for 3-4 years now, and out comes WD copying them and releasing to america.

WD is beta.

Like PCH originated the idea of a media player? Tvix, Mvix, the list goes on and on for media players before the PCH.

You don't even own a PCH yet you weirdo. Have you received your "already shipped" PCH yet?

joeycas

11-30-08, 05:08 AM

Do the people with remote control problems own Samsung and Philips tvs? It would be handy to find out and to see if we could narrow it down to a couple of makes and maybe even models of tv.

That explains it! The first day I got my WD HD player, I tried it on my Pioneer plasma 428XG on my HT room. It played flawlessly. The next day, I transferred the player to my bedroom and hooked it to my Samsung LA32R81 and that's when the unit becomes unresponsive to the remote. I remember placing the unit 1 foot below my LCD also transferred it to a table 2 feet to the left of the LCD but it did not fix the problem. I also tried using my 2 learning remotes (Marantz and Sony) but the unit still acted weird and unresponsive to the remote.

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-30-08, 06:28 AM

Like PCH originated the idea of a media player? Tvix, Mvix, the list goes on and on for media players before the PCH.

You don't even own a PCH yet you weirdo. Have you received your "already shipped" PCH yet?

Only took 3 days to ship form china, and no I don't work with PCH.

You are missing out though on PCH, it can 3x more stuff then WD.

:D

Timpanogos

11-30-08, 07:55 AM

Troll: go away

matte79

11-30-08, 09:25 AM

Didnt you said you should leave us??
We know what you think about this device. So gooodbye NÖRD!

D-I-G-I-T-A-L

11-30-08, 09:34 AM

I love newbs, and so does WD.

matte79

11-30-08, 09:45 AM

and I dont like nerds. do you have an life? always online.. sicko

matte79

11-30-08, 09:57 AM

Who are moderators at this forum?

Toe Tag

11-30-08, 10:37 AM

Moderators alerted. Hopefully they'll erase all his infantile posts in the bargain. And ban his IP range along with whatever half-assed nation he spanks his monkey in.

digitalkid2

11-30-08, 11:55 AM

and I dont like nerds. do you have an life? always online.. sicko
Are you sure that is what you really want to say? I am not defending DIGITAL but there are an awful lot of folks that are nerds and are NOT sicko. I am considered to be a nerd by some....heck I bet you are somewhat of a nerd by someone's definition of a nerd. In fact most folks that post on these forums would be considered nerds simply because they know how to post on these forums!

Your choice of words makes you sound like DIGITAL!

shizzzon

11-30-08, 12:33 PM

Back on topic-

I found a program called H264info that lets you change Ref frame amount and actual resolution without re-encoding video...

The major problem is i dont think it's suppose to allow you to do this or was created for that purpose because everytime i either lower the ref frames or lower the resolution, pixelation starts to show up everywhere on a computer and on the WD HD.

If you change the ref frame at all, it's bad. I got the best results by just resizing the resolution... still pixelated but played back a LOT better.

matte79

11-30-08, 12:53 PM

*D*i*g*i*t*a*l has already told us what he thinks about WD. Fine.
This thread is about WD and not an penis comparement with other devices.
Enough trashtalk.. Tomorrow i'm gonna get my WD. It had release 27'th November in Sweden.

shizzzon

11-30-08, 01:24 PM

I cant get anywhere.

I am stuck, unless there is some software out there i havent came across yet.. the only way to force proper playback on 1080p files is to reencode them which is unacceptable.

I hoped to find a resizer that would just remux audio back in with it when done but i didnt find one.

Bran81

11-30-08, 03:05 PM

disbelief: You can't really do it based on file size, unfortunately. Shadow_cruiser mentioned his 1080p.mkv working without a hitch. His file is just over 15 gigs.

deez20

11-30-08, 03:09 PM

I've got a bunch of 1080P files that don't play correctly (pixelate) on the WD but work fine on my mac. Is this something that could actually be fixed through a FW upgrade or is it a hardware issue? Just wondering if I should wait for a new firmware release or look for a 720P version of the movies that don't work.

EDIT: I just looked at the files that aren't working correctly and they have L5.1 encoding which I guess is why they don't work correctly on the WD. I guess I would have to convert these to L4.1 to get them to work. Could a firmware upgrade get L5.1 encoded files to work?

shizzzon

11-30-08, 03:17 PM

welcome to the part that sucks, hehe.

I would have to "assume" it's a physical limitation.

Your file can be 100gb, i'm seeing how the formula posted earlier a few pages ago IS the standard for this WD player at the moment... possibly forever.

bugme

11-30-08, 03:19 PM

Hi
Try pressing play button over the first movie file instead of pressing the enter button.
at least this works in photo folders and music folders.

thanks ! that appears to do the trick.

Bran81

11-30-08, 03:51 PM

I'm adding the formula to my signature just for reference.

I've begun to ignore the profile of .mkv files (L4.1, 5.0, 5.1) as I've seen many files flagged inaccurately.

I believe this is a physical/hardware limitation of the Sigma chip, but I have read some users of the TViX and PCH occasionally playing a file that goes beyond the formula, but rarely. Since those units use the same Sigma chip, it may be possible for firmware to tip the scales slightly on some 1080p.mkv files; however, the TViX and PCH also connect a hard drive internally rather than via USB 2.0, so that **may** provide *some* kind of advantage.

shadow_cruiser

11-30-08, 03:55 PM

disbelief: You can't really do it based on file size, unfortunately. Shadow_cruiser mentioned his 1080p.mkv working without a hitch. His file is just over 15 gigs.

Yeah, the size is rather high counting in at 15.91 but its the only one thats confirmed to work on the PCH and WDTV.

I've got a bunch of 1080P files that don't play correctly (pixelate) on the WD but work fine on my mac. Is this something that could actually be fixed through a FW upgrade or is it a hardware issue? Just wondering if I should wait for a new firmware release or look for a 720P version of the movies that don't work.

EDIT: I just looked at the files that aren't working correctly and they have L5.1 encoding which I guess is why they don't work correctly on the WD. I guess I would have to convert these to L4.1 to get them to work. Could a firmware upgrade get L5.1 encoded files to work?

A lot of files that don't work on the WDTV also pixelate on the PCH. They both run the same chips and in due time with more firmware upgrades, it will surely be stable. The PCH is 1 year ahead of us with firmware development. The pixelation is not hardware dependant, its solely due to firmware.

matt314159

11-30-08, 04:08 PM

Wow. I just read all 30+ pages of this thread over the last couple days, just thought I would chime in my $.02 in regards to the philips /Samsung tv thing.

I have the WD TV and the Philips 42PFL7432D 42-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV.

The TV's on the top, the WD player is immediately beneath the TV on the shelf right below.

For the most part I have had no problems with the remote control working, HOWEVER, comma, I have ONCE had the issue where I let the drive auto-power off and when I went to turn it back on, it wouldn't power on until I yanked the cord and plugged it back in. Seems to have worked fine ever since. I will keep an eye on it though.

avsquash

11-30-08, 04:42 PM

ratphink,

About the avi sync issue, I posted a work-around for this a few days ago over at videohelp:
http://forum.videohelp.com/topic358929-150.html#1911796

It uses Avidemux to copy the video and audio from the AVI into an MKV container. No re-encoding involved, so no quality loss, and only takes about a minute. If you try it, remember to give the new file an .mkv extension when you save it, as Avidemux doesn't automatically do that.

I used the Windows version, but it's also available for Linux and MacOS.

I've left a message at the WD site about this, but who knows if they'll read it. I'm sure all the media player makers get compalints about audio sync problems which are not the fault of the player, but I think this one is. Like you, my file played fine on a Philips DVD player (dvp5990) with no sync issues.

I've only had one avi file with this problem, all others were OK. Another videohelp user tried the Avidemux fix and it worked for him.

shizzzon

11-30-08, 04:50 PM

I'm doing trial and error testings right now on finding the Absolute limitation to the playback formula.

As of right now, i have gotten 720p video to surpass over 8,560,000 on both Lvl 4 and Lvl 5.

I am now testing further into 720p and begin testing of 1080p video.

matt314159

11-30-08, 05:21 PM

Could someone post a link to something explaining a little bit more about the x264 format and what specifically a "reframe" is? I tried doing a quick search but ntohing stood out to me about the significance of a 'reframe". I ran into the 1080p problem on an episode of generation Kill, and sure enough, mediainfo told me I had 12 reframes. I'm just curious what that is.

TexasAg

11-30-08, 05:58 PM

matt314159

11-30-08, 06:09 PM

http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/x264_options_page3.html

I think you mean reference frame.
Ah, thanks. I appreciate the link, it makes more sense now...
Reference Frames:

Description: Selects the maximum number of reference frames that can be used. Referenced frames are frames that refer to other frames (eg. if both frames are similar). Having a high referenced frame will improve quality but slow up encoding. For typical content, a reference frame of 3 to 5 is recommended. For content with a lot of repetition (eg. animation), a reference frame of 8 to 10 can be used. If a large number of reference frames is selected, then the "Mixed References" options should also be selected to allow x264 greater control (see "Analysis Options" section).

this might be why some of those who were into anime might not like this box as much as others. Seems like anything with a higher than usual number of reference frames, and this thing has a hard time processing. The episode of Generation Kill 1x01 I tried to play was 1080p and had 12 Re.Frames.

shizzzon

11-30-08, 06:27 PM

Some more news-

It appears that the limitation to this media player when using this restrictive formula is resolution based.

I was able to successfully play back a 720p video at 9011200.

However, the formula restrictive number this is in your signature is incorrect at the moment.

Using 1920 x 864, i got problems( pixelation and sudden pausing) and only hit 8294400

I'm going to test the maximum Y axis point to determine it's threshold.

zombie10k

11-30-08, 07:01 PM

I believe this is a physical/hardware limitation of the Sigma chip, but I have read some users of the TViX and PCH occasionally playing a file that goes beyond the formula, but rarely. Since those units use the same Sigma chip, it may be possible for firmware to tip the scales slightly on some 1080p.mkv files; however, the TViX and PCH also connect a hard drive internally rather than via USB 2.0, so that **may** provide *some* kind of advantage.

Hi, not sure if you saw my post in the last page, but I have both the WD and the PCH A-110 which just arrived last week.

I have 6 1080P MKV's that give me the 'confetti' and stuttering audio on the WD that are currently playing with no issues on the A110's latest firmware.

I am pulling the files from an SMB share on a 64bit 2008 server with a 3TB Raid 5 setup. The files load nearly as quick as if it's on the local disk. (I also installed a 320 SATA laptop HD in the PCH A-110)

I am still keeping the WD since it was inexpensive and hoping they fix the issues with the 1080P mkv's. I like the portable size, althought the A-110 is much smaller than I thought.

it's nice to get a chance to see my favorites in HD that aren't destined for blu-ray anytime soon

Bran81

11-30-08, 07:10 PM

edit: nvrmnd:)

shizzzon

11-30-08, 07:13 PM

Sorry, my mistake, 8294400 does not cause issues, i accidentally did a test which used 10 ref frames at 1920x864, oops, hehe.

Some more interesting findings-

I was able to keep the res up to 1712x832 so far resulting in 8546304 using 6 ref frames without problems.

I am now believing that maybe there may be a resolution limit, multiplying "x" x "y". Whereas i'm sure the rest by including the ref frames has a lot to do with it as well but just the resolution by itself seems likely as well.

the Y axis i'm using is higher than some 1080p cropped clips found online. The only thing i did was decrease the x axis.

1920 x 1080 = 2073600

I am now going to test the maximum y axis limit keeping the x axis at 1920, since it's rarely ever changed in 1080p form, to determine it's compatibility without going over 1080 of course.

The next post is gonna be interesting while i'm waiting for all the test files to complete. While maintaining 1920x1080, testing to see when the problem occurs after 829...

Then, while maintaining 1920, testing results on the Y axis from 720 all the way up to 816 with results going over 9,000,000. Some of these files play!, some do not. Gimme bout 30 minutes for the results.

Bran81

11-30-08, 07:23 PM

While a very unusual resolution, it's interesting to hear it work at 6 ReFrames. I think when most people deal with personal 1080p HD rips, they are talking about the full 1920x1080, while those that dabble in the darker territories of the net come across 1080p stuff that is cropped to 1920x800 or 816.

excellent, nice to know someone is troubleshooting the less easily troubleshot stuff.

R Johnson

11-30-08, 07:38 PM

Thoughts on the Western Digital Media Player WDAVN00:

My primary interest is playback of long (3 hours or more) 720p and 1080i recordings (MPEG2 format) from an computer ATSC tuner. The WD does this quite well with HDMI video output to my 720p projector and audio output via digital optical connection to my AVR. Other interests are photo slideshows and playback of DVDs I've created.

I tested it with recordings on an older WD "My Book" drive in NTFS format. As it worked quite well, I bought a 320GB WD "My Passport" for its smaller size and USB powered operation.

Observations:

The MPEG2 videos play back quite well, and the original 5.1 AC3 audio is decoded properly.

No problems with the remote. The simple folder list view appears preferable.

I really like that the WD remembers where you stopped playing a program and offers a choice of resuming or starting at the beginning.

Some glitches: Sometimes a program starts with no video, but a tap of fast-forward or reverse solves that. Going from 16X to PLAY often begins playing a fair ways from where intended. I found that going to 2X and then PLAY works better.

The most serious problem I've encountered is that in one instance the WD got the duration of the program wrong. A 3 hour program showed up as 37 minutes long. This seriously messes up navigation. It will actually play though the 37 minute mark, but it's best to be prepared to watch the entire program in one go. (MediaInfo gets the time of this particular program right. MediaInfo gets the resolution correct at 1280x720, but on some similar recordings it gets the resolution wrong at 704x480)

I'd really like to see some improved navigation options within a long duration video. 16X on a three hour video is over 11 minutes.

Slideshows work rather well for a prepared set of images. Way too many button presses are required to do things like rotate right or left. The WD does NOT seem to recognize the auto-rotation flag in the JPEG EXIF header.

I've created several DVDs using Premiere Elements. While the WD will play the VOB files within the TS_Video folder, it sure would be nice if it could recognize the DVD menus and chapters.

I created some slideshows in Photoshop Elements 4 in "WMV" format. Curiously the WD will not play these SD files in what I'd have thought was a rather common format. I'll have to see what the MediaConverter software will do....

It would be nice to shutdown the USB port(s) when the media player is turned "off". As is, the "Passport" drive needlessly keeps running until I disconnect the USB cable.

I hope most of the above issues will be addressed in a firmware update.

shizzzon

11-30-08, 08:21 PM

Some more shocking results-

1920 x 1072 was allowed up to 8448000.

I know i know it wasnt 1080 but curious since it was below 1080, what happened next?

I tested all the way up to 1920x816 with a result as high as 9400320 without problems!

I'm gonna have to switch encoders to encode a true 1920x1080 but that will come tomorrow.

Now, i'm gonna try to see how high i can get by keeping the y axis below 1080(most things are, so it's higher priority for me).

The next posting results WILL have a limit as the next batch of test files were made to exceed that of some clips such as "Dark Knight" which didnt playback properly so we'll know one more limitation soon!

ratphink

11-30-08, 09:41 PM

ratphink,

About the avi sync issue, I posted a work-around for this a few days ago over at videohelp:
http://forum.videohelp.com/topic358929-150.html#1911796

Hey avsquash, thanks for the tip, I'll give it a shot.
I was worried about re- encoding of the file, but looks like you've solved it.

Cheers!

shizzzon

11-30-08, 10:08 PM

Dysan911

11-30-08, 10:20 PM

Good Work Shizzzon!. Looking forward to learning more about your detailed test results tomorrow!..

ddevolder@ced.ua

12-01-08, 03:08 AM

matt314159

12-01-08, 04:57 AM

Just bought a WD TV Media Player.

I have the following problem: it works OK during a few hours, but when I want to use it the next day, it does not work unless I unplug and plug back the power cable. When I do that, I can repeatedly power it on and off with the remote with no problem and it works OK, but a few hours later, I cannot power it on again, unless I do the unplug and plug the power cable trick again.

Is this something "special" with my unit, or is there a recommended way to let it go in standby mode in order to have it working in a normal way?

Daniel
That is a known issue, though it seems not all people have it. I had it happen once. That was two days ago, and I haven't had it happen since. Some people speculate the problem might be only if you have a philips or samsung television, but not sure how much stock to put in that theory (though I can't count it out because I have a philips TV).

A liaison from WD has posted saying that a new firmware upgrade due out "soon" should address this problem.

Canuck-eh!

12-01-08, 09:00 AM

Finally got to run a thorough (for me) test of the WD unit. Using forum info from Slysoft, ripped BD movies and used tsmuxer to create m2ts files. Absolutely no problem with output, dts played fine through Onkyo 606. Used forum info from hardforum to rip HD DVD movies with evodemuxer and same tsmuxer to create m2ts files. Once again, absolutely no problems and sound also played properly. I use the unit in the bedroom on a Toshiba Regza lcd as well as the primary unit.

Despite the numerous concerns/complaints on this forum, the WD unit does it's job! As with all new hardware with software involved, I am sure that the problems will be addressed in a timely fashion. Off to work on more movies. paint me happy so far.

Shaner1

12-01-08, 11:37 AM

I've searched through this thread and didn't find anyone mentioning this yet.... so I must be the only one hooking this up to an older HDTV.

I have a Toshiba 52HMX94 DLP set from 2004. When I play back movies the dark scenes are greenish if I have the brightness turn up too much. When I turn it down then the entire movie it too dark... I know this set can't handle deep blacks like the new TV's but I was surprised at how bad it was. I also havea 37" Sharp LCD and it looks great on it.

I also noticed this with my PS3 before I changed the video output to what was recommended in another thread. It was the RGB output setting, you have the choice of Full or Limited. Setting this to limited made a huge difference on my DLP when using the PS3 for Blu-Ray movies.

The problem is that there isn't a setting like this on the WD HD unit that I'm aware of. Anyone know a way around this?? (Besides buying a new TV, that is in the plans though...) :)

**To the WD guy posting here, please consider an enhancement that would allow us to pick the RGB output between Full and Limited like on the PS3.

ECJ

12-01-08, 12:00 PM

I have a LIMIT!!!

I'm gonna be posting a more precise limit tomorrow but i gotta get some sleep now.

If you have video where the Y axis is BELOW 1080, the current limit by using the formula RES x Ref frames=

The limit is somewhere above 9584640 and at or below 9768960.

I'm going to be doing more precise testing to get as close in between these numbers as possible to find the most precise limit before finding the limit to true 1080. I will also be testing variations of 720p to find out if it's limits are also within this range or not but that's all tomorrow.

To help I put my mkv's info on a spreadsheet to find out what plays and what doesn't, and why. Hope this info is helpful.

The five files that don't work, are very pixelated/confetti like picture.

I think that the WD TV can handle any number of reframes, as long as the the multiple of the resolution isn't over the the yet to be determined limit.

Also I don't see a size limit being the issue, since I have 10GB+ files that play fine. Profile doesn't seem to be an issue either, since they are all over the board.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f166/ecj/MKVs.jpg

TexasAg

12-01-08, 12:15 PM

ECJ,
If I'm not mistaken, that Sex in the City mkv is out of spec for L4.1, since it has 5 ref frames instead of 4 at 1920x1080.

ECJ

12-01-08, 12:30 PM

I'm not sure what the specs are for any of the profiles. I just used Media Info for the mac to gather all the info. Would you want more info on that file?

AVS66

12-01-08, 01:02 PM

Been lurking this thread for awhile now. Definitely going to get one soon but hold up till the firmware fix the existing problems. Can't wait.

Bran81

12-01-08, 01:50 PM

I have a LIMIT!!!

I'm gonna be posting a more precise limit tomorrow but i gotta get some sleep now.

If you have video where the Y axis is BELOW 1080, the current limit by using the formula RES x Ref frames=

The limit is somewhere above 9584640 and at or below 9768960.

How man ReFrames are you using? There are standards for certain types of video files. The standard ReFrames are 4 and 8 depending on the type of video, live action or animation. I've seen a number of encoders using 5, though.

Texasag is right about the L4.1 spec. If you look at the manufacturers' websites of various mediatanks with this Sigma chip, you'll see that most, if not all, say their mediatank will support up to L4.1 DXVA compliant 1080p.mkv. This includes Popcorn Hour and TViX units.

L4.1 DXVA compliance includes 1920x1080x4 ReFrames, which equals 8,294,400.

For people making their own .mkv files for personal use, they can play with settings to suit them. For those evil doers... that like to share on the web, they usually crop the waste of space black bars out of widescreen films, but make sure they maintain proper aspect ratio. So, the res is almost always 1920x800 or 816.

The nice thing about cropping to 1920x800 is that you can up the bitrate and produce a quality image at a decent overall file size. If you maintain the black bars, it's just going to unnecessarily increase file size. TVs will display the black bars automagically just based on the aspect ratio of the film.

RAVEN56706

12-01-08, 02:49 PM

same here. i am waiting for the firmware update before i move forward

taz420

12-01-08, 02:55 PM

I picked up mine at BB yesterday after watching the backorder status unchanging online after 2 weeks. Although the online order pickup clerk told me they had 4 listed as instock at the store they didn't know where they were. I walked back to the hard drives and they were sitting right there.

anyway...
getting to my problem...

all 720p and 1080p TV shows I downloaded look and sound great!

I also downloaded several movies to test out and only 1 gives me audio and video. The others only give awesome looking flawless video but no audio.
problem movies:
Hand.cook.2008.BluRay.1080p.DTS.x264.dxva
Florida.Jones.and.the.Kiss.of.the.Crystal.Squaw.2008.1080p.B luRay.DTS.x264
Spiders.and.Man.3.2007.1080p.Bluray.DTS.x264

The one that worked was The Dark and Stormy Night release, x264 @ 6830kbps, ac3 @ 640kbps, 1280x528

Audio is set to STEREO in the menu as I'm only using the HDMI cable. Tried OPTICAL and changed to DIGITAL but still no audio

With the other media players I have (Mvix-760, iomega screenplay) it's usually the other way around. Audio plays but no video or it just doesn't play at all.

Is there something simple I'm missing somewhere?

I did look through the thread but didn't see this problem mentioned but it is up to 32 pages now and I didn't have time to read it all.

Sorry if I'm bringing up something that's already been covered.

TIA for any help!

Bran81

12-01-08, 03:16 PM

those 3 movies all have DTS audio. You won't get DTS audio via the Red/White RCA stereo plugs on the back. WD TV HD does not internally decode DTS audio. It will pass it through the optical out and HDMI out if you set the audio to "Digital" in the settings menu.

I see you've done the optical and digital route.

Your receiver needs to be able to decode DTS, too. Most do, though. I don't know if most TVs with optical inputs will decode DTS. I run my WD TV HD to a receiver via optical and get DTS 5.1 playback with no problem. While playing the file, you may also hit the option button on the remote and look for multiple audio tracks to switch between.

It could also be something like not having the inputs assigned on your receiver properly. If you run video and audio through a receiver, you may be plugging video into Input X, while optical audio is assigned to Input Y or similar.

daldridge

12-01-08, 03:24 PM

taz420, if you don't have a receiver you'll need to use the Popcorn AudioConverter program.

shizzzon

12-01-08, 03:28 PM

Just got home from work, am now goign to start doing more testing between now and the next 5 hrs so i should have ALL of our questions answered about compatibility with the x264 codec tonight.

Update -

The Limit has now been found to be between 9.58million and 9.601million.

I am getting closer... i'm suspicious that 9.6m might be the barrier but ill find out within the hour or two, :)

Also, THIS PLAYER DOES NOT NEED DXVA COMPLIANT MKVs WHEN REFERRING TO REF FRAMES!

Even though they say that... it's not true. (That's a plus for this player, right?)

You say compliancy for Lvl 4.1 states that it should not exceed 4? Well, i've been using Lvl 4.1 for all testing samples so far )i will test 5.0 and 5.1 after i find the limit) and have used reference frames from 4 all the way up to 8 so far and no problems as long as i keep it at 9.58m or less...

Let me get back to finding the limit.

obinafla

12-01-08, 03:30 PM

great job shizzzon!! :D

shizzzon

12-01-08, 04:45 PM

Another quick update... this might delay some findings by finding new limits!

The Profile Level AND\OR a high number of Ref frames play a role in the compatibility of x264 files with this player.

I just did find the limit as to be expected with Lvl4.0.

I am going to reconfirm it in a few minutes just to make sure but when i increased the profile level with the reference frames... the limit could be broken without pixelation or sync issues, etc...

this is Very interesting... now i am going to have to find the limits for each profile! this just gets deeper and deeper....

shizzzon

12-01-08, 04:58 PM

Ok... we have a problem that will cause a delay...

I was just able to achieve a much higher number by testing 720 type resolution settings as they were able to surpass the limit at ANY profile so the previous post really isnt relevant as far as i can tell.

The limit is solely not based on res x ref frames. The resolution x x y must have preset limits of it's own to determine it's maximum ref frame capability...

This type of testing will take probably the rest of the week.
But... for now, i'll just test all of the common resolutions used including half HD which i believe is 1440 x 1080, i'll try to test as many as i remember.

KostyaNP

12-01-08, 05:49 PM

I have 5 different 1080P MKV's that have the confetti blocking/skipping etc on the WDTV. I just received my PCH-A110 today and anxiously did a quick setup to see if it would have an issue with these exact files.

it plays them back perfect (...)

Thank you. This effectively eliminates my main fear - that the Sigma SMP8635 chip is simply not powerful enough for highend MKVs. Since PCH runs the same chip, it means that the problem is in firmware, not hardware. So I will be waiting confidently for WDTV new firmware release.

BTW, debugging the highend MKVs display problem (confettying?) should probably be added to the requests list.

shizzzon

12-01-08, 05:52 PM

once i get my detailed testing done, it would be nice to submit it to WD for inspection to help them track down quicker the problem.

A LARGE collection of test files are being created right down that are testing the Y axis all the way down to 400 to see if i can "see something" happen that isnt suppose to.

shizzzon

12-01-08, 07:02 PM

Just a quick update -

Others are correct about this-

Profile levels between 4.0 - 5.1 make 100% no difference in compatibility.

Changing Y axis to a lower level will allow more ref frames to be used! This is useful info for 720p formatted videos as 1080p videos are not formatted as 1920x720 for example. (do not take these resolution examples as factual boundaries for the ref frame usage, they are shown for reference only).

astraelraen

12-01-08, 07:17 PM

I've searched the web high and low... is anyone using the WD TV with a 5400rpm drive with success?

WD seems to promote using this unit with their passport external drives which are 5400rpms.

I have doubts that this is fast enough for high bitrate files, but maybe this is unfounded? I'm going to buy this unit sometime this week from best buy and try it out. Just wondering if I should go 7200rpm or 5400rpm. The slim passport drives defenitly are appealing.

KostyaNP

12-01-08, 07:22 PM

is anyone using the WD TV with a 5400rpm drive with success?

I am. And, I suspect, everyone else, too. The USB 2.0 interface is much slower than the drive itself and if there is a bottleneck here, it would be in the USB. In other words - don't worry about it, even the slowest drive will do.

KostyaNP

12-01-08, 07:28 PM

What I would like to report, though, is that the WDTV audio tract DACs are total crap. Don't expect anything resembling decent sound thru the RCA stereo output directly from the WDTV. For me, it does not matter, since I use toslink audio output thru the receiver anyway. Just FYI.

zombie10k

12-01-08, 07:30 PM

Thank you. This effectively eliminates my main fear - that the Sigma SMP8635 chip is simply not powerful enough for highend MKVs. Since PCH runs the same chip, it means that the problem is in firmware, not hardware. So I will be waiting confidently for WDTV new firmware release.

BTW, debugging the highend MKVs display problem (confettying?) should probably be added to the requests list.

no problem, I am still keeping my WDTV and hoping they fix this. The PCH A-110 has been smooth sailing so far, about 40+ MKV's of various size, including a number of direct M2TS rips from BD with full HD audio and no issues. This product has been out longer with a number of firmware updates to be fair.

I am still curious if WD is going to treat this as a one and done product, or if they will attempt to fix the current issues.

KostyaNP

12-01-08, 07:37 PM

I am still curious if WD is going to treat this as a one and done product, or if they will attempt to fix the current issues.

Yeah... that would be interesting to know. So far the WDTV sells like a hotdog, but who knows if it will eventually form market big enough for WD to form a team of programmers to really work on firmware updates. Too bad ScottWD had disappeared and we have noone to torture with our curiosity.

shizzzon

12-01-08, 07:47 PM

Either tomorrow morning or afternoon, i will release further info in regards to it's "virtual unlimitness" when it comes to 720p style resolutions.

I am still going to be working on narrowing down resolution settings but as of right now... i'm getting pretty close, seriously.

I have noticed that as soon as either axis, x or y is dropped down around 720p standards, the limit ( res x ref frames) is lifted.....?!?!

I know this doesnt sound normal, this is why i am continuing on doing tests to determine if it's related to the amount of rows of pixels or the combined pixels from both axis' together.

No matter the outcome, I am creating a list of compatible resolutions with maximum ref frames, but it won't be easy as the limit changes with resolution sizes as stated previously.

tedmozer

12-01-08, 08:56 PM

I am wondering how well this device would mate with the WD TV?

Neuros OSD Media Center

It's seems like a basic straight forward way to capture video that the WD TV could play....

shizzzon

12-01-08, 09:03 PM

The NEW limiting factor by dropping a given axis' resolution down to 720p standards does NOT enforce the limit based upon how many pixels are on the screen!

Example for Lamens terms-

Take these 2 resolutions -
1920x720
1280x1080

Multiply them together and they equal the same.
Notice how one of the 2 axis points is using a 720p standard res.

I tested 1296x1080 and 1920 x 736...

Guess what - 1296x1090 FAILED but 1920x736 was successful!

Both formats used 7 reference frames.

1920x736 used a total of 9891840!

Conclusion... It is looking like the limitation for downsizing a given axis to the 720p range is limited by the amount of rows of pixels in a given situation instead of the total pixels on the screen.

In the previous test, the Y axis is more forgiving than the X axis is.

I believe that the X axis and the Y axis have their OWN preset limitations when using the formula X x Y x Ref frames when using "odd" resolutions.

So, to prove my theory, (which will hopefully conclude ALL x264 compatible tests), i am about to test the x and y axis limits when one axis point is stationary at a 1080p standard spec.

VideoInSF

12-01-08, 09:33 PM

Does anyone know if the WD TV support gapless music playback of lame encoded MP3 or OGG music only files? If not, any chance that a firmware upgrade can fix this?

ratphink

12-01-08, 09:37 PM

Hey avsquash, thanks for the tip, I'll give it a shot.
I was worried about re- encoding of the file, but looks like you've solved it.

Cheers!

avsquash, worked like a freakin charm!
Thanks again!

shizzzon

12-01-08, 10:45 PM

matt314159

12-01-08, 11:28 PM

The Limits are in, the Limits are in!!

Please wait for me to create the ultimate spreadsheet stating resolutions and their compatible ref frame number Very Soon but as of now, here are the actual limits of the WD HD TV Media Player -

For 1080p Labeled playback, Limit is restricted to 9,600,000.

If Y axis exceeds 736, X axis can be virtually any appropriate multiple of 16 with a set limit of 9,666,048.

If the Y axis does NOT exceed 736, X axis can be virtually any appropriate multiple of 16 including 1920 with a set limit of 9,891,840.

Having Fun Yet? :D
This is why I do not rip and re-encode my own BD's. I just grab'em off usenet, make sure I always choose the 720p version, and sleep like a baby at night.

Having said all that, thanks for all the research you've been doing to contribute to our body of knowledge about this kind of stuff.

Bran81

12-02-08, 01:57 AM

Shizzzon, great work, allbeit mindnumbing, I'm sure. I've done some similar projects and I understand the work you put in. Good job.

DXVA L4.1 profile allows for 1920 x 1080 x 4 ReFrames. I'm sure the mediatank devs out there post DXVA L4.1 for simplicity. If you take 1920 x 1080 and go up by 1 ReFrame, then it's bad news bears for most of these mediatanks. Based on word of mouth, the latest PCH does seem to have an edge in playback of some 1080p.mkv files, but I am starting to believe it actually is an issue of firmware, to a point.

If Dark Knight at 1920 X 1080 x 5 ReFrames is playing with some confetti/macroblocking, then it may be possible to work on the .mkv implementation in firmware to clear it up.

I would be VERY satisfied with this box if it could push 1 more reference frame at 1920x1080. If they can fine tune the firmware and reach 1920 x 1080 x 5 ReFrames, then they will have done what the other players have not. As I am sure many people are not watching full res 1080p, but rather cropped 1920x800 or 816, hitting the above target would mean the vast majority of .mkv's you come across would play smoothly.

I have confidence in the team's technical prowess; I just don't know if it's possible.

taz420

12-02-08, 02:00 AM

those 3 movies all have DTS audio.
Your receiver needs to be able to decode DTS, too.

ahh...
yep
it was something simple :rolleyes:
damn DTS!

I did get a new receiver not too long ago and I guess it only likes DD.
That would explain why that one copy of Journey to the Center... didn't have any audio a couple months ago

chrislemay

12-02-08, 04:08 AM

shizzon,
WOW! All your labors are hugely appreciated.

Just make sure you don't let that OCD affect your sleep and/or health! :eek:

PEACE :p

sanderdvd

12-02-08, 07:09 AM

what is better for playing .wmv and .mkv 1080p DTS HD content: this new WD HD device or my good old HTPC with ati HD4350 card with HDMI out and good software like MPC HC

Sarcoptic

12-02-08, 07:10 AM

Well I got my popcorn hour and can do compares directly to the wd tv media player. They are pretty similar but for me I wanted something that could play blu-ray backups directly. I am not a fan of recodes myself. Both appear to play AVC fine however the WD TV Media player can not play VC-1. The popcorn hour has no problems playing Dark Knight with Dolby TrueHD whereas the wd tv just returns a message saying unable to play so:

WDTV can play AVC blu-ray without TrueHD and DTS-MA
WDTV can not play VC-1 blu-ray
Popcorn Hour can play both AVC and VC-1 with TrueHD and DTS-MA

My WDTV notes are for the current firmware that everyone is running...

drake79

12-02-08, 08:07 AM

Is it possible to play .dts music files on WD TV Player? If no to what format I must convert my files to keep multichanel sound and quality ?

Thank You

ernie12121

12-02-08, 09:02 AM

Goodafternoon everyone, I have been following this thread for a while, followed tips and recomendations but still run into a sound issue.
My set-up : Panasonic Plasma with HDMI input, WD TV & WD My book 1TB.
With my MKV files I didn't get sound but with help from this board I converted the sound to 6 Channels AC-3 and the sound is now loud and clear from my TV. (Thanks for the help)

The problem, I have converted through DVD Shrink a movie for the kids, I only left our native language. The language is listed as AC-3 5.1 Dutch. When I play this DVD on my DVD player it is just fine, sound comes from the TV (connected through HDMI)
Now I have converted this same DVD to an ISO file and put it on my WD harddrive.
Whatever I try I cannot get sound. What on earth could be causing this ? Does this have to do with removing the original language ? The original DVD does not have DTS.
This is the log from Mediainfo :

General
Complete name : H:\CW\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_1.VOB
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 1 024 MiB
Duration : 7mn 41s
Overall bit rate : 18.6 Mbps

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Duration : 7mn 41s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 17.0 Mbps
Nominal bit rate : 9 800 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : Component
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.945

Audio
ID : 130 (0x82)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Duration : 7mn 40s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz

I have tried converting it to ISO and converting it to VOB to no avail. Since I allready have converted about 75 DVD's and they all have the same problem I would realy like to thank anyone who can help me.
Peter

Ok in the mean time I have done another DVD RIP but keeping both languages (English and Dutch). While on my PC I am able to switch between both languages on WD TV while it presents the option of switching between 2 audio tracks only the English version gives me sound.
So I guess for Dutch sound to work I must trick WD TV to think that that is the first track. Any suggestions ?
Please ?

Bran81

12-02-08, 11:09 AM

ernie12121: I would guess that by removing the english or other audio tracks, you removed the track/s that the DVD's IFO file wants to play by default. I would suppose that the IFO file inside the DVD directs the movie to play a different audio track that is not available, since you pulled it out.

While playing the .iso on your WD TV box, press the Option button on the remote. Look for the audio track selection option at the top and see if you can't find the Dutch audio track. I would think it's there, but has to be selected that way.

Edit: I see that you added some info to your post. If you after selecting the appropriate audio track in the option setting, it still does not play Dutch 5.1, then I'm not sure what the problem could be.

ernie12121

12-02-08, 11:41 AM

natedj

12-02-08, 11:47 AM

ernie12121

12-02-08, 01:16 PM

Sorry if I bore you but here are my latest findings :
1. Convert a DVD to ISO (leaving only the Dutch language) with DVD Shrink, result no Audio through HDMI. Audio for the same ISO on my PC works fine
2. Convert that same ISO to avi using ArcSoft MediaConverter, Audio works through HDMI on my WD TV

I am so puzzled by all this. I might have to try decoding my ISO's to a different format but I don't want to lose any Video quality. If someone has a suggestion.... please

stefu

12-02-08, 01:57 PM

Thanks for your reply Bran. When I remove all languages except dutch, the WD 'sees' one audio track but it is silent. If I keep both languages, the WD 'sees' 2 tracks; the english track plays fine, the dutch track is silent.

When I play the same ISO on my PC both languages play fine.

This problem is not isolated to one DVD but to at least 10 that I tried. I have no problem selecting audio tracks on MKV's.

I have a similar problem with subtitles. If I remove unwanted subtitles with DVD Shrink, then no subtitles are shown. WD TV shows in the options that there are subtitles, but nothing shows up. If I rip the DVD as complete (not removing anything), then the subtitles work just fine. Might be worth a try with your problem, try ripping the whole DVD, not removing anything.

A bigger problem is that WD TV plays half my DVD rips in letterbox mode. Haven't found a workaround for this yet (tried zooming in and out etc) :mad: Anyone have the same problem?

My DVD rips work perfect with regular DVD player and HTPC.

Bran81

12-02-08, 02:11 PM

ernie: my last thought, time for a nap I suppose, is to play with the digital vs. stereo setting in the settings menu of the WD TV.

See if you can set it to stereo and get audio through the red/white RCA stereo plugs.

ernie12121

12-02-08, 03:22 PM

Thanks Stefu !, I tried ripping the original DVD as a whole and indeed I all the languages now work and the subtitles also.

While this is good news it is not a full solution to my problem as full DVD rips take up much more space but also since I own quite a lot of DVD's that are not full rips so they still cause me the same problem.
In any case the problem seems to originate in the way my source DVD's were made using DVD Shrink. Still looking for a fix.

shizzzon

12-02-08, 03:54 PM

This is interesting news about how DVD shrink is causing audio problems with dvd isos.

Sounds like another testing phase i'm gonna have to do soon huh?

I just got done doin some research and this may help you-

Original non tampered VOB files play fine, but not the compressed ones.

What it sounds like is happening is the software is converting the audio to a different audio container that be either not be compatible with the media player for dvds, video files at all, or just with dvd isos.

The following is all possible typical audio containers -

AC-3
DTS
Linear PCM
MPEG (which could be Layer 2 or Layer 3)

Run media info on the ORIGINAL vob file then shrink the movie. Then rerun mediainfo on the same vob file and see if the audio container changed.

If it didnt let me know so i can start testin dvds next.

ernie12121

12-02-08, 04:20 PM

Tx Shizzzon, here are the results of your suggestion. To me they look identical. I am thankful that you are willing to have a look.
The original :
General
Complete name : F:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_0.IFO
Format : DVD Video
Format profile : Program
File size : 124 KiB

Video
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Bit rate mode : Variable
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL

Audio #1
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Language : English

Audio #2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Language : French

Audio #3
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Language : Dutch

Audio #4
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Language : Polish
This list continues for a while with all the other languages.

The 'Ripped' version :
General
Complete name : G:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_0.IFO
Format : DVD Video
Format profile : Program
File size : 46.0 KiB

Video
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Bit rate mode : Variable
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL

Audio #1
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Language : English

Audio #2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Language : Dutch

I also tried ripping the DVD with DVDFAB and get the same result as with Shrink; WD TV works fine if you leave the whole DVD as is but when I start to Re-Author things go wrong with the audio tracks and subtitles. I also tried ripping to VOB's instead of ISO but get identical results.

shizzzon

12-02-08, 04:38 PM

ok, well rip to vob or iso generates same problem, that saves me a lot of time sorting out if vobs or isos have different compatibility.

So, this media player must be REAL picky about how IFOs are modified.

I'm gonna post some mroe info about it in about 4 hrs from now. If i see no apparent modification to the IFOs, then i'm gonna have to start finding what shrinking programs work with this player but hopefully i dont go the "bandaid" route.

sdv5

12-02-08, 07:15 PM

Well I got my popcorn hour and can do compares directly to the wd tv media player.

Can you please comment on user interface features such as responsiveness, layout, ease of use, look and feel, etc.? On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 would be the UI found in HTPC Media Center or XBMC, how would you rate PH A-110 versus WDTV? Thank you.

PAk_HD

12-02-08, 07:21 PM

Hi there!! Hi WDTVers!!

This is my first message here. I'm from Spain, and as you suppose I'm the owner of one WDTV unit. I like pretty much this machine but I am concerned that it has to solve some issues....they are on their way I hope.

Well, my question is related with the DTS sound. I've already setup sound as Digital and I have an optical input in my home cinema wich supports dts sound.

The thing is that when I try to play a video (720p) with dts, the sound plays but the dts decoder is changing between dts and stereo sound. This is set by the source, in this case the WDTV, so I do not understand why is changing all the time (every 10 secons) between dts (almost 9 seconds of those 10) and stereo (less than 1 second).

Has anybody else had this problem? What could I do to play fine dts sound?

BTW, I've tried with "Shine a light" and Wall-e both of them 720p.
My dts decoder is a CREATIVE INSPIRE GD580.

Thank yOu all, I think I'll enjoy this forum!!!:)

shizzzon

12-02-08, 07:40 PM

onlysublime

12-02-08, 08:00 PM

what is better for playing .wmv and .mkv 1080p DTS HD content: this new WD HD device or my good old HTPC with ati HD4350 card with HDMI out and good software like MPC HC

I don't think anyone is claiming this will beat a true HTPC with the ATI 4000 series. the 4350 is an amazing card for HD playback and it's dirt cheap ($25 online). But you can't build a decent HTPC for $100. And an HTPC is bulky unless you buy a small case that is expensive.

I love the idea of the popcorn and the wd tv. but if the price is over $200, I can definitely build a great HPTC for $200 (assuming I scavenge some leftover parts from other systems) instead.

so for me, if wd tv can improve, i'll definitely get it. i don't think i'll get one of these media players that are over $200 like the PCH or Netgear. for that price, I'd rather build my own and be able to control everything on it rather than be at the mercy of firmware updates.

cy1701

12-02-08, 08:38 PM

dangerdoc1

12-02-08, 08:48 PM

I love the idea of the popcorn and the wd tv. but if the price is over $200, I can definitely build a great HPTC for $200 (assuming I scavenge some leftover parts from other systems) instead.

My favorite feature of the WD TV is that it is absolutey silent, perfect for the bedroom watching shows while going to sleep. A computer is too loud for that purpose.

How much to built an HTPC that is silent?

hdtv-newbie

12-02-08, 08:54 PM

shizzzon

12-02-08, 09:03 PM

How much to build a silent HTPC?

Honestly, if you want a silent HTPC, one should go fanless.

Very efficient heatsink for processor and fanless video card. It's easily possible. Not trying to find ways where HTPC is better than a mediatank but just makin a small point.

I just checked comparing the original to a dvd shrinked copy of a dvd and there is absolutely no difference in all the ifno that is presented to me that i can see whatsover. The IFO information is not changed and that was the most important part about it.

So... i'm gonna recode a dvd with about 7 different software programs and see if i can get some good info for ya.

shizzzon

12-02-08, 09:09 PM

shizzzon,

Great work your dedication is appreciated, you add great value to this forum.

For the files that are having problems playing on the WD HD media player, is it possible to convert them (reencode them?) so they will play well on this box?

If yes, what s/w should we use?

I hope my questions are not too stupid as I'm new to all this.
Thanks
HDTV-newbie

If you have a file that cannot play and you want to be able to "force" it to play... you MUST re-encode the file because more than likely, the file has surpirsed one of the 3 limits i posted earlier. The only way to stay within the limit(s) is to either shrink the resolution or lower the Ref Frames and in order to do that... a re-encode is necessary...

Unfortunately, i wish there was a software prog out there that could drop the amount of ref frames used in an already encoded file instead of re-encoding just to change it. I do not know if this is possible but if it si, i sure wish a software write will write this type of option soon!

But to answer your question, re-encode only and is NOT recommended for 2 reasons.

1 - more than likely slightly downgrade the quality which is terrible idea since whole purpose of HD is quality and
2 - will take a LONG time to re-encode.

My Quad 3.45 ghz processor takes 3hr 31 min to do a 2 pass on a 2hr movie.

If it was dvd, i can 2 pass an 8gb dvd in just under 8 minutes.

MrBillL

12-02-08, 09:15 PM

Sarcoptic

12-02-08, 09:44 PM

Honestly between the popcorn hour and wdtv gui wise they are pretty similar in all aspects. They move around the same speed and have similar options...however the PCH is open source as well. This means people can create their own jukebox setups and turn it into something pretty badass check out YAMJ for what I mean. The wd tv is like training wheels on a bike...when you are ready to step up and get a big boy bike check out the Popcorn Hour...as like most kids I started with the wd tv and was ready for more 2 weeks later. I needed the VC-1 ability and HD audio codec abilities as I am not a fan of recodes

onlysublime

12-02-08, 10:19 PM

My favorite feature of the WD TV is that it is absolutey silent, perfect for the bedroom watching shows while going to sleep. A computer is too loud for that purpose.

How much to built an HTPC that is silent?

Well, if you get the ATI 4350, that is passively cooled, no fan. That's $25. If you get a low-power AMD chip like the dual-core 4850e which is 45W, you can use a very large slow fan which is near silent or you can use a nice heatsink with no fan. the 4850e is only like $50 and it's plenty fast. Then you can add 4GB of for $20. etc etc. It can be done, especially if you scavenge a PSU, DVD-ROM, etc. from other systems.

stefu

12-03-08, 03:39 AM

A bigger problem is that WD TV plays half my DVD rips in letterbox mode. Haven't found a workaround for this yet (tried zooming in and out etc) Anyone have the same problem?

Have you tried "NORMAL" Aspect Ratio in the Audio/Video Settings?

With mediainfo I might have found the problem. Vobs that play in letterbox mode, report aspect ratio of '2.35' in mediainfo. The vobs that play correct report aspect ratio of '16/9'. I think I'll report this as a bug to WD. Now I have to do some googling to find if this can be fixed some way.

Now if we could find the root cause for missing subtitles..

PAk_HD

12-03-08, 04:18 AM

For problems of playback with the media player, please attempt to resolve the issue first by attempting playback on another device so I and others know for sure that problems being posted here are specifically isolated to the WD HD TV Media Player.

So, having said that, try to play your 2 movies on either a bluray player, pc with capable dts out, or another device capable of sending the digital signal.

Let us know the conclusion of isolation for progression in this situation shall hopefully be solved without frustration

The files play fine in a laptop PC with Windows XP, so I'm pretty sure the issue is located in the DTS through WDTV.

I am seeing close to the same thing on some DTS streams, Hellboy.2004.DirCut.720p.BluRay.DTS.x264-ESiR was one.

My WD is connected to a Sony KDL-46V4100 via HDMI and then a (JVC RX-8030VBK) from the Sony via optical. The sound will play good for 30 to 120 seconds and then the DTS will just drop out for a second and then pick back up.

just trying to add info to help the product.
Steve

So, I am not the only one who has this problem. It is just a chop in the audio, like if you were changing the audio setting continuosly.
It would be nice to know if someone could solve this problem, or if WD does know it and will fix it in a firmware update.

It seems to be that the WDTV is not just passing the sound through its optical output, it seems it is trying to do some processiong for the HDMI output and at the same time sending it to the optical decoder.

Any ideas?

Anubus12

12-03-08, 05:02 AM

I am not home to check, but what is the stock firmware on the unit? I saw that there is a firmware 1.02 at:

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=1001&sid=109&lang=en

Thanks

ernie12121

12-03-08, 05:19 AM

Result ! I managed to play my ripped DVD's with the language I desire without having to maintain the whole DVD.
The problem seems to be that WD TV will look for Audio Stream 0x80. If that stream is missing it won't play any sound.
Now if you rip a DVD through DVDShrink it will keep the original name for the audio stream. In my case the audio stream for Dutch language was 0x82.
I have opened my pre-shrunk DVD in a program called DVD Decrypter. This program allows you to rename your audio streams. So I converted my audio stream to 0x80 and voila now it plays my kids DVD in the Dutch language.
While this means that I have to convert all my already shrunk DVD's, from now on I will use DVD Decrypter on the next rips I make.
I will now look for a solution to the subtitle problem which seems similar.

ciao