Western Digital - WD TV Live Media Player (WDTV2) [Text View] - Page 19

Lt. Dang

02-09-10, 01:39 PM

If you create Playlists (M3U's) you can create your own Genre's and list the same movie in multiple Genre's and see the thumbnail of the movie (assuming you created the thumbnail as mentioned).You navigate to Playlists instead of folders to see these. I just discovered this and have created all of the Genre's I needed and now use this approach more often then the folder approach to view movies and play them.

Also, if you want to, you can also create a thumbnail for the playlist itself.
So if you have one called Action Movies.m3u and you have a thumbnail called Action Movies.jpg in the same folder it will display that for the playlist.

I use this approach for my music video playlists.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

DaRam

02-09-10, 02:18 PM

Somewhat related question, has anyone been able to create a "slideshow playlist" (a combination of m3u and photos)?

It is such a pain to backup to "music" select a folder and then go back to "Photos" and select another folder of pictures. Then do it all over when one or the other needs to be changed.

Also, if you want to, you can also create a thumbnail for the playlist itself.
So if you have one called Action Movies.m3u and you have a thumbnail called Action Movies.jpg in the same folder it will display that for the playlist.

I use this approach for my music video playlists.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

mickey79

02-09-10, 02:25 PM

If you create Playlists (M3U's) you can create your own Genre's and list the same movie in multiple Genre's and see the thumbnail of the movie (assuming you created the thumbnail as mentioned).You navigate to Playlists instead of folders to see these. I just discovered this and have created all of the Genre's I needed and now use this approach more often then the folder approach to view movies and play them.

This is exactly what I want to do but I don't know how to go about creating these M3U playlists!! I have a whole bunch of movies & TV series (MKV, m2ts, ISO, avi) ... and I would like to create playlists ... like "Action & Adventure", "Horror" etc. How do I create an M3U playlist which will show me the thumbnail & movie name based on my genre's?

Thanks!!

Lt. Dang

02-09-10, 02:28 PM

Somewhat related question, has anyone been able to create a "slideshow playlist" (a combination of m3u and photos)?

It is such a pain to backup to "music" select a folder and then go back to "Photos" and select another folder of pictures. Then do it all over when one or the other needs to be changed.

I don't think this is currently possible?

Unlike the Video menu set and the Music menu set the photo menu does not contain the playlist option.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

Lt. Dang

02-09-10, 02:32 PM

This is exactly what I want to do but I don't know how to go about creating these M3U playlists!! I have a whole bunch of movies & TV series (MKV, m2ts, ISO, avi) ... and I would like to create playlists ... like "Action & Adventure", "Horror" etc. How do I create an M3U playlist which will show me the thumbnail & movie name based on my genre's?

Thanks!!

I use VLC Media player, which is a free download, to playback video files on my laptop across the network directly from the HD attached to my WDTV Live. This builds a playlist which I save to a playlist folder on the same HD in M3U format - and that is just about all I have to do.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

mickey79

02-09-10, 02:35 PM

I use VLC Media player, which is a free download, to playback video files on my laptop across the network directly from the HD attached to my WDTV Live. This builds a playlist which I save to a playlist folder on the same HD in M3U format - and that is just about all I have to do.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

Is it possible to add video length to the playlist information? What kind of Paths do we need to specify in the playlist?

DaRam

02-09-10, 02:43 PM

Thought so, but hoped someone might have figured out a way to. Oh well. :rolleyes:

It is a major switch to go from this Freeware (Windoze Only) screen saver (http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~gstitt/motionpicture/download.html) to the stock WD photo viewer. If you have your WinPC connected to a TV, I highly recommend the MotionPicture SS (http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~gstitt/motionpicture/download.html). :D

I don't think this is currently possible?

Unlike the Video menu set and the Music menu set the photo menu does not contain the playlist option.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

templetun

02-09-10, 02:51 PM

Also, if you want to, you can also create a thumbnail for the playlist itself.
So if you have one called Action Movies.m3u and you have a thumbnail called Action Movies.jpg in the same folder it will display that for the playlist.

I use this approach for my music video playlists.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

Thanks for the help. I got the wdtv when it first came out and it didn't seem to have any of this. Even the mp3 tagging was spotty. It seems with all the updates they took care of a lot of this, and also found a way to turn off the drive after u shut down the wdtv. That was a huge reason I returned it. I didn't want a hard drive spinning 24/7.

I am trying to find the easiest most inexpensive way to do this. I have about 500 dvd's that I want to rip. I don't want to spend time converting and I don't want to loose quality, so I want to leave them in VOB's. The wdtv seems the simplest, however, it's going to require 2 (2tb) hard drives to get them all to fit.

I have an xbox 360, ps3 and a pc that I built with windows 7 ultimate. the pc has dual monitors with a third that runs to my Sony 40" 1080p tv. I have to toggle on/off the tv with the second monitor cause you can only have 2 monitors running at the same time. I cant get windows media center to connect at all to my 360. Probably because my main pc AND my 360 both connect wireless to my landlords router. I downloaded ps3 media server last night and got both my ps3 and xbox to finally stream my vobs, but I am going to wait (prob when I get my own house someday) until I can do this all with CAT5 cable. Not a huge fan of wireless streaming.

I really like the interface of Windows Media Center, so I was thinking of getting a 35ft hdmi cable and running the hdmi from my video card straight to my receiver/tv. I have a 600 gig hard drive that is empty on my pc and all I would need is a pc remote control.

That's my story. I'm picky in what I want, and there's pro's and con's to everything, I know. I have been back and forth between the two lately.

Lt. Dang

02-09-10, 02:53 PM

Is it possible to add video length to the playlist information? What kind of Paths do we need to specify in the playlist?

No, when viewed in list mode on the WDTV the playlist will only show the filename and file size in Mb (if that option is turned on).

When using VLC to play directly from the WDTV attached drive VLC automatically adds the correct complete path - I can then just save the playlist to a playlist folder on the WDTV attached HD in m3u format.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

Lt. Dang

02-09-10, 03:09 PM

If you wanted to manually create a playlist you could open a command prompt dos box on your pc.

Navigate to your network attached drive and type something like :-

Dir /b /s > C:\playlist.m3u

This will place an m3u file in the root of C: called playlist.m3u which you can use or edit to remove files you don't want included.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

DaRam

02-09-10, 03:33 PM

Um, Should add a step to navigate to the folder under which your music files reside or modify the command to include only mp3 files:
Dir *.mp3 /b /s > C:\playlist.m3u
Otherwise the playlist file is going to contain all file types (jpg, vob, mkv) on your drive.
If you wanted to manually create a playlist you could open a command prompt dos box on your pc.

Navigate to your network attached drive and type something like :-

Dir /b /s > C:\playlist.m3u

This will place an m3u file in the root of C: called playlist.m3u which you can use or edit to remove files you don't want included.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

Lt. Dang

02-09-10, 03:46 PM

Um, Should add a step to navigate to the folder under which your music files reside or modify the command to include only mp3 files:
Dir *.mp3 /b /s > C:\playlist.m3u
Otherwise the playlist file is going to contain all file types (jpg, vob, mkv) on your drive.

That's fair comment - I am assuming that you navigate to the folder which contains the media you want to playlist.

But assumptions make for very poor written instructions. :)

Also, just to emphasize, on the WDTV this works for any kind of video file too, not just music files.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

jdiehl

02-09-10, 04:10 PM

Just booted my WDTV Live player and it indicated that a firmware update was available (1.01.24).

I had 1.01.17 previously installed.

Anyone know about this update? I don't see anything on their website or any of the WDTV related forums, perhaps it literally came out just now?

Lt. Dang

02-09-10, 04:12 PM

GuyWD

02-09-10, 04:20 PM

extremechuck

02-09-10, 04:36 PM

//support.wdc.com/download/notes/WDTV_Live_Release_Notes_1_01_24.pdf
just fill in http before. I figure this is an official URL so nobody will have an issue.

Summary
Redesigned YouTube™ user interface to comply with YouTube requirements.
• Resolved search results in YouTube to be in the same order provided by YouTube.
• Added Flag Video feature to YouTube.
• Added seeking controls (fast forward/rewind) in the YouTube player in 10 second increments.
• Updated to the new YouTube Video logo throughout the application.
• Modified YouTube video timestamp format to make it more readable.
• Implemented add to playlist feature in YouTube.
• Added Save search queries to save users time in re-entering search terms in YouTube

extremechuck

02-09-10, 04:38 PM

Also, I did apply the updates without issue from .17. New Youtube search memory is pretty cool.

doctor media

02-09-10, 04:41 PM

Nice. We'll call this the "youtube mega release". Can we expect the next release will be the "Netflix mega release"? :)

markdonnell1975

02-09-10, 04:42 PM

A 30 GB, 2 hour movie would be around 33 Mb/s average.

Blu-ray ISO can be up to 54 Mb/s including all streams.

That may be part of it. I usually remove all streams that I wont use anyways and just keep the HD audio track and an additional non HD track for the rooms that just use the tv for sound. I can still play the same 20 gb plus movie on 2 players from the same drive connected USB.

de8212

02-09-10, 04:49 PM

Has anyone been able to make something like a macro (or sequence as it's called for Harmony) so that after you power the unit on you can hit one button and it will navigate to your "movie" folder? I'm trying to on my harmony but having issues.

wokwokabc

02-09-10, 05:51 PM

extremechuck

02-09-10, 06:31 PM

Its a good update in terms of youtube functionality. I really hated typing in over and over previous searches.
Agreed though, it would have been nice to have other bug fixes. I am not sure what their plan is... who knows, they may change their focus to only work on 1 piece of functionality at a time and do it right the first time. WD really would help their image if they told us what is upcoming in future releaese (ie. what are they working on right now).

Darren Wadsworth

02-09-10, 06:32 PM

I rarely watch Youtube. Let alone on the big screen. Maybe twice using the WD TV Live since October. Nevertheless, I do appreciate the support. Keep it up! :-) Can't wait to see what's next.

Darren

buda_can

02-09-10, 06:41 PM

The main function of this player is not Youtube, providing an update to this feautre only after all this time tells us what? You decide.

Not happy.

WDTV Gen 1 & 2 owner.

mrkeeling

02-09-10, 07:10 PM

Couldn’t care less for Youtube.
Another update for MEDIA PLAYER that DOESN’T fix/improve how it PLAYS MEDIA :confused:

lockeed

02-09-10, 07:24 PM

I've been having trouble lately playing mt2s files and vob.... But when I reset the devise and try it again... it usualy work.... Weird problem...

awmR

02-09-10, 07:32 PM

Nice. We'll call this the "youtube mega release". Can we expect the next release will be the "Netflix mega release"? :)

i'm really hoping for the ".mp4 audio sync fix mega release"

video321

02-09-10, 07:54 PM

Just when I was like.....nice! New firmware.
I see everything for YouTube....YouTube! One of those sites I have no use for.

Great:(

liquidmetal

02-09-10, 07:58 PM

I tested those french samples on the other page. I had stutter at 65mbit and 70mbit files. This is gig-wired-lan. Anyone play those repeatedly with no stutter? I think I fixed
my network problems, but want to see if others are doing better.

Derelict_Drvr

02-09-10, 10:10 PM

I see tut gets pissy over a typo. Pardon the f*ck outta me!!!!!

wokwokabc

02-09-10, 10:45 PM

philnort

02-09-10, 10:56 PM

And...to rub salt in the wound re: this inconsequential UTube firmware release..did you notice the 1st entry off the main UTube menu,,,,,"Top Favorited" . They using hip-hop or pop culture terminology now??..because "favorited" is certainly not in Webster's Dictionary !

liquidmetal

02-09-10, 10:59 PM

ntwk share

techflaws

02-10-10, 12:54 AM

This update fixes some YouTube issues.
Great to see that WD - once again - got their priorities straight.

dex38

02-10-10, 02:35 AM

ntwk share

Nice score then, As I cannot play anything upper that 50/55mb files (the 50 plays with no issue but the 55 sutter from time to time) accessing files via network shared on my DS107 synology NAS.
I can play the 70 with no issue using DLNA which is fine for me as I'm nearly only using dlna access.

ff_mark

02-10-10, 02:35 AM

GREAT, they've improved the 1 feature I don't use.

How about some of the bigger more important issues ? :(

aero12

02-10-10, 03:54 AM

great to see that wd - once again - got their priorities straight.
lol.

mickey79

02-10-10, 07:53 AM

Great to see that WD - once again - got their priorities straight.

Amen!

Wasn't worth the 2 & a half minutes. But whatever.

Anyhow ... I got my first playlist created & it's working well!! How can I give the playlist itself a thumbnail? For example if I have a "Horror.m3u" ... can I just place a "Horror.jpg" file in the same location?

Thanks!

PS: I only wish there was SOME way to display video length in Thumbnail Mode!!! I thought for sure Playlist would solve that!!

bigthys

02-10-10, 08:11 AM

EDIT: Well, I guess it could be the WDTV Live's fault because it only has a 100MB LAN port. While in theory that should play high bitrate files, in actuality it does not. There always seems to be a bottleneck somewhere in the netwoek that causes a reduction in throughput.

it's probably not a LAN port speed issue but rather an issue with the WDTV Live's firmware. the HDX BD1 is quite identical with the WD, but according to another thread the HDX's firmware 4.9 release the BD ISO freeze/stuttering issues are resolved.

mr_jbloggs

02-10-10, 10:54 AM

Although I had hoped for more fixes, but I'm glad they fixed the YouTube login reboot issue. I hardly used YouTube on computer but now via WDTV Live I use it all the time and its great. The one thing they didn't add unfortunately is the Channel subscription feature.

aero12

02-10-10, 11:00 AM

Are there any user interventions to increase consistency in recognizably of external drives? I have a 2.5 passport, a nexfan, an a thermaltake blacx, and they are usually recognized but quite often not and instead listed as "camera."

liquidmetal

02-10-10, 11:24 AM

Can you tell me how to setup a DLNA from vista pc?

I can copy a file to usb hard drive attached to wd live at 9.33MB/s. Not
sure why 70mbit file has a problem. Must be the hw/sw of the live.

Nice score then, As I cannot play anything upper that 50/55mb files (the 50 plays with no issue but the 55 sutter from time to time) accessing files via network shared on my DS107 synology NAS.
I can play the 70 with no issue using DLNA which is fine for me as I'm nearly only using dlna access.

bowmah

02-10-10, 12:20 PM

realm

02-10-10, 12:20 PM

A new UPDATE! WOW!
Everthing the fixed we DON'T USE!!!!

Fix something like adjustable SUBTITLE HIGHED!!!
I've got black bars and my subtitle in the movie picture!
(The old wd tv was in the black bars!!)

TSHA222

02-10-10, 12:53 PM

Fix something like adjustable SUBTITLE HIGHED!!!
I've got black bars and my subtitle in the movie picture!
(The old wd tv was in the black bars!!)

Too funny. With my constant image height setup I actually NEED the subs in the picture area. But I feel you pain... absolutely no reason to not be able to adjust the subs position.

sinker442

02-10-10, 01:53 PM

Nice!
http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=4704.msg34847#msg34847

Goba

02-10-10, 01:57 PM

Nice! They upgraded from a bug box to an youtube box! :D

LN32B530

02-10-10, 03:03 PM

n00b question... I've never tried streaming media before...

My internet connection (10Mbps) is always busy (my family members do a lot of downloading, uploading, and Youtubing). Would this affect my video streaming of large 1080p Blu-ray content, even if my WD TV Live is connected through ethernet to an N-router? Or is internet bandwidth irrelevant to media streaming?

Thanks in advance.

ditchy1

02-10-10, 08:02 PM

techflaws

02-10-10, 11:26 PM

I think WD may have fixed more than they posted.

And how smart is that!

guitz

02-10-10, 11:35 PM

WD designers....any chance of future updates sprucing up the audio side of things? I would love to be able to add songs to the now playing queue on the fly among other things...thanks.

dex38

02-11-10, 03:14 AM

Can you tell me how to setup a DLNA from vista pc?

I can copy a file to usb hard drive attached to wd live at 9.33MB/s. Not
sure why 70mbit file has a problem. Must be the hw/sw of the live.

9.33MB/s should be enough for all media content, I've no drive attached to the wd and so have not tested my transfer speed. Transfering from the NASs to a PC, I get 30MB/s speed but this is over a gigabit link but seems to me that this is a kind of proof that the NAS should be able to saturate a 100mb/s link.

Don't understand why while reading media on the NAS via samba (network share) the nas report a max transfert speed of 5/6MB/s explaining why big files sutter, why can I not reach more than 8/9MB/s which is the speed reported by the NAS accessing with the WDTV over DLNA (media server).

Regarding a PC DLNA server, I've seen some people using wild media server (http://www.wildmediaserver.com/) on WD official forums but not tested it myself as my NAS has it's own media server.

SoNic67

02-11-10, 03:24 AM

wokwokabc

02-11-10, 08:22 AM

Can you tell me how to setup a DLNA from vista pc?
Go to Advanced Sharing Options (Network Settings) and enable Media Sharing. I think this is only on Home Premium and Ultimate.

Tonedeaf

02-11-10, 11:46 AM

With the new firmware seems that my WDTV finds the network shares faster after off/on - 2-3 seconds instead of 20-30 before... Don't know if it is just me - network response seems faster on all the tasks.
Also I did found an option that I don't know if it was there before - Subtitle Border > "Thick/Thin" :)
Youtube interface - I guess it got changed because google/youtube scared them with legal action.

My WDTV post update would not acquire an IP address from my router. It is hardwired and had never been a problem before. Had to input the info manually in the Network Setup.

liquidmetal

02-11-10, 12:48 PM

Now that I understand DLNA is media server, I don't understand why I would want to use that since doesn't it transcode the video?

wokwokabc

02-11-10, 01:07 PM

Now that I understand DLNA is media server, I don't understand why I would want to use that since doesn't it transcode the video?

If you're having problems with high bitrate files stuttering switching to DLNA will help. DLNA uses UDP to stream video rather than TCP to transfer files. UDP has less overhead than TCP and it looks like the WDTV Live's DLNA client buffers more than its media file player -- so short transmission delays and bitrate peaks don't cause problems. Windows DLNA server probably also buffers more on it's end alleviating problems from disk delays.

liquidmetal

02-11-10, 01:43 PM

but i don't want it to transcode

video321

02-11-10, 02:37 PM

but i don't want it to transcode

DLNA does NOT mean transcode.
Read wokwokabc's post again.
As far as Vista/7 goes I have no idea how they handle their DNLA access to determine what gets transcoded and what doesn't.

Gouie

02-11-10, 02:40 PM

Couple of observations and frustrations I'd like to share, comments welcome.

First off, I know the audio sync has been beat to death and there are people from both sides of the camp but I still feel this is an issue with the WD. Recently played an AVI, the picture quality was horrible and the sync was off terribly. Streaming the same file through the PS3 and the quality was dramatically increased and audio almost bang on.

Not sure why I continue to read that it has problems with ISOs. A majority of my rips are ISO and I have no problems ... other then the damned sync problem.

sundowner8

02-11-10, 03:55 PM

Did people test the update before bashing it. MP4's are actually playing quite well now. FF/RW etc. Is it perfect?....No, but the sync is certainly bearable for me. I think WD may have fixed more than they posted.

Did anyone else see large improvements in MP4 sync issues?

I tested four MP4 movies that I watched last month. They all had sound sync problems. After the upgrade, they all play fine now. So, go figure? Whatever they did, it fixed my biggest issue.

Lt. Dang

02-11-10, 05:28 PM

I tested four MP4 movies that I watched last month. They all had sound sync problems. After the upgrade, they all play fine now. So, go figure? Whatever they did, it fixed my biggest issue.

I suppose it might be possible that the YouTube ovehaul also improved MP4 playback as a side effect since all YouTube HD material is in MP4 format?

Regards,

Lt. Dang

SoNic67

02-11-10, 07:41 PM

Or just the clean reboot/reinstall fixed some corrupted files? After all, not everybody had those issues!

techflaws

02-12-10, 12:00 AM

Also I did found an option that I don't know if it was there before - Subtitle Border > "Thick/Thin"
Yes, it's been there before but it doesn't make a difference since the black outline is still transparent.

Goba

02-12-10, 04:16 AM

...improved MP4 playback as a side effect since all YouTube HD material is in MP4 format?

Regards,

Lt. Dang

:rolleyes:

"jtn720

No option in Youtube for enabling HD videos. Only getting SD format. PISSES ME OFF!!!!!!

DAM YOU WD. Lousy Firmware."

"MKV movies that were in sync are no longer in sync in this release. MP4's are still out of sync. MP4 seem to be a little better on sync after fast forward and rewind but in normal playback the audio will gradually get out of sync.

The MP4 sync problem cropped up in November, here it is Feb and it has not been fixed yet."

See more in http://wdtvhd.com/index.php?showtopic=12175&st=20

And the poor firmware support fairy tale continues... :rolleyes:

wokwokabc

02-12-10, 07:02 AM

but i don't want it to transcode

DLNA doesn't transcode unless it needs to. If the client can handle the codecs in the A/V file it doesn't transcode.

TCP and UDP are transport protocols, not a description of the content.

diamondg14

02-12-10, 07:52 AM

The 720p .mp4 files are still not playing correctly on the WD TV Live after updating 1.01.24.

video321

02-12-10, 08:59 AM

Not sure why I continue to read that it has problems with ISOs. A majority of my rips are ISO and I have no problems ... other then the damned sync problem.
If you're referring to DVD rips, the problem is NOTwith ISOs but with cell changes. Many rips won't show the issue.

gorila22

02-12-10, 10:03 AM

wokwokabc

02-12-10, 10:48 AM

The 720p .mp4 files are still not playing correctly on the WD TV Live after updating 1.01.24.
Yes, many MP4 files still don't play properly. Got to Revision3.net and download any of the "HD Nation" MP4 files. For example, this one wherein they review the WDTV Live:

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp4/bitcast-a.bitgravity.com/revision3/web/hdnation/0022/hdnation--0022--wdlive--hd.h264.mp4

The original WDTV Live firmware didn't play them smoothly (displaying about 15 fps instead of 30) but kept the audio and video in sync. The .11 update plays them smoothly (as long as you don't seek) but at ~double the video frame rate -- so the video gets way ahead of the audio. The latest firmware is the same as .11.

Greencat

02-12-10, 10:51 AM

Dear all
I am wondering if anyone tried to use my WD Live as a streamer of their music, but maintaining the control of the music on the PC/laptop.

I.e. I want to use WMP or Media Monkey on my laptop and output my sound via WD live to my AMP (denon 1610) via toslink/hdmi cable (benefit – digital audio out via Ethernet!). I think there is a general agreement that WD live music management is substandard and I figured it should be possible to create a “remote desktop” type of software for wd live to use from my laptop. Any one aware of possibilities on this front? I just don't feel like buying apple airport express...

Tx
Simon

I don't understand why you would do this. Is it because you don't have TV near your receiver? You can run WMP & Tversity through the WD Live box and won't need the remote software. I'm thinking about getting a 2nd Wd Live box to play music in the master Bedroom since its the same price as the Airport Express.

Darren Wadsworth

02-12-10, 10:56 AM

Dear all
I am wondering if anyone tried to use my WD Live as a streamer of their music, but maintaining the control of the music on the PC/laptop.

I.e. I want to use WMP or Media Monkey on my laptop and output my sound via WD live to my AMP (denon 1610) via toslink/hdmi cable (benefit – digital audio out via Ethernet!). I think there is a general agreement that WD live music management is substandard and I figured it should be possible to create a “remote desktop” type of software for wd live to use from my laptop. Any one aware of possibilities on this front? I just don't feel like buying apple airport express...

Tx
Simon

There are a few UPnP control point apps that will do this. You will need to research UPnP. There are three parts to the setup(DLNA,UPnP). A server , a control point and a renderer (in this case the WD Live is the renderer or player) In my opinion the best solution software wise, is Foobar2000 as a control point and server. There is a plugin for it that allows UPnP. It works very well. There is also a decent control software in Linn or Kinsky Desktop.
The explaination for UPnP is more compilcated to explain than it is to set up and use.

Darren

fairmang

02-12-10, 08:45 PM

Lt. Dang

02-13-10, 08:45 AM

I think I am going back to my HTPC, there are too many issues with this box. I watch a lot of youtube through my media player on a projedtor, now the HD content I have as fav. is showing in SD and it looks crappy and also I have noticed some of my Fav. videos are saying somelike like I cannot play this video through a media device connected to a TV, I cannot remember the exact wording :(

The message is about a restriction placed by the content provider preventing playback on “TV attached devices” which is a bit strange as of course a PC can be attached directly to a TV without YouTube being able to detect and prevent that. Not sure if this has implications for XBMC and Boxee plugins too?

YouTube on the WDTV Live is now effectively broken with this latest firmware release.

What we have now is an HD media player which cannot play HD content from YouTube. Which is a shame.

Is this a WD blunder or is it by design I wonder in order to comply with YouTube restrictions?

There is an option in your YouTube account to always default to HQ playback but this only gives you 480p at best. Perhaps this in future will be changed to default to HD playback once YouTube feel more confident with regard to the consequent bandwidth implications for their infrastructure?

What I do instead is download the HD YouTube videos I like and save them to the WDTV attached HDD. This is better than relying on your YouTube favourites list as material can be removed from YouTube at any time - at least once you have it on your HDD you have it forever. This of course negates YouTube's business model as you don't need to use their site anymore to view the content you like. But perhaps that is poetic justice for imposing their restrictive conditions of use?

Regards,

Lt. Dang

SoNic67

02-13-10, 12:04 PM

Lt. Dang

02-13-10, 01:46 PM

Well, thank Youtube/Google for that.
Sure, a PC can be also attached to a TV, but can also store cookies and other things that Google uses to track your habbits (advertising industry pays good for that).
A Network Media Player doesn't do the same, so, they limit the bandwidth alocated to those devices.
Anyway, who bought a WDTV to watch youtube??? Let's not get silly!

No, your YouTube account holds your viewing preferences and has nothing to do with cookies. That is how the WDTV Live can provide your playlists and favourites when you log into the YouTube app.

The playback of HD video content from YouTube has been a feature of the WDTV Live since day one. I found it useful as an excellent source of high quality HD music videos with first-rate sound. Others seem to have found it useful too. Hence the posts by other users regarding the withdrawal of the HD feature.

The question of allocated bandwidth is an interesting one. Even users accessing YouTube from a PC (with all the advertising fluff included) still don’t get default access to HD video. It cannot be selected by default and even setting an HD video as a favourite or in a playlist will not store a link to the HD version. You will get the SD version instead and you then have to select HD version once the video starts. So it seems that YouTube is attempting to limit bandwidth to all users at the moment. But that will probably change in the future.

The HD YouTube feature is just one of many that the WDTV Live supports, playlists, thumbnails, media library etc and I don’t think many people bought it just for one single function.

Therefore, does it sound reasonable to dismiss withdrawal of an existing and useful feature just because you personally don’t think it important? Let’s not get silly eh?

Regards,

Lt. Dang

jrjorgensen

02-13-10, 03:05 PM

I just purchased and installed an NAS server (Intel Entry Storage System SS4200-E). So I've now got about 5 TB of network storage, part of which will be taken up by our movie collection. I have my Movie folder split to "Adults" and "Kids." I'd like to be able to password protect the Adults folder. Can I do this with WDTV Live? If I right-click the Adults folder I don't see a "sharing and security" option. Is there any way for me to set this up. Thanks.

aero12

02-13-10, 04:32 PM

Are you running the EMC software (from the s4200e DOM)on that, or WHS, or one of the three or four other systems like freenas you can run on the ss4200?

What I have done with WHS and WD TV Live, and it is a bit cumbersome, is to use guest access for G/PG films and a cleared login for R/NC-17. By the way I haven't named the R/NC-17 "Adults" as that would really get my kids interested, it is just named "work files." I am not sure about how to do that with the EMC software but you can check over at pbworks ss4200 (http://ss4200.pbworks.com/). If you are running whs on it hit wegotserved.com forums which is WHS general forums as well as having a section specifically on the ss4200 using WHS in the "Fujitsu" subforum.

That thing is a steal at $135. I bought two.

I just purchased and installed an NAS server (Intel Entry Storage System SS4200-E). So I've now got about 5 TB of network storage, part of which will be taken up by our movie collection. I have my Movie folder split to "Adults" and "Kids." I'd like to be able to password protect the Adults folder. Can I do this with WDTV Live? If I right-click the Adults folder I don't see a "sharing and security" option. Is there any way for me to set this up. Thanks.

kciaccio

02-13-10, 05:25 PM

jrjorgensen

02-13-10, 05:30 PM

Only part of your 5TB storage is movies? Considering video media is the biggest eater of storage space, what could you possibly be storing that would take up the rest of your 5TB of storage? lol

Pictures and home movies.

kciaccio

02-13-10, 05:35 PM

Pictures and home movies.
Holy cow! You must have hundreds of hours of home video footage and a million pics! lol

jrjorgensen

02-13-10, 05:43 PM

Are you running the EMC software (from the s4200e DOM)on that, or WHS, or one of the three or four other systems like freenas you can run on the ss4200?

What I have done with WHS and WD TV Live, and it is a bit cumbersome, is to use guest access for G/PG films and a cleared login for R/NC-17. By the way I haven't named the R/NC-17 "Adults" as that would really get my kids interested, it is just named "work files." I am not sure about how to do that with the EMC software but you can check over at pbworks ss4200 (http://ss4200.pbworks.com/). If you are running whs on it hit wegotserved.com forums which is WHS general forums as well as having a section specifically on the ss4200 using WHS in the "Fujitsu" subforum.

That thing is a steal at $135. I bought two.

Thanks aero12 for the link and the tip on naming the "adult" folder! I am running the EMC software now using a RAID 5 configuration. $135 was a price I couldn't pass up. I'll check the pbworks forum to see if I can get somewhere. I guess I could change the software too. I'm not too tech savvy, but can usually figure things out if I take enough time.

jrjorgensen

02-13-10, 05:44 PM

Holy cow! You must have hundreds of hours of home video footage and a million pics! lol

Probably have over 100 hours of home video (maybe 30 hours with an HD camera). "Only" about 15,000 pics, though. I also wanted a liittle room to expand.

aero12

02-13-10, 09:12 PM

Holy cow! You must have hundreds of hours of home video footage and a million pics! lol
I come from a time when 10 mb (not gb or tb) hard drives were considered enterprise and no home user would need them, and where experts believed no home user would need need more than a 1200 baud connection because a human cannot read an ascii stream that fast.

As far as video if you have kids and shoot home movies they can take a monster amount of space. I think the average commercial movie you watch is cut and edited from 30 hours or more of film.
It isn't that hard to use 5TB if you keep everything of your videos and pics in raw format (and why not since 5TB is only $350 worth of storage or half of what people spend on a pc).

BTW a lot of people use thees nas or whs devices to back up PCs. we have 4 pcs in our home with about one tb each. that is 4 tb in bare metal to full backups.
Anyway, who bought a WDTV to watch youtube??? Let's not get silly!
You have dismissed now several functions and uses of interest to large numbers of people here with that kind of language. You are the one being silly since you think your own personal needs are everyone else.

Logon2008

02-13-10, 09:21 PM

Guys, badly need your advice.
I'm using WDTV Live mostly to watch HD mpeg movies I download from my TiVoHD (have Verizon FIOS TV). I convert them from tivo format to mpeg with free software T2Sami but unfortunately resulting files are big, say 3 hour movie can easily come up to 20-25 GB.
Sure I always dreamed to convert them to mkv (best container IMHO) and obtain 1.5-2 GB good quality HD files.
I diligently read this forum for months and remember some good converters mentioned by those with expertize in this area: The problem is what converter to use on my configuration: I obtained week-old four-core Windows 7 64 Bit box and converters I tried either don't work or use some additional software that doesn't work on Windows 7 64 bit.
Please advise a MPEG-to-MKV converter (either free or commercial) that can use multi-core/multithread abilities of my box and works on Windows 7 64 bit.

kciaccio

02-13-10, 09:56 PM

Agreed on that, but personally I have about 15 hours of home videos an my wife has taken a ton of pics which probably add up to about 300 gigs of space.

But I have taken a diiferent approach to back up.

I agree if you take the mirror approach to backing up. Then 5TB turns into 2.5TB and I can see your issues.

If you go a raid, drobo or for me an Unraid approach I have 5TB of storage and only require 1TB to back it all up wich gives me 4TB of real storage and it gets better ratio the more I add. Get my drift?

There is no point of over buying storage because the price keeps going down per GIG and the beauty of my unriad system as I can just keep adding drives to my array as I go along.

if you have not heard about it here is the link. http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=UnRAID_Wiki

Derelict_Drvr

02-13-10, 10:26 PM

SoNic67

02-13-10, 10:52 PM

No, your YouTube account holds your viewing preferences and has nothing to do with cookies.
I don't have an Youtube account. Or maybe I don't waht to sign in. How exactly Google DOESN'T need the cookies? Did you try to see what happens after a YouTube session with your network?
A media player, because is not beeing used for internet browsing, is useless for their data agregation...

wokwokabc

02-13-10, 10:57 PM

midnightman

02-14-10, 12:48 AM

When playing back Youtube video, does the WD TV Live allow you to select different video mode (360, 480p, 720p, hd...) as some Youtube videos now have? :confused:

Thanks!
(I haven't owned this unit)

Lt. Dang

02-14-10, 07:15 AM

I don't have an Youtube account. Or maybe I don't waht to sign in. How exactly Google DOESN'T need the cookies? Did you try to see what happens after a YouTube session with your network?
A media player, because is not beeing used for internet browsing, is useless for their data agregation...

No, I did not say that YouTube does not need cookies.

I did say that YouTube does not use cookies for your viewing preferences as you intimated in your previous post. That is held in your account which the WDTV Live has access to when you sign in and therefore your account collects the data on your activity, making cookies irrelevant.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

gorila22

02-14-10, 08:35 AM

I don't understand why you would do this. Is it because you don't have TV near your receiver? You can run WMP & Tversity through the WD Live box and won't need the remote software. I'm thinking about getting a 2nd Wd Live box to play music in the master Bedroom since its the same price as the Airport Express.

tx for your comment. i want to do it because i do not want to use wd live music management system - i want to play my music via laptop but use "spdf out" opportunity on the wd live. i play music via wd live interface sharing playlists but its too cumbersome. i want to stick to the media monkey. i looked around - seems like airport express is the only op here (http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=127697#127697) . Tversity would still make me use wd live interface which i want to avoid.

wokwokabc

02-14-10, 09:48 AM

When playing back Youtube video, does the WD TV Live allow you to select different video mode (360, 480p, 720p, hd...)
No, there is no choice. I've only seen low res youtube video on the WDTV Live.

Dunbar

02-14-10, 01:57 PM

Is anyone else tempted to sell their WD Tive Live when the Popbox is released? Technically this box does what I want but the interface is rubbish and streaming from the network is finicky. Plus, I really don't like having to fire up my desktop (with PlayOn) every time I want to watch a Netflix movie or Revision 3 podcast.

Derelict_Drvr

02-14-10, 06:51 PM

SoNic67

02-14-10, 08:24 PM

not me. I am not going to buy a device that puts unwanted advertising on my tv. I get enough of that with network tv.
+1!

aero12

02-14-10, 08:57 PM

Not me. I am not going to BUY a device that puts UNWANTED advertising on my TV. I get enough of that with network TV.

I am pretty used it it after comcast's guide. Anyway I think the (higher priced) competing product from syabas is the A 200.

Dunbar

02-14-10, 10:10 PM

I am pretty used it it after comcast's guide. Anyway I think the (higher priced) competing product from syabas is the A 200.

I agree about ads, could care less as long as I get a nice interface. BTW, I think Popbox directly matches up against the WD TV Live on a feature basis.

Bongu

02-14-10, 10:43 PM

I bought a WDTV Live a few weeks ago and while I like it to be able to play my movies, I just wasn't impressed with the interface. I just placed an order for an Acer Revo 3610 which I will load with XBMC. It should arrive tomorrow or Tuesday. I installed XBMC on my home PC and the interface just destroys the WDTV.

One thing I like about the WDTV which I hope to do with the Acer is stream my home videos. If I can do that well it really will surpass the WDTV in every way (except price I guess). I'm also excited about the potential to stream March Madness and other web based content (ESPN 360, MLB TV, Fancast, etc.)

I'll come back here and let you guys know what I think going from one to the other. The WDTV is cheap so I'll probably move it to another room and stream my DVD collection. I guess I'm just looking for more of the wow factor when showing off my movie collection and some of the XBMC skins will hopefully achieve that: http://xbmc.org/skins/

bowmah

02-14-10, 11:37 PM

I'll come back here and let you guys know what I think going from one to the other. The WDTV is cheap so I'll probably move it to another room and stream my DVD collection. I guess I'm just looking for more of the wow factor when showing off my movie collection and some of the XBMC skins will hopefully achieve that: http://xbmc.org/skins/

Let me know how it works out. I returned my WDTV Live a few weeks ago right after I discovered XBMC. I am now either going to pick up a notebook or wait for Boxee Box. Any feedback you have would be great. ie. does XBMC on Revo output TrueHD or DTS-HD Master?

diamondg14

02-15-10, 10:38 AM

Logon2008

02-16-10, 12:13 AM

Just wanted to report my preliminary test of converters HD mpeg->mkv on Windows 7 64 Bit.
Episode from The Tudors was downloaded from TiVo HD and converted to mpeg, file size 4.626 GB.
My intent was to convert this mpeg file to mkv using
advice from advanced users of this forum on converter selection.
Conversion was one pass, codec H.264, other options were defaults for each converter.
My box was i7-920, four cores, 8 GB RAM.
All converters were of latest available version as of 2/14/10.

Converter mkv size Time Cost
StaxRip 1.975 GB ~2h 10m Free
Handbrake 2.800 GB ~2h Free
Xvid4PSP - - Free
DVDFab 2.300 GB 52m Trial

DVDFab Lifetime File-to-mobile option is $60.50

Results speak for themselves. Xvid4PSP couldn't even start due to some wrong option it fed to x264.exe
Evidently you get what you pay for.

All resulting mkv play nicely on WDTV Live, firmware 24.

One thing beats me: How people that put files on torrents manage to convert BD movies to 2-4 GB mkv?
May be TiVo HD mpeg is too tough to compress?

wokwokabc

02-16-10, 06:56 AM

Evidently you get what you pay for.
I find it's usually the opposite with video encoding. Freeware is more flexible and gives better results than payware. In fact, a lot of payware is simply a pretty front end to the same freeware, just put together by people who really don't know much about video. And, in fact, DVD Fab uses the x264 encoder just like the other programs you listed. It just uses faster (and hence lower quality) settings.

One thing beats me: How people that put files on torrents manage to convert BD movies to 2-4 GB mkv?
Many things effect the compressibility of video. Those 2-4 GB mkv files are usually have the resolution reduced from 1920x1080 to 1280x720. Lower resolution requires lower bitrate. Clean sources compress much better than noisy sources. Progressive sources compress better than interlaced sources. Lower frame rates compress better than higher frame rates. Etc.

Quant

02-16-10, 12:15 PM

A noob question - I have been reading through the threads here for a while, but am unable to clearly understand the difference between the flood of different media players.

With the WD Live and other budget players playing most of the formats out there, why do many still pay more than double for high end players like Dune or Popcorn Hour? Are there specific features or is it picture quality?

wokwokabc

02-16-10, 01:24 PM

With the WD Live and other budget players playing most of the formats out there, why do many still pay more than double for high end players like Dune or Popcorn Hour? Are there specific features or is it picture quality?
Better file/network compatibility, features (DVD menus, Netflix streaming, etc.), presentation (look at the GUI for Boxee or XBMC), and picture quality issues (deinterlacing quality, WDTV can't switch output resolution and frame rates on the fly, colorspace issues {rec601 vs rec709, on the fly switching).

Logon2008

02-16-10, 01:44 PM

I find it's usually the opposite with video encoding. Freeware is more flexible and gives better results than payware. In fact, a lot of payware is simply a pretty front end to the same freeware, just put together by people who really don't know much about video. And, in fact, DVD Fab uses the x264 encoder just like the other programs you listed. It just uses faster (and hence lower quality) settings.

Many things effect the compressibility of video. Those 2-4 GB mkv files are usually have the resolution reduced from 1920x1080 to 1280x720. Lower resolution requires lower bitrate. Clean sources compress much better than noisy sources. Progressive sources compress better than interlaced sources. Lower frame rates compress better than higher frame rates. Etc.

Found this: http://www.badaboomit.com/
Owners of Nvidia card with CUDA processors may see benefit from this converter. I have GTS 240 with 112 CUDA processors so I'll give it a try.
More is here (old publication but interesting): http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3339

Greencat

02-16-10, 01:49 PM

aero12

02-16-10, 03:30 PM

Conversion was one pass, codec H.264, other options were defaults for each converter.

Evidently you get what you pay for.
Italics mine. Each of your programs has those has different defaults.

So with variables (simplified) of a) Time, b) compression amount, and c) quality, the one with the least compression+quality defaults would (and did) "win" judged solely on the third variable -- time.

aero12

02-16-10, 04:00 PM

With the WD Live and other budget players playing most of the formats out there, why do many still pay more than double for high end players like Dune or Popcorn Hour? Are there specific features or is it picture quality?

The WD Live sells for $120 discounted, the latest popcorn a200 hour which can do quite a bit more is $180 or 50% more. But the WD Live sells for 50% more than the Asus R1 which has a discounted price of $80.
The Asus oplay R3 sells for about the same price as the WD Live yet has wireless networking and esata.

So one could equally ask the question: why buy a WD over an Asus r1with the WD costing 50% more?

wokwokabc

02-16-10, 08:55 PM

Found this: http://www.badaboomit.com/
Owners of Nvidia card with CUDA processors may see benefit from this converter. I have GTS 240 with 112 CUDA processors so I'll give it a try.
More is here (old publication but interesting): http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3339

The consensus I've seen is that Badaboom is fast if you have a slow CPU but the quality isn't as good as the better h.264 encoders. If you have a fast CPU (eg, i7) you might as well use the CPU (eg, x264). It will encode almost as fast and give noticeably better quality. There are other GPU h.264 encoders out there including the open source MediaCoder. I've played around with the latter (lowly 8600 GT) and found it was pretty poor. It's been a few months though, so maybe it's better now.

tutelary

02-17-10, 12:34 AM

synaptic

02-17-10, 01:34 AM

talas

02-17-10, 01:50 AM

I'm saddened by the number of people who aren't happy with playback that suits their needs, and must have some flashy 'bling', like movie posters as the way to select films, etc.

I thought the people here in general were smarter than that.

Its a strange world peoples tastes vary,lots of folks just happy to get all the files that they wanted to play..Play.Others want Posters,YAMJ/XBMC like they have had on there HCPC And will wait to they have something more Equal,Personally i like the WD Range,there at a decent price point,Feature set is good and for a lot of folks they seem like a ideal solution.:)

Goba

02-17-10, 03:36 AM

I'm saddened by the number of people who aren't happy with playback that suits their needs, and must have some flashy 'bling', like movie posters as the way to select films, etc.

I thought the people here in general were smarter than that.

You can say that when WDTV Live plays movies without audio sync issues or have no network problems or better subtitle support... well, all you can always pray for better firmware support! :rolleyes:

Only someone who doesn't know what you can do with XBMC can resume it to a "flashy bling"! I thought the people here in general were smarter at least to experiment before speak! :D

tutelary

02-17-10, 06:37 AM

Only someone who doesn't know what you can do with XBMC can resume it to a "flashy bling"! I thought the people here in general were smarter at least to experiment before speak! :D

More like someone who doesnt care. I care about movies, not jpgs. I have yet to have these mystery sync issues other people are having and think it likely has to do with what people are encoding with.
btw: 'resume it'?

wokwokabc

02-17-10, 07:25 AM

I'm saddened by the number of people who... must have some flashy 'bling'
I prefer simple text menus myself. Although it is nice having episode synopsis in Boxee when I forget which episode I last watched.

I have yet to have these mystery sync issues other people are having
Try the file linked to in this post (or any of the other HD Nation episodes):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=18122180#post18122180

scientest

02-17-10, 10:22 AM

I'm saddened by the number of people who aren't happy with playback that suits their needs, and must have some flashy 'bling', like movie posters as the way to select films, etc.

I thought the people here in general were smarter than that.

So I take it you still use command line DOS or Un!x ? After all, you must not see the need for those fancy computer GUI's either....

Having graphics to select movies isn't just "bling", it's an efficient way of helping your brain sort through 100's (or more) files in as quick of way as possible...

Goba

02-17-10, 11:38 AM

More like someone who doesnt care. I care about movies, not jpgs. I have yet to have these mystery sync issues other people are having and think it likely has to do with what people are encoding with.
btw: 'resume it'?

Try it first... its not jpeg... its fanart, movies preview, synopsis... etc!

XBMC is more than jpegs... trying to say that is just insane!:rolleyes:

Audio sync issues STILL exists even on WDTV 1º gen... and WD devs couldn't care less...

aero12

02-17-10, 12:19 PM

I'm saddened by the number of people who aren't happy with playback that suits their needs, and must have some flashy 'bling', like movie posters as the way to select films, etc.
I thought the people here in general were smarter than that.
So Apple was "dumb" with ipod and iphone and cheaper better mp3 players trounced ipod and much more capable Windows mobile trounced iPhone?

User interfaces are a key element of engineering and ones that deal elegantly with large mounts of information are smarter, not dumber, especially for consumer products.

it isn't just about movie posters, which are not being used by users as you imply, but as iconic images to NAVIGATE (you know like iconic images that dominate every modern user interface). As well as key improvements like better navigation through setting favorites which could help especially given that for video, music and phones people are going to be using a good amount of folder depth if on a server, and even more complexity of spread across a few storage devices or pcs on a home network. this is a networked device aimed at being a head point for multiple.

It isnt so much about condemning WD for where things are, but I do feel like a lot of people are sick the silly comments opposing advocating for better features on this device or the next. Change occurs faster than ever and this appliance is already dated. And it is a bit rude that the WD firmware updates are actually removing features.

Seriously you sound like the guys who were saying GUIS (you know like Windows) would never take in the market.

christoofar

02-17-10, 01:16 PM

Only someone who doesn't know what you can do with XBMC can resume it to a "flashy bling"! I thought the people here in general were smarter at least to experiment before speak! :D

What in the world does an HTPC running XBMC have to do with the WDTVLive?
Apples to oranges much?

Dunbar

02-17-10, 03:09 PM

What in the world does an HTPC running XBMC have to do with the WDTVLive?
Apples to oranges much?

Once the D-Link Boxee Box is released it won't be.

bowmah

02-17-10, 05:14 PM

Once the D-Link Boxee Box is released it won't be.

That is what I am waiting for after retuning the WDTV Live. Wanted to see how the Boxee Box compares to notebook + XBMC.

jakmal

02-17-10, 05:31 PM

That is what I am waiting for after retuning the WDTV Live. Wanted to see how the Boxee Box compares to notebook + XBMC.

I would advise you to not raise your expectations too much regarding the Boxee Box. Check out this thread for the speculative analysis + some CES info towards the end:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1215894

In effect, the Boxee Box will not be technically as powerful as the WDTV Live or the Xtreamer or the ASUS OPlay series. However, with a dedicated good graphics engine, its user interface is bound to be much much better than the WDTV Live or any other similar product in this space.

Bongu

02-17-10, 05:51 PM

I'm saddened by the number of people who aren't happy with playback that suits their needs, and must have some flashy 'bling', like movie posters as the way to select films, etc.

I thought the people here in general were smarter than that.

Were you also saddened when DVD came out to replace VHS? You could watch the same movie on VHS, so I doubt any of the smart people around here would care about such "bling" as picture/sound quality, menu systems and chapters.

Try it first... its not jpeg... its fanart, movies preview, synopsis... etc!

Don't forget inclusion of trailers, cast, genre and 100 other things.

tutelary

02-17-10, 06:20 PM

Were you also saddened when DVD came out to replace VHS? You could watch the same movie on VHS, so I doubt any of the smart people around here would care about such "bling" as picture/sound quality, menu systems and chapters.

Don't forget inclusion of trailers, cast, genre and 100 other things.

I'm saddened by the fact that you somehow read what I wrote and managed to garble it so much in your mind that you came to a completely illogical conclusion as to what I was referring to.

Just so you don't get lost again, I'll make it more clear: Interfaces which exist only to 'pretty up' the movie selection process are stupid. I have a wdtv live to watch movies, not spend my time fumbling with jpgs for folders, etc. This is why I also use list view. My interface hatred also extends to this 'social media' crap everyone is pushing for everything, including Boxee. Why would I give a damn what my friends are watching?

Too many people are apparently obsessed with interface glitter and forget the wdtv live is an exceptionally powerful little device for playback with its Sigma 8655.

bowmah

02-17-10, 06:55 PM

I would advise you to not raise your expectations too much regarding the Boxee Box. Check out this thread for the speculative analysis + some CES info towards the end:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1215894

In effect, the Boxee Box will not be technically as powerful as the WDTV Live or the Xtreamer or the ASUS OPlay series. However, with a dedicated good graphics engine, its user interface is bound to be much much better than the WDTV Live or any other similar product in this space.

You can advise all you want. You can even provide information about how Boxee Box is somehow less powerful than the WDTV Live, however way you define powerful. I am just waiting to compare Boxee Box against a notebook + XBMC, period. WDTV Live has long since been returned.

wokwokabc

02-17-10, 07:16 PM

Having graphics to select movies isn't just "bling", it's an efficient way of helping your brain sort through 100's (or more) files in as quick of way as possible...
It's the exact opposite for me. I find an alphabetized lists (assuming enough of the name is visible and enough of them) far more efficient than icons. I almost always run Windows Explorer in Details view.

wokwokabc

02-17-10, 07:49 PM

Here's a review of the Patriot Box, roughly in the same class as the WDTV Live:

http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3741

The main reason I'm posting this though is that they discuss some Registry changes that might be of interest to people having problems accessing Win7 shares.

Dunbar

02-17-10, 08:43 PM

Too many people are apparently obsessed with interface glitter and forget the wdtv live is an exceptionally powerful little device for playback with its Sigma 8655.

I guess I'm shallow for wanting a nice looking, easy to navigate interface. Especially when the competition will soon have it for the same price along with native support for Netflix, Revision 3 and who knows what else.

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/8836/popbox1.jpg

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8336/popbox2.jpg

This is so much better...

http://dvice.com/galleries/WDTV/WDTV%20screen%20shot.jpg

bowmah

02-17-10, 09:03 PM

I guess I'm shallow for wanting a nice looking, easy to navigate interface.

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/8836/popbox1.jpg

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8336/popbox2.jpg

I am also guilty of being so shallow! :)

airedale

02-17-10, 09:16 PM

While on the topic of interface glitter and comparing the quality of the WDTV Live to a computer, I'd like to ask a somewhat related question.

Have any of you that have used a PC for playback, compared the quality of the picture vs the WDTV Live?

I tried playing back a DivX video encoded at a resolution of 848x358. On my Windows 7 HTPC, the picture looks much less blocky than on the WDTV Live.

I then went on to try the same video, but it was encoded with H.264 @ 1280x636. That file definitely looked better on the WDTV Live, but still didn't completely stack up against the HTPC.

Can you guys give me some input as to why you think that may be?

Bongu

02-17-10, 09:42 PM

I'm saddened by the fact that you somehow read what I wrote and managed to garble it so much in your mind that you came to a completely illogical conclusion as to what I was referring to.

Fair enough, I apologize for exaggerating in my response to your comments and we both probably know I see a difference in what you said and what I did.

However, I do wholeheartedly disagree with you in saying that the visual interface doesn't matter nor should it to anyone. If you are content without much of a GUI or visual "bling", then it is fantastic that you are completely satisfied with the WDTV. You are out of line by saying that people around here should be "smart enough" to be the same as you. People have different tastes and what works for you might not work for somebody else. That doesn't make them smarter or less smart than you nor any more or less of an enthusiast of A/V. There are different products with different offerings and people should go with what suits their own tastes.

Look at it this way (which I feel is a better analogy). Many people like watching movies on a very large screen and thus build home theaters. Typically the viewing of movies in these home theaters is done in darkness. Some people only care about the screen size and forgo all of the decor. Others will hire interior design or theater specialists and spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to make it look exactly as they'd like it to. Does doing it one way vs. the other mean that the owner enjoys movies and watching movies more than the other owner? Of course not.

You enjoy to quickly scroll through a list and start the movie that you want with as few interruptions as possible. I like that when I have friends over we can decide on which movie to watch by scrolling through full page fan-art with posters and then when we start, three random trailers play of current movies, followed by a "Silence is Golden" type of screen and finally the feature presentation.*

My point is, we each have used our hard earned money to enjoy our system to the way that works best for what we want.

* My system does not work this way yet as it is new, but this is what I hope to have in the future, all of which is possible using XBMC.

aero12

02-17-10, 10:06 PM

Interfaces which exist only to 'pretty up' the movie selection process are stupid. ....

Too many people are apparently obsessed with interface glitter and forget the wdtv live is an exceptionally powerful little device for playback with its Sigma 8655.

It is an exceptionally powerful device, but you can bet that what the WD engineers are doing for the next product is mainly dealing with the interface, which is clearly the week point (with several brands!).

You make it sound like a good GUI is for amateurs, when in fact you have it backwords. Is the world running on command prompts! Ever here of Windows?

The GUI engineering is the higher end of the engineering fielg relative to decoding and rendering!

I am a Windows mobile guy but I have no problem understanding why Apple cleans HTC's clock despite HTC having WM handsets with a mssively better hardware and capabilities for less money. I can also understand why much better hardware value generic mp3 players failed and ipod and touch flow left them in the dust. The interface is KEY.

There are are other navigation problems with the WD. I don't say this as damning the WD in today's context (although "today's context" is ephemeral as fish) but rather as we mull around thing needed to be addressed in firmware or newer models, and addressed soon. For example shortcuts. You seem not to take into account the sheer numbers of files these boxes can access the way home usage is going. The folder depth is an issue. Some flexibility in shortcuts needs to be addressed.

You are belittling the very things you can be sure are the prime focus of WD engineers! These chipsets and codec combination, and all the hardware to get at any media data on a home net are profoundly generic.

The completion will be won on external content and GUIs

aero12

02-17-10, 10:20 PM

It's the exact opposite for me. I find an alphabetized lists (assuming enough of the name is visible and enough of them) far more efficient than icons. I almost always run Windows Explorer in Details view.

I always run explorer in details view as well, in fact trying to make Vista do it drove me nuts, the difference is I understand why you and I are in the minority.

I also understand that when I, and probably you, buy a smartphone I am looking at things like resolution, ram, can I use it to make a wifi hotspot without paying, has it got an SD slot, will the GPS work worldwide, will it integrate with enterprise systems, how many mAh is the battery, etc, -- but I know that is not what 99% of the people driving that market are doing!

But back to the first part about explorer. Details over icons I understand (for the minotiry like you and I) -- but are you saying you don't use shortcuts and are directly navigating to all your deep folders?

Can we all at least agree that:
a) a better gui will drive more sales
b) shortcuts would really help
?

you are out of line by saying that people around here should be "smart enough" to be the same as you.

I agree 100%. that condescending crack sounds EXACTLY like the guys who said windows would never catch ion! The smart guys implemented and used windows. Again the irony is you an bet the WD guys are spending a lot of their time looking at the GUI. Their smartest engineers are not workign on codecs and hardware, but GUIs, and their other focus is most assuredly external content.

techflaws

02-18-10, 12:18 AM

I am also guilty of being so shallow!
And of pointlessly quoting the same huge images one post below of their originals.

Fair enough, I apologize for exaggerating in my response to your comments and we both probably know I see a difference in what you said and what I did.
Why apologize? It's not you who claimed people where less smart cause they valued a proper GUI as much as other features.

I always run explorer in details view as well
I've dropped crappy explorer entirely to use Total Commander.

Having said that I've always like XBMC on the Xbox and I'm surprised that getting something similar done on media player hardware apparently is quite difficult.

wokwokabc

02-18-10, 06:32 AM

I always run explorer in details view as well, in fact trying to make Vista do it drove me nuts, the difference is I understand why you and I are in the minority.
What makes you think I don't understand that? I was simply stating my preference.

wokwokabc

02-18-10, 06:40 AM

I like that when I have friends over we can decide on which movie to watch by scrolling through full page fan-art with posters and then when we start, three random trailers play of current movies, followed by a "Silence is Golden" type of screen and finally the feature presentation.
Jeez, that's the last thing I would ever want. I even can't stand DVDs that force some 10 second animated introduction sequence on you before you can select "play" from the main menu. It might be cute the first time you see it but after that it's just an annoying delay. And even worse, those that force another annoying 10 second video sequence after pressing play. The first thing I do when I get a DVD like that is rip it to a movie only backup so I don't have to put up with that **** ever again.

de8212

02-18-10, 06:52 AM

I posted earlier having issues getting the WD Live and my Harmony 880 to cooperate with each other. Never could figure out how to create a good "sequence" to navigate the crappy menus.

Anyways, I have reluctantly decided to just leave the unit (as well as the attached hard drive) powered on all the time. Now my issue is that when I switch form cable tv, for example, to the WD my lcd displays "No Signal". If i power off everything (LCD, receiver) and go to the WD Live activity, I get a display. Not sure if this is more of a receiver/hdmi issue but I wanted to post in here to see if anyone uses a harmony with the WD and how they have it set up?

Also, if I just power the WD off and then on while leaving the lcd and receiver on, the display is also fine. Problem with that is it takes too long for the hard drive to be recognized.

wokwokabc

02-18-10, 06:53 AM

Their smartest engineers are not workign on codecs and hardware, but GUIs
No, not the smartest engineers, just different engineers.

And you can be pretty sure none of those engineers are at WD. In all likelihood all the WD guys are doing is waiting for updated software from Sigma Designs.

tutelary

02-18-10, 06:56 AM

Again the irony is you can bet the WD guys are spending a lot of their time looking at the GUI. Their smartest engineers are not workign on codecs and hardware, but GUIs

I would find this to be a complete failure of practicality and letting down the purchasing public who want working codecs/features/support first, with 'pretty' last.

scientest

02-18-10, 09:36 AM

It's the exact opposite for me. I find an alphabetized lists (assuming enough of the name is visible and enough of them) far more efficient than icons. I almost always run Windows Explorer in Details view.

The two approaches are not incompatible, you should use each for what it is designed for: graphical overview for fast, high level selection, detail view for differentiating at the low level. There is no single "correct way" and user friendly designs recognize this fact instead of forcing a single modality on the user.

Greencat

02-18-10, 10:30 AM

The two approaches are not incompatible, you should use each for what it is designed for: graphical overview for fast, high level selection, detail view for differentiating at the low level. There is no single "correct way" and user friendly designs recognize this fact instead of forcing a single modality on the user.

I want it all. I want a fast player full of eye candy and at a cheap price. Normally you can't have it all so for me the WD Live was the compromise. About $100 was what I wanted to spend and the WD Live fits the bill. It works and it could work better but it does work.

bowmah

02-18-10, 11:19 AM

And of pointlessly quoting the same huge images one post below of their originals.

Your comment is the pointless one.

XavierX

02-18-10, 02:45 PM

I’ve had the WDTV Live for about a month and have had some sync issues when playing certain types of video files.

The WDTV Live is connected to my Denon 6.1 (DD/DTS) receiver via a TOSLINK digital audio cable and to my HDTV via HDMI. I have it connected this way because my TV will only pass Dolby Digital (not DTS) and the receiver does not have any HDMI inputs . When I play a MKV or MP4 file encoded with AC3 ( Dolby Digital) audio the sound goes out of sync with the video by up to one second. If I FF/RW the file or switch audio tracks then it goes completely out of sync. MKV files encoded with DTS always play back perfectly. This has been driving me crazy because about half of my video library is encoded with AC3 audio. So I decided to attach another TOSLINK digital audio cable from my TV and feed the output audio into the receiver. I used a MKV file from the WDTV Live encoded with AC3 (Dolby Digital) and it played back without any sync issues! Unfortunately I can’t get this method to work using DTS encoded files due to the pass-through issue but it is a successful work around. So my solution is to switch inputs on my receiver and use the WDTV Live/TV/receiver audio connection to play the AC3 encoded files and use the WDTV Live/receiver audio connection to play back DTS files.

So it seems that the WDTV Live may have a problem with AC3 (Dolby Digital) encoded files when passing them directly through a TOSLINK cable. It is odd that I never had any other AC3 sync issues when using my PS3 or XBOX to play back the same files but I’m glad it’s working properly. I’m sure that this may be due to my specific setup and equipment but hopefully someone can use this information to clear up any sync issues.

desmo_dude

02-18-10, 03:16 PM

XavierX, I worked around your exact issue by converting my MP4's to MKV with mkvmergegui.... select the audio track (mp4a), hit the 'format specific options' tab, tick the box 'AAC is SBR/HE-AAC/AAC+' and then 'start muxing'.... Only takes a minute or two per MP4 movie. Hope that helps.

aero12

02-18-10, 04:25 PM

I would find this to be a complete failure of practicality and letting down the purchasing public who want working codecs/features/support first, with 'pretty' last.
"Pretty?" Again a few people here seem to think that what made windows windows, or any interface what it is is an issue of "Pretty.," Tht is fairly unstudied. Good navigation is a core functional feature.
I mentioned codecs, that is easy. You either buy and implement them or you don't
The main advances to come on these machines are in content deals and in GUI's.

User interfaces and content are going to drive this market.

pg_rider

02-18-10, 05:19 PM

Just picked up a WDTV Live and so far it's (mostly) doing what I'd hoped. Two questions regarding video settings:

1) I have a Samsung UN55B6000 (the LED backlit LCD) -- should I use the 8-bit or 12-bit setting on the WDTV Live? I know 12-bit is "better" and that's what I've set it to, but just want to make sure that's the best choice for my TV.

2) Same question for the Video Output setting. I'm using an HDMI connection to my TV -- is "HDMI 1080p 60Hz" the best choice?

The reason I'm asking is that several 1080p BluRay demo files I found are stuttering and locking up. For all I know it could be my network (even though it's all wired gigabit); just want to make sure it's not one of the WDTV Live settings that's tripping me up.

tutelary

02-18-10, 06:01 PM

"Pretty?" Again a few people here seem to think that what made windows windows, or any interface what it is is an issue of "Pretty.," Tht is fairly unstudied. Good navigation is a core functional feature.
I mentioned codecs, that is easy. You either buy and implement them or you don't
The main advances to come on these machines are in content deals and in GUI's.

User interfaces and content are going to drive this market.

Most people who want this type of product have their own content. Content, aside from something like netflix, is almost meaningless.

How many people are really watching youtube on these things? a handful from this site?

Something like boxee or popbox want more than anything for you to purchase stupid little apps from their apps store.

stiggs

02-18-10, 08:07 PM

XavierrX,
Thanks for the info but I don’t want to change my setup or transcode any files just to play back my media library. I bought the WDTV Live with the hope that it would efficiently replace my current media streaming solution. The device was on my radar long before it was released and I was excited when it became available for purchase. Unfortunately it does not properly play a sufficient percentage of my files to warrant keeping the device. I’m giving away my WDTV Live and I will be purchasing a different media player such as Boxee or PopBox as soon as they are available. I'm disappointed in the stark interface and overall performance of the WDTV Live. The unit was relatively cheap and does play back about 50% of my media without issue (sync, stutter, & incompatibility) but I was hoping for closer to 100% as the solution that I currently use delivers similar numbers as the WDTV Live. I'm sure that my experience with the device will differ greatly from others as there is no current universal standard for creating and playing back media files. Your mileage may vary...

My biggest mistake was coming to this forum and arguing my point with an uncompromising child named tutelary who is still trying to hammer home his autocratic viewpoint. This person is a typical forum troll who believes that his word is the absolute truth and can’t tolerate or comprehend the opinion of other forum members. His ego is so fragile that when he is logically challenged by candid evidence his immediate response is anger and frustration. I honestly feel bad for someone like him. His life must be so empty and unfulfilled that he feels compelled to seek out attention on anonymous message boards by provoking other members. The guy has over 1000 posts on this one forum. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic.

Good luck to those who have purchased the WDTV Live. Perhaps future firmware releases will improve functionality, interface and codec support.

David Dias

02-18-10, 09:25 PM

...The unit was relatively cheap and does play back about 50% of my media without issue (sync, stutter, & incompatibility) but I was hoping for closer to 100% as the solution that I currently use delivers similar numbers as the WDTV Live. I'm sure that my experience with the device will differ greatly from others as there is no current universal standard for creating and playing back media files. Your mileage may vary...

I use MakeMKV to create .mkv files of my DVDs and never had an issue, it's also worked for a lot of other people. I would call that a no-fail approach and a universal standard. Instead of blaming the device, I think you should examine your media files.

tutelary

02-18-10, 11:09 PM

tutelary

02-18-10, 11:11 PM

I use MakeMKV to create .mkv files of my DVDs and never had an issue, it's also worked for a lot of other people. I would call that a no-fail approach and a universal standard. Instead of blaming the device, I think you should examine your media files.

stiggs is the same nutball who claimed the wdtv live wouldn't play a variety of xvids. :rolleyes:

He's either just dumb in general, or working some odd angle for some other reason.

LN32B530

02-18-10, 11:23 PM

It's like you bought a DSLR camera. Then, you took some shots and all the photos were either dark or overexposed. You really don't know $#!+ about photography. Yet, you blame the camera.

stiggs

02-19-10, 01:06 AM

It's like you bought a DSLR camera. Then, you took some shots and all the photos were either dark or overexposed. You really don't know $#!+ about photography. Yet, you blame the camera.

Isn't the WDTV Live supposed to be a simple plug and play media player? I wasn't aware that to take full advantage of the device one must possess the same level of technical expertise required to adeptly wield a complex piece of hardware such as a DSLR. I guess that bit of information wouldn't make a great bullet point on the WD marketing page.

I completely comprehend the concepts of audio/video codecs, transcoding, networking, and UPNP media servers. I just don't want to deal with any of it! I've already got a method in place (XBOX 360/PS3) to play back my video library which requires some transcoding so why would I add another similar device to that mix? I thought the WDTV Live would simply plug-in and play back all my media as advertised...it doesn't.

Again, this is MY situation and it may be due to the inconsistencies of the media. You may not have the same problems as me...that's fine. But don't start calling me a liar or a dunce just because we have had different experiences with the device.

aero12

02-19-10, 06:31 AM

Most people who want this type of product have their own content. Content, aside from something like netflix, is almost meaningless.

How many people are really watching youtube on these things? a handful from this site?.

You throw around terms like menaingless when it is clear the market and the MAKERS completely disagree with you.
I am not watching much Youtube on the WD since HD was dropped, but I think you are leaving some out, like Hulu, and other web based access to the network and other stations.
Are you sayng Hulu and Netflix are unimportant.; I don;t get the "aside from netflix" it is the elephant in the room!

I am not saying it is a dealbraker for everyone, or even most, but it is clearly going to be one of the major product differentiators.

aero12

02-19-10, 06:34 AM

Sorry, but anyone saying that the wdtv live only plays 50% of the things they throw at it is just a liar. It's that simple. Even the people here who bicker about various issues have NEVER reported that kind of failure to play anything. You're alone in this, and likely for good reason.

The WD play's 99% of what I want it to play, and 100% of what I expect it to play. For about 10% of my content I would really like chapter and title navigation without having to rework authored DVDS

karmat63

02-19-10, 06:38 AM

Has anybody tried to connect the WD Live to a Lumagen HDP scaler?

I'm not able to make it work in the proper way.
As you know, the WD is able to output, via HDMI, RGB 16-235 or 0-255 or YCbCr. I tried all three but, connecting HDMI output to DVI Lumagen input but: with RGB is displayed a red/magenta image and with YCbCr a green/cyan image; it looks like the Lumagen can't recognize the color space.
I tested the combo both with the TV and a CRT Videoprojector (equipped with HDMI input card) and had same results.
If I connect the mediaplayer directly to the TV or the projector, there is no problem...
Even, there's no problem if I connect WD component output (set at 1080i60) to the Lumagen (outputting 1080p/47,95 for BD rip), but I'm concerned about video quality (that, anyway, looks better then I thought, looking at cheap component output connector)
Any idea?

Another question; has anybody compared WD Live HDMI output and component output in terms of video quality?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Nobody tested WD Live hooked to Lumagen HDP DVI port?
Cheers

wokwokabc

02-19-10, 06:41 AM

stiggs is the same nutball who claimed the wdtv live wouldn't play a variety of xvids. :rolleyes:
Go encode some videos using Xvid's GMC option. See how well they play on the WDTV Live.

mickey79

02-19-10, 01:10 PM

liquidmetal

02-19-10, 03:06 PM

I use hdmi to my denon receiver from wd live. I did the following steps:

1. Got arc soft dts decoder.
2. Got eac3to.
3. Ran eac3to -test and it sees dts decoder
4. Ran eac3to bluray.m2ts temp.pcm
ran fine
5. Got pcm2tsmu.
6. Ran pcm2tsmu temp.pcm good.pcm
ran fine
7. Use tsmuxergui and added bluray.m2ts and added good.pcm
8. Use tsmuxergui to mux to new m2ts.
9. Media info shows multichannel pcm:

Format : BDAV
Format/Info : Blu-ray Video
File size : 20.2 GiB
Duration : 1h 47mn
Overall bit rate : 26.9 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 35.5 Mbps

Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : VC-1
Format profile : AP@L3
Duration : 1h 47mn
Bit rate : 17.4 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.351
Stream size : 13.1 GiB (65%)

Audio #1
ID : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Duration : 1h 47mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 24 bits
Stream size : 1.13 GiB (6%)
Language : English

Audio #2
ID : 4353 (0x1101)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Format settings, Sign : Signed
Muxing mode : Blu-ray
Duration : 1h 47mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 6 912 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R C, Rear: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 24 bits
Stream size : 5.19 GiB (26%)

10. Play in wd live and denon receives only 2 channel lpcm.

HELP!

joshjoshlol

02-19-10, 03:36 PM

Go encode some videos using Xvid's GMC option. See how well they play on the WDTV Live.

you can't fault a company for lack of playback for some setting when they clearly and explicitly state that they won't play it on the packaging itself.

wokwokabc

02-19-10, 04:05 PM

you can't fault a company for lack of playback for some setting when they clearly and explicitly state that they won't play it on the packaging itself.
I wasn't faulting the company. I was pointing out that stiggs wasn't a nutball. Some Xvid videos don't play on the WDTV Live.

sinker442

02-19-10, 05:44 PM

It kinda sucks, but ...

I was extremely divided between WDTV Live & Xtreamer around Christmas last year and I ended up getting WDTV Live. I absolutely love the unit & have had no complaints with it ... and keeping tabs on Xtreamer's progress; thus far I saw nothing that the Xtreamer offered better then WDTV Live, so I was all-in-all a very happy camper.

Up until I just saw that Xtreamer released it's first Blu-ray menu/navigation support and full blu-ray from folder support ... something I could really use. I still love my unit but it kinda sucks now ... that it's trailing behind Xtreamer on that one feature; a feature I could really use with my full Blu-ray rips loaded on my terabytes of external hard drive.

Wishing WD would add such a support to ...

Other Realtek based media players have had that BDlite feature for months (e.g. Egreat-R1), it's nice but it doesn't add any useful functions (you can change audio tracks or subtitles track from the "in movie" menu, or a button on the remote (http://shop.xtreamer.net/Support/images/Xtreamer%20remote%20control.jpg) , BDlite is just another way to do that). BDlite is not the original BD menu...

If I were WD support, my priorities would be:

1. Fix any audio/video sync issues reported

2. Basic subtitle features missing (size 44 and 48, subtitle offset), PGS support if possible

3. DTS-HDMA passthrough support if possible

Whoever develops firmware for WD, they used code from WDTV1. For example the WDLive inherited the lacking subtitle features of WDTV1.
This means whatever is fixed now, will probably be included in the next WD media player as well.

ScottWD mentioned something about prerelease (beta) firmware coming up, so there's still some hope :)

FCBarca

02-19-10, 10:13 PM

Is it possible to display photos off the HD while simultaneously playing music?

tutelary

02-19-10, 10:59 PM

Go encode some videos using Xvid's GMC option. See how well they play on the WDTV Live.

If people would stick to scene rules they wouldn't flub playability with their stupidity. You can go out of you way to encode videos so NOTHING will play them.

tutelary

02-19-10, 11:02 PM

You throw around terms like menaingless when it is clear the market and the MAKERS completely disagree with you.
I am not watching much Youtube on the WD since HD was dropped, but I think you are leaving some out, like Hulu, and other web based access to the network and other stations.
Are you sayng Hulu and Netflix are unimportant.; I don;t get the "aside from netflix" it is the elephant in the room!

I am not saying it is a dealbraker for everyone, or even most, but it is clearly going to be one of the major product differentiators.

learn to read. I'm not going to restate what was clear enough to start with.

techflaws

02-20-10, 02:30 AM

that it's trailing behind Xtreamer on that one feature
That one? It also lacks support for DVD menus, a feature the Xtreamer also has.

you can't fault a company for lack of playback for some setting when they clearly and explicitly state that they won't play it on the packaging itself.
File Formats Supported: Video - AVI (Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4) (sorry but no QPel or GMC cause that's too fancy stuff albeit being around for so long)
So much for clearly.

If people would stick to scene rules they wouldn't flub playability with their stupidity.
Yeah right, like the max resolution width of 640px. Way to go.

jeffschallenberg

02-20-10, 08:32 AM

philnort

02-20-10, 09:13 AM

And yet I see references in this thread to the AC-3 format being identical to Dolby Digital, which IS supported by the WDTV Live.

AC-3; Dolby digital = SAME thing. AC-3 was the original name this audio codec was marketed under

wokwokabc

02-20-10, 10:18 AM

The problem videos all use the AC-3 audio format
The WDTV Live supports AC3 (aka Dolby Digital). I've played AC3 from AVI, MP4, MKV, and TS containers. Maybe there's something odd about your file(s)? Can you link to a file that is giving you problems?

pg_rider

02-20-10, 10:22 AM

Please help a relative newcomer to file formats, codecs, and the WDTV Live.

Several times I have downloaded video files that work fine on my PC but on the WDTV Live there is no audio. The problem videos all use the AC-3 audio format, and I have to re-code using HandBrake to an AAC format in order to hear the soundtrack on the WDTV Live.

The AC-3 format is not mentioned in the WDTV Live manual, so I assumed it was definitely not supported for some reason.

And yet I see references in this thread to the AC-3 format being identical to Dolby Digital, which IS supported by the WDTV Live.

So, why do those videos not play the soundtrack on the WDTV Live? What am I not understanding?

- Jeff Schallenberg
Mont Saint Hilaire, Québec
Are you using an optical cable to connect your WDTV Live to your receiver? And do you have the WDTV Live set to output "Digital" in the audio settings?

liquidmetal

02-20-10, 10:50 AM

No one else has tried to create a multichannel lpcm file here?

(in ref to post 4660)

Derelict_Drvr

02-20-10, 11:49 AM

Please help a relative newcomer to file formats, codecs, and the WDTV Live.

Several times I have downloaded video files that work fine on my PC but on the WDTV Live there is no audio. The problem videos all use the AC-3 audio format, and I have to re-code using HandBrake to an AAC format in order to hear the soundtrack on the WDTV Live.

The AC-3 format is not mentioned in the WDTV Live manual, so I assumed it was definitely not supported for some reason.

And yet I see references in this thread to the AC-3 format being identical to Dolby Digital, which IS supported by the WDTV Live.

So, why do those videos not play the soundtrack on the WDTV Live? What am I not understanding?

- Jeff Schallenberg
Mont Saint Hilaire, Québec

99% of my videos are encoded with either AC3 stereo or AC3 5.1 and play flawlessly over HDMI.

Have you checked your files using Mediainfo to see if there is something odd about the audio codec? Scan your files with mediainfo in text mode and post the results here. Maybe we can see something that is causing the audio to not play.

Swurgen

02-20-10, 03:13 PM

Sorry for the ignorant post but I've been searching this board and elsewhere but coming up with too many answers not relevant to my noobish questions. I just want to do things right the first time. This board for example sends me to page 289 of a 165 page thread.

Just got a 320 gb WD Passport and WDTV Live. Neither have ever been used.

1) Do I need to format the Passport?
2) Any advantage to NTFS vs Fat32?

Dartman

02-20-10, 03:29 PM

You probably don't need to format it as most of them seem to be setup to plug and play. I added a Seagate free agent 1.5 terabyte to mine and it was ready to go right outa the box. I am considering reformating it now that I have the programs that were included on it installed and their directories backed up.
Mine came with Seagate backup, some sort of video creator program and maybe a few other tidbits on the drive.
So far I have left the backup and settings program installed for now and uninstalled the others as most were only test dives anyways that wanted you to buy the full version for full functionality.
Your probably going to find you'll want a larger drive pretty soon, or at least add a second bigger one as HDTV and things add up quickly.

Swurgen

02-20-10, 03:31 PM

jeffschallenberg

02-20-10, 03:47 PM

Are you using an optical cable to connect your WDTV Live to your receiver?
No, I use HDMI from WDTV Live to my TV, then Optical to my receiver.

And do you have the WDTV Live set to output "Digital" in the audio settings?
Yes.

Here is the text dump from MediaInfo:
==============================
General
Complete name : Z:\Videos\PBS - Travels to the Edge With Art Wolfe - Brazil, The Pantanal (2008.720p.HDTV.AC3-SoS)\PBS - Travels to the Edge With Art Wolfe - Brazil, The Pantanal (2008.720p.HDTV.AC3-SoS).avi
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
File size : 798 MiB
Duration : 24mn 0s
Overall bit rate : 4 644 Kbps
Writing application : VirtualDubMod 1.5.4.1 (build 2178/release)
Writing library : VirtualDubMod build 2178/release

Video
ID : 0
Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, QPel : No
Format settings, GMC : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Codec ID : XVID
Codec ID/Hint : XviD
Duration : 24mn 0s
Bit rate : 4 252 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.154
Stream size : 730 MiB (92%)
Writing library : XviD 1.2.0.dev47 (UTC 2006-11-01)

Audio
ID : 1
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Codec ID : 2000
Duration : 24mn 0s
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
Stream size : 65.9 MiB (8%)
Alignment : Split accross interleaves
Interleave, duration : 96 ms (2.88 video frames)
Interleave, preload duration : 96 ms

Derelict_Drvr

02-20-10, 04:48 PM

@jeff-

For some reason (maybe it is the added rear center speaker) WDTV Live will not play 6 channel AC3. I do know it will play Dolby Digital Surround 5.1. I think they call the 6 channel Dolby Digital 6.1 or Dolby Digital Surround EX.

There have been a few complaints about this. The only workaround I know of is to wash the video thru Handbrake and convert the audio to AAC stereo. i don't know if the WDTV will passthru AAC Pro Logic II or Surround, but the option is there in Handbrake.

Also, I don't know if it has anything to do with it or not, but it has been stated that Xvid GMC video does not play well either. I noticed that you have video that is MPEG-4 GMC. Could this have something to do with it? This needs to be clarified by the experts.

techflaws

02-21-10, 12:45 AM

Any advantage to NTFS vs Fat32?
It allows for files > 4 GB and copying files over to it is faster.

microhaxo

02-21-10, 01:03 AM

Wow, The latest update from WD completely 100% ruined youtube. In my opinion they wasted a **** load of time for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Oh great, you improved the way it loads youtube thumbnails. WHO THE HELL CARES WHEN YOU CANT PLAY ANY YOUTUBE VIDEOS!

Not a single damn youtube video can be played for me, they all say restricted blah blah cant be played on tv. Well **** you western digital. I'm getting rid of the wdtv and no longer will i support any of your products.

**** this ****

aero12

02-21-10, 08:22 AM

learn to read. I'm not going to restate what was clear enough to start with.
Cleart to only you. You simply didn't answer the question and went wioth a silly attack like you have with others.

You claim user interfaces are not relevant, and "bling." Newsflash: they are the tip of the food change in product engineering.

You are doubtless trying to figure out why iPods beat filename based mp3 players.

As someone else asked, (and you didn't answer) are you working right now on command line or using a GUI on your PC (we know the answer))

aero12

02-21-10, 08:39 AM

My biggest mistake was coming to this forum and arguing my point with an uncompromising child named tutelary who is still trying to hammer home his autocratic viewpoint. This person is a typical forum troll who believes that his word is the absolute truth and can’t tolerate or comprehend the opinion of other forum members. His ego is so fragile that when he is logically challenged by candid evidence his immediate response is anger and frustration. I honestly feel bad for someone like him. His life must be so empty and unfulfilled that he feels compelled to seek out attention on anonymous message boards by provoking other members. The guy has over 1000 posts on this one forum. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic.

Good luck to those who have purchased the WDTV Live. Perhaps future firmware releases will improve functionality, interface and codec support.

Almost all of us feel the same way.

dawoofa

02-21-10, 08:52 AM

I have not read all the post yet but I need to ask on short question. I have a WDTV Gen1 and was happy with it but didnt like its lack of many simple codec support like Ogg Flac WMA so I went out to buy a PlayOn HD Mini and like the network thinggy and many more codec supports but hate the GUI and huge Remote. So I want to know should I get WDTV LIVE does it have better codec supports than the original WDTV? Thanks for your time. :)

wokwokabc

02-21-10, 09:57 AM

Also, I don't know if it has anything to do with it or not, but it has been stated that Xvid GMC video does not play well either. I noticed that you have video that is MPEG-4 GMC. Could this have something to do with it? This needs to be clarified by the experts.

The WDTV Live supports Divx's 1 warp point GMC but not Xvid's 3 warp point GMC. If you attempt to play a 3 warp point GMC Xvid file the picture will get jerky and break apart when the GMC sections are encountered.

Dartman

02-21-10, 01:23 PM

Thanks for the info. I know I'll want a bigger drive. I'll start researching TB drives once I get more experience with this thing. This drive is one I happened to have lying around for another purpose that never came to fruition.
Your welcome. I'm still loving my unit even with the limitations some folks hate and some are fine with.
If I'd had a external drive laying around I would have slapped it in too just to see how it did and offload some of my TV captures and things from my PC here.
I finally found what seemed like a good price at Costco when we went there to meet my parents and I just got my tax refund so I splurged and bought it.
Adding files to it over the network is dog slow at 100baset or whatever they call it so finally I just hooked it up directly to a front USB port here and off loaded all the goodies in a couple of hours, still slow but way better then days.
The Network shares can be dodgy as well but there are work arounds posted here and at least my unit takes about 6 minutes to load and recognize everything that is shared from first turn on.
The USB drive takes a bit as well but it comes up fairly quickly compared to the shares and you don't have to do anything but plug it in :)

tutelary

02-21-10, 03:03 PM

Cleart to only you. You simply didn't answer the question and went wioth a silly attack like you have with others.

You claim user interfaces are not relevant, and "bling." Newsflash: they are the tip of the food change in product engineering.

You are doubtless trying to figure out why iPods beat filename based mp3 players.

As someone else asked, (and you didn't answer) are you working right now on command line or using a GUI on your PC (we know the answer))

You couldn't grasp the fact that I called out netflix as a reasonable usage. You have no opinion worth considering otherwise because you're dense.

Most people who want this type of product have their own content. Content, aside from something like netflix, is almost meaningless.

Dion250

02-21-10, 03:53 PM

bruin95

02-21-10, 04:22 PM

Dunbar

02-21-10, 05:31 PM

Other than not having the HD versions of the videos, I have NO problems playing youtube stuff via the WDTV. You might want to check your network.

Certain youtube content is flagged and will not play on TV's. It will only affect you if you have the latest firmware and you try to play flagged content. I'm guessing this restriction will affect all devices with native youtube support.

sinker442

02-21-10, 06:06 PM

If I were WD support, my priorities would be:

1. Fix any audio/video sync issues reported

2. Basic subtitle features missing (size 44 and 48, subtitle offset), PGS support if possible

3. DTS-HDMA passthrough support if possible

OK, GuyWD has some answers ( http://community.wdc.com )

2.
Larger subtitle sizes will be available in the next firmware update. The other subtitle feature requests are still in development.

Bluray subtitles PGS format
This feature will be available in the next firmware update

3.
DTS-HD bitstreaming is NOT possible due to licensing restrictions. Instead, the WD TV Live extracts the DTS 5.1 core stream and either bitstreams it or downmixes it to stereo. We'll check to see if TrueHD bitstreaming from MKVs is possible. http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Ideas/HD-Audio-Support/idc-p/11119#M1240

See what's planned to be fixed (Pending) here:
http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Ideas/idb-p/idea/status-key/pending

liquidmetal

02-21-10, 10:19 PM

Afraid of that. That's why I attempted to convert dts-hd ma to lpcm, which is completely lossless. That doesn't work either. Have to go popbox now.

OK, GuyWD has some answers ( http://community.wdc.com )
3.
DTS-HD bitstreaming is NOT possible due to licensing restrictions. Instead, the WD TV Live extracts the DTS 5.1 core stream and either bitstreams it or downmixes it to stereo. We'll check to see if TrueHD bitstreaming from MKVs is possible. http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Ideas/HD-Audio-Support/idc-p/11119#M1240

microhaxo

02-21-10, 10:31 PM

Other than not having the HD versions of the videos, I have NO problems playing youtube stuff via the WDTV. You might want to check your network.

No, its not the network. WD said that they wouldnt be hindering youtube when that announcement came out about the restrictions. Sure enough they spend over a month on some "Big exciting changes towards the end of the year" And that means a much better youtube interface but OH yea, we made it so you cant watch anything pretty much because we have to comply, not even hd. Then why even include it at all.

total bologna if you ask me. I'll be switching to whichever media streamer allows youtube immediately.

bruin95

02-22-10, 12:12 AM

Certain youtube content is flagged and will not play on TV's. It will only affect you if you have the latest firmware and you try to play flagged content. I'm guessing this restriction will affect all devices with native youtube support.

That's all well and good, but I was responding to the poster because he said that he cannot get ANY youtube video to play. So far, I have been able to play every youtube video I've tried with the latest firmware.

birdy

02-22-10, 01:25 AM

Hello, at first sorry for my bad english, i hope that you understandme.
I am all right with all your request of western digital tv live, but nobody speak about picture quality?
I am (happy) owner of a wd tv hd gen1, then i thought that the live is even better than the original wd tv. Few weeks ago i bought the live. Yes, first impressions was that is faster with the playback and navigation between the thumbnails, network features are wonderful, etc.... BUT...where is the very good quality of image in the SD and HD material that have the original wd tv?

When you watch a decent avi movie in the original wd tv this seems almost HD and when you watch HD movies or music concerts you get excited, this material watched with the live is not the same....the picture quality is worse.

Obviously i understand it because usually owners of original wdtv are not the same that the live and can not compare.

Then finally i think that the more important request for the next firmware is to improve the image quality.

I returned the live to shop, but i wish that when new firmware is launched include better picture quality and then i buy it again.

Thanks ( and sorry)

OmegaR3D

02-22-10, 08:12 AM

Sarcoptic

02-22-10, 08:56 AM

If they offer plugins then you won't but a new box next year that has the feature. I am really thinking WD is out for $$$ with this few features new box approach.

starfury1

02-22-10, 11:31 AM

Hi all.

I was ripping my CD collection to Flac. with MediaMonkey. Shortly after I began, I ran into EAC.

Simply question:

Is there a way to find out which program ripped each CD? Does either MM or EAC dump a tag somewhere in the file that can be read to find this out?

I have Audioshell installed on Windows 7 and it only shows the version of Flac. that was used to encode.

I'm only asking because I would like to re-rip the MM rips with EAC. The EAC rips sound far superior to me on the WDTV Live, and it is the ripper/encoder of choice.

Thanks :)

SeeMoreDigital

02-22-10, 11:36 AM

Simply question:

Is there a way to find out which program ripped each CD? Does either MM or EAC dump a tag somewhere in the file that can be read to find this out?Try using an application called MediaInfo

techflaws

02-22-10, 12:00 PM

starfury1

02-22-10, 12:51 PM

Try using an application called MediaInfo

Thanks SeeMoreDigital, but alas it does not show the program used for the rip, just the version of Flac.

Lafacdio

02-22-10, 01:06 PM

monsieur_paul

02-22-10, 01:30 PM

Ok, maybe this is not new but I couldn't find it in this huge thread.

The WDTV Live has a problem processing .mkv with multichannel aac. It is not just about the audio codec because if I demux/remux the file from .mkv to .mp4, the audio plays fine.

In addition, it seems the last firmware brought this problem to .mov file. Namely, the 1080p Iron Man 2 trailer is now mute while it was playing fine before the last update.

Could somebody else check this?

sinker442

02-22-10, 01:32 PM

I get that DTS-MA support isn't possible due to licensing fees but why doesn't WD offer users the ability to pay for extra plugins to enable such support. I'd be willing to pay up to $20USD to have DTS-MA on my WD TV Live. This could help them please customers who want it while not jacking up the price of the unit in retail. It does do DD TrueHD if you were wondering.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.
DTS demands a fee for every player sold. All or nothing.
I have a friend who works in a company that produces audio equipment, these ...ches send an email every few months saying sth like "you have sold 10k speakers, send us a 50k check" and they want all the money paid at once.

DTS asked too much, or WD didn't want to pay extra (probably thought it would not help sales that much), or both...

jeffschallenberg

02-22-10, 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by Derelict_Drvr
@jeff-

For some reason (maybe it is the added rear center speaker) WDTV Live will not play 6 channel AC3. I do know it will play Dolby Digital Surround 5.1. I think they call the 6 channel Dolby Digital 6.1 or Dolby Digital Surround EX.

There have been a few complaints about this. The only workaround I know of is to wash the video thru Handbrake and convert the audio to AAC stereo.

6 channels is 5.1.. and it for sure plays that.

Like Derelict_Drvr says, WDTV Live will not play sound tracks that MediaInfo identifies as AC-3 6 channels - at least not on my setup:

(WDTV Live Digital audio -> HDMI -> HDTV -> Optical -> AVR Digital in).

And using HandBrake to convert to AAC makes the soundtrack playable on my setup.

Should I instead be converting AC-3 6 channel soundtracks to DD 5.1?

Is there another utility other than HandBrake that will do a better job of correcting the problem?

Thanks again for your help!

- Jeff

SeeMoreDigital

02-22-10, 01:50 PM

Thanks SeeMoreDigital, but alas it does not show the program used for the rip, just the version of Flac.It all depends on whether the encoding application elects to include the information within the audio files meta-data.... Some do, some don't.

Cheers

monsieur_paul

02-22-10, 02:07 PM

Like Derelict_Drvr says, WDTV Live will not play sound tracks that MediaInfo identifies as AC-3 6 channels - at least not on my setup:

(WDTV Live Digital audio -> HDMI -> HDTV -> Optical -> AVR Digital in).

And using HandBrake to convert to AAC makes the soundtrack playable on my setup.

Should I instead be converting AC-3 6 channel soundtracks to DD 5.1?

Is there another utility other than HandBrake that will do a better job of correcting the problem?

Thanks again for your help!

- Jeff

- Have you tried avidemux (http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/) ?
- Do you have an example easily and legally downloadable of a file that doesn't work with your setup?

avspooch

02-22-10, 02:17 PM

Hi,

I'm looking for a server *primarily* to show random slideshows in the style of the Windows XP slideshow screensaver. WinXP's screensaver is great for me because I can point to My Pictures, and even though there is a very deep folder structure there, the randomization goes completely through whatever folders are there.

I looked at the manual for the WDTV Live, and although it has a Random mode, there's no indication that it will go recursively through all folders under the one you point it to.

So that's my primary requirement. A *really* nice to have would be if there are video files included with the photos, the slideshow would include them in its randomization and play a video from time to time.

How well would WDTV Live meet those requirements?

Thanks!

Phil

starfury1

02-22-10, 02:43 PM

It all depends on whether the encoding application elects to include the information within the audio files meta-data.... Some do, some don't.

Cheers

Indeed. I see MediaInfo works great for my MKV files (it shows that they were created with MakeMKV) but not for my Flac files.

Neat program though :)

b-rad.cc

02-22-10, 03:00 PM

To whom it may concern: I've corrected the german 1.01.24 UI texts for myself and for b-rad.cc to include again in his modded firmware. Maybe WD will pick up on it. In any case, if you find any errors please pm me.

thx techflaws, will be in the next release.

going to include an alternate video info overlay bar for you to do your sub stuff with timing not in the way too ;)

wokwokabc

02-22-10, 03:44 PM

Like Derelict_Drvr says, WDTV Live will not play sound tracks that MediaInfo identifies as AC-3 6 channels - at least not on my setup:

(WDTV Live Digital audio -> HDMI -> HDTV -> Optical -> AVR Digital in).
I'm using HDMI from the WDTV Live to a Samsung HDTV and I get audio from all videos MediaInfo identifies as AC3 6 channel. I found the exact file that jeffschallenberg posted a MediaInfo report of and it played without any problems. I'm using the latest ...24 firmware.

Dion250

02-22-10, 04:43 PM

I'm using HDMI from the WDTV Live to a Samsung HDTV and I get audio from all videos MediaInfo identifies as AC3 6 channel. I found the exact file that jeffschallenberg posted a MediaInfo report of and it played without any problems. I'm using the latest ...24 firmware.

Correct.. WDTV Live has ZERO issues with 5.1 ( aka 6 channel ) AC3. I have played multiple MKV's with it..

Should I instead be converting AC-3 6 channel soundtracks to DD 5.1?

6 Channel is 5.1 = 5 speakers + 1 sub = 6

5+1 = 6

Neoculture

02-22-10, 09:55 PM

I use MakeMKV to create .mkv files of my DVDs and never had an issue, it's also worked for a lot of other people. I would call that a no-fail approach and a universal standard. Instead of blaming the device, I think you should examine your media files.

Erm... I seem to be one of the ones (there were a few last time this came up) for whom MakeMKV refuses to work properly - chapters don't work, files won't FF/RW, and (when accessed via windows) causes File Explorer to bitch about crashing DLL when listing the files. And the only help I've had from the forum is "well, it works for me" (not really helpful).

So no, it's not a "no-fail approach".

Derelict_Drvr

02-22-10, 10:42 PM

Erm... I seem to be one of the ones (there were a few last time this came up) for whom MakeMKV refuses to work properly - chapters don't work, files won't FF/RW, and (when accessed via windows) causes File Explorer to bitch about crashing DLL when listing the files. And the only help I've had from the forum is "well, it works for me" (not really helpful).

So no, it's not a "no-fail approach".

If it works for over 95% of the piople that try it and not you, it seems logical that: 1) it was a bad install, or 2) you need to reinstall windows (from my experience a crashing DLL is one of the two. Usually a windows DLL is corrupt). If it has been over 12-18 months since you performed a clean install of windows, it is about time to do so. That would probably cure a plethora of problems.

Admittedly, MakeMKV doesn't do chapters. But, I have ripped many dvd's using this program and not had a single issue with FF/RW. However, I currently use Handbrake to rip SD discs to mkv. I get chapters, subtitles and can add more than one audio track. On my computer it takes between 15-20 minutes to rip a video with MakeMKV. 20-25 minutes for the same video with Handbrake.

techflaws

02-23-10, 12:55 AM

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.
DTS demands a fee for every player sold.
With the original Xbox M$ added the license fee for DVD playback to the remote sold separately, creative. Apart from that I guess a lot of people here would pay the extra dollar to get DVD Menu support.

going to include an alternate video info overlay bar for you to do your sub stuff with timing not in the way too ;)
Dude, you just rock!

And the only help I've had from the forum is "well, it works for me" (not really helpful).
Actually the help given on this forum by me on several occasions was "Use MKVToolnix instead and report back if it makes a difference" which just hasn't happened yet.

Admittedly, MakeMKV doesn't do chapters.
Of course it does.

b-rad.cc

02-23-10, 01:57 AM

Dude, you just rock!

:) I just pushed out a release over here (http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=4938.0). You might be interested in just the minimal version if you don't want the extra fluff ;) I have two extra overlays, one at top that gets interfered with the option window and one right below where the option bar displays text. Check S00custom-options for how to change.

liquidmetal

02-23-10, 01:40 PM

via twitter:

srader

Beta @WDTVLive firmware being packaged up. Should be anytime now! Stay tuned...

liquidmetal

02-23-10, 01:40 PM

Beta release of @WDTVLive firmware is now available http://*******/cSumTD - limited time only!!

liquidmetal

02-23-10, 01:41 PM

What's in this update?

Prerelease 1.02.14 (includes all previously released updates)

Resolved Issues:

* Added Windows 7 support
* Added European language input for keyboard
* Fixed issues with subtitle support with font size and sync adjustment
* Fixed various issues with Samba connection
* Resolved issues with new WLAN dongles from Belkin, Linksys, and Zyxel
* Fixed various playback related issues. See release notes for details.

And there's more. See our firmware release notes for all the details. (PDF)

liquidmetal

02-23-10, 01:43 PM

Version 1.02.14:
Resolved Issues:
· Added Windows 7 Support.
· Added larger subtitle font size options.
· Added European language input for keyboard.
· Added serial and part number to About page.
· Added support for embedded subtitles in mpg files.
· Added new category in Photo/Video to view by date.
· Added a field in network settings for changing the workgroup name.
· Added ability to play a video from the preview window without restarting.
· Added username/password feature for SAMBA security.
· Added Wireless LAN strength bar in Network info page.
· Changed default browsing by date to start with the latest files first.
· Changed video browse default to "Preview Mode" instead of thumbnail mode.
· Corrected several language translations issues.
· Resolved issues with subtitle sync adjustment.
· Resolved abnormal display of BMP photos through a media server.
· Resolved Audio channel information shows up in AutoPlay mode.
· Resolved Blu-ray ISO subtitle not displaying throughout VIDEO playback.
· Resolved Blu-ray slow playback across SAMBA.
· Resolved camera files not enumerating correctly in mass storage.
· Resolved login issue with SAMBA after exiting screen saver.
· Resolved DVR-MS black screen problem on resume after forward and rewind.
· Resolved external sub/idx subtitles flashbacking issue.
· Resolved playback across media server failures.
· Resolved hard drive icon from disappearing in the video list under preview mode.
· Resolved issue of HDMI becoming jittery after long time play.
· Resolved M4V files not supporting fast forward and rewind.
· Resolved manual network addressing issue.
· Resolved missing shuffle & repeat icon for slideshow within Flickr.
· Resolved music search not displaying playlist names.
· Resolved network devices (SAMBA) disappearing without warning.
· Resolved PTP issue of unsupported video file formats DX6490,DIMAGE Z2 & X1, Optio
555 and DMC-FX2.
· Resolved Sony Walkman not showing photos within directory.
· Resolved unsupported file formats not showing an error message.
· Resolved video playback overscan issue for CRT TVs.
· Resolved WIFI Belkin F6D4050 with RAlink 3070 chip and Linksys WUSUB100 Ver 2.
· Resolved WIFI ZyXel NWD-270N dongle not enumerating.

liquidmetal

02-23-10, 01:57 PM

http://download.wdc.com/wdtv/wdtvlive_1_02_14.zip

Wizard1001001

02-23-10, 02:05 PM

I just downloaded the 1.02.14 file...

when I open up the version file it shows

VERSION='1.02.15'
LOCATION='wdtvlive.bin'
PKG_LOCATION='wdtvlive.pkg'

Does your file show 1.02.15 for the 1.02.14 download?

liquidmetal

02-23-10, 02:21 PM

re-download. they fixed it.

Sleepy8686

02-23-10, 02:57 PM

is anyone able to playback raw Blue-Ray rips (m2ts) without and encoding etc etc?

i just built a WHS and decided to try doing all this so i'm still new and learning :) but the problem is i get alot of stuttering etc on the WDTV from the server but yet i can play it from my pc just fine streaming from the same server.

i've read people having the same issue but just bought a more powerful player like the Dune 3.0 and it plays them just fine. i really dont want to spend a ton of time encoding etc i would rather just spend the money for something that plays as is.

sinker442

02-23-10, 03:24 PM

liquidmetal

02-23-10, 03:32 PM

I had similar issues. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't. I had noticed rebooting the PC and not running anything seemed to help. Now, this PC is an OCed core i7. It is very fast, with 2 raptor hard drives in raid 0. I started to suspect the OS. I use Vista64 and I have a gigabit lan. I noticed that if I transfer files on LAN from fresh boot and nothing running, speeds were great. The minute I start firefox, my LAN speeds plummeted. After digging and digging I found these links:

http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=3233&p=2
http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2007/08/27/1833290.aspx

So I changed this:

Changed:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile\NetworkThrottling Index
from a to ffff_ffff

and so far, after about 4 or so uncompressed m2ts movies I've watched, no
stutters whatsoever. I was waiting for a few more movies to be sure. It doesn't matter anymore what apps I have open...

is anyone able to playback raw Blue-Ray rips (m2ts) without and encoding etc etc?

i just built a WHS and decided to try doing all this so i'm still new and learning :) but the problem is i get alot of stuttering etc on the WDTV from the server but yet i can play it from my pc just fine streaming from the same server.

i've read people having the same issue but just bought a more powerful player like the Dune 3.0 and it plays them just fine. i really dont want to spend a ton of time encoding etc i would rather just spend the money for something that plays as is.

Sleepy8686

02-23-10, 03:53 PM

I had similar issues. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't. I had noticed rebooting the PC and not running anything seemed to help. Now, this PC is an OCed core i7. It is very fast, with 2 raptor hard drives in raid 0. I started to suspect the OS. I use Vista64 and I have a gigabit lan. I noticed that if I transfer files on LAN from fresh boot and nothing running, speeds were great. The minute I start firefox, my LAN speeds plummeted. After digging and digging I found these links:

http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=3233&p=2
http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2007/08/27/1833290.aspx

So I changed this:

Changed:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile\NetworkThrottling Index
from a to ffff_ffff

and so far, after about 4 or so uncompressed m2ts movies I've watched, no
stutters whatsoever. I was waiting for a few more movies to be sure. It doesn't matter anymore what apps I have open...

the behavior you describe does sound very similar to my experience. my pc is pretty beefy as well OC'd BE955 8 gigs DDR3, WD black drives, ATI HD4870 etc. im still at work so i cant check yet but i would venture to guess that to find that same setting in Windows 7 Pro. I will check it out shortly and report back, thanks for the info.

Sleepy8686

02-23-10, 04:00 PM

I had similar issues. Sometimes it would work, sometimes it wouldn't. I had noticed rebooting the PC and not running anything seemed to help. Now, this PC is an OCed core i7. It is very fast, with 2 raptor hard drives in raid 0. I started to suspect the OS. I use Vista64 and I have a gigabit lan. I noticed that if I transfer files on LAN from fresh boot and nothing running, speeds were great. The minute I start firefox, my LAN speeds plummeted. After digging and digging I found these links:

http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=3233&p=2
http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2007/08/27/1833290.aspx

So I changed this:

Changed:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Multimedia\SystemProfile\NetworkThrottling Index
from a to ffff_ffff

and so far, after about 4 or so uncompressed m2ts movies I've watched, no
stutters whatsoever. I was waiting for a few more movies to be sure. It doesn't matter anymore what apps I have open...

Actually, I just thought about it after posting my last reply maybe what i posted wasnt clear (although i do experience what you posted as well) or I'm not understanding.

I can stream from my WHS just fine to my pc the stuttering comes from my WDTV streaming from the same server this wouldnt help that would it?

sorry if im reading impaired :)

liquidmetal

02-23-10, 04:12 PM

Is WHS some kind of network storage, or is it a PC?

I am streaming from vista pc to wd via network shares.

I don't know the difference between WHS, samba, etc. Greek to me.

aero12

02-23-10, 04:38 PM

You couldn't grasp the fact that I called out netflix as a reasonable usage.
that is one more, (of many)of many garbling of other people's comments you made. I mentioned external content. you discounted it then mentioned netflix (which you apparently don't know IS external content :eek:) . What do you think I was talking about? No wonder people think you are a bit dense and accuse you of misquoting them. I mentioned it, your repeated what I said. Thank you for finally learning from me even if it is to crib my comments

What differentiates these products in future will be external content and GUI. Everyone on the thread seems to agree with that but you

You deny it then repeat the content I mentioned! Too funny.

Are you wondering why people think you are trolling?

aero12

02-23-10, 04:44 PM

If it works for over 95% of the piople that try it and not you, it seems logical that: 1) it was a bad install, or 2) you need to reinstall windows (from my experience a crashing DLL is one of the two. Usually a windows DLL is corrupt). If it has been over 12-18 months since you performed a clean install of windows, it is about time to do so. That would probably cure a plethora of problems.

MakeMKV is a nice program but for precision it does have several flaws/bugs and they are well documented and discussed on makemkv forums and videohelp.com

With some rips it can screw up GOP tables causing errors, sometimes accumulating on Subtitled sync (not audio video sync). The same root issue can cause FF and RWD time show to be inaccurate.

Generally speaking several problems mentioned are user caused but Mke mkv is not 100%s problem free and it behooves users to keep original rips or disks as you may well not notice the problems with subtitles or other GOP caused problems until it is too late.

David James

02-23-10, 04:52 PM

Is anyone using this guy with a Tonidoplug (https://store.tonido.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1)?

Sleepy8686

02-23-10, 04:58 PM

Is WHS some kind of network storage, or is it a PC?

I am streaming from vista pc to wd via network shares.

I don't know the difference between WHS, samba, etc. Greek to me.

WHS is Windows Home Server which can be run just with basic or leftover parts if you like. I built mine with a new 2.8 dual core AMD 240, had an extra 4 gigs of ram layin around and put some new WD black drives in it.

The set up is basically my PC is upstairs with router,modem etc attached to gig switch which is then run to another gig switch in the basement attached to my WD and my WHS.

I took Iron Man for a test run I ripped it and put it on a share on the server and tried streaming to both my pc and the WD. My pc played it fine but the WD did the stuttering.

LN32B530

02-23-10, 05:18 PM

Just posted this request on the WD Ideas Forum:

Please add support for Dual Band Wireless-N USB adapters and routers, such as:

D-Link DIR-825 Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router (Rev. A and B)
D-Link DWA-160 Xtreme N Dual Band USB Adapter (Rev. A and B)
Linksys WRT610N Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router (Ver. 1.0 and 2.0)
Linksys WUSB600N Wireless-N USB Network Adapter with Dual-Band (Ver. 1.0 and 2.0)

Please vote for it here:

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Ideas/Support-for-Dual-Band-Wireless-N-Routers-and-Adapters/idi-p/11945

Thanks!

aero12

02-23-10, 06:52 PM

WHS is Windows Home Server which can be run just with basic or leftover parts if you like. I built mine with a new 2.8 dual core AMD 240, had an extra 4 gigs of ram layin around and put some new WD black drives in it.

The set up is basically my PC is upstairs with router,modem etc attached to gig switch which is then run to another gig switch in the basement attached to my WD and my WHS.

I took Iron Man for a test run I ripped it and put it on a share on the server and tried streaming to both my pc and the WD. My pc played it fine but the WD did the stuttering.
It is possible the PC is caching/buffering more.
I know with my netflix playback even 20 seconds of pause at the beginning greatly reduces any problems during playback.
Not saying that is the issue but it could be one variable in the difference between pc and wd playback over your net.

philnort

02-23-10, 07:27 PM

Neoculture

02-23-10, 07:38 PM

Actually the help given on this forum by me on several occasions was "Use MKVToolnix instead and report back if it makes a difference" which just hasn't happened yet.

I must have missed that one (sorry). I'll have to source MKVToolnix (whatever that is) and see.

<later> I just looked MKVToolnix up and it's a set of tools to apply on a MKV after it's been created, right? So what am I supposed to do with them? (and, while I am happy for the help, adding steps to the MakeMKV process makes it less and less desirable).

philnort

02-23-10, 07:54 PM

I don't know about the fixes but the basic playing/startup of .m2ts or .mkv blu-rays has taken a giant step backwards (at least in my experience). I have all my blu-ray rips on a WHS and previously had no problem playing them.

They would engage, i.e. start the movie, in 3-5 seconds (over a hardwired Cat 6 cable network). Now, there is an interminable delay before the movie starts...maybe a minute or more. I would very much be interested in other people's experience with this 'feature' of the new pre-release firmware.

After testing/reviewing a dozen or more samples of my mix of .mkv vs. .m2ts blu-rays I have to modify my initial opinion. Apparently, the .m2ts files start relatively quickly; it's the .mkv files that take up to a minute to initiate???Can anyone else please verify....

Wizard1001001

02-23-10, 09:09 PM

Looks like the easy stuff is hard and the hard stuff is easy.

- Why not fix the simplest of things... Hide .jpg in video mode but still show the cover art for movies. It works on USB connected drives, why is it so HARD for a network drive?
- Why is this such a LOW priority?

ctcousineau

02-23-10, 09:39 PM

After testing/reviewing a dozen or more samples of my mix of .mkv vs. .m2ts blu-rays I have to modify my initial opinion. Apparently, the .m2ts files start relatively quickly; it's the .mkv files that take up to a minute to initiate???Can anyone else please verify....

Same here, my MKV files take about 30 seconds to start (shows the blue rotating circle) then shows the filename at the bottom for 2 seconds and the screen goes blank. At least all my BR ISOs play smoothly now, the 1.1.24 broke some of those for me.

Also, it screwed up access to shares on one of my NAS. My ReadyNAS still works fine, but the WDTV can't see any shares on the Promise NS4300. I tried changing the workgroup name and re-entered the share login name & password.

I'll try reverting to the 1.1.24 or earlier tomorrow night to see if it's the WDTV firmware or if there's something wrong with the Promise NAS.

Derelict_Drvr

02-23-10, 10:41 PM

<later> I just looked MKVToolnix up and it's a set of tools to apply on a MKV after it's been created, right? So what am I supposed to do with them? (and, while I am happy for the help, adding steps to the MakeMKV process makes it less and less desirable).

MKVmerge GUI (MKVToolnix) changes the container on a video file. I.E. Avi-->MKV, MPEG2-->MKV, etc.

If your bluray movie has more than 1 m2ts file, rip it to a single file using TSmuxer. Then run the resultant file through MKVmerge GUI to create a mkv file.

If you are ripping a SD disc, use Handbrake to rip directly from disc (with AnyDVD installed) to a mkv.

Derelict_Drvr

02-23-10, 11:19 PM

techflaws

02-24-10, 01:33 AM

I just pushed out a release over here (http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=4938.0).
Gonna check it out as soon as I got my player back which I lend to a friend.

Version 1.02.14: Resolved external sub/idx subtitles flashbacking issue.
Wait, what?

I just looked MKVToolnix up and it's a set of tools to apply on a MKV after it's been created, right?
No, you open mmg.exe, add your MKV done with MakeMKV (or your original streams) and mux anew.

LN32B530

02-24-10, 07:28 AM

The WDTV Live does support the Linksys WUSB600N Wireless-N USB Network Adapter with Dual-Band. I am running one right now. I got on sale for $20. Now just tryng to save up for a dual band router.
True, but it only supports V1.0 right now... The latest V2.0 isn't yet.

mbryanr

02-24-10, 07:41 AM

True, but it only supports V1.0 right now... The latest V2.0 isn't yet.

Not true...it supports V2.0. I'm using one now on a "G" network.

LN32B530

02-24-10, 08:06 AM

Not true...it supports V2.0. I'm using one now on a "G" network.
Thanks for the info... That's a good thing... WD TV Live Support has to update their list of supported devices:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3805
(http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3805)

moi666

02-24-10, 09:27 AM

Have always been thinking of buying a HTPC one fine day to watch my movie collection, until 2 days ago I decided to buy the wdtv live as what I wanted in the HTPC was beyond my budget. Didn't actually do alot of research as

1) a HTPC will always be better, except it would cost alot more (depending on what u want)
2) wdtv live had a gig network port
3) it was made by WD and not some dodgy company
4) It was one of the cheaper media players compared to other renowned brands (popcorn, asus, etc)

And my my how pleasantly surprised I was. So far, it plays everything I throw at it (even AVCHD mts files!) except it does not decode AAC audio (but who does anyway!?) which I had to to manually convert to AC3 5.1.

Granted I don't have many 720p/1080p sources but heck I'm happy based on the price I paid.

Greencat

02-24-10, 12:38 PM

Tonedeaf

02-24-10, 02:33 PM

Anyone else annoyed by the audio info automatically displayed when a video starts to play, please vote:

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Ideas/Remove-audio-info-automatically-displayed-when-a-video-starts-to/idi-p/11964

It is on screen for what 3 seconds??? What's the big deal?? More important issues for them to take care of.

sinker442

02-24-10, 03:05 PM

It is on screen for what 3 seconds??? What's the big deal?? More important issues for them to take care of.

Importance is relative. I never play a file over network, but I want them to fix network problems anyway, because other people need this.

+This is very easy to fix. (no NMT or Realtek player has this "feature")

Lowering the external .SRT subs (which are shown right in the middle on the screen) is just as easy.

Sync or network issues etc are not as easy ;)

DaRam

02-24-10, 03:35 PM

@avspooch: No, the slideshow feature does not scan sub-folders.

I had a related post a few pages back (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=18102413#post18102413). Do check my reply further down with a link to a nifty free screensaver for Windows that I use/love.

Hi,

I'm looking for a server *primarily* to show random slideshows in the style of the Windows XP slideshow screensaver. WinXP's screensaver is great for me because I can point to My Pictures, and even though there is a very deep folder structure there, the randomization goes completely through whatever folders are there.

I looked at the manual for the WDTV Live, and although it has a Random mode, there's no indication that it will go recursively through all folders under the one you point it to.

So that's my primary requirement. A *really* nice to have would be if there are video files included with the photos, the slideshow would include them in its randomization and play a video from time to time.

How well would WDTV Live meet those requirements?

Thanks!

Phil