Western Digital - WD TV Live Media Player (WDTV2) [Text View] - Page 9

seymouru

10-30-09, 01:27 PM

Does anyone know what the deal is with the WD silence on the product development since it's been released?Any answer you get on this forum (other than from the WD guys) would probably be mere speculation or unfounded rumors. All we can really say is there are likely to be one or more reasons for their silence. Here are some possibilities (which would fall into the "mere speculation" category):

1. Something really cool is coming via a firmware update at some future time, and they don't want to leak it to their competitors in advance of its release.

2. They're tired of the abuse they take when they do post here.

3. They're abandoning all support for the product because they don't want our money (doubtful :) ).

There are a number of other possible explanations, but I have to believe they're reading this thread. So they know what the issues are, they know we'd like more info, and they know they might lose some sales because the product doesn't meet everyone's needs.

It's their job as a business to weigh all the factors affecting their decisions on when and how to communicate with their user base (including the possibility of lost sales), and act according to their strategic priorities.

jseelna

10-30-09, 01:29 PM

Haven't quite seen a mention of exactly the issues I am encountering...so I will ask...

I am not having a problem with WDTV Live seeing my Vista PC Shares -- my problem is playing my VIDEO_TS folders via the Network Shares-- Powerline Adapter connection (Belkin HD powerline Adapter -- supposedly up to 200 MB/S)

The movie starts playing (looks great) and anywhere from 5 seconds to 1 minute into the movie it just freezes -- and then never seems to recover.

I tried using TVersity as an alternative and movies play well (look great), except about a 2 second black screen and pause between each VOB file in the VIDEO_TS folder.

Anyone have any ideas on things to try to fix my playback via Network Shares or alternately -- any way to get Tversity not to pause between VOB files?

jsrf1

10-30-09, 01:35 PM

I noticed that none of the WD guys have been posting here anymore. I also noticed that there's basically no updates on www.wdtvlive.com, there's no new firmware, no roadmap, not really anything to give us an indication of what they're planning on doing with this product, if anything.

For the record, someone from WD did post 2 days ago. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=17434509&postcount=1955) They definitely have not been the most active forum users, but they are obviously still here.

There is also a very good chance that they are not authorized by WD to give out a roadmap or make any promises. So, although having access to all of their future plans would be nice, the chances of you getting it are not very high.

thespacecowboy

10-30-09, 01:37 PM

Although I read every reply in the first 45-50 pages of this thread, I've skimmed the last 20 pages as life has been a bit hectic.

I noticed that none of the WD guys have been posting here anymore. I also noticed that there's basically no updates on www.wdtvlive.com, there's no new firmware, no roadmap, not really anything to give us an indication of what they're planning on doing with this product, if anything.

I am very interested in it, but only if it's going to be actively supported. Does anyone know what the deal is with the WD silence on the product development since it's been released?

Give WD a break. The units only been out about 6 weeks and has had limited availability. If there are firmware changes, these take time to find out, confirm, develop fixes, test, release.

christoofar

10-30-09, 02:23 PM

Give WD a break. The units only been out about 6 weeks and has had limited availability. If there are firmware changes, these take time to find out, confirm, develop fixes, test, release.

Absolutely correct. As bugs are being reported, WD needs to
1.replicate the bug on their test bench (repeatability)
2. develop a fix in the code.
3.test it to make sure it is a fix
4.test it to make sure it doesn't break something else
5. recompile & release it.

And it would make the most sense to collect several bugs before starting this process. Would be ineffective to work on them one at a time.
I have faith that they will stand behind their products. But let's give them some time to work out the kinks first.

FCBarca

10-30-09, 03:59 PM

Is there a price thread on best place to get the lowest price on this unit?

thespacecowboy

10-30-09, 04:12 PM

Is there a price thread on best place to get the lowest price on this unit?

Best buy in store is best I believe make sure you price match to their own website at $119.99 +Tax. Their instore is $149.99+tax. It can be hard to find stock however....

nube

10-30-09, 04:12 PM

Any answer you get on this forum (other than from the WD guys) would probably be mere speculation or unfounded rumors. All we can really say is there are likely to be one or more reasons for their silence. Here are some possibilities (which would fall into the "mere speculation" category):

1. Something really cool is coming via a firmware update at some future time, and they don't want to leak it to their competitors in advance of its release.

2. They're tired of the abuse they take when they do post here.

3. They're abandoning all support for the product because they don't want our money (doubtful :) ).

There are a number of other possible explanations, but I have to believe they're reading this thread. So they know what the issues are, they know we'd like more info, and they know they might lose some sales because the product doesn't meet everyone's needs.

It's their job as a business to weigh all the factors affecting their decisions on when and how to communicate with their user base (including the possibility of lost sales), and act according to their strategic priorities.

That's just not what is taught in marketing or advertising schools, and there's a good reason for it - hype sells, especially if you can deliver on the hype. Releasing a product without hype or followup marketing leads, in almost every case in history, to poor sales or a short-term sales cycle. They're really dropping the ball here, at least in the context of how the game's played in the PC space, where they do most of their business.

For the record, someone from WD did post 2 days ago. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=17434509&postcount=1955) They definitely have not been the most active forum users, but they are obviously still here.

There is also a very good chance that they are not authorized by WD to give out a roadmap or make any promises. So, although having access to all of their future plans would be nice, the chances of you getting it are not very high.

Thanks for the link. I must have missed that when skimming. Roadmaps are a thing that WD is very well-versed in. It's standard practice to publish product lineup roadmaps in the electronics industry, specifically during investor quarterly report conference calls, even showing developmental plans as far as four years out.

I definitely did not request GuyWD or ScottWD to publish their product roadmap here, but I'm curious why the plans for the WDTV Live are not mentioned on any of the roadmaps, nor is there even an inkling of what's to come. That's all.

Give WD a break. The units only been out about 6 weeks and has had limited availability. If there are firmware changes, these take time to find out, confirm, develop fixes, test, release.

Hey, man, I'm asking, not demanding.

Absolutely correct. As bugs are being reported, WD needs to
1.replicate the bug on their test bench (repeatability)
2. develop a fix in the code.
3.test it to make sure it is a fix
4.test it to make sure it doesn't break something else
5. recompile & release it.

And it would make the most sense to collect several bugs before starting this process. Would be ineffective to work on them one at a time.
I have faith that they will stand behind their products. But let's give them some time to work out the kinks first.

Sure, yeah, there's obviously a validation process for bug reports and subsequent fixes. However, that _never_ prevents you from, or even postpones, planning to updating firmware in a product like this. They released the product knowing many of its shortcomings, and with a plan to address the issues they had already identified, as well as new bug reports. I'm not psychic, this is just how it's done.

You don't release a product like this without planned obsolescence, either in the physical hardware, or the corresponding software or firmware. Having been in the electronics engineering business for more than a few years (movie theatre projection room equipment MFG), you don't just dump this kind of product on the domestic or overseas market and say, "We don't really have any plans to support this now, but we'll be here working on it at some <nebulous> point in the future."

You don't wait for change to be requested in this niche-type product. You typically have planned upgrades on a roadmap, and you actively look for ways to tweak or upgrade this type of product, because that establishes you in a leadership role within the industry. It's part of the innovation phase of product development, beginning before and continuing through the penetration phase, where WD's product currently resides.

funenuf

10-30-09, 04:43 PM

thespacecowboy

10-30-09, 04:59 PM

I have been using my two WD TV Lives off of my WHS for almost two weeks. It has been fantastic. I have also set this up at two friends' houses. All are using wired connections with network shares from the WHS. All three setups can concurrently stream 1080p mkv files to two WD HD TV Live's. We are thrilled with these devices.

That's awesome. I'd managed to play a video file on the PC AND on the TV at the same time. The cool (but probably useless thing) was that its the same file and each were playing at a different portion in the TV show ;)

tutelary

10-30-09, 07:41 PM

I tried using TVersity as an alternative and movies play well (look great), except about a 2 second black screen and pause between each VOB file in the VIDEO_TS folder.

Thats going to be true of anything multipart, including xvids. I don't see it as a problem. I honestly think viewing it as a problem is excessive on your end.

tutelary

10-30-09, 07:43 PM

Is there a price thread on best place to get the lowest price on this unit?

newegg bounces between 119 and 139
I got it for 129. I am very, very happy to have it tho, it's a great little product.

vv132

10-30-09, 11:35 PM

Hey Im planning to get a wdtv live from bb. I have a mac book pro laptop which is hooked up to my fios interent modem through wireless G . Now my home theater is downstairs in the family room. I can't run a Ethernet cord down there. Is there anyway I can hook up an external hd to the wdtv live downstairs and transfer files from my mac laptop to the hd's downstairs to play videos(specifically mkv files). Im not sure if this is possible becasue the external hd's would be in nfts im guessing, and macs can only work with fat32 hds. And th mkv files are usually over 4gigs. Please let me know what to do , or direct me to the right place.
thanks

cerps

10-30-09, 11:58 PM

Best buy in store is best I believe make sure you price match to their own website at $119.99 +Tax. Their instore is $149.99+tax. It can be hard to find stock however....

Are they hard to find in stock, or did Best Buy remove them from store shelves to try and sell out remaining stock of the WD TV 1? They used to be right next to the WD TV1 on the shelf and now there isn't even an empty shelf slot for them. I know it says back ordered on the website, but it seems funny there is no longer a tag on the shelf for them almost like they want your money if you are looking for them specifically online, but in store they want to clear out the old stock to the unknowing customer.

tutelary

10-31-09, 01:23 AM

Are they hard to find in stock, or did Best Buy remove them from store shelves to try and sell out remaining stock of the WD TV 1? They used to be right next to the WD TV1 on the shelf and now there isn't even an empty shelf slot for them. I know it says back ordered on the website, but it seems funny there is no longer a tag on the shelf for them almost like they want your money if you are looking for them specifically online, but in store they want to clear out the old stock to the unknowing customer.

This post makes little sense. BB, like most retailers simply has low stock levels of this product. Demand outstripping supply.

pmcd

10-31-09, 01:58 AM

Stormpvp

10-31-09, 02:28 AM

I picked up one from BB today and I am fairly happy with it. It took a bit to see my win 7 shares, and after a reboot of the wdlive, it stopped seeing them again. It has no problem seeing my kids xp computer though. I ended up just unplugging my 1TB external and attaching it for now. I can move files over to it through the network without much issues. I will use it that way till I build my WHS and hopefully it will be fixed withe firmware by then.

power

10-31-09, 06:31 AM

Got mine hooked up and going pretty good however I have a couple of questions...

Everytime i shut down the WD Live and the computer and reboot I have to re run the network set-up wizard and turn off the Windows firewall under XP to be able to see my network shares. How can I get this to run reliably without dropping the network every time? Network is set as WORKGROUP under XP... Also, 2 channel and digital audio do not play simultaneously, I thought they did and I have to choose between stereo or digital to play the right format depending on if I am watching upstairs or in the theater.

Running XP SP2, wired network using Cat 5 from Linksys router to the WD Live. Everything is good except for that...Can see all my files and folders, kinda basic right now but at least it's working, even my dvd rom drive where I play my mkvs on burned dvd-r right off the disk. Hopefully I can resolve the above issue, it's a pain! For those unable to see their network shares make sure the Windows firewall is disabled, upon reboot for me it reenables itself after going through the network process again...

tutelary

10-31-09, 07:16 AM

For a $120 product some people seem to want the sky...My remote costs more:)

EXACTLY my sentiment.

wokwokabc

10-31-09, 08:04 AM

I definitely did not request GuyWD or ScottWD to publish their product roadmap here, but I'm curious why the plans for the WDTV Live are not mentioned on any of the roadmaps, nor is there even an inkling of what's to come. That's all.
I think it's pretty obvious that Western Digital did not develop the WDTV/Live in house. They are simply an OEM for whoever really did develop the devices. As such, they are at the mercy of that developer.

At the most, they took the sample hardware design and software from the chipset manufacturer and built a box around it. They are not experts in audio, video, networking and Linux and have to wait for fixes from the chipset manufacturer.

tzyn

10-31-09, 08:31 AM

Hey,

got my WDTV2 yesterday and I have the old wdtv for some months now. I have a problem with the wdtv2. The sound seems to be little bit delayed while the wdtv is synchronous (since firmware 1.03.01 and <=1.02.03). The delay is constant and from the beginning. The same files on wdtv1 and the same set (tv 40a656, avr yamaha v361 with audio delay set to 60ms for all inputs, sound over digital passthrough directly to the avr) play fine. I tested .m2ts and .mkv.

Anyone else noticed the asynchronous sound?

jamerican

10-31-09, 08:52 AM

Im not sure if this is possible becasue the external hd's would be in nfts im guessing, and macs can only work with fat32 hds. And th mkv files are usually over 4gigs. Please let me know what to do , or direct me to the right place.
thanks
Since you are using a Mac, why not format the drive as HFS+ (without journaling)? The WDTV (both versions) reads them without a problem. I have 9 drives formatted this way which I use with both versions of the WDTV and they all work great.;)

nube

10-31-09, 10:09 AM

I think it's pretty obvious that Western Digital did not develop the WDTV/Live in house. They are simply an OEM for whoever really did develop the devices. As such, they are at the mercy of that developer.

At the most, they took the sample hardware design and software from the chipset manufacturer and built a box around it. They are not experts in audio, video, networking and Linux and have to wait for fixes from the chipset manufacturer.

I can accept that possibility. Thanks for being reasonable, wokwokabc.

Lt. Dang

10-31-09, 11:57 AM

I think it's pretty obvious that Western Digital did not develop the WDTV/Live in house. They are simply an OEM for whoever really did develop the devices. As such, they are at the mercy of that developer.

At the most, they took the sample hardware design and software from the chipset manufacturer and built a box around it. They are not experts in audio, video, networking and Linux and have to wait for fixes from the chipset manufacturer.

Not disagreeing with your overal view but why do you think is it obvious that WD did not develop the WDTV Live in-house?

Regards,

Lt. Dang

MishGUN

10-31-09, 02:02 PM

Hi
what's the maximum bitrate wd plays via wired connection?

NeilF

10-31-09, 02:05 PM

Hi
what's the maximum bitrate wd plays via wired connection?

I've played a Samsung 40mbps test video on it, and it played fine. This is about the upper limits of anything surely? And well within wired network speeds.

note: This clip - for one reason or another - won't play on an XTreamer.

MishGUN

10-31-09, 02:26 PM

NeilF yes, I mean upper limit for playing files via LAN (100mb/1gb, not wifi).
Is this "Samsung 40mbps test video" played smooth? without freezes or other artefacts?

NeilF

10-31-09, 02:52 PM

NeilF yes, I mean upper limit for playing files via LAN (100mb/1gb, not wifi).
Is this "Samsung 40mbps test video" played smooth? without freezes or other artefacts?

I can't vouch, for that I'm afraid.

You'll have to wait for specific feedback from WDTV Live owners about if they feel network playback is smooth... But I'd imagine it's OK...

tutelary

10-31-09, 03:24 PM

NeilF yes, I mean upper limit for playing files via LAN (100mb/1gb, not wifi).
Is this "Samsung 40mbps test video" played smooth? without freezes or other artefacts?

720p/1080p no problems. no stutter or lag on anything. I am NOT using anything like tversity, I'm using a share in XP.

mbsaph

10-31-09, 03:43 PM

Hi - anyone know if a notebook PC can be directly connected to the WD TV Live to stream web video (e.g., Hulu)? My router isn't convenient to my WD TV Live, etc. Thanks!

wokwokabc

10-31-09, 06:12 PM

Not disagreeing with your overal view but why do you think is it obvious that WD did not develop the WDTV Live in-house?
WD has no track record in anything audio or video. They made nothing but hard drives before the WDTV. It's not likely they set up a whole A/V development team to get into something as risky as the WDTV.

MishGUN

10-31-09, 06:26 PM

720p/1080p no problems. no stutter or lag on anything. I am NOT using anything like tversity, I'm using a share in XP.
The main question is in the bitrate of this files. If it's 30-50 mbps and no problems with playing over the net ... so its great :)

Lt. Dang

10-31-09, 07:19 PM

WD has no track record in anything audio or video. They made nothing but hard drives before the WDTV. It's not likely they set up a whole A/V development team to get into something as risky as the WDTV.

They sound like reasonable assumptions - but are you saying that you have nothing concrete to base your opinion on then?

Could it be just as likely that their approach is "times are hard, business IT budgets are down, so let's try to acquire a bigger slice of the home consumer electronics market" ?

So maybe they have bought in some new skills?

But I recognise that these are just guesses as well.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

wokwokabc

10-31-09, 07:52 PM

They sound like reasonable assumptions - but are you saying that you have nothing concrete to base your opinion on then?
Yes, it's only a guess on my part. I don't work for WD. I don't know anybody who works for WD.

Could it be just as likely that their approach is "times are hard, business IT budgets are down, so let's try to acquire a bigger slice of the home consumer electronics market" ?
Companies usually don't expand R&D into whole new areas when times are hard. Though, times may not have been so hard for them when they started on the WDTV.

taje

10-31-09, 08:14 PM

Is the WD Live able to stream MKV files from a HP Media Server; specifically the EX495?

I am debating about getting the HP server and want it to be able to store MKV files.

wagabond

10-31-09, 09:05 PM

1. Something really cool is coming via a firmware update at some future time, and they don't want to leak it to their competitors in advance of its release.

This will be a "wildly optimistic speculation" :)

2. They're tired of the abuse they take when they do post here.

This could be "possibly close to truth". The shoot the messenger syndrome is very much active here :(

3. They're abandoning all support for the product because they don't want our money (doubtful :) ).

Since they have big retail presence, the bulk of the consumers of the device are very possibly quite happy with the out of the box experience. They are not necessarily power users. So unless there is some fatal flaw in an advertised feature, ongoing development may not be a real focus.

Even though I am not yet a user of this device (show stopper was lack DVD menu support), I applaud WD for persisting with this product line and helping to bring down the prices :)

blueribb

10-31-09, 09:36 PM

The original WD TV has had multiple firmware updates since it was first released:

1.01 original (12/23/2008)
1.02.07 4/27/2009
1.02.08 (prerelease)
1.02.10 (prerelease)
1.02.11 (prerelease)
1.03.01 (prerelease) 10/21/2009

So it looks like they have developed at least 5 firmware updates in the last 10 months. Let's hope they do the same for the Live.

~wolverine~

10-31-09, 09:43 PM

My thanks to everyone who had posted a solution to their own problems. A little here and a little there has this thing playing everything I throw at it (avi, mkv, mp4, m2ts) via network shares in Win 7. Once the thumbnail issue (showing up twice) is resolved I will be totally satisfied.

Derelict_Drvr

10-31-09, 09:58 PM

Is the WD Live able to stream MKV files from a HP Media Server; specifically the EX495?

I am debating about getting the HP server and want it to be able to store MKV files.

Mine is able to stream mkv files from a HP MediaSmart Server LX195 so I see no reason it won't from the EX495

bigjsouth

11-01-09, 01:07 AM

Some Recent Observations:

* Thumbnail Mode:
Always looks bad oversaturated or extra dark when I compared it to the WDTV1. If I cursor over a movie thumbnail, then the image will clear up (sharpen) but only for as long as I dont scroll too far away. (Samsung 750 HDTV) Is this why the thumbnails load so fast? Perhaps because the uniit is displaying them at a low and unclear resolution where the WDTV1 shows thumbnails sharper and more detailed.

* Keyboard Possible to use yet?
Typing via the remote is a slow process! Is there a way to use a keyboard instead?

* Some MP4s still don't fully work (no Rewind or Skip Ahead) that did work on the WDTV1. (also reported by Dredd)

* Getting some jutters on a few (no biggie) M2TS and MOV files that have 1080p and lots of frames. These same files played better on the WDTV1.

Im happy with both units , so fingers crossed the WD team can solve some of these minor issues.

tzyn

11-01-09, 03:49 AM

DrDon

11-01-09, 07:04 AM

Removed some posts.

One more time..

This is a support thread for a product. While some may have legitimate issues that may or may not be addressed by the company(s) involved, and it's okay to discuss those, we're not going to tolerate bashing the company nor tossing around accusations about their businesses practices.

Further posts to that effect will be removed and the poster will lose posting privileges with no further warnings.

Lt. Dang

11-01-09, 07:11 AM

No one has THIS (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=17451390&postcount=2032) problem?

It is really obvious in the direct comparision to the old wdtv which has a perfect synchronous sound for all files.

Is this happening on all of your files, files of a particular type etc?

Can you provide a little more information please?

Regards,

Lt. Dang

tzyn

11-01-09, 10:41 AM

It seems to be on all mkv/m2ts files (@720p/1080p 23.976fps -> 1080p@23.976Hz) I've tested with all types of audio format dd/dts but only original audio channel -> english - avis not tested, because i use only mkv/m2ts. The old wdtv plays these files absolutly fine and the sound is synchronous (since 1.03.01 firmware). But the live seems to have a little delay (picture shows before sound) from the beginning of playback. The avreceiver's audio delay is set to 60ms because of the inputlag of my tv and with that setting all devices are sync. So that isn't the problem. And the audio is the original s

What else to say? Wdtv live and WDTV connected to the AVR with digital optical cable and output set to digital. Picture output over HDMI. All cables/inputs/settings are the same.

MishGUN

11-01-09, 11:37 AM

NeilF

11-01-09, 12:36 PM

MishGUN

11-01-09, 12:51 PM

NeilF I doubt sigma 8655 in general and wdtv2 in particular (so my doubt's not about the LAN). Can you try my files, please?

tutelary

11-01-09, 01:03 PM

The main question is in the bitrate of this files. If it's 30-50 mbps and no problems with playing over the net ... so its great :)

you're not going to have a high enough bit rate to out rate your cable :P

tutelary

11-01-09, 01:06 PM

I doubt ability of wdtv2 to play highbitrate files using wired connection.
Please someone download two files: Casino.50.m2ts (video bitrate >40Mbps) & Casino.50.mkv (video bitrate >40Mbps)
(here's the link (http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5106208/HDTV_test_files_(v1.6))) and play it via LAN.
Thank you.

these processors are designed from the ground up to play these types of files at high bit rates...why would you doubt it?

I would prove it, but I don't download anything from torrents. If you find a sample on usenet you want me to try, let me know.

newnews

11-01-09, 01:58 PM

Hi, Can anyone confirm this:
Can WDTV Live display video and subtitle file with Asia filename in the network share folder? and can it play them and show the subtitle up? I know there is no problem if files are at USB HDD. I do not have WDTV so I need people to tell me the answer. thanks

wokwokabc

11-01-09, 02:28 PM

I doubt ability of wdtv2 to play highbitrate files using wired connection.
Please someone download two files: Casino.50.m2ts (video bitrate >40Mbps) & Casino.50.mkv (video bitrate >40Mbps)
(here's the link (http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5106208/HDTV_test_files_(v1.6))) and play it via LAN.
Thank you.
The WDTV Live didn't quite play the the MKV file smoothly via wired ethernet, it choked at one point. It did ok with the M2TS file though. They both played smoothly from a USB flash drive. Note they have bitrate peaks over 65,000 kbps and short term spikes over 165,000 kbps. The WDTV Live did play the Casino.42.mkv file smoothly via ethernet.

admantvf

11-01-09, 02:31 PM

What is the best software to rip DVD to avi ?

I just bought the WD live yesterday and downloaded some movies on isohunter and am using Vuze to convert them. I watched Star Trek last night and it looked great.

But I want to convert my DVD's and Blu-ray's so I can store them on the hd.

So any help on the easiest and cheapest software to use would be very helpful.

Thanks

trialskid

11-01-09, 02:34 PM

is there a way to set a default network folder or hide network shares so when i click video it automatically connects to my movie folder network share?

NeilF

11-01-09, 03:13 PM

NeilF I doubt sigma 8655 in general and wdtv2 in particular (so my doubt's not about the LAN). Can you try my files, please?

I've played a 40mbps HD test file on the WDTV Live just fine. It caused problems on the XTreamer which showed colour leaks etc... Nothing you're ever going to use/try (realistically) is going to require that bandwidth?

tutelary

11-01-09, 03:54 PM

is there a way to set a default network folder or hide network shares so when i click video it automatically connects to my movie folder network share?

if there is I haven't seen it. That would be a nice addition to the firmware though.

newfort

11-01-09, 04:20 PM

When I play the .VOB file folder or even directly the main .VOB file, I notice that there is no audio output. However, audio is present from the 2nd VOB file. Did anybody else experience this? I have the audio output as Digital. I have noticed this is happening to a couple of movies.

Doberm@n

11-01-09, 06:34 PM

I'm sure it was discussed here earlier, but 70 pages is a bit too much for me...

So here is the question:

Does WDTV Live supports DTS-HD and Dolby Digital TrueHD sound formats???

Ron Jones

11-01-09, 07:07 PM

I'm sure it was discussed here earlier, but 70 pages is a bit too much for me...

So here is the question:

Does WDTV Live supports DTS-HD and Dolby Digital TrueHD sound formats???

It will output Dolby True-HD in bitstream (via HDMI) for decoding by an external AVR. However for DTS HD-MA it will only extract the DTS Core and output that via bitstream.

memobug

11-02-09, 02:31 AM

It may appear like there's a bunch of noise here - They really should break out the networking issues into a separate thread.

Regards,

Matt

CanoPR

11-02-09, 06:45 AM

I had a question regarding 24p and WDTV Live.

I have the LG 32lh30 TV. which is 60hz but the description says its 24p capable (real cinema) or something of that matter.

Whe I watch a 23.97 video on my wdtv I set it to output on that resolution and my TV says im receiving a 24p signal. however I cannot turn on the real cinema option in my tv. Is this necesary? Also when it says its 24p capable, what does it mean. a tv that can do both 60hz and 24p? Little noob regarding this topic :(.

Also, im downloading a torrent with 1 big MKV file (4.5 gb) and a couple of PAR2 files. Anyone have any idea what should i do with the as soon as it finishes so I can play it on the WDTV? Do I need to join them or something?

kulims

11-02-09, 08:45 AM

It will output Dolby True-HD in bitstream (via HDMI) for decoding by an external AVR. However for DTS HD-MA it will only extract the DTS Core and output that via bitstream.

Blu ray rips with PCM 5.1/7.1 is decoded only as stereo by my AVR when played by WDTV2. Is there a way around this ?

Boybata

11-02-09, 09:53 AM

Is this normal?

I choose VIDEO from the menu and select Shared Network Drive.
When I select a folder I can open an IMAGE or MUSIC files even though I selected VIDEO from the main menu.

I thought when you select VIDEO from the menu it will only show video files and filter out the other format.

pinkfloydhomer

11-02-09, 10:03 AM

Since they have big retail presence, the bulk of the consumers of the device are very possibly quite happy with the out of the box experience. They are not necessarily power users. So unless there is some fatal flaw in an advertised feature, ongoing development may not be a real focus.

Well... I am a power user, and I can't get sharing from Windows 7 to WDTV Live to work at all. I am sure if I persist and maybe resort to custom firmware and such, I will eventually find a solution.
But all the regular Joes out there running Windows 7 will certainly not be happy with the out of the box experience.

Ron Jones

11-02-09, 10:19 AM

Blu ray rips with PCM 5.1/7.1 is decoded only as stereo by my AVR when played by WDTV2. Is there a way around this ?

What is your make and model of AVR?
Also are you certain:
1. you ripped the 5.1 (or 7.1) LPCM track and not just a 2.0 track on the BD?
2. You used the "option" button on the WDTV Live remote then selected the correct LPCM audio track?

~wolverine~

11-02-09, 10:22 AM

Well... I am a power user, and I can't get sharing from Windows 7 to WDTV Live to work at all. I am sure if I persist and maybe resort to custom firmware and such, I will eventually find a solution.
But all the regular Joes out there running Windows 7 will certainly not be happy with the out of the box experience.

Well I'm using Windows 7 with network shares and everything works fine for me with the exception of duplicate jpg's.

srauly

11-02-09, 10:33 AM

Blu ray rips with PCM 5.1/7.1 is decoded only as stereo by my AVR when played by WDTV2. Is there a way around this ?I ran into this same problem and posted about it many pages back. I ended up returning the WDTV Live, so I can't test it out further, but if I recall correctly, I could get stereo over HDMI but if I selected "Digital" I got no sound at all.

FWIW, my receiver is a JVC RX-D401S which has HDMI in and supports "regular" Dolby Digital and DTS. The version of the HDMI is 1.1 or 1.2.

Seeing as I haven't seen anyone else complain about this, my theory is that it is perhaps an issue specific to some receivers and/or that HDMI 1.3 is required.

In any case, I ended up returning the WDTV Live and bought an Acer AspireRevo ($200), and with MPC-HC as my player, I can get 5.1 audio over HDMI fine with that to this same receiver.

Ron Jones

11-02-09, 10:54 AM

I just wanted to post my experience with the WDTV Live after about 2 weeks of ownership. I have used the original WDTV since Feb. 2009 and the transition to the WDTV Live was very easy. I have ripped about 70 BDs and perhaps an equal number of DVDs from my own collection. All BDs are ripped to m2ts format where I kept only the English language main audio track(s) and subtitles. All DVDs are ripped to mkv format again only keeping the English audio track. My WDTV Live is connected via HDMI to an Onkyo 606 AVR that does all of the audio decoding and the HDMI output of the AVR is connected to an Epson 6500UB front projector. My observations so far:

1. All audio formats on BDs (and DVDs) are bitstreamed to the AVR, with the exception of DTS-HD MA where only the core DTS is output from the WDTV Live (no surprise here since that's what WD claims it will do). Thus both lossless Dolby TrueHD and multichannel LPCM appear to be correctly bitstreamed to the AVR (based on other user's comments posted above there may be compatibility issues between the WDTV Live and certain AVRs are far as multichannel LPCM, but with my Onkyo is seems to be working correctly).

2. I did need to adjust the HDMI audio delay on the AVR to sync. the audio with the projected video (not really an issue for me).

3. BD movie rips (using m2ts format) are correctly output at 23.976 Hz when the WDTV Live is set to force this format, but when the WDTV Live has the HDMI output is set to "Auto" the output will be at 1080p/60, even though my projector supports 1080p/24. Ideally the auto setting should select the most optimum resolution and frame rate based on the maximum resolution supported by the display device and the frame rate of the source file as well as the capabilities of the display device. For most BDs the optimum output is 1080p/24 (acutally 23.976) if your display can support this format.

4. Related to observation 3 above, one feature I would like to see added to the WDTV Live is the ability to set the HDMI output video format (resolution and frame rate) different based on the resolution/frame rate of the source file. Specifically, since DVD rips are best output by the WDTV Live with a 60Hz frame rate while most BDs are best output at 23.967Hz, it's a pain having to first go into the HDMI settings menus to change the output format when I playing a DVD vs. a BD.

5. I had issues using a Seagate Freeagent 1.5TB USB drive with the original WDTV in that with most BD rips the video and audio would have random brief (e.g., 1 second) pauses. These same m2ts files would play without issue when transferrer over to a different brand of USB hard drive. With my new WDTV Live I have connected both the Freeagent 1.5TB and a WD 2TB drive. Its too early to say for certain, but so far I haven't seen the issue of random pauses when playing videos from either USB drive.

pinkfloydhomer

11-02-09, 01:49 PM

My network is not named WorkGroup either. That is the first thing I change when re-installing OS on any PC. No issues in that regard. The only issue I had was with the HomeGroup in Windows 7, basically knocked all of the network shares off the WDTV-Live.

Did you solve that? I can't see any of my Win7 shares in WDTV Live. I can't see any of the shares from an XP machine either. I can see the XP share fine in Win7. I can see but can't access the Win7 share in XP. I can't see or access any of them in WDTV Live. I can see the WDTV Live usb drive on both XP and Win7.

Any ideas?! This is basic basic stuff, Western Digital!

Kmartyn

11-02-09, 02:35 PM

I just wanted to post my experience with the WDTV Live after about 2 weeks of ownership. I have used the original WDTV since Feb. 2009 and the transition to the WDTV Live was very easy. I have ripped about 70 BDs and perhaps an equal number of DVDs from my own collection. All BDs are ripped to m2ts format where I kept only the English language main audio track(s) and subtitles. All DVDs are ripped to mkv format again only keeping the English audio track. My WDTV Live is connected via HDMI to an Onkyo 606 AVR that does all of the audio decoding and the HDMI output of the AVR is connected to an Epson 6500UB front projector. My observations so far:

1. All audio formats on BDs (and DVDs) are bitstreamed to the AVR, with the exception of DTS-HD MA where only the core DTS to output from the WDTV Live (no surprise here since that's what WD claims it will do). Thus both lossless Dolby TrueHD and multichannel LPCM appear to be correctly bitstreamed to the AVR (based on other user's comments posted above there may be compatibility issues between the WDTV Live and certain AVRs are far as multichannel LPCM, but with my Onkyo is seems to be working correctly).

2. I did need to adjust the HDMI audio delay on the AVR to sync. the audio with the projected video (not really an issue for me).

3. BD movie rips (using m2ts format) are correctly output at 23.976 Hz when the WDTV Live is set to force this format, but when the WDTV Live has the HDMI output is set to "Auto" the output will be at 1080p/60, even though my projector supports 1080p/24. Ideally the auto setting should select the most optimum resolution and frame rate based on the maximum resolution supported by the display device and the frame rate of the source file as well as the capabilities of the display device. For most BDs the optimum output is 1080p/24 (acutally 23.976) if your display can support this format.

4. Related to observation 3 above, one feature I would like to see added to the WDTV Live is the ability to set the HDMI output video format (resolution and frame rate) different based on the resolution/frame rate of the source file. Specifically, since DVD rips are best output by the WDTV Live with a 60Hz frame rate while most BDs are best output at 23.967Hz, it's a pain having to first go into the HDMI settings menus to change the output format when I playing a DVD vs. a BD.

5. I had issues using a Seagate Freeagent 1.5TB USB drive with the original WDTV in that with most BD rips the video and audio would have random brief (e.g., 1 second) pauses. These same m2ts files would play without issue when transferrer over to a different brand of USB hard drive. With my new WDTV Live I have connected both the Freeagent 1.5TB and a WD 2TB drive. Its too early to say for certain, but so far I haven't seen the issue of random pauses when playing videos from either USB drive.

Ron,
As a newbie, it was really helpful to read about your set up, as it is very similar to what I am setting up. I have a Sanyo PLZ4 front projector (which will soon be upgraded) conneted to a Yamaha 565 AVR. The WD TV live HD is on order along with a 1 TB WD usb drive to go with it. Also a netgear N receiver to go into the TV live.

I am hoping I can use anyDVD HD to rip and save to my existing dlink 323 NAS, or the 1 TB drive that is plugged into the wd TV, then play to the big screen. Will this work? Do I need a software player on the PC to stream, or will the TV live handle this directly?

Comment from all appreciated to help educate this beginner.

Here is what WD had to say:
Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support. My name is Pablo R.

Yes, the WD TV works with Windows 7.

The Blur Ray file format is the MT2S, which the WD TV is able to play.

I hope that we have met your expectations today and that you are satisfied with our service. If you have any further questions, please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you further.

Sincerely,
Pablo R.
Western Digital Service and Support

Kmartyn

11-02-09, 02:39 PM

Further to the above, can someone tell me how many blue ray movies typivally fit on a 1 TB drive?

How many regular DVD?

Is it worth the effort to strip the BR DVD to just the main movie to save space? It sounds complicated.

Thanks

Kev

mmoran27

11-02-09, 02:43 PM

G Speed

11-02-09, 03:02 PM

It seems to be stuttering on the larger m2ts files over the network.

I am running gigabit all the way and have tried streaming from one wdtv live to another and from Windows Home Server.

They both do the same thing.

I am using AnyDVD and Clown_BD to rip the discs to .m2ts and AC3.

Is there any solution to this?

Well the WDTV can only do

either 60mb/s usb or 12.5mb/s Ethernet

Under perfect conditions... and both of those should be able to stream any blu ray media you throw at it...

Even with overhead you should still be able to share a full blu ray stream, over a basic cat5 cable...

If the WDTV can play the same file via USB... then it's your WHS or the file could be messed up

pinkfloydhomer

11-02-09, 03:08 PM

Ron,

Here is what WD had to say:

Yes, the WD TV works with Windows 7.

Sincerely,
Pablo R.
Western Digital Service and Support

No it doesn't. It does not work with Windows 7.

Lt. Dang

11-02-09, 03:21 PM

Well I'm using Windows 7 with network shares and everything works fine for me with the exception of duplicate jpg's.

Well, there is at least one?

Regards,

Lt. Dang

pinkfloydhomer

11-02-09, 03:22 PM

Well, there is at least one?

Regards,

Lt. Dang

Yeah, but since it doesn't work for so many others, it doesn't work.

Lt. Dang

11-02-09, 03:39 PM

Yeah, but since it doesn't work for so many others, it doesn't work.

Trouble is we don't have confirmed numbers for either group.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

mmoran27

11-02-09, 03:50 PM

The file plays fine on my PC over the network from the same WDTV Live.

The file plays fine on the USB drive.

I don't think the WDTV Live can handle large files over the network (35GB).

It chokes.

pagercam

11-02-09, 04:39 PM

Well the WDTV can only do

either 60mb/s usb or 12.5mb/s Ethernet

Under perfect conditions... and both of those should be able to stream any blu ray media you throw at it...

Even with overhead you should still be able to share a full blu ray stream, over a basic cat5 cable...

If the WDTV can play the same file via USB... then it's your WHS or the file could be messed up

When you say "60mb/s usb or 12.5mb/s Ethernet"

I assume you are 480/8 = 60 and 100/8 =12.5 bytes.

Usually its "B" for byte and "b" for bit. When used for a serial format its more common to use bits/sec and movies are ussually encoded with target bits/sec. USB will never deliver any more than 400 Mb/sec and Ethernet about 70Mb/sec due to overheads in the architectures (headers and acknowledgement etc...)

This is in a perfect world and does not guarantee that an embedded processor from Sigma Designs (or anyone else) is going to get. 3GHz Quad core PC's have no trouble hitting those numbers but non MMU embedded processors rarely keep up and they must trade off I/O performance with decoding performance.

I see a lot of complaints on shuddering and blame the WDTV but its equally likely to be the network connection, PC taking time to perform maintenance function, wife's downloading recipices, kids downloading porn etc... that cause the movie to not be perfect. Not that the WDTV is perfect itself but unless movie is being streamed from a directly connected USB drive its more likely to be a network issue.

jherring69

11-02-09, 04:49 PM

I would like to add that even though Microsoft makes the best OS (Windoze) in the history of the universe, and it is known to never have any issues, mabye some of the blame should be directed at them?

Jason

G Speed

11-02-09, 05:06 PM

When you say "60mb/s usb or 12.5mb/s Ethernet"

I assume you are 480/8 = 60 and 100/8 =12.5 bytes.

Usually its "B" for byte and "b" for bit. When used for a serial format its more common to use bits/sec and movies are ussually encoded with target bits/sec. USB will never deliver any more than 400 Mb/sec and Ethernet about 70Mb/sec due to overheads in the architectures (headers and acknowledgement etc...)

This is in a perfect world and does not guarantee that an embedded processor from Sigma Designs (or anyone else) is going to get. 3GHz Quad core PC's have no trouble hitting those numbers but non MMU embedded processors rarely keep up and they must trade off I/O performance with decoding performance.

I see a lot of complaints on shuddering and blame the WDTV but its equally likely to be the network connection, PC taking time to perform maintenance function, wife's downloading recipices, kids downloading porn etc... that cause the movie to not be perfect. Not that the WDTV is perfect itself but unless movie is being streamed from a directly connected USB drive its more likely to be a network issue.

You just took what I said and used big words..... shame on you

But even still.... a computer should be able even an oldish desktop should be at least able to consistently stream 5mbps.. over an older network...

Kmartyn

11-02-09, 05:44 PM

~wolverine~

11-02-09, 05:46 PM

Trouble is we don't have confirmed numbers for either group.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

How do you want me to confirm that it does work with Windows 7?

kulims

11-02-09, 05:52 PM

What is your make and model of AVR?
Also are you certain:
1. you ripped the 5.1 (or 7.1) LPCM track and not just a 2.0 track on the BD?
2. You used the "option" button on the WDTV Live remote then selected the correct LPCM audio track?

I have Denon AVR 789. And yes I am certain that I ripped the 7.1 PCM from my 3:10 to Yuma, 5.1 PCM from Gangs of NY, Kill Bill 1. I also selected the correct track.

I used DVDFab 6 to rip main movies only into iso files to usb drive. HDMI to AVR to TV.

~wolverine~

11-02-09, 06:08 PM

This is the best I can do. Drives F, G, H are shared.

156909

kciaccio

11-02-09, 06:33 PM

kciaccio

11-02-09, 07:06 PM

They sound like reasonable assumptions - but are you saying that you have nothing concrete to base your opinion on then?

Could it be just as likely that their approach is "times are hard, business IT budgets are down, so let's try to acquire a bigger slice of the home consumer electronics market" ?

So maybe they have bought in some new skills?

But I recognise that these are just guesses as well.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

I agree with Lt. Dang,

If companies only stuck with what they were known for making Sony would still be making only tape recorders. :)

blackssr

11-02-09, 08:57 PM

dropzone7

11-02-09, 09:18 PM

I am pretty impressed with this little player so far but encountered some problems this evening. I downloaded a lot of .mov trailers to try out and while they look and sound great, there is a stutter every so often. In slower moving scenes it's more obvious. I tried adjusting the resolution to every possible choice including AUTO and I tried different refresh rates through my scaler but the problem persists. I have several .mkv movies and files that play without this stutter so I'm not sure whats going on. Also, I downloaded thumbnail images for these .mov files and they did not show up like the ones I downloaded for the .mkv files.

coolmalayalee

11-02-09, 09:22 PM

Hi, I just got my WDTV live. Signed in here to ask a question. Its is working fine. I was able to connect my win 7 laptop etc.. I have a .mp4 video file that is not plahying. It returns the message "unable to play the selected file. Please refer to the user manual on how to change the file to a supported format" I thought the WDTV live play mp4 files. Here are the info of the file I am trying to play. Its a ripped movie file.

Source...........DVD9
Container........: x264
Rip Size.........: 700 MB 1CD

Resolution.......: 672 x 288
Runtime..........: 2h 54m 18s
Audio Format.....: AAC - 96Kbps
Framerate........: 23.976
Video............: x264 562 kbps

Can someone please confirm whether WDTV live will or will not play such files?

Thanks in advance.

bubbarayhick

11-02-09, 09:33 PM

When you say "60mb/s usb or 12.5mb/s Ethernet"

I assume you are 480/8 = 60 and 100/8 =12.5 bytes.

Usually its "B" for byte and "b" for bit. When used for a serial format its more common to use bits/sec and movies are ussually encoded with target bits/sec. USB will never deliver any more than 400 Mb/sec and Ethernet about 70Mb/sec due to overheads in the architectures (headers and acknowledgement etc...)

This is in a perfect world and does not guarantee that an embedded processor from Sigma Designs (or anyone else) is going to get. 3GHz Quad core PC's have no trouble hitting those numbers but non MMU embedded processors rarely keep up and they must trade off I/O performance with decoding performance.

I see a lot of complaints on shuddering and blame the WDTV but its equally likely to be the network connection, PC taking time to perform maintenance function, wife's downloading recipices, kids downloading porn etc... that cause the movie to not be perfect. Not that the WDTV is perfect itself but unless movie is being streamed from a directly connected USB drive its more likely to be a network issue.

i get about 7.4MB/s ftping from my pc to the wdtv usb harddrive :

http://imgur.com/eGpRP.jpg

now on the usb HD those casino50 mkv/m2ts files play perfectly fine. but on a 100Mb/s network they stutter as they peak over 65Mb/s. also they are over the L4.1 vbv constraints of h264 specs so i say tough sh*t really...

using the custom firmware with net.mounts i havent had a issue with any proper bluray encode straight of the discs... i did with the original firmware after about 3-5mins....

lwgreen

11-02-09, 09:59 PM

I have three computers on my network:
1. Windows 7 64 bit
2. Vista 32 bit
3. Vista 64 bit
I can connect to only one of them from WDTV Live, the #3 computer with Vista 64 bit. All the computers can "see" and connect to each other and I can "see" the WDTV Live from all computers. I don't know what a "power user" is exactly, but I've been around computers a long time and I don't usually have much trouble with them. I called WD support and was told that there was a known problem with connections "to some computers" regardless of the OS. He said there was no known date for a firmware upgrade, but "they are working on it." I've tried everything I can think of, including some suggestions from this forum. Any other help would be appreciated.

axolotls

11-02-09, 10:08 PM

No it doesn't. It does not work with Windows 7.
yes it does

Neoculture

11-02-09, 10:22 PM

What is the best software to rip DVD to avi ?
But I want to convert my DVD's and Blu-ray's so I can store them on the hd.

I second that request - I've been using Disk Decrypter and FairUse2 to rip my DVDs to decent sized MKVs, but they're getting long in the tooth and some of the latest DVDs have been a right royal pain in the backside.

Then again I probably also sound like a Pirate, so I'm not holding my breath on a response. ^_^

kulims

11-02-09, 10:23 PM

If you do a direct rip expect the to be average 35 gigs per bluray. If you do conversion expect average of 10 gigs per bluray. Do the math and see if the time is worth it or spend three times more money on HD space. :)

Movie only rips average only 25gb in my case. Hard disks are cheap now, you can get a 2.0Tb for about $100.

coolmalayalee

11-02-09, 10:27 PM

I am unable to play video files with .mp4 and .mov extension on my WD TV live. Any ideas? the WD websites claims it supports these formats.

Neoculture

11-02-09, 10:38 PM

I am unable to play video files with .mp4 and .mov extension on my WD TV live. Any ideas? the WD websites claims it supports these formats.

First of all, MP4 and MOV are containers. The WDTV/WDTVLive knows how to unpack those container to see the data they contain.

Inside those containers will be video and audio stream(s), generally one of each although most modern containers will accept multiple streams, subtitles, etc...

Each of those streams is encoded using a specific CODEC: DivX, XviD, H264, etc for video, AAC, MP3, FLAC, etc... for audio.

Unless the WDTV knows how to both unpack the container and decode the streams inside, the file is not viewable.

So... while the WDTV can unpack your MP4 and MOV files, they may contain streams encoded in a manner it does not recognise.

Sorry for the long-winded explanation.

coolmalayalee

11-02-09, 10:48 PM

First of all, MP4 and MOV are containers. The WDTV/WDTVLive knows how to unpack those container to see the data they contain.

Inside those containers will be video and audio stream(s), generally one of each although most modern containers will accept multiple streams, subtitles, etc...

Each of those streams is encoded using a specific CODEC: DivX, XviD, H264, etc for video, AAC, MP3, FLAC, etc... for audio.

Unless the WDTV knows how to both unpack the container and decode the streams inside, the file is not viewable.

So... while the WDTV can unpack your MP4 and MOV files, they may contain streams encoded in a manner it does not recognise.

Sorry for the long-winded explanation.

So if I understand you correct, if WDTV live is unable to play the file with extension .mp4 or .mov then I should just assume that it has already unpacked the containers and determined that the said file contains streams encoded with codecs that it does not recognise.? The mp4 file I tried to play had the following specs.

Resolution.......: 672 x 288
Audio Format.....: AAC - 96Kbps
Framerate........: 23.976
Video............: x264 562 kbps

Is this something WDTV is unable to recognise?

Opentoe

11-02-09, 11:08 PM

A great new review here.

legitreviews.com/article/1118/6/

They indicate WD TV Live, does stutter with Blue Ray. That was a disapointment to me.

Do you guys play your ripped Blue rays as Iso, or MT2ks?

I'm constantly streaming high quality blue ray rips from my Ultio player across my LAN. No sync issues or pauses at all. This is a very efficient player. I have been checking out the WDTV2, but seeing from everyone and from seeing it myself it does have issues getting those high quality files over the LAN. That's what the whole idea of a networked media player is for to begin with. Not sure why WD went with this chipset??? Can't wait for my prime!

bigjsouth

11-02-09, 11:22 PM

liquidmetal

11-02-09, 11:33 PM

I have watched several .m2ts files over wired network. A couple stuttered at first, but a rewind and play fixed it. One movie so far always stuttered, so I had to watch via usb. These are uncompressed bluray rips.

techflaws

11-03-09, 12:53 AM

MishGUN

11-03-09, 03:12 AM

bubbarayhick what's the firmware did you use? are other files (Casino.21.mkv - avg. bitrate 21Mbps, Casino.32.mkv - avg. bitrate 32Mbps, Casino.42.mkv - avg. bitrate 42Mbps) from those test played ok?
liquidmetal can you write mediainfo of these files?

pinkfloydhomer

11-03-09, 03:24 AM

Trouble is we don't have confirmed numbers for either group.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

True, but if it doesn't work for 5%, it doesn't work. I have seen loads of people for whom it doesn't work or for whom it doesn't work without extreme hassle.

pinkfloydhomer

11-03-09, 04:17 AM

Define Power User... I am all ears.

Well... I do software development for a living, I have many years of experience with both Linux, various other un*xes, Windows, networking, SAMBA etc. I am used to trouble shoot these kinds of issues and used to have to fiddle with software and hardware to make it work. I have tried loads of stuff with the WDTV Live and with my Windows 7 installation. I also tried to share something from an XP machine yesterday, didn't show up on the WDTV Live either.

Again, I am sure that these issues can be solved. And maybe the solution is even simple when it is eventually be found. But that doesn't change the fact that an ordinary person running Windows 7 running into the same issues with the WDTV Live as I have, will have even less success solving the problems than I have had. In other words: If it's a problem for me, it will be a problem for many others.

Lt. Dang

11-03-09, 04:36 AM

True, but if it doesn't work for 5%, it doesn't work. I have seen loads of people for whom it doesn't work or for whom it doesn't work without extreme hassle.

Sorry but using your logic I could equally say:-

1. It does not work for 5%
2. Therefore, it does work for 95%
3. Therefore, it does work?

The problem with network based players is that there are so many variables which can have a negative impact:-
- router configuration
- router performance
- firewall configuration
- pc setup
- nas configuration
- wireless performance
- emf interference
- anti-virus software
- different flavours of OS
And the list goes on.

Add on top of this the variations in different types of media you are actually trying to play and the multitude of ways in which it could have been encoded.

So figuring out why you have a problem and then correcting it is not a simple thing when all of the above could be interacting to cause the issue you are actually seeing.

This is why I think we are getting different messages from different users. For some the network set up is a nightmare and for others it just works out of the box.

I don't honestly think there is an easy way to work through this. You just have to take it step by step and take various components out of the chain until you narrow down where the problem lies.

And yes, I do think that WD should be taking a deeper look at their firmware to see if they can make the Live more flexible for different network configurations.

Regards,

Lt. Dang

synaptic

11-03-09, 04:44 AM

I have many years of experience with both Linux, various other un*xes, Windows, networking, SAMBA etc.

Earlier in the thread (here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17438780#post17438780)) I posted the smb.conf file that was on the WDTV.

Two things were interesting, firstly that the workgroup was Workgroup, which from my Windows experience was a major headache as far as showing devices in the 'Network Neighbourhood' in 2000/XP if the workgroup wasn't consistent across PCs. The WDTV uses the 'SMBTree' program to print the names of computers in the Network Neighbourhood, and obviously if it's in a different workgroup this may lead to trouble.

The second was the order in which it resovled PC names. I have got my WDTV to sporadically show up some computers some of the time, and I guess this could be because of the name resolve order - bcast, lmhosts, wins, host. bcast will work only within the workgroup (yes?), we can't configure lmhosts, and there is no wins client on the box. That leaves host, and some samba documentation states that by the time it gets to the fourth resolve method, samba has probably given up - explaining why they show up periodically.

Unfortunately I can't modify these values and test as they are loaded from the cramfs read-only image at boot and once they are in tmp they have already been loaded into memory. But does this sound like it could be a possible avenue to explore?:confused:

Lt. Dang

11-03-09, 05:02 AM

Earlier in the thread (here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17438780#post17438780)) I posted the smb.conf file that was on the WDTV.

Two things were interesting, firstly that the workgroup was Workgroup, which from my Windows experience was a major headache as far as showing devices in the 'Network Neighbourhood' in 2000/XP if the workgroup wasn't consistent across PCs. The WDTV uses the 'SMBTree' program to print the names of computers in the Network Neighbourhood, and obviously if it's in a different workgroup this may lead to trouble.

The second was the order in which it resovled PC names. I have got my WDTV to sporadically show up some computers some of the time, and I guess this could be because of the name resolve order - bcast, lmhosts, wins, host. bcast will work only within the workgroup (yes?), we can't configure lmhosts, and there is no wins client on the box. That leaves host, and some samba documentation states that by the time it gets to the fourth resolve method, samba has probably given up - explaining why they show up periodically.

Unfortunately I can't modify these values and test as they are loaded from the cramfs read-only image at boot and once they are in tmp they have already been loaded into memory. But does this sound like it could be a possible avenue to explore?:confused:

So for certain "vanilla" network configurations the WDTV Live will probably behave fine but for other variations there will be sporadic and unpredictable problems?

Sounds like WD should listen to what you are saying.

Regards,

Lt.Dang

pinkfloydhomer

11-03-09, 05:19 AM

Sorry but using your logic I could equally say:-

1. It does not work for 5%
2. Therefore, it does work for 95%
3. Therefore, it does work?

No, that's not my logic. Maybe it's yours.

If it works for 100% it works. If it works for 99% it doesn't work. That's my logic. Now, there might be all sorts of variables at work here, so if it turns out that the WDTV Live really isn't at fault, but, say, a router is, then of course that should not count as "not working".

The problem with network based players is that there are so many variables which can have a negative impact:-
- router configuration
- router performance
- firewall configuration
- pc setup
- nas configuration
- wireless performance
- emf interference
- anti-virus software
- different flavours of OS
And the list goes on.

Yeah, if you're talking about all sorts of different issues with the WDTV Live. I am not. I am talking about it working with Windows 7. There are no NASes involved. No wireless involved. No EMF interference etc. Just Windows 7, a router (which I plan to take out of the equation tonight) and WDTV Live.

Add on top of this the variations in different types of media you are actually trying to play and the multitude of ways in which it could have been encoded.

Again, not relevant to my problem. I haven't had problems playing certain formats etc. I have had problems even seeing the shares with WDTV Live.

So figuring out why you have a problem and then correcting it is not a simple thing when all of the above could be interacting to cause the issue you are actually seeing.

In general, no. You are right. In my case the number of variables are much smaller.

This is why I think we are getting different messages from different users. For some the network set up is a nightmare and for others it just works out of the box.

True. Still, I think it is sensible enough to expect a networked media player to work for most people in the complex eco-system of all the above variables. After all, this is not Apple. This is an item released to the general community of computer users.

I don't honestly think there is an easy way to work through this. You just have to take it step by step and take various components out of the chain until you narrow down where the problem lies.

True. That's what I am doing.

And yes, I do think that WD should be taking a deeper look at their firmware to see if they can make the Live more flexible for different network configurations.

Agreed.

RexManning

11-03-09, 06:59 AM

I have been reviewing this machine for a week now on another (! in dutch!) forum link (http://www.htforum.nl/yabbse/index.php?topic=93689.0).

Unfortunately, I as well see some small issues, but more importantly also some larger ones;

- m2ts playback over lan. Of course, there is a lot to be considered in the equation for good performances. However short distances, up to date pc, speedy harddisk, up to date router and OS should (should) not be the main problem here (copying to the mypassport-usb on the wd tv live from my pc over lan with 8-10MB/sec on average). For me, m2ts over lan doesn't work. Sound crashes and stutters are most common. What is also strange for non-english users; over lan, subtitles lag (10 seconds) on m2ts.

- the machine crashes when pressing play on a movie-folder over lan.

- rewind. No, not the widely discussed skipping etc. But try rewinding...sometimes, even in the middle of a movie, a second of rewinding sets you back minutes, or even sometimes to the start (!)

That and a couple of minor issues (thumbnailes, folderstructure, dvd upscaling, changing hz within a movie, skipping the cashing of the usb connection etc.) are what I'm hoping to be fixed soon.

As for Windows 7 users. I have had similar issues, the following (fiddling around in the registry (http://www.mede8erforum.com/index.php?topic=64.0)) helped me out a bit.

blackssr

11-03-09, 08:02 AM

Movie only rips average only 25gb in my case. Hard disks are cheap now, you can get a 2.0Tb for about $100.

$ 159.99 for 2 TB

b-rad.cc

11-03-09, 08:07 AM

Earlier in the thread (here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17438780#post17438780)) I posted the smb.conf file that was on the WDTV.

Two things were interesting, firstly that the workgroup was Workgroup, which from my Windows experience was a major headache as far as showing devices in the 'Network Neighbourhood' in 2000/XP if the workgroup wasn't consistent across PCs. The WDTV uses the 'SMBTree' program to print the names of computers in the Network Neighbourhood, and obviously if it's in a different workgroup this may lead to trouble.

The second was the order in which it resovled PC names. I have got my WDTV to sporadically show up some computers some of the time, and I guess this could be because of the name resolve order - bcast, lmhosts, wins, host. bcast will work only within the workgroup (yes?), we can't configure lmhosts, and there is no wins client on the box. That leaves host, and some samba documentation states that by the time it gets to the fourth resolve method, samba has probably given up - explaining why they show up periodically.

Unfortunately I can't modify these values and test as they are loaded from the cramfs read-only image at boot and once they are in tmp they have already been loaded into memory. But does this sound like it could be a possible avenue to explore?:confused:

I've found the spot where the smb.conf is defined and changed it to the order you specified. I have no windows comps (and it already read every samba share I've defined) so I'm not sure what affect it would have...BUT...smb.conf is reloaded every 2-3min when smbtree is re-executed to scan for shares. So if you telnetted/ssh'd in and changed it it would stick until reboot. I'll probably give the option to change smb.conf in a future version.

coolmalayalee

11-03-09, 09:23 AM

@ coolmalayalee
Why dont you try re-naming your file to see if you can get it to play?
Make a copy and rename it movie.m4v, movie.mkv, movie.mov, movie.avi (Try other extenisons too)
Maybe the file can play if its extension is changed. May or may not work! :rolleyes:

I tried renaming it with mkv, avi, and couple of others.. still doesnt work.

Most likely it won't cause the container is supported, otherwise it wouldn't show up in the file browser. Given that any container can store movies with different codecs he should check those with Mediainfo and post it here.

Here are the details from the mediainfo.

General
Complete name : E:\Movie.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 701 MiB
Duration : 2h 54mn
Overall bit rate : 562 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2009-10-25 10:37:16
Tagged date : UTC 2009-10-25 10:37:16

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L2.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2h 54mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 463 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 2 309 Kbps
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 272 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.35:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.111
Stream size : 576 MiB (82%)
Writing library : x264 core 68 r1183M f21daff
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=6 / psy_rd=1.0:0.0 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=3 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / wpredb=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / rc=abr / bitrate=463 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2009-10-25 02:28:41
Tagged date : UTC 2009-10-25 10:37:57

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 2h 54mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 96.0 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 154 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
Stream size : 119 MiB (17%)
Encoded date : UTC 2009-10-25 10:37:50
Tagged date : UTC 2009-10-25 10:37:57

Text
ID : 3
Format : Timed text
Codec ID : tx3g
Duration : 2h 51mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 58 bps
Stream size : 73.2 KiB (0%)
Encoded date : UTC 2009-10-25 10:37:57
Tagged date : UTC 2009-10-25 10:37:57

dropzone7

11-03-09, 10:05 AM

@ Everyone with the stutter issue
I dont play anything over a network, I just use an attached 2 TB drive and I too get the jutter/stutter issue with a "few" .mov/mkv 1080p files. The movie or trailers will play fine but in really fast scenes it pauses slightly. Same files play well on WDTV1 so I guess WD must be looking into this.

I hope you are right because at this point I'm considering returning the box. As good as the video looks overall, the stutter is a deal breaker for me. My wife doesn't even notice it until I point it out but once I see it the viewing experience is ruined for me. It's a shame because other than that I really like what the unit does.

rimmi2002

11-03-09, 11:38 AM

Hi I just got a brand new WDTV live from Bestbuy. There is something wrong with the unit. It keeps restarting, every few minutes whether media is being played or not it restarts automatically. Its been like that from the get go. Its not even connected to an internet connection. I got the latest firmware and with that it still keeps on restarting randomly. If this just an defective unit that needs to be returned or is there a way to fix it. Its connected via HDMI to the TV. When it plays movies it plays them well...but then it'll just randomly restart.

It is connected to an external HD via USB. Tried two different external HDs. Still the same problem.

David Dias

11-03-09, 11:57 AM

Need your advice, guys.
Just built my Windows Home Server where I now keep all my movies (.avi, .mkv, ...), music (.mp3, .flac,...) and family photos. It works just fine, and all my home PCs can see share folders.
Did a lot of researches here in avs fourm and found WD TV live is what I need to play my stuff from my WHS.
Went to Bestbuy twice and held WD TV Live box in my hands but finally put it back to the shelf just because, from what I've read from this forum, this little box is now facing a serious problem with network connection.
From my bottom heart, I can ask you those who already bought it, should I buy it now and whether WD TV Live can see and play things from my home server through wired CAT5 cable?
Thank you so much for your prompt replies.

Because you have a Windows Home Server, you'll have an easier time than most in terms of set up. I have a WHS myself and experience no issues with my shares, they're always there. And just like you I have everything wired with CAT5. Setup was a breeze, if automatically found my network. Simply create a user on your WHS, share whichever folders you want, assign a username and password and then enter the login info in the WD TV Live.

My only beef is that I can see 2 thumbnails for each movie, one is the jpeg, the other the .mkv file. I'm hoping they can fix this bug.

I would give the WD TV Live a try if you haven't already.

blackssr

11-03-09, 12:19 PM

Because you have a Windows Home Server, you'll have an easier time than most in terms of set up. I have a WHS myself and experience no issues with my shares, they're always there. And just like you I have everything wired with CAT5. Setup was a breeze, if automatically found my network. Simply create a user on your WHS, share whichever folders you want, assign a username and password and then enter the login info in the WD TV Live.

My only beef is that I can see 2 thumbnails for each movie, one is the jpeg, the other the .mkv file. I'm hoping they can fix this bug.

I would give the WD TV Live a try if you haven't already.

I am also having 2 thumbnails when using shares on my 2003 Server. I thought I did something wrong.... Is this a bug when using shares because if memory serves me it worked fine with USB HDD attached to unit. By the way all Blu Ray rips play great over 10/1000 network... 1080P with AC-3, TrueHD or DTS only. I can not get DD+ to bitstream to my Denon 5308CI

christoofar

11-03-09, 12:23 PM

microhaxo

11-03-09, 12:37 PM

There needs to be a FW update because i am having major networking issues with sharing. One min everything is fine and the next i have no shares. Also it takes over 2 min for the WDTV LIVE to access my local 250gb wd hd. I even disabled the library and it still takes forever!

also i believe that when the unit first shipped out (before best buy had stock) it came with version 1.00.00.

Edit which is confirmed by this: http://cache.websupport.wdc.com/wdtvlive/wdtvlive_1.00.00.pkg

fits79

11-03-09, 12:58 PM

Hi.
Does anyone know where i can find a custom Greek firmware for new(And old wd hd tv) wd tv live media player?

A lot of thanks.

cross2010

11-03-09, 01:24 PM

bdlee420

11-03-09, 01:50 PM

So far the WD TV Live has been great. It is able to play my .TP files from Beyond TV great. My only question is this:

Would it ever be possible for the WD TV Live to fully play a .TP file as it is being recorded?

Here is some clarification for this question. As soon as you try to play a currently recorded .TP file, it sets the length of the video (ie 21 min). It will play the video, but once you get to the 21 min mark, it will stop even though by that time the video should be much longer. Essentially the WDTV Live would have to continually update the length as it is being played for this to work.

Is this possible?

Digital Puppy

11-03-09, 03:34 PM

A great new review here.

legitreviews.com/article/1118/6/

They indicate WD TV Live, does stutter with Blue Ray. That was a disapointment to me.

Do you guys play your ripped Blue rays as Iso, or MT2ks?
(A better link for the article above here (http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1118/1/))

I really believe that it depends on the type of files you are trying to play. I want to do a re-check on the type of files I can play with the WDTV Live. I remember playing everything that I threw at the WDTV Live from a local drive (including 1080p ISOs). My problem came when I tried to access these same files over my network. I only noticed the stuttering when trying to play a 1080p ISO file over the net. My other MKV, M2TS, TS, AVI, MPEG, and MP4 files played fine. I also like the way it handles my FLAC files.

Has anyone checked out the Western Digital Live Community Page (http://wdtvlive.com/)? Not too much there now though...

David Dias

11-03-09, 03:42 PM

I am also having 2 thumbnails when using shares on my 2003 Server. I thought I did something wrong.... Is this a bug when using shares because if memory serves me it worked fine with USB HDD attached to unit. By the way all Blu Ray rips play great over 10/1000 network... 1080P with AC-3, TrueHD or DTS only. I can not get DD+ to bitstream to my Denon 5308CI

Yes, it must be a bug when using network shares, because when using a USB drive the thumbnails appear correctly, meaning you don't see 2 pics of the same image. I just hope they can fix it.

synaptic

11-03-09, 04:10 PM

BUT...smb.conf is reloaded every 2-3min when smbtree is re-executed to scan for shares.

Scratch that, see the later post - found out more!

David Dias

11-03-09, 04:52 PM

Guys, can someone please clarify the WDTV Live thumbnail issue. I have my WDTV Live with a wired connection to my HTPC (Windows XP). Everything is working great with sharing under Windows Media Player, however I cannot see any of my thumbnails. I also own a WDTV (non-live) and successfully configured an external drive loaded with movies and working thumbnails for the kids upstairs, but this one is making me scratch my head.

I am naming the jpg files the same name as the movie with no spaces (movie.mkv, movie.jpg), placed in the same folder.
I am creating jpg files no larger than 70kb in size.
I am cropping the jpg images to 120 x 180 pixels.

Any ideas?

Is the 'Browser Display' set to Thumbnail mode on the WDTV Live?
Do you only see the movie files when you're in Video?
Are you able to see the pics when you're in Photo?

GuyWD

11-03-09, 05:39 PM

Guys, can someone please clarify the WDTV Live thumbnail issue. I have my WDTV Live with a wired connection to my HTPC (Windows XP). Everything is working great with sharing under Windows Media Player, however I cannot see any of my thumbnails. I also own a WDTV (non-live) and successfully configured an external drive loaded with movies and working thumbnails for the kids upstairs, but this one is making me scratch my head.

I am naming the jpg files the same name as the movie with no spaces (movie.mkv, movie.jpg), placed in the same folder.
I am creating jpg files no larger than 70kb in size.
I am cropping the jpg images to 120 x 180 pixels.

Any ideas?

External thumbnail files will not work if you use a media server (unless that media server happens to support external thumbnail files). This is because media servers do their own content aggregation and do not send the WDTV Live the thumbnail files along with videos. External thumbnails will usually only work in network shares and local USB drives.

KidNovak

11-03-09, 05:40 PM

I purchased the WD TV Live after selling my TViX 6500A.

First I like to say I'm having a lot more luck playing MKV's over the network than the 6500A. Also boots a lot quicker.

I'm surprised the WDTV Live doesn't have Slow Motion and you can't skip chapters without going to the option menu.

Can a firmware update add these features? I liked Slow Motion for my Skin Flicks.

Novak

David Dias

11-03-09, 06:06 PM

...I liked Slow Motion for my Skin Flicks.

Novak

Thanks Novak, I needed a good laugh. :D

joshjoshlol

11-03-09, 06:35 PM

hahaha, oh dude, totally. slow motion is a must if there's skin to be seen!

cross2010

11-03-09, 07:05 PM

Is the 'Browser Display' set to Thumbnail mode on the WDTV Live?
Do you only see the movie files when you're in Video?
Are you able to see the pics when you're in Photo?

I am in Thumbnail mode for the browser display
Yes, I can only see the movie files when i'm in video
Yes, I am able to see the pics in Photo.

I also noticed in another post that someone mentioned that I'm not able to view the thumbnails as I'm sharing the folder through Windows Media Player. Is that correct? If yes, that sucks! There must be some way to set up my share to have the thumbnails viewed. I'm connected to the WDTV Live wired via my HTPC (Windows XP).

Appreciate any help. :)

Doberm@n

11-03-09, 07:28 PM

marcb77

11-03-09, 09:27 PM

To all people who cannot see the network shares on Windows 7 PCs, please try to do it this way:
1. Place the media files on the Windows 7 PC into the relevant subfolders in the C:\Users\Public\ folder (i.e. Videos, Pictures, Music and such);
2. Open the Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Network and Sharing Center,
then click on "Change advanced sharing settings" link on the upper left;
3. Make sure that File & printer sharing and Public folder sharing are on, enable file sharing for devices using 40- 56 bit encription, turn off password protected sharing, and check Use user accounts and passwords to connect to other computers;
4. Then expand the Public folders section on a bottom, and repeat the same steps.

You will probably have to log off and then log on again. My WD TV Live had no problems seeing the shares on the Windows 7 PC after that.
One note - you do NOT have to establish a so-called HomeGroup.

Nogib

11-03-09, 11:29 PM

liquidmetal

11-03-09, 11:36 PM

Well, up should be rotate through audio tracks.
Down should be rotate through subtitles.

Better yet, define a new IR code that we can put in our universal remotes dedicated to audio track and subtitle.

Hi all.....

I'm not sure if this is a feature request thread, if it's not, sorry!!!

But here's what i think would be very helpful:

If we could switch between audio channels (tracks) when watching a movie with multiple audio tracks, w/o going to Options (on WDTV Live remote control) it would be very nice!!! In other words, if you could make a shortcuts on the direction buttons for audio channels, so we can change audio tracks with direction (up/down) buttons.... see below...

http://s15.radikal.ru/i189/0911/48/56ece29ce6e4.png

What do you think?

Thanks in advance!!!!

b-rad.cc

11-03-09, 11:41 PM

techflaws

11-04-09, 01:10 AM

Unfortunately I can't modify these values and test as they are loaded from the cramfs read-only image at boot and once they are in tmp they have already been loaded into memory.
Before b-rad.cc stepped in, I had downloaded an Ubuntu VMware image, extracted cramfs and replaced the crappy german GUI file with my corrected one. Maybe you can do this with your SMB settings as well.

up & down for subs/audio would be good
+1

rmchattie

11-04-09, 03:47 AM

No it doesn't. It does not work with Windows 7.

Yes it does. I'm running with Windows 7 with very little in the way of problems. The only issue I had was the WDTV Live not seeing any shared drive with a letter starting from N onwards (someone else flagged this up).

I can either use Network Shares, enter my username/password and all my shares pop up - and plays back every single file I've tried, or I can use the Media Server which is a little more complicated, and quite frankly I'm not interesting in 'streaming' when the WDTV does such a good job of decoding.

pinkfloydhomer

11-04-09, 04:01 AM

Yes it does. I'm running with Windows 7 with very little in the way of problems. The only issue I had was the WDTV Live not seeing any shared drive with a letter starting from N onwards (someone else flagged this up).

I can either use Network Shares, enter my username/password and all my shares pop up - and plays back every single file I've tried, or I can use the Media Server which is a little more complicated, and quite frankly I'm not interesting in 'streaming' when the WDTV does such a good job of decoding.

Well, not so for all of us.

A who can fly: People can fly
B who can't fly: No they can't
A: Well, I can
B: Okay, but I can't. So people can't fly. Some people can, others cannot.

WDTV Live is not advertised as "working for some Windows 7 installations, not for others". It is advertised as working with Windows 7. Which it clearly does not.

joshjoshlol

11-04-09, 05:17 AM

pinkfloydhomer

11-04-09, 05:37 AM

your assumptions on functionality are blinded by your consumer standpoint; it would be impossible for WD to be aware of every and all variables that could be present, system configuration and third-party alike, that could cease functionality. at a certain point it becomes the consumers responsibility to asses their OS build/network set-up and critically think, "why is this not working for me when it does for others in similar situations?"

But it DOESN'T work for every other person in a similar situation. A lot of people are having this problem. Many people have the problem with WDTV Live out of the box and a freshly installed Windows 7. So it IS a problem for some.
It might be the case that the "solution" is to change some registry key or in some other way cater to the special needs of the WDTV, but then that should be documented with the product.

if the WDTV machines are mass produced, one could easily rule out a capricious type of functionality that it would exhibit.

this isn't to say that there are no problems on WD's end that they themselves need to resolve and not leave entirely to the consumer, but in terms of set-up and configuration of the WDTV one would rationally conclude that that does indeed rest mostly upon the consumer and the myriad of devices that they use in their systems.

Of course people have to make sure their configuration is reasonable and correct. But as you say, the WDTV Live might very well me at fault here _also_, and if so, WD have to fix it. And then it DIDN'T work with Windows 7 before such a fix.

morbidz

11-04-09, 05:41 AM

Yes it does. I'm running with Windows 7 with very little in the way of problems. The only issue I had was the WDTV Live not seeing any shared drive with a letter starting from N onwards (someone else flagged this up).

I can either use Network Shares, enter my username/password and all my shares pop up - and plays back every single file I've tried, or I can use the Media Server which is a little more complicated, and quite frankly I'm not interesting in 'streaming' when the WDTV does such a good job of decoding.

disabled "network discovery", now my win7 x64 works great just presenting regular shares to WDTV2. also set it to auto login to network shares and that works great as well. No disconnects and drops. Only problem is double thumbnails.

tutelary

11-04-09, 06:22 AM

But it DOESN'T work for every other person in a similar situation. A lot of people are having this problem. Many people have the problem with WDTV Live out of the box and a freshly installed Windows 7. So it IS a problem for some.
It might be the case that the "solution" is to change some registry key or in some other way cater to the special needs of the WDTV, but then that should be documented with the product.

Of course people have to make sure their configuration is reasonable and correct. But as you say, the WDTV Live might very well me at fault here _also_, and if so, WD have to fix it. And then it DIDN'T work with Windows 7 before such a fix.

...You dont seem to want to admit you are the problem, or your configuration is. Blaming WD is sad. I'm tired of watching people in this thread cry about how 'it's WDs fault' because they aren't able to sort through the issue themselves. It does work. If it didn't, there wouldn't be plenty of OTHER people on Win7 reporting that it's fine, and that is the bottom line.

RexManning

11-04-09, 06:40 AM

vaust

11-04-09, 07:01 AM

if it does'nt work for you, wait for a patch or you can just return the wdtv live.

jherring69

11-04-09, 07:15 AM

pinkfloydhomer

11-04-09, 07:21 AM

...You dont seem to want to admit you are the problem, or your configuration is.

How do you know that it is?

Blaming WD is sad.

Why?

I'm tired of watching people in this thread cry about how 'it's WDs fault' because they aren't able to sort through the issue themselves.

There shouldn't be any issues to sort through, let alone issues that a person like myself shouldn't be able to resolve after hours of trying.

It does work.

No it doesn't. Thats why there are a lot of threads about WDTV and Windows sharing issues.

If it didn't, there wouldn't be plenty of OTHER people on Win7 reporting that it's fine, and that is the bottom line.

No, that is not the bottom line. That is just faulty logic.

pinkfloydhomer

11-04-09, 07:23 AM

I would like to add that even though Microsoft makes the best OS in the history of the universe, and it is known to never have any issues, mabye some of the blame should be directed at them?

My WDTV Live was up and running in under 5 minutes. Haven't had one issue in the first week of use. I'm running Vista, a Linksys WRT54G2 Router, 500GB My Book Essential, 500GB internal and everything is wired.

Of course Microsoft might be at fault here. Not at all impossible. It's just that Windows XP seems to share without problems to all sorts of other computers and devices. So does Vista. So does Windows 7. If the problem only manifests itself with the WDTV Live, it is natural to look for problems there first, especially in a new product that has just been released to the wide audience.

marcb77

11-04-09, 08:30 AM

As I've been involved with all kinds of the escalated IT support (mostly networking related) for some time, I know that the issues are usually caused by an object between a screen and a chair (I am not trying to insult anybody!!!).
Instead of blaming the WD device or the Operating System, please attempt to follow simple steps I suggested before; I tried them on two different networks/Windows 7 PCs, and everything worked. Again this was the case the Windows 7 PC was visible from WD device, but the shares were not !
If your WD does not even see the Windows 7 computer, that is a different issue, and it may be related to the topography/security of your LAN or some wacky software firewall you have installed on the PC.
In my LAN' case the PCs had no passwords set up, and only a very basic antivirus installed.
And again, you should use the Public folder for all your shares.

ryanmohan

11-04-09, 08:53 AM

That's wrong.

You shouldn't have to use the public folder for shares. You didn't have to in Vista. By doing so you have no security against someone else on the network removing them.

There is an issue with Windows 7. It's not that the TVLive doen't work, it's just that it doesn't work properly.

I've been able to get it working with public shares but not with network shares. I've also read many accounts which state they can only share a max of 3 folders at the root level.

There are certainly issues.

marcb77

11-04-09, 09:13 AM

What horror! To be afraid that somebody on your HOME network would delete stuff from the share :)
But seriously, the Public folders are designed for this kind of activities - what's wrong with them? After all, we're talking about movies and music files, not some super-secret documents. And if your LAN is behind a router, those shares should not be available to the ouside worls.

pinkfloydhomer

11-04-09, 09:20 AM

As I've been involved with all kinds of the escalated IT support (mostly networking related) for some time, I know that the issues are usually caused by an object between a screen and a chair (I am not trying to insult anybody!!!).

Sure. I have been involved with IT support on many levels also, and you are right.

Instead of blaming the WD device or the Operating System, please attempt to follow simple steps I suggested before; I tried them on two different networks/Windows 7 PCs, and everything worked.

Wow, two! :D

What makes you think I haven't already tried every suggestion I have found in this thread?

Again this was the case the Windows 7 PC was visible from WD device, but the shares were not !

In my case, the Windows 7 machine popped up under Media Servers in WDTV Live. But it only showed the Public folder and it disappeared from the Media Servers menu after some time, never to come back. And I didn't change anything.

Under Network Shares, I sometimes get nothing at all, sometimes I get a prompt for username and password, but no matter what, I never get to see an actual share. At the moment, nothing happens when I press Network Shares.

If your WD does not even see the Windows 7 computer, that is a different issue, and it may be related to the topography/security of your LAN or some wacky software firewall you have installed on the PC.

It did see it, somewhat, under Media Servers. And then it didn't. I have no wacky software installed, no 3rd party firewalls or anything, I have tried disabling the Windows 7 firewall etc.

In my LAN' case the PCs had no passwords set up, and only a very basic antivirus installed.
And again, you should use the Public folder for all your shares.

I have tried disabling my antivirus, no luck.

Using the Public folder is a hack, not a solution.

cross2010

11-04-09, 09:22 AM

External thumbnail files will not work if you use a media server (unless that media server happens to support external thumbnail files). This is because media servers do their own content aggregation and do not send the WDTV Live the thumbnail files along with videos. External thumbnails will usually only work in network shares and local USB drives.

Thanks for the reply GuyWD. At least I now know I have everything setup correctly with the format of my thumbnails. Do you have any suggestions as to how I can setup the network connection so that the thumbnails can be viewed? As mentioned earlier, using Windows Media Player sharing works great for viewing the videos, but no thumbnails (wired connection to WDTV Live from my HTPC under XP). I tried TVersity, same issue. Videos play great, but no thumbnails.

Maybe instead of going through a media server I can setup a direct network share. Would that work?

Thanks again to everyone for all of your input. I LOVE this community! :)

marcb77

11-04-09, 09:32 AM

Sure. I have been involved with IT support on many levels also, and you are right.

Wow, two! :D

What makes you think I haven't already tried every suggestion I have found in this thread?

In my case, the Windows 7 machine popped up under Media Servers in WDTV Live. But it only showed the Public folder and it disappeared from the Media Servers menu after some time, never to come back. And I didn't change anything.

Under Network Shares, I sometimes get nothing at all, sometimes I get a prompt for username and password, but no matter what, I never get to see an actual share. At the moment, nothing happens when I press Network Shares.

It did see it, somewhat, under Media Servers. And then it didn't. I have no wacky software installed, no 3rd party firewalls or anything, I have tried disabling the Windows 7 firewall etc.

I have tried disabling my antivirus, no luck.

Using the Public folder is a hack, not a solution.
Okay - I am sorry. All my suggestions were based on idea of people using the Public folders on Windows 7 PCs (BTW, I used Vista in the same way successfully).
I personally am perfectly content with that, and I bet many other people would be.
Why do you think using Public folders is a hack? After all, they were designed for that reason.

dropzone7

11-04-09, 09:38 AM

Not to interrupt all of this thrilling debate about sharing and networks but can someone please help me? I have not even tried to connect my WDTV Live to a network. I just want my .mkv and .mov files to play without stuttering. I have tried every possible option in the menus for resolution changes and the problem persists. I am playing these files off of a WD Passport USB drive and the movies/clips look and sound great with the exception of the stutter every 10 seconds or so. Any suggestions?

sparky5000

11-04-09, 10:01 AM

blackssr

11-04-09, 10:41 AM

I purchased a westerndigital media player live yesterday from best buy.
I hooked it up to my NAS on the network and is able to play most files ok(DVD iso and DVD vob)

When I try to play Hd content I am seeing issues.
1. Bluray ISO(using anydvdhd) - Plays fine for a few seconds and then audio goes away and video stutters.
2. Bluray m2ts(using Anydvdhd) - Same issue as above.
3. AVCHD files in m2ts from a canon hg10 hidef video camera also has the stuttering video issue after some time.

However, I copied the bluray ISO onto a usb hard drive and hooked it up to the media player and it seems to work fine. I really do not want to be copying my movies every time to a usb drive to get it to work.

Seems like a network issue.

Has anyone seen this issue? is there a work around?

BTW,
I spoke to a support person at western digital and he said that I have to convert the video using the arcsoft software that was supplied. I have not tried that yet.

Thanks.

Is your network 10/1000? Hardwired? I had a similar problem in the beginning but replaced everything with Giga equipment and hardwired all rooms with cat5e and all is fine. I can play all 1080P MKVs without stutter. Pulling shared files from file server with 2k3 server and 8TB RAID 5.

Also avoid ISOs , waste of space and seems to be more work for the WD Live player. I rip all BD to streams and then remux just what I want into MKV. Size of most BDs is about 24-27 GB You can also convert HD DVDs to MKV the same way and then convert/burn to BD for playback on stand alone BD player.

Doberm@n

11-04-09, 10:45 AM

Darren Wadsworth

11-04-09, 11:23 AM

Earlier in the thread (here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17438780#post17438780)) I posted the smb.conf file that was on the WDTV.

Two things were interesting, firstly that the workgroup was Workgroup...

I would like to second this. I merely went to browse my network and saw that in addition to the workgroup name i normally use there is a "workgroup" listed. When that is followed it points at the WD TV Live.

Darren

csharp.windev

11-04-09, 11:26 AM

dropzone7

11-04-09, 11:32 AM

Is there any reason why this file should stutter every 10 seconds or so? I have tried 1080p/60, 1080p/24, 1080p/23.976 and AUTO in the options of the WDTV Live.

General
Complete name : G:\Trailers\Tron-Legacy.mov
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID : qt
File size : 245 MiB
Duration : 2mn 57s
Overall bit rate : 11.6 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2009-07-23 07:16:32
Tagged date : UTC 2009-07-23 07:16:58
Writing library : Apple QuickTime
Original source medium : 001
com.apple.finalcutstudio.media.u : 22692831-0A3E-4EBD-AB95-B1AA47F40ADA

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2mn 57s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 11.3 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 800 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.308
Stream size : 239 MiB (98%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2009-07-23 07:16:31
Tagged date : UTC 2009-07-23 07:16:58
colour_primaries : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177
transfer_characteristics : BT.709-5, BT.1361
matrix_coefficients : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 2mn 57s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 256 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
Stream size : 5.40 MiB (2%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2009-07-23 07:16:31
Tagged date : UTC 2009-07-23 07:16:58

Menu
ID : 3
Encoded_Date : UTC 2009-07-23 07:16:31
Tagged_Date : UTC 2009-07-23 07:16:58

rmd3003

11-04-09, 12:35 PM

Maybe I missed it but does WD Live plays DVD ISOs with full menu support?

Thanks.

delphiguru

11-04-09, 12:35 PM

i can't play file from my PC.

Windows 7 64 bit
WD LIVE ( original 1' FW )

i can connect to my Shared PC disk , i can list all mkv Files

but..... if i press PLAY on mkv file,

appear un error : I CANT' PLAY FILE.........

hint ?

Derelict_Drvr

11-04-09, 12:53 PM

Maybe I missed it but does WD Live plays DVD ISOs with full menu support?

Thanks.

no

ima49311

11-04-09, 01:00 PM

mytbyte

11-04-09, 01:22 PM

1) there are hundreds of pages :D do you really expect we will repeat all here for you?

3) what do you mean? you can't have surround without an amp anyway...

ima49311

11-04-09, 01:49 PM

1) there are hundreds of pages :D do you really expect we will repeat all here for you?

3) what do you mean? you can't have surround without an amp anyway...

1) just thought i'd ask for a LITTLE help.. i dont expect everything.. just a FEW of the major complaints.

3) yeah, i mistyped that up.. i was more interested in knowing if the orig WDTV for sure DOES NOT decode to surround sound even WITH an amp.. in other words, does it even have that capability? or do i need the LIVE version in order to get the surround sound. Seems like for the orig wdtv, it says output to 2 channel only, but i wanted to make sure..

thanks

lwgreen

11-04-09, 02:36 PM

disabled "network discovery", now my win7 x64 works great just presenting regular shares to WDTV2. also set it to auto login to network shares and that works great as well. No disconnects and drops. Only problem is double thumbnails.

Where is the option to disable network discovery on the WDTV Live?

DocuMaker

11-04-09, 02:42 PM

wierdo

11-04-09, 02:42 PM

Maybe I missed it but does WD Live plays DVD ISOs with full menu support?

Thanks.
No, the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ does, but it doesn't have a DTS decoder. (It may or may not have pass-through to a connected AVR, I haven't hooked it up downstairs yet to see)

Interestingly, the Seagate seems to have slightly better format support otherwise. It'll play some files that the WDTV2 chokes on. A good example is an mkv remuxed to m2ts for streaming to a PS3. WDTV2 says no way, while the Seagate happily plays it. (complete with ugly noise in your ear if you put DTS with a PCM header as the audio and don't have it hooked to an AVR)

SVM

11-04-09, 03:45 PM

I purchased a westerndigital media player live yesterday from best buy.
I hooked it up to my NAS on the network and is able to play most files ok(DVD iso and DVD vob)

When I try to play Hd content I am seeing issues.
1. Bluray ISO(using anydvdhd) - Plays fine for a few seconds and then audio goes away and video stutters.
2. Bluray m2ts(using Anydvdhd) - Same issue as above.
3. AVCHD files in m2ts from a canon hg10 hidef video camera also has the stuttering video issue after some time.

However, I copied the bluray ISO onto a usb hard drive and hooked it up to the media player and it seems to work fine. I really do not want to be copying my movies every time to a usb drive to get it to work.

Seems like a network issue.

Has anyone seen this issue? is there a work around?

BTW,
I spoke to a support person at western digital and he said that I have to convert the video using the arcsoft software that was supplied. I have not tried that yet.

Thanks.

When you play Bluray ISO on a USB harddrive does it shows Menus etc? what about audio? I have a reciever and hoping this device can pass the audio as a bitstream and let the receiver do the decoding. Thx

Doberm@n

11-04-09, 04:00 PM

+1. I like your idea. It would also be nice if there was a quicker/easier way to switch between subtitles as well.

They already assigned left and right directional buttons for subs!!! That's why i was surprised they didn't do it for audio channels with up and down buttons!!!

sinker442

11-04-09, 04:44 PM

Hi all.....

I'm not sure if this is a feature request thread, if it's not, sorry!!!

But here's what i think would be very helpful:

If we could switch between audio channels (tracks) when watching a movie with multiple audio tracks, w/o going to Options (on WDTV Live remote control) it would be very nice!!! In other words, if you could make a shortcuts on the direction buttons for audio channels, so we can change audio tracks with direction (up/down) buttons.... see below...

http://s15.radikal.ru/i189/0911/48/56ece29ce6e4.png

What do you think?

Thanks in advance!!!!

Well, Left+right is used for "subtitle sync"

I think Up+down should be reserved for "subtitle position" (up or down) on the screen (which would be a nice addition)

On my NMT player I've only used "subtitle sync" a couple of times, but I use my altered "subtitle position" every time I watch a movie. VERY useful...

(no flaming intented, it's a feature request, please don't start with the "it's only 120$ what do you expect" comments)

Also .PGS (.m2ts internal) subtitles would be a nice addition...

beefjerky_7

11-04-09, 04:55 PM

My WDTV Live can playback this video, but when I try to fast forward or anything like that, I get the red error sign at the top, If I continually try ff'ing then it stops the video and gives me the message "This file is not supported" something like that.
This is the only video it hasn't been able to playback perfectly yet other than some crappy wmv. videos that i don't care about.
Any ideas?

General
Complete name : F:\Movies\More movies\FFVII AC 1080P BluRayDTS\FF.VII.1080-DTS\FINAL.FANTASY.VII.ADVENT.CHILDREN.COMPLETE.2005.Bluray.1 080.DTS.2Audio.x264-CHD.mkv
Format : Matroska
File size : 10.9 GiB
Duration : 2h 6mn
Overall bit rate : 12.3 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2009-04-19 01:11:20
Writing application : mkvmerge v2.5.2 ('Stranger in your Soul') built on Feb 28 2009 18:58:17
Writing library : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Muxing mode : Container profile=Unknown@4.1
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 2h 6mn
Bit rate : 9 066 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 9 306 Kbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Resolution : 24 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.182
Stream size : 8.00 GiB (73%)
Writing library : x264 core 67 r1129M c109c8e
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-3:-3 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy_rd=1.4:0.7 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=28 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=2 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=-4 / threads=6 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / rc=2pass / bitrate=9306 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:0.90

Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 2h 6mn
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 : 1.33 GiB (12%)
Title : DTS 5.1
Language : English

Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 2h 6mn
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 : 1.33 GiB (12%)
Title : DTS 5.1
Language : Japanese

jherring69

11-04-09, 04:56 PM

SVM

11-04-09, 05:29 PM

thespacecowboy

11-04-09, 06:26 PM

1. I don't have one single complaint. None. It has played everything I have tried. MKV, MOV, AVI, ISO, either 1080p or 720p of an external drive or over my network. Not one problem.

2. Read the other threads to find one that fits your needs.

3. The WDTV Live can send the audio, DD/DTS-5.1/7.1, over optical or HDMI to your AVR or it can be downmixed to stereo and sent to your tv.

4. Read the thread.

Jason

Good advice. My 2c are that buying any of these players is a gamble, but not a hugely expensive one. All devices have + and - areas, so look through the threads and see what is important.

My only additional advice is don't buy it on the basis of future updates / feature updates. You may be stuck with the device as is, with NO future firmware updates :)

I only have experience of the WD Live, and for me its nearly perfect as is. I just hope that when I get home tonight my kind father has gone into the loft and installed the cat5. I mean, he's retired so I have to keep him busy !

kulims

11-04-09, 06:28 PM

ch1525

11-04-09, 06:42 PM

jherring69

11-04-09, 06:53 PM

Jason - Is the DTS-MA bitstreamed to an AVR on HDMI? after reading all the posts here I am concluding it only sends the core or something like that, not sure what it means, hoping you can explain.:rolleyes:

Only the core 1.5MBs is sent to the AVR.

Jason

jherring69

11-04-09, 06:58 PM

I've been accumulating some wonderful 96kHz/24bit FLAC files as of late, and I'm wondering if there is anyway to play these through the WD HD TV without them being downsampled? Is there another format I could convert them into? WAV is downsampled also.

I can't coment on the FLAC files as I do not use them. I can say that it will play the DTS 96kHz/24 bit track on the Dave Matthews/Tim Renyolds Bluray.

Jason

b-rad.cc

11-04-09, 07:32 PM

They already assigned left and right directional buttons for subs!!! That's why i was surprised they didn't do it for audio channels with up and down buttons!!!

L & R change the subtitle >>DELAY<<. nothing else.

synaptic

11-04-09, 08:29 PM

BUT...smb.conf is reloaded every 2-3min when smbtree is re-executed to scan for shares.

B-Rad,

I've had a look at this to see if it works - If you connect a new USB device, it reloads the smb.conf and it 'reverts' to the workgroup 'Workgroup' and 'name resolve order'.

I also left my device on for about 2 hours and opened up the 'Network' folder in Ubuntu, and it still says that I have two different workgroups on my network, which indicates that the workgroup has not been changed.

VVVVV Technical Information VVVVV

I also mounted your firmware and the only reference to smb.conf at boot is in /bin/run_samba.sh, which contains the following references:

nmbd -D --configfile=/tmp/smb.conf
exec smbd -D --configfile=/tmp/smb.conf

The first is the network daemon, the second is the samba daemon.

So by this point it appears to load the /tmp/smb.conf file, but I can't see where it loads it from - this command assumed that it already exists at that location (which it does not). I was going to insert it there or change where it loaded from, but find that I can't (read-only) - any pointers how to mount R/W, or does your Live firmware allow mounting of the old app.bins so that I can strip the extraneous stuff out of (e.g.) samba.app.bin package?

^^^^^ Technical Information ^^^^^

b-rad.cc

11-04-09, 08:40 PM

B-Rad,

I've had a look at this to see if it works - If you connect a new USB device, it reloads the smb.conf and it 'reverts' to the workgroup 'Workgroup' and 'name resolve order'.

I also left my device on for about 2 hours and opened up the 'Network' folder in Ubuntu, and it still says that I have two different workgroups on my network, which indicates that the workgroup has not been changed.

VVVVV Technical Information VVVVV

I also mounted your firmware and the only reference to smb.conf at boot is in /bin/run_samba.sh, which contains the following references:

The first is the network daemon, the second is the samba daemon.

So by this point it appears to load the /tmp/smb.conf file, but I can't see where it loads it from - this command assumed that it already exists at that location (which it does not). I was going to insert it there or change where it loaded from, but find that I can't (read-only) - any pointers how to mount R/W, or does your Live firmware allow mounting of the old app.bins so that I can strip the extraneous stuff out of (e.g.) samba.app.bin package?

^^^^^ Technical Information ^^^^^

smb.conf is defined inside of dmaosd. App.bins will be loaded unless they are cramfs. You can make an ext2 app.bin and it'll be fine. I'm guessing the only way to get your workgroup to stick is to monitor /tmp/smb.conf and replace the workgroup with your own every time the file changes. I've changed the resolve order in dmaosd and will whip up a quick hack app.bin for workgroup replacement / monitoring after I eat.

tutelary

11-04-09, 11:13 PM

How do you know that it is?

Why?
There shouldn't be any issues to sort through, let alone issues that a person like myself shouldn't be able to resolve after hours of trying.
No it doesn't. Thats why there are a lot of threads about WDTV and Windows sharing issues.
No, that is not the bottom line. That is just faulty logic.

A great many people could not set the clock on their VCR, should we have blamed the companies making the VCRs?

You fail.

pinkfloydhomer

11-05-09, 02:59 AM

A great many people could not set the clock on their VCR, should we have blamed the companies making the VCRs?

You fail.

No, sir, you fail. You assume that I am "not able to set the clock on my VCR", that I am not able to setup a network share, that the error is certainly mine and not a bug in the WDTV Live. You don't know that. Nothing suggests that. You're just guessing.

FoxRacR17

11-05-09, 03:05 AM

Just picked up one of these today, and so far I like it, but one thing is getting annoying. Whenever I go to play ANY of my .mkvs that have dts in them, there is a loud static noise right before the movie goes to play. Weather it be when i go to watch it for reals, or when it shows the little preview in the menu when the movie is highlighted. I have video going to my lcd via hdmi, and the audio going to my receiver via optical.

csharp.windev

11-05-09, 05:31 AM

sorry if this has been answered already, but i dont think i can browse thru 73 pages.. Im looking to get one of these but here are my main questions:

1. What are the complaints i keep hearing about from the original WDTV that people are having?

2. If i DONT choose the WDTV Live, then what are some other GOOD options to look at in the same price range?

3. This box DOES decode to digital surround correct? But the orig WDTV only output to 2 channel stereo. Is that right? Does the LIVE box have that option as well or do i NEED to use an AMP with this?

4. Any other pertinent info i should know about these?

Thanks for the help & advice in advance!
My only complaint w/WD Live is this.

First, my setup is I'm connected to TV via component with RCA audio. Then I have TOSlink connected to my receiver. I have audio set as Digital.

My complaint is Video with AC-3/1 or AC-3/2 channel will output through TV (RCA), but AC-3/5.1 won't. AC-3/5.1 audio will only come through the TV if I explicitly set audio to Stereo. Obviously most of my video collection is AC-3/5.1 so if I want to watch a video with the TV only sound I have to fiddle with the settings and set it back to Stereo from Digital. Then the next time I want to watch a video using receiver I have to once again go back into the settings and change it to Digital.

What a pain and not very user friendly. And what gets me is I have other devices (DVD player, consoles, etc.) that can handle this setup fine (will output digital and auto downmix to stereo over RCA at the same time).

Other than that I love the device. No issues with video playback whatsoever and I would recommend it to anyone.

ryanmohan

11-05-09, 09:18 AM

Before I start this post can I just say that I had my TVLive working perfectly with Network shares (not public shares) under Vista x64.

Since moving to Windows 7 x64, the only shares I am able to see are the public ones. And I am only able to see 3 at the top level. This means I have to go via media sharing not network sharing.

To my mind this means it is partially working.

Also, I am not able to see my MKV's anymore.

To those who say they have their network sharing working. Can you please clarify what you mean instead of just saying 'it works for me'.

To the person who attached a jpg of his network shares. That was very nice, I can show you mine. The problem is not seeing them in Windows but what the TVLive is seeing.

Is it Public shares or Network Shares?

If it's Network Shares, can you inform the rest of us how you did it? Maybe we missed a step.

This forum is for helping others, not for name calling.

kulims

11-05-09, 10:23 AM

My Windows XP and Vista shares are lost occasionally, when they do I have to go to setup and configure network (just answering ok to accept my existing setup). All my shares will then come up.

My Ubuntu 9.04 and Debian 5 samba shares are always fine.

~wolverine~

11-05-09, 10:45 AM

Windows 7 Network Sharing

1) right click on the drive or folder you want to share and choose properties
2) click sharing tab
3) click advanced sharing
4) check share this folder
5) name the folder whatever you want, but put an ! in front of the name click add...see step 5 jpg
6) click permissions, allow everyone read

do this to anything you want to share
unplug the WDTV Live from the wall, wait a minute or so, plug it back in and it should show everything you just did, at least mine did

939

11-05-09, 10:59 AM

Hello,

I have a quick question on the RGB/RGB High/YCbCr and 8/12-bit color over HDMI to a plasma 1080p panel with x.v.Color (panasonic 42PZ85EA).
Nothing is mentioned in the manual, the WD FAQ or this thread.

Anyone care to explain which to choose and why?

Thanks a million.

Derelict_Drvr

11-05-09, 11:59 AM

ima49311

11-05-09, 12:00 PM

awesome.. thanks for everyone's feedback.. i appreciate your 2cents.. i guess i DO need to barrel thru these 70 some pages now tho.. thanks again!

kulims

11-05-09, 12:02 PM

I may be mistaken, but I think you have the wrong thread. Asus O!Play is the only media player I know of that has a "Preview" when you highlight a movie.

WDTV Live has a "Preview" too you just need to change browser settings.

ryanmohan

11-05-09, 12:15 PM

~wolverine~

11-05-09, 12:47 PM

Thanks for the info Wolverine.

I followed all your steps but it still didn't work. In fact it's worst now because the TVLive is not seeing my public share now. And under Network Share it no longer sees my Windows 7 machine at all.

Totally frustrated now.

Well if it didn't work I apologize. That's how I got mine to work. Did you try rebooting your computer too?

ryanmohan

11-05-09, 01:14 PM

Wolverine, your a star.

I tried it again. Same procedure but this time I did not unplug the media box.

It Worked!!!!!!!!

Wish I knew why.

Best of all, MKV's stream from the network share.

Strangely, my drive letter appears as a share bu I haven't shared the drive and my MKV's show up under the Media Share but won't play.

It's wierd and I hope it holds but it's a start.

What does the ! specify?

FoxRacR17

11-05-09, 01:38 PM

I may be mistaken, but I think you have the wrong thread. Asus O!Play is the only media player I know of that has a "Preview" when you highlight a movie.

The WD TV Live does also, like someone else mentioned a little further down you have to enable it in settings, the same place you change it to list type, or thumbnail type, or preview type. I had it on preview but i changed it because it got annoying hearing that loud static sound everytime i stopped on a file and it started playing the preview.

Doberm@n

11-05-09, 03:00 PM

Well, Left+right is used for "subtitle sync"

I think Up+down should be reserved for "subtitle position" (up or down) on the screen (which would be a nice addition)

On my NMT player I've only used "subtitle sync" a couple of times, but I use my altered "subtitle position" every time I watch a movie. VERY useful...

(no flaming intented, it's a feature request, please don't start with the "it's only 120$ what do you expect" comments)

Also .PGS (.m2ts internal) subtitles would be a nice addition...

I think it's a bit too much for subs, don't you think???

This is not a sub player, this is media player and media means Video and Audio!!! Subs are just subs!!!

ima49311

11-05-09, 04:51 PM

ok, so now im confused...

Do BOTH wdtv & wdtv live play dolby digital in 5.1? or just the live version?

assuming i hook this up to an amp with hdmi, would both of these do this?

It says on the WD site that wdtv "An audio receiver is required for surround sound output. AAC/Dolby Digital decodes in 2 channel output only".

So, even if i use an amp it wouldn't play in surround? is that right? so DO i need the LIVE version in order to get 5.1 surround?

On the WD site for LIVE, it still says "An audio receiver is required for surround sound output", but doesnt have the second line.

I went to Best Buy during my lunch break (i know, i know) to try the quality of this thing (which i loved) and the guy told me the regular wdtv DOES play 5.1 if hooked to an amp with hdmi... Is this true? The tech specs arent really clear.. And aside from DTS support and networking/internet connectivity, are those the main differences between the two? Can anyone help me out?

Thanks again in advance!

~wolverine~

11-05-09, 05:23 PM

What does the ! specify?

I don't know what that does. Someone on here said it worked for them and I tried it and it seemed to work.

tutelary

11-05-09, 06:41 PM

No, sir, you fail. You assume that I am "not able to set the clock on my VCR", that I am not able to setup a network share, that the error is certainly mine and not a bug in the WDTV Live. You don't know that. Nothing suggests that. You're just guessing.

Nothing but the people who successfully do so.
Amazing others can and you cannot.

Ron Jones

11-05-09, 07:52 PM

My Denon DTS HD indicator does not light up when my WDTV2 is playing BD iso with DTS HD MA audio.

All multichannel PCM tracks are downmixed to stereo. Some of my ISO rips with PCM (Underworld 1) does not even play the PCM track at all.

The WDTV Live is not claimed to, nor supports bitstreaming of DTS HD and when it is in the recording the WDTV Live will extract the Core DTS surround stream (at 1.5 Mbps) and bitstream that out to your AVR. As for multichannel LPCM it seems to be working OK for me, but I rip my Blu-rays to m2ts flies (the native BD container format for the audio/video/subtitles and thus only requires decryption and remuxing to create a m2ts file with only the desired audio and subtitles to go along with the HD video). The m2ts format seems to be the most compatible format for ripping BDs and I see no advantage, and potential negatives (larger file size and/or compatibility issues) for using ISO images or mkv containers for ripping BDs.

kulims

11-05-09, 07:56 PM

jherring69

11-05-09, 08:00 PM

AndrewS99

11-05-09, 08:20 PM

External thumbnail files will not work if you use a media server (unless that media server happens to support external thumbnail files). This is because media servers do their own content aggregation and do not send the WDTV Live the thumbnail files along with videos. External thumbnails will usually only work in network shares and local USB drives.

Well they don't work here. I copied all my movies/thumbnails from a USB drive that displayed correctly (single .mkv file with the .jpg thumbnail overlayed) to a network share on my WHS. I'm not using the media server - just streaming .mkv from a network share.

The WD TV Live
1) Shows the first .jpg in the folder as the thumbnail for my overall "Movies" folder
2) Shows all .mkv and .jpg files in the Movie folder all thumbnailed. So it looks like I have two of every movie when browsing on the WD TV Live but I'm actually browsing the .jpg AND the .mkv files.

It doesn't work like a direct connected drive.

synaptic

11-05-09, 08:24 PM

If you are having networking difficulties and are using Windows 7 only (this instruction not applicable to XP machines), can you give the following a try:

Switch ON the Computer Browser service that is set to 'Manual' by default to 'Automatic.'

To do this go to Start -- Run -- services.msc --OK
Scroll Down to 'Computer Browser' and Right-Click
Change the status to 'Automatic' from 'Manual' and Press OK.
Restart the PC. When done, restart the WDTV.

The reason that this may be necessary is that Network Discovery relies upon one computer being automatically 'elected' a 'master' which all computers give info and query for information about other computers. Some (all?) Windows 7 installations have this service switched OFF by default because Vista/7 use a different method to find other computers.

If you have a network where no computers have this service running, then no computer can be 'elected' a 'master' as I don't think the WDTV has the capacity to become a 'master.'

But don't ask me about the 'problem connecting to the network' issue - I am also having this problem with my shares, and shortly after the discovered machines list slowly drop off (I am throwing 14gb HD broadcasts at it and it lasts about 2 minutes before coming up with the error message. )

I also suspect the reason we haven't heard from WD is that they are redesigning the way that the WDTV connects to network shares. I hope they are putting a frontend on the xmount command and setting it to mount in the network shares rather than trying to be clever and use computer discovery.

Gariputo

11-05-09, 10:14 PM

David Dias

11-05-09, 10:45 PM

Well they don't work here. I copied all my movies/thumbnails from a USB drive that displayed correctly (single .mkv file with the .jpg thumbnail overlayed) to a network share on my WHS. I'm not using the media server - just streaming .mkv from a network share.

The WD TV Live
1) Shows the first .jpg in the folder as the thumbnail for my overall "Movies" folder
2) Shows all .mkv and .jpg files in the Movie folder all thumbnailed. So it looks like I have two of every movie when browsing on the WD TV Live but I'm actually browsing the .jpg AND the .mkv files.

It doesn't work like a direct connected drive.

It's a bug that WD hopefully will be able to fix when they release a firmware update. One thing you might want to try is to remove the extension .jpg from the image files. I did and it worked for me, no more double thumbnails.

I used a file renaming program (File Renamer Turbo) and it removed all the .jpg extensions from my files in about 10 seconds.

lindsrj

11-05-09, 10:47 PM

Would you mind posting your network and other related settings? Like an earlier poster I too consider myself a power user (of course this is all relative). I'm running W7, my WD Live sees the W7 computer name, prompts me for an account name and password, but I can never connect. I always get the error message "Failed to connect to file server, the account/password may be changed. please check it." I think I've tried all the suggestions I've seen in this forum to no avail (haven't tried the registry hack yet). Tried setting up a new account name on W7 just for the WD, and no joy. I am getting very frustrated and will have to return the WD if I can't fix this, regardless of whether it is a WD problem or a W7 problem - I just want it fixed. It seems to work very well for some people and that's encouraging. I don't think my setup is at all unusual.

philnort

11-05-09, 11:02 PM

synaptic

11-05-09, 11:58 PM

Would you mind posting your network and other related settings?

Can you check the following things:

When you created the new account, did you get prompted for a username and password on the WDTV? If you didn't, then it is saving the previous login information which can be cleared by going to Settings --> Network --> Clear Login Information. Thereafter it will ask for the username again.

When you set up the share, did you specifically make the share available to the new user (Right Click the folder --> Share with --> Specific People)?

When you created the username/password, were they both lowercase and no spaces? Enter them this way on the WDTV.

If you have got to the stage of being able to see shares, then the network settings on your computer probably aren't the cause. Regardless, I have Network Discovery ON, File Sharing ON, Public Folders OFF.

techflaws

11-06-09, 01:04 AM

I think it's a bit too much for subs, don't you think???
No.

With_Style

11-06-09, 01:57 AM

Hi,

As I know, noone has found solution how to avoid problems with sharing your media files over the network with Windows 7. Even with Media Server or with Network Shares...
Well, I just installed Windows7 x64 - Enterprise and after 2-3 hours of searching for solution over the internet, after trying everything - I couldn't make it work - to watch videos shared with Windows 7.

Then I stop searching and browsing the and I found solution which I would like to share with the rest of the world, to help everyone.
Here is the text version and at the end you can find video tutorials - which aren't in high definition but I hope it will help you:

OS: Windows7 x64 Enterprise edition | Evaluation Edition for IT

Mine settings:
Windows Firewall - OFF
Network: Home Network
Shared Libraries - Nothing, all OFF
Media Steaming - OFF

Advanced Sharing Setting:
Turn on network discovery
Turn on file and printer sharing
Turn on sharing so anyone with network access can read and write... - BUT, I removed (this is just ME) from: My Computer -> Right Click -> Manage -> Shared Folders -> Share: User(s) -> Right Click -> Stop Sharing
- Why I done this? -> Because when I access with WDTV Live to my pc, I do not want to see anything else except files I shared
Use 128 bit encryption
Allow Windows to manage homegroup connection

WDTV Live:
Network Setup: Automatic IP
Clear login info

This is important stuff - How to make share with Windows 7 and WDTV Live:
Part1:
My Computer -> Right Click -> Manage -> Shared folders -> Right Click on Shares -> Click New Share -> Next -> Browse folder with media files -> Next -> Next -> Select Customize Permissions -> Click Custom:
Group or user names:
- Administrators - FullControl, Change, Read - Check
- Everyone - FullControl, Change, Read - Check
(If any of these missing, add them)
Click OK -> Finish -> Finish

Part2:
Go to Computer Managment -> Shared folders -> Shares: Right Click on Share -> Properties -> Security (tab) -> Advanced -> Change Permissions:
Remove/Uncheck - Include inhertable permissions from this object's parent
REMOVE
(Then) Add Administrators - Allow EVERYTHING
(Then) Add Everyone - Allow Reading permissions (I didn't try full permisisons, but it should work) - basically everything with word "read" in it
press OK

Part3:
Go to the "Owner" Tab (in Advanced Security Settings for "Your Shared Folder")
Current owner must be "Administrators", if it's not then:
Press: EDIT, Select Administrators, check "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects" -> OK -> OK -> OK -> OK -> Exit Computer Managment

Extra notes:
You don't need to create extra user for WDTV (like some people suggested - this suggestion works great with WinXP, but it's not needed for Win7)
I tested this also with sharing whole drive -> also work without any problems.

Play your media files:
With WDTV Live go to videos menu -> Network Shares -> YourPC: and your folder should appear now in WDTV without any errors!

Hope this will help to you, please leave feedback at least to know if I helped you!?
Thank you

Video Tutorials:
I'm not able to put links yet, so please search for thread: WDTV Live - Windows7 x32/x64 - How to share your files - Tutorial

At the end: Sorry for my english :p

pinkfloydhomer

11-06-09, 02:45 AM

Thanks for the info Wolverine.

I followed all your steps but it still didn't work. In fact it's worst now because the TVLive is not seeing my public share now. And under Network Share it no longer sees my Windows 7 machine at all.

Totally frustrated now.

Don't be frustrated. You see, the WDTV Live _works_ with Windows 7. A lot of people in here say so themselves. So it must be true.

pinkfloydhomer

11-06-09, 02:48 AM

I think it's a bit too much for subs, don't you think???

This is not a sub player, this is media player and media means Video and Audio!!! Subs are just subs!!!

Different needs. If you are an american that never watch anything with subs, then those features might not be important to you. If you watch a a lot of movies with audio languages that you don't understand, subtitles are very important. And you can't just slap them anywhere, in any font, with any sync etc. It is important for the experience of the media player if it has decent subtitle features.

I don't use subs myself very often, but some people do.

pinkfloydhomer

11-06-09, 02:50 AM

Nothing but the people who successfully do so.
Amazing others can and you cannot.

I am not the only one. Not by far. Many tech savvy people are early adopters of this gadget, and have network sharing issues. It's on every forum. But of course YOU KNOW that it is not a bug in the WDTV Live. You also know the skills of the people experiencing this etc.

joshjoshlol

11-06-09, 06:26 AM

saying that subtitles aren't a part of media and not worth too much consideration is just about one of the most woefully dumb things i've read on this forum. and that says a lot.

pimsilveira

11-06-09, 06:32 AM

Has anyone experienced any audio delay (or the opposite, audio in front of the video) in mkvs with ac3 audio - network or usb connected?
thanks

lindsrj

11-06-09, 08:06 AM

I did everything you suggested, including clearing the login info on the WD, but will double-check on using lower-case account name/pw on W7 and report back. Thanks for the suggestions.

wokwokabc

11-06-09, 08:09 AM

christoofar

11-06-09, 08:28 AM

I'm giving up on using WDTVLive with Shares. Have tried all the tips & tricks for my XP Pro machine & no joy.
Just took delivery on an ASRock 330 nettop. Into the next level I go...;)

Doberm@n

11-06-09, 09:32 AM

Different needs. If you are an american that never watch anything with subs, then those features might not be important to you. If you watch a a lot of movies with audio languages that you don't understand, subtitles are very important. And you can't just slap them anywhere, in any font, with any sync etc. It is important for the experience of the media player if it has decent subtitle features.

I don't use subs myself very often, but some people do.

That's why we have audio channels with different languages!!!

saying that subtitles aren't a part of media and not worth too much consideration is just about one of the most woefully dumb things i've read on this forum. and that says a lot.

No, having subs on a higher priority than audio is dumb!!!

Doberm@n

11-06-09, 09:34 AM

No.

Well, i hope they make it just for you, but i highly doubt it:cool:

marcb77

11-06-09, 09:39 AM

I'm giving up on using WDTVLive with Shares. Have tried all the tips & tricks for my XP Pro machine & no joy.
Just took delivery on an ASRock 330 nettop. Into the next level I go...;)
So funny :)
When I suggested to use the Public Folders in Windows 7 that definitely enables WD TV Live to see the shared files, some guys tried to convince me that was a hack (?! - even though the Microsoft designed Public Folders concept for that purpose, to have shares available on the network without extra security features). Why it's a hack? No-one explained. We're not talking corporate networks here, right? So use what's easier, after all the WD TV Live is a Media player, not a NAS or PC.
And now another person just quits because his device does nor see simple shares on the XP Pro PC - something that never ever failed. Simply amazing...

MenaceInc

11-06-09, 09:57 AM

+1

People aren't that bright these days and they do not like to work things out. Blame it on global warming :D:D:D

So funny :)
And now another person just quits because his device does nor see simple shares on the XP Pro PC - something that never ever failed. Simply amazing...

msw1382

11-06-09, 10:21 AM

I must say I love this little box! I am however having a minor irritating issue with the thumbnails.

I have all of my shared movies on my NAS (D-Link321) which is connected to the WD TV Live through a switch. When I browse my videos through the "Media Server" option on the WD TV I do not see my thumbnail .jpegs that I have added to the shared folder.

Hoever, if I go to "Network Shares" instead of media servers, I can see that the thumbnails replace the default thumbnail icon, but I can also see the .jpeg in the folder.

I would prefer to use the media server option but I can't get the jpegs to work. If I have to use the network shares option how do I tell it not to display the jpegs also? Having two icons for the same movie is irritating. Any thoughts?

blood_donor

11-06-09, 10:57 AM

Can someone comment if this unit handles the Windows 7 Media Center file format, .WTV (which is some sort of h.264 wrapper I think)?

steph280

11-06-09, 11:46 AM

Any tips on where one of these can be bought currently? Everybody is out of stock at the moment.

christoofar

11-06-09, 11:54 AM

So funny :)
And now another person just quits because his device does nor see simple shares on the XP Pro PC - something that never ever failed. Simply amazing...

And yet...it failed. It.does.not.work.on.my.PC. So, your point is?:rolleyes:

The purpose of having a network is to be able to use it.

I really don't even need the shares to work, I'd be totally happy if I could just be able to transfer media files over my N network to the WD drive attached to the WDTVLive at a decent speed. Unfortunately, after spending $120 on first a Belkin N+ router, then a DLink DIR -655 (both with gigabit ports), new gigabit LAN adapter for the PC, DLink DWA-140 USB dongle (approved by WD for the Live), the fastest transfer speed out to the ext WD hdd is 100kb/s (this with both ethernet hardwire or USB dongle, wireless is a bit slower even). Yes, that is kilobytes. So transferring, say a 1080P .mkv file will take over an hour to move.
And yet going in the opposite direction, I can hit over 6 Megabits.

I have asked for help figuring this problem out in 5 different forums (including this one), talked w/ tech support from both Belkin & DLink, tried all kind of setting changes,channel changes, disabled firewalls, anti-virus, traffic shaping, etc, etc
And guess what? Most replies from ppl who seemed knowledgable said : it's the WD box that is causing the problem.
So yeah, I'm moving on. Isn't THAT amazing?