*New* Western Digital - WD TV HD Media Player

[tedmozer]

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

Neuros OSD Media Center

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

[shizzzon]

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

Example for Lamens terms-

Take these 2 resolutions -
1920x720
1280x1080

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

I tested 1296x1080 and 1920 x 736...

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

Both formats used 7 reference frames.

1920x736 used a total of 9891840!

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

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


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

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

[VideoInSF]

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

[ratphink]

Originally Posted by ratphink

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

Cheers!

avsquash, worked like a freakin charm!
Thanks again!

[shizzzon]

The Limits are in, the Limits are in!!

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

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

If Y axis exceeds 736, X axis can be virtually any appropriate multiple of 16 with a set limit of 9,666,560.

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

Having Fun Yet?

[matt314159]

Originally Posted by shizzzon

The Limits are in, the Limits are in!!

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

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

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

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

Having Fun Yet?

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

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

[Bran81]

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

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

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

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

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

[taz420]

Originally Posted by Bran81

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

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

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

[chrislemay]

shizzon,
WOW! All your labors are hugely appreciated.

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

PEACE

[sanderdvd]

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

[Sarcoptic]

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

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

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

[drake79]

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

Thank You

[ernie12121]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Bran81]

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

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

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

[ernie12121]

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

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

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

[natedj]

Originally Posted by ernie12121

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

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

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

Sounds like a audio decoding problem to me .... Do you have a receiver, why not run it through that?

[ernie12121]

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

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

[stefu]

Originally Posted by ernie12121

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Bran81]

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

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

[ernie12121]

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

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

[shizzzon]

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

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

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

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

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

The following is all possible typical audio containers -

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

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

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

[ernie12121]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

[shizzzon]

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

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

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

[sdv5]

Originally Posted by Sarcoptic

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

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

[PAk_HD]

Hi there!! Hi WDTVers!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

[shizzzon]

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

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

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

[onlysublime]

Originally Posted by sanderdvd

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

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

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

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

[cy1701]

Originally Posted by PAk_HD

Hi there!! Hi WDTVers!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

just trying to add info to help the product.
Steve

[dangerdoc1]

Originally Posted by onlysublime

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

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

How much to built an HTPC that is silent?

[hdtv-newbie]

shizzzon,

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

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

If yes, what s/w should we use?

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