AVS Forum banner

Could this be the next WDTV?

71K views 132 replies 59 participants last post by  rayosx 
#1 ·








Any idea what is this?
 
See less See more
5
#102 ·
i'm trying to decide whether to go aheady and buy a wdtv gen 1 or wait for the new one. Ethernet would be nice, but i'm mainly interested in functionality and don't have a huge problem with sticking my files on a usb drive and bringing them downstairs from my computer to the entertainment center. I've got a couple questions that you guys may or may not be able to help me answer:


1. Would I be able to stream 1080p/24 .mkv from my upstairs computer over wireless network to my wdtv 2 plugged into my wireless router downstairs without any bandwidth concerns?


2. Any approximation anyone has seen on the release of this thing? before the end of september? before christmas? an educated guess/speculation is all i expect here.
 
#103 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dukefan6842 /forum/post/17012764



1. Would I be able to stream 1080p/24 .mkv from my upstairs computer over wireless network to my wdtv 2 plugged into my wireless router downstairs without any bandwidth concerns?


2. Any approximation anyone has seen on the release of this thing? before the end of september? before christmas? an educated guess/speculation is all i expect here.

Can't comment on #2 but my best guess would be before christmas. As for #1 I would expect very little success streaming 1080p mkvs over wireless. Your best bet would be to stick with wired (i.e cat5e/cat6) or if that is not an option try a powerline/MoCA product.
 
#104 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by rexian96 /forum/post/17009824


True. As owan pointed out, Xonar cards partially support birstreaming DTS-MA/TruHD but only with some specialized software (TMT).


But a $200+ card just to get the raw audio out? No thanks. I'll wait for a future NMT/WDTV with this support and until then I'll live with vanilla DTS out of DTS-MA containing MKVs.

If I am not mistaken, many first generation NMTs can stream HD sound without your xonar card. And WD can not do it in their second generation box ? You better stay away from such a company !
 
#106 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by mytbyte /forum/post/17011919


It's just a mini-jack to 3 RCAs, me thinks...DV cameras use this 99% of time to get video out...it comes with the package, I'm sure!

Yeah will probably be a three-banded mini-jack, one band for each color component, really not hard to do........ Audio out will have to be toslink or from the analog a/v out jack I suspect.......
 
#107 ·
I am a very happy WDTV (ver 1) owner. Admittedly, I run the ext-3 firmware hack which allows me to have USB hubs and a USB->Ethernet connection, but apart from that the rest of the WD TV was pretty damn good from the word Go (and for AU$170, hard to beat).


As far as the WDTV-2 is concerned, on-board ethernet will be nice, but what I really need out-of-the-box is:

(a) USB Hub capabilities (how hard can it be - that's the first thing that was hacked into the old firmware - I have 4 drives, dammit); and

(b) proper subtitle handling. The subtitling engine in WDTV-1 is usable, but compared to a typical FFDSHOW/FFMPEG installation, it sucks big time; no re-locatable subs, no multi-coloured subs, not capable of showing two individual subtitle lines at a time (ie, one subtitle line is displayed and a *second* subtitle line is added soon after during the display of the first line - for example, when multiple people are speaking)... etc. I watch a lot of subtitled stuff, so this one is very high on my list.


But even with the above problems - I love that little box-o'-transistors.
 
#108 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by daphatty /forum/post/17011879


Well, video card companies have been supplying proprietary Component out dongles for years. It doesn't seem too far fetched that WD found a way to make that happen using what seems to be a mini-din (?) connector.

DOes ythat mean it now only support component and not composite for Video out? I only see an pin for the Component link and not for the composite, From what i know the yellow cpomposite is the most used video out on older tv's not component, am i wrong or does the viode out pin also work with composiste too?
 
#110 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by YukonJack /forum/post/17018436


With a network connection, I would really hope they allow Netflix and Pandora streaming to the device. That would seal the deal for me buying one of these. I could move the other one upstairs for the kids.


That's exactly the problem I see with devices like these. Things streamers were intended to stream movies and music stored on a computer to a TV. But the companies behind the products are trying to make it "everything for everyone". Streaming from netflix, streaming from youtube, streaming from this site, from that service. There lies the problem. They have *too* many functions and they can't perform ANY of them well, then the consumer gets a near-broken device that's slow and is prone to screwing up.


I personally don't want a box which can stream from the web, just to stream the popular file formats from a PC, and to do that specific task well.
 
#111 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by SilverBlade /forum/post/17019699


That's exactly the problem I see with devices like these. Things streamers were intended to stream movies and music stored on a computer to a TV. But the companies behind the products are trying to make it "everything for everyone". Streaming from netflix, streaming from youtube, streaming from this site, from that service. There lies the problem. They have *too* many functions and they can't perform ANY of them well, then the consumer gets a near-broken device that's slow and is prone to screwing up.


I personally don't want a box which can stream from the web, just to stream the popular file formats from a PC, and to do that specific task well.

Products are already out there or integrated with players / TVs. I haven't used any but last time I checked Panasonic, Sony, Microsoft, LG, Samsung, etc. all have such devices. If WD incorporated such a feature, I would think they would license something that has already had most of the bugs worked out.


As great as this product is, it cannot be everything for everyone within a $100 budget. It's a first generation product. Give things time. I personally avoid most anything that's first generation. The WDTV was an exception for me. I think what's happening here is people have really high expectations for a $100 box and when they don't get instant gratification for a quirk they've encountered they get ticked off. Things will happen in due time. Competition assures that.


I think WD is keeping things simple so as to not dramatically affect their manufacturing costs by keeping things in a small box. I have been using the WDTV since December and the main bugs for me have already been ironed out.


It seems most of the people complaining here have very specific needs that probably most people do not care about every single subtle nuance. I'm not saying those needs are not relevant, just that the more unique your needs the longer it will take to remedy (if at all).
 
#112 ·
Just as much this has become a cut throat business, so I think you will see more and more products rushed to the market before they should be. T&ake Xtreamer, they are still having problems fulfilling orders and it seems that there are some key items that they advertised with the product that aren't even available yet (you had no way of knowing this until after you got the product). Hopefully WD has had enough time to learn from the good and bad of the WDTV with the release of the next two players.
 
#114 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevenz /forum/post/17023262


I'm wondering if this one use the same processor as the wd tv.

that's the million dollar question. if there's no processing power jump and we're stuck with 5 reframes on 1080p video, it'll become pretty apparent that WDTV is trying to resell us the same old machine. $130 doesn't sound like a good deal for a small audio boost that only audiophiles will appreciate and networking capabilities that 3rd party firmware and a $7 adapter can handle.


i have faith though that something good will come of the WDTV2.
 
#120 ·
You know, the more I think about this new device, the more I like its potential. Connecting a WDTV2 to a network share is just the tip of the iceberg. What if that network share resided on an HTPC where your Digital Tuner Cards recorded and stored TV shows? Considering the huge list of supported codecs, it's highly likely that the WDTV2 will be able to play these files with little to no adjustments on your HTPC.


Yea, the possibilities here are very exciting indeed.
 
#121 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by joshjoshlol /forum/post/17024121


that's the million dollar question. if there's no processing power jump and we're stuck with 5 reframes on 1080p video, it'll become pretty apparent that WDTV is trying to resell us the same old machine. $130 doesn't sound like a good deal for a small audio boost that only audiophiles will appreciate and networking capabilities that 3rd party firmware and a $7 adapter can handle.


i have faith though that something good will come of the WDTV2.

If you were WD what would you do?


If you are a big company, you really don't have to do anything innovative. Just give what all other companies in the market do, and put your name on the product = guaranteed sales...

Does anyone have a player with the Sigma 8642 in the market now? No (except the 300$ C-200 maybe)

Does everyone (or almost everyone) give component, LAN, and DTS downmix? Yes


New chip like sigma 8642 means:

1. More expensive product (8635 must be cheaper now than last year, and 8642 more expensive)

2. New SDK and new bugs (and we all know how well they have done with firmware bug fixing
)
 
#122 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 /forum/post/17012792


Can't comment on #2 but my best guess would be before christmas. As for #1 I would expect very little success streaming 1080p mkvs over wireless. Your best bet would be to stick with wired (i.e cat5e/cat6) or if that is not an option try a powerline/MoCA product.

Why would 1080p MKV's not work over wireless? Most 1080p MKV videos are encoded using H.264 at anywhere from 6Mbps (animation) to 14Mbps (very action-oriented movies) bitrate. That is all well-under the 54Mbps (theoretical) or 48-ish Mbps (real-world) capability of wireless 802.11g. I've streamed 1080p H.264 MKV's at these bitrates over my wireless network without any trouble.
 
#123 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by hexydes /forum/post/17038304


Why would 1080p MKV's not work over wireless? Most 1080p MKV videos are encoded using H.264 at anywhere from 6Mbps (animation) to 14Mbps (very action-oriented movies) bitrate. That is all well-under the 54Mbps (theoretical) or 48-ish Mbps (real-world) capability of wireless 802.11g. I've streamed 1080p H.264 MKV's at these bitrates over my wireless network without any trouble.

Wireless can be unstable and is dependant on many factors. I cannot get a consistent stream using Wireless-N, let alone even touching Wireless-G. Every situation is going to be different, But I would guess that most people who expect to stream 1080p content (A blu ray mkv/ts movie can easily exceed 20Mbps) will be dissapointed. Like I said though, every situation will vary.
 
#124 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dbone1026 /forum/post/17038332


Wireless can be unstable and is dependant on many factors. I cannot get a consistent stream using Wireless-N, let alone even touching Wireless-G. Every situation is going to be different, But I would guess that most people who expect to stream 1080p content (A blu ray mkv/ts movie can easily exceed 20Mbps) will be dissapointed. Like I said though, every situation will vary.

20Mbps is still well under even a marginal 802.11g wireless signal. Additionally, unless you absolutely don't want to spend the time re-encoding (instead simply dumping the elementary stream into a different container), 20Mbps is a complete waste of space. 10-12Mbps H.264 is more than enough to support a 1080p video stream all the way up to about a 50" display.


At any rate...I can only speak from my experience, but I stream many, many terabytes of video content around my house, and I rarely have problems going over wireless.
 
#125 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by hexydes /forum/post/17038580


20Mbps is still well under even a marginal 802.11g wireless signal. Additionally, unless you absolutely don't want to spend the time re-encoding (instead simply dumping the elementary stream into a different container), 20Mbps is a complete waste of space. 10-12Mbps H.264 is more than enough to support a 1080p video stream all the way up to about a 50" display.


At any rate...I can only speak from my experience, but I stream many, many terabytes of video content around my house, and I rarely have problems going over wireless.

I have found that the listed specs and the real world specs, particularly for wireless, can vary quite dramatically, and there are a lot of additional factors to take into account. I know quite a few people who are unable to stream a Blu Ray mkv over wireless n, let alone wireless g. Also, keep in mind, by bringing in encoding you are now possibly adding a 5-20 hr process just to each movie to encode down, let alone taking something away from the original blu ray (this can be debated whether or not a difference can seen, but that is for another topic). But as you mentioned, we are both only speaking from our experience and from what I have discussed with other people.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top