Western Digital - WD TV Live Media Player (WDTV2) - Page 55

Yes, read ahead buffering is a solution to latency (the time between when the data is requested and the the time it's delivered) and short term peak problems, not average throughput.

Please go to this link where smallnetbuilder reviews the lx195. Now I have yet to read a bad review of this thing but to me a one-disk solution is just not good for people who will be storing hi-def movies. So I really do not want the lx195. The problem arises when looking at the performance chart of the lx195. It reads AND writes faster that the EX487. I can't understand why... Here's the link:
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/n...owall=&start=2

I just realized that I had a binary newsgroup download running in the background when I was testing the Planet Earth video over the network. That could only have used a small portion of the network's throughput (my internet bandwidth is about 6,000 kbps, and newsgroup access is throttled to even less than that) but it seems to have been enough to cause the problems playing the video. With the news reader stopped the Planet Earth video plays smoothly. Except one tiny jerk that probably corresponds to that 90,000 kbps peak in the middle of the bird sequence.

1080p is just too much bandwidth for N to handle. I wish there would be a streaming progress bar to show the buffer, perhaps in an update. I found it easier to hook up a usb drive to my WDTV Live then I rsync movies/tv to it overnight. It shows up in the Finder:

Now if it would only do dvd menus it would be perfect. Until then it is useless to me.

Without derailing the thread too much, can you explain "reference frames" to me? If it's too long or will evoke too much discussion can you PM me?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referen...me_%28video%29 should do it...

Don't know what to tell you there. That article is from May so there might have been an HP update since then which would take care of this issue. The EX487 has a much better processor and more RAM so it should be faster.

Plus, the LX195 is not really that expandable. I wouldn't consider it for my needs. It only has 1 internal drive and you need to add USB 2.0 drives to expand your space. The EX487 has 3 open internal drive bays. Much better IMHO.

Check this out from the comment section of that article...
"The reason is that when the 195 has to access USB-connected drives in real time, throughput is going to drop to, at best, around 20 MB/s."
Since the LX195 only has 1 internal drive, the minute you have to expand that space and move your files to an external USB 2.0 drive, your speeds will drop WAY below the EX487.

I understand fully but if the device already incorporates a "buffer", then why do some movies stutter intermittantly ? Is the buffer already "full" ?

And the core question is: If a wired 10/100 network has sufficient bandwidth to stream even high-bitrate files, why does it choke from time to time ? And is there a solution to the problem ? (gb network ?)

FYI: Western Digital just announced they will be adding official user forums shortly.

Have any of you thought to look at there computer instead of blaming everything on the network or wdtv

I'm not trying to start something, but common gigabyte will do absolutely nothing unless you want to stream 18 uncompressed blu ray streams

1. GB won't change anything
- 95% of harddrives will not be able to stream 125mb's
- the WDTV is 10/100

2. Blu Ray - 54mb's - 6.25MBPS Transfer Rate
Network - 100mb's - 12.5MBPS MAX Transfer Rate

The problem isn't..

The WDTV
Your Network Cable
Your Switch
Your Router

It's your damn computer!

Let's see what I'm able to do in my house

2ghz AMD
2gig ram
1tb wd black
cat5 cable "not cat5e just cat5"
Running ubuntu.. just right click share folder "simple smb share"

I can surf, download torrents, listen to music.. well streaming two 1080p mkv rips at min bit rate of 12,000kbps each without a hitch or stutter on the WDTV

Tried that planet earth video without a hitch or stutter :P

FYI: WHS sucks & Vista Sucks 'XP is still cool"

Because bitrate spikes are causing the small read ahead buffer to drain.

OK, so I did a reset on the WDTV Live and then added another movie + thumbnail to my folder after it finished encoding. The thumbnail does not show on the movie, it shows as a seperate file when I look in that folder with the WDTV. All others have the thumbnail showing on the respective movie file.

Current hard drives can stream about 40 to 120 mega BYTES per second off the platters and through the SATA interface. Much faster than 100 mega bit per second ethernet.

I wish the WDTV Live was gigabit.
REALLY? did they have to save 35 cents per device.

guess what guys, that just means they'll be "forced" to release yet another update including gigabit (and possibly wireless, but then I bet they'll do the same thing and release G, only to release ANOTHER update with N)

But it WONT make any difference! The processor cannot handle anything above even 100mbps ethernet speeds! So increasing the 100mbps network bottleneck would achieve nothing, because it is not a bottleneck.

I know.. I said gigabyte.. I would love to see a basic hd which I'm assuming 80% of the people on this forum have or the one that was include in the WHS

do a consistant 120megabyte per second :P

23,976fps (24p) out for .m2ts and .mkv WORKS! (no stuttering like the previous model), if you select it from the video menu.

A friend bought it and I asked him to test that.

My computer plays all files including the planet earth video flawlessly. My WD Live plays all files flawlessly from an external USB drive. The intermittant hiccups are due to streaming these hi-bitrate files over my 10/100 network.

How is my computer suspect ?

Windows XP w/sp3
Core2Quad Q9550
4gb DDR2/800 Crucial
NVidia GeForce 8500 GT (I'm not a gamer)
320gb Seagate SATA 2 (main / OS)
1tb WD (storage)

Verizon FIOS - Actiontec MI424WR Modem/Router
Using CAT5 (50 ft) from router to WD Live

Samsung F3 series, well over 120 MB/s for ~half the drive:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums...ac3cd50#480407

1 TB version is $80 at newegg.

Doesn't mean that 20% of the people on the board have one :P

Hi guys, new to this forum. I've read through a few pages of this thread but couldn't find an answer to my question, it's probably a very noobish one, but I'd appreciate if someone could clarify this for me, thanks in advance.

When you guys say down-mixing DTS, what does it mean exactly? I have a DTS video that seems to show two audio options when played on WDTV, one as AC3 and the other one as DTTT (don't remember the abbreviations exactly). The former has sound while the latter has no sound on my TV. Is AC3 the down-mixed audio that's processed by WDTV or is there something else I'm missing?

Can you explain to me why it is so important to have DVD menus? I just do not get it. It you want menus wouldn't it be better just to use a DVD or Bluray Player? What am I missing?

Imagine, as a good example, a series on DVD, where you'll have 3 or so episode per DVD. Personally - on the XTreamer - I just have each DVD in ISO format, so each DVD is a single file on my unit.

To watch an episode I just click on the ISO, and immediately the proper DVD menu comes up asking which of the X episode on the DVD do I want to watch. Done...

Without DVD menus, you have to browse through DVD files in a VIDEO_TS directory to find what you're after.

Both methods work, but one is simpler and more elegant (& even has a smaller footprint I believe).

Because you (probably) can't slap on a DVD or BD player on the Live? Some people want it all in one device.

I've read through every page in this forum and I'm pretty sure this issue hasn't been mentioned yet.

I have a PS3, 360, Wii, DVD player, Airport Express and WDTV Live hooked up to my receiver. I try to avoid wasting the energy that all of these devices consume in standby mode by connecting them all to the same power bar and killing power when the system isn't on (we have a wall switch that controls the outlet), especially overnight.

All of the other devices go straight into standby mode once the power is switched on again. However, the WDTV turns fully on and powers up the attached USB drive.

Since I control everything with a Harmony remote, I can't easily put the WDTV into standby mode on its own because the Harmony thinks all components of that "activity" are already off. I have to dig out the WDTV remote, open the cabinet and turn it off individually.

Anyone else have a similar setup or see this issue? It's a small issue, but it seems odd that only the WDTV acts this way. It is in standby mode before the power is turned off, so it's not reverting to its previous "on" setting, or anything like that.

When you do, look at popcorn 200, for around $300, still u have to cough up for BD ROM and buy hard drive. I would not think twice and get a ps3 at that point though.

Is this with network shares or local?

And almost every other player in this class supports that feature and makes a settop DVD player redundant in your system.

luckydoggy, I've had similar issues. One solution is to keep the WDTV unplugged. Turn everything on with the Harmony and then plug the WDTV in. A bit of a pain, but it works.

A harmony remote can do anything. Just make a macro, or reassign a button.