*Official* WD TV Live Streaming Media Player Thread - Page 56

First time poster to this thread/forum. Looking for clarification:

Using Mezzmo [with transcoding OFF], can I stream DTS-MA, Flac and TrueHD NATIVELY in an MKV wrapper through the WDTV to my Onkyo 3008 for the digital-to-analog conversion?

Can I include VC1 video NATIVELY in an MKV wrapper to the WDTV?

Currently I recode all my BluRays to 720p [x264] for size and extract the core DTS stream [or convert to DTS from TrueHD] prior to muxing in an MKV wrapper.

I'd like to start sending muxed [MKV] native audio/video [1080p/DTS-MA] to my Onkyo and am looking for the most economical solution.

Kurt

I use shared folders (low-end NAS) and for the most part MKVs with HD video/audio works great. You can only get the core audio with DTS-HD MA however. VC-1 works fine. I have been testing/using MakeMKV for OS X. I do have a rare audio issue that looks more and more to be WD related... it's covered in other posts.

Thanks for the quick reply. Any solution out there that includes DTS-MA natively? I need bitstreamed audio sent to my AVR, and DTS-MA is by far the most common format.

What I have now provides me with core DTS. Moving to a different Media Player would be senseless without DTS-MA. Although my TV only supports 1080i [hence recoding to 720p], I can certainly hear the difference between DTS and DTS-MA.

Kurt

WD Live players do not bitstream DTS-MA. They will extract and bitstream the core DTS audio when fed a DTS-MA source. They do bitstream DD TrueHD.

The Netgear NeoTV 550 for $85 via Amazon? The interface isn't as nice, third-party required for scraping, virtually zero online streaming options, remote isn't as handy... however it is has a few niceties such as easily displaying a ton of file information. If you want (only) local HD streaming grab it... if you can live without HD audio go with the WD. There are several other options more than covered in other threads... although at roughly double to triple the cost.

What about the NeoTV 200? Can pick it up for $49...

Kurt

Also - judging by your comments on the 550 thread, it doesn't handle TrueHD. I need both HD formats to bitstream. So am I limited to a Dune box? What about Boxee? Or must I break down and build an HTPC?

Cheers,
Kurt

Neotv 200 does not support local streaming. popbox v8 and popcorn hour players will bit-stream both HDAudio formats. Boxee Box will stream both too but has HD Audio dropouts on occasion, which is the only problem I have with Boxee Box otherwise it is cool. Problem is I don't believe the problem with Boxee will be fixed.

I don't have any real comments over there... just a few questions. My understanding is it handles TrueHD fine outside of some MKVs with subtitles on... that's best addressed over there.

The Boxee Box as noted has audio dropouts (experienced them first hand) plus Netflix support is limited (no 1080p encodes). It does support a browser but it operates rather badly (at best). Its claim to fame I believe is one app that lets you stream a lot of online content... the remote and fan/vibration are rather bothersome.

Personally, I wouldn't go the HTPC route (been there many, many years ago) and if I was set on streaming local HD I would swing for one of the more expensive boxes and simply purchase a Roku (or whatnot for online streaming). I really like the WD and if it handled HD audio I would have at least two.

For example, what would you recommend?


Any feel for whether WD will add DTS-HD support?

Cheers,
Kurt

I don't know enough about them. I'd recommend hitting their related threads. A search or two will turn up more than enough information.


No chance... by the way just finished a MKV with TrueHD and it played fine via the Neo.

I'm confused, is there a flag set in the m2ts (that the WDTV might ignore) or has Clown_BD (eac3to) just rearranged the stream order so with the player set to ON, the stream is played back by default?

Hi Folks,

I have quite a few movies as video TS files that for some reason my wdtv live will not play. A quick look on google seems to imply I will need to convert these files to another format.

Any suggestions on the easiest way to do it. In most folders there are quite a few video and audio files that make up the movie.

I was thinking of trying the AVS Video Converter as part of the ANS4you suite and converting to AVI. Is this the best and easiest software ?

Clown_BD can re-order the subtitle tracks so that the extracted forced subtitles play as the first track. So, if you have subs enabled, it'll automatically play the forced subs.

It appears the WDTV does not honor the forced subtitle flag.

What format do you want to convert to?

If you want to convert to M2TS, drag the file into TsMuxer and just output as M2TS.

If you want to convert to MKV, drag the file into MKVMerge and output as MKV (download mkvtoolnix here.)

You shouldn't use AVI. It's a hack just getting it to support H.264 and it's inferior to MKV in every way. Particularly, if you want to use HD Audio, you don't want to use AVI.

I thought TS files were supported by the WDTV though.

well if i open up the folder and scroll down and clicj play i can play some of the files but clearly its not the best way to do it. Also i have some files then when i click play the dvd menu comes up like a normal dvd ,only i cant scroll to select audio or play movie.
i guess i'll try with AVS to convert to another format or get a copy of the MKV conversion software. thanks

Wait a minute -- what are you talking about. What do you mean by "video TS files". Do you mean a single file with the extension .ts -- which is what I think everyone thinks you mean -- which you get from recording HDTV transport streams with a PC tuner. OR, do you mean the VIDEO_TS folder that was ripped from a DVD Video disk.

I'm wondering the same thing. Sounds like he's trying to open the VOB files individually. I can't see why playing a MPEG Transport Stream would open a DVD-like menu.

VIDEO_TS folder that has tons of stuff inside of it. I'm sorry if i had it wrong. I'm at work and no access to the folders to confirm. But the folders/files are rips from dvd.

OK, we're talking native .m2ts as it comes off the BD disk.

Most BD titles with forced subs package the forced subs in the main subtitle track and not as a separate forced-subtitle track (exception = StarWars BD's). A player that handles forced subs properly will read the flags and pick out and display the forced subs. The WD Live players do not read the flags -- they don't handle forced subs at all; the only way to see the forced subs when playing the native .m2ts file is to have the WD Live play the main subtitle track which means you get subs for everything.

Enter Clown_BD. When Clown processes, the first stage is to demux the main title to pick out the tracks you select (i.e. video, audio and subtitle). Clown will identify a subtitle track that contains forced subs. When it does, it extracts the forced subs into a separate subtitle track during the demux process. The second stage of Clown processing is to remux the pieces it just pulled out into a new BD.m2ts file that is your final product. When it does this it puts the subtitle track it created with forced subs at the top of the list so that when you play the title on the WD Live and hit the subtitle button, the first sub track is the one you want with the forced subs. Clown will also set a flag on the forced sub track for it to be played automatically -- the WD Live players ignore that flag also; you have to manually tell the WD Live to play the forced sub track.

Here is what I do to rip a BD main title to BD.m2ts for playback on my WD Live players.

1. Run Clown_BD stage 1 (demux) only -- do this by unchecking the box for TSMUXER.
2. At the main track selection screen, only select all the english subtitles -- no video or audio tracks.
3. Run Clown stage 1 then inspect the subtitles in the DEMUX folder.
4. Using SupRip (or the program of your choice) inspect the individual subtitle tracks to identify the main track for the title.
5. If that main track contains forced subs, there will be a companion subtitle track with "_forced" appended -- that's how I know there are forced subs in the title.
6. Having identified the proper subtitle track, I re-run Clown_BD again, this time running both stages (demux/remux).
7. At the main selection screen I select the HD video track, the HD audio track and the english subtitle track I just identified.
8. Clown runs and generates the main title BD.m2ts ready for the WD Live.

Hope this clears it up for you.

Exactly, the best way is to make an ISO out of it. Otherwise put all VOBs/ISOs into a VIDEO_TS-folder.


Yeah, but it does support the SETSTN flag in DVDs, apparently the whole system is incosistent (no surprise there).


Gonna do some testing with various formats.


Not exactly. I know Clown_BD does it like MakeMKV: extract all flagged items into a separate stream, if this is the first stream you get forced subs only as intended. But what part of Clown_BD additionally flags items as forced, eac3to? Imagine I have an m2ts with 2 streams, one of which I want to flag as forced. What tool do I use?

Can't help you there, I don't know. If I had to guess between eac3to and tsmuxer, I would guess tsmuxer since it assembles the .m2ts file. But as I said, that's just my personal guess -- you will have to dig into the programs' documentation and determine which one does the job.

I am planning to get a WD TV Live (the one without storage)

Will it support playing 3D content? TV is sony ex720.

Somewhere i read that only HDMI 1.4 can play 3D. Is WD TV Live has HDMI 1.4?

Thanks in advance.

Hey guys new to forum and new to all new tv and other stuff. I have lg 47lm7600 and connected D6500w Samsung home theater system. I just use the WD live to play movies and photo's from hard drive becoz all other app are almost similar to what i have in my samsung hub.

Now my question my home theater system have USB port..i dint knew and hence ordered the WD live. I have now hooked up my hard drive directly into home theater system and its able to play movies photo's and all. Was just wondering is their any other feature becoz of which i should still keep the WD live or can resturn it. My TV can access and network as well as my home theater and Apps are common.

Would really appreciate some help on this as got nice deal on WD live for $63..Should i keep it if yes for what reasons. Thanks in advance.

No, HDMI 1.3c can also do 3D.

And ANY player can do SBS or TAB 3D formats as long as the base media profile is within the player's specs.

But also, the device has VUDU; there's several 3D titles in VUDU, and it works correctly with my TV by setting the 3D mode automatically.

The WDTV does NOT support "Native 3D" frame-packing format from BDs and such.

Try this for further information:

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Li...ack/td-p/93522

Clown_BD changes the index.bdmv and movieobject.bdmv to force the 1st track, nothing more.

Now I have a question which I simply can't find the answer to. Can the wdtv act as a dlna client out of the box or is a special firmware needed? I want to stream live tv from dvbviewer. I bought a lacinema mini hd connect. This works fine, but playback does not start until a 45 second buffer is accumulated which for me is unacceptable.

Yes, the WDTV is a DLNA client out-of-the-box.

It could be that DVBViewer is transcoding, hence the delay.

If anyone had the choice today to buy the WDTV Live SMP or the WDTV Live Plus...which one would you get?

I have a lead on a used Live Plus...but I'm not sure if I shouldn't just get the new SMP. Mainly because I'll be streaming all my content from my NAS (DNS-323) over my LAN.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for clarifying that.


Could be, but it's too long. Streaming to Oppo BDP93, PS3, Samsung S2, Motorola Xoom or another PC manages to start under 3 seconds. The LaCie will go back. I'll pick up a NeoTV_550 (90 euro Pixmania sent) and WDTV Live (77 euro KMShop collected) to compare.