*Official* WD TV Live Streaming Media Player Thread - Page 8

I was looking for some input on the WD TV live plus. From reading here it looks like it's some what hit or miss on how well it works playing bluray iso. So I wanted to use this unit in the bedroom to watch the MKV, AVI etc. file types of tv shows, bluray iso's and DVD's on hard drive. This would be a less costly and smaller foot print solution instead of another HTPC. How well will this work for this use? I will have a wired connection for it. Although I am concerned about it's 100bit instead of gigabit network connection for streaming bluray iso.

If there's a better suggestion I'm open to it.

Thanks for any input.

This thread is for the new WD TV Live (new version) that is newer than the Live Plus that you mentioned. This new Live came out just a couple weeks ago and is selling for just a tad more (if not the same price) as the older Live+.

I've played mkvs, avis, .mov, .m4v, etc. with no issue on the new Live. I haven't tested yet with BD ISOs but if it did work, it would not support full-menus like other media players that use the 864x/8910 series chips instead.

Thanks for the information. My mistake on the model name.

It sounds like from reading here it has problems playng 1080 bluray iso on 100bit connection. I found playing the bluray iso's off my NAS box I had some problems at 100bit until I use the gigbit speed.

BD doesn't support 1080p60. Avatar is 1080p24.

It does not with MKVs if your network is setup properly.


Exactly. So how does one suppose to come by an 1080p60 of an official movie? Alternatively, if you record such a video yourself (and why not go with 24p as everyone else?) how much bitrate would have to be expected on average?

If this unit can find the main movie in BDMV folder within an ISO, why can't it find the movie in a BDMV folder under a higher level movie folder (i.e. Avatar) share?

I think it works the same way for DVD VIDEO_TS folders. You need to drill down manually to a .VOB or .IFO and hit play.

Seems simple since the capability is already there in an ISO.

Tim

Mine can... I have Iron Man BD ripped as a folder, and it has no problems finding the main movie... at least on a USB disk.
Doing it from a share may be dependent on the Media Library (which isn't working yet on shares) to discover that it's a BD folder.

Thanks - I'm moving my stuff to a 2TB USB disk so I shouldn't have a problem once I'm done. So far all my testing has been from a network share.

Tim

er...no it doesn't it also is 10/100 only. It has the giBit port, but the chip will only do 10/100.

Very frustratingly slow transfer times on my all gbit network.

Some questions related to viewing TV recordings on a networked drive:

1) Can you skip forward and backward while watching video and if so is the amount of time skipped configurable?

2) Can you delete files from the user interface over the network?

3) Can you add any external file to the directory (xml or whatever) to display more information about the recording (title, date, description, etc.)?

Thanks.

See, that's how incorrect information gets circulated.

The HUB has a Gigabit Ethernet port. It ABSOLUTELY has a Gigabit Ethernet port. It has a Gigabit Ethernet port as proven by plugging it into a 10/100/1000 switch and seeing that the link works at 1000.

The fact that it can't do much more than 100 megabits per second (and it CAN do 130 to 140 on a good day..) does NOT MEAN it will only do "10/100."

Any device that says that it has a Gigabit Ethernet port means ONLY that its Ethernet port is IEEE 802.3ab compliant (if it's 1000BaseT, that is, like the Hub)... and that is *ALL* it means... anyone who reads "Gigabit Ethernet" and assumes that the device is going to move *ANY* specific amount of bits per second is totally misunderstanding that specification.

Now, the Live SMP has only a 10/100 port (IEEE 802.3u compliant), meaning if you plug it into a 10/100/1000 switch, you'll see the ports come up to 100, not 1000.

The pairing of Ethernet standard and performance characteristics are related only inasmuch as the standard defines the UPPER LIMIT, and is not an implication or guarantee of performance.

I actually prefer this method. Excellent.

I built a HTPC (Win7 - Media Center/My Movies...etc...) -worked out pretty cool but just hated the whole run a PC/OS just for access to my ripped movies. WELL looked into the WDTV LIVE deal, picked one up and really dig it so far, heres my issue which relates to this thread:

I have a DLINK NAS, it forces me to have a folder called "VOLUME_1" and put everything in it....I have a folder called "Movies" that I used with my HTPC on the NAS. Right now the only way to get to the "Movies" folder is go thru ALL these folders on the WDTV box once powered on:

Select: VIDEOS/VIDEO/FOLDERS/NAS_SHARE/VOLUME_1/Movies/Star Wars.iso

I really have to do ALL that selecting/OK button? I have to click about 6 times just to get to the "Movies" folder. I wish I could just press "Videos" from the main menu and get right into my "Movies" folder.....will this will ever be possible?

I understand the last 3 clicks are kinda my prb but 3 before it seem kinda dumb. Am I doing this right?

Posted this on the WD TV Live board too

thx

Scott

@theruckman

You just have to export the share properly from your NAS so that it appears as movies to the WDTV. It's not a WDTV issue.

philip

Reading the manual it seems like skipping is not currently possible. If you fast forward does the video rewind a little bit before it starts playing again?

It looks like you can delete files from the interface but is that only for files on an attached hard drive or does it work for network files too?

1) Yes.

a) The SKIP is 10-minute, I think. You start by doing Fast Forward >> and then click SKIP >>|.
b) Or, you can SKIP TO TIME by pressing OK, then select "Skip to Time" from the pop-up, and entering the time you wish to go to. Support for this is dodgy, depending on the number of "Cues" your movie was encoded with.
c) Chapter skip by pressing OPTIONS, then View Chapter.. and select the chapter you want. This works with MKVs, DVDs (in NAV mode), M4V, MP4.

The above does NOT work with DVDs in Menu mode, but Chapter Skip works.

2) Yes.

3) Absolutely. That's "XML" Metadata.

My unit doesn't seem to like the underscores while trying to perform a media lookup from a USB disk. It won't find "Movie_(2009).iso" until I do a manual lookup and rename the title to "Movie (2009).iso". This is also true with TV shows.

Anyone else having this problem? Or perhaps I'm impatient and need to let the thing run for a while.

Tim

Thanks for the reply.

For #1, something like a 30-second skip forward and 10-second skip back is better in my opinion when watching recorded tv. I hope something like that could be added.

For #3, is there a specification for the format/schema of the XML that can be used?

Let it run until the "Getting Content Info..." banner at the top disappears.


The easiest thing to do is to have the Live generate one itself, and then you can see all the tags and formatting it uses.

Once the issue with media library on network shares is resolved, you will be able to add folders (or even specific files) from your network shares to the Favorites list on the Dashboard.

Currently, this is only functional on USB storage, but you can test this out by hitting the "Options" button on a folder and selecting "Add to Favorites". Then from the home screen, hit the down arrow. Now you can jump straight to that folder.

I returned my unit to Best Buy due to this, but if the "issue with media library on network shares is resolved" soon, I'll rebuy one.

I finally picked one of these up to try it out and unfortunately without any kind of skip ahead/back by several seconds functionality to skip through commercials it is not usable for me for TV recordings (especially since FF/REW does not restart exactly where you are seeing video when you press play again). I also am not able to add an RSS feed to a local IP address which was my plan to try to get LiveTV from my networked PC. For example, trying to add 'http://192.168.1.1:3456/rss' gives me an 'Invalid feed address' error. I am using the latest firmware.

Many of us did for years, then we realized that WD doesn't give a crap.

I would be interested if you or anyone else could name a media player that does implement a short duration skip (say 30 sec) forward and back. I have TiVo files on my server for which I have edited out the commercials. Not having to do that would be nice.

Great to know that is coming! Thx for the info....very happy thus far with the unit....Scott

I'm sorry to hear that. This along with unreliable Samba support (suddenly says that no networked PCs are available and then when it finally shows them again it doesn't accept login credentials that worked yesterday) means this is probably going back...

I have the first wdlive.

Cani use it to stream bluray.iso files or must I convert?

congratulations!! you should be able to stream bluray iso files.

Sweet I can backup my movies now . Do they stream without loss of vid n audio quality?.

I have read they can't do 3d which is fine I only have a few 3d movies

I no longer use an older WDTV for a variety of reasons, but I always found WD pretty darned good compared to most companies in this game. This new media player seems excellent. Once the scraping over networks is resolved I will buy one. People seem to want the sky for nothing. For $100 you'd can't do much better.

philip