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*Official* WD TV Live Streaming Media Player Thread - Page 2

post #31 of 2844
10/6/11 at 2:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by crbaldwin View Post

So what's the problem with DTS-MA? Can they enable it with a firmware upgrade? Do you at least get the "core" DTS passthrough?

They say that it's a licensing limitation... DTS will not license anything other than Bluray players and AVRs with DTS-HD MA.

So that means:
1) Everyone else is implementing it illegally.
2) WD Doesn't understand that no license should be needed for PASSTHROUGH, only for DECODE, and keeps asking for a license. Meaning their lawyers don't know what they're doing.

I think it's #2.

Yes, you do get the CORE 5.1 in DTS-HD MA tracks.
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post #32 of 2844
10/6/11 at 2:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WDFan1970 View Post

They must have upgraded the proc. The old one is too big for this tiny footprint.

I'll bet they're using the 867x series, which is smaller and faster.

I was right.

http://www.storagereview.com/western...tv_live_review
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post #33 of 2844
10/6/11 at 3:13pm
Has anyone besides Sarcoptic gotten their hands on one yet? I'm curious what you guys think.
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post #34 of 2844
10/6/11 at 3:20pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by raphaelwd View Post

Has anyone besides Sarcoptic gotten their hands on one yet? I'm curious what you guys think.

Review unit just reached my hands (package delivered at home). Will be playing with it later tonight.

From your handle, I assume you work for WD. If so, please refer to the above comments about DTS-HD MA bitstreaming.

Last year, we also found fault with the M2TS splitter used in the WDTV lineup while reviewing the WDTV Live Hub. A bug was filed too. Will be pretty disappointing if it is not fixed yet
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post #35 of 2844
10/6/11 at 3:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WDFan1970 View Post

I was right.

http://www.storagereview.com/western...tv_live_review

Yes, indeed you were. The new-Live has the 8670 with 512 MB RAM while the Live Hub has the 8654 (same as the Live+) and only 256 MB RAM.

So again, I suspect the Live Hub is due for a refresh real soon because this box made it completely obsolete at its current price point.
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post #36 of 2844
10/6/11 at 3:58pm
I don't understand why the MEDIA LIBRARY doesn't work on NAS sources.

Heck the Hub does better than this thing at Media Library, but it wouldn't import user XML. But at least it DOES have a media library (very basic) for NAS.

Now this thing DOES import user XML, but only on USB disks, and there's no media library AT ALL for NAS?
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post #37 of 2844
10/6/11 at 3:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by raphaelwd View Post

Has anyone besides Sarcoptic gotten their hands on one yet? I'm curious what you guys think.

Waiting for it to get to NewEgg. Couldn't you guys pick a unique name for this. I'm already tired of writing "new" Live to distinguish it from the older product.
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post #38 of 2844
10/6/11 at 4:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WDFan1970 View Post

I don't understand why the MEDIA LIBRARY doesn't work on NAS sources.

Heck the Hub does better than this thing at Media Library, but it wouldn't import user XML. But at least it DOES have a media library (very basic) for NAS.

Now this thing DOES import user XML, but only on USB disks, and there's no media library AT ALL for NAS?

Give it time. Only at first firmware revision on a new chip. For a while they were releasing FW revisions for the Live+ almost every month.
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post #39 of 2844
10/6/11 at 5:22pm
If this simply passed DTS-MA, it'd be a formidable competitor to PopBox v1/v8, PCH 200/300 series, Dune, etc.
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post #40 of 2844
10/6/11 at 5:33pm
I picked one up at Best Buy earlier today. I exchanged a Live+ for it that I bought last weekend. I found it in the Home Theater section, rather than the PC section where I found the Live+.

I was hoping this would be the Boxee Box/Popbox replacement I've been searching for. I have plenty of experience with XBMC and a variety of media player jukeboxes, but I am clueless how to access the Media Library on this new WDTV Live. All my media is on a network share. I can access the shares and play my content just fine, but I don't get any of the metadata. The Media Library function is on, but I don't see any evidence that it is scanning anything.

I even resorted to reading the manual... whew... lots of words.
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post #41 of 2844
10/6/11 at 5:38pm
Looks like a direct competitor of the new Netgear NTV200.
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post #42 of 2844
10/6/11 at 7:51pm
picked one up today as well from BB. Seems to be doing great playing MKVs of course. Doing past thru for TrueHD and all is well at the moment. Would really like to figure out the media library thing.
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post #43 of 2844
10/7/11 at 4:17am
Mkv playback is great so far....this is definitely one of the fastest media players I have seen by sigma...the ui loads instantly very similar to realtek based boxes. Years faster than my a110 and a200...also as was mentioned this will play the DTS core out of a DTS-MA soundtrack. The player definitely recognizes the DTS-MA soundtrack as the information on the file will tell you that.

The only request I really have is Amazon VOD support. This simple request will fulfill a lot of peoples needs. I mean with the addition of spotify this box certainly is in a league by itself when it comes to supporting services.
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post #44 of 2844
10/7/11 at 4:41am
Anyone find one in Canada yet?
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post #45 of 2844
10/7/11 at 5:49am
It still doesn't support .ifo files???
It would be nice to be able to utilize my JRMC DLNA service which organizes all of my movies.
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post #46 of 2844
10/7/11 at 6:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by video321 View Post

It still doesn't support .ifo files???
It would be nice to be able to utilize my JRMC DLNA service which organizes all of my movies.

Sure it does. It's DLNA that does not support DVD file structures.

If you want full DVD support, you'll have to use Samba or NFS access.
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post #47 of 2844
10/7/11 at 7:15am
Picked this box up at bestbuy yesterday. So far I am liking the box but the 1 major drawback for me is that it does not scrape content located on NAS devices and add that content to the media library. This makes it very difficult for my kids and my less than tech savy wife to navigate media on the network as I have multiple NAS devices and you have to switch between them to find what you want. Media playback was flawless for me and it even played a few MKV files I had that my boxee would not play the audio track on. As far as premium services, Netflix playback was on par with my boxee but that is all I have an account for at the moment.
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post #48 of 2844
10/7/11 at 7:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by WDFan1970 View Post

Yes, you do get the CORE 5.1 in DTS-HD MA tracks.

Meh. I don't want plain old lossy core. All those cheap new Realtek players that are flooding the market can bitstream DTS-MA. If it's not going to bitstream I want at least DTS-HD MA converted to PCM. I'm also hoping this new box can do multichannel FLAC in a .MKV container (the old box could only output 2 channel).

Netflix 1080p/DD 5.1 confirmed

Hopefully this is 5.1 DD+ bitstreamed audio like the Roku2 does with Netflix.

review
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post #49 of 2844
10/7/11 at 9:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveFi View Post

Meh. I don't want plain old lossy core.

I'm not saying that you can't -- but I really wonder how many people using these WD devices have an audio system high-end enough (and a spouse who lets them play it loud enough) to really hear the difference between DTS core and DTS-MA. I doubt a HT-in-a-box setup would do it. Personally, I know I would like to have DTS-MA simply because it exists . But even though I have a decent audio system I'm not sure I would hear the difference between Core and MA -- I don't really notice a difference between True HD and DTS-core as it is, it all sounds really good already.

At the price point of the WD Live, the lack of DTS-MA passthrough probably doesn't matter to the majority of its users.
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post #50 of 2844
10/7/11 at 9:50am
Could someone clarify exactly what 'film scraping' is.

I think I have a good idea, but I'd like some clarity.

It looks at the films you have, matches them to the imdb page, and takes the film poster from there and attaches it to your film as a thumbnail.

Do I have that right, or have I lost the plot (again)?

Cheers.

Steve W
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post #51 of 2844
10/7/11 at 9:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveFi View Post

review

According to the review that DaveFi linked, the new Live stays fully powered even in standby and draws 7 watts. Apparently standby just kills the HDMI output. I know many people don't like that sort of thing but if this means it comes out of standby and "starts up" quickly with the rest of my components, I'm all for it. One of the great annoyances I have with my Live+ is that it takes over a minute, from the time it is powered, to boot and be ready to play.
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post #52 of 2844
10/7/11 at 10:09am
Will this unit have the same problem with the older Live that stutters when there is a scene with excessive static or grain (used in some movies as a flashback effect) ... those scenes just make my old Live unit choke and becomes a slideshow.
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post #53 of 2844
10/7/11 at 10:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pecker View Post

Could someone clarify exactly what 'film scraping' is.

I think I have a good idea, but I'd like some clarity.

It looks at the films you have, matches them to the imdb page, and takes the film poster from there and attaches it to your film as a thumbnail.

Do I have that right, or have I lost the plot (again)?

Cheers.

Steve W

Correct, but it also can include fetching the year, genre, actors, etc. Storing these and then being able to present them as part of the UI (and also as part of the search/navigation functions).

For it to work, you have to have named your movies correctly. Even then there is usually still the ocassional error.

Quote:


According to the review that DaveFi linked, the new Live stays fully powered even in standby and draws 7 watts. Apparently standby just kills the HDMI output. I know many people don't like that sort of thing but if this means it comes out of standby and "starts up" quickly with the rest of my components, I'm all for it. One of the great annoyances I have with my Live+ is that it takes over a minute, from the time it is powered, to boot and be ready to play.

I think the Live+ is the same, it never goes asleep. Pretty sure that is the case with all the WD players.
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post #54 of 2844
10/7/11 at 10:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by elario View Post

Correct, but it also can include fetching the year, genre, actors, etc. Storing these and then being able to present them as part of the UI (and also as part of the search/navigation functions).

Ok, here goes a newbie question. How do you do this (as it sounds like a perfect addition for the GUI) is it a function within the WD itself?

Thanks; Jessica
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post #55 of 2844
10/7/11 at 10:46am
The "New" Live (I hate that I have to say "New.") and the Live Hub have a Standby mode.
It can be FULLY shut down by holding the power button for 3 seconds, but remember to EJECT any USB drives first.

The OLDER "Old" Lives did not fully shut down, either, but turned off the network port and HDMI. The NEWER "Old" Lives and all Live+ boxes COMPLETELY shut down when turned off, requiring full re-initialization when started up.

Friggin' confusing name...
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post #56 of 2844
10/7/11 at 10:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by CineFreak View Post

Ok, here goes a newbie question. How do you do this (as it sounds like a perfect addition for the GUI) is it a function within the WD itself?

Thanks; Jessica

Good "Newbie!"

It can be done AUTOMATICALLY (in which case it just scans the drive and attempts to match the file name to a movie name in an online database, and if successful, will pull the data in.

Or it can be done via the GUI at any time by highlighting the movie, hitting OPTIONS on the remote, and "Get Content Info" from the pop-up menu.

The manual process is good if the auto process makes a mistake or can't find a match, because then you can "edit" the name to try to find a match, or resolve issues where MULTIPLE matches are found.

It is a REALLY well thought-out process.
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post #57 of 2844
10/7/11 at 11:14am
I'll try and address some of the concerns I'm seeing here.

The metasource manager allows you to use XBMC scrapers on your WD TV. Some features are not supported though, so not all existing scrapers will work.

When using the built-in movie scraper, your best bet for getting the correct result is to have the year at the end of the title. Ex: (2011)

We are working on media library support on network shares.

For those of you worried about power usage, a "long press" will turn the device completely off. Just hold the power button for >3 seconds.

I wish I could say more about the feature request for DTS-MA passthrough. For now, I'd suggest heading over to our ideas lab. The more votes that issue has, the easier it is to get the feature added.

Edit: I had links in my post, but I am not allowed to post them yet since my account is new. I will edit the links in once I'm allowed.
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post #58 of 2844
10/7/11 at 11:20am
RaphaelWD:

Man, I hope you stick around here!

"There's Hope In Your Post."

I'm gonna go push that "Vote" Button until I pass out.

I'm guessing this is the link you wanted to post:

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Li...treaming_ideas

...but I'm not finding an idea about DTS?
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post #59 of 2844
10/7/11 at 11:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by raphaelwd View Post

I'll try and address some of the concerns I'm seeing here.

The metasource manager allows you to use XBMC scrapers on your WD TV. Some features are not supported though, so not all existing scrapers will work.

When using the built-in movie scraper, your best bet for getting the correct result is to have the year at the end of the title. Ex: (2011)

We are working on media library support on network shares.

For those of you worried about power usage, a "long press" will turn the device completely off. Just hold the power button for >3 seconds.

I wish I could say more about the feature request for DTS-MA passthrough. For now, I'd suggest heading over to our ideas lab. The more votes that issue has, the easier it is to get the feature added.

Edit: I had links in my post, but I am not allowed to post them yet since my account is new. I will edit the links in once I'm allowed.

Does it output multichannel FLAC/AAC soundtracks from a .MKV file? This is very important to me (and I'm sure a lot of other people).

USB DVD-Rom support is important too.
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post #60 of 2844
10/7/11 at 11:41am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by raphaelwd View Post

We are working on media library support on network shares.

Some network shares don't have write permission. I have seen streamers solve that issue by writing scraped info to an attached SD card (not possible in WD TV Live) or an attached USB flash drive (this should be possible?)

Quote:


I wish I could say more about the feature request for DTS-MA passthrough. For now, I'd suggest heading over to our ideas lab. The more votes that issue has, the easier it is to get the feature added.

Back in 2009, I started this idea:

http://community.wdc.com/t5/Live-Liv...pport/idi-p/92

Looks like it is a 'licensing' issue. When streamers like Boxee Box (I am sure they signed the same DTS license as WD -- they are not Blu-ray certified) are able to do this, and other products such as those from Dune and Syabas (and a host of Realtek based streamers) can do it too, I can only say that WD has some issue with the legalese (as WDFan1970 pointed out). I know licensing terms are illogical, but, given that the consumer has already paid the necessary 'fees' for the DTS-HD decode when purchasing a capable AV receiver, I don't understand why passthrough should require a special license.

Btw, do you want me to upload the M2TS splitter issue file and link it for faster download ?
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