Originally Posted by AQ_OC

After doing some more reading, I have ordered one of each (WD TV Live & Play). Still concerned that the menu for 700+ files and TV episodes will suck, but the at least I can play with full sound, which is important to me!

Have you ever used xbmc? Nor worries about audio or video encoding, itll play it all. Has airplay built in like apple tv's and doesnt require any maintenance.

I have a wdtv live and its "ok". Listing videos is kinda generic and of course theres no media info like cover art or description. Its basically just a file name.

You can install xbmc on top of windows, stand alone, on ios, linux etc. it grabs all the coverart, movie/tv info and trailers automatically so you dont have to do anything but click "update library" when you add new titles.

Originally Posted by wingzfan61

Have you ever used xbmc? Nor worries about audio or video encoding, itll play it all. Has airplay built in like apple tv's and doesnt require any maintenance.

I have a wdtv live and its "ok". Listing videos is kinda generic and of course theres no media info like cover art or description. Its basically just a file name.

You can install xbmc on top of windows, stand alone, on ios, linux etc. it grabs all the coverart, movie/tv info and trailers automatically so you dont have to do anything but click "update library" when you add new titles.

Actually, I tied this one first...left it for MyMovies. I guess I could go back to a standalone version....provided it has players for BD and supports passthru of audio. I know there are some XBMC boxes out there too...I was looking at one the other day...but it has 10/100 networking...and I want gigabit networking on any device that I buy. I sure hope the WD have that. One think I do like about the WD is they support Netflix, Youtube, and Spotify too...in addition to the movies. Yes, the basic filename display is definitely not to my liking...but I will accept that sometimes if it means I can play a movie exactly when I want to. If I keep my HTPCs, then I will disable Windows Update so my installation can't get buggered up. I should have done this from the get go...

Wing....I did download Frodo (XBMC 12) for Windows just now. Does it have its own players for Blu-rays? MKVs? You say it passes the audio on to the AV receiver via HDMI...sounds great, but the WD TV Live doesn't seem to handle DTS-HD Master Audio (see above as to why I'm saying this). I hope XBMC does.

Ive got 3 xbmc boxes and have been running it for about 3 years. All of mine are ran thru hdmi via my graphics card with audio into a av receiver. The audio passes thru perfnectly whether it be dolby true hd, dts, etc etc.

I ise harmony remotes on all my systems to control xbmc. Also with a program called autokey you can set a button press to close xbmc and open directly into netflix in windows media center as well as hulu desktop. For hulu i just use the xbmc hulu plugin. Youtube i also use in xbmc. I dont know about spotify since i dont use it but any audio i stream on my phone or ipad and airplay it to xbmc so i can control it directly in an app on my ios device.

All of my movies are mkv with digital sound running on a gigabit line from my home server in the basement. They take about 1/2 a second to start playing in xbmc. The wdtv live is only a 10/100 box so they take about 5 seconds to play but dont ever buffer.

If you have any questions on either setup lemme know.

Brw, for my wdtv live box i just pull the files directly from my home server share since wdtv broke upnp support and have yet to fix it.

Originally Posted by AQ_OC

Wing....I did download Frodo (XBMC 12) for Windows just now. Does it have its own players for Blu-rays? MKVs? You say it passes the audio on to the AV receiver via HDMI...sounds great, but the WD TV Live doesn't seem to handle DTS-HD Master Audio (see above as to why I'm saying this). I hope XBMC does.

Xbmc has every codec built right in. It will literally play anything. Yes it will pass audio through HDMI, Im currently watching skyfall in 7.1. It also will handle DTS-HD. Frodo handles all variations of digital audio.

Originally Posted by wingzfan61

Xbmc has every codec built right in. It will literally play anything. Yes it will pass audio through HDMI, Im currently watching skyfall in 7.1. It also will handle DTS-HD. Frodo handles all variations of digital audio.

Yes, I have found this out. I have installed it on three machines so far. One more to go. Thanks for the push on this.

Originally Posted by AQ_OC

Yes, I have found this out. I have installed it on three machines so far. One more to go. Thanks for the push on this.

No problem. This thread got me thinking about hacking my wdtv with wdxltv. Check out a youtube video of it, looks really nice compared to stock.

So, I assume to use Airplay with XBMC you first need an ATV connected some place? I tried to use this feature on one PC with no ATV and the option was greyed out...

No you dont need atv. Go into settings, services, airplay and turn it on. That pc has to have bonjour installed for it to work. Some apps like hbo go for some reason wont stream but the majority will.

Oh, that's right. I remember seeing a message about bonjour. Forgot all about it.

Do you use some other theme? Also, how does xbmc work on iOS and Mac OS X? Right now, I have it only on windows boxes.

Originally Posted by AQ_OC

Oh, that's right. I remember seeing a message about bonjour. Forgot all about it.

Do you use some other theme? Also, how does xbmc work on iOS and Mac OS X? Right now, I have it only on windows boxes.

I stick with the confluence theme. Always kinda liked that one and its fast.

As for ios, i have it on my ipad and love it. Way more control and options plus load times are extremely quick. I dont yet have a mac so im not sure on there how it is. If the apple tv 3 is ever able to be jailbroken itll be on there for me as well.