WD TV Live

[dhewson777]

Does anyone know if the WDTV will do airplay-type mirroring of the ipad screen. So, for example I could fling video playing in the browser over to a TV, if there is no specific app like youtube or iplayer for it.

No. You can only Airplay with an AppleTV or a genuine Apple AV Adapter.

 

[superfish]

Well I've hit a snag. I have an up to date WD TV Live +. An iPad2 Jailbroken. The WDTV Remote ($.99) APP.
The app won't latch to the WD. I've tried the auto find command and I put in the IP address that I got from the WD using the regular controller.
Using the regular controller I can see my other computers and devices and their shared files.
I'm not sure where to go from here.

 

[superfish]

Here I go again. If anyone knows the answer I'd appreciate knowing. I looked more closely at the APP write up and it is specific that it only works with WDTV live Hub. That seems to be the one with the built in HDD.

However, when I look at Gabe's writeup he has a simple WDTV Live. No HDD.

Can anyone verify this and give me a clue as to how to fix it. (see above post)

 

[Gabriel1]

Here I go again. If anyone knows the answer I'd appreciate knowing. I looked more closely at the APP write up and it is specific that it only works with WDTV live Hub. That seems to be the one with the built in HDD.

However, when I look at Gabe's writeup he has a simple WDTV Live. No HDD.

Can anyone verify this and give me a clue as to how to fix it. (see above post)

You are correct, I only have the WDTV Live, not the hub (as Ext HD's can be connected so I didn't see the point of the hub) and yes, the app does work with the version that I have.

The Archangel

 

[tyreless]

Here I go again. If anyone knows the answer I'd appreciate knowing. I looked more closely at the APP write up and it is specific that it only works with WDTV live Hub. That seems to be the one with the built in HDD.

However, when I look at Gabe's writeup he has a simple WDTV Live. No HDD.

Can anyone verify this and give me a clue as to how to fix it. (see above post)

It used to only be for the hub. Since 24/9/2012 it also works on a simple WDTV Live (which I have). Check the version history in the app store for more specifics.

You need the latest firmware and latest app. I found it to be a bit flakey sometimes but generally speaking it works.

 

[Gabriel1]

It used to only be for the hub. Since 24/9/2012 it also works on a simple WDTV Live (which I have). Check the version history in the app store for more specifics.

You need the latest firmware and latest app. I found it to be a bit flakey sometimes but generally speaking it works.

Hmm, I don't think that is entirely correct, you will see from my first post that I was using the app back in May......just sayin'

The Archangel

 

[tyreless]

Oh ok, no prob.

 

[superfish]

Just to close out my part in this WDTV Live thread:

The box did it for me -- pink screen (think blue screen of death), won't play NETFLIX, does not do anything. Thought it might be the cable but it's not.

I have an Apple TV box arriving on the brown truck tomorrow. That will do every thing I need -- mostly streaming videos for my grandson.
Thanks for your help. I believe that my trouble with the remote app was that the box was dying.

 

[Jmolli]

I do it slightly differently, I load all the movies on my NAS drive, that way I can watch them on any computer/device anywhere in the world yet still play them on my TV via the WD TV Live. Personally I see this as the ultimate option especially as NAS drives are almost as cheap as external HD's now (my 1TB WD My Book Live was only £99).

The Archangel

Gabriel,

Great review of the WD TV Live remote app. I picked up the WD TV Live a few days ago and I'm using it in much the same way as you describe above. My LG BD670 BluRay player couldn't stream AVCHD video (got a new Canon HD camcorder for Christmas!) from a network share, so I picked up the WD TV Live, which streams AVCHD at full 1920x1080i resolution BEAUTIFULLY!

One question I hope you could answer regarding the remote app, which I am using on an iPad. If you tap the "speaker shaped" icon to the right of the power button (mute button?), the four color buttons at the bottom of the screen (A, B, C & D) go away and are replaced with what appears to be a volume slider which has a green check mark at the far right end of the slider. Can you advise what this is? It doesn't appear to affect the volume much at all and after I hit the green checkmark, it goes away and the A, B, ... buttons re-appear. All I got through my HT Receiver when I moved the volume slider was some "crackling" thru my speakers with almost no increase in volume.

Thanks in advance for your reply,


John

 

[Gabriel1]

Gabriel,

Great review of the WD TV Live remote app. I picked up the WD TV Live a few days ago and I'm using it in much the same way as you describe above. My LG BD670 BluRay player couldn't stream AVCHD video (got a new Canon HD camcorder for Christmas!) from a network share, so I picked up the WD TV Live, which streams AVCHD at full 1920x1080i resolution BEAUTIFULLY!

One question I hope you could answer regarding the remote app, which I am using on an iPad. If you tap the "speaker shaped" icon to the right of the power button (mute button?), the four color buttons at the bottom of the screen (A, B, C & D) go away and are replaced with what appears to be a volume slider which has a green check mark at the far right end of the slider. Can you advise what this is? It doesn't appear to affect the volume much at all and after I hit the green checkmark, it goes away and the A, B, ... buttons re-appear. All I got through my HT Receiver when I moved the volume slider was some "crackling" thru my speakers with almost no increase in volume.

Thanks in advance for your reply,

John

Hmm, I'm not sure about that. I've never used it because I always control the volume on the TV remote. If I get a chance I'll have a play around with it later.

The Archangel

 

[AQ_OC]

I've been thinking about replacing my HTPCs with WD TV Lives. I think these little boxes will require no maintance where as PCs always do. Also, i've been having problems with my player software. For example, one box all of a sudden won't play files whose audio DTS-HD Master Audio when I use my mkv player. I don't know why...it used to do it...now I have to gigger around with it to figure what is wrong. And then PowerDVD Ultra is always acting up and stuff, so I'm tired of it. And since I have two of these...and Windows wants to update all the time...and drivers want to update...Argh. Too much stuff to do.

So, I'm looking at streaming boxes and the WD TV live comes to mind. I see it can handle all the file formats I need, which are mainly MKV, ISO (blu-ray) and DVD into folders. I use MyMovies as a means to bring down all the cover art needed, so all the content is stored in folders that have the appropriate fan art. I have some 40TB of media ripped. I keep this on a windows PC with the drives shared on my network. The various drives contain nothing but the media arranged in folders with fanart.

So, first question is how do I get WDTV to see it?

Second question is does the WDTV live support high-resolution lossless audio formats like TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio? This is very important to me as I buy blu-rays for this reason. I could not find clear wording that says both are supported.

Third, and I will check Youtube for this, but how does the WDTV Live display your ripped content on screen? Does it have internal storage of some kind so it can remember what you have? I have a bunch of hard drives...once they fill up the content on them doesn't change. I'm currently using Windows Media Center to see my content. Big long menus with fancy backgrounds and such. TV shows pop up by season, then episode, etc. Very nice. MyMovies maintains the database behind Media Center to make all of this work. It runs on each of my HTPC and on the PC that serves up the media. I don't mind leaving it as long as I get something similar to replace it. Having to root through zillions of folders and drives is not my idea of fun.

Thanks for any info anyone can provide on these points.

 

[AQ_OC]

Ok....I had $60 in certs at Best Buy, so I'm going to pick one up tomorrow for $42. It seems it handles the high-def sounds by pass-thru over HDMI to my AV receiver, which is exactly what I want. I'm not convince the menus will be as nice, but this should at least give me an additional option until I can get my HTPCs back in order. Now to get my networking in order so this thing can see it.

 

[AQ_OC]

Wow...I see WD has released a new streamer: WD TV Play.

This page gives a comparison: Welcome to Western Digital US Online Store

 

[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!

 

[Gabriel1]

Wow...I see WD has released a new streamer: WD TV Play.

This page gives a comparison: Welcome to Western Digital US Online Store

That's really interesting, I'll take a look at that and probably order one.

The Archangel