WDTV owners, let's hear you! I've used both the original WDTV and then the WDTV Live. It's still the only player on the market that can play Blu-Ray ISOs smoothly; my blu-ray player doesnt get much use as a result!
I do like the live player, I brought one for my rents and 1 each for both my bro's. My only qualm with it is that it fails on subtitles a lot and my bro's watch a lot of anime. One of them ripped all his studio ghibli collection to iso's so he could have them all at uni and the live was unable to open the subtitles when playing back from the iso file.
Silly question out of the way first, in the WDTV and the External PC hard disks they are always WD's own hard disks, aren't they? I was shocked to find out that Samsung and Toshiba wouldn't always use their own drives in their PVRs/DVD recorders, it just didn't make any sense...
I have one of the original WDTV players, and it plays everything I throw at it. Even better, it has an optical sound output to the surround sound. I have a tv that plays blu-ray rips, as well as a blu-ray recorder, but I'm keeping my little WDTV..
I like the new FW update with the WDTV Live, its nice to be able to browse something other than youtube when I've run out of stuff to stream from my PC into the bedroom.
Got a WDTV original, installed the custom b-rad firmware and stuck a belkin usb>lan adaptor into it, it now streams content from any of the PC's shared drives and acts as a samba share also. With the support for upnp i also have it hooked up to "PlayOn" which gives me the ability to view BBC iPlayer and Youtube on it. I have a USB HUB plugged into also so that I may host the OS on a memstick, files on 2x usb 1tb drives and the lan adaptor also. Great lil unit for the kitchen and livingroom!
Nice little device. Only thing I can fault is that it can't play bd iso's for sh**. Huge amount of stuttering etc.
Can anyone recommend some good custom firmware for this? I'm interested but not too sure where to start!
Can anyone expand on their experience with this & subtitles? I'd love to get one, but my missus is half deaf and so subtitles are pretty high up the list of priorities. Can it read subtitle files like VLC media player does?
Loving my WDTVLive. I get by the subtitles issue by using Handbrake or free make to convert them into mp4 files and "burn in" the subtitles. That way they are always on show.
Well I was thinking of getting a WDTV Live for £80, but then I picked up a full 775 system in an Antec Veris case for £100. I also have a raspberry pi, so hopefully I’ll be using that soon with XBMC.
I have to say the WDTV Live is the worst piece of kit i have ever bought. It constantly crashes mid way through playing video and mp3's, it constantly has issues find the network connections (or finds it and says there is nothing in the folder) The only way to get it working again is either a software reset, hardware reset, recheck of the network settings or, for some strange reason, leave it for a couple of hours. I was starting to think it was my network as its the same issues over and over, but nothing else on the network has a fault. I can always access the server (from inside the network or across the internet) and none of the other PC's i have drops off the network EVER. So far i have had it replaced 2 or 3 times (i have honestly lost track over the past 18 months) and logged maybe 6 tech support queries. I have another 'escalated' requested in for support with WD at the moment. I spoke to their technical rep (Yemi Elegunde) at The Gadget Show in Birmingham this year who promised me an upgraded replacement if i called support when i got home.....nothing. They wont even entertain the idea now. Replacements have been sent out with the wrong PSU's, the wrong firmware and the wrong language setup. Replacement PSu's have never been sent as promised Tech supports answer to every query (initially) is upgrade to the latest firmware, and if you're already on the latest, downgrade to the previous one. Its so annoying. While i will say i love WD Hard Drives and will continue to use them, i cant wait till i can get my Raspberry Pi working on XMBC so i can stop using the WDTV Live. A total waste of about £80.
Hmm... You appear to have been very unlucky there. Especially since you have tried more than one unit. I have had none of the issues you mentioned. Have you tried updating the firmware? Also try going on the WD forums and asking advice.
After I posted this... I have to admit to laughing at your post Do you work for WD? (joke) I have tried the forums and knowledge base before I started with their tech support. The issues I have are all down to network side of the product, so I can believe that. It seems to work fine with a USB drive, so I know it's not my files either.
Yeah, have to admit I skim read your first post. I use my wdtv live through my network connected to a dlink router and Synology nas and have no issues at all. I can also connect it to a pc I have on the network and run ps3 media player from it. I have never tried running a USB hard drive on it. It plays music, films and photos no problem. My only complaint is that the remote control is stupidly small.
