A couple of questions

[SnowJim]

Hi, I have a couple of questions :

1. My WD TV live hade firmware 17(the newest is 21) and with this I hade some problems with the network? First time I set it up the automatic worked fine, a new firmware existed(21) and I decided to install it. After restart I lost the network and I did still got firmware 17? The Automatic did not work, I hade to set it up manually but when I checked the connection I got DNS exception? Is this a common problem? I have just installed the 21 firmware from USB and the automatic did work fine again, I will however have to trie this some more to know if its really fixed.

2. Right No I am using a regular share(SMB) in Windows7, it takes a while for the WDTV to find the share and until it does nothing happens when clicking the Network share?

3. With the SMB share I can run most of the 1080p but not all, some I will have to run from USB to be sure that thay run smoothly. Is there any other way(faster) to share media to the WDTV? I know that I used NFS Server for my WDTV rev 1 with custom firmware but this is not suported by the orginal WDTV live firmware?

4. How do I stream radio? In this case I got a link that looks like this : http://www.radioseven.se/128.pls

5. Is it possible to change theme/background image?

6. I have setup the display to use 1080p 23.xxx, is this the correct setup? I also sa that there is a 1080p 24hz? I Supose that my Panasonic 50PX8 suport any one of these.

7. If we compare WDTV Live with Tvix N1 is it correct to say that WDTV Live got :

• Faster LAN (around dubble)
• Faster Chipset
• No suport for DVD ISO menus
  Is this correct? Or is there more things that separates them?

[mkelley]

Welcome to the forums.

I’ll try and answer what I can and someone else will surely jump in here.

1. If you no longer get the “new firmware found” message when you boot up the Live, you have the latest firmware.

2. It does take a bit for the Live to find net shares.  I usually have to try once or twice.

3. Most 1080 HD content will stream fine wired – if you are using wireless then you will have issues with some things.  The best thing to do is to go wired. There is also third party firmware which purports to stream things wirelessly better – Google B-Rad if you want to go this route.

4. ?

5. Not unless you go third party firmware (see above) and perhaps not even then.

6. Leaving the HDMI set to “Auto” should work fine in most cases.

7. The newest firmware for the Live will support DVD menus – it’s coming (Soon).

[SnowJim]

1. Okay, I understand but what about the problems I mentioned? Is this known problems?
2. In my case it takes a couple of minuts before it works, this is a bit strange. Is it not poassible to specifie exacly where my share is and the account for accessing it? Does it have to loof on the LAN every time?
3. I am only using wire, but as I said some of my mkv files and mp4 do not run as good as if thay are placed on the USB, is there any other way of sharing media with WDTV?
4. Is it possible to stream internet radio with the WDTV live? And will it work with the posted playlist link?
5. Ok
6. When in auto the video is more jerky? If I set it on 1080p 23.xxx it is noticeable better?
7. Grate!

[mkelley]

I can only speak to a few of these:

3. Please post the MediaInfo text on one of your problematic files – I’m guessing it’s a bandwidth issue, but let’s take a look at it to make sure.

4. That doesn’t make sense – auto wouldn’t make the video more jerky.  Either the resolution plays or it doesn’t.  Are you in a PAL country and, if so, you DO have your Live set for PAL, right?

Hopefully someone else (perhaps Tony, our network expert) can help you with the other questions.

[SnowJim]

3. This is one of the files : http://rapidshare.com/files/322288287/00013.m2ts Im sure this is a bandwitdh issue but I know that other playes have manage to run this sample over the LAN

4. Yes I live in Sweden and its set to PAL.

Thanks

[mkelley]

No, I don’t want to download the file – just post the MediaInfo details on it.

But – yes, an M2TS file that is a full blu-ray rip may have issues playing.  Best bet is to re-encode with Handbrake using the High Profile preset (same quality, much smaller size).

[richUK]

Mediainfo (freeware)

http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en

[SnowJim]

Here is the information :

Format                           : BDAV
Format/Info                      : Blu-ray Video
File size                        : 191 MiB
Duration                         : 35s 280ms
Overall bit rate                 : 45.4 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate         : 48.0 Mbps

Video
ID                               : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID                          : 1 (0x1)
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 4 frames
Format settings, GOP             : M=2, N=32
Duration                         : 35s 935ms
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 39.0 Mbps
Width                            : 1 920 pixels
Height                           : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 29.970 fps
Standard                         : NTSC
Color space                      : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : MBAFF
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.628
Stream size                      : 173 MiB (91%)
Color primaries                  : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177
Transfer characteristics         : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients              : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177

Audio #1
ID                               : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID                          : 1 (0x1)
Format                           : PCM
Format settings, Endianness      : Big
Format settings, Sign            : Signed
Muxing mode                      : Blu-ray
Duration                         : 36s 35ms
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 1 536 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L R
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                        : 16 bits
Stream size                      : 6.60 MiB (3%)

Audio #2
ID                               : 4353 (0x1101)
Menu ID                          : 1 (0x1)
Format                           : PCM
Format settings, Endianness      : Big
Format settings, Sign            : Signed
Muxing mode                      : Blu-ray
Duration                         : 36s 35ms
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 1 536 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L R
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                        : 16 bits
Stream size                      : 6.60 MiB (3%)

[TonyPh12345]

That bit rate is simply too high for the WDTV to handle via Samba.   

[SnowJim]

Yes I hade a feeling about that, but how can I solve it? What else can the WDTV Live handle besides SAMBA? Do I have to use custom firmware to use NFS and will it work?

What does warrenty says about custom firmwares?

[mkelley]

The solution is to re-encode – use Handbrake with the High Profile (but change to an MKV container).  It will then work perfectly with no loss of quality.

[SnowJim]

Apparently the Twivx 6600 can play this file without modifications and the Twix N1 can play it but with a lot of lagg. Since WDTV live has a faster chipset and faster network then the Twix N1 it should not be impossible to get this sample to run with out lagg or modifications. It does run fine from USB but not over LAN so in this case it´s a LAN problem.

With custom firmware it is possible to run NFS and this could probably help but I wish to use the original as long as possible. Is there any other way then SAMBA with original firmware?

I would also appreciate if someone could answer the other questions as well.

BestRegards

[SnowJim]

Pleas I woul appreciate answer on my questions.

[mkelley]

At this point if you’re not getting any answers it’s possible no one here knows.

But just to help, why don’t you restate the questions you didn’t get answered so we’ll know which ones are still hanging for you.  But do be aware that you sometimes are askng things that already were answered (like your question directly above – yes, there is no other way to do what you want without third party software, which is why no one else has commented).

[SnowJim]

Okay this is the questions that remains :

1. How do I stream radio? In this case I got a link that looks like this : http://www.radioseven.se/128.pls
2. If we compare WDTV Live with Tvix N1 is it correct to say that WDTV Live got :

• Faster LAN (around dubble)
• Faster Chipset
• No suport for DVD ISO menus
  Is this correct? Or is there more things that separates them?

3. I have a Logitech Harmony remote and have bound the back button of the WD TV remote to the back button of the Logitech Harmony remot, but nothing happens when hitting back on the logitech remote? Is thos a common problem?

[mkelley]

Again, this is only me and my meager knowledge answering (so hopefully you’ll get someone else as well):

1. The only radio streaming I know of is Pandora or something with a 365 in it (might even be the same thing – I don’t know and I don’t particularly care, as radio isn’t anything I want to do).

2. Since I know nothing about that other unit I can’t comment – Tony might know something about the hardware

3. My Harmony works just fine – I don’t know if the Back button per se is tagged to the Live’s back, but at least one of the buttons is (I’d have to have the remote in hand to look and it’s across the house right now).  Did you do it manually?  Because the Live remote is in the Harmony database and pretty much gets mapped automagically.