Can I connect a NAS directly to the WDTVs Ethernet port?

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Streaming
1

Pretty simple question. Can I connect my WD MyBook Live directly to the WDTVs Ethernet port and stream movies from it?

I tried connecting it, but it doesn’t show up on “Local storage”.

The MyBook Live doesn’t have USB so I can’t connect it to the WDTVs USB port, and I don’t have access to the wireless router since I’m on a shared internet. Please help me with this.

2

You would need a special ethernet cable for it to work, normal TP cables wont work, you need a tp cabel that supports computer-computer connection. Your local computer shop has them. :wink:

Not sure it would work anyway, but thats where you can start anyway.

3

Ethernet-based storage, whether it’s directly attached or via a larger network, won’t show up on Local Storage anyway.  Local Storage is only HDs connected via USB to the WDTV.

If you don’t have your own network, a  My Book Live isn’t going to do you much good — It’s pretty expensive for the minimal functionality you’ll get from it…

4

Thank you both for your replies. I already own the MyBook Live, so I need to make this work. It has all my movies/music on it from previously when I had it connected directly to my PC. I don’t have a PC anymore, and I want it connected to my WDTV so I can access them. What type of cable/device would I need to make this setup work?

5

If you don’t have a PC, you’re probably out of luck…  After all, without a PC, you’re not going to be able to configure the MBL, are you?

6

TonyPh12345, I can configure it from my laptop. What would I need to do?

7

Most ethernet cables are “straight-through” type.  Using these cables you would need the WDTV and NAS connected to a network switch.  If you want a SINGLE network cable connected directly between the NAS and WDTV, you need a “crossover” ethernet cable.  This should work as long as both the WDTV and the NAS have their IP addresses set manually on the same subnet.

8

bubelf wrote:
TonyPh12345, I can configure it from my laptop. What would I need to do?

Oh.  Now I’m confused.  You previously said you no longer have a PC.  A Laptop is a PC.  :)

whitesoxwin (A Chicago Baseball fan, no doubt? :slight_smile:  ) has the correct info.

9

Yes, whitesox fan :smiley:

To expand on the direct connection between a NAS or PC (including laptops) and the WDTV:

  1. Set PC/NAS IP address manually to 192.168.0.10, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, gateway [blank] (doesn’t matter in this scenario).  Note that if you need to access the NAS’s web interface to set its IP or configure DLNA/SMB shares, etc, you can use this same type of connection to connect a laptop/PC directly to a NAS and then use the PC’s web browser to pull up the NAS’s web interface.

  2. Set WDTV SMP address manually to 192.168.0.20, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, gateway [blank] (doesn’t matter in this scenario).

  3. Connect PC/NAS NIC directly to WDTV SMP NIC using a crossover cable.

  4. Add DLNA server, SMB shares, etc as you normally would on the WDTV SMP.  

1 Like
10

Hello whitesoxwin,

Thank you very much for your post above. I have recently bought a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ v2 and I could not get the thing to connect to my WDTV Hub.

The 192.168.0.10 and 192.168.0.20 didn’t work with the Netgear ReadyNAS, so I changed it to 192.168.168.10 (PC) and 192.168.168.20 (WDTV) and then on my WDTV Hub selected Network Share and Linux Shares and up it popped.

I am now about as happy as a pig in **bleep**e. I know Western Digital will edit this, but I don’t care. I am very happy.

Thank you again.

Stephen.