I really want to like this WD Live unit, but I can’t play recorded TV shows from Media Center on a Windows7 64 bit system. I have tried wireless and wired. The problem is all plays fine for 7-8 seconds then the sound goes away and the video goes into slow motion. I have spent a couple hundred $$ trying different adapters and even got a new router that is a dual band N with gigabit capabilities. Am I doing something wrong or does this thing just ■■■■ for streaming recorded TV. Any help is very much appreciated.
You will need to convert those shows to a format the Live will support. My advice is to run them through Handbrake (freeware) using the High Profile preset, but change the output type to MKV. You can queue up your files so that they will be encoded overnight or while you’re at work.
Well I have the same exact issue. I tried handbrake, but, I get an error message when selecting the TV show as the source. What next, oh great one (Mike Kelly).
Update: Idid some searching, and was able to right click and convert to dvr-ms. I was then able to use handbrake… BUT The handbrake mkv will not allow pause, fast forward or rewind. So unable to ff thru commercials. Bummer I thought I had it.
I had updated my original post with some new info. Maybe you could shine some light on that as well. I am thinking of returning it for the Hub that just released. It may have the same issue but the other benifits may out weigh this set back.
I like the Live interface a lot better – some folks will say the Hub interface is terrific, but IMHO it’s eye candy and not nearly as straightforward or as functional as the Live. There are HDMI issues with the Hub that are not present on the current Live firmware release. The remote seems to work better on the Live (the Hub remote is much larger which isn’t always a Good Thing).
If you want an NAS you’d be far better off buying one – the Hub as an NAS is very limited in size. One might argue that the Hub is a better self-contained solution (for traveling, say) but it’s much larger than even a small external pocket drive and the Live. It makes me uncomfortable to buy anything with a hard drive inside you cannot change out easily yourself – hard drives ALWAYS fail, so it’s not a question of if but a question of when – so this is not a Good Thing either. The Hub is not quiet – it’s far noisier than my Live with a pocket drive attached, since it has a fan. It’s not real noisy, but I can’t leave it on in my bedroom at night.
Quite honestly, I can’t see any compeling reason for chosing the Hub over the Live (but once again, that’s just me – others may strongly disagree).
Wow, mike. For an “Old Flatus,” you must have outstanding ears. I can barely hear drive fans even if I pick 'em up.
I may be just accustomed to noise. I have the TiVo S3, a ceiling fan (on 100% of the time) and even a little fridge in the same room.
Is it possible you have a dodgy fan out-of-the-box?
(IMHO, a FAN will probably fail before a drive will… I think that will be an Achilles Heel. It has a temp sensor, but if the DRIVE is hard to replace, the FAN probably is next to impossible. )
I think you answered your own question, Tony – you have a bedroom fan on ALL THE TIME? That would drive me crazy. (But that white noise surely drowns out any other possible sound).
Or perhaps you destroyed your ears in your band when you were younger (how far did you stand from the drummer?). I can even hear the TiVo as it changes to record mode, or downloads updates. It’s a very distinct sound (and the same on all three TiVo units so it’s not just a bad unit). That’s why it sits in a room next to the bedroom and I have a room-to-room IR bridge to control it.
You’re the hardware guy so if you say the fan will fail I believe you – but I’ve never had a fan in a drive enclosure fail (although I’ve had lots of drives fail). Then again, where you live heat is a much bigger issue than most places (although I’m now living in sunny Florida the air conditioner is on nearly year round).
Meanwhile I’m still banging my head trying to get this to work.
I have been successful in simply right click and "convert to dvr-ms, then I am able to use handbrake. BUT ONLY with Standard Def shows. Handbrake quits for some reason every time I try a HD show.
Have you been on the Handbrake forums to ask them about the raw file (the one *before* you convert to dvr-ms)? Or is that a proprietary format?
I know with TiVo I had to use something called DirectShow, which converts it to an MPG file. At that point Handbrake was able to successfully handle the file. In any case, I would for sure ask on the Handbrake forums about why the HD quits on you when you try to Handbrake it (they are a *little* snarky there but otherwise helpful – just be sure and post your encoding logs when you make your first post or they’ll yell at you).
