Compatibility with other players

Hi There!

I currently use a Dlink DSM-330 which I am considering replacing with WD TV HD Live, and I wanted to check a couple of things. One is that on my DSM, it decodes on my PC, and displays on the tv upstairs requiring specific codecs to be loaded on my home PC. The problem is that the .mkv file codec conflicted with what was required to play mkv files on my ps3, which is very important and as such I don’t want a similar situation with the new box.

Can someone tell me if I require codecs on my PC to use WDTV, and does anyone use a wdtv live and ps3 to play mkv H.264 files without conflict?

Also I see my retailer bundling the Belkin N+ USB Wireless dongle with them for a discounted rate, will any brand do or does it need to be specifically one of these? Has anyone used these dongles and played 720p and 1080p videos’  ok?

Any other gotcha’s I need to worry about. I run Windows 7 x64 on my 3 PC’s.

Welcome to the forums.

The Live should play your MKV H264 files just fine – that’s all I encode to – if the audio is also standard (like AC3 or some such).  There are no additional codecs needed (you don’t even need a PC to be running – I play my stuff from my NAS, and many folks play directly from a hard drive hard wired into the Live).

The Live IS picky about what wireless adapters it will use – if they aren’t on the approved list (which you can look at) chances are it won’t work.  And wireless means that you won’t be able to play very high bitrate files without issues (like high blu-ray rips, but that would also be true of your PS3, most likely).

Thanks for the welcome and assistance.

I am not sure whether I should press the button on this purchase, is there anything else I should consider (possibly not the right forum to ask).

Even at N wireless speed will the WD Live not handle 1080p?

The Live will handle 1080p fine, even on a G network.  But I want to warn you that that doesn’t mean it will play *everything* thrown at it.

I encode all my blu-rays using Handbrake, and 95% of them play just fine wirelessly.  But a few very high bitrate movies (such as Black Hawk Down) which approach or exceed 30mbps have issues that were not resolved until I switched to a fully wired solution.  These are big movies (17GB or more) and, as I said, comprise a very small portion of my collection, but I didn’t want to live with that limitation (even though I had been doing wireless just fine for months prior to this).

Now, I had a G network, but I did try an N solution (and it was a total N network) and it didn’t solve the issue.  Truth be told, I’m not really a network expert (my wife is) so there’s a possibility I didn’t know what I was doing, but I didn’t want to futz with it very long and decided to hard wire my problems away .

Obviously YMMV, but if you don’t want to be disappointed you need to understand possible limitations such as these.  Ideally you could buy with an option for full refund through a B/M store like Best Buy, or online through Amazon.  (And I like the Live so much I bought two and am looking at a third :>)

networkn wrote:

 

Also I see my retailer bundling the Belkin N+ USB Wireless dongle with them for a discounted rate, will any brand do or does it need to be specifically one of these? Has anyone used these dongles and played 720p and 1080p videos’  ok?

Is it the Belkin F5D8055 ?  If so, that device is on the list of supported hardware and should work fine.

I’ve got the Belkin F5D8051 and get full strength connection on my ‘G’ network.  Probably helps that these Belkin models come with an extension cable and a dock so you can move the USB stick around for optimal signal strength.

Like Mike says, a wired network is best but I regularly play 720p media without issue (I don’t have the storage capacity for 1080p, maybe when I get a NAS).  I did try a Pixar Short in 1080p (Burn-E) and that looked great and played fine.