I want to use HD Live mainly for MUSIC application, in addition toVideo. My music will come BOTH from a NAS on which all my MP3s will reside, as well as internet radio, Can I do the following:
Connect HDMI out of HD live to HDMI in of TV
Connect Component out of HD Live to component in of TV
Connect RCA audio out of HD live to a Stereo Receiver
Please note that I am mainly an audiophile and want to listen to NAS music and inrernet music from my stereo receiver VIA the RCA out of HD Live. This means the Composite audio will NOT be connected to my TV
Is it ok to use the device like this or is it mainly for video applications?
Why do all the manuals talk about connecting RCA composite out to the TV ? I wonder why nowhere is the receiver option given?
Why do all the manuals talk about connecting RCA composite out to the TV ? I wonder why nowhere is the receiver option given?
Thanks
This is called the WD TV Live so yes it is primarily for use with a TV. The RCA audio outputs can be connected to any audio input and not just a TV. I have them connnected to a Sony AV receiver amp.
I plan to connect the composite out of the WD Live (which is on my home ethernet connection) to my stereo receiver and enjoy the above 2 music applications
So the big question is: IS this device good for the network music applications as mentioned above or only for video applications ? If video primarily, which music media player should I go for if not wd live?
First of all a comment about your use of words. Audiophile implies a fine attention to high audio fidelity, and that isn’t what you are talking about. IMHO most MP3s and internet radios don’t rate any higher than FM radio in audio fidelity, and some really sound as garbage when listened on a good audio system. The term you are probably looking for is music lover, and aren’t we all?
As for your questions, if your TV has the inputs, you can connect it with either the HDMI or the component video output, why couldn’t you?. Ofc you only get video signal on one at a time, but you can have both cables connected. As for the audio, I’m not sure what you mean, but you can use the analog RCA connectors and the component video output for example. However forget about “audiophile” quality from the WDTV live if you use the analog connectors, even if you play lossless CD tracks. The WDTV is quite ok for its price and many people won’t complain about the analog output quality, but you can bet they haven’t used state of the art DACs and amplifiers for the analog output stage, so the sound fidelity will be in the realm of MP3 players and the like.
Well, I’ve been unable to determine yet with what kind of mp3s that error occurs (with/without ID3, v1, v2 or something) but I’ve read on the forums that I’m not the only one having that kinda problems. Gonna record a short video demonstrating this soon.
I agree with the comments offered by Billstpor regarding the fidelity of the content you are listening to–it is no where near audiophile listening quality–but it’s music.
For the video connection the HDM is the way to go.
The RCA audio connectors (left and right channel) can never be more than two channel plan analog. Obviously, on the WD live, you hav eto choose the vidoe/audio connection you want to use. I will assume that you are able to make the audio connection and are able to hear music.
If you wnat to use the WD Live for just audio streams with an eathernet connection, that’s fine! If you don’t need the eathernet connectivity, you could use the other less expensive WD media player with a USB dirive connected directly to it and eliminate the network connection.
Certainly your call. Either method should work fine–if not please post a reply here!
Techflaws, your problem may be related to something I noticed last week when I made the “lip sync” tests I posted in a different thread: I had synthesized very short sound tones (about 0.04s long) separated by 2 seconds of digital silence, and when I tried to play those tones back, with the WDTV live connected to my Onkyo receiver, the tones were almost inaudible, as if the receiver was too slow to react to the short sounds after the digital silence. This only happened when the WDTV live (and my LG DVD player too) were decoding the sound (MP3/AAC) and sending it as PCM through the optical output. When I encoded it as Dolby Digital tracks, and sent it compressed to the receiver, the tones played flawlessly.
I had to mix a low amplitude noise on top of the digital silence between the tones, kinda like the old vinyl or tape noise, and then the pulses played perfectly with the other codecs (MP3, AAC). I don’t know if the players were not sending data when they detected the digital silence, or more likely the receiver was muting the digital input as long as it kept receiving silence encoded as PCM.
Thanks for this info. However, I’ve hooked up my Live via composite to my TV and I’m pretty sure there’s hardly any digital silence at the beginning of the files cause when ripping my CDs I always set Exact Audio Copy to strip silence.
