Hi,
I’ve read quite a few complaints/reports about playing HD content over wire and wirelessly. Many people report hoppy picture and no sound after a few minutes.
Could anyone actually confirm that playing HD (720p) movie over wire _is_ possible? In other words, is there anyone who can watch HD movies with WD TV Live wired to network without issues?
If yes, then how? Played from shared folder or Media Server?
Thanks!
shpokas
That’s what it was built to do… but the network has to be able to support it.
Many people posting here have no issues with HD content, either wired or wireless. But the network has to be able to support the speed. It just ain’t gonna happen over wireless B.
…right, RoofingGuy.
And on WIRED, if any HD has a peak bandwidth in excess of 30mb or so (can’t be precise, sorry) then it might not work either due to the Samba file limitation. Better luck with these types of files on local storage.
I use a Belkin N+ wireless adapter and a Netgear WNR3500L. Streaming 720p from Vista network shares or TVersity media server is fine. Doesn’t handle 1080p though.
I’ve also tried Powerline networking with WD’s Livewire, which was again great for 720p and no good for 1080p.
If you plan on playing 1080p, either directly attach a HDD or use a wired network. If the file is really high bit rate, like Tony says, even wired won’t be enough.
Will the Netgear Powerline network adapters work with the WD TIVE LIVE PLUS?
Thanks.
Jason
With one extra qualifier in there, I agree with both RoofingGuy and TonyPh12345:
I currently have a new-ish iMac in the study, with my WDTV Live plugged into an Airport Extreme base station next to my tv (so, a wireless-N speed network). I am able to wirelessly stream any of the 1080p, DTS sound Lord of the Rings movies from my iMac with no issues because they are in compressed, .mkv format…
If it were uncompressed, then – no, not gonna happen, wired or wireless…
Welcome to the forums.
You said *exactly* what I was going to (well, not with LOTR, but with another movie example :>).
Streaming a file like the raw M2TS file from a blu-ray rip wireless is going to be difficult if not impossible.
First, thanks to everyone for replies.
I am currently on wireless-N network, 5 GHz actually, but still unable to play mkv files and DVD rips without glitches.
Tested with Mac-Mac and Mac-Linux wireless transfers, works just fine, I can copy over 50 MBit/s
And yes, mkv files are compressed, of course.
So, I am planning to install a wire to WD TV Live, a pain in the **bleep**, but I have no choice… :cry:
BR,
shpokas
Are there other devices on the network, bringing its performance down?
nope. iMac is serving content from shared folder, WD TV Live receiving (with Linksys WUSB600N)
All on 5 GHz 802.11n
I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that either due to interference or signal path (or signal strength), your WUSB600N is connecting at MCS0 or MCS8 and not MCS15, because others don’t seem to have the same issue with 720p .mkv over wirelessN when their network is working properly.
Well, I can copy files from iMac to MacBookPro placed in the same location as WD TV with 6 Mbyte/s (not Bits!)
And also play the same mkv files from iMac…
Strange.
But I believe Tony can get 95% or so of his .mkvs to play with the same WUSB600N as long as it’s working at N and not G (or B).
I might be remembering his wifi receiver incorrectly, but I thought it was the same as yours… so it seems to me that your issue is network-related and not adaptor-related.
So, your iMac is basically your wireless access point, and you can copy to your MacBookPro at more than sufficient speeds… But your WUSB600N, also connected to the iMac, struggles…?
It certainly sounds like your WUSB600N is not connecting at maximum speed, either due to interference or some possible configuration issue… _ Anyone _ – is there a way to easily check what speed a WUSB600N is connecting at? Either on the iMac or WUSB600N side?
Just want to ask one more question, though:
Is your MacBookPro connecting using AFP (default file sharing protocol on Apples)? The WDTV will be connecting using Samba (SMB) shares…
D_M_R wrote:>p> _ Anyone _ – is there a way to easily check what speed a WUSB600N is connecting at? Either on the iMac or WUSB600N side?
Maybe this? http://www.wlanbook.com/mac-os-x-wifi-scanner-snow-leopard/
You can play 1080 HD over wired. I imagine wireless is a different kettle of fish. But to run over wired you will need a 1GB router/switch and use CAT 6 cable - this is designed for 1GB the same as cat 5e but you tend to get better quality. Its the same as any thing . Buy top hdmi cables - quality picture - buy them from the market - picture is OK.
The WDTV Live only has 100 Mbps Ethernet port, though
Well, no, sorry I wasn’t specific enough.
There’s also Airport Extreme inbetween.
Imac----Airport Extreme----WD TV Live
I have absolutely no problems playing 1080p DTS uncompressed video through my wired connection using a cat6 cable from my fios router to my WDTV Live Plus - but not until I changed the QoS settings on the router ( see my earlier post). I think the very best setup for someone who doesn’t want to run Ethernet all over their house but still wants to play 1080p is to get a wireless NAS that has an ethernet port and set it up next to your WDTV and connect it directly. Wireless is not going to perform without glitches with the technology currently available. Give it a couple of years and it will be no problem, but for now stick to Ethernet or directly attached storage if you don’t want to be disappointed with what you’re watching. I wish I had this purchase to do all over again because my son’s PS3 works 1,000,000 times better as a network media player than the WDTV.
shpokas – maybe one last thing to try is to set up an adhoc connection between your iMac and WUSB600N, just to eliminate one hop from the network…?
