How do you change themes?

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Streaming
1

I just picked up the new WDTV Live at Best Buy yesterday.  I don’t have a lot of experience with WDTV products, so I may just be foolishly stumbling about. 

How do I install a new theme?  I downloaded a couple from the Live Hub threads.  Since this new unit has no built-in hard drive, I figured I’d give it a shot with a USB drive.  I found the .wdtv folder, and created a theme subdirectory. 

When I go to Setup | User Interface Themes, local storage only lists the Mochi (Default) theme.  There is no way to switch to the USB drive from here.  I can only switch between here, and Online Database, where it always states “There is no media in the current folder”

So, is theming not yet fully baked on this device?  Hopefully I’m just doing something wrong.

2

As long as they are created according to the WDTV Live Specifications, you can import themes by the Web-Based UI.

 but it does have to be a “.theme” file as specified in the THEME documentation from the Hub.

3

Thanks for the info.  Any idea where I can find .theme files?  The URL referenced in the manual wdtvlive.com/theme is broken.   It also mentions several themes being accessible from the User Interface Themes screen, but only the default is listed.

What about the themes listed in the Hub forums?  Is it possible to package them up as a .theme file somehow?

4

A .theme file is a simple ZIP file with the extension changed.

I’m guessing the themes from the Hub should work on the Live as well, but there’s chances with ANY firmware breaking certain aspects of 3rd party themes…

5

It won’t accept a .theme file, but .zip actually works. 

The Anodized theme is about 17 MB zipped.  I was able to upload that via the web interface.  I haven’t tested that theme extensively, but it seems to be working fine in the 2 minutes I spent with it.

I attempted to upload the Mojo theme using the same method.  It’s about 39 MB zipped.  I keep getting the error ‘Attached file size over the limit’.  I deleted the screenshots to shave off a few megs, but  I’m still getting the error.  I’ll have to keep playing with it to figure out what the threshold is.

6

when i try to enter a zip file it just says please wait, the display wont stop i had that display now for hours! i try the mojo theme and the adonized themes! with the same result! just “PLEASE WAIT” is it on a endless loop? i wish that the people at WD will print a manual on how to do these things when they release a prouct. i got every wdtv unit they made. i love the hub the most. the WDTV Live Streamer is good, but i hate the theme they use.

7

Has anyone had luck with updating a “theme”, I tried to login via the web interface & upload a zip file that contained a theme but got an error message “Attached file size over the limit, Please try again.”

I can’t see how to login to the directory from my mac.

8

I also have one of the new WDTV Live boxes

I cannot figure out at all how to load a theme onto the device

I downloaded the Aeonish theme and it sits as a .rar file on my mac

I tried un-raring the files and ended up wit h4 separate .rar folders and a readme, the new folders will not unrar at all

I loaded it all onto a memory stick but the WDTV does not see any content

Is there an idiots guide as to how to download, transfer and then install a theme

Cheers

Nick

9

Also struggling to get it to change themes??? whats the deal

10

also getting that please wait thing for ages… nothing happening!

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only way i figured to do it , is when u go to appearance , press red button and it browses online for other themes u can download and apply.

12

Could anyone tell me what a ‘Theme’ is?

Pics as an example might help.

Cheers.

Steve W

13

The theme cannot be in a .theme format. It must be .zip file. Whatever theme you are using, lets say, Aeonish Hub, you must zip all the files in the folder, do not .zip the root folder itself otherwise the theme won’t upload.

14

Is there a confirmed list of themes that work with the Live Streaming?  It seems like many of the ones originally created for the Live Hub are giving me errors when I try to use them. 

15

I’ve tried Devicious, Tinwarble and JoeySmyth’s themes and they all work. Haven’t tried others though.

16

It’s still not working for me.  I tried uploading Tinwarble’s mojo theme.  Went and unpacked it, and then repacked it so that there was no folder at the root.  When I uploaded it through the web-UI interface, it gives me the “attached file size over the limit” error.  Went back and deleted some screenshots, got the zip file down to 33.3mb, and it still gives me the size error.  

Shadow_cruiser, how did you get it to work on the Live Streaming???

17

Hey, guys.

Now, just so you know I don’t have the SMP and since I haven’t ever uploaded any of my themes to the theme upload site I can’t tell you for sure.  But according to the theming manual (if that’s what it can be called because there’s really not that much info in it), the theme has to be compressed as a zip file, but the extension has to be changed to .theme. The theme site is down again, but you can download the theme manual from HERE.

So Mojo.zip would be changed to Mojo.theme.  Also, if it stands true for the SMP as it does for the HUB, then themes should be zipped in there theme folder (the HUB uses the folder name as the displayed theme name).   So on the HUB, if it’s not in a folder it’s just seen as a bunch of random files, not a a theme.

The only real difference that there seems to be between the HUB and the SMP is where user themes are stored.

18

30mb is the file limit, I have dropped the screenshot folder and re compressed some images as it only leaves you 1mb over if you do best compression on winrar

Lee

19

gnat - As gyro said, the limit is 30mb is the theme is stored in the flash memory. I deleted a bunch of stuff from Tinwarble’s theme to upload it

Tinwarble - You can’t use the .theme extension with the Live Streaming, it’s not like the Hub. It must be a .zip or else it won’t work

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