Install Twonky on WDTV Live SMP without NAS?

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Streaming
1

Hi.  I bought the WDTV Live SMP a few months ago and am almost there with my desired setup but there’s one thing that I can’t seem to find an answer for (and I’ve searched everywhere) - is it possible to install Twonky (or something similar) on this unit via an external HDD connected by USB? 

What I want to achieve is the ability to use the WDTV Live like a NAS (but without the expense of actually buying a NAS)and stream video and music to iphones and ipads around the house.  I can stream to my PC and laptop by simply accessing the WDTV through a wifi network connection but obviously that’s no good for iOS mobile devices.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Thanks

James

2

James1977 wrote:

is it possible to install Twonky (or something similar) on this unit via an external HDD connected by USB?

No.  Only the WDTV Live Hub has this feature.

James1977 wrote:

I can stream to my PC and laptop by simply accessing the WDTV through a wifi network connection but obviously that’s no good for iOS mobile devices.

Why not?

3

WDLXTV has firmware with a lot of options

but admittadly, most of them are experiemental currently

it would be possible on WDLXTV, but you’d probably have to figure most of the install process yourself at this point

unless you’re lucky, something like miniDNLA.app.bin might work

4

I don’t want to turn the laptop on every time I want to stream something (which I believe I would need to do if Twonky were to be installed on it) and hoped I could simply use the existing NAS-esque capabilities of the WDTV to achieve the same goal.

If it can’t be done then I guess I’ll just have to do without for now. It’s a shame though as it would be a great enhancement to its existing capabilities.

5

Why are you fixating on Twonky?   Why not just use an app like Filebrowser on your mobile devices to access the SMP?

6

@James1977

A little googling on your part might have led you to the iOS app I found by googling a couple of years ago for the same objective as you have, and I found and use the perfect app to do what you want to do. In fact, right now I am using the app for listening to some new CDs I digitized tonight and put on my WDTV Live Plus drive less than an hour ago.

Have I piqued your interest?  The program is FileBrowser from www.stratospherix.com/ , and no, it is not free, but if you can afford an iPhone and iPads, you can afford it for the few $$ it cost. So go to the site, check it out, and then buy it and install it so you can be using it.

FileBrowser is more than a music listening program, it’s like using Windows Explorer or Mac Finder, and you can play music, videos, photos, read docs, yada, yada.  It finds EVERY drive on my network; even drives on my Pogoplug.  It can be configured to use away from home via the Internet, but since I have a Pogoplug w/drives, and a drive attached to my router that acts like a cloud and an app for the router that is like having a remote NAS for my whole network, and other ways to get at my media at home and away from home, I have not set this up.  I probably should, because FB is that good of a program, and I ought to use more of its capabilities.

And, then there is the free app, Twonky Beam.  Since you are familiar with Twonky, you may have this app.  If not, then get it.  I listen to music with it when the PC on or off, and it allows me to play my playlist created with iTunes.  Verrry nice app, but it cannot access shared drives like those on WDTV units; only those on servers such as Win7 PCs and such.  It is installed on our iPhones, iPads and Kindles for streaming/playing music, videos and photos; plus wait, “there’s more”.  Go discover it all.

7

There is a filebrowserlite by the same developer on the iTunes store and its free.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/filebrowserlite/id335493278?mt=8

8

Thanks for the info Rich.  It seems to be a “best-kept” secret from the developer, because just searching for “filebrowser” at the app store does not bring it up; need to search for the full app name.  This link is the only basic info at the developer’s site I could find, and I had to search the site via google to even find this link:   http://www.stratospherix.com/products/filebrowserlite/

If it is like many other “lite” versions, it probably limits the access and features to a subset.  Great for trying out an app, but not for total usage.

9

Using file browsers is a work around, but doesn’t give us the same pleasure than a NAS.

Just an example from music …

Have you ever listened to an audio-book a live album or a classic album with the file browser ?

You’ll never do this because you have to click *EACH* track separatly for playing

Since today it is no problem installing shared media libaries (with functions like twonky media server)

on android phones in a minute WD should be able to implement it in WD  firmware, too.

Just vote for this idea here:  

http://community.wd.com/t5/Live-SMP-Ideas/WDTV-Live-SMP-as-DLNA-Server/idi-p/438014

Also the (older) hub already has the function … WD, just copy and adapt it !

10

Steffen_2009 wrote:> Using file browsers is a work around, but doesn’t give us the same pleasure than a NAS.

Just an example from music …

Have you ever listened to an audio-book a live album or a classic album with the file browser ?

You’ll never do this because you have to click *EACH* track separatly for playing

I don’t have the problems you express.  All my music on my player’s HD is a direct lift from my iTunes folder and in artist folders.

I can play a whole album if I want to various ways.

Anyway, if I want to get “more precise” in my music selecting, I have my iPod connected to stereo (as well as my WD player) and I can play those few gapless albums I have.  The WD player is a multi-media player, not a dedicated music player like an iPod.  I think the WD player and other ways to play music from the WD drives work great.

11

Yes Mike27Oct, I know it is working in your different LAN/private cloud setup.

As I remember your harddrive is not directly connected to  WD Live’s USB port

and the media server software (on computer/router ?) is running somewhere else, right ? 

12

You have me confused with someone else.  I have a basic wired (and wireless) home network which has two WDTV Live Plus units attached, and both have HDs attached to the media player.  There are lots of other components attached to the network, but they don’t affect the WDTVs.

13

Well, I’m not really confusing you with someone else :wink: … we already talked about the interesting topic WD live & music  some weeks ago in an older thread

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-SMP/Android-MusicPlayer-with-integrated-samba-and-UPnP-Renderer/td-p/583280/page/3

Since that time I have tried a lot …

  • installed (and had to de-install because of not meeting the requirements) about 40 android music apps/players/UPnP apps

  • loaded two different sets of cifs modules and flashed three different android kernels on my htc dx (but no sucess with cifs)

  • installed XBMC on my Ubuntu-pc to build and *SHARE* a media-server libary that UpnP apps can see

Now I understand …  it is really a bad thing not having a media-server software/NAS somewhere in the home-network.

14

I’m sure that if what you want to accomplish can be accomplished, you appear to be the sort of guy who can do it.  I am quite satisfied with the capabilities and limitations of how a WDTV handles music, and have found other ways to utilize my music besides via a WDTV.  Good luck with your quest.