Is it worth upgrading from 2nd gen WD TV Live?

Hi,

I’m a 2nd gen WD TV Live user (have always been using B-Rad’s WDLXTV firmware). If upgrading to WD Tv Live Streaming, would I be getting any additional features besides Netflix, Spotify and Hulu streaming?

I’d also like to know:

  1. Can I mount an EXT2 USB hard drive?

  2. If I have the unit turned off (well, soft off, but still plugged in) can I access the connected USB drive from a remote box as a Windows share?

  3. Does Netflix support Kids mode?

Has any user who upgraded from a 2nd gen WD Tv live wished he hadn’t? :slight_smile:

Thanks so much

Alejandro

IMHO, the biggest feature over the WDTV Live H is the aggregated media library with metadata support.

  1.  I don’t know.

  2.  Yes.

  3.  It has Profile support, if that’s what you mean.   I’m not sure what Kids Mode means.

TonyPh12345 wrote:

IMHO, the biggest feature over the WDTV Live H is the aggregated media library with metadata support.

 

  1.  I don’t know.
  1.  Yes.
  1.  It has Profile support, if that’s what you mean.   I’m not sure what Kids Mode means.

 

Thanks.

Regarding 3), if you go to Netflix.com with a web browser, you’ll see a “Kids” label above, and once you click on it you only see shows for kids. Does the WD TV Live have something like that?

yes netflix does support profiles, including “kids” my daughter uses it regularly

if you’re coming from a gen2 with WDLXTV there will probably be a few things you miss from time to time

but all in all I don’t regret the move to the newer device

there’s quite a few worth while improvements

Absolutely: YES

I had a WDTV Live (Gen 2) for about 2 years and some problems with the unit. Most of them mentioned here in the forum. I used the unit for watching Satellite (*.ts) streams or Blu-rays (*.iso), which are stored on a PC or elsewhere in my local network. The main problem was the missing ability of the box, to switch the sound mode correctly, depending on the cutting frame of the sat streams. I clean the streams of commercials etc. But it was very, very important where I placed the cut in/out frames. I. e. if there were only 1 or 2 frames left with DD 2.0 sound and then it changes to DD 5.1 sound, most of the time the box didn’t switch to DD 5.1, but instead remains in DD 2.0. So I had to place the cut in/out frames 1 or 2 frames ahead or behind, in order to hear the movie in 5.1 sound, even if I missed the first frame of the movie that way.

The latest WDTV Live (Gen 3) SMP has non of the problems of the Gen 2 unit and I’m extreme happy about having made the upgrade. Additionally the new unit has the ability to jump directly to a specific time while watching a movie, a feature the previous generation never had. I used the firmwares 1.14.09 and meanwhile 1.16.13 with no known problems; but 1.16.13 being a bit less responsive compared to 1.14.09. But that’s not a real problem. The latest version 2.01.86 is unusable for me, as it scrambles the picture at the commercial cuts for 720p and 1080i sat streams.

Kind regards,

Olaf.