No really: Convince me there is a WD TV LIVE HUB Replacement

There has been a lot of discussion about this, but I’ve tried some replacement options and I’m still not convinced. So is there a product that matches this New/Improved WDTVLIVEHUB Checklist?

  1. I don’t want to run a Plex/Kodi/XMBC server. I don’t have to now; my WD box just finds what’s out there on my local Ethernet network.
  2. Local storage is important (I take my WD box traveling with a 5TB portable drive, and have 1000 good, commercial free, movies to watch on the hotel flat screen TV). Android boxes that top out at 2TB are so 20th Century!
  3. Gigabit Ethernet and a couple of USB 3.0 or better ports would be nice.
  4. Resume/Restart functionality. I’ve bought two Android media players and could not believe they forced me to Restart ALWAYS! I can come back to a Movie, TV episode, etc. weeks later and pick up where we left off. You have to write a data record; WD does; nobody else seems to be able to figure it out.
  5. No streaming is NOT the WD replacement for the 21st Century. I have 5000+ good movies (and a few stinkers), 2000+ TV episodes, 300+ documentaries, 120 Teaching Company courses. More movies than Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. (And they have a lot of stinkers. Just sayin’.)

Have you searched ALL WDTV forums for key words?
I have a large capacity My Passport Wireless drive from which I can stream mp4 moves on drive to iPad or Kindle tablet. Kindle even has an HDMI OUT I can plug in to TV. iPad has same with pricey apple adapter.

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Thanx in advance for any suggestions. Let me add two additional criteria that are implied but not directly stated:

  1. Large local is required, but not sufficient. My Movies, etc. come from 6 networked drives (3TB to 8TB; currently 38TB total). So it has to see a local network of DLNA-capable drives.

  2. Easy Navigation. My WD box ain’t perfect, but all 6 Networked drives plus 2TB WDTVLIVEHUB with a local 5TB USB drive are all named on one screen. Then I’m a couple of clicks away from 1000’s of movies. I’ve used some Smart TVs that can see networked DLNA-capable drives, but the User Interface is atrociously awkward.

Can’t help myself, :nerd_face: Two more must haves:

  1. No hacking, cobbling together, download and compile this magic solution. All of that stuff is fine (I’m experimenting with a Raspberry PI solution now.). But I want something I can recommend to friends and relatives. Off the Shelf. Plug n’ Play.

  2. RELIABLE!! I’ve been using MAKEMKV and WDTVLIVEHUB for 9-10 years and have uploaded 1000’s of Movies. Yes, I’ve had trouble with bad DVDs, tightly encrypted DVDs, even a couple of Hard Drive failures (I have 2 copies of every file.). But the WD boxes always play video/audio from DVDs/Blu-Rays flawlessly. The Android forums are FULL of “audio only plays on Wednesday’s” stories (I exaggerate slightly).

Thanx Mike. Yes, I do use MCPLAYER PRO on my IPAD to access my networked movie files. But, for example, I can’t pause a movie and return to it tomorrow. Is there a better App than I’m using? A few months ago I was traveling and watched CASABLANCA one evening on the room’s 55” TV. Easy to do with 4”x4” WDTVLIVE box rubber-banded to a 5TB portable drive and a HDMI cable. (I have 2 WDTVLIVEHUB ‘s at home, but travel with a 5TB home brew.). I guess I could have put that movie on IPAD and driven the 55” TV with a special cable. But that evening I had 800+ other movies to pick from. Once you have more movies (almost free) than Netflix can stream you, you get spoiled.