Playing Incomplete Video Files (i.e. Still Downloading or Capturing on PC)

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live & Live Plus
1

Hey folks, I’ve got a question that I’ve been researching a while for, but haven’t come across any answers.  Is there a way (using original or custom firmware) that I can play files on my WD TV Live that are still downloading (i.e. avi or mkv) or that I’m capturing (i.e. ts or mpg) on my PC and have them continue to play the whole way through?  I’ve been able to load the videos that are still downloading or capturing, but the WD TV Live device only plays what was downloaded/captured up to the point of when I open the file… so it doesn’t keep up with the file and continue playing it the whole way through.  VLC Media Player on the PC allows me to do this, and I was hoping the WD TV Live unit would too.

If what I’m asking isn’t very clear, here is a scenario I often come across:

I have a Hauppauge HD PVR that I use to record HD shows from my satellite receiver. So say I’m recording for 2 hours, but I cannot start watching until the recording is about 30 minutes into it.  I’d like to be able to start up the video with WD TV Live once the first 30 minutes have been captured and then have the video play/update on the fly for the entire 2 hours without me having to restart it.  The way it works now, it’ll only play the first 30 minutes and then act like the video is over and kick me back to the WD TV Live menu and I have to start the video again.  Now an hour has passed on the recording, so if I start the video again it will only play for an hour.  This gets a bit annoying after a while. :confused: The same concept applies for downloading files on my PC that are still incomplete/downloading.

Does anyone know of any way to make the WD TV Live box update the videos on the fly?

2

If the file doesn’t have a complete index yet, when you start to play it, then no you won’t be able to play the bits that it didn’t know about.

3

I see.  Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.  I don’t suppose there is any talk of this feature being added anytime soon is there?  Like I mentioned, I use VLC Media Player on my PC to play videos this way and it would be very handy if I could do the same on my TV using the WD TV Live device.

4

Ya, but don’t forget that VLC’s been at it since about 1998, and advertises specifically that it can play “broken” files, so it can get around the index issue.

Have a look in the firmware section, and you can see the number of people that can’t even manage to get it to play supported files properly.

I wouldn’t count on WD adding it any time soon – I think they’re busy with bigger issues at the minute.

You can always suggest it over in the Ideas Lab.