I am looking to buy the WD TV live hub, but have a couple questions if anyone could help.
1.) The website says that the hub can be used as a multi-room media server streaming to any TV in your house, but how exactly does this work. Would I need to purchase a WD live TV also, or could I use my desktop or game console as a substitute.
2.) If I can use my desktop and/or game console, how exactly do I connect them to the Live TV Hub. Would I have to run a Ethernet cable from my living room to bed room, or is there another way I could connect them wirelessly.
3.)If I can use my desktop/game console; will I be able to access the movies I put on the hard drive of live TV hub via my desktop/game console?
Any help on any of these questions would be appreciated greatly…
The WDTV can share its own content (whatever is on local drives) to other devices on the same network via either DLNA or Samba (aka CIFS) network shares. You’d need a device (either a smart TV or another appliance) that can access the hub via either of those protocols. The device will also need support the file types in question as the Hub does not transcode.
Wireless is not recommended… The bandwidth usually isn’t high enough for most streaming needs. All relevant devices need to be attached to the same Local Area Network (LAN), preferably via wired connections.
When you say your desktop should work, the answer depends on what you are planning to do with it. You can use your desktop computer to connect to your hub similar to the way you would connect to shares on another computer. You can use this method to copy files to the hub, and if you really wanted to you could play files that are on the hub on your desktop using some sort of media player. In general though, you are not going to use your desktop as a client for the HUB.
