I’ve just bought the WD TV Live and according to the user manual, it should be able to play ISO-files.
I want my entire DVD collection on external harddrive(S) in ISO format and to do that, I’m using DVD Cloner 8.
Most of the ISO files work perfectly while I’m having issues with others.
1.) I get this a lot: Unable to play selected file. Please refer to the user manual.
Well, the file works fine on my computer in VLC Player. Restarting the WD TV Live usually solves the problem.
2.) The ISO files are full 1:1 copies (with menues and bonus material etc.) but sometimes the dvd menu is skipped and the WD Live goes straight to playback even if resume has been disabled. That is especially annoying when I want to see a certain episode of let’s say Sons of Anarchy, The West Wing or Lost, you name it and I need to select Danish subtitles. I’ll have to use the remote and go back to the ‘DVD Menu’ and start all over and make my selections.
3.) The picture sometimes freezes or ‘stutters’ during playback and after a while, the movie continues.
So what’s up with that? Are we talking about known firmware bugs or would it be better to convert my DVD’s to DivX (avi) with insanely high bit rates? Actually I’ve already tried that and it seems to work fine, but I would prefer to have the menus, bonus material etc.
Since WD introduced DVD menu support pretty much all ISOs should play just fine. Of course there may be issues with how some DVDs are authored or how much of the copy protections used have been removed by your ripping tool. You could try DVDfab on those that don’t work and see if it makes a difference.
Also there’s no need to use insane bitrates for your AVI encodes cause xvid is an efficient codec for SD material, 450 MB per episode should be enough. Also, when you have all eps encoded separately why would you need a menu?
DVD’s were compiled to be played on a hardware DVD player. The Sigma family of chips contains a hardware decoder chip designed compliant to the international professional digital broadcast standards. Computers use software to mimic those standards. Ripping a DVD removes the DVD protection layer; unfortunately ripping does not correct deficiencies in the DVD compilation. I have encountered numerous DVD titles that will not play correctly after ripping. There is nothing wrong with the WDTV Live box; it just complies with the digital broadcast standards. If you are considering converting and streaming your DVD’s, I would advise you to search the internet for guides on how DVD titles are compiled and edited. You will need to edit the DVD file structure to correct the DVD deficiencies. In the long term you will have error free DVD streaming.
You can try ripping the DVDs with DVDFab. It is a free download and the ripper part stays free even after the trial period expires. If you want ISOs, you can use ImgBurn (also free) on the ripped files. I have been using that combination with DVDs and I have never had a problem playing the VOBs or ISOs with my WD Live Plus.
Since in #1 you say “restarting usually solves the problem” I am thinking the file format isn’t the issue. What size external hard drive do you have? What version of WDTV are you running?
