http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=3659
I just tried this and i can confirm it WORKS !!!
If any of you have a Live, then you can now run the Hub firmware on it, and the Themes work as well …OMG AMAZING
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very nice…
That’s too bad i don’t have a wdtv live…
I’m quite tempted to buy one just because of those custom firmwares.
Good find e.d., I’m going to have to give that a try.
There is only one major drawback as far as i can see from my testing…
Basically without an internal drive the media library function currently cannot work so has to be switched off.
It means that metadata or moviesheets don’t work at the moment but hopefully that can be fixed soon.
But it is just great to see themes load on the Live as well as the Hub
Yep, I just flashed it to my Live, seems to work pretty good. Just a few draw backs, hopefully someone can figure out how to make the external drivie reconized as the internal drive.
Just found another problem, with the media library off you can’t sort. So if you have playlist, you can’t access them.
How is everyone flashing this to the WDTV live? I have one and would like to try. I have put custom firmware on it before but apparently not exetensively enough to know what I am doing.
Basically, you just flash it as you would normal firmware. You don’t have to change the ver # or anything, because the # is already higher.
Tinwarble is right you can flash like normal firmware upgrade…
Alternatively if you already have wdlxtv installed you can ‘test’ out by using the .bin version, you copy to a memory stick and start your live with the memory stick in. NOTE THIS WILL ONLY WORK IF YOU ALREADY HAVE WDLXTV.
I ‘tested’ it out first liked what i saw and then did the permament flash, so you can just skip to that method if easier for most people.
For themes to work
Unpack and update firmware.
Place folder called .wd_tv to root of your drive.
Copy desired image to .wd_tv
Copy desired theme to .wd_tv/theme
Open file .wd_tv/autorun.sh and change name of theme or bg image.
Save.
Insert flash-drive and reboot device
I WOULD SAY DOING THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED, YOU ARE USING AN EXTREMELY MODIFIED FIRMWARE WHICH IS DEF IN BETA, SO EXPECT BUGS BUT WOW AMAZING.
TW, yeah you forget just how important media library is on the Hub, LOL lets hope someone can figure how to use an external drive to act as the internal drive
Nice. I’m going to install it as well.
I’m not that concerned with media library functions, but it would be really nice to be able to use the same xml data from the actual Hub in my network.
I was awaiting the Moviesheet+ 2.0 firmware for my Live but I think I would prefer to have a unified look between the two units.
jp123 wrote:
I’m not that concerned with media library functions, but it would be really nice to be able to use the same xml data from the actual Hub in my network.
I don’t think the unit will display XML data without the Media Library being active.
Oh, I know. I was just saying it would be more of a bonus as far as I’m concerned. I would like it, however I will still use the firmware without it.
I flashed it to my Live as well.
Couple of things…
Media Library is necessary to use Playon through the Video menu. Otherwise you need to access it through “Files”. Not a big deal but also not ideal.
During flashing my box froze at 0% during update. To rememdy this I simply unplugged usb cable and plugged it back in. No big deal either but someone could get scared about bricking the unit. Even after it completed flashing it froze on black screen and required me to unplug the box and plug it back in to continue. After that the firmware loaded just fine.
Lastly the theme that is included in the flash package has a nearly naked woman as the background. This didn’t go over with the wife when I called her in to watch the box boot into Mochi for the first time. Easily fixed but certainly worth mentioning. The original theme wasn’t included either…I had to download it separately and switch the theme and the background. It acted very strange the first time loading the new theme from a power down and switched back to the Anodized theme and nude woman again. A reset was required to remedy this.
Other than that the firmware works great and it looks very nice. I’m quite happy with it.
If the few limitations are fixed I will be ecstatic. I’m so glad I kept my WDTV Live box when I got the hub. People like to complain about these products a lot but none of my other devices get any cool upgrades from the community like my Western Digital ones do. If they get external drives working as internal then I will effectively have a free upgrade to the next gen model…that is awesome.
Thanks for pointing this firmware out. I don’t frequent the site where it was mentioned and probably never would have discovered it on my own.
Hi jp123, no issues, glad you liked it.
Yeah i am a moderator on wdlxtv so i frequent both sites alot, this one since now i have a Hub…
I totally agree with all the points you raised…esp the one about the half naked woman !!! that was a case of quick get that off my Hub before the wife or kids see it 
Yes it froze at 0% for me as well however quick unplug and replug of the usb stick always works for me in that situation…
Yes if you switch Theme you are right you have to unplug from the mains and reboot…
Its great having the same look on both my players…however we keep finding out little bugs as a result of no internal drive hence no media library function…once this is hopefully solved this would be amazing…also as its based on the older wdtv / wdlxtv firmware currently some of the newer services are not included.
Pesonally i love having both players and if i didnt already have a Live i would be seriously tempted to get one LOL… in fact i may just get another one anyway
I wanted to help out with this…but it seems I need to install a custom firmware to the hub to help them move forward. I’m not very comfortable with this idea. If I were to install custom firmware, does anyone know if this would cause problems with returning back to original firmware and retaining services such as netflix?
Yes jp123, you would not be able to use netflix again after flashing a custom firmware.
Thanks. No wonder he is having a hard time finding someone to do it then. I want the functionality on my WDTV live but not at the expense of my Hub.
I have no interest in netflix and dont care if I ever use it. But if the firmware **bleep** I would want to be able to revert back to the actual firmware
