What player will you buy next?

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Streaming
41

Hi fred9999,

Sorry if I wasn’t clear. Plex is just one option to access media, and it is an app which can be loaded directly from the AFTV app store, along with many other DLNA enabled apps - so the media is on a Plex server, or a DLNA server. None of these apps though allow access to media located on a USB drive etc which is connected to the AFTV - The only way of getting access to a local USB storage device is on a rooted AFTV, which looks to be increasingly difficult to do.

Kodi is the rebranded name for the age-old XBMC platform, and can be used to access media stored on NAS (via CIFS (windows file shares) or NFS), DLNA, and also (on rooted AFTV units) from local USB media. Whilst Kodi is not available from the AFTV app store :frowning: it can be side-loaded onto the AFTV - the process to do this is very easy, well documented (just google loading Kodi onto AFTV :)) and is a one-time task.

Just so it’s clear, Kodi on its own does not allow local USB access - the AFTV must be rooted. I don’t use any local USB, all my media is on NAS so this is not a restriction which affects me. I also use Plex to allow access to my media on various tablet devices (as it deals with transcoding etc) and also remotely.

Cheers!

42

crogers1975 wrote:

… news that newer boxes won’t have Netflix.

Where did you get that news? That could really mess me up. Thanks.

43

@martinmarty

The “New” WDTV’s don’t have Netflix … and there is no word from WD if they ever will

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1270#Tab2

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44

JoeySmyth wrote:

@martinmarty

 

The “New” WDTV’s don’t have Netflix … and there is no word from WD if they ever will

 

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1270#Tab2

 

Thanks, Joey.

Wow. That totally blows. Does that mean that some future FW update will take Netflix away from my WD TV Live boxes? Sorry to keep asking questions. I have old TVs. One thing that makes these boxes good for me is the composite video out, so “Most everyone has a device for playing Netflix” does not apply to me as most of those devices are HDMI out. Seems like that logic would apply to other applications. If one needs stupid Hulu then it seems one might need Netflix. Sorry to see WD drop it from the lineup.

I’m sure all the people who don’t need Netflix also have no other devices to get on Facebook or play Sudoku or watch YouTube. WD’s product design meetings must be a real treat.

I guess worst case, I just keep running my WD TV Lives for as long as I can and then I’ll have to buy smart TVs and switch to some other media player or use what’s in the TV. I hate to go to a full computer-based player and have to worry about everything from maintaining another OS to virus protection to making backups to how to get a remote control to operate the *&#^_@ thing. The WD is nice because it’s a little stand-alone appliance (or would be if the bugs were fixed).

Oh well, there are bigger problems in the world, I suppose. Thanks again.

45

You can read the entire Review on CNET for the above WD TV Media Player released 2014 with the following conclusion:

With its focus on files and seemingly half-hearted support for apps and streaming services, the WD TV is meant clearly for people who have a collection of videos on a hard drive somewhere. Its file support is hard to beat and its handling of enormous video files is fantastic. If you want lots of apps, stick to Roku. For the person who is looking for a front end to a local media library, the WD TV is an excellent choice.

 Unfortunately there is no information about the ethernet speed: Is it still only 10/100 MBit/s or more?

46

martinmarty wrote
Does that mean that some future FW update will take Netflix away from my WD TV Live boxes?

Nope.

WDTVLiveUser87 wrote:
Unfortunately there is no information about the ethernet speed: Is it still only 10/100 MBit/s or more?

100 Mbit.

47

Thanks, Techflaws.

On the other subject, articles I’m finding indicate that 4K over H.265 would require about 15Mbps, so 10/100 ethernet should not be a problem for a while.

“At CES, Netflix, Amazon and Comcast talked about their 4K content offerings and all of them disclosed that the bitrates they plan to use to deliver 4K content, using HEVC, will be between 12Mbps-20Mbps.”

48

**bleep**?  The new models really don’t have Netflix? 

I bet WD got tired of spending a gazillion dollars on a Netflix license for the device.  Time to buy another Live Streaming (while they still exist) in case mine breaks! 

49

Yeah, I just ordered two refurb units for the same reason.

Kind of funny, the title of this topic, and my answer ends up being “the same old player”. Even with all its [Deleted]quirks, I think this is still the best device for what I need to do.

50

martinmarty wrote:

 

Kind of funny, the title of this topic, and my answer ends up being “the same old player”. Even with all its [Deleted]quirks, I think this is still the best device for what I need to do.

As I am the OP, it is funny but I have come to the same conclusion, Martin, at least for now.

One thing that is important to me going forward is passthrough support for DD-HD and DTS-MA. I just recently archived my first blu ray on my server and have once again been amazed that my trusty WDTV Live SMP, “the little box that could,” didn’t let me down. From what we are all saying it sounds like we just want exactly what we have today PLUS souped up specs for better performance.

51

Now that Netflix has canned a bunch of my favorite BBC shows (Saxondale, sniff ), the solution I see going forward invariably involves two players, one for files and one for channels.

For channels, Roku seems the no-brainer best solution

For files, has anyone tried any of the KDLINKS players?  I have 4 WD TVs, two Streaming in actice use, plus an HD and a Plus in storage,  But if the Play is WD’s direction for future players (e.g. no DTS), I will be moving on.

52

For the past couple weeks I’ve been playing around with this Keedox MXIII Android TV box. It has given me new apprecation for my WD TV Live SMP. The WD is solid as a rock compared to the Android + XBMC box and I should never complain again about having to reboot a few times a day because at least after I reboot the WD, it *will* work for some period of time.

On the other hand, the Android + XBMC box can be really cool and entertaining but it can be a lot of messing around to get your entertainment. For the first few days I was sure I was going to send it back for a refund. Then I got some stuff working and I got hooked. Please note that a lot of my problems are due to my TV not having HDMI inputs, so it’s hard to say how much the complications from that effected my opinion. The Keedox has composite output just like the WD, but on the WD they actually work and put out a usable picture.

If you are the type of person who has more fun setting up a home theatre than actually watching movies in it, I definitely recommend getting one of these little boxes to play around with. Or just download Kodi on your computer and play around with it and see if it seems like something you would like to have on your TV. I had no exposure to XBMC/Kodi before getting the Keedox so that has been a lot of fun in itself.

I’ve been able to do everything on the Keedox that I can do on the WD, plus a lotmore, although there are a couple things that the WD still seems a little better at and much more solid all around, like an appliance that you just plug in and it works and you could give it to the family to use.

The Keedox seems reliable as far as the hardware goes, and Android is stable, and I even think XBMC/Kodi is pretty much stable. It just that a lot of the content seems to be coming from unknown or questionable sources, so you never know what you will be able to watch. A server that was there yesterday might not be there today, or a stream that was watchable at noon might be too busy at prime time. And there are a hundred different ways to get to the same movie or TV show so if one is down another *might* be up.

It is nice to have a fully-functional Netflix or Youtube app, or an Accuweather where everything actually works, and you can jump out to a web browser and do a quick search if you need to. On the other hand, trying to use these touch-screen apps on a 65" screen with no touch, using a combination of a small Keedox remote and a wireless keyboard/mouse makes it less than ideal a lot of the time.

I could never give this thing to my 75yo mom and tell her to watch TV with it, but I probably could with the WD TV Live SMP.

53

I keep my  WDTV Live Streaming around mainly to play local files - nothing else seems capable of doing a better job.  I also have Chromecast and use it to watch Youtube and a few other services because I prefer the interface to the one in WDTV - however this may just eliminate the need to keep the WDTV around at all:

http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2015/02/19/vlc-3-0-will-add-chromecast-output-support

Videolan is a great video player and combining with Chromecast could be the answer to many people’s prayers.

54

As many others I’ve been a WD user for years (still love my 1tb hub) but the lack of response to the firmware problems on the live streaming player forced me elsewhere.

Currently I’m using 2 players Amazon fire TV with spmc sideloade for all my streaming needs Netflix etc and obviously prime, and got to say it runs spmc perfectly plays back all file types and scrapes all series using tvdb. Only drawback is no 23.976 playback.

For my main file player I’m using mede8er med800x3d with 4 tb internal hard drive, I’m loving this unit had it 1 year now and theres monthly updates and constant forum chat with staff on issues people might have. file support is excellent no streaming services to speak of but really its not what its for, I changed the skin on my mede8er to the original WD live skin just for nostalgia, I’d love to think WD will bring out a product I want,but the issue isn’t the products its the lack of communication and letting us know plans and proper beta testing of updates.

55

MyGica ATV1800e

56

That looks a lot like the box I’ve been playing around with. Quad CPU Octa GPU Android + Kodi.

57

Disappointed in the Roku. It’s fine for subscription channels but I don’t use those. The news channels show clips. The others are pretty lame. I would stick with the WD as it’s much better with local content. Cnet doesn’t tell you that if you want to use Roku you either have to enter credit card information or call tech support. You can delete the card later, but I rather doubt they actually erase the information. Probably just X it out in their database so it’s still there. And there’s no off switch, you have to unplug it. Kodi on my tiny Asus and a Celeron chip works great. Actually finding your way through the maze to find your content takes a while though.So I don’t use it unless I know what I want to watch. I could also use a browser for subscription channels.

58

Poseur wrote:
… Actually finding your way through the maze to find your content takes a while though.So I don’t use it unless I know what I want to watch. …

…

^what he said.

59

NOT WD – unless they fix up the TV Live firmware soon.

60

Hi All,

Just a quick revisit to this old thread. For those of you interested in the Amazon Fire TV in the past but have had concerns about the lack of usb storage options, there may be some good news on the way…

http://www.aftvnews.com/exclusive-next-amazon-fire-tv-update-expected-to-add-support-for-usb-storage/

Obviously this is not officially confirmed, but the site has been pretty good in the past.