Will a WD TV Live be able to play my videos from my Synology DS209+II NAS via (gigabit) LAN?

Hi all.

If I connect a WD TV Live with a (gigabit) LAN cable to a gigabit switch where my Synology DS209+II NAS also is connected with gigabit LAN port and connects a HDMI cable from the WD TV Live to my Sony 40W5500, will I be able to play my contents like videos, photos etc. shared on the DS209+II via the WD TV Live ?

Does the networking work well enough ?

regards

Christian

Hi Christian,

 I have a DS210j (with 2 Samsung 1.5TB 154UI hard drives) which works very well with the WDTV Live…with one caveat:

Higher bitrate files >35Mbps will stutter. These files stutter from the Synology DLNA media server and network shares.  The network shares stutter is fairly common, but  media servers have shown to  handle much higher bitrates These files are BD rips made with makeMKV.  I am getting assistance from Synology on determining the exact reason why this occurs.  I also have a ticket with WD.

My setup was originally 

DS-210j----Bufflalo WLI-TX-AG300N<—WDTV Live (Cat6 cables)

My current setup is

DS-210j---->D-Link DGS2205 Gigabit Switch<----WDTV Live and the WLI-TX-AG300N is connected to the D-Lin.

I connected the WDTV directly to the DS-210j with no improvement.

The GUI of the WDTV leaves much to be desired, particularly when accessing network shares (duplicate files listed, accessing individual files requires way too many remote commands).

I believe Synology will figure out what is going on…and if it is on their end - the technical support seems to be very good, and the firmware is updated consistently.  

btw, the WDTV only has a 10/100 ethernet connection.  Fortunately that is not the bottle neck.

I have a DS210j (with 2 Samsung 1.5TB 154UI hard drives) which works very well with the WDTV Live
…with one caveat:

I have a DS209+II with 2 x 1 TB WD1001FALS, which have worked perfecty so far.
It work fine with the WD TV Live, have only had teh WD TV Live for 2 days and have only seen
3 issues.

1:
 I can’t get it to auto login to the network shares, but at least it remembers the username
and password so I only have to click down to OK.

Higher bitrate files >35Mbps will stutter. These files stutter from the Synology DLNA
media server and network shares.  The network shares stutter is fairly common, but
media servers have shown to  handle much higher bitrates These files are BD rips made
with makeMKV.  I am getting assistance from Synology on determining the exact reason
why this occurs.  I also have a ticket with WD.

2:
I have tested with some test files called something like bird##.mkv, where the ## is the
bitrate and I can play up to 38Mbps with no stutter, and 42Mbps with minor stutter.

My current setup is
DS-210j---->D-Link DGS2205 Gigabit Switch<----WDTV Live
and the WLI-TX-AG300N is connected to the D-Lin.

My setup:

DS209+II—25m.Cat.6—>TRENDnet TEG-S80g Gb SW–Cat.6->WD TV Live
In the Synology management interface under eprformance I saw transfer rates at 6500 KB/sec.
With a 10/100 as the WD TV Live has, files with very high bitrates could be a problem
or am I wrong ?

I connected the WDTV directly to the DS-210j with no improvement.

As my DS209+II is placed on the loft that is not an easy option.

The GUI of the WDTV leaves much to be desired, particularly when accessing
network shares (duplicate files listed, accessing individual files requires
way too many remote commands).

3:
Yes, but changing it to listing makes it a bit better.

I believe Synology will figure out what is going on…and if it is on their end
  - the technical support seems to be very good, and the firmware is updated consistently.

Yes, Synology has topclass support.

btw, the WDTV only has a 10/100 ethernet connection.  Fortunately that is not the bottle neck

Are you sure ?

Christian_IA wrote:

 

 

 

2:

I have tested with some test files called something like bird##.mkv, where the ## is the
bitrate and I can play up to 38Mbps with no stutter, and 42Mbps with minor stutter.

 

In the Synology management interface under eprformance I saw transfer rates at 6500 KB/sec.
With a 10/100 as the WD TV Live has, files with very high bitrates could be a problem
or am I wrong ?
 

 I’m not certain, but others have reported the ability to stream via network shares at higher rates with Twonky and other media servers.  I still believe there is some room for the Synology to improve their media server which is relatively new to their NAS.

 

 

I tested with Inglorious **bleep** and Precious, where the bitrate approached 6800 KB/sec (using the Synology network resource monitor).  Anything above 5200 KB/sec would begin to stutter. 

 

Sounds like our systems begin to stutter almost at the exact same level.  I found those files and will test as well.

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=33143&pid=305657#pid305657

 

I only used approximates “>35Mbps” as it was difficult to separate exactly when the stutter would begin. I know “The Hangover” maxes out at 36Mbps and playback is fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

btw, the WDTV only has a 10/100 ethernet connection.  Fortunately that is not the bottle neck

 

Are you sure ?

 

Not 100%, but because I have read reports where people have been able to stream >70Mbps via media server…I believe it is not a limitation of the WDTV.

my sutters drives me crazy. I talked to [deleted for privacy] Vob files fastforward and stop resume jumped big numbers. sync liping was out of tune. its up to people like you to keep bugging them to fix this. the player need more ram.no updates for 2 monthes. older wd tv has not seen an update sence november 2009 its been 6 monthes.  [deleted for privacy] tec clarance 2 he told me they comming out with a update for wd tv live but it did not come out because they ran into some problems. so yes it been 2 monthes and every thing I have described they know about it. but they said they did not know about the stuttering well I finally told him. so now its june 4th 2010 and still there is no update.

Release 1.02.21 (3/30/10)wd tv live

  • Added Play To support for Microsoft Windows 7.
  • Added external subtitle location options (Up/Down arrows).
  • Added larger subtitle font size options.
  • Added Western European language input for keyboard.
  • Other bug fixes and product improvements (see release notes).

Hi, just wanna share my experience…

Have you checked the compatibility of your installed drives on the synology? I’ve had the same symptoms with my own ds210j, first 1/3 capacity of my 1.5TB drive everything was working fine till it reached about 50% capacity. Even playing 2GB mkv files was difficult, lest playing a 12GB file!

Turns out, it was the incompatibility of my WD15EADS drive. I had 2 1.5TB installed and now i have to send them to RMA.

The stutter problem is caused by the poor read/write performance of that drive and also it’s incompatibility with the syno box.

Hope that helps.

Oh, BTW. To answer the topic question, yes the WD TV Live will be able to play videos through gigabit LAN.

And just an addtional info, all my 12GB mkv files can be played through wireless setup:

-DS210j

-DIR-655

-WDTV Live w/ usb wifi from buffalo 150mpbs

Those big video files are smooth  with 150mbps, not even wired gigabit.

Cheers.