WD HD Media Player?

[mouldyolddough]

(2012-03-20 22:01)linnrd Wrote:  The WDTV Live (Gen 3) one without the HDD also has the same network interface as the one with and, imho, is an amazing piece for what it does and what it costs. It spews out hi-res multichannel audio via the HDMI for processing by the SSP. The sound quality ain't K-DS territory, but then neither it the price. OTOH, it streams hi-def video. I don't know how active they are with "official" firmware updates (the modders market is rife), but one of the issues I seem to recall with the Gen 2 was that one couldn't roll back a firmware update, hence I went with the ASUS O!Play. Bri can probably address both of these issues. Overall, as a purchase, it's a no-brainer.

I was concerned that that lack of gb ethernet would cause a problem with streaming mkv files and had read issues to this effect on the wd site. I had actually ordered it frpm amazon then cancelled it.

[Klingsor]

(2012-03-21 02:19)mouldyolddough Wrote:  I was concerned that that lack of gb ethernet would cause a problem with streaming mkv files and had read issues to this effect on the wd site. I had actually ordered it frpm amazon then cancelled it.

I use a Netgear NeoTV 500, which is quite similar to the WD boxes. It uses just a 100MBit Ethernet interface. Streaming HiRes MKV, or even full BD-Images, works without any issue when using NFS. The bitrates in HD video are below 100Mbit/s.

[mouldyolddough]

(2012-03-21 16:55)Klingsor Wrote:  I use a Netgear NeoTV 500, which is quite similar to the WD boxes. It uses just a 100MBit Ethernet interface. Streaming HiRes MKV, or even full BD-Images, works without any issue when using NFS. The bitrates in HD video are below 100Mbit/s.

I've just ordered the WD Live Hub with the 1TB hd and Gb ethernet. At least it offers a little bit of futureproofing. I'll move my daughter's movies over to it and free up some space on my server.

[Briain]

Hi

I was just popping on to advice you to get that one and see you have already done so. My friend David (Linn dealer) was round for lunch and he's just got the disk-less version. He noticed that my one was a lot snappier when navigating the menus and right enough, I remember now that the one with the HDD also has a snortier CPU in it. I'll have to borrow his one and put them side by side, but I'd think that also might impact on the speed of loading photos up etc. I think you've made the correct choice by getting the one with the HDD; not only for the reason of storing your daughters movies, but also for the faster CPU.

Bri

PS The Ethernet port speed is not really an issue. I'm sure I remember the Kaleidescap folks saying that you could serve 3 or 4 media players from a 100 Mhz Ethernet switch (so the server is feeding 3 or 4 video streams into one of the 100 MHz ports, and it still works okay). The slow part of the WD box is it's ponderous laptop disk, but that only becomes noticeable when initially transferring big iso's to it. I suspect that you'd see no slow down using a 100 MHz port as the disk is the bottleneck. As I say though, it's only slow when uploading a new film and thus it's not really an issue.

[mouldyolddough]

(2012-03-21 17:41)Briain Wrote:  Hi

I was just popping on to advice you to get that one and see you have already done so. My friend David (Linn dealer) was round for lunch and he's just got the disk-less version. He noticed that my one was a lot snappier when navigating the menus and right enough, I remember now that the one with the HDD also has a snortier CPU in it. I'll have to borrow his one and put them side by side, but I'd think that also might impact on the speed of loading photos up etc. I think you've made the correct choice by getting the one with the HDD; not only for the reason of storing your daughters movies, but also for the faster CPU.

Bri

PS The Ethernet port speed is not really an issue. I'm sure I remember the Kaleidescap folks saying that you could serve 3 or 4 media players from a 100 Mhz Ethernet switch (so the server is feeding 3 or 4 video streams into one of the 100 MHz ports, and it still works okay). The slow part of the WD box is it's ponderous laptop disk, but that only becomes noticeable when initially transferring big iso's to it. I suspect that you'd see no slow down using a 100 MHz port as the disk is the bottleneck. As I say though, it's only slow when uploading a new film and thus it's not really an issue.

Cheers again Bri. Sorry this might seem to be a nonDS post but i was hoping it could have been used as a control point.

[Briain]

Well it is a digital streaming device, just not a Linn one, so I guess the DS section is more appropriate than the LP12 section!

[linnrd]

(2012-03-21 17:41)Briain Wrote:  Hi

I was just popping on to advice you to get that one and see you have already done so. My friend David (Linn dealer) was round for lunch and he's just got the disk-less version. He noticed that my one was a lot snappier when navigating the menus and right enough, I remember now that the one with the HDD also has a snortier CPU in it. I'll have to borrow his one and put them side by side, but I'd think that also might impact on the speed of loading photos up etc. I think you've made the correct choice by getting the one with the HDD; not only for the reason of storing your daughters movies, but also for the faster CPU.

Bri

PS The Ethernet port speed is not really an issue. I'm sure I remember the Kaleidescap folks saying that you could serve 3 or 4 media players from a 100 Mhz Ethernet switch (so the server is feeding 3 or 4 video streams into one of the 100 MHz ports, and it still works okay). The slow part of the WD box is it's ponderous laptop disk, but that only becomes noticeable when initially transferring big iso's to it. I suspect that you'd see no slow down using a 100 MHz port as the disk is the bottleneck. As I say though, it's only slow when uploading a new film and thus it's not really an issue.

I assume you mean 100Mbits/sec as opposed to 100MHz. If my assumption is correct (which it might not be), I can't see how one could stream to 3-4 video streams especially if they are over 25 Mbits/sec (which many Blu-ray disc movies are). I can see it stream the same movie to four players, since it's only sending the info out once. But four streams?? Makes me wanna go, "Hmmmm." So....Hmmmmm

[mouldyolddough]

One of the main problems I am looking to solve is that, currently, I have movies of my daughter from my DV camera that my bluray player won't play. I would like to keep them as high quality as possible, so hopefully this WD unit will do the job.

[linnrd]

(2012-03-22 10:53)mouldyolddough Wrote:  One of the main problems I am looking to solve is that, currently, I have movies of my daughter from my DV camera that my bluray player won't play. I would like to keep them as high quality as possible, so hopefully this WD unit will do the job.

It should not be a problem, mouldy. At worst, you may have to torture the file into a format that the WD is friendly with, but in the end, you will still be able to have these viewable on command.

PS: As the familial technogeek, I ended up spending a long time dumping movies (taken in the 60s-80s) from 8 and 16 mm camera to VHS (all in real time) and gave copies to all the extended family. Then from VHS to DVD (again in real time, GRR) and gave the silver discs. I am now debating whether to go back to the original films and go direct to 1080p and be done with the lot.