Western Digital TV HD Media Player 1080p - €100 delivered [Expansys]

Cherry_Cola

I bought the WD TV live a few months ago and absolutely love it. In fact, I've sold off most of my dvd's after "backing them up" to nice small mkv files.

Haven't used the youtube browser on it much though.

kenyard

nulabert wrote: »

I got one of these WD Live TV a while back, its the business for films.

I also bought this cisco wireless dongle this 2TB WD Hardrive on amazon.

I got this Targa wireless keyboard in Lidl a while back and pluged that in to and it works perfectly for browsing the built in youtube browser.

I find the WD Live very hand as a wireless file server. I've moved my Itunes collection from my laptop over onto the WD and stream it to the laptop and then to the stereo.

hey mate.. that wireless dongle.. can i stream media from say my pc to the media player then also?
i bought the live one also because i saw it was network capable.. little did i realise its for lan cables only pretty much so its of no use to me.
awesome little device but it annoys me having to put stuff on my harddrive and hooking it up to play. id love to be able to stream stuff over the wifi network and have it play that way

slowlydownwards

465 wrote: »

... So can anyone recomend a good media player particularly for 720p BRRIP avi,s and X264 MKVs?

This one's quite good, plays everything, similar to wd tv, but has slicker and faster interface.

nulabert

hey mate.. that wireless dongle.. can i stream media from say my pc to the media player then also?
i bought the live one also because i saw it was network capable.. little did i realise its for lan cables only pretty much so its of no use to me.
awesome little device but it annoys me having to put stuff on my harddrive and hooking it up to play. id love to be able to stream stuff over the wifi network and have it play that way

Yes, you can stream media from your PC to the WD Live using this dongle. Once you are up and running, you need to share the folder on your PC so the WD can see it.

If you are buying a wireless dongle, make sure it is one that is tested by WD to work with the WDTV Live box. - Some dongles don't work.

The only problem I have is if I am pulling music and photos from the WD at the same time, the Eircom Netopia router can't handle it. Its fine for streaming one thing at a time. I need a faster router and then I'll be sorted.

chalkitdown

The Western Digital TV Live HD Media Player is now down to £68.46 with free delivery on Amazon.

Tusky

I got one of these and was using it fine with my WD Elements 500gb harddrive. I then got a WD Elements 1.5tb drive and the media player wont recognize it. Any ideas?

Sad Professor

Tusky wrote: »

I got one of these and was using it fine with my WD Elements 500gb harddrive. I then got a WD Elements 1.5tb drive and the media player wont recognize it. Any ideas?

See here. They suggest reformatting the drive which implies it's a problem with the filesystem.

Tusky

Sad Professor wrote: »

See here. They suggest reformatting the drive which implies it's a problem with the filesystem.

But it wouldnt even work straight out of the box. So could it still need to be reformatted?

Voodu Child

Tusky wrote: »

But it wouldnt even work straight out of the box. So could it still need to be reformatted?

Yes. Sounds like some of those drives shipped out of the factory incorrectly formatted, most OSs can deal with the problem but the WDTV cannot.

Doodoo

I have some films on a memory stick (AVI files) and some of them will not play on my xbox. They all play on my pc on the VLC player. Just wondering will the western digital TV HD media player play all the films i have.

The Sparrow

Doodoo wrote: »

I have some films on a memory stick (AVI files) and some of them will not play on my xbox. They all play on my pc on the VLC player. Just wondering will the western digital TV HD media player play all the films i have.

Yeah it should do. Try and get the WDTV Live. It's played everything I've thrown at it so far in multiple formats. AVI files should be absolutely fine.

Voodu Child

The Sparrow wrote: »

Yeah it should do. Try and get the WDTV Live. It's played everything I've thrown at it so far in multiple formats. AVI files should be absolutely fine.

There's a new WDTV Live just released last week, try and get that one because WD normally drop support of the old ones as soon as they are discontinued.

slowlydownwards

Voodu Child wrote: »

...

Spotted them anywhere? Hopefully the integrated wifi won't drive up the price.

vibe666

slowlydownwards wrote: »

Spotted them anywhere? Hopefully the integrated wifi won't drive up the price.

elara has them listed as coming in on 1st nov. for €95.59 Incl Vat. saw another (dutch) supplier listing the same date too priced at €115.

http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE2300475

the product no. for the new PAL one is WDBGXT0000NBK if you're looking for them anywhere online etc. so you no you've got the right one.

slowlydownwards

Thanks. Doubt it that any euro e-tailers would sell NTSC versions, but no harm in being cautious.

Am big fan of old (current) wd tv live with b-rad's firmware (moviesheets), so hopefully that'll be supported on the new one too.

Amalgam

Voodu Child wrote: »

There's a new WDTV Live just released last week, try and get that one because WD normally drop support of the old ones as soon as they are discontinued.

..having said that, third party firmware support is superb for these players.

Is there a risk that WD will be locking down the new firmware. I noticed that with the hard drive version of one of their players. Not as, 'end user' friendly.

Cheers for the link vibe666.

Voodu Child

Amalgam wrote: »

..having said that, third party firmware support is superb for these players.

Custom FW for the WDTV can't change anything related to video playback. So if there's a bug or sync problem, CFW can't do a thing.

The original WDTV was discontinued after a year. Soon after, MKVMerge started using header compression by default and all of a sudden there was tonnes of videos that wouldn't work with it, you had to remux them to fix it. WD wouldn't do a thing even though it would have been a simple update.

That's why i'd go with the newest one, you're guaranteed an extra couple of years support.

Is there a risk that WD will be locking down the new firmware. I noticed that with the hard drive version of one of their players. Not as, 'end user' friendly.

Yep, depending on the content providers, sometimes the firmwares are locked down to protect DRM keys.

Amalgam

Very similar in shape to the Roku.

Here's an unboxing of the soon to be released model.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsnlgz1yL0o

Hmm, this'll go on the 'self Santa' list, methinks.

Doodoo

I've decided I'm getting a WD TV Live HD Media Player ( WDBGXT0000NBK)

Next problem is nowhere has any in stock. Are they on sale yet and if not when are they expected. http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE2300475 (originally posted by vibe666) seems to be the cheapest I can find so far at e95 with e8 delivery in Ireland or free collection.

Lenny

I have the first version of the WD player(the non wifi one)
It can't paly DTS videos' i have to use popcorn to take the DTS out & change it to play it
is there a 3rd party fix for this?

Voodu Child

Lenny wrote: »

I have the first version of the WD player(the non wifi one)
It can't paly DTS videos' i have to use popcorn to take the DTS out & change it to play it
is there a 3rd party fix for this?

No. The WDTV Gen1 could not decode DTS. No fix possible.

It can pass the DTS track to a receiver though, via spdif or HDMI, and let them do the decoding. So if your surround system supports DTS then it works fine.

vibe666

Doodoo wrote: »

I've decided I'm getting a WD TV Live HD Media Player ( WDBGXT0000NBK)

Next problem is nowhere has any in stock. Are they on sale yet and if not when are they expected. http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE2300475 (originally posted by vibe666) seems to be the cheapest I can find so far at e95 with e8 delivery in Ireland or free collection.

i think it was only announced a week or so ago and review sites and blogs have samples of them now but most places i've seen them listed indicates nov. 1st to actually get them in stock.

SickBoy

I have a 1st gen device and I'm thinking of replacing it for a device with more broad support of audio and video codecs.
Just wondering do the later models support everything or is there still some codecs that are unsupported?

neacy69

slowlydownwards wrote: »

Thanks. Doubt it that any euro e-tailers would sell NTSC versions, but no harm in being cautious.

Am big fan of old (current) wd tv live with b-rad's firmware (moviesheets), so hopefully that'll be supported on the new one too.

I just put the B-RAD fw on mine yesterday....

Are the moviesheets hard to get going? Seems to be difficult to get a newbies guide to the BRAD FW...

slowlydownwards

neacy69 wrote: »

...

I followed this video tutorial [youtube.com] to get the moviesheets to show.

Use Thumbgen (windows only prog) to create moviesheets.

Little tip: Keep each video in its own separate folder. Makes everything neater and easier to organise. And take your time with the above vid + thumbgen... seems bit confusing at first, but you'll fly it after a while.

Doodoo

Doodoo wrote: »

I've decided I'm getting a WD TV Live HD Media Player ( WDBGXT0000NBK)

Next problem is nowhere has any in stock. Are they on sale yet and if not when are they expected. http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE2300475 (originally posted by vibe666) seems to be the cheapest I can find so far at e95 with e8 delivery in Ireland or free collection.

Just checked this again and the price has gone up to e101.

neacy69

Doodoo wrote: »

Just checked this again and the price has gone up to e101.

That price could be for the new version...

Doodoo

neacy69 wrote: »

That price could be for the new version...

Both prices were listed for the new model number. By the way its now listed for e125

Hal Emmerich

vibe666 wrote: »

elara has them listed as coming in on 1st nov. for €95.59 Incl Vat. saw another (dutch) supplier listing the same date too priced at €115.

http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE2300475

the product no. for the new PAL one is WDBGXT0000NBK if you're looking for them anywhere online etc. so you no you've got the right one.

vibe666 wrote: »

i think it was only announced a week or so ago and review sites and blogs have samples of them now but most places i've seen them listed indicates nov. 1st to actually get them in stock.

It's gone, me sad. Nov 1st.

vibe666

Hal Emmerich wrote: »

It's gone, me sad. Nov 1st.

looks like they're planning on getting them in a couple of weeks, going by the web page.

0 Available to Ship
16-Nov-2011 Estimated

Doodoo

Doodoo wrote: »

Both prices were listed for the new model number. By the way its now listed for e125

E141 now!

Hal Emmerich

vibe666 wrote: »

looks like they're planning on getting them in a couple of weeks, going by the web page.

OOh it's back, it was a dead link this morning.

Hal Emmerich

Doodoo wrote: »

E141 now!

Crazy price for just a Media Player. The old/current one can be bought delivered for €83, I think I'll just get that one......or stick with rewriteable disc!

vibe666

couldn't justify it myself, not with the apple tv being as cheap as it is and so much more versatile once it's jailbroken.

Basq

New model is currently €115.99 in Argos

jamesd

vibe666 wrote: »

couldn't justify it myself, not with the apple tv being as cheap as it is and so much more versatile once it's jailbroken.

Can the apple tv 2 be jailbroken to play avi's off usb keys?

Basq

jamesd wrote: »

Can the apple tv 2 be jailbroken to play avi's off usb keys?

Yep.. sure can.

Doodoo

Basq wrote: »

New model is currently €115.99 in Argos

Is that definitely the new model?

Basq

Doodoo wrote: »

Is that definitely the new model?

According to a guy over on HUKD, it is.. but can't guarantee it!

Worse comes to worse - when they hand you the box in Argos, it'll have the specs on it. Hand it back if it doesn't state Wireless-N.

The_Conductor

None in any of the Leinster stores......?

Basq

smccarrick wrote: »

None in any of the Leinster stores......?

I put it up this morning at 9.40am on HUKD.ie and there was a scatter of stock at that stage (only 1 in a couple of stores)!


(stock status as of 9.40am this morning!)

tommycahir

If anybody has reserved the one in Carlow and isn't using it I will gladly take it off your hands

vibe666

jamesd wrote: »

Can the apple tv 2 be jailbroken to play avi's off usb keys?

assuming you have the correct microUSB adapter to connect your usb drive/key to the apple tv, then yes.

Voodu Child

The new one is up for pre-order on Amazon too:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Streaming-Media-Player/dp/B005NYOKC2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1320329695&sr=8-4

They say 6-9 weeks so the PAL model must be in short supply at the moment.

tommycahir

did anybody get this from argos? is it actually the new and latest version?

kenyard

just find out if it has the inbuilt wifi and that will tell you. i got one, a year ago with the inbuilt lan and its a nuisance as i have to run it through laptop or change router location to closeby for updates etc...
because of that also i hafnt used the stream from home network feature really either. (hooking to lappy to connect to network may as well just connect HDD)
you do pay the bit extra for the wifi though..so if you dont need it dont get it

2 comments ill make. 1. its not full HD. only 720p. note that.
the different models have different features. some dont even have hd.
they support the 1080p files or at least my 720p version does, but i guess its only played in 720p
2. remote is tiny and so easy lose watch it

Voodu Child

kenyard wrote: »

2 comments ill make. 1. its not full HD. only 720p. note that.
the different models have different features. some dont even have hd.
they support the 1080p files or at least my 720p version does, but i guess its only played in 720p
2. remote is tiny and so easy lose watch it

All the main WDTV players are full HD (1080p).

They did have some crappy WDTV mini that wasn't, but that was useless anyway, only basic format support.

tommycahir

managed to get the last one in Argos Carlow this afternoon and the added bonus is that as it is over €100 with the current argos promotion you get a €10 gift card. :-)

Once I get it set-up later this evening I will put up a review if anybody fancies?

madmoe

tommycahir wrote: »

managed to get the last one in Argos Carlow this afternoon and the added bonus is that as it is over €100 with the current argos promotion you get a €10 gift card. :-)

Once I get it set-up later this evening I will put up a review if anybody fancies?

Good stuff!

Voodu Child

In stock at Dabs now for €105.83