Move that Media: WD TV HD

[Guest]

In Part 3 in our series about how to move media to your TV. Western Digital's effort makes it easy by adapting your media from USB to the TV for $129.99

Move that Media: WD TV HD : Read more

 

[owens]

Just a thought about a work around for WD's lack of network connectivity...

Would there be an adapter/device out there that would allow you to connect to a specified share on your network, and then on the other side make it appear as a virtual "USB mass storage device" so it can be detected by the WD TV?

Network Share ---> Ethernet to USB Adapter ---> WD TV

I know such adapters exist to turn any USB portable hdd into a "NAS" device, but instead is there something to convert any network share into a "USB mass storage device".

That would be damn handy!

 

[wisp_rush]

I believe it will play the VOB files in sequence. You have to select the first one and then click play and not enter then it will keep playing the files in the folder in order.

 

[goonting]

wow...this is affordable...if only it supports DVI or vga port too

 

[T-Bone]

If only it had an ethernet port and/or wireless???

 

[eltoro]

Any comment about localizations?

 

[janbak]

"The only thing easier would be if you could plug a USB drive straight into the TV. (Come to think of it...why doesn’t anyone enable this yet?)
"

Well how about Samsungs wiselink pro ?

 

[hellwig]

Now, why would it need to play ripped VOBs? If you own the DVD, you can just put it into your DVD player. Ripping VOBs only makes sense if you want to take your movie collection with you (say on a laptop). Since this thing plugs into your TV, and (as a law abiding citizen) you have the DVD, it makes better sense to use your DVD player. I'm not sure why WD added VOB support at all. I would think the MPAA would get on their case about that.

For $130 its not a bad price, but would network support have raised the price that much?

 

[Dixter]

You didn't mention that it also plays rip'd blu-ray also...

 

[steiner666]

my aging Hyundai 720p hdtv has USB/SD slots on it, but the format support is total crap and playback looks well, bad... I'd get one of these if they had component outputs cause the mentioned TV doesnt have HDMI...

 

[j0e2]

i have some AVI files that play on my computer but play without sound on the WD TV. when i talked to customer support and i even sent them a sample they had no solution.

it's cheap but i regret getting it because it's useless with 1/3 of my videos

 

[teegro76]

For all the people looking for a device that also has a network port (and is smart enough to play .VOB files in order), I suggest the Popcorn Hour device. http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/

I have been using this for over a year now and love it. My DVD collection is stored on my PC in VOB format. (You can also play .iso) However, this device can play almost any kind of media out there. Take a look at the site and see if it meets your needs. You should have a wired network or an 11n wireless network to watch movies over the network connection.

 

[Guest]

really a neat and simple little device. in fact so simple it really is great for the not so tech savvy like my in-laws. both in their late 60's and i load up a hard drive with movies and pictures of the grandkids and they're set. my in-laws are korean and this device lets you change the input language to a pretty impressive list of languages including korean. i've seen it at the local brick and mortar store for $99 too.

 

[codepoet]

I have one of these, and despite a couple of minor 'quirks', it works great.

 

[steiner666]

Can anyone with experience with these tell me whether I would be able to use the composite (red/white) connections for audio while connecting a HDMI-DVi cable for video? I know the video will work, but what I'm wondering is if it puts out audio on the composite jacks when the device is displaying through HDMI.

 

[Guest]

I have one, and to answer the questions about audio support:
"whether I would be able to use the composite (red/white) connections for audio while connecting a HDMI-DVi cable for video?"

It depends on the audio thats encoded in the media file. If its say an mkv file that is encoded with DTS audio, then the only way to hear it is by using the digital optical audio out since this device doesn't decode DTS, it only passes it through. So any "digital" audio souce will go out the "digital" output. If it's not encoded with something like DTS or AC3 then that setup would work fine.

"i have some AVI files that play on my computer but play without sound on the WD TV."

I have the same problem with some other files, both mkv and wmv files. The issue is they are encoded with an audio format that is not supported by the WDTV. The files that I have that do that are encoded with "AAC" audio format. The only way to fix it is to reencode the file with a program like "Super" or some such other program with a different audio codec such as AC-3 or mp3 or whatever else the device supports. Hope this helps.

 

[stunty]

I've had one of these for a couple of months and I love it. Here's a few tips:

1 - If you want to play ripped DVDs on it, convert them to ISO format using Imgburn (free) which takes about 90 seconds per movie. That way you don't get a huge list of VOBs to choose from. All you see is 'your movie.iso' in the list.

2 - If you have an AVI or MKV file but get no audio through your TV, the chances are that the video file contains a DTS audio stream. Use the Popcorn Audio Converter (Free) to convert to convert the DTS stream to Dolby Digital (AC3) which your TV will be able to play. The process is simple and takes approx 15 minutes per movie. You can even point the software to an entire folder of MKV movies and it will search for movies with DTS and convert them. The video stream remains untouched.

This little box is brilliant!!!

 

[mr x]

Playing rip dvds on thw WD Player

Use any dvd and dvd shrink 3.2. Rip movie only to one vob file (this will be in dvd settings) dont create any video audio folders. After files are created delete all apart from the .vob file. Change file extention from .vob to .mpg. this will play the file as mpeg 2 which is dvd quality. hope this helps. works on media extender. Put this mpg into a folder(nmae of the film). To view thumnail copy .jpg image to folder of film and name it the same name as film.

 

[user_1]

Absolutely LOVE this thing! Lots of firmware development going on over at www.wdtvc.com - support for usb wifi / usb ethernet as someone mentioned in the first comment! I haven't tried any as it's unofficial, but plenty of people have it working!

 

[Guest]

I was looking for low cost entry into a media device. This product is a winner, plays the usual formats and there's lots of support & development happening on the web. You really have to ask yourself whether other $$ products are worth it!