Over the years, I’ve tried quite a few devices that allow you to watch and listen to your digital media through your television set. Some of these devices have included WiFi, some included hard drives, some required that you stream the content from a computer to the player and some required that you convert the content to a format that the player could handle. For one reason or another, I stopped using all of those devices except for the AppleTV. I really like the AppleTV’s user interface, but have never really liked the fact that I have to convert the files and then ‘send’ them from my desktop computer to the AppleTV in the living room. I’m all about simplicity, and while the AppleTV comes close, it doesn’t quite get there. I think I’ve found a device that does get there tho. It’s the WD TV HD Media Player from Western Digital.
The WD TV doesn’t include YouTube or allow you to rent movies, but it does play the video, audio and image content that you already have, and does so in a really user friendly way.
Hardware Specifications
File Formats Supported:
Music – MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA
Playlist – PLS, M3U, WPL
Photo – JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, PNG
Video -MPEG1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H.264)
MPEG2/4, H.264, and WMV9 supports up to 1920x1080p 24fps, 1920x1080i 30fps, 1280x720p 60fps resolution
Subtitle -SRT (UTF-8)
USB 2.0 ports: 2
External Drive Formats Supported: FAT32, NTFS, HFS+ (no journaling)
Video Interface: HDMI, Composite A/V
Physical Dimensions: 1.57 x 3.94 x 4.94 Inches
Weight: 0.67 Pounds
Package Contents
WD TV Player
Remote Control
2 AA Batteries
AC Adapter
Composite A/V cable
Passport USB Drive stand
Instructions
The WD TV unit is small, allowing it to fit into even the most cramped areas of your entertainment center.
It’s made of shiny Black plastic and lacks buttons, dials and switches.
On the Left side, you will find a USB port and a reset switch.
On the back side, you’ll find an AC power connector, another USB port, an HDMI connector, TOSlink Optical audio port, and composite A/V connectors.
A small remote control with real buttons is also included along with the batteries to power it.
The WD TV doesn’t include its own hard drive like some players (AppleTV, MVIX). Instead, it has two USB ports in which you can plug in thumb drives or even WD’s own USB Passport drive.
There’s a little stand included specifically for the Passport drive, so that you can set it next to the player.
I tested the WD TV with my 32GB Kingston flash drive and a WD Passport drive. The cool thing is that you don’t have to specify which USB drive you want to view content from. The software in the WD TV reads both drives and creates one list of all the content.
Setting up the WD TV with your TV is a snap. A composite A/V cable is included in the package, that you can use to connect to your TV. While this works fine, you can get MUCH better video quality by using an HDMI cable (if your TV has that capability). The only bad thing is that you’ll have to go out and buy your own HDMI cable. Tip: Don’t go to Walmart, Target, Best Buy or other local stores to buy an HDMI cable. They will charge you $25-$30 for one, which is robbery when you can buy the same thing from NewEgg for less than $10.
After you connect the WD TV to your television and power it on with the remote, you’ll be presented with a simple user interface. You can scroll up and down to choose the main function (Photos, Video, Music, Settings) and then side to side to pick options for that specific mode.
In Photo mode, you can view images on the attached USB devices by thumbnails or a list of file names.
You can click on an image to see it in full screen. You can also rotate, pan and zoom. You can view the images in slide show mode and even have music playing in the background.
In Music mode, you can easily play your tunes. Even the album art will display on the screen while music is playing. You can choose music based on Artist, Genre and Album.
Photo and music modes are nice additions, but my main use for a device like this is to easily view my video content on my TV. I have to say that I think the WD TV does this easier than any device I’ve tried so far. Save your videos on a USB device, plug it into the WD TV, scroll through the list of files, press play on the remote and away you go. The best part for me is that no time consuming file conversions are needed. This is something I had to do all the time with the AppleTV in order to play video that I’d downloaded from the internets. I much prefer downloading the file, copying it to a USB stick, plugging the stick in the WD TV, sitting down and watching it. Easy!
Video quality using HDMI is great to my eyes. Of course it will really depend on the video itself. If you have low resolution video, it won’t look the best on a large TV.
The WD TV impressed me after I had downloaded an AVI video that wouldn’t play on my MSI Wind and wouldn’t play on my iMac using VLC, without VLC having to reindex it. I thought for sure it wouldn’t play on the WD TV either, but I was wrong. It worked just fine. The only video file that would not play for me was a really old .WMV file that I had created using Movie Maker on a Windows PC. The WD TV comes with some software that you can use to convert files if necessary. I didn’t try it, but I bet it would have fixed that file for me.
One nice feature is that you can resume playing a video if you stop it and want to go start it again later. The player will automatically remember where you left off.
While watching video, you can rewind and fast forward at four speeds (2x, 4x, 8x, 16x). I wish there was a feature to skip ahead so many minutes or to go to the end of a video. Just nit picking here though…
I really like the WD TV HD Media Player from Western Digital. Its small size and ease of use has me sold. It’s definitely going to stay in my entertainment center until something better comes along.
Product Information
| Price: | 129.99 |
| Manufacturer: | Western Digital |
| Pros: |
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| Cons: |
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More good news.
Lots of people have been complaining about the small, cheap remote control. I agree, it’s not the greatest and if it goes, so goes your WDTV because there aren’t any controls on the box itself.
Yesterday I successfully programmed my Logitech 550 universal remote to control the WDTV! I wasn’t sure if the WDTV was too new to be in Logitech’s system, but sure enough it’s there. Took just a few minutes and now I can fully control the WDTV with my nice big remote. No more worries.
Great detailed review. Thanks Julie.
) avi’s.
Question is, why wouldn’t I connect a laptop directly to the TV using some kind of HDMI adapter instead of using this gadget? I understand price might be a consideration. Is there anything else to consider other than that? I just want to watch DVD rips or downloaded ( legally of course
@George T There is no real reason why you should not do what you suggested if you already own a laptop. The WD TV isn’t meant to replace a media center PC, it’s meant to be an easy way to watch video, display pix and listen to music on a TV. Of course, if you already have a dedicated media PC, you probably would not be interested in this device in the first place.
Other reasons:
- Most laptops don’t have a remote control
- Connecting and unconnecting the laptop from your TV when you want to play content would get to be a PITA
- The WD TV doesn’t take up as much space as a dedicated computer or laptop
Julie,
First of all, you are so admirable and very prompt with responses and got me going with my question below.
I still have yet to purchase this unit. I read all the comments and solutions to problems hoping I would see a topic on “karaoke” files. At the moment, I can play karaoke files on my PC with my CDG Karaoke player. Both audio
and text show up fine on my PC. Audio works as well also.
Each karaoke song need2 to have 2 files to play both audio and video. 1 mp3 and 1 cdg
For example:
Ah2005-12 – Rundgren, Todd – I Saw The Light.cdg
Ah2005-12 – Rundgren, Todd – I Saw The Light.mp3
I am just wondering if WD Media supports Karaoke Media player using the CDG format.
More power to all the people here and to your site Julie!
Ducer1 (post #292), or Julie,
While I appreciate your response, I want you to know that I work intimately with software and its’ code myself, and routinely search for bugs as part of my job, so I’m familiar with how code, and their associated bugs, reveal themselves.
I have the current firmware release from WD, and I assure you it’s installed correctly, notably because I purchased the device at the beginning of March 2009 and it came installed with the Latest Firmware Update – version 1.01.02 (12/2008). So, these issues I addressed were not resolved by this release.
DISAPPEARING FOLDER VIEWS:
Can you tell me if this issue is to be RE-addressed and properly fixed in WD’s not-soon-enough firmware release? This is an habitual occurrence and I hate the need to eject, wait the 30 seconds for this to finish, unplug the drive, plug it back in, then wait the 2-3 minutes for it to read and index (poorly index might I add) the contents before I can use it again.
“USB2″ Volume Name:
While your explanation makes sense, they should be able to read the volume name off the hard drive. Many devices can do as such. This product seems to have lots of potential but has some shortcomings that make it quite aggravating and troublesome to use as part of a home theater. It’s certainly the weakest link among all my equipment in my media room.
HARD DRIVE SLEEP MODE:
I get that hard drives have moving parts (thanks for explaining this to me by the way), but if you’ll notice when your hard drive is plugged into the usb of a computer, this lag time which is experienced on the WD device is not noticed, and if there is any lag to be found on a computer, it is negligible. The WD lag is marked and appears to be software related as it is pronounced only with this device.
MUSIC PLAYBACK:
I don’t notice this lag when switching between episodes with my TV shows as you mentioned; they all switch fine (so this rules out the file-size theory). I’m not a huge photo person, and don’t even use the device for photo viewing, but i don’t really notice any lag when using my computer (could be that it’s a mac and just works very well :-p ). The troublesome aspect is, as i previously described, specifically music playback. I’m not being impatient when I say that it takes a long time to change between songs. On the contrary, I’m being realistic with my impatience of the device when I find it taking 10 seconds or more to change between a 3-6MB mp3 file. This is a problem that needs to be fixed. I can use the very same hard drive, with the very same contents, with iTunes when plugged into my computer and it changes songs the moment I hit the next button. Again, i have to point at the software of this device. It’s not reading or indexing the drive correctly as it should, or it wouldn’t have this issue. There needs to be a software (firmware) improvement made with which the device reads/indexes/accesses media on hard drives. I feel fairly certain that I’m not the only one experiencing this dilemma, and preaching patience to customers of a product does not fly, not with my company’s software, and I’m certainly sure not with Western Digital’s either. Do you notice a delay when changing songs on older iPods (pre-flash hard drives) which have drives with “movable parts”? I surely didn’t, and don’t expect that you did either.
Nowhere in my previous thread did I mention opening multiple applications (disregarding the fact that this device is incapable of such a task), so I’m somewhat confused why you would compare the reading/playback of a single file stored on a hard drive with the processing of numerous functions/data associated with software running on a computer. I notice a couple of second delay when changing between very large (4-12GB) mkv files which is acceptable, but the marked delay I find when changing relatively tiny songs is terrible and needs to be addressed.
So again, can you tell me if these issues will be addressed by a new firmware update, and when might we expect a new release (not to be “impatient”….as everyone else complaining seems to be)?
Cheers,
Phillip
@jwbl .CDG files aren’t listed as being supported by this device, so my guess is no…
Having problems when playing Video_TS folders. It will play the first file then stop. I have to press play on the next file to watch the next part of the movie. Anybody else having this problem? I bought this to replace my dvd player, so I could put all my dvds on hard drives and have a video juke box. Not working out that way though….
thank you very much you were very helpful.i now decide which to buy
Hey Millertime, (or anyone else who may know)
Along with everyone else I would like to say Thank You for all of the time and effort you’ve put into testing different features of this unit. I have yet to buy one but my decision is mainly hinging on my following questions.
I just wanted to confirm a few things. I too rip my DVDs into the format and file structure you mentioned:
“Main Folder (movie title) —> Audio_TS & Video_TS.”
My question is, “when browsing the device for the movie I want to watch from the main menu, if I have say “Nemo” as my folder name and within it the Video & Audio_TS folders, it simply displays the name “Nemo”, then I go into the “Nemo” folder and subsequently the VIDEO_TS folder and execute the first .vob file in order to play the movie…is that correct?
My other question is, “what is sorting functionality like?” In other words, are the movies listed in alphabetical order and/or is this customizable? My thought is to categorize movies in folders such as “Kids Movies”, “Action”, etc on the hard drives themselves and then place the movies into their associated folders using the aforementioned format of “Movie name > video & audio _ts folders”. Would/does the following occur:
I’m viewing the main screen of the WD menu and see “Kids Movies” which I can enter and find a list of all of these types of movies and then access the sub folders to play the movie I want or is there a limit to the file structure level the WD reads?
Sorry for the long winded message, I just wanted to be sure I explained myself properly (which hopefully I did)
Thanks much!!!
As of March 09, with all firmware updates, this box is not as universal as WD claims. I have 50-60 DV files from my older sony camcorder – the WD TV will not play them. I have another 20-30 hours of analog video captured by Studio as .avi files – WD TV will not play them. I have another 30 hours of HD video from my Sony HDR – HC1 camcorder, which captures as .m2v with a separate .wav file for the sound – the WD TV will play the video OR the audio, but not both at the same time. Like watching silent movies.
I contacted WD, and they tell me they don’t support Sony codecs, and that I should contact Sony and tell them not to use proprietary codecs they cannot incorporate for free – so why does freeware like Picassa or Irfanview play these files with no problem?
Yes, of course I can go through and convert all the files, but with 1 terabyte + of video in already otherwise useful form, why should someone buy another 2 or 3 hard drives, and spend 100+ hours at least converting all these files to something with less resolution. That’s why I bought this box, so it would play these files, not to make more work for myself. This WD TV is a real disappointment.
Will not play the HD .mov movies generated by my Panasonic Lumix HD FZ28 Camera either.
Just what will this box play? These are all formats advertised on your website as compatible, but NONE of them will play. It only plays about 10% of the video I have. Most of the reviews I have seen seem to tout that it plays all forms of downloaded content – likely ripped DVD’s and other material violating copywrite laws. It seems that is only what this product is designed to play – definitely not your home video collection.
After transcoding some of the above files, it played a .mp4 file, then 3 minutes later would not play the SAME file anymore – format not supported. I understand if it does not have the codec, but it played it, then refused to play it? 3 minutes later?
This box has serious problems, I would recommend that people stay away until WD gets the firmware updated in 6 months (if at all)
Derek N I have had this box since December and have not had a problem with it yet as for ripped DVD’s I own mine but with nephews and nieces it was easier to rip them and put the orginals away so I dont end up with damaged products. Granted it took almost 3 month to convert them all to mp4 but now when we want to watch something its right there. I would almost think you have a faulty unit if it played the file once and than wont play it anymore.
From another website where a Western Digital engineer has been providing updates:
Here is a bit more information to share about the upcoming release!
What’s new?
- Enhanced cover art, album art, and thumbnail support for media files and folders
- Additional subtitle languages and decoding support
- Improved media playback and navigation
- Added more audio formats for MKV container
- Fixed several bugs that were reported by the WD TV user community!
More information to be posted later…
-ScottWD
Supposedly the new firmware is going to be released sometime this week (no, this is not an April Fools
.
I Got this player for my birthday lastweek and I like it so far. The only issue I have is the finding the fastest way to get the files converted from dvd. I have used Clone DVD from slysoft to backup my files and it works great. the thing is to convert them so that they will play on the ipod takes FOREVER! I use Handbrake to convert to MPEG4. Do any of you know of a faster way to convert?
Hi, Hopefully somebody can help me out on this peculiar problem
I recently upgraded my firmware to the latest 1.01.02 and ever since I’m not able to read my usb drives anymore. I have two different drives both formatted HFS+ (no journaling) > Samsung 250 GB mobile USB drive and Maxtor 500GB One touch
after succesfull fw upgrade the USB led will flash and the menu will say no storage present. I have tried system reset to no avail.
Must admit that I have disconnected my drives without first pressing the eject button on the remote…
Note that now after pressing the eject button both drives are still not being recognized
Thanks in advance
E
Jason (#307) – I too noticed the same issue as you have, however I only noticed it when I messed around with the file structure that DVDfab rips the DVD to. I thought I’d decrease a few levels that I had to ‘dig’ into by simply renaming the Video_TS folder as the name of the movie and just playing the first .vob file from there. It was when I did this that it seemed to only recognize each .vob as a seperate file and I had to start each one individually. If I took that same movie and left it in the proper structure (“Main Folder (movie title) —> Audio_TS & Video_TS.”) it would recognize all .vob as one and play from start to finish.
Webspyderz (#309) – your procedure is what I do and it works fine. So too will your file organization. I’ve done the same with all my kids movies in one folder. The obvious downside is you have that extra level to ‘dig’ into to get to the movie. Although I haven’t tried to find any other settings regarding the WD’s ability to sort I believe it just sorts alphabetically. So on each level it would sort your folders from A to Z. I have yet to find a limit to the amount of folders you can ‘dig’ into so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.
Derek N (#310) – Haven’t I seen this exact post on other sites? As you can see there are a ton of people that are finding great use for the unit. I think your recomendation should be taken with a grain of salt. Don’t get me wrong someone trying to do exactly what you are doing may find your opinon very helpful but in general I think an all out “stay away from” recomendation is a little harsh. As someone else commented on, it sounds likely that you have a lemon of a unit. It plays pretty much all the file formats its says for me with the exception of my issues with Blu Ray .iso’s.
One last bit of info if anyone is interested. I recently purchased the Happauge HD PVR as I wanted to expand my ability to store HD TV programs beyond the limitations of my set top PVR box as well as start to archive electronically all my Hi-8 home videos from my old Sony Video Camera. The Happauge captures its content in the .mt2s and .ts format. I was happy to find out that the WD unit played all these formats without flaw. I tested HD TV recordings in both formats as well my home video files. Everything worked well.
SeahorseseaEO (#312) – if this is a joke you are cruel……LOL. If not….good news!
Cheers
New firmware version (release 1.02) can be found at the below link. I haven’t applied it as yet, so I can offer no feedback.
http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease
Phillip,
Re post #305
I have the feeling that you think I work for WD. Sorry mate, i don’t… just trying to help out where I can.
Also, I didn’t know that you work intimately with codes etc. Generally, ppl like my boss think that pc’s should be able to produce everything in a split second… . Hence all the talk of “Opening multiple applications”
You mention that your device came with the firmware installed. Have you tried d/l from their site & re-installing them? Looks like new firmware update will hit us soon. Thx SeahorseSeaEO. Maybe your issues may be fixed then.
As mentioned, I have almost the same set up as you & I have had no issues such as yours since I bought it in Feb. Having said that, I installed the firmware again. I would have assumed that mine came with the latest firmware installed as well.
I have tried re-naming my drive but it only comes up with USB1/2. Maybe you need to own WD HDD’s to enjoy the luxury of this feature. Part of the conspiracy theory in post # 285. See… it keeps coming up
As mentioned, this lag can be annoying & I am glad you liked my explanation
I would have assumed that a computer holds a far greater amount of power & read capacity than the WD unit does hence “negligible” lag time. Just an educated guess tho.
Wish I could help with your music issue but I am not using the WD unit for music. Have vinyl & cd’s for that and when in the car – ipod. Occasionally on my old and current ipod there is a lag of a second or two where the drive juuuust can’t keep up with the soft/firmware which is racing ahead. I just assumed that it was stock standard… all my 3 ipods have done it. Maybe I have bought duds.
As I have mentioned in many forums… Call WD – They are normally quite helpful. Alternatively, Take the unit back to where you bought it. They should swap it straight over if its faulty.
Sorry I can’t help any further
Cheers, ducer
MillerTime77 et al,
Re: #297
I bought the Belkin Network usb hub, hooked it all up but to no avail
The WD does can not read the HDD through the network hub nor does the software for the hub see the wd unit.
For me this is not logical tho. If it works on a normal hub, why would this scenario be any different???
Tried many different configs and hub settings, ruled out any “fat32 or ntfs” questions I had – nothing seemed to make a difference.
Good news tho – created a small network between my HDD’s and my PC. Ecstatic about this!! Means I do not have to unplug, re-plug & cart the 1tb HDD from one room to another when I want to copy/rip dvd’s…. I can now rip straight to my external…. WOO HOO
All this means is that when I have finished ripping I have to take the HDD’s usb lead out of the hub and put it into the WD unit. No biggy in my books.
Greatly appreciated if anyone has a better scenario.
SeahorseSeaEO – Thanks for the great news
cheers, ducer
@enufspace
Do you have a computer you can hook the drives up to? I had this issue also, and it was due to not properly ejecting the drives from the WD player. My solution was to hook the drive up to a computer, let it “fix” the drive (this took 10-15 minutes), properly disconnect it from the computer, then plug it back into the WD player.
should b good now.. thanks
Hi All,
re: my post – #316
Just following up to let you know that I upgraded my firmware from 1.01.02 to v1.02 and it’s working well. The thumbnail issue has been addressed so I think everyone will be pleased with that. My only gripe is that I’ve noticed a slight delay before the video files actually start playing. Nothing big, maybe 10-15 seconds, but just a small grumble on my part. But the indexing of the drive is noticeably faster to me for my 640GB drive. The update’s not on WD the main page, but on this page.
http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease
The release notes also outline in detail the changes made in the new release – http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease/releasenotes/WDTVreleasenotes.pdf
Fan-f**king-tastic! Finally…
G’day all,
Re: Belkin netwrok usb hub
Have since found out that the WD unit, unlike popcorn or mivx, is not set up at the moment to deal with a LAN set up. Apparently there are no drivers on the WDunit that support a LAN config (see conspiracy theory; post #285)
Looks like no LAN issues have been addressed in this firmware update either. Still a little confused as to why a normal hub would work and why this network hub doesn’t. Any one??
WD – thanks for addressing the thumbnail issue. Any chance you could make it LAN compatible??
cheers, ducer
Hi All,
Re: #318 Belkin network usb hub
I am interested in the Belkin hub too. The WD can not read the 1Tb drive through the Belkin network hub? I’m guessing you hooked up the WD to one port on the Belkin and the 1Tb drive to another port on the Belkin and the WD could not see the 1Tb drive? Have you tired connecting the WD and 1Tb to a regular usb hub and then a third cable to the Belkin? Being able to download to the 1Tb drive from the Belkin is great. Would be nice not to have to keep moving the usb cable after a download so the WD drive can see the 1Tb drive though.
Cheers
I have downloaded and installed the new firmware. The improvements seem really good so far.
However I dont seem to be having any luck with the thumbnails. Can some kind person once they have figured it out please post what needs to be done.
Thanks in advance.
My mistake I had it in list mode. All fixed now – thumbnails work well!
Have downloaded the latest firmware and I must say that having waited months the updates are not really as extensive as I would have expected. The support for VC-1 embedded .mkv’s is a nice touch as most encoding tools support this format as standard.
I must say that although the thumbnails are now a nice touch it has not come without a price to pay. It would appear that drives now take considerably longer to be recognized and synced with the WD, also I don’t know if this is a standard problem but I am finding that I have to complete a system reboot everytime I add a new thumbnail to a file or folder as the device does not notice that you have added any new ones when you simply eject and reconnect. Can anyone else clarify this or may this just be a problem on my device.
I would have expected the device to archive more quickly and I would certainly of expected something to address the power issue with the attached drives.
Also just noticed that I am getting up to a 30 second delay when starting video files……. Is this now a common problem – I would say yes!
Yet again in my opinion WD have failed to impress. This is a fantastic device but WD are being a little to slow with its development. This thing could be made awesome with a little care and attention being put in by the engineers. In contrast Popcorn release updates almost fortnightly with many more issues being addressed in each release. To that end I am personally considering buying a Popcorn for my living room and putting this in the bedroom or spare tv room.
I love this device, cause it is compact and pack with lot of functions. I wondering if it can play Karaoke (vob) file in a way that I can turn off the vocal chanel?
Thank you for your reply.
Hi all,
I too have updated and have noticed some good and bad. The thumbnail addition is certainly a welcome improvement. I only experimented with a few to make sure they worked but I see it taking a while to load if you have a ton of movies on a TB HD. Is there a trick that anyone has found that streamlines things? It may be in the manual but does anyone know the ideal image size to use?
I like Andy have also noticed some increased delays in starting video files although not nearly as long as he has experienced. I can live with it.
On another note has anyone else played around with Blu Ray playback? As I discussed previously my .iso images of Blu Ray movies would not play (of course AnyDVDHD has done its thing to the image). To get this to work I’ve pulled the main .mt2s file from the Stream directory and simply play that. I’ve been noticing a few issues with a couple movies. The most recent is Quantum Solace. It actually plays the first couple seconds and then goes to black screen and locks up the WD unit to the point that I have to cut power and reboot.
Another thing I noticed is that the main .mt2s files sometimes only plays in a foreign language and there is no option to change audio tracks.
Is anyone else playing around with native Blu Ray files? Any pointers?
In any event I like to see the firmware updates……keep them coming WD.
Cheers
#329 Millertime?
Did you need to system reboot to get the thumbnails to appear?????
Andy – No I didn’t. I simply ejected. Connected my Passport to my Netbook, copied over a couple covers and reconnected to the unit.
It did take a couple seconds to load the covers in Thumbnail view once I went into the Movie Folder view though. This is why I was curious to know if someone had fooled around with the ideal .jpg size to optimize the thumbnail view. (ie. Size to fit the thumbnail space and open as quick as possible.)
Cheers
Hi all
downloaded latest firmware and tried to get the thumbnails working but as yet to no avail, I have a avi file and jpeg image as a test piece but no thumbnail as yet although the image appears as a photo no problem
I assumed from the wd info that both file and image appear in the same folder called folder.jpeg if anyone has had sucess with this could they please help with this you help would be greatly appreciated
many thanks
Hi Everyone:
Re: Post #329
WD has now indicated on the site that this is a beta.
“This is a prerelease version of the firmware. Feel free to install it but be aware this is beta firmware so use it at your own risk. If you are not comfortable with this, please wait for the final version.”
Based on this, we can only hope that the feedback they receive will result in these bugs being resolved in the final release. Hopefully the final release will be soon. This is a nice little unit, which IMO can be a great product if they get these little thing right…
I just returned my WD HD TV because I have alot of WMV video files that would play with Audio Channel 1 (Unsupported) because it was encoded in wma 9 or 10. Does anyone know if this firmware update fixed this? I would hate to have to rebuy the damn thing because they fixed it right when I returned it.
Chengster,
Out of curiosity how did you connect your Audio? Did you try Optical? I had a similar issue with audio, although not with wma files and once I connected to my receiver things were OK. Not the most convenient solution if you just want to connect to your TV but it did help me out.
Cheers
Nick (#332),
Did you refer to #326 above? I think the unit defaults to List mode after the firmware update. In thumbnail mode I haven’t had any issues with cover art so far, other than the lad in loading them up.
Cheers
Mark (#324)
Correct – The WD can not read the belkin through the network hub
Yep – put both usb leads the external & the wd (male to male usb) into the belkin and both the PC and the HDD couldn’t see the WD.
Agreed – It would be GREAT not to swap the leads around. Will let you all know how I go.
Havn’t tried the hub into the Belkin scenario. Will buy & try. Thanks for the suggestion.
cheers, ducer
Seriously tho, you would think that WD would have thought of these things before releasing the unit.
Maybe it is like the iphone. They wanted to get a unit out on the market to compete with the rest of them and are fixing issues as they go – Who knows!!!
I’ve been looking at the Mvix lately. It seems to do everything I want it to. Takes an internal as well as 2 externals – forget the hubs etc.
Apparently the 800HD will be out in 4-6 weeks. Mmmmm – will persist for another couple of weeks.
Hope I don’t have to jump ship
FYI WD – Lots of people who are into a slightly more complex version of this unit are either jumping ship on it or are not going to buy in the future. Need to fix issues asap.
Having said that, this unit is great for ppl who want to simply plug and play
cheers, ducer
Going to go back to xbox360 its easier to re encode a handful of MKV with gotsent really quickly that to re encode wma 9 audio on a wmv file. Anyone having problems, the xbox is pretty much an all in one solution unless you need subititles.
@millertime77
Just HDMI, WD TV HD does NOT support WMA pro audio. So if you use alot of WMV then ur out of luck.
Millertime – Thumbnails have miraculously just started working without restart of device. I have played around with different file sizes which doesn’t seem to make any difference it must just be the time it takes to archive the cover art to the relevant file etc.
Millertime re#332
I was in thumbnail mode but have finally got one to work in video folder options only not in video also this file was an mkv file as opposedto the others which are avi maybe avi is not supported at the moment unless other people here have got them working also do you have to rename the jpeg’s or folders to make them work?
other than this I think this is a great piece of kit!
Nick,
WD included a pretty good set of instructions with their release of 1.02. I just rename cover art to folder.jpg and put it in the first folder. Seems to work well
Seem to have cracked this one maybe we just weren’t reading properly. Thumbnail support is for image files only… so AVI etc will not display them however .mp4 is on of the file systems that can have an embedded cover art so they will work anyway. Two different ways of naming the jpg file for cover art. If you are creating a file thumbnail for a video you put a Video.jpg into the folder where you store your video or if you want to add a thumbnail to a specific folder you have created you call it folder.jpg. Things then archive a little better – not quite clear enough in the release notes but does make sense when you sit and read it in depth. For thumbnails I have trialed jpg from about 10kb to 1.5mb and nothing makes any difference as to how fast they appear so keep them in the best visual quality you can.
thanks for the info will try it out and hopefully will get a better result
ducer1 (#324)
Thanks for the reply. Looking at the Belkin doc you should make sure automatically connect is disabled. You would only want to enable connection when you want to download from your PC to the 1Tb drive. If the Belkin is still connected to the 1Tb drive the WD TV probably would not be able to connect to the drive. Hope to hear how you make out.
Cheers
Hi Mark,
Even when the belkin software has been disconnected from the pc, the WD & HDD still can’t see each other. Still have to physically remove the HDD usb lead from the Belkin and put it into the WD.
Actually not that much of a pain except that I am currently ripping everything to .vob (cheers MT77 – works a treat) and my kids are wanting to watch their movies at the same time… not possible!
I have a feeling that the media player described by Belkin must be their own product, not just any media player, even though I was told different by Belkin.
Am still mucking around with all the setting etc. Will keep you updated.
Cheers, ducer
Sorry, Opening line is meant to say “Even when the belkin software has been disconnected the network usb hub from the pc”
Hate it when that happens
Hi All,
Found a site which outlines how to downgrade. I’ve used these steps to successfully reverted to v1.01.02 because of the delay before video files are played with v1.02.00. The site also has all the versions previously released available for download. If interested, go to: http://wdtv.wetpaint.com/page/Firmware?t=anon
How to revert (downgrade) to an earlier firmware version
Warning: Western Digital does not officially support firmware downgrading. Use this method at your own risk!
Many users have used the following method for downgrading from a more recent release (e.g. 1.02.00 or an unofficial firmware), to an earlier release (1.00.01, 1.01.02 etc). Basically, it is the same process as the firmware upgrade, except for modifying the wdtv.ver file to trick the WD TV to recognize the older firmware as being new:
* Download the older firmware to your computer
* Uncompress the firmware ZIP file to the root folder of a memory stick or hard disk: there are 2 files wdtv.ver and wdtv.bin
* Open file “wdtv.ver” with notepad
o Change VERSION=’1.xx.xx’ to VERSION=’1.03.00′ (or any number higher than the current version installed)
* Perform the normal firmware upgrade procedure
o Plug the USB memory or disk into the WD TV, which will recognize a new firmware (because 1.03.00 is higher than e.g. 1.01.02)
o Press HOME, and then select the Settings bar.
o Select the firmware upgrade icon, and then press ENTER.
o You are prompted to perform the firmware upgrade.
* When done, the WDTV (system menu “About”) will report the correct firmware version, not the fake version in “wdtv.ver” (1.01.03)
Hello guys.
I didn’t really read all the reviews but i have a little something to write and also a problem that i am having with this unit.
First of all i am loving this unit. i bought it 2 days ago and this unit saved me atleast $1000 because i was about to make a custom built computer which can play all my HD movies (720p & 1080p) with no problem. i came across this unit and bought it right away and so far its pretty good…………………………BUT………………………. :
1. Sometime it takes a little longer to turn ON.
2. When fast forwarding, it keeps on coming to the same position from where i press the FF.
3. When i tried to play 1080p file with the extension of WMV, it was not playing and said something like FORMAT NOT SUPPORTED, after that i went to the Western Digital Website and thank GOD, there was a firmware update available for the WD HD MEDIA PLAYER. I download the firmware and installed it. After installation, I played the same 1080p file with the extension of WMV, This time it played the file but there is no AUDIO. It said (Audio Channel 1 (Unsupported). As i said, it plays the 1080p files with the extension of WMV now but there is no AUDIO.
Now, Is there anyone who can tell me why it doesn’t have audio or why its not supporting audio? This is a bit TURN OFF for me cuz i watch 1080p files mostly but if its not fulfilling my need then i think its a little useless for me.
I need help guys.
Thanks
Just an addition:
My system is hooked up something like this:
Western Digital External Hard Drive to WD TV HD.
All other files are playing fine with regular Audio cables as well as Optical cable.
WD TV HD to my Samsung TV Via HDMI cable directly.
WD TV HD to my Pioneer VSX-1016TXV via Audio (Red and white) cable and also through OPTICAL Cable but still NO AUDIO
I tried to switch between STEREO and DIGITAL on my WD TV HD but no luck on Audio and as i mentioned above, VIDEO is fine in fact, it plays all sort of movie files directly from my external HD.
The file i am trying to play says something like:
Bluray.VC1.1080P.5.1.WMV-NOVO.wmv (The same file works fine on my computer. i can get both video and audio but not on WD TV HD
)
HELP ME GUYS.
The WD does not support wmv audio embedded in video files i believe. You could try converting the file but it is more hassle than it is worth.
Hi guys and gals.
FYI for those that don’t google firmware update for WD HD TV everyday (LOL) it looks like there is another “beta” update out there (1.02.03).
I downloaded last night but haven’t tried it yet….so no first impressions to speak of.
http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease/
Cheers
Contacted WD and thats what they are saying:
My question:
Hi,
i have a couple of 1080p movie files with .WMV extension. When i play that file thru my WD TV HD from External Hard Drive, it says (audio channel 1 (unsupported).
i upgraded the firmware, before it was not even playing that file but now i have video but no audio.
All the other files work just fine.
Can i get some help?
Thanks
————————————-
Dear Fahad,
Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support.
It seems that the audio track on this file is encoded either in a variable bitrate or an unsupported format. Converting the file to another format should solve this issue.
Sincerely,
Johnny H.
—————————————————————
Now, If i have a 1080p .WMV file! is there anyway to convert the audio only? All i have is only 1 file on my HD which is 1080p.wmv, so i am thinking how will i convert the Audio of the that Video FILE? without disturbing the video quality.
i see there is a new update available. i will update the firmware on my Box and lets see that might help. I will look again for my answer and will post the result i get from the new firmware in about 11hrs.
until then please help me.
Fahad, buy an xbox360 it will play just fine, in HD
Prerelease firmware 1.02.03 – support of digicam video
The 1.02.03 prerelease firmware plays digicam video without distorted sound now. Great job WD team! Video files from the following digital cameras play correctly now:
Canon Powershot A70, Canon Powershot SD630, Canon Powershot A590is, and Fuji Finepix 4700 Zoom.
I hope the WDTV will someday support the DV video (DV-AVI) from consumer camcorders of recent vintage.
I have installed 1.02.03 and I still find playback of videos taken with a Canon Ixus 30 crash sometimes. Last crash cut the connection of the WD HD TV. Left message on TV saying “no signal” just like you would get if I tuned the WD HD TV off….the interesting thing is the unit shows all the signs of still being on eg- the various lights are still on.
Only fix I have found so far is to remove power plug and start again.
Videos from my much later Ixus 860is seem fine. Worth noting the sound for the Ixus 30 which used to be totally distorted is now fine with the new update.
Keep the updates coming WD!
MillerTime77 & all,
BETA UPGRADE
Have been waiting to read reviews etc about the new update (1.02.03). If someone could kindly answer the following –
- Please excuse my ignorance, what is the difference between Beta firmware & the normal firmware updates we have been getting?
- Why use the beta version ‘at your own risk’?
- Are there any real dramas that have occurred since upgrading to the pre-released firmware?
- Most importantly, Why cant I find this the pre release upgrade on WD’s website? I can only ever access it by the links provided.
Cheers, ducer
MillerTime77, Julie & all,
FYI – MVIX MEDIA PLAYER 04/10 – sadly dissapointed
I bought a Mvix last week… Looks like I will stay with the WD unit.
Network transfer speed reaaalllyyyy sslooowww; around 1.4 – 1.6mb. Takes forever to transfer a vob. Through the belkin network usb hub, it takes around 2 mins/vob. I can live with swapping the lead between the belkin and the WD unit.
Interface is really awkward and painful. Not easy to manoeuvre around. WD is much easier & simpler
When playing a vob, you cant skip chapters like you can on the WD. It actually skips vob files.
Noisy – When I leave it on either – my desk, tv cabinet or floorboard, it vibrates loudly – have to put a tea towel under it to stop the vibrations.
Media – Doesn’t play all the media types that WD does
It is painful to set up the network. Once you have, you then use NDAS software to allow the ext HDD to talk to the PC. Every time you want to transfer a file you have to – go to the Mvix switch a setting, go to your PC & mount the drive, transfer the file at 1.4mb, unmount the drive, switch the setting again… OMG – takes about a few mins extra to transfer a file!! I guess its not such a problem just swap a lead around.
What does it have going for it, is the array of media inputs & outputs. Two usb hosts are fantastic. http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/images/mvix-mx780hd-2.jpg
Like I said, I’m sticking with the WD HDTV for the moment.
Julie – did you have slow network transfers with the 760hd that you tried out??
Cheers, ducer
Hi guys,
i have been following this thread for quite a bit of time and then i stopped due to my laptop being taken for repairs, now ive come back and wow theres a huge increase in the amount of contribution to the tread, loving it.
my question is this, has there been an update or will there be an update that will allow one to play a bluray movie (in mkv format) without having to convert the audio.
im awaiting on that update so i can buy one.
Ducer1——
A beta firmware is one that although changes have been made it has not been thoroughly tested and not fit for general public release. You use it at your own risk although you can downgrade the firmwares.
Drumstick——
The WD does not support DTS sound in any format. As such you will always have to convert your mkv.s to 5.1 sound. This is a simple process that takes about 7-8 mins at most for a 6gb file.
Thanks heaps Andy, I think I’ll wait for the official release then.
“The WD does not support DTS sound in any format. As such you will always have to convert your mkv.s to 5.1 sound. This is a simple process that takes about 7-8 mins at most for a 6gb file.”
What program will do this in 7-8 minutes? Every program I tried took much longer and the audio lost some sync making the movie very hard to watch.
@ Chengster
i am trying to save some money and these days i cannot afford another new gadget.
GUYS!
Can some one tell me if i have a .WMV file, is there anyway to convert the AUDIO from .WMV file to some other format like AAC or any other format so then my WD TV HD can play it without loosing the VIDEO quality?
OR
if there is any software available which can convert .WMV file to MKV without loosing the 1080p quality? so then the audio and video both can be played on my WD TV HD?
IF YES
can you guys tell me from where i can download that software (free if possible) and also a step by step method will help as well.
Fahad,
download “popcorn hour” it can convert DTS audio to AC3
although it’s a bit confusing to use
Any feedback on the new beta?
1.02.03 (compared to prior versions of 1.02.0x)
Is it any faster at loading movies etc?
http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease/
I’m keen to try it but also just happy to wait till the final version…
@ Noli
Yes it is back to normal time to load movies. A couple of seconds or so…certainly not annoyingly slow like it was with the previous version.
There is a new prerelease version available: 1.02.04.
Check it out here: http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease/
@ andy.
thanks for that. do you reckon it will support dts in the future, at the moment im good with what i use but i just wanted to make it easier with the wdtv player.
i hope after prerelease version available: 1.02.04. they could add support for vorbis.there are many anime that have this audio type.
Support for ogm and ogg combine would be good too and and windows media video also.it appears I’m complaining to much but they could do an effort to hear all the opinions that us users give.In doing so the WD TV could be the best media player out there.
FLAC support?
If there is one needed audio support upgrade, it is to play lossless FLAC files! pretty please? thanks!
FLAC!
wait – it plays flac! now I have to buy one!!!
Popcorn hour audio convertor is a simple to use piece of software that will easily convert DTS soundtrack to 5.1 AC3 soundtrack in around 7-8 mins. Once the settings are in place then all you have to do each time is to navigate to the file for conversion and let it do the rest. If anyone wants the setting that I use for this let me know. Obviously the 7-8 mins is dependant on your machine spec etc so don’t quote me if you have a dinosaur of a computer.
Drumstick—
I don’t think DTS will be supported unless the price of the device goes up coz obviously they have to pay to use it. Maybe if enough people hassle them they may change this in the future.
So can I just confirm something about DTS? Many of the movies I have are DTS only – they don’t have a secondary AC3 / DD track. Although I have an amp which can accept the optical in and decode DTS, often I take my WDHDTV to my parents’ house etc where there is no amp. As such it is only connected to their TV via hdmi. In such cases, I’ve noticed that I get NO sound on DTS only movies, even when I change the WDHDTV setting between Stereo and Digital. Only 5.1 AC3 / DD sound tracks decode down to 2 channel audio via hdmi.
Can anyone confirm if this device can downmix 5.1 DTS to 2 channel audio out through hdmi? If not, is there a technical reason why not (I don’t see why as my pc can downmix 5.1 DTS to stereo) or is it an ability that a firmwire upgrade could add? Thks in advance for any help…
The latest beta firmware has resolved the extended pause before files play but it has caused a few things to go backwards aswell.
- The new VC-1 container support has now gone wrong. There is a massive video to audio delay of about 15 seconds. This is particularly annoying as many of my blu ray files are in VC-1 and were playing perfectly on the previous beta firmware.
- Subtitles now come up as default on all video files…. mainly defaulting to a foreign subtitle of some description.
- Thumbnail display also appears to have become slower at cataloguing.
My personal opinion is that the previous beta is the better firmware. So if you have not installed this latest firmware avoid it like the plague and hope for a final release to put things right.
You can downgrade firmware but this is not advisable as should you cause a problem with your device doing this WD will not cover you under guarantee.
@ andy. many thanks for that. i was not aware that they would have to pay to use DTS. maybe if there was a petition for people who want DTS implemented in a software upgrade they may actually consider it. any ideas on how to get one started or if there is one already started.
“The WD does not support DTS sound in any format. As such you will always have to convert your mkv.s to 5.1 sound”
Hang on – what do you mean by this?! When I have the optical out plugged into my multichannel amp and select ‘Digital’ under the sound settings menu, my amp shows DTS and the channels used (eg FL, FR, CE, SR, SL, LFE) and the bit rate eg 1448 kbit (which is clearly DTS as higher than the max Dolby Digital rate). So I’m not sure what you mean when you say the WDTV doesn’t support DTS….
It would appear that I have been misinformed by WD. Sorry if I have caused any confusion for people.
I took my WD TV to a friends house and plugged it into an ONKYO home cinema amp and the DTS sound worked flawlessly through both HDMI and OPTICAL.
Have reviewed my cinema system and can’t find any reason for it not to work on mine as DTS works fine off standard def DVD’s. WD obviously gave me an I can’t be bothered answer over the telephone!
I got one of these media players about two weeks ago and while I’m having one, specific, horrible problem with audio other then that, while it was working, i had no problems playing everything from 1080p/mkv to flac audio (via TOSlink cable to my receiver). Anyways, my audio problem is just awful and I could blame it on either my tv manufacturer or western digital but it’s looking more like western digital. First time I connected this thing to my tv I turned it on and got horrible pink noise from my tv speakers, even with volume on tv all the way down. I spent about 1/2 an hour trying different hdmi cables, settings, etc, and i couldn’t get it to go away (the initial screen with wd logo is fine but as soon as menu kicks in the noise comes). eventually i said screw it and forgot about it for a few days and just used my normal laptop setup but a few days later i decided to try it again and when i turned it on everything was fine. it worked great for a week or so with no probs then i took it to a friend’s house so he could try before buy on his tv and it worked great, no probs. i got back to mine, hooked it up, had a blank screen, had to reset the thing (prob due to being stuck in 1080p from my friend’s tv) then i got the picture back but pink noise is there again. i tried a bunch of stuff last eve with no luck so i’m upset again. i realize this is due to the audio coming over the hdmi cable to my tv. i don’t need the audio to do this as i have a toslink from the media player to my receiver but it sounds like even then wd has this thing sending a blank audio signal over the hdmi cable for some reason. the audio menu has two settings, stereo and digital. it needs three: stereo, digital/hdmi, digital optical, where selecting digital optical disables the sound over the hdmi. i realize my tv may be lesser since it doesn’t have an option to disable audio over hdmi but since i have a playstation 3 and am using the exact same setup as the media player (hdmi and toslink to the tv/receiver) and have never had a problem like this, i’m leaning towards it being a somewhat crappy design aspect to the media player. it’s a shame as other then that it works great but i can’t use it when it’s blasting pink noise over my tv.
No worries – just wanted to clear that up. Anyway, if anyone can answer my original question – can anyone get the WDTV to downmix multichannel DTS to a stereo audio over HDMI? That possibly is the only reason I might want to convert 5.1 DTS to 5.1 Dolby as I’m pretty sure it will downmix the 5.1 Dolby to stereo audio over HDMI. Definitely a feature I’d welcome via firmware if not. Also, if you do use the popcorn hour audio converter to convert DTS –> DD, does it add this as an additional track to the mkv, or does it create an entirely new mkv with DD but without DTS? Any advice appreciated
The audio converter gives you the option to set the quality of DD5.1 and it also allows you to maintain the DTS track or remove it whichever suits. I have one of these devices attached to a TV aswell as home cinema and yes it will downmix DD5.1 to stereo via HDMI.
If anyone is having trouble remuxing or (converting) .mkv files with DTS to AC3, a free program that will do it quickly and effectivly is mkv2vob . it has options to change the container i.e. file ending and audio options. It has instructions if you are new to it. It will also split files to fit on FAT32 drives.
I am sad that people find these boxes and buy them not knowing there are products a billion times better… I know people like to buy little prepackaged perfect boxes but there is stuff out there that makes this device look like a dot matrix printer… check out xbmc.org… even the appleTV is better.
Instead of writing a comment on a forum for which you have no interest, why don’t you take your sadness and give somebody who gives a crap about your comments the benefit of your advice….. then leave the rest of us who are happy with our inferior as you put it device to enjoy what we have. If we cared that there was something better out there then we would not have bought the WD in the first place.
Hey JeffL,
Its tough to give any credibility to your comments without any elaboration as to why you think there are products a “billion times better”. Maybe an example or two would help.
I think everyone who buys this product is aware of its limitations. For what most of us use it for this unit is by far the best bang for your buck out there.
Bottom line….. I’m really not sure what value your comments bring to this forum and to date there have been 382 posts that do. I guess I took the bait but your ignorance and my mood dictated a response.
Hello i have installed the latest beta 1.02.06 and had to revert to 1.02.04 because had some anime files in avi with h264 and the file passed 10 minutes timeframe returned the video to the beginning and the sound continued.
Compliments
well said Millertime77 and Andy to JeffL.
Quick question on this player and cover art for music – I don’t have my cover art embedded but in the folder with the album as either cover.jpg or folder.jpg. Does the player automatically assign whatever sole graphic is in the folder with the mp3′s as the cover graphic or does it need to be embedded?
Also – when looking at a list of your music with these thumbnails via the menu – does the thumbnails for these load near instantly or is there any lag when you’re scrolling through music in seeing album cover thumbnails?
Reid #388 – Can’t really speak to music (mp3) cover art but as I understand it, and as it applies to movie folders you can have individual .jpg files in the folder that the unit will recognize and display. There is some slight lag in displaying your art when you go into certain files……..its tolerable though.
FYI everyone else. I remember there was some comments regarding the size of drive the WD would recognize and that there was an early firmware edit to address. I can confirm by trying it myself that the unit works absolutely fine with my 2TB MyBook Mirror Edition. Essentially this drive is two 1TB drives in Raid 0.
One thing I have notice with the Mybooks (I have the 2TB and 1TB connected to the unit is that the power does not turn off on these when I power down the WD unit. Has anyone else run across this. My passports do turn off fine but no the Mybooks. I guess its not a big deal as I just leave the Mybooks on….its not like anything is accessing the drives…but not that great for the utility bill!
Cheers
millertime – so if you’re scrolling down fast say from artists that start with C down to artists that start with G – and when you stop – it may take a second to pop in the cover art preview at that point?
Your other thing with My Book – I’ve read that elsewhere – apparently the WD HD TV supplies power to USB regardless if it’s in an on or off state – so the My Book doesn’t turn off as the power is still on for the USB port. I was initially interested in this also as the power down with the unit seems obvious – not sure if this is something they’ll address via firmware.
Reid – Actually…..I’ve found that the load time is typically when you first go into the folder. Once they’ve loaded and you scroll they are much quicker to generate. Again I don’t really use this for music so I’m not sure how it will work for you as I can imagine the volume of cover art is much greater for your music files vs. movie files. Its not like Itunes cover flow if that’s what you’re looking for.
Ya I figured as much about the Mybooks. When the drive is pluged in will the disk spin even if the WD is turned off and there is no information being accessed. I’ve felt the Mybook and its warm but not nearly as warm as if I’ve been watching movies all night. I obviously don’t want to prematurely wear out the drive. Just as a side note the 2TB Mirror addition actually has a power button on the back which is nice. The other nice thing about keeping the power on is that it doesn’t have to find the drive when you turn the WD unit on again.
Cheers
I have question concerning the My Book hard drive. Does the power cord of the My Book need to be plugged in or does it run off the power of the WD HD Tv player????
@ jonathan
I have a my book and it still needs its own power supply connected.
Hope that helps.
Beta firmware 1.02.06 now available
http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease/
So far I like the unit. Works very nice playing all my music and viewing my photo’s. I am having problems getting it to play HD video from my Panasonic DMC-TZ5 digital camera. The files are in mov and I can watch them on my computer through quicktime. WD website says this unit should be able to view mov so any suggestions on why I can’t
Thanks
Jonathan – you will need a power supply. I believe passports can run with power through the USB because they require less power and spin at 5400rpm. My books are larger drives and spin at 7200rpm. There just wont be enough juice if you just connect the usb cable.
Gari – I’m not sure why you can’t play the movies. I tested a Kodac Zi6 which records to 780 .mov files and all played perfectly on the wd unit. I also have a Sony HDR-TG1 which records to 1080 .mt2s files and they two play absolutely fine. When you say “problems” what specifically is the unit saying when you try to play the files?
Thanks MillerTime77 for getting back to me on this. My Panasonic TZ5 camera records in .mov HD 720p format. The WD media player tells me “unable to play the selected file. Please refer to the user manual on how to change the file to a supported format.” My firmware is 1.01.02
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Gari,
I had a typo in my previous post….the Kodac Zi6 records to 720p .mov files not 780. In any event its the same format that your camera saves to so I’m not sure why you’re having those problems. I kept a few of those video files…..I’ll try another one tonight to see how that works.
Now that you mention it I do remember running across a couple .avi files a friend gave me that gave me the same message. They weren’t important so I didn’t dwell on it and have never had a similar problem since.
On another note…I’m curious to know if anyone else is playing native Blu Ray .mt2s files on their unit. I have been experiementing with my unit which is attached to a Denon 7.1 reciever that can decode every imaginable audio track (including Extra Terrestrial radio chatter…LOL). I have found that any Blu Ray movies with Dolby True HD showw the main audio track as (unsupported) and there is no sound unless I change to one of the foreign yet any movie in DTS HD plays the digital track fine. (Keep in mind this is all over optical into my reciever) Anyone have any idea why this would be?
@ Gari
Update to the new firmware. I have found it to be very stable and I think you will find it is now playing a lot more formats.
http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease/
Having just posted my suggestion to Gari, another new firmware has arrived.
http://www.wdc.com/wdtvprerelease/
Fixed items:
* Added option to toggle subtitle default to ‘On’ or ‘Off’
* Added subtitle outline thickness selection
* Added hard drive spindown on WDTV power off
I havent tried this one yet so cant report on it.
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