Tuesday, April 13, 2010

WDTV Live review and troubleshooting




I got bored yesterday and bought a Western Digital TV Live network media player, to replace my weird Xbox360 bridged over a Squeeze Box media playing solution in my bedroom. To make it wireless I also had to get a Wifi dongle, namely a TP-Link 300Mbps TL-WN821N.

Problems so far:

  • HDMI -> DVI resolution issue (circumvented). My TV has DVI-in, so I used a HDMI to DVI cable to connect the WDTV box. The problem is that when I try to set the resolution (to 720p) the WDTV always fails and defaults back to 480p. So no HD...? This seems to be a known issue, but what's worse is that WD doesn't seem to want to fix it. My current solution is to use component output instead, which works fine at 720p.

  • The WDTV doesn't find my Network Share (solved). This took me all night to figure out... My Windows 2003 Server was just not showing up in the Network Share list on the WDTV box. It turned out that "NetBIOS over TCP/IP" was disabled on the Windows machine, so no fault of the WDTV. Enabling this made the server visible to the WDTV, and everything worked. For some reason this setting seems to be disabled by default in Win2k3, not sure why. To enable it, go to Network connection -> Status -> Properties -> TCP/IP Properties -> Advanced -> WINS -> Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.

  • The WDTV sometimes loose the wifi-signal (ongoing). Sometimes, for no apparent reason, the WDTV drops the wifi connection. To get it working again I have to go to network settings, and reconnect to the wlan network. Not sure how big a problem this is going to be.

So, well, it's working but I have to use component connection and it sometimes drops the wifi signal. So what's positive?

  • Generally seems to be working well. Completely quiet, very small, but still powerful.

  • Nice looking and fast GUI, though the remote is a bit plastic.

  • Can play anything I've tried, even Full HD high bitrate MKV files over a wireless connection! (My DLink DIR-655 router reports the connection speed is about 200 MBit/s, the TP-Link dongle is doing its job.)

  • YouTube playback works well.

Missing features:

  • Spotify interface (guess I'm one of the few Spotify Premium subscribers...)

  • I'd like some better way to quickly skip ahead while playing videos... "FF" button followed by "Next" skips ahead 10 minutes, but it's not very intuiative.

  • Shuffle playback mode for videos, anyone? (Works for music, but not for videos, why??)

Bottom line... Unless the dropped wifi becomes a more serious problem, I'm generally very satisfied with my purchase. I also considered the Xtreamer, and according to most accounts they seems to be very similar. What finally made me decide on the WDTV was the fact that it, unlike the Xtreamer,  can use HFS+ formatted drives (though I haven't tried yet). And also that it was slightly cheaper and available at my local retailer (I would have had to order the Xtreamer online).

4 comments:

  1. Congrats on buying your new toy and we are glad to hear you are satisfied with your purchase. In case you are not aware, we have a user forum http://ow.ly/1y164 where you can interact, exchange thoughts and ask questions with other PUG’s (our tech savvy user group). You can also connect with us on Twitter @WDTVLive to share any feedback, questions or just let us know how much you’re loving the WD TV Live player – really, we don’t mind! ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks
      Tangki Panel

      Tangki Fiberglass

      Jual Septic Tank

      Delete
  2. Đến với dịch vụ thiết kế web trọn gói tại MAINISAN quý khách sẽ được thiết kế web giá rẻ theo yêu cầu, khi tìm trên google website của bạn sẽ là mẫu Thiết kế web chuyên nghiệp giá rẻ, chúng tối chuyên thiết kế website theo mẫu đến khi hoàn thiện.
    Bước đầu thiết kế web tại Blog thiết kế web bạn nên chọn đơn vị thiết kế website có giao diện mobi, hệ quản trị đơn giản dễ sử dụng.Chúng tôi không cạnh tranh về giá chỉ cạnh tranh về chất lượng, tuy nhiên MAINISAN.COM cũng thường xuyên có khuyến mãi giảm giá khi thiết kế web trọn gói để đáp ứng nhu cầu quý khách.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Supreme Fucoidan 95 http://muathuoctot.com/thuoc-ho-tro-dieu-tri-ung-thu-tot-nhat-hien-nay-1973-1.post còn có khả năng hỗ trợ điều trị các loại bệnh ung thư, ngăn chăn sự di căn của các tế bào ung thư. Đồng thời, với thuốc Fucoidan http://muathuoctot.com/tai-sao-khi-uong-fucoidan-bang-mieng-se-hieu-qua-nhat-1875-1.post bạn sẽ vô cùng ngạc nhiên khi tác dụng của thuốc còn giúp cho những hệ miễn dịch trong cơ thể không những không bị suy giảm mà nó còn được tăng cường đến mức khả quan nhất, thuốc chống ung thư Fucoidan http://muathuoctot.com/ngan-ngua-va-dieu-tri-ung-thu-cung-doctors-best-fucoidan-1204.html giảm thiểu sự tham gia của những quá trình hóa trị, xạ trị. Ngoài ra, thuốc Supreme Fucoidan 95 còn giúp phục hồi các chứ năng đã và đang có chiều hướng suy giảm do bệnh ung thư mang đến cũng như giảm thiểu hiện trạng các choleaterol hình thành trong máu.
    Fucoidan http://muathuoctot.com/thuoc-supreme-fucoidan-95-co-cong-dung-gi-ban-o-dau-1311156-1.post là một chiết xuất siêu nhờn từ tảo nâu Mozuku, Fucoidan có màu nâu đậm, trong Fucoidan có chứa nhiều chất dinh dưỡng quý giá, nhiều nguyên tố vi lượng và những khoáng chất, và giàu polysaccharide.

    ReplyDelete