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WDLive streaming media player $20 off Newegg

lokiju said:
Anyone own one of these? Are they decent?
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I used to be excited about WDTV media players, but I've since gotten rid of all of mine and replaced them with Samsung BD Players. For $50~60 you can get a Samsung BD Player that will do the same thing and includes Blu-Ray and DVD playback (you can play media files off of the optical disks or off a USB-connected hard drive, too).

Mine were the older series (WDTV, WDTV Live and WDTV Live Plus) but they had issues on my network with my DLNA server... with the AllShare Samsung players, I have none of the issues playing MKVs, MP4s, etc... and yes, I also tried multiple iterations of B-Rad's WDLX firmwares, and both wireless and wired connections.

Just my 2 cents worth here.
 
I agree a good blu-ray player such as Samsung, LG or Panasonic with DLNA and Apps is my choice. I had the WDTV Live and now its not even hooked up. Also my Roku player and Playon work good together also.
 
Oh, and with a smart BD Player, you have Netflix, Vudu, Pandora, etc... and they get regular updates. DTS is another issue... some of the early WDTV boxes, for example, didn't handle DTS at all, so you got no sound with videos that had DTS if you didn't have a DTS receiver to decode it. Smart BD Players handle DTS, so you don't need a DTS capable TV or receiver.

A friend of mine uses the WDTV, but he gave up using the DLNA Server, and just set up a hard-coded network share. Keep in mind, the DLNA server wasn't even transcoding, just feeding the same file, but WDTV didn't seem to handle it properly, while all of my smart TVs and BD Players had no issues.
 
Never tried the Western Digital WD TV Live Streaming Media Player, however, it doesn't have usb connection, only the Western Digital WD TV Live Plus does which is another $60 bux or so.

Got the Roku yesterday, its quite nice, doesn't have cnn or fox news in real time. Not sure if the Samsung BluRay does either.

Would like some device that does real time tv show streaming.
 
lokiju said:
Anyone own one of these? Are they decent?
Click to expand...

Yes. Bluray>ANYDVD>handbrake in MKV @ 3-4GB per movie on a 1.5TB WB hard drive = a huge library. Owner for 2+ years. Flawless performance as long as the rip is decent. I don't use netflix or anything, I used it as a straight movie box networked to home computer (to xfer movies to HD). As that tool, it is perfect.
 
lokiju said:
Anyone own one of these? Are they decent?
Click to expand...

I have one of these - it mostly works, but it can be real annoying at times. it's a bummer when I get the whole family ready to watch something, but then have to wait 10 minutes for the damn thing to work correctly, connect to the network, etc... Even though the WD Live can run media such as Youtube, the interface is so bad that I use my blu-ray player for that instead. If you want to play movies from a hard drive, then this player is OK, but overall I can't recommend it over other solutions. It's just not a fun device to use...
 
lokiju said:
Anyone own one of these? Are they decent?
Click to expand...

I have one. It's really good. The WDTV "Live Streaming" model is the best one to get. I had the older one and it was junk. This new one actually handles 1080p well. I use it primarily for streaming movies from my NAS off my LAN. Some Netflix as well. Handles MKV's, ISO's, etc. My HTPC is currently retired because of this unit.

Make sure you get the latest firmware updates for it (it's a button the main screen, takes a few minutes to auto-update & install).
 
kmmatney said:
I have one of these - it mostly works, but it can be real annoying at times. it's a bummer when I get the whole family ready to watch something, but then have to wait 10 minutes for the damn thing to work correctly, connect to the network, etc... Even though the WD Live can run media such as Youtube, the interface is so bad that I use my blu-ray player for that instead. If you want to play movies from a hard drive, then this player is OK, but overall I can't recommend it over other solutions. It's just not a fun device to use...
Click to expand...

Agreed. Its ok when it works but they apparently have a high failure rate. I'm on my 3rd unit which works well enough, but my first two units were a nightmare. They would randomly lock up and the USB port did not work on my first unit.

For these reasons i'm hesitant to recommend it. Even my new unit takes 10 minutes to find my network shares at times, its damn ridiculous. I wish I had gotten a Roku instead.
 
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bystander said:
Are there BD players that can stream media from your network, or are they mostly or USB streaming?
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As I said above, Samsung's BD Players usually feature "AllShare" that handles streaming media from DLNA servers (I use TVMobili). I'm sure other BD players like LG's have a similar feature. When I crank up my setup in my exercise room, it's like 2 button presses before I'm in my media folders.

I assume Sony's BD players can do this, but probably don't support MKV (Samsung does, though) - mostly because their PS3s don't support MKV.
 
blackened23 said:
Agreed. Its ok when it works but they apparently have a high failure rate. I'm on my 3rd unit which works well enough, but my first two units were a nightmare. They would randomly lock up and the USB port did not work on my first unit.

For these reasons i'm hesitant to recommend it. Even my new unit takes 10 minutes to find my network shares at times, its damn ridiculous. I wish I had gotten a Roku instead.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that - using mine for years trouble free, no lockups or network issues.
 
Any particular Samsung BD model/line you recommend? I've had a WDTV HD since soon after they first came out, and I only really use it when I travel. At home, a hacked second-gen AppleTV gets the most use.
 
Samsungs Allshare dlna is awful. My bluray player drops constantly or just plain wont connect to the network. Before you buy a Samsung player do some research first. You'll find that this is a pretty common issue that Samsung refuses to fix.
 
bystander said:
Any particular Samsung BD model/line you recommend? I've had a WDTV HD since soon after they first came out, and I only really use it when I travel. At home, a hacked second-gen AppleTV gets the most use.
Click to expand...

I guess it depends on the features you need. In my son's room, he's running a BD-D5100, which is about as low end as they go. We also have BD-D5700 units. I haven't found a lot to differentiate the many models they have, beyond styling and the store selling it. Outside of those factors, it's just a matter of selecting Wireless built-in, wireless "ready", or 3D for the potential features.

bbhaag said:
Samsungs Allshare dlna is awful. My bluray player drops constantly or just plain wont connect to the network. Before you buy a Samsung player do some research first. You'll find that this is a pretty common issue that Samsung refuses to fix.
Click to expand...


That hasn't been my experience. What server software are you using? Is it transcoding? Do you run wireless?

I use the TVMobili server software from a Kubuntu box (though I've used it from a Windows box, too), and it works fine for me. I've got network hubs all over my house (I don't use wireless for media streaming) and the server is in my basement, serving up BD Players on the second story. It doesn't transcode, because the Samsung players handle everything I've thrown at it.
 
BenJeremy said:
I guess it depends on the features you need. In my son's room, he's running a BD-D5100, which is about as low end as they go. We also have BD-D5700 units. I haven't found a lot to differentiate the many models they have, beyond styling and the store selling it. Outside of those factors, it's just a matter of selecting Wireless built-in, wireless "ready", or 3D for the potential features.
Click to expand...

Where can I get them for ~$50-60?
 
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