WDTV Live...

[Aikouka]

Are you expecting it to handle 3D Blu-Ray ISOs? I'm not sure what else you would be looking for.

At least from what I found here:
http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-*****************Ideas/3D-Support/idi-p/277290

It looks like the SigmaTel chip only supports side-by-side.

EDIT:

Apparently, the forum is set to block out "Live dash Streaming dash" for some odd reason.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

The micca ep 600 and 900 players support 3d, although there is currently a bug with 23.976hz being play at 24 fps. Apparently they're working on it.

 

[purbeast0]

that micca looks interesting, i had never heard of that thing. i will do a little research on that thing.

it just seems like what i actually want to use a media player for seems like it should be able to be done w/out having to build a custom htpc.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

that micca looks interesting, i had never heard of that thing. i will do a little research on that thing.

it just seems like what i actually want to use a media player for seems like it should be able to be done w/out having to build a custom htpc.

They're definitely among the less common players, but you can find reasonably detailed info in threads at AVS. The nicest thing about Micca is that they're a small company, so you get the sense that they're actually listening to customers when developing firmware updates.

I am quite happy with mine. It's superior to the WDTV Streaming in playback quality, but the interface is much clunkier and the remote sucks (mostly due to unregistered key presses).

 

[smitbret]

The stuttering I've experienced with mkv files is over a wired network. I don't think it's network related, as I've had higher bitrate files play fine, but I should test and see if it does this when played from a USB drive as well.

I've noticed that same thing with the stuttering, but noticed that it also occurred with .mp4 files as well as .mkv. Finally discovered that it was with files that had a variable frame rate rather than standard 23.976. I reencoded a couple of them to a constant frame rate and the problem disappeared.

 

[tydas]

I've noticed that same thing with the stuttering, but noticed that it also occurred with .mp4 files as well as .mkv. Finally discovered that it was with files that had a variable frame rate rather than standard 23.976. I reencoded a couple of them to a constant frame rate and the problem disappeared.

How do you tell if a file has a variable frame rate?

 

[Aikouka]

I don't think I've ever seen a video that has a framerate that varies throughout the course of playback. If I had to guess, it sounds like you're talking about the encoding bitrate. You can do a two-pass encode where the first pass determines the bitrate necessary for the scene (based on change between frames), and the bitrate can change quite a bit over the course of the video.

Unless by variable you just mean any framerate that's not 23.976.

 

[rbk123]

How do you tell if a file has a variable frame rate?

It depends on how you encoded it. Handbrake defaults to variable and that's what I'm guessing was happening to Bret. Once you switch your handbrake setting to match the framerate of the file you are converting (can find out via BDInfo or similar tools), the problem goes away.

 

[tydas]

It depends on how you encoded it. Handbrake defaults to variable and that's what I'm guessing was happening to Bret. Once you switch your handbrake setting to match the framerate of the file you are converting (can find out via BDInfo or similar tools), the problem goes away.

Tks, I just ripped my blurays using Make MKV...i am getting stuttering in some rips and thought this cariable frame rate might be why

 

[rbk123]

It could be; I'm not that familiar with makemkv as Handbrake, but I'm guessing there's a framerate setting that you need to change to match the rate of the source file.

This assumes it's not a network issue.

 

[Mark R]

I don't think I've ever seen a video that has a framerate that varies throughout the course of playback. If I had to guess, it sounds like you're talking about the encoding bitrate.

iPhones produce variable frame-rate video by default. They adjust the frame-rate depending on scene brightness, as part of the exposure control, but cap the frame rate at 30 Hz. As the scene darkens, the frame rate reduces.

This causes chaos with playback software that isn't quicktime.

 

[purbeast0]

It depends on how you encoded it. Handbrake defaults to variable and that's what I'm guessing was happening to Bret. Once you switch your handbrake setting to match the framerate of the file you are converting (can find out via BDInfo or similar tools), the problem goes away.

are there any of these media players where you can just play back stuff flawlessly without having to reencode stuff, other than a real HTPC?

 

[rbk123]

?? The WD TV Live will play back VOB (standard DVD) or M2TS (bluray) files just fine. I encode to MKV to shrink the M2TS files to make my library more manageable. You don't have to encode to MKV or MP4 if you *have* the WD.

I have 2 WD's and love them. The only reason I built an HTPC is to play my MKV library with DTS HD MA audio. The WD's won't pass that, but the HT setups on the 2 TV's they are on aren't good enough that that matters. My real HT that I built the HTPC for is high-end enough that it does matter.

I have 3 tv's, all with surround setups. Yes I'm an addict...

 

[purbeast0]

yea but wdtv won't play 3d so i'm definitely not getting one now.