WD TV HD

[Edgedamage]

I got one yesterday and I love it. No more using a power sucking console to play media files.
http://maddhat.com/?p=31

[Samstag]

Wow this might be exactly what I've been looking for.  Any idea if the USB ports are fully powered?  If I can use a laptop drive without an extra power adaptor I think I'll be picking one of these up soon.

[Edgedamage]

Wow this might be exactly what I've been looking for.  Any idea if the USB ports are fully powered?  If I can use a laptop drive without an extra power adaptor I think I'll be picking one of these up soon.

I used a vantec USB powered 2.5" HDD enclosure and it worked great.

[Samstag]

Sold!

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.   

[Blanka]

Why don't they make the case a tad bigger, and add an empty drive bay and a SATA and an Ethernet port?

[Samstag]

Why don't they make the case a tad bigger, and add an empty drive bay and a SATA and an Ethernet port?

Check out "Popcorn Hour" if that's what you need.  It's a really nice device, but less portable and much more expensive than I'd like.  There are other alternatives out there closer to your specs but the good ones are expensive and the cheap ones aren't usually very good.

[hyiu]

ok... let me throw my question out, and see if it can be solved....

this WD HD box seems perfect...
only thing is, I have to copy the files to the external drive, and then plug the drive on...

is there a drive out there that can be connected to the WD HD box, and also connects to my house wireless network ??

That way, I can push the files thru the Wireless netowork (I know... this will be slow... but I'm not in a hurry) and then watch it there... no equipment needs to be moved...

is there such a solution out there ?? (I would prefer a not too expensive one if possible...)

Thanks,

 

[richms]

No, you can just get a popcorn hour and have what you want.

There are going to be a lot more devices based on these chips soon enough. Its the home version of those car stereos that finally have left off the obsolete CD drive. Its just this one is sold excessivly cheap for the functionality it provides.

[Edgedamage]

Get this firmware update it adds more video file support and more subtitle support.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/wdtv/...sp?wdc_lang=en

[Generic Eric]

I know its an old thread, but does anyone have any second thoughts on this?  I am thinking about getting one.

[shardian]

I want one of these pretty bad. Just can't bring myself to dedicate $100 of my amazon gift cards to it when I really need other things.

[SavannahLion]

I've been eyeing stuff like this. Nice that it supports MKV, I came across my first MKV file just last week (go figure).

What's with the MKV format though? It's a nice format, but it's a bit of a nightmare managing the format, ie if I want to burn the video to DVD to send to my technologically inept mother.

edit:
Looks like there's a couple of homebrew communities that sprung up around this device. I'm too lazy to read through the 77 pages of posts to see if these guys actually created any custom firmware for this. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1100062

[massive88]

It still doesn't have network capability right?

I just cant fathom having to manually move files over constantly.  I guess if you have a stagnant set of video files it would be great, but I want to access things off my NAS that I download regularly.  A popcorn hour looks like a far better product for me.

[CCM]

What's with the MKV format though? It's a nice format, but it's a bit of a nightmare managing the format, ie if I want to burn the video to DVD to send to my technologically inept mother.

I use mkv2vob to convert my MKV files for streaming to my PS3.  You could use this to easily get your MKV files to a DVD format for burning...

http://www.mkv2vob.com/

[Generic Eric]

It still doesn't have network capability right?

I just cant fathom having to manually move files over constantly.  I guess if you have a stagnant set of video files it would be great, but I want to access things off my NAS that I download regularly.  A popcorn hour looks like a far better product for me.

Not out of the box, you have to use an unofficial firmware and use your own USB to ethernet, or USB to wireless adapter.

So even though its only $99, you have to had some more stuff on your own.  I also read that you may need a 2GB or less thumbdrive  to use one of the unofficial firmwares.

[massive88]

It still doesn't have network capability right?

I just cant fathom having to manually move files over constantly.  I guess if you have a stagnant set of video files it would be great, but I want to access things off my NAS that I download regularly.  A popcorn hour looks like a far better product for me.

Not out of the box, you have to use an unofficial firmware and use your own USB to ethernet, or USB to wireless adapter.

So even though its only $99, you have to had some more stuff on your own.  I also read that you may need a 2GB or less thumbdrive  to use some one of the firmwares.

Hrm, but after that you can use it to access network shares?  Do you still need an internal HDD?

I actually already have a USB to Cat5 and an 8gig thumbdrive...

[ahofle]

I have one of these and it's great.  My biggest complaint is that it still can't handle some high bitrate 1080p content  (I believe this is a firmware problem though since the Popcorn hour has the same Sigma chip and handles them fine).  The inability to network it is sometimes a pain, but you can just spend 3 times as much on the PH if that's what you really want -- for $99 this thing is a frickin bargain for all it does.  I rip all my DVDs to it in mkv format -- no more fumbling around with discs or having the kids scratch them to hell.  Just go through the menus and pick the movie you want.  I also plan on getting a 2.5" external drive and transferring all my DV and HDV home movies to it in their native format after seeing that it can play 1080i m2ts files flawlessly.

[shardian]

I also plan on getting a 2.5" external drive and transferring all my DV and HDV home movies to it in their native format after seeing that it can play 1080i m2ts files flawlessly.

Bingo! This is one of the main reasons I want this thing.

[Samstag]

I also read that you may need a 2GB or less thumbdrive  to use some one of the firmwares.

That isn't true of the official firmware versions.  I have an 8g drive that has been working fine since 1.00.

[Generic Eric]

It still doesn't have network capability right?

I just cant fathom having to manually move files over constantly.  I guess if you have a stagnant set of video files it would be great, but I want to access things off my NAS that I download regularly.  A popcorn hour looks like a far better product for me.

Not out of the box, you have to use an unofficial firmware and use your own USB to ethernet, or USB to wireless adapter.

So even though its only $99, you have to had some more stuff on your own.  I also read that you may need a 2GB or less thumbdrive  to use some one of the firmwares.

Hrm, but after that you can use it to access network shares?  Do you still need an internal HDD?

I actually already have a USB to Cat5 and an 8gig thumbdrive...

I read that you need to do that with unofficial firmware   

But I don't have a WDTV so I can't speak with any authority.

I also read that you may need a 2GB or less thumbdrive  to use some one of the firmwares.

That isn't true of the official firmware versions.  I have an 8g drive that has been working fine since 1.00.

I meant of the unofficial firmware    I just edited my earlier post.

[Samstag]

I meant of the unofficial firmware    I just edited my earlier post.

Is that just to get them installed, or do they not support larger thumbdrives at all?

[Generic Eric]

I meant of the unofficial firmware    I just edited my earlier post.

Is that just to get them installed, or do they not support larger thumbdrives at all?

that was in order to run the unofficial firmware that supported the networking. I'll have to dig that link up though.     I am having probs finding link.  *shrug*

I haven't read anywhere that there was an upper limit on the capacity of the thumbdrive.

[Generic Eric]

Hey all

I thought I'd let you know I got a WDTV.  I haven't done the custom firmware, hopefully saturday afternoon sometime.  I have started yet another WDTV blog this site. 

[Generic Eric]

Is there a divx compatible DVD player with a USB port that'll support an external hard drive?

That's the DVD player I want....

Yes Phillips makes a dvd player with a feature called USB direct. I have a DVP 5982, but I didn't like the interface on it.  I don't know the size disc it supports, I only used a 4GB microsd (through a USB reader)  here is a link for a newer one.  It was ok, but it hasn't been playing DVDs consistently...it got a little too hot a while back, my fault though.

[shardian]

The Phillips Divx player with the USB supports external drives, but only ones that get their power from a wall wart. This sucks because I have a WD Passport.

[ChadTower]

I also plan on getting a 2.5" external drive and transferring all my DV and HDV home movies to it in their native format after seeing that it can play 1080i m2ts files flawlessly.

Bingo! This is one of the main reasons I want this thing.

I have to figure out how to do that.  We have an awful lot of stuff on minidv.  Everything I have tried thus far has had mediocre results at best.

[shardian]

I have to figure out how to do that.  We have an awful lot of stuff on minidv.  Everything I have tried thus far has had mediocre results at best.

I've only ripped one miniDV disc. It took up an obscene amount of HD space, and the quality was barely above what my cannon digital camera captures at 640x480. I don't even use the miniDV camcorder much because
A: it is inconvenient
B: I don't have hours and hours to dedicate to ripping the digital data and manipulating it.

I want to get the WDTV, then get one of those pocket HD camcorders.

[ChadTower]

Well, the minidv camera plays back at pretty good quality, so you have to be able to transfer it pretty near that as well since it has a firewire port.  I just haven't quite figured it out yet.  You're right about drivespace, though, it's like a gig a minute raw.

[shardian]

Well, the minidv camera plays back at pretty good quality, so you have to be able to transfer it pretty near that as well since it has a firewire port.  I just haven't quite figured it out yet.  You're right about drivespace, though, it's like a gig a minute raw.

I ::cough:: acquired a digital video editing package to rip mine and make DVD's. It is a huge hassle.

[ChadTower]

I ::cough:: acquired a digital video editing package to rip mine and make DVD's. It is a huge hassle.

Cue Level42:  BUY A MAC

In 3... 2... 1...      ACTION!




Yeah, I do have access to Premiere, but not to the codecs needed to get it to dvd-vob.

[ahofle]

Well, the minidv camera plays back at pretty good quality, so you have to be able to transfer it pretty near that as well since it has a firewire port.  I just haven't quite figured it out yet.  You're right about drivespace, though, it's like a gig a minute raw.

Are you talking about miniDV tapes?  You can just connect the camera with the firewire cable and use the built-in 'Windows Movie Maker' to capture the entire tape in raw DV format (use HDVSplit for HDV).  An hour of HDV/DV video is about 12 GB (not a GB per minute).  It's a pretty painless process unless you want to make a DVD with menus etc.  With this player, you don't need to bother with that though.  I actually like the tapes because they practically last forever and the HDV/DV format is higher quality than the SD card/miniDVD based formats. 

[ChadTower]

Are you talking about miniDV tapes?  You can just connect the camera with the firewire cable and use the built-in 'Windows Movie Maker' to capture the entire tape in raw DV format (use HDVSplit for HDV). 

I'll have to look at Windows Movie Maker.  Probably one of those parts of Windows I have always ignored.  It does feel like Premiere would be the tool to use for maximum results, though, just based on what it is.

An hour of HDV/DV video is about 12 GB (not a GB per minute). 

The raw AVI that Premiere was capturing into was definitely around a gig a minute.  I remember shelving the project when I was figuring it out because I only had 75gig to play with at the time.  That was the initial capture, though, and I'm sure later processing would have brought it way down.

Can't say I have any intention of buying more hardware to play back video.  We haven't made the leap to HD in my house.   

[ahofle]

Are you sure you weren't doing an analog capture (would require something like a capture card) to raw uncompressed file?  A DV capture is nothing more than copying the 'bits' that are on the tape to your computer sequentially.  It shouldn't be that big.  You also don't need an expensive application for it since it's not doing anything quality-wise. 

[ChadTower]

Are you sure you weren't doing an analog capture (would require something like a capture card) to raw uncompressed file?  A DV capture is nothing more than copying the 'bits' that are on the tape to your computer sequentially.  It shouldn't be that big.  You also don't need an expensive application for it since it's not doing anything quality-wise. 

I was doing a capture via firewire.  As far as I could tell that's all that is available with this camera.  Never saw anything in the documentation that referred to any sort of copy process.  All of the crappy software that came with the camera was video CD capture stuff.  It's a Sony but the model number is escaping me and I don't have access to it at the moment (might be this one).

[shardian]

Pulled the trigger on this player with my saved up amazon gift card cash from my CC.

[ahofle]

I was doing a capture via firewire.  As far as I could tell that's all that is available with this camera.  Never saw anything in the documentation that referred to any sort of copy process.  All of the crappy software that came with the camera was video CD capture stuff.  It's a Sony but the model number is escaping me and I don't have access to it at the moment (might be this one).

Yeah you should be able to capture using the Windows Movie Maker (or WinDV, another recommended program).  Make sure when you capture, you select to use DV as the output format (not wmv or some other compressed version).  Here's a quick guide:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/getstarted/downloadvideo.mspx
You should end up with a 12GB (or so) avi file which is just plain DV.  Any halfway decent video editor should be able to work with that format with no problems if you want to edit it or make a DVD at a later time.

[ChadTower]

How is the eventual output quality with that method as compared to the original?  Say original to DVD-VOB?

[ahofle]

It's identical to what's on the tape, bit per bit (those tapes hold about 12GB of data).  It's really less of a 'capture' and more of a slow, 1x-speed copy process.

[shardian]

Amazon got this to me lightning fast, even with Free super saver shipping. First off, no HDMI cable. BOOOO!!!!! Grabbed my ankles for a $26 6 foot cable at Wally World so I could tinker with it. Cable will go back to store once I order a $3-4 cable online.

The remote and the unit are TINY. Even smaller than I expected. I am gonna have to get  a Harmony remote, because I am gonna lose this little thing in no time. Without the remote, the unit is worthless.
I threw a dvd rip of Wall-E on there, and the box upconverted it to match my 720p TV. The upconversion is stunning. All the artifacting that normally shows up in darker scenes is gone. I have an MKV 1080P version of Wall-E at work so I can do a direct comparison, but I honestly don't think it can look that much better.

480 divx tv show rips look great. I tried out the pilot of Fringe, and it looked better than what my Phillips DVD player plays it at. TV says it was upconverted to 720p, and I assume it's processor also took some of the artifacting out of the low quality divx file too.

I'll have to do a bit more testing to see how much I really like it. I don't have preview JPEGS or anything, and my drive is cluttered. Thus, navigating is not very fun.

[ChadTower]

Is it worth the $100 to upgrade from what XBMC already does for me?  Keep in mind my TVs are 32".