Are WDTVs capable of being customized? Like having a Jukebox a la YAMJ or XBMC?

3. Kids/Guest Bedrooms - 2x WDTV w/ the hack

 

I got the two additional WDTV's off of eBay on the cheap, with the hack, from an aesthetic point of view, they're just about as nice as XBMC/PH, etc.

I would recommend a Sage  HD http://www.sagetv.com/hd_theater.html , it's pretty cheap and does dts and bluray just fine.

 

it's soo tiny and you can also mount it in the back of your tv (below is a review).

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2010/10/06/review-sagetv-hd-theater-300/

Tried the streaming route to my Samsung when I had it. Returned it because it kept flickering and drove me bonkers. Anyways check out this thread and what I found I posted up on the second page.

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=3532

 

Keep in mind I've literally forgotten what I did to get it to work since like I said I no longer have my Samsung. It had something to do with the 240hz that was making it flicker or maybe it was a defective TV.

So for those of you with WD TV. How does it handle 720p or 1080p content over the network from the unRAID server? I have some uncompressed blu-rays that I have never been able to stream through any means because of the bitrate being higher than my network could handle. I noticed that the WD TV is only 10/100 and maybe a little worried about that.

 

Does anyone have/used this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815293012

So for those of you with WD TV. How does it handle 720p or 1080p content over the network from the unRAID server? I have some uncompressed blu-rays that I have never been able to stream through any means because of the bitrate being higher than my network could handle. I noticed that the WD TV is only 10/100 and maybe a little worried about that.

 

Does anyone have/used this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815293012

 

The highest bitrate 720p file I have is in the 7500k range, and it had no issues being viewed with a WD TV Live.

I've never tried BR Rips played directly over the network, but 1080p MKVs play fine.

So for those of you with WD TV. How does it handle 720p or 1080p content over the network from the unRAID server? I have some uncompressed blu-rays that I have never been able to stream through any means because of the bitrate being higher than my network could handle. I noticed that the WD TV is only 10/100 and maybe a little worried about that.

 

There are no Blu-ray discs that will fail to stream on a 10/100 network.  The problem is not the network, it's some part of the chain -- router, switch, LAN card, player or whatever.

Max Blu-ray bitrate is 40-50mbps (the latter being out of spec). That's a lot less than 100mbps.

My Popcorn Hours all stream any of my 500 Blu-ray rips over a 100mbps network port.

So for those of you with WD TV. How does it handle 720p or 1080p content over the network from the unRAID server? I have some uncompressed blu-rays that I have never been able to stream through any means because of the bitrate being higher than my network could handle. I noticed that the WD TV is only 10/100 and maybe a little worried about that.

 

Does anyone have/used this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815293012

 

I have two WD TV Live's.  They are awesome little streamers, but they do have a few drawbacks, and your question hits on one of the points.  Now, I can't speak for the PLUS version, but I'm going to assume they aren't much different.  My WD TV Live's will absolutely NOT stream uncompressed Blu-Rays.  I believe the largest file I've successfully streamed (and this is over wired gigabit) is 17GB.  I think it has something to do with the bitrate or something, but there are a few forum posts on other sites that go into detail.  I believe this can be overcome with B-RAD's custom firmware for the WDTV Live.  It's not terribly hard to flash, but configuration isn't exactly *easy* so I just stuck with the stock firmware from WD.

 

Another bad thing about the WDTV Live, is the interface.  It's not flashy by any means.  Although, it is functional.

 

It may sound like I'm not recommending the little device, but that's not true.  I absolutely love both of mine and wouldn't use anything else (way cheaper than building a quiet XBMC).  They are super small, super quiet (no fans), and stream MKV video flawlessly.  Granted, you will want to compress it some before streaming, but I compress all my Blu-ray's, otherwise my storage would be used up in no time.

 

Hope this helps.

^^

All the reasons I went away from the WDTV series

 

1.  Inability to consistently stream high-bitrate BD  (uncompressed Blu-Ray bursts above 50-55mbps); this performance would vary dependent on the firmware release

2.  Uninspiring UI

3.  Folder Based interface

4.  Network detection inconsistencies

 

When you have unRAID...why compress.

 

 

I wonder how accurate the real-time bitrate display is on the ps3... I pulled up The Dark Knight last night and some of the action scenes had bursts above 80mbps. I also looked to verify and found that according to spec, max bitrate on blu-ray should be 40mbps. ps3 must be off, i just always assumed that network speed was my bottleneck for streaming blu-rays since dvd quality up to 720p works fine. Its once i hit the 1080p barrier that causes problems in every scenario i have tried. Only way so far for me to play them is through a USB portable plugged into my tv. Its just a pain to have to copy movies to a portable to watch.

 

I really just want to be able to sit down on my couch with a remote, browse my library, and play anything and everything without any issues. I don't care so much about interface or flashy UI's as long as the stuff plays and i dont have to fiddle with settings every time i want to watch a movie.

many blu-ray scenes will go over 40mbps over a short period (burst). I've observed this through the wdtv, and measured with the syno network flow monitor as well.

 

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1315154#post1315154

I wonder how accurate the real-time bitrate display is on the ps3... I pulled up The Dark Knight last night and some of the action scenes had bursts above 80mbps. I also looked to verify and found that according to spec, max bitrate on blu-ray should be 40mbps. ps3 must be off

 

The max video bitrate is 40mbit/sec. It's to do with the VBV buffer having to stay below 40,000. Instantaneous bitrate can exceed 40,000Kb/s but the buffer which is the rate at which the buffer is FILLED not the instantaneous bitrate.

So, in theory, you could have video burst rates over 40mbps, but in practice, it will probably be out of spec.

 

The bitrate of all streams (audio, video, PGS, etc.) can be just above 48mbit/sec. I can't remember if this includes m2ts packet overhead.

 

The highest bitrate I measured was a music Blu-ray with MPEG2 and multiple PCM audio including 5.1 PCM audio. The bitrate didn't go above 50mbps -- well within the capability of a functioning 10/100 LAN.