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Lost your password? Thanks for so many great inputs on the device. I have been proud and happy owner of the same for two month so and have not many complaints regarding it.
It is sweet small but powerfull device. I too had a problem with DTS. I do have the sound. But the only problem is the that the audio stutters every 8 to 10 seconds. I have converted the same to ac3 using pop corn audio converter which is very simple software. But would like to know whether this is a known problem and would a firmware upgrade solve the same.
Julie, Do you know if there is any talk of another update anytime soon? Thanks for all you do here Julie! All my other posts seem to be fine. Any ideas? Exactly right. Can you try rewording it? I can not get the image any bigger than x Julie, I think it was the link I had put in. To be honest. I do not have any vested interest in this program just conveying my experience..
It literally takes about 20 minutes to rip a full DVD. When I open this folder on the WD I simply choose the first. This format is great. Before I came across the WD unit I would always make a second hard copy of my original and put the original away.
To do this all I had to do was simply dump the files back onto a DL disk and any newer DVD will play it like its the original disk. I guess the only down side is the size of the ripped dvd is as it was on the native disk. I do not understand why you are wasting time converting DVD to avi. The player plays dvds vob files perfectly. I burn straight from dvdv to my usb and then hit play. As for the image you may need to just playaround with it in the settings however some movies are in widescreen so you will never loose those bars.
Thank you both for the reply. I am in total agreement when it comes to quality of things. With a higher bitrate conversion the file compresses and creates a 2gb file instead of the normal mb. Salem , no vested interests here :P. As far as my Blu Ray issue….. No luck with. The sound issue was mitigated by using the optical out into my HD reciever. Not an ideal solution as I wanted to just connect this unit to my TV upstairs and have a simple set-up. Reference the bottom of page 7 of the manual for the note regarding hubs.
Anyway…only way to know for sure it to try it. I can confirm that the unit WILL work with a usb hub. It recognized all three right away except you have to dig into USB2 to see the two drives connected to the hub. The other thing I noticed is that unless I turned off Media Library the usb icon on the front of the unit would continue to flash and it the notice that it was searching the drives remained on screen. I turned Media Library to off and everything was fine. It seems that I have to eject my hard drive and re-mount it before I can view folders again.
This is happening every time I turn it off or resume from the screen saver. As a note, it seems the system temporarily locks up when resuming from being in screen saver mode after extended idle time when powered on. It unfreezes after a second period of time, but this is quite aggravating. The manual navigation between songs is quite cumbersome. There is such a marked delay when manually changing between songs by hitting the next button with no system response, that your inclined to press the next button again and it ends up playing only a few seconds of the next song, then goes to the very next.
Again, i have lots of music, but nothing unreasonable 80 GB. Have these issues been experienced by other owners? Do you know of any possible fix that could potentially be expected?
Do you have any idea when WD intends to release a new firmware update? Not trying to play obscure home movies from proprietary formats, just PORN and an occasionally bootleg movie off thepiratebay. Thought you might say to just keep the video ts and rename it. Thanks for confirming. By the sounds of it, no. Just seeing if you have come across any issues. I know that this is the angle they have been taking with the external harddrives.
It actually only played each vob as though they were individual files. When I put back the structure it was fine. As far as downside to the hub…. The only reason this unit exists is to help sell their harddrives. Interesting find re: vob files. I am going to have a muck around with it this weekend and see how I go. Bizarre that it would do this tho. Will let you know how I go. The interface is a bit clunky, but the controls are great.
Really nice. You can do youtube on it and other streaming websites. Have not had any issues yet which I was surprised with thought I would see stuttering I have had it disconnect for no reason twice so far in 6 weeks but it reconnects on its own right away not if the cat 5 is the problem or not.
So no problems a streaming from your HD room to the WD unit in your den? Have you tried it this way? In theory, this would leave the network connected at all times and I guess this way you could still create a mirror image on the external.
However you still have to physically unplug and replug it. However I am not sure… will update once tried… hopefully within the next couple of weeks.
Maybe try the firmware process from the start. Should resolve the above issues. USB2 is the port that you have your HD connected too. No biggy. I think it goes into sleep mode after around 30 mins. You have to remember that a hard drive is moving part. It stops moving upon sleep mode and starts moving again when waking up. Your PC does the same thing, only it takes a few seconds so you dont realise it. You have to remember that PC and gadgets like this have to read, process and spit the info back out.
Sometimes this process happens straight away, sometimes it takes a few seconds. Has anyone used or tried this?
I will google and try and find the link. Kiwi — Refer to post It works. Supported is another issue all together. Plus as Ducer has mentioned….. Ducer — Let me know how your networking exercise works out.
Right now the Passport and my netbook are doing the trick. I see alot of people asking about using USB hubs. A really nice little setup with plenty of room to add more drives.
Thanks for confirming that the Belkin usb hub works. This may mean that there is now a higher chance that the network hub will work. They claim that there should not be a problem with doing what I want it to do. Harris Tech. As MillerTime77 says with his supplier, these guys also have a return policy and have no probs with me bringing the unit back to them.
From what I understand, this the software for this unit tricks the PC into thinking that all the devices connected to the hub are actually connected directly to the PC. My sparky is coming to fit off the cat5 points in my house on Monday morn. So hopefully I should have an answer for you all by mid next week. Odysseas- I would definitely go with this unit over the Lacie Lacinema. I have both and I find the Lacie to be very buggy in comparison to the WD.
It will often freeze up when fast forwarding, leaving me no choice but to pull the power cord. Now if WD could just address the lack of gapless audio playback issue….
Lots of people have been complaining about the small, cheap remote control. No more worries. Great detailed review. Thanks Julie. I understand price might be a consideration. Is there anything else to consider other than that?
George T There is no real reason why you should not do what you suggested if you already own a laptop. Of course, if you already have a dedicated media PC, you probably would not be interested in this device in the first place. First of all, you are so admirable and very prompt with responses and got me going with my question below. I still have yet to purchase this unit. Both audio and text show up fine on my PC. Audio works as well also. Each karaoke song need2 to have 2 files to play both audio and video.
So, these issues I addressed were not resolved by this release. This is an habitual occurrence and I hate the need to eject, wait the 30 seconds for this to finish, unplug the drive, plug it back in, then wait the minutes for it to read and index poorly index might I add the contents before I can use it again. Many devices can do as such.
This product seems to have lots of potential but has some shortcomings that make it quite aggravating and troublesome to use as part of a home theater. The WD lag is marked and appears to be software related as it is pronounced only with this device. The troublesome aspect is, as i previously described, specifically music playback. This is a problem that needs to be fixed.
I can use the very same hard drive, with the very same contents, with iTunes when plugged into my computer and it changes songs the moment I hit the next button. Again, i have to point at the software of this device. I notice a couple of second delay when changing between very large GB mkv files which is acceptable, but the marked delay I find when changing relatively tiny songs is terrible and needs to be addressed.
It will play the first file then stop. I have to press play on the next file to watch the next part of the movie. Anybody else having this problem? I bought this to replace my dvd player, so I could put all my dvds on hard drives and have a video juke box. Not working out that way though….
I have yet to buy one but my decision is mainly hinging on my following questions. I just wanted to confirm a few things.
I too rip my DVDs into the format and file structure you mentioned:. As of March 09, with all firmware updates, this box is not as universal as WD claims. Just what will this box play?
These are all formats advertised on your website as compatible, but NONE of them will play. It seems that is only what this product is designed to play — definitely not your home video collection. After transcoding some of the above files, it played a. I understand if it does not have the codec, but it played it, then refused to play it? This box has serious problems, I would recommend that people stay away until WD gets the firmware updated in 6 months if at all.
Granted it took almost 3 month to convert them all to mp4 but now when we want to watch something its right there. I would almost think you have a faulty unit if it played the file once and than wont play it anymore. Supposedly the new firmware is going to be released sometime this week no, this is not an April Fools :.
I Got this player for my birthday lastweek and I like it so far. The only issue I have is the finding the fastest way to get the files converted from dvd. I have used Clone DVD from slysoft to backup my files and it works great.
Do any of you know of a faster way to convert? I recently upgraded my firmware to the latest 1. I have tried system reset to no avail. Must admit that I have disconnected my drives without first pressing the eject button on the remote… Note that now after pressing the eject button both drives are still not being recognized.
It was when I did this that it seemed to only recognize each. Webspyderz — your procedure is what I do and it works fine. So too will your file organization. So on each level it would sort your folders from A to Z. As you can see there are a ton of people that are finding great use for the unit. I think your recomendation should be taken with a grain of salt. As someone else commented on, it sounds likely that you have a lemon of a unit.
It plays pretty much all the file formats its says for me with the exception of my issues with Blu Ray. One last bit of info if anyone is interested. The Happauge captures its content in the. I was happy to find out that the WD unit played all these formats without flaw.
I tested HD TV recordings in both formats as well my home video files. Everything worked well. If not…. New firmware version release 1.
I have the feeling that you think I work for WD. You mention that your device came with the firmware installed. Looks like new firmware update will hit us soon. Thx SeahorseSeaEO. Maybe your issues may be fixed then. Having said that, I installed the firmware again. I would have assumed that mine came with the latest firmware installed as well. Part of the conspiracy theory in post Just an educated guess tho. Wish I could help with your music issue but I am not using the WD unit for music.
I just assumed that it was stock standard… all my 3 ipods have done it. Maybe I have bought duds. Alternatively, Take the unit back to where you bought it. They should swap it straight over if its faulty. For me this is not logical tho.
If it works on a normal hub, why would this scenario be any different??? Ecstatic about this!! I can now rip straight to my external…. No biggy in my books. Do you have a computer you can hook the drives up to? I had this issue also, and it was due to not properly ejecting the drives from the WD player.
The thumbnail issue has been addressed so I think everyone will be pleased with that. Nothing big, maybe seconds, but just a small grumble on my part. But the indexing of the drive is noticeably faster to me for my GB drive.
Have since found out that the WD unit, unlike popcorn or mivx, is not set up at the moment to deal with a LAN set up.
Apparently there are no drivers on the WDunit that support a LAN config see conspiracy theory; post Looks like no LAN issues have been addressed in this firmware update either. Any one?? WD — thanks for addressing the thumbnail issue. Any chance you could make it LAN compatible?? I am interested in the Belkin hub too.
The WD can not read the 1Tb drive through the Belkin network hub? Have you tired connecting the WD and 1Tb to a regular usb hub and then a third cable to the Belkin? Being able to download to the 1Tb drive from the Belkin is great. Would be nice not to have to keep moving the usb cable after a download so the WD drive can see the 1Tb drive though.
However I dont seem to be having any luck with the thumbnails. Can some kind person once they have figured it out please post what needs to be done. Have downloaded the latest firmware and I must say that having waited months the updates are not really as extensive as I would have expected. The support for VC-1 embedded. I must say that although the thumbnails are now a nice touch it has not come without a price to pay.
Can anyone else clarify this or may this just be a problem on my device. I would have expected the device to archive more quickly and I would certainly of expected something to address the power issue with the attached drives. Also just noticed that I am getting up to a 30 second delay when starting video files……. Is this now a common problem — I would say yes! Yet again in my opinion WD have failed to impress. This is a fantastic device but WD are being a little to slow with its development.
This thing could be made awesome with a little care and attention being put in by the engineers. In contrast Popcorn release updates almost fortnightly with many more issues being addressed in each release.
To that end I am personally considering buying a Popcorn for my living room and putting this in the bedroom or spare tv room. I love this device, cause it is compact and pack with lot of functions. I wondering if it can play Karaoke vob file in a way that I can turn off the vocal chanel?
Thank you for your reply. I too have updated and have noticed some good and bad. The thumbnail addition is certainly a welcome improvement. I only experimented with a few to make sure they worked but I see it taking a while to load if you have a ton of movies on a TB HD. Is there a trick that anyone has found that streamlines things? It may be in the manual but does anyone know the ideal image size to use? I like Andy have also noticed some increased delays in starting video files although not nearly as long as he has experienced.
I can live with it. On another note has anyone else played around with Blu Ray playback? As I discussed previously my. The most recent is Quantum Solace. It actually plays the first couple seconds and then goes to black screen and locks up the WD unit to the point that I have to cut power and reboot. Another thing I noticed is that the main. I simply ejected.
Connected my Passport to my Netbook, copied over a couple covers and reconnected to the unit. It did take a couple seconds to load the covers in Thumbnail view once I went into the Movie Folder view though. This is why I was curious to know if someone had fooled around with the ideal. Size to fit the thumbnail space and open as quick as possible. Hi all downloaded latest firmware and tried to get the thumbnails working but as yet to no avail, I have a avi file and jpeg image as a test piece but no thumbnail as yet although the image appears as a photo no problem I assumed from the wd info that both file and image appear in the same folder called folder.
Feel free to install it but be aware this is beta firmware so use it at your own risk. If you are not comfortable with this, please wait for the final version.
Based on this, we can only hope that the feedback they receive will result in these bugs being resolved in the final release. Hopefully the final release will be soon. This is a nice little unit, which IMO can be a great product if they get these little thing right…. Does anyone know if this firmware update fixed this? I would hate to have to rebuy the damn thing because they fixed it right when I returned it. Out of curiosity how did you connect your Audio?
Did you try Optical? I had a similar issue with audio, although not with wma files and once I connected to my receiver things were OK. Unplug the hard drive that is connected to it, plug that into a computer, copy media to the drive, unplug from computer, plug it back into the device? That said, my xbox does what I need to. I second that. I store my media on my FreeNAS in the basement so i need to stream it through the network. I have one and this thing rocks.!
Good blog. Is this so, or is it just on your wish list? How did each perform? Furthermore, 16GB or higher USB sticks are common nowadays and depending on the format, you can get a lot of video in that. With networking this would be so nice yes I read the hacked firmware bit. One other thing to consider versus a media extender like and xBox, PS3 or HTPC ok, the last can get pricy is the requirement to have add-on storage.
Sure you could constantly transport what you want to watch or listen to from a PC to this device on a thumb drive but I imagine lots of folks would just want it set up with their media library permanently. Also there are some looming products that might be a lot more flexible than this. NV Ion platform, with Atom or Nano, would be a tough competitior. The conclusion places this thing neatly: an inexpensive alternative especially for those who are a little less tech-savvy, or for those who are tech-savvy and just want the most simple solution.
Both companies probably just chopped some bits off a reference design, stuck it in a box, and created some custom skins for the reference software UI Looks like a nice product. You could have better taste in movies, like include a picture of Ratatouille instead. No pun intended. I may have missed it. Ok, you do realize that you must now review the Popcorn hour A as it is currently the undisputed king in HD media playback, right? Type search above and then hit Enter.
Comments closed. How do I go about doing this? Shynash21 11 years ago can this player resync softcoded subtitles? Thanks for the tremendous work you did with this review. Thanks, Nicholas. Kraft75 13 years ago Well I just picked it up for Decelerate 13 years ago I know about the PH devices. I have also read negative things about its interface.
Nomgle 13 years ago What a strange experience! Vrock 13 years ago The Lego Rebel Trooper looks scared. Decelerate 13 years ago Thanks for the review!
Faiakes 13 years ago Come on people, how hard is it to add an xvid or a couple of x vids on a USB stick? MadManOriginal 13 years ago That would be more logical but if you wanted to, or the arrangement dictated it, you could go all crazy with a super-long USB cable with active extensions. Outside of thumbdrive use this is a fail.
Usacomp2k3 13 years ago The lack of network makes this really painful. FireGryphon 13 years ago Good blog. Dposcorp 13 years ago Nice review, but I think the lack of integrated networking kills it for me. Faiakes 13 years ago Personally, the lack of intergrated HDD is an attractive feature. I wish WD would make a big sister product with the missing features.
This would be a really great device if it had Still, the price is attractive, and combined with a decent sized flash drive and sneakernet, I could see this being very useful. Strange article. Am I right in that it assumes you know that the input is external storage? That would be more logical but if you wanted to, or the arrangement dictated it, you could go all crazy with a super-long USB cable with active extensions.
Internal drives while not a terrible idea in some cases for this without networking options is a bad one. Plug it into your PC, then back to your TV. Transferring large files over USB would be time consuming. Now had this device had networking capabilities, my stance on this device having a hard drive would change. Just plug in a thumbdrive or USB hard drive, and start playing videos. Not every play on words is a pun. This does allow you to play Iso files. I have star trek dvd isos that I use regularly.
There is no menu support though. It will just play through the dvd files in the order they are in the iso. I own one of these, they are pretty sweet and versatile. It looks like other features include internet program streaming and DVR functionality. Can it take an external BluRay drive? Before I recommend something I always consider first whether it is something I can teach my mother or father to use, I think the Popcorn Hour is brilliant for my purposes I use it with a NAS , but my father or mother would never be able to use it.
Maybe a future higher-end version? One can hope…. Took the entire night!! The choice would have been much harder. True, but that external drive can be hidden if you are able to depending on the setup. The lack of network makes this really painful.
How are you going to get media on the device? Unplug the hard drive that is connected to it, plug that into a computer, copy media to the drive, unplug from computer, plug it back into the device?
That said, my xbox does what I need to. I second that. I store my media on my FreeNAS in the basement so i need to stream it through the network. I have one and this thing rocks.! Good blog. Is this so, or is it just on your wish list? How did each perform? Furthermore, 16GB or higher USB sticks are common nowadays and depending on the format, you can get a lot of video in that.
With networking this would be so nice yes I read the hacked firmware bit. One other thing to consider versus a media extender like and xBox, PS3 or HTPC ok, the last can get pricy is the requirement to have add-on storage. Sure you could constantly transport what you want to watch or listen to from a PC to this device on a thumb drive but I imagine lots of folks would just want it set up with their media library permanently. Also there are some looming products that might be a lot more flexible than this.
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