WDTV Live play back issues

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dickytim

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#129375 13-Sep-2013 07:15

I have set up my WDTV Live in my GF's room, I basically plugged it in and connected to Wi-Fi and updated firmware when I say set up.

Recently she has been watching The Walking Dead off the server, but the WDTV is stuttering, however playback is perfect on her Ipad via the Plex app.

I suspect that the sever is transcoding to the WDTV, does anyone know how to change the transcoding settings on the WDTV? I have tried googling it but can't find anything that is obvious to me.

Has anyone had this issue?

the server has 4GB ram, E6600 chip (2.4GHZ) on windows 7professional 64bit and can play a lot of other content absolutely fine, I would also like to try and take the load off the server as it is in my room and gets very loud when she is watching movies!

Inphinity

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#895072 13-Sep-2013 08:06

What format and quality/bitrate are the episodes in? I have to say, despite being imo really useful, the WD TV products have terrible network performance. Even connected via gigabit LAN my Live Hub sometimes gets stuttering and buffering issues streaming high bitrate media off my NAS.

JayTaicho

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#895106 13-Sep-2013 09:38

I had this issue when streaming MKV's from the Plex media server to my WDTV, so had to access my library through linux shares instead (from my mac) and everything streamed perfectly.

Read somewhere it had something to do with DLNA. Are you accessing your stuff through PMS on your WDTV?

dickytim

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#895108 13-Sep-2013 09:48

Yes thru pms

wasabi2k

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#895133 13-Sep-2013 11:41

1st suspect is the wifi connection - what sort of speed is it connecting at?
2nd suspect is the file - what format/bitrate/resolution is it?
3rd suspect is the streaming server - did you say you are using plex? It is setup for transcoding? What settings?

I use a WDTV Live and play 1080p MKVs wirelessly from a Windows 8 laptop (using Windows Media sharing), the only stuttering I got is when my wireless went a bit bananas (had wireless laptop -> wireless AP -> wireless WDTV + downloading torrents on laptop at same time).

When i plugged the WDTV in to my router it is now wireless laptop -> wireless AP -> wireless bridge -> wdtv it works fine.

dickytim

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#895166 13-Sep-2013 12:29

I'll connect it directly to the router.

Thanks.

Inphinity

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#895170 13-Sep-2013 12:32

wasabi2k:

I use a WDTV Live and play 1080p MKVs wirelessly

Without going too off-topic, can I ask what sort of bitrate they are? I have no problem with anything up to, say, 6Mbps, but 6 - 8 is a bit unreliable, and 10Mbps+ is just not watchable. I switched from wifi to ethernet to try and resolve it, and still occurs. I can plug my netbook in to the same cable and pull the same file at ~200Mbps.

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wasabi2k

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#895197 13-Sep-2013 13:37

Inphinity:
wasabi2k:

I use a WDTV Live and play 1080p MKVs wirelessly

Without going too off-topic, can I ask what sort of bitrate they are? I have no problem with anything up to, say, 6Mbps, but 6 - 8 is a bit unreliable, and 10Mbps+ is just not watchable. I switched from wifi to ethernet to try and resolve it, and still occurs. I can plug my netbook in to the same cable and pull the same file at ~200Mbps.

pretty low - file size is ~10 gig I think from memory, I will check it when I get home.

JimmyH

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#895419 13-Sep-2013 19:16

A thought, if it is feasible:

1. Create or find a file of circa 700MB-1GB, what it is doesn't matter.
2. Plug a USB hard drive into the WD Live
3. Copy that file across the network to the WD Live using WiFi - record the transfer speed.
4. Delete the file off the WD Live.
5. Copy that file across the network to the WD Live using a cable - record the transfer speed.

This will at least tell you if the issue is WiFi throughput or something else. I had similar issues with streaming DLNA to my WD units, because my WiFi speeds weren't great. Moved to ethernet over powerline - the transfer speeds went up tenfold and both units now seem to work flawlessly.

cgreenwood

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#895508 14-Sep-2013 06:31

does anyone know how to change the transcoding settings on the WDTV? I have tried googling it but can't find anything that is obvious to me.

It is your PC that is doing the transcoding not the WDTV so you change the settings there, and in your case it sounds like plex is what is handling it. you might try another dnla server like PS3 media server or serviio , the former has easily configured transcoding settings.

dickytim

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#896134 16-Sep-2013 06:46

I tried a few different things the first was to move the server closer to the router as the signal to my room was a bit crap.

The netted goods results, for some reason plex was set to process the video at 3mb/s but send at 1.5mb/s, once I change this to match it seemed to speed things up and the server is now running very quite!

I have a PS3 in my room so I can now watch everything on the main lounge TV where the server is connected directly, my room via PS3 and my GF room via WDTV or anywhere else on the ipads.

We have tried 2 sessions at once and the server seems to be able to keep up.

All is now bliss!

BTR

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#898197 19-Sep-2013 08:03

I have a WD TV Live Hub in the lounge with all the media in it and a WD TV Live using wireless in the bedroom. That setup works fine except using 2.4Ghz wireless is a pain if someone uses the microwave.