WD TV Live (3rd gen) Replacement

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Paul1977

5039 posts

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#172078 11-May-2015 12:26

I'm looking for a suitable replacement for two of these device. It plays every format, but the interface is slow and clunky, and it ignores forced subtitle flags - which is a major annoyance.

I mainly them it to stream video from my PC (mainly MKVs).

It will need to support all the formats that my WD TV Live (3rd gen) does.

What would everyone recommend?

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marlinz

441 posts

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#1301902 11-May-2015 12:35

Get a Amazon Fire TV install Plex on PC and on Fire TV no problems with that set up for me . Not sure on what formats you would have a problem with

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wasabi2k

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#1301904 11-May-2015 12:36

I have yet to find anything remotely close that supports everything the wdtv does.

We just put up with it for now - even with the issues you mention - and the fact I have to set RGB color space every time it turns on.

Paul1977

5039 posts

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#1301906 11-May-2015 12:41

marlinz: Get a Amazon Fire TV install Plex on PC and on Fire TV no problems with that set up for me . Not sure on what formats you would have a problem with

I don't want to do any on-the-fly transcoding as you lose video quality. Does the Fire TV natively support MKVs?

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DamageInc

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#1301924 11-May-2015 13:08

marlinz: Get a Amazon Fire TV install Plex on PC and on Fire TV no problems with that set up for me . Not sure on what formats you would have a problem with

Pc to fire tv is that Ethernet or wireless? Also how does said setup perform with attached hdd?

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marlinz

441 posts

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#1301933 11-May-2015 13:26

DamageInc:
marlinz: Get a Amazon Fire TV install Plex on PC and on Fire TV no problems with that set up for me . Not sure on what formats you would have a problem with

Pc to fire tv is that Ethernet or wireless? Also how does said setup perform with attached hdd?

its via dlna i think (wireless) hard drive attached to computer and then shared on the plex server

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DamageInc

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#1302113 11-May-2015 17:29

marlinz:
DamageInc:
marlinz: Get a Amazon Fire TV install Plex on PC and on Fire TV no problems with that set up for me . Not sure on what formats you would have a problem with

Pc to fire tv is that Ethernet or wireless? Also how does said setup perform with attached hdd?

its via dlna i think (wireless) hard drive attached to computer and then shared on the plex server

And you don't have any hassles with the movie going from the hdd-Plex-wireless to AFTV Plex app ie hdd able to keep up?

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littleheaven

2130 posts

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#1302145 11-May-2015 17:52

How about getting a little Windows box, like a NUC, then just browse to the video file across the network and play it in VLC or Windows Media on the TV screen. As long as you have the right codecs it should play in whatever format the file is.

If you want a fancier interface, Plex server on the main PC and Plex Home Theater app on the Windows box should be fine. With Plex, my understanding is that it will only transcode on the fly if the receiving device isn't capable of receiving the file in the current format, so I'm assuming as long as your HTPC solution can play it, you should be fine. Here's the page that gives the full technical explanation. https://support.plex.tv/hc/en-us/articles/201373793-Is-Plex-Media-Server-on-a-NAS-Right-for-Me-

If you don't have time to read the whole thing, the pertinent section states:

"The Plex Home Theater desktop application will typically always play content directly if you're using it with a local Plex Media Server. This app can play nearly any kind of content:

mp4, mkv, avi, and other containers
H.264, DivX, XviD, MPEG-2, and other video codecs
MP3, AAC, AC-3, DTS, and other audio codecs
SRT, ASS, VOBSUB, PGS, and other subtitle formats

Note that if you're trying to use Plex Home Theater with a remote Server, you may still require transcoding if your network connection is not fast enough to support streaming the file in full quality."

and

"There are also situations where transcoding is required even if your media is otherwise compatible with your playback device. This can be the case when:

Using Subtitles: For many Plex apps, subtitles have to be "burned in" to the video stream but the Server. That requires transcoding to do.
Remote Access: When your Server is accessed from outside your home, it may not be possible to stream the content at the full quality. In these cases, the Server has to transcode the content to a lower quality in order to be able to stream without buffering."

I'm running it server side on an old 2008 Mac Pro and client side on a Minix Neo Z64 with Windows, and though I've not had time to do much testing, it appeared to run without issue on a large 1080p H.264 file.

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marlinz

441 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1302402 12-May-2015 06:05

DamageInc:
marlinz:
DamageInc:
marlinz: Get a Amazon Fire TV install Plex on PC and on Fire TV no problems with that set up for me . Not sure on what formats you would have a problem with

Pc to fire tv is that Ethernet or wireless? Also how does said setup perform with attached hdd?

its via dlna i think (wireless) hard drive attached to computer and then shared on the plex server

And you don't have any hassles with the movie going from the hdd-Plex-wireless to AFTV Plex app ie hdd able to keep up?

I have no hassles with it streaming wirelessly, it is a good option (well so i have found for me anyway )

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Paul1977

5039 posts

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#1302777 12-May-2015 13:46

I'm going to give Raspberry Pi 2 a try. I have a suspicion that it's going to be more trouble than it's worth, but doesn't cost much.

robjg63

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#1302799 12-May-2015 14:02

Paul1977: I'm going to give Raspberry Pi 2 a try. I have a suspicion that it's going to be more trouble than it's worth, but doesn't cost much.

Was going to suggest that - Try OSMC (Kodi wrapped up in a friendly linux)
Have been using this the last few weeks - its using HDMI-CEC so the tv remote works on the pi.
KODI works well.

EDIT: osmc is promising a web browser as well - coming soon apparently.

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Paul1977

5039 posts

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#1302948 12-May-2015 16:34

robjg63:
Paul1977: I'm going to give Raspberry Pi 2 a try. I have a suspicion that it's going to be more trouble than it's worth, but doesn't cost much.

Was going to suggest that - Try OSMC (Kodi wrapped up in a friendly linux)
Have been using this the last few weeks - its using HDMI-CEC so the tv remote works on the pi.
KODI works well.

EDIT: osmc is promising a web browser as well - coming soon apparently.

It's a shame it doesn't support Netflix (yet?). Not that I currently use Netflix, and I still have PS3 and PS4 which do support it any way; but would be nice to have more of a "one box to rule them all" thing.

kiwijunglist

2981 posts

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#1303013 12-May-2015 17:36

I'd suggest a Roku 3 client and use plex server on the pc.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

robjg63

4096 posts

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#1303073 12-May-2015 19:29

Paul1977:
robjg63:
Paul1977: I'm going to give Raspberry Pi 2 a try. I have a suspicion that it's going to be more trouble than it's worth, but doesn't cost much.

Was going to suggest that - Try OSMC (Kodi wrapped up in a friendly linux)
Have been using this the last few weeks - its using HDMI-CEC so the tv remote works on the pi.
KODI works well.

EDIT: osmc is promising a web browser as well - coming soon apparently.

It's a shame it doesn't support Netflix (yet?). Not that I currently use Netflix, and I still have PS3 and PS4 which do support it any way; but would be nice to have more of a "one box to rule them all" thing.

That's why I am hoping for a decent web browser - would cover accessing many sites.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler