WDTVLive media player replacement?

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › WDTVLive media player replacement? - revisited.

geekIT

2423 posts

Uber Geek

#229018 3-Feb-2018 15:05

Still chasing a replacement for my Western Digital TV Live player.

There seems to be a lot more of thes devices available now than when I last posted this question, hence my asking again.

First I'll restate my requirements.

All I want is a gadget that plugs into my TV, will accept a network cable that hooks it into my home LAN, and has a USB port to accept a nearby USB-docked 2TB hard drive.

These three facilities are pretty much all that my WDTVLive does for me, so they're all that I need from a new player.

It was suggested by a poster in my earlier thread that I use a Raspberry Pi, but I'd rather have something that requires less fiddling to set up.

The NVidia Shield looks pretty good, albeit a tad over-qualified, but it's fairly pricey.

Suggestions would be appreciated.

PS: Please don't hesitate to mention your own gadget that you only use for streaming video. As long as it'll also do what I want, it could be quite suitable.

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Jase2985

13466 posts

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ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#1951148 3-Feb-2018 15:10

Our WDTV failed after 4 years of being on almost 24/7 so we have gone to the below

We use a chromecast as we have a PC thats on 24/7 which runs a DLNA server so we can just stream from that server. we use an app called local cast to access the media from out phones and cast it to the chromecast.

Loismustdye

932 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#1951153 3-Feb-2018 15:18

Our wdlive started acting up a few weeks back.
Picked up a cheap i5 pc on trademe, replaced the hdd with an ssd, plugged our previous external drive into it with our media, and installed plex media server...... works a treat using plex apps on our tv and tablets etc
Took a bit of arsing around as I had to reset the permissions for the media on the hdd to allow everyone to read/write to it but works a treat.

rb99

3425 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#1951154 3-Feb-2018 15:19

Personally I use a 2nd Gen Fire TV which gets media (bluray rips etc) from a PC which has lots of hdd's and Emby media center (like Plex but vastly, nay, infinitely superior*). Easy to do but might not be what you're after.

*This is my opinion and not the opinion of Plex users and I can't justify it, but there you are.

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

rb99

Dolts

214 posts

Master Geek

#1951158 3-Feb-2018 15:21

I have a Western Digital TV Live player if you want it, barely used.

Unless you are after a modern device upgrade.

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#1953216 7-Feb-2018 19:04

I pensioned off my WDs about two years ago, and moved to a Plex client/server model.

If plugging a USB in is a must for you, you could get one of the cheaper Kodi boxes. That should work fine.

However, if you have the budget, I recommend importing an nVidia Shield TV. They are around $US179+shipping on Amazon. I'm looking at getting one myself. Good hardware and codec support (eg copes with h.265). Running a Kodi client will give you what you want. Plus, you can also run Plex etc on it later if you choose to do so. Or Emby if you go rb99's route.