(WD TV-2 ) Western Digital upgrade from the existing WD TV media player

[Gemini]

Popcorn Hour

[YAMJ] ÆON Movie Wall YAMJ

http://www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=25534

[flash]http://www.youtube.com/v/eAm9FGJN_eg&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/flash]

 

[VegasGuy]

I just received my Western Digital Live. That joint is the shit! I swooped it up off Amazon for $119.99 with a Buffalo mini wireless N usb drive for $29.99. Total cost with shipping was just under $150, and my first impressions are that this was a good purchase. I first tried playing some files off a hard drive and it worked good, but then I plugged in the wireless and installed the software on my desktop. I had to make a shared network folder and make it viewable, but once setup.

It is streaming pretty good....hell.....really don't even think that I will need to even plug the usb hard drive in.

I tested on of the include sample HD videos, and it played smooth over wireless

Wow. Damn good news fam. Props on the update.

-VG

 

[Gemini]

WD TV Live boxes left bricked by firmware update
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In its short stay on retail shelves the WD TV Live HD media box has picked up an avid community of users for the unassuming unit -- at least until they tried to update the firmware of the last couple of days. Forum reports show formerly operational units with nothing but a blank screen after download the v1.101.12 update. For its part Western Digital has acknowledged the problem and pulled the update from its site, but given the poor ratio of successful upgraders to mourners in the thread, we hope it sees loyal customers out of RMA hell and back to 1080p video playing bliss quickly. Until then, we'd keep clear of that "upgrade now" screen until the next patch has been thoroughly vetted.

 

[Gemini]

A.C. Ryan's Playon!HD Mini player is tiny, still pushes 1080p worth of pixels
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Looking for an... alternative after being given a 1080p-streaming brick by Western Digital earlier this month? A.C. Ryan has a new option, the Playon!HD Mini. It's a smaller version of the bigger Playon!HD that seems to lose only its internal drive bay, card reader, and €50, meaning this one retails for €99 -- about $144. Yes, a good bit more than the WD TV, but it hits all the right marks, including 1080p output over HDMI or component, support for streaming media or USB mass storage, and even the ability to tune into Shoutcast and other undisclosed "internet feeds." The company also promises "very active new firmware releases" which, without a little restraint, could be a recipe to repeat WD's disaster.

 

[Gemini]

XBMC Updates to 9.11 Camelot, Brings Awesome New Look, Improved Features
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Windows/Mac/Linux/and more: XBMC is a killer open-source, cross-platform media center, and today they've released XBMC 9.11, introducing a whole new default look and feel, and it's very friendly on the eyes.

Called Confluence, the new look blends some of the best features of XBMC's previous default skin (PM3.HD) with several other popular skins for pretty impressive results. It's definitely a different look from what we've seen in the Boxee beta, but the two media centers continue to deliver really impressive (and most importantly free) offerings.

(See all the images on one page here.)

You can read the condensed changelog on their blog, but some highlights include:

• Better support for multi-monitor setups
• High Definition, Surround Sound, and Subtitle Flagging and Filtering in Video Library
• Speed up RAW image loading and handle more file extensions
• Performance improvements to SQLite (database) queries (help is always wanted here)
• Ability to scrape and scan TV Shows into the video library by air-date via TheTVDB.com

If you're an XBMC user, it's an update well worth grabbing. XBMC is a free download for Windows, Mac, Linux, Apple TV, and pretty much anywhere else you want to put it. Also, good news for people who followed our guide to building a silent, standalone XBMC media center on the cheap: The latest release of the Live version looks like it supports our machines out-of-the-box without custom third-party builds.

XBMC Download Page [XBMC via XBMC Blog]

 

[Gemini]

Syabas' Popbox: Get Ready for the New Media Streamer Champ
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Take Syabas' Popcorn Hour C-200, the much-loved streamer of choice for AV nerds. Now make it smaller, add Netflix support and a far superior interface, and cut the price from $300 to $130. That's the Popbox.

The Popbox isn't a replacement of the Popcorn Hour, which remains on as a giant hackable tank of a machine, but it does look fully ready for mainstream adoption. Here's why: Syabas expects to slash the price down to a mere $130, yet it keeps the Popcorn's stellar codec support and a lot of the online channels the Popcorn was missing, like Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, MLB, and a whole bunch more. (It does lose some things, like the internal hard drive bay and Bittorrent support, but it's still all open-source so you can install games, apps, or whatever fun stuff the homebrew community can think up). Plus, Syabas's interface (which Wilson, in his streamer roundup, described as "lame") has been totally revamped, and actually looks, well, kind of awesome. It's got great little touches like animated weather and automatic IMDb and AllMusic lookup for movie, TV and music info.

The hardware's been significantly revamped, too—it's much smaller than the admitted beast that is the Popcorn Hour, and it's fanless (AKA silent), but it'll still pump out full 1080p video over HDMI. It's also got 2 USB ports and an SD slot for added storage, since you lose the hard drive bay the Popcorn Hour has. It remains to be seen whether Syabas has fixed the problems users found with the Popcorn Hour's remote control, but we'll find that out soon enough.

It's set to be unveiled on January 5th at CES, where we'll stop in and get some photos and impressions—but I'm really excited for it already. We'll find out release date there, but they seem locked in on the $130 price point, which is super reasonable—Roku, Asus and the rest should be very scared right now. [Syabas]

 

[Cock Head Jones]

so whats the best bang for the buck out right now? im still thinking wdtv live.

popbox looks nice though.

found this in someones link.

 

[Gemini]

For me the best out is the Popcorn Hour, some say the best out is WD player. It all depends on what you are wiling to spend and what features interest you more. Id choose the Popbox and Popcorn Hour over the WDTV.


CES 2010 Popbox

[flash]http://www.youtube.com/v/Y4FJeSZePGc&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/flash]

 

[Cock Head Jones]

For me the best out is the Popcorn Hour, some say the best out is WD player. It all depends on what you are wiling to spend and what features interest you more. Id choose the Popbox and Popcorn Hour over the WDTV.


CES 2010 Popbox

[flash]http://www.youtube.com/v/Y4FJeSZePGc&hl=en_US&fs=1&[/flash]

it has more features but at $300+ i might as well build or buy a pc to serve media files from.

popbox is interesting.

 

[Chase Bannon]

Would any of you buy a refurbish drive like this one in this thread or any of Western's Hard Drives? I'm considering it.

 

[Cock Head Jones]

Would any of you buy a refurbish drive like this one in this thread or any of Western's Hard Drives? I'm considering it.

i dont know. you only save about $50 on the refurb. not worth the worry in my book. i'd just keep checking fatwallet and mycheaptech site for a sale. ebay too.

 

[Cock Head Jones]

for generating thumb nails for your wdtv content

http://thumbgen.blogspot.com/

 

[chemist]

Western Digital WD TV Mini Media Player $50

No HDMI port. For someone looking for a cheaper alternative.

 

[Gemini]

C-200/A-200 NMJ UI PREVIEW (under development)

here is a new Update about the upcoming Networked Media Jukebox UI, which is currently under development.
We come closer to a final stage and hope that we can bring it soon in a Firmware Update for C-200 and A-200.
This Time you will see the Video Section and some short Photo Section Views.
The Video was captured from the NMT so the UI was runing on the NMT.

Regards,
Werner