[MarkTaylor]

Continued from Part 1 :

http://www.avforums.com/forums/strea...a-adapter.html

[thesilverfox]

Martyn, is output set to digital perchance?

[energy80s]

Originally Posted by Andy Wheels

First up, good two pass encoded xvid/divx files look great. No way are they 'crap' quality. I have a fair few and they look particularly good playing on the WDTV through the hdmi port into our plasma tv.

My WDTV isnt slow to react. It's not ligthning fast but it's certainly a lot faster than 1-2 seconds. Someone else on the thread said it was faster than the popcorn hour.

To view a slideshow you need to press the play button, not the enter button. It works fine. It amazes me that you're suggesting it doesn't when it's a simple, well documented function.

To view the files in a list format, go into the setup page and select list format. Again, It's really not hard.

Probably the best advice I could give you is RTFM! It's all documented.

Thanks for the reply. I got the slideshow working, although it is the most basic slideshow I have yet seen - with no transitions or pan/zoom fx on the images.

To be honest, most of my complaints could easily be fixed with a decent firmware update ie. the handling of .iso's and proper image manipulation. I suppose that I was expecting the WDTV to be more multimedia friendly out of the box. If I didn't have XBMC or an old Freecom Media Player (both of which out-preform it) I wouldn't have been so critical of the WDTV. So far, it is the cheapest way to view HD files - and the other players cannot do this.

Oh, and as I am a member of the male species ... I NEVER read any manuals!!!!

[Mr Lazy]

Originally Posted by energy80s

I got the slideshow working, although it is the most basic slideshow I have yet seen - with no transitions or pan/zoom fx on the images.

I agree they need to add more transitions in a future update but hopefully they'll put more important updates first. There is a fade transition available through the menu but I turned it off as the fade is not very smooth at all.

[Mr Lazy]

When I put the WD TV into 'standby' via the power button on the remote, is it best to Eject the HDD first or will that make no difference? I'm finding that even with only 50GB or so of content it takes about 30 seconds for the WD TV to scan when it is turned back on, but I read on the avsforum that some guy was getting a 4 second scan time with 4TB of content! (with media library turned on)

[thesilverfox]

Originally Posted by Mr Lazy

When I put the WD TV into 'standby' via the power button on the remote, is it best to Eject the HDD first or will that make no difference? I'm finding that even with only 50GB or so of content it takes about 30 seconds for the WD TV to scan when it is turned back on, but I read on the avsforum that some guy was getting a 4 second scan time with 4TB of content! (with media library turned on)

I always eject first before turning it off - I think it's the reason that it takes a while to scan otherwise. Same as if you don't safely remove the device from the PC before plugging in to the WDTV for the first time - it can take an eternity.

I have 290GB+ data and my startup scan first time took about 4 seconds and since, takes about 2, as the WDTV leaves a couple of files on there for you. It can't hurt to press two buttons instead of one I guess!

Otherwise, library mode isn't all that in my opinion. Could just turn it off and have no scan at all, unless you rely heavily on metadata.

[PAUL7331]

Can anybody tell me a way to fix the aspect ratio on most avi's and mkv's?? My PS3 used to play avi's for example a lot larger than the WD does! The only option I can see on the WD is for me to ZOOM in which cuts heads off etc! Any other suggestions? And yes I have tried 'widescreen' and 'normal' settings. The videos just seem small!

[thesilverfox]

Originally Posted by PAUL7331

Can anybody tell me a way to fix the aspect ratio on most avi's and mkv's?? My PS3 used to play avi's for example a lot larger than the WD does! The only option I can see on the WD is for me to ZOOM in which cuts heads off etc! Any other suggestions? And yes I have tried 'widescreen' and 'normal' settings. The videos just seem small!

What's your output resolution set to on the device? If it is set to auto, it might be causing the small size.

Otherwise, I've heard the zoom in and then zoom out can fix this.

[celtic_fc]

Wondering if anyone can help.

I've got two external hard drives (1tb and 500gb) and looking for something that will allow me to watch the films on them through a optoma hd65 projector.

Would this work? And is it easy enough to use?

[digitalera.co.uk]

I dont see any issues.
and Yes the WD TV is very simple to use.

[PAUL7331]

Originally Posted by thesilverfox

What's your output resolution set to on the device? If it is set to auto, it might be causing the small size.

Otherwise, I've heard the zoom in and then zoom out can fix this.

Output resolution is set to 720p 50HZ as this is the only setting I could find that would work with my 720p infocus projector. I tried auto setting and the picture would not even be displayed!!!

Do you know anymore settings that would work with my 720p projector that would allow the aspect ratio to be normal size? Instead of me using 'Zoom' which cuts off heads!

[deefadog]

My WDTV is on it's way, should be with me tomorrow But i have just noticed my TV has only one HDMI port (thought it had 2) The HDMI port is used by the Sky HD box.

So I need a switch, but If i used a splitter then i would have the SKY & WDTV signals going together to the TV, but would it work if one was off as if one was off the other would be on which i can set on the Harmony remote? would be easy that way than rather than manually switching.

Any advice most appreciated

[Scoop940]

Borrowing one of these devices off a mate to try it out at the moment, like the simplicity and the fact it plays pretty much everything. I did find last night that the movie media all appears in a list wherever it is sat on the drive. Is it possible to split or sort this in anyway?

My plan would be to get one of this boxes and a 1TB drive and put all our DVD's and the kids ones on it however it would be good to split them up to kids films and our films. Is that possible?

Gonna play some more with it over the weekend, any advice/tip welcome, just got to convince the wife it's what we need!

[thesilverfox]

Originally Posted by Scoop940

Borrowing one of these devices off a mate to try it out at the moment, like the simplicity and the fact it plays pretty much everything. I did find last night that the movie media all appears in a list wherever it is sat on the drive. Is it possible to split or sort this in anyway?

My plan would be to get one of this boxes and a 1TB drive and put all our DVD's and the kids ones on it however it would be good to split them up to kids films and our films. Is that possible?

Gonna play some more with it over the weekend, any advice/tip welcome, just got to convince the wife it's what we need!

If you use the folder view instead of the library view, it will display files in the exact hierarchy of the hard disk. For example, on the root of my drive I have: Films>x264>720p/1080p

You can dump them in whatever folder you like, and follow the file structure. This is what I do, as the library view isn't my cup of tea, as I like to split 720p and 1080p.

[bytesize]

Just ordered one of these units, should be arriving tomorrow. But not sure if i'll get rid of the trusty Xbox and XBMC ... dont get me wrong I cant wait to play HD content ... easily .. and gone indeed are the days where people stream content, its just not worth the hassel when you have devices such as these around. Trouble is i'll probably end up buying one for the bedroom as well at some point.

Now where to download 1080p trailers ....

Roll on tomorrow...

[Jonkrav]

My box is set to auto on resolution but how do i find out what I should be setting it to e.g. 60hz, 50hz, 40 etc, it seems to auto go to 60 but how do i know if this is correct?

I have a samsung le-a656 40inch also.

Thanks

[silki]

erm

[Jonkrav]

Originally Posted by silki

5.1 surround sound .... so does the WD give you real 5.1 surround sound or not someone said on here that it converts it down to two channel ??!?!?

Real 5.1 for me

[thesilverfox]

Originally Posted by bytesize

Just ordered one of these units, should be arriving tomorrow. But not sure if i'll get rid of the trusty Xbox and XBMC ... dont get me wrong I cant wait to play HD content ... easily .. and gone indeed are the days where people stream content, its just not worth the hassel when you have devices such as these around. Trouble is i'll probably end up buying one for the bedroom as well at some point.

Now where to download 1080p trailers ....

Roll on tomorrow...

This plus a hard disk is hugely smaller than the Xbox though in all fairness. Does the Xbox utilise HDMI? All the best acquiring your trailers in the meantime

[thesilverfox]

Originally Posted by silki

5.1 surround sound .... so does the WD give you real 5.1 surround sound or not someone said on here that it converts it down to two channel ??!?!?

It depends on what you have your device plugged in to.

If it goes into a receiver, it will decode 5.1 in all formats other than DTS, while AAC/Dolby Digital will decode into 2 channels. Fortunately, most people either have AC3 5.1, or, convert DTS into AC3 5.1 with the Popcorn Media converter tool.

So to receive surround sound, you will of course need to have a receiver and use HDMI/Optical.

[thesilverfox]

Originally Posted by Jonkrav

My box is set to auto on resolution but how do i find out what I should be setting it to e.g. 60hz, 50hz, 40 etc, it seems to auto go to 60 but how do i know if this is correct?

I have a samsung le-a656 40inch also.

Thanks

I have the Samsung LE40 A686, so more or less the same panel as yours. I found 24Hz 1080p to judder and generally look quite slow. 50Hz fixed this, but my eyes may trick me, but I was almost certain that 60Hz looked a bit better.

For what it's worth, I don't have the 100Hz motion plus on at all.

[Jonkrav]

Originally Posted by thesilverfox

I have the Samsung LE40 A686, so more or less the same panel as yours. I found 24Hz 1080p to judder and generally look quite slow. 50Hz fixed this, but my eyes may trick me, but I was almost certain that 60Hz looked a bit better.

For what it's worth, I don't have the 100Hz motion plus on at all.

I have 100hz on low as i quite like how it works, but I will give 50Hz a try and compare it with 60Hz was just wondering if there was 1 correct setting for the Hz, guess not

[thesilverfox]

Originally Posted by Jonkrav

I have 100hz on low as i quite like how it works, but I will give 50Hz a try and compare it with 60Hz was just wondering if there was 1 correct setting for the Hz, guess not

I know what you mean. I figured 24Hz would have matched the mkv files I have, what with them being in that frame rate, but it didn't play ball at all. Perhaps I am being an idiot? Perhaps! But at 1080p 60Hz, it looked perfectly acceptable to me.

[silki]

erm

[thesilverfox]

Originally Posted by silki

so AC3 is not the same as AAC/Dolby Digital ??

AC3 is not the same as AAC. AC3 is Dolby Digital.

If you use HDMI, it will downmix AC3 from 5.1 to 2 channel I believe. I must stand corrected on using HDMI for surround sound, as I made an assumption that may not be true.

From what I can tell, it might be the case that optical is needed for 5.1 ... is anyone here using this with 5.1 surround?

[deefadog]

Got mine yesterday, very impressed. I have a few films that stutter, so i'll have to take a closer look at these and see how they are encoded.

All i need to get now is a HDMI switch & rca switch for the amp (as she's an old girl with no optical)

Is there a way to get the cover art on the menu for films?

[martyn7772]

Originally Posted by thesilverfox

Martyn, is output set to digital perchance?

Yes, its set to digital, with optical out into Av receiver.

[Tony101]

I have a couple of questions.

1.) How do I find out my current firmware version?

2.) I have one of these plugged into a Panasonic Viera plamsa via HDMI. However most of the blu ray and HD files I try to play have no audio....there is either just nothing or it says "Audio Channel 1 (Unsupported)".

How can I rectify this?

Thanks

[thesilverfox]

Originally Posted by Tony101

I have a couple of questions.

1.) How do I find out my current firmware version?

2.) I have one of these plugged into a Panasonic Viera plamsa via HDMI. However most of the blu ray and HD files I try to play have no audio....there is either just nothing or it says "Audio Channel 1 (Unsupported)".

How can I rectify this?

Thanks

1) In the system settings (or equivalent!) it has an 'about' spiel and should tell you there. If it's quite new, it should be the latest version.
2) Using media info, are those files DTS audio perchance? If so, you will either need to use a receiver to decode DTS or remux to AC3.

[thesilverfox]

Originally Posted by martyn7772

Yes, its set to digital, with optical out into Av receiver.

That's mighty odd :| I don't suppose there is any chance you can check on another TV is there? It sounds like it could be the box, but I just don't know. If you got it from Amazon, they'll send you a replacement before you have to send the old one back, so that's always an option to rule te box out (or not as the case may be).