My WD TV Live is on the way out.. what are my options for a new media player?

[BoredSysAdmin]

I looked at the video. I'm very interested in AV streaming. It is a developing technology that has come to interest and fascinate me greatly.

For most if it works as advertised then it would meet a lot of peoples needs.

I did read reviews and they are mixed. Buggy software is the biggest complaint. Remote seems poor and an external mouse recommended.

Some units seems to blow after a few weeks.

Streaming technology and quality are making huge strides rapidly. It is already at the point were it deserves more than cheap boxes have to offer.

I have to say I'm underwhelmed by what I see of that unit.

Initial quality of software and hardware and lack of any follow up bug fixes is reason I won't touch such boxes with ten foot pole.

I honestly don't understand why are you stuck on these:
If money is an issue - get Amazon FireTV STICK - I believe it's not on sale for only $25
It's based on decent hardware (think mid-range smartphone) and it runs Kodi very nicely.
You get both initial quality and few updates
If you want more powah - get regular FireTV (1st or 2nd gen) - they both should be under $100
or If you can find cheap Asus Chromebox - just get it and convert to ultimate htpc running OpenElec - it's not that hard. For under $200 you'll get same power as TLS HTPC, especially with i3/4gb version

 

[crossedover]

From the KODI forum

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=221407

 

[3db]

I pulled the plug on this and got a backlit keyboard.

http://www.amazon.ca/TICTID-Android-Amlogic-Preinstalled-Cloudtv/dp/B015BCYJ6M/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1448548827&sr=1-1&keywords=TICTID+M8s+Android+Tv

I needed a box that would stream my extensive music collection as well as my DVDs that were ripped in ISO format. I don't want a PC because of footprint and power consumption. I also do not want to turn my HT system into an internet surfing machine with a big screen to avoid resource contention. Translating this last line.. I don't to have to kick family members off the HT system when they're surfing the web when I want to use it for either watching a movie or listening to music.

 

[TLS Guy]

I pulled the plug on this and got a backlit keyboard.

http://www.amazon.ca/TICTID-Android-Amlogic-Preinstalled-Cloudtv/dp/B015BCYJ6M/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1448548827&sr=1-1&keywords=TICTID+M8s+Android+Tv

I needed a box that would stream my extensive music collection as well as my DVDs that were ripped in ISO format. I don't want a PC because of footprint and power consumption. I also do not want to turn my HT system into an internet surfing machine with a big screen to avoid resource contention. Translating this last line.. I don't to have to kick family members off the HT system when they're surfing the web when I want to use it for either watching a movie or listening to music.

I await your review with interest. PCs now take very little power. Mine makes almost no discernible heat.

I know what you mean about an Internet surfing machine. The downside is that you can't either. I just think that there will be increasing reasons to want to do that over time.

Luckily I have a nice room downstairs, and can listen to music by the fire. So I'm content either way. By the way, I thought you used to have two systems.

 

[Tao1]

I've started experiencing a few problems with my WD. Here's the list of problems

1. Mapping it as a network drive, in the middle of a transfer, the device would suddenly become unavailable and then I could not get it remapped.
2. When streaming a show in Netflix, it would stop in the middle of the show saying netflix was unavailable and do I want top retry. I retried somtimes successfully, sometimes requiring a a pull of the power cable
3. Last night, listening to music from the USB attached hard drive, it would freeze after 6 songs . I had to pull the power to get the unit back again. So I did a reset pushing the reset pin and reconfigured the WD and the symptoms of the device freezing after 6 songs appeared again, this on a different group (file).

So, I'm looking for either another WD with Netflix or a different streaming device that has a Netflix app. What are my options? I don't want a Roku because it prevents me from gaining access to American Netflix ( I live in Canada) and I need the ability to stream ISO files. Does the WD (WDBYMN0000NBK-VESN) contain the netflix app?

My dad has a WD device and had to take it for warranty 3 or 4 times. They make good hard drives, but their network hardware seems to be pretty bad.

I don't have any recommendation though, since I haven't really used any hardware like that.

The Teksyndicate.com forums might be able to give you a more detailed reply about what hardware to look at.

 

[3db]

I await your review with interest. PCs now take very little power. Mine makes almost no discernible heat.

I will let you know what I think about it.

I know what you mean about an Internet surfing machine. The downside is that you can't either. I just think that there will be increasing reasons to want to do that over time.
Luckily I have a nice room downstairs, and can listen to music by the fire. So I'm content either way. By the way, I thought you used to have two systems.

I spend too much time in front of a computer as is. I giving myself reasons to stay off the computer when I get home from work. I have two systems but my turntable is configured into the main system.

 

[3db]

I received the device and a bluetooth keyboard on Sunday evening (having ordered on the Thursday without express shipping).. That was fast. So I had sometime Sunday evening and within 20 minutes had the new box configured on my network and attached to my HT system. It took me another 5 minutes to figure out the USB bluetooth keyboard. It came with a bluetooth dongle which needed to be inserted on the device. Its a good thing I have the bluetooth keyboard because the device didn't react to the commands having to repeatedly press the keys on the original remote. I thought maybe initially that it the rechargeable batteries I inserted were low on charge so I recharged them overnight. Testing them the next day with fully charged batteries gave the same result. I surfed around the menu with the USB keyboard and the device was extremely quick to respond. Kodi was preloaded with repos. Just for fun, I did a factory reset on the device and the response to the original remote was instantaneous much to my surprise. Its been fast ever since. The only down side on the factory reset was that I lost all my repos in Kodi so I had to reinstall them.

One thing I didn't know that I know now is that Netflix only streams 480p to this device as most Android devices are not in Netflix's support platform list. Not a fault of the box but of Netflix being boneheads.

The other thing is that I have to unplug and replug the USB dongle into teh device after an extended period of being turned off. I don't know if its the dongle or if its or a setting on the device.

At this point, I'm still undecided whether or not I'm going to keep this device.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

With new Amazon FireTV Netflix streams even in 4k (aka UltraHD)
https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23934
This is not issue with android, but specific to unofficial kodi plugin which doesn't support proper DRM.
Willing to bet it's content requirement, not netflix own.

 

[3db]

With new Amazon FireTV Netflix streams even in 4k (aka UltraHD)
https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23934
This is not issue with android, but specific to unofficial kodi plugin which doesn't support proper DRM.
Willing to bet it's content requirement, not netflix own.

This is the android app for netflix, and not an unofficial kodi plugin. Try googling it for yourself and you will learn soon enough that it in fact it is very much an issue with Netflix supporting Android devices.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

This is the android app for netflix, and not an unofficial kodi plugin. Try googling it for yourself and you will learn soon enough that it in fact it is very much an issue with Netflix supporting Android devices.

okay, but amazon firetv runs (a bit modified) android and yet capable of producing 4k video?

 

[3db]

okay, but amazon firetv runs (a bit modified) android and yet capable of producing 4k video?

Dont get me wrong, there are some Android devices supported under Netflix but not many devices. Hopefully this will change in the near future but I am not holding my breath.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

btw: can your new toy passthru HD Audio ?

 

[3db]

btw: can your new toy passthru HD Audio ?

I believe so..Doing some research into this.