Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player - a HTPC replacement??

[spirovious]

comparison-

Popcorn Hour / WD TV or Apple TV? / journal / hicksdesign

Popcorn hour or wd tv media player ??? - AVForums.com

 

[madbullram]

My simple comparison:

Get a WD TV
1. If you want a simple plug and play HD media player and dont care if it can download Bit Torrent blah blah or be a chota PC
2. Dont bother about using 3rd party hacks
3. Dont need a True HD etc sound
4. You have a DVDP or HTiB or HT which can decode Dobly/DTS and play
5. Perfect VFM

Get Pop Corn if NOT (refer above)

 

[John]

Yes, it has an analog RCA out.

Outputs are : HDMI (one); RCA (Red/white) for Analog out; RCA (Yellow) composite video out; Optical Out (standard TosLink, not mini TosLink).

 

[spirovious]

Is there any media player or device which has AV input(atleast video)which can be upscaled SD to HDMI?

 

[madbullram]

Well they dont, bcos any media you can store to the thumb drive or hard drive and play it through. But it would be cool if they had a direct in.

 

[spirovious]

Well they dont, bcos any media you can store to the thumb drive or hard drive and play it through. But it would be cool if they had a direct in.

I just need as we can convert SD of DishTV/Tatasky to HD.
Tivx 6500 has av in but only for recording purpose?

 

[phantom76]

I just need as we can convert SD of DishTV/Tatasky to HD.
Tivx 6500 has av in but only for recording purpose?

spirovious,

There are many HD upscalers available in the market. The price range is vast depending upon the scaler chip used. On the net, I have seen from $200 items to $1000 scalers. The expensive ones use anchor bay technology.

Here is a cheaper one. I think instead of buying the cheaper one, it is better to leave the upscaling duty to the TV itself.

 

[madbullram]

But, how good does these Upscalers work? I mean how much better it can get when upscaled (SD to HD) bcos the source is anyway bad right?

Just curious..

 

[phantom76]

But, how good does these Upscalers work? I mean how much better it can get when upscaled (SD to HD) bcos the source is anyway bad right?

Just curious..

Yes, but good upscalers apply sophisticated algorithms on known compression artifacts like mosquito noise (noise that you see around text or any geometrical shapes in DIVX movies, for example) and try to reduce/eliminate them. The anchor bay based DVDO EDGE is marketed as a very good upscaler. Check their demo in the website.

I havent seen one, so cannot say how good they are in reality.

 

[sid_lochan]

Hi Ram,

I've bought WD TV yesterday from Nehru Place for 6500/-.

It's working fine, except HDMI audio Mode - Sound is coming only when the audio mode is selected to Stereo! If I select Digital get no sound. Wd is connected to TV using HDMI cable.

Can you tell me how to correct that.

I'm upgrading the firmware today.
Also it is detecting only one partition of my Hard Disk. Any workaround/Idea.?


thanks,
Sid

 

[John]

Hi Ram,

I've bought WD TV yesterday from Nehru Place for 6500/-.

It's working fine, except HDMI audio Mode - Sound is coming only when the audio mode is selected to Stereo! If I select Digital get no sound. Wd is connected to TV using HDMI cable.

Can you tell me how to correct that.

I'm upgrading the firmware today.
Also it is detecting only one partition of my Hard Disk. Any workaround/Idea.?


thanks,
Sid

Digital audio is for the optical TosLink mode AFAIK.

The other partition of the HDD, which format is it?

 

[madbullram]

John is correct, in stereo mode audio will be sent via HDMI.

Can you let us more about what Hard drive you are connecting and details...

 

[frnd08]

does this player REALLY play mkv files???? please confirm.

 

[sid_lochan]

Hi,

I'm using Hitachi 80 GB USB HDD. Both Partitions are formatted with FAT32.

Frnd - Yes it plays MKV files. I've played 2 movies encoded in MKV.


Enjoy!
Sid

 

[madbullram]

does this player REALLY play mkv files???? please confirm.

Yes sir it does.

 

[madbullram]

Sid,
Sorry mate, I remember reading once that WD TV will read only one partition. Best solution would be to reformat in NTFS. I will try to find more if its in my archive.

Cheers!

 

[spirovious]

Hi Ram,

I've bought WD TV yesterday from Nehru Place for 6500/-.

It's working fine, except HDMI audio Mode - Sound is coming only when the audio mode is selected to Stereo! If I select Digital get no sound. Wd is connected to TV using HDMI cable.

Can you tell me how to correct that.

I'm upgrading the firmware today.
Also it is detecting only one partition of my Hard Disk. Any workaround/Idea.?


thanks,
Sid

6500/- is very good price,where is Nehru place.?
I m in Mumbai.

 

[sid_lochan]

Hi,

Nehru Place is in New Delhi! INR 6500/ is without VAT Billing. People in NP are applying 12% VAT on this by saying that it is a peripheral for TV thus normal 4% VAT is not applicable.

As for any support I've to call WD so i opted for non-VAT billing.

Got various price from many shops. From Rs. 6500 to Rs. 11000 in same market but that's common in Nehru Place.


Enjoy!

Sid

 

[sid_lochan]

Hi All,

WD player can read HDD partitions. It puts the content of first partition in separate folder while showing the disk as single partitioned drive. In my HDD there were no files in one partition and yesterday when I copied some movies into it then WD player was showing it.

So far I'm happy with it's performance!

Ram can you please tell me from where I can get Optical to Digital converter.

Enjoy!
Sid

 

[madbullram]

Hi Sid,
Even Vint was trying for that and I was trying to source one. Actually, you guys can order it directly from Amazon. If anyone is coming from US it will be cheaper. In India, I wasnt able to source one

Amazon.com: Cables To Go - 40019 - Optical To Coaxial Digital Audio Converter: Electronics