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

[vivek.saikia]

A small question that gets me confuse sometimes, when you say DAC, does that mean a stereo AMP or is it some exclusive piece of hardware. AFAIK a stereo amp would also include a DAC in itself.

I will be buying a stereo AMP preferably marantz for my stereo setup, connecting it with WD TV through optical, is that sufficient to get the best out of FLAC, or u suggest something else .....

DAC means Digital to Analog Convertor.
It is basically a semiconductor chip which takes care of the digital to analog conversion. Various chips are there from the likes of Crystal, Wolfson, Burr-Brown etc. Along with the chip the accompanying electronics are there which takes care of the signal processing.
All the CD/VCD/DVD/BD players have inbuild DACs in them as mostly all these players outputs analog AV outputs along with the digital/optical outputs (in some players).
Generally, majority of the Stereo Integrated Amps doesn't have digital inputs and hence doesn't have the inbuild DACs to convert the digital signals to Analog signal. Whereas, most of the AVRs nowadays takes digital inputs and hence has a built in DAC circuit.
I hope that helps in removing your confusion.

And regarding the SQ after connecting the WD TV to your Amp using digital connections, I think the SQ is better than the DVDp, as mentioned by the WD users in this thread.

 

[Pratters]

Regarding WD TV, I have no optical in my music system.

To connect the projector and music system to the WDTV will this work -

Connect HDMI cable to projector and WDTV
Connect Red and white cables to Music system and WD TV

I want sound on my music system and display on the projector screen.

 

[sam9s]

Generally, majority of the Stereo Integrated Amps doesn't have digital inputs and hence doesn't have the inbuild DACs to convert the digital signals to Analog signal. Whereas, most of the AVRs nowadays takes digital inputs and hence has a built in DAC circuit.
I hope that helps in removing your confusion.

And regarding the SQ after connecting the WD TV to your Amp using digital connections, I think the SQ is better than the DVDp, as mentioned by the WD users in this thread.

DAC I know what it stands for and what it does, how ever Integrated Stereo AMPs not having digital input is new to me ...... .... I always though a stereo amp takes input through optical as well. mmmmmm So the only way to connect a WD TV to the AMP is via RCA cable right??? Is that sufficient .... I guess not as suggested by people down here....mmm....damm that means if I wanna enjoy FLAC on a high quality spks, through the AMP I gotta go for one extra piece of hardware ............ or else go for a CD player and connect the AMP through high quality RCA cables right??, this route saves the investment for a DAC but I would not be able to play FLAC files..... does that make sense.... .... what do Gurus suggest here???/

 

[sam9s]

Regarding WD TV, I have no optical in my music system.

To connect the projector and music system to the WDTV will this work -

Connect HDMI cable to projector and WDTV
Connect Red and white cables to Music system and WD TV

I want sound on my music system and display on the projector screen.

Yes this would work ... I guess I suggested the same at some other thread

 

[cmsajith]

DAC I know what it stands for and what it does, how ever Integrated Stereo AMPs not having digital input is new to me ...... .... I always though a stereo amp takes input through optical as well. mmmmmm So the only way to connect a WD TV to the AMP is via RCA cable right??? Is that sufficient .... I guess not as suggested by people down here....mmm....damm that means if I wanna enjoy FLAC on a high quality spks, through the AMP I gotta go for one extra piece of hardware ............ or else go for a CD player and connect the AMP through high quality RCA cables right??, this route saves the investment for a DAC but I would not be able to play FLAC files..... does that make sense.... .... what do Gurus suggest here???/

In both cases you are spending extra. It would be wise to invest in a dac as you will get a better dac than the cd player for the same price if you dont have much cd collection.

 

[nemo]

After years of lurking here, my first post here

I'm planning to upgrade my wdtv gen 2 with a custom firmware inorder to get streaming capabilities. This would mean i need to get a wifi adapater and i'm planning to order it through ebay (link here ).

can somonne who had done the setup before let me know which of the adapters listed in the site will be compatible with my WDTV?

thanks muchin advance for your help

 

[wilsonjoy]

Hi,

I have WD Live (I guess its gen2) and did firmware update which is found in their site [version Release 1.02.21 (3/30/10)].

I have problems with certain mkv files that I can not fast forward. It just stops saying trick mode is not supported.

Also does this player support chapters in mkv files?

I am sure many of you aware of these issues & solution.

Can someone please help?

 

[argho]

After years of lurking here, my first post here

I'm planning to upgrade my wdtv gen 2 with a custom firmware inorder to get streaming capabilities. This would mean i need to get a wifi adapater and i'm planning to order it through ebay (link here ).

can somonne who had done the setup before let me know which of the adapters listed in the site will be compatible with my WDTV?

thanks muchin advance for your help

I bought this one and it works perfectly :
eBay India: Buffalo Wireless N NFINITI Ultra compact WIFI ADAPTOR (item 150464682447 end time 14-Jul-2010 11:27:55 IST)

 

[iyersn]

I bought this one and it works perfectly :
eBay India: Buffalo Wireless N NFINITI Ultra compact WIFI ADAPTOR (item 150464682447 end time 14-Jul-2010 11:27:55 IST)

Which router do you use?
I also intend to buy one wireless adaptor for WD tV Live.
I have a Linksys router and wanted to know if this would be compatible.

 

[nemo]

thanks argho, can you also respond to shanks question.

Another question to the group, is there anyway i can connect my laptop to WDTV and pass-through the video/Audio through wdtv?

 

[argho]

Which router do you use?
I also intend to buy one wireless adaptor for WD tV Live.
I have a Linksys router and wanted to know if this would be compatible.

I too have a Linksys router. I think the model number is WRT54GL.

 

[argho]

thanks argho, can you also respond to shanks question.

Another question to the group, is there anyway i can connect my laptop to WDTV and pass-through the video/Audio through wdtv?

Possibly if you connect both the laptop and the WDTV to your home network, and make yr laptop disk shared / visible. However, I have never tried this.

Much simpler to copy ally yr media files onto a USD hard drive and connect direct to the WDTV. I have a 2TB disk which is always attached to my WDTV.

 

[iyersn]

I too have a Linksys router. I think the model number is WRT54GL.

I think I also have the same router, cannot check as I am on an outstation work. [Just for info.- certain user reviews 20North mention that this wifi device has had issues in Windows 7. That doesn't make any difference to me as currently I have only Vista, but other users may benefit. Thanks again.

 

[nemo]

thanks again argho,

The reason i was asking about laptop connectivity is that i tested Boxee yesterday and i kind of liked it very much. Do i get the same experience with the custom firmware ?

 

[argho]

I think I also have the same router, cannot check as I am on an outstation work. [Just for info.- certain user reviews 20North mention that this wifi device has had issues in Windows 7. That doesn't make any difference to me as currently I have only Vista, but other users may benefit. Thanks again.

I use Windows 7, and have never had a problem.

 

[argho]

thanks again argho,

The reason i was asking about laptop connectivity is that i tested Boxee yesterday and i kind of liked it very much. Do i get the same experience with the custom firmware ?

I have not tried any custom firmware on the WD TV.

If you go to the WD TV forum site, you will find :
- discussions and downloads of modified firmware
- answers to all yr questions

http://wdtvforum.com/main/

 

[sivakuru]

thanks again argho,

The reason i was asking about laptop connectivity is that i tested Boxee yesterday and i kind of liked it very much. Do i get the same experience with the custom firmware ?

Is it the DLink Boxee Box that you tested?. If so, let us know your thougths/opinions on it?. What is the price of it BTW?.

Thank you.

 

[nemo]

i installed boxee on my laptop...the Dlink box is not out i suppose...

 

[TaureanBull]

Can anyone help me out with a silly question? Can you watch any video stream from net or is it from specific sites only? I could see only youtube in the list. Does that mean other site videos are not supported? Can it play flash videos?

 

[argho]

Can anyone help me out with a silly question? Can you watch any video stream from net or is it from specific sites only? I could see only youtube in the list. Does that mean other site videos are not supported? Can it play flash videos?

Only Youtube - not any site.
flash video is not supported. It plays the mp4 stream from Youtube.