Setting up home networking for music & video

[QRM]

Just picked up the WD hub and was surprised it worked without the need for a HD or ethernet connection, managed to pick everything up wirelessly from the NAS, no problem streaming high res MKV files from study to living room.

My problem is getting the ONKYO to work, plugged WD direct to the TV sound and picture is fine, stick it via the amp can only get picture and a clicking sound, the amp keeps flashing the DTS sign in red.

[BillyB]

Just picked up the WD hub and was surprised it worked without the need for a HD or ethernet connection, managed to pick everything up wirelessly from the NAS, no problem streaming high res MKV files from study to living room.

My problem is getting the ONKYO to work, plugged WD direct to the TV sound and picture is fine, stick it via the amp can only get picture and a clicking sound, the amp keeps flashing the DTS sign in red.

That's bizarre, as I use an onkyo amp and just HDMI'd it and it worked fine.

Have you tried the WD forums for similar problems?

[zzm9980]

Just picked up the WD hub and was surprised it worked without the need for a HD or ethernet connection, managed to pick everything up wirelessly from the NAS, no problem streaming high res MKV files from study to living room.

My problem is getting the ONKYO to work, plugged WD direct to the TV sound and picture is fine, stick it via the amp can only get picture and a clicking sound, the amp keeps flashing the DTS sign in red.

My PS3 did the same thing when I tried to stream video with DTS audio to it when DTS was disabled, or vice-versa. Try toggling DTS off and on. When you torrent (sorry, stream legal videos...) , it's usually tagged in the file name if it's encoded as DTS or not due to this. If you don't have the full out 5.1+ setup, you probably don't need DTS.

[QRM]

sussed it out I manually told the WDhub that my receiver can is dts, Dolby etc capable unit and now it all works, (seems like the auto select is a bit iffy) also what's great there is a new Ipad app that controls the system.

The other eye opener is the amount of space the movies takes up. have to go out and get two more 2tb HDD.

[BillyB]

sussed it out I manually told the WDhub that my receiver can is dts, Dolby etc capable unit and now it all works, (seems like the auto select is a bit iffy) also what's great there is a new Ipad app that controls the system.

The other eye opener is the amount of space the movies takes up. have to go out and get two more 2tb HDD.

Mine are between 600mb - 1.5gb per movie depending on quality.

Remember, you can only watch one at once!

With music, I had a few issues at first with playlists as they don't always work too well, but found playlist creator works a treat.

Have you found any way to access the content remotely?

[RimBlock]

Just picked up the WD hub and was surprised it worked without the need for a HD or ethernet connection, managed to pick everything up wirelessly from the NAS, no problem streaming high res MKV files from study to living room.

My problem is getting the ONKYO to work, plugged WD direct to the TV sound and picture is fine, stick it via the amp can only get picture and a clicking sound, the amp keeps flashing the DTS sign in red.

I would suggest patching the firmware to the latest if it isn't / you haven't already. It may fix the issue.

The clicking sounds like it cannot get a lock on the DTS stream. You should have the option when the file is playing of choosing the audio stream. What options does it give you ?. What Onkyo amp for you have and how are you connecting it for sound (optical, coax, HDMI) ?

One issue with 'acquired' mkv files is that in order to get the smallest file sizes the compression used tends to kill the audio quality or drops to DTS stereo rather than surround. This is usually more evident is files under 5GB in size which are listed as 'Bluray / HD'. I tend to rip full ISO files from my own Blurays especially for the 'showcase' type movies like Tron:Legacy / War of the Worlds. The file sizes tend to range from 20GB-40GB but you get the whole shebang quality and choice wise. My WD Live TV has no issues streaming and playing these massive files either. Trying it over homeplugs or WiFi will probably give issues just due to the bandwidth required for full uncompressed audio and video.

Note I when I say showcase I mean with relation to the visual and audio quality, not the movies story and acting . Having grown up with Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds musical, the movie stinks. The Tripod emerging from underground, however, is one of the best bass workouts for your subwoofer in movies currently available.

RB

[zzm9980]

The other eye opener is the amount of space the movies takes up. have to go out and get two more 2tb HDD.

The standard for most pirating groups is about ~2.4GB per hour of 720p video for movies. These groups when they tend to emphasize as close to original quality as possible at the expense of conserving space. The same movies from iTunes or Netflix tend to be 50-65% the size, but noticeably lower quality even at 720p. They tend to rip TV shows a bit smaller, those come in around 1gb per hour. I rarely bother with the 1080p rips as they're absolutely huge file-size.

My entire series (four seasons + three movies) @720p of the BSG remake takes about 400GB.

[BillyB]

They were flogging the WD Live TV hubs at the IT fair at Suntec convention for $329 across all the stands - WD's own and affiliates. No discount.

You can pick them up much cheaper than that - Challenger are $299, and also in funan for $269 - 4th floor - shop piled high with stock and no space between the shelves. Infocom or inforcom I think. I got both of mine there (they even threw in a shitty HDMI too FOC).

[zzm9980]

Ok, thanks. The Funan price isn't too bad. Probably worth it vs US$179 + shipping from Amazon if I can't hold off until next trip back.

[QRM]

Just found out you dont even need the WD tv if you have a newish samsung TV I just plugged the HD into the TV and da da it can access all the files movies, photos etc even the MKV files I then just run a monitor out fiber optic cable to the amp and sound sorted.

[zzm9980]

Just found out you dont even need the WD tv if you have a newish samsung TV I just plugged the HD into the TV and da da it can access all the files movies, photos etc even the MKV files I then just run a monitor out fiber optic cable to the amp and sound sorted.

Yeah, I have a similar Panasonic. Unfortunately it requires the movies to be encoded in a special format that isn't really used. I'm a bit sad, I just assumed all of the TVs would cover all of the standards. But, at least my TV has Facebook built-in. </sarcasm>