Which TV media player to replace WDTV Live?

[Deaks]

I've had a WDTV Live for a few years and it's been great but I've recently updated my server to W7 and they don't play nice together. I used to simply point the box at the XP windows shares and it would list and play anything in the folders, but networking and security changes by MS mean that no longer works and the fixes out there are complicated and unreliable.

I've gone back to running Tversity which I used to use with an old Dlink media player but I don't like having to run a streaming server, and it's throwing up other problems with the meta tags in mkv downloads.

So, is there anything else out there that:

1. Is wireless and plugs in via HDMI.
2. Accesses W7 shares directly without running a streamer.
3. Plays all the usual video formats.

Deaks

[basegreen]

You basically just need to reenable the policy to allow older CIFS connections.

Most of what's in this article is fluff. It's not hard. http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Liv...ORKS/td-p/3808

As for a new box, it's a tough one really. Not much is as easy as boxee/wdlive was/is.

I ended up going the plex route in the end.

[Deaks]

Yeah, I've done that fix but it only worked for a couple of hours. I was hoping to find something that was easier to get working as while I'm an ex-IT manager I find all the techie fiddling too stressful these days.

[basegreen]

DLNA is mostly useless because of the delay in library updates (even when they say they do live updates, they don't).

2nd hand Boxee box?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Boxee-Box-...item3ab395326b

[Deaks]

Ok, spent another evening trying to get the wdtv live to see the w7 shares to no avail. Went through the guide linked above plus other tips but no joy. Was getting really fed up and in desperation decided to do a factory reset on the box. Low and behold everything instantly started working!

[rustybin]

You should consider a Raspberry Pi2 running Openelec. You'll never look back. So much better than the WD and cheaper.

[alanmcg21]

I would get an Amazon Fire TV the new 4K version sideload Kodi and point that to your shares.It will automatically find all your artwork for you,plays everything.
Install it to your PC first and have a play around with it.

[dunkle]

Originally Posted by rustybin

You should consider a Raspberry Pi2 running Openelec. You'll never look back. So much better than the WD and cheaper.

I have half a dozen first gen pis and that's what got me into kodi (well Xbmc at time) and since then used various other devices for it

Currently use an i3 nuc with 8gb downstairs and a pi2 in bedroom

With the exception of boot times (I have an ssd in the nuc) and library builds and updates, there is very very little between them. The pi2 represents brilliant value for money

[zulm]

This might be an option;

http://www.geekbuying.com/item/MXQ-P...ck-356045.html

Uses the new Amlogic-S905 and getting close to Pi2 prices. Some of the old version of these devices can run unofficial builds of openelec.

[Deaks]

Thanks for the suggestions. Now I've got things working under W7 I'll be sticking with the wdtv for now.