WD TV Live replacement

VanFanel89

2[H]4U
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Apr 21, 2004
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Hi guyz,

After many years of service, it appears my WD TV Live is on its last legs. It overheats; it crashes, WDLXTV firmware sucks... and replacements are upwards of $70.

All I am looking for is straight through streaming of MKV's - no transcoding, no clunky interfaces, three zillion menus - just three button pushes and off I go... sometimes 4 if I need to enable subtitles... ok 5 if it's the wrong language track. It needs to be technophobe proof (cuz wife).

I have been trying to find something comparable but have been hitting a dead end. Admittedly, I am not familiar with XMBC or KODI or all that fancy jazz cuz my WDTV worked so well all these years.

Any recommendations for out-of-the-box turnkey solution? I'd prefer to have something with a remote control so that I can program my harmony remote as I have scenes setup...

I also have 3rd gen Apple TV that I never fired up or used... are there any jailbreak solutions to achieve what the WDTV did?

Thanks in advance!
 
I have a working WD TV Live Hub but lately have been using Plex with a Raspberry Pi 3 running RasPlex. Plex interface is at least as easy to use as the WD and the Plex Media Server (on my desktop) pulls metadata for all the media which is a nice bonus. Since the Pi 3 talks HDMI-CEC to the TV no additional remote is needed which makes it really user friendly for the rest of the family (to me this is a major win).

I recently converted to using http://www.multibootpi.com/ so I can fool around with KODI/RetroPie as well but mostly keep it on the RasPlex partition.

Admittedly, not a turnkey solution but something to consider...
 
Use Plex with your Apple TV. I'm running plex media server (with no transcoding) on a Pi3 streaming to multiple Roku devices using Plex throughout the house and it works like a champ.
 
Listen. Take my advice. I was a huge HUGE Western Digital Theater Live fan for a good 3 or 4 years. I have 3 or 4 generations in a box somewhere.

I know what the perfect replacement is and it's a Roku. Get the Roku Premium. It has a super fast UI and works flawlessly. You can also stream Hulu, Youtube, HBO Go, Showtime, Netflix, etc. There is also a Plex Channel. Tons of channels, even Porn if that's your thing.

I have around 4500+ movies stored locally. All my old DVD's I've ripped and have in storage and my entire collection of Blu-ray.

Basically it would look like this. Take any USB storage you have. Throw the movies into directories or root. You do not have to rename anything. Plex automatically grabs all the poster art for you and movie details / ratings etc.

Next, install Plex Mediaserver on your PC and config it. This is free.

Plug in your Roku, go thru the setup and setup the channels the way you want. Launch Plex and it will find Plex Mediaserver and list your movies on-screen. Enjoy.

Easy as 1 - 2 - 3. Super fast super slick.

It's a WD Theater x 10 .. trust me.
 
I'd get the Roku hands down but I'm waiting to see if Apple releases a true HD upgrade to the AppleTV.

The TV is still good but it's fallen way behind on support and features, going to see if this gets released and is worth it.
 
I would setup a plex server. Free and if everything is mkv you don't need to transcode. It's worth mentioning if you are looking at a nas or new storage location these new nas devices can run plex server for you and you can then just buy devices that run the plex client.
 
Long story short - I got the Roku Ultra (got a 4K HDR hypermegasuperawesome TV and home theater setup) with Plex. It is BA-NA-NA-S. I don't mind the BT remote; yeah I can't use my Harmony remote with it, but then again the Harmony replaces the receiver, Comcast box and TV remote so 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

I do have a few issues I am fighting through - the dreaded purple HDCP screen of death that pops up every now and then for a split second; hopefully dropping HDR to 10 bit will fix that. Also have random black screen that appear for a split second and sound that cuts out for a split second - very random and with no apparent pattern... Hopefully it is related to the HDCP issue.

We'll see how it pans out!
 
Long story short - I got the Roku Ultra (got a 4K HDR hypermegasuperawesome TV and home theater setup) with Plex. It is BA-NA-NA-S. I don't mind the BT remote; yeah I can't use my Harmony remote with it, but then again the Harmony replaces the receiver, Comcast box and TV remote so 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

I do have a few issues I am fighting through - the dreaded purple HDCP screen of death that pops up every now and then for a split second; hopefully dropping HDR to 10 bit will fix that. Also have random black screen that appear for a split second and sound that cuts out for a split second - very random and with no apparent pattern... Hopefully it is related to the HDCP issue.

We'll see how it pans out!

Not sure about the roku, however I have a Harmony and a FireTV and wasn't a fan of the bluetooth remote either so I got a FLIRC and plugged that in to the firetv. You add it to the harmony software and boom. Like I said, don't know if it works on the roku, don't see why it shouldn't.
 
Not sure about the roku, however I have a Harmony and a FireTV and wasn't a fan of the bluetooth remote either so I got a FLIRC and plugged that in to the firetv. You add it to the harmony software and boom. Like I said, don't know if it works on the roku, don't see why it shouldn't.
Can you explain how and where you plug the FLIRC into the fire stick?
 
I use the built in Plex app for every TV in the house, except for one where I run a Roku stick that has the Plex app on it. I cannot tell you how thankful I am not to have to deal with my WDTV anymore.
 
Yes, Roku + Plex really is the tits. I have a new gen Fire Stick with Kodi as well, but I'd still give the nod to the Roku.
 
NVIDIA Shield (Android TV on steroids)

+

Plex

It doesn't get too much better than this.

Although I did purchase an open box 30 inch TCL Roku TV for my travel trailer and I was pleasantly surprised at how the Plex app for Roku has matured.

Good stuff!

~RF
 
I am a huge fan of the Nvidia Shield, plex app works great, VLC player works great, and I have a sideloaded version of the Dish Anywhere app on there that allows me to watch my dish anywhere that I have Wifi. Also stream games from the PC in the game room. Roku is good, but nothing comes close to the Shield TV that I have tried.
 
I have a FireTV with Plex on it. Replaced my old WDTV flawlessly. Side-loading any android app you want is also a benefit.
 
Shield + Plex.

Shield supports all the big video and audio formats.. There really isn't anything better for the price and support.
 
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I can't believe all the recommendations for Plex I'm seeing here.
All I am looking for is straight through streaming of MKV's - no transcoding
That statement right there eliminates Plex immediately. The main reason I don't use Plex is because it decides to transcode almost everything, and it's infuriating. Not to mention you pretty much have to pay for Plex to make it worth using. I just don't understand the love for Plex. It removes far too much control from the end user.
 
So I ended up getting a Roku with Plex and strict "do not transcode while locally." It works - about 90% of the time; there are some audio streams that it refuses to play through but it never transcodes any the video stream so - that's a win I suppose.
 
I can't believe all the recommendations for Plex I'm seeing here.

That statement right there eliminates Plex immediately. The main reason I don't use Plex is because it decides to transcode almost everything, and it's infuriating. Not to mention you pretty much have to pay for Plex to make it worth using. I just don't understand the love for Plex. It removes far too much control from the end user.
Wrong. Plex does not force transcoding. My basic roku stick and basic 5.1 with dts and dd supports all mkv. And guess what they all direct stream. No transcoding. Please don't spread wrong information
 
Wrong. Plex does not force transcoding. My basic roku stick and basic 5.1 with dts and dd supports all mkv. And guess what they all direct stream. No transcoding. Please don't spread wrong information
I'm not spreading wrong information. I'm spreading information based on my own experiences. More often than not, Plex tries to transcode almost everything I throw at it regardless of which device I'm trying to watch on (Shield TV, Roku TV, FireTV, and web browser). This is why I have never found Plex as sufficient for my needs. That and indexing anime in Plex leaves much to be desired.
 
I'm not spreading wrong information. I'm spreading information based on my own experiences. More often than not, Plex tries to transcode almost everything I throw at it regardless of which device I'm trying to watch on (Shield TV, Roku TV, FireTV, and web browser). This is why I have never found Plex as sufficient for my needs. That and indexing anime in Plex leaves much to be desired.
Then you need to cleary state that. Just because you can't figure out how to get Plex direct stream, does not mean mean the feature is broken..
 
Then you need to cleary state that. Just because you can't figure out how to get Plex direct stream, does not mean mean the feature is broken..
Plex providing extremely limited control to the end user on how transcoding is implemented isn't me being able to figure it out. It's a dumbed down piece of software that is outclassed by free and open source software (Kodi) in every way. I'll take my Synology NAS + Kodi + MariaDB for library sync pver Plex because it's free and I have complete control over how I consume my content. Forgive me for only asking for a button to flat out disable Plex transcoding. Not my fault that Plex thinks the Shield TV can't decode videos in hardware.
 
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Plex providing extremely limited control to the end user on how transcoding is implemented isn't me being able to figure it out. It's a dumbed down piece of software that is outclassed by free and open source software (Kodi) in every way. I'll take my Synology NAS + Kodi + MariaDB for library sync pver Plex because it's free and I have complete control over how I consume my content. Forgive me for only asking for a button to flat out disable Plex transcoding. Not my fault that Plex thinks the Shield TV can't decode videos in hardware.
You clearly against Plex. Plex give a decent level of flexibility. Is it near the level of Kodi, no its not and thats fine. You had trouble with. BTW I have only paid for plex mobile app. Never have had a need for a plex pass. I am done with this conversation. Thats why there are several choices that best suits everyone needs.
 
I have several apple devices so it made sense for me to get an Apple TV. Get the latest one and use Infuse application. Streams perfectly off my Synology server, it’s a great server but way under powered. I specifically went this route because it can’t transcode anything in real time.

I’m also one of those guys that couldn’t get Plex to NOT to transcode. I knew it was an issue with me and not Plex, I stopped wasting time with it and went with Infuse.

I’ll conceed that Kodi or Plex or whatever is more robust. My wife can fire up kids movies with Infuse. That was worth it for me.
 
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