WD TV Live new firmware 1.01.30 can take USB custom application

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1

Hi,

 

I use my WD TV Live with my plex server for a long time and at each update I hope to see an application included for PLEX server, but It's never happen.

 

But this time after the update I see a possibility to add USB application. I check on the WD web site and a SDK is available for the WD TV Live.

 

I don't know exactly how it's working and what's possible to do from this SDK, but the possibility to add custom application is a new feature of this firmware.

 

Do you think there is a possibility to get an application PLEX for WD TV Live from PLEX community in a couple of time ?

 

Thank you

 

Ian

2

It's only about time that they open WD TV Live to third-party app developers.

Is WDTV Live powerful enough to run PLEX without the need for a server? 

I am using Simon J. Hogan's PLEX app for my LG TV and it's wonderful, I almost forgot that I have this WD TV Live! I only wish LG would integrate it natively. 

3

A plex client for the wd tv live would be great - but it may have arrived too late for WD ... Shame as at least they produced a box that played any format without hassle ( and great subtitle support too).

i've still got my wd tv live hooked up just in case, anyway.

4

This has been discussed before in the forums.

The WD media players have very outdated hardware and would not make for a very good plex client experience. There was talk a while back about them releasing a new media player based on Android. Of course if this does happen it will most likely have more modern hardware as well as WD’s own UI over the android OS. but as far as anything they have on the market now it’s not really worth investing any time in as far as complex apps like plex due to the poor performance and hardware. You can buy $60 android sticks that have much better hardware and performance and is already plex ready.

5

This has been discussed before in the forums.
The WD media players have very outdated hardware and would not make for a very good plex client experience. There was talk a while back about them releasing a new media player based on Android. Of course if this does happen it will most likely have more modern hardware as well as WD's own UI over the android OS. but as far as anything they have on the market now it's not really worth investing any time in as far as complex apps like plex due to the poor performance and hardware. You can buy $60 android sticks that have much better hardware and performance and is already plex ready.

That's surprising, actually. The WD TV Live runs Netflix and other rich content apps just fine and it has (or appears to me to have) just as much if not more detail than Plex delivers to my Roku 3, which I bought only because the WD TV Live boxes I have don't support Plex! As I understand it, most of the work is done on the Plex media server end vs the client end. What does a Plex app have to do on the client that's any more complex than something like the Netflix app has to do, which works beautifully?

Still - at least your explanation answers the question of why on earth the WD TV Live doesn't have a Plex app after all this time. The latest firmware update (on the WD TV Live) is really excellent and it leaves the the Roku for dead now in terms of both format compatibility (by a long way) and function (in a few ways) now EXCEPT it doesn't support the Plex app, which has to be one of the most popular apps around now. It seems strangely contradictory to me that the box that is so superior to all others in so many ways falls so short at the end of the day by not giving us access to the one app on the planet that so many people want!!

6

WD not having a Plex client up to this point is not just about what i talked about but because WD has never approved any type of app thats made for streaming local content because they would rather you use their own UI for that sort of thing also icluding its DLNA. Also, to achieve plex client on the WD would require a very watered down plex experience to keep performance acceptable. You can’t expect much from a single core Sigma Designs 700MHz processor with 512MB RAM. Even the existing apps the WD do have are usually a much lesser experience than the same apps on other more modern hardware devices. I think the bottom line here with WD media player devices is there main design focus is local playback and they do that great already without needing apps like plex. Because of this, Is probably not easy to get developers like Plex interested.


So is some form of a plex client possible on the WD? …Yes

Will it ever happen with current WD devices …in my opinion …No

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So will we ever get a plex app for wdtv???

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WD not having a Plex client up to this point is not just about what i talked about but because WD has never approved any type of app thats made for streaming local content because they would rather you use their own UI for that sort of thing also icluding its DLNA. Also, to achieve plex client on the WD would require a very watered down plex experience to keep performance acceptable. You can't expect much from a single core Sigma Designs 700MHz processor with 512MB RAM. Even the existing apps the WD do have are usually a much lesser experience than the same apps on other more modern hardware devices. I think the bottom line here with WD media player devices is there main design focus is local playback and they do that great already without needing apps like plex. Because of this, Is probably not easy to get developers like Plex interested.

So is some form of a plex client possible on the WD? ....Yes
Will it ever happen with current WD devices ...in my opinion ...No

since plex runs on a chromecast with less computing power than the wd player, i can not agree on your statement.

there should be a possibility to integrate a plex app on wd, in the past it was maybe blocked from wd (3rd party apps) but now it seems to be possible.

i would love to see the possiblity on my "old" wd players.

cheers

9

FYI - I installed the plex PC program on my laptop which has a USB3 4Tb HDD hanging off of it which holds all my movies and docos and TV shows. My WD TV LIVE player is connected via ethernet cable to my router that runs my home network that my laptop and printer and scanner are also connected to.

On the WD TV player, I went to video then the media server option and the plex.tv media option was shown, with my laptop name next to it (as in “plex media server:Satellite”), and to my delight, all the exact same folders in the plex web address at http://app.plex.tv/web/app#!/server/(my server encrypted code) were shown very quickly on the WD TV player. In fact, some files that did NOT play in their native form via the WD TV video/network share option (ie NOT using the “plex media server:Satellite” option under video) actually played with no problem using the plex media server: option in WD TV.

Note that plex support states that plex will run natively in media devices that are built according to the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) standard, such as the WD TV media player, and so no app for it is required, as evidenced by my experience above.

However, a few things to note -

  1. It took a long time for the http://app.plex.tv/web/app#!/server/(my server encrypted code) pc program to scan the thousands of AV files I have on my HDD hanging off the laptop, so you need to be patient until that process is done (you can still complete the initial set up while it does this scanning in the background, which I found quite impressive).

  2. You may be able to use a wireless network at home for the above to work, but as I do not have wireless, I cannot report on that. But intuitively, wired (ethernet in my case, using CAT 6 cables, 100-1000 Mb/sec transfer speed) would be a lot faster and less congested, which is what I found.

  3. My set up was to install the PC program (not app) on my laptop, which installs as a webpage on my browser (I use Chrome browser) and I did all the set up from there. Note that you can edit your libraries even after installation and can add and delete folders from your AV HDD in the library (files remain intact at the source HDD). It appears that of course your PC/Mac would need to be turned on AND the plex web server page would need to be open permanently to access AV on your connected WD TV player.

  4. Also, you can add “Channels” - eg CNN, Nat Geog, PBS, TED talks etc - from many different countries, and depending on whether those sites have geo location restrictions or not (eg BBC can only be accessed by UK users, even though my plex browser allows you to install the BBC channel, but when you try to use it if you are not in the UK, you cannot get in), you may be able to use that channel in another country if you are not resident or have an IP there. I am in Australia, and I can access most US channels, even though I just kept my local Oz IP address. In the past, I have changed my IP address via VPN/Hola/Torguard etc to get other countries’ IP addresses, but many of those international sites are getting very smart and can recognise that you have used a VPN and still kick you out, so I usually don’t bother any more. Although, you may have some fun with Hola, and it’s free, but I have heard that in return for being able to natively (ie not through plex.tv/WD TV) watch tv in another country (assuming that their sites, like the bbc.co.uk etc do not recognise you are using a VPN/Hola etc), Hola uses your computer using their service (extension in Chrome in my case) to mine bitcoins without your knowledge and with no bitcoins going to you. So, a bit of a security risk.

  5. Bad News. I could not access my YouTube channel (it seems that YouTube has now made it compulsory for you to create a YT account and login even just to watch someone else’s YT video) via either the plex “channel” service on by Chrome browser, nor my WD TV, even though I set up my YT login details in plex (they have a set up panel to do this, where you need to enter your YT (ie now your Google+ login) login and password).

YT now advises you within plex after you have set it up and you try to show your own and or other YT channels that “youtube is upgrading to a newer version which is not supported by this device or app” with one of their sad faces on the screen. So, that is how come I came to this thread to find out if support at plex.tv know of this problem with YT. If anyone does, please let me know, and or if plex is going to do a fix to upgrade to the new YT API specs.

Note that the YT channel appears as one of the channels in the WD TV Player, but shows no channels, because of the above problem. Hence, it appears it is a plex problem and not a WD TV problem.

Otherwise, I was pleasantly surprised that, apart from the YT problem, plex worked on my very old WDTV (about 5 years old), and showed even better file recognition than native access via the ethernet network of my HDD.

I hope the above has been of some help to others.

All the best, cheers and enjoy.

Michael
jms1111

1 Like
10

Thanks Michael

That exactly answers the questions I had

Bruce

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