Any current or former users of WD TV?

[wiseant]

Hi

I have an old Patriot Box Media Player that I use all the time - the remote is starting to wear out and and a replacement remote is relatively expensive

The reason why I like this media player is because it allows me to play a video at 100, 200, 400 and 800 percent as well as 75 and 50 percent - I don't know if this was enabled because I used PlayOnHD! firmware.

My question to WD TV users - do these units allow videos to be zoomed in and/or out? If so is there a model you recommend?

TIA

[Subtitles]

I have the WD TV Live Hub but I am not using it now.
The remote is not as expensive as you say, well perhaps an original one, but you can order a replacement from AliExpress for few dollars
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33006466536.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.17.2057540...d=WOc2G46lbnQJ

[wiseant]

Hi

Thank you for taking the time to reply

I am not looking for a WD TV remote - a Patriot Box replacement remote is $ 18.43 plus Shipping to Canada: $ 13.60

https://mandisremotes.com/en/PATRIOT/1063160-82279-replacement-remote-control-for-PATR...diaPlayer.html


There are some WD TV devices on ebay - but I want to know if they can play a video at 100, 200, 400 and 800 percent

[cornemuse]

I have a WD TV Live, its been back in its box for several years now, since about 2 weeks after I got it.

Mine (as I recall) did not have have any zoom functions.

Its a POS, has really bad 'actions'.
ie, When you 'pause' a video, besides pausing, about ⅓ of the screen is blacked out. (middle ⅓ looks like black 'snow'), upon resuming vid, takes 8-10 seconds before pause indication finally disappears.
I cannot imagine anyone wanting to ever replace it with the same item.
{end of vent!}

[lingyi]

There are numerous WDTV models, all discontinued by 2016.

Not all boxes have the zoom and other functions. WDTV Plus and WDTV Live Streaming ones I had did allow zoom in and zoom out as described here: https://community.wd.com/t/where-is-the-zoom-out-feature/79960. Another thread stated the zoom function doesn't work on DVDs, which I believe is true.

I used to be a big fan of them, but as cornemuse said, they're not worth buying today. I had about a dozen over years because I found they would only last 1-2 years before that would begin to act flakey, possibly because of overheating after several videos. But I gave the last ones I had to someone and as of about a year ago, he said they were working for him.

In addition, they won't play anything H264 or newer, or UHD. They also won't work with Blu-Ray menus. Which is true for the majority of media players because the Blu-Ray Association won't give out the license.

I switched to a cheap PC and a Logitech K400 wireless keyboard years ago have been extremely happy, and wish I did that earlier. For ~$100, you can get a refurbed PC or laptop, a wireless keyboard and a remote mouse that will run rings about the WDTV or any standalone media player. I used to be a big advocate for Android boxes, but I've learned that some common chipsets have malware on them: https://www.google.com/search?q=android+box+spyware&oq=android+box+spyware&aqs=chrome....hrome&ie=UTF-8.

[wiseant]

Thanks for the replies.

It seems I lucked out with my Patriot Box - I have had it for about 12 years and I use it everyday - hence my concerns about the remote.

Of course it doesn't play H.265 or VP8/9 or HE-AAC audio - so for $30 I picked up a mediaplayer that does - but it does not allow for videos to be zoomed in/out.

I do have an old Tablet and MacBookPro but neither has hdmi out and I want to watch my videos on my TV.

[lingyi]

Get a USB to HDMI adapter.

[wiseant]

@lingyi

I have a MacBookPro 7.1 circa 2010 so I ordered a Mini Display Port to HDMI - I'll see how this works when I get it

[lingyi]

That should work. Post your results and how you like, or don't like it.

[victoriabears]

I used to use WDTV, simple and effective but not really the thing for today. I can only report my findings, roku with plex will catagorise and play mp4/mkv and google chromecast with Kodi will play ISO's and dvd structures, which is nice as some dvd products are much more fun if you use the menus.

[wiseant]

Update on using MiniDisplayPort to HDMI cable from MacBookPro 7,1 to Monitor and TV

I am using a dual boot with MacOS Sierra and Linux Mint and the MiniDisplayPort works on both operating systems

My main objective was using a thumbdrive containing images and videos and view them on a large monitor or TV

Initially it looked like viewing images this way was a good method - I used QView which I prefer over the default image viewers in MacOS and Linux Mint because of easier navigation [zoom, pan, rotate]

My concern with videos was the ability to zoom in and out, frame by frame forward and back, as well as being able to pan.

Then I found out that I could use MPV on both MacOS and Linux Mint - I was able to setup a mpv input.conf file whereby the mouse wheel zooms in and out and the right button does frame by frame forward and the left button does frame by frame backwards and the middle button [the Wheel] when pressed, plays and pauses. I only have to use the keyboard to pan using left, right, up and down arrows.

One thing I noticed is that the MacBookPro 7,1 is 1280x800 = 16:10 whereas my monitor and TVs are 16:9. I found the best way to use my 24" Monitor and 32" and 40" TVs is to set the resolution to 1280x720 in the Displays settings on MacOS Sierra and Linux Mint.

@victoriabears - thanks for your feedback - my brother uses Plex and Kodi - but I am more interested in viewing my images and videos from my thumbdrives