Yep, she's a keeper. I'm outta ideas too. However, they just spammed me an email about something with a phone #, so I'm gonna make some poor underpaid individual feel like it's their last day unless they get this figured out, or they hang up on me.
Apparently this isn't an uncommon problem with the apple TV or a few other boxes. Moose has the same setup I think (WDTV live). Hopefully he sees this.
I don't play netflix through wdtv. Are you streaming netflix from a computer through your wdtvlive? Is your tv a smarttv and can you access netflix through the tv direct?
You can also check to see if your wdtvlive firmware is the most current. I have noticed lately with some of the torrents I have downloaded that the wdtv can't play the sound but my wdtv is old enough that they aren't supporting it anymore so there are no updates. I recode the torrents with Any Video Converter but of course you can't do that with a live stream.
Lastly you can try direct connecting your hdmi to the tv to see if it is the AV receiver that is causing the problem (remember to reactivate your tv speakers tho).
Hmm, this gives me food for thought Moose. I'm a little burnt out right now, but I'll try and sort this out this week.
Nope, running Netflix direct off of the WDTV. I'm pretty sure the WDTV is connected to the router which accesses the PC for streaming DL'd video. I'll have to dig through the wiring spaghetti another day to check. (Edit: Just checked, WDTV is connected to the router, not the PC directly) I've never had a problem running any DL'd video from my PC at all (AVI, Divx, MKV, MP4, etc.). I'm pretty sure my TV is old enough that I can't access Netflix directly from it.
Will do with a check on the WD firmware.
I was wondering if it was the AV receiver not understanding the audio. That would be kind of weird though. It's a pretty new (relatively) AVR. If I have to watch Netflix without audio from my AVR, I'm not bothering with it and will cancel. I haven't watched any form of TV without DDS or D5.1 for over 15yrs or something like that. I don't like the speakers on my or any TV enough to suffer through it.
Anyhoo, thanks for the ideas. I'll let you know how it works out.
Edit #2: Technology is such a funny thing. I spent yet another hour tonight fiddling with this. Going through every option on my AVR, WDTV, TV, PC that could be causing a problem. Not changing anything as I had already reconfirmed that the settings were all correct.
I turn on WDTV, select Netflix (not sure why, hadn't changed anything thinking ceribus pluribus) and the fucking audio works and kicks ass.
Anyone who cuts the cable should just get a media box like mygica for about $100 that runs xbmc/kodi, install the istream and genesis apps or whatever you need and you are good to go with the exception of live sports...and I'm sure there s an app for that too. Unlike netflix there is no monthly charge and you can watch anything and everything that is on tv on every channel that exists or ever was, every season, and any movie you can think of.
Now that sounds interesting. What i've got works for now, if only I could get the stupid WDTV to stop reverting to the view of looking at all 450 videos instead of the categories I've set up. I've reset this in the past, but I never seem to take note of the process of doing so and forget it every time. I'm tiring of technology.
OK I got the Genesis thingy working and its great. Every video I see on how to use kodi has the Genesis as an icon at the bottom of the screen. How do I get that?
I'm running xbmc which is an earlier version of kodi and basically just youtubed how to videos to get it up and running on mygica box so I'm not expert. Worth getting istream too for movies I don't think its shut down but am on the road. Seriously it is freaking amazing.....we cut our cable down to basic and may cut it out altogether
Been running Netflix for a few days now without problems. Last night we decided to watch our first feature length movie. All was good until roughly the 2hr mark when the thing hangs and displays "loading". It never did come back to life.
I checked out the Netflix website and it indicates this may mean we have a crappy internet provider and we should talk to them about improving the services to work with Netflix better, or downgrade the resolution we're watching the movie at?
Seriously? I can't watch a movie at 1080i with DDS? If this is the case that sucks.
Wife checked out some website that showed a 'Netflix outage' map with pretty much all of populated Ontario lit up like a Christmas tree.
Anyhoo, here's the results of internet speed test. Any ideas if this could be the problem? Edit: Checking their website, it says anything above 5Mb/s should be fine, so we're slightly above that. Maybe we'll just have to downgrade the resolution to 720p and see if that helps.
Edit #2: Well, can't figure out how to specifically set the res at 720 as Netflix appears to use their own display categories, but did find an interesting article about why this might be happening:
Well not sure if Netflix is the issue for sure or not but your download speed is definitely marginal for HD movie watching. Not sure what speeds are available in your area but that is where I would start. However typically not having enough download speed results in your video pausing or breaking up, not just stopping and not being able to get it going again.
Well not sure if Netflix is the issue for sure or not but your download speed is definitely marginal for HD movie watching. Not sure what speeds are available in your area but that is where I would start. However typically not having enough download speed results in your video pausing or breaking up, not just stopping and not being able to get it going again.
Yep, the Netflix website says 5Mb/s, but that article says 10 or better. Not sure what happened, but it certainly hung up the wdtv live box. I'm going to have to unplug the damn thing at this point just to reset it. Nothing else is working.
I know with our ISP I can get a better dl speed for another $25. Trying to cut back on cable seems to mean you have to invest more in it.
Well, just finished my first online chat session with "Betty" (hot name) a CSR with Netflix. Trying to find a way to lock the resolution at 720p which I think would solve our problem, instead of it upscaling automatically to 1080i.
I think I blew Betty's mind with my tech prowess as she had to get her entire 'team' involved in not finding a resolution to my problem as there is no way to do this. She did however thank me for my suggestion and feedback, but couldn't promise that my suggestion would be implemented today. I assured her that I wasn't expecting Netflix to completely restructure their entire system for my by this afternoon.
Why on earth did Netflix decide to create a dynamic HD setting based on your internet connection rather than giving you the option of locking one in at your own discretion? Doesn't seem like a good strategy to me for those of us with marginally acceptable connections.
Betty realized I was hooped and ended our chat which made me sad.
They did send me an email with the entire chat log. Is it still $2.99/min to read stuff like that on the interweb? Could offset the cost of my cable bill.
Just made the call today. Cable TV will be cut tomorrow. Wife is a little concerned that she's currently possibly watching her last Dr. Phil.
I am far less concerned about this.
Bumped our cable interweb up to the next level which states we should be getting "as high as 20Mb/s" which probably means a consistent 19 or something which should be good enough for HD Netflix.
Never checked out Hulu or any of the other stuff Moose or others mentioned.
At the end, step 12, you want to install the config wizard. You don't need the add-on installer and the fresh start program just resets kodi in case something went wrong. Install the wizard and it will put a ton of addons on for you.
Finally using the Videos menu, click on the Genesis icon = all the free TV and movies you could ever want. Netflix is for suckers.
At the end, step 12, you want to install the config wizard. You don't need the add-on installer and the fresh start program just resets kodi in case something went wrong. Install the wizard and it will put a ton of addons on for you.
Finally using the Videos menu, click on the Genesis icon = all the free TV and movies you could ever want. Netflix is for suckers.
Thanks Moose. My TV is just barely old enough not to be considered a smart TV, but it is ethernet connected (no wifi). I think I can run my TV as a monitor, never tried. Any chance Kodi can be run through wdtv? I'm beginning to wonder if the wdtv live is slowly becoming outdated tech for my purposes.
On a sidenote, anyone have any concerns about dl'ing video given the legale changes that from my recollection began Jan 1?
Maybe the wdtv Live is dnla? Dunno. My wdtv is 1st gen and doesn't network which is why I am upgrading to the G Box Q, I linked above, which should have same functionality as wdtv plus work as an android device. Once it is set up you can connect your DVD player plus play any media files and stream using kodi.
I set up Kodi for windows, and the addons Genesis and Phoenix. Seems to work ok but having trouble finding news streams that show the channels as they are broadcast. Mostly they just have short clips, or 10-15 min segments. Plus broken streams galore. Lots to check through still.
I actually read an article a few days back that concluded streaming is probably fine legally as it is the file never actually physically is on your system, nor are you sharing it. May be some legal ramifications for the streamers providing the shows but the end users are clear. Either way, torrents don't make me nervous so streaming definitely doesn't.
As earlier mentioned xmbc/kodi with genesis makes netflixs look like yesterdays leftovers. For the record I watch almost every tv show in 'SD' not 'HD' and they look crisp and clear on my 46"....way better than Rogers was feeding them in thru cable. SD is lower than 720p btw....as 720p while not 1080p is still higher definition than a movie you buy on dvd. You'll never get HD to feed in on anything less than about 50-60 mb per second....but it really isn't necessary anyway.
Don't waste time or money on netflix. Buy an android box.....mygica is very simple and cheap or the one moose is getting.....watch some youtube installation videos (it took me a good 3 or 4 hours to get mine set up).....and you have any and every show ever invented. You may have to try a few streams but it brings up a list and you get to know which ones are active. Its extremely user friendly once set up (my girlfriend LOVES it and she is as non tech as you can get). She can watch her Vampire Diaries, Mom, or old episodes of Three's Company. You set up favourites of shows so you don't have to search. I can watch last tonights episode of The Apprentice.....Gold Rush.......or for the fun of it I watched the first episode of the Dukes of Hazzard a few weeks back....YEEHAHHH
But yes you would have a difficult time watching live news and sports....although the Phoenix app/ Woody's channels does have live tv...its just ok not great.
I would love to persuade my wife to drop cable, however, she likes live news, live hockey, game shows, reality tv, etc. How is the availability of these things if I drop cable and go with one of these android boxes? I have virtually unlimited internet speed and bandwidth available if I needed it so that's not a consideration. I may have to invest a couple of hundred bucks and run parallel for a month or two to convince her.
Like I said I can't find any live news. Just clips and segments. For example I can watch 60 Minutes segments but not FoxNews or CNN. If anyone knows of some good streams for those please share.
Game shows and news not so much. Reality tv....every show Dragons Den, Amazing Race etc.
I would always suggest getting a box and trying it for a hundred bucks before cutting the cord. Worst case scenario you keep your cable for what isnt there but have access to every reality show, sit com, drama, discovery/history channel show ever broadcast whenever you decide to watch it...and commercial free.
We got the box and within a week decided to reduce our cable to basic....saving $40 an month. Even as a supplement its just plain silly not to take advantage of this technology. We never watch anything on live cable anymore and will probably drop the cable completely within a couple of months.
I have been using a certain site to stream live UFC for $10 for 3-4 years now, the same guy has built a plethora of customers due to his quality and consistancy of the streams.
i imagine he makes $5,000+ or so every other weekend in subscriptions, this is revenue right out of UFCs pocket, and they seem like the most aggressive copyright holders out there, yet they dont even bother this guy.
and this guy is literally the exact definition of someone who is stealing copyright material and making large amounts of cash via streaming it for a cash fee, its his job basically to stream high quality pay-per-view feeds.
now this is a super illegal guy operating from toronto, as ive talked to the owner, who has thousands of customers, yet he runs his "business" effectively with no problems still as a very high-risk individual.
i guess my point is you can download basically whatever you want, stream whatever you want. The UFC streamer is a high-risk individual. The risk of something happening to a basic canadian citizen downloading the latest "game of thrones" episode is basically zero. not going to get sued, no call will be made from your ISP, etc etc. The only danger can come to the host, like mr.ufc....
Well, this conversation took a little more reassuring direction about dl'ing stuff than I thought it would. We didn't go the route of keeping cable tv and trying both for a bit.
We're just cutting the cable tv off period. Wife found out last night that stuff like Game of Thrones isn't on Netflix and I was thinking there will still be some stuff that we'll likely still have to get via another method. I was hoping there wouldn't be a method of getting Survivor, but I know that's not the case.
I've loved my wdtv live since I got the thing for running stuff from my pc to the tv. However, every now and again 'network shares' blows up and you have to fiddle with settings you didn't change (honest, I didn't change them) or reset the device to factory settings, etc. which is really annoying if you can't remember the process that fixed it last time.
Game shows and news not so much. Reality tv....every show Dragons Den, Amazing Race etc.
I would always suggest getting a box and trying it for a hundred bucks before cutting the cord. Worst case scenario you keep your cable for what isnt there but have access to every reality show, sit com, drama, discovery/history channel show ever broadcast whenever you decide to watch it...and commercial free.
We got the box and within a week decided to reduce our cable to basic....saving $40 an month. Even as a supplement its just plain silly not to take advantage of this technology. We never watch anything on live cable anymore and will probably drop the cable completely within a couple of months.
This.
Watch the YouTube video I linked above and the guy goes through live feeds for TV and sports. Haven't tried yet but I will once my box arrives and baseball season starts. If I can get jays games w/o buck and tabby then it is a super win.
Comments
Yep, she's a keeper. I'm outta ideas too. However, they just spammed me an email about something with a phone #, so I'm gonna make some poor underpaid individual feel like it's their last day unless they get this figured out, or they hang up on me.
Apparently this isn't an uncommon problem with the apple TV or a few other boxes. Moose has the same setup I think (WDTV live). Hopefully he sees this.
You can also check to see if your wdtvlive firmware is the most current. I have noticed lately with some of the torrents I have downloaded that the wdtv can't play the sound but my wdtv is old enough that they aren't supporting it anymore so there are no updates. I recode the torrents with Any Video Converter but of course you can't do that with a live stream.
Lastly you can try direct connecting your hdmi to the tv to see if it is the AV receiver that is causing the problem (remember to reactivate your tv speakers tho).
Nope, running Netflix direct off of the WDTV. I'm pretty sure the WDTV is connected to the router which accesses the PC for streaming DL'd video. I'll have to dig through the wiring spaghetti another day to check. (Edit: Just checked, WDTV is connected to the router, not the PC directly) I've never had a problem running any DL'd video from my PC at all (AVI, Divx, MKV, MP4, etc.). I'm pretty sure my TV is old enough that I can't access Netflix directly from it.
Will do with a check on the WD firmware.
I was wondering if it was the AV receiver not understanding the audio. That would be kind of weird though. It's a pretty new (relatively) AVR. If I have to watch Netflix without audio from my AVR, I'm not bothering with it and will cancel. I haven't watched any form of TV without DDS or D5.1 for over 15yrs or something like that. I don't like the speakers on my or any TV enough to suffer through it.
Anyhoo, thanks for the ideas. I'll let you know how it works out.
Edit #2: Technology is such a funny thing. I spent yet another hour tonight fiddling with this. Going through every option on my AVR, WDTV, TV, PC that could be causing a problem. Not changing anything as I had already reconfirmed that the settings were all correct.
I turn on WDTV, select Netflix (not sure why, hadn't changed anything thinking ceribus pluribus) and the fucking audio works and kicks ass.
Anyhoo, wife appears pleased. Good enough for me.
G-Box Q - Android IPTV Box » Matricom
Newest Matricom G Box Q Octo Core XBMC Kodi Android 2GB 16GB UHD 4K | eBay
Watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPTBlfYVu0U
...and you will doing the same thing ASAP.
I checked out the Netflix website and it indicates this may mean we have a crappy internet provider and we should talk to them about improving the services to work with Netflix better, or downgrade the resolution we're watching the movie at?
Seriously? I can't watch a movie at 1080i with DDS? If this is the case that sucks.
Wife checked out some website that showed a 'Netflix outage' map with pretty much all of populated Ontario lit up like a Christmas tree.
Anyhoo, here's the results of internet speed test. Any ideas if this could be the problem? Edit: Checking their website, it says anything above 5Mb/s should be fine, so we're slightly above that. Maybe we'll just have to downgrade the resolution to 720p and see if that helps.
Edit #2: Well, can't figure out how to specifically set the res at 720 as Netflix appears to use their own display categories, but did find an interesting article about why this might be happening:
Why you're not getting HD on Netflix and how to fix it | Digital Trends
Yep, the Netflix website says 5Mb/s, but that article says 10 or better. Not sure what happened, but it certainly hung up the wdtv live box. I'm going to have to unplug the damn thing at this point just to reset it. Nothing else is working.
I know with our ISP I can get a better dl speed for another $25. Trying to cut back on cable seems to mean you have to invest more in it.
I think I blew Betty's mind with my tech prowess as she had to get her entire 'team' involved in not finding a resolution to my problem as there is no way to do this. She did however thank me for my suggestion and feedback, but couldn't promise that my suggestion would be implemented today. I assured her that I wasn't expecting Netflix to completely restructure their entire system for my by this afternoon.
Why on earth did Netflix decide to create a dynamic HD setting based on your internet connection rather than giving you the option of locking one in at your own discretion? Doesn't seem like a good strategy to me for those of us with marginally acceptable connections.
Betty realized I was hooped and ended our chat which made me sad.
They did send me an email with the entire chat log. Is it still $2.99/min to read stuff like that on the interweb? Could offset the cost of my cable bill.
Gotta think ahead in these troubled times.
I am far less concerned about this.
Bumped our cable interweb up to the next level which states we should be getting "as high as 20Mb/s" which probably means a consistent 19 or something which should be good enough for HD Netflix.
Never checked out Hulu or any of the other stuff Moose or others mentioned.
Downloads | Kodi
If you want it on your Nexus tablet use the 'arm' version
Works equally well on a pc
Step 2
Fusion Installer for Kodi
At the end, step 12, you want to install the config wizard. You don't need the add-on installer and the fresh start program just resets kodi in case something went wrong. Install the wizard and it will put a ton of addons on for you.
Finally using the Videos menu, click on the Genesis icon = all the free TV and movies you could ever want. Netflix is for suckers.
Thanks Moose. My TV is just barely old enough not to be considered a smart TV, but it is ethernet connected (no wifi). I think I can run my TV as a monitor, never tried. Any chance Kodi can be run through wdtv? I'm beginning to wonder if the wdtv live is slowly becoming outdated tech for my purposes.
On a sidenote, anyone have any concerns about dl'ing video given the legale changes that from my recollection began Jan 1?
Consumer Home
Maybe the wdtv Live is dnla? Dunno. My wdtv is 1st gen and doesn't network which is why I am upgrading to the G Box Q, I linked above, which should have same functionality as wdtv plus work as an android device. Once it is set up you can connect your DVD player plus play any media files and stream using kodi.
We should start a list of good, working streams.
Good point, I had forgotten about that. See below for a pretty good description of the ramifications at this point. (i.e. none as yet.)
Why illegal downloading just became riskier for Canadians | Financial Post
New regulations about illegal downloading go into effect | Globalnews.ca
As earlier mentioned xmbc/kodi with genesis makes netflixs look like yesterdays leftovers. For the record I watch almost every tv show in 'SD' not 'HD' and they look crisp and clear on my 46"....way better than Rogers was feeding them in thru cable. SD is lower than 720p btw....as 720p while not 1080p is still higher definition than a movie you buy on dvd. You'll never get HD to feed in on anything less than about 50-60 mb per second....but it really isn't necessary anyway.
Don't waste time or money on netflix. Buy an android box.....mygica is very simple and cheap or the one moose is getting.....watch some youtube installation videos (it took me a good 3 or 4 hours to get mine set up).....and you have any and every show ever invented. You may have to try a few streams but it brings up a list and you get to know which ones are active. Its extremely user friendly once set up (my girlfriend LOVES it and she is as non tech as you can get). She can watch her Vampire Diaries, Mom, or old episodes of Three's Company. You set up favourites of shows so you don't have to search. I can watch last tonights episode of The Apprentice.....Gold Rush.......or for the fun of it I watched the first episode of the Dukes of Hazzard a few weeks back....YEEHAHHH
But yes you would have a difficult time watching live news and sports....although the Phoenix app/ Woody's channels does have live tv...its just ok not great.
I would always suggest getting a box and trying it for a hundred bucks before cutting the cord. Worst case scenario you keep your cable for what isnt there but have access to every reality show, sit com, drama, discovery/history channel show ever broadcast whenever you decide to watch it...and commercial free.
We got the box and within a week decided to reduce our cable to basic....saving $40 an month. Even as a supplement its just plain silly not to take advantage of this technology. We never watch anything on live cable anymore and will probably drop the cable completely within a couple of months.
Not very worried about this kind of stuff.
I have been using a certain site to stream live UFC for $10 for 3-4 years now, the same guy has built a plethora of customers due to his quality and consistancy of the streams.
i imagine he makes $5,000+ or so every other weekend in subscriptions, this is revenue right out of UFCs pocket, and they seem like the most aggressive copyright holders out there, yet they dont even bother this guy.
and this guy is literally the exact definition of someone who is stealing copyright material and making large amounts of cash via streaming it for a cash fee, its his job basically to stream high quality pay-per-view feeds.
now this is a super illegal guy operating from toronto, as ive talked to the owner, who has thousands of customers, yet he runs his "business" effectively with no problems still as a very high-risk individual.
i guess my point is you can download basically whatever you want, stream whatever you want. The UFC streamer is a high-risk individual. The risk of something happening to a basic canadian citizen downloading the latest "game of thrones" episode is basically zero. not going to get sued, no call will be made from your ISP, etc etc. The only danger can come to the host, like mr.ufc....
We're just cutting the cable tv off period. Wife found out last night that stuff like Game of Thrones isn't on Netflix and I was thinking there will still be some stuff that we'll likely still have to get via another method. I was hoping there wouldn't be a method of getting Survivor, but I know that's not the case.
I've loved my wdtv live since I got the thing for running stuff from my pc to the tv. However, every now and again 'network shares' blows up and you have to fiddle with settings you didn't change (honest, I didn't change them) or reset the device to factory settings, etc. which is really annoying if you can't remember the process that fixed it last time.
This.
Watch the YouTube video I linked above and the guy goes through live feeds for TV and sports. Haven't tried yet but I will once my box arrives and baseball season starts. If I can get jays games w/o buck and tabby then it is a super win.