Fully Control WDTV Live Hub from a PC?

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Hub Discussions
1

Is there any way to have FULL control over the WDTV using a PC?

I am not talking about logging into it with its  WDLink webpage.

I am talking about having FULL Control.

  1. Turn it On

  2. Play Music (FLAC, MP3, etc) connected to my AVR

  3. Transfer Files/Copy/Rename/Delete/etc, FULL File and Network Functionality via W7 HomeGroup

  4. Turn it Off

All WITHOUT ever having to turn on the TV to which the WDTV is connected to?

This would be a great feature if I simply put this WDTV Live Hub to do Music duties. This way, I wouldn’t have to go return it as you all know the audio issues or rather “Limitations” when watching Video. 

It would be nice to be able to Go in from my Home PC or iPod Touch, have a screen that shows what file etc is playing, because I have my PC on all day, and don’t always want to watch a movie so no need to turn on the Television.

2

No.

Well depends…of course you can play music/films from your WDTV on your PC. Its basically a hard drive, and if your PC is connected to your sound system then thats fine ?

3

That’s not what I meant. 

What I want is a User Control Interface, so that I can make WDTV Live Hub like a Remote Controlled Music Player. Remote Controlled by my PC or iPod touch or any thing that has browser support or through a plugin.

So I could open up my web browser, Turn On the WDTV, Have it play Music that is on its Internal HDD, and also control its various other Setup functions through my PC’s Monitor rather than the Television.

This application would allow me to have much better control of CONTENT playing throughout my house so I could change the content from ANYWHERE, even Outside.

I have 5 zones, all hooked to each other in a complicated setup. Sometimes I like music Outside but have no control over it with the IR remote. 

4

No.

5

I wonder if this will be a Possibility in the near future? 

To be able to control what content is playing without being in front of the TV would make this a great product! 

6

This is all very well, but you talk about Zones.

So lets say you go outside and want your Music to play, who/what is switching your amp on and telling it where to send the music, who/what is controlling the volume.

You seem to have an idea and have not thought it through at all. So no it never will be supported, switch it on, turn it up and go outside. :slight_smile:

7

Ok, I switch it on, turn it up, go outside. So far you’re right on.

Then Should I bring my whole TV, its Remote, and WDTV, and its Remote outside as well? Or would it be easier to bring an iPod/iPad/Android/Netbook outside, and control what Music is playing on the WDTV via Wifi and the use of a Browser?

There is no way to access WDTV Control interface with anything OTHER than the LCD its connected to and its own remote.  

Right now, I am doing this with an iPod Touch on iOS 3.1.3 and iAmp Remote running Winamp on my PC connected to AVR1 which handles 2 zones. 

Is this community really geared towards listening to and understanding WD customers or is it just an “In our defense” way to quiet down those who are seeing legitimate limitations?

If it’s a networked device, and supports wifi networking, why is this not a thought out question?  

8

You are joking right ? :slight_smile:

Do you know how simple the chipset is inside this box. It struggles displaying thumbnails, the backdrops is only a recent thing, and you want this functionality out of it.

All they are interested in is adding streaming links to a services interface, it must be easy, and makes it look better on the site.

But do you really need to get WD involved at all, at the end of the day its just another hard drive on a network ?

9

Can I make it any simpler for you to understand that this does not require more resources?
It ALREADY HAS the ability, half of it is presented when you log into it from your PC.

AND there is also a remote control APP for it. What part of this are you not getting?

The remote APP only works on iOS 4. I do not use iOS 4, so I am simply asking if there is a way to use a BROWSER rather than the iOS App.  

To hit Play/Pause/FF/RW etc with a Playlist or whats playing showing in TEXT in a browser should not be too difficult. 

If I am not clear enough at this point, please ask me what it is you are not understanding. 

10

im not understanding what your on about either…

do you want it to make coffee and toast for you too… the answer has been no. 

if you want to play music without switching the tv on, and have full control from the computer then why dont you connect the computer to the amp, and set up playlists on the computer.,you can get remotes for the computer for fast forward, rewind etc.  or setup a playlist on the ipod touch and connect that to the amp, even tho it will have limited playablitly.

now im off to watch a movie on the hub, with the tv off

11

Manny, that was very funny. I had a good laugh.

Ok, here’s more.

When I logged into the WDTV Webpage, I thought this is fantastic. If I simply only want to play Music, I should not have to turn on the TV for that. Music as in WAV/FLAC Files I have ripped from my CD. 

I wanted a low power solution to playing ONLY music when I don’t want to watch anything. While your posts are really funny, and yes I know its called a WDTV Live, and not WDTV Dead or WD_NO_TV heheheh, I’ll go ahead and make fun of myself but gentlemen, this is entirely possible :slight_smile: We CAN do this, and someone who is a programmer, and sees this need, may come out and help us. Its Possible you know? If someone says it can’t be done, I just want to know why. 

And Hardware Limits has nothing to do with it, since the networking provided within the WDTV is full fledged straight from Linux. CPU and Memory architecture limits are related to the speed with which data can be processed in a given amount of time. The Speed of the Sigma chip as well as the Memory is More than enough to handle simple Network requests. We aren’t talking about Streaming. 

I have an iPod Nano 1st Generation which is able to play WAV and FLAC files using Rockbox. So that is not a problem. One should be able to log In from their web browser, and Select an Audio File and click PLAY.

I am simply asking to be able to control the SETTINGS and Playback Features of the WDTV via a Web Browser so I don’t have to be in front of the box or even have the TV on, for those who would like to play just Music from time to time.

Thanks for the laugh…I know I really needed it. We should continue to talk about products we pay for and how we want them to work instead of just “LIVE WITH IT” These companies will not give us these features not because they are not possible, its because MOST, I am talking in the 90 percents, of the consumers will never even BOTHER to think this would be useful to them. Why are thinking consumers not allowed to ask?

:slight_smile: Have a good day, Manny, thanks for the laugh.

12

glad you have a sense of humour…

i just think the way WD is dealing with its other requests in this site… or problems they have,  or ideas, i just think you have more chance of placing a bet on a 2 legged horse and it winning the grand national, than getting anything out of them.

The likes of B-RAD and his firmwares on the gen 2 and live made those what they are today. there was also a Russian guy / site that did things simular. if it wasnt for them i doubt we would even have the hub we have today. B-RAD has made it clear that he wont attempt anything on the hub due to WD making it almost impossible. 

I understand your frustration, as i do everyone else on here. for those reasons alone i have moved away from WD. and i have had everyone of there players. my tv has good media player support, so at this time am using that until i get chance to find something else, and there are some very good, and better devices out there.

the thing that gets me… is that this forum is for support of all the WD products. but its the users that are giving the support, not WD themselves. you can only play deaf for so long before you realise no one is shouting anymore, and your products are not selling.

13

Hello. Try 8player for iPad, iPod app. It does exactly that. I just used it again. I use FW 2.07. My music is stored on the hub. I can stream to the iPad through DLNA service enable on the hub. Then you can select the output on the app, either iPad or WDLiveHub.

14

TheCoolDude wrote:
Hello. Try 8player for iPad, iPod app. It does exactly that. I just used it again. I use FW 2.07. My music is stored on the hub. I can stream to the iPad through DLNA service enable on the hub. Then you can select the output on the app, either iPad or WDLiveHub.

All you’re doing in that regard is reading files from the Hub and streaming them to your other device. What the OP wants to do is access the media on the Hub and have it play through the sound system the Hub is connected to. This is not currently possible without using the Hub’s menu being displayed on a connected display device.

15

UnhappyCamper wrote:

When I logged into the WDTV Webpage, I thought this is fantastic. If I simply only want to play Music, I should not have to turn on the TV for that. Music as in WAV/FLAC Files I have ripped from my CD. 

I wanted a low power solution to playing ONLY music when I don’t want to watch anything. While your posts are really funny, and yes I know its called a WDTV Live, and not WDTV Dead or WD_NO_TV heheheh, I’ll go ahead and make fun of myself but gentlemen, this is entirely possible :slight_smile: We CAN do this, and someone who is a programmer, and sees this need, may come out and help us. Its Possible you know? If someone says it can’t be done, I just want to know why. 

And Hardware Limits has nothing to do with it, since the networking provided within the WDTV is full fledged straight from Linux. CPU and Memory architecture limits are related to the speed with which data can be processed in a given amount of time. The Speed of the Sigma chip as well as the Memory is More than enough to handle simple Network requests. We aren’t talking about Streaming. 

I have an iPod Nano 1st Generation which is able to play WAV and FLAC files using Rockbox. So that is not a problem. One should be able to log In from their web browser, and Select an Audio File and click PLAY.

 

I am simply asking to be able to control the SETTINGS and Playback Features of the WDTV via a Web Browser so I don’t have to be in front of the box or even have the TV on, for those who would like to play just Music from time to time.

Thanks for the laugh…I know I really needed it. We should continue to talk about products we pay for and how we want them to work instead of just “LIVE WITH IT” These companies will not give us these features not because they are not possible, its because MOST, I am talking in the 90 percents, of the consumers will never even BOTHER to think this would be useful to them. Why are thinking consumers not allowed to ask?

 

Your question has already been answered and it is NO. Why do you expect this device to do that? It wasn’t even advertised to do that in the first place. There is nothing in the features that tells you it can be done.

It is good to suggest this as an idea but for now just “LIVE WITH IT” or find another device to do what you want. 

16

Ok again this app will do exactly that. Sorry to burst your bubble but it is the truth. You can even control the volume from the app. Anyone with an iPad or iPhone can download the free version and try it yourself. Enough said.

17

Well, to answer your first question, the answer is YES.  Well actually it’s “sort of”.

If your question is if you can do it from one interface then NO, but you can do what you want through different applications.

First, you do have to access the the web interface, this is so you can access the remote to power the HUB on or off.

Then use WIndows Media Player to play the files on the HUB.  As long as the HUB shows up “Other libraries” you can access those files and use the “Play to” feature to play the files.  You’ll be able to see what you want to play, what is playing and even play a playlist.  All without having to turn your TV on.

As far as transfer files, copying, renameing, deleteing, etc., as long as you have the HUB mapped as a network drive you can do anything that you do with a network connected PC (other than change permissions of a file).

18

TheCoolDude wrote:
Ok again this app will do exactly that. Sorry to burst your bubble but it is the truth. You can even control the volume from the app. Anyone with an iPad or iPhone can download the free version and try it yourself. Enough said.

Yes,  but you’re blind unless you drag the TV outside with you.

UC, I wouldn’t hold out a lot of hope here.  I just don’t think it would be very high on the WD todo list even if it could be done with the existing hardware, which I doubt.

GCG

19

Why would I drag a tv around when I have access to my entire music library and I can play it to any amp connected to the hub. Either through optical (the way I have it) or through stereo out.

20

A simple way of saying it would be, 8player, an iOS app, has the ability to remotely control any DLNA capable devices. End of story.