WD Live Hub

[Tomuk]

Hi!

Heres one for you Techies.

I am considering purchasing a Weston Digital Live Hub (1 tb) to store my collection of Pte sequences along with my movie, Photos and music files.

The hub will be connected to my home network of two computers and my 42" led Lglx6900 tv.

My question is (and I don't seem to be able to find the answer), will the Live Hub store and play my (exe.) sequences via an Hdmi 1.4 cable to the Tv ????

I hope somebody will have the answer.

Tom

[stonemason]

Hi Tom

Looking at the specs here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-Hub-Media-Center-1TB/dp/tech-data/B00466IEXE/ref=de_a_smtd

The answer is no, you will have to output your PTE slideshows to .mp4 format in order for the media player to handle them.

Geoff

[davegee]

Tom,

I think that you will find that the WD unit will NOT play EXE files.

However the spec (DABS.co.uk) shows that it will play MPEG4 files so converting in PTE will produce a high quality video which will play on the WD. The price is the higher file sizes necessary. (Approximately 10 times as big).

The TV spec shows that it has 2 USB inputs so the MPEG4 files, JPEGs and Audio files etc will play via a USB memory key saving on the need for connecting cables etc.

It's not a major consideration but you might want to try it out to see what quality to expect before getting the WD.

I've been working this way with a 16Gb key for around 6 months and I'm well pleased.

DG

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Tom

I have a 1TB Freecom 240v hard drive. I've had it for 18 months and store my files on it. I don't have it permanently connected in case I get a viruse. It will play my EXe files through an HDMI cable to the TV but as of yet haven't been able to get sound on the TV but it's nothing to do with the drive. It had the best spec' on Amazon at the time & cost about £100.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[Tomuk]

Geoff and Dave,

Thanks for your speedy replies.

In future I shall be making two versions of my sequences (in a high resolution), one for storeing

as an Mpeg and one as exe. for trolling down to my Photo club.

I shall now output one of my small project files as an Mpeg put it on a flash drive and give it a go, my largest flash drive I have is 8gbt.

Tom

[davegee]

As long as it fits comfortably you'll be OK.

If it is any help, I would advise using 1920x1080 screen options for EVERYTHING if you are going to play the MPEG4 files this way. If you want to make a 3:2 show superimpose it on a 16:9 background otherwise the show will be distorted to 16:9 by the Media Player.

That's my experience anyway.

DG

[Tomuk]

Hi Tom

I have a 1TB Freecom 240v hard drive. I've had it for 18 months and store my files on it. I don't have it permanently connected in case I get a viruse. It will play my EXe files through an HDMI cable to the TV but as of yet haven't been able to get sound on the TV but it's nothing to do with the drive. It had the best spec' on Amazon at the time & cost about £100.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

Sorry Eric, we seem to be on cross purposes... The WD live Hub is a media streaming device for streaming HD video from the web, home networks and from it's 1tb hard drive, it's not in fact an external hard drive and can't be used as such.

I was going to use it for streaming Very high resolution video (Blu Ray quality) from my home network to my TV, I was also hoping to stream my exe, pte shows the same way.

Geoff and Dave have shown a very interesting work around so I will be able to use the live hub.

Now to your problem on sound via Hdmi from computer to Tv, I also have this problem so I gave it to my son to solve, he's just sent me an e-mail stating that he can cure the problem.

As soon as I have my system up and running and proof that it works, I'll send you the info.

Tom

[Tomuk]

As long as it fits comfortably you'll be OK.

If it is any help, I would advise using 1920x1080 screen options for EVERYTHING if you are going to play the MPEG4 files this way. If you want to make a 3:2 show superimpose it on a 16:9 background otherwise the show will be distorted to 16:9 by the Media Player.

That's my experience anyway.

DG

Dave,

Thanks for that.

My sequences are played at my club on a projector with a native resolution of 1024x768, what would be projected if I adopted you suggestion above as the projector automaticaly drops the resolution to the max it can project ??

Tom

[davegee]

Tom,

There isn't a simple answer to this.

If you normally make 4:3 shows for your club's projector at 1440x1080 they will fit perfectly on that projector.

However, my experience is that the same show, converted to MPEG4 and played on the TV via its Media Player would be stretched (distorted) to fit the 1920 Width.

If you make your 1440x1080 4:3 shows on a 1920x1080 background then, on your club's 1024x768, you would have a letterbox format with the 4:3 in the middle - not ideal. You could use the ZOOM to make it fill the screen? Not best quality.

But the MPEG4 file from the same show would fit your television's height and give you a 4:3 show in the centre of the width (un-distorted).

If you are going to make MPEG4 shows then the best possible scenario is to adopt the 16:9 format - that way you will FILL the screen. If you DON'T want to adopt the 16:9 format then superimpose whatever AR you decide upon on a 16:9 1920x1080 BG.

DG

[davegee]

Tom,

Regarding your HDMI / Sound problem:

Are you using a HDMI to HDMI lead or are you using a DVI to HDMI lead?

If the latter then you will have to supply the TV with a separate Audio Feed - DVI output from your computer does not support Audio.

Edit: Actually, I don't think it is possible to supply an Audio feed to a TV when the video is supplied via a DVI to HDMI lead - the Audio feed would need to go directly to your Home Cinema Amp.

DG

[Tomuk]

Tom,

Regarding your HDMI / Sound problem:

Are you using a HDMI to HDMI lead or are you using a DVI to HDMI lead?

If the latter then you will have to supply the TV with a separate Audio Feed - DVI output from your computer does not support Audio.

DG

HDMI to HDMI .. my son e mailed to say he can cure this prob, I' ll have to wait until Helen, his wife, lets him off his lead and he can get here. LOL.

[davegee]

Tom,

Please post the solution?

I never had this problem - my HDMI connection worked from day one (maybe it was because I use a SONY laptop?).

I would be interested in the solution for archiving purposes.

DG

[Tomuk]

Tom,

Please post the solution?

I never had this problem - my HDMI connection worked from day one (maybe it was because I use a SONY laptop?).

I would be interested in the solution for archiving purposes.

DG

Dave, you will be one of the first to know.

Tom

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Sorry about that Tom, senior moment.

Re the HDMI sound problem, I started a thread in the "Equipment" section, I suppose you've seen it? The last adjustment made I managed to get the PC (ping pong)sound on the TV by using the control panel but that's about it. My PC speakers give better sound than the TV so I'm not bothered, but would like to know if you get a result.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[Tomuk]

Sorry about that Tom, senior moment.

Re the HDMI sound problem, I started a thread in the "Equipment" section, I suppose you've seen it? The last adjustment made I managed to get the PC (ping pong)sound on the TV by using the control panel but that's about it. My PC speakers give better sound than the TV so I'm not bothered, but would like to know if you get a result.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

Eric,

My Tv sound system Has True voice and vertual suround sound what ever that means, all I can say is, the sound is very good on Hd movies so I'm hopeful,

I shall be coupleling my laptop to the Tv, sound from any source is usualy better than a laptops.

Tom

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi Tom

My speakers are Logitech powered speakers connected to a high spec sound card in the PC, my LT's have no HDMI connections.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1.

[Tomuk]

Dave, you will be one of the first to know.

Tom

Dave

Go to control panel and choose sound, in the playback tab choose hdmi and set as default, sound from your sequences will be played through your Tv via the hdmi connection.

The only drawback as far as I can see is when you uncouple your computer from the tv you have to reverse the above by setting speakers as the default.

If the above doesn't work for you, you probably don't have a hdmi sound driver installed, in this case go to Microsoft's site and download the latest.

Tom

[Tomuk]

Dave

Go to control panel and choose sound, in the playback tab choose hdmi and set as default, sound from your sequences will be played through your Tv via the hdmi connection.

The only drawback as far as I can see is when you uncouple your computer from the tv you have to reverse the above by setting speakers as the default.

If the above doesn't work for you, you probably don't have a hdmi sound driver installed, in this case go to Microsoft's site and download the latest.

Tom

PS, try right click in box and choose hidden devices, it maybe a hidden device.

[davegee]

Hi Tom,

I think that you mistook my intent?

I DON'T have the problem - never have.

I just wanted to know how you got around it for future reference.

BTW are you talking about XP, Vista, W7 or other?

I'm on WXP Media Centre Edition on my Desktop and NOTHING is where you would expect it to be in that!! (But it's a GREAT OS).

My Laptop is Vista and HDMI was "plug and play" for vision and sound. I have never have to reset either way - it just recognises that the HDMI lead is in and goes to work. When I unplug the HDMI it reverts back to normal for both resolution and sound. It's a 1280x800 screen on the laptop and the output automatically adjusts to 1920x1080 when it sees the HDMI lead and TV. The TV becomes Monitor 1 and the Laptop becomes Monitor 2.

Thanks,

DG

PS - Does your Laptop have a built-in Graphics Card or Shared Graphics? My 5 year old Sony Laptop has an nVidia Card (not shared) and that's possibly where the difference lies?

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Dave

Go to control panel and choose sound, in the playback tab choose hdmi and set as default, sound from your sequences will be played through your Tv via the hdmi connection.

The only drawback as far as I can see is when you uncouple your computer from the tv you have to reverse the above by setting speakers as the default.

If the above doesn't work for you, you probably don't have a hdmi sound driver installed, in this case go to Microsoft's site and download the latest.

Tom

Hi Tom

I assume you are using XP or Vista? In W7 Professional it's different.

From the attached pic you can see the icon for the TV greyed out, when the HDMI cable is plugged in, the icon colours up & the buttons are active. However the set default/apply button does not operate and the only sound from the TV is the ping pong PC sounds.

Regards Eric

Yachtsman1

[BootZilla]

FYI -

I purchased a new laptop computer a few months ago to integrate with my home theater system. It has a dedicated video card which also processes audio so when I hook up to my system via HDMI, I get video along with CD quality audio. I can also play my PTE .exe files with no problems.

Greg

[davegee]

Tom,

You didn't come back with an answer to whether your graphics (in your laptop) is dedicated or shared?

I would be interested in a full update on where you now stand on the range of topics discussed here in this thread?

DG

[Tomuk]

Tom,

You didn't come back with an answer to whether your graphics (in your laptop) is dedicated or shared?

I would be interested in a full update on where you now stand on the range of topics discussed here in this thread?

DG

Good morning Dave,

I'm sorry that I haven't replied sooner but I haven't been to well of late.

Back to the subject in hand....

First the Live Hum.

I have a couple of external hard drives that I use for storage, one a Buffalo, has 500 gig so I've decided to take your advise and produce MP4's that I save onto this drive, I then connect it to my TV via one of it's USB ports and play the MP4's works a treat and saved me £162.98 that i was going to spend at Amazon, thank you very much.

Now to sound via Hdmi...

My laptop is an Acer Aspire 5738g with a Nvidia G105m card with 512mg.

Heres what I have to do .....Go to control panel and click on the sound Icon.......right click on the HD Hdmi icon and set it as default, I now get sound from the laptop to the TV via the Hdmi cable.... when I disconnect from the Tv I reverse the above other wise I get no sound at my laptop,

Others tell me that when they connect, Hdmi is auto selected and on disconnection it reverts to internal speakers, this is what I was looking for.

Tom.

[davegee]

Thanks Tom,

Glad to hear that it worked out for you.

Like you, I have "surplus" drives that can easily be connected to the TV via USB and the advantage is the amount that you can permanently store on the HD.

The advantage of the USB Memory Key is that, although you don't get as much storage space, you don't need as much physical space around the TV and you don't need the extra power supply and USB cable for the HD.

Thanks for the info on the laptop. That rules out the theory that it was to do with shared or dedicated graphics!

It must be down to individual manufacturer's ways of doing things.

The Sony Laptop will automatically sense the HDMI and reconfigure the sound to suit when connecting and disconnecting.

Thanks again,

DG