transform a WDTV Live (Gen3) into a LIVE ?

[blachanc]

Hi all,

just as a concept check, I am planning ahead what I should do when one of my two WDTV Live dies.

I do not care about advanced content(netflix, etc), but I absolutely need youtubeHD, without
any infamous "this video cannot be played back to a tv connected device".

So far I believe my best bet would be to replace a defective WDTV live, with a boxee box.

But I was wondering if there is just a bit of hope to transform a WDTV Live (Gen3) into a LIVE (in terms of features)?
I strongly beleive the answer is no, because of the encrypted partition, but i am not knowledgeable enough to make that call.

I am worried that in 1-2 years, getting an old WDTV live plus or WDTV live will be difficult...
Thx,

Ben

[recliq]

As long as there is a GPL firmware available from WD you can still flash a 'custom' firmware which will allow you to have things like YT HD or UMSP.
BUT by doing this you will loose all premium content such as netflix, etc... (erase the crypt keys on the device?)
Also the latest versions of the GPL firmware for the Plus show that WD started to remove things like the commercial paragon NTFS driver from the GPL firmware.

Further more I'm pretty sure you won't be able to load custom kernel modules on Gen3, since WD prohibits this also on Plus with latest firmwares... (but I'm just guessing here!)

In short you loose more than just netflix when you install the GPL or any other custom firmware.

We never said it's not possible to port large portions of WDLXTV to Live Streaming or Hub, we're not going there because a lot of poeple will cripple their devices and regretting it later, no matter how often you tell them, how big you write it down, or even make them type it in before install...

WD doesn't write the warning on their website for Gen3, instead they state to pay attention to the displayed warning during upgrade to GPL fw, but I guess it's pretty much the same as for Live Hub

Warning! This is the GPL source code. This is NOT the firmware for the device. If you use this source code to update the device, it will be treated as a third party user-modified firmware. We recommend using firmware released by Western Digital only. Using third party or user-modified firmware will cause malfunction and will void your product warranty. Once you install third party or user-modified firmware, even if the product is rolled back to the original firmware from WD, access to certain features will be disabled.

[RMerlin]

Best advice I can give to people ending up with a Gen3 is the same I've been giving since last year: return your device, and make sure to let WD know why you are returning it. If WD doesn't readjust their aiming, I'm pretty sure another hardware maker will eventually step in with a more homebrew-friendly device, and WD will lose a LOT of their customers that day.

Because, let's face it, many people (like us) chose the WDTV *because* of the ability to run homebrew firmware. The "Netflix told us to" excuse can only carry them so far - I don't see Netflix pulling support from Android devices that have an unlocked bootloader. And quite frankly, Netflix is in no position to dictate which device can use their service. Because if devices can't use their service, guess who loses paying customers? Netflix.

The future in media playback is gearing toward open devices. AppleTV running iOS applications, GoogleTV running Android applications. WD had a chance to be a true pioneer in that area, and they are blowing it up by going backward, while the rest of the industry is getting increasingly open, by allowing users to add more applications to their TV/media player/HTPC.

So by the time your Live stops working, it's possible that another company might have stepped in. Or else, people like us who want more out of their media player will be moving to other platforms. I moved to a Zoltac HTPC running XBMC here, and really love it. Fairly sure we will start seeing more cheaper Android-based solutions over the next few years, especially since XBMC is being ported to some of Sigma's newer chipset.

[mad_ady]

I don't want to get your hopes up blachanc, but if you wait a while longer (probably one year or so) you will see that a major manufacturer will release a more open media player.

Sorry, I can't disclose more at the moment, but I'm hoping it will be worthwile...

So, don't sweat it. I don't think the wdtv will break any time soon.

[blachanc]

Thank you guys,
for taking the time to reply to my post.

@reclic,
unfortunately,
I agree with you. people would back fire once they change their mind regarding advance content:
I_Did_Not_Want_It_At_First_But_I_Changed_My_Mind_And_Now_It's_Your_Fault_Because_It_Does_Not_Work.

@mad_ady,
Thx for the heads up.

Change of Subject:
At one point, I questioned the legality of putting the youtube LOGO on their product box,
without any information regarding the crippled permission/resolution limitations their solution provides.


Ben

[recliq]

I doubt you can get them by their balls on this subject, because they have YT (like many TV's have YT).
It's YT itself which flags videos that should not play on TV's (or WDTV), I can't tell you why they do this because I don't see the difference if you watch some YT video on your computer or on your TV...

But this restriction is implemented in the YT API. I'm absolutely with you that these products should be marked to not play ALL YT videos but I guess this is just wishful thinking..

[mad_ady]

It's simple why it's there. The content companies want it there so that you can't watch music videos on your TV. This way youtube won't compete (for free) with their business (which is to sell you music/content).
But it's a retarded way of thinking. You can't stop information by adding a "don't play on X devices" tag. Information wants to be free... and we want to liberate it!

Also, I would say this community will have a future despite WD's attempts to cripple it (by releasing more closed devices). The community (and the code/plugins/ideas) will simply move to a better player, when it will be available (spoiler alert!).

[RMerlin]

One (major) element of WDLXTV that could easily be salvaged if we were to abandon WD is UMSP. Virtually every media player supports DLNA, so a standalone version of UMSP (as someone already tinkered with last year) could easily add content to any third party media player.

TVersity is one example of a software product that does that. Mediatomb as well (it used to offer Apple Trailers and Youtube, until their APIs changed and Mediatomb never got updated to keep up).

I agree the YT logo is misleading, however it is the way Google wanted it, so it's perfectly legal for WD to put it there. Same rules apply to every other media player AFAIK.