DVD Playback?

[Gilliland]

Complete noob here, at least with respect to WDLXTV firmware. I read through WD's FAQ and they make it clear that the official firmware does not support direct playback of DVDs in any version of the product.

I explored further and found that the alternative WDLXTV firmware does support DVD playback, apparently through something called "cd-manager". So I installed it and hooked up a USB DVD drive to the WDTV Live.

The unit appears to power up correctly, but I haven't seen anything in the software that appears to be related to the DVD in the player. I looked through the config/options file (S00custom-options), but I don't see anything there that appears related either.

Next likely approach would be a search here. I tried searching for DVD, and found lots of hits about playing DVD images, but nothing about actual DVDs. I also searched for cd-manager, and got no hits whatsoever.

So, what am I missing? Is it possible to play actual DVDs via a USB-DVD player attached to the WDTV Live using this firmware? If so, how?

Thanks for any help.

[KAD]

if everything is correctly enabled, just navigate to video / local media/ usb? .... and you should get to the content on the DVD

KAD

[Gilliland]

Could you describe "correctly enabled", please? I have the firmware installed and running, the drive enabled and a disc in place, but "Local Media" does not appear under the Video menu.

[mad_ady]

I don't have a USB DVD, but here's what I would try if I were you:
1. Plug in the USB DVD and also, a regular USB drive. The USB drive will force the Local Media menu entry to appear. I think you should be able to access your DVD from that menu as well.
2. If 1 doesn't work, enable UMSP and enable the optical-drive plugin (it needs to be enabled manually, in /conf/umsp.php). See if the plugin gives you access to the drives features
3. Try to mount it by hand. Use telnet/ssh to get command line access and post back the output of:

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mount
dmesg | grep sr


You could try to mount it by hand by doing something like:

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mount /dev/sr0 /tmp/mnt/cdrom


... but it will not be directly visible under the OSD.

I bet method #1 will work just fine

[Gilliland]

I tried #1, plugging in a USB stick with some video on it. Yes, it did allow the Local Video to show up on the menu. But if I open "All Video", I see only the video from the flash drive. If I open "Folders", I do have a folder that represents the DVD, and I can open it to see the files. But I can't play them. If I try to play one, it appears to try to start, then just stops as if it had completed. The same is true for every file in the folder.

On the other menu options (Recent, By Date, All Videos), the DVD content simply doesn't appear.

Is there some sort of DVD player software that can be installed to work on this? Something that would actually play the disc, menus and all?

I'll try some of the other steps later. Let me know if there are any in particular that I should try first.

Thanks!

[KAD]

on firmwares 1.03... and newer, push play on the folder instead of enter, and you should get DVD menu's

KAD

[Gilliland]

on firmwares 1.03... and newer, push play on the folder instead of enter, and you should get DVD menu's

No, that did not work. When it failed on the first player, I decided that perhaps it was defective, so I bought a different one. Same thing. If I press "Play" while on the folder, it tries to play something (not sure what, exactly), but winds up showing nothing but a blank screen.

I've now tried multiple players and multiple DVDs. It doesn't work.

And in all cases, the DVD drive folders won't even show up unless I also have a USB Flashdrive plugged in to the other port.

So, does anyone know how to make the WDLXTV software play an actual DVD?

Or, alternatively, does anyone know how to make the official WD firmware play an actual DVD?

[KAD]

official firmware can only play dvd iso's, if you plug in an external dvd drive it will not work at all

as for the WDLXTV, I don't have an external drive to try it on, but I'm sure somebody that's done it will comment

KAD

[b-rad.cc]

I think i'll plug in my usb bluray and watch a dvd

( not for enjoyment, in the spirit of 'testing' )

will report back

[b-rad.cc]

Ok it depends on what kernel you're running + what firmware. The kernel i have needs a fuse module now, which is not in wdlxtv. In addition if you have media library disabled it looks like you have to be using a hub with another device to get the OSD to show you the USB# for the slot you have the drive plugged in. That the intended operation, but i now see it doesn't work if its all you got plugged in on that slot. Always remember optical drives take a lot of juice, in case yours has no power supply. Lastly I'm running the 1.05.04 wdlxtv-plus and the menu didn't come up, plus theres these errors on the serial console:

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///tmp/media/usb/AMAZON_WOMEN_ON_THE_MOON/VIDEO_TS/video_ts.ifo not found