[ale] LInux Based Media Players

[JD]

The $60 refurbished "WD HD TV Live Plus" 
http://store.westerndigital.com/store/wdus/en_US/DisplayAccesoryProductDetailsPage/productID.223009400 
can act like a NAS (100BT only) when you connect USB drives to it - at 
least for Windows PCs. I looked at the storage from Linux systems this 
morning and only SMB/Cifs was open.  If you'd like Netflix playback too, 
then be certain to get the "Plus" model. The non-Plus model is what I 
have and it works the same. The GUI isn't very impressive, IMHO. It is 
not an XBMC, but workable for techies with folder organization skills.

Nmap shows these open ports on a plain WD TV HD Live:

PORT      STATE SERVICE
139/tcp   open  netbios-ssn
445/tcp   open  microsoft-ds
30000/tcp open  unknown

No idea what port 30000 is for.  smbmount didn't work from Linux this 
morning, but I didn't try very hard. I'm positive the SMB connection 
from Windows7 allows full r/w control and that both USB ports can be 
used simultaneously.

It plays back pretty much any video formats that don't have encryption - 
except the newest WMV or MOV files.  MKV, x.264, xvid/avi, divx, and 
mpeg2 work very nicely at resolutions up to 1080p.

I also own a MediaGate MG35 device (SD only) that has an internal disk 
drive, but the NAS part required $20 for software that only worked on 
Windows, so I'd warn to be cautious that specific client software isn't 
needed.  Today, I just USB plug the MG35 into the WD-TV-Live and use it 
like an external disk. I tried to connect from a netbook running XBMC 
and it failed too - I didn't try very hard.

I'd also look for GigE networking for any device I planned to use as a 
NAS even if the CPU can't support 700+Mbps, 300Mbps is noticeably 
quicker than 10/100BT connections.

Most of my media playback comes from a central Linux server and is 
shared via samba. The WD and MediaGate both had no issues streaming from 
it.  The MediaGate did a very good job at DVD playback and could skip to 
specific times in the files. The WD-TV does FWD and jumps in 10 minute 
increments only, but the HD playback over HDMI is very nice.

If you like, you can install a home-brew distro on the WD TV Live from 
this guy http://b-rad.cc/wdlxtv/ . I've never bothered.

On 01/31/2011 08:18 AM, Michael Potter wrote:
> I am intending to buy a media player and want to give preference to
> Linux based systems.
>
> Here is the kind of thing I am looking for (except this one _seems_ to
> be windows based):
> http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5509365&CatId=3675
>
> I don't want to build one, but having one I could hack would be a bonus.
>
> There are several definitions of media players.  The one I am looking
> for is basically a NAS drive with hdmi out.
> I put a .mp4 on the NAS drive, and it appears on the selection of
> shows to watch on the TV connected to the hdmi out.
>
> One unusual feature I hope to find is: the ability to play a video,
> but overlay the sound with a mp3.
>
> Any comments?


-- 
JD Pflugrath
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