VOD : Netflix/Streaming Services

[Kabaal]

Originally Posted by passingbat

Personally I like the WDTV Live Streaming Media Player because you can set it to output 1080p/24, which a lot of the content on the US Netflix is encoded as, including US TV as well as films. For TVs that can't do 24fps, it can also output 1080p/60 which works well and you can choose various other combinations.

The one draw back i find with the WDTV and Netflix is having to set the fps manually according to the movie/show you are watching, and usually have to use another device to make sure which fps is needed. Hopefully they can eventually have it detect it automatically like it does with your local files via firmware, or hurry up and bring out a new version with a little more oomph.

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by Kabaal

The one draw back i find with the WDTV and Netflix is having to set the fps manually according to the movie/show you are watching, and usually have to use another device to make sure which fps is needed. Hopefully they can eventually have it detect it automatically like it does with your local files via firmware, or hurry up and bring out a new version with a little more oomph.

I leave my lounge WD box on 1080p/24 because the TV supports 24fps and the Bedroom WD box on 1080p/60 because the bedroom TV doesn't support 24fps.

I find no problems with those settings and have never felt the need to change them. Most of the shows I watch are US TV and rarely British TV, which could explain why those settings work so well for me.

I seem to remember that there is an 'Auto' setting on the WD box but have never used it and not quite sure what it does.

[kgollop]

Thanks all for the recommendations. I really don't want to be making changes at router level so a device where I can change the dns settings is a must. I'll have a look into all suggestions. Much appreciated!

[theone2k10]

Originally Posted by passingbat

Personally I would avoid the Roku if using unblockus as you can't change the DNS settings with in the Roku box and have to change them in your router.

Any of the cheap Bluray players that include Netflix will be fine; sometimes you can get those for around £60.

Personally I like the WDTV Live Streaming Media Player because you can set it to output 1080p/24, which a lot of the content on the US Netflix is encoded as, including US TV as well as films. For TVs that can't do 24fps, it can also output 1080p/60 which works well and you can choose various other combinations.

They often sell for £60 but prices can go higher than that at times.

Another popular Netflix device is Apple TV, but as I understand it, you can't change the default output from 50hz. This possibly applies to most BR players. Also Apple TV only outputs 5.1 DD, rather than 5.1 DD+

This article is a bit old now, but may be of help?

http://www.techofthehub.com/whats-best-netflix-player

The WDTV is something i'm looking into getting especially if the WWE Network works on it. As i'm dropping vm tv soon as my contract is up and sticking to smart dns, netflix, amazon and WWE Network.

[Kabaal]

Originally Posted by passingbat

I leave my lounge WD box on 1080p/24 because the TV supports 24fps and the Bedroom WD box on 1080p/60 because the bedroom TV doesn't support 24fps.

I find no problems with those settings and have never felt the need to change them. Most of the shows I watch are US TV and rarely British TV, which could explain why those settings work so well for me.

I seem to remember that there is an 'Auto' setting on the WD box but have never used it and not quite sure what it does.

We watch a fair mix so needs to be changed often otherwise ends up with the jerkiness associated with the wrong refresh rate.

Auto just does as you'd imagine, changea the TV refresh to 24hz for 24fps, 50hz for 25fps and 60hz for 30fps dependent on the files being played. Just doesn't work for Netflix.

One of these days

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by theone2k10

The WDTV is something i'm looking into getting especially if the WWE Network works on it. As i'm dropping vm tv soon as my contract is up and sticking to smart dns, netflix, amazon and WWE Network.

At the moment, there is no Amazon app on the WD box. Whether that will change with the Lovefilm rebranding, I don't know.

I don't think WWE Network is on either but I can check later.

---------- Post added at 14:59 ---------- Previous post was at 14:54 ----------

Originally Posted by Kabaal

We watch a fair mix so needs to be changed often otherwise ends up with the jerkiness associated with the wrong refresh rate.

Auto just does as you'd imagine, changea the TV refresh to 24hz for 24fps, 50hz for 25fps and 60hz for 30fps dependent on the files being played. Just doesn't work for Netflix.

One of these days

I suppose with the WD box you can at least change the refresh rate, even though it's manually. I think with most other boxes you can't, although some BR players may give you the option to select 24fps (some Panasonics I think?)

[kgollop]

Seems like there are so many devices out there. The Roku has great reviews but doesn't seem to work with Unblockus, and the new Google Chromecast device seems to have the same issue. I've seen conflicting reports on WD TV Live and Unblockus/Netflix. Which model do you have passingbat? I quite like the idea of an Android device but there are so many out there and it's hard to establish which ones are any good! Thanks again for everyone's input

[blue666666]

Can you get 3D films on the Netflix app on virgin Tivo?

[denphone]

Originally Posted by blue666666

Can you get 3D films on the Netflix app on virgin Tivo?

No not from l have seen.

[blue666666]

ok den thanks for information

[passingbat]

Originally Posted by kgollop

Seems like there are so many devices out there. The Roku has great reviews but doesn't seem to work with Unblockus, and the new Google Chromecast device seems to have the same issue. I've seen conflicting reports on WD TV Live and Unblockus/Netflix. Which model do you have passingbat? I quite like the idea of an Android device but there are so many out there and it's hard to establish which ones are any good! Thanks again for everyone's input

This is the one I bought in January 2013 (bought two of them a few days apart). They were £60 when I bought them and have been regularly since then. Terrible price now!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


The Unblockus site does say that Unblockus may not work on models sold outside the US.

http://support.unblock-us.com/custom...rticles/291573

All I can say is that it works on both of mine. I did a firmware update when I first got them, but haven't done one since (If it ain't broke etc...).

You don't get the US apps (as expected) but as Netflix had launched in the UK by the time I bought the WD boxes, it was included as a UK app set anyway.

I bought them purely for Netflix use, to get 1080p and 5.1 audio and don't use them for playing back ripped DVDs; I have a couple of media PCs for that.

I leave them on all the time and have to reboot them every now and again or else Netflix can hang when playing a title. I don't have to reboot the bedroom one very often at all, but the one in the lounge has a couple of USB hard drives attached with ripped DVD video on and that seems to make a reboot required much more often for some reason. One little advertised feature of the WD box is that it acts as a cheap and cheerful NAS drive, which is why I have a couple of USB hard drives connected to the lounge one.

Also when you reboot, it sometimes forgets the video output setting and reverts to 720p/50. I'm used to that so always check after a reboot.

So the WD box is not perfect, but it works well enough for my needs. I like the ability to change the video output to my desired setting and therefore put up with it's quirks.


Hope that helps.

---------- Post added at 19:27 ---------- Previous post was at 19:01 ----------

Originally Posted by blue666666

Can you get 3D films on the Netflix app on virgin Tivo?

I think 3D content is limited to the US Netflix region. Stand to be corrected on this.

---------- Post added at 19:32 ---------- Previous post was at 19:27 ----------

Originally Posted by theone2k10

The WDTV is something i'm looking into getting especially if the WWE Network works on it. As i'm dropping vm tv soon as my contract is up and sticking to smart dns, netflix, amazon and WWE Network.

Just checked and the WWE Network isn't on the WDTV box.

[kgollop]

Originally Posted by passingbat

This is the one I bought in January 2013 (bought two of them a few days apart). They were £60 when I bought them and have been regularly since then. Terrible price now!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


The Unblockus site does say that Unblockus may not work on models sold outside the US.

http://support.unblock-us.com/custom...rticles/291573

All I can say is that it works on both of mine. I did a firmware update when I first got them, but haven't done one since (If it ain't broke etc...).

You don't get the US apps (as expected) but as Netflix had launched in the UK by the time I bought the WD boxes, it was included as a UK app set anyway.

I bought them purely for Netflix use, to get 1080p and 5.1 audio and don't use them for playing back ripped DVDs; I have a couple of media PCs for that.

I leave them on all the time and have to reboot them every now and again or else Netflix can hang when playing a title. I don't have to reboot the bedroom one very often at all, but the one in the lounge has a couple of USB hard drives attached with ripped DVD video on and that seems to make a reboot required much more often for some reason. One little advertised feature of the WD box is that it acts as a cheap and cheerful NAS drive, which is why I have a couple of USB hard drives connected to the lounge one.

Also when you reboot, it sometimes forgets the video output setting and reverts to 720p/50. I'm used to that so always check after a reboot.

So the WD box is not perfect, but it works well enough for my needs. I like the ability to change the video output to my desired setting and therefore put up with it's quirks.


Hope that helps.

---------- Post added at 19:27 ---------- Previous post was at 19:01 ----------




I think 3D content is limited to the US Netflix region. Stand to be corrected on this.

---------- Post added at 19:32 ---------- Previous post was at 19:27 ----------



Just checked and the WWE Network isn't on the WDTV box.

Thanks again, very much appreciated!

[steveh]

One thing that's slightly annoying with Netflix is that all the old PAL SD shows seem to have been converted to NTSC (480 lines / 60Hz refresh) and with the overscan trimmed, then get converted back to 50Hz refresh when viewing, resulting in significantly worse picture quality and weird movement.

[theone2k10]

Originally Posted by passingbat

This is the one I bought in January 2013 (bought two of them a few days apart). They were £60 when I bought them and have been regularly since then. Terrible price now!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


The Unblockus site does say that Unblockus may not work on models sold outside the US.

http://support.unblock-us.com/custom...rticles/291573

All I can say is that it works on both of mine. I did a firmware update when I first got them, but haven't done one since (If it ain't broke etc...).

You don't get the US apps (as expected) but as Netflix had launched in the UK by the time I bought the WD boxes, it was included as a UK app set anyway.

I bought them purely for Netflix use, to get 1080p and 5.1 audio and don't use them for playing back ripped DVDs; I have a couple of media PCs for that.

I leave them on all the time and have to reboot them every now and again or else Netflix can hang when playing a title. I don't have to reboot the bedroom one very often at all, but the one in the lounge has a couple of USB hard drives attached with ripped DVD video on and that seems to make a reboot required much more often for some reason. One little advertised feature of the WD box is that it acts as a cheap and cheerful NAS drive, which is why I have a couple of USB hard drives connected to the lounge one.

Also when you reboot, it sometimes forgets the video output setting and reverts to 720p/50. I'm used to that so always check after a reboot.

So the WD box is not perfect, but it works well enough for my needs. I like the ability to change the video output to my desired setting and therefore put up with it's quirks.


Hope that helps.

---------- Post added at 19:27 ---------- Previous post was at 19:01 ----------




I think 3D content is limited to the US Netflix region. Stand to be corrected on this.

---------- Post added at 19:32 ---------- Previous post was at 19:27 ----------



Just checked and the WWE Network isn't on the WDTV box.

Thanks mate.

[kgollop]

So looked at all the streaming options yesterday thanks to the advice on here. Seems the Rocu boxes are the most highly rated but not good for viewing US Netflix as you can't change the dns settings (and we can't change the dns settings on the superhub). It seems the Android boxes are still in too early a stage of development and the upcoming Google Chromcast has the same issue as the Rocu. So I've bitten the bullet and popped out and bought the WD TV Live based on passingbat's feedback (thanks!) and all hooked up and working on US Netflix in no time. Will have a play with the box properly later on but it's doing what I need it to do already. Any of the other content on there worth a watch?