In this post, I will review a recently acquired WD TV Live Plus purchased from Microcenter for around $100.  The quest was to find a media player solution that could read media from network shares and play them with minimal fuss.  Since this is going to be attached to the primary TV, it has to be “Girlfriend Approved” and easy to use.  I believe that the WD TV Live Plus fits this requirement adequately however the installation of the device could be easier.  Once done, the device is wonderful.  Read the full review after the break.

Foreword

One of the things that I’ve been keeping a close eye on is the development of the media center computer.  A non-PC PC that is used to play local network content and can provide other services through the TV and still maintain the ease of use of a standard DVD player.  I had previously experimented with XBMC and was pleased with it’s overall hardware support and the features it supported “out of the box” however the UI was a bit kludgy and having to predefine all media sources and items before it would show up.  It also didn’t help much that the only device that I had that would work properly was an old Averatec laptop which did work very well, even with the embedded Intel graphics.

I skipped the newer iterations of XBMC partially due to lack of time and due to the fact that I was still not looking forward to using the Averatec laptop as it required a mouse and I didn’t have the money to pony up for Windows Media remote (which would have been supported).  Time grew on and by then my needs for additional storage had exceeded a single drive.  I built a Windows based NAS server using a 3ware card donated by a friend and buit a 2Tb storage array.  Soon after that, I got to the point where looking at a media player began to become feasible again as now I had plenty of storage and lots of plans.  I ultimately wanted to rip and encode my DVDs so that I could play them without needing to swap disks endlessly.

I was already accustomed to using Netflix on the Xbox360, however I wanted the same convenience of couch-surfing with all my local media.  A bonus through work found me with extra cash to finally take a look at a media player.  My requirements were simple.

• It must support a variety of media in a variety of formats and codecs.
• It must have a remote and be easily operated.
• It must have a variety of outputs including HDMI and Component.
• It must be able to read SMB shares easily and remember credentials.
• It must be inexpensive.
• The box, UI and remote have to not look fugly.

Research, research, research

I started looking around at a lot of the common media players that are out there.  The Apple TV was too “hipster” and I really didn’t feel like dealing with iTunes after the fiasco that was my iPod.  The price was right and the Apple TV did have the right connectors, but dependence on the iTunes application really made it a deal killer.

Boxee was an attractive option and had high ratings however when I saw the final product and it’s cubelike design, it was an instant turnoff. While the hardware was more than adequate, the box itself looked rather ugly. When I did some additional research, the price point (at almost $250 at initial research, now $199) it was still out of my price range. While Boxee did have the free software option like XBMC, I had no “decent” hardware on it to make it not suck. so unfortunately this option was nixed.

There were some other media devices that I had found however they were really proprietary and for various reasons, they don’t even merit mention.  That said, I reluctantly asked around work and several coworkers offered suggestions, most of which were either Apple TV, XBMC, Boxee.  A couple of guys mentioned the WDTV Live Plus so I started doing research.

The WD TV Live Plus appeared to support all of my requirements although several forum posts came up about difficulty with networking.  At $100 a unit, this appeared to be a viable option so I decided to gamble.

Hardware

Without further ado, let’s take a look at what we’re up against.

WD TV Live Plus box

This is the outside of the box.  Inside the box, you get a remote, two AAA batteries, the WDTV Live Plus, a 1/4in to AV (Video, L and R Audio) cable, a 1/4in to Component (Y,Pb,Pr) cable and power supply adapter.

WDTV size comparison

To put a size comparison on things, this thing is SMALL.  It’s about the size of a large pocket switch roughly 4inches deep, five inches wide and about an inch tall. The remote control is about three inches long  and an inch wide and roughly a half-inch deep. Although it is small, it does fit in either hand comfortably thanks in part to a finger wide notch cut into the bottom of the remote.

Back Ports

The rear of the WDTV contains several ports as shown above.  The ports from left to right are Power, USB, HDMI, Optical Audio TOSLINK, Ethernet, Component, Composite+Audio.

Top view

The Top of the WDTV features an additional USB port and the always good-to-have reset pinhole.  In the event of a device failure, you can use the pinhole to factory reset the device and to perform software updates.

My WDTV installed and running.

Here is a picture of my WDTV installed and running.  To put it in persepective, that is a Netgear 8 port switch it is sitting on top of and the salt rock to the right is about the size of a 2 liter bottle of soda.

Other things worth mentioning:

• The two USB ports can support a variety of USB Mass Storage devices including cameras, USB Hard drives, Thumb drives and Media Card readers.  It can also support a limited range of wireless adapters, USB keyboards and other options. Although Wireless options are available, my network does not run Wireless N and as stated in the link, Wireless G may be too slow for streaming.  I did not get the ability to test Wireless connectivity as my network is primarily wired 10/100 network.
• There is no HDMI cable included with this kit so you will need to buy one if you intend to use HDMI.

Software

As mentioned earlier, I required that the device be easy to use and able to pick up SMB shares While the UI appeared to be quite usable, there were difficulties in getting the network shares to show up.  Several posts to the WD Customer Support forum complained about this very same issue however I was able to overcome the issue once I found out what the root issue was. If you want a further review of the software, skip this section.

Not all SMB networks are the same

As stated on the box, this device should be able to read content from SMB (MS Network) shares and play it however there was a significant issue with the implementation of the SMB protocol in the WD TV Live Plus.  My network is largely Windows clients seeing as how my NAS is a Windows XP computer with a storage array and that most of my computers are Windows XP based (except for my core networking equipment and my laptop which uses Ubuntu.)  This ended up causing more hell than I was expecting and I’ll explain.

Oh master, where art thou?

In a Windows network where there is no domain controller, Windows computers will get into an election process to attempt to establish a browse master.  This browse master is a Windows computer that maintains a list of active computers on the network.  This behavior is part of NetBIOS and SMB sharing and allows the computers to “discover” each other.  Once the browse master is established, additional computers will communicate with the master to “register” themselves, and once registered can discover each other’s network shares.  This share list is populated each time someone tries to browse the network.

I’m talking, but no one’s listening!

The WDTV on boot, will perform a broadcast to the network on UDP port 137 (NetBIOS Name service) which is according to the NetBIOS protocol.  It waits for a browse master to return the broadcast so it can then download the browse list. The issue is that Microsoft has altered the way NetBIOS works and in doing so, has altered the way NetBIOS operates.  One of the alterations is that Windows computers (whether browse master or not) is that the computers will no longer respond to broadcasts to port 137.  The result is that the WDTV will never receive the response it’s looking for and it’s server list will never get updated.

You are my slave now!

The workaround is to install NetBIOS (part of the SAMBA package) on a Linux box and set “local master = yes” in samba.conf.  This will also give you the added benefit of sped up network browsing on your computers and the installation of NetBIOS is very simple, requiring only one modification to a configuration file and a service restart.  In my testing of the WDTV,  I was unable to get the WDTV to show any network shares prior to the installation of the NetBIOS service.  Once I installed the NetBIOS service, it was a matter of seconds that the network shares listed out all of the active computers on the network.

Carrying on….

Testing the UI under component, composite and HDMI cables showed little difference in the display resolution aside from the appreciable differences in the three connection technologues themselves. In each test, the UI was sharp and clear with menu options easily highlighted. The UI is a dark-blue theme and reminds me a lot of the Playstation 3 interface.

UI main image

In the above image, I have highlighted the server “Zeus” from Videos -> Network shares.   The icons scroll vertically to allow you to select options, while horizontal movement allows you to proceed or go back via the four way D-pad on the remote.  Hitting “OK” is only required on media titles, menu options (like Configuration Settings) and various sub-menus as needed.

Media List

The Media List view shows up once a server has been selected and allows you to drill down to find the content you want.  On the “Zeus” server, I have several shares dedicated to each type of media that the WDTV supports.  This is the list of the “Movies” fileshare.  Photos and Music are other fileshares available.  In this view, you can simply highlight a movie and without further action, it will start playing in the preview window on the right.  If you want to play it fullscreen, just select the preview window and hit OK.  The display will then go full size without missing a beat.

All in all, the UI is simple to use, easy to navigate and offers a lot of functionality without cluttering up the display.

It also has apps

I hesitate to mention this as I didn’t purchase the WDTV for applications, but it does bear mentioning.  This device supports games and apps including Youtube, Facebook and Netflix support. While I did briefly try out the Netflix and Youtube options and they appeared to work as expected, I did not try the Facebook app and felt that the inclusion of Facebook on a media client to be in excess.  I can’t contemplate using my media client to check my Facebook as I have phones, laptops and full-size computers for that.

Final Verdict

To summarize the total experience of the WD TV Live Plus, let’s break down the experience into the Good and the Bad. It may be cliche to do it, but it works well.

The Good

• Small Form Factor
• Includes remote, component and composite cables and battery
• Supports HDMI, DVI (via HDMI to DVI cable), Composite and Component connections.
• Includes TOSLINK optical audio out for connectivity to a surround sound system.
• Plays a wide variety of video formats: AVI(Xvid, AVC, MPEG 1,2 and 4, WMV9, VC-1, MPEG/MPG, VOB (DVD), MKV, TS/TP/M2T, MP4/MOV, M2TS and WMV9.  I have not tested DivX format as I don’t have any DivX formatted media.
• Plays a wide variety of audio formats: MP3, WAV, PCM, LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby Digital.
• Picture is clear regardless of connector type
• Menu navigation is easy and intuitive without clutter.

The Bad

• No HDMI cable included in kit.
• Networking requires NetBIOS browse master and setup can be daunting for non-Linux networks or unexperienced users.
• Will not play DRM protected content.
• No Web-based interface or control application.

My Thoughts

The WDTV Live Plus is a great addition to the network and will work very well for playing media. After getting the network issue resolved, this device has flawlessly performed without issue for the last week.  I have started a project to rip all my DVDs to the NAS so I can watch all my movies and TV shows without having to touch a single DVD disc.  This product gets a firm thumbs up from me.

My Girlfriend’s Thoughts

Of course, being a geek means I have a high tolerance for making stuff work, but since I live with my girlfriend, it doesn’t get a thumbs up if she can’t use it.  In this particular case, she liked the menu configuration and ease of navigation.  She was able to look at video content with very little prompting from me unlike the initial case of the failed XBMC attempt. The WDTV Live “just worked” and she was very pleased with it.  She says it’s definitely Girlfriend Approved and she can’t wait until I get the DVDs ripped.

In the next month or so, I will provide a follow up on how to establish a NetBIOS browse master, rip and encode DVDs and how to set up fileshares in Windows to allow you to use your WDTV effectively.  Minus the initial configuration issue, this device is cheap on cost without being cheap on features. It is a well designed product that will help integrate computer media into your existing entertainment system without significantly impacting your wallet or your sanity.

Verdict:  Buy!

Cost: around $100, sometimes on sale for around $70-80

Availability: Most Online Retailers, and some brick-and-mortar stores like Best buy, Fry’s, etc..

Have fun!

FIRESTORM_v1

A little background on the TI MSP430 first.

This is TI’s approach to the microcontroller market that is not targeted at the industrial segment, but rather at us the hardware DIY crowd.  I have to admit that they did it right with the $4.30 price point and I can’t wait to get started.  The kit includes two of the MSP430 chips:

• MSP430G2211IPN14  -2kB of on-die flash, 128 bytes of RAM, 10 GPIO pins, One 16-bit timer, a Watchdog timer, a BOR and a comparator.  You can download the datasheet from here.
• MSP430G2231IPN14 – 2kB of on-die flash, 128 bytes of RAM, 10 GPIO pins, One 16-bit timer, a Watchdog timer, a BOR, a Serial Interface (for I2C or SPI), an internal temperature sensor and an 8 channel 10bit ADC.  This chip’s datasheet can be found here.

The 2231 chip comes preinstalled and pre-programmed with a basic temperature demo which shows off the internal temperature sensor.  It’s definitely more than the blinking LED demo that comes with most sample programs.

So, let’s take a look at the thing.

Launchpad Box

The box comes in a very nice black cardboard box with TI’s launchpad Wiki printed on the front.  On the back of the box is TI’s other site URL straight to the chip specs, http://www.ti.com/430value.

The Development board with an MSP430G2231 mounted and ready to fire up.

The board itself is in a small anti-static bag, and when you open it up, you get a red development board like above.  There is a chip pre-programmed and ready to go.  Just like the Arduino, this board is USB powered and USB programmed.  There is a socket in the middle that you can plug a chip into, program, and then remove for use in your own projects or breadboard.  For the Arduino crowd, there is even a couple of headers included to populate the left and right solder pads for an easy method of attaching jumpers to the board for prototyping.

Accessories

In addition to the development board, you also get the above accessories.  Left is the two single row headers for the board (both female connector and male pins are included).  At the top is the second chip, (the chip without SPI/I2C and the Serial interface) and in the foreground is a 32.768kHz crystal that you can solder onto the development board for a more accurate clock.  The MSP430′s do include their own internal clock source however for those time sensitive projects, the external crystal is preferred and this board gives you you ready access to it should you find you need one.  Also included is a USB A to Mini-B cable.

A

Plugged in and ready for action!

Here is a picture of the board plugged in and ready to rock.  Although the LED’s brightness blurs the camera, there is a red LED and a green LED located next to the switch in the foreground.  When you first apply power to the board, the back LED (near the USB header) lights indicating power is applied, and the two LEDs near the left switch blink alternating, indicating that the chip is ready to be programmed.  In this image, I was using the chip that was already inserted, so all I had to do to run the simple test application was to hit the left pushbutton and start the program.

According to the wiki page, there are nine variants of the MSP430, some offering more flash (code) storage, some offering additional features however they are all pretty consistent at the 128-byte RAM.  Many people on the Hack-a-day article expressed concern at the windows only compiler however Hack-a-day released another article later on about how to code it in our favorite OS.

Generally speaking, cost has been the #1 thing that has distracted me from getting started with the Arduino ($35 for a board) and the PIC microcontroller suffers the same fate.  While the chips for each are quite inexpensive, it’s the programmers that usually ends up costing you in the end.  TI definitely has my attention with a $5 price point and extra chips.  I look forward to playing around with it very soon!

If you’ve gotten ahold of one of these, please let me know what you’ve done in the comments.  I’ve read several articles on Hack-a-day which have been appealing to me, especially the low power article here.

Happy Hacking!

FIRESTORM_v1

You can download the update from Sprint at http://shop.sprint.com/en/software_downloads/pda_smartphone/samsung_moment.shtml

Please note: According to the instructions available at the link above, you will need to use a Windows PC to apply the update to your phone.  I will be posting a mirror shortly and it will show up in the “Download Files” page at the top of this page.

I have recently gotten my hands on a new Samsung Moment on the Sprint network. Within the next few days, I will post all the gory details from this Android n00b and will be offering a comparison against the other smartphone I have, the Palm Pre.

I have to admit that when I had started looking into more advanced microprocessors, I really hadn’t given the Propeller a good looking over.  When I heard about the PropIRC project I had to admit that my interest was piqued.  I had read about the Propeller being used to drive a television set via a composite connector but here was a fully implemented VGA compatible application that was not only impressively executed by Harrison Pham in the build of his PropIRC, but also demonstrated the Propeller’s full range of capabilities.

I ordered my Propeller Education Kit (40 pin DIP version) and was excited to start coding.  By using the Propeller Object Exchange I was able to quickly test just how easy it was to add a PS/2 mouse and keyboard to my testbed.  When I ordered the TV breadboard adapter, I was even more enthralled with the idea of being able to create a standalone device or an embedded device that could interface to standard computer hardware (monitor, keyboard and mouse).  Although I was inspired, I was let down by the complexity of the VGA connection, requiring at least 8 maybe 10 pins to interface, in addition to that, no breaboard connection existed for the VGA connection.

I wrote to Parallax a few months ago and asked them to consider building a VGA/Dual PS2 port breadboard add-on that was a lot like their Propeller Prototype board which already had the solder pads on it for the related Propeller Proto Board accessory kit.  Within an hour, I had an email back from a representative at Parallax that they talked to the lead engineer and they loved the idea.  A few minutes after that, I had an email from Jim Carey saying that not only did they like the idea, they were going to ship me a couple free.  Add to that my surprise when he also stated that he would also give me a Propeller Servo Controller for free as a bonus thank you.

Talk about a company that really listens to their customers.  Not only did they like the idea, but they were going to give me two just for emailing them a product suggestion and on top of that, give me one of their newest products!  I think it’s safe to say that I’m a Parallax customer for life.  I just need to buckle down and start learning the Propeller code and get good with programming it.

But, enough of my story, let’s review the hardware!

In the VGA/PS2 adapter kit, (Parallax part # 28075) you get the Dual PS/2 and VGA adapter, a single row pin header and a small PCB with the resistors in place already.

parts picture

The kit comes with the resistors pre-mounted to the PCB, so all you have to do is to solder the SIP  connector and the VGA module.  The completed module looks like this:

Front view, assembled module

Here is a side view of the module after it’s been assembled:

side profile picture

The really cool thing about this is that by NOT assembling the module completely, this leaves an opportunity to mount the module in a case and use ribbon cables to attach to your project’s main PCB while still providing you the flexibility of being able to use a more modular build.  Since these connectors may wear out over time, it’s a lot easier to replace the module and a ribbon cable that is easily de-soldered, than it would be to desolder the entire module from your project’s main PCB.

Here is a quick shot of what it looks like all jumpered in.  The SIP header allows the module to plug in straight into the breadboard and a series of jumper wires connects the module to the Propeller IO pins:

Propeller VGA/PS2 module all wired up

With that said, of course I set out to test it fully.  I looked to the Parallax Object Exchange and found an object that used the original Hi-Res VGA Driver written by Chip Gracey.  This object provided a Text based GUI implementation and was written by Allen Marincak.  You can download the GUI implementation from Parallax’s Object Exchange here and the original Hi-Res VGA driver here.

If you are going to try this out for yourself, the pins are straight across, from bottom to top (or right to left using the above picture) with “V” (vertical sync) being connected to IO pin 16, and Keyboard Clock being connected to IO pin 27.

Here is a screenshot of the VGA GUI implementation fully operational:

VGA GUI implementation

This implementation supports full keyboard and mouse connectivity with little to no overhead on processing.  The mouse “pointer” is the single green box to the left of the upper left most text box.

On a personal level, I am very excited about this and look forward to using the VGA library and the VGA GUI library in my own implementations.

Manufacturer: Parallax

Product Link: VGA-Ps2 Breadboard adapter

Part Cost: $12.99 USD (as of this posting) + shipping.

Verdict: Highly recommended for anyone seeking to use VGA and PS2 mouse/keyboard in their application design but can’t afford the full Professional Development Board.