Using Internal HDD through WD TV

[kapilg]

Hi guys,

Recently puchased a PC at home. Want to access the computer harddisc using the media player (WD TV Live). Can someone please guide on -

1) Cables to be used
2) Any other accessory required
3) Connections

Thanks in advance. Cant wait to access the 2 TB HDD of PC with tons of contents !!!!!!

 

[genopv]

Haven't tried - but guess you should start here:
Unofficial firmware - WD TV Wiki

I'm not sure if its directly possible otherwise.

 

[venkatcr]

You have to set up a network at home and assign an IP address for the WD TV and for your PC. The PC should act like a server. Only then will you be able to access the drives inside the PC.

Cheers

 

[kapilg]

Thanks Venkat,

Which cable will be needed. Will I need something else apart from cable ?

 

[saurabh459]

You need the ethernet cable running from your wifi modem to yr wd live,it will automatically detect its assigned IP and then you need to know how to share a folder on yr network where u've got all yr content and then on the wd live go to videos and in shared network locate yr folder which you have shared,thats it viola. Your internet's up and download speed should be good to stream content from your PC.

 

[venkatcr]

As Saurabh has said, what you need is a CAT5 cable. At the same time I am not sure if you can read the files if you just connect the WDTV to the PC. You have to setup a network, assign IP addresses, share files, and then read the files. At least that is the way it work with Dune and TViX.

Cheers

 

[theironhorse]

connect them either directly throught a cat5 cable and assign manual ip address to pc and device

else connect them through a modem or router and through dhcp uip will be assigned and then u can share the drive u want on pc and it will be accesible to ur wd.

 

[boo3dmax]

hi guys, i am also having a wd live and network hard drive, i have my old router Newegg.com - NETGEAR WGR614 802.11b/g Wireless-G Broadband Router up to 54Mbps/ 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Port x4 in my home, which i am planning to use with this, should this be sufficient to use two PCs, 1 network drive, 1 wd, and 2 iphones? or should i have to go for any high end GB router?

 

[theironhorse]

that is more than enough to access data
however do not plan to stream HD movies on it


as wifi is uni directional and it will give max transfer rate of 6-7 MBPS.. that movies above 2-3 gb will stutter else audio will move out of sync.


good for music and 700mb movies.. will work absolutely fine and normal usage.
just get ur hdd and wd tv on wifi.
ip will be assigned to both of em.. u shud be able to see it on network or just browse it through ip address..

router will generally give 192.168.1.1 then next 4 of em..

 

[boo3dmax]

thx for the reply..

that is more than enough to access data
however do not plan to stream HD movies on it

what do you mean by not to stream? i will connect my WD, Hdd to the router using lan cable. i will access them from laptop in wifi. You mean not to play it in wifi?

 

[GeorgeO]

One more option to consider is to get a USB docking station like the one from Thermaltake and connect it to your media player.This allows an internal drive to be placed in it, unlike the conventional external drive connection. I got one of these and am very happy with it.

 

[boo3dmax]

yeh that looks good, but my ultimate aim is to have a n/w drive which is commonly accessible from all my systems..so docking station is ruled out for me..

 

[theironhorse]

Yep wifi will be sluggish but lan will do almost anything...

 

[boo3dmax]

even with high performance router like this? Amazon.com: Cisco-Linksys E3000 High-Performance Wireless-N Router: Electronics

i am in dilemma whether to buy this one or use my old one.. as i told i will be leaving from US this month end, so confusion is - to buy one from here (US) rather than ending up buying in india after it fails with my old router

 

[argho]

yeh that looks good, but my ultimate aim is to have a n/w drive which is commonly accessible from all my systems..so docking station is ruled out for me..

So why don't you buy a NAS. Eg.
Newegg.com - Netgear ReadyNas NV+ 4-bay NAS Drive Enclosure w/ Gigabit & speeds up to 25MBps (Diskless)
Newegg.com - Netgear ReadyNas NV+ 4-bay NAS Drive Enclosure w/ Gigabit & speeds up to 25MBps (Diskless)

 

[GeorgeO]

You do realise of course that if your media player is on the network, the drive on the docking station will also show up on the network, through the media player?

 

[boo3dmax]

hi all.. i did some testing with an old 54mbps router which i got from my friend, and i concluded this.

in normal setup, one would connect WD and network drive in wired LAN to the router (as both are not wifi enabled in my case), with this setup hd movies from WD plays with no lag at all.. its more than enough..

this way i will connect and download movie files into my network drive using wifi, which is again not a problem with our internet speed over here.

so i have decided to stay with my old router and i believe i wont see any issue with this current setup.. thanks again guys..