Streaming content from X-ternal drive: Does it stream content directly from my external hard drive without having to copy it to my laptop?
1127897
No hard disk is needed but some models can have a usb hard drive that you put your own content on using your PC, such as mp3s or mpg content. The hardrive is plugged into the ROKU box. Unpotected content such as news or podcast can be recorded to your DVR. All content is streamed then composed to video for your TV. ( I am speaking of the ROKU box)
1050200
I ran this device over a 1 Gbit network and it was sending a file at almost 50mbit per second... And I think that was bottle necked by my laptops write speed. This device is more than capable of streaming anything you want... Believe it or not I can even stream full blown PC game from this device as if they where installed on my PC by setting up a network drive and some special type of folders. Currently I stream uncompressed 1080p 3D content over to not my TV and PS3 and they both work perfectly as if the file was saved locally.
428450
Yep, it will allow you to watch your movies on your laptop with some exceptions. It doesn't have the codecs to allow you to watch amazon downloaded codecs for example. However, if it is just a straight avi or mp4, it will allow you to stream from your shared file folders or windows libraries.
1833176
I work professionally with this drive as a video editor using extremely high definition files and it streams the video perfectly! I can't imagine any audio files being larger to stream than my video files (which have audio embedded in them) so my intuition is you should be fine.
2206384
Idk about a straight hard drive install. Not sure how you would access the files. I do, however, regularly connect my computer/iPad to the tv thru an HDMI cable. I can watch files on the unit or stream from the internet.
687827
It's not a question of whether DLNA is or is not simplistic. It's a question of whether it works when people use this device, and specifically when people use it with the native capabilities of whatever is hosting or storing the media. Saying what's better sidesteps the issue. It would be better for me to ignore the WD and use a powerful desktop computer attached to my TV instead. Unless you factor in cost. In that case, it's better not to need to find any dedicated server program or anything else that's not included for free.
1586966
Yes it will play movies from a external hdd and wifi i do not know. With XBMC you have alot of tv shows and movies. Great box to have...
127850
I have not use it for that purpose. I used it to stream Video files from my hard drive to the media player in another room. It works great.
118403
I'm not sure if you can plug a external hard drive directly to the t.v., I usually connect my t.v. through my local network. For example I'll turn on my computer and have it set up through windows media player. Same thing with my music......
1661371
The drive app will see the folders; how it interacts w/ your ethernet question is unknown. It should work, but ... connectivity is diceySorry I cannot be more specifici
1010493
This will only stream digital media stored on storage that can be plugged in via USB or a compatible SD card. DVD's are optical and output the decoded video digitally via HDMI, they are not compatible. Sorry. The DVD could be decrypted and stored digitally on a USB stick that the media-share device could stream, but I'm guessing this is not what you require.
930957
I stream from a SMB server on my network just fine. It's a USB HDD enclosure on the router, the router supplies the SMB server itself, it should work well for you.
868147
I have my doubtsit would have to be transferred wirelessly to the computer and then to the hard drivethe hard drive I assume is not wireless
1866320
I have used a LAN(ethernet) cable from the WD MY Cloud to my laptop LAN port or my Roku3 LAN port with no problems.I can see my video, foto and music files on my Roku and I can read and write files from my laptop!At fisrt I always used it trough my router wired or wireless but now can use it direct connect via LAN cable!
513467
The short answer is ... 'no'. As DrDon explained previously, the device is basically a capture device that converts the output video signal from your TV, XBox, etc into a file that can be saved on the connected computer using the software that comes with the device. You can then take that file and copy it from the computer to an external drive if you wish ... or you can record directly to an external drive connected to the computer which is actually how I do it.
1029147
Not unless you have the right software to only read the hard drive. This device only turns the Hard Drive into an External Device. It has no options whatsoever.
1162818
Yes you can, you can stream video, and music from this drive to your device