Home theatre setup: advice or help urgently needed, please

[crab]

 I've been watching videos for the past few years on my LG Smart TV using an external HD and a WDTV Live playing through a Yamaha RX-V467 receiver, with the sound going direct from the Yamaha to external speakers. The sequence, as I understand it, is sound and video from external HD to WDTV Live to Yamaha; thence video to TV and sound to speakers. Apart from the inherent limitations of the WDTV Live, this system has worked well. Until now.

The power junction box to the house exploded, causing much destruction. I was watching TV through the above system at the time. There was a loud crash and a billow of smoke. I thought the smoke came from the Yamaha, but perhaps not. Early indications are that the television set and the Yamaha may still be undamaged, though I am yet to play anything, sound or video, to verify this. Both turn on. When the system is connected to a Marantz DVD player with a malfunctioning tray, the Marantz logo appears on the tv screen; when I attach the WDTV, the WDTV logo appears. However, in neither case can I play anything. The WDTV Live turns on, but seems unable to read the files on any attached external drive. I did try to connect my ancient iPod, but am not sure whether I was doing so correctly. It did not work.

I do not have access to any local TV network.

I should be very grateful for any or all advice, including perhaps a recommendation of some reliable and competent individual whom I could pay to come to my house in Khao Tao, Hua Hin and address the various issues. I'm technically incompetent.

Some of my questions. If the Yamaha proves to be undamaged, should I replace the WDTV Live or is there a better way to do things? The WDTV being pretty much obsolete, what should I replace it with? Is there a shop or repair centre in town where I could take the various items to be checked out?

In hope, thank you.

[MaeJoMTB]

I replaced my WDLive with a ZyXel 326 NAS. The NAS can be seen by my SMART Tv and my pc.

The great thing about it is it's ability to download torrents without any other equipment being turned on, and you can plug other USB drives directly into it as well as up to 2 internal drives.

 

About 4,500bht for the bare NAS from Lazada.

[johng]

Have you tried the external hard drive connected a computer ?
Maybe dead or the files got corrupted.

If you have a usb flash/thumb drive try putting some video on that and stick it in the WDTV

[Jai Dee]

It sounds like your Yamaha receiver has sustained some damage.

 

I assume that you connect your external HD via USB to the WDTV Live box, which in turn is connected via HDMI to your receiver?

 

Video out from the receiver is via HDMI to the TV and audio out is direct to your external speakers (5:1 or similar)?

 

You could test your TV by plugging in your USB HD into one of the USB ports on the TV and try to play back a multimedia file.

 

The video out from your receiver seems to be working OK as you are seeing your peripheral devices logos on your TV.

 

You could test your receiver for audio out by using the tuner function... plug in some wire to the aerial port on the back of the tuner and see if you can tune in a local FM radio station... the audio should play out on your speakers.

 

Does your Marantz DVD player have a USB port? If so you could plug your USB drive in there and playback a multimedia file to your TV via the receiver.

 

But as John says above, check your USB drive on a computer first.