New Western Digital WD TV Live media player hits Best Buy
By Nilay Patel 
posted Oct 12th 2009 12:03AM
posted Oct 12th 2009 12:03AM
[Thanks, Keith D.]
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put Netflix on it
I just bought one at best buy. It will be replacing my popcorn A-110. The menus are very good.
Remember the blimp...
http://www.thestealthblimp.com/
I'll wait till it has Wifi.
Wifi?? Not for streaming full 1080p. Currently wired is the only way...
I stream 1080p MKV files to my Windows 7 HTPC over wireless-G (not N, G) all day without a single dropped frame.
The need for Cat-5 is a myth. The requirement for Wifi in any HT device is a must.
If this one runs linux like the old one did you can add wireless yourself via USB. http://www.wdtvc.com
WD supports USB dongles on the device.
@ 416Hammy
You wanna share your setup a bit?
What hardware, what router, etc., etc.
deleting comments about spelling mistakes in the original post seems like a slippery slope to me...
There's a reason Gizmodo is quoted in the Windows 7 commercial and not engadget.
yeah, next thing you know they might start deleting all the "FIRST!" comments too
They probably had to change it or else engadget could of lost some advertising revenue from best buy and thats how they make alot of their moneys.
unless the spelling errors where corrected...then who cares?
Nilay obviously doesn't care for Best Buy. My RSS reader said: "New Western Digital WD TV Live media player hits Bust Buy"
No, that's not it. It just means that New Zealand is getting it first... ;-)
Wouldn't that be "Bist Buy"?
does anyone know if this player (or other Youtube capable players i.e. LG BD390) can play the HD youtube streams ?
why were the old comments wiped, because they criticized the the obvious lack of proofread?
Got mine two days ago from BB. Stable and fast.
Did they update the GUI on this model? My dad loves the original, but the interface is pretty spartan and not really noob friendly.
Personally, I'd be happy if they'd just cut the file extensions off the titles, so the list looked cleaner.
The fact Engadget is censoring out comments made about Engadget's lack of proofread is just pure communism.
soviet Russia comments censor Nilay Patel!
Yeah, 'cause Engadget should totally go the democratic route and have every commenter vote on whether or not a comment should be deleted - duh!
The fact that Engadget is deleting comments which point out spelling mistakes has nothing to do with communism. If anything, it would be the fact that they're deleting comments in ANY case where they decide to...
@Lumberjack Commando:
I think you took katsun's comment a bit too seriously...
Demo was up in local Bestbuy 4 weeks ago. Its Interesting.
That's a pretty cool product!
Did they improve the subtitles?
It says it needs Windows Vista in the specs list... Why in the world would it NEED Vista?? Couldn't I stream video to it from a Linux system??
The old one was Linux based and supported NFS. By merit of BestBuy's recent indoctrination i guess windows is all they will tell you about.
Yeah, well, no WiFi. Otherwise nice. Oh and BB: That's two brilliant product shots of the product's face, think about including a shot of the ports next time around.
It does support WiFi. Page 56 of the manual. Just add a USB wireless adapter.
I think people are making way too big a deal out of the Bust Buy thing.
All of us are prone to typos. This one was funnier than most, but it's not worth so many commenters getting their panties in a twist about it.
That said, I'd be interested in the WD TV Live if I could somehow hook my WD MyBook World Edition to it. Until then, I'll just continue using an old laptop of mine to stream the MyBook's data (and various shows from Boxee and Hulu) to my TV.
Ohhh, boy! I'm first! wwhoot whooot!
First to be downranked!
Better late than never!
looks real good and at 119 it's dope. should be around 99 soon and maybe a shade less at costco. and 1080p is tough over most wifi so i'm fine with it hard wired. It's gonna be a foot from my router anyways.
I'm thinking of getting it just because it's a WD and i like WD's haha
http://www.tvlesson.com/video/40307_western-digital-network-media-player.html
how the hell could you use Youtube without wifi? pointless.
Ever heard of Ethernet?
I got one! I like it and the HDMI connector isn't a joke, I play my 1080P Vids on and it auto switches to lesser size videos. Get a self powered USB drive for it. Mine doesn't like my WD Passport but plays with Thumb Drive and External Seagate.
I've been watching it all weekend and no problems.
wasn't this out already 2 months ago?
I have been waiting on this. I just called bestbuy.com the guy said it was in-stock. I placed my order online and it said it will be here tomorrow. I have Benn waiting since July to for the new one with Ethernet to come out. The codec support on this for a name brand company is unbelievable.
way too late WD, I got my upgrade from WDTV to Asus O'Play, $99.99 work nice, 1080p stream nicely also does DTS downmix via HDMI. plays RMVB, and all the other 1080p file wdtv would not play.
I know the old WDTV did not do DTS downmix (which is necessary for me) does the new one not do it either?
3 local bestbuys have here in norther NJ
Why does Engadget make low and lowest-ranked comments unreadable?
So that we don't have to read the crap that those comments contain. They wouldn't have gotten downranked that much if they were worth reading.
Still no DVD ISO chapter and menu support. Pass.
I have a Roku box and I'm considering getting one of these too. Fuck you though Engadget, do you have to bring up Windows anytime any Linux based device is released? Hell the licensing for Windows 7 alone would already rise any device well over $300 plus the minimum specs it would require.
Here's for more devices like this so that I can disconnect my cable/satellite
This looks nice, but I want an Internal HDD.
What vendors make one with a spot to pop in an internal HDD?
I know popcorn hour does, but I like the $100-120 price range.
that price...no one.
The only nmp's out there that even give you that option is Popcorn Hour & QNAP.
But the PCH's are over $200, and the QNAP is $400.
Not one? Not true dude... for about 130 USD... you can pop a 2.5" hdd into the xstreamer.
http://shop.xtreamer.net/
Ok fine and dandy, but we're all wondering how much it will cost for the Geek Squad to install this for us.
Xtreamer has a loud-ass fan I hear.
Found the manual online so I throw it up on my server.
http://www.billiehall.com/wdtvlive/USERGUIDE.pdf
Please put Netflix on it.
*Very* nice price, but this device will only work for me if it does the following:
- Support DVD rips hosted on my network (preferably via NFS)...and provide menu and chapter support. I prefer support for both ISO and VOB...and I see above comments about not supporting ISO in this fashion
- Support NetFlix...OR, at the very least, support PlayOn.
Otherwise, I'll just buy more PCH A100s and A110s. Yeah, they are more expensive ($150 - $220), but they support everything (without DRM) in the universe...and do fairly well with PlayOn for the other stuff.
Above $200, and you just start seriously thinking about Ion-based nettops. Man, I cannot wait to see those in stock at $350.
It has ethernet for DLNA streaming. So playon should work fine. I know I'm thinking about picking it up just for playon.
Those still can't play Hulu in HD thought right?
Does support wireless. Page 56 of the manual. Just add a USB wireless adapter.
Can you send that to me (manual)? It isnt even on WD.com yet.
Anyone test HD audio, bitstream or decode to LPCM?
http://www.billiehall.com/wdtvlive/USERGUIDE.pdf
They just updated the firmware on the old version (after many complaints the last one had issues). So lets hope we see some of the requested features in at least one of these devices, such as full ISO chapter support.
From the manual it definitely has a different GUI and several features that people have been requesting for the WDTV1, like using the next button to skip to the next chapter. The WDTV1 requires you to navigate the option menu, at least five button presses, to do the same. The latest prerelease firmware finally fixes audio sync issues with MKV files (after being broken for ~8 releases), but it looks like generally they used the WDTV1 to beta test their next product, leaving us behind. Sucks to be an early adopter.
I have never had any sync issues with my wdtv and mkv files. I have a crap video 720p tv and every now and then I have turn off the tv and then turn it back on again to fix and audio issue where everything is static. I believe a lot of audio probs that I read about are actually HDMI handshake problems. Whether that is a shortcoming of the wdtv or the tv's I don't know.
I will be buying this as soon as newegg has it. Can I have USB powered 2tb hd's please?
video should be vizio
I don't understand why "digital surround sound is only available when using the Toslink S/PDIF interface" I have a DD, DTS, 7.1 receiver with 4 hdmi inputs. This would require me to put the hdmi cable into the tv, and an optical cable into some other input on the receiver. Why not pass digital audio over hdmi and let my receiver do the work?
just bought one of these. streaming from my mac using eyeconnect it doesn't recognize any of my .mkv files. it only recognizes .mkv's that are on the connected usb drive. western digital doesn't even list this product on their web site and there is currently no support knowledge base for WD TV Live.
Playon works pretty well. WD Live add's Component cable support as well. Wired isn't a problem for me as I used wired for my roku anyway... If this gets TRUE netflix/amazon support, then goodbye roku.
I wish it had a bowser.
Who wouldn't want the king of the Koopas in their media player?
how does this compare to
Seagate - FreeAgent Theater+ HD Media Player
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9539494&st=Seagate+FreeAgent+Theater&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1218121172541#tabbed-customerreviews
same price
Pretty sure the Seagate restricts you to using their drives with some proprietory connector.
Do any of these Media Players support streaming HULU and such? I can use Boxee on the AppleTV, but if there is something better I would be interested.
What the hell, what if I don't have vista. Is this a joke? I'm sure it is.
Just bought one. I run a linux desktop. I hooked up a wd 1tb my book to it. I can use samba to connect to it to transfer files to it. It can stream youtube hd but it does not cache for crap so to watch the video smoothly you have to pause the video right at the beginning and wait for it to dl. I have not got my mediatomb working so it is seen on the net. So lets say I can not give a fair streaming report. I have a dsmg600 that the machine can see. But the dsmg600 has all sorts of issues on its own and does not play nicely.
My PS3 does not see the network share. My laptop with windowsxp home is restricted from seeing things on the home network. It comes with a cd that should fix that issue... but I have a netbook no cdrom. Otherwise playing video from the usb drive connected... works great. I am thinking of getting playon so I can get netflix on it. Otherwise it plays my downloaded anime just fine. The menu sucks. I wish it would give you a list view instead of Icon view. Otherwise I am happy.
BTW I have had so many issues with wireless, I wired my house just so I could have my ps3 hooked up mainlining. If only PS3 did not have the drm up their.... Well lets say the PS3 could be the most awesome streaming box but they utterly fail. Maybe I should get an xbox360 so I can get netflix. Ooooh but that would be supporting Micro$oft.