Western Digital WD TV Live HD media player gets official
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Oct 13th 2009 10:23AM
posted Oct 13th 2009 10:23AM
Hope you didn't spend your well-earned shekels on a WD TV Mini -- it turns out that the HD-less wonder was just a waypoint to Western Digital's latest. The WD TV Live HD media player is an unassuming sort that doesn't really offer any surprises: 1080p video playback, support for all your favorite codecs, both Pandora and Live365 Internet radio apps, WiFi, two USB ports for external storage, HDMI, composite and component video outputs, SPDIF audio output, and more. No big whoop, right? All this can be yours for an MSRP of $149.99, but we hear that Best Buy has 'em for $119 -- and we wouldn't want you to pay any more than that. PR after the break.
Update: "That's WiFi ready." As in "WiFi adapter sold separately."
Update: "That's WiFi ready." As in "WiFi adapter sold separately."
WD(R) Unveils WD TV(TM) Live HD Media Player With Network Capability and Enhanced User Experience
Consumers Can Stream HD Content from USB Drives, Network Drives and Popular Internet Sites to Their Big Screen TVs
LAKE FOREST, Calif., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WD® (NYSE: WDC), the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced the WD TV Live HD media player featuring network capability and Full-HD 1080p resolution. The new WD TV Live HD media player makes it easy for anyone to play HD (high definition) videos stored on USB and network drives, as well as Internet content from popular Web sites, on the biggest screen in their home -- their HD television. Building on the success of the WD TV HD media player, the WD TV Live HD media player offers a new, more responsive interface to help consumers enjoy a world of digital content in their living room, without a computer.
The network capability of the WD TV Live media player enables users to stream or transfer movies from PC or Mac® computers or a network-attached storage device such as WD's My Book® World Edition(TM) and WD ShareSpace network drives to their HD TVs. The WD TV Live media player also allows users to stream rich content from YouTube(TM), Flickr® and Pandora®. The HD onscreen menu brings together all of the users' available media in an elegant and simple-to-navigate interface.
Consumers are amassing large libraries of digital videos, photos and music on their computers. According to research firm Parks Associates, the average consumer had 123 GB of videos, photos, and music in 2009 which will grow to 1.3 TB by 2013 (Digital Lifestyles: 2009 Outlook). In addition, an increasing number of consumers are looking for seamless access to their personal media, as well as to Internet media. According to Parks Associates, the sales of connected consumer electronics devices, such as connected TVs and digital media adapters, is expected to more than double from 57 million units in 2009 to 115 million units in 2013 (Home Networks for Consumer Electronics 2009).
Consumers are investing millions of dollars in HD TVs, with HD televisions representing more than 50 percent of TVs sold in the U.S., according to Parks Associates (Home Networks for Consumer Electronics 2009). But consumers' digital content is often relegated to the relatively small screen on their PC or Mac computers. The WD TV Live HD media player is the newest member in the family of WD TV media players by WD, which make moving digital content from a computer to playing it on a big screen TV simply plug-and-play.
Like the popular first-generation WD TV HD media player introduced last fall, the WD TV Live media player connects directly to a users' HD TV and plays almost any file stored on a connected USB drive such as My Passport(TM) portable drive. The WD TV Live media player features powerful media processing, which enables playback in Full-HD 1080p resolution. WD TV Live media player also will play movies and photos stored on other popular USB devices such as digital camcorders and digital cameras.
"The media enthusiast community has embraced the first WD TV HD media player and given us tremendous feedback," said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD's branded products group. "With the new WD TV Live media player we're giving them what they asked for -- network connectivity and Internet-content streaming capabilities -- and offering them a simple way to enjoy all of their digital media and enjoy it on their HD TVs."
WD TV Live HD Media Player
Features of the WD TV Live HD Media Player include:
The WD TV Live Media Player is available now at select retailers and online at shopwd.com. Covered by a 1-year limited warranty, the MSRP for WD TV Live Media Player is $149.99 USD.
Consumers Can Stream HD Content from USB Drives, Network Drives and Popular Internet Sites to Their Big Screen TVs
LAKE FOREST, Calif., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WD® (NYSE: WDC), the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced the WD TV Live HD media player featuring network capability and Full-HD 1080p resolution. The new WD TV Live HD media player makes it easy for anyone to play HD (high definition) videos stored on USB and network drives, as well as Internet content from popular Web sites, on the biggest screen in their home -- their HD television. Building on the success of the WD TV HD media player, the WD TV Live HD media player offers a new, more responsive interface to help consumers enjoy a world of digital content in their living room, without a computer.
The network capability of the WD TV Live media player enables users to stream or transfer movies from PC or Mac® computers or a network-attached storage device such as WD's My Book® World Edition(TM) and WD ShareSpace network drives to their HD TVs. The WD TV Live media player also allows users to stream rich content from YouTube(TM), Flickr® and Pandora®. The HD onscreen menu brings together all of the users' available media in an elegant and simple-to-navigate interface.
Consumers are amassing large libraries of digital videos, photos and music on their computers. According to research firm Parks Associates, the average consumer had 123 GB of videos, photos, and music in 2009 which will grow to 1.3 TB by 2013 (Digital Lifestyles: 2009 Outlook). In addition, an increasing number of consumers are looking for seamless access to their personal media, as well as to Internet media. According to Parks Associates, the sales of connected consumer electronics devices, such as connected TVs and digital media adapters, is expected to more than double from 57 million units in 2009 to 115 million units in 2013 (Home Networks for Consumer Electronics 2009).
Consumers are investing millions of dollars in HD TVs, with HD televisions representing more than 50 percent of TVs sold in the U.S., according to Parks Associates (Home Networks for Consumer Electronics 2009). But consumers' digital content is often relegated to the relatively small screen on their PC or Mac computers. The WD TV Live HD media player is the newest member in the family of WD TV media players by WD, which make moving digital content from a computer to playing it on a big screen TV simply plug-and-play.
Like the popular first-generation WD TV HD media player introduced last fall, the WD TV Live media player connects directly to a users' HD TV and plays almost any file stored on a connected USB drive such as My Passport(TM) portable drive. The WD TV Live media player features powerful media processing, which enables playback in Full-HD 1080p resolution. WD TV Live media player also will play movies and photos stored on other popular USB devices such as digital camcorders and digital cameras.
"The media enthusiast community has embraced the first WD TV HD media player and given us tremendous feedback," said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD's branded products group. "With the new WD TV Live media player we're giving them what they asked for -- network connectivity and Internet-content streaming capabilities -- and offering them a simple way to enjoy all of their digital media and enjoy it on their HD TVs."
WD TV Live HD Media Player
Features of the WD TV Live HD Media Player include:
- Full-HD 1080p video playback and navigation with the included remote control and crisp, animated navigation menus;
- Play a wide variety of file formats including support for a wide variety of the most popular file formats with no need to spend time transcoding;
- Play videos, music and photos from the Internet on your big screen TV and discover new music with Pandora Internet radio or listen to thousands of radio stations via Live365 Internet radio;
- Ethernet port for wired or WiFi connection(1) to access files anywhere on the network to play movies, music, and photos from any PC or drive on a home network;
- Turns a USB drive(2) into an HD media player and plays content from most popular USB drives, and digital cameras, camcorders, and portable media players that can be recognized as mass storage devices;
- Unlimited media collection, just add more USB drives for more space;
- Two USB ports for seamless media playback from multiple USB drives and ability to access them simultaneously while a media library feature collects the content on all the drives into one list sorted by media type;
- Transfer files by copying, moving or deleting files stored on a USB drive, a network drive, camcorder, or a camera to the attached USB drive using the on-screen menus;
- Picture Transfer Protocol support to show photos and movies directly from digital camera or video camera and or any digital imaging device that supports Picture Transfer Protocol;
- Advanced navigation options including thumbnail and list views, media library and search;
- Photo viewing to create custom slide shows, zoom and pan and search;
- Movie viewing with fast-forward, rewind, pause, zoom and pan, view subtitles, and search;
- Music playback with fast-forward, rewind, pause, shuffle, repeat and search;
- File copying between USB devices;
- HDMI® 1.3 port, composite video and component video output(3) for the highest quality HDTV or home theater;
- SPDIF digital output that sends digital signals to your AV receiver for the best surround sound experience; and,
- Ultra-compact design to fit easily into a home entertainment center.
The WD TV Live Media Player is available now at select retailers and online at shopwd.com. Covered by a 1-year limited warranty, the MSRP for WD TV Live Media Player is $149.99 USD.
Oh and plus - you can bet their stuff is fake!
they probably are
they just make new accounts
anyone know if this box supports ShoutCast?
Assuming you don't have a NAS, and just want to operate this thing by attaching an external (or 2) HDD, how do you get the media ONTO those external HDDs?
Do they show up as network drives that you can drag and drop to? Or do you have to physically detach them whenever you want to transfer something? Thanks.
You attach 'em them to your PC and load them up. I have one, It's a pain. Will buy more when wifi is built in.
Currently use my Archos 5 over Wifi instead.
Crawdad... No.. they show up on your network.. You can go to the WDTV Live on your network, and see the drive as a network share.
does anyone know what the difference between this and the Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player is?
Makes you kind of wonder who would pick up the Mini at 99.99 when you get a far superior product for 20 bucks more
If they drop the price on that baby to $50 it could be really attractive.
I already have a WD TV...TIME TO UPGRADE!!!
Awesome new functionality!
How is the user interface? Is it usable? Is it stable?
The vast majority of media extenders out there have crappy, bug-ridden interfaces. I was planning to purchase a nettop, but this may do the trick if the software is ready for prime time.
@Spiny - The UI on the existing one is good but slow. Apparently the new one is faster.
(source: http://wdtvhd.com/index.php?showtopic=7100 )
I just picked one up today at Best Buy and the user interface is definitely snappy. And it's very tiny, dead silent, played HD content (MKV) like a champ (even with subtitles and multiple sound tracks).
I'm used to using XBMC for Windows, but I was starting to get fed up with remote issues, stability issues, etc.
After 1.5-2 hours of use, this thing seems pretty good with the following caveats:
* It supports many formats, but not all the ones I need. No Quicktime (which my wife's camera takes), some of my old WMV's don't work and some obscure codecs aren't supported
* The interface is intuitive but takes a good number of clicks to browse to your media in folder mode (Ex. Video > Media Servers > (pick media server) > (pick share) > Folders > (pick folder) > (pick sub-folder) > (pick file))
* Mine isn't displaying my JPEGs properly, but I'm hopeful that this will be fixed in a firmware update soon
* There are very few options that you can change, but it automatically scales all video to fit your screen with the original aspect ratio
In short, it's not as easy to use, feature rich or protocol friendly as XBMC, but this is very simple to use, requires minimal power and for $120, I would have no qualms about recommending this to friends.
a nettop is just $199 and can decode 1080p plus what ever webcast and rmvb.
Who the hell uses rmvb aside from badly encoded chinese movies? Seriously, if this is stopping you from getting one then import some badly translated nettop from China.
hasn't the old one become a de-facto standard, almost? good little machine...
I'm really considering buying this...unless someone has a reason why I shouldn't.
I am with you dude....lead the way......this one's got it all covered.....Move over Seagate and the rest
I am also thinking on buying this. My only question is: Can it be used as a Media Extender with Windows Media Center? If yes, Get Visa, Get Ready, GOO GOOO GOOOOOOOO! Power Rangers
No.. it is not a Windows Media Extender... For that, just buy an xbox arcade, and make sure its well ventilated. I got red ring of death while watching a movie, testing out the extender capabilities.
I don't really understand... Since this doesn't seem to have a hard drive in it whats the point?
You're right...You really don't understand.
You can plug an external USB drive into it. This new model adds network streaming support that the old one lacked making it that much more versatile desirable.
well, if that were true, then the Seagate Freeagent theatre should be where the WD TV is today
You're missing the point - the best part is it can stream straight off your NAS
"network streaming support"
"ability to add an external"
why do you even want an attached hard drive?
this thing is way more future proof than a box with a 250gb hard drive in it. the cost of a hard drive would take away this things value.
@Dennis Wolff
"You're missing the point - the best part is it can stream straight off your NAS"
HUH? I mentioned that as being what makes it so desirable. Network streaming FYI includes the NAS and any computing device in the house that has files shared as well as internet streaming. Perhaps you read it as internet streaming.
@Tyler,
"why do you even want an attached hard drive?"
Never said I did. That's precisely why I passed on the original. My whole house is wired so I avoid sneakernet as much as possible.
sorry chad, i was using your points to ask the original poster that, not you hahaha
i should have been more clear
Wait.. I'm not hearing about WiFi anywhere else. Are you guys sure you have your facts right?
Update: Press release says wifi adapter is sold seperately
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=prnw.20091013.LA87695&show_article=1
It doesn't come with WiFi but since it runs a Linux kernel any USB WiFi dongle that has Linux drivers should work with it. At least that's what I had read yesterday.
Further update: WDTVHD.com has custom firmware that allows you to use a USB network adapter on your existing WD HD TV to achieve some of the same functionality as this new unit.
@chad - yeah, but the engadget report says it has wifi. These guys need to fact-check before they release...
From the WD website:
WiFi Ready
Supports wireless network connection with optional USB wireless adapter.
Pisses me off when they mention something like that as if it's included.
Netflix would make this thing a Necessity!!!!!!
I'm sooooo close to wanting it, I just don't want to have to have a roku box and this. Seeing as the roku box could never handle the shit this thing can do, hopefully this box will get netflix.
I used to have the original WDTV, it's perfect at just playing files, but a full HTPC with XBMC trumps all.
a PS3 and a server running PS3MS is also pretty damn hard to beat, especially if you already had the PS3.
+1 for XBMC
can they play mkvs w/o transcoding? I have a 360 and that's the biggest place it struggles. and it's really slow at audio menus.
I picked one up at the local Best Buy yesterday.... shelf tag had it priced at $139, but their website has it at $119. They matched the website price on the spot. Had it up and running on my network in a matter of minutes... it found both my pc and my NAS and a few seconds later I was streaming video straight from the NAS. Great little box!
This is interesting but i'm gonna just stick it out and wait for the PS3 to MKV support...
Will that ever happen though - all the research I've done says not!?
I'm hopping that once MKV support gets bigger Sony will take it. Devices like this only help the PS3 cause. :)
"Oh and plus - you can bet their stuff is fake!"
"they probably are
they just make new accounts"
Sorry didn't understand what you meant. Explain?
Install PS3 Media Server on a decent machine with network access to your media. It's a fully DLNA compatible and will live transcode MKVs to MPEG4, which the PS3 can play back. You need gigabit ethernet to really take advantage of it, but it lets you get around having to store stuff on the PS3 itself, and you can have it draw from files on multiple network locations if necessary.
http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/
It runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux, as it's written in Java.
Just picked one up this morning. It's SICK!! Automatically detected all my network connected devices, including my NAS. I was streaming from the NAS and Pandora in just a couple minutes. Sooo worth $119.
does it have dts downmix now?
Im not sure how it handles DTS, because I usually strip off that audio track, (it wont play at all on an apple tv) It Supports DTS 2.0 + Digital, (I am guessing 2 channel DTS?) DTS doesnt even list DTS 2.0 on their website. It does list DTS Digital out, which is described as "DTS bitstream pass-through is necessary for playback of DTS soundtrack through a DTS-capable system. "
I guess I could rip a disc, and see what the player does.
Why are these people not banned!?
whoa, that was quick hahaha
Ah - I see they have been ... good!
Who me? What did i say?
Don't worry A1 it wasn't you - someone posted a blatant advert and it was deleted almost immediately ... which is great!
Will it download torrents in the background like that other cool box of tricks? I can't remember the name of it now.
You are probably thinking of cinemacube. I am really tempted to get that as it will do DTS downmixing (the old WDTV could not do this). Interested if anyone knows if the DTS issue is fixed as I don't want to wait on a "pre-order" from cinemacube.
Fonera 2.0
i still want playlist support. hell this might even have it and not say, but i want to know it has it before i pull the trigger.
Love my cinemacube, it handles just about anything, and their support is first class.
I had an issue with the wifi feature not working.. they went so far as to send me another wifi dongle for free, (and shipped fed-ex air) and when the issue turned out to be my stupid Kyocera KR2 router not wanting to play nice, they told me to keep both wifi dongles with their complements (free USB G wifi sticks don't suck lol).
The interface is not jazzy, but... who cares? It downloads torrents, does RSS and supports like every format known to man, and plays beautifully. I actually pack it in my bag when I travel (double sided velcro the remote to the top of the unit) and there is no better way to display video files on a TV then this. While my PMP and my phone both have video out, everyone knows that feature almost always looks like crap, so it's nice to have a box you can hook to anyone's TV and play the 100s of Xvid/MP4/MKV rips.
PS: You can get a cinemacube now, they are one sale for 69.99.. the cinematube which has You tube and I think Hulu, is on preorder but should be shipping anytime now if not already.
I don't mean to sound like an advert, but compared to the prices and features of the WD player, it's hard not to choose one of the briteview Cinema boxes.
My parents actually use it... unlike tech gifts we give our parents that collect dust, they have been using the crap out of it watching all of the TV shows and movies I've DLed and put out on our WHS.
wow, that cinematube product actually looks pretty awesome
Say bye to the Apple TV I was saving for.
As an owner of an apple tv, and I picked up this WDTV Live to evaluate, it is no apple tv. The interface is pretty good, for a company that makes hard drives, and not world class UI's No WiFi out of the box, It comes set up to only output HDMI out of the box, and you have to manually change that in the menu.. Kind of a pain for anyone without HDMI.
But it plays most things I have thrown at it. It didnt find all 72 movies I had in my most recent folder, only 29 of them.. But once they were on a portable hd, it found them , and played them, no problem. I think I will keep my Apple TVs for now... but the pressure is on.
I have 2 of the older wdtv, and there isn't a file that I have thrown at it that it doesn't support, specially 1080p mkv files. trust me , get it and you won't regret it.
to the people who always ask why their MORE EXPENSIVE net top isn't a better value, 2 words:
REMOTE CONTROL
Custom firmware allows you to use WiFi adapters even on the older WDTV so do not upgrade unless you wanna use the ethernet port
Will sit back and wait for more comprehensive reviews before I pull any plug. Besides, I've been considering the popcorn minutes by minutes to the hour :D but just haven't decided if the $299.99 price tag is justifiable.
Does the popcorn hour downloads torrents in bkgrnd? but then again, if it does, how soon before the Mr. Internet FBI comes knocking on my door? I'd rather use my pc to dld torrents since i use some kind of blanket to cover myself up against Tube Police.
..... WD TV Live or PopCorn Hour ($ aside, how does the UI stacks against each other?)
I was waiting for this but went with the Xtreamer for its ability to lock a folder.
I'm also a Xtreamer user. The thing that impressed me the most was how easy the network configuration. Also the possibilty to add an internal HD is convenient, as it may work also as an external HD. The greatest flaw of the Xtreamer still seens to be the fan - although there are some passive cooling solutions on the way.
If the WDTV is capable of doing the same things that the Xtreamer does, then I would consider it as a nice option.
Hello friendly people
So, I have the original WD HD TV and use it every day. Apart from the menu being a little slow its fairly reliable. I use a USB thumb drive (if I've just downloaded one TV show to watch) and a larger hard drive which stores my movies on it.
So, my question is what advantages does this give me over the current model? I don't have network in my lounge where the TV is, but feasibily could run an ethernet cable from the lounge through the roof to my router. But I could do this with the current one, right?
Oh, and I live 1/2 a mile from their headquarters. Perhaps they'll let me play with one for free :)
Anyone know if this box will support CUSTOM internet radio stations that aren't available via Live365 or Pandora? I listen to BNN.fm and it's not supported by either.
There are instructions here on how to get USB WiFi working on the older model...
http://www.wdtvc.com/2009/04/06/how-to-config-wifi-usb-adapter-with-wd-tv/
One thing noticeably missing is NFS support. It only supports Samba shares. For many this is not a big deal. But windows puts a lot of overhead into the serving that can affect performance. The more I looked at this, the more I couldn't see any real reason to dump my 2 current WDTVs with the mods. I can access my NFS shares now and stream all I need to right now. The current mods do allow other processes to run.. like torrents on the WDTV. Popcorn Hour 110 comes with all that support out of the box. But quite a bit more money for the PCH. I am not a fan of the PCH lack of support for simple thinks like displaying folder.jpg to show the DVD cover. You have to run a database to get that feature with the PCH.
The current WDTC works pretty well. The hacks could stand an update to better support playlists. But I can't see spending another $120 to get built in ethernet.
no netflix, no thanks
That's what i'm saying. It's soooo close, but then drops the ball on that
I got this yesterday and for some strange reason it is having a hell of a time seeing all the file shares. At first it saw 4 of 8 then I disabled the 4 that it saw and it saw 2 of the remaining 4. Is anyone else having issues getting this litlte guy to play nice with the Windows 7 RC or Windows Vista for some reason it flat out hated Vista wouldn't even see the computer let alone the file shares.
I'm just using normal file sharing not the homegroup stuff. If you've got it to like Windows 7 please tell me what you did you can even call me stupid if need be. The files I have been able to stream looked great on the big screen. I just want the thing to show all 8 or so file shares so I can keep order to my 10 TBs of storage space.
As far as Netflix and Hulu if you really want that feature it looks to be able to accept a video stream from apps like PlayOn and TVersity I haven't tried it yet but since I already own PlayOn if it works it will make it even better
Had this on my wishlist for a while, loved the orginal WDTV.
I emailed the lads at www.digitalera.co.uk (the support address) and they told me more info about it than i eva want to know - the sigma chipset used is pretty good but not the fastest but more than up to the task. dont be put of by lack of gb network its overkill.
I got a popcorn hour a110 from digitalera but i think now i will replace it with one of these puppies.
I don't understand this product at all. Why not just build a HTPC? Yes it costs much cheaper than an HTPC ($119 vs $400+) but you can all the functionality plus hella more. And a HTPC is future proof as well.
$100 to $400
If you don't understand that.....Stop trying
ever heard of silence? ;)
you'll never get a htpc near silent as the tv station :)
Well I agree on $100 vs $400 argument, but if you look at the posters here many of them are upgrading from the previous h/w, hence my future proof point for a HTPC.
I have an htpc and it's plenty quiet. There is no way you can argue saying that when you're watching something you hear a sound from the HTPC, sorry, you're just making stuff up.
Ahhhh, it's just like night and day, WDTV is pretty much plug&play watch or listen, with a Media PC, you have to tweak it, play around to get it the way you want it, deal with the OS issues, either it be Windows based or Linux based. With the WDTV you just have to update the firmware when ever WD comes out with a new one. My three year old can pretty much navigate through the menus with the simple remote and play his favorite cartoons with just a little hand holding, try to ask a 3 year to do that on a Media PC remote, or keyboard. Plus the size of the unit compared to Media PC is very tiny. It's small enough to take with you as well on vacations as well.
Because not everyone wants a PC in their family room next to their TV.
Well obviously you haven't seen a well installed HTPC which fits right in with all AV equipment.
I'll pass on this product. It can't bit-stream DTSMA, only the DTS core. Not good enough for me. So close, but one feature missing is the one feature I want.
Does it support dts hd and dolby digital+?
and dvd and blu ray menues.
those are the selling points for me!
their firmware-update mentality just plainly sucks, only one update for the first generation model and now they are throwing revision 2 at us :/
what is up with the remote that looks like it belongs to a 90's zenith CRT from a motel 6?
When it says it supports YouTube, does that include full HD quality on YouTube? I'd like to build an HTPC but might pick this up as an interim solution until I have the time and money for a proper HTPC.
I know it just came out a few days ago, has anybody had a chance to connect it to PlayOn Server and stream some movies. I'm curious to see how well it does with PlayOn.
it does.. playon works fine on mine.. got mine yesterday, setup playon with some plugins and had it up and running in about 30 minutes flat from out of box.
I'm lucky enough to already have had a ethernet connection near my A/V gear though. Quality is "ok". i'm running on a 150" projection screen though... only 720, but good enough.
This is good to know it works with PlayOn out the box, just bought one from my local Best Buys.
$99 on Best Buy this morning.
The $99 is the WD TV Mini which only supports 480p.
The $119 WD TV Live supports 1080p and as of 9:51am PT is listed
as backordered at Best Buy.
ProVantage has it for $116.37 and has 632 in stock.
http://www.provantage.com/wd-tv-live-hd-media-player~220195636.htm
i get it and my 2 - 2TB external hard drives along with my 16GB usb flash drive get it. my friends and family who I sell them to also get it. nothing better then having the entire cable company hollywood and every recording artist in a nice portable solution that attaches to any TV.
I'm a dedicated PH hobbyist/user.
However...
this might fill the hole that the PH doesn't in that it seems light enough for travel.
With more and more hotel rooms having flat panels, it seems a logical choice
when paired with a USB flash drive. Traveling with my old PH100 is troublesome at best.
It's 0.67 lbs and about 4" long x 5" wide
Arrrggghhhh! I just bought the WD TV beginning of Summer, and it doesn't have DTS support...and now the Live has....aaarrggh!!
damn it. i was extremely excited when i saw this, but it doesnt have a hard drive. ive been looking for an external hard drive and one with the ability to play media straight from it had me ecstatic. sadly this is not the case.
I want some test reviews of this little puppy hooking up to some cheap-o $5 wifi dongles.
Doesnt support dvr-ms or WTV files. I think I will pass. Any of you wanting to use the default file formats for Media Center pass on this product.
If I want to view Media Center files, what should I use?
Two of these for the price of one bluray-ready PCH sure is nice, but the lack of GigE really blows... hmmm... I think it will all come down to UI speed and ease of use. I might have to pick one up for my bedroom to test it.
I bought one of these yesterday ($119 at BB) to try out. Here are my impressions.
The good:
- Extremely small.
- Has a solid, no-frills feel.
- Dead simple to setup and begin using with a SMB network share.
- Played everything thrown at it beautifully (HD, MKV, subtitles).
- Subtitles are crisp and attractive.
- The interface design is reasonably nice.
- YouTube and Pandora support.
- No hard drive (this is a plus).
- Movies loaded quickly over the network.
The bad:
- The device got extremely hot after about an hour.
- The interface is not satisfyingly responsive. There's a sluggishness, a sort of input delay. It feels mushy. There's no way to navigate quickly so there's a slight feeling of impatience. Little transitions block input and slow down navigation.
- There's no way to jump quickly to a specific network share. You're stuck navigating through the same menu tree.
- The remote is dinky (yet cute) and the buttons are mushy. There's no feeling of tactile feedback.
- Lists of files take up only the middle section of the screen. There's a lot of wasted screen real-estate when it matters.
- There's no way to navigate a long list of files efficiently. You can go item by item or page by page but you can't advance through letters of the alphabet, and you have to press the button once per action; you can't hold it down. This is frustrating if the list is even slightly on the long side.
- You can't easily jump forward and backward through a movie. You can adjust the speed (2x, 4x, 8x, 16x) or jump back or ahead in 10 minute intervals only. XBMC outshines the WD in this department of playback navigation.
- There's no way to scrape metadata from online sources.
- The menu options cycle, which is confusing. The PS3 scheme of menus having a top and bottom is preferable.
- Changing settings is not done inline. Each setting does a fade to black (and back) and takes you to its own screen.
- You can't change the display scheme (list vs thumbnails) on-the-fly, you have to back all the way out to the settings menu.
- Using the on-screen keyboard with the remote is painful.
Despite that list of negatives, it feels like a very, very good value for the money, and the form-factor is unbeatable. I was considering this as a replacement for an Xbox running XMBC (which can't do 1080p and some file formats) but I'm going to return it and try a Mac Mini running Plex, Boxee, and XBMC next (admittedly a much more expensive option).
Overall, it's a nice little device, with the standout problems being in the usability nuances of the interface.
Some of those bad issues can be easily addressed with future firmware updates. But for $119 bucks, it's allot of bang for the buck already. I have the 1st WDTV, it does get warm, but not hot to the touch.
Here's the user's manual. To answer an earlier question, the manual says that the HDMI output includes audio.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/20941103/Western-Digital-WD-TV-Live-HD-Network-Media-Player-USERGUIDE