Comments Western Digital WDTV Live HD Media Player - Peripheral - review

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Kinn

1:07 AM on 29 October, 2009

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Great review (as always).

Just wondering about its noise levels. Does this get noisy and hot at all?

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lifethroughalens

1:32 AM on 29 October, 2009

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I wish i'd waited to buy this unit over the Xtreamer that I got a couple of month ago. If anyone's considering the Xtreamer, i'd advise against it until they get their firmware v2 out of beta and actually get the unit working smoothly on the networking side. Also the internet integration is plagued with bugs and is poorly implemented.

If the FW is sorted out then it's a worthy competitor to this WD effort.

This WD unit looks like it has a much more polished UI and I have no doubt that it's probably a lot quieter in operation than the Xtreamer. (v.noisy fan)

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MSIC

7:02 AM on 29 October, 2009

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The one feature everyone was wanting was.... what????

What about DTS audio? Every single person i know who has a mark 1 device wants DTS decoding! -That- is the newly included codec which makes the mark 2 better, not some rubbishy Real Media whatever!

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HarryButler

8:00 AM on 29 October, 2009

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The device is completely silent - no moving parts at all, and it's rated to over 70°C, which it doesn;t hit even when playing very high bitrate files (60MB/s. While the Xstreamer does come with a fan, you can turn it off though with no discernible difference in playback.

MSIC is spot on here Ed - no one cares about realmedia (who else but BBC radio still uses it anyway?) - it's the DTS support that's awesome here, especially the extra offering of automatic 2.0 DTS downmix for those of us without awesome pimptacular 5.1 setups.

The WDTV Live also has improved HD file support in regard to the number of reference frames in a file. On the original if a file had too many it just wouldn't play - now it doesn't matter how many reference frames there are in HD media - they just play.

Add those improvements to the new networking capabilites and this is surely a superior offering than the WDTV?

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Ed

10:55 AM on 29 October, 2009

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@Kinn: As Harry says, it's completely silent. It does get warm to the touch but not to a level that should concern you.

@MSIC, Harry: I'd argue DTS decoding isn't necessarily that big of a deal but it all depends on your usage so point taken.

All told, this is definitely an awesome device but depending on your usage you may be better off saving some money and getting the O!Play.

I've added the video for this now. When we shot it the price of the WDTV Live was £120 - thus the reference to the Asus being £40 cheaper - but obviously that's changed now.

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drdark

10:58 AM on 29 October, 2009

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Can anyone actually find the Asus one anywhere? Last time I looked it was either impossible to search for due to the bloody stupid name (yes, Asus literally deserve to be punished by losing sales over the silly name), or everywhere seemed to be out of stock, or still expecting stock in.

Plus, if you do happen to find it anywhere, by the time you factor in delivery, it's less than a £10 difference, if that.

WD wins.

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Nick

11:59 AM on 29 October, 2009

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@everyone: I recently bought the original WDTV - mainly to play mkv files. It seems to be happy to play audio and video on most of my mkv files (tv shows) but my larger film files only play the video.

Does anyone know if the new wdtv will play the audio files on these films because of the DTS decoding (or am i getting the wrong end of the stick)? Also - i'm waiting for my Onkyo TX-SR507 amp to come. Will this be able to play the audio seeing as i'm connecting the wdtv to this and then into my tv?

I've got another week in which i can return it and was wondering if it's worth spending the extra £30 on this version (i'm not really bothered about the network connection).

Any thoughts/comments would be much appreciated :)

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SirStuie

12:29 PM on 29 October, 2009

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I agree with MSIC and Harry, DTS decoding and network support was the only thing lacking on the WDTV (never encountered a RM whatever myself). They hit the jackpot with the WDTV and this improvement will keep brand loyalty and positive word of mouth going.

I will be picking one up for xmas, just need to decide to give the old one as a present or keep it as a spare.

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Luan Bach

1:04 PM on 29 October, 2009

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@Nick, yes, the film files would most likely to be DTS so the WDTV won't play the audio. If you plug it into the Onkyo through hdmi it will work fine, just set your WDTV audio ouput to digital.

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AndyVandervell

1:07 PM on 29 October, 2009

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@drdark: Seem to be plenty of stockists now: http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=Asus%20O!Play%20HDP-R1&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wf

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Pbryanw

2:18 PM on 29 October, 2009

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It now seems that the WD TV Live is in short supply. I got mine from Scan but they're out of stock. The only place I've seen with stock is Amazon, but they're selling it for £157.

The only reason I went for the WD TV Live over the Asus O!Play, was for the better interface, and more options when dealing with files (e.g. being able to delete them off shares and ext. HD).

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drdark

2:26 PM on 29 October, 2009

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@Andy: I don't want to come across as needlessly argumentative in every topic I post under on TR, so I'll keep this short:

The only site not covered by the statement I made in my previous post is CCL: http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?id=35289

and even then they state "Stock: 10 in 2-3 days". I'm somewhat sceptical as to the accuracy of this statement. Finally, their estimated £3.52 delivery charge is likely their Royal Mail price, so it'll probably cost more to have it delivered in reasonable time.

Over to you :).

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AndyVandervell

2:55 PM on 29 October, 2009

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Ah, see your conundrum there. Scan appear to quoting 04 November. Guess it's worth calling them up and see what they say.

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Mik3yB

2:55 PM on 29 October, 2009

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@ drdark

We (CCL) had 5x of the O!Plays in stock a couple of weeks ago but they sold out. We're waiting on further stocks at the moment - should be 4-6 weeks apparantly. Maybe just in time for Christmas? :(

Correct, £3.52 cost is for Royal Mail.. City-Link postage doesn't cost much more though.

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drdark

4:41 PM on 29 October, 2009

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@Mik3yB: Thanks for the info.

I've actually already got one of the original WDTV models, but back when I was looking even then the O!Play seemed to be in short supply. Anyway, hope the information helped somebody.

@Pbryanw: Yes, I noticed the WD TV Live was in a similar situation too at the moment, however just wanted to note that the £157 price on Amazon is actually a marketplace seller.

In fact if you glace to the right: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-Internet-Streamer-Television/dp/B002LZUHMI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1256834294&sr=8-1

,you'll find Amazon are selling it for £99.99 but it's due in 2 to 3 weeks (same price they have for the O!Play which is due in 1to3months...)

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HDRE

9:54 PM on 29 October, 2009

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Amazon are selling this @£157! A quick Google reveals scan selling it at or around £100. Keep Googling guys! The O!Play looks like a descent piece of kit, but the interface is a deal killer, the WDTV Live's in comparison looks like a nice update to the previous model. I hope these improvements filter down to the older model via a firmware update.

Anyone know if this is realistic expectation?

Why no wifi? In this day an age I can only see it as an omission. Very disappointed. Maybe version 3.0 will not disappoint. Here's STILL hoping.

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drdark

11:14 PM on 29 October, 2009

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*Gives up*

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Pbryanw

11:50 PM on 29 October, 2009

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@HDRE - You can buy a USB wi-fi adaptor for the WDTV Live but, like you said, this will probably be incorporated into the device by the next version.

And Scan are currently out of stock of the WDTV Live, as mentioned earlier. It seems most of these media players are selling like hotcakes.

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Keithe6e

1:51 PM on 30 October, 2009

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@Pbryanw: You can buy a USB wi-fi adaptor for the WDTV Live but, like you said, this will probably be incorporated into the device by the next version.

Personally I'd find it pointless, every device I've used that incorporates wireless just doesn't have bandwidth for HD, or in a lot of cases even SD. Eg, my Aspire Revo has built in wireless but it's useless, better option is a set of HomePlugs and be done with it, especially when there so cheap now, eg. you can a set of 85Mps homeplugs for less than £50.

Also I tend to think wireless has been a victim of it's own success. Eg, when I first got a wireless router I was the only person down our street with one, reception was great, but now with nearly 15+ people nearby with wireless it has no chance of giving a decent reception.

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Supercodec

8:06 PM on 30 October, 2009

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More likely they'll make a new version called Wdtv superlive2 or something and add all the things there.

They still haven't fixed all the problems from the original WDTV nor really added features.

Unless they do i'm not buying anything from them anymore

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Ian13

9:30 AM on 3 November, 2009

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@Nick:

The WDTV Live will play video files with DTS audio though TV set speakers, you do not necessarily need a DTS decoder as the WDTV Live downmixes DTS to stereo if you don't use the optical out.

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Ed

5:24 PM on 4 November, 2009

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@Supercodec: What problems? What missing features? Why is the lack of some feature on this product reason to not by anything else from WD?

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stevecost

4:39 PM on 1 December, 2009

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+1 @Ed, ditto. I've mine since it came out. Haven't had any playing or sound issues, yet i keep reading about these so called "problems". I watch movies, tv episodes, big and small files... bemussed... yet happy as I've no problems with mine. Gonna get another one for my Dad to watch the home movies of the Grandkids!!

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like2find

10:31 PM on 29 December, 2009

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I bought the unit, couldn't do the next chspter, brought it back to the store to exchange. I did not know if there was something wrong with the unit or the remote control (which has the "next" button using the standard "next chapter/track" icon). Trying on the second unit, still same problem. Only found out after searching info on the internet that the "feature" (it should be standard, not feature) is not there. I couldn't believe it. The buttons next/prev to me are as important as the play button. Would anybody these days buy a dvd player w/o the play/prev/next buttons?

WD must be kidding to make such a shitty device. Was it designed by a VCR team 15 or 20 years ago? VCR was even better because when you took the tape out and put it back, it played from that position.

WD should recall the device and have the engineers do their homework before releasing the product.

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JamesMaines

10:38 AM on 4 February, 2010

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can you create music playlists on a pc then copy the tracks and the playlist to USB drive and then access them easily through the menu system?

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Brian1

5:19 PM on 22 August, 2010

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I bought this on Friday and spent all Friday evening setting it up/playing with it. Seemed to be ok, then on Saturday it wouldn't find my network - factory reset. Then it started playing vids to jerkily (from the network AND USB memory stick AND external USB hard drive) they were unwatchable as it gave me a headache after a few minutes.

As for the FF and REW buttons on the remote, these are a law onto themselves as you could press FF at 3 minutes into a film and end up watching it at some completely different point, in my case, 1h12m! REW was the same.

This product is an absolute disaster, and after 5 factory resets I've had enough - it's boxed up and going back tomorrow. I think I'll give Asus a turn now....

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Ben1

7:54 PM on 30 September, 2010

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Hi guys,

can anyone tell me if this can play BBC iPlayer or Love Film streaming? The US website says it can do Netflix so I would have thought it would have the capability.

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alterseekers

7:32 PM on 9 December, 2010

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This is a great option for top-of-the-line HD media players available in the market today. If it's no trouble, allow me to add one more to your lists. Check out Netgear's NeoTV™ 550 Ultimate HD Media Player. With this HD media player, you can play your digital movies in full high definition 1080p and stunning Dolby Digital or DTS surround sound, along with other great features. For additional information about the Netgear NeoTV™ 550 Ultimate HD Media Player, please refer to this link, http://bit.ly/bByST7. I'm sure you'll love this one as well.

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Billious

3:13 PM on 19 November, 2011

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I have a Panasonic TM900 Camcoder. Can anyone suggest one of these Media Streamers that will work with the files my TM900 produces?

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The Western Digital WDTV Live combines support for networking and making playing your multimedia files on your TV easier than ever before. However, other devices on the market offer the same and better functionality for less money.

Overall

8/10

Write your own review

Reviewed by Edward Chester

29 October 2009

Price as reviewed

£68.33

Awards

Scores in detail

Value: 8/10
Features: 8/10
Design: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

Pros & Cons

Pros

Network-enabled
Excellent connectivity
Improved functionality

Cons

No inbuilt wireless
Lacks RMVB support

Manufacturer

Western Digital

Comments on Western Digital WDTV Live HD Media Player

Overall

Price as reviewed

Comments

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Awards

Scores in detail

Pros & Cons

Pros

Cons

Price as reviewed

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