Western Digital WD TV Live Network-ready HD Media Player WDBAAN0000NBK-NESN

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Western Digital WD TV Live Network-ready HD Media Player WDBAAN0000NBK-NESN

Western Digital WD TV Live Network-ready HD Media Player WDBAAN0000NBK-NESN see short title

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The WD TV Live HD Media Player from Western Digital has everything you need to play your HD media collection and the fun stuff you find on the web in brilliant HD 1080p on your big screen HDTV. Because it supports a wide variety of file types, you can instantly enjoy all your home digital media, regardless of the file format. Plus you get direct access to a huge selection of video, photos, and music from popular internet sites like YouTube, Flickr, Live 365, and Pandora (U.S. only) right from the beautifully easy WDTV navigation screen. The WD TV Live HD media player is exceptionally easy to use so anyone in the family can do it and, because it’s networked, you can easily access media from any PC in the home. Compatibility; HDMI, Full HD (1080p), AAC, MP3, JPEG, USB 2.0, H.264, SimplayHD, Energy Star, Dolby Digital, DTS, DLNA, Bonjour, AVCHD, Windows Vista. Box contains; Media Player, Compact remote with batteries, Composite AV cable, Component AV cable, AC adapter, CD with sample media, Quick Install Guide. « short desciption

User Reviews

Review Date: 2009-11-23
What a bummer. I was really hoping this product would work after the relatively positive reviews, but it has way too many flaws which became obvious in just a couple hours of use.. I bought this to connect to a second TV. I use a TiVo series 3 for my main TV with PyTivoX on the Mac, a setup that works flawlessly in most cases. The WD TV Live experience is a far cry from my TiVo experience.

Pros:

. Very small, portable if you want it to be.

. Very easy setup.

. Plays MTS files copied directly from an HD camcorder.

Cons:

. Serious audio sync issues with most file types, problems that get worse if you fast forward or rewind while playing a file. This happens with both local storage and when using network shares. These audio sync issues have never happened to me when streaming the same files from PyTiVoX to my TiVo.

. Absolutely will not stream 1080 content reliably over a wireless G network -- buffering on the device does not seem to account for network speed. The first minute or two of a file will play reliably, but then will stutter or freeze.

. Will not play decoded .mpg files from a TiVo. The video will play (although with pixelation & combing), but there is no audio.

. No ability to bookmark or add shortcuts to folder locations on a network share. You have to navigate through the entire path every time. Even for open/anonymous shares, you still have to jump thru a login screen every time. This is just stupid.

. Chapter functions on files created via Handbrake rarely seem to work. The next chapter button often just skips to the next file.

. Remote does not have volume controls or TV on/off control.

. And, finally, no Netflix. I wasn't expecting it, but seems like a no brainer on a $120 (street price) device.

I'm disappointed, and this one is probably going to go back to Amazon.

User: grn4jd
Rating:
Summary: Wanted to like it, but too many serious issues
Helpful Votes: 3
Total Votes: 4
Review Date: 2009-11-22
Great Device!
Quick setup, Great functionality. Plays ISO copies of DVDs!
(Complainers and SadSacks, RTFM!)

Perfect for my computer media collection.

Small flaws:

No adjustment of "menu font size" My TV is small and I sit far away from it.

File menus show small number of titles.

No Access to Netflix instant movies or Amazon movies (yet).

No Hulu access (yet).

No Browser accessed online video ABC, NBC, CBS, or Audio/Radio ("").

NO Audio books internet Subscriptions ("")

I-tunes not compatible ("").

Difficulty with adding album art to Music / Audio books screen, should auto full-screen album art after 30 sec of play, or user adjustable amount of time ("").

Slide shows can be shown with music though... Kudos...........;-)

How about enabling WD Media player with Googles' "Chrome" browser / Operating system?

Screen saver options? You could go crazy with this, (like Ringtones) Even if you must display only "WD" ADD type pix. Flying Toaster "WD" logo?

Infinite possibilities because of Firmware update capability.

WD;
You must know that the "Sheik Geeks" Are going to "HACK THE PLANET! HACK THE PLANET!" with this product.... Why not "Open Source" some of it like an "APP" section of the device? (see Google "Chrome" browser/OS )

P.S.
Pressing "FF" then "NEXT" Felt a little weird to go forward by chapter in the ISO files "REV" then "PREV" worked also.

Keep up the good work WD!

User: Geoffrey S. Jones
Rating:
Summary: WD Media Player,.... Great, and getting Better all the time!
Helpful Votes: 1
Total Votes: 1
Review Date: 2009-11-21
I'm rarely this enthusiastic about a product. There are definitely downsides, but nothing significant enough for me to really feel there are major flaws. I owned (and still own, actually) the regular TV and loved it, but really disliked the lack of networking support. I went to a trade show and Western Digital was there. I mentioned this to their representatives and he told me they were releasing a version with networking support in a couple of weeks. I had to pick one up as soon as possible.

What I expected was the original with the ability to access network shares via SMB, but I also expected the UI to still be a little slow and difficult when setting up the network. I was very surprised at how simple it was to set things up. I decided to go the WiFi route rather than Ethernet and it really just involved finding a compatible WiFi adapter on WD's compatibility list (I picked a Belkin because it had a stand) and plugging it in. It found my router right away, I entered the password and I was connected very quickly. I had absolutely no issues streaming anything over the WiFi, which was very surprising. I figured huge 1080p MKV files would be an issue, but they played incredibly well. The UI was extremely quick and responsive. Previews even worked quickly over the WiFi. Connecting to shares on my computer was absolutely no problem. I am just in awe of how well it works. After using an AppleTV, which in theory should work better because it's so limited in its network functionality, I just figured there would be problems. Western Digital really got it right. Plus there's YouTube support and it works really well, too.

The downsides are few but they do get kind of annoying here and there. The main issue that bothers me the most is that when I add something to a folder on a network share, it doesn't update on the WD TV Live. This is understandable to and extent, but there ought to be a reload button or function of some kind to work around this. Currently the only way to reload the folder is to click home and reconnect. It's not a huge deal, but it would be really great if it wasn't necessary. Other annoyances fall under a lack of options, mainly. For example, thought preview mode work exceptionally well (where you have a list of videos and it shows a little window that previews the selected video) you're required to have sound along with the preview. That's useful if you're not sure what the video is, but if you already know and you're leaving the television on for a few minutes before watching (like you get a phone call, for example) then you have sound playing constantly. There are obviously two work-arounds: mute the TV or select a folder or photo rather than a video file. Nonetheless, it would be nice to have the option to simply turn off sound and only have a visual preview mode. In terms of setup options there aren't many. You don't have as much control over the WD TV Live as you do with the regular WD TV. This is unfortunate in some ways, because options are always nice, but in others it makes the setup really simple. I'd feel very comfortable recommending the WD TV Live to a novice more so than the WD TV because it's much more simple to setup. The thing is, this sort of device probably doesn't appeal too much to a person who doesn't know much about media files because it doesn't provide any means of content acquisition (like the AppleTV does with the iTunes store). It assumes the user has content already, which means they're either generating it themselves or acquiring it on the Internet without the assistance of the WD TV Live. Neither of those things are necessarily simple (in the same way the WD TV Live is) and so I think it makes more sense to add a little complexity through additional features and settings rather than remove them for the sake of simplicity.

Overall, however, there's very little to complain about. Though I don't use this for photos and music and can't really comment on how well those aspects of the WD TV Live work, I'm extremely pleased with nearly all aspects of video performance and would gladly recommend it to others.

User: Adam Dachis
Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal.
Helpful Votes: 2
Total Votes: 2
Review Date: 2009-11-21
I have been using WD TV Live for a week now. I also updated the firmware to Release 1.01.11 (11/16/09). There are three main problems:

1) I have personal home videos shot in HD (AVCHD) using Sony HDR-TG1 camcorder. I want to copy all the AVCHD files in a portable hard drive and play them through WD TV Live. It plays the files but there is a gap of 2 seconds where my TV screen goes blank. The reason why it is happening is each shot is saved in a MTS file within AVCHD folder by HD camcorder (that's the way it supposed to be). It tries to play each MTS file sequentially and when it moves from one file to another, it creates a pause of 2 seconds when your screen goes blank. It supposed to play all MTS files within AVCHD sequentially without any gap. The gap is very annoying because it does not treat AVCHD as one movie but a sequence of movies. So, unless you combine all MTS files into one huge one file, then it should work, but for me this is a bug and it is the biggest turn down for using WD TV Live for AVCHD.

2) Sometimes when you want to jump to next chapter while watching DVD format movies from your hard drive, it jumps to the beginning of the movie. I do not fudge with how DVD videos are extracted and copied into hard drive. I simply copy the entire movie files from DVD movie and it still does that.

3) Occasionally, it also freezes when you try to fast forward. You have to power down WD TV Live and restart it.

Overall, I do not recommend this product until WD fixes all the issues especially gaps in AVCHD one.

User: Jigar Shah
Rating:
Summary: Problem with AVCHD and Fast Forward
Helpful Votes: 1
Total Votes: 2
Review Date: 2009-11-21
Just got this yesterday device and hooked up less than 30 min.

First Impression:

Size - It was super small and compact
Quality - I'm not sure but it looks like a plastic box than calling it electronic device. Maybe metallic would've been better for esthetic
Lots of junk - I never used the CD Software and had lots of junk in there. I just used the device and power supply.

After 1 hour use:

I didn't hook up the USB drive because I'm using my computers as network share drive. I was bit worry if it can stream 1080p through the network....IT SURE DID!. It did take 3~4 second to load up. Also, when refreshing the directory you have to reconnect. It's little bit annoying but no big deal. YouTube worked great but it lacked Hulu. I knew it didn't have Hulu from beginning but perhaps WD will read this review and consider for next firmware patch.

The remote is a HUGE disappointment. No sound control? Can't skip? You can forward it but no skip. There is a "skip" button but it moves onto next movie file. Makes sense if the skip can forward next 10 min or something. Also, it's super tiny.. easy to lose or be hidden inside the sofa. Again, it looks like a plastic toy that 5 yr old can enjoy playing.

Overall Review:

For the money, you can't go wrong w/ this. Why watch video on your dinky 22" Computer LCD when you can maximize your 52" LCD in your living room? So glad, I'm not using Vacuum Player (Xbox 360) to do this any more.

User: Deal Stealer
Rating:
Summary: Short & Honest Review
Helpful Votes: 1
Total Votes: 1

Product Details

Play Full HD 1080p video, music and photos on your HD TV
Supports widest variety of file formats and devices
Network capable for easy access to the newest content from PCs, network drives, internet favorites
Play network and internet content

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