Nice device, small and noiseless. Still, I love my ICY BOX nas as well, the built-in HDD and front USB (not to mention BT/usenet/ssh/...) are great. BUT it's not really the same price.
Why did they put a USB port on the side instead of the front ? A eSATA would have been interesting.
Be careful, the latest firware (since pulled) bricks devices...
Can't understand why the differences between the first WD TV and this one weren't mentioned enough, In fact, a simple, 'should you upgrade to this if you already have the WD mk I, would've been nice.
@ g3n3tiX - usb on the front....pah. if its sitting next to your tv i wouldnt want on on the side let alone the front as its meant to look tidy. 2 on the back would be fine as then your hdd's can be kept neat and stacked ontop of eachother. as for esata, i think the use of esata is a waste of time, just use usb.
i like the device, definitely deserves the award from the looks of it! if i didnt live infront of my pc i'd buy one to access my media downstairs as the xbox with xbmc on it has just died, sob.
Got one of these myself of the first model, and had found to be a very good media player indeed, I also found a custom firmware for the device which enables a host of extra features for the WDTV mk1 model.
Features include
* external dvd drive capability with cd-manager-0.7 **fixed**
* ext2 & ext3 filesystem support ** (un)officially supported now **
* ext2 & ext3 hotplugging
* all media (including network shares & optical devices) can be viewed in ‘All Videos’
* USB Hub support
* mounting of WDTV Optware package (if available) at boot, for access to ~1300 additional programs
* mounting of app bin packs (if available) at boot, for plugNplay addtional functionality
* mounting of OSD overlay (if available) at boot, for full theming (sample)
* limited USB Ethernet support
* IP via DHCP (by default, configurable)
* Samba/CIFS support aka windows share mounting (requires Samba app pack)
* Experimental wireless adapter support (thx to Zorander) (requires wireless-mod-wdlxtv app pack)
* Ximeta NDAS device support (requires ndas app pack)
* Telnet server
* pure-ftp server (requires pure-ftpd app pack)
* configurable to automount NFS shares (requires nfs app pack)
* user customizable background & screen saver images ** new **
* selectable 4/8/10/12/21 video thumb view (see Changelog)
* selectable 4/6/8 file list view (see Changelog)
* sleectable 10/15 photo/music thumb view (see Changelog)
* user customizable init.d scripts for full os customization ** new **
* emergency flash recovery
;)
The USB hub is quite handy to have and thus allows you to use multiple usb sticks, hard drives, optical drives, ethernet simultaneously.
As I managed to pick up one of these units fairly cheap, and found this firmware, I have started to build a kind of docking station for the unit, in which all the optical drives, hard drives, ethnet and usb hub are neatly installed into the docking station, making the WDTV easy to remove should want to carry it out and about.
Originally Posted by The Article we’d advise against this if you’re planning on streaming high definition content as the variability of a wireless connection can easily interrupt smooth playback
I don't think this is really true these days. If you've got a decent wireless N router and a decent USB adaptor then you shouldn't have any reception problems across the house. Certainly tidier than trailing network cables across the living room. Currently I've been using my girlfriend's EeePC to watch BBC iPlayer HD on the TV and never really have any problems with the wireless connection.
@Greg -
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Article It follows the original WDTV and offers a huge array of improvements in comparison to its predecessor, not least of which is support for a much wider range of files.
I think there was also something about the first model not having a network port.
Originally Posted by TWeaK I don't think this is really true these days. If you've got a decent wireless N router and a decent USB adaptor then you shouldn't have any reception problems across the house. Certainly tidier than trailing network cables across the living room. Currently I've been using my girlfriend's EeePC to watch BBC iPlayer HD on the TV and never really have any problems with the wireless connection.
True, but streaming iPlayer HD is light years from the bandwidth required to stream 1080p content such as from Blu-Ray's :)
Originally Posted by The Article we’d advise against this if you’re planning on streaming high definition content as the variability of a wireless connection can easily interrupt smooth playback
I don't think this is really true these days. If you've got a decent wireless N router and a decent USB adaptor then you shouldn't have any reception problems across the house. Certainly tidier than trailing network cables across the living room. Currently I've been using my girlfriend's EeePC to watch BBC iPlayer HD on the TV and never really have any problems with the wireless connection.
@Greg -
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Article It follows the original WDTV and offers a huge array of improvements in comparison to its predecessor, not least of which is support for a much wider range of files.
I think there was also something about the first model not having a network port.
Yes, so what are the new range of files? What's new over the old one? What will I be missing if I stick with what I've got?
Originally Posted by TWeaK I don't think this is really true these days. If you've got a decent wireless N router and a decent USB adaptor then you shouldn't have any reception problems across the house.
I think one of the problems comes if your neighbours all have wireless networks and so you get a bit of interference from each one, meaning you never get the speeds you should be getting.
I've got my WDTV Live connected to my powerline network and have no problems streaming DVDs and 720P mkvs to it. Haven't tried any 1080P stuff yet though. Have to agree with the article - and also add that part of its success is down to its great interface - the WDTV Live deserves its Bit-tech award.
so... one main question and one that noone ever seems to be able to answer IS: how do i share my 5.1 setup with this AND my Pc at the same time without having to go and swap cables about? :/
Originally Posted by mjm25 so... one main question and one that noone ever seems to be able to answer IS: how do i share my 5.1 setup with this AND my Pc at the same time without having to go and swap cables about? :/
Do you mean without a reciever, or is there some other problem I'm not aware of? With a multichannel reciever you just connect everything at the back and then switch channels (input channels) with the remote. Without a reciever I think you have to connect both the pc and wdtv with different interfaces, if your 5.1 system for instance has an option to connect both optical and coax-cables, you just connect the coax to the pc and optical to the wdtv, and just play media from one of them at the time.
OT; this looks sweet, probably something for me when I move away from our current mediacenter-pc to live by myself.
cheers stoff3r, my 5.1 is just budget but it does the job admirably, doesnt have any optical inputs though unfortunately. this is my issue. it connects via the analogue inputs on my onboard sound... so either i want to knowa way to share the 5.1 with this or to hook the WDTV up to my PC to use it... confusing. It does look like a lovely bit of kit. any ideas anyone? :p
mjm25: some TVs have an audio output so you could connect it so that. If that is not an option you can also get switchy boxes though that would add another remote to the equation.
Back to the article: the eject button on the remote suggests that it can talk to external drives, is this the case? if so, that would be awesome!
edit: the lack of iPlayer/Hulu support is rather annoying considering they can do Youtube.
I am actually going to be getting the Standard WD-TV on Thursday. I can't justify spending the extra on the live because I physically can't attach it to the router and I don't have any networked storage.
As for the comments about getting this one over the old one my manager and I both think it's a no brainer. We had the original set up in store and had a number of problems with it. The main issue was the clumsy software and interface. The new version is much easier to use and comparing the two together on identical TVs we found that the newer version actually gave better picture quality.
Bit unfair - dodgy firmware isn't an uncommon occurrence in any industry. It's covered under warranty and should be a straight forward RMA. For what it's worth we reviewed our WDTV with the latest firmware with absolutely no issues, and WD have a good rep for offering ongoing firmware updates for the WDTV. As has already been mentioned, it even supports custom firmware.
Apologies if I didn't make it clear that the WDTV LIVE gained a network port over the original. I actually own both, but the review was for the LIVE, and as we haven't reviewed the original I wanted to keep things clear.
@The boy 4rm oz
As I understand it the latest version of the standard WDTV uses identical innards and interface as the LIVE, but lacks the wifi and networking support. Otherwise they're pretty much identical as well as the DTS decoding and downmixing, although I havn't tried media with wierd amounts of reference frames in the original for a while - it used to freak out if you gave it an HD media file too many.
Xir - a lot of TVs have a VGA input so probably using that
And it should find a NAS so long as its on the same network, is that what you mean? most bog standard switches don't actually do anything clever, they just allow more network ports.
I'd spend another ~ £50 and get an acer revo or similar. Installing something like xbmc would outshine the WD interface, no matter how good it is. XBMC does stuff like scrape for tv / music / movie information, custom plugins, run programs, iplayer etc. I picked up the dual core acer revo 3610 last week for £160, installed xbmc live and haven't looked back.
Comments 1 to 25 of 32
ReplyWhy did they put a USB port on the side instead of the front ? A eSATA would have been interesting.
Be careful, the latest firware (since pulled) bricks devices...
I've got the original, won't be buying this one.
i like the device, definitely deserves the award from the looks of it! if i didnt live infront of my pc i'd buy one to access my media downstairs as the xbox with xbmc on it has just died, sob.
http://b-rad.cc/wdlxtv/
Features include
* external dvd drive capability with cd-manager-0.7 **fixed**
* ext2 & ext3 filesystem support ** (un)officially supported now **
* ext2 & ext3 hotplugging
* all media (including network shares & optical devices) can be viewed in ‘All Videos’
* USB Hub support
* mounting of WDTV Optware package (if available) at boot, for access to ~1300 additional programs
* mounting of app bin packs (if available) at boot, for plugNplay addtional functionality
* mounting of OSD overlay (if available) at boot, for full theming (sample)
* limited USB Ethernet support
* IP via DHCP (by default, configurable)
* Samba/CIFS support aka windows share mounting (requires Samba app pack)
* Experimental wireless adapter support (thx to Zorander) (requires wireless-mod-wdlxtv app pack)
* Ximeta NDAS device support (requires ndas app pack)
* Telnet server
* pure-ftp server (requires pure-ftpd app pack)
* configurable to automount NFS shares (requires nfs app pack)
* user customizable background & screen saver images ** new **
* selectable 4/8/10/12/21 video thumb view (see Changelog)
* selectable 4/6/8 file list view (see Changelog)
* sleectable 10/15 photo/music thumb view (see Changelog)
* user customizable init.d scripts for full os customization ** new **
* emergency flash recovery
;)
The USB hub is quite handy to have and thus allows you to use multiple usb sticks, hard drives, optical drives, ethernet simultaneously.
As I managed to pick up one of these units fairly cheap, and found this firmware, I have started to build a kind of docking station for the unit, in which all the optical drives, hard drives, ethnet and usb hub are neatly installed into the docking station, making the WDTV easy to remove should want to carry it out and about.
@Greg -
True, but streaming iPlayer HD is light years from the bandwidth required to stream 1080p content such as from Blu-Ray's :)
Yes, so what are the new range of files? What's new over the old one? What will I be missing if I stick with what I've got?
I've got my WDTV Live connected to my powerline network and have no problems streaming DVDs and 720P mkvs to it. Haven't tried any 1080P stuff yet though. Have to agree with the article - and also add that part of its success is down to its great interface - the WDTV Live deserves its Bit-tech award.
Do you mean without a reciever, or is there some other problem I'm not aware of? With a multichannel reciever you just connect everything at the back and then switch channels (input channels) with the remote. Without a reciever I think you have to connect both the pc and wdtv with different interfaces, if your 5.1 system for instance has an option to connect both optical and coax-cables, you just connect the coax to the pc and optical to the wdtv, and just play media from one of them at the time.
OT; this looks sweet, probably something for me when I move away from our current mediacenter-pc to live by myself.
I have to return it now :(
http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/05/wd-tv-live-boxes-left-bricked-by-firmware-update/
Western digital are a bunch of amateurs!.
Back to the article: the eject button on the remote suggests that it can talk to external drives, is this the case? if so, that would be awesome!
edit: the lack of iPlayer/Hulu support is rather annoying considering they can do Youtube.
Wait, so it will play some RealVideo files? Is there a list somewhere? WD don't like RV at all on the specs!
As for the comments about getting this one over the old one my manager and I both think it's a no brainer. We had the original set up in store and had a number of problems with it. The main issue was the clumsy software and interface. The new version is much easier to use and comparing the two together on identical TVs we found that the newer version actually gave better picture quality.
Bit unfair - dodgy firmware isn't an uncommon occurrence in any industry. It's covered under warranty and should be a straight forward RMA. For what it's worth we reviewed our WDTV with the latest firmware with absolutely no issues, and WD have a good rep for offering ongoing firmware updates for the WDTV. As has already been mentioned, it even supports custom firmware.
Apologies if I didn't make it clear that the WDTV LIVE gained a network port over the original. I actually own both, but the review was for the LIVE, and as we haven't reviewed the original I wanted to keep things clear.
@The boy 4rm oz
As I understand it the latest version of the standard WDTV uses identical innards and interface as the LIVE, but lacks the wifi and networking support. Otherwise they're pretty much identical as well as the DTS decoding and downmixing, although I havn't tried media with wierd amounts of reference frames in the original for a while - it used to freak out if you gave it an HD media file too many.
This WD-device, would it find a NAS-Storage behind a switch?
And it should find a NAS so long as its on the same network, is that what you mean? most bog standard switches don't actually do anything clever, they just allow more network ports.
Mine finds my ReadyNas through a Router, a switch or a powerline network cable, so that's a yes.
http://www.aeonproject.com/ mmmm
Hmmm, just remembered that my NAS (me beeing cheap) is actually a NDAS...so it would need to install it's driver software. :(
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