Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player
by Western Digital
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Our Price: $312.75 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $59.99 (click here) Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player
Customer Review: The Perfect Home and Mobile Media Player
Summary: 5 Stars
The WD HD TV player was just what I needed. About two years ago, I ordered the Mvix Media Player, and it did a great job for about 2 years, then died on me. This time around, I wanted something different. Something that did not require me to have a hard drive as part of the unit. For me, I sometimes need a high capacity drive, but other times just a USB thumb drive, and the WD unit works great for that!
I have several hundred movies and several dozen television series, all encoded with Fair Use Wizard v2 in Xvid format. I've had the WD unit now for a couple of weeks and have used it somewhere in the range of 55-60 hours, and not a single problem with any of my movies or series. 100% perfect so far.
The WD HD TV has 2 USB 2.0 ports which allow you to connect any type of USB storage to the unit. In my case, I use one USB port to connect a WD 1TB portable hard drive for my movies, which I only add to once every 45-60 days. In the second port, I use a 16GB USB Thumb Drive which I update each week with the TV shows I like.
In case you have problems ... I went to the Western Digital website while I was awaiting shipment, and downloaded the latest Firmware version, 1.01, and copied it to my USB thumb drive. As soon as the unit arrived, I put the thumb drive in and started the unit. It saw the update was on the thumb drive and took care of the update. I would suggest you do the same before using the unit.
As yet, I can not find a single negative to report. The PICTURE and SOUND quality are way better than I thought they would be! The same movies I had watched on my older Mvix player where a whole LOT better looking and sounding using the WD unit. Somehow, this WD unit is able to take my highly compressed Xvid files and gives me a picture and sound quality I would get from the original DVD disc!
I can not make any statements about using the unit for camera pictures or audio files, as I am a pure video kind of guy.
I also had no problems the other day taking this with me to a friends house to show him the unit on his TV. Just unplug the power cord, unplug the HDMI cable from the TV (HDMI Cable is NOT included), and off you go! But hey, dont forget the remote buddy, cause the unit itself has no controls on it.
So if like me you have a large library of movies and/or tv shows, then I strongly recommend you get your hands on this puppy! I purchased it in Jan 2009 for $99 from Amazon, and knowing what I know now, I would have gone up to $199 for this unit (shhhhhh, dont give them any ideas!).
Customer Review: incredible piece of hardware at giveaway price
Summary: 5 Stars
This thing works! For a hundred bucks, I can now play, what is essentially cinema grade imagery, to my 1080p projector.
This is something that would have required thousands of dollars worth of machine just a few years ago.
The menus are a bit primitive, but suffice. The picture quality is excellent, and really comes down to how good the encoding was done on the file. Though it can output stereo audio, good DTS and DOLBY sound is passed through digitally, so you have to have an amp capable of decoding DTS or Dolby. No biggie. Optical out takes care of that.
It is important to note that this thing really needs to be plugged via HDMI. Again, no biggie. If you're looking at this, you probably have that capability. Though there is analog video out, it is (ugh) composite. No S or component -- but then again, that would have increased the price dramatically, I would think.
Frankly, I am blown away that this thing exists for this price. I was examining building an HTPC, or a Popcorn media player, etc. - but the additional functionality that these other machines provided wasn't worth the extra few hundred dollars. For my home theater, I have been very happy with this.
What don't I like? well, the remote is a bit toy-like. It is not ergonomically conducive and(considering that this is a media player and will probably be used in subdued light) it sure could use a backlight.
The firmware update has taken care of some issues and hopefully, future upgrades will address the rest.
The major gripes for me:
1. The remote has a slight delay which tempts one to push a button more than once.
2. skipping through files is not nearly as friendly as a typical dvd player.
3. the blue lights on the box are BRIGHT! wish these could be turned off - again, in a home theater environment, the less light being emitted by machines, the better.
4. Don't lose the remote or you're S.O.L.
The fact that I'm nit picking like this really means that I think this is a killer app.
And it's only $100.00!!! What's next? free with two proof of purchase of a box of Cheerios?
What a world.
oh, and with some firmware hacks (god bless the hackers), a whole world of possibilities opens up with this machine, including connecting to a DVD player and networking.
Customer Review: Unbelievable VIDEO abilities, best than the rest for AUDIO and PICS
Summary: 5 Stars
Unbelievable VIDEO abilities, best than the rest for AUDIO and PICS
I waited until I installed the latest software ( 1.2.0.2) to give a documented appraisal on this little and cheap Item.
in a Word: for less than 100 dollars, Its a STEAL of a GIFTED product; NO OTHER under 1000$ qualifies for competition !
Pros : Reads brilliantly a huge range of encoding and encapsulating video formats.
Cons : Some lagging in responding to the remote commands. Nothing, given the price !
Whish List: a (reasonably) more expensive version with a LAN (ethernet) port to connect to my (home) network)
PS: I still do not believe in WiFi as a fan of HiQuality video. my opinion will chqage someday!
More details:
= VIDEO: On top of all the "classic" video formats, i confirm that this device plays nicely ( and surprisingly )
---- AVCHD in 1920*1080i (.MTS files) from Sony and Pana camcorders or Premiere rendering
---- MPEG2 encoded for HD BluRay coming from TMPGencExpress
---- MPEG2 in 1920*1080p at 35 Mbps ( which is my favorite intermediate codec for quick editing of both my AVCHD and CANON .Mov files)
The only HiDef files which are not quite handled are the 1920*1080p 35Mbps .MOV produced by my CANON 5D MkII video.
The video is there, but the Audio isnt. NB: Even my 2.4Mhz CoreDuo processor (Eithe Sony or Apple) cannot render the video without lost frames!
= AUDIO: Excellent restitution, but the interface is too slow to entice you to re-sell your iPod...
= PICTURES: same story, excellent output, but you lack your Mac( or Windows) mouse to browse through your collections..
= ERGONOMY: very easy to understand and use, with a somewhat sluggish response( you never know whether your remote command was acquire dok by the system...Easy improvement for th enext Firmare updtaes, which by the way, are effective and easy to install!
A remarquable achievement from people which were not involved in Video nor User interfaces yet !!!
Customer Review: Nothing comes close for a Hundred Dollars!
Summary: 5 Stars
As many reviewers have already stated, this little box seems to do it all. I've tested it with ISO file of both HD and SD as well as VOB and other video formats. It handles huge High Def 1080 ISO files perfectly. That's a challenge for even a high end PC because not only does it have to decode the correct files contained in the large single ISO file, it must handle the high stream of data as read from the hard drive at the same time. It does that perfectly. In fact, the two USB2 connections on this box will work with a USB hub!!....Yep......connect 2-3-4, etc... drives or other USB memory devices to it and they will all be accessed and usable through the hub. One thing this box can't handle is True HD audio found on some Blu-Ray DVDs (Disney).....As some other reviewers pointed out, there's a few (and very few) audio formats it can't handle. I've also tried both Mac and Windows formatting of my WD external self powered hard drive.....this box handles either system format with no issues and no apparent difference in performance. Video quality is as good as an upscaling DVD player. The menu for video includes "auto" or manual selection of video output from SD 420 up to 1080i/p as well as a variety of refresh rates for different LCD TVs/Displays. "Auto" for me seems to work just fine. I own a current Sony Blu-Ray player and visually, there is no difference in output of picture quality between the WD Media box or the Sony player. Same quality of sharpness, low noise levels and color accuracy. Also, the box automatically selects english audio tracks (you pick the default language in system setup and leave it there) and you can select which audio track you want to hear. the default as per original movie, or with directors comments, different language, with or w/o sub-titles, etc. No DVD top menu is there as in a DVD player or pc software player, just the "main movie" starts when you begin to watch the video title originally from a DVD, but, for $100, and the ability to watch it all from Hard Drive or other USB storage device and have many movies on a small external drive (great for travel!) , the WD TV HD is well worth the investment and does deliver performance well above expectations.Customer Review: Excellent addition to my HDTV
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this product after months of research between this and the more expensive popcorn hour. Ultimately, my choice for this product rested on (1) it's low price compared to the PH; (2) the fact that I can get by without many of the extras of the PH (i.e., streaming capability, room for internal HD); and (3) the glowing reviews of this product from multiple sites. After a few weeks of playing with it, I couldn't be happier with my decision.
Pros:
(1) Has been able to play everything I've thrown at it - whether tv/movies (xvid/divx, mkv), music (flac, mp3), etc. My primary reason for buying it was to play 720p/1080p movies (mkv) without having to resort to plugging my laptop into my TV. So far, it's been flawless even with the biggest files (8GB+).
(2) Has no problem dealing with subtitles (.srt).
(3) Absolutely no lag when media is playing. Plays smooth the whole way through.
(4) Nice interface.
(5) Continual firmware upgrades to further improve the product's capabilities.
Cons:
(1) As others have mentioned, there's a bit of a lag as the player scans the external HD. But it's hardly a dealbreaker (and is to be expected in a product like this)
(2) With music, there is an annoying lag when you try to skip from one song to the next. So you may want to think of another solution if you're buying this only as a music player (which I seriously doubt is the case for anybody)
(3) Would have been nice if you could delete files on the fly via the device itself (but, once again, not a deal breaker).
In short, I'd highly recommend this for anybody with a lot of media on external HD's.
NOTE: I'm using this on a Samsung 32" 720p HDTV
UPDATE 2/28/09:
- After using this for a few weeks now, I have discovered that the player won't play the audio from .mkv movies with DTS sound. AC3 works fine, but if you have a big collection w/DTS it may be a deal breaker. There are ways to convert to AC3, but I haven't had the time to try them yet.