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 $59.00 (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: Goodbye Physical Media
Summary: 5 Stars
Pretty fantastic product, so far...Less than 72 hrs of owning this but gushing from how happy we've been with it.
I've scoured many a message board/forum to learn about this wave of media players and while others intrigued me (PCH A110 etc.), this seemed to be a great entry level player from my needs...Now, your needs may vary so you have to take into account what you want and hope for from a player like this.
For me, it plays just about anything you want and does so out of the box...Plus in a USB flash drive or an external HD and boom, you're watching content immediately.
The user interface is good but certainly could use a makeover...The good is that WD is a large enough company and has so far been quick to put forward firmware updates AND solicit opinions/advice/feedback on what users hope to see their players be able to do (I learned this too in many of these messageboards etc.)...This is a relatively new product so appreciate that firmware updates are likely to address a lot more in the coming months.
Pros:
Plays just about any kind of video format and subs out there
Tiny footprint (I mean, it's small)
Quiet
WD backed community
Cons:
Lack of DTS (Very common on a lot of these players due to licensing issues but you can circumvent that by a 'pass through' through your AV receiver...If you don't have one, you'll have to re-encode the file)
User Interface needs sprucing up, thumbnails, coverart etc.
All in all, I think it's a phenomenal product...As revolutionary as DVR was when it came out...In fact, in theory this could ultimately replace a DVR too..Hmm
Customer Review: Easy to use, good quality video, plays media center files!
Summary: 5 Stars
Save Money - I use Media Center to record TV shows on my PC. I used to burn each to a 30 cent DVD-R to watch on my TV. Now I copy the dvr-ms file to a jump drive, plug that into my WD TV and Tah-Dah! watch the show on my TV! For free!
Home Movies and Photos Always Accessible - Once a year or so I go on a rampage and get all my pics and vids organized by date on DVDs and CDs in boxes that are all labeled and pretty. Then, over time, the system falls apart. I take out a photo DVD, play it, put it in a pile, then put the pile into a box, and then... where's that DVD? Now every time I want to show off my 2007 Sky Walk photos I know right where to go. All organized by trip and date on my white WD Passport hard drive. I back up the dv-avi files to a data DVD and make video DVDs as usual. Then yes, it's extra work to convert the captured dv-avi (too big and the WD TV won't play them) to xvid or wmv-9 (not 8!) or whatever and put it on my white drive... but I do it once and it's done. No more, "Really! She, oh, you gotta see! Where IS that disk! Nevermind. I can't find it."
Portable - Now when the family gets together we can easily watch the footage from the previous times the family got together! Fun! The WD gadget is little, the drives are little, it's all easy to transport and hook up to anyone else's TV. Take an RF Converter if you think you might be playing it on an ancient TV with only cable or antennae inputs.
Music During Slideshows. Wonderful.
I LOVE my WD TV gizmo. No more DVDs left behind at a pal's house after movie night. No more "You forgot the DVD where dad rides the horse backwards AGAIN?"
Customer Review: Very Impressed with the WDTV !
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had the WDTV for about 1 month now, and I have been very impressed with this device. The price paid for what it can do, definitely makes it the the best bang for your buck.
First of all what I wanted this device to do for me was play 1080p video (MKV files and MTS files), which it has done flawlessly so far. I have a 1080p AVCHD Camcorder, which records at 1080p 24mbps AVCHD, and this device plays back these video files perfectly. With its ability to pass through digital audio over HDMI makes me give this device a 5 of 5 rating. Device was much smaller than expected, which was a big bonus as well. Device stays fairly cool, and no fans, no noise.
Before having this device I was using laptops and desktop computers plugged into a HDTV to playback media which was a pain. I was having to hook up all the cables each time, setting correct video resolution and digital audio output settings each time I wanted to watch a movie, on top of that the computers/laptops could only barely playback 720p video files which sucked.
There are some minor issues which don't bother me much:
- Picture viewer is slow and very difficult to control. Going forward/backwards or pausing is a pain.
- Music playback is not very well designed, could have been better.
- No networking included, have to use USB drives only for media.
I was assuming I would have had all kinds of headaches with this device, but it has been the total opposite. If you are just looking for media playback especially 1080p, this is the best deal without a doubt.
Customer Review: Just Plain Wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
I Have had my HD Media Player for about a year now. It just couldn't be a better bargain. Out of the box it plays almost anything. I've updated mine twice now and it has played everything I have thrown at it. The picture quality is spot on and the audio is as good as it gets. I love that you can hook two hard-drives to it. One I keep my mass collection and the other I have a Passport drive that I can easily hook and unhook to add files. The menu is easy. Remote easy to use. Just a joy to own. I just finished ordering my second one for another TV in the house.
The only thing I can say slightly negative is it does get warm so I put 4 rubber feet on the bottom to raise it up a bit and now it's nice and cool. The only other thing I don't like is you only have 1 HDMI out and 1 AV out. It would be 10 stars if it had RF out and Component out. I have an old TV and it only has RF (antenna) in so I can't hook it to it. The Component out would be nice if your HDMI in on you TV was already used. Then you could hook the media player up with the Component out. Twice out of using it hundreds of times it didn't want to play a file. Once I just had to turn it off and then back on. The other time I had to unplug it then plug it back in. No big deal. Both times I was messing around with the fast forward and play buttons. Maybe too quickly. One more thing for those of you who don't know, with the latest update you can now in the fast forward mode, hit the next button and jump forward ten minutes at a time. Much better !!!!! I haven't needed customer support so I have no idea on that one.
Customer Review: ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC ITEM
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this on a whim...not even daring to hope it would do all it says. Well; guess what? It does. This device is absolutely incredible. I have a 500gb external hard drive with old movies and cartoons - that i simply plugged in and waited for it to be recognized. Within a few minutes I was happily re-watching movies,shows,etc. and munching on tortilla chips and salsa. I was also listening to some mp3 files while in the kitchen cooking. I also used it to read manga i had in jpeg format. You can views photos too. There's an option for normal or widescreen viewing when watching videos - if you're into subtitles (which i absolutely love) the font size can actually be adjusted...for real! I have found if you have tons of files the best way is to have folders on your hard drive (it makes them easier to find on the device) and use the list view (my personal preference) there's also thumbnail if you prefer. I was able to watch avi/mkv/mp4 formatted files. File types rmvb/wmv don't currently work (to my dismay); hopefully there will be some sort of firmware update that will allow this in the future. Not sure if it works with flv/omg file types - don't have too many of those and haven't bothered to check. Also, if you have tons of files like i do and don't want to scroll through them all; use the very helpful search function (that's right...couldn't believe it myself). All in all i am more than satisfied (ecstatic) about this device...so much so that i intend to buy another one for my bedroom. Way to go WD - I will definitely purchase more of your products in the future.