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: Just Works.
Summary: 5 Stars
Check the date on these reviews when you read them. I am writing this in late August 2009. Whatever problems this device had with formats, codecs, etc. have been fixed in firmware updates.
Any time I buy a device, plug it in, and it just works I am happy. Even though my technical level is very high, I get tired of spending my time debugging and developing workarounds for half functional products. I have used a number of video options. Up until recently I was putting everything I wanted to watch on Tivo. The Tivo Home option never worked well, but I had tolerable results with PyTivo. However, too many times movies and shows only half transferred. I tried the Samsung usb device, and it worked OK but control wasn't that good and video quality was just OK. Also, after a few months the plastic started disintegrating and it came apart. Also the remote was really cheaply made and flimsy.
The beauty of the WDTV is its simplicity. Plug it into your TV and plug in either a USB hard drive or thumb drive and away you go. The video quality is excellent. The remote is substantial enough and the device is responsive to the remote. It would be nice if it had buttons, and it would be nice if it had networking (next version or hacks will work). Sometimes a simple product is the best. Also the price is reasonable.
Customer Review: A great add on to you HDTV
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this little box. IT plays anything i throw at it. It even plays the BluRay M2ts rips i have and does so in 1080p/24. The sound is great on teh optical out to my receiver and the video play back is top notch. So far it had only one issue and i think its a issue with my file and not the player, but aside from that every other file has played fine. It's very easy to FFW and RRW the movies and it even has a auto resume feature that most bluray players don't have. Setup was a breez, i just hooked up a 1TB my book from WD and ran thru the basic setup options and it was working in minutes. The in screen interface looks sharp and offers a lot more then i expected from it. I have not really need to use the enclosed conversion software as it meets my needs out of the box for file playback. I bought mine here and it was already up to date with the latest firmware, but you will want to check yours to makes sure its. You can find it at the western digital website, its version 1.01 The best thing so far is this box plays the files my PS3 would not, and playing those on a laptop to TV is not a attractive option as it kills the laptop battery and the sound is not DTS or DD like it is on this box with its optical out. I would recommend this to any one who has a lot of video files they want to play on the big screen in HD.Customer Review: Simple, Small, Superb
Summary: 5 Stars
This was purchased for my brother in law (non-techy) I had a chance to play with it, because I though I needed a firmware upgrade. The package arrived and the firmware was up to date. The UI is simple and easy to understand. It remembers where you left and ask to be continued the next time you view the movie. I don't have subtitled DVD's so I cannot comment on it. Playback, FF, RW, Pause all worked like they are suppose to.
My few complaints. The unit as pictured did not come with the passport harddrive stand. All the reviews ive read, came with it. I guess they have changed the packaging to save $$. I would like the HD to turn off, when I eject or turn the unit off. I guess its not a big deal if its from a flash drive. it would be nice to have a component or svideo output. My sister tv did not have HDMI, but had component. I assume this would be an issue with a handful of people. The outputs on the unit was only HDMI or composite....the best and the worst.
Overall, I would recommend this product to all techy and non. There are better products with more features out there, but the price point cant be beat. Works as advertised. This unit is fairly small and simple. No extra non sense wires and inputs to confuse the technologically challenged.
Customer Review: Works great for what i use it for!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this from another retailer but absolutely love it. As I'm overseas I have to download all the great TV shows that everyone in the US can watch. They are almost all in Divx format and this device plays them all. I picked up the Corsair 16g USB drive that was on sale after T-giving and I load it up with a bunch of shows and it plays them great. I've also hooked up my 120g WD passport with videos, music, and photos and it works well with it as well although it takes longer to load up the menu's with the large number of files.
The only thing I had problems with were the movie previews I had downloaded(.mkv format). It would render/play them but with no sound. Since the majority of my videos are encoded in Divx this did not bother me that much. **update** As the user that commented pointed it out, it was because I wasn't using the optical output w/ the decoder. Works great when I've hooked up the device using the optical cable to my receiver.
Love the fact that it's dual voltage as well. Prior to this I was using my Pioneer DVD player with USB input. However, when there was a lot of 'action' on the screen it would start to stutter (The opening sequence of Big Bang Theory was the worst). This device plays it flawlessly.
Customer Review: Great little product
Summary: 5 Stars
This media player has taken over the duties my xbox 360 had in streaming media content to my tv. After my 360 died for the 2nd time I decided to invest in it and im more than pleased. I download a lot of tv shows, films and anime etc and support for video files on this media player is way more than on the xbox360, in fact after the latest firmware update it plays everything I have except for a certain rare vid format that sucked anyway rm- something. after the latest firmware release it supported audio for the few vids I had that couldnt play audio properly, some .mkv vids, after latest firmware release audio is flawless on those vids
Overall this product performs extremely well and Im really glad I purchased it. If they do make a new model features I'd like to see are perhaps better remote (the present remote does an excellent job though), perhaps direct pc connection to stream videos (only thing I miss about xbox 360 is that it played videos straight off laptop via wireless network at home so as soon as vid downloaded onto pc it would show up on tv via xbox360). However I think as it is the WD tv player is excellent especially at the price. Would love to buy a couple of these for family and friends waiting for price to come down though :)