WD TV Live Plus: Western Digital's Latest Media Player Reviewed
by Cameron Butterfield on July 29, 2010 1:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Media Streamer
- WD
- WD TV Live Plus
Within its class of devices, the WD TV Live Plus offers a wide array of features and compatibility. People who deal primarily with file types supported by this device will be quite happy with the value that it provides them at this price range. The online content available on this device (Netflix, YouTube, Pandora and others) provide a deeper incentive to buy the unit on top of the local media playback features. All the online content applications perform as advertised and are easily accessible to the average consumer. These additional features allow the media players to creep one step closer to crowding out the HTPC. However, in terms of versatility (WDTV Live Plus media compatibility score is just 57.74% compared to the ASRock Core 100 HT-BD's 97.62%) and picture quality (WDTV Live Plus HQV 2.0 score is just 43 on 210, compared to the ASRock HTPC's 133 on 210), it can be said that HTPCs still have a long reign ahead.
Pros
- Slim design
- Easy setup
- Has one of the widest feature sets of any device in its class
- Relatively inexpensive
- Low power consumption
- Silent Operation
- Expanded online content includes site(s) using DRM
- Great user manual (even though it is only a digital copy)
Cons
- Poor Video Post processing (deinterlacing and noise reduction)
- Some compatibility issues (WMAPro)
- Subtitle Issues (Stylized Subs, RtoL languages, PGS)
- Some users may need coaxial S/PDIF connectivity
- Lack of custom firmware mods (as of July 28th, 2010)
Western Digital has done a good job of adding value and features to their line of WD TV devices with the WD TV Live Plus. This unit feels mature and caters to the modern consumers' unique online content cravings. However, the introduction of Netflix has brought with it a locked down Linux box. Custom firmware developers have been finding it difficult to hack into the firmware to enable features which could be had on the WDTV Live. That said, the features, compatibility and value place the WD TV Live Plus around the top of the list for consideration by anyone looking for a media player device.
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bah12 - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
But does it work? Or did you not try at all?ganeshts - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
Cameron will try them out and update by today evening :)bah12 - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
Good deal thanks! Ripped my collection a few years back (old Media Center HTPC + MyMovies). MyMovies DB got corrupted so it basically just sits there. Waiting for an inexpensive streamer and some sort of software to catalog the movies. Easier to just grab the DVD off the shelf. Pity really, because it was a lot of work.Hoping something like this would do the trick, it would be nice to see the cataloging options. My project was a few years back, and getting the meta data (album art, genre ..) was a pain. Has it progressed enough today so that it can do it off of folder name? Or better yet even track sampling like .mp3's do when they auto get the album info.
cbutters - Friday, July 30, 2010 - link
This test that was suggested is now updated in the article.AgeOfPanic - Sunday, August 1, 2010 - link
Does Blu-Ray folder playback also mean that you can hookup an external Blu-Ray player (e.g. the ones that you can buy for a laptop) and browse through the folders of a Blu-ray disk?ganeshts - Sunday, August 1, 2010 - link
This is usually not possible on most devices because AACS is unsupported in these type of devices (sub-$200). You need Blu Ray players such as C-200 or the Dune Prime for folder playback on attached Blu Ray drives.pjladyfox - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
You guys get major kudos from this girly geek and prove why Anantech is the first place I usually come to for reviews followed by everyone else. This has got to be, by far, the most detailed and comprehensive testing suite I've EVER seen regarding NMT's and media streamers. Now I'm dying to see a roundup from you guys, using this testing suite, to see how the other boxes stack up. ^_^To other review sites: THIS is how you not only build a testing suite but review a NMT and media streamer.
JNo - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
Hi great review - love the detail on the compatibility and also video quality - that's rare.I would urge you guys to google then get and review the Xtreamer. It's made and sold directly by a Korean company but is really great value and powerful. It has a very active user community, some of whom who work directly with the manufacturers on the new firmware updates.
As for streaming - I'm all for it... in theory. Apart from being rubbish at understanding and setting up networks, I won't even consider wireless streaming of hd content with all the problems I keep reading about. And whilst wired network streaming is a lot better, it can still have issues and relies on your computer being on for this to occur (noise, power etc) - and not all of us are dedicated enough to have a home NAS system.
I simply put a 500Gb 2.5" HDD in my xtreamer which, while costly initially, allows me just to transfer films and tv shows to it knowing that I, or my wife, will be able to watch them stutter free whenever, whether or not the computer is on. Once you've got a bit of a collection on it, the streaming thing becomes irrelevant.
ganeshts - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
JNo, Thanks for your suggestion.Xtreamer has been on our sights for quite some time now. We are taking steps to see whether we can test it out, but no guarantees :)
docent - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
my one year old ASUS HDP-R1 can play DVD menus from ISO files, what's interesting it can even play menus from BD - functionality that is still not supported on WD media players. WD TV Live Plus is an inferior products - Asus HDP-R1 or newer model HDP-R3 ( with embedded WI-FI ) are much better