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
Online Content accessibility is a very desirable feature for this type of media device. The ability to access the likes of Netflix, YouTube, Pandora and other sources was once reserved for full blown HTPC systems, and more recently for Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 owners. While an ever increasing number of Bluray players, DVRs and televisions themselves have also begun to integrate Netflix streaming features, it serves to reduce some of the perks of building or purchasing a HTPC system vs. an integrated consumer media playing device.
Netflix
The Netflix portion of the WD TV is fairly straightforward. Upon using the Netflix menu option for the first time, the user is asked if he is a current Netflix member. If he answers in the affirmative, an activation code to link the Netflix account with the device is provided. To proceed further, the user needs to have access to an Internet enabled device. This shouldn’t be a problem for anyone who is actually wanting to stream video to this device over the Internet anyways. Once the code is entered on Netflix, there is no waiting and the user is able to watch movies instantly either from the “Instant Queue” or browse from categories that match with the categories one would find on the Netflix website. Menu navigation is straightforward. The arrow keys are used to choose a category and enter it, while the OK key is used to view a movie. One feature that would be nice to have, but does not exist here, is the ability to modify or add to your Netflix Queue, or see what is inside any of the queues other than the Instant Queue. The WD TV Live Plus will not be able to replace the complete PC Netflix experience.
The videos streamed from Netflix started playing as quickly as they would on a normal desktop PC. Within a few seconds from the time the movie is selected to play, the stream starts up. Obviously some of the experience a user has will depend on the speed of the Internet connection. Wiith regard to the actual video streams, there was no discernible difference in the buffering, video quality, or viewing experience from a PC Netflix video viewing experience.
YouTube
The Youtube experience on the WD TV Live Plus supports a wide range of features including:
- Signing in with your user accounts
- Viewing videos by the standard YouTube categories (favorites, top rated, most viewed, most popular, featured)
- Video Search
- Ability to rate videos
- Ability to change country/language settings
- Zoom and Pan
While this section of the WD TV Live works well, some of the features that a PC user is used to are absent. These include comment viewing and posting, changing the resolution and/or the quality of the video feed. Also, some videos on youtube are marked as not viewable on TV connected devices. This is a choice that is decided by the person who publishes the YouTube video. The YouTube video publisher must make a conscious decision to not allow their videos to be viewed on a device such as the WD TV Live, and most casual videos do not have this limitation. However some larger YouTube content publishers have restricted the ability to view their videos using television connected devices. Any potential user of the WDTV Live Plus must be aware that some of YouTube’s content will not be available on the device.
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EarthwormJim - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
The size is nice, but I don't see how this can really compare to the ~$200 ion systems you can get/build. Sure it's cheap, but it's so much more limited than a full computer.kmmatney - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
It's much easier to use than a full computer, and has a remote control. My wife can use this as easily as a DVD player. I looked into getting an ION system, but was going to be $250 for the cheapest system (book size), whereas the WD Live was $109 when I bought mine. It works great - has played everything I've tried. It also has excellent zooming features.Phynaz - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
This.An easy to use appliance that doesn't require any effort on the users part as far as education.
greenguy - Sunday, August 29, 2010 - link
Exactly. I have a WD TV live, and it has been awesome. It uses next to no power, and plays pretty much everything (other than Thomas the Tank Engine) we have thrown at it. Very impressed, very easy to use.wdtvblogger - Saturday, August 7, 2010 - link
It has a great iPhone application that acts a remote control (http://www.wdtvremote.com) - much easier than the hardware remote control. It also allows extra features on your WDTV such as playing SHOUTcast radio...EarthwormJim - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
I forgot to add, I do thoroughly enjoy reviews like this though. Even if the product is crummy, bring on more!!beginner99 - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
So this thing is like identical to the non-plus version which I own. The wmapro thing is a non-issue. It's almost never used and there is a converter available online to mkv which is pretty sweet (=works and is fast).The issue I have is mainly the network problems. If you intend to use it in a network, well prepare for issues. I use it wireless. Bandwith is no problem but connection just drops now and then. see wd forum. it's a common issue. supposedly also happens in wired mode. It' s not really reproducable. Sometimes ti just works, sometimes it drops several times during a movie.
The limited youtube content can also be an issue because what often is blocked are offical music videos and trailers. Eg. the things you would actually want to watch on the tv. Fun stuff, normally in crappy quality, I usually get to by links when browsing on my pc. For me this is not a killer, I bought it for streaming but after a short look at the youtube feature I never used it again.
kmmatney - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
This website lets you create thumbnails for movies to make browsing through the folders more interesting. It creates a file with the same name as your movie, which the WD Live knows to use as a thumbnail for the moviehttp://www.wdtvc.com/2009/04/04/wd-tv-movie-thumbn...
This is good for doing a few movies at a time. There is also a thumbnail generator for auto-generating thumbnails for a whole movie collection:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Othe...
nubie - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
I notice you did image quality tests on 1080 output, what if you are using a native 720p screen, such as a projector?Do these caveats still apply? I would assume less so because the down-conversion should happen after the de-interlacing.
Excellent review, this thing is on the short list of simple gadgets for HD video that the Luddites in the family can operate (and not break doing so.)
probedb - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
I'd be interested in a review of the Play!ON as it appears to be a much better player.I'm also surprised so little attention is paid to deinterlacing in these devices. I rip my DVDs to MKV without compression meaning the streamer must deinterlace so surely it wouldn't hurt for a manufacturer to a good quality one with maybe some ABT chipsets in there?