The WDTV Live Hub case had no screws on the outside, similar to the earlier WDTV units. However, once the notch at the rear end of the top panel was spotted, it was a simple job to pry it open and expose the internals. The fan inside the unit renders unnecesaary the heat sink found in the previous generation products.

The 1 TB internal hard disk is the WD Scorpio Blue. Unfortunately, the unit doesn't seem to be easily user serviceable.

The other main components on the board are as follows:

  1. Sigma Designs SMP 8654AD : Video decoder
  2. Realtek RTL8110SC(L) : Gigabit Ethernet controller
  3. 4 x 64 MB NANYA DRAM modules
  4. Samsung K9F2G080UB 2 GB NAND Flash

The Live Hub board is based upon the Vantage 8654 development platform provided by Sigma Designs. As a way of customization, the Realtek GbE controller is probably connected to the SMP 8654 using the PCI connector. The SATA port made available in the SMP 8654 is connected to the 1 TB hard disk. From the hardware viewpoint, other than the GbE controller, there is nothing much exciting or different from the reference design. Unfortunately, the GbE controller doesn't appear to deliver its full potential, and it doesn't look like WD is planning to fix it either. However, it does lend a nice marketing pitch, as this happens to be the first dedicated media streamer in the market with a GbE port.

Visiting Sigma Designs Final Words
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  • ganeshts - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link

    Exactly what I felt too :)
  • odedia - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link

    I have the first gen product and WD does nothing to support its previous users. A simple firmware upgrade to enable Hebrew/Arabic fonts would be great service. Yet they refuse. I don't need all the rest of the mumbo-jumbo (Although WI-FI seems like a must).

    At this price - Just buy the new Boxee Box, it looks 10 times like a better investment at the same price point.
  • ganeshts - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link

    True. Gave feedback to WD regarding a host of issues in previous generation products which haven't been fixed yet. Not sure if they will act on it.
  • gigahertz20 - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link

    I wish Anandtech would do a review of the Popcorn Hour A-200 and compare it to the WDTV lineup. I was looking the other day and saw that Amazon now carries it for $180. Anyways, I own a Popcorn Hour A-110 and a WD TV Live, and from my experiences playing back hundreds of different movies in several formats, the Popcorn Hour has better support.

    There were several movies that would not play back correctly on my WD TV Live but played fine on the Popcorn Hour, and the last firmware Western Digital issued for it was in March. They clearly do not care about fixing bugs when the last firmware they released was almost 7 months ago...I mean come on.
  • ganeshts - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link

    gigahertz20,

    We would love to evaluate the PCH / Dune / Xtreamer series, but we can only request the manufacturer for a review unit. If the manufacturer is unwilling, we can't do much. Yes, we can purchase a unit ourselves, but when we have a backlog of items sent by other manufacturers, it is quite difficult :)

    That said, we are constantly in touch with various companies making innovative products and you should see them appearing in the review section soon. The Nixeus Fusion HD appears to be a likely candidate for getting reviewed sometime next month, but no guarantees.
  • gigahertz20 - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link

    Thanks for the update :)
  • rogress - Sunday, October 31, 2010 - link

    Ditto on this. I really like these reviews of media players. Would also like to see the PCH units reviewed so we can compare.

    I wish these WD models had a web browser like the PCH units - so we can use our own "movie jukebox" like YAMJ. Thats the only thing missing for me.
  • EddyKilowatt - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link

    I've been eagerly awaiting a refresh of the WDTV before the holidays, hoping they'd fix the many reported bugs and video artifacts. My heart sank with each item on the feature list, and somewhere around 'supports Blockbuster' I lost hope. Looks like I'll have to widen the search again...
  • Homerboy - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link

    Does it provide video shuffle? Can I queue up a directory of my choosing and have it play those contained videos randomly? I am having a heck of a time finding a setop box that can do this like my XBMC units can.
  • Chillin1248 - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link

    I have recently purchased the Argosy 335T, and they have a shipping version that includes a 2TB HDD for $180. I would love for you to compare the WDTV against it.

    ---------
    Chillin

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