I'd be interested if it had recording capabilities at this price point. Well, I'm sure a lot of people would be... I just say it because I really don't need the built in HDD on this device since it's not recording anything.
It's nice that they've updated the interface, something the previous generation of WD devices have been asking for, however, with Google and Apple getting serious in this space I think WD has been moving a little to slowly here.
Lastly, did they finally include a 30s skip function or is it still just FF/RR while watching shows and the huge 10 or 20 minute (I think) skip?Reply
The LiveHub has the ability to navigate to any time instant in the video file. There is an option for a x16 forward / rewind too. No explicit 30s skip as far as I can seeReply
I have an Iomega Home Media NAS. It has gigabit port and it's also limited to an average of 10.6 MB/s. I was getting slightly above 8 MB/s on 100 megabit router so it's a slight upgrade, but a far cry from what I expected (ie 50+ MB/s). They both must have similar bottleneck between the HDD and the network interface.Reply
If I'm understanding your setup properly, you have a computer and the Iomega Home Media NAS plugged into a 100 Base-T router. Regardless of your NIC's capable speed, you'll never transfer faster than the hardware **between the two points** allows.
A 100 Base-T system is theoretically capable of up to 12.5 MB/s (100 / 8).Reply
No, I had it hooked up to 100 megabit router, then I hooked up a gigabit switch in preparation to wiring my house up for nas serving a PS3 and Cinematube. To transfer the files I hooked up my laptop to the switch as well. I haven't tested read speeds yet, but write speeds increased from 8+ MB/s with both my laptop and NAS on my 100 megabit router to 10.6 MB/s with both on the gigabit switch, which incidentally meets what Anandtech got with this box and what other websites got when testing WD Mybook World.
Ps. The switch shows both devices connected with gigabit protocols so getting write speeds equivalent to what you could get on a good 100mbps connection is pretty disappointing. Having said that, read speeds should be around 27-30 MBps. Anand or should I say Ganesh should test that and update this review.Reply
It's loud already, but I have it in a basement closet along with router, gigabit switch, cable modem, print server. two printers and a copier so I don't care. I didn't get it for the looks, I got 1TB NAS for $99 shipped from Amazon. Can't beat that.Reply
Could we have video of you actually navigating the menus and pulling up the test suite as you use the product as well please. Also some video walkthrough of Netflix, Youtube and Pandora please. Otherwise great article; I didn't even have this on my roundup for consideration until now.Reply
The feature table says that the unit does not have stereo (audio output I am assuming). But the rear of the unit has stereo RCA outputs (you also refer to them in the article).
Can you guys post a review of the Sony SMP-N100 Network Media Player with Wi-Fi? This is the deice I am most interested in and would like to know how it fairs to the WD Live products.Thanks.Reply
We had requested Sony for a review unit. They were initially interested in us carrying a review, but later stopped responding.
Anyways, from what I see, if you are looking for online content, the Sony one is better than any of the WD Live products. On the other hand, if local media compatibility is important, the WDTV family is miles ahead.Reply
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.Reply
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.Reply
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.Reply
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.Reply
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.Reply
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...Reply
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.Reply
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.
It would be really good if you could get a hold of a review unit from Dune. Some of their new players look really good. Allthough the MAX is maybe a bit expensive some of the other players are quite reasonable.
We used the best and most reliable benchmarks in business, the Intel NASPT and IOZone. I am not sure bing is a reliable indicator, as you have observed yourself :)Reply
Absolutely. The graphs coming from the switch counters also didn't concur with the results of bing. After about 2 minutes of bing reporting 145Mb/s it does actually settle down to around 95Mb/s. It is however one of the few devices that manages to 'cheat' bing for as long as it does; likely due to the binging host being on a gigabit connection itself.Reply
Great review although I'm wondering: does the built-in library feature display the cover art of a movie and gives you the option to display the movie description as well like XBMC? This would be my killer feature for a portable media player.Reply
It plays back fine on most HTPCs. We will have to dig up our other streamer reviews to see if someone else was able to play it back properly. In any case, I think it is more of firmware issue with WD and the chip itself should be capable of playing it back without problems.Reply
I was thinking of buying this but now it doesn't sound that good anymore :/ If I don't get this what would be better choice in this price category? I don't need to hard drive so it can be one without a hard drive. The wifi would be plus but not all has that either.
The first thing I did when I hooked up this unit was to upgrade the firmware. Following some connectivity issues I tries to play some VOB files over my WIRED connection and had choppy playback. After many days of forum research with some senior people there seemed no answer until I rolled the firmware back to default settings. The problem disappeared immediately and has not recurred. If you get one of these don't upgrade the firmware. You've been warned.Reply
The LiveHub with the internal 1TB HDD is cheaper than a Live+ and a 1TB Passport. It's a potent unit at it's price point.
Something I didn't note before: the WDTV Live Hub can share media to the Live+, both the internal HDD and USB devices that are plugged into it. You can even have both units play the same file at the same time.
as i opened the boxed wd tv media hub some four hours ago i was apalled by the insensitivity of the western digital people. first of all the power plug supplied was not of india specification which it should have been while they sell the product here. i ran back to the market spent time searching and got one. as i started the device i found the remote was faulty. the down scroll, numbers 5,7 9 were not responding and didnt work. i had to use my smart phone to setup the network. when i tried to dicover the device with the wd discovery software it did not discover any thing. than i had to search the device through the network folder and than i was able to u/l some pics and videos to the device. it works excellent all i hope that they could be a little sensitive and thoughtful with this very good product. Reply
53 Comments
Back to Article
ganeshts - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
I know these aren't in the piece yet. I will try to get those figures in as soon as possible. Replycasteve - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
Ganesh, when you do have a chance to add the power and noise levels...be sure to include power used when off/sleeping/idle. Thanks! Replyganeshts - Tuesday, November 16, 2010 - link
Sorry for the delay, but the power consumption numbers are as below:1. Power off, adapter connected to the mains (WDTVLiveHub visible on the network) : 7.7W
2. Power off, transferring files to WDTVLiveHub drive over the network: 9.4W
3. Power on, running 1080p video / playing Netflix: 10.7W
4. Power on, running 1080p video, transferring file to internal drive at the same time: 11.3W Reply
dman - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
I'd be interested if it had recording capabilities at this price point. Well, I'm sure a lot of people would be... I just say it because I really don't need the built in HDD on this device since it's not recording anything.It's nice that they've updated the interface, something the previous generation of WD devices have been asking for, however, with Google and Apple getting serious in this space I think WD has been moving a little to slowly here.
Lastly, did they finally include a 30s skip function or is it still just FF/RR while watching shows and the huge 10 or 20 minute (I think) skip? Reply
ganeshts - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
The LiveHub has the ability to navigate to any time instant in the video file. There is an option for a x16 forward / rewind too. No explicit 30s skip as far as I can see Replyblckgrffn - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
Really? That's getting up into well-connected blu-ray player pricing - not to mention the nettops you can put together for nearly that much... Replydandar - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
I have an Iomega Home Media NAS. It has gigabit port and it's also limited to an average of 10.6 MB/s. I was getting slightly above 8 MB/s on 100 megabit router so it's a slight upgrade, but a far cry from what I expected (ie 50+ MB/s). They both must have similar bottleneck between the HDD and the network interface. ReplyAikouka - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
If I'm understanding your setup properly, you have a computer and the Iomega Home Media NAS plugged into a 100 Base-T router. Regardless of your NIC's capable speed, you'll never transfer faster than the hardware **between the two points** allows.A 100 Base-T system is theoretically capable of up to 12.5 MB/s (100 / 8). Reply
dandar - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
No, I had it hooked up to 100 megabit router, then I hooked up a gigabit switch in preparation to wiring my house up for nas serving a PS3 and Cinematube. To transfer the files I hooked up my laptop to the switch as well. I haven't tested read speeds yet, but write speeds increased from 8+ MB/s with both my laptop and NAS on my 100 megabit router to 10.6 MB/s with both on the gigabit switch, which incidentally meets what Anandtech got with this box and what other websites got when testing WD Mybook World.Ps. The switch shows both devices connected with gigabit protocols so getting write speeds equivalent to what you could get on a good 100mbps connection is pretty disappointing. Having said that, read speeds should be around 27-30 MBps. Anand or should I say Ganesh should test that and update this review. Reply
Samus - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
That shitty 25mm (sleeve bearing?) fan is going to get really loud, really soon. It's too bad they didn't keep it passively cooled. Replydandar - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
It's loud already, but I have it in a basement closet along with router, gigabit switch, cable modem, print server. two printers and a copier so I don't care. I didn't get it for the looks, I got 1TB NAS for $99 shipped from Amazon. Can't beat that. ReplySaltbread - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
Could we have video of you actually navigating the menus and pulling up the test suite as you use the product as well please. Also some video walkthrough of Netflix, Youtube and Pandora please. Otherwise great article; I didn't even have this on my roundup for consideration until now. Replyganeshts - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
Will try to get that in for you over the weekend. Replybahamakyle - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
The feature table says that the unit does not have stereo (audio output I am assuming). But the rear of the unit has stereo RCA outputs (you also refer to them in the article).Thanks for the review :D Reply
ganeshts - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
Ah! The perils of working late into the night with a looming deadline :)Thanks for pointing out the issue. It is fixed now. Reply
bahamakyle - Friday, October 29, 2010 - link
no worries :) ReplyAmdInside - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
Can you guys post a review of the Sony SMP-N100 Network Media Player with Wi-Fi? This is the deice I am most interested in and would like to know how it fairs to the WD Live products.Thanks. Replyganeshts - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
We had requested Sony for a review unit. They were initially interested in us carrying a review, but later stopped responding.Anyways, from what I see, if you are looking for online content, the Sony one is better than any of the WD Live products. On the other hand, if local media compatibility is important, the WDTV family is miles ahead. Reply
AmdInside - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
Thank you very much for the reply. Appreciate. Anandtech rocks. ReplyPAPutzback - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
What else is there to read? Why would they choose a company that is quickly disappearing from the face of the earth. Replyganeshts - Tuesday, October 26, 2010 - link
Exactly what I felt too :) Replyodedia - 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. Reply
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. Replygigahertz20 - 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. Reply
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. Reply
gigahertz20 - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
Thanks for the update :) Replyrogress - 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. Reply
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... ReplyHomerboy - 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. ReplyChillin1248 - 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 Reply
ganeshts - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
We will try :) Replychris1317 - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
Hi Anand,It would be really good if you could get a hold of a review unit from Dune. Some of their new players look really good. Allthough the MAX is maybe a bit expensive some of the other players are quite reasonable.
http://dune-hd.com/index.php?do=players
Cheers
Chris Reply
ganeshts - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
We will request them for a review unit :) Replydaskino - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
very nice review, enjoyed reading about your visit to SIgma Designs offices. more reviews like this please. ReplyFinite Loop - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
Can you measure the network speed with something like 'bing'?We can measure a speed of about 150Mb/s using an acryan mini which only has a 100Mb nic installed. Reply
ganeshts - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
Finite Loop,We used the best and most reliable benchmarks in business, the Intel NASPT and IOZone. I am not sure bing is a reliable indicator, as you have observed yourself :) Reply
Finite Loop - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
Absolutely. The graphs coming from the switch counters also didn't concur with the results of bing. After about 2 minutes of bing reporting 145Mb/s it does actually settle down to around 95Mb/s. It is however one of the few devices that manages to 'cheat' bing for as long as it does; likely due to the binging host being on a gigabit connection itself. ReplyLu-Max - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
Last night Best buy was showing it at $229, I even called my local store and verified it.Today it is listed at $199, model #WDBABZ0010BBK Reply
funtasticguy - Friday, October 29, 2010 - link
Great review although I'm wondering: does the built-in library feature display the cover art of a movie and gives you the option to display the movie description as well like XBMC? This would be my killer feature for a portable media player. Replyrogress - Sunday, October 31, 2010 - link
And is the built-in library only for USB attached (and internal drive) media - or will it scan your network shares also? Replyfingaz - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
Would love to know both of these things too. Also would be eternally grateful for a screenshot or two of a sample movie sheet! Replyvirtual_one - Saturday, November 06, 2010 - link
Hello!Does WD Live Hub really have remote control over HTTP or DLNA? I can not find any possibility to drive this media-center via those interfaces..
Thank you Reply
ganeshts - Tuesday, November 09, 2010 - link
Yes, there is a remote control over HTTP. You can find details in the product user guide available on the WD website. ReplyKitno - Tuesday, November 09, 2010 - link
Hi,In the LiveHub test the7th stream that did not succesfully played was the Panasonic 1080/60p stream.
Since you test for this, does that mean that there are players out there that play these streams?
tx
Kitno Reply
ganeshts - Tuesday, November 09, 2010 - link
It plays back fine on most HTPCs. We will have to dig up our other streamer reviews to see if someone else was able to play it back properly. In any case, I think it is more of firmware issue with WD and the chip itself should be capable of playing it back without problems. ReplyKitno - Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - link
I have the PCH A200 and it can't deal with the 1080/60p stream.I saw the Nixeus Fusion HD and in the specs it says 1080/60p.
But it seems only available in the US.
On a HTPC is is indeed no problem.
I am not sure it is just a firmware issue. 1080/60p is double the information.
tx
K Reply
Markomaani - Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - link
Hi!I was thinking of buying this but now it doesn't sound that good anymore :/
If I don't get this what would be better choice in this price category?
I don't need to hard drive so it can be one without a hard drive.
The wifi would be plus but not all has that either.
Make Reply
obxman69 - Sunday, December 05, 2010 - link
does this unit have any parental controls to keep kids off of Facebook for example?thanks Reply
michsxx - Thursday, December 09, 2010 - link
HiI'm new and I want to just say Hello.
My nick is: http://www.25mbits.com">michsxx
I hope to write many of posts in this forum...
If it's wrong thread to say Hello, please move to correct one. Reply
zickk - Thursday, January 13, 2011 - link
Hello, is there a way of opening the remote control?i have some buttons that are not working. Reply
ram1009 - Monday, January 17, 2011 - link
The first thing I did when I hooked up this unit was to upgrade the firmware. Following some connectivity issues I tries to play some VOB files over my WIRED connection and had choppy playback. After many days of forum research with some senior people there seemed no answer until I rolled the firmware back to default settings. The problem disappeared immediately and has not recurred. If you get one of these don't upgrade the firmware. You've been warned. Replypshen7 - Tuesday, February 22, 2011 - link
The LiveHub with the internal 1TB HDD is cheaper than a Live+ and a 1TB Passport. It's a potent unit at it's price point.Something I didn't note before: the WDTV Live Hub can share media to the Live+, both the internal HDD and USB devices that are plugged into it.
You can even have both units play the same file at the same time.
Peter Shen, founder Koowie.com Reply
anand_s63 - Thursday, June 09, 2011 - link
as i opened the boxed wd tv media hub some four hours ago i was apalled by the insensitivity of the western digital people. first of all the power plug supplied was not of india specification which it should have been while they sell the product here. i ran back to the market spent time searching and got one. as i started the device i found the remote was faulty. the down scroll, numbers 5,7 9 were not responding and didnt work. i had to use my smart phone to setup the network. when i tried to dicover the device with the wd discovery software it did not discover any thing. than i had to search the device through the network folder and than i was able to u/l some pics and videos to the device. it works excellent all i hope that they could be a little sensitive and thoughtful with this very good product. Reply