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
Our piece on media streamer platforms indicated that we were in the process of assembling a test suite of media files. With the help of feedback from readers and some members from AVSForums, we managed to assemble a set of 44 test files covering various media streamer / HTPC scenarios for v1.0.0 of the AnandTech Media Streamer Test Suite. Weights have been assigned to each stream based on how frequently one might encounter them in a home theater setting. The table below indicates the various aspects tested by each file, the assigned weight for the stream, and the score obtained by the WD TV Live Plus depending on the success it had with playback.
WD TV Live Plus: AT Media Streamer Test Suite | |||||||
File Name | Aspects Tested | Max. Score | WD TV Score | Notes | |||
001-1080p30.x264.AC3.m2ts | H.264, AC3, M2TS |
8
|
8
|
||||
002-480i30.MPEG.ASF.dvr-ms | ASF, DVR-MS |
2
|
2
|
||||
003-1080p24.WMV9.WMAPro.6Ch.wmv | WMV9, WMAPro |
8
|
0
|
WMAPro doesn't play | |||
004-1080p60.x264.8ref.mkv | 60 fps L5.1 H.264 |
8
|
8
|
||||
005-1440x1080i30.SonyAVCHD.m2ts | HD Camcorder Clips |
10
|
10
|
||||
006-1080p24.x264.16ref.mkv | L5.1 H.264 |
8
|
8
|
||||
007-1080p.x264.DTS.6Ch.mkv | DTS |
10
|
10
|
||||
008-DTS-HRA.8Ch.m2ts | DTS-HRA Bitstreaming |
8
|
3
|
DTS core bitstreaming | |||
009-TrueHD.6Ch..m2ts | TrueHD Bitstreaming |
8
|
8
|
||||
010-1080p24.x264.AAC.mp4 | AAC, MP4 |
8
|
8
|
||||
011-FLAC.6Ch.ASS.Subs.mkv | FLAC, ASS Subs |
8
|
4
|
Stylized Subs not displayed | |||
012-1080p24.Vorbis.ogg | Vorbis, OGG |
4
|
0
|
Unrecognized Format | |||
013-352p25RV40.RACook.rmvb | Real Media |
8
|
0
|
Unrecognized Format | |||
014-1080i25.AVC.AC3..MPEG-TS.trp | TRP |
2
|
2
|
||||
015-360p24.XVid.12LanguagesSRT.Subs.mkv | UTF Subs |
8
|
2
|
Language Orientation issues. | |||
016-1080i30.MPEG2.HeavilyInterlaced.ts | Deinterlacing for MPEG-2 |
8
|
2
|
Flickering Issues | |||
017-1080p24.TrueHD.PGS.Subs.mkv | PGS Subs, TrueHD Bitstreaming from MKV |
12
|
0
|
||||
018-480p.TVCapture.wtv | WTV |
4
|
0
|
Unrecognized Format | |||
019-240p.H264.AAC.m4v | M4V |
8
|
8
|
||||
020-1080p30.x264.AC3.m2ts | H.264, AC3, M2TS |
10
|
5
|
Slight Choppiness | |||
021-442p30.DivX.AAC.mkv | DivX in MKV Container |
8
|
2
|
Sync Issues | |||
022-DVDISO.iso | DVD ISO |
10
|
10
|
||||
023-BluRayISO.iso | Blu Ray ISO |
10
|
5
|
Unable to play menus / Other Issues* | |||
024-1080p24.x264.DTS-MA.7Ch.mkv | DTS-MA Bitstreaming from MKV |
4
|
0
|
No Audio | |||
025-720p24.x264.DTS-MA.6Ch.mkv | DTS-MA Bitstreaming from MKV |
4
|
0
|
No Audio | |||
026-1080p24.VC1.AC3.mkv | VC1 in MKV |
10
|
10
|
||||
027-1440x576p25.WVC1.wmv | WVC1 |
8
|
8
|
||||
028-720p60.WVC1.WMA3.6Ch.wmv | 60fps WVC1 |
8
|
0
|
WMA No Audio | |||
029-1080p60.AVC.AAC.MP4 | HD Camcorder Clips |
10
|
1
|
Choppiness | |||
030-272p.VP6.MP3.FLV | VP6 in FLV, MP3 |
10
|
0
|
||||
031-854x480p30.H264.AAC.flv | H.264 in FLV |
10
|
10
|
||||
032-1080p.VP8.Vorbis.webm | VP8, WebM |
10
|
0
|
Unrecognized Format | |||
033-480p24.MPEG1.mpg | MPEG-1 |
4
|
4
|
||||
034-1080p24.xvid.avi | HD Xvid, AVI |
10
|
10
|
||||
035-672p30.DIVX.MP3.divx | DivX |
10
|
10
|
||||
036-720p60.MPEG2.m2v | MPEG-2, M2V |
2
|
2
|
||||
037-1080p30.MPEG2TS.ts | TS |
2
|
2
|
||||
038-1080p25.AVC.AAC.6Ch.MOV.mov | MOV |
10
|
10
|
||||
039-1080p24.RV40.Cook.rmvb | HD Real Media |
8
|
0
|
Unrecognized Format | |||
040-Anamorphic.MultAud.MultSubs.mkv | Anamorphic, SSA Subs |
10
|
9
|
Subtitle Issues | |||
041-1080p24.VC1.DTSHD-MA.m2ts | VC1 in M2TS, DTS-HD Bitstreaming |
6
|
3
|
Only passed DTS | |||
042-1080p24.VC1.TrueHD.AC3.m2ts | VC1 in M2TS, TrueHD Bitstreaming |
6
|
6
|
||||
043-1080i30.H264.HeavilyInterlaced.ts | Deinterlacing for H264 |
8
|
2
|
Flickering Issues | |||
044-1080i30.VC1.HeavilyInterlaced.ts | Deinterlacing for VC1 |
8
|
2
|
Flickering Issues | |||
022-DVDISO.iso extracted to folder | Video_TS/VOB Playback | 4 | 4 | ||||
023-BluRayISO.iso extracted to folder | Extracted BluRay Iso | 4 | 0 | One Video Stream at a time only. | |||
Total |
200 out of 344
|
The WD TV Live Plus has some drawbacks when it comes to media compatibility, especially compared to an HTPC system which due to its flexible software options which lets it play virtually anything. (For instance the ASRock Core100HT-BD HTPC scored 336 out of 344 in our media compatibility test suite). The WD TV Live Plus acheives a score of 200 out of 344 here (58.14%). Some of the key shortcomings in media compatibility include failure to decode WMAPro audio codecs and RMVB, poor deinterlacing capabilities, some subtitles problems and a few issues with choppiness on certain test files.
While the device does have full WMV support, it does not have support for WMApro audio codecs. Several of our WMV test files played perfectly but without audio; including a de-facto WMV-HD test file from the WMV showcase website. There are many users who do not utilize any windows media codecs in any shape or form and so this will not bother many people. However, this could mean major compatibility issues with users who have previously encoded much of their video content to WMV for Xbox media streaming purposes. RMVB is not listed as a supported format and indeed the rmvb files do not even show up in the folder when browsing through the content. Deinterlacing performance on the WD TV Live was sub-par and most of the deinterlacing test videos had flickering issues. A drastic improvement was seen when offloading the deinterlacing to my HDTV's deinterlacing processor by setting the WD TV Live to 1080i and allowing the television itself to interpolate the fields. If you are going to be using the WD TV Live for watching interlaced content, you might do yourself a service to do the same.
The WD TV Live does support subtitles and has a wide range of language/region options. The SSA subs worked fine on most content, but some of the stylized subs were not visible on our test file. PGS subtitles did not play from MKVs. Also, some languages that read right to left were displayed incorrectly. Other lost points in this test suite came from a few test files that had choppiness issues such as some of the HD camera clips and a Panasonic demo reel.
Blu-ray menus are not supported at all, but the device does ask if you would like to play the video within the ISO, and it is possible to view the video stream inside the ISO. This worked on our test Blu-ray ISO that only included one video stream, but when attempting to do the same with our HQV Blu-ray ISO, it resulted in only one video being played, although there were several video streams inside. Most likely, the WD TV attempts to play the largest video stream and that is all. Some points were docked for this issue.
With the incompatibilities and other issues noted, the WD TV Live Plus does support a wide range of files and plays them very well. With a few exceptions, the content that the WD TV Live advertises as being compatible with plays smoothly even at high bit-rates and full 1080p resolutions. Dolby TrueHD is supported, although only in the mt2s container (strangely, this is not listed in the manual as supported). DVD ISO playback seems flawless including full menu support. Even Blu-ray ISO files work on the device, with certain quirks, as mentioned above.
[UPDATE]
Due to reader feedback, we have added an additional test to the benchmark suite to determine if the player is capable of playing extracted Blu-Ray and DVD ISO formats. The WD TV Live Plus was capable of playing the DVD with menus just fine after clicking the first file in the Video_TS folder. The extracted Blu-ray ISO could be played one video stream at a time by navigating into the folder structure of the extracted ISO, no Blu-Ray menus were available. Please note the updated scores.
81 Comments
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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