Western Digital WDTV Live Hub Review
by Ganesh T S on October 26, 2010 7:38 AM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Media Streamer
- Gadgets
The WDTV Live Hub was put through v1.0.2 of the AnandTech Media Streamer Test Suite. This version has 50 different test streams and a maximum possible score of 358. The WDTV Live Hub came out with a score of 239 (66.76%). This is a slight improvement over WDTV Live Plus (which score 58.14%). The improvements are enumerated below:
- WMA / WMAPro audio decode supported
- DTS core bitstreamed for DTS-HD tracks in MKVs
- Bitstreaming of TrueHD tracks in MKV containers
The streams in which the LiveHub lost out are enumerated below:
- DTS-HD bitstreaming from M2TS / MKVs
- Vorbis decode
- Real Media decode
- Hebrew and Vietnamese subtitle display
- Support for (forced) PGS subtitles in MKV containers
- Playback of some 1080p30 H264 streams (These are L4.1 H264 streams which play properly on almost all other Sigma / Realtek streamers we have tested. The issues happen only in the WDTV lineup)
- Playback of 1080p60 Panasonic camcorder H264 streams
- Support for stylized subtitles (ASS/SSA) with special effects
- MPEG-4 videos with 3 warp points and GMC
- Support for playback of Blu-Ray ISO / folder structure
In essence, whatever used to work on the Live Plus worked very well on the Live Hub. Some improvements were seen, but not as many as we would have liked.
Moving onto the picture quality, I put the WDTV Live Hub through the HQV 2.0 benchmark and the Live Hub scored 56 on 210. It is clear that the Live Hub is no great shakes when it comes to video post processing. Do note that some of the tests simply make no sense for media streamers because the knobs to activate and test out the features just don't exist (as manufacturers don't want to befuddle the average user with some arcane menu options). In any case, the score tallies closely with what Cameron got for the WDTV Live Plus.
At this juncture, I realized that the capabilities of the unit with respect to video decoding were almost the same as that of the WDTV Live Plus (particularly with respect to artifacts exhibited when certain test streams were played back). It looked likely that the Live Hub was powered by a Sigma Designs SoC. However, I was not aware of any mass-production ready Sigma chip with GbE capabilities or proper HDMI 1.4a support....
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
53 Comments
View All Comments
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