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 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:
- Sigma Designs SMP 8654AD : Video decoder
- Realtek RTL8110SC(L) : Gigabit Ethernet controller
- 4 x 64 MB NANYA DRAM modules
- 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.
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ganeshts - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
We will try :)chris1317 - 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
ganeshts - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
We will request them for a review unit :)daskino - Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - link
very nice review, enjoyed reading about your visit to SIgma Designs offices. more reviews like this please.Finite 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.
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 :)
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.Lu-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
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.rogress - 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?