Technology really moves at a breakneck pace. It was only a few months ago that we took a look at the original Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player and now the company that usually specializes in hard drives has already released that product’s successor: The Western Digital WD TV Live.
On the surface, the WD TV Live looks an awful look like its predecessor, but Western Digital has included a lot of important upgrades in this new unit. The “live” part of the name, for example, points toward its network-ready capabilities.
Features and Specifications
Measuring about the same size as the first WD TV, the Western Digital WD TV Live Media Player boasts full HD video playback and navigation with support for resolutions up to 1080p. This is a perfect fit for something like a 55-inch Samsung LCD HDTV in your living room. You don’t need a Blu-ray player to enjoy 1080p.
File support has been vastly improved in the WD TV Live as well, now allowing you to enjoy your “downloaded” MKV videos with the greatest of ease. It’ll also do music and pictures, as before, but the kicker is that all three of these elements can also be nabbed from network storage and the Internet. The online component here appears to be more robust than what you got with the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+, but it’s still not quite there. I’ll go into further detail a little later on in this review.
Other highlights include a file management utility, support for the Picture Transfer Protocol from digital cameras, advanced navigation options, SPDIF digital output, and support for multiple languages.
Looking Inside the Box
Looking inside the box, you’ll get the same kind of supplies that come with most other HD media players. In addition to the media player itself, you get a remote control with AAA batteries, AC power adapter, supporting documentation, and CD-ROM.
There are also cables for composite and component video included in the box. What’s interesting is that there is only one jack in the back for AV (red, white, yellow) and one jack for the component video. I suppose this simplifies the ports in the back, but it means that you may have a harder time finding replacement cables.
Also, while the Western Digital WD TV Live supports HDMI 1.3, there is no HDMI cable included in the box. Most other players are like this too, with the noted exception of the Patriot Box Office. You can find generic HDMI cables for $5 to $15, but it still would have been nice to find one included.
Remote Control Keeps It Simple
The remote control included with this media player is exactly the same one that we got with the original. It is utterly simple and basic, giving you the bare essentials for navigating through the on-screen menus. For the most part, it works just fine. If your technophobic mom knows how to use a DVD player, she should be able to understand how to use the WD TV Live.
Connectivity Options
Swinging around to the back, you’ll find some minor changes have been made compared to the original WD TV from Western Digital. First, it’s grey in the back, which makes the text above each port a little easier to read. Second, the regular composite video and RCA jacks have been replaced with an AV Out port and component video combination port.
The HDMI port has made the transition to the new unit, thankfully, and it is still accompanies by a port for optical audio. This will give you the opportunity to enjoy 5.1 surround sound audio if your video files have been encoded as such. The USB port in the back is still there too, but it is now vertical instead of horizontal.
Unlike the Asus O! Play HDP-R1, there is no eSATA port on this player. Most consumers stick with USB, but you eSATA guys will have to look elsewhere.
As before, Western Digital has included a second USB port along the left side of the device. This is much easier to access than the one in the back, but I still would have preferred a USB port in the front for even easier access. You have to remember that there is no internal storage in this player, unlike the Patriot Box Office, so you’ll be making good use of the USB port on a fairly frequent basis.
On-Screen User Interface
The user interface on the WD TV Live is similar to its predecessor, but I think that Western Digital has improved on it. If you are familiar with XMB on the PlayStation 3, then you may have a good idea about how this works.
While the primary axis in the PlayStation’s XMB is horizontal, the WD TV Live uses a vertical access to see the main menu components like music and videos. After you select this high-level element, you can either press the “right” button or the “Enter” button to move deeper into the menu. From here, you choose the source. Under video, for instance, you can look into the USB-attached storage, network storage, or YouTube.
I like the user interface on this player, especially since there are some subtle animations for transitioning between screens, but it can seem a little sluggish at times. It’s also quite pleasing to see that when a new firmware version is available that you can see this right from the menu without having to “check” first.
Video Playback Quality
Naturally, your performance will vary considerably based on the quality of the original video file, the quality and size of your HDTV, and your chosen connection option.
In my experience, I tried a variety of different video formats and compression ratios to see what this thing could do. For the most part, the video was perfectly watchable and I would place it on par with most DVD players. Is it quite up to snuff with 1080p-playing Blu-ray discs? Probably not, but most consumers will not be displeased with its performance.
Streaming Videos from YouTube
For me, one of the coolest features on the Western Digital WD TV Live is the ability to stream content over the Internet. As mentioned, we got to see some of this on the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+, but that player left a lot to be desired. For example, the Seagate offering couldn’t do YouTube. The WD one can.
You can browse through the most recent videos, featured videos, and so on. There is also a search utility if you’re looking for something in particular. One sticking point that seems like it could still use some work is the ability to log into your own YouTube account.
When you log in, you can see your own videos, but there is no direct access to your subscriptions. I like having a personalized version of YouTube and the WDTV Live doesn’t let me do that. I can use my account, however, to rate videos and to add them to my favorites. Performance, especially with HD content, is quite good though.
Photostreams from Flickr
The Flickr functionality mirrors that of the YouTube one, except you cannot log into your Flickr account at all. In fact, I couldn’t even find my Flickr account using the search utility, nor could I look up my contacts and their photostreams. This is most unfortunate, because I don’t go to Flickr to browse around on the most recent uploads from everyone. I want a personalized portal, just like what I want with the YouTube connection.
Internet Radio with Pandora and Live365
Finishing off the trifecta of online content, the WD TV Live can stream audio from Internet radio as well. If you have a Pandora account, you can use that. Since I don’t, I used the Live365 feature to stream some music through to my TV.
I can look at recommended stations or search for my favorites. After choosing a station, you can also see the title and artist of the current track. You can give the thumbs up or thumbs down to the song too. The quality is about what you’d expect from Internet radio: decent, but far from stellar.
Final Thoughts
The Western Digital WD TV Live has made substantial improvements over the version that was released earlier this year. The file support is a lot better, easily handling just about any video file that I threw at it. The video quality is just as good as it has always been too, especially since I took advantage of the HDMI option. The user interface is still visually attractive and the remote is simple enough for even beginners to use. It’s too bad that there is no internal hard drive bay, but there are two USB ports to accept your external hard drives and USB flash drives.
The biggest upgrade has to be the inclusion of online streaming media. It’s great being able to view pictures from Flickr, listen to music from Live365, and stream videos from YouTube. The functionality isn’t quite as robust as I had hoped, like the lack of ability to see my subscriptions on YouTube, but I hope that WD can fix this with a firmware update.
Pros
- Streaming video from YouTube
- Visually appealing user interface
- Easy to understand and use
- Wide range of file format support
- Support for USB Wi-Fi adapters
Cons
- Inability to view YouTube subscriptions
- Lack of Flickr account access
- No front-mounted USB port
- Can get quite warm with extended use
- No integrated Wi-Fi connectivity
Overall Rating: 9.0/10.0
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Western Digital WD TV Live HD Media Player Photo Gallery
