Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player for USB Drives Surfaces

[alexp999]

Without any official release from Western Digital, a new product of theirs has emerged on Best Buy called the WD TV HD Media Player. It is a very small device not much bigger than the remote it comes with, but what is unique about this gadget is that it allows you to plug in a USB flash drive or USB hard disk drive (HDD), and play full 1080p high definition videos, pictures and music, on to your TV. It supports two USB2.0 devices simultaneously, measuring only 1.6x4.9x3.9 inches and weighing a mere 10.7 oz, it could be the answer for many people instead of having HTPC's or trailing cables from their main PC's. The RRP of the device appears to be $129.99, however it is currently on sale at Best Buy for $99.99.



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[TheGuruStud]

But is it going to play common codecs w/o problems like most stand-alone players? Or does it even play other codecs?

edit: Oops, didn't mean that stand-alones don't have problems, I'm too tired to reword that lol.


Unlikely, I think.

 

[alexp999]

But is it going to play common codecs w/o problems like most stand-alone players? Or does it even play other codecs?

Unlikely, I think.

It says on Best Buy that it comes with bundled media converter software, so I would assume you would probably have to convert certain vids to whatever the supported formats are. As their is nothing official from WD yet, I cant dig up any more info.

 

[TheGuruStud]

It says on Best Buy that it comes with bundled media converter software, so I would assume you would probably have to convert certain vids to whatever the supported formats are. As their is nothing official from WD yet, I cant dig up any more info.

Yeah, but why would I want to remux, transcode, or w/e?

 

[WarEagleAU]

Wow that is awesome. Too bad I have a Firewire 400 External 250GB HDD. Guess if I were to get it, Id have to get a firewire to usb adapter

 

[panchoman]

isn't this just like the mac mini from apple? only that the mac mini accepts cd's and can run an os?

 

[burtram]

but the mac mini is also like $500+ the point of this is for the budget minded. i for one, would love to get my hands on this thing and give it a whirl.

 

[Octavean]

What, no network support,......!?!

Sigh,....

 

[ShadowFold]

So is this like a DVR? I might have to get one!

 

[alexp999]

So is this like a DVR? I might have to get one!

Its a media player that connetcs to your TV, and plays stuff off USB devices like music/video/pics. afaik, it doesnt work the otherway round in terms of recording. Would be pretty cool if it did tho.

 

[regan1985]

if it plays xvid or divx then its a great thing for the market otherwise i cant see me buying one i will just use my dvd player which has usb support!

 

[Xajel]

Very nice gadget with great price too

but I think WD should really think about having some extra points

1- ability to have internal HDD
2- ability to be connected to the network, and the ability to use any NAS in the network
3- some nice ports, Firewire 400 or 800 or at least eSATA

there's some nice devices with the same and more features, they have the NAS function ( actually they work as NAS when connected to the network ), they have internal HDD, they have pleantly of ports even you can use one USB port to install optional USB WiFi adapter

hope to see this device a start for the next feature rich devices

 

[evil bill]

The lack of all those features is reflected in the price. I have a Freecom MP350 that can do all that, however it is twice the price. This link is to the updated MP450 which is identical apart from it has HDMI rather than DVI, and SATA interface rather than PATA.

http://www.freecom.com/ecproduct_detail.asp?ID=3750&CatID=8060&sCatID=1147078&ssCatID=1147078

 

[Octavean]

At least the freecom solution has a Component output,....

 

[evil bill]

Its a great bit of kit - I love it but Im probably under utilising many of its features right now.

I have it connected to my TV by Composite Video and RCA Stereo audio because its an older CRT Sony and it only has SCART, Composite and S-Video inputs. I had the streaming over the wireless set up on my old XP PC but haven't got round to doing it on Vista. The NDAS works, but its actually pretty slow for file transfers - many users on the Freecom forums seem to use the built in FTP server or Samba.

If I have something on the PC I want to watch on the TV I tend to plu in a Flash Drive in the back, and then every few weeks I take it to my PC and synchronise the Media Librarys over USB.

 

[Octavean]

New WD Media Player Reviewed, Stripped Naked:

http://maddhat.com/?p=31

Nice pix of the WD Media Player,......pr0n!