Opinion on WD streaming/playback boxes?

[Chrushev]

I am considering purchasing a WD streaming box. I was wondering what the general opinion of them is?

They seem to have pretty good reviews and playback all the popular formats in 1080p. Have HDMI and optical out.

One thing I wish they had is a box with Wifi AND a HD built in. Right now it seems that if you get one with WIFI there is no HD, if you get one with HD then there is no Wifi... way around it ofcourse is to use a USB or network drive with the Wifi model.

So yeah, people that own one of the WD players/streamers.. how do you like it? What are things you like/dont like about it?

Thanks.

[jman98]

Well, it probably won't play what is truly 60 fps 1080i/p video, but as that is something only camcorders can produce, that may not be a problem for you.

The WDTV with the hard disk does support adding your own Wifi dongle to it. They have a list of ones that work.

I've got a first generation one that can't do Wifi and it's still one of the best expenditures of money I ever made. It's fine with me to only use the USB connector it has. I just put files on a USB flash drive if I want to watch something on it and attach the flash drive. Unlike many of our members, I actually can wait 5-7 minutes for a big file to copy to a flash drive without losing my mind over "how long" it takes.

It plays a lot of stuff and there's very little it can't play. On the downside, support for HD audio formats like DTS-HD and Dolby Lossless is unclear. Officially they're not on the supported list, but I don't know if they can bitstream those or downconvert them or not. I don't have a good way to test this and I'm too lazy to make a file just to test something I don't really care about. If you have a receiver capable of decoding DTS-HD and Dolby Lossless, then the WDTV may be able to bitstream the files to it. Again, unclear. If you rip DVDs to ISO format, the player can't handle those very well. At least the older ones didn't understand DVD menus very well, but I have a vague memory that this may be fixed in the models you can get now. The player doesn't really understand BluRay format at all, although it may be able to play a ripped .M2TS file. I'm not personally real fond of the remote control, which has too few buttons, but you can make it work to do what you want. Almost everybody here who has one of these devices has been pleased with it.

[wrathofbod]

i use WD TV Live. i have a dual caddy(jbod box) with 2 2tb drives in it, i can access it on the network(conected with RJ45 to router) with pc & laptops. ideal as i can send media to the hard drives direct from my pc or watch direct to pc from WD TV.
i was not happy with the wifi as i had it connected to windows 7 server but didnt like large file movies.
since i ditched the server i havnt looked back.
nice bit of kit it plays 1080 no problem but im not sure about the dts as its not on a sound system just tv speakers.

jbod
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Icy-Box-IB-120StU3-Wh-2Bay-docking-station-for-2-5-3-5-SATA-...item53efb7b408

[jman98]

All WDTV players play DTS fine. The question is - will they play DTS-HD or not? I don't know.

[pippas]

Well, it probably won't play what is truly 60 fps 1080i/p video, but as that is something only camcorders can produce, that may not be a problem for you.

Some folk have reported that the later WD boxes can play 1080/60p .. although the spec doesn't actually support Level 4.2. Others say they have problems.....

The new Sigma 891x chipset does support L 4.2, so should cope with 1080/60p with no problems.

The latest Popcorn Hour player uses that chipset -- see here: http://www.iboum.com/pr/pha400.php
but it's pretty new, so I don't know how easily available it is yet?..and it's not cheap!

I wouldn't mind betting there's a new Sigma 891X based WD player coming along soon.......so maybe not a good time to buy, at the moment?.....

[RabidDog]

Another vote for the WDTV live .. I had one of the orginals for ages, but felt the need for network access.
I would say that the wdtv live is faster and more snappy than the older WDTV.
The only problem is that the market id moving on and WD have a patchy record of updating their devices.
Buy it for ehst it does now, not for future promises (vapourwear)