WD TV HD Media Player

[megatron]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

I'm using the WDTV Live connected with a wireless N dongle and running shows/movies off my NAS.

Works perfectly. I've tried HD and many many different formats with no problem, no buffering, no skipping. Very impressed by this device. So small and quiet and quick to start up compared to my Xbox that I stream with in my living room.

This is great to know. I had the original WDTV HD and it was awesome. When the WDTV Live came out and I jumped on it as well ($135 from Memory Express) because of the built-in networking capabilities. I'm still using an external WD Passport drive to watch all my content, but it's good to know that wiresless N adapters work and suffer little to no lag. I also have a NAS (D-LINK 323) and want to get my SD and HD content off that to keep from having to load the external HDD.

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Faster to boot up, way smaller, quieter, uses less power, and is cheaper (unless you already own a PS3).

It also supports a lot more formats. If you already have a PS3 and you're happy with it, no real point in getting one, unless you want to be able to stream to a different TV in your house.

Originally Posted by I_H8_Crawford

The format thing is huge.
PS3 you always have to convert .mkv to .vob files.

WDTV you don't need to worry about it.

Also, I like loading my movies up via HDD or ext HDD, then no worries about network problems, so for me I love WDTV in that it actually handles the NTFS format; something neither the 360 nor ps3 do.

I'm more of a PC gamer, so I was debating buying a PS3 to stream content, but having to convert all the .mkv files was really off putting. With the WDTV Live being 1/3 the price, not having to convert files and supporting a wider range of file formats, it really sealed the deal.

10/10

[I_H8_Crawford]

Originally Posted by photon

Can the Harmony remotes handle these little boxes now?

I can confirm yes - my 880 has no issues whatsoever with it.

Only thing I had to get used to was the play button = pause as well, and I couldn't find a way to assign pause to the pause button.

[Mccree]

I have a question related to this.

I have a PS3 and I am going to pick up the WDTV live (wireless one). What is the best router to get so that the following configuration works the best.

LG netbook
|
PS3-----???router------imac
|
WDTV live


edit. due to formatting issues I can't get the LG netbook or WDTV live to show as being attached to the router.

[Jedi Ninja]

If I were in the market for a router right now, I absolutely would not consider anything that did not include gigabit wired ports, especially if you are going to be moving large files across the network. For example: I have a media server and a surfing computer. Last night I was trying to transfer a video file off of a usb key from the surfer to the server, and it was going to take 25 minutes as the surfing computer is old and only has a 100mbps connection. I ended up going to the basement and plugging the usb key directly into the server, and the file was loaded in about 5 minutes. True, for streaming, you don't need super high speeds as you are watching the content as it transfers, but if you are trying to move content from device to device, it's a different story.

[MickMcGeough]

Newegg's got these on for $99. Got Staples to price match. Great Christmas gift.

[Rathji]

Once Christmas is finished and I get the bills paid, I certainly want to pick up one of these WD HD TV boxes and rig it up to run media from my server. Can you wire in a network connection to either model or is wireless your only option? I would rather run powerline ethernet to my TV than clutter up my wireless anymore.

On a somewhat related note, I actually turned my Wii into a poor mans wireless HTMP with Orb. It isn't HD of course, but it does work not too bad. There are some other methods with Homebrew Wii and GeeXbox for Wii that I am going to fiddle with over the coming week that I am thinking will work even better.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Once Christmas is finished and I get the bills paid, I certainly want to pick up one of these WD HD TV boxes and rig it up to run media from my server. Can you wire in a network connection to either model or is wireless your only option? I would rather run powerline ethernet to my TV than clutter up my wireless anymore.

There are three models. The WD TV only plays standard def, the WD HD TV plays HD, but only the WD HD TV Live has any network capabilities, and wireless is only an option if you buy a wireless dongle for it.

[VladtheImpaler]

Just bumping to advise that BuyDig.com has it for $109.

[Bertuzzied]

I got rid of mine. I like the ASUS oplay a lot better. better menus and the remote is 100 times better. Plus it can play RMVBs.