Playing Media Files and Why I Like the WD TV

WD TV and why i think it kicks ass



I have been trying to convert people over to this thing ever since i got one.
Admittedly i don't have any experience with any of the other ones that have come out recently (and there are a lot) but here are the main reason why i like this one:

• It's REALLY cheap (it's $100 almost everywhere)
• Plays ANYTHING - mp4's, MKV's, DivX, Mpegs, WMA's, etc
• Full-HD 1080p video playback
• It's solid state - no moving parts = NO FANS and minimal heat
• Unlimited Storage - if you run out of storage... just plug in another drive.
• It's easy as fuck to set up.

I'm not going over all the features but i will cover some main points.

EASY SETUP

Open it up. Plug in power. Hook it to your TV via HDMi cable or composite (the red, white, and yellow cables). Then plug in your USB drive(s). That's it. my mom could hook this fucker up.

The menus are all self explanatory. You can view movies by File names, Thumbnails (DVD cover art), or Preview mode.

(these are pics of mine... sorry but i used my phone to take them)
Thumbnail View (i set up a sample folder to be able to show this)


Very Web 2.0 Interface






UNLIMITED SPACE

You can use any USB2 hard drive. If you run out of space buy a bigger one or just ADD one. The system combines the HD's seamlessly into one menu system. you never have to switch between drives. I dare anyone to say they filled up 2 1.5TB drives full of movies

Here's another amazing feature. IT PLAYS MKV's. As you know MKV files are 1/3 the file size of a typical mpeg so you can save a ton of room on your drive.

EDIT - just thought of a great feature. If you are a parent. Have one drive with all the kids movies (maybe a 200gb). Leave that plugged in. When it's time for Dad/Mom to watch movies plug in your drive with all the Rated R murder movies and shit! When you're done, take that drive with you so the kids can't watch.

IT'S TINY

Here is a picture of mine (on the right) with my 1.5TB WD drive next to it on the left. I normally hide the HD but i set it there to show you how small everything is. I also put a laptop mouse there to give you an idea of scale.




SUBTITLES? NO PROBLEM

You can set it to use subtitles automatically if they are present. Just make sure to name the subtitle file the same as the move (minus the file extension, of course) and the WD TV will see it.


USABILITY

It works perfectly. No issues so far. I also like that when you FF or RW it has a progress bar to show you where you are in the movie. My DVD player doesn't even do that! Also, you can FF or RW in 10 minute increments if the x32 isn't fast enough.

BTW, that progress bar disappears after you stop FF/RW (just in case thats not obvious)





HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO OTHER PRODUCTS?

I have no experience with any of the other products on the market so i can't speak of usability but i can compare price.

Apple TV


$229 and you get 160GB.

I paid $100 for the WD TV and $110 for a 1.5 TB drive - total is roughly $210 and i have 10x the storage capacity. It might be comparing apples to oranges though because i am not too sure what apple says this can do.

There are some other Media Player on the market. Iomega has one with an internal 1TB drive for roughly $180. I'm not sure if you can add storage though.


WHICH ONE DO I GET?



I got the middle of the road one mainly because i don't want to browse the web and watch youtube videos on my TV. If you do, go with the WD TV LIVE which connects to your home network and allows more features like Apple TV.

DON"T get the bottom of the line WD TV MINI. I have read horrible reviews of it. It also only accepts 1 HD and doesnt play MKV's and has a pared down feature list only so you can save $25.




I hope this answers any questions you guys had about it and if it doesnt, go watch all the videos on the website.

read more about it (videos are on the right hand side of the page)

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If you have a different system tell us how you like yours so everyone can get an idea of the differences and make better informed decisions on what to buy!

[The Godfather]

The DirecTivo in Godfather's Layer is dying a slow stuttering death. I've been planning to get one for months but now I have a good excuse. Thanks to Nachos, I download most of the shows from the TV thread anyway.

[MillyMc]

This was the thing talked about in the xmas gift thread? i want to get one, but is it really that easy to hook up? your movies were downloaded, right? and they were still able to be cataloged?

ps- amazon has it for $100 and is eligible for that free PRIME shipping.

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I swear it is the easiest thing to hook up.

1 HDMI cable to your tv or the RED, WHITE, and YELLOW RCAs if you dont have HDMI. It's like hooking up a game system. Oh and you have to plug in the USB HD. No special formatting of the drive, just plug and play. I forgot to mention it sees USB thumb drives as well.

You can organize your own movies however you want. Put them all in one folder to let it list them alphabetically. Make Different folders.. you could make folders based on Directors or genres. The sky is the limit.

All my movies were downloaded. I even have some movies that i couldnt find ANYWHERE in divx so i DL'd them in MKV planning on just watching them on my computer but this will play MKV's.


EDIT - mine is not networked on my home network. That is a feature i didnt want so i got the WD TV. If you want it networked that is probably a bit more work and you need to buy the WD TV LIVE.

[maxbailey]

This is exactly what I need/want.

All I need to do is see if they are available in the UK.

EDIT: 65 pounds online. That'll do, thank you very much.

the WD box is awesome, but im waiting for this to come out. it got rave reviews at the CES....

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i think its going to retail for around $200....its wireless, allows you to share files with other box owners, plays anything, and comes with a full qwerty keyboard on the back of the remote.

good article here...

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[cjayb]

Got one for my brother with a 500gb drive that I loaded and he loves it. I still prefer the htpc set-up for the odd blu-ray and dvd. But I wish it were easier to figure out how to configure the URC remote for Media Player Classic.

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The Boxee is more like the WD TV LIVE which is a bit different. The only difference that i can see is the Qwerty keyboard on the remote which i guess is important if you are browsing the web on your TV... something i, presonally, never want to do. I spend too much time on the web when i want to watch tv... I just want to watch TV. Boxee's stealth web browser sounds cool but i won't be browsing the web on my tv. I couldnt find any info on the storage capacity.

Everyone has different patterns of usage and i'm sure the boxee will appeal to a lot of people. I look at it like this: there is always something better coming out 6 months to a year away. By the time the boxee comes out you will hear about something else coming out after that. Just dont get caught up in the "waiting for the next best thing" mode bcuz you'll be paralyze with indecision and end up never commiting to any product. And once you do by the most recent awesome thing.... it only stays the most recent awesome thing for a very short while...

So i searched Cnet for their reviews on WD TV.

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they had a really good review of it.

One thing i totally forgot to mention in all of these posts is that YES you can view all your pics with it (if you want to look at them on your TV) and you can play all your AUDIO files as well.

EDIT - I should include some CONS about the device.

• The remote is really tiny and takes some getting used to

Thats all i can think of so far.

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storage is unlimited, similar to the WD TV....2 usb ports plus the wireless connection.

i need to look into the WD TV Live. havent checked that out yet.