WD TV Live: do all the models perform same?

[Brajendu]

Friends,... those who own the "WD TV Live" or "Live+" or "Hub", can you kindly enlighten me if all the models of WD are similar in terms of 'performance/speed/Picture Quality' or the high end 'Hub' model is better in terms of performance? I understand that the UI or design may be little better in higher/costlier model, but is the performance suffers in lower models?

E.g. when a blue-ray ripped 1280p video (of few Gb in size) plays in all the models, are there any difference in the picture quality/processing... ? one more thing: Will they be able to play 3D movies?

I'm in the verge of buying a WD after reading a lot in the HFV forum. But the above things are in my mind, so need your expert guidance.

 

[umeshdhingra]

Kindly see the comparison of the three models mentioned by you on western digital website,and ,you will agree with me that there are no tech specs differences.
Just wait for the new model of Xtreamer if possible.
I hv been using WD tv live for last two years,and I now hv the new ver bought two months back,and it plays even high def audio on BD rips of 40 gb files
Waiting for my 3d glasses to arrive in next 10 days and then would check out the 3d capabilities,but my worry is that th HDMI spec is 1.3 where vas WD hub has 1.4 HDMI

 

[BLASTO]

I have WDTV (gen 2 which is released with WDTV Live). I chose it because I did not want the "Live" feature.

It has problems with recent mkv file playback (ones with header compression) and WDTV will not do anything about it. You select one of those files and the player will hang and NONE of the files will run until you do a hard reset!!

The firmware is not at all updated after 2009 begining. Only once did they provide any kind of firmware update before leaving customers on their own!!

IMO, It is better to select a player from a vendor who actually cares about customers!! Dump the idea of WDTV.

 

[Brajendu]

Thanks Umesh and Blasto. Umesh, I don't think that the WD hub (with HDMI1.4) will be having any issue with 1.3, bcoz there may be backward compatibility in 1.4.
Blasto: I'm feeling disheartened by hearing that the new gen WD live is having issues with mkv files. , so which brand you think will care for its customers? Any specific brand you have in your mind, please advise.

I heard that WD has been acquired by Seagate. Is there a possibility that support for WD in future will go down and the products will suffer without new FirmWire?

 

[BLASTO]

Blasto: I'm feeling disheartened by hearing that the new gen WD live is having issues with mkv files.

Well, it doesn't have the problem apparently (not sure). The WDTV Live has had recent firmware upgrades.

Check --> WD Product Update

Iam talking about WDTV Gen2 (without live)

Check --> WD Product Update

The above two were released in the SAME day but they dint support the non live version at all!!

Which makes me wonder, will they support WDTV Live for long. My guess would be NO.

I wonder why they chose one product over the other when they are same number of years old. Logically wierd.

 

[bphukon]

I have been tracking product for a long time and it is doing pretty well as per reviews online.
What is the current market price for WD live tv HUB in Bangalore?

 

[BLASTO]

I have been tracking product for a long time and it is doing pretty well as per reviews online.

I had the same analysis and thought as above in my mind when I purchased my WDTV.
Only when problems crop up and you dont get a solution will you resort to reality!!

The advantage of buying a media player is to keep up with the time with firmare updates. When there are no firmware updates, what good is a media player??

End of the day its your money.. Your wish.. I wish you wont come here a year later stating the same..

 

[goyal.sanchit]

I had somewhat the same experience as Blasto has mentioned. I have the WD TV Gen 1 and the firmware upgrade ended pretty early for it.

however the most disappointing part was that they have made another website where they invited suggestions for firmware upgrade and people could vote on them.


For many suggestions they kept the status as- PLANNED. To be included in next update.



And then out of the blue they said the product would no longer be updated. So it was kind of keeping people in the dark. Apart from that I havent have had any issues with it while playing movies. But the fact also is that till now I havent played blu ray rips on it which are large in size so cant say if I would be having issues when I do that or not.

 

[Brajendu]

When I looked at the specification for all the models of WD TV Live, I found that it uses the Sigma chip-set which is considered to be superior than the Realtek based chips. This one reason I choose WD over other branded products e.i. ASUS, Seagate available in India. I agree there are many more better performing brands like Xtreamer, Kaiboer, ACRyan, HiMedia, Measy...but I was doubtful for their long term existence.

My initial query was "even if all the models of WD are same as per the specification", is there any difference in the final outcome.

 

[BLASTO]

The media player market is mature now as opposed to the time I purchased.
They use almost the same chip everywhere.

The only variable now to make the decision is who will provide proper support in the future. The beat way to look at the firmware release history of their gen 1 products.

It is imperative to think that a company will release products without any bugs.

While WDTV mentioned that there is no support for the gen1, there is not even any mention about the gen2. If they confirm eitherways, I will atleast throw away my player and buy from a different vendor.

P.S: I happen to buy a chinese android pad and they provide firmware update every alternate month and they even provided an upgrade firmware to next version of android (gingerbread) recently!!

 

[naj]

Hi!

I do not want to hijack this thread but since this is about WD Live Hub media player , can any one suggest where can I buy a remote controller for the media player as I have misplaced it . Currently I am using a keyboard to carry out basic operations.

Cheers,
naj

 

[baijuxavior]

Hi!

I do not want to hijack this thread but since this is about WD Live Hub media player , can any one suggest where can I buy a remote controller for the media player as I have misplaced it . Currently I am using a keyboard to carry out basic operations.

Cheers,
naj

You can buy a universal remote control like logitech harmony to control your hub.