Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player - a HTPC replacement??

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Hello guys,

I am planning to buy the Western Digital Live TV soon. And I was really surprised to see you all discussing about WD products for over 100 pages in this forum !!! I was even considering other players like PlayOn HD, etc, but the number of posts here convey that WD is the most popular & best player around. :)

I checked out some dealers in Bangalore and they are quoting a price of around 11,000 INR for Live & 9,000 INR for WD TV. Is that a good price? I can get it from US through my sis, but she is only coming after 6 months. What do you suggest, buy it here or get it from US (its around 120$ there, for Live)? Do I get global warranty if I get it from US?

And Spiro, you said in a post earlier that instead of buying a 1TB WD external HD, you bought two 500GB WD & casing for Rs.2650. I think the price is only for the casing, right? And where did you get the hard disk from (I mean in Mumbai?), and for how much and when? What is exact model number?
 
Last edited:
harrydv said:
Hello guys,
I checked out some dealers in Bangalore and they are quoting a price of around 11,000 INR for Live & 9,000 INR for WD TV. Is that a good price? I can get it from US through my sis, but she is only coming after 6 months. What do you suggest, buy it here or get it from US (its around 120$ there, for Live)? Do I get global warranty if I get it from US?

And Spiro, you said in a post earlier that instead of buying a 1TB WD external HD, you bought two 500GB WD & casing for Rs.2650. I think the price is only for the casing, right? And where did you get the hard disk from (I mean in Mumbai?), and for how much and when? What is exact model number?
Click to expand...

The Local price for WD1 is around 6.5k & online price on 20north is around 8k for WD2.You can get Xstreamer for 10k.

I got 1 for me other for friend.

My HDD(RS.2950 WD Blue) & friends (Rs.2650 WD green) in Mumbai.
Zappys ext sata casing for Rs.550

WD ext passport Laptop HDD 320gb for ?3k.(with casing) 500for? 4.5k

The last option is better if you think of WD-live.
 
harrydv said:
Hello guys,

I am planning to buy the Western Digital Live TV soon. And I was really surprised to see you all discussing about WD products for over 100 pages in this forum !!! I was even considering other players like PlayOn HD, etc, but the number of posts here convey that WD is the most popular & best player around. :)

I checked out some dealers in Bangalore and they are quoting a price of around 11,000 INR for Live & 9,000 INR for WD TV. Is that a good price? I can get it from US through my sis, but she is only coming after 6 months. What do you suggest, buy it here or get it from US (its around 120$ there, for Live)? Do I get global warranty if I get it from US?

And Spiro, you said in a post earlier that instead of buying a 1TB WD external HD, you bought two 500GB WD & casing for Rs.2650. I think the price is only for the casing, right? And where did you get the hard disk from (I mean in Mumbai?), and for how much and when? What is exact model number?
Click to expand...

11 K is really steep . I think u visted the wrong dealers. When i had enquired about this player in june it was 7k here in India with B & W. Now after the WD TV live has been released it should be cheaper. But again I am talking about WD TV Gen1 here .
 
I have ordered WDTV Live for $109 at Amazon + SGD 28.48 thru VPOST shipping which is working out approx final cost of Rs.6228

Any cheaper price than this????

Just missed an $20 cashback by Paypal.... just missed the chance by 2 days( by christmas) if placed order in circuit city if payed by Paypal cashback of $20.....

Still OK...
 
srinisundar said:
I have ordered WDTV Live for $109 at Amazon + SGD 28.48 thru VPOST shipping which is working out approx final cost of Rs.6228

Any cheaper price than this????

Just missed an $20 cashback by Paypal.... just missed the chance by 2 days( by christmas) if placed order in circuit city if payed by Paypal cashback of $20.....

Still OK...
Click to expand...



Hasnt Circuit City rounded up its operations in the US ?
 
srinisundar said:
I have ordered WDTV Live for $109 at Amazon + SGD 28.48 thru VPOST shipping which is working out approx final cost of Rs.6228
Click to expand...

I think thats a good price Srini, when compared to the price it is sold at here in Bangalore. I think I too will go for it. But is your purchase from Amazon, that too through V-Post (its international post, right?, reliable, and safe? I mean the quality of the player, and the warranty, as you;re getting it from Amazon international?

And even I thought Circuit City has gone bankrupt & closed shops in US.
 
Last edited:
harrydv said:
I think thats a good price Srini, when compared to the price it is sold at here in Bangalore. I think I too will go for it. But is your purchase from Amazon, that too through V-Post (its international post, right?, reliable, and safe? I mean the quality of the player, and the warranty, as you;re getting it from Amazon international?

And even I thought Circuit City has gone bankrupt & closed shops in US.
Click to expand...

As quoted earlier in this thread, I would not worry about warranty as warranty will, be provided by WD and WD gives international warranty on its products be default. Hence you are safe there . U can cross verify this by calling up WD customer care.
 
harrydv said:
I think thats a good price Srini, when compared to the price it is sold at here in Bangalore. I think I too will go for it. But is your purchase from Amazon, that too through V-Post (its international post, right?, reliable, and safe? I mean the quality of the player, and the warranty, as you;re getting it from Amazon international?

And even I thought Circuit City has gone bankrupt & closed shops in US.
Click to expand...

Price is good, but wait for the VPOST feedback and already there are some bad remarks about that. Will update once I receive my goods.

Regards
 
srinisundar said:
Price is good, but wait for the VPOST feedback and already there are some bad remarks about that. Will update once I receive my goods.

Regards
Click to expand...

Oh yes, please share your views after you get yourplayer. If you find it ok, then I too will buy it through Amazon US.

illusion said:
Alternatively U can try 20north but I have never bought any items from them , so no idea.
Click to expand...

I've heard of 20north, but have not heard or myself bought anything from them. Amazon seems to be a safer risk. :)
 
Opting for Vpost is for getting a cheaper price in shipping... Nothin more..

Difference between 20 North and Vpost : 20north is an reseller- reshipper with keeping an margin for them to purchase behalf of us / Vpost is only an courier/postal company run by singapore post...

20north quote is inclusive of customs/shipping for the items . Please note they purchase from AMZ and shipping to us- One shot we can do this by paying in INR. So all liabalities with 20North till the item reaches us..

With VPost we have to order the item from AMZ and ship to them localy and Vpost will collect and send to us after we pay the shipping charges. So you have to work twice for making payment/tracking..

Regards
 
srinisundar said:
Opting for Vpost is for getting a cheaper price in shipping... Nothin more..

Difference between 20 North and Vpost : 20north is an reseller- reshipper with keeping an margin for them to purchase behalf of us / Vpost is only an courier/postal company run by singapore post...

20north quote is inclusive of customs/shipping for the items . Please note they purchase from AMZ and shipping to us- One shot we can do this by paying in INR. So all liabalities with 20North till the item reaches us..

With VPost we have to order the item from AMZ and ship to them localy and Vpost will collect and send to us after we pay the shipping charges. So you have to work twice for making payment/tracking..

Regards
Click to expand...

Hi,

+1 to Srini sir's post. Also, I find the communication part of vpost to be inferior to that of 20north.

We will add more views once Srini sir and myself are done with our transactions with vpost.

Cheers!
 
Just an update of the same information posted in another section, but for the WDTV Live alone here posted.

WDTV Live

Ordered on 28th Dec in AMZ and reached vpost on 30th dec, sent to singapore on 31st / reprocessed at singapore on 5th and reached the chennai clearing centre on 6th / Got delivered today at banglore 12th Jan.. Not a bad 12 days ...

Cost : WDTV Live USD109 + Shipping by Vpost SGD 30 + customs duty Rs.900 = Rs.6904....
 
spirovious said:
Congrates,
WDlive for 7k less is best.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think thats a good price for a WD TV Live, Srini.
But I have always wondered about this player...It just has a USB port, so what about my DVD Movies on DVD disc... I will have to put it in my laptop, copy the video files to a pen drive and plug it into this WD player? Same with Blu ray movies on blu ray discs as well, right?
 
harrydv said:
Yes, I think thats a good price for a WD TV Live, Srini.
But I have always wondered about this player...It just has a USB port, so what about my DVD Movies on DVD disc... I will have to put it in my laptop, copy the video files to a pen drive and plug it into this WD player? Same with Blu ray movies on blu ray discs as well, right?
Click to expand...

If you are using the original DVD/BD, i guess you need to have a dedicated DVDp/BDp. Connecting a bluray drive to these media players is only an additional option, not an alternative option IMO.


cheers.
 
You don't get it.
Buy a few Tera Bytes of storage, store all your content there (including all home video, pictures and music), create the thumbnails and then sit back and enjoy.

If all you have is thumb drives, you are wasting your time with this device.

Thanks,
Sharad
 
smedhavi said:
You don't get it.
Buy a few Tera Bytes of storage, store all your content there (including all home video, pictures and music), create the thumbnails and then sit back and enjoy.

If all you have is thumb drives, you are wasting your time with this device.

Thanks,
Sharad
Click to expand...





I was watching 2010 1080p yesterday on my WD TV Gen 1. It was a 15.8 GB rip with DTS 5.1 @1.5 mbps sound . I was disappointed to see WD TV stutter at all the high motion scenes . I had read that WD TV was very much capable of handling such high motion scenes with high bitrates , so what gives ? The F/W was 1.2.07 . I then upgraded to the latest 1.3.01 and the stuttering was still there. I also tried copying the movie from my External powered Maxtor 1 TB HD to the portable WD 320 gb and as expected the stuttering became worse . So this got me wondering , can it be a USB limitation ? Or is it a Hard Disk Limitation ? My Hard Disk has a 7200 rpm hdd inside , what could be faster that that ? All in all is this a WD TV limitation ? Has anybody tried playing such high bitrate rips ?
 
Wish you could share the same rip so i can test it out on my xtreamer and report out the results, as i have played 720p rips upto 8 gb and it works fine,
 
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