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

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Anyone here using the new Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player?

WD TV HD Media Player ( WDAVN00 )

Combined with a My Passport portable drive (sold separately), this player is the most convenient way to play HD movies or user-generated videos, listen to high-quality digital music and show high-resolution slideshows of your family photos on your TV. Also works with popular USB drives, and digital cameras, camcorders, and portable media players that can be recognized as mass storage devices.

This device in now available in India for Rs.8000.00
 
Cool! Thanks for sharing.
Can it play content directly from web? Does it have a browser?
It says it can support 2 HDD. Can it backup/ sync two hard disk on a pre-defined schedule?

Guys, anything comparable to this and has the above features?
 
Anyone here using the new Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player?

WD TV HD Media Player ( WDAVN00 )

Combined with a My Passport portable drive (sold separately), this player is the most convenient way to play HD movies or user-generated videos, listen to high-quality digital music and show high-resolution slideshows of your family photos on your TV. Also works with popular USB drives, and digital cameras, camcorders, and portable media players that can be recognized as mass storage devices.

This device in now available in India for Rs.8000.00

Can you tell where is it available in Mumbai?

now new features added & old prob sovled.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/wdtv/releasenotes/WDTVreleasenotes101.pdf
 
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Well, I have it and LOVE it period. Still we have few glitches in WDTV but I would strongly say its the BEST VFM Media Player in market.

But I wont say can replace HTPC as it lacks Networking and also the current version does not support True HD or does it decode Dolby or DTS format. You need an external HT or HTiB or DVDp to do that.

But having said, I just love the simplicity of the device combined with my Maxtor 1TB External Hard drive.
 
Well, I have it and LOVE it period. Still we have few glitches in WDTV but I would strongly say its the BEST VFM Media Player in market.

But I wont say can replace HTPC as it lacks Networking and also the current version does not support True HD or does it decode Dolby or DTS format. You need an external HT or HTiB or DVDp to do that.

But having said, I just love the simplicity of the device combined with my Maxtor 1TB External Hard drive.

Hi Madbullram,
My few Qs-

1.Is it true that it cannot output DD/DTS via coax/optical so that to connect AVR?and even HD aud via HDMI?

2.Can it play all type of HD contents(ie blueray)?

3.Is it upgradable?ie like now it supports mkv,can it support upcoming(in future) formats by firmware upgradation?
As dvdp use chip based codecs can not be upgrade.
Can we install newerone as we do with PC?

4.Can we place laptop harddisc within the unit(like Tivx)?

5.Lastly any problem notised during so far usage?

Pls.reply.
Thanks.
 
What are the alternatives - in India and in the US? Some friends coming over so can ask them to get some light stuff.

regards
 
What are the alternatives - in India and in the US? Some friends coming over so can ask them to get some light stuff.

regards

Alternatives are media players based on NMT platform, which support networking and streaming. NMT platforms support hard disks inside the cabinet itself. In fact, the NMTs are the ideal HTPC replacements - the current models even support direct bittorrent downloading to the box itself!!

The most popular Network Media Tank is Pop corn hour, which is sold by the creators of NMT platform - Syabase. This is available only through online order and normally it takes anywhere between 15 days to one month for delivery because they dispatch only in batches. Checkout their new A110 model, which has onboard DTS decoding.

There are good NMTs from other manufacturers like iStar, HDX, Kaiboer, Elektron etc., Best place to get them online is hdplex.net. Havent used the NMTs myself but have read a lot about them from other users.
 
1. Wrong. It cannot process DD/DTS but it will output it through Optical output. For example, the WD TV Optical Out is connected to my Philips HTiB digital in. WD TV sends the unprocessed signal to my HTiB and my HTiB process and decodes the Dolby and DTS and plays it. As long as you have a receiver or player that decode you are fine.

2. It plays almost everything you throw on it. Check : WD TV HD Media Player ( WDAVN00 ) (click the specification tab)

3. I would love to say 100% yes but not till we get a clear picture. This is based on the Sigma chipset and WD has promised that they will release firmware updates to support new formats. For example, they recently released firmware with subtitle support etc. You can check the info @ http://www.wdc.com/en/products/wdtv/releasenotes/WDTVreleasenotes101.pdf

4. You cannot place it inside the system as it does not have a provision for installing hard drive. It has two USB 2.0 ports through which you can connect your hard drive. For lappy hard drive you need external USB enclosure. What I have done is, I bought a Maxtor 1TB for 6k and have transferred all files to it. WD TV takes 30 to 40 secs to scan and display the files.

5. Bad subtitle support and non-support for MPEG 2. Also, the HD WMV clips I downloaded from Microsoft site the Audio was not supported I am yet to research on that due to lack of time. Haven't seen any hanging or crashed in last 2 months usage.

Hope it helps!

Hi Madbullram,
My few Qs-

1.Is it true that it cannot output DD/DTS via coax/optical so that to connect AVR?and even HD aud via HDMI?

2.Can it play all type of HD contents(ie blueray)?

3.Is it upgradable?ie like now it supports mkv,can it support upcoming(in future) formats by firmware upgradation?
As dvdp use chip based codecs can not be upgrade.
Can we install newerone as we do with PC?

4.Can we place laptop harddisc within the unit(like Tivx)?

5.Lastly any problem notised during so far usage?

Pls.reply.
Thanks.
 
1. Wrong. It cannot process DD/DTS but it will output it through Optical output. For example, the WD TV Optical Out is connected to my Philips HTiB digital in. WD TV sends the unprocessed signal to my HTiB and my HTiB process and decodes the Dolby and DTS and plays it. As long as you have a receiver or player that decode you are fine.

2. It plays almost everything you throw on it. Check : WD TV HD Media Player ( WDAVN00 ) (click the specification tab)

3. I would love to say 100% yes but not till we get a clear picture. This is based on the Sigma chipset and WD has promised that they will release firmware updates to support new formats. For example, they recently released firmware with subtitle support etc. You can check the info @ http://www.wdc.com/en/products/wdtv/releasenotes/WDTVreleasenotes101.pdf

4. You cannot place it inside the system as it does not have a provision for installing hard drive. It has two USB 2.0 ports through which you can connect your hard drive. For lappy hard drive you need external USB enclosure. What I have done is, I bought a Maxtor 1TB for 6k and have transferred all files to it. WD TV takes 30 to 40 secs to scan and display the files.

5. Bad subtitle support and non-support for MPEG 2. Also, the HD WMV clips I downloaded from Microsoft site the Audio was not supported I am yet to research on that due to lack of time. Haven't seen any hanging or crashed in last 2 months usage.

Hope it helps!

Thanks for reply,

I have one doubt- Philips Htib dont use opt input,then how did you manage to connect it?

Regarding HD WMV clips ,did you try aud through HDMI ?
Secondlly no coax output,do you have any issue on opt out?Sound Q?
I have heard something like Bitstream support(even DRM) not available in HDMI.Does it cause any drawbacks?

Lastly I have all in one USB cable which can connect normal & laptop HD(not both at time)
If I connect USB port to WD MED player & other end to laptop harddisc,can WD HDTv recognise the device as pendrive?
or WD passport casing is necessary?
 
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1. Philips has a Digital input. So I bought a Optical to Coaxial convertor from US and used it.

2. HDMI also no sound. WD TV does not support DRM or any protected medium as its not legal. You can check the site for more info. SQ is superb, the Iron Man 720P DTS downloafd sounds clear and great in my HTiB and so does my 320 kbps MP3 rips.

3. I havent tried it, but I have known people who had problems with USB casing not being recognized. So I will be not sure till you can do it. For example, I have an old Samsung IDE 350GB hard drive enclosed in a USB casing which WD TV did not reconize. So I bought a 1 TB Maxtor which works like a charm.

Thanks for reply,

I have one doubt- Philips Htib dont use opt input,then how did you manage to connect it?

Regarding HD WMV clips ,did you try aud through HDMI ?
Secondlly no coax output,do you have any issue on opt out?Sound Q?
I have heard something like Bitstream support(even DRM) not available in HDMI.Does it cause any drawbacks?

Lastly I have all in one USB cable which can connect normal & laptop HD(not both at time)
If I connect USB port to WD MED player & other end to laptop harddisc,can WD HDTv recognise the device as pendrive?
or WD passport casing is necessary?
 
1. Philips has a Digital input. So I bought a Optical to Coaxial convertor from US and used it.

2. HDMI also no sound. WD TV does not support DRM or any protected medium as its not legal. You can check the site for more info. SQ is superb, the Iron Man 720P DTS downloafd sounds clear and great in my HTiB and so does my 320 kbps MP3 rips.

3. I havent tried it, but I have known people who had problems with USB casing not being recognized. So I will be not sure till you can do it. For example, I have an old Samsung IDE 350GB hard drive enclosed in a USB casing which WD TV did not reconize. So I bought a 1 TB Maxtor which works like a charm.

Thanks,

You say-HDMI also no sound

That meens it does not carry vid & sound together(only video) evenif it is HDMI 1.3?
Then how blueray sound is played as it doesnt have decoder for that?
 
does anyone know what the Audio DAC used on this is? It might be decent to hook this up to a Beresford DAC to make a nice server for all your media (add a 1 TB HDD as well).

Networking is an important drawback, but not a deal-breaker. Unplugging the HDD and plugging it into your laptop is not that much effort.

Does anyone know how much the NMT based devices such as the popcorn hour cost in India? (landed cost) ??
 
Got one this week. Would recommend it for ease of use.

Using it with a 500gb Maxtor external hdd, no issues. Works fine. Waiting for that DTS 720p download to get over :p
 
EUMagic got it delivered through their Popcorn's website via DHL for around 12k all inclusive I think. I will let him comment on that.

You can refer:
WD TV HD Media Player - what's the sound quality like? - AVForums.com

My take is, if you pass the audio through and get you Beresford to do the job it should great.


does anyone know what the Audio DAC used on this is? It might be decent to hook this up to a Beresford DAC to make a nice server for all your media (add a 1 TB HDD as well).

Networking is an important drawback, but not a deal-breaker. Unplugging the HDD and plugging it into your laptop is not that much effort.

Does anyone know how much the NMT based devices such as the popcorn hour cost in India? (landed cost) ??
 
Does the WDTV have Analog out via RCA? I am thinking this would be a better alternative instead of a CD/DVD Player, to hook up to my Onkyo Stereo Amp for Music Listening. Have lots of FLAC files; also Audio CD's which I can easily convert to wav or flac.

Moreover, this would also be more future proof than the CD Players due to the firmware upgrade facility.
 
Yes it has. It has the following:

RCA (1 video + 2 Audio)
1 HDMI (rear )
2 USB (one rear and one side)
1 Optical Output

wdfWDTV.jpg
 
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