WD TV Live - Great Looking Media Performance

A New Live

While a home theater PC (HTPC) can make for a powerful setup, such as an advanced music or video server, and give you all the flexibility you want (like swapping a DVD drive for a Blu-ray drive on a whim), it's not exactly a simple DIY project. The initial setup can be pretty costly too, due to the components required even for the simplest of HTPCs. So, despite the lure of having an open-ended system that can be upgraded as and when desired, for the average Joe who doesn't have the IT chops, wishes to skip the hassle and cost of setting up a dedicated machine, and yet wants a simple solution to consume his media content, a low-cost, all-in-one media player will more often than not fit the bill just fine. After all, we have had 1080p-capable chipsets on media players since 2008 (those using chipsets from Sigma Designs) and 2009 (those using chipsets from Realtek). And as SoC (system on a chip) designs get more advanced, and vendors placing more emphasis on user experience, we're now seeing a new crop of media players that are frictionless in their setup and use, and sporting all sorts of advanced audio and video functions.

Western Digital (WD) is certainly no newcomer to the media player market. We last reviewed its Sigma 8654-based WD TV Live Hub back in February, which is an updated version of the original WD TV Live (released in October 2009) with an internal 2.5-inch hard drive bay and support for gigabit Ethernet and HDMI 1.4. It also sports a revamped UI, dubbed Mochi, that not only looks good but is also easy to navigate. And like clockwork, just last month, the company has again updated its media player lineup with the introduction of a new WD TV Live.

Like the WD TV Live of 2009 (and unlike the WD TV Live Hub of 2010), the WD TV Live of 2011 doesn't allow for an internal hard disk drive. The UI is essentially the same as the one found on the WD TV Live Hub, which is good. And despite the smaller footprint, the WD TV Live now comes with built-in Wi-Fi support. The player also sports a larger number of Internet-based, on-demand services. Let's take a closer look at what else is new and how the player performs in the following pages.

Playing it Safe

With a footprint of 12.5 x 10cm, the WD TV Live won't take up too much space on your TV console. Western Digital also plays it safe with a boxy shape; the graphite color scheme is a nice touch though, as almost all media players on the market sport a uniform black coat of paint.

The WD TV Live's chassis is made of plastic, and it does make you wonder if this humble-looking media player will survive an accidental drop. We do wish media player manufacturers would make their products feel a bit more sturdy or premium (see: Patriot Box Office), though that would understandably push up the retail price.

Straight up, the WD TV Live looks pretty sleek, with a sole USB 2.0 port adorning its front panel. If you found the small power indicator an eyesore or a distraction during movie watching, you can switch it off in the preferences menu. Though not a dealbreaker, unlike the ASUS O!Play Mini Plus, the WD TV Live doesn't have a built-in card reader. Considering that it only has two USB ports, this omission becomes more glaring. Maybe WD feels that a third USB port is unnecessary since Wi-Fi is now integrated. However, none of the USB ports support the SuperSpeed standard (USB 3.0).

Due to its small size, don't be expecting too many I/Os at the back of the player. You will find the second USB port, an HDMI port, a S/PDIF jack, and a composite AV port. Both USB ports work with any device that supports the Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) - that means you can playback or transfer videos or photos from a digital camera or camcorder without a PC. While composite AV cables are included in the retail package, an HDMI cable isn't. For those who prefer a wired connection (we strongly recommend this if you intend to stream a lot of high bit-rate and high definition videos), you also get an Ethernet port. Though the speed isn't specified, we'd hazard a guess that it's a 100Mbit/s port (Fast Ethernet) based on our chipset guess.

Remote Matters

Powered by two AA batteries, the WD TV Live uses the same 37-button remote as the WD TV Live Hub. While the remote doesn't look like the standard rectangular TV remotes that most of us are used to handling, it's light and has an ergonomic curved back to provide a comfortable grip. While holding the remote presented no comfort issues, we feel that the buttons are a tad too rubbery, making them difficult to press in quick succession. Typing on it also became a longer affair than what we would have liked. The good news is that the USB ports also support USB keyboards, so if you're looking at some serious text entry on your Facebook page, you can always hook up a keyboard (wired or wireless).

Using the remote is pretty easy as most of the button functions are easy to understand, such as the dedicated subtitle button which allows the user to access the various subtitle settings with a press of the button. The remote also possesses function buttons (the green, red, yellow, and blue buttons) that allow users to access certain menus or settings. By default, button A activates the sort and filter menu; button B activates the select content source menu; button C activates the change view menu; and button D activates the dashboard menu.

Mochi, Mochi

The WD TV Live uses the same UI as the one found in the WD Live Hub. Dubbed Mochi, it looks good and even allows users to download their own pictures to use as wallpapers.

Navigating the UI is a breeze; all the media types and major system settings are given their own tabs at the home screen. When we were reviewing the WD Live Hub, we had to wait for the animated icons to finish loading before we could switch tabs, but the same sequence on the Live happened far snappier. We deduce this could be in part due to the faster processor used in the new Live (700MHz compared to 500MHz in the Live Hub).

There's also the addition of casual games and the ability to subscribe to RSS feeds. Apps have retained their own tab, but the selection has increased from the ones present in the Live Hub.

In our review of the WD Live Hub, we mentioned that for convenience sake, we would like to see built-in Wi-Fi in addition to basic Ethernet connectivity. It seems that our prayer is answered. The WD TV Live now comes with integrated Wi-Fi support, supporting the latest 802.11n standard no less, thus making viewing and sharing content easier. In addition, you've one cable less to clutter your AV setup area.

Accessing content is fairly straightforward: you will be asked to select your content source be it from a local storage device, a network attached storage (NAS) or a shared computer located on your network. Selecting the "My Media Library" option will reveal all the content on all your drives in one view, though be warned that it might take a while to scan if you are hoarding a lot of content.

The WD TV Live supports network shares via Samba or NFS. Samba and NFS are both network file system protocols, meaning they allow users to access files over a network as if they were on a local directory. Based on our experience, NFS is usually faster than Samba.

If you're going the wireless route, WD has made the Wi-Fi setup process very easy. All you need to do is to let the WD TV Live scan for available Wi-Fi networks, select the desired one, and enter the credentials to login.

Besides being UPnP compliant, the WD TV Live also serves as a DLNA client; in other words, you can share media content between other DLNA-certified devices on the same network. For the less technically inclined, this sure beats having to configure Samba, NFS, or Bonjour (on Macs).

Live Performance

The WD TV Live is probably the Ferrari of the media player world when it comes to booting up - it took just four seconds to arrive at the home screen.

Content from the Internet

According to Western Digital, the WD TV Live allows you to access over 300,000 hit movies and TV shows. That's true, provided you reside in the United States. Many on-demand services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Spotify, and Blockbuster on Demand are not available to users outside of North America. That being said, there are still enough other services to keep users in other regions happy. In any case, the list of Internet-based offerings on the Live is probably the most comprehensive we've seen so far among media players.

On the Services page we found two YouTube apps; Western Digital helpfully explains that one is the official app, while the other is developed by themselves. The official one doesn't allow the user to search for specific videos; once the app is loaded, it will proceed to play videos randomly. On the other hand, the one developed by WD allows the user to search for specific videos, and even tag them. A video can be viewed in full screen, though you can't zoom in or out.

The Facebook app is also pretty well implemented. Instead of showing you the web view of a Facebook page, the app takes a page from the tabbed interface of Mochi: tabs along the bottom are used for separating different sections of your account (such as photos, videos, profile, and wall).

Wide Format Support

The WD TV Live's specs have no mention of RMVB support, so our guess is that like most other WD TV models, this new player uses a Sigma chipset (like an 8670). With the exception of the RealMedia format, the TV Live had no problems with running whatever video formats/extensions we threw at it - be it AVI, MPG, VOB, MKV, TS/M2T, MOV, or WMV9. 720p and 1080p video files also played without any stutters. Our Blu-ray ISO file took about ten seconds to load; but once it did, playback was smooth.

If you've many 1080p/24 (1080p resolution at 24 frames per second) sources, such as film content that are transferred to Blu-ray discs, you will be glad to know that the WD TV Live supports 1920 x 1080p24 playback just fine. Dolby TrueHD and DTS Core are supported, while DTS-HD Master Audio is often a hit and miss.

In case you're worried about WD focusing on adding more Internet-based services without improving other aspects of video playback, then you will be relieved to know that the WD TV Live has advanced functions such as Audio Lip Sync, which can be very useful if you noticed that the audio and video are not synchronized. Selecting this option during playback allows you to advance or delay the audio in the video in 100ms increments. We found this to be a feature that is almost completely overlooked in other media players; thumbs-up to WD for identifying and including this feature. Subtitle (SRT, ASS, SSA, SUB, and SMI formats are supported) positions, sizes and colors can also be adjusted.

Streaming high definition videos over a wired LAN should be easy as pie for the WD TV Live. Streaming 720p videos over Wi-Fi isn't impossible if you're using 802.11n and have a strong signal. However, even wireless-N isn't going to cut it for 1080p files, not to even mention BD-ISOs. Even if you're willing to sit through the long load times, chances are, the playback would be plagued with so many stutters and pauses that it becomes unwatchable.

Great Live Performance

The inclusion of so many web-based services makes the WD TV Live an interesting proposition for those sitting on the Smart TV fence. And let's not forget that it is at its core, a media player designed to play your music, videos, and photos, which it does pretty darn well too. So if you're living in the U.S., and have access to all the on-demand services that the WD TV Live supports, buying the media player is a no-brainer. In Singapore however, the incentive is somewhat diminished as not all services are available here. It also doesn't have a web browser, which makes the Smart TV experience incomplete; though some may argue it isn't really needed since there are already a whole host of services to get content from. But to give credit when it's due, we feel that its Facebook app is the best we have come across in any media player. If you're curious and want to find out more, you can go the WD TV Live product page, click on Online Services, and select your region or country to see what services are applicable for your locality.

All in all, the WD TV Live is a compact media player that takes up very little space among your A/V setup. Yes, you can't fit a hard drive in it, but if that's important to you, then you owe yourself to check out the WD TV Live Hub. Take note though, the latter doesn't have built-in Wi-Fi support. In practice, setting up the WD TV Live is simple; the Mochi GUI isn't only attractive but also easy to use. And perhaps most importantly, the player handled all the files we threw at it with aplomb.

All things considered, at a price of S$189, the WD TV Live represents good value for the money. Strong format support, integrated Wi-Fi, a more than decent remote, support for Dolby TrueHD, 1080p/24 playback, the WD TV Live of 2011 has ticked most of our check boxes. Sure, an additional USB port, faster USB speeds and support for 3D would be great, but so far, we don't really miss them. If the player's inability to play RMVB files is a deal-breaker for you, a good alternative is the ASUS O!Play Mini Plus.

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