WD TV Live Plus (summer 2010)

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 18 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 8 stars

  Does what it Says

  by l_campos on January 4, 2011

  Pros: Real full 1080p for 24, 30, and 60. Right price and set-up was a breeze.

  Cons: Limited number of channels and the remote is small in size which i don't care for - wish it had letters/numbers on remote for faster inputting.

  Summary: I got the Roku first and tried it out for a few days but had to have 1080p/60, which the WD has and Roku does not. I was going ...

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  Summary: I got the Roku first and tried it out for a few days but had to have 1080p/60, which the WD has and Roku does not. I was going to give up and wait for 2011 models but luckily at the retailer they had a WD exhibit and the WD products was the same price as the Roku and it has 1080p/60. I'm now using net flicks and loving it. Just needs more channels and that will come with time (I hope).

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• 8 stars

  The easiest way to get internet media to your HDTV.

  by SurfingHB on September 9, 2010

  Pros: Streaming media, Netflix, Youtube and more. Tons of codecs.

  Cons: 1. Netflix GUI does not have a search field. Have to add movie to your queue through your Netflix account online, not through the interface. 2. Needs a QWERTY keyboard on the backside of the remote for YouTube. The onscreen keyboard is slow.

  Summary: Waiting to see the next generation.

  Summary: Waiting to see the next generation.

• 8 stars

  Great Functionality, GUI needs work in areas

  by Jims1234 on July 24, 2010

  Pros: tons of functions, fairly easy to navigate..love the flexibility and youtube and lan/ PC retrieval options

  Cons: slow to index some internet content, default is BOTH video and audio and takes a long time to index/ list of podcasts or videos.. better if selection of video was preset in advance. time consuming crap shoot if looking thru a hard drive also.

  Summary: lots more features than Roku, but wish it has a simple web browser

  Summary: lots more features than Roku, but wish it has a simple web browser

• 6 stars

  Many bugs and not perfect..

  by SuperTechPro on February 12, 2011

  Pros: Compact, doesn't use ton of electricty, plays tons of files (Codecs), acceptable price (slighly expensive for what it worths but still acceptable price range.. Networkable (can do NAS)

  Cons: It has tons of bugs: The most know bug is the : Out of Sync (aka audio lip sync with certains files).
  Slow Forward / rewind speed : x16 only
  The Fast forward will jump 10 min after which you need to repress the button.
  Browsing menu is slow

  Summary: First of all, This is my current setup: (btw im not a noob with tech.. im pretty experienced with these things)
  
  My current setting:
  A Sony Playstation 3 ( the 20gig ...

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  Summary: First of all, This is my current setup: (btw im not a noob with tech.. im pretty experienced with these things)
  
  My current setting:
  A Sony Playstation 3 ( the 20gig model one with ethernet - The ps3 that didn't come with wifi) which i've been using for 2 years to play movies (That was before i bough the WDTV Live ofcourse).
  A Dlink DNS-323 (raid1) file server to store all the avi, mov, mkv, mpg files
  Everything is connected with cat-5 wires to a Dlink N DI-825 router.
  I don't use any theater Amp... because my tv sound is good enough.
  
  This is my review based on my Sony PS3 experience.
  
  The WDTV Live can accept more codec type than the Sony PS3.
  On the PS3 you sometime need to convert certain files before playing. (which is a real pain and time consuming, hence the reason i bough the WDTV live)
  The PS3 doesn't like MKV, and because of sony anti-piracy hiden features. You often end up playing video without audio. Even if the movie works perfectly on your PC it doesn't mean it's gona work on the Sony PS3.
  
  The WD TV live, solves this problem as it can play almost (like 98% file types). The PS3 will run about 70% of my library.
  However the WD TV does not give the quality picture of the PS3. In fact, i had compared the same files side by side with the PS3 to come to this obvious conclusion.
  To compare the PS3 to the WDTVlive i had both unit connected to the TV. WDTV Live in Input 6 and Sony PS3 in Input 5. Both devices were using the same HDMI quality grade cable.
  The PS3 has a much clearer pictures and the difference is clearly noticable.. even if youre drunk, you should be able to see the difference!.
  
  On the WDTV live, With 700MB .avi ripped from DVD (On slighly black pictures you will notice some obvious pixels and squarry ghosting mosaic/shadow of somekind. In other words, you will see that the quality picture with 700MB avi is extremely low. (don't get me wrong: low quality is normal because they are ripped files, but lower quality than on the PS3... that's the point i want to bring)
  
  On the PS3, most if not all 700 MB .avi will play crystal clear. It won't be as good as real uncompressed DVD. But the quality is much better than on the WDTV live.
  Also the browsing on the WDTV live is slow. You have to keep pressing the button on the remote to move to the next selection. With the PS3, you can scroll down the menu at ultra highspeed.
  
  Finaly, the most extreme annoying issue with the WD TV-live is the Out of Sync Audio-video issue that you will experience on several files. It happens on certains MKV and AVI..
  What it means is that the audio will lose its sync with the picture. You will notice a delay between the video and the audio. Up to almost 1 sec delay. This delay is ridiculous, making the movie unwatchable. There are few fixes you can apply to the files in order to cut the delay but it requires you to download those apps and work on your computer to fix the concerned video files... and it is not garantee to work.
  
  To summarize: The WDTV-live :
  - Audio video out of lip sync issue on many files.
  - Noticable lower quality playback than the PS3 (this is true with every video)
  - Slow browsing menu
  
  The pro:
  - More codecs which mean more compatible than the PS3
  - More energy saver (if you worry about electric bill)
  - More compact and cheaper than the PS3.
  - Free Radio
  - Online internet update.
  - NAS Networkable. (plug&play)

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  0 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 1 stars

  Terrible Customer Service

  by mstern20878 on January 10, 2011

  Pros: Nothing It did not work

  Cons: Everything see above

  Summary: I bought this product and when I got it home, I tried to connect to the internet. All plugged in and the GUI says" "Unit has limited internet functionality." And ...

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  Summary: I bought this product and when I got it home, I tried to connect to the internet. All plugged in and the GUI says" "Unit has limited internet functionality." And by limited, it meant none whatsoever. I called customer service (an oxymoron), and they told me that the unit is incompatible with my router (standard FIOS/Actiontec router). They refused to let me speak with a supervisor (REFUSED!) and refused to assist in my trying to manually input the addresses to connect to my network. (No sir, I can not do that because your router is not compatible with this unit.) I asked if this was a known problem, and he did not know and had never heard of it before.
  After hours of searching the internet, and manually inputting my network addresses, still no network connection. Then I come across a whole cache of reviews on this site and amazon which complain how these boxes continually break and either never have or lose network connections. I returned it, and will never buy another Western Digital product again.
  However, I would be interested in hearing from someone whether anyone has ever had success connecting this to a home network through a FIOS/Actiontec router.

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  0 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 5 stars

  Poor support, poor interface, and beta stability.

  by skatefast on December 9, 2010

  Pros: Plays many formats, ISO images, and two usb ports.

  Cons: Poor interface, terrible remote, slow operation, frustrating navigation, unstable and locks up, poor support, and no volume control.

  Summary: My TV Live Plus worked at first. By this I mean I was able to play Netflix and content on my hard drive. But its very awkward without a trace ...

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  Summary: My TV Live Plus worked at first. By this I mean I was able to play Netflix and content on my hard drive. But its very awkward without a trace of any elegance, especially the remote. As if they intentionally made it a pain in the --- to use. Also, do most media players lack a volume control? What stupidity is this?
  
  Trying to get past its flaws in interaction and overall user experience, I was not sure if I was going to keep or return it. Then it started locking up with Netscape and Mediafly. I gave WD a chance and called customer support to see if they could salvage it before returning it. What a waste of time. They made my decision to return it very easy.
  
  I am so much happier after replacing it with a hdmi netbook.

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  0 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 1 stars

  still has all the bugs from wd tv /wd tv live

  by bobbyprasa on July 28, 2010

  Pros: - only netflix support is new (which seems more like a software enhancement)
  - compared to other boxes, internet connectivity is very easy to configure and it works!

  Cons: Major bummer: WD tv live plus has same audio sync issues as before in wd tv and wd tv live. No other media player has this issue!
  - no features in photo slideshow (ken burns, or ability to play music while showing slideshow)

  Summary: other shortcomings: - slower than the previous versions - wd tv and wd tv live
  
  In summary: no need to buy!

  Summary: other shortcomings: - slower than the previous versions - wd tv and wd tv live
  
  In summary: no need to buy!

  1 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 1 stars

  Completely Non Functional DO NOT PURCHASE!

  by docfrome on December 27, 2010

  Pros: Nothing yet.

  Cons: The device was completely non functional. I don't mean difficult to use. I mean it simply did not work at all.

  Summary: No image to my screen using any connection. Customer Service was a joke, merely repeating the installation instructions.
  Zero Troubleshooting. Zero help.
  This product has been a complete waste of ...

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  Summary: No image to my screen using any connection. Customer Service was a joke, merely repeating the installation instructions.
  Zero Troubleshooting. Zero help.
  This product has been a complete waste of time.
  
  Now I am forced to mail it back to them, and forced to wait for them to receive it and send a new one out to me.
  
  I will amend this review at that time. In the mean time... buyer don't just beware, buyer stay the heck away from this sucker!

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  0 out of 2 users found this user opinion helpful.

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