WD TV Live Plus (summer 2010)

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

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• 9 stars

  Does exactly what i needed it to do and does it well

  by tcommicon1 on August 3, 2010

  Pros: Plays evey file format ive thrown at it so far. have seen people complaining of audio sync issuses(its the TV itself) ive had none whatsoever even with 1080p and Bluray. Using as network share with movies stored on a Windows Vista dual core machine.

  Cons: GUI reminds me of the commodore 64 days but easily got past that when i discovered this unit works and works well. Hopefully they will come out with a firmware upgrade for the GUI. Remote is basic but all the controlls are the just research.

  Summary: Id recommend this unit to anyone mostly because of file compatability. Ive been using this unit for well over 3 months and have had not one single issue. This only ...

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  Summary: Id recommend this unit to anyone mostly because of file compatability. Ive been using this unit for well over 3 months and have had not one single issue. This only leads me to believe the low raters are simply anti-WD or lack the proper knowledge of how to set up and use this unit. The netflicks works but needs a little inprovement any lack of search feature is alittle annoying but if you intend to you this for network streaming you wont have any gripes. If your considering it dont wait. I have had 1 issue with an Olevia 527v tv gets great picture from WD but wont play the audiowhenever i try watching an MKV file have confirmed that the issue is on the tv side but havent had the time to troubleshoot. Unit worked great on all other tvs ive trided it on and not MKV issues. Looks awsome on my SAMSUNG (but what dosent!). Hope this all helped.

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  4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 9 stars

  Great streaming box, butt ugly GUI

  by tmonster1138 on July 9, 2010

  Pros: - Has just about every CODEC known to man installed.
  
  - 1080p output
  
  - HDMI, Component, Composite output.
  
  - Streams high bit rate HD content with no issues.
  
  - Uses the Phase II Netflix app GUI layout.
  
  - Simple to setup and use.
  
  -Cheap
  
  -Works!!!

  Cons: - As referenced in the summary, although functional, the GUI leaves a lot to be desired aesthetically compared to say the Roku GUI.
  
  - Down-converts on the component outputs; the WD TV Live did not.
  
  - Did I mention that I hate the GUI!

  Summary: Some more of my pet peeves with this product:
  
  - No search feature while running the Netflix app; you have to use your compute to do any type of search....

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  Summary: Some more of my pet peeves with this product:
  
  - No search feature while running the Netflix app; you have to use your compute to do any type of search.
  
  - I miss the little Roku style dots that indicate your connection rate.
  
  - This is not a knock of the WD itself, but I would strongly recommend a wired connection to the unit, ESPECIALLY if you are going to stream high bit rate content.
  
  - The next gen Netflix app running on Roku is a lot flasher; and has a search engine.
  
  - The remote is a basic attempt at a remote, it works, but where's the innovation?
  
  My only real grip with this unit is the lack of innovation. As an engineer, it KILLS me to say something positive about the Marketing Clan; but someone from marketing should have got a hold of this unit early on in the design and spiffied it up a bit. Functional, the unit is superb. I use a WHS as my media server, and have 2 (to be 3 very soon) of the units running on my home VOD system as the end-user appliance and am extremely happy with there performance.
  
  Short answer is: If you have a content library that you want to make available to TV's in your home, the WD TV Live unit is the appliance you want to buy. It's cheap, it works great and it's not a PITA to set up or maintain. And with the Plus enhancement, you get a Netflix appliance as well, which will give you access to additional content if you are a Netflix subscriber.
  
  That being said; a near perfect appliance would be the fusion of a WD TV Live and a Roku box. One can only dream.

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  3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  Works Like A Charm

  by blanmgr on January 17, 2011

  Pros: - 1080p output to large screen with no distortion.
  - Menu system is very friendly
  - Easy to use
  - Connected to ethernet home network with no problems

  Cons: None at this time

  Summary: I previously had the original WDTV and need to connect one or two of my externals to it. With this I have my full collection of videos available to pull ...

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  Summary: I previously had the original WDTV and need to connect one or two of my externals to it. With this I have my full collection of videos available to pull over the network from my PC. I have two of these device to my large flat screens in my home. You can create a network password protected share and have your WD TV Live Plus connect to it. I can manage my videos setting up a general sharing share and a stay out of share password protected for video theme to keep kids out of. I also have over 30 TB of anime on my PC (internal hard drives or connected RAID drives using external eSata 3.0 USB) and it can all of them. The apps it has on it works great like Netflix. I would recommend this to anyone how has movies or even tons of anime to stream in your home.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  Awesome! Easiest way to get your media on TV

  by on January 1, 2011

  Pros: Very easy to setup, excellent picture quality, sound. Interface easy to use and simple.

  Cons: Does get hot. Wish had update summary with firmware upgrades. No wireless.

  Summary: Easiest way to get your music, photos and videos on your TV.

  Summary: Easiest way to get your music, photos and videos on your TV.

  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 10 stars

  Great Wired Network Media Player!

  by Cypress1979 on August 30, 2011

  Pros: Interface is good - easy to navigate. Because Western Digital makes this unit (referring to their computer background), it can read just about anything stored on your computer. It has many codecs allowing for playback of most video formats. I have well ov

  Cons: None. It took a little guessing, but in Media Share mode (following that menu string) allows for Digital Copy movie playback or most content stored in your VIDEOS folder. I have to take the Network Share menu path to access MY MOVIES folder and play VOB a

  Summary: This is the network media player to buy if you are OK with going wired (you'll need to plug in to your Network switch or Router). It's big ...

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  Summary: This is the network media player to buy if you are OK with going wired (you'll need to plug in to your Network switch or Router). It's big brother is the way to go for wireless and a nicer user interface. I prefer wired over wireless, but sometimes running a CAT5e to your TV isn't practical.

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• 4 stars

  Unstable DLNA player

  by chilio1st on August 29, 2011

  Pros: compact
  nice design
  reasonably priced

  Cons: unstable DLNA player
  slow boot and poor responsiveness

  Summary: I own this player for half a year now and must say I am not very happy about this purchase. I am using this device as a DLNA player in ...

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  Summary: I own this player for half a year now and must say I am not very happy about this purchase. I am using this device as a DLNA player in combination with an Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 2 and a Netgear N600 router that is placed within 5 meters. I am streaming over the 5GHz.
  
  I bought the wd tiv live together with a recommended Linksys WUSB600N WIFI dongle and always install the most recent updates. The responsiveness of the player has improved with newer firmware updates but it still takes about a minute to boot the thing.
  
  The biggest drawback of the WD TV Live is its instability. In 1 out 3 times, the device stops DLNA playback. After restart it operates fine again.

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• 9 stars

  Great for playing back user content but ....

  by greatpix on August 25, 2011

  Pros: Plays everything I've thrown at it so far.

  Cons: Internet apps and GUI not as user friendly as Roku.

  Summary: First thing you do when you get this home is to download and install the excellent (and free) XBMC media center software. It wasn't until I added this to ...

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  Summary: First thing you do when you get this home is to download and install the excellent (and free) XBMC media center software. It wasn't until I added this to my PC's and Mac's that the WDTV Live plus really became the full featured network device I wanted.
  
  Smaller than it looks in photos the WD TV Live + is a great way to watch your content on TV or computer monitor. I have it hooked up to two physical hard drives 2TB and 3TB as well as through Ethernet cable to my home network. Now that I have XBMC installed I'm so happy I could cry.
  
  Extra points for showing subtitles, which has been my biggest headache with other systems.

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• 10 stars

  Fantastic player!

  by Todd Templeton on August 15, 2011

  Pros: Recent updates have cured all HD video stuttering issues! I can now play all .mkv (and every other format I've thrown at it) 1080p and 720p movies WIRELESSLY (using an Apple AirPort Express) as smooth as butter. The folks at Western Digital have really im

  Cons: No wireless networking built-in. That can be easily and cheaply added on with a USB wifi dongle, and it would raise the price needlessly for folks who can simply run an Ethernet cable to a nearby router. So I'm not sure it's a "con". But it is something t

  Summary: For folks trying to extend an existing media computer setup's content to other rooms and other HDTVs, this is hands down, the unit for you. .avi, .mp4, m4v, mkv, ...

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  Summary: For folks trying to extend an existing media computer setup's content to other rooms and other HDTVs, this is hands down, the unit for you. .avi, .mp4, m4v, mkv, m2ts, DIVX, ,wmv, whatever I've thrown at it works great! It also does an excellent job streaming Pandora, Netflix, Tune-in Radio, YouTube, Revision3, etc.. Make sure you update the firmware after you buy it since they've recently fixed quite a few bugs.

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• 9 stars

  Advanced Streaming for Advanced Users

  by kwilsonjr on March 20, 2011

  Pros: Frequent firmware updates (automatically)
  Plays anything you can throw at it. No 'unrecognized format' messages.
  Small yet powerful
  Connects to streaming servers AND network shares. No third party streaming server required.
  Does it all

  Cons: No Hulu Plus (yet)

  Summary: This is an advanced streaming device for advanced users. If you need a dumbed down media device buy something else. This is packed with features and extreme capability. This unit ...

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  Summary: This is an advanced streaming device for advanced users. If you need a dumbed down media device buy something else. This is packed with features and extreme capability. This unit automatically checks for firmware updates and applies them automatically with one click. Plays any file format you can encode. WD lives up to the 'future-proof' catch phrase too often used to try and sell a product. Great support and user base, but you will hardly need it as this works perfectly right out of the box. Been through 5 different brands and wish I had started with the WD TV Live Plus.

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• 10 stars

  If you don't know what mkv files are buy something else

  by def1003 on February 10, 2011

  Pros: -Plays everything I have thrown at it perfectly
  -Streams flawlessly over my wireless(wd live box is wired to router)
  -If you dont know how/where to download blu-ray rips/mkvs off the net dont buy this
  -Refurbished model for $60 with free shipping

  Cons: -None so far product works as described flawlessly

  Summary: This little box does everything it said it would do perfectly all the negative reviews are from people who lack the knowledge to realize the purpose of this box when ...

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  Summary: This little box does everything it said it would do perfectly all the negative reviews are from people who lack the knowledge to realize the purpose of this box when coupled with a large external hard dive(2TB in my case) and a small amount of knowledge about where to acquire free blu-ray rips, if you have that knowledge then this is a no-brainer/great buy and I highly suggest it, if you dont go get a roku or apple tv or some other rip off machine

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