WDTV Live HD Media Player $99 @ Officeworks

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WDTV Live HD Media Player $99 @ Officeworks
minijumbuk on 22/09/2011 - 15:36 www.officeworks.com.au (1367 clicks)

Just got an email from OW's. WDTV Live HD only $99. Cheaper than cheapest on staticice!


Officeworks

Store Profile: Officeworks

Contact 1300 633 423
  • +2 votes
    numbnuts on 22/09/2011 - 15:43

    I've bought them on 3-4 occasions from OW, and never paid that much.

    For 6mths+ they're $108, but drop to $98 at random times. Not mentioned in the catalogues. Actually worse. They advertise at $108, so the store puts them up!

    I bought 3 around 2mths ago for $96. The only other problem: Stock levels. "Oh, sorry, no stock at that price."

    I got tired of their games, so I bought a handful from amazon instead. Including shipping, they were ~$92.

    (Why so many? Friends, family, work-mates are now all in the loop)

  •  
    jv on 22/09/2011 - 15:43

    must be same price somewhere else too, the only times they drop their price on this is when a competitor does, that way they don't have to give you the extra 5%…

  • +1 vote
    megaphat on 22/09/2011 - 16:04

    Great little box. I grabbed one for $96 from OW and I'm very pleased with it.

  • +1 vote
    rygle on 22/09/2011 - 16:06

    If you wack WDLXTV firmware on it you can use it as a basic NAS as well as all the normal functions.

    •  
      minijumbuk on 22/09/2011 - 16:15

      Can it play 3d movies if I have a 3d able tv?

      •  
        denniski on 22/09/2011 - 17:50

        yes it does, i downloaded 3d movies from torrents/usenet (half-sbs) and they all work, upgraded it to latest firmware as well and now have facebook/youtube and whatever apps in there

    •  
      Stefce on 22/09/2011 - 16:15

      Is that WD supported ? My concern is voiding the warranty of course…

    •  
      lucksmith on 22/09/2011 - 16:16

      could you give a noob like me some more info on how to do this?

    •  
      rygle on 22/09/2011 - 16:18

      Yes, the WDTV Live is supported.

      You can read more here;
      http://forum.wdlxtv.com/

    •  
      kirt on 22/09/2011 - 16:29

      Pretty sure this works with the stock firmware:

      http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1724562

    •  
      TrendyTim on 22/09/2011 - 18:31

      Unless you have 4TB of video on NTFS drives. I set it up for a friend, and was
      a) Still unable to get more than 2 HDDs attached
      b) Kept on crashing when playing video
      c) Movie sheets was just to hard to setup

      Since getting a HTPC running XBMC i could never use a WDTV unless it was running something that could compete with XBMC

  • +2 votes
    bryans on 22/09/2011 - 16:42

    I bought this for $90 at JB-hifi after negotiation.

    •  
      jvc on 22/09/2011 - 17:10

      Same, not the cheapest price.

    •  
      JepunK on 22/09/2011 - 19:36

      can you post the receipt? so I price match it…just for OzBargain spirits…

  • +1 vote
    superkieu on 22/09/2011 - 17:04

    I bought it last year and returned it the next day
    the ports at the back of the unit are way too cramp - a deal breaker for me.
    The HDMI cable was competing with the USB cable and while squeezing them in I almost bent the connectors.

    to be fair, the player plays good video and audio.

    Have WD redesign the player and allow more space between the connectors/ports at the back?

    • +3 votes
      ory_zm on 22/09/2011 - 17:55

      no.

      EDIT: but personally I don't see what the problem is, as long as the unit is static. You connect all the permanent cables at the back one time. You have the side USB for connecting and disconnecting devices. Even when I took it with me on vacation I didn't really feel a problem with the way it is. The other alternative would be to have a bigger unit, which seems a bit dumb to me.

    •  
      Adamiam on 22/09/2011 - 18:44

      WD have redesigned the ports on their newest model of the wdtv range (WDTV HUB).
      It's got a new UI, the ports are a lot better and it has 1TB internal.
      Only problem is the price.

    •  
      quarrymaster on 22/09/2011 - 21:58

      Use a short (<30cm) USB extension cable. I plug a small USB Wi-Fi adaptor at the back and there's plenty of room next to the HDMI cable.

  •  
    eides on 22/09/2011 - 17:16

    Any idea if there's a new model around the corner?

  •  
    beatlebob on 22/09/2011 - 17:16

    welcome to last year

  •  
    magoo on 22/09/2011 - 17:21

    How has this not dropped in price for 12 months?

    •  
      Punkboy on 22/09/2011 - 17:51

      It has in the US - last week it was US$55 + US$20 delivery to Aust…

  •  
    ca6leguy on 22/09/2011 - 17:32

    Can I replace my DVD player with this?

  •  
    denniski on 22/09/2011 - 17:53

    i think this will be on catchoftheday on wednesday catchaton for $49, seems a lot liked it to be featured

    •  
      quarrymaster on 22/09/2011 - 23:44

      Unlikely considering it's got to make the top six out of the 12.

  • +2 votes
    redhotchilli on 22/09/2011 - 18:03

    My mate got one from JBHiFi today on Bourke St, Melbourne for $89 - after some haggling

  •  
    davedrastic on 22/09/2011 - 18:17

    I use a Playstation 3 with a couple of hard drives plugged in to play movies and TV downloaded via bittorrent. It generally works well but at the moment it's not getting on with one of the large hard drives. Would this WD thing work the same or better than the PS3 for this purpose?

    •  
      damong on 22/09/2011 - 19:03

      Your big limit is the PS3 will only read from FAT formatted drives and FAT drives are limited to maximum file size of 4gig. That limits many blu-ray files. WDlive can take drives formatted with NTFS so size is no limit. Also WDlive can show pretty much any format audio/vid unlike PS3 which is very limited.

  •  
    juzzy84 on 22/09/2011 - 18:33

    http://www.catchoftheday.com.au/news.php?article=548 will have it if enough votes get put forward for $49

  • +1 vote
    subydooby on 22/09/2011 - 18:35

    I also have a series 1 WDTV, apart from networking is there any reason to upgrade? Does it have a Faster processor, more formats supported, better remote?

    And to throw the cat amongst the proverbials, why not buy an Apple TV?

    • +4 votes
      minijumbuk on 22/09/2011 - 18:42

      because it's made by apple

    •  
      jinroh on 22/09/2011 - 22:01

      Lol, but on serious note, I was wondering the same too. Since ATV now can have xbmc installed, and i think they was priced similarly at $129 last time, how does they compare?

    • +1 vote
      quarrymaster on 22/09/2011 - 22:02

      The WDTV is better playing files from the net without any hacks, conversions or computer to host files like PS3 Media Server. The Apple tv is best streaming iPhone and iPad media files using AirPlay.

  •  
    redhotchilli on 22/09/2011 - 19:06

    I have both the original and the live, the live can stream from Wireless USB, youtube, internet radio, has better support for DTS and has better standby power consumption (switches off completely) and can play some basic games - also if I started buying Apple then it would be a sad day alround

  •  
    salesperson on 22/09/2011 - 20:20

    FYI these are end of line.
    A new version with Wi-Fi is about to be released.
    Having said that, they are great for the money.
    I found they are a bit slow at navigating and don't like Windows 7 sharing.
    I hacked by firmware about 8 months ago. Made it better.
    I now use a TV that had all the features built it! Progress for you.

    •  
      quarrymaster on 22/09/2011 - 22:04

      Any more info re this new replacement model?

      •  
        salesperson on 22/09/2011 - 22:30

        Not much more info.. I think it will come with N WiFi Stick in the box.

    •  
      surethang on 23/09/2011 - 20:14

      Cool - worth holding off for the new unit in my case. Thanks for the heads-up, "salesperson".

      I don't suppose you're able to give a better idea of what "about to be released" means? Are we talking "days" or more like "a few months"? I understand if you can't say too much.

  •  
    terrywang on 22/09/2011 - 20:50

    Bought 1 from JB Hi-Fi for $95 back in July, pretty good. Don't have enough time to dig further into hacking the firmware though.

    Is it also Linux based stuff like DD-WRT/OpenWRT?

    • +2 votes
      51kabunka on 22/09/2011 - 21:07

      super easy to hack and swap the firmware over- then it just has a ip address interface to set up..takes like 20 mins..easy to get movie sheets going too….its awesome for what it is an does for the price. Bet ya no new smart tvs play all the codecs that the b-radd firmware supports right now

    • +3 votes
      netsurfer on 22/09/2011 - 23:10

      Yes, once you installed b-rad firmware (aka wdlxtv), you can do a lot with it - rtorrent etc… You could also run optware and other cool stuff. This device has 512MB RAM and 256MB NAND (ROM basically). None of the home/small office routers come close in terms of RAM/ROM - not even Asus RT-N16 (or the upcoming RT-N66U). So, it is a nice little hacking box.

      There is one downside though. As a mini-NAS (USB to LAN speed) is very average - 6MB/sec max.

      •  
        51kabunka on 23/09/2011 - 14:04

        yeah slow for a NAS, but fine for streaming multiple HD movies simultaneously around the house ;)

  •  
    whiteman on 24/09/2011 - 08:33

    Guys, come on for 99 bucks these units are awesome, much better than the crap installed in my Samsung Series 5 TV. Hooking it up to my computer via Cat5 (Ethernet cable) was a snap and the interface is easy enough for my 10 year old to navigate. Only down is that typing into Facebook, YouTube etc is a pain, would love a mini keyboard to add to it. Don't waist time trying to save $10, head down and grab one, I've recommended them to heaps of mates and all are wrapped they took my advice. (Seriously, do you want to go to all that trouble to save $10…..pffffttt!)

  •  
    BigJohn on 25/09/2011 - 19:26

    Can the unit stream via wireless?