Thought this might be a good deal, got one today. The price has come down for the WD TV live streaming media player so yes this is the one where you can stream stuff from your computer or laptop over the internet. Pretty good, seeing as the WD TV Live (not able to stream) is at $88 too. Checked other retailers, only seeing prices around the $120 mark. Not sure when this will end.
Get a wife remote that has a skip, pause or mute function.
Just the mute function will do.
Thanks, I have the older model and might replace it with one of these if I can find stock.
The old model had Audio Sync adjustment.
I bought this device so that I do not have to move my power HDD around the house and transfer information over wifi and then watch on the TV
1) Wifi sucks - too slow may be like dial up speed 56k transfer rate
2) scrolling file Performance against Samsung to read contents - 50% slower than playing movies from HDD connected directly with samsung.
3) Mapping network drive is a pain in the back side. I hope I get my money back since this is a crap box
Regards
Ok, perhaps you need to slow down and look at some quick troubleshooting before deciding that it's a 'crap box'.
I love this device, as do many others. So try not to make such a hasty judgement :)
Actually I have found that the WIFI in this model is quite weak. It's not enough to stream high def things very effectively.
If I want to send files directly from the computer onto the external drive that the WD is connected to, it does it at 1MB/sec flat speed.
Sometimes the UI is slow to respond.
Those are the negative things about it.
The good side is that it's pretty robust in being able to play just about everything. For 100 bucks it's really good value as a decent media player.
My next media player is actually going to be a PC running XBMC though.
I agree with fLaMePrO. Scrolling might be slow, but if you could connect directly with a Samsung (assuming USB to a TV), why can't you connect the HDD to the WD TV?
As for mapping network drives, are you able to run some DLNA software so the WD TV could connect to it that way instead?
Just picked up another 2
I thnk at the price its even great to pass them out to family and friends.
Even as stocking filler at Christmas
if these are stocking fillers what are the real presents ? :O
put me on your pressie list
7 Left at Watergardens, Sydenham. Behind the counter though. Dunno why they weren't displayed?
Obviously hoping you'd wouldn't find out! :D
Would be possible to install Skype on that device?
This is a very slow and buggy device, its worth it for the money but other more expensive systems or XBMC are miles ahead.
These are good to give to your parents etc.
Care to elaborate? This isn't slow and buggy, and it's more full-featured than some of the more expensive offerings out there. The only thing it doesn't have is a built-in HDD, but you shouldn't even need that if you set up your network properly.
I paid about $50 more a few months ago - upgrading from the previous model after it died on me. It was definitely worth it. So for this price, it's an absolute bargain :)
From experience with three different WDTV Live's in three different homes/network setups.
Network shares is buggy with authentication requiring a reset, media server is the only reliable way to watch content over the network.
Media downloader slows the device to a crawl, if you plug in a hard drive you have to wait 10-100 minutes for it to finish before you can watch a HD video without lag.
Applications such as i-view are buggy and slow, often crashes etc. Sometimes you have to wait 30 seconds to a minute just to watch something, a computer for example will open i-view instantly and start a video instantly.
USB connectivity is insanely slow, 8-10 MB/s where a computer would give you 30 MB/s+ for usb 2.
The device will randomly restart, apps, watching a ripped DVD, all kinds of random reasons.
The interface is very very slow, I can do 5 things in XBMC in the time you do one thing with the WDTV
Its a very basic device with too many features stuffed into it that it can't handle without issues.
Its worth $88, but don't expect it to work as well as a more expensive device.
What sort of problems are you having with network shares??
I have mine working beautifully with a linux samba server. I'm also managing to play blue ray rips flawlessly over wireless.
I will vouch for some of the apps being a little not-so though. I don't like how you get no real updates/progress as to what's happening. Was trying to watch a game on mlb.tv last night and my internet was being flaky, so the WDTV just sat there.
What hardware do you use for XBMC.. apple tv?
kingofamazon, For XBMC I use an custom built low power consumption computer to hold my 7TB and counting worth of hard drives. (Back when I had the WDTV I just had one 2TB HDD and it wasn't happy with something as small as that either)
XBMC can run on all kinds of hardware which is good.
Yea if you have more than 2tb of data a nas or a computer with all the harddrives-in just the way you do is fine. WD is more like a basic to medium option. I have two of these at home and two portable harddrives it plays most of the files for me and didnt have much dramma really. Or you can set a up a nas with aptv2 with xbmc. Again for an average person wdtv would work straight out of the box without much fiddling I would say.
No offense mate, but of course a PC is going to rape a WDTV device in terms of speed and flexibility…not sure why the two are even compared.
For the money you pay, the WDTV is good value. I guess you could for $88 pick up an older C2D SFF machine (Dell 745/HP DC7800) and use it as a media PC, but its about 6x bigger, noisier, and you still need a remote for it…
LOL
If you want to see buggy and slow try XBMC on ATV2!
It was pretty much perfect on the old XBOX but I found it very unreliable on ATV2.
I agree with all of those points.
Check the WDTV forums and there heaps of issues.
I haven't used my streaming device in a while but network shares from Windows at least are buggy as hell. High bit rate MKVs also cause stuttering issues from Windows shares it seems.
Resolved most of these issues by sharing via PS3 Media Server of all things.
Also, WD refuses to add HDMA audio decoding or at least bit-streaming.
For $88 it's a decent device. But it's shortcomings mean I'm not inclined to get another.
@samfisher -
For most of the things you listed, there are simple solutions.
Network shares being problematic are not isolated to the WD TV - it's more the nature of the Windows file sharing protocol. It's just shit compared to the Linux counterpart. Mine works ok most of the time - but as you said media servers are a much more stable and reliable option.
By media downloader I assume you mean the metadata component. Yes, it is slow. But again, I don't think that's entirely the device's fault. It has a lot of files to process, and any similar device would struggle with this. The fact that it's even an option is impressive to me. You can easily turn it off and get the info manually through the options menu, or alternatively load this data into the media folders on your PC using something like Sickbeard (personally this is what I do and it works a lot better).
I don't use the apps so can't comment there.
USB speed, don't see why this is an issue? You mean copying files from PC over the network to a HDD attached to the WD? That's going to be slow no matter what because of overheads etc. Also you'd be very lucky to get 30mb/s on a PC, 20mb/s is more realistic.
Don't have issues with random restarts so can't comment there either.
Interface speed - load videos, scroll through them, pick one and start watching. Doesn't take long for me at all, and any slowness is caused by the ineffiency of the network shares.
====
Yep, I'll defend this device to the death :)
I realise that windows shares are not as simple and easy as linux shares. It doesn't change the fact that other devices or even a PC running WDTV does it perfectly.
The media downloader prevents you from watching HD videos, where other devices or a PC can either multitask or do it when your not busy.
USB speed matters a lot for HD content.
For 100mbit it transfers up to 8 MB/s because thats all the device can handle. Other devices can do the full 11 MB/s over 100mbit, over wireless it performs even worse then wireless on a more powerful device. a 1080p movie takes a very very long time and holds up everything else because the device can't multi task.
For comparison purposes you can get 70 MB/s+ with a gigabit device.
Slowness is related to apps, network shares, media processing and certain media.
Don't try to blame network shares when its the implementation that WDTV has that is bad.
Just because you don't have an issue with the way you use it doesn't mean that the majority of the features of the device don't work very well.
For example I gave one to my mother and everything works well for her except for abc i-view.
I feel every time I respond people are assuming I hate the device, I think its well worth the $88, just that it has plenty of issues people should be aware of, and its not until you use a good device or XBMC that you realise how much better it can be.
I'm stating fact using experience with multiple devices in multiple networks. I'm not saying its not worth the money.
Therefore there is nothing to defend or disagree with.
I have the older model WDTV Live and it's nothing like what you've described. It's fast, reliable and supports most file formats.
I have never used the older model.
Got one on hold at Morley Officeworks in WA until the end of the day and will be picking it up this evening. Been keeping my eye on this model since my parents TV has given a bit of trouble playing the MP4 HD264 format.
The question will mainly be whether I use a usb flash drive/portable hard drive or to set up a home network which my 2TB WD My Book can be accessed through.
How is everyones experience with the wireless for tv shows of roughly 200mb-300mb?
I use wired network with WDTV LIVE, however in regards to wireless streaming it's not really the size of the file you are streaming but the quality/size of the stream. For example wireless streaming of DVD quality content might work fine but streaming 720p or 1080p rips may cause issue.
If you have the means, you should run cabling to the WDTV rather than wireless if you want to stream HD content.
Thanks for the info
I presume 200mb-300mb are just normal rips of TV shows - those should be fine.
Like the other guy said, 720p may be doable but 1080p will most likely give issues with the weak wireless on the device.
Bought the last one of the shelf at the King St store in Melbourne
Damn you!!.. oh wait.. you mean the one next to BMW?
Nope, Corner of King St and Collins St
Just picked up the last one off the shelf in Werribee
I just bought the last one of these from QV.
Nice find.
DAMN YOU!! lol
Got last one at OW North Sydney,
5 left at OW Mosman.
I bought one of these for the basic purpose of streaming media to my bedroom TV from my file server, over wifi.
I use this software to serve the media to it via DLNA http://www.serviio.org/
Seems to play everything I throw at it. I don't use the plugins / in built 'media library' function - that's what my server is for - but it does the basics of media playback very well, no issues with FF/RW, seems to 'next' to sequential episodes and it has the nice feature of showing me 'most recently added episodes' (great for pointing at this weeks TV).
XBMC it isn't, but a great player it is.
NB there are limited custom firmware options for this model - the other firmware options you read about are for previous, less locked down, players. WD encrypted the crap out of the useful bits of this, so if you're a hard core modder - avoid.
Trying to find a simple answer to this and just wondering that if I have a 2TB External Hard Drive that I sit at my computer, can I share this across my home network for the WD TV to access? Pretty much taking the drive and sharing it across a home network.
I know I could move the external hd to where the wd tv is going to be kept but then I really wanted to keep it with the computer.
Thanks
Yes.
Yes, I have essentially the same setup over a wired network.
2TB External Drive connected to Windows 7 PC, I stream all media via Shared Folders accessed via "Network Share" option of WDTV. You are prompted to enter a Username/Password to connect unless you want to enable Guest mode. Login details are saved on the WDTV though, so it's not something you have to enter everytime.
The WD TV can see both DLNA hosts and network shares, so if you can share your HDD via your computer, it should see it.
Might be easier to use the software mentioned above to turn your computer into a DLNA host instead. I use the PS3 Media Server software:
Make sure you use the Media Server/DLNA function instead of network shares if you want a fast and reliable experience.
Great. Will aim to get that set up from when the WDTV is up and running
Just bought 2 from Aspley, QLD. There were still another 6 left on the shelf. Thanks OP, great deal!
For those still looking, I had JB price match in Macarthur Central, Brisbane. Still quite a few on the shelves when I left
I did the same in JB at macquarie centre. none left in OW at North Ryde.
Sorry if this is a stupid question but can you do the following -
Hook a Big external hard drive up to this and then from you computer which is on the same network as this WD, send the movies (Files) to the external Hard Drive that is connected to the WD?
While I haven't tried this, it should work. You can set the WDTV to "share" it's attached media as a windows file share, so in theory, you should be able to drop files on it from your computer.
Yes, that's exactly how mines setup.
ahh thank you so it would work the same as this - http://www.officeworks.com.au/retail/products/Technology/Hom…
But your just adding ur own Hard Drive
yep thats it, don't waste you money on the internal HD version
ok thanks
Going buy what samfisher5986 said above -
Media downloader slows the device to a crawl, if you plug in a hard drive you have to wait 10-100 minutes for it to finish before you can watch a HD video without lag.
Is this true? I dont want to hook a big Hard Drive up to it and wait ages to watch a movie. My Blu-Ray player starts the movie within 10 seconds
If you're to leave the HD drive connect to the WDTV (i assume you have quite a few files on your HD already), it'll go through all of your files and find cover art etc… This will take time, but once you've done this, adding a new file wirelessly takes no time at all.
Hope that makes sense.
yer it does. So when playing a movie, it will start right away or take time?
The main thing I need is to be able to send files to the external hard drive thats connected to the WD from my computer rather then disconnect the external hard drive and hook it up to my computer to transfer new files.
I don't see why it wouldn't be quick. My movies start with minimal delay over wireless. You can also turn of the "Get Content Info" to avoid having the thing go fetch cover art and the like.
Twisty, as mentioned its really only an issue if it has many files to process.
If you already give it a few hours and you only add a few movies, then it will be quick enough.
The issue appears for devices the WDTV hasn't seen yet or if you have unplugged it and loaded new content on.
When I had a WDTV I didn't have 1 hour spare to copy a 1080p movie and season of a tv show over the network (both wifi and ethernet cable are 10x slower then a computer). I would unplug the hdd, copy the files and then have to wait quite a while for it to process all the tv episodes etc.
Basically if you are a light user then you likely won't notice all the flaws in this device. This is why I got one for my mother.
Yep, reserved one at Officeworks Braddon in Canberra. Pick up this arvo. :)
As of ~2PM today, Officeworks Liverpool (2170) are out of stock except for two ex-display models on the shelf which are stickered at $95(!!!). The assistant did check under the front counter but apparently the only units there were reserved or had already been sold.
Not to be discouraged, I walked across to Harvey Norman and was able to get a price-match without too much effort! Don't bother with the Bing Lee in the same centre though (who I tried first), as they wouldn't budge from $140(!!!)
Thanks to the OP and happy OzBargaining! :)
lol….the reserved one must be mine one as I called them up early in the morning and ask the guy to reserve it for me then picked it up around 7:00 pm.
I also saw the ex-display unit got packed and reserved to someone else too when coming in to pick up mine.
Can't play RMVB, will never get a WD Media player.
I prefer just XMBC or PS3 Media Server
Can this one play iTunes downloaded m4a songs?
Got one of these in Officeworks on 65-75 Commercial Road, South Yarra, there was still one more left on the shelf
i got it =)
Thanks for the info guys might go get me one. I am using Serviio and watching my files on my bluray player atm so using WD TV Live I dont need to have computer on or use serviio
About 4 left at Auburn Officeworks 298 Paramatta Rd. There are 2 models, make sure to grab the 'streaming' version. Very similar packaging.
Got one at Loganholme,Qld. 2 left on shelf. Thanks OP!
Mine doesn't show all my movie files any more for some reason, iv'e tried resetting and upgrading firmware with no luck, anyone know any fixes? and ive tried turning off Media library.
Contact WD and see what they can do of you are still within the warranty period. The details you provided is not sufficient for me to tell what is wrong (ie: where is the file? Is it in your network or in the HDD that you attach directly to the device)
I selected my local store at the top-right and it says "Out of stock", but when I click "Store availability" and enter the same post code it says it's in stock? o_O
Might just go past tomorrow and see if they have any.
About 4 left in OW Narre Warren, Vic. Thanks OP.
maybe they had more out the back.. their system showed 24 in stock.
I got the last one from South Yarra / Prahran on Commercial Rd.
But the guy told me Doncaster had 34 showing in stock and Narre Warren had 24.
The one opposite Highpoint VIC has 4 left.
yeh just went to doncaster to pick one up and they had around 30 in stock id say in 2 different sections
Thanks.
Why no custom firmware for this model?
Got mine from Oxley store,QLD. They have 3 more on the shelf. When I installed it directly upgraded to firmware 1.10.13. Wifi is bit lagging, I am not sure the available speed. I noticed it only connects to WD site for free TV, Is there any way to browse free TV channels from net.
Thanks OP. I got mind last night from Narre Warren store (2 more left) after trying Dandy & Keysborough (Out of stock). Price drop due to competitor price and therefore can go up any time if competitor price goes up. you can still custom order at $88 if you are happy to wait few more days.
Bought from Fitzroy North, VIC. Only 1 left on the shelf but the box was bit damaged (ex demo they said) - but found out that they have couple of new ones on the back of front counter.
Had bit problem initially when connecting to Network/Windows Share but managed to get it to work nicely:
- Make sure Workgroup name is the same
- In Windows 7 - Go to Control Panel - Network and Share - make sure you allow streaming to WD TV Live
Wireless was pretty fast, YouTube works well, but couldn't get DailyMotion to work
Replaced my WDTV Live with this model yesterday. Glad I did.
Pros:
Interface is a lot prettier and gives you a lot more options for appearance which is always nice.
Remote is MUCH better, nice to have some weight to it, easier to use and easier to find when its hidden in the doona.
Youtube now plays in HD (I think 720p, it's a big step up on the previous quality of it) and allows pairing with Youtube Remote.
Unit is smaller, and the USB on the front makes a lot more sense than the side.
Cons:
Added lights to show connectivity of ethernet which considering I can see mine in bed can be annoying.
blutac
Black permanent marker works as well to dull down the LEDs
I used precisely cut black electrical tape :D
I bought my from Harvey in Brisbane CBD, they price matched it after Officeworks had no stock. The guy checked if it was advertised on the Officeworks site. Tried it yesterday night and it works really well with my WD external drive. Thanks for posting it.
Hi All,
No stock at Parramatta and Wentworthville Officeworks.
JB HIFI Parramatta Price matched no worries :)
Couldn't find stock @ Clarence St, Sydney - rocked up to JB Hifi in Westfields and got it price matched. Sweet! Had about 6 left on shelf.
I picked up one at Officeworks Coburg VIC - they still had quite a few left in stock. The woman that served me said something like "That's the fourth one of those we've sold in the past hour!" Hahaha :)
Plenty of stock in ow jandakot WA. I think st ll got about at least 20
4 left at Midland store after I grabbed one tonight
Installed mine last night - connected to my network via ethernet.
Played everything I threw at it (avi, mkv, wmv) in full high definition with absolutely no stuttering.
Having read the comments above I expected it to be slow and buggy.
After a 10 minute firmware update I was more than impressed. Very happy with the purchase and the device is a lot better than some of the comments above suggest.
Highly recommended.
The slow and buggy comments are relating to the extra features the WDTV offers. The WDTV does very well at playing video.
The issues are many of the apps, youtube/spotify for example works fine, but i-view and some others are dodgy.
Network shares can be buggy, media server/DLNA is fine.
Certain things like a ripped DVD can sometimes cause issues and sometimes restarts.
artwork and file processing is a pain.
and so on… all things that are wrong with the device that many people won't notice, which makes $88 a bargain for many people.
Why would there be a problem specifically with ripped DVDs? They shouldn't be any different to any other media files unless you are just ripping DVDs to ISO or a folder. The "proper" way to rip DVDs is rip to .mkv or .mp4/m4v container with h.264 video using Handbrake or similar software. You can get an exact copy at about 1/3 the file size… and it will play on just about any media player or Android/Apple device.
You can't rip to MKV, thats encoding…..
the WDTV has occasional issues playing ripped DVD's including 5-10 second delays and device restarts, most of the time its ok though.
Your comment is funny though, your solution to a device problem is to encode it to a different format? I mentioned it because its meant to play them flawlessly as its a supported file type.
You might as well get an Apple TV because you don't seem to mind jumping through all sorts of hoops just to get your content to play properly…
Looks like the price went up! Listed as $135 now.
http://www.officeworks.com.au/retail/products/Technology/Hom…
Just been to our local OW with screen printout of $88 dated Sept 5.
Shelf price $135, manager OK'd $88.
Thanks OzBargainers…..
PM if ya still want receipt
Hey Mate,
Can you please PM the screen print out $88 and also your receipt plz. That will really be a ton helpful :D
I am not able to send you a PM !
PM working now, send mail addy for screener + receipt attachment
Yeah that confirms my test. It is mainly for when the wife talks and you miss something and need to skip back 30secs. Rewind is just not accurate enough to be useful. I guess I have been spoilt by XBMC on my main HTPC.