Was $108 until recently, cheapest on StaticIce also $108.
This gets good reviews, will probably be buying one today.
Western Digital WDTV Live HD Media Player - $96 from Officeworks
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I bought an ASUS USB-N13 from MSY for $27.. works great and can stream 1080p (well, from my setup anyway)..
MSY is a bit too far from me unfortunately.
Better to get an ASUS RT-N12 router and put Tomato firmware on it to make it into a wireless to Ethernet bridge - gives you 4 ethernet outlets and works great with my WDTV Live and internet enabled TV and Blu-Ray. About $65, which is not much different from the price of a WiFi dongle.
I have also heard some cheap ones doing the same job. But dont know, how reliable they are.
Good to know that my $5 MSY Adapter is WD Live compatible :)
I got a Dlink DWA-140 off ebay for about $13 and it works fine, however the ones on ebay are refurbed. With that being said, i bought 2 and they're both alright :)
TP-link wireless n dongles from u-mart work great
New version of the TP-Link TL-WN821N doesn't work on WDTV Live's.
what firnmware revision do the new one's have??
Cant you flash a prevoius rev onto it?Revision 3.1. No you can't, it is a different chipset.
Me too, almost bought one last week but remembered they were ~$88 some time back so thought I'd wait.
What's the startup load time for these? I hate my eGreat/popcorn hour. takes about to minute to load and then ages to change folders/files. My Nationite player was almost instant load and file browsing but good sound outputs :(
i have a popcorn hour and haven't turned it off since the last firmware upgrade…
also, i've had the WD live freeze on some MKV's and these files work fine on the popcorn hour…
Startup time is not great. Also takes about a minute to startup. I tend to mitigate this a little by making sure that turning it on is the first thing I do when I want to watch it (before switching the tv input, turning on the Home Theatre, getting a drink, etc)
However changing folders/files is as fast as can be.
thanks for the input. One wonders why the startup time has to be so long when other media players can load up in about 10-20secs!. like the sound of faster browsing through folders & drives though
just in case we get 50,000 of the same questions in this thread again, check here for your answers: http://www.ozbargain.com.au/search/node/Western+Digital+WDTV…
there's been a few deals in the recent past for this unit, and each time it comes up there's the same questions (and answers) in each of the threads. there's some very useful tips and info regarding these units in past threads, so anyone wanting a serious question answered before buying really needs to look at them.
There's also the WD forum, which has extensive info I found very informative. http://community.wdc.com/t5/General-Discussions/bd-p/tv_live
Umm, this or the astone with dual tuners for 130 that was posted yesterday, any informed opinions?
the WD is purely a media player, not a PVR…
If you go to JB HI-FI at Chadstone, they mark down the exact same item for $89 from $108 but only applies for OLD packaging. If the price is still showing $108, just ask for it. cheers
Ps, I was there last Saturday so it porbably won't change much because they want to clear old packaging stocks. If you want a stream media player, I will recommond you to buy a Roku XDS which is available on Amazon..
I have one of these and absolutley love it. I use it wired to my router " havent tried wireless " and connected 2x2 Tb Wd's though an Iconnect Hub " has space for 4 drives + 2 on the Wd live.
Changes through the menus/folders quite fast and connects by HDMI to my tv , havent bothered burning to dvd since having this i just put them in a folder on one of the hardrives " then mirror it on the other harddrive " .
Love the fact that you can watch all your movies and tv shows without getting up to change the discs's " yes im lazy "
And just a side note you can mod you Wd live with marksters mod which looks fantastic http://moviesheets.ca/.
That stuff looks pretty cool.
I also have one and I have the same response, once you upgrade the firmwares it has alot of internet functionality. I also have 2 WD 2 TB drives running it and I don't watch regular TV any more.
Could you please link me to a website where I can buy this hub from? I have tried a few powered hubs but none of them have worked :( I am running WDLX TV firmware.
I have had one for about a year and find the standard firmware incredibly annoying. I have used a number of different media players for years including XBMC and it is really annoying to not be able to skip 30 seconds (for example) with standard firmware like most other players. It only has a 10minute skip. I have installed custom firmware (see: http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=4201) and it is so much better than standard now. This allows standard fast forwarding plus skip 30sec, 1min, 3min, etc and most buttons are programmable plus heaps of other features.
The other bug bear I found when using a Samsung Story Station 2TB USB drive is that it goes to sleep part way through a video. I swapped to a 1.5TB WD Mybook drive and it is fine so not sure what is going on there.
After using a modded old Xbox with XBMC for years, I thought about a year ago that it was time to upgrade to something that can handle HD material. But having tried this WD, Aldi Medion HD Media Player and Xbox 360, I still have not found anything that would compare to the easiness, speed and flexibility of the good old XBMC. I have not tried any custom firmwares on the WD though, will do that next!
I'm with you brother. XBMC on the Xbox was awesome. Games, movies, music, LAN capability, with an awesome, skinnable UI. I can't believe no manufacturer has picked it up and used it on hi-def capable hardware - they'd be saving a fortune on software development as it's already had over a million man-hours of bug checking done by the community!
If only it supported ABC iView it would be perfect.
pair it with a 2TB WD elements drive from officeworks as well - and you are laughing
hahahaha
Awesome little box, picked one up last week after getting the cinavia problems on the PS3, now a very happy camper :)
Curses, only just picked one of these up on the weekend… on the upside, I got it for $98, so no drama ;)
Can this one play subtitles and 1080? My samsung tv can't play subtitles!
depends on the media format you are playing…
My samsung series 5 32 inch LCD TV can! (approx 2 years old)
I only found that problem if your using dnla. Then you'll need a .srt sub file.
If your plugging your harddisk to the tv press the tools
Button on the remote to select the subtitle option.
Yeah, this one is the best, even better than the Live Hub, because it's firmware is customisable.
It can play subtitle
But the Live Hub supports more format I think…
Actually the price was cheaper on JB yesterday…
They got it for $108, with 20% off, around $86…And although we missed it, JB may throw the discount again next week…
Maybe…
Found this too sluggish. Apple TV I have enjoyed more.
I bought this same model from JB Hi Fi for $78 a year ago!!
so much for technology always gettinv cheaper hey. I bought it at this price about 5 months ago.
Awesome!.. JB will price match..
well they should, check bedrock_101's comment, I can validate I've seen it at that price too :p
I kept thinking this is a new wd tv live with WIFI BUILT IN but nooo, always a disappointment.
Can someone upload an $86 receipt from yesterday's JB sale. Also is there any difference with the old packaging. The model number on the outside seems the same.
Picked this up today from officeworks (was hanging around for a price drop).
Works well really, MKV's look amazing. UI is nice and responsive.
Only problem is I can't get the bastard to detect my windows shares. Have to use Tversity.Actually now that I've given it some time, windows sharing works well. I set up an account on my PC specifically for the WDTV.
Now streaming 1080P MKV's over wireless N :)
Guys
I walked into JB and offered 80 dollars. The ticket was 110 or something. The guy said done. Walked in walked out wdtv live 80 dollars for it. No bullshit wang.
The moral of this story is dont be afraid to offer a price. In this economy there is no such thing as a bargain
I got one April 2010. And I use it a LOT!
I got a cheap USB wireless-N dongle and it runs off a USB hub.
Can watch youtube, do Facebook, flickr, pandora etc etc…It uses sqlite for it's DB so you can copy the DB over to your
computer and do reports/searches and shit like that if you so please.Cons - doesnt play flv but I think u can flash it with hacked firmware to let you play
that sort of stuff.Cannot handle > 1 hard disk off a hub.
But again, hacked firmware can do that if u want that functionality.But it's a pretty good unit. Am happy with mine.
Can't do rmvb too if my memory serves me correctly.
I don't think wireless can handle 1080p, am I right?
wireless-N can :)
anything else e.g. wireless-g can also handle 1080p but it may struggle depending on the file size.
When playing 1080p content, my host computer spikes up to 30Mbit/s (sometimes higher!). A 11g network won't be able to supply that (despite being rated at 54Mbit/s) and you'll get pauses.
Wireless-N plays no worries.
How does this unit play rmvb files? real player
Cheap wireless dongle that works with the WD TV Live found here: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/802-11n-150mbps-wifi-wlan-wirel…
It takes up to several weeks to be delivered. It costs less than $10 delivered. I have posted this link elsewhere on this site.
It works fine on my WD TV Live.
Dang, I bought this for $104 from Good Guys last Saturday for cash. Officeworks would match the $110 price minus 5% which was pretty much the same price so I just bought from the Good Guys.
I haven't had a chance to really sit down but first impressions are mixed. Seems to be slow to load up and search folders, but I don't know if that is because it is building a thumbnail database or something. Someone mentioned that deleting the auto created thumbs file will speed up the process. It also seemed to freeze a couple of times, but then sorted itself out.
Oh yeah, it has played everything on my portable HD so far.
I will give it a proper run through this weekend.
I have one of these but This is a really old unit now. Surprised they have not killed it off yet or updated it chip in it. Missing some really basic trick play features and stuff like RM support out of the box. I'd be spending my $100 elsewhere if i was to do it again
RM?
I'm considering picking one of these up from Officeworks today. I want to put all the DVDs that the kids have onto my NAS and play the ISOs so that the kids stop damaging the originals. From what I can find it appears that this unit can do that? Anybody had any experience?
Yes it can do exactly that :)
My kids damaged a CD weekly and never looked back once I have converted my xbox to xbmc. I am sure the WD tv live could do the same, you will need a computer to convert the dvd to a video format recognised by WD tv and there are many.
Just bought a new TV and would like to get something like this, A$96 is a pretty nice price. Will go and grab one this afternoon;-)
BTW: Do we have any other better choice (price effective) except a Mac Mini or a netbook?
Jb has the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex TV HD Media Player for 119. If price is not an issue is this the better unit of the two or any suggestions for a better unit upto a cost of $150. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Went and bought me a WD from office works this afternoon in Coffs Harbour, and happened to see next to it the Seagate GO FLEX going for 99 ;) !!!
Cheaper hear
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/WD-TV-LIVE-WDBAAN0000NBK-HD-Hard-…
$50 + $36 Shipping from us, refurbished though
yeah sure its cheaper and no offense, but id rather pay the extra 10 bucks, and have a 1 year warranty instead of a 30 day, and have it in my hands instantly. Do you ship it with an AU power outlet plug or US plug?
I came to this from XBMC on my xbox and I would just like to say this thing is awesome. Load up takes like 5 seconds, and it has been working great. Plays every video you could probably want such as mkv, avi, mp4 and all the HD 1080 and 720. It also has subtitle support. Also if you like you could use b.rad's firmware which gives you awesome movie sheets (look up on youtube) for your movies and shows which basically gives you a imdb like interface for your movies with covers, synopsis etc its awesome.
I wish it could but the WDTV Live HD cannot:
-Play movie from rars
-Arrange folders by modified but instead only alphabetically
-Seek the video to a particular point, can only fast forward 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x and 10mins.Other than that this thing is awesome, I plug my ethernet cable in and it stream HD movies from my pc or sometimes connect my external through the USB. Not sure how well wireless streaming could be, probably 720 would be fine but 1080 you may have problems. Hope this helped some people.
re fast forward limitation…. I have installed custom firmware (see: http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=4201) and it is so much better than standard now. This allows standard fast forwarding plus skip 30sec, 1min, 3min, etc (and skip to a direct location) and most buttons are programmable plus heaps of other features
Yeah I'd also like to order folders by date modified. Alphabetical is a real drawback when there's lots of items.
Picked mine up yesterday from Officeworks. Using it just like I wanted to stream ISOs of the kids DVDs from the NAS. No more DVDs getting damaged or lost.
Got 1 from JB HiFi for $95;-) Not a big deal but acceptable, pretty happy with the product, especially the size.
Jb does not wanted to price match, it depends which staff served you..
Got mine from Good Guys… they price matched Clive Peters and gave it to me for $95…
Was waiting for this to get cheaper again, thanks.
Now to decide what wifi dongles to go out and get. Any suggestions for a dirt cheap brand that will work with WDTV Live's?