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Announced and launched immediately on November 3rd 2008, the WD TV HD media player is Western Digital's first foray into consumer electronics. Unlike the majority of HD media streamers that attempt to replace dedicated media PCs, the WD TV HD remains a simple external hard disk 'expansion' tool that can read and display a large variety of filetypes through a high speed USB2 connection. Most importantly, the device includes a plethora of connectivity options - including HDMI and digital toslink audio, allowing full digital passthrough to potentially higher quality home A/V equipment. While in some way limited by its lack of connectivity or storage, this fact allows the device to lot less expensive and small.
MSRP $130.00
Release date November, 2008
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Pros & Cons15
Reviews3
Details
Buy It3
Competitors8
Related2
Gallery5
Pros & Cons
3 positive
0 mixed
0 negative
How is the ProSCORE calculated?
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The ProSCORE is calculated based on the ratio of Pros & Cons about this product as voted by
approved reviewers from the ProductWiki community.
ProSCORE = 100 x (Pro votes) / [(Pro votes) + (Con votes)]
Numbers used for this ProSCORE:
Pro votes = 23
Con votes = 11
Total votes = 34
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Details
File Formats Supported
- Music - MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA
- Photo - JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, PNG
- Video -MPEG1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H.264),MTS, TP, TS
- Playlist - PLS, M3U, WPL
- Subtitle -SRT (UTF-8), SMI, SUB, ASS, SSA
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This report was started
November 7, 2008 at 3:58 pm by
Yale
with the last edit occurring
Thursday, 7:14 PM by
Yale
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Buy It
Western Digital WD TV
• Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player
• TV HD Media Player
UPC: 718037734774
EAN: 718037734774
MPN: WDAVN00BN
Competitors
Western Digital WD TV is ranked 2nd among it's competitors.
See the
top picks in
Media Streamers »
MSRP $199.95
Released December, 2008
Pros
- no fan, no noise
- can record and pause HD content with PC software installed
- can stream files as well as online content
Cons
- no wireless capabilities
- cannot replace the full usability of a media PC
- requires users to have an HD PC card for HDTV features
Western Digital WD TV
0%
vs.
SageTV HD 200
100%
MSRP $129.99
Released November, 2009
Pros
- outputs full 1080p high definition
- digital audio output
- wide format support - includes the most popular MPEG1/2/4, Divx/Xvid, MKV, H.264, VC-1, WMV9, RM/RMVB, DTS, Dolby Digital, WMA, MP3, FLAC, OGG and MKA
Cons
- no network connectivity
- simply a CinemaTube clone without the Ethernet port
- glossy enclosure
Western Digital WD TV
vs.
ViewSonic VMP70
MSRP $149.99
Released July, 2009
Pros
- affordable price
- support for the vast majority of popular file formats
- HDMI output
Cons
- no open source audio format support (FLAC or OGG)
- standard definition only
- not good value compared to similarly priced devices that can output 720p high definition
Western Digital WD TV
vs.
Netgear EVA2000 Digital Entertainer Live
MSRP $129.99
Released October, 2009
Pros
- built-in 802.11N WiFi for fast wireless network connectivity
- affordable price
- USB port for playback from flash drive or external disk drive
Cons
- cannot output in full HD (1080p)
- crappy remote control
- released without fully functional USB connectivty options
Western Digital WD TV
vs.
Roku HD-XR
MSRP $289.99
Released September, 2009
Pros
- digital video and optical outputs - including HDMI
- 1080p high definition output
- optional USB-WiFi adapter
Cons
- no built-in WiFi, expensive add-on adapter
- no internal storage
- expensive compared to direct competitors
Western Digital WD TV
vs.
Seagate FreeAgent Theater Plus HD
MSRP $130.00
Released June, 2009
Pros
- Good value for its price
- it does pretty much everything it says on the tin by way of file types - its small neat and cant be faulted for the price
- Delivers value for each buck spent
Cons
- networking on win 7 takes a bit of tweaking (firmware upgrade promised) its not quite plug and play so complete beginners might be put off initially - though support through forums is good
- Not for beginers
Western Digital WD TV
vs.
XTreamer
MSRP $159.00
Released January, 2009
Pros
- includes HDMI and SPDIF coaxial output
- attractive enclosure
- includes a remote control
Cons
- USB 2.0 only
- poor format support
- Overall this is a good deal from a more reputable seller-other than the china distributors thats available now. Which can be good or bad, but one thing for sure if it don't work, its a long way back to china. So this is a good deal. What they need to include is a record function from a video in-which also needs to be included.
Western Digital WD TV
vs.
LaCie LaCinema Classic
MSRP $200.00
Released October, 2008
Pros
- High future potential depending on firmware revisions
- Removes the need for multiple cable boxes
- Works wirelessly which reduces the number of cables
Cons
- Maximum resolution of 640x480
- Default resolution is 320x240. Must be changed every time the device is started
- no dedicated digital audio output
Western Digital WD TV
vs.
Sling Media SlingCatcher
Reviews
December 23, 2008
approved
reviewer

want it
Pros
- includes digital outputs for both audio and video - allowing for use with expensive home theater equipment
- inexpensive
- includes a remote control
- compact design
- connect to 2 USB drives simultaneously - 2 USB ports
- full 1080p playback
- includes support for the most popular file types such as mkv
- upgradeable firmware
Cons
- cannot replace the full usability of a media PC
- no network connections - need to place media on a USB drive before watching
- requires users to have a USB drive
- not compatible with online content services like iTunes, Amazon unbox, Netflix
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December 23, 2008
approved
reviewer
Pros
- includes digital outputs for both audio and video - allowing for use with expensive home theater equipment
- inexpensive
- includes a remote control
- compact design
- connect to 2 USB drives simultaneously - 2 USB ports
- full 1080p playback
- includes support for the most popular file types such as mkv
- attractive and easy to use interface
Cons
- cannot replace the full usability of a media PC
- no network connections - need to place media on a USB drive before watching
- requires users to have a USB drive
- somewhat simple
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/
No
August 25, 2009
approved
reviewer

have it
Pros
- includes digital outputs for both audio and video - allowing for use with expensive home theater equipment
- inexpensive
- includes a remote control
- compact design
- connect to 2 USB drives simultaneously - 2 USB ports
- upgradeable firmware
- large community of developers
Cons
- cannot replace the full usability of a media PC
- no network connections - need to place media on a USB drive before watching
- not compatible with online content services like iTunes, Amazon unbox, Netflix
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes
/
No
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