http://www.westerndigital.com.au/en/products/products.asp?driveid=572

Has anyone used one of these suckers?? They seem to play all media types including H.264 and .mkv files.

Reasonably cheap so was thinking of getting one.

I really like that. Where can you buy it?

Yep good unit, i've had some mkv files not play with any audio but the picture is displayed. WD release firmware updates every month or so that include codecs, only draw back is there is no network interface to steam over the network, you need a usb hdd. but I was think of getting wd imybook (2tb) which is a network attached storage with usb interface for the device.

but good unit overall. Officeworks and JBHIFI have them in stock, price is about 180 bucks. but they are very tiny about the size of coke can.

last edited by thraxjor at 08:38:50 18/Sep/09

you can buy them from jb hifi, I got mine from office works for about 170 bucks.

no network interface to steam over the network,

Ah lame, but otherwise i already have an external harddrive to play most things..

Still I'm very interested in something like this over building something like a HTPC

edit: $185 from umart.. looks like you got a good deal although this random site seems to have them for $115..

last edited by skythra at 08:44:43 18/Sep/09

yeh real shame about the lack of network

Theres a new model coming out/is out with network, see if I can find the link, was on engadget a few weeks back.

With a new model coming out, I may consider getting the old one when they reduce the price to clear :)

heres the link for the leaked new model

yeh pretty cool
all it's down to then is the o/s they use on it and thus the interface you get stuck with

anyone know if it has a library mode and fetches boxart etc online?

a mate of mine has a media tank
i think its something like this

thraxjor - the audio issue would probably have been due to DTS soundtrack in the .mkv file, the unit doesn't decode DTS (apparently due to licensing fee's) and it only does Dolby Digital in 2 channel natively so you're better off running it through an receiver anyway.

Here is a few reviews..

http://techreport.com/articles.x/16565

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1742/western_digital_s_wd_tv_hd_media_player_video_review/index.html

I agree network connection would be good, hopefully the new version comes out soon, I'd still get one of the 'old' ones as I have a couple of WD My Books so have USB drives ready to plug into it.

last edited by HeardY at 17:12:38 18/Sep/09

Yeah looked at a few mkv I know can't play audio, they have DTS sound in them which is a bit of bummer, I'll have to avoided those in future. but don't think the network connection will be GB given the size of the device and cooling that might be needed for streaming a 40gb mkv.

last edited by thraxjor at 17:36:44 18/Sep/09

I had the WD TV device a while back. Returned it due to the following reasons:

The unit would get very, very hot even when switched off with the remote. You have to physically unplug it from the power-pack/wall to stop that, every single time! Sort of defeats the purpose of an "OFF" button if it doesn't really turn off.

Also had some aspect-ratio problems with a 24" Dell LCD. Not sure whether it was a setting on the LCD but it just looked seriously wrong on wide-screen content. No amount of settings fiddling on the WD box helped.

Eventually I got sick of these problems, and noticed I could just watch stuff on my computer with a big enough LCD. No point in a standalone device for my situation.

What version of the firmware was it running? Hopefully they've fixed the aspect ratio issues.

The heat issue is a bit of a concern!

Dude get the popcorn hours C-200, it kicks arse

Looking into it now.

Thanks

Yeah PopCorn s***s all over the WD TV.. They are awesome and play everything. When I first looked at the WD TV it played f*** all and it has no Network at all. PopCorn does + Wifi

I have one and i use it. Its great ! Never had any problems at all.

I was in Mall of the Emirates in Dubai today and they were only a few hundred dirams (less then $60 AUD) so I grabbed one, if it sux I'll give it to one of my brothers or something

Also had some aspect-ratio problems with a 24" Dell LCD. Not sure whether it was a setting on the LCD but it just looked seriously wrong on wide-screen content. No amount of settings fiddling on the WD box helped.

If your 24" Dell LCD is anything like my old 2407WFP then the image processor was not able to display 1080p correctly, it would stretch it vertically to 1200p and you couldn't change the aspect ratio settings on the monitor like you could at any other resolution, sounds like that might have actually been the problem... unless you can actually set the WD TV to output in 1200p (which would be cool)?

i got a wdtv and its perfect for what it says. never had a problem with any video files, but then again i've never tried to download japanese anime octopus porn

Nice, i had an idea of making something similar a while back. It would be awesome if you could go to block buster and just get the movie on a mem stick, that expires.

If your 24" Dell LCD is anything like my old 2407WFP then the image processor was not able to display 1080p correctly

my 26" works perf on bluray content etc.