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WD TV Live supports Windows 7's Play To feature
Western Digital announces that its WD TV Live HD media player now supports the Play To feature of Windows 7, allowing users to control what content will be played back by the digital player via a Windows 7 computer.
The WD TV Live HD media player in action.
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)Anyone who owns the WD TV Live HD media player from Western Digital knows that it's kind of painful to navigate among movies using the device's tiny remote control. Now, however, users can take advantage of software that's already on their Windows 7 computers.
Western Digital on Thursday said that its WD TV Live media player will be the first that supports the Play To feature of Windows 7. This features allows users to initiate and control the streaming of digital content to the WD TV Live HD media player, or any other compatible home entertainment systems, from any Windows 7-based PC on their network.
For example, if you want to play a movie that resides on a network computer or on the external hard drive that's attached to the WD TV Live, instead of having to use the remote control to browse for it, just add it to the Windows Media Player 12 playlist on the Windows 7-based computer that you're using. From within the WMP 12, right-click on the movie in the list and pick the WD TV Live as the playback device. The movie will then be "pushed" to the media player and played back on the TV to which it is connected.
To take advantage of this new feature, WD TV Live HD digital player owners need to update the device to the latest firmware (version 1.02.21), which can be downloaded here for free, or you can do the firmware upgrade from within the device's interface if it is connected to the Internet.
Once updated, the WD TV Live will be automatically recognized by Windows 7 and added to the list of devices that are compatible with Play To.
