WD TV Live Plus user reviews (summer 2010)

Pros - Has just about every CODEC known to man installed.

- 1080p output

- HDMI, Component, Composite output.

- Streams high bit rate HD content with no issues.

- Uses the Phase II Netflix app GUI layout.

- Simple to setup and use.

-Cheap

-Works!!!

Cons - As referenced in the summary, although functional, the GUI leaves a lot to be desired aesthetically compared to say the Roku GUI.

- Down-converts on the component outputs; the WD TV Live did not.

- Did I mention that I hate the GUI!

Summary Some more of my pet peeves with this product:

- No search feature while running the Netflix app; you have to use your compute to do any type of search.

- I miss the little Roku style dots that indicate your connection rate.

- This is not a knock of the WD itself, but I would strongly recommend a wired connection to the unit, ESPECIALLY if you are going to stream high bit rate content.

- The next gen Netflix app running on Roku is a lot flasher; and has a search engine.

- The remote is a basic attempt at a remote, it works, but where's the innovation?

My only real grip with this unit is the lack of innovation. As an engineer, it KILLS me to say something positive about the Marketing Clan; but someone from marketing should have got a hold of this unit early on in the design and spiffied it up a bit. Functional, the unit is superb. I use a WHS as my media server, and have 2 (to be 3 very soon) of the units running on my home VOD system as the end-user appliance and am extremely happy with there performance.

Short answer is: If you have a content library that you want to make available to TV's in your home, the WD TV Live unit is the appliance you want to buy. It's cheap, it works great and it's not a PITA to set up or maintain. And with the Plus enhancement, you get a Netflix appliance as well, which will give you access to additional content if you are a Netflix subscriber.

That being said; a near perfect appliance would be the fusion of a WD TV Live and a Roku box. One can only dream.

Pros - 1080p output to large screen with no distortion.
- Menu system is very friendly
- Easy to use
- Connected to ethernet home network with no problems

Cons None at this time

Summary I previously had the original WDTV and need to connect one or two of my externals to it. With this I have my full collection of videos available to pull over the network from my PC. I have two of these device to my large flat screens in my home. You can create a network password protected share and have your WD TV Live Plus connect to it. I can manage my videos setting up a general sharing share and a stay out of share password protected for video theme to keep kids out of. I also have over 30 TB of anime on my PC (internal hard drives or connected RAID drives using external eSata 3.0 USB) and it can all of them. The apps it has on it works great like Netflix. I would recommend this to anyone how has movies or even tons of anime to stream in your home.

Pros Very easy to setup, excellent picture quality, sound. Interface easy to use and simple.

Cons Does get hot. Wish had update summary with firmware upgrades. No wireless.

Summary Easiest way to get your music, photos and videos on your TV.

Pros Interface is good - easy to navigate. Because Western Digital makes this unit (referring to their computer background), it can read just about anything stored on your computer. It has many codecs allowing for playback of most video formats. I have well ov

Cons None. It took a little guessing, but in Media Share mode (following that menu string) allows for Digital Copy movie playback or most content stored in your VIDEOS folder. I have to take the Network Share menu path to access MY MOVIES folder and play VOB a

Summary This is the network media player to buy if you are OK with going wired (you'll need to plug in to your Network switch or Router). It's big brother is the way to go for wireless and a nicer user interface. I prefer wired over wireless, but sometimes running a CAT5e to your TV isn't practical.