Western Digital TV Live

Western Digital TV Live

I would like you all to meet my newest gadget buy, the Western Digital TV Live. I had this in my want list before but I didn’t pay much attention to it because I’m still satisfied with my current setup where I would hook my laptop to my LG Scarlet TV. However, I didn’t know what came unto me but I just started to research more about it then I visited the Western Digital Shop in Digital Alley, Greenbelt 3 and found that they had a price drop (from PHP 5.5k-6k down to PHP4.5k). My guess would be due to the recent announcement of the new WD TV Live (October 2011).

I was checking out different brands of media players such as Asus O Play, Xtreamer, and Seagate GoFlex TV HD but I wasn’t able to do proper research so I decided on WD. This gadget cost me PHP4450 from Complink, ParkSquare (would go for PHP4400 if I paid in cash).

So what’s in the box?

It contains the player, component and composite cables, AC adapter, some manuals and the free HDMI cable. Setting it up was easy. I just connected the HDMI cable, AC Adapter and a portable/external hard disk (eg. Samsung M2) to it and I can already start playing the movies!

The interface is very easy to use. The main menu will let you pick what do you want to do (eg. Video, Music, Photos, Settings, Internet, Games). I will mainly use this for watching movies. After choosing video, you will choose from where do you want the video in which I clicked on local USB (the attached USB to the device). Then you will be shown an windows explorer like interface where you can browse folders and preview the videos.

Let me show you some samples of the HD difference. I will compare my previous setup (PC connect to TV) vs. my new setup (Western Digital TV Live). I’ll record a sample movie using my camera.

via PC Connected to TV

via HDMI on Western Digital TV Live

I could tell the difference more when I’m watching it live but after recording it on camera, encoding it via handbrake to make it smaller then uploading it to youtube made the difference less distinguishable.

If you know a better way to showcase the difference, please let me know but for now, take my word on it, the difference in picture quality is huge!

I have tested it with different video formats such as

• Anime (MKV with dual audio and subtitles)
• HD Movies with or without subtitles (MP4 in x.264 or h.264 with AAC audio)
• KDramas (AVI XVID video and MP3 audio)
• TV series (AVI XVID video and MP3 audio)

Till next time,

Allen

Western Digital TV Live Specs:

File Formats Supported Video – AVI (Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4), MPG/MPEG, VOB, MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4, VC-1), TS/TP/M2T (MPEG1/2/4, AVC, VC-1), MP4/MOV (MPEG4, h.264), M2TS, WMV9, FLV (h.264) Photo – JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, PNG Audio – MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby Digital, DTS Playlist – PLS, M3U, WPL Subtitle – SRT, ASS, SSA, SUB, SMI Note MPEG2 MP@HL up to 1920x1080p24, 1920x1080i30 or 1280x720p60 resolution. MPEG4.2 ASP@L5 up to 1280x720p30 resolution and no support for global motion compensation. WMV9/VC-1 MP@HL up to 1280x720p60 or 1920x1080p24 resolution. VC-1 AP@L3 up to 1920x1080i30, 1920x1080p24 or 1280x720p60 resolution. H.264 BP@L3 up to 720x480p30 or 720x576p25 resolution. H.264 MP@L4.1 and HP@4.1 up to 1920x1080p24, 1920x1080i30, or 1280x720p60 resolution. An audio receiver is required for multi-channel surround sound digital output. Compressed RGB JPEG formats only and progressive JPEG up to 2048×2048. Single layer TIFF files only. Uncompressed BMP only. For details, please refer to the user manual. File Formats Not Supported Does not support protected premium content such as movies or music from the iTunes Store, Movielink, Amazon Unbox, and Vongo Performance Specifications Video Format NTSC Physical Specifications Interface Ethernet, USB 2.0, HDMI, Composite A/V, Wi-Fi, Optical audio Physical Dimensions English Height 1.20 Inches Depth 3.9 Inches Width 4.90 Inches Weight 0.42 Pounds Metric Height 30.0 mm Depth 100 mm Width 125.0 mm Weight 0.19 kg Environmental Specifications Temperature (English) Operating 41° F to 95° F Non-operating -40° F to 149° F Temperature (Metric) Operating 5° C to 35° C Non-operating -40° C to 65° C Electrical Specifications Current Requirements Power Dissipation AC Input Voltage 100-240 VAC AC Input Frequency 50-60 Hz