Manufacturer : Western Digital
Model : WDBHG70000NBK-HESN
ASIN : B005KOZNBW
Price : 129.99$
Last Price : 99.99$(Discount 23.0786983614124%
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Product DescriptionWestern Digital WD TV Live Streaming Media Player - 1080p, HDMI, USB, Built-in WiFi, Stream Content, Remote
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
Plays everything the others won't!
This review is from: Western Digital WD TV Live Streaming Media Player - WDBHG70000NBK-HESN (Electronics)
I got this media player elsewhere locally, before Amazon dropped their price. Anyway, the GUI is fine. It's easily navigable, not cluttered at all, presented in a beautiful package, and certainly easy to read. All pluses there. The first videos I attempted to play were 720p mkv files over wireless network (on a 1TB HDD connected to my computer in the basement via USB). After taking a few seconds to gather the first few pictures from the USB--> wireless connected storage device, the WDTV Live streamed the videos seamlessly! I even paused one for like 8 minutes while making dinner, and it resumed with no noticeable glitches, artifacts, or rendering/buffering. The second (and only other) file type I attempted to play was a 1080p TS file I had recorded from my cable box. This took a little bit longer between hitting play and seeing video on the screen, but time was minimal. I want to say no more than 4 or 5 seconds. Again, it had to pull the video from the HDD to the computer via USB, and then again from the computer to the media player over the wireless G network. This video also played flawlessly! No artifacting, no rendering/buffering/, no audio sync issues or dropped frames. It plays video from hella far away on the network beautifully, and resumes from pause just as well! I only have 2 cons listed below:-The out-of-box immediate software update took EONS! I was waiting for the newest firmware to download for almost 30 minutes.
-The remote control has highly raised rubber buttons that cannot be pressed in fast succession, or must be pressed a little bit harder in order to get signal sent. It's annoying, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. (Also, on this note, there are privately developed remote control apps for both Android and iOS in their respective app stores which may be an alternative for myself or some of you)
In conclusion, the new interface is exactly what I was expecting (if not better) after seeing last years release of the GUI on the hub. This player plays absolutely everything! It even plays items from peripherals on computers 2 floors down in my house wirelessly with very little wait time or visible effort. The price point is fantastic, and the product does not disappoint.
This review is from: Western Digital WD TV Live Streaming Media Player - WDBHG70000NBK-HESN (Electronics)
I want to start by letting you all know that I'm very picky about my electronics and I'm not easily satisfied nowadays, so I always play with several products before sticking with one. I've gone through the wdtv live plus (grey model with small remote), sony smp-n100, and the apple tv 2 before trying out this device (also used various BD players, gaming consoles for netflix/youtube streaming). I must say that this unit takes the cake in terms of what you get for the price.Too lazy to give you my full story and thoughts so I'm just going to sum it up and give comparisons to the atv2, which I'd consider the next best choice for a set top box.
-Video quality exceeded my expectations (netflix, youtube, network streaming)
-Youtube steams HD (unlike smp-n100 and other revisions of the wdtv live/plus)
-Wifi is integrated in this unit but won't see my N network (no big deal)
-Youtube won't allow you to access your subscriptions from the app, only your favorites list, search, popular videos, and your published videos (biggest downside for me)
-Can stream nearly every video file format I would ever use
-Netflix app on this device functions very well, better than other devices I've used.
-Includes a few games like chess, memory, dumb boring stuff mostly.
-The remote is more responsive and has more buttons (which I love) than the other model I used (WDBABF0000NBK-NESN)
Okay, now for my comparison of the WDBHG70000NBK vs the apple tv:
Both devices operate exceptionally well compared to the sony smp-n100 and the wdtv live (WDBABF0000NBK-NESN).
I was very pleased with the performance of Youtube and Netflix on both the apple tv 2 and the WDTV live; However, I appreciated the interface of the atv2 Netflix app slightly more simply because it gave me more choices and allowed me to specify sub-genres of movies to choose from and giving me similar movie/tv choices based on the content that's currently selected... similar to how Youtube shows related videos on the sidebar. The wdtv live had slightly better loading times with netflix buffering than the atv2 but not by much. The major selling point for me on the wdtv live was the fact that it consistently streams HD and doesn't change the video quality as often as atv2 did while watching Netflix. I hated switching from HD to SD or worse during a movie!!! The atv2 also has a noticeably blurry/pixelated image quality even while streaming HD content. That alone was the reason why I had to try out this revision of the wdtv live. This unit does not experience the loss of image quality that my atv2 had undergone, but I read somewhere that atv2 uses a different bandwidth standard for HD streaming than other devices and will dynamically change the quality while streaming without notification to avoid disturbances... I have a 20Mb downstream rate... still looked ugly with my 20Mb connection so I'd stay away from that unit if picture quality is important to you. Your wife probably won't find it irritating but if you've gotten used to the clarity of 720p, you WILL see the lack of focus and pixelation while using netflix on the atv2 (youtube was less noticeable). Jailbreaking the atv2 was a MAJOR selling point for me and in my opinion, increases the value of the unit by at least another $100 if you use the couch surfer addon or xbmc :) I won't go into that but google it if you want to learn about it.
WDTV live also supports almost every video format you'd ever want to stream from your pc so you wont have to go through the hassle of converting file types to make them work on your device. Atv2 lacks strongly in this department.
Alright, I'm getting restless typing all this ****. I'd rate the wdtv live a 9/10 and the atv2 an 7.9/10.
I'd highly recommend this device especially for the price!
PS- If you buy elsewhere, make sure you buy this unit with the large remote (as seen in the picture listed) not the version with the tiny remote, that's the old model and it sucks compared this this one. I'm too lazy to list the details, just take my word for it. I'm a wizard.
Edit 1: Found two minor negatives about this device that I'd like to address here for the manufacturer to make notice of:
1. HDMI cec cannot turn off the device when Netflix app is open due to confirmation prompt.
2. Youtube app should include subscriptions section or the ability to view only videos from specific users.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Nice upgrades but could've been much better
This review is from: Western Digital WD TV Live Streaming Media Player - WDBHG70000NBK-HESN (Electronics)
This product is a nice upgrade over the previous model since it does add Wifi and a greatly improved GUI. But some of the new features are kind of handicapped.-The wireless N function of this device is 2.4ghz only. So if you have a 5ghz wireless N network you will be stuck either changing your router settings or using wireless G
-The metadata information only downloads for files that are directly attached to the device through USB not over the network.
-Unable to rate or add favorites for your files or folders over the network, only on directly attached storage.
Overall, still a great product since it plays everything I've thrown at it but could've been much better.
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