Topic: Western Digital Live TV HD

[H₂O]

Anybody ever used one - Supports FLAC playback and is much cheaper than a Squeezebox.


Is it bit perfect?  Gapless?


Does it support 24bit?



Has HDMI/optical out


Can be had for around $100


right now only $80 at newegg:


http://www.logicbuy.com/deals/western-digital-tv-live-network-hd-media-player-wdbaan0000nbk-nesn/15081.aspx

[larrysellers]

No gapless. It will play 24 bit flacs but resamples everything to 48Khz.

[Neilyboy]

I have one and love it! best 100 bucks I ever spent. I even bought one for my old man for fathers day. It will play anything I throw at it. As for gapless I do believe (trying to find out if this is true or not.. I think it was like B-Rad or something... googling now)  there has been some custom firmware that gives us this option but then again you have to do a bit of work to throw on the custom code.

/edit.. looks like gapless is a no as of now but it was the popcorn hour 200 that recently added gapless playback fw..

Neil

[H₂O]

Can you control it remotely, via the network?  Does it have a web server?


I read on a forum they are trying on adding 5.1 FLAC support - any chance they will add higher sample rates?

[Colin Liston]

Does this thing record TV?

[live2496]

It is a media player only.

[MattD]

Seagate also has an offering in this category, the GoFlex TV HD, which also supports FLAC. Has anyone used that yet? It's nice to see more "mainstream" players offering FLAC support.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

Check out this alternate firmware for the hd live!

http://b-rad.cc/wdlxtv-live/

[spyder9]

If this thing could play gapless, it would be perfect for my needs.  No need for an extra PC or Mac.  Just slap on an external usb drive, connect to TV and a receiver, and you're rockin'.  Its almost there.  Just needs gapless playback, if its true it does not have that.

[live2496]

ecost has some refurb units right now for $35.99. eCOST Part# 45191891

[Colin Liston]

ecost has some refurb units right now for $35.99. eCOST Part# 45191891

It's not the "Live" one.  I think the difference is that the "Live" streams videos from Netflix.

[spcyrfc]

could i hook this up to a monitor (HDMI, which it has) and stream media to it wirelessly thru my computer?  or does it require a physical connection to a wifi device via ethernet?

[live2496]

It's not the "Live" one.  I think the difference is that the "Live" streams videos from Netflix.

Ahh. Ok. Mine is the older one too.

spcyrfc,
Yes you should be able to hook up the HDMI port to an HDTV. It sounds like for wireless streaming you would have to add on a USB adapter to communicate to a wireless access point. They have some compatibility info here:
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3805

[Chuck]

ecost has some refurb units right now for $35.99. eCOST Part# 45191891

It's not the "Live" one.  I think the difference is that the "Live" streams videos from Netflix.

So, this device can't stream Netflix movies?

[Colin Liston]

ecost has some refurb units right now for $35.99. eCOST Part# 45191891

It's not the "Live" one.  I think the difference is that the "Live" streams videos from Netflix.

So, this device can't stream Netflix movies?

Actually only the WD TV Live Plus can stream Netflix.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=30