13. Western Digital WD TV Live
Here are over 20 gift ideas for your tech-curious friends and family who don't know an overclocked PC from overcooked turkey. Happy Holidays!
The media player bonanza continues. The WD TV Live from Western Digital is the second media player we are featuring in this year’s Holiday Gift Guide series, the first being the O!Play from Asus. While it’s included in our novice-gear section, don’t let that fool you, as the WD TV Live is a very capable machine.
The Live is the second-generation WD TV device, and the third media player from the company overall (including the original WD TV and the WD TV Mini). The Live is very similar to its older brother, but with several important improvements. The chassis used for the Live is identical to the original in terms of size and weight (4.94” x 3.94” x 1.57” and 10.72 oz.). The look and feel of the device is very similar to the MyBook external hard drives that Western Digital has been manufacturing for several years now, but it just comes in a smaller size.
The WD TV Live comes with a now-standard set of inputs and outputs. To connect the Live to your TV, you can choose between HDMI, component, and composite video. If you need to connect to a receiver for audio, there is also a digital-optical out. Video output goes all the way up to 1080p/60 and 1080p/24 mode is also available for film junkies.
If you need to access content that’s housed on a networked PC in your home, the Lives’ Ethernet connection can stream media from any computer in the house straight to your TV. The Internet connection also allows you to download firmware updates, as well as access content on YouTube, Flickr, Pandora, and Live365.
The Live comes with two vanilla USB 2.0 ports–sorry, no eSATA. Two USB ports means you can keep the external HDD you have on media duty plugged in while you connect a flash drive with even more content. You can also move content from one drive to the other. Or, plug in your digital camera and move your latest vacation photos from the SD card to your external drive. The WD TV Live supports external drives formatted in FAT32, NTFS, and HFS+.
When testing the WD TV Live and other media players, we used two different external storage solutions. For a flash drive, we used a 128 GB Patriot Xporter Magnum drive, which is also featured in this gift guide. For a traditional external hard drive, Western Digital sent us a 2 TB MyBook Essentials. The $250 MyBook gave us a tremendous amount of storage space, albeit in a larger, more cumbersome form factor compared to the Magnum.
The file format support on the Live is robust. For video, expect 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, and WMV9 file compatibility, with support for RT, ASS, SSA, SUB, and SMI subtitle types. Audio support includes MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby Digital, and DTS. The Live also supports JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, and PNG image formats.
The shining star for the WD TV Live is the user interface. The user interface reminds us of the XrossMediaBar used on Sony products, and makes navigation through media folders and setup options a breeze.
So what makes this a “novice” media player? While the file support on the Live is more than most people would need, it still falls short compared to that of the Asus O!Play, which supports Flash video (FLV) and RealMedia (RMVB). Also, the O!Play is eSATA-friendly while the Live is not.
In the WD TV Live box, you’ll find the media player, a very capable remote with batteries, component and composite video cords, Live software for your PC, and the manual. --Devin Connors
- 1. All About The List
- 2. Samsung TL225 Camera
- 3. Canon Powershot SD980IS
- 4. Fujifilm Finepix A220
- 5. JVC Picsio GC-FM1
- 6. Flip MinoHD (8 GB)
- 7. HP DreamScreen 100
- 8. Epson Picturemate Charm
- 9. Windows 7 Ultimate
- 10. Astak EZ Reader Pocket Pro 5”
- 11. SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 4 GB MP3 Player
- 12. i.Tech SolarCharger and SolarVoice Bluetooth Headset
- 13. Western Digital WD TV Live
- 14. 2XL 4 Corners Headphones
- 15. Speakal iPom and Misoccer Speakers
- 16. Kingston DataTraveler 410
- 17. Western Digital MyPassport Essential
- 18. Timbuk2 Commute 2.0, Booq Sleeves, and Be.ez LE Rush Bag
- 19. Astro Gaming Scout Backpack
- 20. Sony PSPgo
- 21. The Beatles Rock Band
- 22. Nyko Wiimote Charge Base IC
- 23. SteelSeries Siberia v2 Headset
The Beatles Rock Band is a blast. Both of my daughters love to play it. My oldest daughter, who is 13, loves the Beatles music. This is definitely a lot of fun to play.
well considering jsut this week our only vehicle had a major break down , and teh fact that two motnhs ago our sistger's car up and died for good , i'd say any x-mas present would rock ... because between gettign our car fixed , and trying to help our sister get her wself a cheap used car , i jsut don't think our budget will put us on santa's "Nice" list this year... though i'm just tryign to figure out what we did wrong this year ... LOL well any way here's to finding coals in my stockings this year !
She looks a lot like my wife. I seen her picture and did a double take.
She looks a lot like my wife. I seen her picture and did a double take.
I hate to break it to you but your wife is moonlighting as a technology blogger
The PSPgo is not "one of the newest, coolest items for the gadget lover and gaming fan". It's a pathetic, miserable failure. Stick with the PSP-3000.
Oh My Rock Goddess!
I know what I want for Christmas now
She looks a lot like my wife. I seen her picture and did a double take.
Dude....your wife makes me feel kinda funny, like when we used to climb the rope in gym class.
Lol, that is why I married her. :^P
Dude....your wife makes me feel kinda funny, like when we used to climb the rope in gym class.
ROFLMAOPMP
Me too...SHAAAAAWIIIIIIING!
Why would some one give me a thumbs down for saying that she looks like my wife?? People on here can be really silly some times..
Why would some one give me a thumbs down for saying that she looks like my wife?? People on here can be really silly some times..
Thumbs up for attractive wives IMO =)
Why would some one give me a thumbs down for saying that she looks like my wife?? People on here can be really silly some times..
Because they are jealous, of course!
Still nothing I want or need. Bah Humbug!
God she's hot.
^--- totally loling at how this comment thread is all about Sarah and there's almost nothing on the products we covered. ^_^
-Devin
Thumbs up for attractive wives IMO =)
I say two thumbs up for the beautiful woman in the photos who has no ring on. ;-)
I wonder if she likes tall geeky guys. lmao she's probably married, right? lol
and no, I didn't read the articles before...just looked at the pictures...at least I'm honest. lol
^--- totally loling at how this comment thread is all about Sarah and there's almost nothing on the products we covered. ^_^-Devin
Um, read what JohnnyLucky said. Ditto from me. They're neat little gadgets in the article, but nothing I'd get for myself or anyone else.
Besides, I just bought over $2000 of computer parts from NewEgg and built a PC. Merry Christmas to me! lol
And besides, no offense to the Tom's staff or the products...but, Sarah is just totally gorgeous. Any red-blooded, hetero male is going to look at and admire her. And as far as I can tell (especially by the comments here...mine included), the user base seems to be majority male.
Yeah...she's totally hot. I'd take her home to meet mom and dad.
I only clicked on this article because of that babe...
Damn, I got a boner.