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WDTV Live (WDTV2)
The successor to the highly successful WDTV. Similar to the original in interface and external design. Uses the new and powerful Sigma 8655 chipset with Ethernet network capability, HDMI 1.3, DTS downmix + passthrough, Dolby TrueHD downmix + pass-through, DTS MA downmix, and a component output.
10-June-2010: WDTV Live Plus info here. A pre-release firmware for the WDTV Live has been released, giving DVD menu support. See links below.
The big surprise with the WDTV Live was that the chipset used is the Sigma 8655, which had never been seen before. It offers significantly improved performance over the old WDTV and 2009 Realtek players. The user interface is similar to the old WDTV and, whilst not stunning, is a big improvement over the early firmware Realtek players. The only major failing is the lack of DVD (now fixed!) or Blu-Ray ISO menu support. Unofficial firmwares are available through B-RAD (see link below), giving enhanced features including cover art browsing.
The WDTV Live is a great budget Media Player with very few missing features and great community support.
  | Manufacturer: Western Digital Launch Date: October 2009 Target Price: $105 - €105 - £90 User Ranking: 6 /172. Number of Votes: Very High  Chipset: Sigma 8655 Storage: USB(*2) SD Card(*) Network: Ethernet 100 Optional Wi-Fi(n) Fan: No Size: 126*100*40mm (0.50L) Video Outputs: HDMI 1.3 Component Composite Audio Outputs: Stereo Analogue TOSLINK S/PDIF DVD ISO: Yes. With menu Blu-Ray ISO: Yes. No menu (lite) On Demand: ? UPnP: Yes
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Links
• Offical Website • Firmware Updates • WDTV Forum /Live • AVSForum /Live • B-RAD Custom Firmware • Thumbgen thumbnail generator • Pre-release Firmware |
Reviews
• LegitReviews [Nov-09] • TrustedReviews [Oct-09] • Western Digital Promo [Oct-09] • Gizmodo Comparison [Nov-09] • Youtube 16 reframe • Customer Reviews  
 
 
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Places To Buy
• Amazon $109.95
• Amazon £89.10
• Amazon €99.97
• Amazon  C$129.99
• Google Shopping |
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Product Discussion 1-30 of 58 Comments
July 19, 2010 - 01:44
A quick question if anybody can answer that. cheers July 15, 2010 - 05:05
Is it really capable of downmixing Dolby True HD and passing it to a TV as stereo? I would really love to have that feature. June 10, 2010 - 14:33
Shouldn't it say "DVD ISO: Yes. With menu." now? Apparently the latest pre-release beta firmware 1.03.22 finally adds this feature, though possibly they did this just so existing users of the Live wouldn't get pi**ed off that the Live Plus was released so soon. Otherwise I'm sure knowing how shameless and useless WD/WD Support is, they'd have never added this feature to the Live ever. Also, kindly update the firmware updates list above, 'cos it stops at 1.01.24. June 10, 2010 - 09:36
WD you are not on my top 1 any more...... I bought WDTV (mk1) it was ok player but FW from you stop... May 17, 2010 - 06:45
Nice mediaplayer but when i bought it i thought it could play But live works pretty good April 20, 2010 - 05:11
if i supports ISO files without menu, how do we choose different Audio streams? Like Dolby 5.1 , Stereo etc May 04, 2010 - 16:11
Did you try the subtitles or audio button when the movies are playing to see if it change.........? May 10, 2010 - 21:04
can someone confirm if this can select diferent subtitles or audio streams from iso or folder movie ????? thx May 12, 2010 - 17:57
Yes these settings can be selected with the "Option" button on the remote while the movie is playing. It's very simple. January 21, 2010 - 12:43
AVC TrueHD movies with sound dd March 02, 2010 - 00:13
Do you have a compatible receiver or DAC to decode the Dolby TrueHD signal? Note the SPDIF interface, optical or coaxial, does not support TrueHD or DTS-MA due to the bandwidth limitation. The HDMI interface is required to support the TrueHD or DTS-MA passthru. March 31, 2010 - 17:35
Did it have DTS-MA passthru? January 19, 2010 - 09:30
In order to generate thumbnails for any WDTV player you can try the ThumbGen app ( thumbgen.blogspot.com); was written specially for WDTV Players January 15, 2010 - 15:34
Based on what I've read WDTVL only supports 480i using composite, not component, connections. Any idea if it could be added with a future firmware update? If not, any recommendations for a comparably priced media player that currently supports 480i over component? Or maybe it's better to wait to upgrade my old EyeHome (and suffer with it's lack of H.264 support) until after eventually upgrading my TV, then reevaluate which products are available then. Useful site, btw, especially the "Chipsets in Media Players" page. Thanks. January 13, 2010 - 21:16
I will never buy any of these media players unless they get this blu-ray menu and subtitle thing sorted out. January 12, 2010 - 22:02
Like I wrote on October 15th (below), I've not been having much luck getting a network connection from my WDTV Live. I now convinced it's due to the unit's incredibly heat sensitive network hardware. January 12, 2010 - 22:03
Should point out though that most people seem to have no such problem. Maybe I just got a lemon... January 11, 2010 - 03:32
When shut down by remote control, does the machine completely turn off power to the USB external HDD? May 12, 2010 - 18:00
Yes, the connected USB hard drive on my unit powers off and on via the WDTV Live player. December 31, 2009 - 16:12
anyone got issues with blu ray mpg4 compress files? mine play fine for the fist 28 minutes and then went into fast forward. March 23, 2010 - 04:15
Hello Tony Thanks December 27, 2009 - 14:48
Nice Box but it looks like menu support for dvd movies isnt gonna happind. To big a compromise for me, I returned mine. December 26, 2009 - 09:15
Can anyone get the Blu-ray subtitles to show up with the WDTV Live? The Blu-ray subtitles are stored as PGC images. The ASUS O!Play shows the subtitles just like a regular Blu-ray players without any additional processing. The lack of the Blu-ray subtitle can present a big problem. For example, in the Blu-ray movie "Angeles and Demons", when Vittoria Vetra speaks to another CERN scientist in Italian, the WDTV Live does not display the English subtitle. Both the O!Play and the Panasonic Blu-ray player can show the subtitles. Unless one knows the language, the English subtitle helps a lot. The WDTV Live shows the DVD subtitles just fine but the font is not smooth and the yellow text is not very attractive. December 16, 2009 - 02:12
BD/DVD menu support...not available yet, but is this feature technically impossible with this Sigma chip? ie. will never be a feature? I have a Patriot BO, but hate the interface. However, plays everything that I have, so far. December 16, 2009 - 09:41
I doubt you'll ever see menu support due to licencing problems. The Sigma 8655 lacks macrovision support (DVD copy protection) so I think Sigma will restrict DVD features to the 8652 / 8654 Macrovision versions of it's chips.. February 28, 2010 - 14:13
But chapter support is not a license or chip problem and it is useless even with mkv on WD. December 08, 2009 - 21:00
I just bought this. It is very simple. It works perfect and plays my 8 ref. h264 mkv movie. Something my tvix 6600 can't. And cheap !!!!! December 02, 2009 - 19:50
Will this player work with files stored on My Book World Edition II (NAS) storage over Ethernet? December 15, 2009 - 12:58
Yeah, it should do. November 29, 2009 - 16:34
The latest official firmware upgrade ( version 1.01.11 ) doesn't play the famous Sample Killer - Planet Earth - 16 ref Worst of all, I even wasn't able to play a 1080p with DTS audio I had to upgrade to a HomeBrew firmware to make it work again Leave a Comment
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Firmware Updates
1.01.11 - Jan-2010 - Improve upgrade reliability 1.01.17 - Nov-2009 - More Wi-Fi dongle support, Cover art, Bug fixes 1.01.24 - Feb-2010 - Added Youtube features. 1.02.21 - Mar-2010 - Play to Window 7, bug fix.
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