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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.
The big surprise with the WDTV Live was that the chipset used is the new Sigma 8655, which had never been seen before. It is brand new and has significantly improved performance over both the old WDTV and all other Media Players. Tests have shown the WDTV Live to be capable of playing very high reframe video files that no other Media Player is powerful enough to cope with. The user interface is similar to the old WDTV and, whilst not stunning, is a big improvement over the early firmware Realtek players. After several weeks of usage the only major failing discovered is the lack of DVD or Blu-Ray ISO menu support, it will play the video but without menus.
As with previous WDTV products, firmware support is of a different nature to many of the other products we feature. Releases are usually confined to bug fixes and improved functionality is minimal. After a slow start, availability is now good worldwide.
The WDTV Live has more power than any Media Player that has come before. Yes, it has a few niggles and one glaring missing feature (DVD ISO menus), but overall it is one incredible machine for the price.
  | Manufacturer: Western Digital Launch Date: October 2009 Target Price: $120 - €105 - £90  Chipset: Sigma 8655 Storage: USB(*2) Network: Ethernet 100 Optional Wi-Fi(n) Fan: No Size: 126*100*40mm (0.50m³) Video Outputs: HDMI 1.3 Component Composite Audio Outputs: Stereo Analogue TOSLINK S/PDIF On Demand: ? UPnP: Yes
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Links
• Offical Website • Firmware Updates • WDTV Forum /Live • AVSForum /Live • WDTV Live Innards • B-RAD Custom Firmware |
Reviews
• LegitReviews [Nov-09] • TrustedReviews [Oct-09] • Western Digital Promo [Oct-09] • Gizmodo Comparison [Nov-09] • Youtube 16 reframe • Youtube unboxing • Customer Reviews  
 
 
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Places To Buy
• Amazon $119.00
• Amazon £93.30
• Amazon €99.99
• Amazon  €100.01
• Amazon  C$129.99
• Google Shopping |
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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 1-15 of 46 Comments
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. 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? 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. 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 !!!!! Leave a Comment
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