Hi all I just recently purchased a WD TV Live Media Player. Here are my impressions thus far. I find that everyone seems to have different uses for these types of devices. It's hard to review these type of devices because of it's many uses, it may or may not suit your needs depending on what files you play on it. The uses of this player is not limited to how I use it, is what makes these players a great idea. As a person who has an HD camcorder, you cannot compare how the videos look on an HDTV as opposed to a computer screen, viewing on an HDTV reminds you why you bought the camcorder / HDTV combo, awesome quality. Nice to have these media player devices so that you don't have to hook up your camcorder all the time to view your videos on the big screen. My needs are quite basic and I will break down what devices I have and how I use my devices in relation to another. Note: I play my files mainly off a USB SATA hard drive.
Devices I have:
Sanyo VPC-FH1 1080P camcorder
Aiptek GVS 1080P camcorder
WD TV Live Media Player (WDTV2)
Gen 1 WD Media player (Used to have)
With my Sanyo VPC-FH1, I usually record in either Full-HR: 1920 x 1080 (60 fps/ 24Mbps) or Full HD: 1920 x 1080 (60fields/sec 16Mbps) Both play on PC with ultra smooth playback.
WD Live player: Plays 1920 x 1080 (60 fps/ 24Mbps) files very smooth, occasional weird hiccups, would rather live w/o but tolerable.
Full HD: 1920 x 1080 (60fields/sec 16Mbps) files seem to play at 1/2 the frame rate, not choppy but not the smooth fluid playback that it does on PC.
With my Aiptek GVS I film in either 1080P 30FPS and 720P 60FPS
1080P 30FPS files just don't seem to play right, it just seems a bit jumpy, it's just weird, you have to see it to see what I'm talking about.
720P 60FPS files are somewhat choppy, goes from smooth to choppy.
Now my experiences with the gen 1 WD Player
Sanyo 1920 x 1080 (60 fps/ 24Mbps) files are choppy and reduced framerate.
Sanyo 1920 x 1080 (60fields/sec 16Mbps) files play perfectly fine, no choppiness, super smooth playback, no hiccups.
Aiptek 1080P 30 FPS second files play just fine.
Aiptek 720P 60FPS files also play just fine.
A few more other uses I have for my players.
ISO files
WD Live player: Can play just fine
WD Gen 1 player: Also plays just fine.
VOB files
WD Live player: Can play just fine and continuously as 1 file
WD Gen 1 player: Only plays one at a time, no option for continuous play.
Early conclusion: I wish they could have combined the positive features of both players into the WD Live player. Unfortunately, they fixed some issues present in Gen 1 but took away some with gen 2. At this point I would need both players to be completely satisfied which of course is not practical. I hope that a firmware update will soon be available to address my issues which may address other issues people might be having. So these are my experiences with the player. There seems to be countless options, but I only use a few and so far my needs are not met with this newest player. At first when I saw that it could play my 1920 x 1080 (60 fps/ 24Mbps) files I felt problem solved, that's all I'm missing. But to find out that it could not play certain files as well as my gen 1 player could play was very disappointing. Feel free to ask some questions or make comments.Get more detail about Western Digital WD TV Live Network-ready HD Media Player WDBAAN0000NBK-NESN.
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