Western Digital - WD TV HD Media Player for USB Storage Devices

[BobDiaz]

Western Digital seemed to slip this out with little fanfare...

This device turns your USB drive into an HD media player, allowing you to watch your favorite HD movies on your TV.

Product Features



Compatible with My Passport portable hard drives and other USB storage devices
Full HD 1080p video playback and navigation
Dock-and-play convenience
Provides access to 2 USB drives simultaneously
HDMI and composite video interfaces for easy connection to a TV
Ultracompact design for easy portability
Includes My Passport hard drive stand, compact remote with batteries, composite A/V cable, AC adapter, media converter software and owner's manual


Here's the list of supported file formats:

Video: MPEG1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H.264), Subtitle SRT (UTF-8)

Photo: JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, PNG

Audio: MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA Playlist PLS, M3U, WPL
It's selling at Best Buy for $99.99


I don't know how good or how bad it is, but it does look interesting as a means of playing HD files.


Anyone tried it yet???




Bob Diaz

[Edweirdo]

if I could be sure it played Pana AVCHD right off a card reader, I would pick one up yesterday

[Evro]

This is definitely a funky player! And don't forget the HDX900 & PCH 100A which are also HD media players (aka Network Media Tanks) that can play all of these HD formats but at much more competitive price albeit sacrificing the fancy menu systems ;)

[DM_rider]

hmm looks interesting.

[Edweirdo]

it does play HMC150 footage! But you have to rename the file designation from .mts to .m2ts

so the device does support AVCHD at full resolution, it just wont recognize the Pana flavor until you rename it to the Sony flavor. Perhaps a firmware update someday...?

Otherwise its a great little player for final renders without the need for an HTPC. Smooth interface, easy setup, small footprint and power use. Def worth $99

[David S.]

it does play HMC150 footage! But you have to rename the file designation from .mts to .m2ts

so the device does support AVCHD at full resolution, it just wont recognize the Pana flavor until you rename it to the Sony flavor. Perhaps a firmware update someday...?

Otherwise its a great little player for final renders without the need for an HTPC. Smooth interface, easy setup, small footprint and power use. Def worth $99

Are you saying I can transfer the HMC150's bare MTS files to a fast USB thumb drive or other device after changing their extensions to .m2ts, and this device will play them without issue out to a HDMI TV?

[Edweirdo]

yup, I did it last night. The player supports h.264 AVC, but only if there is a "2" in the files name designation.

It has upgradable firmware, so I hope it will soon understand the .mts designation. If anyone here gets one be sure to send the request to WD tech support:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

I also called up tech support at WD and asked them to include it, and the guy said he would send the req and to look back in a month for a new firmware update. That may or may not happen. The important thing is that it plays the clips, its just a pain to keep going through my laptop first. I want to just stick the SDHC card in a reader and attach it to the player.

BTW- bestbuy jacked the price from $99 back up to $130 but newegg has it cheaper w/free shipping. Got mine in 2 days.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136325&Tpk=wd%20tv

Now, I can download the fests to hard disk and then play them throught my home theatre instead of off my laptop.

[David S.]

We purchased one of these yesterday and it works as described.

Love it, except for its menuing system, which needs a rework

Plays footage back from the HMC150 with the extension change which we achieve with a copy using Adobe Bridge.

[ilauzirika]

Plays footage back from the HMC150 with the extension change which we achieve with a copy using Adobe Bridge.

I think that the avchd viewer also changes the extensions.

[Justyn]

so there's an automated way to change the extensions? That might make this a real purchase for live presentations. Would be sweet if they upgraded the firmware so no laptop is needed in the field. Just pop from camera and display..

[David S.]

I use Adobe Bridge that works on both mac and pc.

There are other free utilities available I bet on both platforms.

The unit is decently constructed. The remote is cheap.

But it works sweet out HDMI for bare files.

[Edweirdo]

the AVCHD viewer from panasonic automatically adds the 2 to the file name upons saving to your hard drive:

1) Install avc cam viewer on PC
2) connect USB drive / thumbdrive
3) insert SDHC card into PC and start up AVc cam viewer
4) choose "copy to hard drive" in viewer, and select your portable as the drive
5) when copy is complete, remove drive and connect to WD player

The pana app will perserve the file sturcture and correctly rename the clips as .m2ts

ed

[David S.]

But it's windows only.

that's the issue

[Edweirdo]

But it's windows only.

that's the issue

http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/7276/1233708225.jpg

[maestro1d]

Awesome device. Friggin sweet! Best buy here I come. Thanks for the heads up Justyn.

Douglas

[David S.]

I don't believe Justyn has used this, but a bunch of us have.

It will also play some slideshows of still images and some TS Folders.

mts files must be changed to m2ts files and that's all you need.

Playback is great as is quality for manuever between images is a clunky.

[mcgeedigital]

But it's windows only.

that's the issue

Its not a big deal if you know how to get around it. (http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/)

Just got home from BB and tried it out, I think it beats Apple TV in image quality.

[ESTEBEVERDE]

Its not a big deal if you know how to get around it. (http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/)

Just got home from BB and tried it out, I think it beats Apple TV in image quality.


Awesome!

[David S.]

Matt:

I agree. But the Apple TV doesn't even play back these files, does it?

[mcgeedigital]

Matt:

I agree. But the Apple TV doesn't even play back these files, does it?


Apple plays these back:

http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/List_of_file_formats_working_on_Apple_TV

[kurtmo]

i see there is a fimware upgrade for the WD100. Now it will play back both .m2ts and .mts files.

I'll upgrade mine later today and try it out.

[dcloud]

very very interesting product

[David S.]

Works with straight MTS files after the firmware update.

[ESTEBEVERDE]

So is this something we are all happy with?

Is this a recommended buy?

[David S.]

Runs about $100 on sale.

Plug a HDMI cable into it and then to your HDTV.

Copy your mts files to a folder on any FAT32 or MacOS formatted USB device -- HDD, USB thumb, etc.

Plug the USB device into one of the two USB ports, give it a second, go to the menu, and then choose video and the mts files to play.

Also plays a bunch of other video audio TS folders as well. About five by six by two.

Remote control.

Works as advertised

[ESTEBEVERDE]

And can we plug an SDHC card right in or do we have to use an adapter?

[kurtmo]

And can we plug an SDHC card right in or do we have to use an adapter?

You need an SDHC usb adaptor. Mine came with my SDHC card for 5 bucks more.

[ESTEBEVERDE]

You need an SDHC usb adaptor. Mine came with my SDHC card for 5 bucks more.

Yeah. I think I paid like 2 bucks more for my transcend ones.

Very Cool Suff all the Same.