$69 - WDTV Play streaming box released

[Kaido]

http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/12/wd-tv-play-announce/

Avaialble for $69 at WD's site:

http://store.westerndigital.com/sto...ailsPage/ThemeID.21986300/productID.256031100

After making a stop at the FCC recently, Western Digital's WD TV Play streaming media player got an official announce this morning. The Roku-esque streaming media box touts easy setup, a $70 price tag, and connectivity with a variety of apps (YouTube, Netflix, Hulu Plus, VUDU, SlingPlayer, Spotify, Pandora and Facebook are specifically named). The device can also manage and display your own media, via DLNA-friendly devices, all in 1080p. A remote control comes with the device, but there's also a free WD TV Remote application headed to iOS and Android devices -- you'll need WiFi running to get the app synced up, of course.

The WD TV Play is already available for purchase via Western Digital's online store, and there's no word on retail availability. We've reached out to Western Digital to find out more.

 

[Kaido]

More info on the PR Newswire:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...edia-player-for-streaming-fans-190821491.html

That is some extremely competitive pricing....

 

[Eug]

Hmmm... Interesting. Much cheaper than the previous WD TV Live. As far as I can tell the main difference is that it can't play MPEG2, but that's no problem for me. I like the small size too, and the fact it still includes Ethernet, WiFi, USB 2, and optical audio.

http://store.westerndigital.com/sto...parentCategoryID.13092400/categoryID.13742300

It's not listed on WD Canada's website yet though.

 

[purbeast0]

i was looking into a wdtv live until i found out it can't do any 3d videos.

 

[gevorg]

Did they improve the UI/interface? Tried WD Live about two years ago, it was quite sluggish to use.

 

[Eug]

Is it ARM? Two years ago single core ARM was the norm. Now dual core or much faster single core is the norm. Better video decode support too.

Even low budget CPUs are fine in 2013.

Plus Ram is much cheaper now too so it may have more ram than some of the units had back then

 

[bearxor]

My only reservation here is that it looks like you need a DLNA or uPNP server on your network and I'd really prefer to not have to set that up. Hoping to hear it will just natively stream off a network share.

 

[smitbret]

My only reservation here is that it looks like you need a DLNA or uPNP server on your network and I'd really prefer to not have to set that up. Hoping to hear it will just natively stream off a network share.

No, it will see network shares just fine.

 

[Eug]

Ok , this is a deal killer:

Audio - MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby TrueHD

Besides the lack of MPEG2 and some other video support, there is no Dolby Digital or DTS support either.

Not recommended.

 

[vshah]

Ok , this is a deal killer:


Besides the lack of MPEG2 and some other video support, there is no Dolby Digital or DTS support either.

Not recommended.

that's GOT to be a spec error. very much a deal killer otherwise.

 

[Eug]

Cord Cutters: A first look at the WD TV Play

The device comes with a different UI than existing WD players, and supports slightly fewer codecs – MPEG-2 and DTS aren’t supported.

 

[vshah]

i still don't buy that it supports dolby truehd but not plain jain dolby digital.

 

[Eug]

Yeah, that might be an incorrect spec, but lack of DTS support would be a problem for some people too.

 

[nsafreak]

Yeah, that might be an incorrect spec, but lack of DTS support would be a problem for some people too.

The lack of DTS MA support is what got me to drop my WD TV Live and build an HTPC instead. I'm not sure if it's WD not wanting to pay the licensing fee to DTS or DTS simply not wanting to license the support to WD but it's something that's been lacking on their devices for a while now. The chipsets themselves actually do support DTS MA just fine it's just the software support isn't there.

 

[Eug]

I don't care about DTS:MA at all. I just want DTS.

Meanwhile locally the WD TV Live just went on sale with a free USB flash drive as well. I'm still considering picking one up. My friend is trying to convince me Boxee Box is better (he has both), but I'm wary of buying an already discontinued product.

However, I'm wondering if WD TV Live will get updated sooner rather than later, considering it came out in 2011, and WD TVs were updated on a yearly basis.

 

[bearxor]

I don't care about DTS:MA at all. I just want DTS.

Meanwhile locally the WD TV Live just went on sale with a free USB flash drive as well. I'm still considering picking one up. My friend is trying to convince me Boxee Box is better (he has both), but I'm wary of buying an already discontinued product.

However, I'm wondering if WD TV Live will get updated sooner rather than later, considering it came out in 2011, and WD TVs were updated on a yearly basis.

The Boxee Box is, IMO, the best device you can get for local media playback. It has its problems, for sure, but it's a great interface and it catalogues your stuff very well.

 

[iRONic]

I'm about | | this close to grabbing one of these. My POS Xbox 360 is dying and we mostly use it just for watching torrented movies and TV shows streamed from a PC over our wired network.

Software update for the audio upgrades...?

 

[Eug]

The Canadian specs list Dolby Digital Plus. No DTS though.

The strange part is I can only find it in 3rd party online store descriptions. It's not listed at all at WD's Canadian store. It's also significantly more expensive than then US model (but less than the WD TV Live Streaming), at $86 at my local shop. I betcha the MSRP is $89.99.

Here are the various model numbers:

WDBMBA0000NBK-HESN - USA
WDBMBA0000NBK-VESN - Canada
WDBHZM0000NBK-EESN - Europe
WDBHZM0000NBK-UESN - UK

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/AAG/ENG/4178-705523.pdf