I have 2 WD TV Live Plus's for a couple of years now. They work well for:
- playing movies
- regular DVD over file sharing works best as you get to keep the interactive movie menu
- Bluray needs a media server because Windows file sharing can't supply sufficient bandwidth. I use both serviio and Mezzmo with great success, but you lose the movie menu as DLNA doesn't support that
- Music - plays your full suite of music on your media server
- Photos - watch pics from your recent vacations
- Portable - I take it with me along with some 16/32gb memory sticks when I visit the folks and watch movies on their big screen. Beats carrying multiple discs
- Netflix works fine
Weaknesses
- doesn't play .wtv files natively so you have to convert them to dvr-ms
- fast forward only goes to 16x so if you can't use the movie menu scene selection option, it can be slow getting to a particular point in the movie
You'll need a file server at a minimum, and then a media server app if you're going to play Blu-ray. Serviio is free and works great. Mezzmo is very inexpensive and also works great. I tried the Sony media server for the PS3 (also free) I have and it's interface is the most barren of the 3.
I have never used the Roku, and an HTPC would give you even more flexibility (like local storage, recording, better user interface, Boxee, play DVD's directly from it vs. ripped on a media server, etc...) but I didn't want a PC hooked up to each of my TV's. Btw, you can get refurb WD's for $50 range and that would be my recommendation. I picked up my 2nd from that route and it is no different than the other one.
