I’ve had my Western Digital Live TV appliance for a while now ever since my ASROCK 330 totally failed within the first 15 days of ownership. The results of the WD TV LIVE has been much more promising.
First off, the device is small. I mean, palm of your hand small. It fits nicely in my tv cabinet and is currently wired up to my Time Capsule (1TB) router. It’s makes no noise (a common complaint of putting a full pc in front of the tv) and is soft on the eyes (black with a simple on light indicator). All of its interface points are on the back of the box which is fine for me. Support for both component and HDMI is there which is great since I didn’t have an HDMI input on my monitor at first. On all the basic hardware front, this box is a winner.
On the software interface, the system is equally simple. It supports basic use cases; watching pictures, listening to music and watching movies. It supports other cases like watching YouTube and listening to Live365 music which is more novelty than anything else for me. Moving between menu systems is easy, smooth but not fun. Any basic setop box software like Boxee, Media Portal or FrontRow will have a much snappier, more pleasant experience. Improving the UI would go a long way to making the everyday experience with the product more fun. That said, there’s nothing particularly offending about the interface. It’s just the most basic one you’ll find on the market.
The WD TV LIVE’s real strength lies in it’s movies. I’ve played a wide range of video formats on the box and have never had a problem. In fact, it’s just a great viewing experience. Fast, full 1080p support. It takes it all and dishes it out without a single stutter. For such a small box, it’s figured out video presentation flawlessly. Hats off for designing such a powerful, compact box.
Where I have a real trouble is with my TC. At first the WD TV LIVE couldn’t find the TC on its network. Reading some blog posts explained that the WD TV LIVE looked for shares on workgroups called “WORKGROUP” so I changed it and got the TC to show up. For a while. I’ve found out that the WD TV LIVE will not always find the TC on startup. This is frustrating and is my single biggest frustration with the device. After 10 or so minutes, it will eventually find it but making the auto detection of shared drives on the network faster is my number one issue with the device.
Overall, i think the price (125$ USD) is fantastic and a great value for what you get. Note that you’re not getting a jack of all trades appliance here. But what you are getting is a simple experience that, despite its flaws, is worth the price.
About Me
I'm a professional engineer working in the software industry based currently out of Toronto, Canada. If I'm not writing code, you might find me on the hockey rink or reading the NY Times over coffee.
I have recently started to plan a trip around the world with my wife, Susana, putting my software development career on hold while I grow and learn in other ways beyond the keyboard. 