Western Digital’s WD TV product line started life as a media-playing companion for local USB storage devices. The second-generation product, the WD TV Live (you can read our review here), added network connectivity and services such as YouTube, Flickr, and Pandora. This latest version, the WD TV Live Plus adds Netflix support, the ability to mount and play ISO images, and support for wireless mice and keyboards.
If you’re not enamored with the idea of sticking a home-theater PC in your entertainment system, the WD TV Live Plus is one of the best alternatives you’ll find. It has all the features we liked about the first two products, including a great 10-foot user interface, multiple analog and digital outputs (including HDMI 1.3, S/PDIF, component and composite), and incredibly broad support for unencrypted media formats (including h.264, VOB, and 24-bit/96kHz FLAC).
The WD TV Live Plus is the spittin' image of the earlier WD TV Live--as is the remote.
If you rip your DVDs and store them on a hard drive or media server, you’ll be happy to know that the Live Plus supports DVD menu navigation, so you can use chapter listings and view special features. Western Digital has also added support for Windows 7’s “Play To” feature. This enables you to “push” a digital media file from a PC or server on your network to the WD TV Live Plus, as opposed to searching for the file using Western Digital’s UI. If you own the WD TV Live, this feature is available as a firmware update.
Netflix streaming, however, is by far the most important feature, and it cannot be added to previous-gen players. Netflix has developed a new user interface that allows subscribers to manage their “Watch Instantly” queues directly from thin clients such as the WD TV Live Plus, and Western Digital tells us theirs is the first device to offer it. This means it’s no longer necessary to go to a PC to add movies to your queue before you can watch them on your TV.
Aside from the addition of Netflix and ISO support, the WD TV Live Plus delivers only the most incremental improvements. Wireless connectivity remains optional (and consumes one of the two USB ports, click here for a list of compatible adapters http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3805); Western Digital continues to show no love for LastFM, Slacker, or Rhapsody; you still can’t rent movies from iTunes or Unbox; and you still can’t access Hulu. We’re also disappointed that the UI still doesn’t inform you of a media file’s codec, bit depth, or sampling rate. Some will dismiss those shortcomings as inconsequential, but we think they’re important enough to withhold our Kick Ass award.
You can visit the WD TV Live Plus user community here.
And you'll find independent WD TV discussions at the AV Science Forum.
Expect to "hear" plenty of teeth-gnashing from WD TV Live owners in both places, because they'll likely be PO'd that Western Digital hasn't announced a firmware update that includes Netflix streaming for the older device.
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