Legit Mods and Ends Reviews

Western Digital WD TV Live – Next Generation Streaming Media Player Review

Manufacturer: Western Digital
Product: WD TV Live (WDBHG70000NBK-HESN)
Date: Thu, Oct 06, 2011 - 12:00 AM
Written By: Ken Brown -
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Next-Gen WD TV Live - Final Thoughts and Bottom Line

WD TV Live
The goal of the Western Digital TV Live is not only to play the multimedia content in your existing library, but to stream content from all over the internet.  The sheer number of offerings that Western Digital gives you out of the box with the WD TV Live is tremendous. 

WDTV Apps

WDTV Apps

Once you log in for the first time to all of these services, each service gives you the option of remembering your username and password.  For some of the services, you can have more than one user.  This is useful when you have various playlists or custom settings for a service like Pandora or Spotify.  The hunt-and-peck method from the on-screen keyboard got old really quick, so we just hooked up a generic USB keyboard to make typing usernames and passwords quicker.

WDTV Apps

We really loved having services like Pandora, Netflix (even though there isn’t enough High-Definition content!), and Facebook.  We were a bit wary of bringing up Facebook on our large-screen HDTV in front of family members though since we have a number of friends who like to post scantily cladded pictures from their latest trip to Vegas as their profile picture.
WDTV Apps
The WD TV Live user interface was just as quick and responsive in this set-top box as it is in the WD TV Live Hub, which is a very good thing.  The landscape for this player was very familiar to us and we really didn’t miss having on-board storage. With the possible exception of the Apple TV GUI, the Mochi-powered user interface is head and shoulders better than anything else on the market. 

WDTV Apps - Spotify

We ran the WD TV Live non-stop for almost a week and it just did its job serving up any media that we through at it.  If you are looking for a player that will run in absolute quiet and still not melt your A/V cabinet, this next-generation WD TV Live player is the one for you.  With Western Digital’s standard 1-year warranty, it really is hard to imagine how a media player can get any better. The MSRP of $99 for the package helps seal the deal. When the original WD TV Live Plus came out in 2009 it featured an MSRP of $149. It's great to see a new model come out with improvements in size, performance and features for less money!

WDTV Live Wins LR Editor's Choice


Legit Bottom Line:
The Western Digital WD TV Live is one of the best high-definition media players and streamers on the market today.  With built-in wireless, support for Blu-ray ISOs, and a huge suite of applications built-in, the latest generation WD TV Live only has competition from its big brother the WD TV Live Hub.

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Review Index
Page 1 - The All-New WD TV Live
Page 2 - Next-Generation WD TV Live – Out of the Box
Page 3 - Next-Gen WD TV Performance
Page 4 - Next-Gen WD TV Live - Final Thoughts and Bottom Line