WD TV Live Hub with 1TB Hard Drive
What is WD TV Live Hub? It’s a convenient and easy way to funnel all those media files to a central location and watch them right on your TV. Not only the files on your computer, but also streamed directly from the Internet. And when you have all your files accessible on the WD TV Live Hub, you can stream them to any other location in your home that is set up to handle streaming media. It even handles sending multiple streams at once. Think of it like a mini media server under your TV. But what really sets it apart from the rest of the streaming field is its built-in 1TB hard drive. Let’s break down the features.
WD TV Live Hub File Support
When Western Digital set out to make such a device, they no doubt wanted to learn from the mistakes of some of the competitors, namely Apple TV’s lack of file support. These are the files that WD Hub can handle.
Video
AVI (Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4), MPG/MPEG, VOB, MKV (h.264, x.264, AVC, MPEG1/2/4, VC-1), TS/TP/M2T (MPEG1/ 2/4, AVC, VC-1), MP4/MOV (MPEG4, h.264), M2TS, WMV9
Audio
MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby Digital, DTS
Photo
JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, PNG
This is very convenient if you have collected a number of strange and different files from multiple locations lost in a sea of folders found on your hard drive. (You know I do). Well, this can help you figure it all out very easily, and who knows, you may even rediscover some old videos that you loved when you first saw them, but just forgot you had them.
Transmission
A computer is not necessarily needed to benefit from the WD Hub. It connects directly to the Internet and gives you access to online services. Here are some of them in no particular order.
Netflix, Blockbuster, YouTube, Pandora, Facebook, flickr, Live 360, Media Fly, AccuWeather.
Storage capacity
There are several other devices on the market that are similar to this one. But like I said at the beginning, what really sets the WD TV Live Hub apart from the rest is the built-in 1TB hard drive. How much can 1TB hold?
- Up to 285,000 digital photos
- Up to 250,000 songs (MP3)
- Up to 25,000 songs (uncompressed CD quality)
- Up to 76 hours of digital video (DV)
- Up to 440 hours of DVD-quality video
- Up to 120 hours of HD video
That’s a lot of time in front of the TV. And how will you get all those files in and out of the WD Hub? In the same Hub you have Gigabit Ethernet, front and rear USB 2.0, HDMI 1.4 (that’s the latest version), composite A/V, component video, optical audio. The only thing you need to supply is the cables. All this for around $200.00.
final thoughts
Now, this is not to say that Western Digital has come up with the perfect device. While the navigation is pretty straightforward and easy to use, it still takes a bit of browsing to find what you’re looking for. Overall, it’s a solid product with good support from Western Digital. After a little setup, you’ll be watching movies, browsing photos, and checking out all those forgotten files on the big screen.