WD TV "High Definition Multimedia Adapter" - Part 1

[YellowSphere]

Just read about this over at HCC.com.

Looks like a decent bit of kit, much more functional than the USB ports on DVD players that I've seen. Support for MKV files is very interesting too, as well as the expected price.

Can find it on Western Digital's site here.

[willo]

Saw this yesterday on Engadget. Looks an interesting bit of kit and should be fairly cheap, hopefully it won't be too long before it come out here. Here's a review of it:

New WD Media Player Reviewed

[YellowSphere]

Ooh, thanks for that review. Looks like it has a few drawbacks, but well worth the money. I've been interested in things like this for a while, but I've always been put off by the fact that I probably wouldn't use them that often and so don't want to spend much money. This looks like it'll do a good, although not perfect job, for playing the occasional video or JPEG slideshow on.

[robtek70]

Does anybody know if the USB port will support an external USB DVD drive. I have a lot of movie files, of various types, saved on dvd and would like to be able to play them with this player. I already have an iStar, which does the job very well, but need something for my bedroom.

[Trune]

This looks great.... just what ive been waiting for.

only draw back for me is lack of network port, does anyone know if NAS drives with usb ports can be on NAS and USB simultaniously?

[DeathFromAbove]

This looks really interesting, but the following comment on the WD specification page is a little worrying:

- An audio receiver is required for surround sound output. AAC/Dolby Digital decodes in 2 channel output only

Does this indicate a lack of 5.1 (or higher) via HDMi or optical?

[DeathFromAbove]

Oops, looks like the answer lies within:

MaddHat.com » Blog Archive » New WD Media Player Reviewed, Stripped Naked

[robtek70]

Just placed a pre order for one at Play.com, available from 17th Nov.

[james7604]

I've got a PCH on the way, I would probably have preordered one otherwise.

[energy80s]

This thing sounds really interesting, and only costs 80 quid. The BIG drawback is the lack of an ethernet port. Is there any way (or any gadget) that would let you connect a LAN to the USB port and allow you to browse media from a network server using Samba shares??

[Trune]

Originally Posted by DeathFromAbove

This looks really interesting, but the following comment on the WD specification page is a little worrying:

- An audio receiver is required for surround sound output. AAC/Dolby Digital decodes in 2 channel output only

Does this indicate a lack of 5.1 (or higher) via HDMi or optical?

Can you explain what you mean here? and what conclusion you came too?

[Trune]

Originally Posted by energy80s

This thing sounds really interesting, and only costs 80 quid. The BIG drawback is the lack of an ethernet port. Is there any way (or any gadget) that would let you connect a LAN to the USB port and allow you to browse media from a network server using Samba shares??

I very much doubt it... it would require drivers to install a usb - network adapter.

So you would need a USB drive.

However, i was hoping that i could get a NAS with a USB port, and use the network port and usb port at the same time, can anyone confirm if this works on most devices?

[YellowSphere]

Originally Posted by Trune

Can you explain what you mean here? and what conclusion you came too?

The documentation is stating that, whilst the box can decode DD, it can only output as two channel PCM. This is always what happens if you try to send PCM via optical. Presumably, they just didn't want to implement it via HDMI, and that's fine, because the optical output will still bitstream Dolby and DTS to a receiver to be decoded there into proper 5.1. Sorted.

I would also assume that it doesn't bitstream via HDMI, so you'd need to connect it by optical for surround sound no matter what, like a Sky HD box. I could be proved wrong here, but I doubt it...

[DeathFromAbove]

Originally Posted by Trune

Can you explain what you mean here? and what conclusion you came too?

No probs pal...

I was worried that the 'AAC/Dolby Digital decodes in 2 channel output only' statement suggested 5.1 soundtracks (ie. DD and DTS) were reduced to 2.0. But the MaddHat reviewer got Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 through his amp from the WD HD TV.

I'm looking forward to seeing a couple of forum-user reviews, as this sounds ideal for my needs!

[willo]

Originally Posted by Trune

I very much doubt it... it would require drivers to install a usb - network adapter.

So you would need a USB drive.

However, i was hoping that i could get a NAS with a USB port, and use the network port and usb port at the same time, can anyone confirm if this works on most devices?

Just a thought but it could be possible to hook up a My Book (the NAS one) via usb to the WD TV and then attach the My Book to your network. Can’t see why it wouldn’t work unless the My Book cannot do both.