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Product Description
WD TV Play Media Player - Western Digital WD TV Watch WDBHZM0000NBKUESN multimedia receiver HDD Multimedia Digital Media Players... See more product details
Customer Reviews: WD TV Play Media Player
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Programme (What's this?)
Having bought the original WDTV,I was keen to see what the addition of online and home-network capabilities would bring. The plug and play aspect is still good as ever and the wonderful range of files it could play still holds true.
I was not surprised to see the player hold its against many of my Sony's SMART TV's online capabilities. The applications it includes are wide ranging and functional with spotify and picassa a welcome addition to iplayer, You tube and Netflix.
The optical out is a strong indicator of its aim to be an entertainment hub instead of an android stick/box.
The remote control isn't a great leap forward than the plasticky first generation remote, but it is an improvement. The ability to get the WDTV app for Android makes it far easier to input text. It is virtually silent and is bearably warm if left on in typical room conditions for UK.
I would like to add that positioning of the set is important for connection with stuttering evident when located in a semi enclosed space like behind the tv. Consider a repeater or a lined connection like a Home plug.
Amazon Verified Purchase
I had this setup and working in the time the wife made a cup of tea, no kidding!!
So far go good it has streamed most media formats, did fail on some wmv's - but I only had a couple of these, there is a list available from WD, but so far it's played everlasting else I threw at it. I'm connected to a networked HDD, and connected this via my router to stream the media - works perfectly. Highly recommended worth every penny
Amazon Verified Purchase
Small but brilliant. Truly reliable media tool. Finds your pc in a flash to let you play files on your tv. Get one :)
Amazon Verified Purchase
I wanted something to connect to my home media storage so I could watch my movies on the tv and not just on the laptop. This does that easily with only some minor data entry required I.e. my network security code. It is quick to stream movies and displays them at a decent quality.
Love that there is still a USB option and many pre-installed apps like YouTube, bbc iplayer and Netflix which gives me even more options for things to watch.
The build quality is good and the box sits discretely next to the tv. The remote is midi sized but feels sturdy enough.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Programme (What's this?)
This review is about the player and not about the quality of the sites it uses.
I wasn't sure about getting one of these as a) I'm not a Facebook/Twitter user, I don't like paying out for film rental (I'd rather buy my own having seen a film I like), and, being a pensioner, I don't go for modern music a lot. So.....
Opened the box - I was surprised (not disappointed, just surprised) at the small size. The box includes a power lead with a proper UK plug!!!; a lead to connect to the TV (but no HDMI cable!!) an installation document (I use that term very loosely) a hand set and batteries.
The installation document is simply a sequence of 6 photos showing how to connect the various cables etc and that's it! No description of what the buttons on the remote controller do, you have to work it out for yourself. I've got to admit, I'm getting a little angry at manufacturers and their attitude to their customers with the documentation (or lack of it). If you want more, you have to go to the internet (http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705073.pdf for the english version) and then print it out yourself - very annoying but at least it was there, I've had suppliers who didn't update their web site for months after a product was released. - My view on this part of the installation? VERY POOR
However, from having taken the player out of the box, to having it working on my TV took less than 5 minutes - Now that is GOOD.
As to the hand set, it's OK but not good if you want to, say, do a search on You Tube. The movement of the cursor on the screen is slow and doesn't keep up with what you are doing with the key pad. My view is that the key pad should have been bigger and included an alphabetical/numeric key section.
There's plenty of 'apps' (links to various web sites for films, news, weather, music and sport) so most users should be satisfied with the content.
OK some of my comments above may be a little pickety, but my overall view is that this item is very good.
The old advert that says, "......It does exactly what it says on the tin....." couldn't be more true than with the WD TV Play Media Player. It gives you everything it promises, sets itself up in minutes, is easy for the user to initially set up and - it works!!
My only real gripe is about the lack of a user manual, but that's common to every technology item these days so I've not penalised WD.
Recommended and 5 stars - If you want to ask why, 8 minutes after opening the box, I was on You Tube watching Hank Marvin playing. My favourite guitarist in wide screen in full HD - what more could an end user want?
Amazon Verified Purchase
Ok so I have only had this a day but so far it works so well I considered buying another one for my bedroom, I can't understand the other two reviews complaining, it plays almost every file I have tried with the exception of some flvs and some hd files have incompatible audio but I find this device is quick easy to use and an absolute bargain for less than £50. I stream from usb a wireless hard drive and my pc.
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Programme (What's this?)
This simple little WD box far exceeded my expectations, and it's been a while since I could say that about any gadget.
On top of being a good media player, the addition of a selection of additional apps was a massive bonus, and lifts this system from being a basic media player to being a proper entertainment system. If your TV isn't already a smart TV, this will make it smart. In fact even if your TV is already smart, this will probably make it smarter.
It has all three kinds of connectivity you'd want- ethernet, wi-fi or USB- although you should bear in mind that via internet it will look for a DLNA media server rather than just any shared network hard drive.
The range of media it will play is genuinely impressive. OK so it will NOT play MPEG2, you have to get the WD TV Live for that, but it covers all the other major formats I can think of- AVI, MKV, MP4, MOV, Windows Media (WMV9) and even FLV (using AVC)- using the most important codecs (MPEG4, Xvid, h264, etc.) It does all the usual image formats, and all the major audio formats as well.
The YouTube app seems average at first, BUT then you sync your smartphone to your YouTube app, and magic happens. You can use your phone to browse for videos, and with single clicks you can get the selected video to play on your TV instantly, or you can queue up a playlist of videos that will play one after the other. You can play, pause, wind and skip using either your phone, or the WD remote, or both. Suddenly your smartphone has become a hi-tech TV remote control, that works really well.
The iPlayer app is decent. It's equivalent to the iPlayer app on the Wii- one of those apps that does what it's supposed to do, though it could do it just a little bit better. The key difference though is that through this Play device, you can view iPlayer material in full HD- and it's amazingly good quality, considering I was streaming it from an online source and then wirelessly between my router and the box. Very impressed, again.
There's a big red 'Netflix' button on the remote. I signed up for a 30-day trial and using it is very convenient, but the picture quality's not so good and the range of films a little bit disappointing, so I'll be sticking with Lovefilm, but it's good to know the option is there.
All the cables you could want are provided. The component video out feeds an analogue audio signal out even when the HDMI cable is in use, meaning you could cue up a Spotify playlist and play it through your hi-fi with your TV turned off.
There are some minor niggles. It seemed to crash the very first time it was switched on- I had to take the power lead out and plug it back in again. After that though I've switched it on every night and never had a problem. I couldn't get access to my Spotify account even though I knew the username and email address was definitely correct. And lastly, I find having to step across an alphabetically-sorted keyboard entry in order to type in an email address one letter at a time painfully slow, and I wish they'd added a niftier system. None of this is serious enough for me to deduct a star though, because the YouTube app and media player are such a joy that it's still a 5-star product to me.
A genuinely exciting little black box!
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