WD TV Live Plus: Western Digital's Latest Media Player Reviewed
by Cameron Butterfield on July 29, 2010 1:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Media Streamer
- WD
- WD TV Live Plus
Our piece on media streamer platforms indicated that we were in the process of assembling a test suite of media files. With the help of feedback from readers and some members from AVSForums, we managed to assemble a set of 44 test files covering various media streamer / HTPC scenarios for v1.0.0 of the AnandTech Media Streamer Test Suite. Weights have been assigned to each stream based on how frequently one might encounter them in a home theater setting. The table below indicates the various aspects tested by each file, the assigned weight for the stream, and the score obtained by the WD TV Live Plus depending on the success it had with playback.
| WD TV Live Plus: AT Media Streamer Test Suite | |||||||
| File Name | Aspects Tested | Max. Score | WD TV Score | Notes | |||
| 001-1080p30.x264.AC3.m2ts | H.264, AC3, M2TS |
8
|
8
|
||||
| 002-480i30.MPEG.ASF.dvr-ms | ASF, DVR-MS |
2
|
2
|
||||
| 003-1080p24.WMV9.WMAPro.6Ch.wmv | WMV9, WMAPro |
8
|
0
|
WMAPro doesn't play | |||
| 004-1080p60.x264.8ref.mkv | 60 fps L5.1 H.264 |
8
|
8
|
||||
| 005-1440x1080i30.SonyAVCHD.m2ts | HD Camcorder Clips |
10
|
10
|
||||
| 006-1080p24.x264.16ref.mkv | L5.1 H.264 |
8
|
8
|
||||
| 007-1080p.x264.DTS.6Ch.mkv | DTS |
10
|
10
|
||||
| 008-DTS-HRA.8Ch.m2ts | DTS-HRA Bitstreaming |
8
|
3
|
DTS core bitstreaming | |||
| 009-TrueHD.6Ch..m2ts | TrueHD Bitstreaming |
8
|
8
|
||||
| 010-1080p24.x264.AAC.mp4 | AAC, MP4 |
8
|
8
|
||||
| 011-FLAC.6Ch.ASS.Subs.mkv | FLAC, ASS Subs |
8
|
4
|
Stylized Subs not displayed | |||
| 012-1080p24.Vorbis.ogg | Vorbis, OGG |
4
|
0
|
Unrecognized Format | |||
| 013-352p25RV40.RACook.rmvb | Real Media |
8
|
0
|
Unrecognized Format | |||
| 014-1080i25.AVC.AC3..MPEG-TS.trp | TRP |
2
|
2
|
||||
| 015-360p24.XVid.12LanguagesSRT.Subs.mkv | UTF Subs |
8
|
2
|
Language Orientation issues. | |||
| 016-1080i30.MPEG2.HeavilyInterlaced.ts | Deinterlacing for MPEG-2 |
8
|
2
|
Flickering Issues | |||
| 017-1080p24.TrueHD.PGS.Subs.mkv | PGS Subs, TrueHD Bitstreaming from MKV |
12
|
0
|
||||
| 018-480p.TVCapture.wtv | WTV |
4
|
0
|
Unrecognized Format | |||
| 019-240p.H264.AAC.m4v | M4V |
8
|
8
|
||||
| 020-1080p30.x264.AC3.m2ts | H.264, AC3, M2TS |
10
|
5
|
Slight Choppiness | |||
| 021-442p30.DivX.AAC.mkv | DivX in MKV Container |
8
|
2
|
Sync Issues | |||
| 022-DVDISO.iso | DVD ISO |
10
|
10
|
||||
| 023-BluRayISO.iso | Blu Ray ISO |
10
|
5
|
Unable to play menus / Other Issues* | |||
| 024-1080p24.x264.DTS-MA.7Ch.mkv | DTS-MA Bitstreaming from MKV |
4
|
0
|
No Audio | |||
| 025-720p24.x264.DTS-MA.6Ch.mkv | DTS-MA Bitstreaming from MKV |
4
|
0
|
No Audio | |||
| 026-1080p24.VC1.AC3.mkv | VC1 in MKV |
10
|
10
|
||||
| 027-1440x576p25.WVC1.wmv | WVC1 |
8
|
8
|
||||
| 028-720p60.WVC1.WMA3.6Ch.wmv | 60fps WVC1 |
8
|
0
|
WMA No Audio | |||
| 029-1080p60.AVC.AAC.MP4 | HD Camcorder Clips |
10
|
1
|
Choppiness | |||
| 030-272p.VP6.MP3.FLV | VP6 in FLV, MP3 |
10
|
0
|
||||
| 031-854x480p30.H264.AAC.flv | H.264 in FLV |
10
|
10
|
||||
| 032-1080p.VP8.Vorbis.webm | VP8, WebM |
10
|
0
|
Unrecognized Format | |||
| 033-480p24.MPEG1.mpg | MPEG-1 |
4
|
4
|
||||
| 034-1080p24.xvid.avi | HD Xvid, AVI |
10
|
10
|
||||
| 035-672p30.DIVX.MP3.divx | DivX |
10
|
10
|
||||
| 036-720p60.MPEG2.m2v | MPEG-2, M2V |
2
|
2
|
||||
| 037-1080p30.MPEG2TS.ts | TS |
2
|
2
|
||||
| 038-1080p25.AVC.AAC.6Ch.MOV.mov | MOV |
10
|
10
|
||||
| 039-1080p24.RV40.Cook.rmvb | HD Real Media |
8
|
0
|
Unrecognized Format | |||
| 040-Anamorphic.MultAud.MultSubs.mkv | Anamorphic, SSA Subs |
10
|
9
|
Subtitle Issues | |||
| 041-1080p24.VC1.DTSHD-MA.m2ts | VC1 in M2TS, DTS-HD Bitstreaming |
6
|
3
|
Only passed DTS | |||
| 042-1080p24.VC1.TrueHD.AC3.m2ts | VC1 in M2TS, TrueHD Bitstreaming |
6
|
6
|
||||
| 043-1080i30.H264.HeavilyInterlaced.ts | Deinterlacing for H264 |
8
|
2
|
Flickering Issues | |||
| 044-1080i30.VC1.HeavilyInterlaced.ts | Deinterlacing for VC1 |
8
|
2
|
Flickering Issues | |||
| 022-DVDISO.iso extracted to folder | Video_TS/VOB Playback | 4 | 4 | ||||
| 023-BluRayISO.iso extracted to folder | Extracted BluRay Iso | 4 | 0 | One Video Stream at a time only. | |||
| Total |
200 out of 344
|
||||||
The WD TV Live Plus has some drawbacks when it comes to media compatibility, especially compared to an HTPC system which due to its flexible software options which lets it play virtually anything. (For instance the ASRock Core100HT-BD HTPC scored 336 out of 344 in our media compatibility test suite). The WD TV Live Plus acheives a score of 200 out of 344 here (58.14%). Some of the key shortcomings in media compatibility include failure to decode WMAPro audio codecs and RMVB, poor deinterlacing capabilities, some subtitles problems and a few issues with choppiness on certain test files.
While the device does have full WMV support, it does not have support for WMApro audio codecs. Several of our WMV test files played perfectly but without audio; including a de-facto WMV-HD test file from the WMV showcase website. There are many users who do not utilize any windows media codecs in any shape or form and so this will not bother many people. However, this could mean major compatibility issues with users who have previously encoded much of their video content to WMV for Xbox media streaming purposes. RMVB is not listed as a supported format and indeed the rmvb files do not even show up in the folder when browsing through the content. Deinterlacing performance on the WD TV Live was sub-par and most of the deinterlacing test videos had flickering issues. A drastic improvement was seen when offloading the deinterlacing to my HDTV's deinterlacing processor by setting the WD TV Live to 1080i and allowing the television itself to interpolate the fields. If you are going to be using the WD TV Live for watching interlaced content, you might do yourself a service to do the same.
The WD TV Live does support subtitles and has a wide range of language/region options. The SSA subs worked fine on most content, but some of the stylized subs were not visible on our test file. PGS subtitles did not play from MKVs. Also, some languages that read right to left were displayed incorrectly. Other lost points in this test suite came from a few test files that had choppiness issues such as some of the HD camera clips and a Panasonic demo reel.
Blu-ray menus are not supported at all, but the device does ask if you would like to play the video within the ISO, and it is possible to view the video stream inside the ISO. This worked on our test Blu-ray ISO that only included one video stream, but when attempting to do the same with our HQV Blu-ray ISO, it resulted in only one video being played, although there were several video streams inside. Most likely, the WD TV attempts to play the largest video stream and that is all. Some points were docked for this issue.
With the incompatibilities and other issues noted, the WD TV Live Plus does support a wide range of files and plays them very well. With a few exceptions, the content that the WD TV Live advertises as being compatible with plays smoothly even at high bit-rates and full 1080p resolutions. Dolby TrueHD is supported, although only in the mt2s container (strangely, this is not listed in the manual as supported). DVD ISO playback seems flawless including full menu support. Even Blu-ray ISO files work on the device, with certain quirks, as mentioned above.
[UPDATE]
Due to reader feedback, we have added an additional test to the benchmark suite to determine if the player is capable of playing extracted Blu-Ray and DVD ISO formats. The WD TV Live Plus was capable of playing the DVD with menus just fine after clicking the first file in the Video_TS folder. The extracted Blu-ray ISO could be played one video stream at a time by navigating into the folder structure of the extracted ISO, no Blu-Ray menus were available. Please note the updated scores.
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gigahertz20 - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
I own a WD TV Live and a Popcorn Hour A-110, both are pretty good but the Popcorn Hour has played back everything fine whereas the WD TV Live has refused to play back certain media, mostly movies with dual audio tracks. I have to use MP4Muxer to delete one of the the audio tracks, after that it will play back fine.If I do upgrade/buy another media player in the future, it will probably be another Popcorn Hour, but I want to wait since I don't like their current line of players. I've read reviews on the newer Popcorn Hour A-200 and people complain of fan noise and the casing is just a piece of plastic, not metal like the older A-110 that I have, which is nice since the metal casing acts like a heat sink.
I was looking forward to the Boxee Box despite its ugly form factor, but then I've read that it will only be capable of 10 Mbits/sec 1080p HD decodes. So forget the usual 20 – 30 Mbps H264 rips on the Boxee Box.
It seems like the Boxee box is just a fancy Xbmc box that may play most SD and 720p material, internet streaming channels etc, and a very limited portion of 1080p re-encodes if max bitrates are limited to 10Mbps.
To bad Microsoft and Sony can't make their game consoles true media players that can handle any format, then we wouldn't need to mess around with buying a media player.
sucram03 - Saturday, July 31, 2010 - link
The information you provide is very informative, thanks for that.However, I would remind people not to start comparing the WD TV Live to the WD TV Live Plus. My understanding is that the underlying hardware components that decode are the same, except for the added chip that allows for Netflix viewing. However, this appears to not be the case.
I've had multiple anime shows with dual (and triple)-audio (in MKV containers) play perfectly fine with this WDTV Live Plus. Also, I'm waiting for a hopeful release of B.rad's firmware which is only good for the WD TV & WD TV Live at the moment. This would allow for moviesheet display with a nice looking interface and library over a network share, which is something the WD TV's cannot do (currently they only build a library if the connection is local).
Interesting info on the Boxee box. I had/returned the popbox due to the horrendous firmware and slow GUI response. It was absolutely the worst purchase I've made in years.
I might suggest you look into putting B.rad's firmware on your WDTV Live, and see if that helps any of the issues you had experienced. Of course, YMMV, but most people do seem to like the firmware.
gigahertz20 - Monday, August 2, 2010 - link
Thanks for the info, the problems regarding dual audio tracks has happened in mp4 files. For example the latest one was a movie with the specs below, my WD TV Live just refused to play it.Video Information:
Format: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
Video Bitrate: 3011
Framerate: 23.97fps
Display aspect ratio: 1.86
Encoder: x264
Resolution: 1280x688
Audio Information:
Format: mp4a: MPEG-4 AAC LC
Audio #1: 384kb/s 48000 Hz 6-channel
Audio #2: 128kb/s 48000 Hz 2-channel
Subs: None
ganeshts - Tuesday, August 3, 2010 - link
gigahertz20,Does this happen with all MP4 files having multiple audio tracks? We have quite a few test files with multiple audio, but unfortunately, none in the MP4 container.
Can you upload a sample for us to check out / add to the test suite?
Thanks
Ganesh
skinsman - Friday, September 3, 2010 - link
I ran across this comment while googling for WDTV Live mp4a problems. I've found there is a definite issue with mp4a multi-channel AAC audio - lots of people report no audio output. Dual audio tracks usually works fine from what I've seen, I don't think that's the issue you're hitting. On the other hand maybe you're seeing a different issue to the usual mp4a one - does your WDTV Live refuse to play the file at all, or are you seeing video but no audio?temporalillusion - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
Great article, and look forward to more like this. There's a ton of these things out there and it's hard to know which one is good beyond just looking at the codec list.Do the Popbox next! :D
gigahertz20 - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
The Popbox is crap, just look at the reviews on Amazon....ouch, it wasn't ready at all to be put out there for customers. Maybe months from now after a bunch of updated firmwares are issued, it will be decent.http://www.amazon.com/popbox-Syabas-PopBox-Media-P...
temporalillusion - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
Ah bummer, that's too bad. Thanks for the info, appreciated.jigglywiggly - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
These things are ALL stupid. You can get a new 360 for 150-200$ (arcade obv) AND, just run a tversity media server for all the content your 360 cannot play. Then just sit back, and let the 360 run... it has way way way stronger hardware than any of these things.beginner99 - Thursday, July 29, 2010 - link
yeah lol what formats cann the xbox 360play? xvid, avi? that's about. Any content worth watching on a large tv in most cases aint gonna be any of these. Unoffical standard is mkv (h.264, dts or AC3). transcoding will always lower quality. Can the xbox360 play 1080p? I doubt it.