Western DigitallY Live Plus

We became fans of Western Digital's second-generation TV Live shortly after its Fall 2009 launch. It wouldn't play DRM content from Amazon Un­box or the iTunes Store, but it handled pretty much every video and audio file format in our collection. A tiny remote, Ethernet port, HDMI 1.3, 1080p, S/PDIF, component, and composite support clinched the deal. The 10-foot UI was functional but Spartan. We liked the support for media services, such as Flickr, YouTube, and Pandora (with varying degrees of functionality), but found the lack of Hulu and Netflix to be obvious omissions. WD's new TV Live Plus model keeps everything we loved about the original. It also has no storage,   but it features USB 2.0 ports for USB flash or hard drives with stored media. You can stream content directly across your network if you choose not to use additional storage. We recommend an 802.11n or wired connection for streaming HD video. Netflix streaming is the major new feature on TV Live Plus. However, you can also manage your Instant Queue without logging into a computer. The other big feature gives you the ability to navigate DVD menus on ISO images of DVDs. That means you can mount an ISO image of a DVD and use it like a physical disc. Firsthand experience dic­tates that moving all your physical DVD media from the TV room into the ga­rage will please your significant other, create space, and provide instant access to your film library. Overall, TV Live Plus is an incremen­tal improvement over the prior, already decent model. The quiet and very small hardware plays everything we care about with ease, and it's reasonably priced. We'd like to see USB 3.0 support, a backlit remote, bundled 802.11 n, Hulu support, and a prettier UI in the next iteration, please

 

by William Van Winkle