Archive for the ‘reviews’ Category

Entertain Yourself: Jamo A 804 Speakers

In part 1 of our Entertain Yourself series we took a look at the Sony BRAVIA NX800 3D HDTV. It’s our pick for amazing picture quality, industrial design, and packs a wallop of future proof technologies to take you far beyond 2010. Tho the built-in speakers are a wonder in themselves we wanted dedicated speakers. Last year we came across the Jamo A 804 and have been in love ever since.

A beautiful television demands an equally beautiful speaker system. If you take a look at what’s available on the market, speakers are either 80’s industrial boxes or beautifully crafted modern exercises. The former is all performance with no thought to design and the latter is just the opposite, too much design with subpar acoustics. Is there a happy medium?

Take one look at the A 804 – it’s gorgeous! The piano black finish is accented with black leather; fluidic yet technical in appearance. The size is dominating but well suited to Sony’s new monolithic design aesthetic. It’s absolutely stunning and only enhances the entertainment area. Speakers don’t have to be hidden. They can be proudly displayed and the A 804 is more than capable of holding its own amongst the best hardware makers and designers in the industry.

Prior to installing the A 804, we were using a Yamaha Sound Bar which we LOVE. The simulated 5.1 audio system is just the ticket for something better than stereo. The A 804 can function as a single, double, or a full on 5+ speaker setup and it’s the versatility that’ll make any audio guru happy. Unlike other speaker systems, you don’t need a full blown out package to get massive sound. We only have two A 804’s and a subwoofer and we’re more than elated. You will need a receiver to drive the speakers. We’re using a Pioneer model but even when hooked up to a small Denon unit, the sound was full, crisp, and balanced between the high, mids, and lows.

The A 804 is a 3-way, bassreflex speaker. The rigid cabinet constructed from high-gloss, lacquered aluminum, steel and high-density polymer results in a stable, non-resonant cabinet with very clean sound reproduction. One of the secrets of the A 804 lies in its flow-optimized bass port, which delivers extremely clean bass, even at high volume. The silk dome midrange/tweeter is a Jamo developed co-axial unit featuring WaveGuide technology. The clever three-way construction of the A 804 produces a perfect sound dispersion pattern, giving you maximum freedom when positioning your flatscreen, surround system and sofa. Its hard to visualize but sit anywhere around the TV and you never hear the sound drop off. It’s continuous and rich from the farthest corner of our seating arrangement. Sitting dead center is no longer the hottest seat in the house. Everyone gets to enjoy the almost pliable audio experience.

Designer: Jamo (Buy it here)

Review: HP MediaSmart Server EX495

Short Version: HP sure knows how to make a Windows Home Server. The company has been at it for years now and the latest model does just about everything better than the previous models. That’s how it’s suppose to be.

Cons

• Overpriced for storage size
• HP software bordering on bloatware status

Features

• Intel Pentium Dual Core 2.5 GHz 64-bit CPU
• 1.5 TB of included hard drive space
• OS X Time Machine support
• HP Media Collector
• MSRP of $699

Review:

If you’ve been following along with previous versions of the HP MediaSmart Server, you know what the device does. It runs Microsoft’s Windows Home Server, but HP equipped it with a slightly different user interface to make it accessible to the non-tech crowd. Nearly anyone looking for a backup and central storage solution should be able to use this guy.

Instead of the stark WHS setup screen, new users can use HP’s software pack that guides them through setting up remote backups, assigning permissions to users, and finding media spread out over a network. It still has the same media collecting, iPhone-streaming and transcoding software in previous models, but the Media Collector works a lot better on Macs now.

What is new is the dramatically more powerful machine and better OS X support.The latest builds also ditches low voltage, and low power, CPUs in favor of a 2.5 GHz Dual Core Pentium. Boy does it help, too. I’ve been using WHS for a while now and it’s just not a backup device for me.

My torrent client lives on the box and unRARing huge files takes time on an Atom or Celeron processor, but the Pentium speeds things up a lot. The 2GB of memory also helps dramatically when running, let’s say, a torrent client, a couple of DLNA servers, and iTunes for the Home Sharing function. The hardware updates made this server a respectable little box.

HP started with the OS X support last January, but it wasn’t the greatest. The backup didn’t allow for a full restore and users still had to search out third-party solutions to access the device remotely via OS X.

But no more. Now OS X can be fully backed up and restored just like a PC by using a separate restore disc. It works just like it’s supposed to and is a valid alternative to Apple’s own backup device, the Time Capsule.

Plus, the server now ships with a OS X WHS management tool. It’s essentially a repacked remote desktop client, but it gets the job done. Because of these updates, an HP MediaSmart server can live comfortably on an all-Mac network.

All this extra software HP has thrown in is bordering on intrusive though. Window Home Server is an amazing system all by itself and anyone that’s been around computers for a while should be able to use it without any extra help. The HP stuff is cool, but to be honest, I never used it past simple testing.

I would love to see an installation or setting to turn off the HP software, but that won’t happen. HP needs to justify why its servers cost a bunch more than other option, which is really my only beef with the EX495. It’s too expensive for the amount of storage you get.

Outside of the extra HP software that a lot of people might not use and the more powerful hardware, you can get countless other WHS for far less. It seems obvious to me that the most important buying point of a file server is the storage capacity. You can expand the storage capacity to nearly anything you want with the HP MediaSmart line, but for $699 I expect to start with more than 1.5TB. The Acer easyStore costs $389 at Newegg and comes with a 1TB drive installed. For $750 you can build a 5TB system around the Acer using 2TB hard drives, which is a lot better deal if can live without the extra HP software (you probably can).

The HP MediaSmart EX495 is a quality rig. I don’t have anything against the system besides the aforementioned pricing. If you don’t mind paying a premium for software, buy it without hesitation.

Product Page: HP MediaSmart EX495

Giveaway: Want this server? Well, not this used one, but rather a brand new one? Yeah, I have one to give away. Click over to this post for all the details.

Review: Astro Boy

Note the “Western Eyes”
Short Version
Trust me. Paranormal Activity sucks. Go see Astro Boy if you have to see something this week or weekend.

A Real Boy
The original Astro Boy aka Tensuwan Atomu was created in 1952 by Osamu Tezuka as a reaction to post-war technological advances and the swift industrialization of the island nation (see also Godzilla). This is not really that original Astro Boy. The plot in this update is pretty wonky: there’s this boy named Toby and his dad, Dr. Tenma (the voice Nicolas Cage), a scientist for the Ministry of Science for Metro City, a city that floats over the barren wasteland that is now Earth. Robots help out the humans by washing stuff for them but humans are like “Robots aren’t people” and there’s essentially robo-apartheid. Tenma meets up with his buddy Dr. Elefun, some dude with red and blue space stones. The blue one is the good one and it contains boundless good energy. Elefun wants to use the blue one to clean up the Earth. Then there’s the red one, which is the evil stone. And the President wants them both to make weapons. Spoiler: The President is a douche.

The President is trying to blow up the surface-dwellers with something called the Peacemaker, a big robot. The President wants those balls and so he steals the red one and things go awry. Toby runs into a room where they’re testing the robot and Toby gets vaporized, Dr. Tenma gets totes sad, and you get these weird questions from your kids where they ask “What happened to Toby” and you’re all like “Oh, he went away.” So then Tenma makes a new Toby, powered on the blue orb, and discovers that although he’s made an exact replica of Toby, robots aren’t the same as humans (although popular Japanese culture and the Tenga Flip Hole clearly state otherwise). So Tenma kicks Toby aka Astro Boy out of his house. Astro goes to earth, meets some people, and saves the world.

So Is It Any Good?

Imagi Animation Studios made this movie and it’s definitely no Pixar family treat. Compared to another CG-frenzy I recently saw, G-Force, I’d say this is considerably better than the abysmal Madgascar and not as good as the recent Ice Age. Thankfully there is enough coolness in the film to keep the attention of the three-year-old boy while still allowing his father to not want to check his iPhone every minute.

As I said in the short version if you’ve exhausted every movie idea for this month, Astro Boy is good enough to stand alone as well as introduce kids to the world of manga. The story is well-paced and intelligible and except for Toby totally going up in a red mist there is very little violence.

Bottom Line
A good placeholder movie before the holiday blockbusters roll in. It’s not quite indie but it almost has that indie feel and it isn’t as saccharine as some other recent kids movies.

Apple iMac Review: 27 Inches and Less Chin [Apple]

In the 10+ years since the iMac was born as Apple’s simple computer, it’s become visibly less of a computer and more of a display. And what a screen this new iMac has.

But First, Simplicity

This 1998 ad with Jeff Goldblum narrating implies there are two physical steps to setting up an iMac. They skipped the mouse and keyboard cable, though. Today, an iMac is set up using just one power cable, depending on wireless networking and bluetooth peripherals to get the rest done.

The LCD

The 27-inch iMac’s screen is the thing to focus on in this revision. It is practically as bright (and more contrasty) than any of the previous iMacs—even Cinema Displays—and it looks astounding. It’s LED-driven so it comes to full luminescence immediately and takes up less power. It also has better side-to-side viewing angle as an IPS tech monitor; like the iMac 24 before it, it goes 178 degrees without much change in color accuracy or brightness. And here’s the kicker: Although it has 19% more area of LCD than the old 24-incher, it has an astounding 60% more pixels. That makes it more pixel dense than any of the Cinema Displays at 109ppi. And with a 2560×1440 resolution it has 90% of the dot count of a 30-inch cinema display. All these stats are great. They sound great, and they make for a powerful picture. But the actual view of the screen leaves me with a positive—but slightly imperfect—impression.

The default brightness is a bit much, but of course you can turn it down. And the contrast is welcome; even my new 13-inch MacBook Pro looks yellowed and washed out next to it. But at this pixel density, which is sharper than my notebook, it’s almost too sharp, requiring me to sit closer than I would ordinarily do with a 27 inch display. I like the feeling of crispness — 16% crisper than the last generation. But my eyes feel like the pictures are being delivered by a land shark holding a laser pointer straight into my corneas, and I can feel the strain within minutes. I would have to jack up as many font sizes as possible or sit as close as I do to my MacBook to make it work for long long periods of time. Maybe I’m just a wimp of a geek, but I’ve never been sensitive to these sorts of things on any sort of machinery before.

This is the iMac next to a 13-inch MBP and a Dell 2407 24-inch monitor. The iMac’s screen puts both to shame in brightness and clarity.

That’s what two full sized 1080p trailers look like on this screen.

Apple is making a big deal of the fact this screen is 16:9. I think it looks better in this wider iteration, but it’s not an epic jump since the last gen was 16:10. You’re losing vertical pixel count here, on both the 21.5 and 27-inch models, despite added diagonal inches. Also, the glass cover is now edge to edge, without the thin silver rim around it, on the top and sides. It’s still glossy and very very reflective, despite being covered in anti-reflective coating.

I will feel guilty for mentioning this, because it’s ever so slight, but I’ll feel more guilty if I don’t mentioning it to you: The screen, when it’s white, has the tiniest bit of blotchiness to it. The backlighting is slightly uneven in my model. It had no impact on viewing quality once the screen was filled with an image other than one of pure white, so don’t sweat it.

My previous comparison to the 30-inch Cinema Display wasn’t for academic purposes, either. One of the most interesting features on the new iMac is that it can use its Mini DisplayPort (normally an output) as an input; that is, it can become a secondary display for notebooks or other devices. Factor in the near-identical specs to the 30-inch Cinema Display, most notably its updated LED screen, and you have absolutely no reason to buy a 30-inch Cinema Display when you can have this—but not just yet.

Eager to test this shit and be the first to the internet with an image of an Xbox linked into an iMac (”World’s collide!” would be the headline, I decided), I ordered a monoprice Mini-DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter. Unfortunately, I discovered that the inputs would not work with a PS3 or Xbox at any res, HD or otherwise. The current adapters on the market are unidirectional, I was told, and so they won’t work to take HDMI sources and pipe them into the iMac. I’m sure someone is making a cable as we speak for this very abominable purpose of piping in Microsoft gaming to a desktop Mac—but it’s not here yet. (New cables, by the way, will include audio, which the iMac is capable of taking through its connector and the iMac is able to display video sources up to its native resolution.) The issue is, this could take months. That’s a long time, so don’t buy an iMac planning to use it with a gaming console or Blu-ray player right away.

Using it with a laptop was an interesting situation. Odd, for sure, but a welcome bonus and an obvious use. Here’s how it works. You plug in a Mini-DisplayPort-to-Mini-DisplayPort cable to the iMac, which must be turned on (unlike Sony’s all-in-one, which works while off.) The iMac flickers for a second and the laptop’s picture replaces the iMac’s. Here’s where it gets sort of weird. When the iMac is acting as a monitor, the keyboard and mouse are all blocked from working, except a few keys: The pause/play, FF, RR, volume controls and brightness keys all work. They won’t display the typical volume/brightness/FF/whatever iconography, because you’re actually still looking at your MacBook. You can actually then use your iMac as a display for one computer while listening to music on another—but why would you want to? And if you were playing a game with an Xbox, you’d be listening to the game. To toggle between the iMac and the external source, you hit Command+F2.

(*The 21.5-inch iMac is not as sharp or impressive as the 27, but a fine evolution nonetheless; see chart)

Oh, one more thing: The LED display is also thinner than the traditional panel. Even so, when combined with the extra width and height, Apple’s designers are given adequate room to play with the layout and thermal properties of the iMac. Which brings us to the chassis and internals.

The Chassis

The iMac’s chassis went from all plastic to aluminum and glass in 2007. The first aluminum models were stamped out in car factories because no computer factories could work with aluminum pieces that big. Now, the iMac has even more aluminum in them with bigger cases and a seamless wraparound back made of metal instead of the black plastic cap. Despite the loss of the slimming effect of a black plastic back, the computer’s dimensions work in its favor; it’s about 1mm thinner and obviously wider, so it still feels undoubtedly skinny.

Oh, and the stand is tapered by 1.1mm on its front (as is Apple’s wont), to further hide volume.

Aside from the more flattering aspect ratios, the chin—one of the only giveaways that this is not just a screen but a computer—has shrunk by 22%. It looks much better, in my opinion. The case’s bigger size affects its internal layout, too. Apple and iFixit brought several of these details to my attention.

The most important changes are that the GPU and CPU are placed at nearly opposite ends of the case, with their own heatsinks to throw off copious heat with three very quiet fans. (The iMac’s sound profile at idle, for a stock build, is still just a whisper, less than 20db.)

Ports: The back of the case has a Mini DisplayPort, 4 USB 2.0 ports, power plug (the machine’s only wire), Firewire 800, minijack/optical input and output, and Gigabit Ethernet. There’s Bluetooth 2.1 EDR wireless with which the mouse and keyboard interface, and 802.11 N Wi-Fi. Although the entire case is aluminum, the antenna has been cleverly hidden in a plastic Apple logo top center on the back. Reception is a touch stronger than on my notebook.

The iChat camera and microphone (the latter of which is made up of about a dozen closely-grouped pinprick holes, like on the MacBook Pro) are situated on the top of the iMac. And despite the new model’s height they sound fine (if not a touch more distant because of the height) when compared to previous models. The top mount for the microphone keeps the sound from the new, more powerful two-way speakers from interfering with it; measured using a song and SPL meter, my notebook came in at 70db and the iMac at 76db at sitting distance. Louder, richer and noticeably so than a laptop, though I didn’t have an iMac 24 on hand to compare with.

The larger case allows the iMac to use four sticks of user-serviceable RAM, accessible from the bottom. (That’s useful futureproofing now that OS X Snow Leopard is shipping, and programs and the OS in 64-bit can address more than 4GB at a time.)

How About Performance?

The iMac I’m testing is a 3.06GHz Core2Duo processor with 4GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon 4670 graphics. Those are decent parts but not the highest-end quad-core i5/i7 chips or ATI Radeon 4850 GPU that will ship in iMacs in November. More importantly, the machine I have here that is shipping now is about on par with higher-end, custom-order machines from the last generation. The system benchmarks I ran earlier this week indicate that everything performs practically the same. And since we don’t have a Core i5/i7 machine to work with, I’ve included Apple’s approximations of how much boost the iMac will get from those parts — obviously, many grains of salt are necessary when reading, especially when measuring value of extra CPU cores as literal multipliers when most software still can’t leverage those channels efficiently.

As for 3D, Maclife has some framerate scores from Doom 3 and Call of Duty that are not by any means exact but somewhat representative of the machine I’m using today. But again, the bottom line is that this machine that I have, shipping today, is not faster than machines equipped similarly from the last generation—they’re just cheaper for any given performance point.

But again, even if you wait for the higher end machines, there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to access most of that extra power. Snow Leopard hasn’t seen many apps, besides the ones that ship with it that can take advantage of its multicore CPU and GPU technologies. Programs will come, but immediate speed gains aren’t guaranteed here if you buy the quad-core machines.

Here’s an exception: Those Core i5/i7 chips are also clocked slower than the Core 2 Duo chips on the lower-end machines, but have the ability to run single core applications at a greater clock speed. Since all four cores won’t be burning, the chip uses the spare electricity and the extra thermal overhead to dynamically and automatically overclock the core that is working: The i5 chip goes from 2.66GHz to 3.2GHz and the 2.8GHz i7 chip goes to 3.46GHz (with 4 cores that run hyperthreaded for up to 8 virtual cores.)

Sounds fast, but we’ll dive into deeper tests in November. For now, you should be aware that if your desktop is less than 18 months old, you’d be somewhat silly to upgrade before the highest end chips from this generation of iMac are out.

What Else You Got?

The iMac replaces its old mouse with the new Magic Mouse, with a multitouch surface and 360 degree scrolling and swiping, almost like the gestures you find on a Macbook trackpad. I’ve said it before: I primarily use Laptops because I love trackpads. The gestures, fingertip precision and proximity to the keyboard make it a must have, and this mouse fixes some of those issues. (*Jason Chen reviewed the mouse and liked it but it was not without flaws. Read that if you’re considering buying an iMac, because it’s the only option Apple offers.)

The one detail I found problematic specifically with the Magic Mouse as it pertains to the 27-inch iMac is that even when the pointer sensitivity is set to the highest level, a swipe of the wrist at a moderately fast speed goes only 2/3 across the giant pixel landscape. Only by whipping my hand across my mouse pad can I trigger enough mouse acceleration to get across the screen. They should turn up the sensitivity, frankly. Software update please!

The keyboard is also changed, going from the old wired numeric keyboard, which was stamped out of the screen cutout of the chassis, with a keypad-less wireless Bluetooth model. Apple states that the keyboard’s narrow profile makes it a better fit next to the mouse. I think it also makes sense as a remote control for the computer from afar when watching media, since this is the biggest iMac ever that doubles as a monitor. But it looks a little small and out of proportion with the machine itself, since the Mac got wider and the keyboard got shorter.

Oh, the white plastic remote that used to ship with all the laptops, AppleTV and iMacs has been replaced by an elliptical, aluminum remote with black rubber buttons. It’s longer, and shaped like an iPod nano but no longer comes with the iMac. It costs $19. I think when you buy a computer that is this expensive, they should THROW IN THE DAMN REMOTE.

Competitive Check

There are other all-in-ones from PC makers, but at the moment, none as large or high-res as the iMac 27. The ones from Sony (like the L) and HP have various extras like IR touchscreens, glowing monitor bodies, TV tuners and Blu-ray drives. Some are pretty decent, like the Touchsmart we just reviewed. If these things matter to you and you are not married to the Mac platform, you might consider them. But that touchscreen functionality is still half-baked, so don’t do it for the groping potential.

Value

The sweet spot is the $1200 21.5-inch config. But don’t upgrade that model beyond base without seriously considering the big bad 27-incher for $1700. And don’t upgrade that one at all without considering the quad-core models; both look very promising at $2000 or $2200. Basically, the custom builds are not a great value until you get to the quads. Go cheapest, 27, or quad. But cautious folks will wait on the quads ’til we test them.

There’s another angle here, too. Again, comparing the 27-inch iMac to the old as hell 30-inch Cinema Display makes those standalone monitors look like a pretty bad value when it costs only $100 more for just 10% more pixels—and, hey, it’s also not a computer.

Nerds, Sheathe Thy Wallet If You Can

Although the quad core benchmarks aren’t here yet, I think you’ve got enough information here to make an adult decision on whether to go cheap or double your price for something faster and bigger. It’s not like those new chips will be slower. But waiting a month on a new internal layout, design and screen is a great way to let Apple shake out whatever inevitable hiccups are there at the start of a new run. Plus, if Snow-Leopard-specific apps make their way to market (hello, <Handbrake!) and some performance scores come out in the meantime, hey, cool.

Big beautiful screen is super high res and bright.

Chassis design evolving to new heights of beauty; less chin.

Faster parts not out yet; current components available in previous generation.

No Blu-ray player, touchscreen or other things that aren’t important to me, but may be important to you. Maybe.

Review: WD TV Live HD Media Player

Short Version: Western Digital’s newest addition to its growing lineup of media players, the WD TV Live, essentially picks up where its older sibling (the great WD TV) left off. With the newly added networking capabilities via a built-in Ethernet port or USB Wi-Fi adapter (sold separately), the WD TV Live has taken Western Digital’s little black box to the next level. Be it photos, music, video (encoded with just about any codec under the sun), or the newly added access to YouTube, Flickr, Pandora, and Live365, the WD TV Live can handle just about any kind of media thrown its way. Overall, it is a highly capable, easy to use, and relatively affordable all-around high definition media player.

Long Version: The original WD TV HD Media Player was a great first attempt by Western Digital. Unfortunately, the lack of network and Internet access made the device less desirable to a large group of potential customers. Fortunately, WD seems to have listened to the growing community of WD TV fans while putting the new WD TV Live together and has added network and Internet connectivity features.

Hardware:

Although the WD TV Live is technically a new device, in reality it’s just a moderate overhaul of its aging sibling, the original WD TV. As such, I will try to focus more on the new changes than on the features that have remained the same.

Besides the newly added network and Internet connectivity, the most noticeable difference between the old and new WD TV Live is the actual color of the device. Where the original was clad in dust-loving, fingerprint attracting shiny black plastic, the new Live comes sporting an arguably more sleek, matte charcoal gray finish.

The device measures 1.57″ x 3.94″ x 4.94″ and weighs in at 0.67 lbs. It includes two USB ports (one on the side, one on the back), one HDMI 1.3 port, optical audio out, Ethernet, composite out, and component output. The included mini remote (below) is identical to the original version and the AC adapter is relatively small and self-contained (i.e. no power “brick”). Besides the remote and power adapter, the device also ships with composite and component cables (HDMI, optical audio, and USB storage devices sold separately). The WD TV Live is also compatible with various “universal” remotes such as Logitech’s Harmony series.

Installation:

Installing the WD TV Live couldn’t be much easier (assuming you’re using an HDMI cable). Once you’ve attached the little sticky rubber feet to the bottom of the unit, simply plug-in the AC power adapter, attach the HDMI cable to the device and your HDTV, and insert any variety of USB storage (i.e. external hard drive or flash drive) into the side and/or the back USB port(s). That’s it. Now fire up your beautiful TV, hit power on the included WD TV Live remote, and voila…you’ve got an HD media player at your service.

Interface / Functionality:

Just like the old WD TV interface, the slightly updated UI is reminiscent of many media player apps (think Windows Media Center, XBMC, etc). Essentially, you are presented with a visual navigation system to choose between video, photos, music, and system settings. Instead of trying to explain all the various screens and options, here’s a not-so-brief (kinda unnecessarily long) video overview of some of the features:

One thing I forgot to include in the video is the new “preview” mode, which joins the previously included List, Thumbnail, and Search modes. The preview feature allows you to see a file’s info (such as size, type, etc) while also showing/playing a clip of the video, photo, or audio track. This is nice, for example, if your media files are poorly labeled or if you can’t quite remember which was the last episode of Arrested Development you had watched.

Another “oops! I forgot” feature is the newly added ability to copy, move or delete files between connected USB storage drives and/or networked storage/computers. This is really handy if, like me, your DVD ripping machine (i.e. your PC) resides in room X but your WD TV Live is set up in room Y; now you can simply move your latest media files from your machine to your attached USB storage right over the network (with some patience, especially over Wi-Fi).

As for compatibility, the WD TV Live supports the following (enormous list of) file types:

• 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
• Photo – JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, PNG
• Audio – MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby Digital, DTS
• Playlist – PLS, M3U, WPL
• Subtitle – SRT, ASS, SSA, SUB, SMI

Conclusion:

The WD TV Live is a definite improvement over its older sibling (the non-Live). If you are looking for an HD media solution that will play pretty much every type of media known to man (see the list above), has a very small physical footprint, network/Internet connectivity, and has limitless storage (i.e. its only limited by the amount of storage you own), then you really can’t do much better than the WD TV Live HD media player.

For those of you who love lists, here is a quick recap of all the highlights and improvements found in the new media player:

• Faster – boot-up, thumbnail loading, and overall operation
• Network access – access content over your home network via Ethernet or USB Wi-Fi adapter
• Internet – access content from YouTube, Flickr, Pandora, and Live365
• Firmware updates – update the media player’s firmware directly over the Internet
• File management – transfer files between USB storage devices, pull files off the network, and delete unwanted files
• Preview mode – in addition to List and Thumbnail views, Preview mode shows the file’s information and plays the media
• Component video – new connection choice in addition to HDMI and Composite
• Color – new matte charcoal casing

As good as the new WD TV Live is, there is still room for improvement. I’d love to see future firmware updates bring Netflix ‘Watch Now’ functionality, access to sites like Hulu, the ability to navigate by ‘chapter’ like on a DVD (with VOB, MKV, etc), and even some sort of Internet browser a la Opera on the Wii. In terms of future hardware improvements, it would be nice if the device had Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built-in, thereby providing an even better network/Internet experience and the ability to use a keyboard with the hypothetical Internet browser. And a physical on/off button built into the WD TV would be handy if you (temporarily) lose your remote (read: there are NO actual buttons/controls on the device itself).

Nonetheless, for $149.99 MSRP (or cheaper somewhere on the ‘Net) the WD TV Live HD Media Player is a highly capable and worthwhile addition to most anyone’s media center. One caveat: if you’ve already got a PS3 and/or XBOX 360 (I have neither), then you are probably one of the few who wouldn’t benefit much from the WD TV Live. In any case, with increases in speed, utility, and functionality, the WD TV Live is definitely a welcome addition to WD’s line of HD media players and a worthy successor to the original WD TV. For more, check out the new WDTVLive.com.

« Older Entries