Best Buy has an exclusive deal with Western Digital to carry the latter company's new WD TV Live Hub media center here in the States.
Announced on Tuesday, the WD TV Live Hub media center is a network-capable media player providing Full HD 1080p playback and 1 TB of HDD storage. It will essentially bring the Internet to your TV, offering subscription-based services such as Blockbuster On Demand and Netflix. Users can also access popular websites such as Facebook, YouTube videos, Pandora Internet Radio, NBC, MTV and more.
As a media player, the device supports video formats such as .mkv, .mp4, and .mov. Consumers can transfer media from PCs and Macs across the network or directly from external hard drives, USB sticks, camcorders or cameras connected via one of the two USB ports. The WD TV Live Hub can also work as a server, streaming media to DLNA/UPnP-compatible devices such as Blu-ray disc players, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and even Apple and Android devices using a third-party app.
"With the WD TV Live Hub media center, consumers can take their home entertainment experience to the next level, streaming personal content to multiple rooms at the same time, so they can play a Netflix video on their HDTV screen in the family room, while sharing vacation slideshows on the computer in their home office," said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD's branded products group.
The device is compatible with most TV sets thanks to an HDMI 1.4, composite video and component video output jacks. Other features include automatic synchronization of shared content from a PC or Mac, a programmable remote, a customizable user interface, and more.
The WD TV Live Hub is now available worldwide, however U.S residents can only purchase the device for $199.99 USD at Best Buy (online and its 1,093 North American locations) or wdstore.com.
