WD's New Network Media Center Offers 1TB HDD

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This "media hub" can only be purchased locally at Best Buy.

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.

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.

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Kevin Parrish
Kevin Parrish
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.

9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • tuch92
    I can build one just as well for same price and more functionality.
    Reply
  • joytech22
    What do you mean? they sell them here in dick smiths with the 1TB drive, i think it's the same thing based off info from the text.

    Note: Dick smiths is a real store in Australia and New Zealand.
    Reply
  • agnickolov
    joytech22What do you mean? they sell them here in dick smiths with the 1TB drive, i think it's the same thing based off info from the text.Note: Dick smiths is a real store in Australia and New Zealand.Read more carefully - the article explicitly states that the exclusivity deal with Best Buy is for USA only.
    Reply
  • dEAne
    I wish it is much bigger drive than 1Tb.
    Reply
  • also, the 1tb version has no ethernet connectivity... at least the one I saw for $249AUD didn't.
    Reply
  • sgvtech
    This uses the same chipset as the WDTV Live Plus... the Sigma 8654... the WDTV Live HUB also has a hardware installed RealTek Gigabit Ethernet port, but that Sigma Chipset does not support Gigabit...
    Reply
  • kelemvor4
    sgvtechThis uses the same chipset as the WDTV Live Plus... the Sigma 8654... the WDTV Live HUB also has a hardware installed RealTek Gigabit Ethernet port, but that Sigma Chipset does not support Gigabit...Does it support streaming from other network devices? if so, gig will be required for 1080p (I do it today with a PS3 and PC). If not, I don't see what you'd really need gigabit to the device for.
    Reply
  • sgvtech
    10/100 ethernet can stream 1080p very well in fact. I stream 10GB to 30GB 1080p high bitrate movie files just fine to my media players... Most of the time it is more than enough unless you are doing file transfering and not streaming or if you want to stream to multiple devices at the same time - that is when Gigabit would be recommended.
    Reply
  • Sgvtech: What configuration of equipment do you have? What media center do you have? I have a New Samsung TV/LCD (Wireless DLNA), lags when playing video over 700mb from NAS110. Lags even when all devices are connected to my network via Gigabit switch. I'm now looking for a new network media center, any suggestions? please email me: alexchetty@gmail.com
    Reply