Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player - WDAVN00BN

Pros: Simple interface, delivers quality picture/sound, upgradeable, expandable. Cons: Occassionally it is sluggish to respond. Must use remote. Occasional lip sync issue. It works as advertised. Upgrade the firmware at support.wdc.com for best results. At first, my remote was not responding, and I had to turn it upside-down. Placing the rubber legs underneath helped. Lip sync issues with some of my downloaded Xvids--not sure why as they work fine played on my computer. Newest firmware (1.02.07) fixes a lot of complaints in other reviews, such as better subtitle control.
 
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Yup - this box is awesome. It plays all the formats that you might need: vob, avi, mpeg4. I encode video using divx4 and it plays it well. It also understands .sub and .srt subtitle files. Slide-show for the photos is a bit slow, I still prefer to display photos from my PC over DVI-HDMI connection. The movies playing from this box look great though, way better then over DVI-HDMI from the PC. I downloaded a couple of hi-def videos and those looked very good as well.
 
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I had a media server and a wireless media extender. Only played a few formats and was prone to network congestion. Then I happened upon this product. It is fantastic. Copied all my media to an external 500GB drive, connected the HDMI cable to my big screen and voila! Easy to navigate, superior picture quality. I love this thing. Bye bye, server!
 
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This product is awesome. I attached a 500 GB hard drive with 85 ripped movies to the Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player - WDAVN00BN. This device performed flawlessly for every movie that I played through it. The menu system on this device is by the most part very intuitive. Make sure to upgrade this device with the latest firmware. I believe this product will meet your expectation if you are looking for a simple network (Ethernet) free device that will play your stored audio/video/photo collection that's stored on an external USB hard drive. I have tried other media player devices in the past. Each one I ended up returning to the vendor. The Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player - WDAVN00BN is a keeper.
 
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PROs: I was very please with the performance of this device. The WD TV Media Player surprised me by playing a VOB file that was in an ISO image; it mounted the iamge and played it w/o a flaw. It also was able to play MKV, TS, and x264 formats. CONs: On rare occasions, when the player could not play an image, it would freeze and you had to hit 'Back' key to get out of it.
 
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Easy to setup and easy to use. Perfectly suits my needs. All you need is to load your videos, pics, and musics, and play. As easy as 1-2-3. Be sure to upgrade the firmware to avoid some issues in video playback. I had some issues with sub-titles and sounds. The upgrade solved them.
 
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The WDTV has made watching HD content on my TV very easy. It plays everything I throw at it and is simple enough to use that my technically friends can use it without any trouble. The only shortcoming is that there is no 'skip to' choice, just fast forward, and on a few of the movies I've played the fast forward would not work. If you have a lot of TV shows and Movies on your computer that you watch on a regular basis this is a must buy. I also no longer need to hook my laptop up to my TV to watch my movies/shows any more.
 
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This is the perfect solution for getting video off my laptop and on to the big screen. It also beats the pants off of the wireless options. A great little product. A great value for the price. I wish it had a skip commercial option. Otherwise, it has performed flawlessly.
 
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Wow This product does blow a way other product that i use in past. the quality is an excellent i viewed in HD 1080p wow just like watching an original picture from bluray disk. alto price is kind high. if they drop little bit i will buy 3 more. and say good buy to DVD player's. i would give this product an A+ all the way.
 
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Works as advertised. Wish my flash drives would fit between the power and hdmi jacks without having to use a hub.
 
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I had a hard time initially getting the media player to work but once I bought the HDMI cable the player worked great, the movies looked just like being at the theater. I have a Samsung 61in DLP television and I was at the movies right in my own home.
 
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This product is awesome, I ordered a 2nd one. Note: aspect ratio of your avi's or video files will be the same on your TV. example: if you converted a dvd to avi in full screen mode it will appear in full screen mode as well. This item will play Mp4's.
 
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Unlike many of my recent electronic purchases, this thing does what it says and does it well. I wish that it would turn off the power to the connected USB drives when the unit turns off. Maybe in the next software upgrade WD? It would also be nice to be able to delete from the remote. I like the no fuss dealing with ethernet and media servers. You don't have to have your PC on and you can take this with you anywhere and have it hooked up in seconds.
 
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I have no complaints for this media player. Works right out of the box and scans, media flawlessly. Now its so easy to view snaps, video, and listen to music. Do not think twice, buy it you will not regret.
 
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Great Product. Plugged in my external hard drive,it took a few minutes to create menu(500GB hard drive),plugged HDMI from WD Media Player to TV, watched content. Now,I usually just use a flash drive because I have several hard drives and with the flash drive you don't have to wait for the menus to be created. Absolute plug'n'play.
 
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Just like I read in other reviews, this little player works the way it's supposed to. No problem so far. Plays most of the common video formats. Only thing to complain about is the response to remote sometimes a little slow, making me think that it did not accept the command, but it did. I'm using an old tv, not lcd or hd, and still I'm amazed at the quality of video, especially the 1080p movies that I played in .mkv format. Wish the Passport Hard Drive would power off when I turn off the power on the Media Player. But that's not a big deal. Wonderful player and would highly recommend this one.
 
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Whatever method you use to record or download movies, TV shows, etc., this device plays them back flawlessly. Given the size of other equipment attached to TVs these days, the small size of this player is an added advantage, as well as it RWY cable connection so it can share a cable if desired. The only negative is the tiny remote which can disappear between couch cushions. Consider setting up a universal remote.
 
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This product is awsome. I love it because It's can work and compartible & support with all type of files. Unfortunetly the cost is pretty cheap than other, easy to install and work with all external hard drive devices also delivery on time.
 
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This product works exactly as advertized. Take your usb drive, drop movies onto it, plug it in and watch. I use SnapStream to record TV to my computer. This lets me watch it where I want without networking/video senders/etc. This is by far the easiest method I've found (including video senders and networking), and as a usb device, you can drop a U-Tube video on a flash drive, plug it in and watch. Excellent product!
 
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Buy.com delivered this product VERY quickly. The Western Digital TV HD Media Center is a great product. After trying to stream to my laptop (connected to TV), I found video to be choppy at times and became very frustrated. The WDTV works directly from an attached USB drive. Performance is flawless. Out of the box the WDTV is able to read most formats. Video quality is superb. I love this device! No move streaming. No more DVD clutter.
 
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So I've been waiting for this exact product for years. I've shopped the d-link media players and read the reviews and talked to friends. . . all mixed or negative. Known people with modified xbox that worked well, but took a lot of skill and didn't have a slick interface. Plus it's pricy. Then I bought and tried an xbox 360. Pricy and didn't work. Wouldn't play video. I got this thing 3 weeks ago and it's near perfection. It was full plug and play. Totally slick and plays every single thing I've attempted to play so far. Highly recommended. Con: Fast forwarding takes some time. You can only go 16x. There are firmware upgrades available though. Advice: Use a thumbdrive to install upgrades, not a hard drive
 
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It is a very convenient way of playing your media on your HDTV, as well as on any other TV. It is easy as plug and play. Multi-format support. It works with any USB storage device. It is a good value for money! You can also carry it around and play your movies, music or pictures on the go. It is not meant to be a mobile media device, but its compact size is convenient if you want to take it with you on the go! You can take your movies, music or pictures anywhere.
 
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This is a great device. I can use it to display all my Photos and movies on my 62" HDTV. I have three different brands of external hard drives and they all work with no problems. The video looks great. The remote allows you to do zoom, rotation, slide show and other operations. Great price from Buy.Com
 
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I have been waiting for a device like this for a long time. It works great and was simple to setup and operate. Thanks WD!
 
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Delivers on all promises! Easy to use and setup. Connected to my HD Big screen via HDMI and my AV system via Optical and once I plugged in my Terabyte Drive, away she went. After a few minutes of automatically searching the drive, the systems remote allowed me to navigate to my music, photos and Videos with ease. This box is a winner all the way around and an unbelievable deal!
 
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I had been looking for a media player for awhile and had looked at the Iomega Screenplay and was close to buying it. I'm glad I didn't. This little box is wonderful, but it does have a couple of things that could be improved upon. The worst thing about it is the fast forward and reverse function (especially reverse) it is not very smooth. Many people have commented that it runs a little hot even when it is turned off. It would be nice if it ran a little cooler, but I think they made it run a little cooler with the most recent firmware update. Many people have advised keeping it unplugged when you are not using it, but that has its own issues. I initially had it plugged into the power outlet on the back of our amplifier and that worked well because it would power off and power on with the amp eliminating the need to plug and unplug each time we used it. However, you should know that if you do this the "bookmarking" will be lost on any programs that you have been watching but didn't finish so you will have to fast forward to the point where you were in the program when you last watched it. See my earlier comment about ff and rw and you can see where this will become tedious. I have now decided to leave it powered up all the time and it seems to run cool enough, but it isn't summer yet. The two usb ports are great because you can have a big HD for the programs, music, and photos you know you are going to want to have on there for awhile and you can use a thumb drive for shuttling programs you are going to watch and be done with. I would have liked for it to have an s-video out, but it doesn't and that's okay. Just saying it would have been nice. Another nice feature would be a delete function from the media player. We tend to watch TV shows on it and if you load up a full season or two then it is difficult to remember which episode you left off with. A delete function would make it a bit more DVR like. Oh yeah one last complaint. The box is clearly marketed as a video player with music and photo storage available, but the start-up menu for some unknown reason defaults to photos so you have to scroll to the video section practically every time you turn it on. No big deal, but just one of those things that makes you wonder why the designers did it that way. I hope I haven't dissuaded you from purchasing one of these, because it is really a wonderful little tool that has played almost everything I have thrown at it perfectly so far (one music video did not play the audio and I haven't spent any time figuring out why.) I just wanted you to be aware of its few flaws.
 
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This product is great I hooked it up right out the box pluged in my external hard drive and there it was full access to all the music,pictures and videos.
 
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It has been great so far. 1080p looks fantastic. plays 720p and 1080p MKVs with no problems. AVI, MP3, MP4 work flawless also. Been Great so far. No buttons on actual devise, so if you lose the remote you're screwed.
 
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I've been waiting for something like this forever. I've got two portable USB drives that I use all the time. Connecting them to the TV has always been an issue. I cannot believe it's finally here and for less than $100.
 
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The WD TV took over from the roomba as my favorite gadget ever. I wanted to get a DVD player for my extra TV and decided to get this instead. Amazingly, it works out of the box without need for a complicated setup. Video quality is great. So far, I've played vob and avi files from a thumb drive. You don't get the menu you'd get on DVDs but this thing will relegate DVD players to the scrap heap.
 
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This thing is awesome. Easy to set up and use. I set it up with a 1 Terabyte external hard drive that has all of my media on it. It definitely makes my new hd tv worth the money!
 
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I've been in the market for a Digital Media Player and I think no product offers as much for your buck! It plays almost every digital format and you have the choice of using Hi. Def. (1080p)or regular composite. Just plug and Play! Very easy to use! It could be used to carry your media around and plug it into almost any TV!
 
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I haven't been this excited about a piece of technology since the iPhone. This thing is AWESOME!
 
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This is best player that I bough so far
 
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I've had the product for a few weeks now. I use it all the time. The 'play from the place you left of the last time" sometimes does not work. Also, when you shutdown the unit it does not shutdown the WD passport drive. One has to remove the power cord in order to shutdown the harddrive. Other than that, i enjoy this unit and have been recommending it to other people.
 
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This is a great little device. I've used this to transfer my DVDs so that my kids can easily access and watch their movies. The price is right and it's easy to use. The fast forward is a little slow, but this is because I'm lazy and don't want to rip all the chapters of the DVD. I would highly receommend to anyone looking to simplify storing DVDs, pictures, music to one place.
 
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Mine shipped with the latest firmware so I didn't have to upgrade that. I've been using my HD upconverting DVD players with usb ports to play my video files but they wouldn't play HD material. Once I got tired of that I would hook up my laptop's HDMI port to my tv to watch my HD videos. Now I don't have to bother with either one of those. This little unit plays HD video beautifully. It's so tiny and portable. I just load up my usb thumb drive with my shows and I'm good to go.
 
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The Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player is one of the best products I've purchased. Well worth the price. I've downloaded many movies that came in .avi files. I'd have to go through the tedious process of conversion, then burning to a dvd in order to watch them on my hdtv. This would take hours at times. I bought it at BestBuy yesterday and connected it with ease to my hdtv in about 5 minutes. I loaded a movie in .avi format to a memory stick and plugged it into the player. The player immediately recognized the file and i was watching my movie instantly. No conversion...no burning. I simply enjoyed the process, and my movie. Great picture, great audio. Again, GREAT product
 
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This little interface is just what I've been looking for. It will save me time and space, storing all my videos and looking for them. Will be great on family trips too when we can watch movies in the van. WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE TELL ME ABOUT HIS BEFORE???? It's just what the Dr. ordered. Everyone should have one. I just happen to have enough external HD's on hand but those are getting cheaper and cheaper too.
 
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Fantastic gadget. Bought this because of all the (+) reviews and not disappointed. Ripped all my dvd movies(vob files)and now I can carry all my movies around the house. BUT I CAN"T use the next and prev button on the remote because it will stop the movie and start from the beginning . This is for all the vob files. Only the FF and R button works for the vob files. To clarify with the firmware you have to download the extracted files into the hard drive you are using. I tried using a 1 GB flash drive and went crazy looking for the firmware. Otherwise this is a very good gizmo to own.
 
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With this WDTV, I have finally found a low cost solution for playing back media files thru my home AV system! It has played every audio & video file I have thrown at it, the GUI, while not super fancy is quite nice & functions very well. I can now fill up an external hard drive with my music & video collection & have a cool way to manage it all. It even plays FLAC & ogg files!! For those who do not need a networking media player, this is the one to get. Thanks to Western Digital (& buy.com) for a great little gizmo.
 
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Very easy to use out of the box. Put movies in the passport, connect the passport HD to the media player and start watching whatever is on the hard drive! Excellent product and a great value. The menu system is clear and easy to navigate. My parents love it! Good value, great product!
 
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Excellent - for the money this is an excellent choice for putting your captured video on the TV. Much cheaper then Apple TV but gives you the same ability. I am glad I made this purchase and have no regrets.
 
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It's a great little device and well worth the money. I have connected by HDMI and RCA and both work fine. Very small footprint and unobtrusive.
 
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This thing is amazing. Rip regular dvds and blue rays, even as ISO images, to a USB hard drive and play it on any TV or projector. No need for a Blue Ray burner and crazy expensive blank disks and a dedicated Blue Ray player to watch your 1080P stuff on a High Def. TV.
 
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Setup was very easy and completed in 2 minutes. Literally just plug it in and away you go. Buy.com as always shipped it for free and on time. Very quiet. Excellent buy. Recongnized all type of media files on my external HD. Remote works well.
 
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I have bought and subequently returned several 'media players' over the years, most of them HP or Linksys. The networking aspect of them really appealed to me, but ended up being being their downfall, along with limiting media formats, no HDMI and/or no digital audio and shakey menus. This little unit, for less than half the price of one of those is perfect for me. No network lag or connectivity issues, handles any format I care about and most importantly, it is digital video AND audio in one cable. (HDMI) Pros: - It is small, shiny black (I have mostly Samsung components so they match) and easy to use. - No buttons on the front for my 2 year old to mess with. (she turns off the cable box a lot and we lose scheduled recordings). - With the firmware update, it has all the features I need/use. - Portable storage is cheap, so space is unlimited. Cons: - The menu system is kind of laggy. Sometimes you push a button and it doesnt respond. Sometimes you push a button (on the remote) and it responds a few seconds later (of course by then you've pushed the button twice and get unexpected results). Eventually, just like the toilet handle you have to jiggle just right, you get used to it. - While the unit is nice and small, it is also light. What does this mean? Well, HDMI cables are rigid. USB cables can be rigid. You get 1xHDMI, 1xUSB and the power cord coming out of the back and another USB coming out of the side, and getting that thing to lay down nicely on the shelf (or on top of the Wii in our case) is near impossible. You almost have to tape or velcro it down to get it level....or strap a weight to the top. In summary, this is the first 'keeper' I've seen. How do I use it? Well, having a 2 year old, the videos are accumulating. Veggie Tales, Sign Language DVD, Little People, etc etc... Never know what she wants to watch and swapping out DVDs gets annoying. ripped them all to my external HDD and now its a flick of the remote. Awesome! NOTE: Don't worry about the unit not having buttons and losing the remote. Most decent universal remotes can be programmed to control it. Cheers!
 
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I bought this few days back it's really good.It's bit expensive if it comes to $60 it will be good.
 
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I bought this to replace a DLink Media Server 320 that alway drove me crazy with loss of the wireless signal. The WD Media Server is similar in function but the use of portable hard drives makes it much more responsive to commands and I have had no interruption in music or videos. It's simple to hook up and use. I find the best way to locate music in my large collection is through the folder approach. The search function is a little lacking, but you can rapidly scroll through folders (e.g., using the Itunes file structure) to find artists/albums. Excellent sound quality and it plays many video formats without problem.
 
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I needed a gadget like this to eliminate a DVR a TIVO and Running media thru my XBOX 360 this did that and more. Now all of my movies, tv shows animations even home videos and pictures play smoothly into my big screen via HDMI. and my Audio yes even my FLAC recordings stream nicely to my Home theater receiver via toslink. the cons of this item. 1. MKV support via framrate is laggy at best and the built in software encoder wont format MKV to AVI why would you want that anyway. Hopefully a few more updates will fix the MKV problem. 2nd the Screen sixe when set to Auto does not always provide the optimmum picture but with playing around with the settings between the show and the TV you can get a nice picture that fits the screen. Other then that I cannot find anything wrong with this. it solved many problems media wise is small and works like a charm, updating the firmware was as easy as an Xbox update.
 
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It fixed a playing problem and adds the much needed 10 minute forward/reverse. http://www.wdc.com/en/products/wdtv/ also http://www.slashgear.com/western-digital-released-firmware-10101-for-wd-tv-hd-media-player-2227507/
 
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