My New WDTV - It Is Magically Magnificent

Great looking little black box, same size as Roku2. Hooked to Ethernet and downloaded new firmware which it detected and started downloading first thing. The download took only a couple of minutes and updating a couple more. My Roku2 and my Vizio had HDMI compatibility problems so I am anxious to see if WD will have the same problem. The good news is, WD has a composite feed in case of problems. It is an odd looking composite feed with one small plug into WD and three standard into television.

The home screens are pleasingly beautiful, puffy white clouds on blue skies and green grass, starry nights. Logging into Netflix was remote painful as usual (I could have plugged in a USB keyboard) but the log in was accepted and no authorization needed on the Netflix end. HDMI seems to be working perfectly and the video definition is awesome, even though I still have Netflix set on "better".

I have had episodes partially load and stop. I reverted back to main menu and restarted Netflix, then loading was normal again. No total reboot was required. WD seems to like playing to the end of a file instead of backing out of one and starting another.

Netflix's dashboard is smoother, faster and better looking on Roku but with Roku you must click on the icons to access a readable description. With WDTV you just highlight the icon and a side screen has the description. WD boots faster than Roku. Did I mention the video is stunning? I was so fed up with the sound problems I was having with Roku/Vizio (not every Vizio model) that my frame of mind is admittedly open to easy impression. And impressed I am. No composite for me, it's HDMI all the way. I think the picture is better on WD but that could have been degraded somewhat on the Roku from HDMI problems too.

WDTV must be 2.4 GHz only so I am stuck with G speed. I do appreciate that my router broadcasts N over 5 GHz and G over 2.4 GHz so that the G devices don't slow the N devices down. G works fine for even on "best" over wifi. I wonder how long it takes after the video quality selection is made on Netflix for it to take effect?

How about media shares over a Windows network? Freaky easy. Check out this video tutorial. It worked the first time. I would never have guessed at some of the settings the video tutorial showed, so watch it. I logged in with the name and password of the computer containing the share. I don't remember the video mentioning the option to not allow Windows to manage homegroup (the last option) but I chose to not allow. My first choice was an mp4 encoded video. It was perfect and over wifi, not one beat skipped. I love this thing. If I were to choose between WDTV and Roku, I would choose WDTV but Roku has many more internt streaming options. Most of those are just as well accessed through a computer, so based on the superior local streaming, I lean toward WD. I like them both when they work. Here is another tutorial on setting up network share if you had trouble. Here is the forum thread.

I may try a Plex server for it's attractive index.

Naturally the mp4 would be easier than mkv so that is next. How about a big ISO file, no problem. I can't believe the quality. It has been awhile since I was this pumped about a piece of hardware.


Don't forget your Android remote app.

Not many sites talk about different things to do/use on WDTV. Maybe it is limited but what it does do, it does it well.
Fliungo is a must try.