View Full Version : New wdtv live hub!
In case anybody interested, there is a new WDTV version out, the Live Hub.
You can see the review here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3990/western-digital-wdtv-live-hub-review
And also WD site: http://www.wdtvlive.com/products/wdtv_live_hub#/highlights
The spec sheet says Gig E, and lossless audio, flac, aiff etc. Also built in 1TB drive for 199.00 US. Looks promising!
Herb
Wouldn't buy any WD media players again, because they abandon FW support and upgrades for them much too soon...
I see....thinking about one for my son's room.....
Herb
@hcolon
I have been using the WD TV Live for some time now and have also owned and tried several others like the original Popcornhour A-100, the Seagate Home Theatre, Mede8er, Xtreamer and out of all the above I tend to go back to the Popcorn and WD TV Live. I find that the WD just works, it's simple to navigate for the non-technical memebers of the household and packed with a good chipset and tiny form factor which makes it perfect for my daughter's room and ideal to take on vacation with a portable USB HDD. I for one am very eager to see a proper review on the WD TV Live Hub - any takers HiJack??
;)
a5ian300zx
02-11-10, 10:34
from the above review link interesting read below.
HDMI 1.4, Gigabit network.
"A couple of weeks back, I had the opportunity to visit the Sigma Designs office at Milpitas for a demonstration session. The main purpose of the visit was to understand Sigma's home convergence strategy, and in particular, how their powerline networking products fit into the puzzle. I had a very informative discussion with Keith Jack (Sr. Dir. of Product Marketing, Sigma Designs) and Michael Weissman (VP, Corporate Marketing, Sigma Designs). But, surely, powerline networking has nothing to do with the WDTV Live Hub? If that is your line of thinking, you are partially right. The powerline networking strategy is indeed a story for another day. In this section, I will cover the media processing solutions that Sigma Designs had on display.
The first demo I saw after our initial talk was that of a development board decoding 3D video onto a 3D TV. Excitedly, I peeked into the board, expecting to see the new SMP 8646 in action. However, I was surprised to see that it was the SMP 8654 on it. Upon inquiry, I found that a recent SDK had enabled decode of certain 3D formats with that chip (similar to how PS3's HDMI 1.3 port was 'fimrware upgraded' to partially support HDMI 1.4). Realizing that it was the same chip that powered the WDTV Live Plus, I was left wondering when a firmware update with the new SDK would reach the WDTV Live Plus owners.
Before moving on to the teardown section, I will wrap up this small section with what we can look forward to from Sigma Designs in the next year or so. A couple of years back, Sigma Designs bought video processing semiconductor firm Gennum. The IP from that company led to the VXP line of products, a part of many high end video processors. I saw a demo of the latest VXP chip in action, and the results looked really impressive. Keith indicated that the VXP IP would be eventually integrated with their decoder IP to yield a single chip decoder / video processing solution. In light of the demo, such a product has the ability to redefine picture quality on media streamers. It is a well known fact that Sigma Designs is one of the licensees for ImgTec's PowerVR GPU IP. Their latest chip integrates the PowerVR SGX 535, and an OpenGL demo (with 1080p video being decoded in the background) was on display. Eye candy user interfaces are sure to receive a face lift when given access to the powerful graphics capabilities of the PowerVR GPU"
a5ian300zx
@hcolon
I have been using the WD TV Live for some time now and have also owned and tried several others like the original Popcornhour A-100, the Seagate Home Theatre, Mede8er, Xtreamer and out of all the above I tend to go back to the Popcorn and WD TV Live. I find that the WD just works, it's simple to navigate for the non-technical memebers of the household and packed with a good chipset and tiny form factor which makes it perfect for my daughter's room and ideal to take on vacation with a portable USB HDD. I for one am very eager to see a proper review on the WD TV Live Hub - any takers HiJack??
;)
Yeah, me too Hi-Jack!
from the above review link interesting read below.
HDMI 1.4, Gigabit network.
"A couple of weeks back, I had the opportunity to visit the Sigma Designs office at Milpitas for a demonstration session. The main purpose of the visit was to understand Sigma's home convergence strategy, and in particular, how their powerline networking products fit into the puzzle. I had a very informative discussion with Keith Jack (Sr. Dir. of Product Marketing, Sigma Designs) and Michael Weissman (VP, Corporate Marketing, Sigma Designs). But, surely, powerline networking has nothing to do with the WDTV Live Hub? If that is your line of thinking, you are partially right. The powerline networking strategy is indeed a story for another day. In this section, I will cover the media processing solutions that Sigma Designs had on display.
The first demo I saw after our initial talk was that of a development board decoding 3D video onto a 3D TV. Excitedly, I peeked into the board, expecting to see the new SMP 8646 in action. However, I was surprised to see that it was the SMP 8654 on it. Upon inquiry, I found that a recent SDK had enabled decode of certain 3D formats with that chip (similar to how PS3's HDMI 1.3 port was 'fimrware upgraded' to partially support HDMI 1.4). Realizing that it was the same chip that powered the WDTV Live Plus, I was left wondering when a firmware update with the new SDK would reach the WDTV Live Plus owners.
Before moving on to the teardown section, I will wrap up this small section with what we can look forward to from Sigma Designs in the next year or so. A couple of years back, Sigma Designs bought video processing semiconductor firm Gennum. The IP from that company led to the VXP line of products, a part of many high end video processors. I saw a demo of the latest VXP chip in action, and the results looked really impressive. Keith indicated that the VXP IP would be eventually integrated with their decoder IP to yield a single chip decoder / video processing solution. In light of the demo, such a product has the ability to redefine picture quality on media streamers. It is a well known fact that Sigma Designs is one of the licensees for ImgTec's PowerVR GPU IP. Their latest chip integrates the PowerVR SGX 535, and an OpenGL demo (with 1080p video being decoded in the background) was on display. Eye candy user interfaces are sure to receive a face lift when given access to the powerful graphics capabilities of the PowerVR GPU"
a5ian300zx
a5ian300zx, the future looks promising if I read this right. I am anxious to get a firsthand report from someone who bought one. I have not seen this yet. I am also anxious to see the new NeoTV 550 as well....
herb
The unit should hit retailers in europe around the end of this month.
Suggested retail price is €219.- with a 1TB disk included.
But it's popping up at webstore's already for €180,-
Here's a nice demo vid of the UI.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obkKVHb-KdE&hd=1
The unit should hit retailers in europe around the end of this month.
Suggested retail price is €219.- with a 1TB disk included.
But it's popping up at webstore's already for €180,-
Here's a nice demo vid of the UI.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obkKVHb-KdE&hd=1
The UI looks decent. Did you see that 8mbps Avatar rip in the UI in the you tube video? Would like to see how the full one performs as mine is between 30-50mbps. The dune handles perfectly. The price is great if it can handle blu to mkv, I will get one.
Herb
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