Cons: Some early units were subject to a manufacturer's defect, Wi-Fi not built in, Limited number of content providers, More complex to set up and use than some digital media players
Western Digital released the WD TV HD Plus few months ago, a set-top box designed to play nearly any media file from a USB drive. It could play movies or songs in nearly any format, but a blunt, awkward user interface held it back. Now, the company has given its WD TV Live series a significant upgrade with the WD TV Live Hub. With a roomy 1-terabyte hard drive and a drastically improved interface, the Live Hub earns our Editors' Choice for media hubs with integrated storage. Its design and features make the Live Hub somewhat similar to the previous generation of the Apple TV; while Apple removed the hard drive from its new set-top box, Western Digital added massive storage.
The Live Hub is much larger and flatter than previous WD TV boxes. With its flat, featureless surface and rounded corners, the 1.3-by-7.8-by-6-inch (HWD) box looks like a black version of the last-gen Apple TV. The front of the device features only a power switch, a USB port, and a Western Digital logo that lights up when it's powered on. The back of the device offers one each of HDMI, optical audio, component video, composite video, USB, and Ethernet connections, plus the power adapter port. Unlike the WD TV Live Plus, you don't need an adapter to plug in an analog video connection; you can just hook cables directly into the back of the larger, newer device.
Most set-top box upgrades get an interface makeover; the Live Hub received emergency reconstructive surgery. The new media hub's interface, called "Mochi," is worlds apart and leagues better than previous WD TV Live products. It's not a perfect interface, though—under the colorful backgrounds and loads of polish are some awkward navigation conventions. Many of the settings for playback, storage, and interface appearance are buried under multiple, seemingly redundant menus.
The device comes preloaded with several movie trailers and music tracks, all with cover art and meta data, and all organized into neat sections. On the bright side, the Live Hub conveniently scans the drive and compiles all media files into their appropriate sections, regardless of folder location; you can access every movie file on the Live Hub on one screen, or you can use the folder view to navigate the drive like a computer. WD TV Live's claim to fame has always been its broad file support, and the Live Hub doesn't buck the trend. The supported file list reads like a bunch of upturned games of Scrabble, encompassing several dozen different audio and video containers and codecs. The WD TV Live Hub can also handle full DVD file systems copied to the drive (after they've been decrypted), and retain menus and bonus materials.
To store local content, previous WD TV boxes have required external storage in the form of a USB hard drive or flash drive. The WD TV Live Hub can still do that through a pair of USB ports, but it also packs plenty of space on its own, thanks to a built-in 1TB hard drive. You need to just copy the stuff from your USB to it’s own drive and forget to connect your USB again.
The Hub is no droop in networked features, either. It can access Netflix, Blockbuster on Demand, Pandora Internet Radio, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and several other online services with ease. It's not exactly a growing, open library of Web apps, and it currently lacks some major video rental services like Amazon on Demand and Vudu, but it's a vigorous selection of some very good services. USB keyboard support makes text-heavy services like Facebook, and text-oriented tasks like logging into accounts and searching for content, much easier than with the remote and on-screen keyboard. Locally, the Hub can access and share files with any computer or DLNA-compatible device on its network. Unfortunately, these network features require a wired connection through the Live Hub's Ethernet port; it doesn't have any Wi-Fi connectivity. Some third-party Wi-Fi dongles will work with the Live Hub, but it's an extra cost and will take over one of the USB ports on the device.
As with any set-top box, video quality is almost completely dependent on the source material and the way in which it's encoded. Even if the file has been encoded to be 1080p30, it still won't be as sharp as a Blu-ray Disc's video, simply due to space and processing constraints. Still, video quality is generally very good, and high-definition video on the Live Hub looked about as good as HD television transmissions. The Western Digital WD TV Live Hub manages to overcome almost all of the shortcomings of its predecessor, with a vastly improved interface and a ton of internal storage complementing the already-impressive media compatibility. It doesn't have much in the way of digital rental content, and would have benefited greatly from Wi-Fi support, but otherwise it's a fantastic way of keeping all of your local and online media together in a single set-top box.
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