WD TV HD vs. WD TV HD LIVE+

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live & Live Plus
1

Hi,

Sorry if this has been answered.  I’ve done quite a bit of searching, but haven’t found a good answer.

I only plan to use WDTV for use with an external hard disk.  I don’t plan on using any of the network functionality, pandora, netflix, etc.

Is there any difference in the internal hardware between the WD TV HD and the WD TV HD Live+?  Is start-up, menus, playback any better on one versus the other?  I play quite a bit of .MKV and .MT2S movie files. 

I also see there is a Generation 1 and 2 for the WD TV HD unit.  Do they look similar or how would I know the difference?

Thanks!

2

Welcome to the forums.

Those are good questions – perhaps someone here has all of the units in question and can answer you.  I *can* tell you that the Live and the Live Plus are functionally equivilent except for DRM hardware necessary for Netflix and other such services.  The newer Plus and those Live units made after the Plus came out also boot up differently, taking longer and not holding some information in memory like the Live units made prior to this (a power requirement required by EU I do believe).  In that regard I much prefer my older Live unit over my newer Live and Plus units.

So at least you know you don’t need a Plus.  Your question then only becomes whether the Live has any advantages over the normal HD unit and, as I said, there may be someone here who has both and can tell you.

For sure your questions about the Gen 1 and 2 can be best answered in this forum:

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-HD/bd-p/tv_hd

3

The primary difference between the Live and the original WDTV HDs is network accessibility; the WDTV HD’s don’t have network connectivity at all.

4

I would get a Live or Live Plus simply so that you have the option to connect it to the network down the line if you want to. Flexibility is the name of the game when it comes to computers - if you don’t think to the future, than your going to be buying the same things over and over again.

5

needhelpguy wrote:

I also see there is a Generation 1 and 2 for the WD TV HD unit.  Do they look similar or how would I know the difference?

I have a Gen1.  As far as pictures I’ve seen seem to go, the Gen1 and Gen2 themselves look identical.

But if you look at the box on the store shelf, and know what to look for, you can easily tell the difference.

Look at the picture of a Gen2 box: http://www.wdc.com/global/images/products/rtlbx/300/wdfWDTV_HD.jpg

Notice in the bottom left, there is a “_ 1080p " logo, an " HDMI " logo, a " Dolby Digital " logo and a " DTS _” logo.

My Gen1 box only has the “_ 1080p _” logo, although the device does support HDMI and has limited support for Dolby Digital and DTS*.

Also, on the barcode sticker on the bottom, a Gen1 will be Model# _ WD00AVN _ and a Gen2 will be Model# _ WDBABF0000NBK. _

*2-channel Dolby Digital is available for output… if media has more than 2 AC-3 channels, or is DTS of any flavour, the surround audio is only available as pass-through on the optical connector_ . _