WD TV Live Hub 1TB Media Center - WDBABZ0010BBK-NESN WD TV Live Hub 1TB Media Center - WDBABZ0010BBK-NESN

Pros: Easy setup. Cheaper than a PS3 which I already own. I needed another stream box and this is perfect.

Cons: After moving a few gigabytes worth of movies from my PC to the WDTV via wired network, I constantly had to do a hard reboot of the WDTV (unplug power for 10 seconds) to get the it to play the movies or connect to Netflix. This is even with the firmware update.

Other Thoughts: Other than the constant hard reboots after moving large amounts of data to the local storage its pretty ok.

Pros: Works like a charm, has been stable for me. File format support, video info scrapping (tags), 1 tb hard drive and extra ports for other drives, also works with usb hubs for even more storage drives. Transfer speeds for me are not lightening fast, but I usually get 11 to 12 mbs so I don't understand how some say 5 mbs. It is plenty fast for me to do my bluray rips directly to the 1 tb drive or what ever usb external is plugged into it. And lots of interface themes and the themes are easily customized for what ever look might appeal to you. Fairly regular firmware updates over the internet.

Cons: Non for me, it does everything it is supposed to do. There are some negative reviews here, but one has to consider that some will have problems with any device.

Other Thoughts: Media scrapping for music would be nice for them to add.

Pros: It works. plays even .flv files. I've read reviews of slow transfers...but it wasn't. maybe that was older firmwares but mine transferred and showed up in the playlist very quickly. I was copying files over cat5 not usb.

Cons: I couldn't find any.

Other Thoughts: I purely use it for playing movies and looking at pictures. the movie feature works great for me.

Pros: Plays virtually everything! The two usb wireless adapters I used had to be setup repeatedly. Since this gaming adapter is basically a bridge, I use the ethernet port and it works seemlessly. It also doesn't get in the way of my usb hub, keyboard, or any other usb device.

Cons: I wish it would startup with my movies displayed.

Pros: Great device and hasn't failed- thankfully! I'm thinking about buying a lower power, 1-2TB hard drive just in case something happens. So far, flawless! Menu is fast, remote is very comfortable and sleek, Ir response is good. This is a quality piece of hardware. I store everying on here and it's great. Also, I have mine mounted on the wall below the TV. I have an air filter blowing upward onto the device now.

Cons: The remote is good but finding a better remote that's universal has been an issue. The WD remote is great but can't include other devices.

Other Thoughts: Great device. I wish the media player would power down 100% when not used. That would be a nice feature. It runs cool though so no worries. I'd love to get this model in a 4TB. :-)

Pros: plays a lot of formats.

Cons: Pitifully slow. Gigabit interface? the cpu on this cant even handle 10Mb.

FIrmware updates. I cringe whenever there is a new one. I have had 2 units bricked by failed updates. Was under warranty at the time so I got replacements. My warranty is done now.

Each firmware update you get to find out what useless feature they added and how many existing features they have broken. They don't seem to any sort of testing/QA before they release. Basic things like fast forward/reverse through video are useless.
Maybe half the time it fails to negotiate HDMI and it has to be reset to get a video.

Extremely unreliable. Constant source of irritation. Really not worth the effort or price.

Other Thoughts: Should have just bought a HTPC and done what I wanted with it instead of this. Don't waste your money or time.

Manufacturer Response:

We appreciate your feedback and apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with the WD TV Live Hub, as this is not the typical experience with the product.
We recommend ensuring that your device is up to date with the latest firmware, as this may easily resolve the problems you are experiencing. Firmware updates are deployed to improve functionality of devices, and add compatibility. Information regarding the procedures of how to update the firmware for your device manually or automatically can be located at the following link.
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdfwdtv_livehub
If you are still experiencing problems with the unit, we would appreciate the opportunity to further assist you, and resolve any further concerns you may have with the device and/or your experience. You may contact us at 1 (800) 275-4932, or via our support website at: http://support.wdc.com/rs/. Please indicate within the online case creation or with the first support agent you speak with, that you are responding to a Newegg review, so we route you and your information to the correct team members.

Pros: Small, 1Tb Internal Drive, plays almost any format, great picture quality

Cons: 1. HD exceptionally slow. It is adequate for the task, but transferring files over the network is way slower than to a server or NAS.
2. Unstable firmware. I had this box ever since it first came out and it tends to crash about once a week, refusing to delete a file. Hard reset (unplugging power) fixes it for about a week. There were numerous firmware updates, all they did is slow down startup routine without addressing the crashes.

Other Thoughts: I think it makes better sense to get WD TV Live and get a separate external HD with network connection to store your files. I have one for my exercise room TV. It is faster and much more stable.

Manufacturer Response:

We appreciate your feedback and apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with the WDTV Live Hub, as this is not the typical experience with the product.
We recommend ensuring that your device is up to date with the latest firmware, as this may easily resolve the problems you are experiencing. Firmware updates are deployed to improve functionality of devices and overall compatibility. Information regarding the procedures of how to update the firmware for your device manually or automatically can be located at the following link.
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdfwdtv_livehub
We would appreciate the opportunity to further assist you, and resolve any further concerns you may have with the device and/or your experience. You may contact us at 1 (800) 275-4932, or via our support website at: http://support.wdc.com/rs/. Please indicate within the online case creation or with the first support agent you speak with, that you are responding to a Newegg review, so we route you and your information to the correct team members.

Pros: Would be great if it worked. Impressive if you've never seen a media streamer before.

Cons: Worked OK at first, but has gotten progressively worse. Must be some log file filling up or something: It can no longer go a single day without suddenly not being able to play movies or videos any more. Hard-rebooting will fix it for a while, but the time periods that it is "fixed" are growing shorter and shorter and are now lesss than a day.

Other Thoughts: WD: You are welcome to buy this device from me for only $250, I'm sure that will help you to perform the QA/Testing/Troubleshooting that you should have done before you sold this piece of garbage to me.

On the plus side, this device has made me increase my knowledge of building my own HTPC and has given Roku even more business. Good job WD.

Manufacturer Response:

We appreciate your feedback and apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with the WD TV Live Hub, as this is not the typical experience with the product.
We recommend ensuring that your device is up to date with the latest firmware, as this may easily resolve the problems you are experiencing. Firmware updates are deployed to improve functionality of devices, such as your stated Media Library concerns. Information regarding the procedures of how to update the firmware for your device manually or automatically can be located at the following link.
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5749
Should the device continue to exhibit signs of concern, you may want to perform a factory reset to defaults fir the system settings.
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3646
We would appreciate the opportunity to further assist you, and resolve any further concerns you may have with the device and/or your experience. You may contact us at 1 (800) 275-4932, or via our support website at: http://support.wdc.com/rs/. Please indicate within the online case creation or with the first support agent you speak with, that you are responding to a Newegg review, so we route you and your information to the correct team members.

Pros: would be great if it worked, which it basically doesn't. Impressive if you've never seen a media streamer before.

Cons: Annoyingly Slow interface.

Music interface laughably primitive, does not allow you to queue multiple artists or select a "Shuffle All Artists" function.

Media Library function is exceptionally dumb, for instance when I select "Movies" it still makes me navigate the folder structure of the hard drive. I think WD needs to review the definition and concept of "Media Library".

Also the Media Library gets corrupt frequently and starts showing 30 copies of each movie. It can be rebuilt, but that takes quite a while.

Overall, the UI was apparently designed by stoned monkeys from Mars.

Oh also, the Pandora app has a horrible Volume Equalization / Compression bug, where every song launches at a loud volume, and then "quiets down" after about 10 seconds. Makes Pandora absolutely unlistenable.

Other Thoughts: Unit works at first (after a hard reboot) but then after a day or so, it loses its ability to show photos or play movies -- it won't play them AT ALL. I've been having to reboot it daily, which totally defeats the purpose. Especially since it takes roughly 15 minutes for it to boot up.

And yes, OF COURSE I am on the "latest" firmware. I check for, and pray for, new firmware daily. With the amount of bugs in this thing, they should be having daily firmware updates, but I have seen only two updates since I bought this unit (last summer).

I am ripping out the 1TB hard drive from this annoying waste of time/space/money, and putting it into a home-built XBMC HTPC which should at least show pictures and play music and videos in a fashion that doesn't remind me of Windows 1.0. And then I'll get a Roku to play Netflix, Vudu and Pandora.

Seriously, WD, why do you even bother. Asking the public to pay $*** for the privilege of being your alpha- and beta-testers is INSULTING.

WD, may you forever be cursed with using your own products forever.

Manufacturer Response:

We appreciate your feedback and apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with the WD TV Live Hub, as this is not the typical experience with the product.
We recommend ensuring that your device is up to date with the latest firmware, as this may easily resolve the problems you are experiencing. Firmware updates are deployed to improve functionality of devices, such as your stated Media Library concerns. Information regarding the procedures of how to update the firmware for your device manually or automatically can be located at the following link.
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5749
Should the device continue to exhibit signs of concern, you may want to perform a factory reset to defaults fir the system settings.
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3646
We would appreciate the opportunity to further assist you, and resolve any further concerns you may have with the device and/or your experience. You may contact us at 1 (800) 275-4932, or via our support website at: http://support.wdc.com/rs/. Please indicate within the online case creation or with the first support agent you speak with, that you are responding to a Newegg review, so we route you and your information to the correct team members.

Pros: Allows me to stream media from my desktop to my living room, or stream from the wdtv to any other device on the network., including a laptop and xbox 360. 1TB HDD is a definite bonus. I stream everything from my desktop and this acts as a media backup server for my family videos and 45000 some odd ripped CDs.

Multiple output choices(great for older tvs with no HDMI)

Multiple view for browsing through your files(by folder, album, artist, ect...)

Excellent video quality

Decent transfer rate to its hdd. Copied my 250GB music over the network on about 2 hours. It has yet to lag during a movie being shared from my desktop or the internet.

Cons: It did require me to use my brain a little to set this up and get every device seeing the directories they needed to see. Let's just say it might not 100% plug n play, but shouldn't require someone to be too knowledgeable in networking. Mainly it requires a bit of patience. There probably won't be any assigning of static IPs and default gateways, but you might have to read a bit on file sharing. Note that this is different depending on device. My laptop was infact plug and play. My desktop runs Windows on a 120GB SSD and all of my user files are redirected to another HDD. The complexity of my directories is at fault.

There is indeed a firmware upgrade that addresses some various problems, but mainly just making overall improvements.

It is not Windows, because it is not a pc. It is based on the same setup as the previous gen WD media devices and it does its job well enough.

Some of the internet apps(netflix, youtube) are a bit slow to respond.

Folder hierarchy is better when viewing network shared folders, but poor for media on the internal hdd

Other Thoughts: The media library is a wonderful thing and I leave mine running 100% of the time this device is powered up. It should not cause your system to crash for sure. Sometimes various actions will make you computer act a bit on the fritz, but if a restart or a checkdisk doesn't fix it you have bigger issues. The device is fine, the drivers or software for the device are conflicting with something on your pc. Usually caused by bad installs and uninstalls or a dirty registry, or possibly a virus. Either way, if your pc crashes because of the media library setting, you pc is not healthy and you should spend some time reading on how to maintain windows.