WD Elements Play, Is it a Live with built in Hard Disc? Options

[j2000]

Just saw this and it looks like its just a live with built in Hard Disc. Im just curious and wondering if it would have the same mp4 sync issues as the live/gen 2.

It says "DVD navigation with complete menu navigation, chapter listings, special features, and subtitles" This is not on the Gen 2 so i guess its got better firmware!

I guess we can expect a WD Elements Play Live next. No wonder WD dont offer very good firmware support if they are busy with all these new things!

They must of based the firmware development for this one on the live due to the bugs in the gen 2 and just stripped the networking stuff, other features seem to match.

Here are my thoughts on it:

Good:

Hopefully they would of fixed any sync issues?????

Bad:

I think i would just prefer a live with a 1tb passport. The passport can then be used for other stuff and also we know B-Rad is working on the live. I doubt he will make a CF for this.

What does everyone else think?

[WDUser]

 WD_Elements_Play.jpg ( 32.61K ) Number of downloads: 11


http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=862

Available in PAL/NTSC 1 and 2TB versions.

Has FLV (D1 resolution only) and RM/RMVB 8/9/10 support that all models except the Mini lack (I think the Mini lacks FLV support as well).

Only completely new codec support seems to be for lossless APE (Monkey's Audio).

Has full DVD menu support apparently, but no BluRay menu support of course.

HDMI, composite and component connections (plus optical audio).

No networking, only a USB 2.0 connection.

All in all a sad product that I wouldn't recommend over any of the WD TV models except the Mini, since this one can do 1080p video unlike that underpowered player. In any case, if you do want a highly stripped-down Live and prefer an in-built hard disk for some reason, you can look into products such as LaCie's LaCinema range for example.

I guess we can expect a WD Elements Play Live next. No wonder WD dont offer very good firmware support if they are busy with all these new things!

Yep, this is their grand 'strategy' as far as we know. Support for existing users be damned when they can make money bilking more people...

Hopefully they would of fixed any sync issues?????

Ha, you're joking, right?! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

I think i would just prefer a live with a 1tb passport. The passport can then be used for other stuff and also we know B-Rad is working on the live. I doubt he will make a CF for this.

I would say the possibility of custom FW for this is very, very low indeed. b-rad has his hands full with WDLXTV for the Live and Live Plus now anyway, to the exclusion of all else.