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August 10, 2010

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Western Digital Mini Media Player Review

Please note this is a review, and the content expressed in this review is respective of the author, not Coburn’s Domain as a whole.

Earlier this year I was fed up of always plugging in my laptop to the TV, just so I could watch my ripped DVD collection or recorded TV that I store on an external hard drive and also on my laptop. So one day I was looking on a computer and electronics website, which had this product featured for a great price. I read the features and I decided it was a must-have.

Included in the box is a  remote control, Demo Disc (featuring Music, Video and Pictures), the device itself, a AC power cable and RCA/Component cables. At time of review, the item is priced at $59 from DSE (Dick Smith Electronics) Australia.

As quoted from the DSE Website:

WD TV Mini media player is an easy, affordable way to watch digital media on your big screen TV. Simply plug in WD’s My Passport portable hard drive, or similar USB drive, and play movies, music, and photos in a wide variety of file formats, including Real Media (RMVB) format. There’s no limit to the size of your media collection; just add more drives for more movies.  Supports DVD-quality video playback. Also works with most popular USB drives, digital cameras, and camcorders.
I’ve tested it thoroughly on different types of video formats and the results are:
  • iTunes video (MP4): Unplayable
  • Videos created with Windows Movie Maker: Unplayable
  • Recorded TV (recorded via Windows Media Center): Unplayable
  • MPEG (mpg): Playable
  • Windows Media Video (WMV): Playable
  • Audio-Video Interleaved (AVI): Playable
The Verdict:

Operation and User Interaction/UI
Operation is very easy and simple to understand. The interface, controlled by the remote control is very easy to navigate, even when playing media or scrolling through menus and fast forwarding videos. 6/10 Stars.
Device Setup / Plug-and-Play
Setting up is so easy to do. You don’t even have to look at the instructions to understand how to put it all together, boot it up and view your media on your TV. 8/10 Stars.
Overall
With the limited video file formats you can play on the device, it somewhat is disappointing to give it 4 /10 Stars. This score would be increased if the device could playback other well-known formats.
Brief Bio of the reviewer:
donttrythis from the Coburn’s Domain Message Forums is a close friend  of Coburn, the lead Coburn’s Domain founder. He’s the sidekick that’s  responsible for going out and testing new gear, before Coburn gives the  verdict. He’s also a major apple fan, in which Coburn sometimes has to  pull him out of the Apple Store when shopping.

References:
Dick Smith: http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/4c5bf30d018a9fe8273fc0a87e0106b1/Product/View/XH0687

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