Ever since the Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player came out, I’ve been very tempted by it due to the large number of formats supported, small attractive form factor, and very appealing price. However the lack of network support was a deal breaker for me, since all my content is stored on my Home Server and there is no way I wanted to mess with attaching drives to the WD TV.
As early as mid-May of this year we saw the first rumors of a second generation WD TV that might replace the hard drive with network support. Now, Engadget (via AVS Forum) has spotted some pictures and details on the new WD TV2 and the great news is that it does include an ethernet port.
We’re still waiting to hear pricing and release date information, but these feature additions on top of the already appealing package make this a very compelling media streamer.
Article by Alex Kuretz
I'm Alex Kuretz, and I'm the founder of MediaSmartServer.net. I was the Lead Test and Integration Engineer at HP for the MediaSmart Server until April 2008 when I moved on to other opportunities outside HP. I've kept active in the Windows Home Server community, creating several add-ins and helping users make the most of their Home Servers.
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It looks like there are actually going to be 2 players released (head over to page 3 of the AVSForum link Alex provided), the WD TV(TM) Mini Media Player (appears to be a more basic streamer) and the WD TV (TM) Live Media Player which is pictured above and expected to be a more fully featured product. One of the key features I look for now is DTS downmix which gives a lot more flexibility on where the device can be used. No word yet on whether the WD products will have this feature.
If this doesnt support ISO and show menus it will be the biggest joke in the world since it has always been the most wanted feature. Then I rather buy the Popcorun Hour C-200.