[roto]

Gents, I just got this sweet piece of gear from Western Digital a bit early from the missus. This was a "blind" addition to my Crimbo wish list. About a week ago, I read this and put it on my list. I thought that if it did what it was supposed to, it would free me from ever having to worry about authoring Blu-Ray DVDs -- something I've honestly had little success with.

This little bit of gadgetry is amazing. Basically, you can use any external hard drive (not just a WD passport or the like) to store ALL of your media and take it with you on the go. I picked up a WD passport 500GB for $139 and the unit itself was about the same price with shipping. The WD TV HD Media Player converts the output from the hard drive into something any modern TV can read...and up to 1080p for your video in a various number of formats! My Sony HD Camcorder's video files were even able to be read after a minor tweak to each file name's proprietary extension.

NTM, throw your music, photos, etc. into it as well for photo slide shows with music on the go!

So, for roughly $250, I have a portable media center with 500GB of storage space. The unit and the portable hard drive weight less than 3 pounds...ultra-portable.

If you're in the market for a last-minute gift -- I give the WD TV HD Media Player 4 1/2 dts out of 5.

dt dt dt dt d

This has been roto's tech gadgetry blog. Thank you for reading. Drive Thru.

[jesusfreak101]

let us know in 6 months if its still working

[steveb]

Haha that's exactly what I thought - "lose 500GB of your shit when it breaks".

[Larixk]

isn't that always the case with any hard disk?
western digital is a real quality brand. I don't think their external hard disks will break that easily.

and as with any other data: you should always have a solid back-up strategy

[Coops]

Aren't you a bit old to write present lists to Santa?

[tomson]

I've been looking at one of these... might get me self one after xmas.

[Hunch]

Why bother carrying all that around? You can use an iPhone or an iPod as a video player. All you need is the right cable from Apple and it plugs into any telly - it'll play video at higher resolution than its built in screen can handle as well. I've used my phone a couple of times when I've stayed in hotels when they've only had the shitty standard Japanese terrestrial channels.

[roto]

Originally Posted by Hunch

Why bother carrying all that around? You can use an iPhone or an iPod as a video player. All you need is the right cable from Apple and it plugs into any telly - it'll play video at higher resolution than its built in screen can handle as well. I've used my phone a couple of times when I've stayed in hotels when they've only had the shitty standard Japanese terrestrial channels.

Not @ 1080p...sorry you grumpy old man.

Coops, was that aimed @ me? This was a blog entry. I did mention a Crimbo wish list but nothing about the fat man/red suit.

FWIW, the 2 people I got this setup for really like the idea but haven't played with all the device can do yet. Of course, yours truly needs to revisit them and help them set everything up. As with any tech gadgetry, let's not follow up to see if it's all working in 6 months, let's discuss WD's next version.

Side note: Also pick up a HDMI cable if you buy one of these for yourself or give it as a gift. That adds a $50+ to the total cost of all the gear.

[Paddy]

Why in the world would you spend $50 on an HDMI cable?

Amazon.com: 10ft HDMI Cable - $3.83

Incidentally, it surely couldn't matter if your HDMI cable is silver-, gold- or platinum-plated.

[TeZ]

No they all do the same thing.

[Rik]

some are rated to carry more signal i.e. proper hd.

that makes no sense to me but i still parted with £20 for a thick cable at richer sounds. mug that i am.

[PointandStare]

i got myself one of these for xmas:
Amazon.com: Iomega Prestige 1 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive 34275: Electronics for half that price and twice the storage.

[Hunch]

Originally Posted by roto

Not @ 1080p...sorry you grumpy old man.

What's the big deal? It's portable. You probably won't get Dolby Digital either but somehow we've managed to live without it for most of our existences.

Where do you think you're going to take this portable media player that has a regular supply of 1080p TVs at every turn?

I'd rather be able to pull out my phone, which I have to carry anyway and watch standard definition shows on a tv anywhere, than have to lug around a media player and a separate hard drive (the latter of which aren't known for their durability) on the off chance I might find a 1080p telly somewhere.

[top_buzz]

I thought that was supposed to be an HTPC alternative not so much a portable thing you'd take round your mates house. You'd play movies off USB stick's/external HD's etc next to your telly without it looking massive and cumbersome.

[Prophet12]

"WD TV" costs R1666 and "Vantec Jukebox AVOX-101S2 2.5" costs R735. Both require hard drives (external / internal respectively). Both can play .avi files on a
TV, but I'm not sure why the WD is so much more expensive.

I've already backed up most of my movies to DVD, so it's a pity that I won't be able to use my DVD's on the WD. Why not just buy a DVD player that can play DivX and includes a USB port? Then you have the best of both worlds.