It’s time to dust off that old TV of yours and return it to its former glory. WD, or Western Digital, a brand known because of its high-quality storage products, has given us the chance to check out and review their latest toy in the form of the WD TV.
We can assume that this device is aimed specifically for those who neither have a Smart TV nor a capacity to buy one in the meantime. It is an all-in-one media player that still caters to legacy TV sets as the device is equipped with a composite A/V interface.
Looks
There’s nothing much to be said with the exterior of the WD TV. Again, it was made and designed to be small. With a size similar to a tiny box, it makes use of limited space that was usually occupied by the horizontally large DVD players from a couple of years back, thus providing the user a cleaner and wider estate.
The front-side of the device is home to the USB 2.0 port and a white LED indicator. The backside houses ports for the Optical Audio, Ethernet, HDMI, another USB port, and Composite A/V.
Features
The WD TV is not just your typical video player that’s bundled into one tiny black box. It has features that again, can compete with the likes those bundled in high-end Smart TVs.
For starters, it can play most video formats currently available to mankind. If you have a collection of videos in your external HDDs or home servers, this little one can run it well immediately. We did mention servers in the previous statement as the WD TV can also access files in your media servers (or in your PCs dedicated drives). Yes, it does have an Ethernet port which can be physically connected to a network. But in lieu of the tedious wiring reconfiguration, the user can then opt to connect to the already existing wireless infrastructure at home. The WD TV makes use of the 802.11n that is also backwards compatible with previous iterations of the standard.
On the side, if you’re not fond of watching your favorite stuff in your mobile phone (or too lazy to transfer it via USB), you can opt to view it on a larger screen with the use of WD TV’s Miracast feature.
Aside from being the lean mean playing machine, the WD TV can also be used as a surfing/streaming device. It has pre-installed applications like Youtube, DailyMotion, and a bunch of news sites to name a few. To save you the time, they also included social media applications such as Facebook.
Where’s my Remote?!
Lost the remote? WD is ready with a solution for that predicament. There’s an application available for download in Android and Apple stores which then transforms your phone into the device’s remote. Phones are not that likely to get lost as compared with TV remotes, right?
Conclusion
WD TV can be described as the handy dandy tool for TVs, especially the legacy ones. Smart TVs are unquestionably very expensive and the cost of having one may just as well burn a hole in one’s very limited pocket. WD’s solution is cost-effective, yet filled to the brim with features at the same time. Not only can you play your favorite videos at a whim, but you can also use it wirelessly and have it as part of your home network ecosystem. Hands down, the WD TV is a great tool to bring back that family TV days that we all miss and cherish. WD TV is priced at 4890Php, as the title say, it is a cheaper alternative than purchasing a brand new Smart TV.
Pros:
-Small footprint
-Highly-versatile device
-Wireless connectivity
-Easy installation
Cons:
-Lack of SD Card Reader
-Really takes it time to categorize your media library (though you can still watch movies while it does this, albeit, manually)
-No bundled HDMI cable
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