Advice on external hard drives

WD Legacy Products WD TV Media Player
1

I’m looking to buy a WD TV today. I have all my movies as a MKV or ISO format but wanted to know if I should buy a WD passport 1TB to play off of? Or should I buy a hard drive with its own power source? The passports are USB powered but want to make sure it doesnt put anymore stress on the WD TV unit… 

Any advice would help! Thank you

2

So far I have only been using bus-powered drives from various brands with no issues.

3

i have 3 … 1TB WD Elements SE Portable HDD’s (2x USB2 and 1x USB3)… USB Self Powered all work fine in my 4 WDTV’s (from Gen1 up to 2014 Media player) :smiley:

4

Thanks guys. I noticed the WD TV is on clearance on best buy. Is WD planning to release a new unit? I dont want to buy a model to be outdated shortly!

5

that’s probably the WDTV Live Streaming … the new device in the WDTV Media Player (2014)  without Netflix

i’ve seen the same “clearance” prices here in Australia.   WDTV Live Streaming $99   WDTV Media Player $149

6

My needs are playing ISO and MKV files… Either through a wired network or local usb

Best buy here has it for 99 dollars. Any other models should I get?

Here is the link

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-tv-personal-content-media-player/6002178.p?id=1219180376263&skuId=6002178

7

That’s the 2014 Model  (Latest Model without Netflix)

  • Model: WDBYMN0000NBK-HESN

Yes, it will play ISO*  and MKV  streaming and usb

The older WDTV Live Streaming is the same hardware (but has Netflix) and was released in 2011 

(so it will probably become a “Legacy Device” **  before the 2014 Model will)

* via “Network Shares” … “Media Shares” or Media Server shares typically don’t support ISO

**  https://support.ellislab.com/faq/entry/what-is-a-legacy-product-what-is-a-retired-product