Is WD TV Media Player Discontinued

I bought my WD WDBHG70000NBK, new, back in '13, or’14?, for $79, the same time I bought my 1080p TV.
I already had a a few “k” Media files, and now that number is around 10k.
I’ve had zero issue’s with the WD, be it with my shared files over (ethernet)LAN via NFS, and/or 2TB usb3.0 storage drives.
But sure, the very odd, and seldom AVI file that I ran into in my downloading’s didn’t play, but a quick “ffmpeg …” fixed any of those too.
It has faithfully played e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g, and the dedicated, and fully-featured WD handheld remote, along with it’s simple interface, was, and still is, soooo much easier to use, in a coach-potato position, rather than fumbling around, up and down, with cumbersome keyboards/mice on my older HTPC. haha.

I’ve had friends of mine spend much more on several versions of (cheaper)Roku dveices, and this or that other thing, only to come right back to their WD Media Player in the end.
'Cause that’s what this WD is meant for,-a simple Media File Player that can play it all, (1080p and down).

But
Yes,
-the RPi3B+ and FLIRC+Remote is a viable option, but that’ll run me well over $120 around here, and because of WD’s usefullness, I do NOT even need an RPi right now.
and yes,
-the Vero 4k is also impressive, but very expen$ive, if I had the need of a 4k+ TV?.

The only way I’ll need put away my WD is ONLY when I,
1./ -need a 4k TV to play 4k Video, Or
2./ -when the world forces everyone into pay-for-streaming only.

So, I’ll be happy with my WD for atleast a couple more years.
IMHO, there’s been very few media devices such as this WD, in this high-turnaround/throw-away industry, that have functionally lasted as long as this WD has for me.

Anyway, kudos to WD, and R.I.P, for this “still” very useful Media File player.

Cheers.

1 Like

Very well said and very true since we bought ours in 2011 its been a blessing since we solely use it using thumdrives we load with content making it a snap to navigate the 40-80 some odd files. I will forever be dumbfounded as to why WD chose to discontinue these gems instead of investing in one of the best media players ever made in my opinion. I actually told 6 friends who all bought their own units when it was 10 bucks cheaper that the 99 I paid at Best Buy.
My sole problems over the nearly 8 years of use is wearing out the easily used select button (bought a new remote on Ebay) and having to rollback a firmware for memory bleed and files not playing problems. I love my WD TV Live

I have 3 of the units in use and 1 spare. They are excellent for streaming the 10K+ videos I have in my library. Lately I have also been using thumb drives and/or a 2Tb WD Passport drive for our more popular shows we like to watch. Fortunately my remotes are still working although one of them is getting a little sluggish and I have to press harder to get it to work. Excellent devices. I still don’t understand why WD stopped making them.

Can you add apps such as Prime, Netflix and Disney for using their streaming services along with streaming from the home network to the Pi?

I personally don’t use any subscription streaming services … so, i never tried it (and have no interest in it)

but,

i know that Netflix is supported on Raspberry Ri / Kodi

and apparently there is an add-on for Prime … here … and no idea about Disney.