I am considering purchasing my very first WD TV unit and am a little confused.
First off, is the WD TV Live on the same level as the WD TV HD 2nd Gen or is it more in line with the first gen in terms of the offline features? Is it virtually the same device as the WD TV HD 2nd gen just with wireless type features?
Secondly, primarily I wish to play this with MKV files at 720p24, 1080p24, 720p30, 1080p30… are there any issues I should know about playing these files back?
I read something in these forums about the latest firmware affecting playback of MKVs and this concerns me.
Lastly, can I hook this up via standard RCA A/V cables?
I really like the look of this device and the way people are talking about it, I just want to make sure it will suit my needs and I will be satisfied.
Beyond that, sell me on it! Any way you can! I want to want to purchase one of the two units I discussed above 
Welcome to the forums.
I’m no expert on other versions of the WD TV, so I’ll leave that to others to answer. My understanding is the Live is the same (more or less) as second gen but with network capabilities (not wireless per se, but wired AND wireless).
All I do with the live is play MKV files, and the only files I play are 1080p24 and p30, and it plays these extremely well. I wouldn’t imagine it would have any issues at all with lesser resolutions. The biggest thing is to make sure you use standard codecs in MKV (which is only a container and can contain all kinds of ■■■■). Sticking to H264 and AC3/DTS is the safest.
I don’t know what you read here about problems with MKVs – most people having problems with playing certain files are having problems with AVIs and/or MP4 files. If you could mention things in particular we could help you more. As I said, my entire (hundreds of movies) collection is MKV with no issues at all.
The Live will do HDMI, composite and component video so, yes, you can use RCA/AV just fine. I like mine so much I purchased another (and am in the market for a third and fourth). Does that tell you anything?
Hi Mike.
Thanks for your answer. It actually puts me at ease and I think I’m going to pull the trigger. I figured people’s playback issues might be due to the fact that they weren’t checking the files inside the MKV container to make sure they were compatible…but I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t some firmware type error on the device itself that caused these issues.
I think you can take it to the bank that as long as you stick to standard ways of doing things you’ll have success with the Live. There are so many different codecs out there that it’s a witches brew when it comes to video. But even though I’ve downloaded things (legitimately, including flash video) from the net I’ve never had an issue as long as I convert them properly (most stuff I just run through Handbrake, although I’ve also used ffmpeg to fix audio issues if the video doesn’t need compressing).
I agree with you. I swapped out 2 D-Link media lounges for 2 of these. One wired and the other N networked, both attached to a couple NAS devices. I have had no issues with any formats. cj
FYI
Costco (in OH anyway) has the WDTV Live WITH 6’ HDMI cable for $109 -
Awesome deal in my opinion.
Yes on Costco! Best deal anywhere. I bought two yesterday! Al
