Hi. I have a WD TV Live Plus. Is it possible to update the interface? This is painstaikingly ugly, especially when compared to Apple TV or XBMC. I was actually hoping to install XBMC, but have found that this is impossible (or so that’s the word around the internet).
I’m almost tempted to return my WD and get the Apple TV becuse of this hideous interface. In fact, I originally had the WD TV Live Hub (with internal 1 TB hard drive), which had a better interface, but I found the device to be nothing but a huge hassle to manage. The only reason I don’t go for the Apple TV is because the two units function differently. With the WD, I connect my external hard drive and play virtually any file. With the Apple TV, I can’t connect an external. Instead, all files are played over the network from other computers or Apple devices, which MUST be ON at the time of playback, and those files must be organized through iTunes. And Apple TV doesn’t readily support many of the files that WD does. But, if Apple TV does come out with a unit that competes (functionally) with the WD, then it’s bye-bye WD.
Your only choice now is to use 3rd party firmware. The alternative firmware is very popular and most that have used it claim that it is a lot less buggy than the WD firmware. Personally, I have not tried it, so I can’t comment on how well it works.
The alternative firmware is made by someone called b-rad.
That looks like an interesting development, but it would be nice if WD themselves can make one. Do WD reps ever come here to discuss our problems and suggestions? I’d really like to hear from them on this matter.
Interface “Prettiness” is completely subjective and opinion-based. They’re probably not inclined to make a change because some users think it’s not as cute as the AppleTV…
The WD kicks apple’s tail when it comes to functionality, and that’s what most people are wanting.
Mostly everyone has a sense of what is attractive and what isn’t. If they felt so strongly about their ugly interface, they wouldn’t have changed it for the WD Live Hub, which resembles the Apple TV interface much more closely than the WD Live Plus interface does.
