I’ve been looking for a while for a device that will allow me to stream FLAC files to my stereo system in a different room than my computer. I finally found the wd live, but seem to only find ones that are refurbished or priced much higher than the list price. I have tried googling to see if a new version is coming out, if it has been discontinued or why it is no longer available through wd directly. I have not been able to find anything stating why it is out of stock, but am wondering if a new version is about to be released and if I should wait, or if I should just take a risk on a refurbished unit. Any input greatly appreciated.
I think media players will become obsolete.
4 years ago I bought my WH HD Live for R1400, the new model is been advertised at R1400.
I recently bought a Sony BDP-S490 for R999, which does nearly everything the WD did, plus plays 3D, Blu Ray, HD upscale. FLAC is not listed as compatible.
Has ethernet and wireless (unfortunately must be a Sony dongle, more expensive models have built in wireless).
I think WD only sells the WD TV Live Hub now, if at all. But not the TV Live standalone. WD, correct me if I’m wrong.
Nearly everything? Does it play back PGS subs from inside MKVs? What about chapters?
Just bought a new one at a local BestBuy store for $99.99. On their website it has free shipping and is available. Worked great the first night, then I downloaded the system monitor like the manual said (and manual was not in box, I had to download it!) so now it won’t pick up from the drive I have attached or the right folder on my computer. Can someone tell me what the difference between the WD TV Live and WD TV Live Plus is, besides costing $30 more? I might take this one back and get the Plus if it means I can move the files directly onto it, instead of trying to access a separate drive or computer.
lciprich wrote:
Just bought a new one at a local BestBuy store for $99.99. On their website it has free shipping and is available. Worked great the first night, then I downloaded the system monitor like the manual said (and manual was not in box, I had to download it!) so now it won’t pick up from the drive I have attached or the right folder on my computer. Can someone tell me what the difference between the WD TV Live and WD TV Live Plus is, besides costing $30 more? I might take this one back and get the Plus if it means I can move the files directly onto it, instead of trying to access a separate drive or computer.
Basically the live plus does Netflix other than that its pretty well the same. What model number do you have?
I still think the wd live has a very useful purpose, and that is FLAC for audio. I have a panasonic bluray player that has DLNA and can stream music from the computer but only in mp3 or (I believe) .wav files. The interface is not that great and rather tempermental and slow. I also don’t want to use that much hard drive space to rip everything in .wav which is why I want the ability to play FLAC. Also, I have quite a few albums that are downloaded from Bandcamp in FLAC. If my bluray player offered FLAC decoding it would be a moot point, but until FLAC is offered I still plan to get a wd live box. Now if only I had more optical inputs in my reciever…
Last I checked, WD had both listed as currently out of stock. It seems odd that there wouldn’t be any kind of press release or announcement. I did find an Amazon vendor that had a couple left for around $135 with shipping. As far as I can tell it is the regular version, not the plus, which lists for $99, so they are marking it up a pretty hefty amount. In the grand scheme of things I guess it is worth it if it works for me, but still hate to pay nearly 33% more than list price before the shipping charges. There are refurbished units for half that price, but lack of new ones sure seems to indicate they are letting it die off. Thanks for your reply.
The older WD models are getting really old and have been discontinued for a few years. Accept this fact.
Amazon and eBay vendors etc. sell ALL kinds of discontinued products (new and used); even sometimes at high prices. Gotta be careful. . Unless you know exactly what you are buying and know why you are buying it, I suggest you buy a current new WD model from a reputable seller.
I have a Live Plus I bought new, I bought a second one last year – a used one from eBay, but I knew what I was doing, meaning, I made sure it was not mistreated, it had ALL the original parts (incl box) , and I basically got a cherry unit because of that caution.
mike27oct wrote:
The older WD models are getting really old and have been discontinued for a few years. Accept this fact.
Amazon and eBay vendors etc. sell ALL kinds of discontinued products (new and used); even sometimes at high prices. Gotta be careful. . Unless you know exactly what you are buying and know why you are buying it, I suggest you buy a current new WD model from a reputable seller.
I have a Live Plus I bought new, I bought a second one last year – a used one from eBay, but I knew what I was doing, meaning, I made sure it was not mistreated, it had ALL the original parts (incl box) , and I basically got a cherry unit because of that caution.
“Accept this fact”?!?! That seems a bit harsh to phrase your response this way.
I am not talking about the old version, but what is listed on WD’s site as the current version. Both the Live and Live hub are “currently unavailable” which was the reason for my original post. I did buy a new one through Amazon, but it was marked up from the original list price by about 25%, which since it lists for $99 means it was marked up to about $125. I did check Best Buy’s website as another poster suggested, and there is one available about 80 miles away, but none are available for shipping. Gas being what it is, it wasn’t worth the time or effort to drive 160 miles, so I did opt for paying for one at the higher price.
But, my original question is still valid–Did WD discontinue it? Why is it becoming “unavailable” at most retailers, online or brick and mortar, as well as from WD directly unless they are phasing it out? Is there a problem in their manufacturing chain that has created a shortage? A little information either way is what I was looking for.
I have one hooked up right now, and it plays through my wireless network quite nicely, except for gapless playback, which is another topic. I have not updated the firmware yet, and that may address gapless playback, but from other forum posts, it sounds like WD opted to not offer it. For now it is working well and is acceptable. I may just have to do a workaround by converting some albums into one long track to preserve gapless playback.
We have loads available in the UK and no firmware update gives you gapless audio.
I see that I got confused on a number of points here, as I got your message confused with another person in here because you both metioned the Live Plus (which is a much older unit than the current TV Live (Streaming) – not to be confused with the OLD TV Live/Live Plus generation . . . . and this is not the forum area for the current Live, but for the old Live and Live Plus – there is a separate forum for the newer Live Streaming, so . . . lots of confusion all around and I guess I could pass on an apology to you because my comment was referring to three year old products I though you were saying you were not finding… . Now, I’ll bet I got you confused. 
Good news, I have found an answer to your original question, 'cause it got me curious, too. I checked a few big-time retailer websites (other than Amazon). J&R knows what is happening. See this link to all WDTV units there. http://www.jr.com/product/productListing.jsp?Ntt=wd+tv
It appears the 1TB Hub is history and is being replaced by two other Hubs: a 500GB and a 2TB model. As for the Live (Streaming) it is out of stock at J&R, but due in soon. So, either WD thought they would get a new version of Live out about the same time as the new Hubs, so let their current stock evaporate but didn’t deliver and now have to make more of the current Live units, or they just plain ran out of stock. Whatever the case, I would expect to see a replacement for the Live appear sometime during this year and then the entire line is completely revamped.
Edit: the above site is under maintenance right now, so I checked another big NYC retailer – B&H, and have more info. They already have the 2TB in stock and the 500GB model is due in mid-April. Se this link:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=wdtv&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=
I honestly don’t see any other upgrades to the units other than the drive size. Hub owners might know what else is changing.
WD are still selling the 1TB hub from their store and as guessed the 2TB is simply a drive update and nothing else.
http://store.westerndigital.com/store/wdus/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/ThemeID.21986300/categoryID.52400100/subCategory.52828600/parid.13092400/catid.13742300
sorry if I posted in the wrong forum, I thought it was in the general forum.
Looks like I jumped in either a little too soon, or a little too late and paid a marked up price. If I waited a little bit I could have ordered the 500gb hub version for the same price I paid for the TV Live streaming unit that I bought already. I’m tempted to return it and get the hub once available, but I have used it quite a bit and so far like it a lot. I just have to figure out how to get album art to display correctly.
Your explanation makes perfect sense (once you clarified the streaming vs old version) and I suspected there was a problem with the supply. It seemed very odd that they would just drop them altogether without saying anything, however a little information on WD’s part would have made all the difference in eliminating confusion. I think for future expandability the wifi works better anyway, and I have an external drive so for now that should work very nicely. The main thing is I now can play flac on my home theater system. Thanks for the info.
richUK wrote:
We have loads available in the UK and no firmware update gives you gapless audio.
Next time I hop the pond I’ll try to bring one back. Of course then there’s the whole power adapter problem…
Too bad about the gapless playback, that would be a very useful update (HINT, HINT WD)
Kurtis13 - I was replying to the title of this thread regarding the WD live being unavailable / discontinued.
As to the power supply its 100v to 240v 50/60Hz so the only problem you would have is the physical plug. Not that I expect anybody to buy one from the UK.
