I love my 2014 WDTV and im looking forward to the 2015 version (hopefully there will be one), but here are my main suggestions.
A faster processor. Throw a quad-core chip in there! Hopefully one that supports 4K video. When I click a button on the remote, I don’t want to be waiting a second or two for it to register on-screen. It needs to be instantaneous. This is important, it’s 2015. I would happily pay a premium for it to have a Tegra K1 inside.
The remote, please add volume controls to it. A headphone jack would be nice too but that isnt critical, volume controls are critical.
More USB ports on the back, this would be great for connecting multiple drives.
The User Interface needs some work, it’s currently very unintuitive to do basic tasks. I still cant figure out how to copy a video file from a USB flash drive connected to the front into a USB HDD connected on the back. This is useful if we want to quickly get files on the WDTV without having to disconnect the main drive. Also, please add a ‘safely remove’ function to eject the drive without having to power off first.
The UI design is OK, but it seems like it’s trying too hard to impress. Something minimal and clean would do just fine, in addition to using less resources. Think Windows 8-style design, it would work and look great on a TV.
Those are my main suggestions. I’m really looking forward a new WD TV. And honestly, if it only had the first two suggestions it would be a great improvement. Please don’t disappoint with the next version.
A Tegra K1 isn’t necessary. The only reason you’d need that SoC is if you are building a gaming device. There are cheaper and better options that would give you 4K/HEVC support. And you don’t have to limit it to just ARM SoC’s, x86 mobile chips are cheap, fast and in some cases work better than ARM.
NO headphone jack, unless you like swapping batteries all the time. If you want to use headphones just add BT headphone support. “Hey Ma, look no wires”. Or you can just be like me, just crank that bad boy all the way up and annoy the neighbors (I’m all about that bass).
Just keep in mind, the more USB ports you have the bigger the power supply is going to have to be. The better choice would be to add USB 3.0 and have a CPU that could take advantage of those speeds. If you have a need for more than 2 HDD’s, get a NAS and “forget about it”.
As to the UI. One word, Kodi (formerly XBMC), you can go big (or go home) or go small. It can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be.
The K1 was simply a suggestion. All I’m asking for is a processor that will provide a lag-free experience.
Bluetooth headphones are great, except if you hate having yet another device to remember to charge.
Personally, I don’t need more than two USB ports. Although, I do need them to be at the back with the hard drives behind the TV and out of sight. But still, having an extra one in the front is convenient.
I haven’t heard of Kodi, but after a quick look, it does seem decent, and I like that its open source. But I’ve yet to see how it performs.
They also need to make zooming easier, preferably by having two direct access + and - buttons on the remote. Or at least by letting us assign zooming ourselves under “Remote Settings”.
Aslo, zooming was easier to access and worked better in the old “WD TV Live” model than in the current “WD TV Media Player”, because you could adjust zooming without stopping the video, and it took fewer clicks to get there.
Nvidia have just released new firmware for AndroidTV Shield device that gives HD audio bitstreaming and 23/24/50Hz playback within Kodi and Plex.
AndroidTV OS is closed source and owned by Google so if stock OS has these features then there is no reason WD should be avoding this platform any more.
Come on WD do an AndroidTV box using Marvell, STMicro or MediaTek Arm SoC’s they are very media focused with support for Widevine DRM (Google’s preferred DRM) and cheap.
I’ll go very basic with mine…updates beyong the first few months after the product was released.
Just spent 30 minutes with a WD rep last night going over my issues. Was kinda surprised to find that I can’t even roll back the firmware with a “reset box back to original state” menu command. It always keeps the latest one.
Huh? Doesn’t a full reset to factory status imply the original firmware?
I realize WD are infamous for not updating their hardware adequately. So regardless of any suggestions listed here, it’s almost meaningless if each unit retains bugs and issues that are ignored/not patched.
That said, a volume control would be really nice. It’s on the mobile app (though it doesn’t work well), so perhaps only adding the required buttons is necessary.
It would be great if the files in a shared folder on the network could be sorted by date, just like if the drive was attached locally through USB. I usually prefer to view my files sorted by date instead of alphabetically. That way, I can find the new stuff quickly.
The update does not give Kodi or Plex HD audio pass-through capabilities. It added the capability to the Shield, but Kodi and Plex still have to implement it on their end. And at least with Kodi that will not come until at least v17.
Android TV is also not a closed source OS, no more than Android is. Android TV is just Android underneath with the Leanback Launcher.
Also, all those SoC’s you listed are the worst you could use, none of them have good enough support for a media player, especially one running Android. If you’re going with Android then you would need to either go with Nvidia or AmLogic.
