1. I have bought a WD TV HD Media Player (GEN1), some time ago, and been having small annoying issues with it ever since. Actually, some of these issues are not that small!!! I wrote few e-mails to the WD customer service department, but without much help, and waited forever for their replies. When I found out that they have launched the GEN2 , without fixing most of the posted problems of the GEN1, I got very upset. However, because I am an ■■■■■, I bought two GEN 2 units (just a week ago), one for my sister and one for my Mother, thinking that all the GEN1 issues have been resolved. Well, after testing it, and after reading ALL the posts on this forum, I found out that this assumption made an **bleep** out of me!!!:):) The audio going out of sync after you FF a movie is more than a simple annoyance. It makes the movie unwatchable, at least for me. Not to mention all the other issues.
2. So, I finally have had enough!!! I will return the two GEN2 machines to Best Buy, and I will post a review on their website, as well as on the Amazon.com!!! However, I still need a unit that actually works. Someone on this forum had suggested PRODIGI PD-100N, but I do not want to swap one crappy product for another, and I couldn’t find enough customer reviews to ease my anxiety:):) My question then is: Do any of you know of another HD Multimedia Player that has been tested, and is actually GOOD, and comes from a company that treats their customers with respect, unlike WD, and actually provides FIRMWARE UPGRADES more frequently than once a year???
I have to be honest and I am sorry to have to say this, but at this price they are all pretty much as bad as each other. I completely agree that WD’s laziness and misleading sales information (the Gen 2 most definitely does not do everything that they claim it does!) leaves them a very very poor choice, but I would imagine that the firmware support for other media players is probably just as bad if not worse! (I know, how is that possible?!)
I can give you a very sound piece of advice from my own experience though… do not make the mistake of buying the Asus O!Play!! Amazingly bad piece of junk! It’s a shame, because their firmware (software) was actually much better than the WD’s, but I had read bad reviews about the sound chip blowing and guess what happened to mine within 3 hours of switching it on for the first time… the sound chip blew! The picture at 1080p is VERY grainy too, something else that comes out a lot in the reviews.
So, basically I think we are all ahead of our time! I think what we simply require as a working functional HD media player does not exist yet! It’s not that the technology is not there, it’s that these corporations just want to grab our money and do absolutely nothing to enhance the product that they’ve sold us. None of the company’s have released a good stable product capable of doing exactly what it should be doing and none of the company’s can be bothered to support their loyal customers with firmware upgrades (their “support” is based on suggesting things they already know won’t work and then shrugging their shoulders and saying that we’ll just have to wait for the firmware update which they know is never coming out!)
You know what’s annoyingly ironic? Is that if there was a company that brought out a new HD media player that was capable of doing (playing) everything for a reasonable price and regularly supported their new wonder product, then watch how suddenly WD and other junk brands would start releasing their firmware as they should! There is (currently) no decent competition, so for WD customer loyalty is completely un-important.
I completely agree with you writing bad reviews on as many websites though! I urge anyone else to do the same thing. Bad reputation is a very damaging factor for lazy company’s such as this one!
Actually, I would be willing to pay more for a GOOD product, so its not that I expect wonders for $120 (Canadian). I only bought this cheap thing because I did not find anything else in local stores, and am not yet a savvy “On-line” purchaser:)
Also, thank you for the specific advice on the “Asus O! Play”, as that was one of the units I was looking at.
Any personal experiences and opinions on the “PRODIGI PD-100N”?? There has to be something, at least a little bit, better than WD out there, there just has to be - I refuse to live in a world where there isn’t!!!:):):)
The only promising products i have been able to find out are eith Dune players. they r very reliable products with good support.
End of the day you get what you pay for. evven you are paying a little bit more, you would have peace of mind that you have invested in to somethinf which is actually useful and you feel good everytime you use it.
I myself have wdtv1 which i m planning to replace very soon with either popbox or boxee which are due to be released very soon. they both r very high end products with a reasonable price.
i would say wait a little bit more and you ll see a flood of media streamers in market over the next few months.
