I feel obliged to add to this thread because my own experience with the WDTVLIVE has been largely positive. Readers can see from the setup description in my signature that I use the WDTVLIVE wirelessly over dual-band 11N and while it can’t stream Blu Ray HD bitrates as mkelley has pointed out (and is discussed here between us in another thread http://community.wdc.com/t5/Networking/HD-over-wire-is-it-really-possible/m-p/65502) I’m currently not aware of any wireless solution that can.
Many (but I readily acknowledge not all) of the issues users encounter with the WDTVLIVE seem to reflect components outside the WDTV (e.g. decoding abilities of TVs or Receivers) or changes to software outside of wD’s control (such as the MKV compression header issue in MKVMERGE which seems to have been intentionally introduced by the developer as a ‘Gotcha’).
I have certainly experienced problems with MP4 playback and the MKV compression header issue, but given the multiplicity of formats & resolutions otherwise supported by the WDTV I really don’t consider these to be show-stoppers particularly when these files can be easily reencoded to playable MKVs.
True I don’t much like the crippling of YoutubeHD or the erratic Mediafly experience in the Beta FW but I acknowledge that both these issues are largely outside the control of WD and are certainly not deal-breakers.
Based on ‘bang-for-the-buck’ and reports of some truly horrible experiences with alternatives (such as AppleTV) I consider that the WDTVLIVE is still one of the best media players out there.
And like mkelley I don’t own any shares in WD or have any incentive in participating in these forums other than sharing and reporting my experience for what it is.
