Which to buy - Hub or Live + Ext HDD?

Hi all,

Was wondering if you could could advise me if there’s anything major I’ll be missing out on, if I buy a Live plus an external drive instead of a Live Hub?

Asking because here in Australia a new Live Hub is just under $300, whereas I can get a Live for about $95 and a 1tb external HDD 2.5" for $75 or a powered 3.5" for under $50.

Just curious to know if (apart from saving almost $150!) there’s anything in the Live Hub you’d miss if you had to downgrade to a Live.

Thanks for any advice.

Steve

Aside from the different UI, functioning as a basic / slow NAS and having a Media Library / MetaData for your media, there’s not a huge difference between them.  The Hub can Sync to external USB drives / network shares I believe but I’ve never tried it.

The available online services are pretty much the same (as of right now, the Live actually has a couple the Hub doesn’t: Deezer and Flingo).

Whatever storage you plug into the Live can be seen / shared on the network when the Live is turned on (whilst the Hub still functions as a NAS even in standby).

With the Live + External HDD option, you’re not limited to 1TB of storage.  Sure, you can also add external storage to the Hub but at least with the Live route you can get 2TB to start with.  Don’t go for 3TB, none of the WD units support them yet.

$150 AUS is a big saving that could go towards more storage or more media.  In your shoes I’d likely skip the Hub and go with the Live; the Hub’s larger price is mainly from the 2.5" 1TB drive.

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Thanks Grant,

Appreciate your thoughts. I’ve just seen a 1Tb 2.5 drive selling for $75 at a local retailer, so I think I’ll get one of those. And the WDTV Live of course!

Cheers.