Western Digital WD TV Mini Media Player

Article by gadget on Gadget Heaven · +Mark Taylor ·

Western Digital first introduced the WD TV HD media player which was an instance hit among home entertainment owners. The WD company has now introduced the WD TV mini media player which is smaller and less expensive.

This device is small and measures 22 x 91 x 91 mm and it is actually smaller than the remote that is used to control it, how cute! The downside of this device is that unlike its predecessor, it cannot decode H.264 but the good news is that it supports RMVB which is not available in the larger version. The design on the WD TV mini media player is very attractive and more sensible compared to the larger version. Its upper and lower parts have matt textured look which makes it difficult for fingerprints to show. Anyone who owns an iPhone or any other touch-phone will know how annoying finger prints are – so think on!

In terms of connectivity, the WD TV mini media player is a bit lacking because it only has one USB port therefore you can only read one external hard drive or memory stick unlike the large WD TV HD media player that has two. Another downside is that HDMI is not supported by this media player. There are two jacks in the device that can be used for video output. One is for video/RCA audio and composite video therefore it cannot be used with a majority of PC monitors. To get quality audio and video, you need to have 2 audiovisual cables connected to this device.

Setting the device is not difficult and all you need to do is plug in its power brick and its 2 audiovisual cables. Once this is done, you can connect a drive that contains a media and it is ready to use. To get the best quality pictures, the device has to be set to its maximum resolution the screen is able to support.

Apart from the fact that the WD TV mini media player does not have HDMI connection, it cannot send full HD 1080p signals but can send 1080i signals of about 60HZ. When it is well configured, it scales everything to the 1080i signals which is impressive for such an affordable device.

The WD TV mini media player has a white, blue and back interface that is attractive and clean. The interface responds well and is divided into various components including Settings, File Management, Music, Photos and Videos. The groupings and icons included in its interface are logical and there are various options provided for the set up. There is a screensaver, slideshow timing, transition effects, subtitle size and picture icons for the videos. With the WD TV mini media player, you get some clever touches as well.

The device supports various picture and music formats including PNG, GIFF, JPEG, TIFF, and BMP for pictures and APE, MP3, Read Audio, OGG, MKA, FLAC, WMA, LPCM, and WAV for audio.

Although it lacks some of the features that made its predecessor so popular, the WD TV mini media player is sturdy, smooth and striking. It retails at about 60 pounds which is about ten pounds less than the WD TV HD media player.

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