Digital media streamer WDTV Live Plus has been updated to offer Hulu Plus. Although Western Digital’s platform (review here) may not feature as many “channels” as Roku’s, they clearly offer a solid and growing lineup of online content including Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, and two video on demand services. Additionally, as I frequently mention, one of WDTV’s prime selling points (over Roku) is their support of local media playback via USB or network devices (including DLNA). In fact, if that’s a priority the Roku 2 may let you down. Roku’s Director of Product Management recently reinforced their position to a customer via email:
If the ONLY thing you purchased the Roku 2 for was local media streaming, you should return your player for a refund. We are primarily an Internet streaming device (Pandora, Netflix, Vimeo, MLB, Hulu, etc.). We don’t have the broad file type/codec support that some more dedicated local network/USB streaming boxes have.
I no longer hoard much media, digital or otherwise, locally and prefer others handle content aggregation for me. But if you desire well rounded local media playback, the WDTV Live (~$100) is worth a look.
Thanks for the forwarded email, Jenna! The Roku 2 has some backwards compatibility issues which will hopefully be sorted soon that include breaking certain features of the very fine but unofficial iPhone Roku remote and effectively killing the Plex channel. Jenna reached out to Roku in regards to Plex and how the Roku 2 handles HLS – the above is an except of Roku’s reply.
It’s all quite a bit of a shame.
Roku 1/Plex was the only TV box in the $100 price range that could competently deal with a local caching workflow without getting into jailbreaking the Walled Garden’s gear.
But, hey, that Roku 2 sure is small and aerodynamic! As long as you don’t actually plug it in, it sits there looking better than the Roku 1 ever looked…
So if someones wants local streaming from a network share along with internet streaming, what is the best buy right now?
Has Boxee improved enough to make it a realistic option?
I’d say the two best options to handle local content well, along with decent online options and given ongong support with active forums, would be the WDTV Live Plus or Boxee. If there’s some specific type of access or file format you’re looking for, I’d hit the respective forums to verify it’s all good. Also, see which have the online services you like – I’d take Boxee’s Vudu over WDTV’s CinemaNow or Blockbuster. But even something like the PS3 will do DLNA reasonably well. It’s probably worth mentioning again that the WDTV Live Plus doesn’t include WiFi, whereas Boxee does. Also Boxee includes that QWERTY remote. I also hold out hope that Boxee will include live TV functionality… but there’s no telling if that would require a whole new box, or just a USB tuner accessory.
Isn’t the original point of this article, while great, kind of pointless because of Hulu+’s limitations?
So if I had a WDTV I could now subscribe to Hulu+ which would afford me the ability to not watch what I want to watch where I want to watch it for a mere $7.99/month.
I know it’s not Hulu’s fault but the media companies -really- need to get past this stupid limitation.
This is a lot like the TiVo/Cable Co deal. I know it’s not TiVo’s fault that the cable companies were PITA about the cable cards but the end result is dysfunction for the consumer/user.
Yeah Hulu Plus has problems and content licensing has been a quagmire (universally), but I find enough value in their offerrings to subscribe.
Dave, The WDTV Live UI (I am assuming that is the main screen in the photo) looks kind of lame. How would you grade the UI look and functionality once you get into the respective channels? Is the Hulu Plus UI the “standard” UI found on Roku, PS3 and others or is it tailored like the Xbox implementation of Hulu Plus?
Better than Roku? ;) I think Live Hub still has a more interesting UI than Live Plus. At the bottom of the post are three pics, two of the Hulu app on WDTV. Looks like the standard interface. My buddy Tom took the pics on his device – we did a site giveaway or returned our review loaner.
Xdreamealker, I’ll try. As soon as Honeycomb is released and I pull it out of the closet. :)