Western Digital seems to have mastered the art of making a perfectly balanced HD media player. The first generation WD TV HD media player (with the glossy black finish) introduced us to a new category of home entertainment devices.  The WD Live, which was the upgraded version, came with network capabilities, ability to access media servers and access to services like YouTube, Picasa and Live365 etc. All this while offering the same superb video playback quality, upscaled to Full HD resolutions. 

A lot of rival products also flooded the market, offering comparable features at competitive prices. However, the WD products remained just that much better. It is true that I run the risk of sounding like a WD fanboy, but the fact is that the WD TV media player range offers a perfect blend of performance, quality and the value for money factor. The latest media player to arrive is the WD TV Live Hub Media Center. To put it simply, WD took the Live HD media player, and made it a lot better. Let us find out how good this one actually is. 

HD media players: Perfect partners for the flat panel TV

The HD media players are devices which are connected to the television and allow users to access video/audio/pictures from a USB drive. These devices can be connected to the flat panel televisions using HDMI or component video output- with HD resolution upscaling. The media players can also connect to the older generation CRT televisions via the composite video cable. However, in this scenario, the videos will not get upscaled to HD resolutions.

First Impression: Unbelievably Sleek

The WD TV Live Hub has a bigger footprint than the previous generation WD TV Live, because of the additional bulk of an internal hard drive. However, the Hub is a lot slimmer in the overall form factor and isn’t a lot heavier as well. The Iomega Screenplay Director HD also comes with an internal 1TB hard drive, but looks extremely bulky in comparison to this. The most recent media player launched by Asus- the HD2 has a slot for a 3.5-inch internal drive, and the overall form factor seems humungous when compared to the WD Hub.   

The front of the Hub has one USB port on the bottom right corner, and the power button on the bottom left corner. The rest of the panel is clean, with a glossy-ish black finish. Apart from this, the rest of the device has a matte black coloured finish, which makes it less prone to scratches and a lesser dust magnet. The sides are completely clean with no ports. All the connectivity options are on the rear panel- another USB input, Ethernet port, HDMI out, composite and component video out, optical audio out and the power input. The underside of the device has a small cooling fan- an indicator of the processing power this device possesses.

Interface: Best seen in High Definition!

To test the device, I had hooked it up to a Full HD LCD, using the HDMI cable. Switch on the box and you will be taken in by the truly amazing user interface. Called Mochi, this one allows customizable themes, animated menus and changeable backgrounds. The home screen, also known as Dashboard, has the clearly laid out menus- Videos, Audio, Photos, Files, Services and Setup. Access to the next page within any of these menus also introduces the ability to select the source of content (which will be displayed on that page), and the style the content will be displayed in (thumbnails, list, previews etc.). The top bar on the interface shows the current time, and the latest weather update via the AccuWeather app. Internet connectivity is essential for this feature to work. Users can change the background images, as well as themes. Despite a pretty colourful and animation heavy interface, the Hub does not slow down at all. 

Since I had reviewed all previous generations of the WD media players as well as those offered by the rivals, the comparisons were inevitable. The Mochi GUI is a major upgrade from the plain (yet very functional) interface of the WD TV Live. And this is miles ahead of the interface offered by the likes of the Asus O!Play HD2. No wonder there are queries on various online forums about if and when the WD Live will get a similar interface.