I usually watch videos on my PC because my DVD player does not support the new codecs and stuff (it is really old), so I was planning to buy a new one. I found that Western Digital Elements Play plays many latest video formats like MKV etc but also has an inbuilt memory of 1TB/2TB, so it is perfect for me.

I have tried to look for some good reviews on the device but Google isn't helping, I couldn't even find it on newegg. Anyone here ever use it? Is it good? Do you think there is something better than this I can use?

Thanks!

 

I don't really know anything about the Elements Play, but from what I heard the Acer Aspire RevoView RV-100 is pretty good. Maybe you should take a look at that one.

 

There are many things like that out there. What is unique about Elements Play is that it also has an inbuilt Hard Disk of 2TB. Basically it is a portable hard disk which you can directly connect to a TV and play tons of formats.

I will probably go for something like this if I can not find anything better.

Thanks for replying.

 

I haven't heard of the WD Elements Play, but I am reasonably familiar with the WD TV and WD TV Live families. I'm going to talk about them, because the background info will help explain the WD Elements Play.

The WD TV was WD's early attempt at producing a small video playback box. You could plug a USB HDD into it with your movies and it'd play them. The WD TV Live family of devices took this a step further and introduced network capability so that you could update the firmware [very important!] online, stream movies from your home network, better hardware, and online movie streaming [YouTube, Hulu, etc].

My friends and family started with WD TVs, but eventually we all moved to WD TV Live's and it wasn't because of the network functionality. To stay up to date with current codecs and their innumerable internal variations you have to be able to update your player to the latest firmware. Unfortunately, WD often lets their products die on the vine once they stop selling. So, the WD TV, for example, can't play the latest codecs. The WD TV Live family however, is still receiving firmware upgrades. Even then, not everything is perfect, but it's still a very, very good standalone media player for its price. My friends and family almost exclusively use the WD TV Live and Live Plus. No one has a Live Hub yet.

Now we get to the WD Elements Play. According to this excellent CNet review, the WD Elements Play is the old WD TV strapped to a HDD. I was hoping that it'd at least be the newer Live hardware, but that sadly isn't the case. In the screenshots you'll notice the lack of network port and only 1 USB port. I wouldn't count on this to be able to play all of the latest codecs which are commonly seen online. The other thing the WD TV has trouble with is DVD images. It can't play them. I think it had to do with being unable to process DVD menus. It wasn't until the Live's recent firmware updates that DVD images have become playable. The original WD TV wasn't updated for DVDs. It's strange that Elements Play is using that old gen equipment.

If you're definitely interested in getting a playback and hdd device-in-one, then look at the WD TV Live Hub. To be honest, I haven't looked closely at it, and it seems to have more features than you need, but the CNet article indicated it'd only be marginally more expensive than the WD Elements Play. And with the seemingly large popularity difference between the Live and Elements Play [given your difficulty in finding info], I'd guess that new firmware updates will be provided for longer on the Live Hub.

I have some reasons to avoid an all-in-one solution, but they don't necessarily apply to you. HDDs eventually die, so I prefer throwing away a dead external HDD than an entire unit. If the unit dies, or WD stops updating the firmware, at least you've still got a good external drive with your content on it. Those hangups are mine. So long as an all-in-one player suits your situation, go for it.

And do read that CNet article. The author seems to have some idea of what he's talking about.

And the first thing you do when you receive a new WD media device is to update its firmware. Speaking from experience, they're frequently out of date.

CNet review - WD TV Live Hub
CNet review - WD Elements Play

 

This is exactly what I needed, both your sorta-review and the product. I will be getting WD TV Live soon then.

Thanks!

 

Now you have to decide between the Live, Live Plus, and Live Hub.

Whatever you're getting, ensure it's recent. WD will upgrade its hardware while keeping the same name, so there are several generations of Lives [and Live Pluses?]. eg. The 2011 version of the Live appears to be significantly better than the older ones I'm familiar with. The new GUI looks good.

WD TV Live (2011)
WD TV Live Plus (summer 2010)

I'm not sure if there are multiple generations for the Live Hub. It's a fairly new product, so perhaps not. Live Hub is the only one that comes with a built in hard drive.

 

It seems that I forgot to mention that the Acer Aspire RevoView RV-100 is avaible with 320GB, 1TB and 2TB.

But now that you have a review of the WD, I would take that one too if I were you.