Western Digital WD TV HD media player story

Last week I saw a story on a Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player. I think I saw it on this site, or if not, Deseret news or MormonTimes (possibley Meridian).

At any rate it was said that by use of this device church units in ourlying areas are able to download church video from the internet and play it on a regular TV. Does anyone know where to find this story? The unit, as I remember, was only 54.00.

wsplawn wrote:Last week I saw a story on a Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player. I think I saw it on this site, or if not, Deseret news or MormonTimes (possibley Meridian).

At any rate it was said that by use of this device church units in ourlying areas are able to download church video from the internet and play it on a regular TV. Does anyone know where to find this story? The unit, as I remember, was only 54.00.

This device was mentioned in the January 2011 Meetinghouse Technology Newsletter. It's also mentioned on the wiki at Viewing Church broadcasts using USB drives.

Are either of those articles what you were thinking of?

The wiki article links to the device for sale on Amazon for $118 -- a bit more than twice your recollection, but not too bad, IMO.

Thank you. The second link answered my question. I think this will work very well in a variety of situations for our ward. I have been able to find it (even a newer model) on Amazon, and locally (Sacramento) for 99.00.

Thank you again.

wsplawn wrote:Thank you. The second link answered my question. I think this will work very well in a variety of situations for our ward. I have been able to find it (even a newer model) on Amazon, and locally (Sacramento) for 99.00.

The newer model you mention is named Western Digital WD TV Live Plus HD Media Player (WDBABX0000NBK-NESN). It is available from multiple online vendors for $99.00 with free shipping. However, if you plan to purchase one or more of these and your needs aren't immediate, you might consider waiting for it to go on sale. This model could be had for about $75 in November.

Thank you for your response.

I had not been aware of streetprices.com. This is a good site to remember. Do you know if there is a way to check when something goes on sale. That's kind of a stretch. It's probably just a matter of checking back regularly, but thought I would ask. Thank you again.

wsplawn wrote:Thank you for your response.

I had not been aware of streetprices.com. This is a good site to remember. Do you know if there is a way to check when something goes on sale. That's kind of a stretch. It's probably just a matter of checking back regularly, but thought I would ask. Thank you again.

I have not done so, but it appears that you can create an account and then set up a price alert to notify you.

danpass wrote:The newer model you mention is named Western Digital WD TV Live Plus HD Media Player (WDBABX0000NBK-NESN). It is available from multiple online vendors for $99.00 with free shipping. However, if you plan to purchase one or more of these and your needs aren't immediate, you might consider waiting for it to go on sale. This model could be had for about $75 in November.

If you subscribe to newegg.com's e-Blast, this makes you eligible to use promo code EMCKJHC52 at checkout to get this WD media player for $89.99. The promo code expires 2/2/2011.

I was not aware of newegg.com. Thanks for telling me about them. Are they in any way associated with the old EggHead software stores of the 90's? Any other places you like or think it would be helpful to be aware of?

Best Regards

wsplawn wrote:Are they in any way associated with the old EggHead software stores of the 90's?

Although Newegg sprang up about the same time Egghead was dying off, the companies are entirely different.

There are many discount places around the Internet offering sales on a variety of products an STS might purchase for his stake, but I'm not sure this forum is the best place to compare them all.

The Church News published an article today on using Western Digital drives for viewing conference: http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/6 ... world.html

I see the church is recommending a WD Media Player that's USB only. Why not a model that also supports streaming and HD, like this model? Seems like some valuable future-proofing, not to mention it's $40 cheaper.

Russell,

Great suggestion. In fact, you will see an update to the LDS Tech WIKI next week that will be recommending that exact device. Thanks for the feedback.

Cheers,
Jacob

This is a somewhat older thread. I am interested to know about which media technology a media streaming device must support in order to be compatible with Church media streaming and where the preferred location is or the servers are from which to stream media?

My reason for asking is that many of the Blu-ray players include media streaming as an extra feature. I looked out of curiosity about how much the recommended Western Digital device costs in the UK and the cheapest I could find it for was £114 (probably about $160). Entry level Blu-ray players are now about £80. I know that the Church does not have anything available on Blu-ray but my thinking is that it would be a single device which can both play DVD and stream media. On top of that it may cost less than the recommended media streaming device. Certainly it should be less than a Media Streaming Device + DVD player purchased separately. It all really depends on what is compatible with Church media sources.

Hi Carl

I have found one of the recommended devices on Amazon for £80
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital ... 916&sr=8-1

Carl & Silid, We are currently looking into a multipurpose device such as what you suggest. We'll keep you informed!

Also wondering about buying a Blu Ray player with streaming and a USB input. This seems to do everything the WD media player does, costs less and has a Blu Ray player. Please help me understand if there are any downsides to this approach. Thank you for your assistance.

kc7qwh wrote:Also wondering about buying a Blu Ray player with streaming and a USB input. This seems to do everything the WD media player does, costs less and has a Blu Ray player. Please help me understand if there are any downsides to this approach.

While it sounds good in theory, the devil is in the details. Verify that the USB port can be used to play videos and it will play the format the church uses. Likewise on the streaming, make sure it will work with the church servers.

A few years ago when I looked at DVD players, the USB port was only to show stills - it couldn't play video of any format.

Just this week I picked up a Sony BDP-S185 (for about $80). It doesn't have wi-fi and I don't plan to use it for streaming (because we're not supposed to rely on streaming in the church anyway). This plays downloaded videos from a USB drive beautifully. Also Blu-ray, DVD and Audio CDs. I was able to save a few dollars on a monitor because I didn't "need" the USB player built into the TV.

With what I know now, I would probably purchase Android TV boxes instead.
What we did purchase were 2 Sony BDP-S390 blu-ray players. They work great for video from usb drive, they are able to wirelessly stream from local server in building, and they have connections for older TVs, but Sony doesn't make them any more.

Funny story:
We had a stake general priesthood meeting on Sunday night. The second counselor wanted to show a video he had downloaded to a USB flash drive. As requested, I set up a TV and WD media player in the high council room. Since he did not give the flash drive to me before the meeting, I left it at that.
When his breakout session began, he inserted his flash drive into the WD media player, and wondered why he couldn't get it to play. While he had turned the TV on, he didn't realize he also had to turn on the media player. I am sure that was my fault...