How often have you been so caught up in tinkering with a device like the WD TV Live Media player that you look around and realize that a week has passed by since you initially began? This is pretty much what happened when I opened the Western Digital WD TV Live Plus 1080p HD Media Player packaging.

This cool little device (or should I say peripheral) is probably one of the most under-appreciated WD TV HD Media Player devices on the open market today. For just under a hundred dollars, you can take your External hard drive, USB Drive, Internet Connection or other USB storage device, connect your HDMI ready Plasma, LCD, or LED tv to the WD TV Live and stream all the photos, music, and videos you have been collecting over the years directly to your screen.

The interface is extremely user friendly with the same look feel and sound of your standard DVD player, PS3 or internet Apps. You can stream a variety of apps including Netflix, Blockbuster, and Facebook as well as playback everything from standard photos in slideshow with music overlay and video media to high definition blue ray technology. Although it does not have as many channels as the ROKU 2 XS 1080p streaming player, it does give it a pretty good run for the price you pay.

Installation is straight forward with power, USB, HDMI or Audio Visual setup cables to your TV. Once turned on, you can play your media in a quite versatile way. Only being limited by the amount of media you possess on your storage device. There are also thousands of internet based channels and programing to enjoy if you do not have a huge music or movie library to select from.

The following snapshots are just a little of the vast amount of channels I find to be most useful to my viewing preferences.

  •  Crackle.tv

This channel has both high definition and standard definition movies, short flicks,” webisodes” and various other content from around. For comedy shows, and the casual viewing I always select this channel.

  • Blip.tv

This channel has a vast selection of classic, modern, foreign and near current full length movies. The movies range in genre like Crackle above. My favorite being the ability to hit the “Option” button and choose from similar or like content to view from.

  • Pandora with USB device

One of the more cooler, slightly techie things that this media player can do is play music from Pandora or wherever you have your music files stored as well, while playing a slide show of pictures from your USB device at the same time. It is a definite conversation starter at family parties or commercial events. The coolness of having a slideshow of your photo collection with movies playing in the background is pretty awesome.

  •  Network Attached Storage (NAS) Capabilities

If you have a router, or a switch or some other network setup, the WD Live TV will take any external USB device be it a 1TB External Hard Drive or a 4GB USB Flash drive, and make it accessible across your entire home or office network. If you have a wireless router, and are using a laptop around your home, the WD Live TV will make all your external Hard Drives not only discoverable but accessible across the network.

Should you be wondering if that means you can access these devices using your wireless laptop the answer is most definitely a big yes. Your WD TV Live will show up as a NAS device in your My Documents folder or by accessing it through your Windows Explorer. It is one of the most convenient ways to add a device to your network compared to the old days of individually configuring network IP addresses.

WD TV Live Player

The only thing that compares to the awesomeness of a personal slideshow with music in the background is the look on their faces when they realize all your old DVDs are now on a small external device fueling this Media sensation. That feeling alone is definitely worth the purchase.

Another thing that I found to be pretty exciting is the latest firmware updates that the WD Live Media player issues from time to time. With each new update there are new channels of content made available. Most of this new content is free, I really like “free” part. There are literally thousands of hours of free content to peruse through to your heart’s content.

Inevitably, pound for pound the WD TV Live Media player has to be one the better of any new home media device purchases you can make these days. If you are planning on converting your DVD collection to .mkv format and storing it on an external hard drive or network attached storage (NAS) center, this is the device for you. It will definitely eliminate all the clutter of old DVD’s while making you look a little more technically inclined at the same time.

Should you just be planning on watching Netflix or the likes of Blockbuster, it’s all here in one device. Yes, I do prefer the free stuff, but that is just my personal preference. Whatever you decide to watch is definitely up to you. Do you like High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) content or standard viewing over HDMI? The WD Live TV Media player’s HDMI ports make all this as seamless as plugging in power and selecting your input device. It’s that simple, and that powerful whatever content format you may choose.

I really enjoy being able to play my favorite Pandora channel while having a slideshow of all my pictures during the family get together. Even though everyone in my family knows me as being the tech guy, simply being able to replay captured moments from the past with music playing in the background really sets the mood and feel of the gathering. My elder family members were able to catch up a little on all the photo viewing, and even compared it to watching old black and white slide shows many years ago.

If you try it, you will be amazed at the power and simplicity of the Western Digital WD TV Live Plus 1080p HD Media Player. The WD Live TV is a relatively new and innovative method of consolidating, accessing and consuming media in your home.