These things should include divx and xvid support as standard, I'm not going to spend time cocking about with converting a library of video just so it'll work on one device, when I could buy another product that can handle them out of the box. Hell, even a cheap media player hard disk enclosure would probably be less hassle.

Divx isn't just used by Bittorrenters you know. My Archos uses it, as does my xbox 360, and consequently, that was the format I ripped my entire DVD collection to.

Oh well :(

Any chance of Divx support via a firmware upgrade?

So um... it doesn't support Makrosa then? One of the most popular video containers for HD freetards everywhere?

Nice idea, I guess it could possibly be upgraded with firmware updates, I'm a bit disapointed though that it doesn't include at least an ethernet port.

I think I'll give this one a miss.

Rob

"The iPod issue is disappointing..."

So, don't get an iPod. It's not WD's fault that Apple use proprietary disk journaling systems on their internal storage and file indexing on their iPods. Apple does NOT dictate how the world should work. The consumer will be tricked into buying their rubbish, though, and it's those (few) in the know who suffer.

If I used a TV for watching videos / TV (and not a huge monitor connceted to my PC) i'd be very tempted by this device. Very tempted indeed. Apart from the lack of reading VOB from ripped DVDs (but I guess it's my fault for using that format).

By "ripped DVDs", you of course refer to legally backed-up films, I assume. :)

I bought a £25 pIII and turned it into a "media centre" using MythTV. It sounds like it would give this £100 job a run for it's money.

Okay, it helps if you're a Linux nut. And a friend donated a freeview card (about £30). But I seem to remember that Linux will read Mac discs just fine...

And all for a mere £100? Bargain.

Looks an interesting idea but without VOB support and ideally ISO support it's no good to me.

As in the above comments they seem to have missed a trick or three.

I'm happy with TVersity running in the background on a PC that picks up all media on my network. I then watch it on my xbox 360. Tversity converts files on the fly so format is never an issue.

Can someone other than me be bothered to double-check with WD that these things can't play Divx/Xvid/Makrosa files (Come on El'Reginald, contact WD and get the facts straight)

This is a major issue for most of the potential buyers. i.e. me and a few of you and my brother and his mates and my mates and your mates, etc.

Unless of course, this is actually aimed at mums and dads who just want to show what they did in Bournemouth with the new baby, etc, etc through a craply converted Windows Movie Maker effort. Listen, I am sure the kid is great but there's a point to be made when a device that doesn't include a cheap fan system that will fail after the warranty is bust is available to the market.

Am I supposed to shell out another £230 for a TVix HD?

P.S. Whoever made that comment about legitimately ripped DVDs achieved a perfect score if it was some mundane attempt at creepy-crawly big-brother love was absolutely right to remain anonymous. It was almost as pointless as me having a go at you about it.

so I assume that DivX shouldn't be a problem either.

I think the BitTorrent Brigade should be just fine.

yes, i have used this device...it supports MKV (Makrosa) files mate - smooth as you like too

Turned an original xbox into a media centre that even the family can use for the grand sum of nothing. Plays just about everything chucked at it apart from H.264 (which I don't care about as I've got a CRT), ISO files, zip files (unpacks media on the fly), FLAC etc. etc. And as a bonus it plays games.

Before that we had a Pc doing media centre duties but I could never get it user-friendly enough to not need my constant assistance.

The Good :

-high quality AV output

-price

-user interface

-stability

The Bad :

- no chapter skipping, so if you watch 3hr movies like me then you have to fast forward or rewind and it ain't fast

- no DVD menus from ISO files, it's like buying a car that can only go forward or backwards

- sluggish menus eg choosing between movies, music and photo is a slow laborious process.

I purchased the Popcorn Hour A-110 and would highly recommend it.

It is a product that is very well supported.

You get what you pay for.

I don't own one, so I can't comment from experience, but at least on WDs website (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=572) it says that the device _does_ indeed support xvid and Matroska (mkv).

File Formats Supported

Music - MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF, MKA

Photo - JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, PNG

Video -MPEG1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H.264)

Playlist - PLS, M3U, WPL

Subtitle -SRT (UTF-8)

Note:

- MPEG2/4, H.264, and WMV9 supports up to 1920x1080p 24fps, 1920x1080i 30fps, 1280x720p 60fps resolution

- An audio receiver is required for surround sound output. AAC/Dolby Digital decodes in 2 channel output only

- JPEG does not support CMYK or loss less.

- BMP supports uncompressed format only.

- TIF/TIFF supports single layer only.

File Formats Not Supported

Does not support protected premium content such as movies or music from the iTunes® Store, Cinema Now, Movielink®, Amazon Unbox™, and Vongo®

Website claims that Dolby surround output is 2 channel only....

Great idea, but missing too many tricks.

Ok twice the price but silent and plays all of the above formats that you are all moaning about (apart from Apple DRM'ed files obviously).

On the ability to play files bought from iTunes, why do reviewers always get disappointed by the fact that you can't play iTunes DRM protected files on anything other than Apple hardware? Has there been some big announcement from Apple (or anybody else for that matter) saying that they have opened up Apple DRM to other hardware manufacturers? No of course there hasn't and it isn't going to change because WD or anybody else bring out a piece of hardware that will sell 0.00001% of what the iPod does. Lets get real and deal with reality here regardless of if it is right or wrong.

It's a shame about the absence of a SCART socket. On any TV of 50cm. or larger, the difference between a composite signal and an RGB signal is obvious. If I didn't know better, I'd suspect this was a deliberate attempt to persuade people that the old-fashioned, low-definition 625-line system (which was once described as high-definition, back in the 405-line days) is no good.

I'm also sure many people *haven't* got blisteringly-fast multi-core boxes (with painstakingly-tweaked kernels omitting all unnecessary drivers) on which to run ffmpeg and so convert their video files to supported formats :)

Any actually tested divx? (or did you review the spec sheet? Divx and xvid are variants of MPEG4, therefore likely supported...

So could we put a blu ray player in a USB caddy and have a useable player?

Paris cause obviously she's no doubt already on blu ray...

no divx and no component video earn this product a FAIL.

I'm eagerly awaiting the competing offerings though.

Sounds like it does have DivX support from what people have said.

I would be tempted to get one of these if it had WiFi and Ethernet and could act as a wireless/wired media server that a PS3/Xbox 360/PC could connect to from anywhere in the house and access the files on the HDD.

Would be perfect if the PS3 (for example) just picked it up and used its usual PS3 interface, then on your actual TV that the WD is connected to elsewhere in the house you would use the WD menu that's built into the device.

Another useful feature would be if it could pick up shared files from a wireless computer elsewhere in the house and play them directly on the TV.

Would be an easy way of sharing files since it seems to support all the same formats as PC's / Mac's / Games Consoles.

I have seen an used one of these. There are many little niggles about this bit of kit from WD. I have at home a Popcorn Hour A110 HD and this virtually plays all video inc mkv + h.264 and audio files and has a lot higher spec inc Dolby 7.1. Which costs around £200. It completely blows the WD out of the water, sorry WD but it's just another product that dosen't make the grade.