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Western Digital HD Media Player could be a pirate's dream come true

Posted by Al Warmington on Mon 3 Nov 2008

Question mark left hanging over codec support

For a very interesting gadget, Western Digital's HD Media Player didn't get a lot of fanfare when it launched this weekend. Well, when we say 'not a lot', what we really mean is 'nothing at all', but don't think that means this isn't a potentially brilliant bit of kit.

The WD Media Player is a fairly simple idea. Hook up a USB memory device (anything from a basic thumbdrive to a big ol' USB hard drivewill do), then plug it into your big screen TV via HDMI or RCA and watch your digital content in full 1080p.

Now there's an obvious application for this which errs toward the murkier end of internet video sharing, seeing as you can basically take videos downloaded right off the web and watch them on your TV. Or if you're being a bit more legit, you could consider this a great way of viewing your 'backed up' media on your telly. You can also listen to digital music and view still photos.

The only website selling these doesn't go into to detail about which video codecs the device supports, however a helpful early adopter has confirmed that it plays a healthy selection of commonly found formats, including MKV, H.264, DiVX, XViD, MPEG2/4, MOV, ISO, VOB.

If this is correct, then the inclusion of MKV format support is one big advantage over the PS3, which already plays a large number of the digital formats you care to throw at it. And the really good news is that this gadget is not even particularly expensive. Best Buy is currently selling them for $99 (around £60). We'll be keeping our eyes peeled for when they show up in the UK.

(via Engadget)