Western Digital WD TV rev2

What a surprise when we discovered, by accident we have to admit, the existence of a new revision of the WD multimedia centre, the Western Digital WD TV. Known as the "rev2", let's see what innovations it brings.

Design and build: Simple and effective

The box looks the same from the outside. Still a small glossy black thing. The concept is also identical: you can't insert a hard drive and you have to connect to an external hard drive or a USB key to read your files.

The navigation interface is also unchanged: rapid, easy to understand and still just as effective. The design of the interface is good and we still like the way you can view the photos in mosaic form and display the covers of albums and audio files.

In terms of films however, it is some way down on what you get with the PopcornHour and other Dunes. You can't create a video jukebox with customised files for each film (synopsis, notes, cover).

Compatibility: a new, faster chip

So what has really changed compared to the old version? The main difference comes in the decoding chip. The old Sigma Designs SMP8635 makes way for the more recent SMP8655. Faster, it is also supposed to be better. Moreover, it's the same chip you'll find in the WD TV Live.

In fact, it's true that it does offer better compatibility. HD videos encoded at very high speed can be played with no jumps and multi-audio support is also fine. We also like the way you can alter the timing of subtitles.

However, some of our videos encoded in AVC (x264) and encapsulated as MKVs couldn't be played properly. After about 30 seconds playback, the video cut out and returned to the menu. We weren't able to work out the cause of the problem, which did in any case only manifest itself quite rarely.


Still looking at video, 24p and 23.976 modes are there. However, they're manual: you have to alter the framerate according to the video you're playing. Not very practical.

DTS support has at last been added. The device can decode the DTS signal and send it to your television speakers having already converted it to stereo. This is what's known as a stereo downmix. For those who have an audio amp, you can send the DTS signal to your amp so that it decodes it itself (bitstream).

Connectivity: HDMI and USB

Still the same set up here, still no network socket. As we saw at the top, you have to store your files on a USB key or external hard drive that you then link to one of the USB hosts (one is on the side of the device).

Otherwise, WD have stuck to very standard connectivity with the HDMI for sound and images, a composite for link-up to SD TVs and an optical out to send the audio signal to an amp without an HDMI socket.