ADKM: Having read a heap of review for various devices - WDTV, Phillips HMP5000 and the Kaiser Bass Smart media player they all seem to be CRAP !
Won't do this, won't do that, lose the network, horrible interface ... the list of criticisms go on and on.
Not a single one has has good solid reviews... so what is one to do? No-one will sell you one with right to return so it's impossible to evaluate if you've made a good buy or an expensive mistake.
Even reading the msgs here someone will say such and such is OK and someone else says it's not!
My final conclusion - buy nothing and stick with buggy DLNA!
The choice very much depends on what you are trying to achieve.
I like my WDTVs, for what it's worth. Older Gen 2 in the bedroom, newer live Hub in the living room. Stable and the stream my media (DVDs converted to MP4 that sit on a central NAS DLNA server and on local drives) without issues. The interface, particularly on the older Gen 2, isn't terribly pretty. But as a product, I find them stable and reliable.
I used a wired connection - ethernet over powerline - and get rock-solid transfer rates of about 70 mbit (the Live) and 85 mbit (the live hub) which is plenty for streaming.
