Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. Reviews

WD TV Play review

Michael Brown
By
wd tv play review front angle
WD TV Play
MSRP $69.00
Score Details
“When we connected it…and played a few movies and TV episodes, the video from Western Digital’s box looked dull and washed out…”
Pros
  • Very small
  • Built-in Wi-Fi
  • Dedicated buttons for popular video services
Cons
  • Dull, washed-out video
  • Doesn’t support USB keyboards
  • Directory listings don’t display file types or dates

It’s hard to keep secrets when you’re forced to display your wares for the FCC months before your product is ready to ship. Western Digital’s WD TV Play first surfaced way back in July, 2012; WDC will finally start shipping the device on Tuesday. Should you buy one?

Features

If you’re primarily interested in supping at the buffet of online entertainment services such as Netflix, Vudu, and Hulu Plus, the WD TV Play is a good deal. Priced at just $70, it delivers those with a touch of the button – its remote control has dedicated buttons for connecting to those services. Although the remote control is small, it’s comfortable to hold in either your left or right hand, and all the buttons are within easy reach. If you don’t like the remote, you can download a controller app for your Android or iOS device.

Related

The diminutive box can also stream content stored on your home network—a NAS box, home server, or your PC’s hard drive. Lastly, you can connect a USB thumb drive or a low-power USB hard drive to the Play’s side-mounted USB 2.0 port and play any media stored on that device. The WD TV Play doesn’t support quite as many codecs as the pricier WD TV Live and WD TV Live Hub (which features a built-in hard drive), but it does support the most popular container formats, including AVI and MKV; all the major media codecs, including AAC, h.264, FLAC, MP3, and all the digital photo formats you could want, including BMP, JPEG, and TIFF.

Setup

The box is very easy to set up: Simply plug in the power cord and an HDMI cable (not included). If your TV isn’t outfitted with HDMI, there’s also an analog audio/video combo output (WD does provide a cable for this), as well as an optical digital-audio output. Fire up the box the first time, and the installation wizard will prompt you to log into your wireless router (there’s also a 10/100 Ethernet port, if you’d prefer a hard-wired connection). Enter your password and you’re ready to go in less than a minute.

WD TV Play Review - Rear Ports
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In addition to the destination buttons on the remote, the home screen has large icons for a variety of other online services, including the ubiquitous YouTube. And if you have a set-top box that supports the Slingbox (or if you have a dedicated Slingbox device), WDC’s new box can also perform as a Slingplayer.

Performance

WD-TV-Remote
Image used with permission by copyright holder

We have no complaints about the WD TV Play’s service code, container, and service offerings, but its image quality left a lot to be desired. When we connected it to our 55-inch Panasonic Viera TC55LE54 LCD HDTV and played a few movies and TV episodes, the video from Western Digital’s box looked dull and washed out in comparison to the pricier Netgear NeoTV Max.

We have no such qualms about its audio quality, considering it supports both Dolby Digital Plus (popular with streaming services such as Vudu and Netflix) and Dolby True HD (the audio format used in many Blu-ray releases). One audio feature you won’t get, however, is support for DTS, an equally common surround-sound format used on Blu-ray disc releases. On the music side of the equation, you’ll find support for a number of popular music services, including Spotify and Pandora, but there’s no love for Rhapsody or Slacker.

Conclusion

We suppose $70 is the right price for the WD TV Play, since it delivers 1080p video resolution plus the USB and Ethernet ports that the Roku 2 lacks for $10 less (Roku has two players with even lower price tags, but they’re both limited to 720p and are missing the same I/O ports). We’re just having a hard time being enthusiastic about the WD TV Play’s video quality.

Highs:

  • Very small
  • Built-in Wi-Fi
  • Dedicated buttons for popular video services

Lows:

  • Dull, washed-out video
  • Doesn’t support USB keyboards
  • Directory listings don’t display file types or dates

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Michael Brown
Michael Brown
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Best 85-inch TV deals: Save on Samsung, Sony, TCL, and more
TCL 85s435 XL Collection 85-inch LED TV

While the best TVs come in a number of different sizes, if you’re looking to go big with your home theater, an 85-inch TV is where we’d like to turn your attention. They don’t make them much bigger than that, and an 85-inch TV often comes with all of the perks you could hope for in a smart TV. And while a TV so large may seem like you’d need to break the bank in order to add one to your living room, basement, or home theater, there are some great 85-inch TV deals to shop right now. We’ve rounded up all of the best 85-inch TV deals and organized them below, so read onward for more details on how to go big and save big.
LG 85-inch UQ75 4K webOS TV -- $1,000, was $1,100

One of the best things about this 85-inch UQ75 TV from LG is that it comes with a base refresh rate of 120Hz, which makes it a perfect TV for watching high-impact content like sports, action films, and things of that nature. It's also great for those who game often, as both the consoles and higher-end gaming PCs can take advantage of the improved framerate for a better gaming experience. You'll also be happy to know that it comes with both HDR10 and HLG, so it's perfect for watching sports if you want it specifically for that. It's also integrated into all the digital assistants and gives you access to all the apps you're looking for, and then some.

Read more
Best OLED TV deals: Save on LG C3, Samsung S90C, and more
LG's 2023 C3 4K OLED TV.

If you’re hoping to land some superior image quality with your next TV, an OLED TV is where we’d like to direct you. Both OLED and QLED picture technologies are at the top of the picture quality hierarchy, with OLED being the technology a lot of people favor. And while you might expect the highest quality image on the market to be priced as such, there are a lot of savings to shop on OLED TVs. In fact, the best OLED TV deals offer some serious savings, and we’ve rounded them all up. Below you’ll find all of the details on how to save, as well as some information on which OLED TV may be best for you.
Sony 55-inch Bravia XR A75L OLED 4K Google TV — $1,200, was $1,600

Sony is one of the most popular TV brands on the market, and it’s almost always among the best TV brands. Its Bravia lineup offers a range of features and sizes, with this 55-inch A75L offering a good balance of capability and affordability. You’ll get plenty of smart features with this TV, including built-in access to streaming services, perfect integration with PlayStation 5, and a processor that delivers wide dynamic contrast. You’ll also get OLED picture technology, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and even more technology that helps produce a great 4K image.

Read more
Samsung’s new 98-inch DU9000 4K TV is just $4,000. Can it beat TCL and Hisense?
Samsung 98-inch DU9000 4K TV.

Samsung's new 98-inch DU9000 Crystal UHD 4K TV is here and it's priced at $4,000, making it the company's most affordable 98-inch TV so far. Until now, if you wanted a Samsung TV in a massive, 98-inch screen size, you'd be looking at a starting price of $8,000 for the 98-inch QLED Q80C 4K TV. You can order the 98-inch DU9000 starting April 15, at samsung.com.

As 4K TVs get bigger, so does the size of the individual pixels, which can decrease perceived sharpness. Samsung says that the DU9000 is equipped with its Supersize Picture Enhancer, a technology that tries to compensate for this tendency.

Read more