News

Multimedia specialist Western Digital – or WD to its friends – has launched a new compact media player with integrated Miracast (to enable device mirroring on any flatscreen) and app control.

The WD TV Personal Edition retails for £70, and offers both Ethernet and Wi-Fi networking connectivity, plus HDMI, optical digital audio, composite and USB 2.0. Media file compatibility is wide-ranging, with WD claiming WAV, MP3, WMA, AAC, FLAC, AIFF in audio terms, and AVI, MPEG, MKV, WMV9 and MP4 amongst video. However, supported resolution does not extend to 4K, and DTS and Dolby Digital are limited to their lossy variants.

In addition to pulling media from USB drives, NAS devices and home PCs, the WD TV Personal Edition offers a bevy of onboard content apps, including BBC iPlayer, YouTube, Flixster, Spotify, Deezer and Tunein net radio. 

The smallscale player, which measures just 4.9in wide, comes with a typical handset, but smarter control is available via the free WD TV Remote App for Android and iOS devices. The company claims using this app 'improves the navigation experience.' Another nod to usability is a revamped interface which allows for personalisation. 'Users [can] take control of their entertainment by customising the home page with their favourite apps, setting shortcuts to favourite content folders for quick access, and setting auto-run for preferred apps to begin at start-up,' says the California corp.

The other headline feature is Miracast – the WD TV Personal Edition can act as conduit for content on compatible mobile devices (most modern Android smartphones, for instance), mirroring the display on a TV.

'Consumers have increasingly large libraries of disparate personal content types on a variety of storage devices, from portable USB to network attached storage and personal computers,' says Jim Welsh, WD executive. '[Our] ecosystem of apps and media players ensures that viewing that content is seamless on all screens, from mobile devices to the HDTV.'

Visit wdstore.co.uk for more info.