Looks as though Western Digital is planning a complete revamp of its WD TV media player. We're expecting a range-topping WD TV Live to be announced any day now, but preceding that is the low-end WD TV Mini.
As the name suggests, the WD TV Mini, pictured below, is a smaller entry-level alternative to the popular WD TV. Measuring 91mm x 91mm x 21mm, it's a tiny little box that'll connect to a big-screen display to playback all sorts of media at up to 1080i resolution.
Yep, only 1080i - as opposed to the full-HD 1080p offered by the original WD TV. In keeping with the trimmed-down specification, the Mini doesn't sport HDMI output and connectivity options are limited to Component or Composite. Useful, perhaps, for those with older TV sets.
As with the WD TV, it'll require an attached USB storage device as its source of material, but it'll playback a decent selection of formats including the following:
- Video - AVI (Xvid, MPEG1/2/4), MPG/MPEG, VOB, MP4/MOV (MPEG4), RM or RM or RMVB 8/9/10
- Photo - JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PNG
- Audio - MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, OGG, APE
- Subtitle -SRT, SSA, SUB, SMI
Useful little box, and Western Digital lists the WD TV Mini's MSRP at $99.99, making it roughly $30 cheaper than the standard WD TV. We reckon it could arrive on UK shores priced close to £50.
