Sydney, Australia – Aug. 24, 2009 – WD® the world’s leader in external storage solutions, today introduced a new version of its popular WD TV media player. The new WD TV Mini Media Player now enables playback of RealNetworks®, Inc.’s RealVideo™ content and provides a more affordable way for consumers to play their stored digital content in up to 1080i HD resolution directly on their HD television.
The WD TV Mini Media Player connects to a user’s TV or home theater and plays digital movies, music and photos stored on USB drives such as the best-selling WD My Passport portable drive. As with other WD TV models, the WD TV Mini Media Player supports playback of digital media on most USB mass storage devices such as digital camcorders and digital cameras. The new compact design is small and portable enough that users can easily take it with them when they travel and play their digital media anywhere on any TV in up to 1080i HD resolution.
According to research firm Parks Associates, the average consumer household currently has approximately 298 GB of digital media, which will reach approximately 898 GB of digital media by 2012.
These large personal digital libraries are all but trapped on users’ computers. In order to play their content on their TV, consumers have struggled with clumsy solutions such as copying onto multiple CDs and DVDs or connecting their PCs to their TVs via wires or complicated home networking solutions. The new WD TV Mini Media Player perfectly suits the needs of those with a large media collection that are looking for an easy and affordable solution to watch their digital media on their TV.
“The popularity of the RealVideo format and its compatibility with the WD TV Mini Media Player makes it an excellent solution for consumers who wish to enjoy their RealVideo content on their TVs,” said Scott Nelson, director of business development for RealNetworks.
“For those who desire an easy, affordable and portable solution to enjoy their digital media on their TV and who have content in RealVideo format, the new WD TV Mini Media Player fits the bill,” said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD’s Branded Products Group. “The new WD TV Mini Media Player unlocks the content from their PCs and storage devices and makes it simple for people to enjoy their media on their home theater system, without the need to spend time configuring a complicated device or transcoding files to make them compatible.”
Features of the WD TV Mini Media Player include:
– Play video, music and photos on your TV in up to 1080i HD resolution;
– Supports widest variety of file formats including RealMedia Variable Bitrate (RMVB);
– Rich HD 1080i advanced navigation and user interface;
– DVD-like navigation with chapter support, trick modes and subtitles;
– Expandable: buy more storage, delete fewer movies;
– Photo slideshow with unique transitions and music on your HD TV;
– Thumbnail support including photo thumbnails and music album art;
– Ability to preview your video during navigation (480 and 720 mode only);
– Video, music and photo auto-play for users digital signage solution;
– Subtitle support including multi-language subtitle support for video playback;
– Picture Transfer Protocol to view or backup content from your digital image device;
– Compatible with USB Camcorders and USB mass storage devices;
– Component and composite video output;
– Digital optical audio output via SPDIF; and,
– Ultra-compact design making it perfectly portable for travel.
Product and Pricing Summary
Manufacturer: Western Digital
Product Name: WD TV Mini Media Player
RRP: AU$149.99 , NZ$179.99
Website: http://www.westerndigital.com
Product link and Photos: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=681
Australian Distributors: Synnex Australia
New Zealand Distributors: Synnex NZ, Ingram Micro NZ
Availability: Now
Download High Resolution Images
http://www.gapmarketing.com.au/press_images/WD/WDTVMiniMediaPlayer.zip
About WD
WD, one of the storage industry’s pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company produces reliable, high-performance hard drives that keep users’ data accessible and secure from loss. WD applies its storage expertise to consumer products for external, portable and shared storage applications.
WD was founded in 1970. The company’s storage products are marketed to leading systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital® and WD brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company’s Web site (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.
Western Digital, WD and WD logo are registered trademarks; WD TV and My Passport are trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. Other marks may be mentioned herein that belong to other companies. All other brand and product names mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies. One gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes. One terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment.