Western Digital might be large on hard drives, but that doesn’t mean that they churn out nothing but said peripheral all day long. This time round, we have something for the living room in the form of the WD TV Media Player. What makes this device so special? Well, it allows you to play your digital movies and videos in full High Definition (really, that all depends on what format the media file was saved in, including the resolution, aspect ratio and other metadata) on your HDTV without the need for turning on the computer. Instead, you are able to store those files in a USB flash drive or portable hard drive, connect it to the WD TV Media Player which in turn is hooked up to your HDTV, and you’re good to go.

Couch potatoes will be pleased that the WD TV Media Player comes with a remote control, allowing one to play content straight from the comfort of their couch without having to get up. This device works best with Western Digital’s very own My Passport drives (of course they’re going to tout that – do you think they’d list down a rival’s products instead?), and with those capable of hitting 500GB in storage space these days, it is pretty easy and convenient to build up a library of high definition video files for future viewing.

The on-screen menu is said to offer easy and fast navigation, regardless of whether you’re connected using a USB flash drive or an external hard drive. Photo viewing can be done via filename or thumbnails, making it a snap to locate the desired image you want to parade to everyone else in the room. Interestingly enough, automatic media aggregation makes it a snap for the viewers to see all their media by media type in one menu regardless of its location in folders or drives.

You can pick up the WD TV HD Media Player for $129.99, which ain’t too shabby.

Press Release