The WD TV Live Plus has a Sigma Media Processor, a chip designed for IPTV, cable, thin clients and media players. The processor and memory chips uncovered. Within the plastic casing, a metal tray and cover exist to hold the mainboard The WD TV Live Plus uses the same clamshell style design that many of their HDD products such as the MyBook line. The Realtek RTL8201EL is a single-chip/single-port Fast Ethernet PHYceiver that is capable of operating at 10/100Mbps, full/half duplex, auto-negotiation and power down modes. Also of note, we see that the unit uses Hynix DDR memory chips, and a RTL8201EL Realtek NIC controller. Once the heatsink is removed we can see the Sigma Secure Media Processor in the center of the mainboard. The device also uses metal foil tape to connect the tray to the metal portion of the frame of the device which may also help to distribute some of the heat. The device is well built, the plastic is thick and durable, and the chassis has very little wasted space, which helps it keep a very small footprint.

The heatsink found within the unit is comparable to the size of a standard northbridge heatsink found on modern motherboards.

Disassembling the WD TV Plus reveals a passive heatsink design, which is preferred in this class of device since there is no fan noise to distract from the viewing experience.

Live x live plus