New Firmware Release - Firmware Version 1.04.10_V for WD TV Live (11/22/10)

Community Archives WD TV Live Firmware
541

wavsine wrote:

 

richUK wrote:

 

wavsine wrote:

 

It is also disconcerting that they have not issued a fix or at least an official rollback until they sort this mess out.

 

 

 

Is this you. The link I gave you is the official rollback from WD.

I understand you went on to other points about the problems of rolling back but nowhere did you ask for an automatic downgrade.

 

I find it incomprehensible that you don’t know what you wrote thats really embrassing.

 

Since you insist on displaying your Stanford-Binet deficit, I’ll simplify this for you. Only a very small percentage of Western Digital users ever find their way to this forum. The vast majority simply download the latest firmware when nagged to do so by their media player. The only way those people will get their players working properly again is via an official update automatically to their device.

 

You can argue the semantics of “official update” all day but for most end users the only official update they will ever see is the one delivered over the network nag from Western Digital.

Thanks, if you had said that in the first place then I would not have had to show my so called ‘deficit’. Anyway you at least know what to do even if the others don’t. I agree with the post below yours.

 Stanford-Binet deficit - I bet you have been aching to use that ever since you heard about it! 

542

dsslearn wrote:

I don’t like using a media server, but I moved to TVersity to run with WD. Took the advice from someone in this forumn and “make sure it is *not* set to transcode the video”

Can’t remember who suggested it…but thanks.

At least it will get me over the “stuttering mkv’'s” as a result of this frimware

Most of the hardcore users here seem to shy away from media servers but they can be pretty handy.

For one, if your network shares go AWOL (not unlikely on the Live, seemingly), it rarely has an impact on media share access.  I ran TVersity on my PC for that very reason: a safety net.  :)

My new NAS runs Twonky and, again, even when network shares are down, I can happily stream my media.

Another aspect of media servers that you touch on is performance: they can serve media more reliably and allow smooth network playback of HD media that would otherwise stutter.  

I have a WD Livewire connection that will sometimes stutter just playing 720p from a network share that can handle 1080p from a media server.

Well worth investigating media shares if your MKVs are stuttering via network share.

TVersity is free and, yes, works best with transcoding disabled (it simply passes the files to the Live).  If you have a NAS, try streaming from whatever media server is installed (Twonky works great).

1 Like
543

Please help with a novice question. How to set up the media server such as Tversity you are referring to. Do you need to keep you computer on. Can you make one on NAS. I have a wired network having my computers and hard drive in my office **bleep** garage and I play my media on the second floor. My hard drive in attached to a Seagate docking station. I just bought an Asus Router RT-N16 that you can attach a hard drive to. Can you make a media server on the router so that you do not need to keep your computer open all the time. Please advise.

544

This is the wrong thread, possibly the wrong forum. Please ask this question in the correct area of the forum, I am sure people will help you.

Also, the net is full of the information you need, try google, please.

545

richUK wrote:

 

wavsine wrote:

I find it incomprehensible that Western Digital released this firmware version as an official release. It is a buggy beta. It is also disconcerting that they have not issued a fix or at least an official rollback until they sort this mess out.

 

Rolling back can easily be done via flash drive but there are many end users who are uncomfortable with that.

 

And then you will still be nagged constantly to upgrade to the latest firmware since Western Digital offers no option in preferences to disable checking for firmware updates.

 

Wake up WD!

 

I find it incomprehensible that you did not not read at least some of  the posts above yours.

WD have released official rollback firmware with full instructions.

 

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5800

 

I can continue this meme… 

I find it incomprehensible that you don’t understand that many people don’t own thumb drives, and are not about to start reconfiguring their networks in order to shuffle devices so that they can have a USB connected drive on the WD TV Live.

I don’t have a USB drive.  I have a WD My Book World 1tb NAS drive.  I can only connect to it via ethernet. 

Is there a way for me to roll back to the last stable firmware, using this western digital device? 

Or do I have to go out and buy a usb thumb drive, or a usb drive??

This is a flaw in the whole concept.  I cannot roll back to a stable firmware with my current hardware.  They forced a bad update onto us, and it made my device practically unusable.  Every video I’ve watched for the last three weeks has died 8 minutes in, 20 minutes in and 43 minutes in.  At least the first firmware I had when I bought this device just before Christmas 2009, it only locked up while playing certain types of video codecs, and after the March 2010 FW update, I never had any problems unitl this one.

It is practically and physically impossible for me to roll back to the firmware before these last two updates, unless I go and purchase a thumb drive.  And, even if I don’t mind spending 30 bucks, I don’t feel comfortable doing so.  I’d much rather not do something that Western Digital actually tells people they advise against, as per the very first statement on the link you provided …  “Important: Downgrading your firmware is not recommended by WD.”

Thank god I now know not to buy my friends and family this device for Christmas.  Because I had actually planned on buying 5 of these as gifts, before the firmware update destroyed mine.

I think now is the time to retire this device, and maybe ask santa for a more advanced device from a better company.  Hell, I paid $130 for it, and I’ve used it for almost a year.   That saved me $120 a month in cable fees.  Perhaps that is enough of a savings.  Maybe now is the time to move away from western digital and buy into some other company’s solution.  Logitech is selling a device using Google TV.  maybe I need to read up on that??  Maybe Santa needs to buy me and my friends this new device.  Until that device starts overreaching?  I think I still have until December 22 or 23 to return this device for a full refund.  The reciept is sitting on top of it, already, with the box sitting next to it.  I’m glad I stuck the reciept in a drawer.  I usually toss them as soon as I get the new toy working.

1 Like
546

Random/shuffle for music doesn’t seem random any more.

With a library of over 20.000 music files, I heard 5 tracks of 1 album. What are the odds …

After a poweroff tried it again, again the same album multiple times.

Didn’t had this problem before.

547

PhilLesh69 wrote:

 

I think now is the time to retire this device, and maybe ask santa for a more advanced device from a better company.  Hell, I paid $130 for it, and I’ve used it for almost a year.   That saved me $120 a month in cable fees.  Perhaps that is enough of a savings.  Maybe now is the time to move away from western digital and buy into some other company’s solution.  Logitech is selling a device using Google TV.  maybe I need to read up on that??  Maybe Santa needs to buy me and my friends this new device.  Until that device starts overreaching?  I think I still have until December 22 or 23 to return this device for a full refund.  The reciept is sitting on top of it, already, with the box sitting next to it.  I’m glad I stuck the reciept in a drawer.  I usually toss them as soon as I get the new toy working.

Hmmm…the Logitech Revue?  I’ve been eying that bad boy, too. 

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/smartTV/revue

$300… 

548

For those wanting  to avoid the “new firmware” message, I already posted the trick without losing internet functions and network shares, keeping 1.02.21. Just check a few pages before.

If you don’t find it, I’ll post it again

Regards!!

549

main issue is that the device reverts back to 720p resolution after power down.

have to keep changing back to 1080p, thats inconvenient.

everything else works smoothly as before including streaming network shares over wifi n-band.

550

egnilk66 wrote:

 

PhilLesh69 wrote:

 

I think now is the time to retire this device, and maybe ask santa for a more advanced device from a better company.  Hell, I paid $130 for it, and I’ve used it for almost a year.   That saved me $120 a month in cable fees.  Perhaps that is enough of a savings.  Maybe now is the time to move away from western digital and buy into some other company’s solution.  Logitech is selling a device using Google TV.  maybe I need to read up on that??  Maybe Santa needs to buy me and my friends this new device.  Until that device starts overreaching?  I think I still have until December 22 or 23 to return this device for a full refund.  The reciept is sitting on top of it, already, with the box sitting next to it.  I’m glad I stuck the reciept in a drawer.  I usually toss them as soon as I get the new toy working.

 

 

Hmmm…the Logitech Revue?  I’ve been eying that bad boy, too. 

 

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/smartTV/revue

 

$300… 

again, it depends what you are using the device for. if its mainy for watching netflix / google tv streams then obviously you are in the wrong place, and in the wrong price range!

i dont live in the usa, so i wont have access to netflix or most of the content from googletv, i have to get my movies / tv from *ahem* other methods *ahem*.

for that purpose, wd tv live is excellent, all the extras like accuweather, youtube and facebook are just a bonus.

if you are heavily into internet tv, then wdtv live is not for you, and u’d rather get a google tv device like the logitech, albeit at a much higher price range.

so generous of you to splash out $1500 for 5 of those devices for your friends, when you were initially only ready to pay about $650 or so, just to stick it to WD, i think they will be laughing last!

551

Hi guys.I tried to load 1.04.10 via usb memorystick  but my device didn’t load it.Still I have 1.03.43 beta .Anybody lived same problem?.   

552

You have to update to 1.03.49 first…

…and after that you can update to 1.04.10

553

wizardthering wrote:

Hi guys.I tried to load 1.04.10 via usb memorystick  but my device didn’t load it.Still I have 1.03.43 beta .Anybody lived same problem?.   

Are you sure you’re using the right firmware?   _V for the Live, _B for the Live Plus?

554

Hi!

Just want to report one problem so far with this new firmware.

When i select to share a video to facebook and try to cancel it my WD Live rebooted it self.

555

Just to report (as I have seen others do) that the new firmware breaks network accessing DVDs. Worked fine with all other betas, but now the 1.04 “final” is out it’s unusable, with “pauses, audio dropout and freezing” . (I’d love to know what happened, normally I’d expect the final version to be solid after all those betas none of which gave me any problem after the first.).

About to try rolling back to 1349…

556

Can anyone tell me the best firmware to roll back to and where I can find it?

If there’s a special way to do it? (edit the .ver file)?

This latest won’t save the resolution…

thnx

557

wavsine wrote:

I find it incomprehensible that Western Digital released this firmware version as an official release. It is a buggy beta. It is also disconcerting that they have not issued a fix or at least an official rollback until they sort this mess out.

Rolling back can easily be done via flash drive but there are many end users who are uncomfortable with that.

Thousands of users have no issues. Forcing them to roll back is unacceptable. If you have the knowledge to install, configure and use the device on a regular basis, then for those that wish to roll back should not find using a USB stick “uncomfortable” All it takes is copying 3 files to the root of the device.

PhilLesh69 wrote:

 It is practically and physically impossible for me to roll back to the firmware before these last two updates, unless I go and purchase a thumb drive.  And, even if I don’t mind spending 30 bucks, I don’t feel comfortable doing so.

USB Flash drives can often be found free and are given away all over the place. I have a drawer full of promo units of various sizes. An extremely old, small capacity one should not be hard to find from a friend or other source. A NEW 1 or 2 GB stick can usually be purchased for just over $5. From the sounds of all the other stuff you’ve purchased this does not sound unreasonable. See also my comment above re copying 3 files. If you can configure the network setup in the WDTV Live, you can copy 3 files and reboot the device.

558

I read the complaints from users about not having access to USB thumb drives (admittedly hard to believe in 2010) or not wanting to downgrade via the USB process as a proxy for complaints that they don’t believe that they should  have to resort to this process for fixing what has turned out to be an unacceptably buggy official firmware release.

I think few on these forums would argue that the release of this version was not an essentially hasty decision. Indeed this release bears only superficial resemblence to the previously issues betas confirming that WD’s own beta testing process is chaotic at best.

But that being what  it may, many consumer devices (e.g. Apple iPhones) do not support any downgrade process.

So for myself I’m just glad that I can revert the unit to a reasonably stable prior beta, USB stick or not (!)

559

“WD is happy to announce our latest firmware update…” !? HAPPY!?

"I’m not happy at all. WD TV live Plus & firmware 1.04.10_V - what a buggy piece of software!

Just asking:
How dare you publish it?
Does the programmer itself even tried the code he or she was just written?
Obiously WD has no testing process whatsoever for these applications - right?
How poorly written the code must be as fixing several bugs generates even more new ones!?

Just as an example:
You can’t stop and then continue watching the movie later since there are no way to forward the movie to the point you stopped watching it.

  1. Fast Forward: only scan speeds 2x and 4 x are working, others will “crash” and start the movie from the beginning.
  2. Using the "Next " during the FF to skip forward in 10 minutes peroid: it will do it, but you can’t stop the FF! Actually,  you can, but it starts the movie from the very beginning.
  3. Analog output (composite) is sooo poor qualty that you can’t use the UI - this is due the misreable hardware, but why not to use the full screen area instead of stamp -size part of it?

…and LOT’s of other bugs.

The WD TV live Plus was tested with gigabit ethernet as well as with USB HD, with analog TV and HDMI -output, with several of data formats incl. mpeg2-TS, MP4/h.264

among others.

WD should just stay in the hardware business and leave the sofware to others - including use of subcontractors since WD is not capable to controll what it is getting and what is acceptable.

This is, more or less, the message to the Finnish consumer that I will put on paper about testing several media players.

So, have you anything to say about that? Are you still “happy”?

560

avicom wrote:1.2.3.

 

you forget to mention ugly german translation. How did they dare?