I have a My Book Live 1Tb with the following firmware:
MyBookLive 02.42.02-012 : Core F/W
Mon 10 May 2010 11:35:06 AM PDT
Media Server Version: 2.3.0.12093
It is ethernet cable connected via a Netgear WNR 2000 router to a Sony Home Theatre BDV-NF720 and most things work fine. The entire network is wired, so wi-fi doesnt come into this problem.
I can view and browse the MyBook quickly and can display jpeg pictures in the public folder in just a few seconds, but when i try to play mp3 music files it browses and lists them very quickly but pressing play causes a delay of 70 seconds for EACH track before they play.
They are standard mp3’s at 192kb and they do all play succesfully after the 70second load time. It makes no difference if the MyBook has 2 mp3 files onboard or 200 - its always exactly 70second delay before playing.
I have tried everything i can think off and can confirm the same tracks play almost instantly via USB stick into the Sony Home Theatre. The delay has to be caused by the MYBook media server, Its as if it is searching for something before commencing streaming or is streaming extremely slowly, but i am stumped with this one.
I can see the MyBook as a network drive on my Windows 7 pc and can access the mp3 files fine - double click one in windows explorer and it is playing on my pc just 2 or 3 seconds later.
I am tempted to do a full factory reset of the drive and try again as the MyBook drive works just fine in all other respects than this one. I can also access it fine through wd2go app.
I should add, for completeness, that i can access the drive via the WD Dashboard just fine also.
Like i say, it really has me stumped. It isnt network latency problems as i can access the drives contents very quickly via the pc. Pictures load fairly quickly via the Sony Home Theatre, its just mp3’s which take exactly 70 seconds to load each and every time !!
So my guess is that it has to be a problem with initiating the DLNA streaming process for mp3’s ( and , although i havnt tried video yet, i bet that would play upo too ). I reckon the WD media server and the Sony Home Theatre are having some sort of handshakling problem each time the Sony requests that a file is streamed and this is leading to the delay. Hopefully it is some sort of indexing problem which can be resolved , rather than an outright incompatability issue.
If you have the DLNA server, you can try with the Twonky server to see if you get better results. Check the link below for the steps and click on “Switching between TwonkyMedia and WD’s DLNA Media Server”.
My device is running the WD Server shown in the instructions, so according to them the patches will not work ?
I am currently carrying out a full factory restore ( which is only 15% complete and will, i guess, take several hours yet )
Will test that when finished to see if it fixs the problem and if not, will ask you for help in installing Twonky Server.
I am also going to buy a new Router tomorrow ( as mine is about 4 years old) to see if that helps - i am going to go buy one that is advertised as fully DLNA compliant.
Between all of these things, i hope to be able to resolve this issue
Well, the full factory reset made no difference at all.
So , i am guessing it must be a Router problem or some big incompatability problem between the Sony Home Theatre and the WD MyBook.
looking at it logically, it sees the drive just fine and reads it quiickly. Pictures are streamed quickly, so its just .mp3 files.
Could it be a format problem of some sort ? - they are standard mp3s @192kb. They have embedded cover art, but that has never caused a problem with othewr players.
if you have a switch laying around, even if it is just 10/100, connect the TV and MBL to it.
Also connect the switch to the router and test again. Just a test idea…
Lots of times, if you can read the files just fine from PCs, it is the media player. And they are all different, some like some formats some don’t. Could it be the system needs to download the complete mp3 file before it plays it?
I dont have a spare switch handy to test this, but do intend buying a new router anyhow, so hopefully that will test that side of things.
I did try the very same mp3 files, on a memory stick, plugged into the USB port of the same Sony home Theatre and it was able to find them and start playback in just a couple of seconds, wheras the same mp3’s on the MyBook are located srtaightaway, but it takes 70 seconds to start playback and if you advance to the next track , its another 70 seconds !!
Even playing a track, going back to the menu and selecting that same track invokes another 70 second pause - its really weird.
Well now i have tried everything - new router and new cables - without success.
I realised today that my older Sony TV, which is connected to the same network, also does media streaming and a quick test showed that it is able to see the WD Mybook and play mp3’s just fine. It starts playing them just a couple of seconds after selecting them.
So… it has to be the new Sony Home Theatre that is at fault here.
