I have been using the new firmware 1.04.22_B for a couple of weeks now, and I am having the exact same problems that I have had for the past 8 months. These problems have existed in 1.03.29, 1.03.43, 1.03.49, 1.04.10, 1.04.17, and 1.04.22.
-
The Live Plus box powers up with the HDMI resolution set at 720p, which my TV does not support. (This would be OK if the WD box would remember the video settings that I manually set…see the next 2 problems).
-
The box does not remember the video resolution settings that I manually set. I go into the WD setup menu and set the hdmi output to 1080i 60Hz. However, after powering the WD box off/on, the WD box boots up at 720p. (The only resolution that my TV does NOT support).
-
The box does not remember the color space settings that I manually set. I go into the WD setup menu and set the color space to RGB Low. However, after powering the WD box off/on, the WD box boots up set at RGB High.
-
Sometimes, while the WD box is on and sitting idle, it changes the color space value from RGB Low to RGB high, all by itself. This does not happen while I am watching something, but if I leave the box sitting idle for a couple of hours, it sometimes switches the color space as I have described.
The first three of the above problems happen about 50% of the time (WD powers up set at 720p and RGB High). The other 50% of the time, the WD box powers up correctly set at 1080i 60Hz, and RGB Low.
I should also mention that once I manually set the WD output to 1080i 60Hz, and RGB Low, the videos play correctly on my TV at that resolution/frequency and color space. Also, Netflix plays correctly at 1080i, indicating that the HDCP copy protection on my TV is being recognized by the WD box.
I have an older Panasonic Plasma TV that does not support 720p. It does support 480i, 480p, and 1080i. It supports a lot of computer standard modes (800X600, 1024X768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, etc), and it also supports HDCP copy protection.
I do not understand why this problem is so hard to fix. When the user sets the HDMI video output manually, the WD box should remember this setting and simply set the video output the same way when it powers up. Why is the WD box trying to set a different output resolution when I have already set it manually to what I want? The main reason that people set it manually is because auto negotiation has failed. It seems like WD is spending a lot of time trying to get hdmi handshaking / auto negotiation working with all TVs instead of implementing the simple fix of just leaving it set manually to the previous setting.
When I got my satellite TV box, I used it’s setup menu to set the video output to 1080i 60hz. After that, it stayed that way! It does not change the video resolution and colorspace value every time I turn it off and on again! The same is true for my dvd player, blu-ray player, game system, my computer, or any other device that you can think of. Once you manually set the video output, it stays that way. The WD box is the only device that does not remember the video settings!
If the WD box would remember the video resolution/frequency and colorspace value when it was powered off/on, it would not matter if HDMI handshaking did not work (because you could set it manually). If WD would implement this simple fix, it would solve a lot of problems!
