New Release - Firmware Version 1.04.22_B for WD TV Live Plus (3/8/11)

Yes, as said in the release notes, is working as designed.

Sorry, but I find nowhere in the release notes where there is mention of Auto-Framerate being “joined at the hip” with “HDMI deep color mode.”

If you are stating that when I set “Match video framerate” to ON and the “HDMI deep color mode” defaults to 8-bit it is “functioning as designed,” then will the framerate, depending on the video source I am watching, automatically alter the color mode from 8-bit to 12-bit, if the video source is compatible?  If it does not, it would seem to me to be a “bug” not a “feature” as I fail to see how Auto-Framerate and “deep color mode” are connected.

Well, nuts. I’m trying to figure out where I read it! Anyway, since there are no 12-bit color sources out there, I don’t see it as much of an issue…

HDMI handshaking with 12 bit color enabled is unreliable. The auto framerate mode requires handshaking every time the framerate changes, so 12 bit color is disabled if auto framerate mode is enabled.

TonyPh12345 wrote:
Well, nuts. I’m trying to figure out where I read it! Anyway, since there are no 12-bit color sources out there, I don’t see it as much of an issue…

You read it on the WD Hub release notes.

•  Supports Enhanced Video Playback (detect frame rate). Setup/Audio/Video Output (Set HDMI and 

everything else Auto).  This setting will force 8 bit color.  

FYI, Sometimes I can get the WD TV Live Plus to stream Video_TS over wi-fi if I first allow the unit to play a preview of the file by entering the Video_TS folder and pausing the cursor over the vob file. After the preview starts playing in the small window, I move the cursor to the right and press enter to maximize the screen. It’s not 100% perfect, but I’ve had better success geting the video_ts to stream using this technique.

Hmmmm… would that explain why, previous to this firmware release, when I would have the deep color mode manually set to 12-bit, occasionally I would see the HDMI connection randomly drop signal for a second or so (where the screen would go black) when watching a DVD iso stream on the TV Live Plus?  Could that result from the unreliable HDMI handshaking mentioned when the device is set to 12-bit color mode?  Sometimes I could go for long periods of time without witnessing the “HDMI dropout.”  Then I might see it happen more than once, all while watching the same DVD iso stream.  I am now wondering if this Auto Framerate feature will help prevent that from happening.  I’m curious to know WD’s perspective on this.

One this I was dissapointed to find out is that when viewing movies from media server, the icons dont appear as they do in ‘Network Shares’ mode.
Is there a chance to fix it for the new FW?

I have WD TV Live Plus connected to the network by ASUS USB-N10 wireless USB adapter.

My Book World II is the network drive.

Tests performed on WD TV Live Plus indicate that wireless network works fine.

The unit behaves unstable.

The most annoying is the problem with the network shares selection after powering unit up.

Sometimes it works fine, but often I am unable to select network shares at all.

In order to get them, I need to go first to media server and than go back to network shares.

Another issue is the fact that some AVI files works fine when using my PC and the associated monitor, but when trying to play these through the WD TV Live Plus unit I am getting only sound with no video.

These are AVI files where video is MPEG-4 and audio is MPEG Audio 128 KB/s.

The third issue is with powering WD TV Live Plus down through the remote.

Sometime if freezes and there is no way to power it down by remote.

In such case you need to manually pull the power supply out of the power outlet.

Also I  just realized that this board does not support the latest MS IE9 - unable to post and edit  my message ???

You will have to set this community in compatibility mode for it to work on IE9.

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I still do not understand the logic of HDMI Auto. It goes into the lowest HD resolution of the TV, 720p.

Most of the TVs today are 1080p60 with native panels 1920x1080.

If in HDMI Auto, which means 720p, I play a video file 1080p24, the WD TV Live Plus switches to 1080p24.

When you stop play on the file, it goes back to 720p.

But if I play a file 1080i60, the WD TV still stays in 720p, doing wonderful DOWNCONVERSION.

Why not WD TV Live in HDMI Auto does not go to the highest resolution of the TV, 1080p60 in my case?

Then it can switch to 1080p24 for video files with 24 frames/second.

But for other files, let’s just use 1080p60, the WD TV Live Plus does a very good UPconversion.

This HDMI Auto logic is the same since the first WD TV HD.

Development team at WD TV, buy a Blu-RAY player, connect it to a TV and see how HDMI Auto should work!

Thank you.

HDMI AUTO looks at the EDID Data for your TV and uses the highest resolution that’s marked as NATIVE in this section of the EDID data:

CE video identifiers (VICs) - timing/formats supported
    1920 x 1080p at 60Hz - HDTV (16:9, 1:1)
    1920 x 1080p at 30Hz - HDTV (16:9, 1:1)
    1920 x 1080p at 24Hz - HDTV (16:9, 1:1)
    1920 x 1080i at 60Hz - HDTV (16:9, 1:1)
    1280 x 720p at 60Hz - HDTV (16:9, 1:1) [Native]
     720 x 480p at 60Hz - EDTV (16:9, 32:27)
     720 x 480p at 60Hz - EDTV (4:3, 8:9)
    NB: NTSC refresh rate = (Hz*1000)/1001

 This is my LG TV, and note that 720P is marked NATIVE.  Even though the TV supports 1080p, and is a full HD panel.

When you play a 24p file, it switches to 1080p/24 because that resolution/timing is SUPPORTED, and it’s the only resolution that does 24p.   But 1080p/60 is NOT marked Native, so it will stay at 720p for all other material.

So why all my Blu-Ray players are using 1080p60 in HDMI Auto on my TV?

Why my Asus O!Play Air is using 1080p60 in HDMI Auto?

Only WD TV HD uses 720p in HDMI Auto on my 1080p60 LG TV with native 1920x1080 LCD panel.

It should negociate the HIGHEST supported resolution, not what is marked probably 720p NATIVE in my LG TV.

And if it detects a file with 1080p24 and it switches the TV to 1080p24, it should detect all the other frame rates.

It should switch to 1080i60 resolution for 1080i60 files, or to 1080p60 for 1080p60 files, etc. So, to be CONSISTENT,  WD TV HD should fit the resolution and frame rate of ANY clip if SUPPORTED by the TV, not only 1080p24 .

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.

  1. 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). 

  2. 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).

  3. 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.

  4. 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!

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 I have an older Panasonic Plasma TV that does not support 720p

That’s weird, considering 720p support is a mandatory format…

TonyPh12345 wrote:

 I have an older Panasonic Plasma TV that does not support 720p

 

That’s weird, considering 720p support is a mandatory format…

 

 

The digital input on my TV is a DVI port. At the time I bought the TV, virtually nothing had an HDMI port.

Regardless, the WD box should stay set at the resolution, frequency, and colorspace values that I set. Why is the WD box trying to set a different output resolution when I have already set it manually to what I want it to be? 

Regardless, the WD box should stay set at the resolution, frequency, and colorspace values that I set. Why is the WD box trying to set a different output resolution when I have already set it manually to what I want it to be? 

Indeed it should, and I’m sure it’s a bug. My WD ignores the setting too when powercycled and reverts to 720p. Fortunately, I can use the Auto setting instead as my EDID data are correct (implying that EDID is NOT used when choosing 720p after powercycling when not set to Auto).

Cocovanna


That’s weird, considering 720p support is a mandatory format…


720p has become a mandatory format AFTER 1080i60, when some TV stations like FOX did not want to go that high with their broadcast. resolution.

The first generations of HDTV ready TVs did not have 720p. I had one of those, 34" CRT widescreen, very heavy.

Cocovanna wrote:


Regardless, the WD box should stay set at the resolution, frequency, and colorspace values that I set. Why is the WD box trying to set a different output resolution when I have already set it manually to what I want it to be? 


Indeed it should, and I’m sure it’s a bug. My WD ignores the setting too when powercycled and reverts to 720p. Fortunately, I can use the Auto setting instead as my EDID data are correct (implying that EDID is NOT used when choosing 720p after powercycling when not set to Auto).

 

Cocovanna

That is interesting…if EDID is not used when the resolution and color space are set manually, then there is no reason why the WD box will not power up correctly, except that it does not remember the video settings when turned off/on (or somehow the software is corrupting the video setting values that it is trying to save). 

I think that the reason that this bug is not being fixed (or even acknowledged by WD) is that most people can get hdmi to work by using the Auto setting (as it does for you). So even though it is a serious bug, not remembering the video resolution and color space when powercycling is not on WDs list of things to fix.

We need more people to complain to WD about this bug!

We have just released Version 1.04.31_B.  Please continue in that thread.