The main reason I bought Live (as opposed to, oh, say a dozen other media players) was the ability to stream 1080p from my network. Then, of course, I found the network thumbnail bug (you know, the one where jpeg images show up as both thumbnails for your video as well as as actually jepg images in your listing, which makes it impossible to deal with if you have more than a dozen videos in your directory).
Since this behavior is distinct to network shares (it doesn’t work that way on local drives) this HAS to be a no-brainer to fix… and yet it remains unfixed through revision after revision. Is no higher up actually aware of this bug? If so, how do we go about reporting them?
To me this completely negates the use of network shares – so you’d think they would have fixed this like, oh, say a year ago.
I was ready to return my WDTV as I was very frustrated in how limited I was using network shares.
I ended up using Wild Media Server with my network shares. It allowed me to better sort my media and also add thumbnails to everything. I am very happy with the WDTV now and moved the Apple TV that was patched and running XBMC to another room. (it used to struggle with certain mkv files and 1080p content).
BTW, I found out about this server software from another post. It even has a WDTV default setting that worked right out of the box for me. I have no issues with any content I am using, mkv, vob, avi, divx. Also, this sin’t an advertisement for the software, I just am happy about using the WDTV with it.
I was ready to return my WDTV as I was very frustrated in how limited I was using network shares.
I ended up using Wild Media Server with my network shares. It allowed me to better sort my media and also add thumbnails to everything. I am very happy with the WDTV now and moved the Apple TV that was patched and running XBMC to another room. (it used to struggle with certain mkv files and 1080p content).
BTW, I found out about this server software from another post. It even has a WDTV default setting that worked right out of the box for me. I have no issues with any content I am using, mkv, vob, avi, divx. Also, this sin’t an advertisement for the software, I just am happy about using the WDTV with it.
You can even get shoutcast radio stations with the wild media server. (and its free at the moment)
You can also embed thumbnails in mkv files and it will read them - no jpg needed in the folder.
My experience running media software has not been good. I haven’t tried any with the Live, but I’ve used three different kinds with other various devices and all of them have caused issues.
If it’s free (or has a free trial) I guess I’ll give it a shot – but forgive me for being VERY skeptical based on past performance. Particularly since my wireless streaming is so trouble free now.
On that topic – are you saying that using this software you are able to wirelessly stream 1080p to the Live with no issues whatsoever? The reason I ask is because I happened to mention I was doing so (on the forum here) without any software and people seemed amazed. If the two of you are able to wirelessly do this then I wonder what all the fuss is about.
The last thing in the world I want to do is screw this up by running software (although I guess I can always uninstall and, hopefully, go back to everything if it doesn’t work).
Oh – one more question. You say you can embed thumbnails in the mkv files. Just how would I do that? I can use mkvmerge to merge streams, but I’m not aware that I can add thumbs this way. Or is that part of the Wild Media Server software?
Oh, sorry… I am running a wired network to the WD Live. I also have an Apple TV ( running XBMC) running wireless accessing the same shares. I liked the Apple TV (and love XBMC), but got tired of the occasional stuttering.
I have my thumbs in same directories as movie files and use WMS to assign them to the individual files or folders.
I also use the ‘Collections’ option along with the folders to do some pretty finedirectory structuring.
It allowed me to get my TV series separated from the Movies. It took a few attempts before I figured out how to get it all sorted, but once I did, it is nice. BTW, 90% of my content is mkv and the rest vob files. I even added a ‘New Additions’ section to the movie library.
As stated, WMS is free and the support is great, and it is already preconfigured for WD Live.
I too am interested on how to get the thumbs into the mkv files too.
Well, then I’m not using media server software. As I said, I’ve had SOOOOO many issues trying to connect wirelessly using them it just ain’t worth the trouble.
Besides, Live should really just do this right – it does the thumbs just fine on a local drive, so why not a network share? It’s probably a ten minute fix for some programmer (heck, I’d do it myself if I had the source code – while I’m not up to speed in the latest software I was a team leader for thirty years and I’ll bet it wouldn’t take ME more than an hour to do it. And while I was at it I’d add at least two or three new features people are asking for).
I’m really happy with Live otherwise. And I’ll probably live with this bug until they fix it (I just want to know that SOMEONE actually has it on their plate. Getting feedback from WD is about as hard as pulling teeth).
Oh – one more question. You say you can embed thumbnails in the mkv files. Just how would I do that? I can use mkvmerge to merge streams, but I’m not aware that I can add thumbs this way. Or is that part of the Wild Media Server software?
To add thumbnails. Use mkvmerge, add mkv, click attachment tab at top, add thumbnail file. Start muxing. Thumbnail is embedded into mkv file. If using wild media server then you will no longer require a seperate thumbnail jpg.
Well, then I’m not using media server software. As I said, I’ve had SOOOOO many issues trying to connect wirelessly using them it just ain’t worth the trouble.
Besides, Live should really just do this right – it does the thumbs just fine on a local drive, so why not a network share? It’s probably a ten minute fix for some programmer (heck, I’d do it myself if I had the source code – while I’m not up to speed in the latest software I was a team leader for thirty years and I’ll bet it wouldn’t take ME more than an hour to do it. And while I was at it I’d add at least two or three new features people are asking for).
I’m really happy with Live otherwise. And I’ll probably live with this bug until they fix it (I just want to know that SOMEONE actually has it on their plate. Getting feedback from WD is about as hard as pulling teeth).
It does the job really fine on a local drive because it creates a local database on that drive. Its in folder .wdtv. This includes all the information regarding the media on that drive. This database was ‘invented’ by WD and it has control over it. WD did not invent network shares and I assume that there are many limitations in its use.
Well, I understand what you’re saying, but all the programmer has to do (when you select video) is to ignore anything that isn’t a video extension in the browser. Or just ignore anything with a jpg/jpeg extension. It isn’t rocket science – like I said, I haven’t even looked at the code and I’m betting I could add this in less than an hour.
This has nothing to do with the display of thumbs – it has *everything* to do with not displaying things that aren’t video. And I note that it does do this with other media types (which is to say that if you look at a network share and go to audio it doesn’t show any jpeg/jpg files even if they are in that directory).
It really sounds to me like no one at Western Digital even knows about this bug (because otherwise it’s a no-brainer to fix it).
Well, I understand what you’re saying, but all the programmer has to do (when you select video) is to ignore anything that isn’t a video extension in the browser. Or just ignore anything with a jpg/jpeg extension. It isn’t rocket science – like I said, I haven’t even looked at the code and I’m betting I could add this in less than an hour.
This has nothing to do with the display of thumbs – it has *everything* to do with not displaying things that aren’t video. And I note that it does do this with other media types (which is to say that if you look at a network share and go to audio it doesn’t show any jpeg/jpg files even if they are in that directory).
It really sounds to me like no one at Western Digital even knows about this bug (because otherwise it’s a no-brainer to fix it).
Thanks – at least that is good to know (and it does appear as if they are actively “thinking” about it, which is also good). I’ll mark this thread as answered via your reply.
No, that’s via a media server (which I’m never going to use - the whole point of the Live is so you don’t need a media server). I’m talking about network shares, and apparently they are working on the thumbnail issue (and there would not be any possible external fix because it’s all internal to the firmware of the Live).
IMHO media servers are Not Ready for Prime Time (I have had more issues with trying them out on various devices than I ever care to repeat). To be fair, some folks have reported some positive experiences with them and the Live (and others have reported many negative ones as well).
Well, then you are almost alone – the “only show file types of the type we are looking for” is one of the most requested fixes (and they are aware of it and are working on fixing it).
I don’t know why you’d want to see, say, music files when you select the Video file type for network shares. Does that mean you want to see JPGs listed when select Music as your file type? Why? The whole idea behind selecting a specific file type is because you want to see that file type. If you see all file types you might as well just have one selection (“All”) and be done with it.
I think the way to fix this is to add an All Media option which shows all music, photo and video files, and then show only video files if Videos is selected, photo files only if Photos is selected, music files only if Music is selected. That’s how the old mediagates work… Al
That’s fine with me, but it’s pretty obvious if you select “Video” you don’t want to see anything other than video. So, sure, have an “All” type for selection for those who want to see all.
The other thing I should point out to the complainer who didn’t want this is that it already works that way with a local drive – namely, if you select “Video” you don’t see JPGs. Why on earth should it work any differently for a network share? The answer is simple – it shouldn’t. It just needs to be consistent.
Hmmm, that’s a very interesting idea. I’m just a *little* skeptical of it, though, since at least in my setup I notice it appears to be “reading” the thumbs every time I access the folder the next time I turn the Live on.
Still, worth a try – if it does work it would not be difficult to copy the thumbs back in if I ever needed to reset the unit (which, truth be told, is with every firmware update).
