The purpose of this document (v1 @ 2010-06-19) is to review the recent beta firmware update (1.03.22) and provide recommendations to enhance the final release.
As not mentioned (as of 2010-06-19) on http://www.wdc.com/wdtvlive_prerelease/ with respect to the Beta 1.03.22 (updated 6/9/2010), USB keyboards (wired, not tested with Bluetooth or other adaptors) work with the WD TV Live unit although limited functionality is available and no official documentation exists. As such, the following observations will be useful to operating with a USB keyboard:
- The arrow keys work as the remote Left, Right, Down, and Up arrows do.
- The enter button works as the select button does.
- The escape works as the back button.
- No corollary to the options button (or any of the other buttons) has been found (although all keys have been tried).
- Ctrl + Alt + Del keyboard combination resets the WD TV Live.
With respect to the key choice for mapping keyboard keys to the remote control buttons, the following recommendations are offered:
- Map the context menu button to the options button
- Ctrl + F = SEARCH
- Space = PAUSE/PLAY
- Numpad 6 = FF
- Ctrl + Numpad 6 = NEXT
- Numpad 4 = REV
- Ctrl + Numpad 4 = PREV
- s = STOP
- e = EJECT
- h = HOME
- Backspace = BACK
- Alt + F4 = power
A new network issue has developed on switched network with NAS shares: when attempting to browse the network for video by clicking “Select” on the “Network Shares,” button, nothing happens (neither error nor action); the selection remains on “Network Shares,” but no matter how many times “Select” was pressed, no action happened no matter how much time was allowed to transpire (however, the system did not lock up; pressing the up and down arrows changed the selection as expected). Browsing “Media Servers” is still possible and such servers can be seen as before with v1.02.21. Rolling back to v1.02.21 (as described on http://www.wdc.com/wdtvlive_prerelease/) solved this issue completely.
In addition, a nicer display for file browsing that included file names was noted.
In conclusion, the Beta v1.03.22 should not be released until the network issue is resolved as this is a key feature of the WD TV Live. Emphasis should be put on finishing this firmware update because the additional functionality is valuable and is a selling point. Documentation for keyboard controls will be necessary as this functionality has been added in this Firmware update and is therefore not available in the product manual.
I wish all of you the best of luck with your WD TV Live units.
Sincerely,
Justin Spratt
