Bugs in Firmware Version 1.04.17_V -- Summary only

I am restarting this thread concept for the new firmware.  Since, WD failed to address a majority of issues.  I’ll let you guess which issue below annoys me the most!  And I urge the user community to try and focus first on issues that are core to the wdtv player.  Like playing videos, music and photos.  Let’s help WD get those fixed first.

THREAD RULES:

  1. SUMMARY ONLY.  NO DISCUSSION.

  2. Do NOT post wish list items here.  Only bug fixes.  If you want a new feature post it in the ideas lab forum (http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Ideas/idb-p/idea). (I left 1 feature request at the bottom of this list because it is so obvious.)

  3. Copy the entire message and add your new issue or if an issue was resolved in this firmware, note it next to the item or delete the row.

Power off/on problems:

  • Box does not remember the video resolution/frequency. When manually set (to anything other than ‘Auto’) the box should remember that video setting the next time it is turned on. XX

  • Box does not remember the colorspace value. When manually set (to anything other than ‘Auto’) the box should remember that colorspace setting the next time it is turned on. XX

  • Display resolution defaults to 720p after AC power has been removed for a few hours. X

  • Display resolution defaults to 720p 60Hz from 1080p 50Hz after device has been in standby mode for one day. (Please check whether it’s just the splash screen)

  • Network Shares (s.  http://community.wdc.com/t5/Firmware/New-Firmware-​Release-Firmware-Version-1-04-10-V-for-WD-TV-Live… you might want to skip the factory reset the first time round)

General

  • Fade in/out broken
  • The HDMI output option for 1080p 23.976 Hz has been removed. X

Foto

  • When displaying photos, the black level sent to the TV is much higher than it was in version 1.02.21. Pictures look washed out and over exposed. X

Audio

  • Switching off TV also kills WD TV Live Audio output

Video Playback

  • VOB Files stutter. (tested with factory reset and hard reset.)

  • MKV files stutter

  • When playing DVD and hit pause, after resume, the info bar does not go away. XX

  • DVD Navigation - Progress bar does not hide after skipping chapters. XX

  • Lost the ability to zoom when playing an .iso (since menus are available I think).

  • Problems while audio channel switching, sometimes it switch on wrong channel but it show in menu right channel. Sometimes while switching sound out of sync.

  • Fast forward (>4 times, or skip 10 minutes) on transport stream files results in playaback starting from the beginning.

  • Fast forward with some DivX videos results in playback starting from the beginning. Using USB HDD.

  • Vorbis audio has very annoying and frequent intermittent pops and clicks. I have videos (MKV: x264, vorbis) that previously played fine, but now the audio gets the previously mentioned pops and clicks noises throughout the video - it gets worse the longer you play the video.

  • Playback of a video has problems with AC3 audio. With starting it has “electronic” noise “click”/“scratch”. Also after resuming or continuing playback after pause. Didn’t happen with version 1.02.21.

  • Screen Saver does not function when a Video file is paused.

  • subtitle setting never stays ON and after few hours (randomly) it goes back to OFF (default).

  • Incorrect subtitle color palette for embedded sub/idx subtitles in mkv (external subtitle palettte is correct)

Network

  • Network shares issues (more often than not works, but sometimes freezes and I have to make a hard reboot -unplugging/plugging mains- the only option. And I’ve tried waiting 5+ minutes!)
  • Open Network Share isn’t available for WD TV Live. Worked before version 1.03.49_V and 1.04.10_V.
  • Network-performance droped compared to former firmware versions → result: stuttering playback of high bitrate videos on low bandwidth-networks (such as WLAN, DLAN). X
  • Stuttering of files on the network (e.g. MKV) which worked properly before

HDMI Handshake issues:

  • Often no picture via HDMI when powering on the WD TV Live (not sure if this is identical to the RGB-bug below, but I did not alter the color settings at all and have HDMI set to auto = 1080p/60). X
  • Digital Audio via HDMI, DTS and DD 5.1 does not work (possibly an EDID issue). 1.02.21 did not have this issue (please WD, just send bitstream through HDMI and ignore EDID information) X
  • Sometimes audio not heard through TOSC however sent through HDMI. Audio setting "digital passthrough optical only’ selected. seems to be AC3 2.0 files
  • When Playing .M2TS files, first there is no sound for a certain time, then the picture freezes and the sound is beeing played. Than sound and pictures are synchronous.

User interface

  • User interface translation issues, especially into German X

Color issues

  • Setting the display resolution to 1080p/24Hz/12 bit with any color space setting (RGB High, RGB Low, or YCbCr) causes distinctive banding on the blue menu background. This color banding disappears when switching to 1080p/60Hz /12 bit.
  • HDMI RGB level setting is not remembered, maybe limited to HDMI-DVI cable connections. RGB level gets reset t to “RGB High” every time unit is powered on, resluting in black crush.

Other

  • Only US Layout for USB keyboard
  • foldersymbols in the middle of the thumbs (annoying!)
  • Screen Alignment problem on a 4:3 TV when using Flingo and facebook - the far left and right of the screen are cutoff.
  • Cant skip to the next/previous song in a Deezer playlist.
  • Flingo freezes when browsing channels
  • slow responsiveness when using pause/play/ffw (flingo)
  • Menu navigation sometimes still slow, but after some time of watching movie it’s become faster.
  • It’s slow react on enter button (on 1.03.49 was faster) when moving in settings or watch movie, sometimes need push it twice.
  • Animation of pics while menu navigations is strange, like garbage from another pictures while moving.
  • While watching movie menu that appear after pushing option is not translated (wdtv is set to russian menu language)
  • jerky playback on Tekzilla
  • Live365 Preset radio stations broke.  This data is kept on Live365 servers, worked on previous firmware.

File Manager

Feature request:

  • Add a new boolean variable in the configuration database, when bootup set to “True”, and only when poweroff the box, set the variable to “False”. In this way when the box poweron after power outage, the player return in standby mode becouse the boolean variable is set to “False”.

If you’re going to restart someone else’s thread for this version, you should delete the ones that ARE FIXED…  and CONFIRMED FIXED.

   Not the least of which are PLAYON, USB Keyboard Lag, Login problems, File Manager fixes, etc…  

You’re making it sound like NOTHING got fixed, which is misleading…  

  Power off/on problems:

  • Box does not remember the video resolution/frequency. When manually set (to anything other than ‘Auto’) the box should remember that video setting the next time it is turned on. XX

  • Box does not remember the colorspace value. When manually set (to anything other than ‘Auto’) the box should remember that colorspace setting the next time it is turned on. XX

  • Display resolution defaults to 720p after AC power has been removed for a few hours. X

  • Display resolution defaults to 720p 60Hz from 1080p 50Hz after device has been in standby mode for one day. (Please check whether it’s just the splash screen)

  • Network Shares (s.  http://community.wdc.com/t5/Firmware/New-Firmware-​Release-Firmware-Version-1-04-10-V-for-WD-TV-Live… you might want to skip the factory reset the first time round)

General

  • Fade in/out broken
  • The HDMI output option for 1080p 23.976 Hz has been removed. X

Foto

  • When displaying photos, the black level sent to the TV is much higher than it was in version 1.02.21. Pictures look washed out and over exposed. X

Audio

  • Switching off TV also kills WD TV Live Audio output

Video Playback

  • VOB Files stutter. (tested with factory reset and hard reset.)

  • MKV files stutter

  • When playing DVD and hit pause, after resume, the info bar does not go away. XX

  • DVD Navigation - Progress bar does not hide after skipping chapters. XX

  • Lost the ability to zoom when playing an .iso (since menus are available I think).

  • Problems while audio channel switching, sometimes it switch on wrong channel but it show in menu right channel. Sometimes while switching sound out of sync.

  • Fast forward (>4 times, or skip 10 minutes) on transport stream files results in playaback starting from the beginning.

  • Fast forward with some DivX videos results in playback starting from the beginning. Using USB HDD.

  • Vorbis audio has very annoying and frequent intermittent pops and clicks. I have videos (MKV: x264, vorbis) that previously played fine, but now the audio gets the previously mentioned pops and clicks noises throughout the video - it gets worse the longer you play the video.

  • Playback of a video has problems with AC3 audio. With starting it has “electronic” noise “click”/“scratch”. Also after resuming or continuing playback after pause. Didn’t happen with version 1.02.21.

  • Screen Saver does not function when a Video file is paused.

  • subtitle setting never stays ON and after few hours (randomly) it goes back to OFF (default).

  • Incorrect subtitle color palette for embedded sub/idx subtitles in mkv (external subtitle palettte is correct)

Network

  • Network shares issues (more often than not works, but sometimes freezes and I have to make a hard reboot -unplugging/plugging mains- the only option. And I’ve tried waiting 5+ minutes!)
  • Open Network Share isn’t available for WD TV Live. Worked before version 1.03.49_V and 1.04.10_V.
  • Network-performance droped compared to former firmware versions → result: stuttering playback of high bitrate videos on low bandwidth-networks (such as WLAN, DLAN). X
  • Stuttering of files on the network (e.g. MKV) which worked properly before

HDMI Handshake issues:

  • Often no picture via HDMI when powering on the WD TV Live (not sure if this is identical to the RGB-bug below, but I did not alter the color settings at all and have HDMI set to auto = 1080p/60). X
  • Digital Audio via HDMI, DTS and DD 5.1 does not work (possibly an EDID issue). 1.02.21 did not have this issue (please WD, just send bitstream through HDMI and ignore EDID information) X
  • Sometimes audio not heard through TOSC however sent through HDMI. Audio setting "digital passthrough optical only’ selected. seems to be AC3 2.0 files
  • When Playing .M2TS files, first there is no sound for a certain time, then the picture freezes and the sound is beeing played. Than sound and pictures are synchronous.

User interface

  • User interface translation issues, especially into German X

Color issues

  • Setting the display resolution to 1080p/24Hz/12 bit with any color space setting (RGB High, RGB Low, or YCbCr) causes distinctive banding on the blue menu background. This color banding disappears when switching to 1080p/60Hz /12 bit.
  • HDMI RGB level setting is not remembered, maybe limited to HDMI-DVI cable connections. RGB level gets reset t to “RGB High” every time unit is powered on, resluting in black crush.

Other

  • Only US Layout for USB keyboard
  • foldersymbols in the middle of the thumbs (annoying!)
  • Screen Alignment problem on a 4:3 TV when using Flingo and facebook - the far left and right of the screen are cutoff.
  • Cant skip to the next/previous song in a Deezer playlist.
  • Flingo freezes when browsing channels
  • slow responsiveness when using pause/play/ffw (flingo)
  • Menu navigation sometimes still slow, but after some time of watching movie it’s become faster.
  • It’s slow react on enter button (on 1.03.49 was faster) when moving in settings or watch movie, sometimes need push it twice.
  • Animation of pics while menu navigations is strange, like garbage from another pictures while moving.
  • While watching movie menu that appear after pushing option is not translated (wdtv is set to russian menu language)
  • jerky playback on Tekzilla
  • Live365 Preset radio stations broke.  This data is kept on Live365 servers, worked on previous firmware.

File Manager

Feature request:

  • Add a new boolean variable in the configuration database, when bootup set to “True”, and only when poweroff the box, set the variable to “False”. In this way when the box poweron after power outage, the player return in standby mode becouse the boolean variable is set to “False”.

I can tell you what did not get fixed. I still can’t play back my HD video (m2ts) files recorded on a Sony HD recorder. I get no sound and the video freezes at random times or stops and kicks me back to the file list. The support for this product bleep. I am looking for alternatives. I was a developer for 20 years. Releasing firmware with bugs is one thing, not fixing them in a timely manner is another which is unacceptable.

I’m betting the WD doesn’t support the codec your camera uses… Start a new thread with MEDIAINFO output for one of your files before you jump on the BUG bus…

gwthor wrote:

I can tell you what did not get fixed. I still can’t play back my HD video (m2ts) files recorded on a Sony HD recorder. I get no sound and the video freezes at random times or stops and kicks me back to the file list. The support for this product **bleep**. I am looking for alternatives. I was a developer for 20 years. Releasing firmware with bugs is one thing, not fixing them in a timely manner is another which is unacceptable.

When I purchased the device it worked fine with the same video files. The previous firmware broke it. This last one did not fix it. My Sony is last years model, are you really trying to say that WD does not support Sony HD video? I know a bug when I see it.

I also have a sony handycam HD and the m2ts files are supported & worked fine in firmare prior to the last two updates. Currently my files play with no audio, then freeze, then play fine with audio and video in sync.

As Tony said this thread is pointless unless somebody actually re-checks all the previous problems. For instance I believe that the live365 presets were fixed in the latest firmware but that is still in the list.

Then check them yourself and help us widdle down the list!  As I check features I will do the same.  But, thinking WD fixed them because they said so is not even remotely acceptable.  WD releases fixes, tell us what they are, we check them and then report what is still not fixed.

Why is this so hard for you and Tony to understand?

Nehptis wrote:

Then check them yourself and help us widdle down the list!  As I check features I will do the same.  But, thinking WD fixed them because they said so is not even remotely acceptable.  WD releases fixes, tell us what they are, we check them and then report what is still not fixed.

 

Why is this so hard for you and Tony to understand?

Why is it so hard for you to understand that this list is ridiculous if it is now out of date because of the latest firmware update. You cannot just copy the old list over without checking. You may have to start again.

Allow me to make a suggestion: also include the version of the firmware in which the bug was found as part of the bug description.

While it’s useful to have that information in the thread title, for the sake of both tracking where issues were introduced as well as how long they have been problematic it would be valuable to have this in the description of the bug.  Something like the following is what I had in mind:

  • Display resolution defaults to 720p after AC power has been removed for a few hours. (1.04.10_V)

This would also help with regression testing, if anyone is so inclined to undertake it, as well as rooting out the resolved issues from the outstanding ones.

Or just set up an actual bug tracking system somewhere (WD, care to set one up for the unpaid QA department otherwise known as your users?) and at least have some managability of the process.

Awesome ideas casm23, go for it.  The bug tracking system would be ideal.  But, I doubt we’ll get that.

@ richUK, let me try and explain again my intent.  We start with the known list of bugs from the previous firmware.  As we the users confirm they are fixed (NOT WD saying they are fixed) they come off the list.  If we find a new bug we add it to the list.  It makes no sense to start with a new list from scratch.  The existing bugs need to be confirmed as fixed or confirmed as still unresolved.  That is how proper testing is executed.

I did NOT sign-up to test all the bugs and then post a new list.  I started the thread to have myself and the community do this collaboratively.

I tried to bring some order to the chaos of this board by continuing the summary thread concept.  But, it is a futile effort.  So, I will post multiple un-related messages across the Firmware board just like everyone else in an attempt to get the bugs I find addressed.

on the topic of mkv , seems to work with anything under about 10 gb stream. anything over this , it will stutter about 6 seconds after startup. worked fine on 3.X firmwares…

tried hard reset , with factory reset. this is painful. attempting to go back to 2.x or 3.x firmware.

Can we also add in SAMBA network shares on many NAS boxes are no longer accessible. My box was fine with 1.04.10V but 1.04.17V killed it (although tons and tons of people have been having this issue since 1.03.XX)

I reverted back to version 1.03.49_B and I can now play my Sony HD (.m2ts) video files located on my main computer again.

One annoying bug in the last two firmware (including the current one):

  • Go into “Video” section from main menu

  • Enter the desired local disk

  • Folders with only video file content should be displayed. It used to be that way… Now all the folders are displayed, and when I enter a folder with no video inside, it says “No media to display”. Then why are you listing the folder in the first place?!!

I have a carefully organized HDD structure and I do not want “Pictures” folder to be displayed when I enter “Video” section… If possible!