They have developed a operating systems software called Windows 7. This software has received raving reviews on all fronts. It works with millions upon millions of different PCs accross the globe.
Furthermore this WD TV LIVE is not the only media extender option. Infact its one of many. All media extenders out there have an issue with their device in one way or another. That’s just the reality of creating new products.
However. WDTVLIVE is probably the one and only product out there. Where its major MAJOR upgrade from its 1st generation product is networking. Aside from other codec additions and features like DTS. None the less, this is a major feature. And its entirely broken for Windows 7.
Windows 7, again…the already discussed fully functional product with the majority of other media extenders out there.
It irritates me further that, for 50 more dollars. A friend had turned a laptop into a media extender for 4 televisions. (the laptop came with 4 ethernet ports). Because its a laptop, all codecs, containers, audio, video in any quality is perfectly rendered.
Thank you “Iceshiver” for enlighting me. But how does your comment solve the sharing problem? I was trying to suggest what to try to improve the MS file sharing. If it was so reliable, MS would not introduce LLTD in Vista/7. The computer discovery on the network was always a problem.
What actually helps the best is a WINS server. It is easy to setup with any linux box attached to the network (including NAS drives with embedded linux). I have WD TV Live with .17 firmware and all the computers on the network are visible and accessible. I am not saying that there cannot be a bug in the firmware, but obviously, it appears only under some circumstances. WD works well for me, but not for others, so lets talk about what could be the differences on each LAN. Good reviews of Win 7 do not help here
The file sharing system, computer discovery system works for millions of users on windows 7. WDTVLIVE’s network shares does not work on the typical computers + router set up that the vast majority of home networks use. I can’t tell you how enormously retarded it is to set up any WINS servers for a single computer in the home.
I do not understand what you don’t understand about that statement.
It is the unfortunate reality of the IT industry that 9 out of 10 times, THEY must adapt to how MS does things. Because THEY set the standard on how things should be done. They simply control too many users as the dominant OS.
As for your LLTD comment…I would suggest reading up on why it was released. Why it was actually released. It’s well published in most respected sites.
Network discovery works yes, but it does have its faults, and it used to be very unreliable in previous versions of windows. I think most people have had nightmares trying to get even the simplest of local networks to work, no matter how many “network wizards”, autonegotiations etc… you might throw in.
Even now, with only 2 PC’s connected, my XP SP3 box can sit for 30s when I click “my network” trying to get its bearings, and even then it might not see my Windows 7 box, requiring a reboot or something to catch on, while the other PC sees the XP box without a problem.
Also, rebooting the Windows 7 box to the dual boot installation, which has a different PC name, means that I’m stuck with a stale PC in “my network” for almost an hour. Ofc clicking on that stale PC will freeze windows explorer for a while, and apparently there’s no way to get rid of it unless you power off all the PC’s in the network, or let it expire. So at best I’d say Windows networking is a work in progress, and gets continually better, but I wouldn’t be so bold as to call it “reliable” for everyone, out of the box. And that unfortunately includes network capable devices like the WD TV Live.
Try to access the computer using its IP address (e.g. \192.168.0.123) and map the shared folder as a drive. It actually works the best in this case and no computer discovery is necessary.
This is the only thing I would blame WD for - that there is no possibility to access and map shared forlder using IP address.
I was referring to windows 7 networking. XP though, decent. Is not the greatest. It’s kinda of old at this point. Don’t forget it was released nearly a decade ago. I think the main reason why its still an avid OS is because its been out there for sooo long. There’s a metric ton of stuff out there to fix all its various issues. Becoming a super “stable” OS.
As for Vista. MS doesn’t recognize its existance anymore, so why should I? lol (there was a official MS product map where they “accidently” left out vista)
it seems that every version of windows that comes out is acclaimed as being “the end all and be all” and it only costs a hundred bucks.
in any case, while microsoft has had its many networking issues, i dont see this problem as one of them. sometimes it works fine, and other times it wont see a thing. correct me if im wrong, but shouldnt there be a workgroup assigned? and this may be a stupid question as well, ,but where did my WDTV live get a DNS from (68.94.156.1)? and why does it need it on a closed network?
How is you WD TV Live connected? I would check DHCP settings in your router if you are using one. What if you set IP address of WD manually? Be carreful not to use any address which DHCP may give to other computer on the network.
Same issue here starting about a week ago. My WDTV is all but useless now after months of working just fine. If I could send it back for a refund at this point I would. I’m just tired of dealing with it.
At this point I’m 100% convinced it isn’t an issue with my network. I’m not streaming from Windows 7 or anything like that, just a NAS that I’ve been using for ages. Streaming using the UPNP media server works fine, it’s only Network Shares that consistenyly disconnects.
Had I known before I bought this unit just how absolutely wretched WD’s firmware support would be I certainly would have reconsidered. They talked about big new features that would be available around year end (two months ago) and not only do we still not have them but the firmware releases just seem to be breaking more than they fix.
Hey there, for all you people trying to figure out whether it is your network or your operating system that is causing problems, can I suggest you try a Linux “Live” CD/DVD using the same hardware and network connection.
If you go for something like Ubuntu, you don’t have to install anything, it will run from CD/DVD, and it will also recognise FAT32 and NTFS partitions, so you can try and share the same media. Note that it’s a big download, so check if your ISP has a mirror available for you to grab it from.
I did this to confirm a problem accessing the WD Live local drive through the network; no problems using Ubuntu 9.10, fails miserably using Windows 7.
Windows doesn’t even enter into the equation on my network and I still have this issue. I’m connecting to a DNS-321 running a stripped down version of Linux. The SAMBA share doesn’t work for ■■■■ since a little over a week ago, but using the UPNP media server feature works fine.
Seems pretty conclusive to me that it’s an issue with the Live’s software, considering that:
A. This very same setup worked fine for months, and
B. It streams over UPNP just fine, but network shares ■■■■ out every few minutes.
My network: I use an Apple Airport Extreme router to access the internet and I use a Macbook (MacOS 10.6) and VAIO (Windows XP SP3). My WD TV Live (FW 1.01.24) I connect to my home network through a TrendNet TEW-644UB usb dongle. I also have a WD Passport hdd connected to Airport via usb. All of this recieve the network settings via DHCP from Airport.
So after I switch on the WD TV Live and go to Video-Network I see no network shares for a couple minutes. Then my Mac shares appear and work fine. But I can’t access the WD Passport hdd from WD TV and it works fine from Mac or VAIO. And I have to wait for 5 to 15 minutes for WD TV will let me access the WD Passport hdd through the network. After it begin work everyting is fine, but this time delay makes me frustrate.
Just purchased unit to replace the older non-network version. Have been using a Linksys network drive without problem on a couple of ROKU units and a Soundbridge for audio without any problem. WDTV sometimes sees the network server but is just not stable. Also sees some of the files on the main PC’ drives, again just doesn’t seem reliable.
I’ve tried various options, but frankly I’m getting frustrated after only 3 days. From the earlier postings here it seems that the WDTV is just not ready for real time use - or am I mistaken?
I too have the same issue and got really frustrated trying to troubleshoot it.
It started for me after installing the latest windows updates so I rolled back to pre-install, tried resetting WD box to factory but still got either no movement when I tried to select ‘network shares’ or a wrong username/apssword error.
Eventually it connected but all that time it could connect to the pc as a media server and access the net.
Happened again tonight and after failing to get it to connect via resets and unplugging when left for 10 minutes it just started working.
Very annoying. Please diagnose it WD before I go nuts ( or maybe I will just keep returning the unit as faulty)
UPDATE: Happened again so I left it for 10 minutes and then I could select ‘Network shares’ but it then gave a ‘No media in folder’ error.
When I tried to play movies using ‘media servers’ it would not play a lot of files that I have previously watched on it.
A while later it connected as normal with no intervention on my part. Also then played files that it failed on earlier.
Had the HD Live unit for about a week and a half. Started off seeing all PC’s on my network (3, sometimes 4) under network shares. Got through some 30 minute mkv’s without issue and was quite pleased.
Throughout the week, I would occassionally not be able to see 1 or more PC’s, and it seemed to get resolved with a cycle of the power and/or unplugging the power cord for 30 or so seconds.
Then suddenly this last weekend, about 5 minutes into every movie I tried playing, I’d get a network disconnected (or something similar) error and it’d go back to the menu. Last night, while troubleshooting that, I suddenly can only see 1 pc on my network, and it’s not the one I have my share on. This is now stuck this way after several power cycles, and after switching settings that were recommended in this and other posts. I’ve tried different cables and routers. To every other device on my network, the share is accessible without issue. And it WAS accessible to the WD unit as well, then something on the unit changed while nothing at all changed on my network side.
I’m an IT guy that has experience with servers and desktops in large environments, so the network sharing concept is something I understand quite well. What I have setup:
A desktop and server hard wired to a Linksys WRT160N router, and a wireless connected laptop.
Server is a Win2008 Active Directory DC, DHCP server, DNS server, and WINS server, and has static IP of 10.40.40.50.
Desktop is Win7, and is in a workgroup, not part of the AD domain, and has static IP of 10.40.40.201
Laptop is Win7, part of my AD domain SteveDomain3.com, and has a DHCP-handed IP of 10.40.40.102
Static IP’s are appropriately reserved in DHCP server.
WD unit was working successfully while plugged in via a short cat5 cable to a wireless bridge, which hops to my WRTN160N router. This includes seeing my server, desktop, and laptop. While on the same unchanged router, the issues above started. After eventually being able to consistently NOT see anything but the one PC, I tried connecting WD unit to WRT160N directly with a different cable, and have the same issue.
I’ve rebooted everything a million times.
I’ve tried both auto and manual IP settings on WD device.
My share is accessible to every other device on my network, and from my laptop I can ping my server successfully by name from my laptop (implying some sort of name resolution is working there).
I get a ping response from my WD device’s IP when pinging from the server.
There is no antivirus or firewall on the server.
There is no firewall enabled on my WRTN160N router.
I can access YouTube from WD device without issue.
The key thing here is it WAS working, and I changed nothing before it got flakey on me. It’s like the thing caught a cold that just got worse and worse. Is there any solution in sight???
Also note, I’ve got firmware version 1.01.24, and this issue persists after restoring factory defaults. I submitted the issue to WD via email, and in case anyone wants to relay it for their own issue submission, the reference # is 100301-002843.
Started off fine, our shared server came up and I started watching a movie as a test. Worked fine for a couple mins.
Then started watching a tv episode and was fine for 5 mins then suddenly dropped out. Go into network settings, everything checks out ok. Go onto youtube, youtube works perfectly!
I’m assuming this is a firmware issue?
Also, the same episode I was able to watch on my server, I put on a USB and tried to watch and it says the format is not supported? Does the WD TV Live have issues reading the USB or something??
I might try a different USB but this network sharing thing is pissing me off. Why did I bother getting this premium version over the original if its so dodgy?
Really I don’t have any problems while watching a video over wi-fi from a usb-hdd connected to router or from network share. Try to renew your network settings on WD TV by getting it automatically fron the router via dhcp. And wait for new HW for WD TV - in new version network support will be improved.
Supported file systems on usb driver are FAT/FAT32, NTFS, HFS+ so it looks like any usb device should work with it. Try the other usb drive to check if it is a problem with WD TV or usb drive.
As about D-Link DWA-140 wireless dongle - if it is able take it back to shop and change it for linksys or trendnet. D-link is known as a big bug container (both routers and adapters).
The network settings all come through perfectly fine it’s just that it can’t access any shares for some reason. I have an IP the network test passes and all internet-content functions fine.
A different USB worked fine, so that’s not so much an issue anymore.
I bought this d-link specifically for the WD TV because it was on the supported list and it was one of the only ones I could find from a nearby computer store rather then having to purchasing online. I might try it on my desktop computer and see if the adapter is fine, but I think it is because as I said, net functions work just not lan sharing etc…
I’m going to wait for the new FW and hope that it remedies the situation…
I have the same problem. The WDTV Live connects to the wireless network via USB adapter Linksys WUSB600N. The router is also Linksys WRT610N (dual band). Other devices in the network are a hardwired desktop PC running on Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and a couple of wirelessly connected laptops running on 32bits versions of Win7 and XP.
WDTV uses the 5GHz band while the laptops are on the 2.4GHz band. All devices are on static IPs.
Here is the curious thing: when only the desktop and the WDTV are present on the network everything works fine and all shares on the desktop are accessible by WDTV. Whenever any of the laptops enters the network the shares become invisible. In the same time the WDTV disappears from the network in windows explorer but the attached to it HD remains present as a network drive and accessibly from the desktop. The only way to get back the shares visible to WDTV is to restart the router (no restarting of the desktop and/or WDTV, or exiting the laptops from the network will do the job). Then if during the router restart any of the laptops is still on the shares disappear again after 2 – 3 minutes.
One more thing: Before having the WRT610N the router was D-Link DIR-825, also dual-band and I don’t remember having the same problem with it. Sill the router replacement may had coincided with the last WDTV firmware upgrade – don’t remember.
Well, it looks like the problem was in the Linksys WRT610N router. When I went back to D-Link DIR-825 (with the same settings as on WRT610N) everything came to its place: all computers on the network are visible as well as all shears are visible and accessible by WDTV. I don’t know whether it was incompatibility between WDTV and WRT610N or WRT610N and Win7 x64. The fact is that the combination Win7 <–> DIR-825 <–> WUSB600N <–> WDTV works.
