Disappointed with the unit: plays almost no mp4

Sam5002 wrote:

I am very disappointed with WD palyer, it doesn’t play MP4 and MKV  files. Why they don’t have an update for this issue since lot of people having trouble. I called tech support , they have no idea to resolve this issue.

MP4, yeah, it’s broken.   MKV?   I don’t think so. 

Start your own thread with specifics such as mediainfo.

Dear Forum Members

This thread, along with “Firmware 2.02.32 Not playing all mp4 files” makes very grim reading simply because I was on the verge of buying  WD TV Media Player in order to play all my NAS stored videos.  However, due to this firmware bug (contained within update 2.02.32) it now makes it impossible to purchase a device that says it will play all your stored files then to find out that it cannot play between 25 - 40% of them, and what is worse, whereas it could before.

You see, I was looking for something that could play my files on my Samsung TV without the need for transcoding, as my NAS does not support that facility.  The  WD TV Media Player came to my attention via Amazon and YouTube as the Media Player that could play any file thrown at it.

Now I find out that WD in their haste has gone and crippled the facility that raised their Media Player head and shoulders above the competition.

I just hope that WD get their act together, fix the stupid bug they introduced and return the  WD TV Media Player into a product that people will want to buy again.

UK Bob

You guys are cracking me up. Contrary to most players out there the WDTV does play most of the files (where does it say all?) out there (crappy downloads from the Internet notwithstanding). So yeah, WD botched it and some types of MP4s are no longer playable (it’s a container, you know). A lot of em still are and it’s really not hard to downgrade to 2.01.86 to play all your precious MP4s till the next firmware fixes this.

Hi Bob

After  had purchased my wd my cloud i wanted to find a tv to play it on, which is when i was told i had to buy a wd tv to play files. if you have a seagate, the samsung tv should work well for that, after i spent all this money i was kicking myself for not going that route…

What I have been told so far from support concerning problems w/ mp4 files is that the ones I uploaded are 24 fps and the unit is not capable to manage that. I was suggested to recode the files to somewhat lower than 24, which I have not tried yet.

I also uploaded a mkv file not working but got no info about that.

In my house, the unit stands still.

I’ll keep posting news.

**bleep**? Could you please point those [Deleted] to  this thread where MP4s with 23.976 fps were uploaded that do not work on 2.02.32 (but do on 2.01.86)? So no, it’s not because of 24 FPS. Unbelievable.

Techflaws wrote:

**bleep**? Could you please point those [Deleted] to  this thread where MP4s with 23.976 fps were uploaded that do not work on 2.02.32 (but do on 2.01.86)? So no, it’s not because of 24 FPS. Unbelievable.


What I was thinking to do is find the time to recode them to 23.xxx fps: unfortunately I have no clue about the way to do that and support gave no indication whatsoever.

I suppose it is something quite easy w/ some sort of freeware program, if you/anyone has any suggestion about what to use I’ll spend some (more) time on this stuff.

Thanks.

I keep repeating myself. You can not play 24 fps the WDTV (2014) and if the device can play the WDTV HD device (2009) Don’t make sense

In my case the technical service continues to ask me but so far without result

Avalon_2014 wrote:

What I was thinking to do is find the time to recode them to 23.xxx fps: unfortunately I have no clue about the way to do that and support gave no indication whatsoever.

Open the file in Handbrake, keep all settings on default but set Video > FPS accordingly and use Constant framerate.

According to the latest email from the technical service told me that the solution will come in the form of firmware. I hope it’s soon

1 Like

Hi ALL,

Well, I need to be added to the disappointed people list!  I too bought the WD TV for the main reason to view videos, mostly MP4s, on a local drive.  The Amazon reviews were very positive so I bought it.  Got it, hooked it up, turned it on and immediately it asked to allow an update which I said OK.  The update took a lot longer than I thought but eventually finished.  Then I hooked up my flash drive and tried to watch some videos and was VERY disappointed that most of the videos did NOT play.  Yes some did and whey they did they played quite well.  But others would seem to start only to go back to the files screen.  I had the preview on and all the files show the correct codecs, AVC for video and AAC for audio yet only I’d say only 1 out of 10 played.

I ran some of the unplayable ones throught Handbrake using just the default settings and the new files did play.  But it takes a while to process.  I then tried that “re-muxing” program My MP4Box GUI that was mentioned in this thread and that also worked and was very quick, but I don’t see anyway to set up a queue to do a whole batch of files.

So hopefully WD will have an update that will address this.

I had another problem.  In my situation its set up on a movable table and not used all the time and when not used I unplug the power.  I got it last night and after playing around with it put it in its storage area and unplugged it.  This morning I plugged it back in and it would not play ANYTHING.  In fact the preview window kept saying UNKNOWN for both codecs when yesterday all the videos showed correct codecs.  I ended up resetting to factory defaults and then it started working like before.  Is it going to lose some kind of memory or settings every time I unplug the power?

Thanks,

Gerry

No, but there seems to be a bug where booting up the device without having the TV on and set to it, will result in this behaviour. (it’s not 100% reproducible). However, if you encounter this, a reboot is enough for the files to play again. You don’t need to reset the device.

Techflaws wrote:

No, but there seems to be a bug where booting up the device without having the TV on and set to it, will result in this behaviour. (it’s not 100% reproducible). However, if you encounter this, a reboot is enough for the files to play again. You don’t need to reset the device.

Thanks for the info.  If it happens again I’ll try just rebooting rather than resetting.  I used it today after it was unplugged from the AC overnight and it worked just fine.  I did have the TV on at the same time and will make sure that happens from now on.

I have one other issue I’m trying to solve.  Before I unplug the AC I want to make sure its fully off by pressing the remote’s OFF for 5 seconds.  I have an IR repeater so I can tell that when you press the OFF for 5 seconds its sending out multiple commands very quickly rather than one single command if you press it normally.  I’m trying to get a Harmony remote to do that same thing but when its learned button is held down the command is repeated but with a longer pause between then and the WD TV does not fully shut down.

So my question is has anyone gotten any kind of learning remote to be able to duplicate the original WD remote to fully shut down the WD TV?

Thanks,

Gerry

JoeySmyth wrote:


trilogico wrote:

I can dont believe. The problem is I do not know if the previous firmware does.

Anyone know if the above did and if so, what is its number firmware’


Had the same problem with Firmware 1.00.42   (which is the previous firmware revision to 1.01.30)

 

but in my case, 90% of MP4’s play fine … 10% don’t play   (which was the case for both 1.00.42 & 1.01.30)

 

All MP4’s play fine on all my older WDTV’s  (Gen1,Gen2 Live & Live Hub)

 

The MP4 issue has been reported to support, so hopefully next firmware release will resolve the issue.

 

 

And just when are they ever going to update the firmware? Do they even support these devices anymore. Firmware updated started getting further and further apart and seem to have ceased altogether, as have introductions of any new products. BY the way mine shows version at 2.02.32. Why are your versions so much lower…and even at the the versionI have is still just as bad.

Zetaprime wrote: BY the way mine shows version at 2.02.32. Why are your versions so much lower…

 

Because this forum is for the 2014 WDTV Media Player (Personal Edition)

Ahh…well the older ones have the same problem. WD screwed up with all of them. The picture of the thing looks the same as mine so I figued the forum was for all of the similar WD players.

Hi guys, 

Got almost the same trouble with mine.

The only difference is that it can play almost of my files but, when a movie is ending, I can’t watch an other one right after it.

Exactly the same with a music album. after some songs, It stopps…

If I would like to play something more, I have to unplugged my device and plug it again…

It’s just borring for a new stuff!!:confounded:

 Yeah, buddy. A disaster this WD TV 2014. I, along with everything I have been explaining, I discovered that some mp4 files detected as only music. It’s what was missing.

I sent technicians mp4 files not playing. They infomaron me that the update will come in the form of firmware. If the device was presented in May and still are so embarrassing.

Definitely will be the last device you buy from WD. will be the last device you buy from WD.

Is the  WDBYMN0000NBK-VESN player also affected by this nonsense? I have one coming in the mail I’ll just ship it back if it is, I want it for playing DTS HD MA(passing it to my AVR over HDMI) files and 3D HSBS HOU files, as long as it can do this I’m good.

With my WDBYMN0000NBK-VESN I’m finding it’s NOT sending audio with AAC out to my AVR, what gives? I have it set for a digital passthrough, DTS and AC3 works perfectly but the files with AAC are playing but NO AUDIO is playing. This little box has issues!