The FF/RW (fast forward and rewind) function is BLOODY TERRIBLE. It was very bad with the previous firmware but firmware 1.02.21 has made it unusable. I mainly use my WDTV Live to watch .TS files. MPEG 2 transport stream files with 2 separate streams of MP2 audio. I tried to watch a movie and FF between the ad breaks. But the “jumping” forward made it unwatchable.
A few examples: At 19mins into the film I fast forwarded at (X4 speed) to 22mins but the WDTV Live jumped to 26 mins (A jump of 4mins)
and at 47mins I FFed (X2 speed) and stopped at 48min but the WDTV Live jumped to 58mins !!! (A jump of 10 mins)
and at 1hr 10min 30 sec FFed (X2 speed) and stopped 10 seconds later at 1hr 10min 40sec but the WDTV Live jumped to 1hr 19mins. (A jump of 9 mins)
What is WD’s problem? Why cant WD fix this issue. Why don’t they hive some feed back about this very basic flaw with the WDTV Live? It was bad before but the firmware updates are making it worse not better.
I have had the same with mpeg 2 TS files. Sometimes, if I ffwd then press pause/play it can skip backwards as much as 5 minutes. It would be better if it would pause first then press play a second time to continue.
I do wonder if it something to do with TS GOP lengths. I am recorded DVB TV which creates mpegs. I found that every channel has different GOP lengths. Some do rwd/ffwd/pause and play as they should and some don’t.
I don’t know much about GOPs. For some reason I was guessing it may have something to do with the 2 MPEG audio tracks?
I’d love to have this bug fixed. It annoys me that the firmware updates seem to focus on “ancillary” issues like YouTube bugs etc while this fundamental issue is ignored.
By chance, I just sat down to watch a .ts file (CNN) that has only one audio channel, and FF and RW work almost perfectly !!!
So its looks like it may have something to do with the audio channels?
Just to clarify I dont mean strereo or mono by one or two channels, I mean a full secondary audio track. The BBC puts 2 audio tracks on all their programs. The first is normal audio. The second has a narrator describing the program for blind and partially sighted people.
I am going to try and check somemore of the single audio channel stations and see if I can confirm the 1/2channel theory.
I’m in germany recording tv shows with Mediaportal as .ts files and want to watch them once (so I don’t want to transcode them but watch them directly with my WDTV Live, FW 1.02.21). I’ve got the same problem as described.
“For example, when I FF past an ad say to 45:00, play starts at maybe 43:28 or 47:20 or some other fairly far off point. If I’m FF-ing just a short distance, play may actually start BEFORE the point at which I started the fast forward! It’s nearly impossible to navigate to a specific point in a video. And, NO, this is not a problem with a slow response from the remote. The remote responds fine, you can see the time on the screen as 45:00 when you press PLAY to stop the fast forward but then shortly after play resumes, the time code jumps back to 43:28 or forward to 47:20 or to some other WAY off location.”
Any help? Is this issue fixed in the new beta firmware?
It’s not really a problem WD can address. Different formats will work differently, as will even encoding within those forums (those with more b-frames tend to behave better in this regard up to a point). MP4 works well with both FF and RW, but MKV works only decently (and then mostly with FF).
If it’s really important to you, re-encoding to MP4 is probably your best bet (I dind I can stop it within seconds of my desired point with an MP4 file encoded properly. MP4s have other issues, though, so it’s not my container of choice).
It’s not really a problem WD can address. Different formats will work differently, as will even encoding within those forums (those with more b-frames tend to behave better in this regard up to a point). MP4 works well with both FF and RW, but MKV works only decently (and then mostly with FF).
If it’s really important to you, re-encoding to MP4 is probably your best bet (I dind I can stop it within seconds of my desired point with an MP4 file encoded properly. MP4s have other issues, though, so it’s not my container of choice).
As I only see these shows once, I don’t like the idea of re-encode the files…
In my opinion this is definitely a bug: I mean, it’s possible to play the codec without any errors. It seems to be a problem with the calculation of the “jumping-point”. Perhaps the calculation does not include more than one audio channel (see above) or something else, but this should be analized and corrected…
I agree with the original poster. The FF/REW appear unusable. This is a very big issue for us.
I have tested on a range of different files for several months - from memory: MPG’s, MKV’s, M4V’s and AVI’s with MPEG2, MPEG4, XVID and H264 encoding. The problem appears to exist in them all. I doubt it has anything to do with the particular files as MPEG2 files that respond perfectly when formatted and played on a DVD appear to have have issues when simply unwrapped to MPG’s and tested on our WDTV Live. I have also tested over both USB and network cable.
Pressing PLAY after a FF or REW sometimes comes close to the onscreen display but at other times it jumps forward or backwards by several minutes - there appears no discernable pattern, even within the same file. It appears to be a coding issue with multiple frame counters and buffers - as the onscreen display seems to work correctly while FF/REW’ing - but as soon as PLAY is pressed the counter and displayed frame seem to be reset incorrectly.
I originally tested on firmware 1.01.11 and have since downloaded and installed 1.02.21 and find it hard to believe if it has still not been addressed(?).
Surely someone from WD should ensure this BASIC CORE FUNCTION is working correctly as a top priority???
You can’t compare a DVD player playing a disc to a media player playing a ripped file – two completely different things (for one thing, the disc can be “skipped” ahead in the laser in a way the hard drive read cannot).
If this is a deal breaker to you you should return the unit, because it’s unlikely that WD will *ever* address this (I would think it’s so low down on the priority list compared to the actual bugs the unit has that it will be years if it ever even comes up). Most folks don’t need to FF through material (it’s meant to be played and with chapter stops and the 10 minute skip you can move to wherever you want quite easily).
BTW, I’ve found MP4 files to work beautifully in this regard, so if you really want to FF/RW I’d suggest that format (although they DO have other issues, but properly authored can be played just fine on the Live).
Yeah, some guy from WD actually explained why FF/REW behaves the way it does… and it’s NOT on all file types. It can also be different behavior whether it’s local USB storage, Media Server, or Network Share…
I just converted a bunch of my home VHS movies to MPG, and they FF/REW pretty well, as do DVD ISOs. MKVs can be a royal pain, though…
Yes, if it weren’t for the fact that MKV supports both AC3 AND DTS I’d do everything to MP4, but since MP4 has that limitation it’s kind of a deal breaker for me.
so this means I won’t be ever to smoothly FF past the adverts on my timeshift TS files, but I will have to put up with random start point points following a FF - not good !
Sure I am – you can convert your stuff to MP4 and that will play correctly.
No media player can do everything, so you either have to make a choice as to what you want it to do and then proceed in that direction, or live with it.
