WD have in the past continued firmware releases for old products - for a time.
Indeed the last firmware for the WD Live Streaming (August 2014) was essentially that of one released for its replacement the WD TV (less Netflix) done only a few weeks earlier. I suspect the two boxes are identical inside as we gained a shed load on free enhancements - unfortunately along with those annoying bugs we are all suffering from.
So, I still feel positive we can get bug fixes from them as rebuilds should be trivial and they can use the new box as a test bed for the old box… probably. But it has been a while, and the longer this goes on for the less likely we will ever get a new build. WD have not stated one way or the other… yet!
So live in hope, and reboot 5 times a day, minimum!
It’s fine if you don’t want to do WD’s work for them. Still, there hasn’t been enough info provided to get to the bottom of why some people need to reboot constanly while others have been unaffected since day 1.
We are now into March 2015. This firmware *still* causes me many headaches.
Can we have an update on where the new firmware is in the process that will replace this terrible release?
Since it’s a discontinued product how does “never” sound?
The problem of course isn’t them discontinuing the product, it’s doing so with no public admission at the time that was happening AND simultaneously pushing out a destructive update as the last supported firmware. In one fell swoop, other than the occasional person who pops up saying they’re fine (usually because of their useage patterns), it basically ensured they lost the customer loyalty of most of the current user base. Who might have WILLINGLY upgraded to a new product if they hadn’t gotten so badly screwed by WD at the ending of support on this one.
The problem of course isn’t them discontinuing the product, it’s doing so with no public admission at the time that was happening AND simultaneously pushing out a destructive update as the last supported firmware. In one fell swoop, other than the occasional person who pops up saying they’re fine (usually because of their useage patterns), it basically ensured they lost the customer loyalty of most of the current user base. Who might have WILLINGLY upgraded to a new product if they hadn’t gotten so badly screwed by WD at the ending of support on this one.
As I said this is WDTV product #3 that went unsupported on me so I guess I’m used to it . I think their only remaining product has less features than this one so that’s not an option for many of us . I don’t actually use the online services as the interfaces **bleeps** big-time compared to my Roku. I think I have 4 of the Rokus now, two probably will never see an update as they are long discontinued but who knows?
This is the 2nd time for me that WD did a “hit and run”. The first time was with the WD TV Live Hub. I don’t remember having it for very long, but they pushed a firmware update that was buggy. I kept checking back on when the fix would be available, but WD never responded. It wasn’t until several months later that I read in this forum that the hub was discontinued. Now that they did it again with this model, I think its their business model is to “break the previous model to push the new one.”
I’m currently using the 2nd to last firmware version since its more stable, but I would really like the miracast.
I am not going to do this with WD a 3rd time. I periodically check competitors and open-source solutions for a comparable and cost effective solution for when its time to upgrade. When I do upgrade, it won’t be with a WD product unless something miracles happens with trusting them. I haven’t found another product yet that does decoding of most codecs on the box, apart from setting up a NUC or something similar.
I used to rave about WD TV Live even after they pushed a bad firmware on the hub and stopped supporting it. Now I don’t recommend the TV Live line at all despite the great features it offers. I feel that this behavior is a practice and not a coincidence. I’m disappointed about it since I think the features of WD TV Live are superior to their competitors.
Am curious but my two units often become unresponsive after a few days and need a power cycle - is that likely a memory leak but in this latest buggy firmware? Does rollback fix this? I wish they would host the rolled back firmware disguised as new firmware so can easily do it through the device UI. My computers broken so cannot prepare my own usb
Ok. It’s lame that WD don’t update the firmware though. I cannot afford to fix it so would of been good for the masses if they hosted the rolled back firmware masquerading as a new firmware through the device.
Before I go through process of bothering someone to prep the USB for me does roll back help with the constant need to power cycle these units every few days. Even if they go unused for a time I still end up having to power cycle them as they drop off the network. I presume this is a memory leak bug that I have seen mentioned quite a bit
Ok thanks for your feedback. Are you running the latest firmware or have you rolled back? I’m just keen to know if rolling back will help with the memory leak/need to frequently restart. Only because given my circumstances it’s a mission to get a USB prepared as it involves disturbing other people. If it doesn’t really help I’ll prob not bother and just cling to the vague hope WD might issue a new more reliable firmware
Also do you lose miracast by rolling back to last firmware? What is miracast, is it the thing I see in the upper right of the YouTube app on iOS devices? Kind of a tv symbol with wifi pulses on the icon. If I press it, then it lists my 2 WD devices
. I think their only remaining product has less features than this one so that’s not an option for many of us 