Netflix Sound Issue

[Rebel_Spawn]

ugh I can feel exactly what everyone else is feeling. Bought a Blu-Ray player with the intent to use it as a wi-fi netflix provider and player.  It was terrible so having owned a WD media player for playing home content, I purchased the WD Live with wi-fi so I could use netflix.

it worked fine for a while like it did for everyone else. But over the holidays my netflix started to play the video with no sound too. Netflix is important for me to access as my kids use it alot to watch shows and I made the decision to cancel my cable and use Netflix as my primary entertainment provider.

Now after reading all of this, I have to say I am considering returning the device to Costco and buying an alternative like the Roku or Pivos Xios and working with that.

Can a mod tell me with confidence that WD is working on fixing this issue through updates or is it a firmware issue and the device is flawed?

[Bill_S]

As far as we know there is no issue with the SMP and Netflix.  As a matter of fact, I’m using the WD TV Live SMP to watch Netflix and I’m not having any issues with sound.

A couple of things:

1)  We found some issues with user’s accounts and sound, where when they logged in as another account they had no issues.

2)  How many devices are you using the same account on?  Anything more than 3 and there may be some degradation.

Try logging out and back in and see if that helps.

[Rebel_Spawn]

I have used my netflix account on a laptop a couple of times and when the sound issues started during the holidays, I switched to the netflix app I installed on my iPad. All of these accounts are logged in but seldomly used. The TV & WD Live player were used 95% of the time.

I used the laptop more for going on the netflix site and searching and queuing up shows as it’s faster that way. 

Not sure that I ever used the ipad app until the issue arose.

thanks for the feedback, will continue to look into it.

Also of note, I have noticed that the WD device has become slow to navigate with and even when playing a video off of my external HD I have hooked up, occasionally when I click stop on the video, the audio continues to play for 5 or so seconds even though I am back on the WD page.  Very laggy. Could that be the memory being too full from a lot of useage?

With it being the holidays the kids are at home and with it being freezing here in Ottawa, they are using it alot.

[Bill_S]

I would reset the device.  I believe you can do it without having to re-enter all your logins.  If you did the update and haven’t done this, then I would definitely do it.

[Rebel_Spawn]

a bit more info.

I did replace my router but that was around the same time I gave up on the blu-ray player and got the WD Live player. I also managed to play Netflix on my iPad using the same wi-fi connection which has lead me to believe it is related to the WD device and not my internet connection.

Is it possible I just got a bad device and returning it and replacing it would solve the issue? Googling the issue makes me believe it has happened to too many people for this to be the resolution.

I have a friend who is going to help me hard wire the media player (my router is in the office in the basement) and see if that helps in case the wi-fi connection is too weak for some reason and is the issue.

is there anything else I can try?

[Bill_S]

What firmware are you using on the device?  If it’s not the latest, then I would update the firmware first.  And, yes, resetting the device can fix things.  Also, if the wireless signal is not strong enough, then yeah, it could cause issues.  Your friend has the right idea.  I would definitely test by hard wiring the device to the network. 

[Bill_S]

One other thing, how are connecting to the TV?  If HDMI, I would try using the AV plugs to see if sound comes in.  Also, did you set the sound over HDMI correctly through the WD TV’s settings?

[Rebel_Spawn]

funny story about the reset. Last night I got a message about the memory being full (or something like that) and the device needed to restart or there could be performance issues. So I clicked ok and it restarted. I never went on Netflix last night after the reboot. This morning I fire it up and it cannot detect a network. Go to settings nothing there, cannot add a wi-fi connection either. 

I had to unplug the WD Live device and plug it back in to get my network settings back.

Is that a sign of something wrong with the device?

[Rebel_Spawn]

I am using HDMI as my connection. I thought the picture quality would be better that way. I will check the HDMI settings on the device for sure as I do not think I looked at them before. The one thing I think about is that the sound wasn’t and issue for 6+weeks of using the device and then it became one over the last 2 weeks.

THe wi-fi should be alright IMO because my laptop works fine for youtube or gaming and my ipad was able to stream a netflix video minutes after an issue through the WD device. 

The firmware is up to date I believe as I have auto-check selected and when I ran it sometime this week it told me I was up to date.

[Bill_S]

Rebel_Spawn wrote:

funny story about the reset. Last night I got a message about the memory being full (or something like that) and the device needed to restart or there could be performance issues. So I clicked ok and it restarted. I never went on Netflix last night after the reboot. This morning I fire it up and it cannot detect a network. Go to settings nothing there, cannot add a wi-fi connection either. 

I had to unplug the WD Live device and plug it back in to get my network settings back.

 

Is that a sign of something wrong with the device?

That’s happened to me before, as well.  Pulling the power like you did usually fixes it.  However, I would always safely remove any external drives connected to the device before pulling the plug.  It doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong with the device. 

You know, if you’re really concerned about the device, you can replace it with another WDTV, and try again.  If it does the same stuff, then you know it has to be some kind of configuration issue.

[Bill_S]

Rebel_Spawn wrote:

I am using HDMI as my connection. I thought the picture quality would be better that way. I will check the HDMI settings on the device for sure as I do not think I looked at them before. The one thing I think about is that the sound wasn’t and issue for 6+weeks of using the device and then it became one over the last 2 weeks.

 

THe wi-fi should be alright IMO because my laptop works fine for youtube or gaming and my ipad was able to stream a netflix video minutes after an issue through the WD device. 

 

The firmware is up to date I believe as I have auto-check selected and when I ran it sometime this week it told me I was up to date.

 

 

I wouldn’t know what to tell you then.  So, how long have you had the WD TV anyway?  I was under the impression that you had just bought it.  And, did you do the latest firmware update like I recommended?

[Rebel_Spawn]

I bought it in November as I got Netflix that month, tried my blu-ray player as my Netflix connection for a week or two then got the WD Media player instead.

I just got home and went into audio/video settings and it was set to stereo. I switched it to the 3rd option which metioned HDMI and chose auto for the option.

It’s working for my wife right now, but the issue has always been intermittent. I will give it the weekend and if we do not see the issue again will consider it resolved. If it persists, I will return it to Costco (Love their return policy) and either get another WD or visit the computer store nearby and look at my other options. I do like the WD hard drives I have and have had a non-wi-fi WD media player for 4+ years without issue. I am hoping the WD device issue was just that sound setting and it starts to work better once my friend can come over and help me hard wire it.

thank you for all of your help Bill

[Bill_S]

If it’s intermittent, then it’s possible that it’s a hdmi handshake issue between the device and the TV.  If it happens again, try playing a video file first, making sure you get sound, then stop it and go into Netflix to see if it will now work. 

[Totalsupport]

The following links are also helpful to see if there is an issue with the Netflix service:

http://downrightnow.com/netflix

• Shows a 24 hour period of Netlfix’s status

https://twitter.com/Netflixhelps

• Netflix’s official Twitter feed.

[Rebel_Spawn]

I have done that before and the audio works on a video connected via a hard drive. I have not tried loading up youtube and trying a video there. I may try that next time.

I have shut the system down and restarted it and have shut it down and then rebooted my router even though the internet works well with other devices. Both attemtps have not worked every time.

if it could be the HDMI cable, I will try the rvg cables.

[Guyser75]

I have had the same issues with Netflix and Youtube, but I get the sound out of Optical.  It hasn’t been as bad since I’ve updated to the latest firmware though.  

I know how you feel though Rebel, it is so frustrating to launch Netflix just to not have sound.  I was about to give up on the SMP until the new firmware was released.  Now, I find that the device is a bit faster as well.

I also connected via Wi-Fi, and then went wired and had the same problems… This device is extremely reliable, and very difficult to recommend to someone else.

[Rebel_Spawn]

So with the change in the sound settings, all was going well this weekend. Used Netflix a lot and noooo problems. Looked into hardwiring the device to my router down in the basement but my friend and I came up with some issue.

He checked the wireless settings, I am getting all bars on my connection at it is literally less than 10 feet away from the router. So he surmised that should not be the issue.

Well all went well until last night. Turn on netflix, wanna check out a show I’ve started watching… no sound.

Shut down the device, restart… same issue. Go to youtube no sound their either.

Go to my attached hard drive, it sound and video no problem

Go to settings, have all bars but check connect (all check marks) and reconnect. Issue resolves itself with the reconnect, but I tried that a couple of times in the past couple of weeks and it was a mixed result.

So it is not a HDMI cable issue as the hard drive videos had sound coming from the same device and I tried both within mins. of each other. It is not a wi-fi issue as I have full bars and a great connection.

I am out of ideas to find a resolution that does not require me to perform a band aid fix (reconnecting) 2-3 times a week.

Also: The device is not left on all day, it gets turned off frequently and when I went on last night I had to turn it on, so it was not like the network was on and then just dropped either.

anyone have any suggestions?