New Firmware Release - Firmware Version 1.04.10_B for WD TV Live Plus (11/22/10)

Community Archives WD TV Live Firmware
61

htjhtj wrote:

I updgraded to this firmware yesterday. After struggling to watch a DVD last night, thought i’d post my results:

 

DVD VOBs over the LAN are completely hosed. They are stutteringly unwatchable almost instantly. Even some of the menus stutter before the video even starts. Completely unusable. I hooked up an external drive directly, and the VOBs played fine.

 

Other apps seemed fine, and the finding of network shares seemed improved. Unfortunately, the firmware is unusable for me b/c of the broken VOBs over LAN.

 

I downgraded to 1.03.49_B today. VOBs over LAN were back to working perfectly. One dvd menu didn’t work (no cursor, the WDTV just thought it was a video?), but mostly it’s ok.  At least the device is usable again.

 

I then upgraded to 1.04.10_B again, b/c the curiousity was getting to me. VOBs over LAN broken again. So it’s pretty clear this firmware has an issue.

 

Off to downgrade again… hopefully there’s a fix coming soon.

 

-HTJ

 

Did you try resetting to factory defaults and unplugging for some minutes after updating the firmware?

62

I am dito of what htjhtj reported.  My Plus is the first and only WD streaming device I’ve owned.  I’m HDMI connected thru Onkio AV received to Toshiba projector.  I only use the WDLivePlus to access Netflix and network shares on a Windows 7 64 bit PC to play straight ripped DVD VOB files.  I already delt with the Windows Live network shares work around, and my experience with these recent firmware upgrades are as follows:

1.04.10_B - Netflix ok, VOB over Lan to Win7 64 PC exstream stuttering.

1.03.49_B - Netflix and Lan to Win7 64 PC shares plays smooth.

And yes, I did factory resets after firware upgrades and tried and tried many things to get past the stuttering, but no joy with the latest firmware.

PS:  I’m running on a wired Gigibit switched network, with a Gigbit NIC in the PC.

63

Optical Audio no longer works.

Factory reset before flashing

Factory reset after flashing

Held reset on box

Had audio for the first 2 Netflix movies, half into the third and poof - it’s gone.

Tried many resets to no aval. Back rev’d and it returns.

That is all.

64

This firmware prevents me from watching .mkv files from my XP network shares (wired). They take 10-30 seconds to start, then either slow, freeze or stop. FF the file may start it again but a few seconds later, they slow, stutter, stop. After 30 minutes of testing I gave up and rolled back to the last FW. Everything works normally again.

From reading a few posts here, it seems I’m not the only one having this exact problem.

Oh, yeah. I tried all the resets twice just to make sure.

65

richUK wrote:

htjhtj wrote:

I updgraded to this firmware yesterday. After struggling to watch a DVD last night, thought i’d post my results:

  

Off to downgrade again… hopefully there’s a fix coming soon.

-HTJ

Did you try resetting to factory defaults and unplugging for some minutes after updating the firmware?

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

1.) I upgrade via internet from OOTB 1.03.29_B to 1.03.49_B to 1.04.10_B, no joy, rolled back to 1.03.49_B, joy.   Read the these community posts, got an education about the latest crappy FW, then proceeded…

2.) Updated a 2nd time to 1.04.10_B via manual USB drive flash method, did extreme reset (paper clip, pull powercord, reboot, reset to factory settigs), no joy.

3.) Rolled back to 1.03.49_B, then extreme reset, joy.

Next approach to take: Upgrade to 1.04.10_B via manual flash method, extreme reset, pray for joy.

 

Anybody done the update via manual method like I’m about to do?  Any comments?  Thanks.

 My full sig (only three lines show when posting…)

– WD TV LIve Plus HD (WDBABX0000NBK-NESN)

– Tried FW: 1.04.10_B (but now rolled back to 1.03.49_B)

– Connected via Cat5e to Netgear WNR3500L RangeMax Wireless N Giga-bit router.

– Connected to 50 in. Samsung HLR5078W DLP HDTV via HDMI v1.3 cable.

– Network shares: WD Elements 2T HDD (WDBAAU0020HBK-NESN) plugged into wireless router via USB v2.0)

– Intel Q6700 @ 2.66GHz OC’d to 3.33GHz, 2GB RAM, WinXPSP3.

66

htjhtj wrote:

…

DVD VOBs over the LAN are completely hosed. They are stutteringly unwatchable almost instantly. Even some of the menus stutter before the video even starts. Completely unusable. I hooked up an external drive directly, and the VOBs played fine

Yup yup and yup.  I thought I  had watched a .vob menued movie without problems after the upgrate to v-.10, but I was a day off in my memory.  I have 2 PCs on network and Playon, so took a bit of time to suspect the firmware again.  The problem was 1.04.10 all along.  

67

After updating the firmware to 1.04.10_B for my WD TV Live Plus unit (11/22/10), I discovered that my Live365 VIP membership  “My Presets” were gone and replaced by a mixture of unrelated and entirely different presets. When I attempted to delete these presets and re-introduce my own, I was unable to make the changes and was defaulted back to all the original unrelated/different presets.  I contacted WD support and they informed me that I would temporarily need to go back to “earlier firmware” while their engineers work on the problem. I just became aware that there is a new firmware update Version 1.04.10_V . However, it does not address a fix to the Live365 My Presets issue.  I rolled back the firmware to Version 1.03.49_V and I had my presets back again.

Another separate question:

Is there a setting on the WD Live TV Plus to allow me to view on my LCD HD TV what is on my computer screen? I am not talking about music or video content that is on my network or hard drive or the stations that WD Live TV Plus is programmed for (like Netflix, Mediafly, etc)…I want to have the ability to view any media content that is on my computer monitor and have it also appear on my HD TV screen. 

The reason I bring this up is because I wanted to watch the newest Sherlock Holmes series that is available on PBS.org/video on my HD TV . When I log on to the site and start watching the episode on my computer screen, I tried to find a link on the WD menu that would allow me to watch it on my TV. I could not easily find any application that allows me to do this.  Any solutions for this would be most appreciated.

68

rccod48 wrote:

After updating the firmware to 1.04.10_B for my WD TV Live Plus unit (11/22/10), I discovered that my Live365 VIP membership  “My Presets” were gone and replaced by a mixture of unrelated and entirely different presets. When I attempted to delete these presets and re-introduce my own, I was unable to make the changes and was defaulted back to all the original unrelated/different presets.  I contacted WD support and they informed me that I would temporarily need to go back to “earlier firmware” while their engineers work on the problem. I just became aware that there is a new firmware update Version 1.04.10_V . However, it does not address a fix to the Live365 My Presets issue.  I rolled back the firmware to Version 1.03.49_V and I had my presets back again.

Another separate question:

Is there a setting on the WD Live TV Plus to allow me to view on my LCD HD TV what is on my computer screen? I am not talking about music or video content that is on my network or hard drive or the stations that WD Live TV Plus is programmed for (like Netflix, Mediafly, etc)…I want to have the ability to view any media content that is on my computer monitor and have it also appear on my HD TV screen. 

The reason I bring this up is because I wanted to watch the newest Sherlock Holmes series that is available on Explore PBS Videos & Documentaries | PBS on my HD TV . When I log on to the site and start watching the episode on my computer screen, I tried to find a link on the WD menu that would allow me to watch it on my TV. I could not easily find any application that allows me to do this.  Any solutions for this would be most appreciated.

I think you should be rolling back to version 1.03.49_B if you have a PLUS unit…  The V vs B differences are the LIVE vs LIVE PLUS units respectively.  Don’t know if you could experience strange results with V vs B firmware, but you never know…

69

I have the same problem with my live365 accounts.  Did they give you a forecast as to when they would fix this?

70

I am also having problems with this 1.04_10_B. Movies was like a slide show after the upgrade. Downgrade fixed the problem.

Lesson learned: don’t ever upgrade for no reason, because life is too short to be some company’s beta users.

71

Any word from the WD folks on when a fix for PlayOn functionality will be posted? 

I haven’t tried playing my VOBs using the latest firmware – as they’ve always seemed to stutter over the LAN regardless

of what firmware I am using.  So I tend to create mp4 files and stream those over the network – no problems with playback there. 

72

I have been having problems with Netflix activation since upgrading to this firmware. For the first few days after the upgrade everything was fine, then on Saturday the Netflix app required me to re-activate by going to the Netflix website and entering a code. Since then I have had to re-activate three more times to continue watching Netflix. This is an annoying bug that I hope will be fixed soon.

73

I noticed this Netflix problem as well. I had to activate again after a couple of day, but only once. I wonder if this will be a recurring problem. Anyone know what kind of wireless keyboards are supported with the latest firmware? For instance, would this mini wireless keyboard now work? http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/rii-mini-wireless-keyboard-is-perfect-for-your-htpc-not-your-wi/

74

Acquaintance of mine - a computer programmer - used to write a code like this:

   go to a;

   go to a;

 

When asked “why” he replied “Just in case the first does not work”.:smileyvery-happy:

75

I updated the firmware a couple days ago and thought that all was well because the kids watched a netflix movie without issue.  I tried watching a movie from my server tonight and it was slow to start then it was very choppy as many others have reported.

I downgraded to the previous version (1.03.49) and so far so good on watching the movie.  

I just wanted to add another user to the list in hopes that the firmware gets fixed.

-Triton74

76

I actually have the mini keyboard/trackpad shown in your link.  It  emulates a standard USB HID (human interface device) keyboard and mouse, so it does work fine, and it’s built-in laser pointer is also effective as a cat-amusement device.  The one problem I found with it, when using it on a PC, is that it tends to “forget” its pairing between power cycles of the PC, requiring me to pull and re-insert the wireless dongle.  I haven’t tested that issue with the WD box, as I only used it briefly on the WD, to enter my WiFi credentials.

I am just guessing here, that any USB wired or wireless keyboard that complies with the HID standard (doesn’t need any special driver software) will work just fine.

1 Like
77

You can add me to the list of users having problems with VOB files!

Yesterday, for the first time since upgrading to this version, I tried to stream a DVD using Network Shares. After a few seconds the video frame rate slowed down with much stuttering, and the sound (stereo) kept cutting in and out. I tried 2 other movies with the exact same result. Resetting using the reset button and resetting to factory defaults did not fix the problem. The videos were ripped using DVDFab to a VIDEO_TS directory.

I had to downgrade to 1.03.49_B to fix the problem!

78

This is a “me too” posting re DVD playback with the new firmware:

Ever since applying the 1.04.10_B firmware update, playing DVDs (VOB files) over my gigabit LAN from a network-attached storage device results in choppy video/audio on files that used to play just fine on the WDTV Live Plus and that continue to play just fine on another device connected at the same network drop.

So 1.04.10_B broke something. The first WD tech support rep I spoke with said I should do a hard reset and all will be well. I did, and it wasn’t. The second WD tech support rep said the first rep had no clue what she was talking about and that this is a known problem with 1.04.10_B; he advised that I downgrade the firmware.

So I’ve downgraded to firmware 1.03.49_B as described in WDC.com KB article #5800, and DVDs play fine again.

The other enhancements in 1.04.10_B were pretty nifty, so I’m hoping WD fixes the problem with 1.04.10_B and re-releases it. For now, be advised not to accept the firmware update if you play DVDs over the LAN.

Kr.

79

… if you play VOBS, that is.   ISOs work just fine.

80

All these nice new features, and cover art still does not work properly. Is it really that hard to hide folder.jpg or “filename”.jpg?