First off sorry for rant I’ve tried to be positive but this is just beyond a joke…
I realise now that no new firmware is coming for the Play which I’ve learnt to deal with… I’ve also learnt to deal with the fact the Play is temperamental with crashes and lock ups… I’ve also learnt to deal with the fact half my ripped blu-rays do not play unless I try to encode them again (one blu-ray took 3 attempts before the Play was happy). I’ve also learnt to deal with the fact as we are getting no new firmware we are not getting any new streaming apps so no 4od or any other service.
However the things that I cannot live with:
The continuous network drops on the device (as I’ve seen many others complain about e.g. the user Tveritin http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Play-Discussions/network-lost/td-p/691037 as well as other posts). I’m a fully qualified IT & Network Technician so it’s not my hardware or any other factor except this device… I’ve tried wireless, wired, static IP, DHCP, DHCP from Server 2008, Server 2012, my Cisco device, my Virgin Hub, everything possible! In fact the time I’ve lost to this is crazy.
The Netflix application is unstable and may even be the cause of the internet drops as it seems much (not fully) but much more stable when streaming across DLNA…
WD Remote app on iPhone running IOS 7.1 doesn’t seem to work whatsoever, it just doesn’t detect the Play, again played around with this for an age but then figured the reason half the reviews on App store are only one star is quite conclusive.
It’s really quite upsetting that a device with such potential is let down due to WD’s uncaring attitude, all they need to do is run some testing, perform some debugging on the problems mentioned over and over again on this forum then release a new and (dare I say) final complete firmware for which they would have a much happier user base. Maybe even restore some faith in their customers.
This is one of the worst purchases I’ve ever made. The marketing blabbering and online reviews misled me about this one.
I wish I bought in from Costco so I could send it back. What a **bleep**.
Thanks for writing this in a clear and straightforward manner. I suggest you also post it on their Facebook/Twitter to make others aware and hopefully generate action.
WD TV Play is the first one star/negative review I ever wrote at Amazon.
I bought this device because I have some MyPassports HDs and really like them. But after this little box of trouble I’m sure I’m not buying any WD product again.
Same here - I love and totally trust WD’s HD’s. It makes this issue with the WDTV Play sting that much more.
Many people appear to have been alerted and I posted Charlie’s comments on the Western Digital facebook page.
I don’t know what I’ll do if the unit I get back which is RMA’d has the same issue. I guess I just threw away $90 bucks and they threw away a customer.
Come on, laying technical errors at the foot of the consumer and blaming us because this is the cheapest device isn’t fair.
If you have a look at reviews, and watch youtube videos about the device they are mostly positive. Finding the WD forum as a consumer who doesn’t own the device or who has never had trouble with WD isn’t really a common thing to do before you buy something.
The point of all of our emails is that we like WD, but the product we have purchased isn’t performing properly and has bugs. We want them to fix it so the device will perform as stated. Simple.
Sorry I’m in the UK so my reply’s are a little out of sync with you all…
I can see everyone is on the same page with this device, I did check reviews but you like most people the negative comments were things I could deal with like no DTS well my amp decodes that so its fine, etc. I guess the reviewers do not have enough time with the device to really get a feel for its flaws, which I would guess is also why WD have not noticed these flaws as they have never done extensive testing.
Returning the item for me is a bit pointless I’ll loose the delivery money and loose the money to send it back, so the refund I’ll get its not worth any more of my time.
I have got a message from WD to ask me to arrange a time to speak someone technical at their end. I’m guessing they will not cater for BST and lets be frank its a firmware issue so unless they are going to upgrade my device with something they knock together I feel its kinda pointless. However they have took the time to contact me so I will try to follow through with their request to be courteous.
I feel the best outcome would be for WD to replace my device with the WD Live model even if this costs me the difference… Anyway that will be my final offer to them else in a couple of weeks I’ll be the proud owner of a Roku 3.
Nice, that doesn’t look bad at all… strange I never come across these while looking previously… Any idea if the web browsing ability supports Flash or Java?
