Please help. TV Live stopped working

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live & Live Plus
1

Hi guys,

I have one of these little beauties that has been thrilling me for several months now. I hooked it up to my LED TV with HDMI cable and it worked first time, and has been great ever since, until tonight that is…

I just got a new video projector. It seemed logical to hook the two together, so I cracked open the AV cable that was still unused in the TV Live’s box and plugged them together. Unfortunately, the projector did not pick up any signal from the TV Live. So I figured I’d fire up the TV and see if there was a setting I needed to adjust to get the AV output working. However the TV wasn’t getting any signal from the TV Live either.

My TV was reporting “No Signal Found”. This means that the TV could see that something was plugged into the port, because if the cable in unplugged, the TV says “Check Cable”.

The lights on the front of the TV Live are doing exactly what they should be, and I can still access the unit through my lan and read the contents of the usb drive attached to it.

I have tried resetting the unit with the button, as per the troubleshooting section of the manual, but it has made no differance. I am not getting any signal at all out of the TV Live.

Please can anyone suggest how to get it up and running again.

Best Regards,

Pcal1

2

So, you’re saying that you now get nothing out of either the HDMI or component?

3

I’ve just had this & found that the cable I was using just wouldn’t work with the WDTV, are you using the same cable you were previously?

4

Thanks guys,

Yes… There is no longer any video signal comming out of either the HDMI or AV outputs. (I have no easy way to use the component output, and it has never been used.)

The HDMI cable wasn’t even unplugged when I tested the projector. The TV was off, but the cable was still plugged in. Since discovering the problem, I have unplugged and replugged both ends of the HDMI cable to wipe the contacts - it hasn’t been installed long enough for the contacts to have corroded, but I tried it anyway.

Regards,

Pcal1

5

Well, try DISCONNECTING the HDMI cable and then reseting the WDTV while the AV-cable is connected.

6

Thanks Tony.

I had already tried that, more or less - although it was the AV I unplugged and reset with the HDMI installed. I have just tried it as per your suggestion as well (HDMI out, and AV in) but got the same lack of responce both ways. I would be mildly miffed not to be able to use the Live with the projector, but it would be a disaster if it couldn’t talk to the telly!

The unit clearly thinks it is working - at least, it is giving the usb drive a good workout while it scans it for media.

Could the video amplifier have fritzed itself because of having more than one output to play with? I am beginning to worry it may be terminal…

Regards,

Pcal1

7

It certainly looks like the unit is faulty. Have you unplugged it and left it off for a few minutes. Try it after that with only the AV lead plugged in and connected to your TV. Disconnect the USB drive. Make sure that the AV lead is plugged into AV output on the WDTV and not the component, its easy to get them mixed up.

8

Thanks for the suggestion,

I had only been powering down with the remote, but have now tried it with a complete unplug of everything with a cooldown cycle between. Powered it back up twice now, once with AV output connected, and again with HDMI. No joy either way.

Should the unit be able to cope with multiple cables plugged in at tthe same time? I don’t recall reading any warnings to the effect that it couldn’t…

As it’s already gone tomorrow here, I’m going to give it away for the night. Perhaps I can catch the retailer I got it from tomorrow and see if they have any suggestions. Only bought it in April!

Thanks again guys for your interest and suggestions. I’ll check back tomorow to see if there are any more pearls of wisdom.

Regards,

Pcal1

9

Yes, it will operate with both sets of cables plugged in (in fact, it does simultaneous output)

10

Try this: Power-off the unit with the remote. Unplug it from the outlet. Let it stand for 15 minutes. Plug it back in without attaching any of the other wires (it should automatically stay on). Take a paperclip and reset the unit for more than 10 seconds (this will change the viewing mode from NTSC to PAL or from PAL to NTSC). Now try to connect the unit to the TV. If this works, then I’m thinking the viewing mode somehow “slipped” into a mode your TV didn’t understand. Let us know how it goes.

11

Thanks for the suggestion.

Switching between NTSC and PAL is one of the things covered in the manual. Have tried it lots of times (after each other suggestion to be sure), but hasn’t made any differance.

I’ve also double checked everything I’m trying to use it with to be sure the problem isn’t in the companion devices. Plugged the blu-ray into the HDMI input on the TV that the Live had been using - that worked fine. And as for testing AV input on the projector, that test was so successful it had my son Wii-ing his Need for Speed up against the wall all night long!

Thanks again, but short of some new suggestion, I’m about to give up…

Regards,

Pcal1

12

Well, you’re still under warranty.  It may be time for an RMA.  :(

13

Hello again guys,

This is just getting too wierd for words…

I took the whole box and dice back to where I got  it from. They were great, and recognising it was still well under warranty, swapped over the unit for a new one.

So far so good.

I took the new one home and just plugged it all in. Switched it on, IT DID EXACTLY THE SAME THING!!

My TV has 4 hdmi inputs - TVLive in 1, Blu-Ray in 2 and 3 & 4 spare.

I pulled the hdmi cable out of the Live and put it into the Blu-Ray, which worked fine - proving both the cable & input  are OK.

Clutching at straws, I took the Live into the bedroom where there is another TV. I plugged it into the other telly with both an hdmi and an av cable. IT WORKED ON BOTH INPUTS!

Really frustrated now, I took it back to the lounge and plugged it back in. And it didn’t work! On an impulse, I switched both the Live and Blu-ray hdmi’s into inputs 3 and 4. IT WORKED!. I have a perhaps irrational desire to use inputs in order, so put them back into 1 and 2, but reversed them (blu-ray in 1, Live in 2) and it works there as well. For reasons unknown, the Live won’t work with input1 (which it was working fine with for the last 4 months). I’d love to know why it’s suddenly changed, but can live with selecting a different input to use the Live on the TV. Call the TV issue solved…

This still leaves me with a problem over the AV connection.  In the bedroom it works, in the loungeroom it doesn’t. I have tried with the AV cable plugged directly into my projector, and into an AV switchbox which also connects it to the AV input on the TV. None of the AV connection combinations work when the source is the TVLive, but they all work with the PVR or Wii as the source.

My AV switchbox has 2 outputs. No 1 goes to the TV (which only has 1 AV input) so I can use the PVR and Wii. The 2nd is permanently wired to the projector.  I wanted to be able to use the TVLive with the projector, so that’s why I want to use the AV output as well as the hdmi to the TV.

I can’t understand why the AV output works on the TV in the bedroom, but won’t work anywhere else! And, why it is being selective about which hdmi inputs to play well with…

Don’t you just love technology…

If anyone has acces to the x-files, I’d love to know if the truth really is out there.

Cheers,

Pcal1