How long did you test it with your WD drive? Mine would play an entire .mkv movie one time or lockup within 10 ~ 20 minutes the other. I seemed to choke on the higer bitrate files.
DufferDan
Funny thing is after playing around with it some more the other day, my WD TV Live actually was able to read my Seagate 4TB drive plug into the rear USB. I have over 800+ movies on the drive it seemed to work. I watched one full movie, and tested a handful of others.
Well, today my luck ran out and it couldn’t detect my Seagate anymore. I tried unplug and plugging it back in, and restarted a few times with no luck. The issue seems to be sporadic. I wonder if the USB cable has anything to do with it? I will try a different USB cable tonight when I get home.
I still suspect some HDD incompatibility issue is involved. Does anyone know if WD post a list of known incompatibility HDD anywhere? Or does all HDD supposed to work with the WD TV Live?
DufferDan wrote:
How long did you test it with your WD drive?
One evening consisting of one movie and a few TV shows - about 4 hours - with a buddy’s CNMemory drive. My WD do the same amount some nights a week.
Funny thing is after playing around with it some more the other day, my WD TV Live actually was able to read my Seagate 4TB drive plug into the rear USB. I have over 800+ movies on the drive it seemed to work. I watched one full movie, and tested a handful of others.
Does your hard drive act differently plugged into the front port? Not that I am happy with it plugged into the front port, but mine works like a champ…
Now I can’t get me Seagate working with the rear USB port anymore. When plugged into the front USB, it seems to work okay. For me, I don’t want to have to use the front USB since my whole home theater is clean with no wires visible. The WD will be the only visible wire sticking out if I need to use the front. It is too bad the WD rear port didn’t work as it should, as I was happy with the user interface and speed is acceptable. Due to this issue, I plan to return the WD while I can.
I totally agree about the clean “no wires visable” mindset. I had set hoped to set mine up the same way and am still holding out for WD to come clean and admit this is a problem and come up with a solution.
DufferDan
I’m not sure what to say or think about this issue anymore.
I requested an RMA from Western Digital weeks ago. So, I currently have 2 SMP’s. One of which will be returned.
Just so you guys know, the RMA device is not new. It’s pretty much a refurbished device that has been tested, or so tech support claims. Also, the remote you get with the RMA device is smaller and missing buttons that the retail version has.
My issue with the rear port seems to have disappeared on it’s own. Why exactly, I do not know, but I did say I would post my findings when I got the RMA, so here I am…
To recap - I have 2 3TB WD drives and one of them stopped working from the rear port on FW 1.06. (I was never able to test 1.03 - The FW my 3TB Seagate was working on.) The second 3TB WD drive remained boxed and untested until I could sort the issue with the first one.
So when I encountered this issue, I used the front port which worked. WD tech support will tell you to use the front. It’s strange - WD also told me that they had never heard about this issue before. I e-mailed them all the forum links pertaining to this issue in attempt to draw attention, but they didn’t seem to care.
I started playing around with themes on my device - I got Mojo for 1.06 first, then I did a FW rollback to 1.04. I plugged the WD HD into the rear port and it worked fine. Played Avatar (A movie that would freeze during the first minute of play on 1.06) I played the entire movie along with other 1080p/720p movies. They all play fine from the back. I updated the FW to 1.06 using both a user created theme and default Mochi - No issues from the rear. I used my second 3TB WD drive on both 1.04 and 1.06 at the rear and no issues. I also tested the RMA device from the rear on 1.04 and 1.06 with no issues.
I don’t believe that WD wants you to only use their HD’s as my 3TB Seagate always worked at the back and I only noticed issues with the WD drive.
So, unfortunately I have no solution to offer despite all my testing and time talking to WD tech support.
Perhaps consider doing these things:
1.) Rollback FW to 1.04. Factory reset. Test it out. If it works and you want 1.06 - Upgrade the firmware and do a factory reset. I’m wondering if the FW install actually screws up from time-to-time despite what the SMP UI tells you.
2.) I notice at the rear USB port, the USB cable can be pushed in further than what you may think. Try being a bit more firm to push the cable in as far as you can. I’m quite certain my cable was in all the way but you never know.
3.) It does not make any sense, but try a theme.
Like I said, I don’t have the issue anymore. It’s non-existent on 2 different SMP’s and 2 of the same HD’s. I’ve tried to reproduce it and no luck. I’ve probably watched about 8+ movies and it’s non-existent.
Sorry that I could not help guys.
1 Like
Getting a different remote with an RMA unit is COMPLETELY unacceptable. Maybe it was on error on their part.
It’s not really a big issue.
I’m sure you could keep the original remote and ship the RMA remote back as long as you let them know.
Here’s a photo of what it looks like.
Fennec,
Thanks for letting the rest of us know that an RMA is not a viable option. I don’t understand how WD could even consider sending a different remote that had less functionality than the original, especially to someone that is posting on their forum. I’m starting to think WD should just stay in the hard drive business if this is how they treat their customers.
I had a weak moment after reading your post and tried my Western Digital My Book Essential USB 3.0 into the rear port of my Western Digital TV Live Streaming Media Player after ensuring it was seated as far as it could go. It locked up in less than 5 minutes.
I have also read that pulling the USB connector out just a bit will sometimes let the hard drive work, again another unacceptable solution, so I did not bother. Maybe another day…
While I am pleased with the way the media player performs (even though it locks up tighter than “Richard’s” Hat Band when plugged into the rear port using a USB 3.0 drive), I still get to tell all my friends and family why there is a USB cord sticking out the front of a piece of equipment in my entertainment center where everything else is a nice and clean (and hard thought out) installation.
I don’t believe it would be cost effective for WD to recall all the ones that are having problems with USB 3.0 drives, because there probably are not that many out there. They were smart to ensure that no where on the box does it say that a USB 3.0 dive would work…
I just screwed up when I thought that since it wasn’t that much more for newer technology, and went with a USB 3.0 drive to with my new player.
Still trying to remain positive, but getting tougher everyday…
DufferDan
Yah, I don’t know Dan, It’s so bizarre how it’s working all of a sudden…
I would suggest you do a FW rollback to 1.04 and a factory reset right after.
Don’t skip the factory reset.
And as I said in the above post - an RMA is doable, I would just inform WD that you are keeping the remote that came with the device.
Also, demand return shipping, otherwise it will cost you to send it back via UPS. If doing a FW rollback/factory reset will not sort the issue for you, an RMA may be your only solution.
I’ve had this problem with all three versions of firmware available. All a factory reset has gotten me is to the aggravation of inputting all the settings, usernames and passwords.
I believe this is a hardware issue and not a software one and cannot be fixed with a few “ones and zeros”… Another reason WD does not want to recognize this issue.
Time to have a drink…
DufferDan
Your problem is similar to this
http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Streaming-Issue/Loses-connection-to-USB-HDD/idi-p/338279
Yes the 2 problems are one in the same.
I also had this happen last night hooked up to the front port, using the latest 1.0.7 software…
Don’t worry, if it happens again I will convey my findings.
DufferDan
I agree with all the posts regarding the rear usb not working. I have a 2TB WD my book connected to the WD TV media player, while it would recognize and connect if I were to change the audio track or even stop or pause a movie it would freeze and say that the local storage had been disconnected even thought the external drive was still on. It wasn’t until I tried the front usb that all was good in the world. It works flawlessly and has not disconnected since. Also to add there IS a 1/8 in gap when plugged into the back and I’m confident that that is the issue (not being seated properly). The only problem now is for aesthetic reasons I would have liked to use the rear usb but since I see that exchanging wont do anything I may have to be happy with the way it is.
mediamaster5_0 wrote:
I agree with all the posts regarding the rear usb not working. I have a 2TB WD my book connected to the WD TV media player, while it would recognize and connect if I were to change the audio track or even stop or pause a movie it would freeze and say that the local storage had been disconnected even thought the external drive was still on. It wasn’t until I tried the front usb that all was good in the world. It works flawlessly and has not disconnected since. Also to add there IS a 1/8 in gap when plugged into the back and I’m confident that that is the issue (not being seated properly). The only problem now is for aesthetic reasons I would have liked to use the rear usb but since I see that exchanging wont do anything I may have to be happy with the way it is.
If you looked harder you would see why there is a gap at the back. The rear usb port is flush with the plastic cover and the front USB port is behind the plastic cover. There is no difference in seating. It may be that there are some other differnces but the 1/8 inch gap is a red herring.
For kicks and giggles, is everyone that is having a problem connecting the USB cable from the drive directly to the rear port or only on USB-powered drives? Has anyone tried using a powered USB hub to the rear port? There was talk that the power requirement of USB-powered drives could be marginally close to or greater than the power output of the WDTV port.
I use a powered USB hub and have no issues on side or rear ports with any drive I use.
I’d be interested in hearing back from anyone who can prove/disprove this.
