Thanks mutantgen1, for posting that info. You have answered the question that this thread was created to ask.
I cannot imagine why WD would treat their customers this way - the early adopters who have sat thru update after update, which only made most of the device’s issues worse.
As an owner of a Gen1 and a Live, I have realized that I let myself be fooled twice by this company - you can bet there will not be a third time.
To any WDTV Live owners: know that your device will likely be supported only until October of this year (based on WD’s support of Gen1), and that you will likely be left with a device that does not even accomplish the basic tasks that are advertised on the side of the box. Just look at what they’ve done now, releasing the “Live Plus”, without first fixing the existing issues on the Live . . . Just like when the Gen2 came out and the Gen1 was still a mess.
I will make sure to let all of my media streaming friends know to stay away from these WD devices, as they are just a money grab and they will become dust collectors in your closet. Neither of my two devices can get through most movie files without the audio falling out of sync after 40 minutes of playing. I have spent over $250 combined for these devices, and this feels no different from being robbed for $250 on the subway.
Next Gen Apple TV out this year, Popbox, Boxee, along with many Google TV devices. Wake up people, this company is a dud.
the community took the initiative to improve the gen1 with modified firmware to make it an unbelievable piece of hardware and they totally ignored that when making the live.
I bought a live when they first came out, I have only used it since custom firmware made it better than it was as it sucked monkey u-know-what, when it was first released… it sat for over 6 months in the box with me debating on whether to drive over it repeatedly in the yard or wait for it to develop into something better.
I am now glad I waited.
still, it looks bad on WD, I wont make that mistake again, I will choose something else for my next media player…
and I will stay away from their hard drives as well, screw me once, shame on you but you wont get the second chance…
I’m so disappointed to hear this. I’ve been having problems with my Gen 1 since I bought it. I’ve spent ages talking to various Indian tech support people, and emailing back and for to sort out problems to no avail. I was told that the problems would be addressed in the next firmware update. I guess that won’t be the case.
I’m extremely annoyed, because my unit never worked for my intended purpose to begin with. I wasted $200 on this thing when that money could’ve gone towards a far more versatile nettop.
FYI, my major problems are:
Audio goes out of sync when I fastforward
Some video won’t allow me to fastforward at all
Some video doesn’t have audio
My BIGGEST problem, the video is often larger than my screen, cutting off the image all around the edges. This means when I want to view subtitles, they are partially cut off at the bottom.
I bought this thing to watch subbed movies and anime on, and it’s useless for this purpose. The store I bought it from wouldn’t give me a refund because there’s nothing physically wrong with it. Tech support told me to wait for firmware. Thanks a lot WD.
I usually love WD products, but this one is a deal breaker. I’m buying an Asrock Nettop for my media centre.
So, let me get this straight. Microsoft, whom the world in general reviles, announces a year in advance when they plan on ending support for one of their legacy operating systems. On the other hand, Western Digital knows of numerous major bugs, and keeps promising “the next firmware update” to anyone reporting any of the major issues. Then, one day they just decide that they don’t feel like fixing any of their mistakes, and announce that they will no longer be working on any updates. If that’s not bad enough, months pass and there are STILL a few gen1’s on store shelves and in warehouses, that WD is still happy to take your money for, after openly admitting that the box is so broken that it’s not worth their time to even attempt to fix any of it?
It also seems that they are burning the Gen 2 customers as well.Support has stopped for it but they have not bothered to announce anything.Also still on store shelfs
We are wasting our time, WD not think of updating our players. It is better to think about moving to another brand if you think about the customers, most people of our country is not easy to spend xxx dollars to Iran, then in the trash.
The thing is that they know the problems with the players… the Gen 1 has some limits that even tough they wanted to do it, they can not do it, but the Gen 2 which supposed to be better the Gen 1 has more capabilities but they focus more and the live player, and the worse thing is that they keep releasing new players when they still haven’t fix the previous ones… I don’t know if this community is manage by WD, and if it is like that. there is only one answer for all our question about updates: They don’t care,
