WDTV Live
3TB WB My Book coonected to usb port
Release 1.15.10
SAMBA enabled
The SMP is a new purchase. Plays well when watching TV shows (40 minutes or less) but for movies I’m seeing media disconnects from the USB drive toward the end of the movie.
Happens over windows as well when trying to copy media over network for an extended time. USB drive connected and shared from SMP. Copies work fine when I connect USB drive directly to computer.
Also times out if I just open share and leave it unattended for about the same time.
Thinking its some sort of power saving feature. I would expect the drive to stay running if I’m using it though. Any way to disable the feature or extend the limit to say 3 hours?
Thanks
So you have the USB stick plugged directly into the WDTV unit and it disconnects after 90 minutes or so? Or is it connected directly to your computer and shared on your computer and it is disconnecting from there after 90 minutes or so?
Have you tested with any other USB stick to see if it is just the stick you are using?
If I connect a stick directly to the WDTV unit I have no problems watching a movie or show I have on it. Although I have noticed that if I change from local drive to network drive and watch movies over the network, then try going back to use the locally connected USB stick (the stick that is plugged directly into the unit) then it can become unreadable after a while and I have to unplug and replug back in the stick for it to become readable…but then it is fine for hours.
Its a 3TB WD My Book connected directly to the player. Disconnecting and connecting does re-establish the communication but the problem is the lost of communication during playback.
The WD My Book, it has external power plugged in as well as USB right? It’s not just USB powered?
And you are using the USB cable that came with the WD My Book? Maybe try another cable that is designed strictly for USB 2.0 And try using the USB port on the front and on the back of the WD TV Live.
Have you ever formatted the WD My Book to remove the built in WD software that is installed on the drive?
I haven’t tried plugging in a WD My Book. I tried using my old Vantec external case with 3.5" 500 GB drive and it wouldn’t detect at all. But I read that there are USB power problems with the Vantec external drive where it doesn’t have a stable USB power consumption/draw. I read that the with 2.5" drives that don’t require external AC power people have been more successful.
The WD My Book connects fine to your computer?
Does the WD My book have a network connection too (RJ45)?
I just saw this youtube vid - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8whvoHx5as But don’t have the time to watch it.
3TB drive comes with external power and usb connector. I am using both. Due to the size I expected it to be externally powered so I use it this way.
USB connector is not a standard connector where it mates up to the drive. I’m sure I can replace but it would take some doing. Please realize I have no problems when I connect drive using the same supplied usb cable directly to my computer. It’s only when connected directly to the WD player does it experience this issue.
I did format NTFS when I received the drive.
My guess is the spin down mode on the drive causes the player to report the drive connection is lost. To me its a configuration I need to tweak just I don’t know where to do this. I do find it strange that the drive can go to sleep while I’m watching a 2 hour video.
There is no network connection on my drive. Its strictly USB. I have a NAS so this purchase WD player and USB drive was meant as stop gap while I get my NAS upgraded.
Well, there is a year-old unfixed issue with USB3-drives (incl. MyBooks) connected to the backside USB-port: http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-SMP-Discussions/Intention-to-finalize-a-rear-USB-port-issue-drives-USB-3-0/td-p/392589/page/13 Maybe that causes your problem during playback. Other than that, I also have the problem of the device refusing to recognize USB-sticks and self-powered USB-harddrives after a long idle period. The file browser would show the files on the drive, but starting playback would result in a “please eject safely”-error, although I never unplugged the USB-devices. I reported this almost a year ago, and the bug is, like the USB3-bug, unfixed. Take that as you will.
