WD Live Plus is cropping video on my TV

Community Archives WD TV Live Firmware
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I am having problems with my video being cropped. It seems to me that all the responses to possible solutions are from people who aren’t using the same inputs. Here is how mine is setup. I would like for someone else to test this with the exact setup to see if they can replicate the problem. I have been on the phone with tech support to try and come to a resolution but they tried to blame it on the file format, then my network, then it’s my TV’s fault I didn’t have time to finish with tech support because I had to work so I’ll update when I learn more.

My setup is as follows. I have an old Sanyo TV 4:3 (the brand should not matter also note it is “not a wide screen TV”) I use standard AV cables (AKA Composite or Yellow, Red, White input cables.) I have those going into my TV from the WD Live Plus device. I then tried to stream a MP4 and an AVI file from my computer that’s running Windows 7 and also from a USB Flash drive.

When I started streaming videos I noticed the image appeared to be cropped. I then paused the video at a scene that had lots of objects on it (lets just say a scene of a city street) and then proceeded to zoom out one notch using the WD Lives zoom in/out feature. I immediately noticed that on wide screen movies it was cropping at least 2 to 4 centimeters off each side of the video. I then zoomed out another notch and noticed that there was still a little video being cropped but I was so far zoomed out by then that it added a 1cm black bar to each side of the video. I then tried the same test using a Full Screen video and it appears to crop from the top, bottom and the sides.

I tried changing several different settings on the WD Live Plus to attempt to resolve the problem before calling Tech Support but was unable to do so. I set the WD to Normal Screen which is what my TV is and even tried setting the device to Widescreen (but all widescreen setting did was stretch a wide screen image to fill all of the 4:3 screen space.) I even tried updating the firmware and it did not fix the issue.

Now I do not buy for a second that my TV is the problem and I’ll explain why. First of all both of my DVD players that I have had did not crop video. My Wii does not crop a video. My PlayStation original, One, and PlayStation 2 did not crop video and Cable TV box does not crop video. My DVR I use to record TV also has never had this issue. My computer when it was setup to use my TV like a monitor did not crop the video. The multitude of various other devices I have used on this exact TV have never had an issue with video cropping. Even my Blu-ray player, that not only streams Netflix, but can also play video files from a flash drive have never had this problem. All of which I have had connected to my TV using composite inputs.

I bought this device with the intent of eventually streaming from a NAS. However I have no intentions of replacing my TV for a couple more years. If this device is not capable of something that every other device I have is capable of and that every device I have setup for friends and family are capable of, then I must return it and will seek other options. This by all means is the only issue that I have seen with the device but is the most important and will be a deal breaker for me. I dislike full screen movies and am very big on preserving both image quality and aspect ratio of a movie. Now I understand that it is possible for such a bug to exist because not very many people still use Composite inputs and then zoom out to see if the video has been cropped.

If someone could at least try to replicate this issue then I can determine if this is a bug that slipped by them or if perhaps my device is just defective. But blaming it on the TV when every device I have used yet does not have this problem is not acceptable. At the very least it’s not a bug and it’s just a feature the WD Live Plus lacks in able to support standard TV’s properly.

Either way I’ll still be taking the WD Live Plus back if I can not resolve the problem soon and wait till standard TV’s are supported properly, I get a new TV, or find a media streamer that’s better. But I will not just go out and buy a new TV because of this one device.

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I have also tried updating the firmware. This did not resolve the issue. Note I just bought this on the 2/27/2011

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It’s not a “Bug.”  What you’re describing is OVERSCAN.   All CRT TVs have it to some degree or another, thus it *IS* your TV.   It is possible that your DVD players employ different timing to allow for more overscan, but it doesn’t matter…  By definition, your TV is responsible for overscan.

The WDs DO NOT CROP.   It’s been talked about time and time again in these forums.   I can plug my WDTV into an LCD panel using COMPOSITE and get no overscan.

You’ve already found the solution:   Zoom Out.

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Why should I have to zoom out on every video when no other device I have has this issue? Sounds to me like it’s not the TV but a feature the WD Live Plus lacks since no other device I have owned has this issue. They either need to have a way to edit your default viewing settings or they need to add this feature. But saying it’s my TV is just an excuse to not fix a known problem that only this device suffers from. (Overlay correction.) Every other device but this must have it why not this one.

If the over scan on my TV is so bad that its cropping 2 to 4 cm from video coming the WD Live Plus how does the Wii or Blu-ray player or my computer determine that my TV requires so much overlay correction?

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I have the same problem wuth WD Live (not Plus). I also have CRT TV 4:3 and video is cropped. I understand need for overscan but it is obviously too big.I happens not only on video but also on images.

Zooming out is solution, but then we should be able to set defaul zoom out to compensate overscan. Having to set it each time video starts or image is loaded is not acceptable.

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Pedja wrote:

I have the same problem wuth WD Live (not Plus). I also have CRT TV 4:3 and video is cropped. I understand need for overscan but it is obviously too big.I happens not only on video but also on images.

 

Zooming out is solution, but then we should be able to set defaul zoom out to compensate overscan. Having to set it each time video starts or image is loaded is not acceptable.

Its not the WDTV that is overscanning, its your TV.

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Its not the WDTV that is overscanning, its your TV.

I am not iliterate, I know that. There is no need to be rude.

Thing is, for some reason, oversan is too big when signal comes from WD TV. When other sources are uset, overscan is not a problem.

Neverthless, if WD cannot fix signal so it does not make TV to overscan too much, then, alternate solution is to zoom out.

So, option to set fixed default zoom as compensation for overscan would solve a problem. That is simple software solution.

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Agreed.    The Zoom-Out setting should be MEMORIZED.

The difference with the WD, since they were designed for HD TVs, is that they assume ZERO overscan.

As I said in a previous post, when I plug into my LCD panel, I get no overscan and no black borders.   In other words, it fits the panel perfectly.

So before people holler “Well, my DVD assumes SOME amount of overscan, so the WD should, too!”   Then it’s going to be an argument between the people that have old TV’s with a high amount of overscan and the people that have new TVs with no overscan.

Because if WD built-in any amount of Overscan compensation, then the people with NEW TVs would complain about the black borders and having to zoom IN.    :)

And since this is designed for modern equipment, I think the No-Overscan crowd is going to win… :slight_smile:

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Wel, then maybe for the best would be to introduce new settings option : Overscan Compensation, which could be zero by default, but let user increase to fix too much cropping when overscan occures.

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Here is another example of why the WD box should remember the video settings. If the WD box remembered the zoom out setting, TVs that overscan would not be a problem. This would not be an issue at all.

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You are correct that this is an overscan issue, but this is most certainly not the fault of the TV. Overscan is done by the device broadcasting and is not necessary on TVs sold after the 1970s or so.

If I connect my computer to my TV, nVidia gives me the option to enable overscan. If I do that, it behaves very similarly to the WD Live Plus, though I have the option to control how much overscan occures. If I DISABLE overscan on my PC, then the screen images FITS EXACTLY within the borders of the screen.

Overscan is a BROADCAST feature and not something done by the TV. My Wii, using WiiMC software, my DVD Player, and my computer are all able to display content that fits exactly to the screen edges unless I tell them to overscan. The WD Live image fits on HD TVs because it does not overscan on those devices. The composite output has about 6% overscan enabled, which is far too much, and I would prefer it had 0% like my computer and Wii. That is, on the WD Live Plus, even when I zoom to 95%, a smidge of content is chopped off the edge. Using WiiMC on the Wii or my PC with overscan disabled, no content is lost.

WD needs an option to disable overscan for the composite video output. This truely is a simple software option and should be the default, just as it is on my PC and Wii. My DVD player doesn’t even give me the option to enable overscan, but it does overscan by about 1% or so, much more acceptable than the WD live Plus.

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bobpaul wrote:

You are correct that this is an overscan issue, but this is most certainly not the fault of the TV. Overscan is done by the device broadcasting and is not necessary on TVs sold after the 1970s or so.

 

If I connect my computer to my TV, nVidia gives me the option to enable overscan. If I do that, it behaves very similarly to the WD Live Plus, though I have the option to control how much overscan occures. If I DISABLE overscan on my PC, then the screen images FITS EXACTLY within the borders of the screen.

 

Overscan is a BROADCAST feature and not something done by the TV. My Wii, using WiiMC software, my DVD Player, and my computer are all able to display content that fits exactly to the screen edges unless I tell them to overscan. The WD Live image fits on HD TVs because it does not overscan on those devices. The composite output has about 6% overscan enabled, which is far too much, and I would prefer it had 0% like my computer and Wii. That is, on the WD Live Plus, even when I zoom to 95%, a smidge of content is chopped off the edge. Using WiiMC on the Wii or my PC with overscan disabled, no content is lost.

 

WD needs an option to disable overscan for the composite video output. This truely is a simple software option and should be the default, just as it is on my PC and Wii. My DVD player doesn’t even give me the option to enable overscan, but it does overscan by about 1% or so, much more acceptable than the WD live Plus.

Don’t know where you got this info from, however I can assure that with CRT TV’s you set them up to overscan and it has nothing to do with the broadcast signal. All CRT Televisions have a width control which sets up the overscan at the factory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overscan

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bobpaul wrote:

You are correct that this is an overscan issue, but this is most certainly not the fault of the TV. Overscan is done by the device broadcasting and is not necessary on TVs sold after the 1970s or so.

 

If I connect my computer to my TV, nVidia gives me the option to enable overscan. If I do that, it behaves very similarly to the WD Live Plus, though I have the option to control how much overscan occures. If I DISABLE overscan on my PC, then the screen images FITS EXACTLY within the borders of the screen.

 

Overscan is a BROADCAST feature and not something done by the TV. My Wii, using WiiMC software, my DVD Player, and my computer are all able to display content that fits exactly to the screen edges unless I tell them to overscan. The WD Live image fits on HD TVs because it does not overscan on those devices. The composite output has about 6% overscan enabled, which is far too much, and I would prefer it had 0% like my computer and Wii. That is, on the WD Live Plus, even when I zoom to 95%, a smidge of content is chopped off the edge. Using WiiMC on the Wii or my PC with overscan disabled, no content is lost.

 

WD needs an option to disable overscan for the composite video output. This truely is a simple software option and should be the default, just as it is on my PC and Wii. My DVD player doesn’t even give me the option to enable overscan, but it does overscan by about 1% or so, much more acceptable than the WD live Plus.

It is not true. When I connected my computer to my TV, it showed a huge overscan. The WD TV matched completely. Both were 1920x1080. That is, it was the opposite of your experience.

However, I was able to correct the overscan from the computer (took a few days, searching for a new driver, which included this setting), and now they both match exactly.

Cocovanna

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WD don’t manufacture the chips used in the WD series of video streaming boxes, they are manufactured by Sigma compliant to the international digital TV standards.

There is no bug in the WDTV box. The problem is that non technical people are trying to interface digital TV technology manufactured to precise standards and using a video stream which is noncompliant to the video standards into an obsolete 50 year old analogue TV technology.

People cannot compare international digital TV standards to software decoding which varies from software manufacturer to software manufacturer.

Streaming video files from a computer to the WDTV box is not the same a playing a DVD title. The Sigma chip contains a hardware MPEG decoder chip. The chip interprets the video stream and corrects the video stream to the correct international hardware MPEG decoder standards. A DVD player contains a dedicated hardware MPEG decoder chip and correction electronics to play a DVD title and stream the video correctly.

A computer does not contain any hardware MPEG decoder chip unless it contains a dedicated hardware decoder card. Software is used to program the CPU into thinking that it is a hardware decoder chip. When people rip the DVD title to a computer they are bypassing the hardware correction electronics built into dedicated hardware decoder chips and watching a movie using software correction. If you look closely at the screen you will see digital software artifacts.

If a compliant test DVD and an oscilloscope are used to measure the video signals on the output of the WDTV box, the output signals will be compliant to the international digital TV standards.

There is no point in buying another manufacturer’s streamer box. The streamer box chips and dedicated hardware decoder cards are manufactured by Sigma; people will experience the same problems.

The only resolution to the original posted issue is use analogue technology with analogue technology and digital technology with digital technology. Don’t try to mix and match; technical issues will occur.  

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Regardless of whose TV or chip is over/under scanning…blah blah blah…

The software for zooming (and thus overcomming the overscan) is already in place.

The issue is that the WD device does not keep the zoom level for all videos played, and requires a trip to the options menu for each video played.

Pretty annoying when you are digging around youtube.

A setting to remember the zoom level would make it a non-issue for all.

(It’s already in the idea list.)