Sorry if this is a repeat post. I have not seen an issue exactly like this one:
My Mac with OSX 10.6.5 can see my WD Live and vice versa. I can access all drives and files on the Mac from the WD Live. Playing MP4 files from my Mac to the WD Live is fine. But when I try to play larger files like Video TS or Mkv files it stutters or will not play at all. If I put a Mkv files directly onto the WD Live through a USB thumb drive it plays just fine.
I’m assuming this is a traffic or speed issue of the data. I am connected through an ethernet cable at the WD Live box going into an Apple Airport Extreme (as the router: not wireless), then directly into the computer. In the OS system preferences, file sharing is using SMB.
Take a look at this thread - can’t guarantee that you’re seeing the exact same issue, but it’s a quick and easy thing to check. It has been known to cause performance issues, which may be the root cause of the stuttering you’re seeing on larger files.
There is some “voodoo-advice” here in the board, regarding the bugs in the latest firmware, my favorite the multiple factory resets and the uppercase WORKGROUP…
Forget about those.
The latest firmware has big networking problems. It may work sometimes, but then fails in many cases, and there is nothing you can do about it.
WD has to fix it, but as the network problems are persistent since many beta releases already, I’m not sure if and when this will happen.
Best advice is, roll back to firmware 1.2.21 or the b-rad release. I also stream from a Mac and with those firmwares, everything works as expected.
There is some “voodoo-advice” here in the board, regarding the bugs in the latest firmware, my favorite the multiple factory resets and the uppercase WORKGROUP…
Forget about those.
The latest firmware has big networking problems. It may work sometimes, but then fails in many cases, and there is nothing you can do about it.
WD has to fix it, but as the network problems are persistent since many beta releases already, I’m not sure if and when this will happen.
Best advice is, roll back to firmware 1.2.21 or the b-rad release. I also stream from a Mac and with those firmwares, everything works as expected.
There is a known issue that was introduced with OSX 10.6.4 involving workgroup name case; see this thread on the Apple support forums from last June on the topic. The problem doesn’t affect all OS X users by any means, but for some of the ones who are affected by it the workgroup name case fix is not ‘voodoo’ as you put it - here is one satisfied recent recipient of the fix; count me in as another.
casm23 wrote:
Best advice is, roll back to firmware 1.2.21 or the b-rad release. I also stream from a Mac and with those firmwares, everything works as expected.
I’ll revert the firmware to 1.2.21, and finally I have a decent network access. Now I can see large files and HD MKV files. And other errors also disappear, as the problem with the remote control, where I touched up or down and he moved two or three screens instead of one.
casm23 wrote:
Best advice is, roll back to firmware 1.2.21 or the b-rad release. I also stream from a Mac and with those firmwares, everything works as expected.
I’ll revert the firmware to 1.2.21, and finally I have a decent network access. Now I can see large files and HD MKV files. And other errors also disappear, as the problem with the remote control, where I touched up or down and he moved two or three screens instead of one.
Thank you so much casm23!
Actually, it was my advice to rollback to 1.2.21
But never mind…
Just to remind anybody again, that you cannot fix the networking bugs introduced by WD.
These networking bugs have been introduced with the early beta versions and never been fixed so far. It is not a good demonstration about WD’s software development, testing and release management.
Will they ever fix it? Not sure.
At least firmware 1.2.21 is stable, networking (SAMBA) works as expected and there are only few bugs left which you can easily solve by reencoding your video files.
You will not have the gimmicks (AccuWeather, Mediafly…), but you will have a device which does the things for what you have bought it.
Therefore my advice again: roll back to 1.2.21 and wait until WD will fix the networking problems if they ever do.
