Just received this bit of kit - very very good indeed, however I have come across a couple of issues.
I have my WD TV LIVE connected via HDMI. When I play MP3’s via the Audio section, there seems to be a lot of audio clipping going on with audio that have high notes in them. I also noticed the audio is much louder than the audio when your playing a video etc. as if the WD TV LIVE is applying some kind of gain to the audio that is causing it to clip.
I have found posts on this forum and other forums with regards to the WD TV (non LIVE version) which describes the exact saem problem as above, but for audio and video. I only seem to have the problem with the audio. Video seems to be fine.
Can anyone confirm that this is an issue with the WD TV LIVE???
I have connected the wd tv live to my other telly (non hd) via component cable and the audio then seems ok. It only seems to affect the HDMI port output. Makes no difference if audio is set to Digital or Stereo in the options. Have not tried via optical out as have no devices to support this feature.
The infamous audio gain issue. This issue is not specific only to the WD Live. You might get a +6 or more dB differential between the actual reading as viewed on your computer . You will less likely see this with movies as the audio is calibrated at much lower dB peak than other sources where their peak is at -3dB to 0dBFS
This problem can be fixed is they added an internal gain control, which IS possible, and can be controlled by percentage or a simple internal volume control.
Don’t expect WD to ever do this as they don’t listen to reason.
I hear this distortion or clipping on certain tracks. So in effect if I lower the volume on an mp3 file say by 10db and play that back, this should no longer happen. Just to prove that the gain is the problem?
Edit: yep, just dropped the volume on a particular track by -10db and problem has gone away.
I think this has been fixed on the WD TV, but it looks like its back on the live.
Is there any way of adjusting the gain, custom firmware etc??
hmm same here with firmware 1.01.11, mp3 audio via HDMI is not clipped, but the amplitude oscillates, i.e. it goes loud and soft. This is not noticable on the mp3s on other devices. Fix needed.
Im not sure what the technical term for the problem is, clipping, or amplified, but just done a test now, increased the volume on a particular track on my pc by +10db and i get exactly the same ‘clipping’ etc of audio at exactly the same positions in the track.
Drop gain by -10db on the mp3 track and it plays beautifully thru the WD TV Live.
So the WD TV Live is appyling some kind of amplification to the muisic track as I have noticed that music seems to be a lot louder than video.
tried both 1.01.11 and 1.01.00 firmwares still exists.
Fix required please WD as this is really unacceptable.
The clipping issue is also affecting the toslink connection.
Tested the digital output via a MD Deck and noticed that the applied gain runs about +6dB to +8dB. This is way too loud for a line level conection, specially if connected to an amp as such intense clipping could eventually damage loudspeakers.
I would recommend every one to document this clipping instance in case you need to get back to WD, should your speakers die of unnecessary applied fatigue.
There is no need to apply extra gain to the digital outputs, so please WD, fix this as it is not only annoying, it could potentially ruin other audio equipment.
I have also noticed audio clipping. It occurs only at few audio tracks, but it’s there! Firmware in my box is 1.01.11. I am using toslink, but the analogue output has the same problem. I haven’t tested HDMI.
