WD TV Live Plus Issues

After several weeks of use, I am having some issues that I can’t seem to figure out. Hoping someone on the boards here has seen these:

  1. I have had the unit spontaneously begin showing a severely deteriorated interface, with pixelization and splotches all over the screen. When in this state, it will blink, but menu navigation is still possible. Resetting to factory defaults resolves the problem, but of course that means re-authorizing Netflix, setting up the network, re-doing Pandora, etc. I have had to do this procedure about 4 times in 3 weeks

  2. the unit won’t play MOV files downloaded from my camcorder

These two issues are more than just annoyances – they will drive me over to Popbox (if that unit ever ships)

The final problem I have is that media compilation can only occur on attached drives. In my setup the unit is accessing a NAS, and since no media compilation is possible on a NAS, playing music over this WD box means you have to actually navigate to find the exact album/song you want to hear. No library shuffling, no playing a genre, etc. Sad. 

Anyone having these problems as well? Any solutions?

Thanks so much.

The first problem *sounds* like an HDMI handshaking issue.  Have you tried just switching HDMI resolutions in the Audio/Video settings menu (assuming you’re using HDMI)?  In particular don’t use “auto” but use a fixed resolution that your device supports.

The second problem is most likely a codec issue.  The best solution is to reconvert either the audio or video or both.  First try Handbrake (freeware) and use the High Profile setting but change the output to MKV.  With camcorder files it should be fast and will preserve the quality.  If you like that then it’s your solution, but if not there are other things we can do (post the mediainfo for one of those files).

The last is a well known issue that won’t be resolved any time soon.  It’s why *I* have a Popbox on order, but remember that the Popbox doesn’t have Netflix (yet?  Ever?) and may have its own set of problems/issues.

Mike

Thanks so much for your reply… I will try your solution(s) tonight…

Best regards