warchild wrote:
I disagree. This appears to be merely a firmware upgrade. While I see no percise promises it was certainly implied, perhaps unintentionally that this was coming. I wouldn’t have any major problem paying for the firmware upgrade.
Also it says that WDTV Live offers Mediafly support . . . where?
- *The WDTV Live plus offers Mediafly support.
Without going itno Business Practices tyhat would upset stockholders, lets just look at what Seagate did. They announced a new product in January. It’s not out yet but we knew it was coming. Companies announce new products all the time without shortening the sales cycle for existing products. Many people will never use the Netflix feature so it’s a moot point to them. The product annoucement would not have changed their decision one way or another on which unit to buy. Besides this is not listed as a replacement, but a higher tier. Being a Channel Partner and reseller I’ll take up my issues with that department reguarding lack of notification. If i feel slighted imagine how retail customers will feel.
cyrill wrote:
The new device will for sure have some hardware changes:
Ideas Lab: NETFLIX streaming support
Update: Unfortuantely supporting Netflix is not possible on the current WDTV Live platform. This requires additional hardward component and content protection mechanism. We understand this is a very hot idea and we will keep this in mind for the future.
However the DVD navigation does not require any hardware changes so I’m still waiting to have that included in a firmware upgrade.
Ok, that makes sense. If they just add DVD navigation to the current FW, everybody will be happy 
That DVD (menu support) alone would probably shut me up LOL. I’ll still buy the new unit for Netflix.
Suprised to see a new product launched by WD - WDTV LIVE PLUS
Looks this new product is only for US market as Netfix is the only addition to the new product compared WDTV Live.
What about european market ? Is a similar thing with some local (similar to Netflix) planned?
I purchased my WDTV Live only two weeks back and I am suprised with this new product. Why is there no clue of a new product ? People would have waited for the new product.
Lots of discussion happening in Forum, where people asking for Netfix, and WD never given a clue of this new product. It looks like Ideas in Fourn are taken by WD to launch new products rather than giving an upgrade to the existing product. So how will existing user of WDTV live benefit from this?
Completly DISAPPOINTED with this behaviour.
Isnt WDTV live launched NOV 2009? So they dont keep their product live even for a year? I am worried even firmware upgrades might stop for WDTV live as a new product in launched all the focus will be deverted to it.
Google wrote:
Suprised to see a new product launched by WD - WDTV LIVE PLUS
Looks this new product is only for US market as Netfix is the only addition to the new product compared WDTV Live.
What about european market ? Is a similar thing with some local (similar to Netflix) planned?
I purchased my WDTV Live only two weeks back and I am suprised with this new product. Why is there no clue of a new product ? People would have waited for the new product.
Lots of discussion happening in Forum, where people asking for Netfix, and WD never given a clue of this new product. It looks like Ideas in Fourn are taken by WD to launch new products rather than giving an upgrade to the existing product. So how will existing user of WDTV live benefit from this?
Completly DISAPPOINTED with this behaviour.> * * *
Well, it all makes sense now. New hardware is needed for Netflix support. I’m sure we’ll see DVD navigation in the new FW for the ‘old’ version. And you can’t blame a company for not telling too much about new upcoming products, look at what Apple did. if they need new hardware, then this move is really pretty logical (and fair)
Just wondering what they’re holding back. 5 months from now will we need to buy the WDTV Live Plus Ultra?
Mikencinc wrote:
Just wondering what they’re holding back. 5 months from now will we need to buy the WDTV Live Plus Ultra?
Well, that’s progress. Any piece of hardware you buy right now will be obsolete next year. And a good company tries to be the first to make their own hardware obsolete, instead of waiting for their competition to do so.
If the hardware is the same it makes me wonder if a Licence fee has to be paid to Netflix for every unit that they sell with the Netflix feature in it.
If that is the case I would be willing to pay for an upgrade fee to cover the Netflix feature.
Actually that’s sarcasm.
WD will have to fix MP4 issues (in addition to adding DVD menueing) to the Live.
Questtion is: Will users be able to access Netflix streaming from the Live Plus, on a Live unit using dlna?
Venting,
I have to WD media TV live players and 1 standard for my car. I was hoping this would be included in a firmware upgrade for Netflix support but now looks like I will have to give one away and buy the new one or hold off for the next Ultra version that does Hulu and Google TV and built in bluray player.
FU WD for not informing your customer base who have purchased your products and support this media player. I understand that business’ need to keep introducing new products but wtf you couldn’t add support through firmware for the current live player? Seems like lazy programming or as mentioned a backroom deal with netflix to split profits. I have seen what some people have done with custom firmware upgrades for this product and still wonder why WD doesn’t add those features as well.
profzoom wrote:
I understand that business’ need to keep introducing new products but wtf you couldn’t add support through firmware for the current live player? Seems like lazy programming or as mentioned a backroom deal with netflix to split profits.
Netflix uses internal security with hardware keys and ssl. That’s why.
Oh and btw, the way I understood it, Netflix doesn’t work outside America anyway.
To whomever was posting about the existing WDTV Live player not being Netflix capable, I’m going to call complete BS on that.
Last time I checked, the 360, PS3, Wii, numerous Blu Ray players, and the existing Seagate streamer didn’t need any magical netflix chip.
This is all 100% $$ related. They released the new device with the Netflix and DVD menu features because of licensing. Rather than pay Netflix and the DVD consortium licensing fees on the existing WDTV Live devices, they simply released a new box and threw all of us existing customers to the curb.
If the hardware is changed at all, I bet it’s changed just enough so that nobody can put the new firmware on the old WDTV live devices. I’ll bet just about anything that all the internal chipsets are exactly the same, otherwise.
I realize that there will always be upgraded devices down the line that do newer things, but this is obviously not an upgraded product. Many of us have been patiently waiting for firmware upgrades to fix some of the existing issues on the current box, and now we find out that the reason why there hasn’t been any updates in months is because they were working to put out a new device. One would assume that they would offer existing WDTV Live owners a small upgrade fee to put the new features on their boxes, but I assume they aren’t doing that because then the market becomes fragmented.
The bottom line is that some of you can defend them, or the coporate cronies can come on here and spout some PR BS about the hardware being different, but when it comes to the tech community, we usually aren’t fooled as easily as the general public. I’ll eat my words if I’m proven wrong, but I’m going to go ahead and bet that as soon as someone gets one of these new boxes and opens it up, the man behind the curtain will be revealed and we will all see that this is the same hardware.
1 Like
SjefDeKlerk wrote:
profzoom wrote:
I understand that business’ need to keep introducing new products but wtf you couldn’t add support through firmware for the current live player? Seems like lazy programming or as mentioned a backroom deal with netflix to split profits.
Netflix uses internal security with hardware keys and ssl. That’s why.
So how does a Wii play it with a disc, xbox with a download, and a computer with a browser?
beren wrote:
SjefDeKlerk wrote:
profzoom wrote:
I understand that business’ need to keep introducing new products but wtf you couldn’t add support through firmware for the current live player? Seems like lazy programming or as mentioned a backroom deal with netflix to split profits.
Netflix uses internal security with hardware keys and ssl. That’s why.
So how does a Wii play it with a disc, xbox with a download, and a computer with a browser?
Beats me. I must admit I don’t really get it either. Hardware keys are needed, BUT the hardware supposedly indeed IS the same … I’m afraid we’ll need to wait for more details, later today.
Thinking of it, it probably means they added keys that match the hardware, thus locking out current owners, while the hardware is identical. In that case, I take back my words !
SjefDeKlerk wrote:
beren wrote:
SjefDeKlerk wrote:
profzoom wrote:
I understand that business’ need to keep introducing new products but wtf you couldn’t add support through firmware for the current live player? Seems like lazy programming or as mentioned a backroom deal with netflix to split profits.
Netflix uses internal security with hardware keys and ssl. That’s why.
So how does a Wii play it with a disc, xbox with a download, and a computer with a browser?
Beats me. I must admit I don’t really get it either. Hardware keys are needed, BUT the hardware supposedly indeed IS the same … I’m afraid we’ll need to wait for more details, later today.
This is more or less wishful thinking but it would be awesome if at the very least we could install the Plus firmware on the old boxes without WD having to officially say you can do that. Kind of a wink wink nudge nudge. Asus more or less did this with the Oplay and the Oplay Air. The air is the same box as the Oplay, only with WIFI support. If you download the Air firmware and install it on the regular Oplay, it installs fine and adds WIFI support to that box.
backlund wrote:
This is more or less wishful thinking but it would be awesome if at the very least we could install the Plus firmware on the old boxes without WD having to officially say you can do that. Kind of a wink wink nudge nudge. Asus more or less did this with the Oplay and the Oplay Air. The air is the same box as the Oplay, only with WIFI support. If you download the Air firmware and install it on the regular Oplay, it installs fine and adds WIFI support to that box.
Well, obviously the whole idea about hardware keys would be that you can NOT simply use keys from somebody else (and hence easily crossflash your old wdtv live with new FW). But like said, it’s too soon to get all angry and jumpy, let’s wait for more details.
