WD TV Media Player Constantly Accessing Network Even When "Off"

I have my WD TV Media Player attached to a wired network.  So far, I’m using it primarily to view YouTube videos, and really not much else. 

I’m noticing from the lights on my router that this thing is constantly engaging in network activity, even after it has been turned “off” for hours – it’s constantly doing something on my network.

To try to get to the root of what this thing is constantly accessing the network for, I’ve have turned off all varieties of network sharing (Windows, Mac and Linux), I’ve turned off auto-detecting WiFi (though I wouldn’t expect that to have any effect on a wired network connection, but I turned it off, anyway), I’ve switched detecting a connection on the wired network from auto to manual, I’ve turned off the Media Library feature, and I’ve even turned off automatic checking for new firmware versions. 

In short, I’ve turned off every last thing I could find to turn off that would be a reason for this contraption to go constantly looking on the network (or the Internet?) for something – but it’s still constantly generating network activity for some reason.

I have a network connection that has an upper limit on the amount of data downloaded each month for the standard monthly fee – if I go oever that amount of data downloaded, then I start getting charged extra.

Could someone please tell me what this thing is doing with its constant network accessing, even when it’s supposedly turned “off” using the remote?  Is this thing constantly trying to access the Internet to download something?

Thanks in advance.

Press and hold the Red Power Button on the Remote Control for 5 Seconds to turn it OFF

Pressing the the red power button for 1 Second puts the device into “Standby” ie. Not OFF … which is what you’re doing

and in “Standby” Network is still Active … Video Output is not

Here it is in the User Manual … Page 45

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705123.pdf

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Thanks a lot for pointing me to this feature!  I just tried it, and yes, this contraption is now finally fully quiet on my network.

Is there a chance that you (or anyone else) know what exactly is all of the network activity that this thing engages in while in so-called “sleep mode”?

It doesn’t seem to be very “sleepy” in “sleep mode” as there is barely ever even 5 whole seconds between bursts of network activity!  There really shouldn’t be so much network activity, since I’ve turned off so many of its features!

huntandpeck wrote:

There really shouldn’t be so much network activity, since I’ve turned off so many of its features! 

ARP Requests.

ARP Responses.

DHCP packets.

Any broadcast replies for service discovery.

DLNA advertisements.

Content scanning (if that’s how you’ve configured it.)

…In other words, lots of things.

Just because you see an LED blink doesn’t mean there are “bursts of network activity.”   A single packet will make the light blink.   And the packets might be RESPONSES to other things on your network talking to to the WDTV.

Hello,

As part of trying to understand all of the network activity I’m seeing, I actually isolated this contraption on its own branch network separated from every other network device by a firewall configured so that the Internet is the only thing it has access to through the firewall.

So, while DHCP and/or ARP may explain at least some of the activity I’m seeing, there are no DLNA devices anywhere for it to receive anything from or for it to transmit anything to.  Also, as I mentioned originally, I disabled all of the types of network sharing I could find in the configuration menus and I also disabled the Media Library feature – so even if there was some other device on its isolated network branch that it could communicate with, it shouldn’t actually be trying to do any of that.

Additionally, I’m also trying out a Roku 2 (also on its own isolated network branch), and it’s network activity is nothing like the WD TV Media Player – and this is in spite of the fact that the Roku 2 has no way to ever be turned off – there is literally no power button at all on the remote or on the Roku 2, itself.

I do appologize for the heresy of bringing up a Roku box in this forum, but I think it’s a valid question (and even important) to ask why the Roku 2 is able to be so quiet on a network while the WD TV Media Player is doing something on the network all of the time (and I do mean 24/7 – it never stops unless I use the 5-second turn off procedure pointed to above by JoeySmyth).

The only thing i can think of is … it’s ‘phoning home’ and checking for any firmware updates from WD (i assume it will do this even if you have the Firmware notification turned to OFF)

also, there are some other processes going on  (don’t ask me what any of this means … the links to the posts are long gone)

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Hub-Discussions/Just-curious-how-secure-is-the-wifi/m-p/582077#M25034

Now, to block the firmware lookup and other ‘stuff’ … you have to use URL Filter settings in your modem router

eg: http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Live-Plus/WD-TV-Live-Plus-New-firmware-message/m-p/560401#M30958

huntandpeck wrote:

Hello,

 

As part of trying to understand all of the network activity I’m seeing, I actually isolated this contraption on its own branch network separated from every other network device by a firewall configured so that the Internet is the only thing it has access to through the firewall. 

Well, given that, it ought to be trivial to examime the firewall logs to see what it’s trying to do.