(Adapted from the WDTV Live/Live Plus FAQ)
1) General
2) Playback
3) When All Else Fails: Reporting Bugs
1) General
_ _
A) What’s the difference between the WDTV HD, the WDTV Live and the Live+?
The main functional difference between the WDTV HD and the WDTV Live and WDTV Live Plus is that the Live and Live Plus are capable of connecting to a network (and the Internet) for media playback, whereas the WDTV HD has no networking capability and only plays media from attached USB devices.
B) What’s the difference between a “Generation 1” WDTV HD and a “Generation 2” WDTV HD?
There are some minor functional changes, such as the “AutoPlay” function added to Generation 2 WDTV HDs for kiosks and digital signage.
The major functional difference is that the Generation 1 WDTV HD uses the SMP863x-series processing chip, whereas the Generation 2 WDTV HD uses the SMP865x-series processor. This adds DTS downmixing to the Generation 2 WDTV HD which the Generation 1 lacked (see Question 2C).
The Generation 1 WDTV HD has been deemed “End-Of-Life” by Western Digital and is now considered a “Legacy” product. Western Digital will no longer be able to provide future firmware updates for the Generation 1 WDTV HD.
C) How can I tell if I have a “Generation 1” WDTV HD or a “Generation 2” WDTV HD?
A Gen1 WDTV HD will have one of the following model numbers:
- WDAVN00BN
- WDAVP00BE
- WDAVN00BS
- WDAVP00BS
- WDAVP00BP
The last Gen1 Firmware Update can be found here.
WD Knowledge Base: Gen1
Gen1 Specifications
USB Devices tested to be compatible with the Gen1
A Gen2 WDTV HD will have one of the following model numbers:
- WDBABF0000NBK-NESN
- WDBABF0000NBK-NECS
- WDBABF0000NBK-JESN
- WDBABF0000NBK-SESN
- WDBABG0000NBK-SESN
- WDBABG0000NBK-EESN
- WDBABG0000NBK-AESN
The Latest Gen2 Firmware Update can be found here
WD Knowledge Base Gen2
Gen 2 Specifications
USB Devices tested to be compatible with the Gen2
D) I’ve posted Bug Reports here in the forum, but no one seems to care.
Though, officially, this forum is an outlet of Western Digital, this is a user support forum. So, WE do care. However, while WD technicians and staff do occasionally read these forums, they often do NOT respond, even though they may be aware and working on the issue. See “Reporting Bugs,” below, for how best to use this forum for issues. Your best bet for any significant issue is to use their formal support channels. Keep in mind that the Gen1 is EOL and there will be no future bug fixes released for it by WD.
E) I’ve got a good suggestion for an enhancement. What do I do with it?
Bear in mind that the Gen1 is EOL and there will be no future updates to enhance it. If your idea is for the Gen 2, check out the _ Ideas Lab _ section of the forum. Start by searching the Ideas Lab to see if another user has already posted the idea. If you find it, _ vote _ for it. Though the contents of the Ideas Lab are often seriously out of date, WD has provided evidence that they do listen. If the Idea is _ not _ there, post a new suggestion, and be as clear and succinct as possible. Then, be patient. It can take a long time for any obvious response.
F) What’s this I hear about “Hacked Firmware?”
Yes, it does exist, “out there.” The most often cited is WDLXTV, which does seem to be making some good stuff. This isn’t the place to talk about issues you’re having with non-WD firmware.
G) None of the remedies described below apply, or fix my problem. What else can I try?
- _ RESET _ the unit by pressing the small button on the side, next to the USB #1 socket. A paperclip is good for this.
- Unplug the unit and let it sit for 10 minutes, or longer, before plugging back in.
- Go to Settings and select Restore Factory Settings. After this, you’ll have to re-establish your desired configuration items.
- Deleting the .wd-tv folder in the root of your USB device.
2) Playback
A) The WDTV documentation says that it supports AVI (or MKV or WMV or M2TS…) but when I try to play it, it says it’s invalid! What the Heck!?
That’s only part of the issue. AVI, MKV, M2TS, etc. are only containers. They are not video formats. An AVI file could contain QuickTime Video (which is supported), or it could contain DV streams, which are not supported. An MKV could contain AVC (which is supported) or WMV2 (which is not.) Each container can also carry multiple audio types, not all of which are supported by the WDTV. See “How to Re-encode” below.
B) When playing back a video, it occasionally pauses, loses audio, or stutters. What’s wrong?
Ensure that both the USB drive and cable are USB 2.0 and defragment the drive. It also could be that your media bit rate is too high for the WDTV to process. See “How to Re-encode” below.
C) I get no audio from a DTS track on my Gen1. Why?
The Gen1 WDTV only supports passthrough of DTS audio. The way to hear the DTS track is to connect a DTS-capable receiver to the optical output, and set the WDTV’s audio mode to Digital. It will not mixdown a DTS track to a stereo track over the RCA audio jacks.
When you’re encoding your files, if you don’t have a DTS receiver, always make an AC-3 track (either 2.0 or 5.1), or something else the Gen1 supports, the primary audio track of your file. You can leave the DTS track in there if you want, in case you upgrade your system later, so that you won’t have to re-encode all your files to put the DTS audio back in.
There are also programs like eac3to and Popcorn MKV Audio Converter, which can take a DTS stream in a .mkv file and convert it to an AC-3 stream.
D) This file works on my PC, so I know the file is OK.
No, you only know that the file is OK to play on your PC. PCs have a VAST number of codecs and software available to them. They have tremendous amounts of memory available to buffer the streams, often a direct path to storage devices, as well as processors that have considerably more capability than a standalone device. So, just because it plays on your PC does not guarantee that the file will work on the WDTV. As the WDTV is entirely hardware and firmware based, it will not have the capabilities of playing the same media that PCs are able to play.
E) I’m trying to play a DVD, but the menus and navigation aren’t working. It just plays the main title. What’s wrong?
The WDTV HD firmware was unfortunately not designed to support DVD menus.
F) I (illegally) downloaded a movie from the Internet, and it’s not working right.
You got what you paid for. This is not the place to be discussing issues with illegal media.
G) How to Re-encode
If you have a file that is not supported or causes playback issues on the WDTV, consider “Re-encoding” them using a program such as HandBrake ( http://www.handbrake.fr). Handbrake supports a large number of input file types, and software is available for Windows, *nix, and Macintosh systems. Import the file into Handbrake, select the “High Profile” preset, and output to MKV using h.264 video. Try the resulting MKV file on the WDTV. If the bit rate is still too high, you can try increasing the “RF” factor to numbers higher than 22. Quality will be degraded as the RF as increased, but so will the required bandwidth. A side benefit of re-encoding is that the resulting files will often be significantly smaller than the source media with no noticeable loss of quality.
H) I still need help! My file is causing problems and I don’t know what to do next.
Install the freeware software called MediaInfo ( http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net). Load the file with MediaInfo, and select VIEW/Text. Copy the results and paste them along with your question into the correct forum topic.
I) I have some MKV files that the WDTV doesn’t play. Either there’s video but no audio, or it won’t play at all!
The Matroska specification allows for a form of compression called “Header Removal,” that before recently was rarely encountered. The WDTV players do not support this form of compression, and may not give an error if it’s encountered.
Recent versions (Version 4.1.0, July 1, 2010 and later) of the popular MKVMerge tool (which is used to create many MKV files) turn this feature ON by default on audio and certain video tracks.
If you suspect that this is your issue (MEDIAINFO will report the Writing Library as MKVMERGE Version 4.1 or later) you can correct it by loading the file into MKVMERGE, then selecting the track(s). Click the Extra Settings Tab and set Compression to NONE. Re-mux the file. This turns OFF the Header Removal Compression and restores the file.
The MKVInfo tool will also explicitly state the form of compression used for each track.
J) After attempting to play an MKV file affected by the issue described in Section 2I, I am unable to play ANY type of file.
As described in Section 2I, certain MKV files will not be playable. Further, if an attempt is made to play such a file, it may render the WDTV unable to play ANY video files after that. The main symptom of this is that the screen just goes black, without the On-Screen-Display that usually appears when a file starts playing. You may also notice when browsing videos, that the name of the .mkv that had the header compression, is displayed at the top of the browser, as if it was an audio file playing in the background while you browse your media.
To recover from this condition, perform all the steps outlined in Section 1G and either delete or re-mux any compressed header .mkv files.
3) When All Else Fails: Reporting Bugs
A) Yes, there are bugs in these things. Proper documentation can help folks at WD (who DO examine these reports) get to the root cause, and create a remedy quicker, if possible.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Search for the bug in the forums.
- Try searching again.
- Once again! … because duplicate bug reports add noise and don’t add value.
- If you _ do _ find that the bug is reported, and it’s _ identical _ to your symptoms, add comments but _ do not _ start a new thread.
- _ Do not _ contribute to a Bug thread with “My issue is similar, except …” If it’s different, consider starting a new thread.
If you’re confident that the bug has not been reported, here’s what you need to put in the report:
- Detailed steps to reproduce the issue
- Display Make & Model (ie: Panasonic Viera WTX500-60U)
- Audio/Visual Receiver Make & Model (ie, Pioneer THX-1019-US)
- Hookup type: (Component, optical, HDMI, etc.)
- USB Disk Manufacturer & size
- Etc…
If the issue is Content specific, a link to where the engineers can download a (LEGAL!) sample would be helpful.
You can _ not _ provide too much information!
B) But if the Gen1 is EOL, why should I report a bug I’ve encountered? Nobody cares anymore.
We care. Even if there won’t be any future releases to fix the bug, just because you don’t find any posts about it, that doesn’t mean another user might not know a work-around, or be able to develop a work-around for that problem, or at least want to know to avoid encountering it on their own WDTV.
