I don’t understand why the other thread on v1.03.40 has been locked. In particular I don’t understand the references to v1.03.40 as “wasn’t meant for everyone” when v1.03.39 for the WDTV Live (i.e. I don’t mean the Plus) seemingly missed posting here altogether.
In any case WDTV Live users previously on v1.03.38 & upgrading to v1.03.40 should be seeing the following changes according to the release notes across .39 and .40:
• Resolved FW not completing upgrade for certain TVs
• Resolved HDMI screen flicker issue
• Resolved playback issues related to mkvmerge
I have confirmed that .mkv files created using MKVMERGE 4.1 or higher that would not previously play on the WDTV Live are playing with v1.0.40 firmware.
Just clarifying the combined release notes of v1.03.40 and 1.03.39 since the details in my original post were truncated & the forum software does not appear to support direct editing of posts [since discovered that it does :]
Version 1.03.40_V Resolved Issues:
• Resolved FW not completing upgrade for certain TVs
Version 1.03.39_V Resolved Issues:
• Resolved HDMI screen flicker issue
• Resolved playback issues related to mkvmerge.
I have replaced this link with the link provided by PersianPrince as the original link has seemingly expired.
FYI this download is 108MB because it includes a file (“wdtvlive_1.03.40_V.pkg”) which is actually unnecessary for the beta upgrade process. Once you extract the files you only need to copy wdtvlive.bin, wdtvlive.fff and wdtvlive.ver to a USB drive and then perform the upgrade. “wdtvlive_1.03.40_V.pkg” can be ignored.
According to other forum threads “wdtvlive_1.03.40_V.pkg” has something to do with the automatic update process and was apparently included in this zip by mistake which is unfortunate because it doubles the size of the download .
Point noted. I have had .40 running most of the day (vides, audio, photos, flickr, mediafly) over HDMI without any issues so far. If I find any problems with this release I will post them here.
I’m one of the users driving the WDC live with its component video interface. Tried 1.03.40 but the ugly bug displaying an incorrect format is still there, see
To make it more sick, the new DVD menu support disallows the zooming icons, so even the workaround to zoom manually to 0.9 factor is not working anymore.
I don’t understand why the other thread on v1.03.40 has been locked. In particular I don’t understand the references to to v1.03.40 as “wasn’t meant for everyone” when v1.03.39 for the WDTV Live (i.e. I don’t mean the Plus) seemingly missed posting here altogether.
In any case WDTV Live users previously on v1.03.38 & upgrading to v1.03.40 should be seeing the following changes according to the release notes across .39 and .40:
• Resolved FW not completing upgrade for certain TVs
• Resolved HDMI screen flicker issue
• Resolved playback issues related
I have confirmed that .mkv files created using MKVMERGE 4.1 or highter that would not previously play on the WDTV Live are playing with v1.0.40 firmware.
I don’t know about “flicker” issues, but this has the HDMI handshaking bug the last few previous versions had. Ie, the WDTV Live crashes and never displays anything, and I need to powercycle it several times before i get lucky (ie, there is a picure)
As for MKV files, I can confirm that it WONT play them - not the ones I made for testing anyway.
If its an MKV with an audio compressed header it plays in silience. If the video header is compressed the live just jumps back to the menu.
Of course that is with MKVMERGE 4.0 - but then many people might be using that.
Oh, and if you add buttons to the Mediafly dashboard with an mcode you still can’t remove it again.
And it won’t play some FLVs because it doesn’t understand the container (ie, the video is H264 and the audio is mp3 and if you remux them into another container it plays fine)
And it won’t play some FLVs because it doesn’t understand the container (ie, the video is H264 and the audio is mp3 and if you remux them into another container it plays fine)
I had two separate .mkv files created in MKVMERGE 4.2 that previously would not play that do play on .40 firmware. Assuming that there is not some other issue than header compression affecting your files, your observation suggests that the firmware fix negotiates MKVMERGE 4.0 and 4.2 files differently ?
So far I have had the WDTV running all day on my system & v .40 & it has hardly skipped a beat. The only issue I have seen has been a buffering delay on Mediafly which I think reflects limitations of my internet connection rather than an issue with the WDTV Live.
I must be doing something wrong… All of the betas Iv’e tested don’t play my DTS audio at all only ac3 which doesn’t sound like it’s surround just stereo. The 1.02.21 fw plays all my audio fine. I use my Onkyo receiver via hdmi. I have reset, uplugged, powered down etc but can’t get the audio working unless I roll back. Any of you have 5.1 DTS/surround working? Thank you.
I tried different things with my receiver also, including powering down etc. My big Q is why does it work with 102 and not the betas? What is different about the way it handles audio and why is it not working anymore? Thank you very much for your reply!
Today I installed 1.03.40 Beta. My WDTV Live is connected to an LG 47LH4000 LCD TV over an HDMI cable. I am not interested in MKV header removal issues. Here are my other experiences:
1- When the WDTV Live boots up (after plugging it off), it always starts with a resolution of 720p 60 Hz regardless of what was set previously,
2- Auto resolution is still not functional,
3- 1080p at 23.976 frame rate is missing in the options list,
4- When I set 1080p at 24p frame rate, something weird happened; the menu was displayed at the correct frame rate, I played a Bluray film (Master and Commander), it played fine again in the correct frame rate. Then I played another one (this time Living Landscapes_Flowers and Gardens with a simple menu) the menu was displayed in the correct frame rate, but when I selected an audio from the menu the WDTV Live displayed a message like “menu cannot be displayed, play the video?”, I selected O.K, the screen went black, “connecting” message displayed, and then the film was started. When I checked the screen resolution, it was 1080p at 60 Hz. Tried to set the resolution again, but although seemed to be o.k. on the WDTV Live, the screen resolution remained at 1080p 60 Hz. A new resolution setting was only successful after plugging off and on. I tried going the same steps again to see the result was the same.
I had two separate .mkv files created in MKVMERGE 4.2 that previously would not play that do play on .40 firmware. Assuming that there is not some other issue than header compression affecting your files, your observation suggests that the firmware fix negotiates MKVMERGE 4.0 and 4.2 files differently ?
No I’m just saying I haven’t tried 4.2 or 4.1, only 4.0 perhaps there was a bug or something (though I doubt it), but it didn’t work. (The mkv works fine if non headers are compressed)
But since I still have .40 on the machine i suppose i should do a few tests. Perhaps this will be the last firmware upgrade for the WDTV Live now that they have released another WD player.
But since I still have .40 on the machine i suppose i should do a few tests. Perhaps this will be the last firmware upgrade for the WDTV Live now that they have released another WD player.
The Live and Plus are so similar in terms of hardware that firmware development is the same for both, hence the firmware numbers being identical (the Live gets Plus firmwares, minus Netflix).
It’s fine being pessimistic about WD firmware development in general but don’t be a scaremonger.
:]
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