WDTV Live sees UPnP server and network shares, but won't open them

Community Archives WD TV Live Networking
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I just received my new WD TV Live and, although it can see my uPnP server, it gives the following error message when I try to enter it:
  “There was a problem connecting to the network. The device could not connect to the network.”

The thing that I find very odd is that it IS seeing the folders and files.  If I click the enter button on the remote really quickly, it’ll go through the directories and I can see thumbnails for photos pop up, but after about 3 seconds, I get the error.  The result is similar when I try to access the NAS via a network share.  
  “There is no media in the current folder.”

It’s true, there are no media files in the root- but there are in the directories within the root.  This is not a problem when trying to access my laptop (works fine).

I already tried changing my workgroup name to WORKGROUP and that did not help.  The device is hard wired to the router.  The uPnP server/network share are through my router (Asus WL500gp V2).  The files are stored on a USB hard disk connected to the router.  I actually have another media streamer (EGreat m34a) and it works OK with that (OK being a relative term… it is so unreliable which is why I bought this one).  There are not really any settings to configure with the UPnP server- it’s on or it’s off…

Any suggestions of things to try?

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Welcome to the forums.

Let’s stick with net shares (I’m not a huge fan of media servers).  It’s okay that your root directories don’t have any playable files in them (my NAS doesn’t either).  You ought to be able to see those shares and drill down into the media folders. 

Did you happen to upgrade the firmware on the Live?  If you did, you will need to completely reset the unit back to factory conditions (which also means resetting your network settings, your shares, etc.)  If you didn’t, you might want to try updating the firmware (and then resetting as above).  We can talk more after that.

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Thanks for your response. 

I tried resetting the system and now the network shares work.  The UPnP server still doesn’t, but I can live with that.  It’s pretty quick to navigate and more reliable than my other streamer (popcornhour knock off- Egreat).  If I can figure out how to get it to play playlists or shuffle on recursive directories, I’d be really happy, but I’m satisfied with how it’s working now.

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G-lenn wrote:

Thanks for your response. 

 

I tried resetting the system and now the network shares work.  The UPnP server still doesn’t, but I can live with that.  It’s pretty quick to navigate and more reliable than my other streamer (popcornhour knock off- Egreat).  If I can figure out how to get it to play playlists or shuffle on recursive directories, I’d be really happy, but I’m satisfied with how it’s working now.

If you are satisfied then please press the solved button.

With regard to playlists you can use something like Playlist Creator to make a playlist easily.

Unfortunately using network shares you cannot shuffle on directories. A workaround would be to create a full playlist and shuffle that. With Playlist creator you can also combine existing playlists into one big list.

http://www.oddgravity.de/app-opc.php

(go to the bottom of the screen to download the program.)

Go to settings, playlist details, ensure saving playlist entries is set to ‘relative’

If you have a large number of files its quicker to untick readout data from tags in extended info setting.

click add folder on right hand side - click add folder recursively - click ok.

all files in all your folders will be added.

right click on files box and select shuffle playlist items

add save location on the same disc as the files

select pls or m3u list (I had a problem with pls but m3u was OK)

name playlist and press create. (with nearly 8000 mp3 files it took under 10secs to create list)

Find the playlist in network shares - click enter - WAIT until it displays the files in the list. With my wireless setup it took some time to load up the list. All your shuffled files will be displayed and it is a simple matter to play them.

Don’t use the WDTV shuffle as it creates a hung-up while it re-reads and shuffles the list.