WD TV Live boxes left bricked by firmware update
By Richard Lawler 
posted December 5th 2009 11:11PM
posted December 5th 2009 11:11PM
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
posted December 5th 2009 11:11PM
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I upgraded mine with no problem. Lucky, I guess. Now, if they'd just fix the assorted networking problems.
@joinertek
What assorted networking problems do you mean? I've had some issues with mine not connecting to stuff, but I thought it was our router and the several ethernet hubs that are attached to it...
@spikebrain It will go hours not seeing any network shares, then suddenly they show up. If you use media servers instead of network shares, they usually show up but might not reflect the actual content if you've updated files recently. It needs to refresh more often or something.
I read on some of the forums that changing your workgroup to WORKGROUP would help, and since I did that it has been a bit more reliable though still not perfect. Turns out that WORKGROUP is hard coded into the firmware for some reason.
@joinertek: Agreed! I love my WD TV Live but sharing content from anything but my DLNA NAS box can be a pain.
@joinertek
I agree Networking problems and missing DVD menu/chapter support are the problem with this box.
SWEEEEET
Dodged that bullet... I'm glad I haven't checked for any updates in a while!
@spikebrain funny because I saw the update and it's takes fair bit of time to update it so I just left it. Usually when I fire it up, I want to watch something immediately. nothing gets in the way, even a firmware update.
I almost bought one of these for christmas, is it any good? any problems?
@Hydra this was my first media player. did a ton of research and it's what's best for me since I stream most of my "media". There's also the Asus O!Play (spelt like that I think...) which is supposed to be the "best" right now as mentioned by the powers that be that know their stuff on these players.
@Hydra Other than networking problems, it's very nice. When playing from an attached USB drive it's near perfect. Plays everything I throw at it. Network is hit or miss right now, as it has problems seeing windows shares, and when talking to media servers it doesn't refresh often enough to notice you've put new files in the folders, stuff like that. I turn it off and on a lot :) but it's worth the little headaches, and will only get better.
@joinertek what about .mkv with subtitles (Yes, I'm talking about Anime!)
@(Unverified) Hecks yeah!
Anything I've thrown at it plays... You just turn the subtitles on and can even customize the font size and outline and stuff.
It'll play thing like fullmetal alchemist etc perfectly!
@spikebrain You misspelled 'hell'
@(Unverified) Haven't tried it, sorry
@Hydra I think its great. I haven't had any problems at all. I think people who have problems with their networks is because they haven't configured it correctly. If your router wants it to refresh its IP all the time, of course the poor thing might get confused *g*
whoops.
one day... somebody is going to use microsoft update as the transport vehicle to kill the universe... or at least it'll make a good script for a movie :P
I've updated mine with both firmware updates so far and had no issues at all. I think its a good device, with some minor issues that will hopefully be worked out soon.
i own 2, one upgraded fine, the other not so fine, took it back to bestbuy and exchanged for a brand new in the box..dont want no refurb.
for those with bricked ones return it to bestbuy without a receipt for a new one.
I've done both updates and for the most part all is still good. After the first update I was finally able to see all my Network Shares from my Windows 7 computer. The only problems that I have experianced is that it no longer seems to like my Hi-Def podcast from Revision3 as it seems to fast forward the video while playing the audio at a normal speed. Also It does not exactly love the AAC Audio codex as it tends to introduce some pops and noices when trying to play a file with that audio. That is kinda annoying as I haven't found a smple way to convert it to AC3. With that in mind I still like the unit a lot they just need to iron out a bug or two.
@jessese
How do you get the Revision3 podcast on the WDTV? Is the podcast stored on your network somewhere or does the WDTV have a script to pull RSS video feeds, like XBMC does?
@jessese I use a script called mkvdts2ac3 in osx. I am sure there is a windows solution. Check out gotsent.
@aubreyq
I just have i-tunes download the video to a folder that i share over the network. It works great for most of my files just not the Rev3 podcasts for right now. The sad thing is it can play other MP4 files for the most part it just doesn't seem to like theirs.
@jessese
I see. Thanks for the info!
What exactly was the update suppose to fix to begin with?
@TIMMAH the update process
If they pulled the update then why should people stay away from the update page?
There's a joke in this article... somewhere.
Okay, I just can't take this. It's been a few weeks now, and I JUST CAN"T STAND THE TIME'S ROMAN!!!
I want to read these articles, I really do, but the stupid idea to mix old and new serif styles - needs to go. it's a bad design idea, not a cool "fresh" idea.
@sevenbates
Oh, grow up. It's just styling.
@(Unverified)
Give the man a brake. He's just expressing his opinion. (I kinda agree)
@sevenbates use stylish in firefox if its really such a problem for you. There are several "fixes" out there (for example http://userstyles.org/styles/22718 ) if you don't know how to code one yourself.
And now back to topic and tell me if I should buy one for chist(mas) sake!
@sevenbates agreed TIMES ROMAN SUCKS
@Felix Fdot Oh man, thank you. You just saved engadget for me.
What did the update intend to include?
I (and many others) are still waiting for DV file support!
How on earth can you have a device that plays every file format/codec imaginable yet overlook raw, uncompressed video?
I am not about to encode 2TB worth of family VHS tapes when this WD device should play them without a problem. I mean, it's not even encoded....its just raw video in a file format that has existed (and will continue to exist) for years!
DV FILE SUPPORT SOON PLEASE!!
Okay programmers let's try this
New Requirements for a hard drive/SSD Firmware Update:
1) Load 50% of storage space with pirated movies/data/pr0n to said device.
2) Beat off to at least two videos.
3) Update firmware.
4) if it doesn't work repeat step 2. Continue until you LEARN TO EFFING PROGRAM SHIT THAT WORKS
@AM321CAN
No idea why your sound advise was voted down, but I notice that on sunday the voting is really idiotic, perhaps they should disable voting in the weekend altogether.
@Wwhat
Well I'll tell you why, see it's the weekend so all those folks who work for WD are reading the bad news about their product. not realizing that i was criticizing WD, Intel, Brother, etc all those folks who release firmware updates that brick their customers products, its ridiculous. They try it on their two perfectly brand new never before used pieces and then are like well it works it's a wrap. And then we get screwed. So yeah they're here to down rank all the negative viewpoints of their product. And they're probably a little upset with the obvious acknowledgement that their product helps piraters play their pirated stuff on their hdtv at home. Come on 10 billion dollar Pr0n business you know half those people have a shite load of pr0n! It's serious business!
piece of crap I returned mine within the 30 days, thank god
If only Dlink could be so forthcoming about it's crap Firmware. You DGL-4500 Users know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, Glad to see they acknowledged it at least, Thanks Engadget for the Warning, I love to see a Firmware threat warning Hub.
I have the mini and the TV HD. Both are terrific. Just ordered the Live to play around with. Got here yesterday - haven't taken it out of the box. Guess I'll hold off from doing the firmware updates till this gets all sorted out.
You know, more people need to know the Golden Rule of updates (and especially firmware updates):
Don't do the upgrade unless you really need it.
If you're using your box or app without any problems and don't have a burning desire for whatever new feature the upgrade might include, then DON'T DO THE UPGRADE.
It can save you so much hassle. It really can.
Note: If you really can't resist that urge to be up-to-date no matter what then at least follow the secondary rule:
Wait at least a week before you upgrade, preferably two.
By then some other sucker will have almost certainly hit any bricking issues the update could cause, and you can simply wait for the developers to put out a good release.
I upgraded and have zero issue,
WDTV Live's are amazing... love mine to bits,
Yeah mine got bricked from the update. At least Western Digital is trying to take care of it.
Crap, there's a network-enabled version now? I still have the WD TV. Well, looks like an exchange is in order!
I love the new WDTV Live and I'm one of the fortunate (few? many?) who had no problem with the recent firmware update. That being said, I can't tell any difference since doing the update and for the life of me, I have no idea what this last firmware update supposedly changed/fixed/added.
That being said, those who got bricked definitely have my sympathy. I must say I'm kinda surprised by the sudden outburst of anger towards the device in general. It's a wonderful device, some idiots at WD screwed up with this defective firmware upgrade. The device, when working, works wonderfully and the addition of network support and more powerful video processor (as compared to the 1st gen WDTV) make it a powerhouse unit and a steal at only $120 for what it does, and does well. Sure there are a few bugs with network shares, and quite frankly I bet those bugs are just as much Microsoft Windows issues as anything else. For the most part, it works great. In terms of video playback - it's primary purpose - you can't beat it.
@egloskerry, make sure you look for the WD TV "Live". Check this link for comparison between their three set top boxes.
http://store.westerndigital.com/store/wdus/en_US/DisplayCategoryProductListPage/ThemeID.1300400/parentCategoryID.13092400/categoryID.13742300
I had to look all over my store for it, but I found it. I'm trying to get the networking working now.
I updated mine and it crashed a few times after it rebooted. After restarting it a few times it stopped crashing but the menu was lagging with about a one second delay. Today I was using it and everything was fine. I just got my WD TV Live about one week ago and I'm kind of scared with how buggy it has been.
i love mine to death, even more so great, if u have more then 1 and use wireless on them and have a usb drive hooked up to one it actually shares the usb drive on ur entire network so u can pick up all the files wirelessly on the other unit just found this out last night. now i gotta scoop up a wireless N dual band router so i can do 1080p thru the entire house