talk about regret - not only did i buy the WDTV Gen 1 (which they’ve now stopped supporting and updating), but I also fell hook, line, and sinker for the WDTV Live, thinking that it would be better than the original.
Both units are basically useless due to audio sync issues - so for my $230+ spent, I can play Pandora on my TV.
Thanks WD - I won’t fall for your ■■■■ again!
Now that there are so many options out there for a media streamer - I cannot imagine why ANYBODY would buy one from WD . . .
hello,
I regret buying this mediaplayer ,DTS not supported ,audio sometimes noisely !
and as I 'm wondering no longer firmware update !
I 'm going to resell it !!!
Yes I regret to buy this WD product
I cant play DV avi files
It has sound problem over HDMI
Nope. I picked up the Gen 2 unit at Amazon.com for $79.95 and a 1 meter long HDMI cable for $3 extra.
It works out of the box and plays my iPod movies great and plays ISO’s of my DVDs (main title only, no menus) perfectly with multiple sound options.
I’m now going back through my DVD collection and ripping them to ISOs using Slysoft’s AnyDVD and CloneDVD2 and ripping them to a WD Elemets 2 TB drive (NTFS formatted).
Pretty cool box, no problems, I’m happy.
EJK88 wrote:
Nope. I picked up the Gen 2 unit at Amazon.com for $79.95 and a 1 meter long HDMI cable for $3 extra.
It works out of the box and plays my iPod movies great and plays ISO’s of my DVDs (main title only, no menus) perfectly with multiple sound options.
I’m now going back through my DVD collection and ripping them to ISOs using Slysoft’s AnyDVD and CloneDVD2 and ripping them to a WD Elemets 2 TB drive (NTFS formatted).
Pretty cool box, no problems, I’m happy.
As long you don’t use AAC audios, everything is going to be ok…
No regrets here! Had mine (Gen1) for about a year now and it works great. There were definite growing pains don’t get me wrong. I only play ISO, MKV and M2TS video files that range from 2GB - 45GB in size. It’s hooked up to a 1TB & 2TB drive.
To ensure it runs smoothly here’s what I do:
- Eject drive(s) always when discounting from the player or unplug player first then disconnect the drive(s).
- Turn player on first (only if not plugged in already) before connecting or powering up the drive(s).
- Delete “.wd_tv” folder off the drive(s) every time new media is added or removed.
If response is slow or not all:
Seems like a lot maintenance, but I figure for what I paid for it’s not a big deal.
jwdtvc wrote:
Seems like a lot maintenance, but I figure for what I paid for it’s not a big deal.
No, that is a lot of maintenance.There’s no way I’m going to waste the time deleting the .wd_tv folder everytime I add something just because their software is so buggy.
Truthfully, I’m more concerned about the short life cycle of WD products; end-of-life’ing something quickly implies they are more interested in short-term sales than long-term customers, so yeah, I’m looking for a change.
Anyone know an external forum that honestly discusses all brands of set-top players (wonder why we still call 'em that, since nothing fits on top of a flat screen?)? It is kinda rude to discuss other players here, so I’d like to find a board somewhere on the Net where honest reviews and discussions are routine.
Don’t get me started 
Such a great little piece of kit that could dominate the main stream market if only the support was still there.
it needs so little to shine:
That probably is all it needs, the complexity of the infinite coding methods means you will never please everyone but sorting the above would appease most.
Unfortunately WD seem to be running around like headless Chickens bringing out one new product revision after another and never getting any to work sufficiently to retain brand loyalty. In the meantime numerous other companies are working on their rival players and far simpler product range.
We are now at a place where WD have 4 versions of their player on sale, 1 discontinued and at least 2 unofficial updates in t he form of these power off chips.
In all we must have 7 or more variants floating around in the open which is just too many. Ditch the MINI and merge the 2 Live products and get it down to 2 players, the WDTV HD and the LIVE and fully support them.
What you’re proposing at the end is exactly what you’re ranting against in the beginning.
You’re proposing ending support for the WDTV Live, and WDTV Mini. At the beginning you’re lamenting the fact that Support has ended for the WDTV HD Gen1.
We were told earlier by WD that the Live+ can’t be sold outside North American markets (and as far as I know, they aren’t) due to restrictions imposed by content providers like NetFlix. So, if ending support for the Live means those markets can’t have ANYTHING, that wouldn’t make any sense.
Wrong on so many counts.
WDTV Mini: Waste of space, backwards looking and limited appeal / future.
WDTV Gen1: Yep, annoyed it was unsupported so quickly BUT it was so moving on…
WDTV Gen2: Mainstream for the non geeks and most likely to break into the sector of replacing disc based players, learn from the previous model and add features after getting it doing everything the previous model did as well as it did them. Listen to community feedback and put a timetable in place to action firmware upgrades.
WDTV Live & +: As far as I can see the reasons for US only on the “+” is the online service it can access…why not just enable that in US destined products and if it later goes global add it in then as a feature NOT a seperate device.
As for ranting, i’m afraid that it’s obvious from WD’s actions to date that unless people pipe up they will continue to ignore their customers…ultimately to their loss. Sometimes I suspect you work for WD :smileyvery-happy:
Angry-Button wrote:
Wrong on so many counts.
… yet you didn’t address a single point I made, you just brought up new ones.
Are you sure you don’t work for WD !, I feel I have responded to your points but I’m not going to be draw into a point by point response.
In summary you do NOT need to bring out a new and seperate product as a kneejerk reaction to region specific services or competitor devices features if you do your homework properly in the R&D stages. It is often cheaper to build in redundancy across a large volume of devices than run several product lines in parallel.
Mini could be done away with simply as the WDTV HD could be made to do the job of both units and to be honest the cost of designing the Mini and marketing it etc would probably have been better spent on profit margin reduction on the WDTV HD to get its RRP down to make it even more competitive.
Likewise the “+” had the future options for the device been given a little more thought before launch it would have been better to make all Lives at the “+” spec with those ear-marked for other markets having the extra feature deactivated. Then you only fabricate the one unit and keep costs down in both manufacturing and support etc.
It’s too late now as they’ve rolled out all these versions which is why we are at this place where nobody seems to have a clue when if at all they will get feature and firmware updates. And my money is still on consilidation of the range leading to more disgruntled customers.
No, I don’t work for WD. ;)
However, I’ve been around in the forum a while, and I remember the history that’s been discussed ad-nauseam in the Live/Live+ forum.
I know you’re frustrated, but you are also being unrealistic.
But I’m still staying on your original post that says that you are ticked that WD ended support for a product you bought. And later you suggest ending support for other products, basically suggesting they do more of what makes you upset in the first place.
If, instead, you mean (using the Mini as an example) that the Mini should never have existed in the first place, and that only the WDTV HD should have been released, then that’s a different point altogether. Both devices were released about the same time.
In that case, I don’t think you understand the point of product differentiation. What would be the business advantage to selling ONLY an HD product to a customer base that didn’t want HD, and didn’t want the $30 higher retail price?
Now as to the Live versus Live+, from what I can tell, the Live was designed before the Sigma Chipset that supports the additional security even existed, but I’m not sure because Sigma doesn’t have timelines on their website. If they had waited, based on Sigma’s roadmap, until it was available, they would have missed the boat. Bunches of other companies were releasing HD boxes with network capabilities around the same time.
The Live+ started shipping in June, the Live was shipping in October the year before. It’s quite possible that NETFLIX, which mandates the security requirements, didn’t have that finalized until after the Live’s design was locked in.
Given the design time, I would bet the hardware was “locked in” 6 to 12 months before shipping.
But either way, are you suggesting they should have WAITED nine months to release ONLY the Live+?
I can understand why you’re frustrated, but I don’t think you truly appreciate the hardware manufacturing process. This exists in EVERY technical product. Computers… TV… Video Games… everything. My computer was obsolete the day I bought it. Do I cry about it? No. That’s just the way it is in today’s super fast-paced world.
Given a totally different example in the same vein; let’s think about Hard Drives. Why did Seagate release 2 TB drives when a 3TB was on the way year later? Why didn’t they wait?
In short…
Really successful companies and products have life spans of several years because they plan what it should and may be called upon to do and market it. Secondly they support it end of.
Hard drives are totally different as the end uses are infinate.
Mini was silly if cheap. Why sell HD if not wanted…mmmm let me see now, oh yes you can’t buy a CRT TV anywhere now can you. Take a look on Ebay, Mini can’t be given away and barely any retailers here bother. Selling a product with HD is an obvious future proofing of the device unless you live in a field. As for “only HD” I didn’t say that I said make it cover both jobs and put the R&D, Design all other costs for the Mini towards RRP of the “proper WDTV”
The Live is never going to sell to the 30+ home owner market with cash to spend as it’s just to techie to set up the router & NAS etc etc. and as for Live services, the sort of person who’d buy a live will no doubt invest in higher end TV’s all of which are now starting to ship with internet TV services built in so it will be a niche market if the very device you intend to hook your live to can do it anyway.
lets ytake my point in case:
Many many many people in the 30+ bracket really hate the ugly and space taking DVD & Blu-Ray collections that build up over the years. All that HATE tech and fear it have embraced my Gen1. Why? simple, once it’s loaded up with your movies you just stuff it away under the TV instead of your disc player and in just 3 button presses you’ve got a lovely library on screen that a total nonce can use. bam your watching films before you know it and the ugly ase & disc are banished to the loft. They love it, simple fire and forget tech at a great price. As soon as you have to start rescanning drives or linking over networks they hate it…it’s niche.
What i’m getting at more the point is you just can’t go on releasing a new product for every new facet that presents itself, pick your sector and own it, master it and support it. Should they have waited…maybe they shouldn’t have bothered at all.
If i’m blowing steam then why are there soooo many post moaning about it.
I’m not p****ed at the withdrawing of support for gen one, it’s a shame but it was a learning product a true Gen1 BUT once they got the Gen 2 out it should have been sorted 100% before being let loose on the public.
At the end of the day up to buying my Gen2 I was a person who was going to equip all my TV’s with these and set up numerous relatives / friends etc. Now I’m waiting for someone else to bring out a unit that does these simple tasks and supports it and my money is going their way. That’s the cold hard fact.
If we must talk HDD’s why did WD have to go and FORCE their backup software on us…again a feature I and several would wish wasn’t present and stealing valuble bytes of space. Sure i’ve loaded the firmware to disable it but “A” that was a pain and beyound your typical punters abilities and “B” Windows 7 still keeps pointing out it hasn’t got a driver for the annoying virtual CD they put said software on.
To close I won’t be buying anymore WD products until I see a decent level of support. If they do begin to adress peoples issues I’d be happy to come back.
Anyway there’s probably loads of holes in the logic of this RANT as it keeps rolling so I’m going to sign off with the following plea to WD:
Please can you build in user choice on power saving modes.
Add PGS subs for m2ts rips
Yes,i am regretting getting the WDTV HD Media Player Gen 2.
My player is on Firmware version 1.01.79
P/N WDBABG0000NBK - 01
Model WDBABG0000NBK - EESN
I was going to try and get movie screens to show up on my device, but i think that requires soome custom fiirware updates? Does the fact that i have this newer version of the player i am blocked from making any changes to the media player? Has support for the Gen 2 media player been discontinued?
Tipp4Liam wrote:
Yes,i am regretting getting the WDTV HD Media Player Gen 2.
My player is on Firmware version 1.01.79
P/N WDBABG0000NBK - 01
Model WDBABG0000NBK - EESN
I was going to try and get movie screens to show up on my device, but i think that requires soome custom fiirware updates? Does the fact that i have this newer version of the player i am blocked from making any changes to the media player? Has support for the Gen 2 media player been discontinued?
I think you may need a custom firmware to do movie sheets so perhaps have a poke around on “WDTV Forum” don’t expect too many answers on there now though as it’s all a bit quiet. But you never know., there’s definately a section on Homebrew firmware. I doubt you’re blocked, I’m sure it will take any Homebrew written for it (Gen2) or a newer legit one if it EVER HAPPENS ! It just won’t let you put the older ones on that I can tell.
As for support…I gave up waiting, I and many have been requesting PGS subtitle support for this player to no avail so far. Iron Man, District 9 & Avatar are just a few examples of new films that have forced subtitles in brief sections. In the end I made a .SRT file to get the subs but it’s a hassle to do (but works fine when done) but we shouldn’t have to do WD’s job for them!
Thanks for the reply AB,
I have tried to upgrade with B-Rads (1.01.77_B-RAD.CC_WDLXTV_G2-0.4.1.9-6) on my WD TV HD (Gen 2). But the player is not showing up the firmware upgrade icon, which is a massive pain in the butt. Perhaps i am doing it wrong? How many files should be on the memory stick? I have about 9. A folder is created when i connect the memory stick to the media player called .wd_tv inside i find two files. One called wdtv.cas and the wdtv.cas.md5.
I am sorry if this is just jibberish, i just want to get it sorted. The forum does seem to have gone very quiet.
If your device shipped with 1.0.1.79, then you have different hardware (it now has an MCU in the hardware that controls power for EuP certification.) The 1.0.77 B-RAD code may not function on it.
The .wd-tv folder you see is just the media library files that’s compiled any time you plug USB storage into the box.
Thanks Tony, i left a message on B-rads website under the username Éamonn
http://b-rad.cc/1158/heads-up-wdtv-g2-wdtv-live/comment-page-2/#comment-19637
If anyone else has the same problem i am having that link could help if i get an answer from B-rad. Heres hoping.
Gotta agree with Tony on this one, that firmware you tried has “.77” in it’s title so your device who’s first and to date only firmware starts at .79 will ignore it .
| Forums | News and Announcements | Register | Help | Forum Guidelines |
Copyright © 2021 Western Digital Technologies, Inc. All rights
reserved.
|
Trademarks
|
Privacy
|
Community Terms of Service
|
Site Terms of Use
|
Copyright
|
Contact WD
|