WD TV Live Firmware Pre-release Update (3/17/10)

[Bill_S]

Attention WD TV Live Users,
 

We are pleased to offer prerelease WD TV product updates to make your viewing experience better than ever.  We are limiting this to the first few hundred people who download it.  Feel free to install it, but be aware this is beta firmware that we are still testing, so use it at your own risk.

Please post your experiences to this thread.  Do not contact customer support for issues found with this firmware.

WD TV Live Firmware Pre-release Update

http://www.wdc.com/wdtvlive_prerelease/

[Wayne]

It's about time!!!! 

[drabisan]

Let's see it working!

Release notes from webpage are more generous than the one in PDF file.

[aljimenez]

Installed and tested briefly. It appears that the fast-forward problem I had is no longer there. I like the moving of subtitles up and down. Only remaining thing is to be able to change the color, and going to specific time in a movie (my old Mediagates MG 35 and MG 350 had this); yes I know this is already in the idea thread and I have already voted for it...  Al

[mixon]

The multi-language keyboard input is not working properly.

The main language on the unit is set to English for UI.

The additional character set support is set to Cyrilic Windwos -125

When I try to search for a file i found next issues:

1)  The option to select different language for the input is only available on every other character (i.e. A has option, B does not, C has it, etc)

2) Pressing on option button shows selection of characters however which character set is used to display this characters? This characters are not in russian or english characters.

[TNIYM]

Seems like theres a Samba fix, perhaps I'll give it a second go before I return the device.

[marzoqi]

this beta is better than the one before , mkv bug really has been fixed , sub size and up/down movement works flawlessly , the only thing that needs to be fixed is the MP4 issue , utube works fine too , this update can added as full update and waiting for the next one

[ragboy]

@marzoqi

I am having MP4 issues, before I wax on, can you give me a link to the MP4 issue you are referring to?

[ragboy]

So I have been scratching my head, with 1.01.24, some MP4s just didn't work. Same as older mp4s, I couldn't figure out why these new ones were not working. Was it a newer version of Subler? Handbrake? When I took the mp4, and changed extension to m4v, it worked, but now I couldn't seek. Now m4v will seek, but it causes the files that were not recognized as mp4 in 1.01.24 to not be recognized in this new release. So the work around to change to m4v no longer works. I am guessing that changing the extension triggered a change to how the device plays, and the new release, makes both mp4 and m4v work as mp4 did on previous.

Now the good news is that this pissed me off enough to play with it, and I found what the issue is. Normally when I create an mp4, I use subler or libmp4v2 CLI tools, make my adjustments, then optimze, then copy to my media server. For some reason, it is the optimizing that is causing the problem on WDTVLIVE. So if I use subler or libmp4v2 and create an mp4, then optimize, wdlivetv will not recognize. If I optimize, then make some minor change, like change a NAME on a track, then save, wdlivetv now recognizes it fine. I even went to an older version of libmp4v2 to see if it solves the issue, and it doesn't. So not sure how my older mp4s still work, since I optimized everything as the last step before.

Either way, editing a trackname, or just doing SAVE in subler as the last action in the mp4, and it works. If you optimize last, it does not. I am guessing this is NOT an issue with libmp4v2, which is at the core of subler, but something going on in the wdlivetv device that needs to be fixed. Since these mp4s work perfect in QT, and PS3, and many other apps and devices.

For added detail, the offending action can be done on command line, with this:

mp4file --optimize myvideo.mp4

Or using optimize in an app like subler, and many others that use libmp4v2 as its core for the optimize function.

Hope that helps.

One last note, the AAC audio drop outs are definitely better, much better, but still exist.

[whattheheck]

Well, I don't like that arrows up and down adjust the placement of subtitles - I need those buttons for skipping back and forth in the file - of course the problem is there aren't enough keys on the remote. So i guess i'm going to add the 'define new keys' suggestion.

Mkvs seem to play fairly quickly (still take a few seconds to mull them over) but a 3 second pause i suppose is something you can live with.

And it still CAN NOT play the mp4 HDs from revision 3 in correct sync (the video seems to be playing at thrice the speed)