Mid-May estimated release date for the upcoming firmware

[rddrgn]

Hi to all, let me provocate WD: why don't you open all the stuff to external coders like in the past? Maybe someone will solve some problems or will focus on important features!

[Strider_Nemesis]

TonyPh12345, it's true that proper software development takes time, but firmware releases are usually put into fast development cycles because their main purpose is supposed to be the resolution of issues. That is why you need very capable people and effective methodologies, or you will end up taking a lot of time to fix serious bugs and/or introducing more and more bugs with each release. WDC is guilty of both.

Let's not forget here that you reported the Netflix bug back on October, and it wasn't until the issue exploded in the previous couple of months that _apparently_ WDC started putting special attention to it. Either bad decisions have been made here, or something is seriously amiss with the way these firmware updates are being developed.

As I stated in my previous post, longer firmware development cycles wouldn't be that bad, but right now users are complaining a lot about bugs that were discovered and reported months ago. The fact that WDC hasn't fixed those bugs has nothing to do with developing software properly or not, as enough time has passed since those issues were discovered.

If you ask me, I would choose to have 3-month development cycles instead of the 1.5-month ones we've been having, if that meant that new firmware releases are going to be tested to the point of guaranteeing that there will be a lot less serious bugs (we all know that eliminating all bugs is impossible, especially minor ones).

EDIT: And just so nobody assumes otherwise, I do like my SMP a lot. What I don't like is the way WDC is doing things right now. As somebody else said in this thread, the current state is unacceptable.

[Techflaws]

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vango44 wrote:

How do they not put together a quick release to at least stop the player from re-booting randomly?

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Probably cause it's not easy to reproduce. I've been through all (beta) firmwares since day one, none of which made my player reboot randomly.

[Dikkiedikdik]

Mid-May is fine for me. I have no problems at all. I can play antyhing I like (including video_ts and bluray's) from my synology nas, youtube is working perfect, I never have reboots.

When I read this forum I get the idea that everyone has problems except myself.

[vango44]

@ Techflaws

Assuming you are on the latest 1.07, what country is your SMP from and what device (if any) do you have attached?

Are you using the "media library"  and "content scraping" ?

Do you use the "gallery" view to navigate your videos/ photos?

The gallery view seems to be biggest factor causing issues for me but others claim it reboots in other view modes as well. I've tried a lot of different things including 2 different hdd's (WD Passport & Seagate USB3) and I can't believe we haven't figured this out yet.

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Dikkiedikdik wrote:

Mid-May is fine for me. I have no problems at all. I can play antyhing I like (including video_ts and bluray's) from my synology nas, youtube is working perfect, I never have reboots.

When I read this forum I get the idea that everyone has problems except myself.

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@ Dikkiedikdik

Yes, you're the only one with a working player....so why the heck are you wasting your time in this forum? You could be watching videos!!! 

[RugerRedhawk]

I don't know, the comment said: 

"

The Intermittent Logout issue has been identified and resolved.  We will release a fix soon for this issue.

"

Are they really going to wait until mid may to release a fix that they claim to have fully resolved? I am getting closer to just buying a roku and running a plex server. 

[DCB804]

"PROPER software development"...that's pretty funny, the whole reason WD is in this predicament is because they don't. 

I hope they take as long as they need and test like crazy.

[Strider_Nemesis]

That's exactly TonyPh12345's point. That if they want to start developing software properly, they need to take more time testing their firmware upgrades, thus increasing the duration of the cycle.

I, on the other hand, argue that the time they usually take to release a firmware upgrade (one and a half months) would be enough if they made better decisions (prioritizing fixing before adding), and had more effective developers and methodologies (whichever is at fault right now).

The previous should apply especially when user complaints call for an immediate response, thanks to the severity of the issue. We really can't ignore the fact that, for instance, the Netflix Credentials bug was reported back on October.

Once you calm your users, you can start adding newer features to the firmware, even if it means that the development cycle will take longer.

[Techflaws]

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vango44 wrote:

@ Techflaws

Assuming you are on the latest 1.07, what country is your SMP from and what device (if any) do you have attached?

Are you using the "media library"  and "content scraping" ?

Do you use the "gallery" view to navigate your videos/ photos?

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With 1.07.18 I had no reboots on my  US model and a WD passport 750 GB attached to the back port. Media library is off  and I don't watch photos (yet); BTW, you hadn't mentioned these as possible factors in your inital post in this thread.

[vango44]

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Techflaws wrote:

 ....BTW, you hadn't mentioned these as possible factors in your inital post in this thread.

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Well, I'm not entirely sure what the factors are unfortunately. As I said, I've been on 1.05 for a while now since I gave up on testing 1.07 and my wife refused to use it anymore in that state.

Before I rolled back, I did figure out that if I didn't use "gallery" view I could last a day or 2 with no reboots. But since it still wasn't completely solid and negated the advantages of viewing the meta-data and backdrops, I rolled back.

Most people reporting the reboots are saying it happens with some kind of image viewing such as with photos or while navigating with gallery (backdrop photos) view enabled. But it doesn't seem to be 100% of the issue based on some conflicting reports.

I assume this is the reason it's taking WD longer to issue a fix.