Like many of our readers, we’re big fans of Western Digital’s WD TV HD Media Player ’round these parts. The thing is, the WD TV is still far from perfect, even after you install the recent 1.01.01 firmware update (and subsequent 1.01.02 release).
One of my biggest gripes with this media beast is its lack of useful video thumbnail support. Per Western Digital’s support site:
Thumbnail support for media files connected to a WD TV HD Media Player are listed in the chart below. If the media files being accessed through the WD TV HD Media Player do not meet these requirements, a thumbnail picture will not be shown for that file.
File Type Only supports ID3 and EXIF format have thumbnail mp3 Thumbnail in the id3 tag (“APIC” or “PIC” tag) wma Thumbnail in the asf format (“WM/Picture” in the extended info) m4a Thumbnail in the quicktime format (“moov/udta/meta/ilst/covr”) mp4 Thumbnail in the quicktime format (“moov/udta/meta/ilst/covr”) mp4a Thumbnail in the quicktime format (“moov/udta/meta/ilst/covr”) flac asf Thumbnail in the asf format (“WM/Picture” in the extended info) wmv Thumbnail in the asf format (“WM/Picture” in the extended info) jpg Thumbnail in the exif jpe Thumbnail in the exif jpeg Thumbnail in the exif tif Thumbnail in the exif tiff Thumbnail in the exif
Thumbnails are only supported for 4 types of video files - .m4a, .mp4, .mp4a, and .wmv. This limited video thumbnail support really hinders what is otherwise a great product, especially for those of us who prefer full quality DVD rips (home movies of course) stored in VOB files.
A quick search across the Interwebs shows that I am not alone in looking for greater video thumbnail functionality. Since the WD TV makes scrolling through (and eventually watching) hundreds of movies more convenient, image being able to do so with visuals instead of a freakin’ list that’s 20 miles long. Ideally, users would simply drop an image file (be it .png, .jpg, or .gif) in the folder where the video file(s) resides and the WD TV would show the file’s image as the movie’s thumbnail.
While we’re at it - suggesting/demanding firmware updates, that is - how ’bout making VOB files play automatically (upon selecting its parent folder) instead of having to click in a bunch of folders only to still have to select the first VOB to watch the movie?
Now it’s your turn, faithful CG readers…what features/updates/changes would you like to see (ideally they will be realistic so we can put a lil’ pressure on old WD to make some of these happen) come to Western Digital’s WD TV HD Media Player? Hit us up in the comments and we’ll see what we can do!
I haven’t gotten it to play any TS files, and I have been missing audio in a few different moder mkv files. This is kind of a showoff - travel toy for me so it’s very annoying and embarrassing when you can’t watch the movie you want to…
it has been great otherwise if you leave out the fact that the first two I bought were DOA…
For music it needs some crazy 1080p visualizations to be complete.
Also, how about some better directory browsing and organizing. A tree perhaps?
Currently when I have 200 movies on the drive, it just drops them all on me.. There are 2 averages, 700mg and 8.9gb for file size - and it takes a while to scroll through them to reach the “z”s…
It already does this… Turn off the Media Library Feature (Settings - System - Medial Library). It now supports directories! Now if we can get ISO support…
Put a Seagate drive in it.
heard a lot of gripes (true or not i don’t know) about stuttering high def play back that needs to be fixed, add ts support with dvd menu support and i’ll buy one I’m slowly decrypting my dvd collection (entire disc) with dvdfab 5 decryptor
YES! thumbnails would be great, and simple to pull off.
Perhaps a Thumbnails directory where the movies are. It already supports most image formats anyway!
It needs either wi-fi/ethernet or an internal hard drive. I’m sure they wanted to hit the market with an aggressive price, but why make something look elegant/affordable when you can’t use it without additional hardware? That’s like making the sexiest computer imaginable and then adding an external floppy drive.
I think an internal hard drive immediately dates the machine. What would it be, 1TB? In 6 months, that’s too small. The way they have it now, it can be continually upgraded!
It would be a great enhancement, and almost wipe out the market for dedicated BD players, if the WD Media Player could recognize BDMV file structures of a disc image and navigate the menus the same as an optical disc player. Ditto for ISO and VTS files structures of standard DVD disc images.
I author amateur sport, travel, community, and family event DVDs and BDs, but find that too few potential viewers will buy a BD player or that too many BD players will not accept BD-RE media. If the WD device could play the work and recognize the menus, that would be fantastic. Video playback and control can be greatly enhanced if the player recognizes the “disc” menus and the user does not need to hunt and playback stream files one by one.
The solution to playing IFO and DVD menus…with an extra 100$ you can get the Popcorn hour A110.
It does all that. Why didnt WD do this is? I even asked their support and they don’t plan this in a future release because it would be a major change to the architecture… :-(
1. It would be nice if the 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x fast forward font was larger… at least as large as the time font. It’s hard to see from far away and is very useful to be able to read when fast forwarding.
2. I am using a logitech harmony remote (550). it would be nice if there was an infrared command to “page down” or “page up” through screens of files when in folder view.
It would be a great feature if the WD media player supports the WMVHD format. Now only the standard WMV9 codec is supported, but all WMV HD movies found on newsgroups are in WMV advanced codec and not (yet) supported.
Second a menu setting for DVD Iso’s would be great. When you start a 4 episode serie on DVD, there is no way to skip to the next episode. The next button simply selects the next file on the drive.
Hope these two features will be supported soon.
Still the little rascall is absolutely a great gadget and not to mention the price!
It Rocks!!
I just bought the media player this afternoon to try out. Worked pretty good right out of the box (hook up the HDMI, plug it in, plug a usb drive in).
Was disappointed with the lack of thumbnails for the videos (I loaded a few full-rip DVD movies and a couple of .avi and some .mp3 to test with) and of course the .mp3’s didn’t have album art, so they didn’t have thumbnails either. not a biggie.
Started of with playing an .avi and it worked fine. Played a few songs and they were good (some kind of artsy visualizer would be cool to add, but not a biggie either). Played a full-ripped DVD and was a t this point a bit disappointed - I expected it to start up into the DVD menu system (like a regular DVD). Nope…it just started playing the movie (now maybe I chose the wrong .vob, but I’ll retest that). Tried skipping chapters….nope that doesn’t work - skips to the front of the movie or to the end and right out of it. It will only fast forward/reverse up to 16x. Sheeesh!! That sucks…at least a 64x or 128x!!
Maybe it was my firmware version (I’m updating it right now), but I couldn’t get it to play after reversing. It would reverse the movie, but when I pressed play, it would just skip back to where I started reversing…going to test that next.
All in all, I like the unit, but think it’s value is more around $75max (not the $130+tax I paid). I’m going to test it out over the weekend and then make my decision on returning it or not. I usually use my modified xboxes with XBMC to stream/play movies off my server - cheap, since you can pick up original xboxes for less than $75.
I’m not too concerned about the thumbnail issue, but the lack of chapter skip SUCKS.
Two things: Component out & WiFi trickle
This is a great device & love it to play home-made slide shows & youtube content… but sneaker-net to the living room each time gets old.
But, my TV lacks HDMI which means no HD when I’m at home. (looks great @ family & friends’!)
(I deliberately did not buy this for myself for this reason… but received it as a gift).
I want it to save how I choose to search. I should be able to set options for it to open on video instead of photos when I turn it on. then just have the video button to push and it would know i want to search by folder from the options i chose.
Cant they just make it so it reads my mind and knows exactly what to do?
nice one …ha ha
All my tv episodes are in folder by show and by season. It would be nice to select and watch the first episode and when it’s done, instead of going back to the folder, plays the next file in line.
It can already do that. Select the option button, click on info (the “i” icon on the right), then click on the loop icon (just to the left of the info button) 3 times and you’ll see it change in the info bar on the bottom. Then click info again to turn off the info bar, and it will automatically go to the next file in the folder.
It takes much less time to do than to describe.
Finally got mine this week. I Love it! However, it does need some improvements.
Navigating through a video is cumbersome with 2x-16x ff/rw. I love the XBMC remote functionality.
1. Remote up/down need to skip forward/back 10 minutes, & left/right need to skip forward/back 1 minute.
The “back”button needs to skip back 15 seconds. (That comes in really handy when you’re like “What did he just say?” or “Dude, that kick was frickin’ awesome!” & you wanna hear or see it again.
2. Thumbnail support for videos. Please! Something like a system selected image with user-selectable option. Make that option button more functional!
3. DVD/ISO/VOB support.
4. Ethernet/wireless USB adapter. Desktop streaming please!
It was nice to see that with 1.01.02 release they enabled embedded subs in mkv although they are not on by default…
suggestions:
1. Subtitles should be on by default in mkv’s
2. Add support for Xvids that are encoded with GMC (Global Motion Compensation) & Qpel (Quarter Pixels)
usb wireless adaptor for wireless streaming
Please encourage WesternDigital to upgrade to Windows Media 11 codec package. Many newer HD wmv won’t play through the current Windows Media 9. Trying to convert these files with the best converters is tedious, and the results I’ve gotten are pixel laden and unsatisfactorily watchable. Thanks for any consideration.
Even after the newest firmware update i’m still having issues with the WDTV accepting inputs from the remote :S
quote from the 1.01.02 release notes
Resolved Issues:
Resolved issue where WD TV would not turn back on with remote after extended period of inactivity; previously WD TV had to be unplugged and was unrecoverable with the remote
Only one thing i am really missing. The playback of WMVHD.
I would like it to be able to copy files from one device to another.
I have an HD attached permanently and I want to move files from my computer to the HD on an USB Stick or another usb drive.
As it is right now I have to detach the drive and hook it up to my computer. Which is a real drag with the external power supply.
I second that!!!!
I third that…
And Thumbnail support please!!!
I too would love that.
MP3 playback is a bit sluggish IMO. Skipping to the next song does take a milli second or so too long.
I would like to change the amount of time of the skip back/forward function
Agree they need to fix
-ff rw need to be faster
-With some files like iso have chapters in there and scene ff rw
-thumbnails
also another one with playing series’s in iso when finishing first episode on iso file (say disc 2) it stops and miss’s episode 2 and 3
I got my device this past weekend. Honestly, I’m quite impressed with the overall functionality for the exception of the following:
1. Navigation speeds need to be worked on the FF/RW function.
2. Thumbnail Support for ISO format is needed.
3. WMVHD / Possible upgrade to Windows Media 11 Codec. (Would make things easier.)
4. The last request would be to have “Full Menu Support” on all formats. (Especially ISO.)
Currently, I own a WD 1TB External 100% dedicated to my movie collection. I’ve converted all to ISO format, and have been able add most of my collection. Subtlitles work perfectly in addition. I’m a big fan of menus, deleted scenes, commentaries, bla, bla…..
It would be really sweet to have these option included on the next firmware update.
I would like to have the option of not having the video Information Panel show up on the bottom screen. If I pause my video, the panel shows up, very annoying. You must then go each time in the video toolbar and deactivate it.
great product. I sometimes get a voice and slight picture stutter every 8-10 seconds. It usually occurs after I have paused the device and then restarted. The only fix I have found is to unplug the device and start it up. Using the remote to turn off and on does not fix this issue. Also, if I choose the HDMI channel, and the device is not on, then when I switch it on, I lose the blue background and get a pink background, This discoloration then occurs in what I am playing - But still love the product. Improvements: snap picture from first screen of movie to show as icon if there is no image available.
1. Much Faster ability to FF/REW.
2. Why not customizable screen saver (e.g. photo slideshow instead of WD Logo).
3. support for AAC audio
4. subtitles (if available) on as default
5. for photo slideshow by folder - play all photos in subfolders
I would like to see plugins for 3rd party developers. I think this could make for an interesting twist to the WDTV. I too would like to see a better thumbnail approach. Also I’d like the ability to change the scrolling direction of the menu.
When playing the audio, not to have the long pause in between tracks. That’s really annoying.
How about different themes for the menu (i.e. colors, 3rd party themes, etc.) and maybe letting the user choose the background from one of their own pictures.
One feature that would probably be down the road would be internet connection. I’m really wanting something that would allow me to have weather, news, etc. Like my wii does.
Overall, I really like the product and I am working on adding in more of my videos from my laptop. I know that I will need a new hard drive soon!
Its great blog …
I will love to discuss here … I will get my player today … will demo it and post my comments here…
Personal I will would like thumbnails to be like iphone…
Is there a way that you can turn on the subtitles for the movies?
Thanks
i have a wdtv its great but i play avi’s on it they cannot be displayed with a photo or icon.
Would it be possible to put the AVI into a folder and then change the icon or photo display of that folder, so it shows what the avi is
@sean this is my concern too….
Let me know if you find a way…
@Don Nguyen
If you have subtitles file in the same folder where movie is with same name you will get subtitles.
For example:
if movie name is abc.avi
subtitle file should be named as abc.srt
I’d like to see the screensaver go on when playing mp3’s
Hi,
Agree with your comments on thumbnails (ie. dropping an image file in the directory). Also agree with playing VOBs automatically when selecting the folder.
Apart from my >>| next button not working properly (restarts the VOB), being able to view DVD menu’s is a *must* (not much fun when you have a rip of a TV series with 3-4 episodes on the disk) (I didn’t realise it didn’t support this when I bought the unit).
I’m not sure if they could add a component option by way of a Hdmi -> component cable (would be useful to some people) or supporting a USB -> Enthernet or USB wifi stick to add in networking.
Could not play old VOB TS or ISO files of home video DVD created by My DVD programm even after latest firmware upgrade. Audio on my digital receiver was very noisy. Pictures did not play slide show. Was waiting for product like this for long time. Disappointed. Had to return.
Completely agree with the original post…
Why can’t when i browse my Movie collection in folder view can it not display the picture that is in the folder as the folders art!!!!!!!! its a simple update!!. PLEASE WD PLEASE!!!!
And what about DTS sound format, we found in major Blue Ray movies? WD TV dont play DTS-ES files.
I´me very sorry about that. I bot two WD TV, one for myself and another to offer and I’me thinking about to return it.
I’me gonna see if Western Digital do something about this (firmware revision?) in the next few days, after that…
Best regards
(sorry for my bad english)
I forgot something: I can’t (or I don’t know how) to play DVD Videos files with WD TV. This is another issue that make me feel very disapointed…
Being able to change aspect ratio on-the-fly or from the option button etc. would be useful rather than going back to settings to do it.
I bought a WD My Book ext. drive to go with the WD HD Mediaplayer but when I try to copy MKV movies of a size about 4.5 G (standard size for HD movie) I get a warning that there’s not enough room on the hard drive (not true) Anyone one else have the same problem or any ideas about what to do (other than convert files to avi which kind of defeats the object of having a HD player) ?
Reformat the drive as NTFS. Fat32 does not allow files over 4gb…..on any drive..
1. Fix subtitles timings they are a little bit off( they are late)
2. The or italics on subtitles are not used they only appear as that making them anoyying.
3. Ability to sort movies by name or any other way, or avility to check off the files that you have already played.
4. Search feature to find files by name
i just got mine. i have not tried all features yet, but i would love to be able to browse the folder display thumbnail with the art.
Hi all
I really like this unit. I only have a couple of suggestions for future firmware upgrades.
I do get some stuttering/jittering on some video files and I am not sure what causes this. Some other site suggested global motion compensation or lack of it in the unit causes this?
The other issue is that when the unit is in Auto mode for video resolution my Samsung LCD keeps losing signal when using HDMI. I have the Samsung LA32A550 and LA46A550 models.
I hope some of these issues are addressed in the next firmware release.
Cheers
M
Many of us have own DV movies. I’d appreciate support for DV-AVI files.
Option during playback - adjust to screen.
Fix the stutter in playback with some files like mp4.
Play MKV files with digital surround sound.
Play simple OGM files
Have a search option for all files. what i mean with this is a funcion to search scenes with all files.
Hope they could fix all these things with a new firmware
One fatal problem: photos slideshow usually take more than 10 seconds for one picture change to another. So slow! Such a time consuming. Your will be tired just to look 2-3 pictures!
Hope a new firmware will solve this problem.