System freezes with certain files, I'm getting a spinning timer, and then nothing plays Options

[moonclamp]

Hi.

My WDTV HD is new and already has the latest firmware, and while I can play almost everything I throw at it, I'm getting an issue with what seems to be mainly large sized HD WMV files.

I try to play them, I get a spinning timer icon and a frozen display. I then try to play a previously working file and nothing happens, the icon still spins.

I've tried on a reformatted drive, a full size 3.5 drive, an unpowered 2.5 inch drive, a key drive and the results are always the same. The only way I can get it to work is by resetting the system, but that doesn't make the files play and it doesn't stop it from happening again on a different file.

I can accept codecs not working, but I'm not happy with the whole machine freezing when it tries ... so any suggestions will be gratefully received. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[WDUser]

Did you try waiting? Sometimes those large WMVs do take time to play, and of course, larger they are, more the time taken.

Possibly something with those files is messing with the player's firmware and causing it to choke on other files too. Shouldn't happen of course, but we all know WD's track record with FW releases... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) So you can try re-encoding the WMVs to AVIs etc. (which if done right will work), or you can also try the WDLXTV-G2 custom FW if you want.

But before that, did you try asking WD Support about it? Maybe you can send them one of those files (or a small piece) and get them to reproduce the issue.

[moonclamp]

Did you try waiting? Sometimes those large WMVs do take time to play, and of course, larger they are, more the time taken.

About 10 minutes ... which seemed more than reasonable. Everything else seems to be instant.

Possibly something with those files is messing with the player's firmware and causing it to choke on other files too. Shouldn't happen of course, but we all know WD's track record with FW releases... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) So you can try re-encoding the WMVs to AVIs etc. (which if done right will work), or you can also try the WDLXTV-G2 custom FW if you want.

Well converting WMVs to AVI seems like a bit of a chore ... I mean, I know it's possible, but it'll probably be just as quick to find an avi version of the file in the first place.

But before that, did you try asking WD Support about it? Maybe you can send them one of those files (or a small piece) and get them to reproduce the issue.

I haven't contacted them yet. I think I'll experiment with alternative firmware first, just to see what happens.

Thanks for your response. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)