As you may know, I love my WDTV. While not the most functional nor flashiest of the streaming set top boxes, it does what it does for me very well. Well enough that my 4 year-old is now able to select what he wants to watch from a list by himself. If that isn't a testimony of ease-of-use, I don't know what is.
I had two surprises recently with the WDTV box. The first was when I restarted it. Well, I accidentally pushed the power button to turn it off. When it came back up, it asked me whether I wanted to update the firmware. Now that was a pleasant surprise. The WDTV's warranty was over as it has been over a year. So to see a new update being offered was nice. Restores my faith a bit in companies that stand behind their good products in our increasingly disposable world. I reckon they wanted to update codec and probably get rid of the MediaFly option in the Internet section. However, I really wanted to watch something so I said no, knowing that I could do it manually at a later date.
Some days later I decided to update the WDTV's firmware. But this time, when I tried doing it manually, it said that it didn't find any updated firmware. I was upset and thought there was something wrong with the WDTV box. Worse still was the thought that whatever was wrong with it, required the new firmware to fix it.
I checked WD's website and found that a newer firmware was listed as being available. So that meant there was something else that was happening. But on some pages, it listed that my current firmware was the most updated version. I was confused. Since Western Digital does make several variants of the box for different reasons, I reckon that I had just looked at it wrong. So I went back to the page where the newer firmware was listed and downloaded it. I read up on how to do a manual update. But every where there was a description of how to do it, there was a strong suggestion to do it automatically.
How can I do what's right with so many conflicting messages?
The best thing I figured was to be safe and figure out a way to downgrade the firmware just in case anything happens. So I went to the pages that said that my current firmware version was the most recent. But when I clicked on the link to download the firmware, it downloaded the most recent one! After hunting through several forums, I finally found the correct link and downloaded it. But there were differing instructions on how to downgrade the firmware. There were also lots of stories of WDTV boxes becoming permanently damaged. So, I decided to be extra careful and read everything I could on it. You don't want to have to explain to a 4 year-old why he can't watch his shows.
After an hour of reading and googling, I came across this discussion thread. It basically says, "Don't upgrade the firmware. It'll cause more problems than it fixes." (My second surprise). And that was the source of the confusion. WD were probably listening to their customers and decided to halt the roll-out of the firmware.
I am angry? Upset a bit yes. But I appreciate Western Digital's quick reaction to reports of problems. Some companies would just go, 'wait for the next upgrade to fix it'. And that is wrong. Especially in a consumer electronic product. This bodes well for Western Digital. It makes me confident in recommending the WDTV to others and maybe buy the next version.
Some days later I decided to update the WDTV's firmware. But this time, when I tried doing it manually, it said that it didn't find any updated firmware. I was upset and thought there was something wrong with the WDTV box. Worse still was the thought that whatever was wrong with it, required the new firmware to fix it.
I checked WD's website and found that a newer firmware was listed as being available. So that meant there was something else that was happening. But on some pages, it listed that my current firmware was the most updated version. I was confused. Since Western Digital does make several variants of the box for different reasons, I reckon that I had just looked at it wrong. So I went back to the page where the newer firmware was listed and downloaded it. I read up on how to do a manual update. But every where there was a description of how to do it, there was a strong suggestion to do it automatically.
How can I do what's right with so many conflicting messages?
The best thing I figured was to be safe and figure out a way to downgrade the firmware just in case anything happens. So I went to the pages that said that my current firmware version was the most recent. But when I clicked on the link to download the firmware, it downloaded the most recent one! After hunting through several forums, I finally found the correct link and downloaded it. But there were differing instructions on how to downgrade the firmware. There were also lots of stories of WDTV boxes becoming permanently damaged. So, I decided to be extra careful and read everything I could on it. You don't want to have to explain to a 4 year-old why he can't watch his shows.
After an hour of reading and googling, I came across this discussion thread. It basically says, "Don't upgrade the firmware. It'll cause more problems than it fixes." (My second surprise). And that was the source of the confusion. WD were probably listening to their customers and decided to halt the roll-out of the firmware.
I am angry? Upset a bit yes. But I appreciate Western Digital's quick reaction to reports of problems. Some companies would just go, 'wait for the next upgrade to fix it'. And that is wrong. Especially in a consumer electronic product. This bodes well for Western Digital. It makes me confident in recommending the WDTV to others and maybe buy the next version.
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