Hi @DiGiTALY-LiVE,

We haven’t made any changes, no.

Do you get an error or some kind of message that can point you in the right direction?

No, the is simply "nothing found in the online-database" - like the message you get when you write a name completely wrong.

I'am from germany and mostly look for german names. But also international Movies in English were not found (e.g. 300, Blade Runner, Hobbit, Inception...).

TMDB is the ony source I use. It's implemented in the org. FW. I have changed nothing. There is a possibility to add a new meta source (you must load a *.xml file to do so) - but I don't know how to do that.

A few weeks prior everything was found - and now nothing works anymore.

Hi @DiGiTALY-LiVE,

Unfortunately, it's kind of impossible for me to provide much extra guidance unless you can show me an error. Nothing changed on our end so I can't even begin to imagine what might be happening on your end.

Thanks. I understand that, only thing that can help here are other users trying from their WDLIVE devices and maybe other countries? From my side I can only say that there is no error - it looks like there is simply no moviedatabase conection anymore because really nothing is found. (Message_ sorry, nothing found in the database, try again with another spelling_)

Strange thing is that I also tried second option (1=themoviedb.org 2=thetvdb.com) that is installed on the device, first really nothing was found the last 2 weeks now I get some possible matches (yes, they are wrong because movies are no series) but something is found now...

Can it be that WD switched something "off"?

It could be but I really can't say. I have no knowledge of that product or implementation so...

@DiGiTALY-LiVE said:

Hello, I hope this is the correct place to ask if there is a known problem with the metadata from TMDB to the WDLIVE TV.

Yes, the player is old but I know a lot of people using ist and for movies I get metathumbs and info's all over the years. Since there is no FW update everything is working fine all the time, but now there is no single movie I can get an info since ~2 weeks! Before that everything was Okay but now there is something changed/not working?

Hi DiGiTALY-LiVE,

I am also still using WDLive unit and of last couple of weeks I have been having the same issue and not sure how to fix it. Have you had any luck fixing your issue??

Cheers

No. Sadly no. But I got a message from a friend who is also using this device and has the same issue. So - I think someone "cut a digital line" somewhere - because there is no FW Update for the device and these guys here say they don't change anything (?) someone switched off something that the metadata is not found anymore from TMDB.

In this case : Thank you WD -.-

Only thing is someone writes a code that worked again (the WD LIVE supports adding a file with new metadata source, I can be loaded if someone knows to do this (seems to be a .xml file) - **or* all movies must be "meta tagged" before by a program on a computer which gets the exakt meta data from TMDB what is needed by WDLIVE.

I tried it with a program named "Media Elch" but this only brought me actors and a few more infos - it's not easy for me using this and finally a lot of information was missing....

If someone can help - it would be fine.

@cassman111

Can you tell me in what country you're using the device?

Yeah its frustrating as there seems to be no fix as yet but I'm sure someone somewhere will work it out. I've seen old posts about updating XML files and about the API's. I use my unit regularly, I am in Australia. The TVDB worked as it updated a couple of files last night. Have you tried logging a support email with WD directly??

Where abouts are you ?

@cassman111 said:

The TVDB worked as it updated a couple of files last night.

That is maybe good news. My location is Germany. No, I don't contact WD.

Because of the fact that I only manually gets my meta data via this device I should try it again next days....

TVDB (for series/TV)

was also not working, than some data was shown again. And now it seems that this service is fully working again. It is good news for people using this feature.

Sadly nothing new about the T*M*DB connection on the device ... still nothing is found.

I’m in Australia and I’m having the same problem.

For some reason, the option to “Get content Info” (i.e. scrape film images and info from TMDB) is no longer working on WD Media Players. It appears to have stopped a few weeks ago, sometime in February 2024. TVDB is still recognized, though.

I’ve been informed that when the TMDB updates it’s API (software/program changes) then this can cause the WDTV’s “Get Content Info” function to cease working. However, it seems like TMDB hasn’t done this, based on the response here.

In the past, WDTV would release firmware updates to fix broken online info scrappers. Unfortunately, firmware update support has ended for all WDTV products.

I wish there was something that TMDB could do to fix this issue, because I’ve been using the Western Digital Media Player for years. It’s a handy device.

Here’s some further information regarding the problem: WD forum

Someone has to write a new working "Api" file I think - because WD will no longer do anything and there is thankfully the option on the device to add a new Api // Source ... but who has the knowledge to do so???

I found older scripts (no longer working) when there were problems because of an FW Update - these are short files you can upload to the device.

There has definitely been a change on TMDB as the WDTV has not had a firmware update in a decade so the device is locked and immutable.

Plus, over the years, multiple changes to TMDB have also disabled media access to the WDTV but this has always been fixed - I remember one time several years ago, TMDB had to redo the link location (or something similar) in order to get it back working. Every few years TMDB support drops from the WDTV (and is subsequently fixed) so it's quite strange that no one at TMDB remembers this scenario or pattern.

I am trying to remember exactly what was posted (the text conversation was on another forum and it was years ago), but it may have been that the WDTV used an old IP or legacy data location and TMDB created a fix to make the WDTV link to the new IP or location. Then when TMDB updated, that fix was overwritten and had to be restored, or something very similar.

One thing I do remember is that the guy stated he had to beg TMDB support each time to redo the IP/location fix to re-enable the WDTV link and that he was worried at some point they'd just stop doing it.

And it looks like we may be at the day.

Hi @Vincenzo, "TMDB Support" is and always has been me, and there's nothing I have ever done related to IP's or location.

In the past, if there was a change on the API that broke a client, of course we try our best to address that. Sometimes it's an inadvertent change, and other times it's something we pushed on purpose. What I have been saying in this thread is that we are not aware of any change during the first 2 months of this year. We haven't really worked on the API this year as our focus has been on website features for the past few quarters.

If I had a better way any way to help troubleshoot this I would but nobody can get me an error, or any kind of indication as to what the problem is. In fact, I don't even know the API key that Western Digital used all those years ago as nothing is coming up in our system under any of their domains that I can find. I am literally and completely blind at this moment.

If somebody has the knowledge to hook up some network inspection tools on their local network and could at least show me some of the traffic and requests that are being made, perhaps we could glean what the issue is.

I'll see what I can do on my end on the network side, but as I said the API change that killed the WDTV link took place many, many years ago and was apparently fixed by some kind of patch. I'm almost sure it was a pointer, data location or IP issue (again I'm just recalling what I read and it may use incorrect terminology), and from memory I'm leaning towards a change in the TMBD meta-data locations circa 2013-2016 that was patched for the WDTV.

And as you know, when there any change to any part of the system, there exists the possibility of old code being inserted that does not include the fix, so I do understand that the API itself was probably not changed, but something definitely happened at TMDB as a WDTV with the official firmware has been a totally closed system since 2014.

Hopefully some of the other thread participants can also get network sniffing and determine exactly how and where the WDTV is requesting meta-data from TMDB.

Thank you for the replies and hopefully one of us can get you the data.