Digital Media players

[rocks911]

I recommended the WD TV Live HD to a friend to play his digital content directly from an external HDD. He purchased the unit, updated the firmware, plugged in his 1Tb external HDD and started watching. Unfortunately the video would freeze and the only way to get it started again was to shut the unit down and start it again, only to have it mess up again. My friend said that he gets about 10 minutes into a video and it freezes, AVI's and MKV's both do this. I have the exact files he is trying to play and while they play fine through my WD TV Live HD through the CAT cable, they freeze when played through his USB on the WD TV Live HD. My friend says that the unit gets extermely hot very quickly and maybe thats part of the problem (mine doesnt get hot at all) and maybe what causes it to freeze

So a couple of questions come to mind:
Has anybody else experienced this?
Is there something that needs "tweaking" in settings to get this to work as it is supposed to?
Is there a more reliable unit/manufacturer that sells a unit that can play back a broad range of content through a USB?

Maybe a DVD player has usb support these days?

 

[americanaudiophile]

I have used 3 of these with no issues. He should be able to exchange it for a working unit.