WD TV – IR remote hack
IR not responding to your remote control? Or does it recognize one command as a series of commands by false?
- Don’t return it yet, just Hack it!
Warning: Do it very carefully not to avoid your warranty!
Hack by Xtr3m3
(www.avforums.com)
– Just 5 Steps –
Step 1 – Open it up
You need WD TV + some small tools to remove the case + thin antistatic reflective film + scotch tape + scissors.
Push the locks from the pointed spots from both sides and pull out the case. Be carefully not to brake the locks.
Step 2 – Cut it out
In front of the WD TV there is a power LED + IR-LED + USB LED.
In the right side there is four (4) thin reflective films.
Cut the films as sized 16 x 16 mm.
Step 3 – Kill the IR-noise
Use pieces of Scotch tape to put them together. Should be easy.
And then cut out others by leaving a bit (see the pic).
Tape it on from the top side. Do not cover the film with the tape !!!
Step 4 – Test it out
Put the black case cover on but don’t close it yet. Test out to be sure there is enough film and not too much.
Step 5 - Done
Who would imagine what you have done to this little innocent fellow.
Worked like a charm
Many thanks for that tutorial! My Samsung did completely mess up the wd tv 
What is the “thin antistatic reflective film” used and where to get it?
Aha, a regular antistatic bag from a HDD or whatnot.
Worked perfectly!
My WD TV Live had also a problem with receiving infrared from the remote. I opened the case and replaced the receiving photo-transistor. (found one in an old DVD player). It works excellent now, I dont even have to aim the remote to it. Still wondering why it got broken in the first place. Could be because I let it powered on continuously for one week(?). Or maybe it is just a hardware problem. I’ll tell you if it breaks again.
Also tried the recommended advice with the reflective films….unfortunately no luck.
I wish you a happy soldering!
We sold 1300 of these WD TV boxes. And so far we only had 39 RMA cases on them.
I dont really think its that big a problem.
Guess we could just be lucky
I have two of the WD TV Live boxes. One required the remote to be less than 6 feet from the box to work while the other required you to be only a lousy 12 inches from the set. Turns out it’s that small 1 1/2″ by 1/2″ oblong plastic cover for the LEDs (w/ the Power and USB icons) that’s causing the problem. Once I removed those (you have to pop off the cover as described above), everything worked fine. Anyone know if there’s a way to get replacement covers that fix this problem? Before I had to aim the remote perfectly at the unit, now I can be across the room aiming anywhere (i.e. much better.)
Thanks.