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RoyB
Legend

I know Thomas Hardy is dead; but why have you buried him?

There was a recent programme about Thomas Hardy on Sky Arts, which I recorded on my YouView box. And I’m glad I did, because finding it and watching it on Now is almost impossible.

 

We have quite an investment in Thomas Hardy, because after we came down to visit his cottage, we found the area so lovely that we moved here, and now live just a few miles from the town that Hardy called Casterbridge. So naturally, we were interested in the programme.

 

I don’t know if anyone else will ever chance upon it, though, unless Now fix this mess 😢

 

On Now on my LG TV:-

 

Put Hardy in the Search; nothing.
Put Thomas in the Search; get Thomas the naffing Tank Engine.

 

But the programme is there, and here’s how you find it from the Home Page:-

5 clicks down to Entertainment ( You have to know Sky Arts is under Entertainment, though that is a reasonable guess)

1 click to get in

15 clicks down to Channels

1 click to get in (don’t scroll across looking for the channel, as you will only come to another View All)

12 clicks down to Sky Arts (again don’t scroll across, as you will only get to another View All)

1 click to get in

325 clicks to get to the Hardy programme, 649 of 680. Though you can at least just hold on to the Down Arrow key here, it still has to unnecessarily show you the hero screen for every programme you pass over on the way, so it’s a leisurely journey 😢

 

(It’s slightly easier on the iPad, as you get the programmes in most recent order, and this is the most recent one, but I’m not going to cast it just for that).

 

But it’s no different from the LG TV on my Roku Express 4K, except that that does at least say that the third (why third?) icon on the first row on the Home Screen is the TV Guide, something the LG version of the app hides from you.

 

And it’s not just the Hardy programme that isn’t in the Search; it’s most, but not all, Sky Arts programmes.

 

Why?

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
17 REPLIES 17
RoyB
Legend

@schnapps 

 

Ah yes, and you will even find a couple of postings from me in that thread. And with hindsight, clear indications of sort issues from device to device; but so tangled up with the multiple folders issues that it was hard to discern the wood from the trees.

 

I think this one-programme issue of mine brings out the sort issues free of any other complications. But who do we talk to to get this fixed?


I don’t want it to become a Hardy perennial (pun intended).

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

@RoyB wrote:

@schnapps 

 

I think this one-programme issue of mine brings out the sort issues free of any other complications. But who do we talk to to get this fixed?




Hi @RoyB 

 

Because it's sort of content related, ie folders all jumbled up, search function doesn't work the same across all platforms etc.

 

Then i would tag @Izzie-T from the NOW Content Team where she could possibly pass this information and observations contained in this thread to the relevant concerned NOW Tech Departments.

Izzie-T
NOW Team Member
NOW Team Member

Hi @schnapps @RoyB @Saint1976 

 

Sorry I am a bit confused about the query here.

 

Are you looking for this content, please? 

Spoiler
Thomas Hardy: Fate, Exclusion And Tragedy

https://www.nowtv.com/gb/watch/home/asset/thomas-hardy-fate-exclusion-and-tragedy-2021/A5EK4nmp9qb5b...

 

In which I understand that this might have fallen into the unsearchable issue as it is not a series. I would raise this case, however I must let you know that the fix and investigation has gone on for sometimes, no update yet. 

 

If it is the Gold Rush issue, we won't be having further comment as discovery already left the platform. 

 

Please let me know if I misunderstood the message. 

 

Thank you.


*Please note that I am only able to look into on content related queries, any account, offer, etc related, please contact our customer team or live chat for help. Thank you.

 

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @Izzie-T 

 

My main gripe is that the Entertainment channel folders are either in order of Recently Added or A-Z alphabetical order and it varies from channel to channel with no consistency or uniform pattern across all Entertainment channel folders (i know i have brought this up before, so sorry to bang on about it).

 

Ideally like your NOW website it would be great for the customer to have a choice of either A-Z (my preference), Recently Added or Release Year.

 

With regards to the search functionality, it's all over the place and varies from platform to platform where all content is not picked up by searching for it on various devices (some devices can find the title you are searching for, others draws a blank).

 

From my experience, the more sophisticated search using the old style tabs on the NOW branded boxes and NOW Sticks seems to give me the best results (including finding Directors and Actors on your service with their content on them to watch).

 

I would like to see the more sophisticated search that also incorporates search for Director and Actor reinstated across All NOW supported playback platforms, where this functionality was extremely useful and i don't know why NOW dropped it (again this is something i have been asking for ages)

 

if this is not your department, then please can you pass this information onto the relevant NOW Tech Dept or i can tag @Simon-J to pass on to whom it concerns to see if they can make improvements with the NOW software systems.

Izzie-T
NOW Team Member
NOW Team Member

Hi @schnapps 

 

This has been reported and bought up reminders to improvement team every time we found any unsearchable contents. 

 

More cases studies are needed at present. 

 

Thank you.

 


*Please note that I am only able to look into on content related queries, any account, offer, etc related, please contact our customer team or live chat for help. Thank you.

RoyB
Legend

Hi @Izzie-T 

 

I don’t think this is a content issue at all; I think it’s a coding issue.

 

There’s a lot in this thread, but if you take my posting:-


https://community.nowtv.com/t5/Content-Issues-Missing-Episodes/I-know-Thomas-Hardy-is-dead-but-why-h...

 

and open Now on a browser, you will start on a screen where the Search works fine. And yet when you move to the very next screen, the Search doesn’t find the programme at all.

 

And that is the simplest presentation of the issue that I have, though @schnapps and @Saint1976 have described some other peculiarities of the sort, plus other presentation issues, that also need addressing.

 

If there is, as you describe, a problem with the Hardy programme not appearing in a sort because it is a single programme and not a series, then this just adds to my basic questions:-

 

(i) why are there two different sorts, and as above, only one click apart in the same browser code?

and

(ii) how come one has the ‘single programme’ bug, and the other doesn’t? why can’t they both be the same, working, sort? Or is it actually some other bug or design mistake or limitation messing things up here?

Set a Payment PIN on your account so that no-one but you can buy memberships on it. Check your bank accounts monthly for any other unexpected payments to Now. That way you can at least nip them in the bud, while you and Now figure out whose fault they are.
Izzie-T
NOW Team Member
NOW Team Member

Hi @RoyB 

 

for sure this is a coding issue and function problem, however the collective cases coming from you and everyone's comments or messages, which will be our supportive evidence for the need of this improvement and investigation.

 

There are different layers of system processing the content data which really takes a long time to investigate the varieties of error affecting this search functions. 

 

Thank you for all your continuous supports and letting us know any content or viewing issues you encounter.

 


*Please note that I am only able to look into on content related queries, any account, offer, etc related, please contact our customer team or live chat for help. Thank you.

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @Saint1976 

 

This is another thing i have been harping onto NOW about with regards to the Entertainment channel folders are mixed up.

 

Some are listed A-Z, some channels are listed has the latest added TV show loaded onto the service first on the list.

 

I have always preferred A-Z alphabetical order personally myself.

 

But listed has Recently Added has also have its benefits.

 

I believe the NOW website Entertainment webpage when using the PC NOW player and internet browser gives you the option to choice either A-Z or Recently Added or Release Year.

 

Screenshot_2021-09-19-12-31-45.png

 

 

This would be great if this feature setting was offered to all NOW playback devices and you can decide yourself the format layout, either A-Z or most recent added.