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Anonymous User
Not applicable

My ' Recently Watched' just spins endlessly - so does my Recently Added in Movie section?

For the past few weeks the section 'My TV - Recently Watched' does not show anything.  Instead I get the four coloured balls spinning endlessly.  I have rebooted the box, rebooted my modem and nothing changes.  

 

Also when I go to MOVIES nothing happens but if I press OK then it takes me to the list of 'Recently Added', 'Oscar Winners' etc etc BUT again I get the coloured spinning balls for Recently Added and nothing ever shows up.  The other categories are OK.

 

I use the 'My TV - Recently Watched' a lot and it's very frustrating that it just doesnt work now.  Any advice on how to rectify this please?

68 REPLIES 68
Anonymous User
Not applicable

Right ok, it seems I may have found the cause of this and that it is intact I.P. Related.

I've been logging info for some time now and can see that whenever a box has crashed it is at the same time or immediately after my I.p. Has changed. That is not the I.p associated with devices etc but the I.p. Assigned to you via the service provider (sky).

Now it is not unusual for a persons I.p. to change regularly on an ASDL connection.. It is normal and can not be prevented.

I just tested this theory and with both boxes sat on home screen, unplugged the router for 30 mins. That's gave enough time to ensure when the router be booted up that I would be assigned a new I.p address.

The first thing I noticed is the both boxes immeditly detected the loss to connection, the clock disappeared and was replaced with a no connection message and the boxes light flashed. Now prio to software 7.0 the boxes did not pick up on things that quick.. In fact you would have to go into an app before it noticed. But assume this change is because the home screen is now practically live so a constant connection is needed.

Anyway, whilst the connection was down the boxes had not froze. Upon starting back up the router the boxes reconnected and the clock updated to reflect the correct time. Both boxes had not frozen. I waited a couple of minutes and saw the clocks tick over to the next minute, then the next. However one box then froze and I've had to reset it, the other remained fine.

It seems pretty clear that since software version 7.0 that the boxes do not like a change of I.p.

There is clearly a flaw in the new software, obviously to do with this new home screen. Devices should not be crashing because the I.p. Address changes assigned by the users ISP.. It also never used to happen prior to 7.0

Our phones, tablets, computers and other devices have never experienced an issue when the I.p. Changes.. Then again neither did the now boxes until the update to 7.0

So now that I've provided you with the cause.. Can I expect to see a fix anytime soon??
ukbobboy
Legend

@Anonymous User

 

Hi R, I just want to make a small point here.

 

As you say, your problem occurs when Sky changes the IP it sends to your modem/router, can you say whether your internal IPs change as well?

 

Coincidentally, as I'm typing this my white box crashed, I was watching YouTube and doing other stuff when YouTube froze, the box lost it's Internet signal and crashed. No biggie though.

 

Pressed "Home" on the remote a couple of times and now everything is back.

 

Anyway, my point is that your internal IP addresses should all stay the same regardless of what IP your ISP allocates to your modem/router.

 

Again, you have probably tried this already.

 

 

UK Bob

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Yep I can confirm the internal I.p's remain unchanged.

My white box never crashed on home screen but it never had the new software either.

Only the black boxes are effected by this and only after the resent software update to 7.0 where the live home screen was introduced.

The crash only happens while the boxes are on the home screen I idle mode, that is if I'm in the nowtv app, youtube or any other app then the boxes do not crash, the streaming maybe be interrupted if I switch off WiFi or connection is lost but simply continues once its restored, just as you woyld expect.

When my boxes crash you cant press the home button.. You cant press anything. They are completely frozen. If you unplug the box from the mains it will not start back up.. You are presented with a blank screen nothing more. The only way to recover the box from this frozen state is a hard reset using the hole at the back.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

I have to say the this crash issue is driving me insane but what really does peev me off is the lack of interest from nowtv staff.

Why am I doing all the work to find what is clearly a big issue with your product.. Something that obviously was not tested properly before it was released.. Something that should of been identified as a problem during beta testing and fixed before release.. Not left to the customer to turn the house upside down to figure it out for you and then provide you with the details only to get very little response or any indication that it will be fixed.
Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Anonymous User you keep blaming NOW TV but the only common factor in this issue is you. No other customers are reporting these problems. As for your box crashing on an IP change, why on earth is your IP address changing so often? Mines probably changed 3 times in the last 12 months. 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

1. Does it matter how often my i.p. changes? the fact is that when it does change that the boxes crash if they are on the homescreen.. a issue which was only introduced with the new software update which you provided. Whether my i.p changes often or not the boxes crash when it does, whats the differance? Many ISP's peform maintnence periods over night and monitor networks for optimization, SKY is one of those ISP's that do it regular. When they perform these tasks it often results in a new I.P. as the connection can be lost for a minute and has to repopulate. This is quite normal practise these days for non fibre connections.

 

2. Your saying it is not NowTV's problem? But it was your software update that introudced this issue.. no other device has any problems with an I.P. change, the boxes never had any problems prior to this update.. butyour telling me that what ever changes were introdcued in this update can't be the cause?

 

3. Actually there was one other person reporting in this thread, seemilngly all the other issues that appeared at the same time have now been rectified apart from the crash.

 

But you know what.. you reply has now really angered me.. i have bent over backwards to get to the bottom of this problem, came here to share my findings and report this issue with as much info as possible. Just becuase your not flooded with posts does not mean the issue does not exist. It is nice to see theat other customers like ukbobby are at least trying to help by offering suggestions to help resolve this but then you come along with your 'pass the blame' mentality' which seems quite common across this board. Oh and by the way it has been acknowledged that there was an issue with the updates when it first was reported, i was even told a fix had been issued this monday.. which clearly it has been but whle it has fixed most of the issues, it has not solved them all.

 

Well fine, im now going for the cancel button, im done with NowTv. So you can be happy knowing that i wont be here anymore to report your bugs and you can continue to  ignore that you have a problem. - At least until someone else gets annoyed with it.

 

 

 

ukbobboy
Legend

@Anonymous User & @Anonymous User

 

R, first of all Artesea does not work for Now TV but, as far as I understand, is a pro-Now TV customer and does from time to time come across as somewhat biased.

 

A, you should really work on your communication skills.

 

R, your first point (no. 1) rings a bell with me because the Now TV box should not crash when when an external IP address changes or when it goes into sleep mode, where it will loose it's connection anyway. And I will agree that when a non-fibre Internet connection is updated or maintained by the ISP internal connected equipment should not be affected.

 

Point no.2, it does seem that you have discovered a possible major bug in O/S 7.0 and as you no doubt know these major bugs tend to appear when affected software/firmware is released to the public, they always seem to hide during beta testing.

 

I'm guessing that the Now TV team are probably looking into this bug but before they can take it any further they will have to recreate the conditions that causes the bug to appear, diagnose what is happening then get back to the tech guys to produce a fix. And as you know, all this will take time especially as they have just rolled out a fix so the next "fix" cycle may take some time to come around again.

 

You know R, as a customer you expect your your computerised kit to work straight out of the box but as a computer professional I'm sure you have experienced software, firmware and hardware that has been rolled out to a schedule rather than when the item was complete or ready.  And unfortunately, this trend will continue as long as we need computers and computerised equipment.

 

 

UK Bob

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@Anonymous User Bob

Your right, I do realise atesea is not staff and it was bad wording on my part as were 'you' should of been 'nowtv'

Either way, I would not expect a so called 'pro' member to give such as a reply and should have enough knowledge (and maybe read the whole thread) to understand the basic principles of how things work.

Yet again it is you that provides the sensible answers and acknowledges there's a problem here with suggestions to try help.. Maybe you should have shiny stars next to your name instead 😉

Anyway, I did not come here for a fight. I really like NowTv, I think it can have an amazing future if done right and that is why I'm here!

I don't spend all this time gathering info and reporting bugs to be an inconviance or to be told 'well your the only person so its your problem'. I wish to help improve the service not only for myself but others too.

Everytime I am on this forum I take a quick look at other threads and offer help where I can, I'm not here to just complain about bugs.

At the end of the day I am just trying help and in return I expect some proper acknowledgement that I'm being taken serious, some thanks for all the the work and info I have provided in the form of confirmation that the problem is being looked into would do, and to have confirmation that they have at least tested this with the info I provided and if and when a fix will be issued.

I'm a coder myself so i know exactly how things work and yes bugs sometimes do sneak through and it is the customer that then discovers them. The difference is that when a customer reports a bug to me I communicate with them, I let them know it is being looked into and gather as much info as possible and most importantly I keep them informed on the situation until it is resolved. In most cases it takes priority but I never just ignore it or say 'well nobody else complained so its you'.

Well anyway I havnt cancelled yet, im holding off for now to see what happens. Like I said im a big fan of nowtv but they way that is being dealt with is really putting me off. I've 8 days until renewal so if nothing positive comes that will be it for me as im not going to continue supporting something where a 'dont care' attitude seems to exist.
ukbobboy
Legend

@Anonymous User

 

Hi R,

 

Like you, when I visit this forum I look to see if I can help, maybe gain some new insight, meet up and and discuss upcoming TV shows and films, and even learn from the experience of others.  What I do not want is trouble, strife or drama, there is too much of that nonsense in the world already. In fact, I only like my drama on the TV, that's where it belongs.

 

Anyway R, and moving on, I would be sorry if you left the forum because it needs experienced IT professionals like you to sometimes put things in perspective and possibly explain the technology to other "not so knowledgeable" users.

 

Finally, I hope you stick around for the duration.

 

 

UK Bob