VOD viewing after EAS
DJM22
Enthusiast - Level 2

For 17 years I've been experiencing an issue with VOD and was wondering if anyone has a work around.

When watching VOD, it seems to only trigger a write of your current point in the show when you hit exit or pause times out.  Those actions cause a Continue Watching button to appear when you next watch the same show.  The software does not periodically write your current location in case you are dumped out of VOD by an Emergency Alert Weekly test, an Emergency Alert Monthly test, or a mandatory software update of the settop box.  No Continue Watching button is available in those instances.

This is only a minor annoyance when watching a movie or premium network VOD selection because fast forward is available and you can swiftly fast forward to where you left off.  It becomes a real annoyance when watching a VOD show that has FF disabled. 

Many times I am 50 minutes into a 1 hour whodoneit when an EAS test is broadcast.  Verizon's answer has been to rewatch the first 50 minutes of the show to see the final 10 minutes.  One week I experienced this design flaw on three consecutive nights when the weekly EAS, monthly EAS, and software update occurred on 3 consecutive nights.

Is there a workaround to this longstanding issue other than periodically exiting the show to manually trigger a save of the current viewing point?  This issue reminds of the early days of MS Word when we'd manually hit save once a minute or we'd lose our work.  It's annoying and I've reported this design flaw for 17 years.  The Enhanced Video group has been less than helpful.

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Re: VOD viewing after EAS
clem21
Community Leader
Community Leader

@DJM2 wrote:

For 17 years I've been experiencing an issue with VOD and was wondering if anyone has a work around.

When watching VOD, it seems to only trigger a write of your current point in the show when you hit exit or pause times out.  Those actions cause a Continue Watching button to appear when you next watch the same show.  The software does not periodically write your current location in case you are dumped out of VOD by an Emergency Alert Weekly test, an Emergency Alert Monthly test, or a mandatory software update of the settop box.  No Continue Watching button is available in those instances.

This is only a minor annoyance when watching a movie or premium network VOD selection because fast forward is available and you can swiftly fast forward to where you left off.  It becomes a real annoyance when watching a VOD show that has FF disabled. 

Many times I am 50 minutes into a 1 hour whodoneit when an EAS test is broadcast.  Verizon's answer has been to rewatch the first 50 minutes of the show to see the final 10 minutes.  One week I experienced this design flaw on three consecutive nights when the weekly EAS, monthly EAS, and software update occurred on 3 consecutive nights.

Is there a workaround to this longstanding issue other than periodically exiting the show to manually trigger a save of the current viewing point?  This issue reminds of the early days of MS Word when we'd manually hit save once a minute or we'd lose our work.  It's annoying and I've reported this design flaw for 17 years.  The Enhanced Video group has been less than helpful.


Can't you fast-forward to the point where you left off?

Re: VOD viewing after EAS
DJM22
Enthusiast - Level 2

@clem53 wrote:

@DJM2 wrote:

For 17 years I've been experiencing an issue with VOD and was wondering if anyone has a work around.

When watching VOD, it seems to only trigger a write of your current point in the show when you hit exit or pause times out.  Those actions cause a Continue Watching button to appear when you next watch the same show.  The software does not periodically write your current location in case you are dumped out of VOD by an Emergency Alert Weekly test, an Emergency Alert Monthly test, or a mandatory software update of the settop box.  No Continue Watching button is available in those instances.

This is only a minor annoyance when watching a movie or premium network VOD selection because fast forward is available and you can swiftly fast forward to where you left off.  It becomes a real annoyance when watching a VOD show that has FF disabled. 

Many times I am 50 minutes into a 1 hour whodoneit when an EAS test is broadcast.  Verizon's answer has been to rewatch the first 50 minutes of the show to see the final 10 minutes.  One week I experienced this design flaw on three consecutive nights when the weekly EAS, monthly EAS, and software update occurred on 3 consecutive nights.

Is there a workaround to this longstanding issue other than periodically exiting the show to manually trigger a save of the current viewing point?  This issue reminds of the early days of MS Word when we'd manually hit save once a minute or we'd lose our work.  It's annoying and I've reported this design flaw for 17 years.  The Enhanced Video group has been less than helpful.


Can't you fast-forward to the point where you left off?


No.  Most non-premium networks have fast forward disabled in VOD. 

All these shows come up with the warning at the top of the screen when they begin saying fast forward is disabled.  If you try to use fast forward an error message pops up that fast forward is disabled.

Re: VOD viewing after EAS
clem21
Community Leader
Community Leader

@DJM2 wrote:

N


@clem53 wrote:

@DJM2 wrote:

For 17 years I've been experiencing an issue with VOD and was wondering if anyone has a work around.

When watching VOD, it seems to only trigger a write of your current point in the show when you hit exit or pause times out.  Those actions cause a Continue Watching button to appear when you next watch the same show.  The software does not periodically write your current location in case you are dumped out of VOD by an Emergency Alert Weekly test, an Emergency Alert Monthly test, or a mandatory software update of the settop box.  No Continue Watching button is available in those instances.

This is only a minor annoyance when watching a movie or premium network VOD selection because fast forward is available and you can swiftly fast forward to where you left off.  It becomes a real annoyance when watching a VOD show that has FF disabled. 

Many times I am 50 minutes into a 1 hour whodoneit when an EAS test is broadcast.  Verizon's answer has been to rewatch the first 50 minutes of the show to see the final 10 minutes.  One week I experienced this design flaw on three consecutive nights when the weekly EAS, monthly EAS, and software update occurred on 3 consecutive nights.

Is there a workaround to this longstanding issue other than periodically exiting the show to manually trigger a save of the current viewing point?  This issue reminds of the early days of MS Word when we'd manually hit save once a minute or we'd lose our work.  It's annoying and I've reported this design flaw for 17 years.  The Enhanced Video group has been less than helpful.


Can't you fast-forward to the point where you left off?


No.  Most non-premium networks have fast forward disabled in VOD. 

All these shows come up with the warning at the top of the screen when they begin saying fast forward is disabled.  If you try to use fast forward an error message pops up that fast forward is disabled.


Ok, I'll check with support and see if there is an answer.

Re: VOD viewing after EAS
clem21
Community Leader
Community Leader

@DJM2 wrote:

N


@clem53 wrote:

@DJM2 wrote:

For 17 years I've been experiencing an issue with VOD and was wondering if anyone has a work around.

When watching VOD, it seems to only trigger a write of your current point in the show when you hit exit or pause times out.  Those actions cause a Continue Watching button to appear when you next watch the same show.  The software does not periodically write your current location in case you are dumped out of VOD by an Emergency Alert Weekly test, an Emergency Alert Monthly test, or a mandatory software update of the settop box.  No Continue Watching button is available in those instances.

This is only a minor annoyance when watching a movie or premium network VOD selection because fast forward is available and you can swiftly fast forward to where you left off.  It becomes a real annoyance when watching a VOD show that has FF disabled. 

Many times I am 50 minutes into a 1 hour whodoneit when an EAS test is broadcast.  Verizon's answer has been to rewatch the first 50 minutes of the show to see the final 10 minutes.  One week I experienced this design flaw on three consecutive nights when the weekly EAS, monthly EAS, and software update occurred on 3 consecutive nights.

Is there a workaround to this longstanding issue other than periodically exiting the show to manually trigger a save of the current viewing point?  This issue reminds of the early days of MS Word when we'd manually hit save once a minute or we'd lose our work.  It's annoying and I've reported this design flaw for 17 years.  The Enhanced Video group has been less than helpful.


Can't you fast-forward to the point where you left off?


No.  Most non-premium networks have fast forward disabled in VOD. 

All these shows come up with the warning at the top of the screen when they begin saying fast forward is disabled.  If you try to use fast forward an error message pops up that fast forward is disabled.


Support says they will look into it. No timeline for a fix but I'll post any updates.