Filmon changing?

Allan · Post by **Allan** » Tue 29 Apr 2014 22:25

Are all the people with problems using Orange or is it a mix of service providers?

Smiley G · Post by **Smiley G** » Tue 29 Apr 2014 22:36

Allan wrote:Are all the people with problems using Orange or is it a mix of service providers?

Orange for me but internet speed is fine.

Allan · Post by **Allan** » Tue 29 Apr 2014 23:09

It is not just the speed that matters, I have seen problems in the past with Orange's routing tables.

If they are scrambled you might not be able to find Filmon's servers or end up using a very slow route to them.

Try turning off your router and then turn it back on again.

If you have a VPN then try using it.

russell · Post by **russell** » Tue 29 Apr 2014 23:12

All channels are back again as is the Filmon website.

Allan, I don't think the problems are provider related (I'm on SFR). If it was a provider problem I would expect all channels to disappear at once. Tonight all the BBC channels went (unless using a VPN) and then a bit later all the channels went.

Russell.

Allan · Post by **Allan** » Tue 29 Apr 2014 23:16

russell wrote:All channels are back again as is the Filmon website.

Allan, I don't think the problems are provider related (I'm on SFR). If it was a provider problem I would expect all channels to disappear at once. Tonight all the BBC channels went (unless using a VPN) and then a bit later all the channels went.

Russell.

It sounds like a routing problem. One of my internet connections arrives in the south of England and I have no problems at all with Filmon.

russell · Post by **russell** » Tue 29 Apr 2014 23:28

Allan wrote: It sounds like a routing problem. One of my internet connections arrives in the south of England and I have no problems at all with Filmon.

Could be.

I have emailed Filmon support and wait to see what they say once I get past the usual inane questions they come back with.

Russell.

Allan · Post by **Allan** » Tue 29 Apr 2014 23:38

Looking at comments on their Facebook page, they seem to have had widespread problems

Smiley G · Post by **Smiley G** » Wed 30 Apr 2014 08:48

FilmOn do seem to have problems with BBC1 on Tuesday evenings at peak times........( Eastenders / Holby City / 9pm Drama ) I have spoken to a few people who have found this.
Last night, my iPad displayed a "Channel Broken" message but on some occasions when FilmOn is playing up, my iPad "jumps" out of AirPlay mode and I have to change channel, put it back in AirPlay mode and then select the channel I was watching.
Overall, considering it's a free service, it's not too bad. Perhaps they need an additional server to cope with demand?

Allan · Post by **Allan** » Wed 30 Apr 2014 09:09

Smiley G wrote:FilmOn do seem to have problems with BBC1 on Tuesday evenings at peak times........( Eastenders / Holby City / 9pm Drama ) I have spoken to a few people who have found this.
Last night, my iPad displayed a "Channel Broken" message but on some occasions when FilmOn is playing up, my iPad "jumps" out of AirPlay mode and I have to change channel, put it back in AirPlay mode and then select the channel I was watching.
Overall, considering it's a free service, it's not too bad. Perhaps they need an additional server to cope with demand?

I. Would imagine that Filmon has lots of servers in different locations and that when you connect you are directed to the one that is geographically most appropriate. This would go some way to explaining why their problems are not universal.

Generally when an IPTV company broadcasts live TV then there is only one stream and you simply connect to that stream, so it doesn't matter to them if there are millions of people watching it.

A bit like normal broadcast TV, there is only one broadcast whoever is receiving it. It's a bit more complicated than that as they still need to control access to all their users and target advertising, but think about it, 250,000 people watching Just one channel would entail a bandwidth of 1,000,000Mb if they all had their own stream.

Merisin · Post by **Merisin** » Wed 30 Apr 2014 10:27

Seems to me that Filmon ain't all it's cracked up to be. Good job we're not paying 'em ten quid a month! How lucky we are that we've got a few experts in the family to sort us out.

Mary

russell · Post by **russell** » Wed 30 Apr 2014 10:30

Allan wrote: Generally when an IPTV company broadcasts live TV then there is only one stream and you simply connect to that stream, so it doesn't matter to them if there are millions of people watching it.

There must be more than one stream. If you watch the same programme on two different IPTV boxes you will find a significant difference in timing and , as you say, there has to be some sort of control for subscribers. You can also record programmes on their server and play them out simultaneously on several TVs at different points in the recording. It's a very complex system and I don't pretend to understand it all.

I have had a reply from Filmon:
"Yes our website was down, which means there were problems on mobile devices and set top boxes as well. Everything should be up and running now. Please check now and see if they are working for you. "
....not very informative.

Russell.

Allan · Post by **Allan** » Wed 30 Apr 2014 10:53

I was being over-simplistic, IPTV services normally have a few streams at different speeds. When you watch there is always a degree of buffering on your local device, so you can expect different positions in programs. The same thing happens with Sky, I have 2 Sky boxes and the pictures are not synchronised.

In a perfect world the buffered amount should be sufficient to cope with fluctuations in your internet speed - unfortunately the world isn't perfect, hence you can get buffering mid-program.

I'm not saying this is how Filmon works as they keep their technology to themselves but it is how the majority of IPTV works. When Orange delivers French TV to 2 million homes, they don't have 2 million streams.

A lot of the small IPTV providers that offer TV to expats don't provide their own streams, they just run the 'middleware' that connects you to a stream provider such as Filmon.

I registered my company as a Filmon Associate and am actually in the process of setting up an IPTV site which front-ends Filmon - not as a commercial exercise, more to get a better understanding.

blackduff · Post by **blackduff** » Wed 30 Apr 2014 11:26

I'm with Orange and yesterday didn't give any problems. I have a friend who said he had lost a few hours yesterday evening on filmon.

There is a new step for opening a channel. This gives a small box with the delta sign to start the program. This small box is something new, for me anyway.

I was getting a bit of buffering last night though. This was after midnight. The buffering was 10 to 30 seconds and it was repeating every five minutes or so.

Blackduff

russell · Post by **russell** » Wed 30 Apr 2014 12:15

Allan wrote: I registered my company as a Filmon Associate and am actually in the process of setting up an IPTV site which front-ends Filmon - not as a commercial exercise, more to get a better understanding.

That sounds very interesting. Let us know how you get on. It would be good to have a better understanding of how this thing works.

Russell.

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Filmon changing?