Channel 4od?

[MattGibson]

Whats happened to the channel 4 OD service?

I got in from work cracked opened a beer to catch up with Inbetweeners and all the download buttons have gone and half of the stream buttons wont work?

Wend to the channel 4 website to re-install and you can only use the service through the website (which is very limited!!)

I personally preferred the 4OD compared to all the rest

[coquet636]

Looks like there updating it and changing it.....

Got to agree i thought it was the best of the terrestrial channel catch ups..

ooh and the inbetweeners is the best on there genius..... hope they get the website fixed ... the webmaster must be a right bumder!!!!

[ricki]

Hi

I contacted channel 4 and got this reply

Thank you for your email regarding 4oD.

It seems most likely that the problem you are seeing is because of the
configuration of the proxy server that you use. This is not a common
problem, although we have seen it once or twice. This problem does not occur
with other video on demand solutions because they do not use the same
content protection that we do. The problem is specifically caused by the
encrypted traffic over a particular port in the proxy server.

So, a little bit more detail:

Flash media streams for Channel4.com try to use port 1935 (using protocol
RTMPE) for the stream. Microsoft ISA server sometimes appears to drop
connections to this port as it only supports HTTP, HTTPS and FTP.

The Channel4.com flash player can run over the HTTPS and HTTP port but
perhaps it is not trying to if the connection is being dropped (as opposed
to being specifically blocked).

Therefore, a couple of things for you to try:

Either they can try to specifically allow outbound RTMPE traffic over port
1935
or alternatively, to specifically block outbound RTMPE traffic over port
1935
(in which case the traffic should switch to other protocols)

I hope this proves successful, please do let us know how you get on.

If you require further information, feel free to email me back or visit
Channel 4 FAQs

[RabbieBurns]

I can never get 4od to work from here.. Iplayer works fine through my proxy in the UK but 4od just doesnt work... Havent tried it through VPN yet though.

[ricki]

Hi

It might be worth forwarding the channel 4 reply to whoever does your proxy filter. I have forwarded it to Lancsngfl to see if they can fix it here.

Richard

[llawwehttam]

It seems to be working fine for me but I have had this problem in the past. I found It can be caused by several things. If on linux sometimes flash plays up and the buttons don't appear so if you close and restart you web browser it sometimes springs to life. If you use User Agents and you are not set on the default I have had gliches there. I have also had problems when connecting through a proxy but sometimes if you give it a few minutes they appear again. Also the buttons are the last thing to load so if you have slow internet or are doing large downloads at the same time they can take a while to appear.

Anyway there's always iPlayer but I agree It's not the same.

[yugo]

MattGibson I got this email from them in June telling me that the 4oD desktop application is closing.

Dear 4oD user,

You may have seen or heard rumours in the press about changes to 4oD. As a valued 4oD user we thought we'd let you know exactly what this will mean for you and help clear up any confusion.

No doubt you're already aware that you can watch 4oD Catch-Up on our new improved channel4.com (and if you haven't tried it yet, what are you waiting for?). All the content is streamed which makes it really easy to use, you shouldn't need to download anything - simply find what you want to watch and hit "Play". Oh, and non-Windows users will be pleased to know that 4oD Catch-Up on channel4.com is now Mac and Linux compatible.

From around the end of June you'll also be able to watch all our archive programmes on channel4.com. Which means all your favourites will be in one place and available for free.

Of course you're welcome to use your 4oD application until then if you prefer, although you may find that you are no longer able to download or rent some programmes or films. However you may be interested to know that many popular 4oD programmes are available to buy and keep on itunes.

Rest assured that if you have ever entered your payment card details to rent or purchase a programme on 4oD these will be fully removed from the system once the 4oD application closes. However your customer account will remain active and can be used for other channel4.com services.

Above all, we hope you'll continue to get loads of enjoyment out of 4oD. If there's anything we haven't covered you can find more information by clicking here.

Enjoy,

The 4oD team

[spacevortex]

Got to agree i thought it was the best of the terrestrial channel catch ups..

I like BBCiPlayer Desktop


The last time i used 4OD i had to keep inputting a password everytime i played a different show or episode.

[ricki]

Hi

I have just had a reply from Lancsngfl and they say they have tried to fix it for lancashire. Channel 4 are not being helpful and cannot fix the problem at the moment.

Richard

[thicko]

For now you could always add channel4 as an exception in tools > internet options > connections > LAN settings > advanced until someone comes up with a solution.

Were waiting for a response from NGFL too

Dan

[lew_bob]

I find 4od to be the worst out of them all, which is a royal pain as it clearly has the best content on it!

Randomly, play will stop, the viuals will pause, buttons will disappear as you describe. Very rarely am I able to get through two episodes of somthing withour having to restart one.

Iplayer runs flawlessly though, just wish there was some better stuff to catch up on the bbc

[ricki]

For now you could always add channel4 as an exception in tools > internet options > connections > LAN settings > advanced until someone comes up with a solution.

Were waiting for a response from NGFL too

Dan

How will adding channel4 to the exceptions list. We dont have the channel4 servers on our interal network.

???????????????

Richard

[coquet636]

I like BBCiPlayer Desktop


The last time i used 4OD i had to keep inputting a password everytime i played a different show or episode.

I have to update and say since the change they made away from the desktop program you could install it has been awful...

So now i rate it as the worst.... it was far easier when you could install the program then download it to your computer......

[thicko]

Maybe i misunderstood your problem. We were trying to stream the video feed from the 4od website. Our proxy was blocking the port being used by the stream (port 1935) so bypassing the proxy for the channel 4 website allowed the port to be used.

Ta,

Dan

[kennysarmy]

waiting waiting waiting for Gloucestershire LEA / SWGfL to decide how to go on this one too.....