Autoplay issues

jasonh1965

SatelliteGuys Guru
Original poster
Feb 4, 2016
124
93
Salem, IN
This probably isn't a big deal to a lot of people, but I'm finding it a little irritating.The autoplay feature was one I used quite a bit, but seems to have taken a few steps back. When the H3 first came out selecting multiple shows would play sequentially in order of season, and episode. That seems to be pretty damn logical, but an old update forced that to start from the most recent first. I really don't know anyone would tend to watch shows in reverse order so that makes no sense whatsoever to me. Now it also seems like you can select as many shows as you want, but it will play only 3 or so before stopping and going back to live TV. If I select 10 episodes of a one hour show and listen to them as I fall asleep I would expect them to still be playing when I wake up at different points of the night. Instead it falls back to the last channel watched.
 
When you record episodes of the same show you expect them to be listed correctly. That way, you select autoplay for binge watching. It is great in theory. But, in reality crappy Guide has a lot of misinformation. The word is Dish will find a better partner to solve this.
 
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
This will be a long explanation. Bear with me TheKrell;

It did in the past. But, some updates in the past no longer lets you sort episodes by the episode number. The higher number (and generally speaking, newer) is always above the lower number. So, when you select 'autoplay' Dish starts with the episode listed at the top! Obviously, that makes no sense. Custom Filter (with future update) should take care of this problem. It is currently not operational.

I experimented few minutes ago. I created a folder in the past and named it TRAVEL. My travel recordings go in there. My recordings of Rick Steve's Europe from PBS are bundled up in one subfolder with 17 episodes. (Mostly reruns from previous years.) Let's assume for the moment 'Autoplay' works flawlessly.
You highlight the folder and press select. It opens up and gives you a list. When you press options on remote, the first choice is Custom Filter, which should allow you to sort them by lower numbers listed first. You cannot select Custom filter yet. So, you select '4 Manage recordings'. Then, you tick the little boxes next to episodes you want to watch. ( In my case, I selected all the episodes in season 9, about 7, episode 9 being the first one.) Remember they are sorted by higher number being above lower lumber. So, episode 9 is above episode 8. Then, you press '5 Autoplay'. Hopper does not start with the first episode! 9 plays. When it ends, it jumps to whatever is listed below 9.

If each episode in a show does not have a continuing story line, it is not a problem. When it does, binge watching with autoplay kills the purpose.
I don't believe rewriting the code to correct this issue should be a major headache for Dish.
 
Thanks sktrus for that thorough explanation.
I don't believe rewriting the code to correct this issue should be a major headache for Dish.
Well, since the guide sometimes has correct season and episode numbers, and for the same program series just show an episode number in the hundreds or even thousands, I don't know how they can correct for that nonsense unless they could go back through all our recordings ex post facto and fix them.

I wish they would go back and fix guide issues from days gone by! But I think that would take a major effort and I don't expect Dish would ever do that. The channel icons are wrong or missing on many of my recorded programs. Be nice to have those fixed too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
This probably isn't a big deal to a lot of people, but I'm finding it a little irritating.The autoplay feature was one I used quite a bit, but seems to have taken a few steps back. When the H3 first came out selecting multiple shows would play sequentially in order of season, and episode. That seems to be pretty damn logical, but an old update forced that to start from the most recent first. I really don't know anyone would tend to watch shows in reverse order so that makes no sense whatsoever to me. Now it also seems like you can select as many shows as you want, but it will play only 3 or so before stopping and going back to live TV. If I select 10 episodes of a one hour show and listen to them as I fall asleep I would expect them to still be playing when I wake up at different points of the night. Instead it falls back to the last channel watched.
For what it's worth, that feature hasn't worked for me in so long I no longer even use it. I reported it to Dish, along with the multiple other issues I have with my H3, to no avail. Just another of those issues they plan to do nothing with while they focus all of their efforts on the next new piece of equipment.

That's just my opinion, by the way.
 
My only encounter with autoplay was once when I accidentally activated it and was surprised when the first show finished, the next one began and I had to figure out how to stop it and get back to normality.
 
This probably isn't a big deal to a lot of people, but I'm finding it a little irritating.The autoplay feature was one I used quite a bit, but seems to have taken a few steps back. When the H3 first came out selecting multiple shows would play sequentially in order of season, and episode. That seems to be pretty damn logical, but an old update forced that to start from the most recent first. I really don't know anyone would tend to watch shows in reverse order so that makes no sense whatsoever to me. Now it also seems like you can select as many shows as you want, but it will play only 3 or so before stopping and going back to live TV. If I select 10 episodes of a one hour show and listen to them as I fall asleep I would expect them to still be playing when I wake up at different points of the night. Instead it falls back to the last channel watched.

Ancient thread and still relevant.

 
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
It would be awesome to have a permanent thread that stays at the top all the time. It would be named Customer wishes for future updates. From very humble to outrageous.
But, discussions wouldn't be allowed. Only very few with enough knowledge and Dish representatives would respond.
This autoplay issue would be my top priority.
 
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
I never even knew the Hopper 3 would do autoplay.
I did, and it can be very usefulbut then I thought Dish took it away some time ago. So, I am surprised it is back, or did it not ever "go away" for vacation. :) Part of the problem is that TiVo's EPG data is so BAD in WRONG that it defeats the purpose of the Auto-play. Have you all seen the mess of Match Game '70's EPG data with some marked as NEW and/or given Original Airdates of just last week? Santa Maria! :)
 
My auto play #5 has all of a sudden disappeared, now #5 is "deselect all" I have no idea what happened it's like it got deleted somehow an it's very annoying because I have a 3 year old who loves to watch his cartoons an who has all the time in the world to go play a different episode every 30 minutes??? I've been trying to figure this out all day!!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: angelapdx
My auto play #5 has all of a sudden disappeared, now #5 is "deselect all" I have no idea what happened it's like it got deleted somehow an it's very annoying because I have a 3 year old who loves to watch his cartoons an who has all the time in the world to go play a different episode every 30 minutes??? I've been trying to figure this out all day!!!!
Hello there! The Autoplay feature was removed from the DVR options folder and replaced with a Binge Watch feature in the on-demand folder. This feature will cue up the next episode automatically. You can find more information on this feature here MyDISH.
 
  • Like
Reactions: charlesrshell
Same here! My auto play disappeared and I don’t have on demand. I want to use it on my dvr
here too. this may be the push I need to go full on to streaming and stop cable. One of the only reason I have it is because I can binge the stuff I have saved in my dvr, shows I cannot find on streaming. (I'm a wierdo who cannot sleep without the tv on in the background )

It doesn't even make sense to me .. who asked for this? Why kill a dvr feature to add an on demand feature?
 
Hello there! The Autoplay feature was removed from the DVR options folder and replaced with a Binge Watch feature in the on-demand folder. This feature will cue up the next episode automatically. You can find more information on this feature here MyDISH.
Why remove one for the other?? I can't sleep without autoplay for my sitcoms. This isn't a good exchange!
 
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 9)

Latest posts