DOL says dvr off line, DRA sees it right away

[dwarren2]

In a hotel for 5 daysdue to floors being refinihedd after water damage last winter. Tried to log on to DOL in FF4 but got the message the the dvr appeared to be off line.

DRA had no problem connecting. I watching dvr content right now using DRA in FF5.

Any ideas?

 

[MattG@DISH]

Will you send me your login information in a PM?

 

[TG2]

Matt ... does the login really help? Seeing that DishOnline has been horrible for the past three months, and in the past few days even worse!!

I noticed the first time in the past month when I finally decided to look at it again (the network connections & path for DishOnline) that now DO is using Amazon's Cloud Services during authentication ... and it appears that Dish Remote Access may be doing so now too .... though once connected, Dish Online and DRA are seperated ... DRA still goes with dishXX.Sling.com .. and DO appears to hit Akamai!!

What's really ironic .. is that moving to "The Cloud" is supposed to make things more resilient, more robust, reliable ... and yet its gotten worse.. more unstable ... more frequently now I get "bad gateway" errors or redirected to search for a url because it (dishonline.com) isn't responding. OR when DO does come up, it can't see my DVR's contents!

Going to Dish Remote Access is getting worse now too ... but only for the logon portion of it.. if I go in through DishNetwork.com to DRA, it will slow and hang IE8 ... If however I go in one of the backways.. like dish.sling.com ... I can log in and get to DRA without issue .. until I try to grab DVR content, and then it slows down some ... other times I'll see the "authenticating" in the information bar of the WebSlingPlayer (upper right side which normally shows the speed you're streaming at) and in five attempts today, got an error 31, error 36, and then streaming normally without issue.

It should also be noted that once DRA started streaming normally, there seemed to be no more logon issues or web page refresh issues at Dish Online .. however still no DVR events would list from DO, while DRA played normally.

As usual, contacting Dish directly, and getting on their chat was useless! Beyond useless .. and when I called... it wasn't until the THIRD call that I got a tech that understood I was no longer calling for THIS ONE issue ... but for the issues with DO as a whole and that NO ONE responds from DishOnline (EVER) and that now things need higher attention to appease a customer ... ie.. I want someone higher up, to come on the phone, explain why Dish is failing .. not just now.. but even more so over the past months.. when that tech finally got it.. when trying to transfer me, Dish's phone system cut us off.. OH and of course there was no call back from dish to follow up on the issue (even though the last person had taken my phone number etc.. in case we were cut off) ..

SO... pretty much Matt, business as usual for Dish .. and again.. I'd ask.. is having the user's login information really going to help in any way shape or form? Is this really limited to individual accounts? or is there a more wide spread problem occuring ... one in which the move from dedicated servers to cloud infrastructre was supposed to go smoothly and hasn't..

Really.. which is it this time? and how much longer are customers supposed to just ignore that Dish Online is FUBAR? (and if anyone doesn't know what FUBAR means, look it up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FUBAR )

 

[dwarren2]

Matt and I worked together using PM's. He had the same results that I did.

I also had a problem with DRA in FF5. I cold not bring up individual episodes if I had a group. Could do it in IE9, but not FF5.

 

[kevinsickles]

I am having the same problems as those above. Dish Online or Dish Remote usually shows DVR offline. Iphone app (slingplayer) connects immediately and begins streaming content,
Please Please move the Slingplayer app to Windows

 

[Chimera]

I'm having issues with DO as well since I got my Sling Adapter - the iPad and iPhone apps work fine, and DO works for Live TV but clicking View DVR just gives me a view showing how full my DVR is and a little bar saying "refreshing" and nothing else. I've tried logging out, clearing cookies, 3 different machines and FF4, FF5, IE8 and IE9 (and Chrome but I know DO won't work in Chrome). I just want to be able to watch recorded shows on my HTPC/projector - Live TV is great though.

Just to add to this, DRA works fine and I can watch shows from my DVR without a problem that way.

 

[old corps]

I'm having issues with DO as well since I got my Sling Adapter - the iPad and iPhone apps work fine, and DO works for Live TV but clicking View DVR just gives me a view showing how full my DVR is and a little bar saying "refreshing" and nothing else. I've tried logging out, clearing cookies, 3 different machines and FF4, FF5, IE8 and IE9 (and Chrome but I know DO won't work in Chrome). I just want to be able to watch recorded shows on my HTPC/projector - Live TV is great though.

Just to add to this, DRA works fine and I can watch shows from my DVR without a problem that way.

Pretty much the same here I can get DRA to work but DOL is crap. It actually listed shows that were long ago deleted and not what's currently in there. On top of that, while messing with it last night it took over the TV1 tuner which my wife was viewing at the time. WTH? It's suppossed to use TV2, is it not? Talking about a Sling Adapter.........

Ed

BTW, mine "refreshes" forever................

 

[TheKrell]

It's not "DOL". It's "DO", pronounced "D'oh!"

 

[Hall]

It always says my receiver is offline, but I ignore it and magically, everything works !

 

[dwarren2]

Here's what I've discovered about accessing multiple episodes in a group on DRA.

After you watch an episode, you have to close the viewer. then you can access additional episodes in the group.

 

[TG2]

Here's what I've discovered about accessing multiple episodes in a group on DRA.
After you watch an episode, you have to close the viewer. then you can access additional episodes in the group.

Yup... I call the stuff you see from a "group" of events, while the playback window is open .. the "Title" or "Header" for the group .... and they've been told about this time and time again ... january & february of 2011 they were told, phone calls were made, chats were done, and Dish still ignores.

There's a sort bug in DRA also ... example I always give.. 3 weeks ago I recorded 2001 A Space Odyssey ... 2 months ago I have a recording of Oh God, and 4 months ago, the movie Let It Ride ... but where in the list of 50+ events will you find these programs? 2001 A Space Odyssey was made in 1968 so its at the VERY BOTTOM of the list, next up was OH God because it was 1977, and then above that Let It Ride (1989) it didn't matter *when* I'd recorded them, the sort put them in order by date the movie/show was made!

Its one of the criticisms I've had ... that whoever designed DRA must have never owned/used a DVR in their daily life. Many of the problems can be linked back to that.. the default of having things grouped when the default of most DVR's is to not group (meaning if grouped a user did it), the stacked items (multiple episodes of any show), that grouping is done by original name, even if DRA shows us the name *we* might change an item to...

Dish Online doesn't even show the names we edit our content to.. so it makes you wonder ... did the person that programmed DishOnline ever use a DVR themselves? Did they ever use DRA and see the problems there that needed correcting?

The answer appears to be No..

 

[king3pj]

I know this is kind of old now but I am having this problem too. I don't use sling to watch anything online but I used to us DRA to schedule DVR recordings on my 722k all the time. It always connected to my DVR and my recordings set up from the office were always there when I checked the DVR later. I could also click my DVR to see how much space I had and delete programs I didn't want. I thought this was a great feature.

Now when I try to use DO because they took DRA away it can never connect to my DVR. I have been trying ever since the switch and it has not connected once. It still lets me pull up the guide to select programs to record. I click them and then click record and it says DVR set. The problem is I have never had one of my recordings I set through DO actually record on my DVR.

I missed the Lions vs. Patriots game last week because I was out of town and forgot to schedule my DVR before I left. I connected to the hotel WIFI on my laptop and set the recording hoping it would work but knowing it wouldn't.

Another problem on Dish online is that the guide is always wrong for my local channels. It shows the correct SD locals but my HD locals show up as different call letters that aren't the correct ones. This makes me have to set up my recordings for things like the Lions vs. Pats game in SD. DRA had my correct local channels both in SD and HD. This hasn't been a problem yet though because DO doesn't record anything anyways.

I really wish they wouldn't have taken down DRA because it actually worked. DO might look a little sharper but it is a huge downgrade for me.

 

[fredp]

.... I really wish they wouldn't have taken down DRA because it actually worked. DO might look a little sharper but it is a huge downgrade for me.

Am I missing something? I always go to DRA directly not via my Dish account. Works today as always. Yes you get a warning message that DRA is going away when you first login.
Once I login I am given a choice DRA or DO. I can either select DRA or DO and normally load DRA. If I dont make a choice it default to DRA. Still works fine here.

 

[king3pj]

Am I missing something? I always go to DRA directly not via my Dish account. Works today as always. Yes you get a warning message that DRA is going away when you first login.
Once I login I am given a choice DRA or DO. I can either select DRA or DO and normally load DRA. If I dont make a choice it default to DRA. Still works fine here.

How do you go to DRA directly? I didn't know you could. I always logged into my account and then clicked on Remote Access. Now the remote access button is gone and Dish Online is where it used to be.

 

[fredp]

How do you go to DRA directly? I didn't know you could. I always logged into my account and then clicked on Remote Access. Now the remote access button is gone and Dish Online is where it used to be.

dish.sling.com

 

[TG2]

How do you go to DRA directly? I didn't know you could. I always logged into my account and then clicked on Remote Access. Now the remote access button is gone and Dish Online is where it used to be.

because you weren't "lazy" like the rest of us.. you didn't bookmark the login screen

https://customersupport.dishnetwork.com/customercare/equipment/processSatTimer.do

book mark it now

Also you can try going to dish.sling.com ... it might recognize your email address & password that you used on DishNetwork's site. Or try creating an account for yourself at Sling.com ... with the same email address & password as DishNetwork .. and see if that gets you into dish.sling.com ..

Good Luck!

 

[king3pj]

Thanks a lot. That will work for now but isn't it just a temporary solution. They are still taking DRA away soon and forcing everyone on to DO aren't they?

 

[TG2]

your guess is as good as mine. I look at D.O. as Content Aggregation ... bringing HBO/Other-premiums, Hulu, Dish VOD, together with Dish Remote Access. It seems when they started DO they didn't even consider DRA ... they didn't look at the problems of DRA, and better them ... they didn't even replicate the BEST of DRA to DO.. its like some moronic monkey just sat there throwing darts at features.. and rather than programming from what they had, started from scratch, and then never did a feature by feature comparison.

So DishOnline works with 3 out of 4 services (HBO-Premiums / Hulu / Vod) ... they presume that gives it a 75% .. a "passing grade". But they never properly weighted the importance of the services. For someone that doesn't have a Sling Adapter ... DO is icing on the cake, so long as you can log into it... but for people who relied upon their Sling ... even in the same house to deliver a near HD experience to another room (because god knows when the Sling Extender will really be out) .. Dish Online has been a failure in every sense of the word.

Its like the marketing department drove the bus, provided the coolaid, and then doesn't care when we ask to have a pillow to lay our heads on as we die... we already bought into their ride paid them our fee ... and we certainly aren't going to generate any new income for them.. so why should they bother? (though they are hawking VOD/Rental heavily)

Its only to quell the negative press about them .. what people *might* hear before getting their tickets for the Dish Bus ... that keeps Marketing from pulling the financial plug on Tech Support.

So yeah.. maybe there's something that will keep DRA active because it is what interacts with the Application on smart phones.. but even that I would see dish's a-hole marketing departments pushing engineering to write their own code for ... to leave Dish/Sling behind ... and force people into the Dish online experience. (D.O.E.? How bad was yours today?)


/rant

 

[MilSF]

If I had put something like DO live in either of my last few jobs, I would have been fired the next day. My professional opinion is that it is under-designed, under-engineered, and under-tested. Simple things like the "Hide movies requiring upgrade" do nothing at all unless you also do something like Browse by Genre. What? Really? I've tried to change show titles, or delete groups of recordings and neither work. It's atrocious.

For the record, I'm a senior developer (one of 7 total devs) at a sports site that regularly does over 11M pageviews a day with 30M+ unique visitors a month. Making good, high-throughput, high-availability sites is not easy, but it's not exactly impossible either!

--MDG

 

[TG2]

If I had put something like DO live in either of my last few jobs, I would have been fired the next day. My professional opinion is that it is under-designed, under-engineered, and under-tested.

How do you justify getting rid of the elephant that works for peanuts? By replacing it with a smaller elephant.
Dish is either over paying for horrible programmers ... or using the cheapest they can find.. the people don't even use the product. ..

what's always bothered me.. is that DRA with its Play on Web/Play on TV was never implemented at DO nor the "resume" on web/tv ... did they not make a list of features ... go down the checklist and at the end go "yea its in there" like prego? and the Playback starts on TV1 .. that started in May when they did some "work" on it just before Go Live (I believe they were making go live, and then would take of the "beta" moniker after) ...

in your Biz MDG ... I'm sure that if you DID go live.. and something went wrong.. your first reaction would've been "put it back as it was" and then test some more to find out what went wrong.. . . That, just doesn't seem to exist in dish land. .. push live we'll fix later seems to be *all* they do.

(lastly) And it wasn't until a month or two ago that Michael S with Dish IRT (in admin position of DishSupport dot com) admitted that he didn't know about feedback there at DO or didn't know who was handling it, and that it appears all the feedback *hadn't* been getting redressed. Since he was aware of it .. there's been no external signs (no replies to feedback already submitted, no ticket updates, etc) that they are doing anything but he says they are triaging inhouse.