HBO On Demand bug..."rented" shows disappear overnight instead of expiring in 30 days

[David Taylor]

Guys,

I have a VIP612. I have used it to watch lots of old HBO shows using the whole HBO On Demand feature (DVR>>All TV Shows>>Browse by Network>>HBO). This has worked great for me in the past. I watched all of the Sopranos over the summer, followed by The Wire and Oz. However, recently I've been having issues. Normally, when you download a show it stays in your "Rented" list for 30 days. In fact, you get the message that it will be available for 30 days when you download it. However, my shows have been disappearing overnight. I used to download 5 or 6 episodes of a show and then just watch them when I had a chance. Now, I can't even stop watching an episode in the middle because if I try to finish watching it the next day it will be gone.

Has anyone else had these issues? Is my 612 somehow broken? Has a recent software upgrade screwed things up? It worked pretty much flawlessly several months ago. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[David Taylor]

Here's another bit of info. While I couldn't see it on my DVR under rented shows (or anywhere else), I just logged into Dish Anywhere and it still shows that 1 episode of Deadwood (which I started but didn't finish last week--it disappeared) and 2 episodes of Oz from months ago were still on my DVR. They show up under Recordings in Dish Anywhere but are nowhere to be found when I look on the DVR through its own interface. :-(

I deleted them using Dish Anywhere. I'll try to re-download that Deadwood episode and see if it "stays" on the DVR or if it "disappears" again.

 

[Tampa8]

Are you seeing any other issues with the receiver?

 

[David Taylor]

No, nothing else seems to be wrong. I've reset it and unplugged it to see if that would help. It didn't. I'm just wondering if there is a bug somewhere in the software. I was posting here hoping I could get confirmation from other 612 owners whether or not they were having the same issues.

 

[Hall]

I would not restrict this issue to other 612 users. My first thought is this is a copy-protection flag or setting - I understand it says the rental is good for (30) days but maybe the internal flag is in fact set for (24) hours. I don't subscribe to HBO to try myself though....

 

[David Taylor]

I suppose that is possible. It was fine when I watched The Sopranos, The Wire and Oz. It hasn't been right when I picked up Deadwood a few weeks ago. I could try a non-HBO show for grins.

 

[Hall]

Is it only affecting Deadwood ? Try multiple HBO events. I suspect the copy-protection flags are generally set on a per-network basis.

 

[ZachS@DISH]

This is not on our known product issues list. Can you please send me a PM with your account number, software version and the latest example of this? I'd like to submit a technical problem report.

 

[David Taylor]

Sure. I just sent you a PM.

Now that I think about it, I believe this began happening near the end of Oz as well, which i was watching a couple of months ago.

 

[TheKrell]

This exact thing happened on my 612s and my 722 when BB@home first came into being. At it's most severe, all downloaded programs would disappear overnight, yet were still visible from what was then called Dish Remote Access. After this annoying behavior continued for months, it first got better (only some programs disappeared) on my 612s before being completely fixed on all receivers. Seems this bug is back.

 

[David Taylor]

Have you tried it lately? Is the bug back for you? It is frustrating because it makes it MUCH less usable. I love HBO GO and Netflix because I can quit a show and pick it back up. This worked almost as well (I don't have an HBO GO device in the room where I use HBO OnDemand). Now that the program disappears overnight I lose my spot and have to start downloading it again. Also, you cannot skip ahead because you have to wait for it to download. Ugh.

 

[TheKrell]

Have you tried it lately? Is the bug back for you?

Not exactly, and not sure. We used it earlier this week. But we watched it the same night. I don't remember downloading and then watching programs later for awhile now. A month? At that time, it was still working fine.

It is frustrating because it makes it MUCH less usable. I love HBO GO and Netflix because I can quit a show and pick it back up.

No kidding. Agree 100%.

 

[thelegendlc]

I think the problem you have is that when you select a movie or television show it is only available for viewing for 30 days. You mentioned that you started to watch an episode of Deadwood but did not finish it and it disappeared. I think that is because once you start to view a movie you have to complete viewing it within 24 hours. I don't think the problem is with your DVRL

 

[Hall]

He subscribes to HBO, so your scenario isn't correct. It is for PPV though.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

 

[rusty813]

Same problem here except I have a hopper w/sling. I downloaded all the Vice episodes yesterday. It supposes to stick around for 30 days...went to rentals and found all of them gone.

 

[David Taylor]

You might PM the DIRT guy who was in this thread a few days ago and let him know. He was opening a ticket.

 

[David Taylor]

On another note....I may or may not have sort of "fixed" my issue. The shows were gone from My Rentals. However, when I logged on through Dish Anywhere I could see them as DVR recordings. I deleted them and it has worked once since then. I have only watched one downloaded program, but I started watching, came back a day later and it was still there. I'm just wondering if our DVRs get into some weird state....and if deleting the programs from Dish Anywhere helped my DVR over the hump. You might check it out. It is still a BUG, but this *MIGHT* be a workaround. I just haven't tested enough to know.

 

[rajmarie]

This is a old bug. It used to happen on Nick cartoons and Starz (have not tested since then). I used to DL them...& it said I have 30 days. Whether I watch them or not...next day those DL were gone & I had to redownload them. I have stopped using the Dish DVR for any on demand stuff since its quite a pain to find something & then it disappears

 

[David Taylor]

Well, I don't have HBOGO in my den, so this is the best way for me to watch older HBO shows. I have an Apple TV in the bedroom and it is far superior for this sort of thing. Nevertheless, if the Dish receiver would work as advertised it would be usable...just not elegant.

 

[banin1]

I've had a 722k for a couple of years and I remember doing some research on this exact problem a while back. The basic gist was that its a software bug with the receiver that is related to a daily reset. This is the reason that your shows disappear overnight. There is a daily reset/update check similar to Windows checking in to Windows Update. During that reset any shows that you downloaded via On-Demand would disappear from your local DVR listing, but you would still be able to see them in your Dish Anywhere app. Unfortunately, the last time I was able to find any info on this there wasn't a fix available. I don't even think there was a reliable way to delete the shows from your DVR, they would just be there taking up space. Sorry I can't give you a way to wave your hand a fix it.