Hopper Pandora app automatically skipping most of each song

[pattykay]

This issue has been happening on both my Hopper 3 and my Wally for at least the past few months. Any time the Pandora app tries to play a song that is more than five minutes long (and some songs that are slightly less than five minutes) it will play the very beginning of the song, then skip to somewhere towards the end of the song. Less than a minute total of each song plays, with the entire middle being skipped.

This issue is slightly worse on Wally, since even shorter songs that play "normally" will often be silent with scrolling dots in the lower-right corner of the screen for the first several seconds before the music starts playing. I haven't noticed this particular issue on Hopper 3. Still, skipping the very beginning of each song is at least better than skipping in the middle of the song.

Sometimes when a song is affected by one of these issues, the app will just crash, with silent scrolling dots in the lower-right corner that do not go away on their own. I can resolve this by selecting the Pause button on-screen, and then selecting the button again to start the music playing. This does not do anything to restore the section of the song that has already been skipped, though.

Has anyone else seen the Pandora app behave this way? I have a sneaking suspicion that this is Dish's way of trying to force us to get the Hopper+ and download the Google Play version of the Pandora app instead.

 

[Juan]

Maybe a stuck key on a remote?

 

[pattykay]

Maybe a stuck key on a remote?

I would almost believe that if it were happening at random. However, I can watch the Pandora app as each song starts and predict which ones are going to skip based on the length displayed in the lower-right corner. Like I said, every time it is a song that is over five minutes, or maybe somewhere between 4:45 and 5:00 minutes. (The ones in that last range are a bit more iffy about whether they will skip, but everything under 4:45 plays just fine.) This leads me to believe that this is some kind of software issue that causes this glitch when the app loads the song.

(There is another glitch that occasionally causes the song length and moving progress bar not to display at all. When that happens, those songs play just fine, probably because the app can't tell how long they are.)

I have seen this song skipping issue before, back in 2017. There was even a thread about it here at the time. Just like what is happening to me now, that issue was repeatable. It only affected certain songs, and each song that skipped always skipped at the exact same point each time it happened. That issue was finally fixed by a software update in December 2017.

 

[dweber]

I don’t normally use the Pandora app on my Hopper3. I decided to test it using Hillsong Worship Radio and I have verified the same problem with skipping on certain songs.

 

[Nebugeater]

Maybe you are listing to a crappy genre of music!

 

[pattykay]

I have seen this song skipping issue before, back in 2017. There was even a thread about it here at the time.

Actually, there was more than one thread. Enjoy:

Weird Pandora problem on Joey

I did a hard reset on both Hopper and Joey, neither helped. Pandora plays the first 4-5 second of the song, then skips to about 30-60 seconds left in that song. The progress bar just continues along like nothing happened, and the song comes to its normal end, with the bar reading around 1 minute...

www.satelliteguys.us

Dish Music App question?

good morning my friends i love the new theme i have a question for you guys and gals do you know if there will be more music services coming to the dish music app?love the app just need some more music services to listen to. thanks allen bluegras.

www.satelliteguys.us

Maybe you are listing to a crappy genre of music!

Ha! From the second thread I linked above:

Another good example is "Shout" by Tears For Fears. It starts out:

"Shout. Shout. Let it all out.
These are the things I can do without."

And at that point, someone at Pandora apparently decided "Yep, I can do without the rest of this song."

I would have to agree with that person....

Well, if you don't like my taste in music, then which songs have been skipping for you? Is there any pattern that you have noticed?

So, apparently HipKat agrees with Nebugeater's assessment of my taste in music.

This issue was fixed by software version U506, if Dish wants to go back and look to see what they did then to fix it:

HipKat, did U506 fix your Pandora issue? Just curious.

skipping is indeed fixed. Checked it through the Hopper vs through the app on my TV, vs the app on my Firestick. Hopper and TV sounded good, the same and the firestick sounded a bit better, but all were playing 3 different songs, so....

 

[TheKrell]

Actually, there was more than one thread. Enjoy:

Weird Pandora problem on Joey

I did a hard reset on both Hopper and Joey, neither helped. Pandora plays the first 4-5 second of the song, then skips to about 30-60 seconds left in that song. The progress bar just continues along like nothing happened, and the song comes to its normal end, with the bar reading around 1 minute...

www.satelliteguys.us

Dish Music App question?

good morning my friends i love the new theme i have a question for you guys and gals do you know if there will be more music services coming to the dish music app?love the app just need some more music services to listen to. thanks allen bluegras.

www.satelliteguys.us

Ha! From the second thread I linked above:

So, apparently HipKat agrees with Nebugeater's assessment of my taste in music.

This issue was fixed by software version U506, if Dish wants to go back and look to see what they did then to fix it:

Wow. Your research into this bug is remarkable. Thanks.

And remind me never to use Pandora.

 

[sktrus]

Is Pandora better than Spotify as far as free version is concerned? My internet search is giving me mixed results.

Is Dish also offering Spotify app, too?

Spotify vs. Pandora: Which Is Better? | Headphonesty

Pandora and Spotify are evenly matched in more ways than one. So here's a comparison review to guide you with your choice!

www.headphonesty.com

 

[pattykay]

Wow. Your research into this bug is remarkable. Thanks.

Well, I ought to be able to remember it. It was the first major bug to get fixed after I became a beta tester. So, this one holds a special place in my heart.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Thank Goodness for Pandora over the app itself on my Roku and Amazon fire sticks. They play just fine and no problems.

 

[dishdude]

With as cheap as streaming devices are, I'm not sure why anyone would want to use apps on the Hopper or Wally. The experience is so much better from a $15 streaming stick.

 

[pattykay]

With as cheap as streaming devices are, I'm not sure why anyone would want to use apps on the Hopper or Wally. The experience is so much better from a $15 streaming stick.

You just broke the hearts of all of the developers of the Hopper+

As for why I continue to check the Pandora app on Hopper 3 and Wally, it is an old habit from my beta tester training. We were told not to stop using features that do not work properly. In fact, just the opposite, since those are the features that Dish needs the most feedback about. So, once I spotted that this issue had returned, I made the Hopper Pandora app my primary source of listening to music through the TV. Internet-connected receivers still send some Diagnostic data back to Dish during the nightly reset (or whenever the receiver is in standby) as far as I know. So, if nothing else, maybe Dish is getting some more data on this issue that way. I just thought it would be helpful to get some more eyeballs (and more importantly, ears) on this issue, which is why I posted it here.

Also, if Dish is trying to use the excuse "Nobody uses the built-in Pandora app" as a reason to justify making fixing it a low priority, or to justify eventually dropping the app entirely, then that makes me want to use it even more often, just to spite them.

 

[Juan]

Maybe dish got a special deal on pandora license fees

 

[pattykay]

Maybe dish got a special deal on pandora license fees

That is the other thing I thought about: if any portion of the song plays, Pandora still has to pay the royalties for that song. So, if the app is speed-running through a bunch of songs in a shorter than normal amount of time, you would think that would give Pandora an incentive to fix this issue. On the other hand, advertisements are added at regular intervals after so many songs. (I do not pay for the ad-free version.) So, perhaps the songs being skipped causes ads to play more often, giving Pandora more revenue to offset the increase in royalty payments. It would be interesting to see the finances involved, to see if this is a wash for Pandora, or if they actually either gain or lose money the longer this issue persists.