Philo
- Thread starter Andrew Sullivan
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Wow!!! have not checked it out yet,but just the announcement, they must have had a lot of complaints and they listened.Good Job! Philo!!
Also Thanks for the information Primestar 31!
P.S. Now just hope it works on my new Roku Stick +.
OK! Could not wait! Just checked.I got it! Great addition! Thanks again Primestar 31! And Thanks Philo!!!!!.
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Philo just added the Hallmark family of channels:
Philo announced today that they have added The Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Drama, and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries to their base 40+ channel package ($16 a month).
Philo Adds Hallmark, Hallmark Drama, & Hallmark Movies & Mysteries – FOMOPOP
Philo Adds Hallmark, Hallmark Drama, & Hallmark Movies & Mysteries – FOMOPOP
It's a shame the service caps out at 30fps. I signed up for the free trial, but trying to watch shows with lots of horizontal panning (ie, pretty much anything on HGTV) feels like watching a stop-motion film.
Started the free trial today, but there is a critical problem with the service. When I go to "live tv, it always goes to the beginning of the show instead of "in progress" spot. Is there any way around this? If this is the way Philo has to work, it is worthless in my opinion.
When you select the live program you want,it will start at the beginning or you can fast forward it to where the program is in regular time.
This problem may be due to the settings on the device you are using to watch the program,the TV's HDMI input,the TV itself,or the HDMI cable.
I have a Vizio 4K UHDTV and all of my 4 HDMI inputs only do 4K/30,the 5th HDMI input does 4K/60.
There's no 60fps stream offered via their CDN. If you grab their HLS or DASH manifest files, this is the collection of video streams being offered for each of the channels:
Code:
<Representation id="video-1500000-960x540" mimeType="video/mp4" codecs="avc1.4d401f" width="960" height="540" frameRate="29.97002997002997" sar="1:1" startWithSAP="1" bandwidth="1500000"/>
<Representation id="video-2400000-1280x720" mimeType="video/mp4" codecs="avc1.4d401f" width="1280" height="720" frameRate="29.97002997002997" sar="1:1" startWithSAP="1" bandwidth="2400000"/>
<Representation id="video-350000-512x288" mimeType="video/mp4" codecs="avc1.4d401f" width="512" height="288" frameRate="29.97002997002997" sar="1:1" startWithSAP="1" bandwidth="350000"/>
<Representation id="video-4300000-1280x720" mimeType="video/mp4" codecs="avc1.4d401f" width="1280" height="720" frameRate="29.97002997002997" sar="1:1" startWithSAP="1" bandwidth="4300000"/>
<Representation id="video-500000-640x360" mimeType="video/mp4" codecs="avc1.4d401f" width="640" height="360" frameRate="29.97002997002997" sar="1:1" startWithSAP="1" bandwidth="500000"/>
<Representation id="video-900000-854x480" mimeType="video/mp4" codecs="avc1.4d401f" width="854" height="480" frameRate="29.97002997002997" sar="1:1" startWithSAP="1" bandwidth="900000"/>The best available stream is 1280x720 @ 29.97fps (aka 30fps), at a bitrate of 4.3mbps.
Example full DASH manifest from Philo: Paste2.org - Viewing Paste 5ec7OnXH
My apologies I am watching with a Roku Stick + and it upscales everything higher.
Hopefully you can contact Philo and talk with one of their computer techs about this issue.Good Luck!
It’s not really a Philo support issue - it’s a conscious choice for offering the service.
The quest for smooth 60-frames-per-second sports in streaming TV bundles
Dropping every other frame doesn’t seem to bother some people, and TV motion interpolation helps hide some of the impact. Still, once you see the stutter introduced by dropping 60fps content to 30fps, it becomes overwhelmingly distracting.
The quest for smooth 60-frames-per-second sports in streaming TV bundles
Dropping every other frame doesn’t seem to bother some people, and TV motion interpolation helps hide some of the impact. Still, once you see the stutter introduced by dropping 60fps content to 30fps, it becomes overwhelmingly distracting.
Thanks Jhon69. Noticed this by accident last night. Now only if it weren't for critical missing channel like FX, But will continue with my free trial period.
this is the HDMI cable i use and there great!!! avoid the black web crap it's a wal mart brand and that's what it is crap. it will make your devices and tv do strange things
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Monster-High-Speed-HDMI-Cable-with-Ethernet-12ft/608497215
This is what I use and it works very well along with being certified....
Amazon product ASIN B01GCGKK82
thanks for pointing that out bobby i think the black web brand said it was certified to. but when i had it hooked up to my 4k blu ray player it made my t.v. flicker and do stupid things LOL. monster has always been a great brand!!!
I appreciate the HDMI cable recommendations, but the 30fps isn't a device or configuration issue. If you debug the HLS or MPEG-DASH manifest files for Philo directly you can see that programmatically they are not offering anything greater than 30fps feeds. For example:
Will give you a current manifest of available A&E streams from their US-east-2 CDN region. The streams are encrypted, so you need a valid control connection to Philo to get the decryption keys to play them, but it still clearly shows you what feeds are available for the rate-adaptive player to use.
As for why 30fps matters, it all comes down to the fact that all TV is a mind trick -- you're watching still pictures flipped at a fast enough frequency that your brain stitches them together into fluid motion. Frame rate alone is only half of the equation, the other major component is shutter speed which affects how much motion blur will be present in the image. Native broadcast has 60 screen updates per second -- either full frames for 720p, or alternating line updates for 1080i. When they chop that down to 30fps, they don't do compensating motion blur so it breaks the 180° rule.
Cinematic Motion Blur - 180° Rule - Beyond The Time
How much it affects an individual person will vary; just like some people can see 3D pictures and some people can't.
Code:
curl https://www.philo.com/manifest/live/AESTR/manifest.mpd?content_host=content-us-east-2-fastly-b.www.philo.comWill give you a current manifest of available A&E streams from their US-east-2 CDN region. The streams are encrypted, so you need a valid control connection to Philo to get the decryption keys to play them, but it still clearly shows you what feeds are available for the rate-adaptive player to use.
As for why 30fps matters, it all comes down to the fact that all TV is a mind trick -- you're watching still pictures flipped at a fast enough frequency that your brain stitches them together into fluid motion. Frame rate alone is only half of the equation, the other major component is shutter speed which affects how much motion blur will be present in the image. Native broadcast has 60 screen updates per second -- either full frames for 720p, or alternating line updates for 1080i. When they chop that down to 30fps, they don't do compensating motion blur so it breaks the 180° rule.
Cinematic Motion Blur - 180° Rule - Beyond The Time
How much it affects an individual person will vary; just like some people can see 3D pictures and some people can't.
Done with Philo free trial. Too many missing channels that are critical to our viewing habits. Sticking with Vue.
Philo is more of a niche or supplement service than a cable or satellite replacement service, unless you simply don't care at all for live sports or news.
Exactly. Philo has Viacom, A&E Networks, Discovery/Scripps networks, and now Crown Media programming. That helps cover the missing channels from services like:
YoutubeTV: missing A&E Networks, Viacom, Discovery/Scripps networks, Crown Media
PS Vue: missing A&E Networks, Viacom
Hulu Live TV: missing Viacom, Discovery networks (has Scripps today though), Crown Media
FuboTV: missing Viacom
