Streaming channels - where does the buffer actually come from?

[Almighty1]

I am on a DISH Hopper 3 with Hopper Plus setup with the International TVB Jade World package. My question is obviously for streaming, there is the server which I believe is at DISH but is this a issue with TVB USA or is it with DISH itself as this is what is happening as a example.

The channel is TVB Drama 626-05. The current time is 3:52PM and I am going back 53 minutes which is basically 2:59PM. The problem is the content and what is shown on the progress bar is 1:59PM as it's basically using the 1:00PM-2:00PM content which was the live content during that time. As I am aware, DISH Hopper 3's buffer can only go back 1 hour or 60 minutes so where is it getting the 1:59PM content from. It appears if the current time is still in the current scheduled program per the guide, then the buffer is correct but if the current time is 4:00PM meaning I am 15 minutes delayed and I hit pause or even skip which is supposed tȯ be a 30 second jump, it will immediately show 4:00PM content as the current scheduled programming is 4:00PM-5:00PM and I go to 3:59PM, it will show the 2:59PM or 2:00PM-3:00PM content instead of the 3:00PM-3:59PM content.

This issue appears to happen 98% of the time and there are random days the buffer works correctly.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The buffer comes from the Hopper 3 itself. It stores the stream on the internal hard drive.

 

[Almighty1]

The buffer comes from the Hopper 3 itself. It stores the stream on the internal hard drive.

I thought so but doesn't the Hopper 3 only store the last 60 minutes for the buffer? Where is it getting the earlier buffer from?
I mean in this case, it's a buffer from 120 minutes ago.

On weekdays on the same streaming channel, the programming schedule goes like this which is the same in the guide:
1:00PM-2:00PM, 2:00PM-4:00PM, 4:00PM-6:00PM, 6:00PM-7:00PM, 7:00PM-8:00PM and the current time was 7:01PM, if I went to 6:58PM, it would show the content of 1:58PM and the progress bar would show 6:58PM with 1:00PM-2:00PM on the top of the progress bar and it will play 1:58PM to 6:58PM or all 5 hours of delayed content without issues. Of course like right now, DISH Care on Facebook had me do a check status so the channel started at 5:27PM except 5:27PM is showing 1:27PM content with the title on the progress bar as 1:00PM-2:00PM so obviously it's not from the buffer as the buffer started 38 minutes ago and it's not the live content showed from 5:27PM-6:00PM for the 5:00PM-6:00PM programming, the 6:00PM-6:15PM is correct as it's the current schedule programming. I am in Pacific Time.

 

[Juan]

I thought so but doesn't the Hopper 3 only store the last 60 minutes for the buffer? Where is it getting the earlier buffer from?
I mean in this case, it's a buffer from 120 minutes ago.

On weekdays on the same streaming channel, the programming schedule goes like this which is the same in the guide:
1:00PM-2:00PM, 2:00PM-4:00PM, 4:00PM-6:00PM, 6:00PM-7:00PM, 7:00PM-8:00PM and the current time was 7:01PM, if I went to 6:58PM, it would show the content of 1:58PM and the progress bar would show 6:58PM with 1:00PM-2:00PM on the top of the progress bar and it will play 1:58PM to 6:58PM or all 5 hours of delayed content without issues. Of course like right now, DISH Care on Facebook had me do a check status so the channel started at 5:27PM except 5:27PM is showing 1:27PM content with the title on the progress bar as 1:00PM-2:00PM so obviously it's not from the buffer as the buffer started 38 minutes ago and it's not the live content showed from 5:27PM-6:00PM for the 5:00PM-6:00PM programming, the 6:00PM-6:15PM is correct as it's the current schedule programming. I am in Pacific Time.

I generally keep a large bucket under my hopper..that way when the buffer overflows I dont get big pile of ones and zeroes all over my floor

 

[Bobby]

I generally keep a large bucket under my hopper..that way when the buffer overflows I dont get big pile of ones and zeroes all over my floor

But we all know what kind of pile you usually get!

 

[Almighty1]

The problem seems to be only with TVB JadeWorld channels from this quick test done last night:

I tried this on 626-03 TVBe which I tuned to at 9:27PM PT or 37 minutes ago. The schedule for that channel is 9:00PM-9:30PM, 9:30PM-10:00PM,10:00PM-12:00AM. The current time was 10:02PM and I was still watching at 9:47PM, when I pressed Play/Pause to pause, it jumped to 10:02PM or live. when I went back to 9:58PM, it was showing 9:00PM-9:30PM on the top of the progress bar with 9:58PM for the current time. Also, the buffer only goes back to 9:54PM as far as the beginning.

I tried this on Law&Crime 252 which is streaming with 10:00PM-10:30PM, 10:30PM-11:00PM. I started tuning in at 10:16PM and intentionally created a 5 minute delay. At 10:35PM, I press the Play/Pause and it pauses and shows the progress bar at 10:30PM. 10:28PM does show the correct 10:00PM-10:30PM content and the time does show 10:28PM so the problem is with TVB JadeWorld's channels only which are international streaming.

So hard to say for the TVB JadeWorld Channels when it hits the previous timeframe and not the current time, is it really using the local buffer or is it actually streaming the content for that timeframe.

 

[tsunami2311]

I have seen something similar happen a few times on fast channel 92-xx ~ 98-xx channel ones many quirks on the streaming channels that I have seen