TVNZ On Demand stopped working on my HTPC

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littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#175401 27-Jun-2015 23:19

Logged in to TVNZ On Demand tonight to catch up on Big Bang Theory to discover it's not working. I'm on a little Windows box running 8.1 with Bing. It was working a week ago. I tried on both IE11 and Firefox and both are up to date. I can log into my account and browse to the video I want, but I just get a dark grey box. All the control icons are there; play, volume, full screen, but I can't click on any of them, and the video never loads. It's the same on both browsers. I can watch TV3 and Choice TV's on demand sites, so I assume flash is working okay. I can also view the video on my iPad so I know the service isn't down.

I've tried:
Clearing my browser cache
Clearing my Flash cache
Resetting my Flash licence
Made sure Flash was up to date
Ran latest Windows updates and restarted the computer
Added TVNZ On Demand to Flash trusted sites list
Checked "allow all sites" in Flash settings
Disabled protected mode (briefly)

I'm at a loss. The reason I got the little PC was to watch TVNZ On Demand on the TV, so this is rather annoying. Any ideas how I might rectify this?

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

mattwnz

20147 posts

Uber Geek

#1332815 27-Jun-2015 23:52

Does it play the ads at the beginning? Do you have any ad blocking software. I have checked it and it works for me in a browser on windows 7. But I do have problems with tvnz on my linux machine, and it only works in firefox, or chrome, can't remember which, and that is due to copy protection problems with with TVNZ uses, which they acknowledge on their website. Also make sure it isn't the program, as sometimes they just don't work.

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#1332817 28-Jun-2015 00:05

I've only got the built-in Windows antivirus software running, and that was on there last week when I wasn't having any issues. It doesn't even play the ad at the beginning, just goes to the grey/black screen with the unresponsive set of controls along the bottom and sits there. It's the same with every single show I try. I can't find anything on TVNZ's site that mentions this specific problem.

Tried playing the content on my son's computer since he has 8.1 and IE11 too, and it ran on his machine no problem. Also just downloaded Chrome to the HTPC and tried it on that to no avail - exact same issue on all 3 browsers. It's something on this specific machine that's causing the issue but I can't work out what.

Edited to add: Video on TVNZ's news site is playing fine.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

robjg63

4098 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#1332845 28-Jun-2015 08:25

Do you have any geo unblocker set up on the HTPC?
Setting some regions on disables some other regions (ie NZ).

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#1332888 28-Jun-2015 11:03

robjg63: Do you have any geo unblocker set up on the HTPC?
Setting some regions on disables some other regions (ie NZ).

No - I do have in my Apple TV and Playstation, but the HTPC was specifically for NZ on demand content so I've left it on default DNS and my router has Spark's in it. Other devices connecting through it can get the content.

I also tried turning off the Windows firewall and deleting my cookies. Totally baffled.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#1333567 29-Jun-2015 16:39

It's just dawned on me that it might be due to the PC only having HDMI out, which I see in their FAQs is a no-no due to 'licensing restrictions'. Doesn't explain why it's worked up until now, or what they intend to do when more and more machines drop older types of connections. I'm not sure what licensing restrictions would stop you using a TV as a computer screen, as I can't see how it's any different to having a computer with a really big screen. Why would that not be allowed when connecting to a TV using VGA is fine?

I've sent a query to TVNZ and a very polite and helpful person has responded, so we'll see how we get on.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

n4

959 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1333593 29-Jun-2015 17:36

littleheaven: It's just dawned on me that it might be due to the PC only having HDMI out, which I see in their FAQs is a no-no due to 'licensing restrictions'. Doesn't explain why it's worked up until now, or what they intend to do when more and more machines drop older types of connections. I'm not sure what licensing restrictions would stop you using a TV as a computer screen, as I can't see how it's any different to having a computer with a really big screen. Why would that not be allowed when connecting to a TV using VGA is fine?

I've sent a query to TVNZ and a very polite and helpful person has responded, so we'll see how we get on.

Odd - I have a (Vista) HTPC with HDMI only output and it works. The only time I have issues is when using a Geo-unblocker DNS setting - I have to switch back to NZ DNS.

Samsung Note20 Ultra, on 2degrees

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#1333880 30-Jun-2015 09:18

At TVNZ's request I tried it with a different screen, and it still does the same thing, but they said the HDMI out shouldn't be an issue. It's obviously something to do with a programme on the little PC that is causing the issue, but no idea what it could be. I'd not loaded anything new to it between when it worked and when it didn't. TVNZ's tech person seems very keen to assist, though, so fingers crossed they are able to resolve it.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

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n4

959 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1334380 30-Jun-2015 18:32

Stab in the dark but maybe try rebooting your router to get a new public IP.

Samsung Note20 Ultra, on 2degrees

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#1334457 30-Jun-2015 20:58

Okay thanks, will try that when my son is done with YouTube for the evening.

Interestingly, I can't even right-click on the player window and bring up the Flash settings manager. If I go to Choice TV, no problem. But it's like the TVNZ page doesn't recognize the player window is even there. It just treats it like the rest of the page. If I double click the window, bits of it turn blue.

Edited to add: I just uninstalled Flash as an experiment. Sure enough, TV3 Now asks me to install Flash when I try to play a video on their site. TVNZ On Demand does not... It's like their site isn't even registering that it contains Flash content. What would cause that on multiple browsers?

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#1334520 30-Jun-2015 23:02

n4: Stab in the dark but maybe try rebooting your router to get a new public IP.

You might have cracked it!

I tried watching TVNZ On Demand on my Mac Pro (via Safari) and replicated the error, so I knew it wasn't my little HTPC causing the issue. Then I tried hotspotting the Mac to my iPhone's 4G connection and voila, the video played. So that meant it had something to do with my network connection. Rebooted the router and now I am playing TVNZOD video via the HTPC. So, thank you! It was driving me nuts.

Just in case I have to do this frequently - does rebooting the router adversely affect my VDSL DLM profile? And any idea why this might have happened? I use the connection with devices that have UnoTelly DNS loaded, but the router has Spark's in it. Maybe it's just one of those unexplained random glitches.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.