Skip to Desired Time Feature doen not work when streaming video

[drywallboard]

Hello,

I currently am trying out the WDTV Live media player and I am using the PlayOn software to stream web content to my TV.  This work fairly well except I can not navigate to a particular time in the video.  For example, I watch ESPN3 soccer videos and I want to skip the long half-time break.  If I try to fast-forward it stops playing the video.  If I try using the "Skip to Desired Time" feature, the video freezes.  How can I skip ahead on a streaming video???  Does using a wireless keyboard help?? Please help me. 

Regards,

Drywallboard

[TonyPh12345]

You can't.   

As far as the WDTV can tell, the stream is "real time."  

PlayOn does not allow fast forwarding to a point ahead of what it's already downloaded.

FF only works if you had PAUSED the video.   If you've configured PlayOn to do so, it will continue to download the stream and buffer it while you PAUSE.  Then you can FF within that buffer.

Skip to Time is also not supported by PlayOn.

[drywallboard]

Dear WDTV,
 
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly.  Unfortunately without this feature, it would be very time consuming to watch most of my PlayOn videos since I mostly watch FoxSoccer2Go and ESPN3.  I understand why the fastforwarding doesn't work but why couldn't the WDTV "skip to desired time" feature work with PlayOn?  If this feature were selected in WDTV you could stop encoding and restart the encoding at the new time spot.  For example, if I watch the same videos on my computer in Internet Explorer, I am able to click to the new time and it takes a couple of seconds but the streaming buffer resets at the new time.  Can the WDTV Live be changed to mimic the web-browser on this feature??
 
Maybe the easiest solution is adding FoxSoccer2Go and ESPN3 as new services.  Are these services on the table to be added??
 
Thanks again,
Josh

[parnott100]

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I understand why the fastforwarding doesn't work but why couldn't the WDTV "skip to desired time" feature work with PlayOn?  If this feature were selected in WDTV you could stop encoding and restart the encoding at the new time spot. 

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I don't think you do understand. PlayOn is retrieving, re-encoding then restreaming the media stream to the WD TV.  PlayOn tells the WD TV what trick modes (e.g. fast-forward, time-seek, rewind, etc.) are available with the stream. Or, at least it should be.

If you cannot time-seek or fast-forward then PlayOn does not support these functions with that stream. Nothing WD can do about it.

[TonyPh12345]

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drywallboard wrote:

Dear WDTV,
 
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. 

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Just so you know, unless a UserName has the "WD" logo next to it, it's not a WD person responding.  Almost everyone here are just users.

[drywallboard]

Thanks again everyone.  It is great to get quick feedback.  I have talked to PlayOn and they dont seem to support the "time seek" feature but I am going to try talking to their support.

Does anyone know of another service, similar to PlayOn, that I should try??

[drywallboard]

I just received this from PlayOn:

Dear Joshua,

it is not possible to use that feature with PlayOn. It is specifically for local media files stored on a PC or storage device. The WDTV Live loads the file on the player and can seek to the desired point. It can do that because the entire video is available. it cannot do that when the video is a live video stream.

Kind regards,

Chris PlayOn Support www.playon.tv

Does that seem correct to everyone here??  Can the WDTV skip inside a streaming video?  Do you think that PlayOn could actually make the change?

Thanks,

Josh

[TonyPh12345]

Yes, what Chris from Playon said is correct.

[drywallboard]

Thanks TonyPh12345.

Now that I have re-read his email, he said streaming "live video stream".  Does that mean all video streams or just live video streams.  For example, I watch ESPN3 soccer videos and they over live streams and replay streams.  Are they considered the same? 

Is there a reason you cannot skip ahead in the replay streams?  I am able to do that in Internet Explorer.  What makes the WDTV Live device different? 

I guess I am trying to see if I can get either WDTV or PlayOn to get this working for me.  It is important very feature for me.  The only things I watch is soccer on FoxSoccer2Go and ESPN3.  I really don't want to have to wait through the halftime break to finish my soccer game.  Can anybody help me??

[TonyPh12345]

From PlayOn's point of view, they're ALL "Live."

From Playon's perspective, it's just a real-time stream.   It's downloading it at the same rate of playback.  There's no way to randomly seek in PlayOn.