TVE Commercials

I just turned OFF recording on Fox News Outnumbered. As soon as I turned it OFF and went back in, the time is now same as actual time.

To me that makes it obvious it's a Channels DVR issue.

Let's get it fixed!

If you truly only want the last hour, change your pass to have a negative start padding of 120 minutes.

I was thinking the same.

...and pad the end of important recordings from Passes on any affected TVE channels for, say, 30-45 minutes after too, so they don't get cut off in the meantime?

Where are you getting Channels version '2025.01.07.2013? There is no mention of it under release history. The last one mentioned in 12/24

Do you see the extended commercials on the live websites?
I'm seeing them on the Magnolia channel https://go.discovery.com/channel/magnolia-network-preview-atve-us

1 Like

That is the Server's current Pre-Release version:

Thanks. The one place I didn't look.

It is a Channels recording issue which just started yesterday. When I watch a Fox News, Fox Business, of HGTV show live while it is being recorded, then 'commercial breaks' pop up for 4-5 minutes, then the program resumes. Watching it live, everything is fine and the show ends on time.

When I watch the recording of what I just watched live, for some reason, Channels is inserting some 'actual commercials' which didn't appear when I watched the show live, to the recording, plus the normal 'commercial break' notice that appeared in the live version. Because of the additional 'added' commercials (adds 4-5 extra minutes to each commercial segment), playback of the recording ends 10-15 minutes early so you miss the end of the show because the 'Pass' was scheduled to record from 11:00am to 12:00pm.

I disabled 'Commercial Detection' in the Channels settings and recorded a Fox News show that I watched live, and Channels recording still added the additional 'commercials'.

Someone for Channels support needs to check this out, because it is only doing this to recordings where the content comes from TVE. OTA recordings work fine.

Channels does not insert commercials. They are inserted by the website/network.

(Just because it is only occurring on recordings does not necessarily mean the problem is Channels. Channels only records what it is given; the error is that the network is adding extra "commercials" in the feed.)

And while I'm watching it on the website during a commercial, I duplicate the browser tab and watch in the other tab and it's back to the show there, while the original tab is playing ads.

Definitely an issue with the website feeds.

I don't think 'Channels' is actually inserting the commercials, but they are recording more from the TVE source, than what the TVE source is presenting to Channels when the viewer watches the show 'live'. Somehow, the Channels recording process is picking up 'commercial' content that isn't shown when watching what is being recorded, live.

Has anyone from Channels done a compare by recording a program from TVE, while at the same time, watch it live, then go back and watch the recording to see what is happening? This just started in the last day.

1 Like

I see it on their website using a browser, which is where Channels gets the feed from.
That rules out Channels.

Watched on the Discovery Go website in a browser
Started watching Lakefront Bargain Hunt: Renovation - S03E09 about 10:50am, guide shows airing 10:00-11:00am
At 11:11:21 Lakefront Bargain Hunt: Renovation - S01E05 started, guide shows airing 11:00-12:00
Quit watching, but figure it would keep slipping later and later thoughout the day.

1 Like

Hope the devs can figure out what’s going on quickly. There are going to be a ton of upset people very soon when their recordings are borked. @maddox @tmm1

I noticed that if I go to the guide and select a non-OTA program, the program will play but when the 'commercial break' message appears, if I wait a few minutes, actual commercials will start playing. if I wait for the commercials to end, you go back to the program. If you do this, the program ends 10-15 minutes later than it was scheduled to end. BUT, if after the 'commercial break' message appears, and after a few minutes, an actual commercials will start. If I back out of the program so you go back to the guide, than select the program again, the program will resume, by-passing the commercial.

I tried this on programs from Fox News and HGTV.

When you select a program from the guide to watch, doesn't Channels start recording the program in the background? If this is the case, it explains the extra commercials in the recordings. Sounds like TVE isn't embedding the 'actual commercials in programing correctly.

Yes. Channels gets the feed from the website. That's what I was talking about.

No, it's not like a TiVo.

I just added 30 minutes extra padding to all TVE recordings until it's fixed.
But will still have the issue with recordings that are back-back on the same channel, since the connection is kept open and shared until the last back-back recording completes.

What I noticed were the commercials that are now included in the live programs. Before this weekend, channels like Fox News would go to a "station break" feed for 3-4 minutes. They might slip in 1 or 2 pharmaceutical commercials during each break and then go back to their live feed. I would assume that any recorded programs would have the same commercials as the live feed. However, if I watch Fox News on the spectrum app, I get the same commercial feed as my wife gets on her Spectrum DVR. The App feed must be different than the TVE feed.

They are from different sources. About TV Everywhere-Knowledge Base

Here's an example.
Watching Discovery Go Magnolia channel in a web browser in three separate browser tabs.
Tab 1


Tab 2

Tab 3

If you're watching in a web browser like this, when it transitions from the static "Commercial break in progress" image to a real commercial, just refresh your browser and you'll be back to the show.
I think that's because it reloads the master playlist.

Not sure how to fix Channels though.