4od (4 on Demand) - shockingly bad

[autopilot]

Has anyone used the Channel 4 on demand service? I can't believe just how amazing poor it is. It's the most badly designed system i have used in years - first of all it's IE based browser is just i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-y slow and very buggy. But worst of all it installs a service called Kservice.exe and adds it to you start up. From what i can gather, its the client for some kind of closed propitiatory P2P network and it slows both my internet and PC down to a nose bleedingly slow speed - yet the download speeds are terrible. Even when i am not actively downloading a programme, it cripples my PC, so i'm guessing its updading data continuesly onto the P2P network - er... no thanks, i just wanted to catch up on a programme my PVR missed recording, not permanently become part of some awful P2P network and my my PC virtually unusable! There must be people nationwide with crippled PC's and internet connections and have no idea why now.

I'm just baffled. OK, it does say "beta" somewhere, but if it is being constantly advertised on the telly it needs to be usable, which its not when it takes 5 minutes to load a screen showing you what you downloads are doing etc. I read somewhere that its the same P2P system as BBC's iPlayer, but that no where near as bad? What are they doing?

Anyone else experienced this abomination yet? Its just incredible, a master class in crapness.

[Grey M@a]

I use it on both the work machine, home pc and the little samsung nc10 and not one of them suffers the slowdown or lag issue's. I conastanlty max out the 20mb line whilst downloading demo's 360 grabbing updates and using the 20mb line with three other computers in the house and not suffered the problem.

As you said though the downside is the fact it's IE orientated which is a nightmare. I generally use it if I have the v+ box recording two or three channels at once.

[directhex]

Doesn't 4od use the same Kontiki service that all the other on-demand services (bar the beta BBC one) use?

[Grey M@a]

Doesn't 4od use the same Kontiki service that all the other on-demand services (bar the beta BBC one) use?

As far as I am aware, yes No problems here with it though.

[directhex]

Required some web-based player called silver stream to be installed

Silverlight. It's Microsoft's take on rich media design.

[Splash]

Sodastream? That brings back memories. Memories of low quality "make it yourself" fizzy drinks.

[autopilot]

Doesn't 4od use the same Kontiki service that all the other on-demand services (bar the beta BBC one) use?

Yes, but i have no major problems with the others. It's just 4od's implementation that poor to the point of being unusable for some reason. Maybe if i had a lovely 20mg connection it would be ok, but i dont (like over half the population). And why should we have to become P2P slaves for this? How many non-technical people around the country are now suffering rubbish broadband speeds because they downloaded one programme and now are part of a P2P network they know nothing about? Th biggest problem was not the downstream, but the upstream speed being reduced to around 2-3kbps (yes, about 20 times slower than dial up)

[Lee H]

All the players are utter ****e when compared to the BBC's. Tried ITVs over the weekend. Required some web-based player called silver stream to be installed, not a biggie but why when flash is perfectly capable?! So I load it up, constantly buffering, quality is piss poor during fast action and pixelates terribly, and to make it even funnier the advert sequence in the middle can be simply skipped if you move the slider along as they're integrated as part of the video stream - good for us the viewer, but yet another example of piss poor planning on the part of the service.

Yes.. it's all good skipping the adverts but this is how the ITV offer the service FREE OF CHARGE by having adverts paid for inbetween parts of the show.

I bet you and many others would complain if ITV started to charge for access to the shows say 49p per episode or a similar charging model. Don't forget, bandwidth isn't free and if the advertising parties feel that their money is not worth going to ITV for these adverts, then they are going to walk with their feet and go elsewhere.

It's all a matter of balance. I don't mind the odd advert IF it means the service is going to be free for all to access and view. Plus I can just run down, grab a brew and then watch the part after the advert has been shown.

I've had no issues on the 4OD system myself on a mixture of connections ranging from 20 Mb to 2 Mb and they all behave in the same way, just that it takes a little long to get stuff if I'm at my parents.

[autopilot]

Well i am starting to wonder if maybe my ISP is throttling my bandwidth, but its bloody heavy handed if they are.

[Lee H]

What ISP are you with ?

[Blitzen]

I used ITV Player to watch Demons yesterday morning (streamed), and it was as good as iPlayer.
Took a little longer to buffer though.

[Disbeliever]

Has anyone used the Channel 4 on demand service? I can't believe just how amazing poor it is. It's the most badly designed system i have used in years - first of all it's IE based browser is just i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-y slow and very buggy. But worst of all it installs a service called Kservice.exe and adds it to you start up. From what i can gather, its the client for some kind of closed propitiatory P2P network and it slows both my internet and PC down to a nose bleedingly slow speed - yet the download speeds are terrible. Even when i am not actively downloading a programme, it cripples my PC, so i'm guessing its updading data continuesly onto the P2P network - er... no thanks, i just wanted to catch up on a programme my PVR missed recording, not permanently become part of some awful P2P network and my my PC virtually unusable! There must be people nationwide with crippled PC's and internet connections and have no idea why now.

I'm just baffled. OK, it does say "beta" somewhere, but if it is being constantly advertised on the telly it needs to be usable, which its not when it takes 5 minutes to load a screen showing you what you downloads are doing etc. I read somewhere that its the same P2P system as BBC's iPlayer, but that no where near as bad? What are they doing?

Anyone else experienced this abomination yet? Its just incredible, a master class in crapness.

I get the adverts but not the program buffering starts and TV switches to content. Talktalk download speed 5.8 mbs. Samsung Smart TV D7000. Just installed mains booster same problem

[qaz_92]

If 4oD was more like iPlayer...

[cookie365]

Ah, catchup TV 2009 style. Remember peering at those tiny 12cm wide windows trying to make out what was going on?