Problems with ITVX
- Thread starter tones
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Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
Interesting. Assuming that you have a dual band 2.4/5GHz WiFi can you check which band is used for the iPad and Firestick? It just may be that in your case one is better than the other. Fingers crossed.
I have a Firestick and use it all the time but not for ITVX. If you tell me with which catch up you are having problems I can see if I get the same.
DV
alanbeeb
pfm Member
ITVX is very glitchy - and I've only used it once! I wanted to see "Black Bear" and its available on ITVX (I'm sure it was on Netflix but no longer sadly)
Anyway, I can see Black Bear on the ITVX website on my PC and on my phone, but on the app on the Firestick it cannot be found at all! Eventually I got it by logging on at the website, adding the film to my watchlist, then I could see it on my watchlist on the Firestick App. But otherwise it just wasn't going to find it. The adverts are annoying and they were cut into the film badly.
Anyway, I can see Black Bear on the ITVX website on my PC and on my phone, but on the app on the Firestick it cannot be found at all! Eventually I got it by logging on at the website, adding the film to my watchlist, then I could see it on my watchlist on the Firestick App. But otherwise it just wasn't going to find it. The adverts are annoying and they were cut into the film badly.
tones
Tones deaf
I tried it tonight - and it worked! Moreover, I experimented with ITVX Premium, immediately withdrawing my payment, which still gives me the seven days' free use - and it appears to delete all the accursed adverts. So, thank you for that recommendation!
Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
I'm not sure what you mean by this so I selected on old series 'Touch of Frost' and started with the first episode. Its been running fine and smoothly without any glitches so I'll keep it running for another hour or so.
The adverts do start with a cruise ship and a message that Viking is sponsoring these old drama series then onto the adverts followed by another reminder of Viking and a smaller ship then onto the next part.
We have two 4K Ultra HD Firesticks and mine was bought in 2018 and the other in my wifes office/TV 2019.
Its beginning to look like neither the Firestick nor the Internet connection is at fault as you can also get ITVX on the iPad successfully.
That leaves me with two possibilities at which to take a guess at a) interference on the WiFi band/channel that your Firestick is using and b) overloaded servers that are handling your video streams from ITVX. If its b) there is nowt you can do about it other than choose a time in the day when fewer people are likely to be watching. I have seen this happen in the past with BBC iPlayer late at weekends with the feed stopping and screwing up. Selecting another program channel shows the Internet and its connections working fine but the BBC servers feeding to us is overloaded/screwed.
Turning to situation a) Interference. I had this exact problem in my wifes office that also has the weakest WiFi signal strength due to several factors. It turns out as expected that the 2.4GHz band has a stronger signal than the 5GHz band as it can penetrate walls etc better. This means that devices such as a laptop and Firestick automatically chooses the 2.4GHz band with its stronger signal strength. It turns out that this 2.4GHz band is used not only by WiFi but a whole host of other devices. One of our neighbours has a device that when in use puts out a strong signal on the 2.4GHz band that in my wifes office swamps the WiFi signal of our laptops, printers, Firestick etc and communications to them stops until the remote device is turned off and everything springs back to life. I fixed this by forcing the use of the 5GHz band where possible, I give this as just an example of how interference can badly affect the 2.4GHz band and wherever possible to use the 5GHz band.
DV
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Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
I let the 'Touch of Frost' run for three and a half hours without any problems so that clears the Firestick. Its amazing technology. A simple processor and a hell of a lot of programming experience. A lot of time and effort has gone into making this Firestick.
If you need help with your local network maybe start a separate thread rather than crap on this one about ITVX?
DV
Gingerbeard
Ayup Me Duck
I have some odd things happen with Youtube, plus occasionally Spotify on our TV. With Youtube, it's like it is trying to force another advert in, the app then goes blank and quits completely. I have to turn the TV off, disconnect the plug and leave it for a few minutes, which seems to sort it out for a while. Prior to the attempt to shove another advert down my neck, everything was working fine.
I would love to watch ITV Player or ITVX as its now called, accept for some reason Samsung one day just decided that our TV was a model that was no longer worthy of the app, which I thought was very nice of them!
The TV is old, brought in 2015, but not excessively so
doctorf
left footed right winger
I’ve just tried ITVX in Spain using Windscribe.
It works fine.
flatpopely
Prog Rock/Moderator
At the OP, is it legal to stream ITVx where you live?
I also have a Samsung tv that is no longer supported so got a Roku adaptor and this does everything I need, BT sport iplayer radio paradise etc. Gets regular SW updates too. Seems more future proof. I won't buy Samsung again.I have some odd things happen with Youtube, plus occasionally Spotify on our TV. With Youtube, it's like it is trying to force another advert in, the app then goes blank and quits completely. I have to turn the TV off, disconnect the plug and leave it for a few minutes, which seems to sort it out for a while. Prior to the attempt to shove another advert down my neck, everything was working fine.
I would love to watch ITV Player or ITVX as its now called, accept for some reason Samsung one day just decided that our TV was a model that was no longer worthy of the app, which I thought was very nice of them!
tones
Tones deaf
Is it legal in Swizzieland? A very good question! Putting on my patent attorney hat for a moment, from a strictly legal point of view, probably not. Copyright is the odd one out of the intellectual property laws. Under the Berne Convention, it exists from the moment of creation of an artistic work and it lasts to the last day of the year 70 years from the year of the death of the author (some countries, e.g. the USA, have longer periods under certain circumstances). It requires no registration.
The issue of copyright in broadcast material in the days of the Internet and the easy dissemination of digital material is a veritable minefield, but I see it like this. ITV and its associated companies are the copyright holders of much of the content, and for the rest (e.g. Hollywood films), they will have UK-only broadcast rights. With regard to their own content, I presume the object is to be able to license the content to foreign broadcasters. Therefore, they don't want people like me freeloading on the UK and, in a sense, avoiding paying. But how exactly does one police this, without creating an actual police state*? It's yet another example of technology's ability to outrun copyright law, presenting it with situations that were never envisaged (the world's first copyright act, the 1707 Statute of Anne, was only for written works). The only possible answer is to impede copying as much as possible.
We have a situation that is similar to the arrival of the compact cassette and the ability to make high-quality recordings (usually better than the commercial ones). This initially constituted a violation of the copyright in the original recording (a change in the law got around this). So, technically, there were grounds for banning the sales of cassette recorders and blank tapes. However, these did have completely legal uses, so, to the best of my knowledge, this was never considered. In addition, home recording (e.g. for use in the car) was only a minor thing. Things changed with the arrival of digital recordings and the ability to make and disseminate an infinite number of near-perfect recordings, and therefore to make seriously large holes in recording companies' profits.
*I've heard that, in China, government workers are expected to download an app on Xi Jinping thought, and are required to answer questions on it - and that this is monitored for compliance. In a society wher Big Brother really is watching you, I'd imagine that complete copyright compliance would be possible - and of course, in China, the Great Firewall prevents it coming in anyway.
Bob McC
Living the life of Riley
In the U.K. it has always been illegal to copy any music on to any format. An attempt to allow copies for personal use or archiving was suggested but over ruled in the high court in 2015.
Gingerbeard
Ayup Me Duck
tones
Tones deaf
Thanks, Bob, but not "always" - the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 introduced limited exceptions (e.g. "time-shifting" of TV programmes by video recording). The Government then introduced the Copyright and Rights in Performances (Personal Copies for Private Use) Regulations 2014. However, you are right, the High Court held that the Government had acted unlawfully in introducing these rules. I hadn't known about this, so thank you for the update.
The EU Copyright Directive, which then applied to the UK, allowed individual governments to make such exceptions, consistent with a fair return for performers.