Duplicate feed problem found
TV ClubHouse: Archive: USA 2002:
All Things Technical for BB 2002 (computer stuff):
Duplicate feed problem found
Freydnot | Friday, July 19, 2002 - 03:19 am     After poking around at the SMIL file that real sends real player 8 to load the feed, it is clear the duplicate feed problem is happening on the real servers. Here is a packet dump showing what happened after I loaded up feed 4 on Real Player 8. The RBLKey has long since expired, so don't even try to reuse it: GET /rolled/200207191076F55/bigbrother3/bb3_4.smil?case=ok&pid=bb3&url=bb3_4.smil HTTP/1.0 Accept: */* User-Agent: RMA/1.0 (compatible; RealMedia) Icy-MetaData: 1 (snip) Bandwidth: 393216 GUID: 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 RegionData: ClientID: WinNT_5.1_6.0.9.357_plus32_SP80_en-US_686 SupportsMaximumASMBandwidth: 1 Language: en-US, en, * Connection: Keep-Alive Host: smilparse.real.com Accept-Language: en-US, en, * Accept-Encoding: gzip HTTP/1.0 200 OK Connection: close Server: Roxen·Challenger/1.3.122 Last-Modified: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 00:54:25 GMT Cache-Control: no-cache, no-store Accept-Ranges: bytes MIME-Version: 1.0 Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2002 09:59:51 GMT Pragma: no-cache Expires: Fri, 19 Jul 2002 09:59:51 GMT Content-type: application/smil Content-length: 2618 <smil> .<head> ..<meta name="title" content="Big Brother 3"/> ..<meta name="author" content="RealNetworks" /> ..<meta name="copyright" content="2002" /> ..<layout> ...<root-layout width="415" height="280"/> ...<region id="flashreg" left="0" top="0" width="415" height="280" z-index="1" /> ...<region id="cam1_reg" left="351" top="50" width="61" height="44" z-index="1" /> ...<region id="cam2_reg" left="351" top="94" width="61" height="44" z-index="1" /> ...<region id="cam3_reg" left="351" top="137" width="61" height="44" z-index="1" /> ...<region id="cam4_reg" left="351" top="180" width="61" height="44" z-index="3" /> ...<region id="video_320x240" left="17" top="26" width="320" height="240" z-index="3" /> ...<region id="video_240x180" left="57" top="56" width="240" height="180" z-index="3" /> ...<region id="message_320x240" left="17" top="26" width="320" height="240" z-index="4" /> ..</layout> .</head> <body> .<par> .. ..<img src="http://smilparse.real.com/showcase/bigbrother3/common/bb3_back.rp" reg ion="flashreg" fill="freeze"> ...<anchor href="command:openwindow(_self, http://start.real.com/rd?pid=bb3&url=bb3_1.smil)" coords="352,50,413,94"/> ...<anchor href="command:openwindow(_self, http://start.real.com/rd?pid=bb3&url=bb3_2.smil)" coords="352,93,413,137"/> ...<anchor href="command:openwindow(_self, http://start.real.com/rd?pid=bb3&url=bb3_3.smil)" coords="352,136,413,180"/> ...<anchor href="command:openwindow(_self, http://start.real.com/rd?pid=bb3&url=bb3_4.smil)" coords="352,179,413,224"/> ...<anchor href="http://www.cbs.com/primetime/bigbrother3/" show="new" coords="352,222,413,267"/> ..</img> ..<img src="http://smilparse.real.com/showcase/bigbrother3/html/buttons/4_on.gif" id="nav4" reg ion="cam4_reg" fill="freeze"> ..<anchor href="command:openwindow(_self, http://start.real.com/rd?pid=bb3&url=bb3_4.smil)" coords="0,0,61,44"/> ..</img> ..<switch> ...<seq system-bitrate="200000"> ....<video src="rtsp://start.real.com/rd?pid=bb3_live&url=cam1_200.rm&rnrtspmethod=a" reg ion="video_320x240" clip-end="30.min"/> ....<textstream src="http://smilparse.real.com/showcase/bigbrother3/common/timeout_320x240.rt" reg ion="message_320x240" fill="freeze"/> ...</seq> ...<seq> ....<video src="rtsp://start.real.com/rd?pid=bb3_live&url=cam1_80.rm&rnrtspmethod=a" reg ion="video_240x180" clip-end="30.min"/> ....<textstream src="http://smilparse.real.com/showcase/bigbrother3/common/timeout_320x240.rt" reg ion="message_320x240" fill="freeze"/> ...</seq> ..</switch> .</par> .</body> </smil> Looks like the SMIL file that is supposed to load up feed 4 is actually calling out feed 1. Now, how do we get Real to fix it? |
Justin42 | Wednesday, July 24, 2002 - 09:18 am     Wow! Great work! I would email that to Real technical support ASAP. You have to go through a bit of a runaround to get to the form to email on their site, but legions of BB live feed fans would thank you for the time and effort! |
Cmc209 | Wednesday, July 24, 2002 - 01:03 pm     Wow - that is good... I agree with Justin42 - E-Mail the real tech people and let them know of their mistake! Good work! |
Lurknomore | Wednesday, July 24, 2002 - 04:01 pm     And while you are over there ask them to hire you instead of some of their folks who clearly don't know what they are doing |
Freydnot | Thursday, July 25, 2002 - 12:49 am     I sent in a message to real just now. We'll see if they follow up. Further updates as events warrent... |
Freydnot | Saturday, July 27, 2002 - 03:02 am     I got my first "blow off" responce from real today. I responded with a message telling them to go back and re-read my message and try again. Of course I said it in nicer words but... Real tech support is actually subbed out to a third party support company. You can read all about them at http://www.talisma.com I'll post again if they reply again. |
Justin42 | Saturday, July 27, 2002 - 11:29 am     It'd be like beating a dead horse, but maybe email the CBS feedback emails and ASP productions directly? I'm sure CBS would care if the service they're contracting out is screwing up and blowing off customers. You can see how responsive they are by how much they've listened to our complaints about the feeds.. oh, wait... |
Freydnot | Sunday, July 28, 2002 - 06:31 pm     I got another reply from real support. They said: "Hello! Thanks for writing in. I am consulting one of my senior engineers regarding the problem. However, it may take some time. I appreciate your patience in this regard. Regards," That sounds like forward progress to me. Its not a solution or anything, but at least they read the message and took an appropriate action. |
Freydnot | Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - 01:52 am     They wrote back again... "Hello! Thanks for writing in. I am sorry for the inconvenience caused. It was a temporary problem and has been corrected. I tested and could play them without any difficulty. Please try now, you should be able to play them without any issues. Feel free to contact us again if you require any assistance with our products." Except I'm still seeing the problem in RP8 and realone. I wrote them back saying as much. We'll have to see what they come up with next. |
Freydnot | Friday, August 02, 2002 - 08:34 pm     Got another message from Real support... "Hello! Thanks for writing in. I apologize for the difficulty you have experienced. I am escalating your mail to our senior engineers who will contact you at the earliest. We appreciate your time and patience during the support process. Regards," Still not holding my breath... |
Delilah | Saturday, August 03, 2002 - 09:27 am     Thank you Freydnot for trying!  |
Freydnot | Tuesday, August 06, 2002 - 10:01 am     Got another one today. Sounds like this is moving in the right direction. I have omitted the names to protect the innocent... " Thank you for contacting RealNetworks Technical Support. My name is *******. I am a first tier Escalation Engineer for RealNetworks. We apologize that your issue has taken a substantial amount of time to resolve. I tested the big brothe clips and experienced the same as you had reported. I am forwarding it to the concerned Engineers for further review. If you have comments or suggestions for improving RealOne Player, you can submit you feedback from within RealOne Player itself. In RealOne Player, click Help and select Product Survey; then fill out and submit your survey. The results are sent directly to the product development team. For refund, please contact customer service department. Please use our Web site at http://service.real.com/faq/contcs.html for step-by-step instructions on how to get assistance from our Customer Service department. Regards, ******* **** Certified Mentor Technician RealNetworks RealOne Music subscribers can send general account questions by visiting http://service.real.com/faq/contcs.html For questions about RealOne Music credits, call Customer Service at 1-888-768-3248 (USA only)" |
Freydnot | Tuesday, August 20, 2002 - 03:42 pm     Two weeks have passed since the last communication from Real. I guess they decided to move in the wrong direction |
Freydnot | Tuesday, August 20, 2002 - 03:49 pm     For those of you following along at home, here is a screen shot showing the problem. (Edit - having problems attaching images) Notice how the player is on feed 4, but the statistic clearly show its sending me feed 1? That is the problem. The clock is only there to provide a time stamp of the problem. This screen shot above is realplayer version 8. The same bug appears in RealOne, but feed 2 is the problem feed (not cam4 like in RP8) |
Freydnot | Tuesday, August 20, 2002 - 03:49 pm     Edit - Dupliate post |
Freydnot | Tuesday, August 20, 2002 - 03:53 pm     Second try at the image...
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Freydnot | Tuesday, August 20, 2002 - 04:06 pm     I went to take a picture of the RealOne problem and discovered it isn't there any more. So, the problem still exists in RP8 (and Mac I would suspect) but it is fixed for RealOne. I guess that is progress. |
Freydnot | Wednesday, August 21, 2002 - 12:30 pm     I sent another message yesterday and got the following response today: Hello ! Thanks for providing us the detailed description. I am forwarding your mail to senior Escalation Engineers for further review. They will get in touch with you at the earliest. Regards, ******* RealOne Music subscribers can send general account questions by visiting http://service.real.com/faq/contcs.html For questions about RealOne Music credits, call Customer Service at 1-888-768-3248 (USA only) ------- Original Message -------- >I have not heard anything from you for two weeks now. I'm still having >the problem using real player 8. > >I have detailed all of my findings at the following message board: >../10972/1040389.html?1029885083 > >Please feel free to email me any questions or let me know if I can be of >any assistance. > >Thanks, |
Freydnot | Thursday, August 22, 2002 - 03:49 pm     Got another message from Real. They seem to be regressing. Do you even think he read my message? Hello! My name is *****. I am a RealNetworks Technical Support Engineer and will be interacting with you on the problem you are reporting. I apologize for the difficulty you have experienced. We believe at this time the issues with Big Brother 3 servers has been Resolved. Please attempt to connect to Big Brother. Please contact us if your issue continues. Tech support 206-674-2680 Or email support at service.real.com Thanks, |
Max | Thursday, August 22, 2002 - 04:04 pm     sounds like a bot message to me. |
Freydnot | Thursday, August 22, 2002 - 04:04 pm     And my reply... Nope, I am still getting feed 1 when I should be getting feed4. I have attached a screen shot (for the 3rd time) showing the problem. The last message I got was from ******* who is a first tier Escalation Engineer. Can you see if they are still looking into the problem? I do live in Seattle. I'd be happy to come down and show the engineers exactly what the problem is. Just name the time and place. I can't believe you guys have been denying 25% of the Big Brother 3 content to all Real Player 8 users since the show began. I know I notified you about it on July 19th so you have known about it and ignored it for at least a month. I'm sure its just a typo in a script. How hard can it be to fix? Sorry for venting at you, I know you are just in support and aren't responsible for my troubles. I would appreciate it if you could pass along my frustration to the people who are responsible for my troubles It would have been nice if you had actually read my problem and took the time to try it yourself before declaring it was fixed. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help. |
Freydnot | Monday, August 26, 2002 - 07:41 pm     Got another one today. While its not optimistic, at least its honest. Doesn't read like english is the native language... My name is *****. I am a RealNetworks Technical Support Engineer and will be interacting with you on the problem you are reporting. I apologize for the difficulty you have experienced. I have passed the info on about the feed 4 showing feed 1. I can not garuntee what will happen from here your info was giving as well letting them know you are willing to help in this situation. If you feel need to talk to someone over the phone you can contact Technical Support at 206-674-2680. Thanks, |
Freydnot | Tuesday, September 03, 2002 - 05:57 pm     Well, I checked today and the problem seems to be fixed. Of couse nobody at real ever replyed to my requests to tell me it was fixed, but I'm probably aiming too high on that one. Case closed. |
Bastable | Wednesday, September 04, 2002 - 09:44 pm     Good work, Freydnot! I've been following your travails with Real with an emotion approaching heartache. A truly terrible company! I don't know about you, but if I'm ever given a choice, I will NEVER do business with Real again! Your thread proved why. The company is fumbling and unresponsive. |
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