# Vod app temporarily unavailable v301



## dhoward (Mar 15, 2002)

Both of my Premiers, P2 and P4, started with this error today. I am in the Boston area and up till now the on demand has been working perfectly. I have forced a couple of connections and rebooted the tivos to no avail. Is anyone else in the Boston area having a problem? I checked my account and the settings have not changed. I do not want to call tivo or comcast if this is a common problem with other users today also.


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## erugar (Apr 15, 2010)

I'm having the same problem with my P4, although I definitely wouldn't say that my On Demand experience could be considered to have been "working perfectly" previously. It did work for me last night, however.


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## dhoward (Mar 15, 2002)

So, at least, since my problem started today then maybe it is a problem back at tivo and not my hardware. Are you in the Boston area also? Thanks for responding. Please post back if it self corrects.


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## normanm4 (Dec 17, 2006)

only a problem with xfinity for me.


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## lgnad (Feb 14, 2013)

Just like everyone else... Hulu plus is working, Xfinity on Demand is toast tonight


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## dhoward (Mar 15, 2002)

Still not working. Last time I used it was saturday. Down all day Sunday and now Monday. Does not look like a quick resolution on hand.


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## hybucket (Nov 26, 2004)

dhoward said:


> Still not working. Last time I used it was saturday. Down all day Sunday and now Monday. Does not look like a quick resolution on hand.


Was just about to post. Also in Boston - South End.
Mine was working til yesterday. Others (Netflix, YouTube...) working fine. V301. Have not called TiVO yet. Wouldn't even bother calling Comcast, they are clueless about most things. 
Hope they fix this. It's why I got the Premiere.
If anyone finds a solution, please post..
Called TiVO - they suggested doing all the things I had already done. The rep said he had heard "rumblings" about the problem but could not say if they were working on it.


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## BetterYeti (Aug 24, 2004)

Same problem in suburb outside of Boston. Worked fine Saturday night. From main on demand menu, select Xfinity OND, screen goes to "please wait," catches for a moment, and goes back to main on demand menu. Hulu, Neflix, Youtube, etc. all work fine. I have not gotten any error message.

I DID call Comcast, because I actually had an unexpected positive experience when originally pairing the cablecard. As of yesterday, they had no record of any sort of outage. Will this register with Comcast if nobody calls to report it?

FOLLOW UP: VOD is channel 1 in the guide and no signal is appearing. Does anything usually show up there? I can't recall.


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## dhoward (Mar 15, 2002)

I called Tivo just now and they had no idea what I was talking about and said it was a Comcast problem. They then connected me to Comcast and that agent also was clueless. She repaired my CC and of course that made no difference. Said she would escalate the problem and left it at that. This is the kind of problem that will deter people from buying a Tivo. You cannot have two companies that take the easy out and blame the other. The V301 code refers to the app and I wonder if on Saturday night/Sunday morning Tivo connection the download glitched the app. Finding someone interested in solving the problems is going to be difficult until there are a sufficient number of complaints. Everything else works.


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## dhoward (Mar 15, 2002)

BetterYeti said:


> Same problem in suburb outside of Boston. Worked fine Saturday night. From main on demand menu, select Xfinity OND, screen goes to "please wait," catches for a moment, and goes back to main on demand menu. Hulu, Neflix, Youtube, etc. all work fine. I have not gotten any error message.
> 
> I DID call Comcast, because I actually had an unexpected positive experience when originally pairing the cablecard. As of yesterday, they had no record of any sort of outage. Will this register with Comcast if nobody calls to report it?
> 
> FOLLOW UP: VOD is channel 1 in the guide and no signal is appearing. Does anything usually show up there? I can't recall.


By any chance are you using the SD menu's? I get that sequence on my P2 which is using SD menus. My wife likes them better. I get the V301 error on the P4 with the HD menus. I do not believe you ever get anything on Channel 1. You have to use the app.


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## BetterYeti (Aug 24, 2004)

Yes. I'm using the SD menus. When I get home, I'll give it a try on the HD menu to confirm I can replicate the error message. 

I checked the Comcast support forum and at least one other Boston based user reported the same problem. I left a comment linking to this thread hoping to get someone's attention.


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## hybucket (Nov 26, 2004)

I bit the bullet and called Comcast. A joke. Talked to someone in the On Demand department, who was nice, but admittedly did not have a clue. Put me on hold and came back, said he talked to his "supervisor," who said it was definitely a Comcast problem and I needed a truck roll to have someone "check it out." I asked if the many others with the same situation needed a truck roll, he said "yes.' Duh. So some tech is coming out tom'w between 3-5. That should be a laugh riot. Crazy.


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## dhoward (Mar 15, 2002)

hybucket said:


> I bit the bullet and called Comcast. A joke. Talked to someone in the On Demand department, who was nice, but admittedly did not have a clue. Put me on hold and came back, said he talked to his "supervisor," who said it was definitely a Comcast problem and I needed a truck roll to have someone "check it out." I asked if the many others with the same situation needed a truck roll, he said "yes.' Duh. So some tech is coming out tom'w between 3-5. That should be a laugh riot. Crazy.


Funny no one mentioned that to me. I don't think a truck roll is going to do anything. What are they going to replace the cc? I do not believe there is any hardware problem but if you can please let us know what happens. When vod first came out I had a problem that both tivo and comcast worked on together. It finally came down to an incorrect entry regarding my cc. After that was fixed I have had no problems until now.


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## hybucket (Nov 26, 2004)

dhoward said:


> Funny no one mentioned that to me. I don't think a truck roll is going to do anything. What are they going to replace the cc? I do not believe there is any hardware problem but if you can please let us know what happens. When vod first came out I had a problem that both tivo and comcast worked on together. It finally came down to an incorrect entry regarding my cc. After that was fixed I have had no problems until now.


A Comcast supervisor just called me to confirm tomw's appointment. I went thru the same thing with him - he said they have NO RECORD of anyone calling Comcast to complain about the On Demand issue. While he agreed that having a tech come down was probably a waste of time, he said that the tech could at least have the issue escalated. Last time a tech had an issue of mine escalated, it took three months. So I guess I'd better not plan on having On Demand for a while.
The supervisor also told me that if the truck roll could not fix the issue, I would get a premium channel free for three months. Whoopee!


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## kenkuenzel (Apr 22, 2013)

Same thing happening to me. I was watching Xfinity VOD Sunday morning early (a bit before 8) then it just stopped working. I have been round and round with both Comcast and Tivo with nobody wanting to accept that there is anything wrong on their side. From Comcast, I get versions of 'bad cable card', tech to check wiring (which they threaten to charge me for), to 'we had an outage but we fixed it', to 'we are still getting a lot of calls over this'. From Tivo, all I get is 'Comcast problem, call them'. With all these reports of issues, this is obviously system wide tivo problem, but it is not at all clear to me that anyone is working on this. The app on my side fails so quickly, that it could either be a Tivo screw up or a Comcast screw up (the app always was slow to load and display, now the error appears before anything would ever appear on the app). This may ultimately be a Comcast problem, but I am paying Tivo for this systems, so I would at least expect them to work with Comcast and help fix the problem.


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## hybucket (Nov 26, 2004)

kenkuenzel said:


> Same thing happening to me. I was watching Xfinity VOD Sunday morning early (a bit before 8) then it just stopped working. I have been round and round with both Comcast and Tivo with nobody wanting to accept that there is anything wrong on their side. From Comcast, I get versions of 'bad cable card', tech to check wiring (which they threaten to charge me for), to 'we had an outage but we fixed it', to 'we are still getting a lot of calls over this'. From Tivo, all I get is 'Comcast problem, call them'. With all these reports of issues, this is obviously system wide tivo problem, but it is not at all clear to me that anyone is working on this. The app on my side fails so quickly, that it could either be a Tivo screw up or a Comcast screw up (the app always was slow to load and display, now the error appears before anything would ever appear on the app). This may ultimately be a Comcast problem, but I am paying Tivo for this systems, so I would at least expect them to work with Comcast and help fix the problem.


My VOD has never worked properly on my place on the Cape, and it's a Comcast Motorola DVR. And don't even get me going about the Comcast Motorola Guide!! 
But the TiVO Premiere has always worked OK, though, as you say, slow. It's apparent that until they get dozens of complaints, they're not going to do a damned thing about it. Several neighbors here in Boston are having the same problem, but they can't be bothered to call, they say. And so it goes....


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## klambert (Dec 2, 2005)

Another Cape Codder without VOD on a premiere.


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## hybucket (Nov 26, 2004)

klambert said:


> Another Cape Codder without VOD on a premiere.


Not to repeat myself, but the only way this is going to be fixed is to call Comcast and ask to speak to a supervisor. The majority of regular customer service people don't care. Try to get them to give you a service number so you can follow its progress. I know - it's a pain calling Comcast, but it's the way they do business.


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## kenkuenzel (Apr 22, 2013)

I have called Comcast five times to get five different answers. The last time they told me not to call again until a tech had a chance to check out my network (which apparently spreads though out the greater Boston area to everyone else here). They have refused (so far, maybe call six will work), to open up a ticket with their network service department. It is still not clear to me that this could only be a Comcast issue.


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## mpnret (Dec 4, 2012)

hybucket said:


> Not to repeat myself, but the only way this is going to be fixed is to call Comcast and ask to speak to a supervisor. The majority of regular customer service people don't care. Try to get them to give you a service number so you can follow its progress. I know - it's a pain calling Comcast, but it's the way they do business.


I spoke to a supervisor every time they wanted to do a truck roll for something that was clearly their problem. It was a total waste of time. I find your best chance for getting something fixed is to call the cable card pairing line but sometimes even they insist on a truck roll. I have dealt with many companies over my lifetime and Comcast is the worst by far.
My last incident was when my VOD stopped working about a month ago. I could see both here and on other sites that I wasn't the only one with this problem. They still insisted on a truck roll. They now have me wore down and I just schedule the appointment. It's easier than fighting with them. VOD starting working again just before the appointment.


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## dhoward (Mar 15, 2002)

I just wasted an hour + of my life. I decided to try tivo one more time. I explained the problem and was told that they are receiving other calls regarding the same problem. He set up a three way call with comcast. The first two people we spoke to had no clues and said they really don't support the tivo feature and to call tivo. I told him that tivo was already on the line. The tivo agent asked to be transferred to a higher level of support. After a 1/2 hour of being on hold the tivo agent had to leave. I waited another five minutes and then hung up. Comcast only answer was for a truck roll. I told them no as it is not a hardware problem on my end. The tivo agent supported me. Anyway after all this I am no better off. There does not seem to be any way of getting someone to fix this. I love my tivos but sometimes there is a big prolem when both tivo and comcast are pointing fingers at each other. I hope someone else in this thread gets better results and we can piggyback off their solution. If it gets solved it will be on this forum. I guess I can live without on demand. I wonder if I am entitled to a discount on my bill if comcast cannot fix the problem. I also wonder if the app was accidently corrupted during the daily download from tivo. Who knows. My guess is as good as their's.


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## kenkuenzel (Apr 22, 2013)

Both Comcast and Tivo should be called here. While Tivo has no trucks to roll, it could still be a problem in their network or in an update that has been pushed out (as someone suggested). I believe (from the little I have been able to learn about all of this in the past two days, so take this all with a large grain of salt), that the Xfinity app uses the normal IP to communicate back to Comcast to pull data (menus, shows, etc) and start the VOD stream to the tivo (which are still one-way hosts). IF my wild speculation is correct, then there is a server somewhere in some cloud (Tivo or Comcast or both), that needs to facilitate this communication, queue the show to your cable card, etc. Due to the speed that this app is failing, it quickly bails out with a network failure (which is why Tivo has you walk though all the network test steps) when it does not reach that server. Until either or both companies open up a network ticket, this will probably never be fixed.


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## dhoward (Mar 15, 2002)

Both companies have been called and after a lot of frustration no solutions or even the hint that someone is working on it. When I had a problem with vod during it infancy I emailed Margret and the ball started moving. Maybe that route has to be taken again assuming she is still active. She is a VP but I do not know anyone else who might aid us. Any suggestions?


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## dhoward (Mar 15, 2002)

The heck with it. I just pm'd her with a link to this thread. What have we got to lose.


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## hybucket (Nov 26, 2004)

dhoward said:


> The heck with it. I just pm'd her with a link to this thread. What have we got to lose.


Our sanity.
Worst customer service. Ever.
UPDATE
My VOD is now working! !! Guess the truck rolled when I wasnt looking.


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## dhoward (Mar 15, 2002)

Guess what after I read your post I tried it again. Mine is working also. Maybe our calls actually spurred someone to fix it.


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## hybucket (Nov 26, 2004)

Together, we. will rule the cable world.


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## BetterYeti (Aug 24, 2004)

Weird. It it's now working from the HD menu but now SD menu (which I prefer) won't even go to vod menu from main menu. Will try restart.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Did you guys try to contact them at the 'social media' sites? I seem to remember they have both a twitter acct and FB acct, and supposedly pay attention to those more carefully..

one is 'wecanhelp', but I don't remember the rest.. if it's an email address or twitter.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

mattack said:


> Did you guys try to contact them at the 'social media' sites? I seem to remember they have both a twitter acct and FB acct, and supposedly pay attention to those more carefully..
> 
> one is 'wecanhelp', but I don't remember the rest.. if it's an email address or twitter.


VOD just came back on in the Hartford CT area, I got the error but a sec. later VOD came on and I could watch a program, the next time I tried no error just went directly to VOD.


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## dhoward (Mar 15, 2002)

Looks like everyone has VOD again. After I realized my P4 had recovered I checked my P2 which uses the SD menu's. When I tried to go to VOD it just sat there at the please wait screen forever. I finally forced my way back to the My Tivo screen. I then attempted to let it call home and it took forever to get past the negotiating process. I finally stop looking at the screen and went back to live TV. It finally made its connection and when I tried the VOD it worked fine. My Mini had a big error message, C133 or C131 I think, that basically said some of its features were unavailable and please wait. These features were all the apps and the search features. Based on all this I think the problem was on Tivos side of the house and not Comcast. All Comcast was going to do was a useless truck roll. Tivo knew there was a problem but never passed that info to the CSR's causing a great deal of aggravation. It is not so much that there was a problem it is that no one could provide info on it and causes the customer to have to get frustrated dealing with both Comcast and Tivo and getting nowhere. Maybe Margret will read this thread and institute some method so we can tell which company is at fault and maybe a time frame for repair. That is all either one had to say and I would have been happy.


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## kenkuenzel (Apr 22, 2013)

Yes the service is back up. In a thread on the Tivo site, they informed my the Comcast servers had a power outage and went down on Sunday. While the Comcast server was down and they should have had the good network practices to identify this, this is as much as a Tivo problem as anything else. Apparently, they could see requests from the many effected Tivo systems and the Comcast servers and could now see them working. Part of a well designed, well run network is the ability to use the various parts to help isolate faults and restore services. In this case, it appears the Tivo systems knew that all the individual users were making requests, that got to/through them and failed when talking to the Comcast servers. If they had bothered to monitor these failed requests or looked when the calls started coming in, they could have quickly informed Comcast of the issue. It appears there is little or no collaboration between the two companies to insure that we all get good service. At the very least, Tivo could have pointed Comcast in the right direction and avoided all the 'refresh signals', 'truck rolls', and other useless customer service requests. What needs to happen here, is that Tivo needs to be forced to take responsibility for the all the apps that run on its platform, especially the ones where their infrastructure is involved in the complicated network dance. Services and servers will always fail, we all understand that. A well run network can quickly recover from the failures and restore service. The Tivo infrastructure had the key to saving us all a lot of grief and getting the service restored. They choose to be lazy and leave us all hanging for a lot longer than was necessary. Comcast will never care about a few Tivo outliers. Tivo should.


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## dhoward (Mar 15, 2002)

Very well said. I could not agree more. This is a perfect example of poor customer service. I requested TivoMargret to view this thread. Maybe she can use this as a what not to do when customers are seeking help. If Tivo wants to draw new customers from the Cable Companies they have to show that their service is better when a problem develops. Oh well at least we have VOD back


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