About NormAtHome

Asset name etc, just about any show.   Name of ad, any.   Which set of commercials, every one.   Operating system: Windows 10,   Web Browser: using Chrome   What time of day: Any time of day   This is my problem: Each program is broken into segments and an advertisement plays before the show starts and at the end after the credits. When I'm watching a show a segment finishes and a commercial set plays, at the end of the commercial the show will start again but if I just finished (for example the third set) instead of the next segment playing one of the earlier segments replays (using my example either the first, second or third segment) will start to replay again instead of the segment that's supposed to.   I am able to use the track bar / progress bar to move to the segment that was supposed to play without having to watch another set of commercials but it gets harder the farther you get through the show to keep track of where you are and sometimes I have to scroll to a segment and watch for a few seconds then decide "I watched this already" and scroll to the next until I find where I should be. ... View more

Logicmoo1:   Yes, as long as your subscription package includes those channels for example FX, TNT and HBO you can verify that you are a Comcast customer and you can stream directly from the networks own website. Also I can tell you that FX, TNT, HBO and ABC all offer live streaming so you can watch live from your computer just like you would from your TV with a cablebox.   I don't know why Comcast has such significant problems or why they aren't addressing them since their employees are fully aware of them but it's a disgrace.   - Norm ... View more

Logicmoo1:   I don't know why you're advocating paying Amazon to watch regular TV shows. Every network TV channel and many cable channels including FX offer streaming of episodes the day after broadcast. Why pay for something you can get for free.   - Norm ... View more

Hey Rockgrl:   I really like the Whispers, I wasn't aware of the Ray Bradbury connection and in truth I was interested as soon as I heard "executive producer Steven Spielberg"; I'm a sucker for series like this as I love scientific mystery / supernatural mystery type series. I really hope it gets picked up for a second season because there have been a number of series in the last few years that never made it for a 2nd season and the season ended on a cliffhanger. And the mystery was left unsolved and unrevealed, something that really annoys me; like The Event, Flashforward, The Invasion, Threshold and Terra Nova.   Apparently the series was delayed from 2014 and the options on the actors expires soon and the network has to decide quick if there's going to be another season; also apparently the series star Lily Rabe is not too keen to return: http://deadline.com/2015/06/whispers-renewal-season-2-cast-options-abc-1201452254/   - Norm ... View more

Hi Rockgrl:   For some reason the streaming service has been very problematic the last week and I've been following my own advice and going directly to TNT and ABC's website as I'm a fan of Major Crimes and The Whispers as well.   I've been having problems not just with ad issues but for the first time in two years I've been having a slew of 900|bla bla bla errors which I have to refresh half a dozen times to be able to continue. I've been told by the Comcast people (and there is a whole separate thread on 900 errors) that these 900 errors are "network anomaly's" and could be a problem on the customer side either with their computer, router, modem or wiring or it could be on the Comcast side so essentially they're saying it could be a hardware problem anywhere along the way, big help that is.   Since the official Comcast people are more or less mia here in the forums and they have stated in previous messages that these forums are more of a user to user support area than any means of official Comcast support if you want official help you'll have to try either the support chat or call for voice support. If you read this thread back far enough you'll see that people who've gone that route have a very low success rate.   As far as you getting a message that you need Hulu plus, you can try and logout and log back in and usually that will fix the problem. If it doesn't you can always try and call the Comcast application department at 877-599-1845; they've sometimes been able to help people with problems like that.   - Norm ... View more

Lee1212121212:   The problem, as far as I've been able to figure out is that the browser gets stuck waiting for a reply from http://analytics.xcal.tv/player and it never gets one.   I've had such severe problems with TNT shows the last couple days I've been going right to the TNT website to watch shows like The Last Ship and Major Crimes. So my best advise to you and everyone else who's having this problem is to go right to the networks own website and watch from there; in the case of TNT it's www.tntdrama.com.   - Norm ... View more

Grammaedith:   If you really want to complain where it will do the most good there are two places I would suggest: First write a letter to your local franchise authority (the name and address will be on the back of your bill) and the second is your state attorney general.   The reason that Comcast is able to get away with having a system this flawed and buggy is that people don't take the time to complain to the authorities in regards to these problems, if the franchise authority or the state attorney general got a thousand letters all with very similar complaints they would be obliged to investigate and trust me when the authorizes start investigating senior company officials take notice. One time I was having a terrible time with my Verizon phone service (and another time with PSE&G) and had been trying for more than 3 months to get it fixed and I finally complained to the State Board of Public Utilities and within a couple days an agent for the board called me and I explained my problem and in both instances a vice president from Verizon and PSE&G called me and within a day of that people came out and fixed my problems.   I say this not just to you but to everyone who is having these problems that never seem to get fixed, take the time and write letters to the proper regulatory authorities; that's your best bet for getting these problems some attention.   - Norm ... View more

JimboJack:   As I have previously suggested; when you have problems with advertisements that make it impossible to complete watching a particular show your best bet is to go to the networks own website and watch from there.   In this case Texas Rising is a History Channel show and you can watch from their website located here: www.history.com/shows/texas-rising/episodes   - Norm   ... View more

With all due respect (and since you private messaged me about this), I discovered this problem when ad's get stuck with no response from xcal.tv some time ago and posted details here in the forums. I've sent detailed data dumps from the Live-HTTP-Headers FireFox addon to ComcastJoe, ComcastDaniel and ComcastMattF and was told they would look into it.   In my case the problem seemed to resolve itself to a degree that was endurable but I'm sure that you and many other people are still experiencing it.   My best advise is to use FireFox and this addon https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/live-http-headers/ and when you get stuck start capturing what's going on inside the browser with that addon and private message the results to the Comcast people. One word of warning, the output contains possibly security sensitive cookie information that is not for public display so don't post the unedited output here in the forums because the moderators will either edit or delete your post and send you a private message.   - Norm ... View more

If anyone here is getting stuck while watching commercials there is a way to try and pinpoint what's causing the problem. I posted about this possibly earlier in this thread and in several other threads:   If you are a FireFox user there are two extensions that may help pinpoint where the video is getting stuck "Status-4-Evar" which puts the status bar back that was removed in FireFox 4 and "Live HTTP headers", in my case it seemed than when the video was buffering the status appeared to be "Waiting for analytics.xcal.tv/player".   If you use Internet Explorer, then at some version level MS decided that the status bar wasn't really necessary and so made it hidden by default; you can go to View / Toolbars and check off Status Bar to make it visible again.   Google Chrome may have an extension like FireFox that puts a status bar back but if there is, I'm not aware of it as I'm more of a FireFox user.   Once you have the status bar back you should be able to see something like 'Waiting for abcxyz" and get some idea where you're getting hung up; post back with the results or private message the Comcast people directly and ask them to look into it.   - Norm ... View more

Kdex86:   Call the number for the applications department, it's been posted here several times but here it is again: 877-599-1845   describe your problem and they'll fix it for you.   - Norm ... View more

Hi JohnOliver8215:   These advertisement issues have been going on for a good 18 months or more and as you can see this is one of the most active threads here. At one point after corresponding with the several of the official comcast people it seemed like they were taking some notice of all these complaints and posted some updates that they were working on fixes and had rolled out several updates over a four month period in 2014 to help correct some of the problem people are having with the ad delivery system.   However around November when the holidays started, they stopped posting here and things have deteriorated where previously they seemed to be improving.   My best advice to everyone here is to send private messages to each and every one of the official comcast people i.e. ComcastJoe, ComcastDaniel, ComcastMattF and ask that they make some effort to bring the extent of these problems to the attention of the people who can fix them and that they post some updates to what is being done to correct them.   - Norm ... View more

mjley:   This question has been asked and answered in this thread any number of times: network TV shows generate revenue to pay for production costs of the shows through revenue generated by advertising; even cable only networks like USA, FX, Syfy etc pay for show costs through advertising revenue. The only channels that have shows without commercials are pure pay for channels like HBO and Showtime.   Cable providers are really delivery agents and you're paying them to deliver the content and they in turn have to negotiate a deal for rebroadcast rights with the network. Comcast does not control the number or duration of commercials, the networks do.   So don't go on any rants here complaining about commercials because they pay for the shows you like to watch; if you had to pay for advertising free TV the coast would be many times what you're already paying.   - Norm ... View more

Tako42:   Your two options are: call the applications department number listed in previous messages and ask them to fix it for you or you can also go directly to the HBO website and watch from there.   - Norm ... View more

Around noon today 12/13/14, trying to watch Constantine - The Saint of Last Resorts and commercials are getting stuck for minutes at a time and currently for more than 5 minutes on a black screen with the message "Your video will resume shortly" and FireFox's status is "Waiting for anaalytics.xcal.tv". This has been a problem for the last week for me anyway, but I've never gotten stuck for more than a few minutes.   Joe, Matt: This is not the first time this has been a problem. Some of the http browser traces I've messaged you in the past show repeated and unanswered requests to this host http://analytics.xcal.tv/player. I guess that Comcast subcontracts analytics to the firm at that address but you guys need to contact them because they're system appears to have a problem.   - Norm ... View more

For the most part I haven't been having any serious advertisement problems in a while but I recently started to notice one problem that's really very annoying. Some of the ads that include music, specifically The Nexus ad where there's a Jazz song playing are so loud volume wise compared to normal episode volume that I have to reach over and turn the volume down. Another guy here mentioned that he was wearing headphones when an ad like this came on and he suspects he did damage to his hearing and I can kind of see this happening.   Also the Lexus ad with Jingle Bells is rather loud but bearable, I guess because it doesn't have as many loud jazz instruments. ... View more

Matt:   I had problems watching the second episode of The Big Bang Theory "The Junior Professor Solution" at every commercial break either at the beginning when the episode went to a commercial or during or at the end it got stuck saying"Your video will resume shortly" and the status was "Waiting for https://gwa.lphbs.com". I was able to continue the episode by refreshing the page and it seems to pickup at the correct chapter even though I had to watch another set of commercials.   I have the live http header information for that which I will be sending you via private message because as ComcastJoe previously noted it can contain sensative information.   - Norm ... View more

Hi Rajthapar:   The only other that I'm aware of is to go directly to TNT's website (or any networks website) and watch from there, the problem is pretty much an "Ad Delivery" (as Matt puts it) problem on the Xfinity site. The only network that this workaround is no good for (that I know of) is BBC America since they don't offer streaming directly from their site, a number of fans of Orphan Black and Doctor Who were really frustrated at the height of these problems.   Thanks Matt for keeping everyone up to date.   - Norm ... View more

I'd like to say that more than any other station, advertisements on TNT are problematic. When I was watching the season final of Falling Skies on Monday everytime a commercial break finished the show started from the beginning of the episode rather than the next chapter and thankfully I was able to scroll forward and pickup where it should have without having to watch another few sets of commercials.   - Norm ... View more

Hi Kimberly:   It's been my theory that when this problem happens it's an issue on the authentication backend which ties your login to what subscription plan you have and what channels you are allowed to access. I've never really believed that this problem was a client side issue but several people have stated that the "Reset you Flash Player license files" procedure has fixed the problem for them but several people have also said that it didn't work in their case. Why it happens and why in some cases like yours it fixes itself after a period of time is a mystery.   I'm glad everything is working for you but in case it happens again, keep the phone number to the Applications Department handy.   - Norm ... View more

Hi Cindy:   I'm so glad to hear that, I hope that everyone can use that information to get this problem fixed for themselves.   Thanks!   - Norm ... View more

Ok, I had hoped that the license reset would fix the problem but I located a post by user Blackhat_Cuervo who said:   I just got mine fixed today. After going from department to department, I was finally transferred to an awesome agent who immediately understood my problem. The Application department are the ones that deal with this issue.   Application Department Phone number: 8775991845   Give them your info as usual. Let them know that it states, "[Insert Network Here] is not a part of your subscriptions." Then let them know you get the orange key that pretty much means it is locked for subscribers only. What they told me is to log out of my account. Then they would send a reset application signal which would take roughly 3-5 minutes to complete. They came back on the phone while on hold during that time and let me know i could now log back in and try it. I tried it and presto it worked.   This also affects shows you would try to access on your mobile devices such as Watch ESPN, Watch Disney, Watch Disney Junior etc...anything you would have to sign into you comcast account with your comcast id with.   So not ideal that you have to make a phone call but if it fixes the problem then it's probably worth it.   - Norm ... View more

The user Cassfla had posted this suggestion on page 1 of this thread:   WRONG.  All you need to do is reset license files on your Adobe Flash Player.   Try this link and click on "reset license files" and then confirm.   http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager08.html   Restart your link to watch and it should work   Since he posted this not one user has posted back to say if this actually fixes the problem or not so I suggest someone try this and see if it works or not and post back for the benefit of everyone. Also if it does fix the problem, I suggest you go to his post and give him Kudos for posting a solution.   - Norm ... View more

Cerbone:   These problems have been going on for a very long time and I don't know why Comcast isn't paying more attention to them.   One person who posted in the "Ad Issue During Video Playback" thread had mentioned that this worked for him: " I have discovered that when the commercial loop starts, hitting the escape key (esc upper left hand corner of keyboard) seems to help to get you out of the endless commercial loop. You still have to watch an insane amount of commercials (maybe 10), but at least only once. This is when you can take off your makeup, shave your face, whatever it is that you do when time permits". An other things is that this problem is confined to the Xfinity site and if you try the TNT site directly you can watch from there without these kinds of problems.   You can try and send a private message to one or more of the Comcast people and ask for help; I've done that and gotten some response like "I'll look into it" but to date nothing appears to have improved with this problem.   Another thing, I know that not everyone is having this problem and it's my theory that this problem is happening to people in similar geographic area's because it's a problem on the advertising servers that serve that area. So far only one person has replied to my request for geographic data and he stated that he was in the Denver, Colorado area so for anyone reading this please post your general geographic location so that it can be established that people in the same area are all experiencing this problem.   - Norm ... View more

Hi H8It:   I can tell you (also being in IT) that some of the problems are not on the customers side, for example the endlessly repeating commercial loop is not a client side issue but a server side issue. I've also managed to figure out that in some cases the problems are Flash related, almost like a version mismatch between the server and client side.   Having read many of the posts here and gleaning a few facts from what a number of other IT posters have said and some of my own experience some of these problems are almost certainly on the advertising servers that serve the area's where people are having problems. I suspect (but can't prove) that this problem is confined to certain area's because most people are not posting their general location. One person happened to mention that they were in Kentucky and that was about it; I'm not experiencing a lot of problems and I'm in New Jersey (Essex County).   A suggestion that was made to me by another helpful user that I've been suggesting to everyone having serious issues is to go to the networks own web site i.e. ABC, NBC, CBS, FX, TNT, HBO, Showtime etc and watch from there. In almost all cases where the problem is on the streaming or advertising servers people have no issues streaming from the networks site.   As far as I'm aware of ComcastJoe does still work at Comcast, although it's been suggested that summer is the most popular time for people to take vacation.   - Norm ... View more

I don't doubt that you're having the endlessly repeating commercial loop problem but just so that you know, not everyone who watches TNT has that problem. I can point to myself as an example of that, on Monday when I watched The Last Ship (other than the initial several commercials that played before the episodes started) there were 6 commercial breaks indicated on the episode progress bar and the breaks took place at 9:50, 15:30, 24:55, 29:34, 38:14 and 42:17 and the length of each of the commercial breaks was 2:30, 3:25, 4:14, 3:59, 4:04 and 3:10.   It's a known fact that each region has it's own streaming and advertising servers and the problem is most likely with the advertising servers that service your area. In general people who post about this problem are not giving their general area (perhaps state and county would do) so at the moment it's just a theory unless enough people are willing to give their general locations.   I suggest that you send a private message to one of the official Comcast support people and explain your problem and point them to this thread and ask them to look into it. If the person you message doesn't respond to you within a reasonable time then try a different person.   - Norm ... View more

A - Extant - Wish You Were Here <can't paste url>   B - N/A   C - The Last commercial break   D - Windows 8.1 Update 1 with all patches and updates   E - FireFox 30   F - 12:45PM   At the last commercial break, the normal set of commercials played and then when the show continued the last thirty seconds of the show before the commercial break played again and then another set of commercials played then the show resumed as it should have. ... View more

I've private messaged one of the Comcast people about the "Ad Issue During Playback" and the fact that since it was started there hasn't been one reply to anyone whos posted there. I also gave links to a half dozen other threads of people complaining about advertisement related problems, he says he's making an effort to get some attention to these problems.   I also related my own frustration and links to messages where people called technical support and got nowhere, with tech support saying things like "Streaming from the website, what's that?", "Try installing Chrome, that doesn't work then sorry nothing else I can do for you".   All I can suggest is to private message ComcastJoe (or any of the official Comcast people) and explain the problem and link to the thread where you posted. If you don't get a response within a couple days then try and private message someone else. I'm not going to name the person but I can tell you he responds and seems to understand the seriousness of the problem and seems to be trying to help.   - Norm ... View more

That's really good, specific technical information and I suggest that you private message ComcastJoe or any of the other official Comcast people and point that out to them so they can forward it to the engineers for investigation and resolution.   - Norm ... View more

Rajthapar:   That is true but only for regular network shows; if you're watching shows on channels like TNT, Syfy, HBO or Showtime that need cable provider authentication then you're out of luck. During the summer season there are lots of great shows on TNT which I watch (Rizzoli & Isles, The Last Ship, Falling Skies, Major Crimes etc) that you couldn't get without a cable subscription.   - Norm ... View more

I sent a private message to one of the more helpful Comcast people yesterday, pointing out just what you said that since this thread was established that there hasn't been an official response to anyone who's posted. I also pointed out three other threads with multiple complaints about advertisement related issues and he responded that he "brought this to the attention" of the person best qualified to look into these problems.   We can only hope that with a little prodding that these issues will be taken seriously. And I advise everyone who doesn't receive an answer within a week (that's how long I waited to send a private message) to send a private message to one of the official Comcast people and if you don't get any response within a reasonable time then try a different Comcast person.   The only other advise I can give you is that if the commercials are interfering that much with your video that you go (where possible) to the networks own website and watch from there.   - Norm     ... View more

I certainly agree that ComcastJoe is the least helpful of the Comcast people and consistently fails to follow up but some of the others have been know to actually take some action. I suggest you private message one of them, possibly Comcast Daniel and ask him to review this thread and see if there's anything he can do to forward these problems to the engineers responsible.   - Norm ... View more

Hi SoxVaritek:   If I was one of the people experiencing these 10 minute commercials I would be just as angry and furious. It's fairly obvious that there are significant glitches with the streaming service and that either the engineers responsible are unaware of these problems or as someone else said the advertising servers may belong to another company and be out of Comcast's control in which case Comcast then has to file a big report with that company and hope it gets fixed. If that's the case, then that may explain why it takes such a long time for these problems to get fixed.   I'd like to point out to everyone who's posting here, that it would be better for you to post in the thread created by ComcastJoe specifically for advertising related issues http://forums.comcast.com/t5/XfinityTV-Website/Ad-Issue-during-Video-Playback-on-http-xfinitytv-comcast-net/td-p/2064840 if for no other reason that when anyone posts there any Comcast people who have posted in that thread get an email notifying them that someone has posted in a thread they are subscribed to while they don't necessarily see new threads like this one unless they are reading the forums daily.   Another point I'd like to make, someone in another thread posted that they were so angry that they were filing a complaint with their State Attorney General but this is what I replied to him: According to the Comcast telephone support people "The streaming service is provided as a free service to customers who purchase TV service from us and there is no separate charge for it." So you won't see a separate charge on your bill for it, it can't be purchased by itself and you can't discontinue it. So you may have a hard time convincing any regulatory agency that you are in some way being deprived of service or that "you aren't getting what you pay for" because you can't show in any way that you are paying for it, even though your TV subscription is subsidizing the streaming service. But if you want to go that route, your best bet is to complain to your local franchise authority which should be listed on your monthly bill and can vary state to state, region to region.   Everyone's best bet to get this problem fixed is to post in that thread for advertising issues and provide all the details that the first post requests; providing as many additional details as possible and if you don't get a response within a couple days then private message one of the Comcast people and say that you're having significant advertising issues and posted in that thread (include a link to the thread) and ask them to try and help you out.   - Norm ... View more

Honestly I can't say for sure why some people are experiencing these endless commercials but I have to say that I haven't had that problem. (while I have had others) For example after reading your post, I jotted down some notes this morning while I was watching Syfy's Definance and on one commercial break four commercials played (Jack Daniels, State Farm, Best Buy, Universal Studios) and then the next break there was only two (Best Buy and  Spartacus) and for myself I have to say that's typical as it seems like most commercial breaks are between 3 and 5 commercials.   SoxVaritek33 mentioned that he had to watch 27 commercials before an episode of Rizoli and Isles started; that show is a TNT show and I've experienced a commercial problem with TNT shows but not that one. In my case at the end of a commercial break instead of continuting to the next chapter of the episode the player will start from the beginning of the episode so in other words it doesn't pick up where it left off. When that happens I've been able to use the scroll bar to move to the chapter where it left off and I may have to watch another set of commercials but generally that works.   - Norm   ... View more