It’s Here: All-New 4oD Catch-Up
An all-new Catch Up experience has been woven into the new Programmes area on channel4.com. This post will run down the major enhancements to the service, and give you a few pointers on how to discover the best of Channel 4 content online.
One place for all Catch-Up programmes
The 4oD Catch-Up page lists all the available programmes in the Catch-Up window, but we’ve made it simpler to use than the outgoing one by dropping a calender onto the landing page. Most of our visitors come to watch programmes that have aired in the past week on Channel 4, More 4 and E4, so we’ve listed the most recently added programmes at the top of the page. Click on a date in the calendar to get a list of all that day’s on-demand content. At the top of this page, we’ve also added a selection of the most popular programmes.
Streaming in the page
As a previous post has pointed out, this latest version of the 4oD Catch-Up experience allows the viewer to watch full-length programmes either directly in the web page, or if they prefer, via a full-screen option. We are using an Adobe Flash player to deliver the content, meaning you’ll now be able to view our programmes on most platforms so long as you’ve got Flash (version 9.0.124 or higher) installed, meaning Apple Mac and Linux OS users should now be able to join the party. We have not specifically tested for use on Sony PS3, so cannot confirm that 4oD Catch-Up would be available through that interface.
Each programme has its own Catch-Up pages dedicated to showing viewers all the long-form content that’s available for us to show. This is typically 30 days’ worth of episodes, but for some series, the ‘window’ is much longer, like the Skins and Shameless selection. A typical programme’s Catch-Up area lists the available episodes with the most recently shown on top of the list, such as on this page for Jamie At Home.
To make it easier to hop between programmes, we’ve added a drop-down menu to the top-right of any video player that lists the shows currently in the 30-day window. This drop-down will be familiar to those of you who used the previous version of the Catch-Up player.
Category pages now listed by date for easier access to 4oD Catch-Up
The programmes-by-category pages that we launched last month had been ordered alphabetically, meaning the most recent content could be buried and hard to find. So now we’ve listed them with upcoming shows displayed first, followed by the most recently broadcast programmes, which should push the items that are available in Catch-Up to a prominent position on the page.
Parental controls
Finally, we’ve added prominent links on all 4oD Catch-Up pages to allow parents to set up PIN access to content available through the service. It’s a very simple process that should prevent youngsters from accidentally watching content with guidance warnings.
Beta
You’ll see a ‘Beta’ label on some of the 4oD Catch-Up pages. This is to point out that the service is a ‘first release’, and as such, you may find the odd inconsistency here and there. If you do spot something, be sure to let us know at the usual Help site. The black and yelow Beta label will link here to this blog for the time being, where we’ll update you on any known issues with the service, and alterations to the site if they occur.
We hope that you enjoy the revamped video experience, and let us know any feedback here as comments, or alternatively in our unofficial GetSatisfaction site.
4oD Desktop application
Remember, the 4oD Windows desktop application is also available for download at www.channel4.com/4od. There you can find classic programmes and films from 25 years of Channel 4 television to watch or download.
Comments
April 1, 2009
Yay! Finally 4OD for Linux
April 1, 2009
BRILLIANT! Trying it out now and I love it. I notice some content, like shameless from the past this week and the previous 2 weeks is missing but I’m sure it will be added soon!
April 1, 2009
i like the old one better, cant find shamless from yesterday on here, whats going on?
April 1, 2009
@Robert sorry you’re not (yet) a fan of the new site. Hopefully it will grow on you. Last night’s Shameless may take a little while to work its way onto the system.
April 1, 2009
Thanks so much! now i dont have to boot into my windows partition to catch up – cheers guys!
April 1, 2009
@robert and @brandon thanks for the heads up about Shameless. We’re updating the system now and the latest episodes should appear very soon.
April 1, 2009
Well done, Pipesy.
It keeps getting better and better. Overall I think the site is looking great – and availability on Macs is a breakthough.
Congrats.
April 1, 2009
No embeds… ?
April 1, 2009
Hey Andy,
Site is great but the MPU right next to the video is very distracting. I appreciate
Is Shameless ‘working its way onto the system’ is a rights rather than technical issue. IIRC that is the biggest challenge!
April 1, 2009
And why can’t the “classic” programmes and films come from the app to the new Flash player… ?
April 1, 2009
@Robert Andrews re 4oD ‘classic content’ appearing in the Flash player:
Thanks, Robert, that’s a valid question. It’s something we’re currently looking into, but we can’t be definitive about a timescale. Look out here for any announcements in the future.
April 1, 2009
I do like the overall look, just not the video player, I preferred viewing it by Windows Media Player, it may have buffered a lot, but at least it went through the program, this new player doesn’t, it just stops, and when I click the play button once it’s stop, it says “loading content” and nothing happens. Bring the old player back!
April 1, 2009
I can only say THANK YOU SO MUCH. I was getting sick of booting up VMWare Fusion on my Mac just to watch 4oD! The closer the implementation is to iPlayer, the better.
I’m sure your advertisers will be happier to have a wider audience.
P.S. Seems to be juddery on my Mac (8 core Mac Pro – beefy).
April 1, 2009
any time I try to watch it, it just says ‘An error has occurred trying to play the chosen item’ any ideas how i fix this? I have downloaded flashplayer!
April 1, 2009
Like the new look! Just the video seems to lag a bit. Is there anything i can download for it to run smoother?
April 1, 2009
@Jamie. Sorry it’s not working for you. We haven’t received many similar issues. If it continues to display the loading message and doesn’t play, please log your details such as operating system, browser etc on the Help site form linked above in the post and we’ll try to get a response to you.
April 1, 2009
I can’t use the new 4oD catch up it says “an error has occured trying to play the chosen item” and it doesn’t give you any help or error number I have installed flash player 10 I am in Ireland and I am huge fan of catch up Please help!!!
April 1, 2009
very different looking now. not sure if i like it though. programmes used to be very smooth for me, and now right through its very jumpy and almost unwatchable (its giving me a bit of a headache). but im sure you guys will sort out these issues as you go along.
April 1, 2009
Hi – just tried it. As reported already, there are dropped frames – ever so slightly jerky. This was not a problem with the old player – quality on that was excellent – *better than i-player* ! Alas, this seems a step backwards . Flash maybe cross platform, but it isn’t that great. Hope you can fix it – or please bring back the old one!
April 1, 2009
nothing seems to be working for me anymore. you havent gone like bbc and made it so we cant watch from ireland have you?
April 1, 2009
Not working for me at all. I had no problems when you used Media Player; now the adverts run, then the catch-up logo, and then a message saying “an error occurred while trying to run the content” and that’s it. Why tinker with something that worked perfectly well? Now you’ve joined the ITV Player and the Channel 5 Player in being totally frustrating…
April 1, 2009
Looks great, 4oD for Mac, Yeaaaaaaaah.
Now I can watch last weeks Heston, that I missed.
April 1, 2009
I used to have no problems with slow buffering whatsoever with the old version. With this, it won’t play the videos!
April 1, 2009
There seems to be 2 copies of the same sex vs pornography episode, instead on Mondays and Tuesdays episodes… any reason for this?
April 1, 2009
My Mistake that’s just changed
April 1, 2009
none of the programmes work even though i have the latest adobe flash player. wwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy????????????????
April 1, 2009
4OD has just gotten worse!
* firstly the video quality has deteriorated by ten fold, i might aswell be watching a low quality video on you tube… the flash player is poor with graphics user interface from the 90’s.
* programs which aren’t wide screen are now displayed stretched making everyone seem fat… (e.g. will and grace).
* it doesn’t work in google chrome (i get an error message) but is ok in firefox.
* this new version of 4od is a backward step to an already poor catch-up service.this is a shame because channel 4’s programs are very good.
* Channel 4 have a mile and half to go before they even get close to the bbc iplayer! even itv and demand five are far better and they have rubbish programs.
April 1, 2009
Thanks for the new site! Looks much improved.
There are quite a few shows that have content missing from the past month. I suspect these are just working their way through the system (Smallville, My Name is Earl, ER, to name a few).
Thanks and great work!
April 1, 2009
I can’t get the site to work since it was updated. I’ve been trying to watch old episodes of hollyoaks but can not select any but the most recent, then there is an error with trying to even watch that.
April 1, 2009
April 1, 2009
I’m never a fan of Windows media player, so great job on ditching that (finally). Unfortunately We now only have a choice of 2 screen sizes, I preferred the medium size as it meant I could do other things with the window at the side, with the new player I find the standard window too small so I am forced to watch it full screen.
Also now that it is flash based, what are the chances of the player appearing on other devices, such as the Playstation 3 like the iplayer? It’s a long shot I know but it would be pretty cool.
April 1, 2009
Hi,
I can get any of the programmes to work. It keeps saying “An error occured whilst trying to play the video”… the 4OD intro video plays but the actual episode doesn’t…
Also, how does one choose between which episode to play?? there’s no “play” button near the titles??
I have installed the latest version of flash player, but still no luck.
And, i am having trouble reporting the problem through the “contact us” section. It keeps saying, “were’re sorry, but you comments have not be sent”, please pree the back button on your browser and enter your browser type…!! i have done this, but NOTHING!!.. What is going on???
April 1, 2009
Great, now make 4od available through Adobe Air and get rid of that Windows-only Kontiki rubbish that’s currently being used.
April 1, 2009
I know it might not be officially support but when trying to use the new flash player using the ps3 web browser (which supports flash 9 I believe) the player loads and the initial advert loads fine but when the actual show content starts all i get is a black screen and the show’s sound. Does the actual show content use a different video codec to the adverts that the ps3 doesn’t support?
It’s only a slight niggle but if you could fix it, it would make the new catch up player so much more awesome!
April 1, 2009
Will it work on the PS3? Seems the ads at the start work, but the actual programs play without video, just audio.
April 1, 2009
prefer the old site. This new site will show me all the adverts then an error stops it from going any further. Not happy!
April 1, 2009
The issue with Shameless from last night, is this what would be causing me to get the message “An error has occurred trying to play the chosen item” after the 4OD advertisment or is there a different issue?
April 1, 2009
I’m having the same problem as Jamie. The player is not as good as before. It stops every 2 minutes to buffer up which can take up to one minute a time so is very hard to enjoy watching the programme, never ever had that problem on the old player the programmes went straight through without having to buffer.
April 1, 2009
This new version is VERY juddery on my brand new hp core2duo, it made me feel sick watching brothers and sisters full screen… the old windows media player version was flawless compared to this…
really disappointing guys
April 1, 2009
Don’t like the new look. Came to watch The Celts and it is not to be found. Also wanted to catch up on ER and am missing 2 episodes. Not good. The other way was much easier. Please bring it back. As they say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it!!!!
April 1, 2009
Also nothing will play. Every link says there is an error. I was a regular user of catch up but it is not much good to me if I can’t watch anything.
April 1, 2009
The player doesn’t work for me, all I can get is the ‘you are watching channel 4 catch-up and then it stops completely with a message saying there was a problem playing the video…not impressed. I liked the old player, never had any problems with it.
April 1, 2009
Sorry… I’m not a big fan of the new style… same as Jamie the programme just stopped half way through??? Also the new episodes don’t seem to load up as fast as before….??!!! And it seems harder to navigate around…
April 1, 2009
Congratulations, as a linux user i can finally watch IT crowd etc
Will all programs be available on catchup? daily show*? news, etc?
p.s with the daily show it might be a good idea to let their website know so that uk viewers can be linked to 4oD instead of just being told its not available.
April 1, 2009
Great improvement over the windows media pop out player. I’m watching programs on a 22″ monitor (1680 x 1050) No blocking or stutter. Making it multi platform should be a help to a great many people.
April 1, 2009
the video player is not very good… the video quality is slow and poor… ive tried re installing flash but still the same… i think there is some streaming problems …. not to do with my computer…. itv and bbc work fine…
April 2, 2009
Gosh! Whats gone on??? Its so jerky. Bring back the old player please! Keep the new one, and have an option to use the old too
April 2, 2009
I hate the new player! It looks cheap and tacky like some kind of retro throwback media player.
The streaming is now all jerky and the video stutters when doing more than just watching a video. I used to watch the videos in an external window whilst doing other things, an option which has been removed.
I was thinking that this was some kind of bad April Fool’s joke yesterday, but I’ve come to the site today to find it is still here!
I’m not seeing any benefits to the new site whatsoever, can someone please explain to me how this cheap looking black and white rubbish is better?
I regularly use Catch up to watch my favourite Channel 4 programs, but if it stays like this then I will use it far less.
April 2, 2009
The new site looks good, but I can’t watch anything anymore…
It plays the adverts then comes up with an error message saying: “An error has ocurred an cannot play the current item”…
I don’t know what this means and its a shame because I don’t have a TV and channel 4 has some of the best programmes.
If you know any way that I can fix it can you please advise me, thanks.
April 2, 2009
David
This new player is in beta, and it brings one main benefit to the table, and thats universal platform and browser support. Now Mac and Linux users can enjoy the content available on channel 4. Yes the new service may have some kinks in it, but these will be all ironed out. What the guys at channel 4 need is a pat on the back and for us to explain our issues as best as possible so they can solve them as quickly as possible. They won’t leave these issues unsolved, but they won’t go back to the old windows media player system. It’s clunky, ugly and doesn’t fit in with the overall style on the new and in my opinion very good looking channel 4 site.
It’s not to say I don’t have any gripes with the service, I would love better video quality, but lets be fair, it’s the second day since the launch and I’m sure the guys are working as hard as they can to solve the missing shows issues, and the juddery playback.
No one here can honestly say they were a fan of the tacky blue and white catch up site which was hard to navigate and never displayed correctly?
April 2, 2009
Also to note, no one can draft a comparison to ITV, it uses Microsoft silverlight and the quality on that is just… shocking
April 2, 2009
@those who have had problems with play-out
I’m collating these errors to take through to the team who’s able to look at the issues. Please, however, use the form linked in the body of this post to log specific complaints about your service, and there tell us about which browser you are using and so on. There have been a very small number of complaints about juddery play-back on the video streams. The reasons for this are various, and have to do with broadband speeds, and the added encryption that channel4.com must use on its streams to ensure that it meets its obligations to the content owners. We are looking to improve as we learn more about our users’ experiences. As Brandon has pointed out here, this is a Beta release, and we hope to make many gradual improvements to the service.
April 2, 2009
Thanks Andy, perhaps another blog post highlighting where people can go and submit their problems as I think it gets overlooked in this post and people jump straight to complaining.
April 2, 2009
What a load of rubbish. The old site was much better and actually worked. now all I get is frozen images, sometimes layered or a black screen with sound. Bring back steam radio I say. Why oh why must things that work be changed for the worse all the time?
April 2, 2009
Glad to see the 4oD brand finally integrated into the website. It never made sense to me that the brand was given a back seat when you launched the rather clumsily titled “Watch Online” service.
And talking of which – not your department I’m sure, but can we have an end to this annoying “Search online for More4″ business. It looks so sloppy – and channel4.com/more4 is hardly a difficult address to remember, and was absolutely fine for the first three years or so of More4’s life.
April 2, 2009
Really pleased to hear it’s now Mac compatible but on my old PC (which I’ve been using to watch in the meantime) I can’t seem to use the pop-out player option which was nice to have at the top of my screen while I did other things on the computer. Is the player now only either within the webiste page or full screen? I liked the pop-out! Is there a way to get this option? Otherwise, bravo Andy – it’s nice to have the option to comment and know you are listening
April 2, 2009
Hi Andy
Just one simple question can we watch the new player from from Ireland?
April 2, 2009
Well i must say it looks better, however as ive trtied to use\the service finding programmes such as smallville has been alot easier but i followed the faq to get itfg to run on full screen but nothing changed. at this moment in time i do prefer the oplder version but im sure as i gwet use to this new version i will come to enjoy it.
April 2, 2009
Thanks as ever for your comments everyone.
Just to let everyone know: the pop-out experience will be returning in the next release of the product along with other additions, so I hope you can bear with us for another couple months on that regard.
@aaron clicking on the icon in the player that looks like four arrows pointing outwards should launch ‘full screen mode’. It might take a second to load, but there have been no other complaints of that not working correctly.
@liz With regards to the ‘Ireland’ question, I’m looking into the rights situation for the Irish regions now and will post the details here later.
@martin we welcome all kinds of feedback, positive and negative, about the new player. However, please respect that it’s been a massive undertaking for a good many people, all of whom are committed to making sure that the experience is great for every platform, and improves as we move from this current Beta release. We’re sorry that you feel the old version was better. Hopefully, by letting us know some fine-grained details of your issue through the Help form, we can change your opinion of the service in the future.
April 2, 2009
Any plans to make available for streaming on iPhone? Or for downloads to mobile phone?
April 2, 2009
I am having serious problems trying to access shows. None of them will actually load for me and tells me that I need to be in the UK or ROI to access shows – I am in ROI! Anyway, I dont know why people go playing with things, apparently making them better, when infact they just make them worse. I dont know what I am going to do without access to Catchup!
April 2, 2009
@Irish Guy.
Rights agreements mean that our 4oD Catch-Up service is only available in the UK. Even if you are a citizen of the UK you cannot access the service from abroad. If you were previously able to access Catch Up content through the 4oD app, you might still be able to.
There’s also a Help page set up to explain a bit more about streaming issues. http://tinyurl.com/streamingfaq
@James no iPhone app on the cards just yet, I’m afraid.
April 2, 2009
Are my problems because I am watching from ROI?
Thanks
April 2, 2009
Just got an email from c4 saying : “Thank you for your email regarding 4oD Catch-Up.
Unfortunately, 4oD Catch-Up is no longer available in the Republic of
Ireland.
Channel 4 must acquire specific rights to use programmes on 4oD Catch-Up
that aren’t always covered by existing television rights. These rights
differ between countries, therefore, programmes may not always be available
to different countries.
However, you can, at present, still Catch-up with programming from the last
30 days, and view programmes from our Channel 4 archive on the 4oD
application through your PC.
Our website includes an animated step by step guide about how to download,
install and operate 4oD.”
This seems to say simultaneously that C4 catch up is and is not available in Ireland
April 2, 2009
Am i right in saying channell 4 catch up is gone and it’s now 4oD catch up,cos i’m a little confused as to what’s going on ?
April 2, 2009
so can people in ireland not watch anymore?? thats bad
April 2, 2009
Really disappointed that I cannot use 4oD Catchup from ROI anymore. Have been a big fan of the shows to now. Is this permanent ? Thanks
April 2, 2009
Martin I think he was asking you to feel in all your details using the form linked in this blog posting so we get a more accurate understanding of your problem and what may be causing it.
April 2, 2009
Have always watched catch up from Ireland no problem, does this now mean I wont be able to?? I am sooo disappointed!!
April 2, 2009
The new site looks great. Unfortunately I find myself monumentally disappointed with it from a functional perspective. With the old site my Fiancee and I spent many a happy night cuddled up in bed watching all our favourite programmes for hours on end with no problems at all. Trying to do the same with the new version has proven frustrating and completely unsuccessful. The streaming is abysmal. I have a more than adequate computer and internet connection to stream video and have had no issues with the old site and others in the past. Attempting to watch Shameless was absolutely impossible. It paused and jerked constantly and there doesn’t even seem to be an option to view the programmes in a lower quality to help combat these problems. Instead of a nice relaxing night, I instead ended up getting frustrated and angry in my futile attempt to watch anything, even after exhausting every suggestion in the FAQ. Aside from this, the new site really does seem to have a lot of potential and it seems very easy to navigate. I feel an option to view the programmes in a lower quality would be helpful though. Sorry if this comes across as being very negative, as I am a huge fan of Channel 4 catch-up and am gutted that I am unable to enjoy it anymore.
April 2, 2009
wheres inbetweeners?
April 2, 2009
Great new look, easier to navigate I think.
However videos are juddery and almost impossible to watch.
I also don’t like the fact that the player is now either small or fullscreen, with nothing inbetween. It’s good to hear you will be releasing a new pop out player in the next few months though
I shall wait on that – hopefully you will have been able to improve the streaming quality to those with difficulties by then.
April 2, 2009
hi guys,
Im in the ROI and have always been a big fan of catch up, now i cant use it …. cmon whats the story? is this a permanent thing???
please let me know… thanks.
A very dissappointed Cork lady.
April 2, 2009
The old player was much better quality. Now its like watching a clip on youtube. Its a shame really as the content is excellent.
April 3, 2009
I used the old site every day witout any problems, now it’s just juddery pictures, dropped frames and a frustrating and poor viewing experience. How can you release a beta without having an option to revert to the old version ?. I suggest reverting to the old site until you have the numerous problems rectified.
April 3, 2009
The new site looks good, but I can’t watch anything anymore…
It plays the adverts then comes up with an error message saying: “An error has ocurred and cannot play the chosen item”…
I don’t know what this means and its a shame because I don’t have a TV and channel 4 has some of the best programmes.
If you know any way that I can fix it can you please advise me, thanks.
April 3, 2009
Note: works perfectly in firefox and looks alot better, really good, better than that damn Media Player Object embedded into a child window like the previous build.
IE has some issues tho like the detection of flash media.
April 3, 2009
Thanks everyone for the feedback, but I will be closing comments on this post after today, as we will be putting up some other posts that hopefully should address some of the concerns people are having. I’ll then try to respond to as many issues as I can in the new posts. Thanks for all the positive reviews too!
April 3, 2009
Very disappointed about new catch-up being unavailable in ROI, catch-up is all we watched and used the service daily!
April 3, 2009
HELP! I can not watch anything on the new website. I keep getting a “An error has ocurred and cannot play the chosen item” message . WHY?? I have the latest flash player, and have only experienced this problem before with 4OD. It seems that I am not the only person having this problem. Can you please send a sollution, Im having withdrawals from Shameless and Desperate Housewives!
April 3, 2009
The contact is not working. Is it no longer working in Ireland. Am using Vista. Getting a message. Error playing”
April 3, 2009
Update: there is a patch to the service going out on Wedensday that should make the messaging much clearer for those viewers who are trying to watch 4oD Catch-Up from Ireland, or outside the UK. Currently, the error message is not correct, saying only ‘There has been an error’. We realise this is not helpful and are replacing it with the appropriate geo-restriction message. We believe that a good deal of the issues that people have told us about in the comments here are down to the new geo-blocking policy for ROI.
April 3, 2009
You can still get Catch up in Ireland if you download the 4oD program – it specifically says during the process that people in Ireland can use it.
as per the email I got:
However, you can, at present, still Catch-up with programming from the last
30 days, and view programmes from our Channel 4 archive on the 4oD
application through your PC.
Our website includes an animated step by step guide about how to download,
install and operate 4oD.”
April 3, 2009
I dont understand why free catchup is now blocked for the ROI, since we are able to watch channel 4 (and all other UK based tv stations) on terrestrial anyway as well as Irish tv stations, why not continue being able to watch channel 4 online as well?
Channel 4 has always been the most liberal minded, entertaining and informative station out there and that was even reflected in its free catchup service being available to ROI users unlike others out there such as bbc’s iplayer. Why the 360? We may not pay UK TV licences but we’re still a substantial and significant audience and potential market for advertisers on channel4, Therefore benefiting channel4.
April 3, 2009
goodbye channel 4 it’s just gotta be justintv from now on i guess!
April 4, 2009
Hmm, calendar is a great addition, but the catagories aren’t obvious, and I see you guys still like your dropdown boxes, categories + drop down box = win win.
How about some search functionality in your new flash interface?
Keep the updates coming, I love the service you provide, just wish it would be better to find shows.
Cheers.
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