What’s new on 4oD
To those of you who have made the effort to let us know your thoughts and suggest new features for 4oD, thank you very much. We hope that today’s release helps to address some of these requests…
Notably there is now a list of all programmes that are available on 4oD. On the 4oD Programme Finder module there is a link to SEE ALL and this takes you to a 4oD List page showing all the available programmes in a single list. You can navigate this page using the A-Z.
Thanks to the list, the 4oD page no longer needs the A-Z module, so this has been replaced with the full List of Categories. This list is not yet filtered to only show the programmes that are available on 4oD. Instead it will take you to the relevant Category page. Hopefully you will find an improved experience on the category page:
- Each page now contains 25 programmes. Before you had to paginate through more pages.
- You can now toggle the sort on the page and display programmes based on when they are on TV or alphabetically.
Please let us know if you are finding it easier to find out programmes on 4oD.
A few of you have mentioned you’re having difficulty watching 4oD. We have been working on some diagnostic tools which will allow us to gather more information about your viewing experience. There’s no guarantee that we will be able to instantly resolve technical issues for you, but hopefully it will help us build a profile of the types of problems you are experiencing.
Comments
August 20, 2009
I previously had NO problems watching 4od, everything worked fine. Until today, when it says I need to upgrade my flash/javascript. I have done so and tried in various different browsers to no avail. It still says I need to upgrade. I don’t know what has gone wrong!
Hopefully someone else out there is having a similar problem and knows how to fix it (I need to watch Ugly Betty….ahhh)
August 20, 2009
@Lara – Hi. Have you been here and installed the latest version of Flash?
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/
It may be worth uninstalling Flash completely and reinstalling it from scratch.
If you have tried al this, the 4oD help site is here: http://bit.ly/kzc8Z via which you can contact the support team if you need to.
August 21, 2009
Still no Games Master. You guys said you were looking into it…any news?
August 21, 2009
I see the page looks to have been slightly tweaked. It is working better sometimes but now instead of freezing up on “transferring data from realmedia” it is saying “An error has occurred tryin to play the chosen item” and thats it no explanation.
August 21, 2009
[...] read more about these and a range of other new media and digital developments at Channel 4’s Platform 4 blog, where you can also leave your comments. Comments are now closed on this blog [...]
August 23, 2009
im sorry but 40d online is RUBBISH compared to the old 40d, its obvious that you just want to cram us full of more commercials under the guise of making it eaiser for us. well let me tell you its not easier and i’m so annoyed that for some reason you fail to update the online content with any regularity.
August 23, 2009
Maybe I am the only one that can’t seem to find things now. In the free section on the old 4OD put the selection of new programmes to view which would provide bit of variety. Now I seem to select the programme and go through all the pages and find it only pay for view or not available. Easy lay out page please.
August 23, 2009
I rather liked the old 4od app it was plain and simple, this new website has a mess of an interface and is full of examples of poor web design.
August 23, 2009
@Kirsty: this is a simple list of everything available: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4od/all . There’s no pay-per-view. It’s all free to watch, funded by advertising.
August 23, 2009
@Charlie – sorry you miss the old App.
I assure you there is sound thinking behind the design of Channel4.com. Equally, we know that there is still scope for improvement. The team is listening to constructive feedback both online and through user-testing and working hard on refinements, some of which Alison has described above.
August 23, 2009
Im soooooo confused.. Is V Festival going on 4oD? I realllly need to know lol! other wise i better get my bum infront of the tv! xx
August 24, 2009
What has happened to Big Brother on 4od ? There has not been a show since last wednesday ! Why is this ! I work really odd shifts and can’t always be available to watch it when it airs at it’s normal time on ch4. so i catch-up using 4od. Please bring it back ! I need to know whats going on in the madhouse ! thanx
August 24, 2009
Still waiting for PS3 and Wii support! BBC iPlayer and Youtube do it perfectly with a TV resolution mode. It would be great if this happened for 4oD. Keep up the good work guys!
August 25, 2009
Afre using the old version of 4OD happily and successfully for the past year and being very impressed by it, I now cant watch anything apart from loading please wait. I tried what your tech guys suggested and one of them was adamamant that I was behind a proxy since this was the only explanation as to why I can’t watch it now. Needless to say I am not behind a proxy. I don’t use spybot and I even disabled all protection to see if that worked, nada. Oh and flash is at the latest version. Funny their communication suddenly stopped after I said this.
Needless to say I am most unhappy now at losing a service I used frequently because of my shifts
August 25, 2009
@Bobbi – Sorry you’re having problems.
it would help us if you would go to this Test Player [ http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-it-crowd/4od/debug/2919506 ] , copy and paste the diagnostic results into an email and send it to 4ODdebug@channel4.co.uk . We won’t necessarily be able to solve your specific issue (we will try) but the information in the diagnostic will be helpful to us as we try to make the service work for everyone.
Thanks in advance for your help.
August 26, 2009
@Richard
Thanks for this. I have sent it as requested.
August 26, 2009
@Bobbi. Thanks a lot.
August 29, 2009
I cannot see to get 4oD to work. The adverts play fine, but once they are finished the actual programme doesn’t play. The info bar greys-out and pressing pause/play doesn’t help. Pressing stop and then play starts the ads again from the start but then just stops again after the ads are finished. Has anyone else had this problem pls?
I’m running Vista SP2 with Internet Explorer 8 and Flash 2.1.2. Have also tried with Chrome but exactly the same.
Thanks, Steve.
August 29, 2009
What’s happened to 4oD? I cannot seem to find anything. I used to go to the old application and just watch “something”. This new interface is really messy and it is very difficult to find free programmes. If I follow the links from the main page to Watch 4oD and then All programmes by category > film, all I get is descriptions of some films that aren’t available to watch! I’d be quite happy to even rent good films, but I cannot seem to find those either. Under the other categories are lots of programmes that aren’t actually available on 4oD. All this is under the heading WATCH 4 on Demand…! Why? So many times I’ve just given up finding programmes because it takes so long time to go through those lists.
August 30, 2009
@Katya. As Alison says in her blog post, we have included “the full List of Categories. This list is not yet filtered to only show the programmes that are available on 4oD. Instead it will take you to the relevant Category page”. Channel4.com contains information about all Programmes on Channel 4, not only those on 4oD. The simplest way to see everything on 4oD is to go here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/4oD/all . There are no Films avaiiable on 4oD at present.
@Steve – Please contact support here http://bit.ly/iuNaG . They will try and sort out your problem.
August 30, 2009
Could someone explain why the lastest episode of “Benefit Busters – Episode 2″ broadcast Thursday 27th August @ 9pm is not available on 4oD!? The only episode clearly available to watch is Episode 1, which was fantastic, so it would be nice to have some continuity and watch the second installment. But after regularly checking its availability for the past three days, i cant see it happening
.
August 30, 2009
Dear Sir / Madam,
When will Episode 2 of Benefit Busters be available on the 4 on Demand service? I watched the 1st episode and was looking forward to seeing Episode 2, but it’s not available to view?
Will this Episode be uploaded?
Thanks.
September 2, 2009
Great to have found this blog, I’ve searched for some time to find adequate assistance.
Obviously the guys at 4od are working on the issues and it’s great to finally find that out
[ I was about to say never again,... that'll teach me]
My issues are:
Finding 40d content, though it is great to know this is acknowledged and being worked on
In the blog statement at the top the lady mentions that:
“This list is not yet filtered to only show the programmes that are available on 4oD. Instead it will take you to the relevant Category page.”
I’m hoping that this is somewhere near completed though it hasn’t been that long, … it does detract substantially from the experience at 4od.
I can live with having to re-load the page when it freezes following advertisements, it’s the searching for content thats my ‘biggie’, it’s like wading through old radio times followed by a nice dose of the phone book as it stands, Although, on the other side of things it is nice to occasionally come across info on a show which one would not have… but it’s not often enough to warrant the occasional interesting [to me] write up.
Great site otherwise… thought I’d better balance things up a little .. Top marks from me for the effort involved in putting all this together. One or two bugs are to be expected….just tiratating like a sandy shoe, I’d rather 40d wasn’t available at all If it was up to me I’d place an under construction ’sign’ @ the URL till boxed off & sorted, but thats just me
peace :]
September 2, 2009
…I almost forgot to say: Thank you for the link to the full 4od content, isnt that link on the home page yet ?
which was my intended reason for posting btw … always the way eh …go in the shop for a pinta milk and come out with 2 bags of spuds a mars bar and some reduced something or other… and forget the milk, thats me too.
~nik
September 2, 2009
well it seems im not the only 1 wanting to catch up on benifit busters.why has it not been up loaded on to the website yet???? episode 3 is on 2moro and i still havn’t seen episode 2 yet, i could always rely on 4od to keep me up 2 date with the programms i watch but it seems as though those days have gone!!! SORT IT OUT!!!!! sharpish please x
September 2, 2009
We want 4OD on Wii! We want 4OD on Wii! We want 4OD on Wii!
September 3, 2009
Why has channel 4
1. Removed episode 2 of benefit busters from 40d and other online services
2. Replaced the scheduled repeat with salvage squad instead.
3. Not published an official statement online regarding the reasons.
4. Now pulled both clips from episode 2 of the site.
5. Given me and others one reason (lack of rights) yet apparently told others another reason
(someone complained and wanted to be removed from the programme, and it would be shown once that was done)
6. Not put it back online yet.
7. Refused to answer any ones comments about this online.
September 3, 2009
go to youtube and search benefit busters, then in the “relevence” tab, select newest and ithey should come up. for sum reason the 1st 6mins wont play, sumthing about me bein outside its country but the rest play fine. that A4E singned a contract with the gov for £700 million over the next 5 years and for me the programme raised alot of questions about this government. maybe some people dont want to be shown in bad taste, but its about time we all geta reality check and channel 4 should grow a spine and stick two fingers up to anyone interferein with public interest. i hope that all makes sense because i am infuriated
September 3, 2009
Are there any plans to add support for the PS3 bearing in mind we now have full iplayer support and the PS3 is actually powerful enough to do this sort of thing dislike the above mentioned Wii.
September 4, 2009
Hi
Big Fan of 4od especially since you guys made it possible for us Mac users to watch our favourite programmes from your website.
although we have found over the last week when you push play on the desired programme the video image plays slightly smaller than the ‘designated’ video area and doesnt show any controls such as play/ pause/ go full screen etc. which is proving much more annoying than i would have first imagined.
is this something that is just happening to us here that we can solve by downloading or upgrading something?
or is this something that alot of people are suffering from?
any help or advice would be appreciated!
thanks
September 4, 2009
bbc iplayer have a thing on the playstation 3 where you can view that…but there’s no way of watching 4OD (that i can find)…
please can this be done??!
September 4, 2009
Agreed! The Wii internet browser has just been updated to a newer version of Flash and I REALLY want to see 4oD on the Wii!
Wii!!!
Wii!!!
September 4, 2009
4oD for the PS3, please!
September 4, 2009
Keith: streaming video on Wii is absolutely fine.
September 5, 2009
I think that ‘How I Met Your Mother’ should be on catch up because I missed the first episode and it actually looks quite good!
September 5, 2009
Hi, can we have Desperate Housewives season 5 on 4od so we can catch up before Season 6 starts??
September 6, 2009
What has happened to the discussion section on the Benefit Busters site? I cannot find any viewer comments. Has a4e told you to take them off because they do not like the truth being told? Probably lol
September 7, 2009
@Steve. There is sometimes a timeout issue with displaying the comments – if you keep refreshing the page you should get to see the comments for Benefit Busters.
September 7, 2009
@Nik. Good point about linking to the full list of 4oD programmes from the C4.com homepage.
September 7, 2009
Forget the Mac, PS3 and Wii – let’s have 4oD back working on the PC. I’ve barely seen any comments rating the new browser version over the old application.
September 8, 2009
@brekkie There are four times as many people using 4oD now as when it was an App.
September 9, 2009
How I met your mother would be a great addition. When do programs get added to the OD section after on air viewing? I have been following Ugly Betty, great show, via the on demand.
September 9, 2009
Hi
can you put
07:30 FREESPORTS ON 4 55 MINS
Sunday 30 August, Channel 4, [S]
on 4oD please
why? ’cause we missed it and apprently we’re on it!
MnP
September 10, 2009
Is it me or can we no longer download programmes. I do a lot of travelling where internet access is patchy. It was great being able to download programmes and watch them whenever I liked within the subscription period. If there is a new site please let me know!
September 10, 2009
@Dave. It’s not you – the ability to download programmes was part of the old 4oD application but is not a part of 4oD on C4.com. We have received a number of questions about this. Although the functionality was undoubtedly useful to a number of users, including yourself, it was not actually used very much, and was therefore not included in the service on C4.com. Sorry about that!
September 10, 2009
@Darius. Thanks for your query. So that we can investigate this further it would be really helpful to see screenshots/examples of what you’re describing. If you could send the information through to our Customer Service Centre – http://bit.ly/iuNaG – marked for my attention that would be really helpful.
September 12, 2009
Please could you put Placebo : A new tomorrow on 4oD
September 12, 2009
I’ve just bought a Windows Media Extender with the intention of being able to download porgrammes and replay on my TV screen, and tonight i find that it isn’t possible anymore with 4OD.
I-Player gives me the option of watching shows straight away or downloading in a variety of formats (inc HD, mobile phones and windows MP), so can you bring that option back asap, pretty please?
September 14, 2009
Hi.
Thankyou for uploading so many classic shows, though not enough for me, obviously.
Is it possible that Gamesmaster will ever be available?
There are a lot of Channel 4 viewers who remember this show fondly, believe me.
September 18, 2009
@ Alison,
I thought it a good idea to link to the full content list of 4oD on 4oD’s home page, that was some time ago I suggested that( Sept 2nd) ……. you responded on the 7th Sept and it’s still not up,…. judging from the comments here alone frustration is high with this issue… (never mind the many forums around the web which mention this !)
How hard is it to post a link ! I mean , it takes me a few minutes posting a link in a web site , and thats if i have a cup of tea while I’m doing it one finger point typing .
Just go’s to prove actions speak louder than words ..
..forgive me if I missed it but…
September 18, 2009
@Nik. Did you mean a link to the list of all 4oD programmes from the 4oD homepage or from the C4.com homepage? I understood the latter…..If you meant the 4oD homepage then there are currently 2 ways of navigating – using the SEE ALL on the 4oD Programme Finder and clicking on What else is on 4oD? The C4.com homepage will sometimes contain a link to the 4oD list, sometimes to the 4oD homepage, depending on the editorial slant for the day…
September 19, 2009
Hi there. Is there any chance of adding The 11 O’Clock show to 4oD? Not seen it in years. If only there where DVD’s of it.
September 20, 2009
@Alison.
I see it, my bad , must have missed it that time, well done !
keep on keepin on
peace out.
~nik
October 20, 2009
Hi, why oh why has the unavailability of 4OD on PS3 not been resolved! – Despite the huige number of queries and requests re. this issue above, there has still not been any response from anyone at platform4 – are you working on this problem, are there plans to sort out any tech issues, or are you just writing off PS3 as a platform that isn’t worthwhile – PS3 viewing topped the BBCiplayer usage figures last month so there is definite potential…
October 20, 2009
@Liam. I did respond to a similar Comment on another post and of course agree there’s potential. We’re looking at it.
October 20, 2009
Hi
Can’t seem to get the player to work. I get the message “An error has occurred trying to play the chosen item.”
Any idea whats wrong?
Jesper
October 21, 2009
@Jesper. Things to check:
1) You have Flash 10 installed
2) You have all ad blockers disabled
3) You are not behind a proxy or IP shield of some kind
If these fail, please contact support: http://bit.ly/3OteLx .
October 22, 2009
Can I add my name to the growing list of those who want to see PS3 support. I am desperate to watch my fave C4 shows legally and in a way that supports programme makers…heck I would be happy to register my details to allow more targeted ads (giving advertisers more incentive to support 4OD over the likes of google) if it means more quality content. 4OD is amazing on PC… but the screen is so small.
October 22, 2009
@Thomas Howard. Thanks. We hear you.
October 27, 2009
yet another request for ps3 compatibility please! I player has done so well on ps3 and 4od is much better,want to view ramseys kitchen nightmares and spaced on big tv. Make alot of people happy c4!
November 11, 2009
another request for ps3 support for 4OD, also I used to get better streaming with the downloaded app rather than the web one; I’ve not changed my ISP or connection. Any ideas? Anything I can do to stop the stuttering?
November 11, 2009
Why can’t you pauuse the programe as you can on the iplayer. patrticulalary, in the light that some connection speeds (as mine is out in the sticks) are shite?
November 13, 2009
hi
just wondered how far back youll be taking the archive? cant post on there as its been closed off.
id LOVE to have access to a 1982 show called ‘whatever you want’ and ‘whatever you didnt get’ which broadcast live performances of bands such as the damned, dead kennedys, killing joke etc.
any chance of that happening? or letting me know who to get in touch with?
id even buy the dvd’s if they were available anywhere?
thanks
November 13, 2009
4OD for PS3. Yes Please!
November 15, 2009
still no official response about ps3? what is happening we want 4od for ps3!!!!
November 16, 2009
@PS3FANS Official response on PS3 is “we are looking into it”. We really are. Thanks for the encouragement.
@Dave Thomas: It’s very tricky where live music is involved as the rights position is usually very complcated. Sorry about that.
@Dave: Progressive download (when you pause and the content keeps coming so you “get ahead” of the stream, like you get on YouTube for example) is not secure. As Channel 4 doesn’t own the content, we have to adhere to the security standards required by those who do.
November 19, 2009
4oD support for the PS3, would be great, its a shame i can only watch the BBC stuff, via thier BBC IPlayer which is now on the PS3’s Homepage!
I find it a hassle to have to connect the Laptop to the TV to get a TV like viewing experiance.
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