1Channel and PFTV blocked

The Heads Up we gave to you has now happened.

Virgin Media have just replied to our Tweet.

Confirmation that 1Channel and PFTV are now being blocked.  Lets see what unfolds.

UK ISPs ordered to block 1Channel

Heads Up....

Access to some streaming sites will be blocked by UK ISPs because of a new ruling.  This could impact access to Project-Free TV and 1Channel by the end of November.

Lets see what unfolds :)

Advertisements (Ads)

Our main goal over the last 10 days has been to ensure your safety, privacy and security are maintained within the OpenView experience.

Some add-ons will now deliver advertisements to your TV screens.

You decide if you want to view the advertisement.  When you open an "Ad" add-on you may receive an advertisement.  You can simply close the pop-up box at anytime if you do not want to view the advertisement.

The advertisements will all be family friendly.

The only information recorded from you will be the add-on used and the actual advertisement displayed. No other information is recorded.

Currently 1channel, IceFilms and Project Free TV are advertisement free whereas Mash-up will be displaying ads shorlty.  Also, under Music add-ons the Mikey Karoke will be displaying ads.

Preventing unwanted content

A tool is being developed to prevent Pop Ups, SPAM and adverts being received into your viewing experience.  It will take a couple of weeks to complete our testing before updating your systems.

If anyone sees unwanted content , please report it to us.  Just let us know what you were doing when the unwanted content was received i.e. perhaps a particular add-on being used.

Your safety, privacy and security will be maintained.

Video acronyms explained

We often get asked, "what does CAM, TS, DVD mean in the brackets next to to the source?"  Basically these acronyms define the quality of the video source.

Please note we do not condone piracy.


1. BLURAY (also referred to as BD, BDRIP, or Blu-ray)
These high definition optical discs obviously make for the best possible video source.  They are sometimes know as 1080p source and require about 10Mbps of bandwidth to watch.
2. DVDRip
Video source taken from an original retail DVD, with no notices displayed during playback. It is common for DVD screeners to be mislabelled as DVD rips.
3. DVD-SCREENER (also referred to as DVDscr or Screener)
Screeners are sent out by movie studios to retailers, film critics, and other places for promotional use or award consideration. They are of the highest video quality, but usually letterbox format. You’ll see an anti-piracy ticker scroll across the screen every so often.
4. TC (or TELECINE; sometimes called R5)
High quality releases are made possible by digitally copying the film reel from the movie theatre, not very common due to the expensive equipment involved.
5. TS (or TELESYNC)
Pretty much a good quality CAM release, except an external audio source (such as the theatre’s hearing impared jack) is used. They are sometimes filmed in an empty cinema or from the projection booth, with a tripod for steady image. Quality can vary from exceptionally high to very poor. Worth trying out if you’re really excited about watching something new.
6. CAM
This type of release is the lowest quality and most people don’t even bother watching them. It is filmed from within the cinema with a portable digital camcorder. It is common to hear people laughing in the background or see someone’s body walk across the screen.

OpenView TVs provide safe viewing

Right now, many people using web browsers from their PCs, tablet or phones are being hit with nasty viruses when they access the 1Channel website.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130814203215AAtE2Wv

This was a comment posted yesterday on OpenView Helper that captures what is happening to people using traditional PC/Browser technology for home movie and TV viewing

"Vodly.to prompted me to install an add on in order for the advanced search to work. I was dumb enough to accommodate them and my computer immediately slowed down terribly. I ran a check with malwarebytes and was infected with 98 quarantined threats.Has vodly.to hijacked primewire.ag ?"

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130814152513AANx3DS

OpenView powered TVs are immune to such nasty viruses, OpenView will never be re-directed to a hijacked site.

When OpenView receives "porn windows" or "malware" or "advertising pop-ups" they get put in a bucket and thrown away!  They never get stored to the OpenView SD card, never displayed on the TV and never sent across your home network to infect any of your other devices.

OpenView powered TVs provide a safe viewing experience.

An idea for OpenView

Why not leave your live stream running whilst out and return to continue watching without having to go through the motions of setting it all up again?

Or, leave your OpenView connected to a live stream and then just switch from your OpenView HDMI input to another source on your TV.  When you switch back to your OpenView HDMI input, the live stream may still be running so it appears you have an extra TV channel.  This is how people have been watching The Ashes and Irish TV.

New "Status Page" for you

OpenView Helper is developing, listening to people and hearing what they are really saying is where we focus.

This is a rapidly changing world, streams come and go.  Things get broken and this impacts all of our home media experience.

We now have a new "Status" page that tracks known issues and provides transparency for you (the truth and nothing but the truth!).

The "Status" can be viewed from the menu.

OpenView playing Captcha!

Why would you want to know if a "real" person is accessing content from your website?  Perhaps you have a lot of movies on your website and you want to make sure some horrible computer program is not stealing them automatically and then just putting them on their own site! Welcome to the world of Captcha; telling humans and computers apart automatically.

When you select a server to watch a movie you may receive a Captcha displayed on your TV screen asking you to enter some information.  This Captcha is coming from the 180Uploads server.

By enter the text displayed, OpenView will communicate to the server with the text you entered.

If you enter the incorrect text

You will not be able to view the movie

Most Captchas are implemented on web sites because the website makes money from advertising revenues.  The website may have to prove to their advertisers (who are paying the bills!) that real people are seeing the advertising!

Follow us on Twitter

To make life a little easier for you, you can now follow us on Twitter:

@OpenViewHelper