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[markp99]

MC11.1.144 - long running issue

I've seen an issue with a few podcasts I've attempted to download here at work.  Here's the latest:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/diggnation

1.  I am able to see the list of episodes
2.  I select a few eps for download
3.  MC11 Espisode Status progress bar rolls to "100%"
4.  then "Retry(1)"
5.  then "OnDisk"
6.  then "Media Center enountered errors while trying to play the last several files..."

Is this a feed issue, or something else?  I am able to download Diggnation eps at home, just not at work.

Suggestions?

[Gene]

MC11.1.144 - long running issue

I've seen an issue with a few podcasts I've attempted to download here at work.  Here's the latest:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/diggnation

1.  I am able to see the list of episodes
2.  I select a few eps for download
3.  MC11 Espisode Status progress bar rolls to "100%"
4.  then "Retry(1)"
5.  then "OnDisk"
6.  then "Media Center enountered errors while trying to play the last several files..."

Is this a feed issue, or something else?  I am able to download Diggnation eps at home, just not at work.

Suggestions?

Since the problem is reproducable, I'm going to guess your IT staff at work is up to some tricks.  It is fairly common to run some kind of web sniffer, or possibly a web cache server that may be messing up the works.   The Diggnation Episodes are pretty large, and that may be the clue.

When Media Center downloads a file, one of the sanity checks is to see if the size of the downloaded file is the same as the advertized file size.  If it isn't we fail the download (hence the RETRY) and then download again.  If we get the same size twice in a row, we figure the feed value is wrong (a common problem) and accept the download.

To see if this is right, please try the following:

(1) At work, just double-click the file w/o downloading it first.  It should play (it does for me).  If it doesn't that is a good clue.
(2) Download a few of the files, and then check their size.  They should match the sizes seen in the MC Feed window.  (mine do).
(3) If the files are the same size, and look valid, take one home somehow if you can, and see if they contain the same data.
(4) Try to play one of the downloaded files in Windows Media Player.  See if it plays there.
(5) If the files are the wrong size, or munged in some other way, try downloading the files directly with IE.  JUst paste them into the address line, and select save file when it asks.  The file will be different than the one generated by Media Center (we tweak the tags) but should be very close to the same size, and should play.

I'm guessing you find the files corrupted somehow.   This could be either accidental or deliberate.  Sometimes Dilbert models real life....

gene

[markp99]

gene,

You are exactly correct.  When I saw the Feed URL (feeds.feedburner.com/diggnation) and list of episodes, I presumed this was not on the company's "blacklist".

I guess I assumed that the Episode URL would have been the same (guessing feedburner was a mirror of some sort).  The Episode URL (videos.revision3.com) does raise the companies "Restricted Internet Access" message.

In IE, I see the actual body of the warning message: 

"Internet and WWW Acceptable Use Policy
Employees are reminded that the Internet connection they use from their work site was established for business purposes. However, our policy allows for reasonable and occasional personal use provided that such use is consistent with MDP xyz, Use of Personal Company Computer and Network Resources, and discretion is exercised to ensure that Company interests are not adversely affected....blah blah blah..."

MC11.1 tries unsuccessfully to play 2KB of text in the message. 

I guess I need to find a new feed or an unblocked mirror.

Thanks for your reply.