A New Way To Watch Cathe Live!
- Thread starter forum_admin
- Start date
Hi aqua girl,
Let me first explain why you and others are seeing error messages and how IBM's adaptive technology works as this is the main reason for your issues. When we upload a Cathe Live video it goes to an IBM storage server where the high quality video is re-encoded at many different bit rates and resolutions. When you play a video on Cathe Live it doesn't come from this storage server, but instead from one of several "Cloud Servers" located around the world. The "Cloud Server" first checks to see what bit rate your device is capable of playing then checks to see if it has a cached version of the appropriate size video file you want to play. If the "Cloud Server" doesn't have the "right size" video file cached it will tell the "storage server" to send it over and then cache it for all future use. The problem is it can take 24 to 48 hours for the "Cloud Server" to cache the video file and that means it tries to send you the video file from the storage server before it has cached the video file you requested. This causes pauses and many of the errors you see. This is very similar to the problem we have when we first release downloads for new workouts. On the first day almost everyone has issues, but after the new videos have been cached on the cloud servers the problems go away. As many of you have already seen you can now play videos just fine that yesterday you couldn't. However, it is important to know that the "Cloud Servers" don't update until a person requests a video file version that has not been cached. Also, each "Cloud Server is independent and depending which server you access will depend on whether or not it contains the correct cached file you require. Hence, it may take a few weeks before everyone has made enough video requests before all of the "Cloud Servers" have cached all of the different versions of each video file.
The second reason for errors is an IBM tool we use in our admin interface called the "Trim-Edit" tool. This tool is used whenever we upload a new Cathe Live video for the first time. The problem is IBM's "Trim-Edit" tool is not compatible with their own "SDK" that we have to use in our app. We're currently talking to IBM on the best way to handle this. As an example of this if you can play the "5-8-2014 Boot Camp" (our first broadcast) video you will see that the logo and medical disclaimer plays forever. This is because the "Trim-Edit" tool edit is not be recognized by the app. We think we have a work around for this until IBM can make the tool work correctly in the app, but this will have to be a manual process for each video and may take some time to complete. We will test and try this fix after the holidays if it works.
Lastly, I'm seeing the sync issue that your seeing for "Strong Upper Body Express", however, at a little over 15 mins into the workout I get the typical "something is wrong" error message... but then the video starts to play again and everything is in sync after this point. So, let's see what happens over the next 48 hours as this is an indication that the file has not been cached yet and this problem may go away in a few days. The error could also be caused by the Trim/Edit tool, but time will tell.
Sorry this is so looooooooong, but thanks for letting us know.
Let me first explain why you and others are seeing error messages and how IBM's adaptive technology works as this is the main reason for your issues. When we upload a Cathe Live video it goes to an IBM storage server where the high quality video is re-encoded at many different bit rates and resolutions. When you play a video on Cathe Live it doesn't come from this storage server, but instead from one of several "Cloud Servers" located around the world. The "Cloud Server" first checks to see what bit rate your device is capable of playing then checks to see if it has a cached version of the appropriate size video file you want to play. If the "Cloud Server" doesn't have the "right size" video file cached it will tell the "storage server" to send it over and then cache it for all future use. The problem is it can take 24 to 48 hours for the "Cloud Server" to cache the video file and that means it tries to send you the video file from the storage server before it has cached the video file you requested. This causes pauses and many of the errors you see. This is very similar to the problem we have when we first release downloads for new workouts. On the first day almost everyone has issues, but after the new videos have been cached on the cloud servers the problems go away. As many of you have already seen you can now play videos just fine that yesterday you couldn't. However, it is important to know that the "Cloud Servers" don't update until a person requests a video file version that has not been cached. Also, each "Cloud Server is independent and depending which server you access will depend on whether or not it contains the correct cached file you require. Hence, it may take a few weeks before everyone has made enough video requests before all of the "Cloud Servers" have cached all of the different versions of each video file.
The second reason for errors is an IBM tool we use in our admin interface called the "Trim-Edit" tool. This tool is used whenever we upload a new Cathe Live video for the first time. The problem is IBM's "Trim-Edit" tool is not compatible with their own "SDK" that we have to use in our app. We're currently talking to IBM on the best way to handle this. As an example of this if you can play the "5-8-2014 Boot Camp" (our first broadcast) video you will see that the logo and medical disclaimer plays forever. This is because the "Trim-Edit" tool edit is not be recognized by the app. We think we have a work around for this until IBM can make the tool work correctly in the app, but this will have to be a manual process for each video and may take some time to complete. We will test and try this fix after the holidays if it works.
Lastly, I'm seeing the sync issue that your seeing for "Strong Upper Body Express", however, at a little over 15 mins into the workout I get the typical "something is wrong" error message... but then the video starts to play again and everything is in sync after this point. So, let's see what happens over the next 48 hours as this is an indication that the file has not been cached yet and this problem may go away in a few days. The error could also be caused by the Trim/Edit tool, but time will tell.
Sorry this is so looooooooong, but thanks for letting us know.
No, thank you for taking the time to explain, as it does make sense to me, believe it or not! 
. It looks like all will
Work out hopefully in a couple weeks.....if I choose one that won't play right now, I can always use Live the
Regular way, that's easy too. The workout blender and the On Demand app are awesome.....I use the blender
Both ways, on my Chromebook or on my iPad, depending on my mood. A girl has to have choices!
. It looks like all willWork out hopefully in a couple weeks.....if I choose one that won't play right now, I can always use Live the
Regular way, that's easy too. The workout blender and the On Demand app are awesome.....I use the blender
Both ways, on my Chromebook or on my iPad, depending on my mood
. A girl has to have choices!
What device are you trying to play on?
I get error messages on any I pick, except it seems any workouts in 2017 start immediately. I did Senior Fitness
The other day, it started after 2 messages, played fine for about half of the workout, stopped for about 1 min. or so, then
Picked up where it left off and played fine to the end. A lot of them are out of sync, audio-video wise. I think they
Said maybe in a week or 2, it should straighten out...
The other day, it started after 2 messages, played fine for about half of the workout, stopped for about 1 min. or so, then
Picked up where it left off and played fine to the end. A lot of them are out of sync, audio-video wise. I think they
Said maybe in a week or 2, it should straighten out...
NinjaMom
Cathlete
SNM: I know you are working on the various issues with the live app but wanted to let you know the problem I had this morning. I was trying to stream using the app on my iPhone 5s (IOS 10.3.2) to air play on my Apple TV (3rd generation w/latest software) and could not get it to work. Every time I tried to play the workout (Legs & Glutes Live) using air play, the wifi connection on my phone dropped. I have no issues using my phone and apple tv air play with other things I stream including Cathe Live through Safari so I am assuming it is the app that is causing the problem.
Also tried re-downloading the app on my iPad (4th gen IOS 10.3.2) and it still kills when launched.
Also tried re-downloading the app on my iPad (4th gen IOS 10.3.2) and it still kills when launched.
H
hi, I'm using an iPhone 7
Currently the app will not work on older iPad 3's and iPad 4's. We believe this is a bug with IBM's SDK and player, but we're waiting to hear back from their engineers.
You shouldn't have any problems on a iPhone 7. We have tested thoroughly on iPhone 7's and haven't seen any major issues. Is your iPhone 7 iOS up to date? My only suggestion is to close the program by swiping it off the screen first and then delete the app and reinstall it. Also which recorded video did you try to play?
Just curious....since the player in OnDemand app works so good, where we choose the quality of the playback,
Was wondering why you have a different type player in the CatheLive app? Will you continue to offer the choice
Of playback (low/high) of the CatheLive workouts thru the website? And I hope you will keep the
Player that you presently have for the blender workouts...
Was wondering why you have a different type player in the CatheLive app? Will you continue to offer the choice
Of playback (low/high) of the CatheLive workouts thru the website? And I hope you will keep the
Player that you presently have for the blender workouts...
Hi aqua girl,
There are two reasons why we use a different player for Cathe Live: First, Cathe Live is on a completely different network than is Cathe OnDemand. The second reason is Cathe Live originates as a live broadcast and that means we have to use a player that is not ours like you see on OnDemand. OnDemand uses a custom player that we created. This can't be the case with Cathe Live as we have to use IBM's "SDK" and player and we don't have any control over how it functions. We also don't have any current plans to stop producing our low quality videos, but I'm sure someday we will. Only a very few people have internet speeds of less than 9 mbps and this number will decline rapidly as technology improves. From 2015 to 2016 internet speeds increased an average of 40% in the USA and more in many other countries. So eventually, there will not be a need for low quality videos - even for rural America.
FYI: IBM recently bought Ustream and they have been working on converting the old Flash Ustream Player to a more modern HTML 5 player and this is still a work in progress. They certainly have the "Brains" to make this happen, but they don't seem to us to yet have the practical experience that perhaps they should. Still, I'm sure they will fix this problem. They're a big company and move more slowly than a small company like us, but they have been helpful in the recent past in fixing other bugs we have found and reported.
Lastly, is the reason for your slow internet speed because you're in a rural area and have you recently checked to see if you can upgrade your speed? A lot of problems you're experiencing would probably go away with a better and faster internet connection.
There are two reasons why we use a different player for Cathe Live: First, Cathe Live is on a completely different network than is Cathe OnDemand. The second reason is Cathe Live originates as a live broadcast and that means we have to use a player that is not ours like you see on OnDemand. OnDemand uses a custom player that we created. This can't be the case with Cathe Live as we have to use IBM's "SDK" and player and we don't have any control over how it functions. We also don't have any current plans to stop producing our low quality videos, but I'm sure someday we will. Only a very few people have internet speeds of less than 9 mbps and this number will decline rapidly as technology improves. From 2015 to 2016 internet speeds increased an average of 40% in the USA and more in many other countries. So eventually, there will not be a need for low quality videos - even for rural America.
FYI: IBM recently bought Ustream and they have been working on converting the old Flash Ustream Player to a more modern HTML 5 player and this is still a work in progress. They certainly have the "Brains" to make this happen, but they don't seem to us to yet have the practical experience that perhaps they should. Still, I'm sure they will fix this problem. They're a big company and move more slowly than a small company like us, but they have been helpful in the recent past in fixing other bugs we have found and reported.
Lastly, is the reason for your slow internet speed because you're in a rural area and have you recently checked to see if you can upgrade your speed? A lot of problems you're experiencing would probably go away with a better and faster internet connection.
Hi forum_admin....thanks for your reply, I guess maybe you misunderstood, I am not having any problems with
OnDemand/Workout blender, or with CatheLive except somewhat in that app, which others are having as well,
So I don't think that has much to do with my internet speed. Yes it is a slower speed, however, for what I do
Right Now, it does just fine...I have "enhanced" broadband, so it is a little better than it used to be...I was just
Curious about the different players, and I thought maybe it was something to do with the fact that CatheLive is
"Live". I am "blender addicted" (I have about 287 blender workouts) so as long as that keeps going for me, I'm
A happy camper. I'll try to not keep bugging you all with my tech questions. I'm just curious...
OnDemand/Workout blender, or with CatheLive except somewhat in that app, which others are having as well,
So I don't think that has much to do with my internet speed. Yes it is a slower speed, however, for what I do
Right Now, it does just fine...I have "enhanced" broadband, so it is a little better than it used to be...I was just
Curious about the different players, and I thought maybe it was something to do with the fact that CatheLive is
"Live". I am "blender addicted" (I have about 287 blender workouts) so as long as that keeps going for me, I'm
A happy camper. I'll try to not keep bugging you all with my tech questions
. I'm just curious...
Hi aqua girl,
I don't mind out at all answering your tech questions, so feel free to keep asking as I'm sure it not only helps us to solve problems but also helps other users too. And to clarify, yes, we have to use a different player for Cathe Live because it is a live broadcast and we have to use IBM's player. Hopefully IBM will fix the problems mentioned above ASAP, it's just going to take them some time to do so.
I don't mind out at all answering your tech questions, so feel free to keep asking as I'm sure it not only helps us to solve problems but also helps other users too. And to clarify, yes, we have to use a different player for Cathe Live because it is a live broadcast and we have to use IBM's player. Hopefully IBM will fix the problems mentioned above ASAP, it's just going to take them some time to do so.
NinjaMom
Cathlete
UPDATE: Happy to report that I was finally able to stream from the Cathe Live app using my iPhone 5S to air play on the TV via my Apple TV. There was some juddering but it got better as the workout progressed.
Any news from IBM on getting the app to work on older iPads?
Hi NinjaMom,
No, we're still waiting to hear back from IBM. Unfortunately, things don't move very quickly when it comes to larger companies. Pretty much all the other problems have been fixed, but still waiting on the fix from IBM for iPad 3 and 4's.