New Streaming & Dwnld Videos?

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Yes, I know where the full-screen button is, and I clicked it at least seven different times before re-downloading the video and clicking it again. Nothing happens except that the words "full screen" pop up briefly to tell me it knows what it is supposed to be doing.

The Purple player occupies a little more than one quarter of my screen, and the Windows "full screen "ikon in the upper right corner is grayed out and doesn't work. The video itself displays in about a quarter of the Purple Player's window, so it is really small. This is no way to look at the beautiful scenery of Norway.

I'm running Win 7 64, and I have not had this problem with Youtube or Vimeo directly.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Well, guess what?

I just tried one more time. This time I first opened the "properties" for the desktop icon for the player and changed it from "open in normal window" to "open maximized" to see if that would make a difference. Then I opened the player and it again came up occupying only about a quarter of my screen. But this time, when I selected to play the video, an entirely different viewer came up, which did indeed have a different tool bar along the bottom, with a WORKING "full-screen" button!

The new player didn't show the standard "Vimeo" type of screen, and had its own window rather than being a small hole in the Purple player that I was getting before.

I can't imagine how they switched the player without my doing anything, but it seems to work now. I hope it will continue to work.

[gfioravanti]

Sorry for the initial issue you experienced!

It's possible that the first time you tried, the preferred player had not yet installed completely so you saw the "inset" player.  But, it sounds like you're now using the better player.  Please let us know if you encounter any other issues.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Sorry for the initial issue you experienced!

It's possible that the first time you tried, the preferred player had not yet installed completely so you saw the "inset" player.  But, it sounds like you're now using the better player.  Please let us know if you encounter any other issues.

Thanks for checking. Everything seems fine, now, so I'm moving from Grumpy Old Man (or Purple People Eater?) to Happy Camper now.

[Rory]

Not impressed with the new system.  Here are some observations after a few minutes use.

- from a users perspective the old system was not broken.

- the new player is not intuitive to use.  It took me a while to figure out how to download a file.  Downloading is very slow - currently 176 kbps.  I tested my system and downloads are 2.4 Mbps.  Something is seriously broken.

- the player is loaded to the C drive.  I did not want it there.  In fact I didn't want yet another proprietary piece of software.  There is no uninstall for the player.  That's pretty lame guys.

- the whole process is more complex than I need.  Streaming is not working very well as I keep running into buffering.  I just bought the Bjørn Rorslett video and after an hour I still have not been able to watch it.  Not a very good customer experience.

Much as I love you guys I just don't need this kind of clunky, proprietary stuff on my computers.  Can you work out a process where your customers can opt for the old process if they want?

Rory

[Rory]

Okay, it gets even worse.  I finally downloaded the video after 2.5 hours and tried to play it.  The player window opened and the video started to play.  The audio that is, on a very black window.  If I move the window the video appears while the window is moving.  Maximizing does not help.

Windows 7, dell 30" monitor.

I just want to watch a video, not be a beta tester.

Rory

[Rory]

Believe it or not, it is getting worse    Running the video player changes the windows desktop colour scheme back to default.

[Christopher Sanderson]

Sorry you are having such problems.

Try the help system and or live chat help. They are normally pretty good at solving this sort of issue.

Chris

[Philip Weber]

Chris - I haven't had any issues but agree with other posters, it could be more intuitive and the download was slow, although that may be from demand for the video.

In any event, is there or will there be a way to uninstall? I'm ok with it now but there may be a point when I don't want it on my hard drive any more.

I'm sure there are many reasons why this was good for LuLa but as the old way of downloading and playing worked so well for me, I'd have rather not had to work through the new process. That said, I enjoyed the video and thanks for all of your efforts.

Phil

[Rory]

Sorry you are having such problems.

Try the help system and or live chat help. They are normally pretty good at solving this sort of issue.

Chris

Hi Chris

I tried the live chat.  Got to fill out a form.  I would not call that live chat.

Rory

[Rory]

Here is my Leaping Brain 365 24/7 customer response experience so far...



I've got better things to do.  I'll check back later.

Rory

[Christopher Sanderson]

My guess is that the problem is solvable but as always, you can get a refund if dissatisfied. Please just send me an email or PM and I will arrange a refund.

Chris

[Rory]

My guess is that the problem is solvable but as always, you can get a refund if dissatisfied. Please just send me an email or PM and I will arrange a refund.

Chris

I watched the episode through the link you provided Chris.  Even though the interview was 8 years ago, which was a bit of a surprise, I enjoyed your editing.  No need for a refund, but I don't think this is ready for prime time yet.

[Christopher Sanderson]

I would encorage you to get the solution for your playback problems. Of no comfort to you, but these types of problems, while certainly not unheard of, are relatively rare.

Usually there is a setting somewhere in your system that can solve the problem. FWIW, on the old system the problem you describe was common enough to warrant a special section in our old FAQ. Check the DirectX settings and re-install QuickTime.

[Rory]

I hear you Chris.  I have not had great luck with the folks at support@platformpurple.com.  I think I will sit on the sidelines for a while until you have the kinks out of your new system or change to something else.  While I have great respect for the work and integrity of LL, I am not much of a fan of how you are tweaking the video part of your business model.  What I do not like is that you are making it more difficult for me to watch your videos on multiple devices at my leisure, using a clunky, not ready for prime time software.  Some problems with the new process:

• There is no uninstall mechanism, which leaves junk in the system registry when you delete the program.
• The program installs on the C drive, which may be okay for most, but not what I want.
• The program is for your benefit, but adds no value to me, so is just some extra overhead to deal with.
• The process requires this software to be added to all my devices just to watch a video.
• The program attempts to change the windows desktop.  This is totally unacceptable.
• The program UI is not intuitive, with it not immediately clear how to download, although this is a one time issue.
• In my case, the program will not play videos on Windows 7, although every other video playing software works on my system.
• The download speed is extremely slow.
• The user support is poor.  The live chat is not being supported.
• The description of the videos is misleading.  Calling the Bjørn Rørslett video new in your "What's New" part of the website, even though it was taken 8 years ago but edited recently is misleading at best.

I think you guys have a lot of work and maybe a little soul searching ahead of you.  I wish you the very best and hope to be back on board when the dust settles.

[gfioravanti]

Hi Rory,

We are the technology company that manages these digital downloads, and we apologize for the trouble you encountered!

We try to work out any kinks within the system, but of course issues will always come up that we try to resolve right away.  I'm sorry that you were having trouble getting on live chat with someone.  Unfortunately, we are not yet 24/7 with our live chat.  From your support thread in our system, it seems that Mabel replied to you regarding getting on live chat.  If you can let us know what happened when you tried this and when you tried this, this will certainly help us fix this for the future. 

Regarding your comments:

1) We rarely receive requests from users with a need to uninstall the program, so we have focused resources on other updates and features that can further improve the platform. 
2) The program should install in the default hard drive on your computer.  Is your C drive not your default?
3) We do design the program with the user in mind, so we're sorry that you do not feel this way.  As one example, by having the videos download through the program, you can be assured that you can always regain access to your content.  If your hard drive crashes or you get a new computer, just reinstall the program and you can re-download at any time.  Also, our players help manage the videos themselves so you don't have to worry about loose video files and chapter lists.  The videos themselves are also programmed through the player to play continuously, so your viewing experience is not interrupted by having to launch the next video.
4) If you'd prefer not to install software, you can stream through our cloud player - http://player.platformpurple.com.  You mentioned that you were having trouble with the streaming player.  What browser are you using when you just see it buffering?
5) That is very strange as we have not encountered this before.  Can you provide us more details on this?
6) We try our best to make the program simple, but still intuitive.  Can you tell us what you would have liked to see?
7) I'm sure we can get you up and running with your videos.  Usually the most expedient way is to do a screen share where we could actually see what's happening and be able to fix it right away.
What download speed were you seeing reported?  The download speed will depend on your internet connection and it's connection to our CDN.
9) Again I apologize that you were not happy with support.  We do try our best to offer support during all hours, but have not quite reached 24/7 yet.  However, opening a ticket via our form or email will always get you a response and almost always lead to a fix to your problem.
10) We will leave that to the folks at Luminous who control the product information.

Thanks for your time, and hope we get the opportunity to help you with our system.
Grace

[Rory]

Thanks for the response.  I'll try again to get a real time dialog with you on your support site.  I do have some thoughts about your response - see inline below.  BTW your program crashed when I ran it to reproduce some of the problems for my answers below.

Hi Rory,

We are the technology company that manages these digital downloads, and we apologize for the trouble you encountered!

We try to work out any kinks within the system, but of course issues will always come up that we try to resolve right away.  I'm sorry that you were having trouble getting on live chat with someone.  Unfortunately, we are not yet 24/7 with our live chat.  From your support thread in our system, it seems that Mabel replied to you regarding getting on live chat.  If you can let us know what happened when you tried this and when you tried this, this will certainly help us fix this for the future. 

Regarding your comments:

1) We rarely receive requests from users with a need to uninstall the program, so we have focused resources on other updates and features that can further improve the platform.  This simply amplifies my point that you do not think this is important to your users.
2) The program should install in the default hard drive on your computer.  Is your C drive not your default?  You're kidding, right?  Changing the default drive in windows requires a hack to the registry.  Well behaved programs ask where you would like to install the program.
3) We do design the program with the user in mind, so we're sorry that you do not feel this way.  As one example, by having the videos download through the program, you can be assured that you can always regain access to your content.  If your hard drive crashes or you get a new computer, just reinstall the program and you can re-download at any time.  Also, our players help manage the videos themselves so you don't have to worry about loose video files and chapter lists.  The videos themselves are also programmed through the player to play continuously, so your viewing experience is not interrupted by having to launch the next video.  Sounds good.  I just like to manage my own files.  
4) If you'd prefer not to install software, you can stream through our cloud player - http://player.platformpurple.com.  You mentioned that you were having trouble with the streaming player.  What browser are you using when you just see it buffering?  Chrome, Safari and Firefox.  I measured the download speeds while trying to stream the content using http://www.speedtest.net/ and got 3.4Mbps while your app reported 176 kbps.  It took 2.5 hours to download Bjørn Rørslett video.  Either you have a software problem with the app, or you were swamped with download requests which suggests you have insufficient bandwidth.
5) That is very strange as we have not encountered this before.  Can you provide us more details on this?  When I select the video to play in your app and then select "PLAY ALL" my monitors are momentarily blanked and then this message appears in my task bar, which changes color from my custom setting of gray to blue.  
6) We try our best to make the program simple, but still intuitive.  Can you tell us what you would have liked to see? 
7) I'm sure we can get you up and running with your videos.  Usually the most expedient way is to do a screen share where we could actually see what's happening and be able to fix it right away.  Hope so.
What download speed were you seeing reported?  The download speed will depend on your internet connection and it's connection to our CDN.
9) Again I apologize that you were not happy with support.  We do try our best to offer support during all hours, but have not quite reached 24/7 yet.  I guess that is what you mean by 20/7 365 on your site.  I misread this as 24/7 the first time.  However, opening a ticket via our form or email will always get you a response and almost always lead to a fix to your problem.
10) We will leave that to the folks at Luminous who control the product information.

Thanks for your time, and hope we get the opportunity to help you with our system.
Grace

[Philip Weber]

Hi Grace - I asked this question of Chris who did not respond so I'll ask it of you, even though, as you said to Rory, that customers seldom ask this.

In the event one does want to uninstall it (all of it) then how does one go about doing so? If one cannot, when do you anticipate this feature (a basic feature that all software seems to come with) will become available?

Thank you,
Phil Weber

[Rory]

Final follow-up on this topic.  I worked with Grace to resolve my issues but we failed to find a solution.  I believe Grace would have kept on trying but I only have so much time to deal with these things.  I could get the program to work when I rebooted in safe mode, so there is some incompatibility with some other software I am running.  I tend to believe this conflict is the fault of the LeapingBrain software, which does not appear to follow proper windows protocols, as evidenced by the lack of uninstall and the interference with the windows desktop display in my case, and the fact that all other video playing software seems to be working on my computer.

Both Chris and Grace offered to refund my money, which shows they both stand behind their products and are classy people.  I cannot accept a refund in good conscience since I did watch the video through an alternative stream that Chris provided, and face it, we are only talking $10 that I would be happy to donate to LL in any case.  Unfortunately the new delivery of the videos will not work for me.

[Christopher Sanderson]

Hi Grace - I asked this question of Chris who did not respond so I'll ask it of you, even though, as you said to Rory, that customers seldom ask this.

On a Mac it is pretty simple - delete all instances of 'leapingbrain', 'luminous landcsape', MODplayer - or just use a helper app like CleanMyMac: trash the app and it follows up with the tricky bits.

On Windows, I do not know and will need to let the Purple help folk step you through it with their help system.Just open a HelpTicket