sky on demand

[Pride Of Cucamonga]

Try this. On Sky box go to Network settings then Manual. Press RED. System will go back to main Network screen with DHCP On. Press Manual again. Overplay settings will still be there. Press GREEN. System works?

This works ( for now). Thanks for suggesting.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

I find it keeps dropping out. I have just emailed Overplay again. Would be good if they arrive in work on Monday morning to find lots of emails from all those affected .... ACTION!

 

[Ghufran]

Hi all!

Came across this forum as I too am now having issues with sky on demand (using it from Switzerland) with overplay's smartdns service.

Initially I had problems with sky go but sky on demand worked fine, albeit very slowly. More recently, however, I am experiencing the same as most of you guys here - sky go works fine, but service to on demand has been disrupted.

Current situation:
1. Router has overplay smartdns entries configured
2. Sky network settings show connection to broadband OK, connection to on demand FAIL

I have found a workaround which allows me to temporarily trick the on demand service to work for one download, after which the connection to on demand fails again.

I am doing the following:

1. Navigate to sky network settings and press the green button for manual ip configuration
2. In the DNS settings type in one of the free Google or OpenDNS servers:
Google - 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4
OpenDNS - 208.67.220.220 / 208.67.222.222
3. Press green button to save settings and then red to reset the settings

I find that doing the above gets the connection to on demand to OK after which you can go and use the on demand service. However, after downloading 1 or 2 programmes I need to repeat the above process.

If you get a HTTP_FORBIDDEN error on downloads causing them to fail but connection to on demand is OK, then try to use the red button to reset settings and try again.

Obviously a bit of a chore, but this is keeping me going until I find a better solution.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

Thanks for the info. Today has seen a recovery in the system (they have been working on it). Hopefully now resolved.

 

[Ghufran]

That's great news! Will see how it goes tonight and see if the problem recurs.

Will report back either way.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

Right now, NOT working again. I don't know what they are doing!

 

[Ghufran]

Yes, not working for me either so am having to use the workaround of switching DNS on sky box every so often.

Would be interesting to hear if other people using overplay SnartDNS are having similar issues or whether it's working for them.

 

[mickwig]

Why not use a router with VPN functions to connect the Network via VPN and not use SmartDNS. It works well for a friend of mine.

 

[timo_w2s]

Why not use a router with VPN functions to connect the Network via VPN and not use SmartDNS. It works well for a friend of mine.

That's my plan. I used VPN before SmartDNS came along but it was nice not to have to rely on slow VPN or extra hardware. Not to mention most VPN providers are about twice the cost of DNS.

 

[mickwig]

That's my plan. I used VPN before SmartDNS came along but it was nice not to have to rely on slow VPN or extra hardware. Not to mention most VPN providers are about twice the cost of DNS.

As far as I can tell the SmartDNS Providers also offer VPN Connections. Since SmartDNS does not use passwords, encryption etc. you might as well use VPN with only minimum encryption enabled. That should make your connection faster. Plus, no one knows who you really are except your Provider.

 

[BLUEPLATINUM]

I have raised several support tickets with Overplay. To summarise their response they beleive the Sky Demand service is working and that the Sky boxes are cacheing old data and will recover if switched off for 10 minutes.

I have not found this to be the case and have now unsubscribed. They have refunded some of my money and I am happy with that.

It should be pointed out that they DO NOT officially support Sky Demand.

I have now taken the 7 day trial (for SmartDNS and you get VPN thrown in too for less the $5 per month, but you don't need VPN for Sky) at http://bit.ly/1anEyxQ. It is working great.

 

[timo_w2s]

Thanks, will give that a go next time I'm in Finland.

 

[Ghufran]

Thanks blueplatinum - I have also taken out the 7 day trial with unlocator and it seems to be working great with sky on demand since yesterday!

I was initially having issues with sky go and i player, but they are also working now!

I may also now ask for a refund from overplay and switch to unlocator.

However, as you mentioned that overplay don't officially support sky on demand, I don't see any specific mention of it being supported by unlocator either so not sure how their support will handle issues should any arise in the future.

All looks good at the moment though - thanks!!

 

[Pride Of Cucamonga]

I'm having success with Unlocator - plus seems to offer more websites / better control than Overplay. Thanks, blueplat.

Out of interest, why do Sky boxes offer the option to change the DNS at all? i.e. in what scenario would a customer legitimately need to change it?

cheers

 

[timo_w2s]

I'm having success with Unlocator - plus seems to offer more websites / better control than Overplay. Thanks, blueplat.

Out of interest, why do Sky boxes offer the option to change the DNS at all? i.e. in what scenario would a customer legitimately need to change it?

cheers

If you want to manually set the IP address you need to set a DNS server too. Although the vast majority leave DHCP on their routers so an IP address, gateway and DNS is set automatically, some networks are set not to allow automatic connection.

 

[Pride Of Cucamonga]

If you want to manually set the IP address you need to set a DNS server too. Although the vast majority leave DHCP on their routers so an IP address, gateway and DNS is set automatically, some networks are set not to allow automatic connection.

Cheers - good to know.

btw Accordong to Unlocator, you can't change the DNS on a Now TV box - has to be done at the router level. https://support.unlocator.com/custo...20631-how-to-set-up-now-tv-box-with-unlocator