Movie Collector OH
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Posts posted by Movie Collector OH
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Yeah but, FF still will not allow me to sign in, therefore cant load a movie. javascript error or on purpose. i have tried FF from 46, i think to 52.0.2 32bit, 64as well and 52.2 ESR 64. no dice
i do get it through chrome, auto updated to most current. loads of cookies for sure. but it works still. long load up times for movies now.i have windows 7 as well as 10 all are x64 one is ultimate ,others are professional versions. now,FF works as poorly as my linux browsers dont get tcm. by the way, they all will play html5 and flash movies/videos on all other pages or sites ive tried. tubi tv acorntv netflix brit box and let me see.... only tcm will fail
If you've tried allowing 3rd party cookies in FF preferences and it still doesn't work, maybe one of your add-ons could be breaking it. Regardless, this video service seems to be crippled from the get-go for too many people to be a user issue. Thanks for helping to clarify the issue. [i don't have an online account associated with my satellite provider, and it doesn't look as if that is about to change anytime soon.]
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Sadly, that is all I could stay for the entire weekend film festival. There's always next year!
I'll have to pencil that in. We were thinking about making the trip one of these times, but it completely slipped our minds. Were there a lot of people there?
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Just a "heads up" that it looks as if the server platform Apache Tomcat/6.0 which hosts the TCM schedules (and likely the rest of this site) is EOL and will no longer be receiving maintenance releases, after April 2017 (final point release 6.0.53). [actual version I see running is 6.0.35]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Tomcat#Releases
I'm sure everyone at the mothership is fully aware of this.
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It's interesting how they only ever clutter up this section. Kind of balances out all the frivolous pseudo-political tripe in Off Topics I suppose.
Reminds me of a Tom Petty CD I have. About halfway through it he comes on and says something like, "Attention CD listeners...we are going to take a few moments now and pause for a moment to make up for our cassette listeners who have to flip the cassette over...Thank you".
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No worries...
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In my personal movie listings, which I don't put online, I don't really have a Sci-Fi category. That's already covered in the publicly available genre classification. For me it is a large category of movies, so it gets rather convoluted. My categories for what may qualify as "Sci-Fi" include Dystopian, Mad Scientist, Space Age, and Time Travel. I saw a use for each one, so that is what I ended up with.
There are some other movies which predict things and have been classified as Sci-Fi outside of that. For instance, Men Must Fight (1932) [Drama | Sci-Fi | War], predicts a future war. It also shows an early concept of a video phone, not unlike the idea of Skype. Many Sci-Fi movies serve as a warning, but some without exactly fitting in with my categories above, so I may tinker around with adding another category. For me it is a balance of keeping my category count low, so as to remain user-friendly. So right now movies like that remain as just Sci-Fi and no categorization by me.
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".....explicit entries so far, not implicit entries. That could be easily fixed (and explained)"
Uh huh... Yeah????
You've got me a bit stymied there MCOH. I know that you know what you are talking about, but I'm not sure that I know what you are talking about.
I mean, I understand "implicit" and "explicit" as defined and normally used. But not exactly how that transfers to the topic we are discussing....
explicit: very clear and complete, leaving no doubt about the meaning, clearly expressed or readily observable.
implicit: understood though not clearly or directly stated, means implied or expressed.
Had no idea that there were entries that were "implied", and entries that were "explicit," but then I am really still a novice to all of this, and know next to nothing about how computer code actually works.
"Maybe I'll drop them a line on this."
Oh yeah? Do you have some special access to TCM that most of the rest of us don't?
1) I was thinking about a possible clarification/addition to the Exception List on the Privacy tab of the Firefox configuration settings:
Explicit: only those entries in aforementioned Exception list (visited website). This would include cookies set only by visited website.
-This is the existing part. I just think Firefox should clarify here that entries here are only going to allow cookies from visited website.
Implicit: NOT entered into the exception list (visited site), but referred to by those in exception list. This would include cookies set by ads, feeds, misc content you don't want.
-I think Firefox should add a checkbox next to each exeption entry so the user can specify whether or not to allow cookies from third party sites
-These should probably also be deleted when that tab or window is closed.
Again, that is why I use add-ons to manage this.
2) Backlot?? What could TCM do to add to the core features of Firefox.
Mozilla, not TCM.
Come on, you're worrying me a bit here.
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Regarding add "tcm.com" to the exceptions list and click "allow" or "allow per session"
I've already tried that and it doesn't work. TCM may not require every one of their 3rd Party Vendors Cookies before it allows one to sign-in and a movie to load, but I haven't figured out which of their long list may be the critical ones.
And the cookies and vendors that I have checked out are quite nasty. I wouldn't want them to be added to any exceptions list.
So in other words it only processes the exceptions list as explicit entries so far, not implicit entries. That could be easily fixed (and explained) if they labeled the Exceptions list as "explicit exceptions" and also added a checkbox "allow impicit" not to each user defined entry in the exceptions list. So krxd.net would only be allowed if tcm.com was in the entry list and had "allow implicit" checked next to it, but not explicitly under any other conditions. Maybe I'll drop them a line on this.
Some that I've read in other forums have apparently embedded themselves in persons PCs and they are pulling their hair trying to get rid of them. I'm not clear about what all they have tried to remove them.I think you are referring to persistent cookies here.
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Am I keeping up with the discussion?
~ The issue is because the browser settings are not allowing cookies from third party.
~ We have to lower the bar of privacy in order for TCM streaming to function.
~ This appears to be a fairly recent requirement made by TCM, implemented in their server settings.
If I have that part correct then please let me know if this is also correct:
~ Each browser has it's own cookie jar.
~ Using a browser exclusively for TCM would gather cookies in only that browser's jar.
~ Using a different browser with higher settings for other internet activity would not use TCM cookies.
Give it a try and see if this works for you too, then let us know. That sounds correct though.
Each browser has its own temporary files or cache directory where it stores/retrieves information about your browsing. That is the stated objective, but there is no mechanism in place to assure or enforce this. Deviating from this ever so slightly is the prompt to import all the bookmarks from other browsers upon fresh installation. There is also nothing to stop a browser from going through another browser's bookmarks, or temp or cache files without you knowing about it. [cough cough Google cough Micro$oft]
If you want to keep it all Firefox, you could try going into the Preferences:Privacy tab, block third party cookies by default, and also add "tcm.com" to the exceptions list and click "allow" or "allow per session". It isn't immediately clear to me if that would work in this scenario or not. [whether the exception list applies to third-party cookies in addition to visited website cookies] That is why I use add-ons to manage this bit. I don't suspect Firefox of any wrongdoing, I just don't know how complete this part of the browser is.
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Thank you so much for your advice and the links (in both posts). I will download and experiment with the apps. I respect your experience and your opinions, and if Firefox trusts it, then it must be trust worthy.
If Firefox lists it, that just means it has passed their screening procedure. The point is that most add-ons are written by only one person. So they are truly a mixed bag of usability, mostly for the better though. That is why you rely at least in part on the comments from the community on Firefox's page for each add-on.
The benefit of the EFF Privacy Badger add-on I suggested is that it is written by a real team. There are several programmers at their organization, each with different skills, and it looks as if three or more people of the same mindset actually worked on Privacy Badger as part of an organization-sanctioned project. That and plenty of vision and direction from any number of the legal council and other privacy-minded individuals on staff:
https://www.eff.org/about/staff
Also the open source code is available for anyone who wants to see it for themselves or possibly submit further contributions to it for review. So being a team effort that is also open to the public for scrutiny, they helped to catch each other's mistakes, as well as contribute to developing the concept to what it is now.
If you haven't yet, scroll down on EFF's Privacy Badger download page to see the FAQ section. They have taken this to a whole new level for just another Firefox add-on.
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Okay, good. I recently mentioned third party cookies somewhere else here, unfortunately in a joking way. If you had only tried it then...
If allowing third party cookies works for you, then never mind what I suggested in my previous post. [bTW, nothing "virtual" about it, it just masks the identity of your browser]
In your case it appears to be that a server script is being interrupted because certain cookies are not being set, rather than browser identity not being matched due to obsolete browser list on server. Maybe only one or two of those cookies are actually causing that to happen.
Here are the two Firefox add-ons I use to do my ad-blocking. I try to keep this simple, and also not break a bunch of sites by default. Together these two add-ons take care of the more invasive tracking cookies, while leaving behind the ones related to the function of the website, as well as some of the more benign ones:
Privacy Badger [or go to EFF.org and look for the link to this at the Tools menu at the top of their website] - this add-on is put together by a recognized software privacy advocate group.
uBlock Origin - this add-on is currently very well received among the Firefox community.
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@ Stephan
I don't have any passwords created for my Directv account, so try working through this, it will basically prove or disprove my theory that the server isn't configured to work with all browsers.
Try this add-on for Firefox. It is the latest and greatest version of this add-on, and works on the newest version of Firefox for me (Firefox V54).
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/user-agent-switcher-firefox/
The goal is to try spoofing a different user agent string for now (make Firefox report itself as a different browser than Firefox). Once you install this add-on, there will be a new icon at the far upper-right section of the Firefox window, along with your other add-on icons. This one initially looks like a blue globe. Click on it and its pop-up comes up. Click on the Google Chrome selector in the Desktop Browser section. The blue globe Icon (indicating default browser user agent) will change to Google Chrome's icon.
Click on the screen anywhere outside that popup to exit. [*Don't click on the checkbox at the bottom left. It is the reset-to-default or undo button, they just have the wrong ISO symbol in there.]
I have verified the user agent string indeed does change to Google Chrome's with this link:
Here is my native user agent string - I am running Linux Mint (based on Ubuntu Linux), and Firefox 54:
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:54.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/54.0
Here is my spoofed Chrome user agent string - it even says I am using Windows (LOL..fat chance):
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/47.0.2526.73 Safari/537.36
With it temporarily changed to Google Chrome, try logging in to TCM again.
To revert back to default Firefox user agent string, click on the add-on icon again and click on the small checkbox at lower left corner of the popup. This will reset it back to default Firefox. You can verify at this same link:
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She said she was able to view the trailers, clips, and intros, though. But after trying several different movies, and having none of them load to play, she concluded that there was something wrong at the TCM site.
We were unable to replicate my specific No "Sign-in" button issue, but the end result is almost the same, an inability to view TCM ON-DEMAND with Firefox browser, that also exists in the Virginia region. She said that she would report the issue up her COX chain to TCM, and would even follow-up on it and send me an email letting me know the resolution status at her end.
As if you needed assurance, this confirms it. It is not you.
One thing that came out of the experience was the checking on the little "Open Lock" icon next to where the "Sign-In/Log-In" button should be.When Right clicking on it and then Left clicking on the "Inspect Element" drop-down link, a page of Script opens up that one can examine. Clicking on a line of Script highlights the various portions of the Screen page. One line describes and highlights the little "Open-Lock" sprite, another "describes" the "Closed-Lock," and below that are lines listing the "Log-In" and "Log-Out" sprites, both of which are missing at my end, but were present and highlight-able for her.
Unfortunately, neither of us understood the TCM code, but there were several JS (Java Script) references.
Firefox stopped supporting Java in March 2017, but there have been at least two additional Firefox versions released since then, in April (ver. 53.0.0) and June (ver. 54.0.1) that I have downloaded, and both worked fine with TCM ON-DEMAND, so the unsupported Java should NOT be a factor with this present issue.
This "sprite" you have noted where the scripted control should be sounds like the server is just sending garbage. Nothing relevant, just a symptom.
BTW, Javascript and Java are two very different things. Unrelated. Javascript continues to be an integral part of a browser, whereas Java is a browser plug-in that was discontinued in Firefox.
Java is also an entire programming environment, where the user installs the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) on the OS, then writes and runs ".JAR" files (human-readable scripted files that are temporarily compiled in memory at runtime). This is a complex, open-ended environment, and using this in a browser applet presented an unacceptable level of vulnerability.
On the other hand, Javascript is a purpose-built smaller environment with a limited instruction set, less prone to vulnerability. This is the one we would be dealing with (if any).
Just something to think about so you don't confuse the help staff next time you call.
I have uploaded a few "screen shots" and highlighted my current ordeal.Just to make clear, this issue affects the "Live" Streaming, as well as ALL ON-DEMAND movies, and in my case also inhibits the video portion of the intros, clips, and trailers (the audio still works for those only).
If anyone reading this post is familiar with Java Script code and would take the time to peruse those links (and lines of script), I (and perhaps some of the rest of us) would appreciate any enlightenment that could be provided.
If anyone else has the ability or any ideas or suggestions to trouble shoot this issue further than I already have, I (for one) would be extremely appreciative.
When these technical "problems" arise, it is painfully clear that we will get NO help at all from anyone at TCM, and minimal to no help from our internet providers.
If we don't help ourselves, and each other, then there will be no help at all.
If I get the chance I might take a look at it, using the latest and greatest Firefox. I am not even registered on their "On Demand" site, so that may present some issues.
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I'm generally a fan of newer retro-sci-fi movies where the film crew, in homage to B movies, uses older techniques, flaws, and mistakes that haven't been made in many many years.
Probably the best example of them all is The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001). A Larry Blamire film. This one is the top of the heap (top shelf).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0307109/
For now though I will leave you with the trailer to Sharktopus (2010). Roger Corman & Co.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1619880/
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I am no longer able to sign in. same issue as others and the same issue i have experienced with a linux version of firefox in the past. just spinning when i click on the play arrow.and no sign in button shows up. i believe that is part of java .
Javascript, not Java. Two very different things.
Here is an example of what I believe the problem could be, basically a misconfigured (or rather underconfigured) server:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19908808/asp-net-mvc-3-redirect-loop-only-on-certain-browsers
P.S. I am running Linux Mint 18.2 for all my networked computers. I was sick of Microsoft's BS. The Windows boxes are basically now just stand-alone appliances (no more network adapter) to just run a couple specific Windows programs I can't do without.
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I see I am a rookie at this.
This should just work for a basic browser setup, regardless of platform or browser. The fact that it doesn't makes me ask "what is the likelihood that anyone else might get this to work". Or better yet, "what is the likelihood that somebody randomly sampled from all TCM viewers would be able to get this to work".
I see your brute force method doesn't quite seem to be panning out.
As far as my ideas go, I think I am still at the same point: There is either an underconfigured server somewhere that doesn't recognize enough different browsers, and/or some browsers out there can't or won't store cookies (perhaps as a consequence of the underconfigured server). Either way the login process hangs up. An intermittent occurrence might indicate a distributed network where not all servers are configured equally.
I don't work for TCM or their IT vendors, and I don't have a test server sitting on my desktop and loaded with their exact settings on which I can poke around. With a little luck though, maybe somewhere this person exists.
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When you use a Private Window in Firefox, one of the things it does is it modifies (strips out) parts of the Browser Identity string, as well as your browser's display settings, and usage of some standard plugins.
If you click on the "detailed info" link on this page, you can see the difference a server sees between regular windows and private windows in Firefox.
So taking that little bit into account, there are at least a few documented instances of redirect loops on browsers which are not accounted for in somebody else's server configuration. Here is one instance, using a Microsoft server:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19908808/asp-net-mvc-3-redirect-loop-only-on-certain-browsers.
They also mention cookies possibly not being created and javascript. Maybe we are starting to get somewhere here.
Edit: Hmm On second thought I don't see any differences here between standard and private windows. Maybe it's my configuration, but private windows have produced mostly undefined pages in the past on that site.
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I'm located in Washington and access via WAVE Broadband. With an iPad I've always gotten right to a movie but rarely try because of screen size. Tonight with Firefox on a Mac I have no problem. But it is a no go with Safari on the Mac. With Safari the full TCM page loads but it puts me in a login loop when I try to watch anything. Conclusion from this very thin evidence points toward browsers working with TCM. Safari has always seemed touchy which I have heard is related to security that is tighter than Firefox.
Updates of almost any kind seem to leave the job of finding bugs to the end consumer.
(Likely I will never give up TCM but try to keep a plan B handy. Always grateful when it works)
Hmm... How about Firefox being the most up-to-date and standards-compliant with new technology. [Not the tired old "embrace-extend-extinguish" tactics as Microsoft does, but real Internet-wide standards]
Have you ever seen it work on your Safari computer?
Just kicking the can down the street a bit more here, a login loop might be a sign of an outdated browser-side javascript implementation. I don't have specific proof of that in front of me, other than Javascript being needed for much of a website's functionality. Shut down Javasript on your good browser and watch a bunch of things break.
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Classic film scores were done by some of the best composers of their time, many classically trained. So many of the composers were refugees and had been famous composers in their home country I am thinking particularly of Eric Korngold, Max Steiner and Miklos Rozas. To understand their contribution to film, just think how empty "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and "Gone with the Wind" and "Now Voyager" would be without their soundtracks. The most memorable them of them all for me is from "The High and the Mighty"...
from Dmitry Tiompkin.
Today's music for movies definitely isn't music for my ears....unless they are using all classical composers most of it leaves me totally uninspired.
Danny Elfman is one of the few modern-day film composers that immediately comes to my mind. He's always been a big fan of Bernard Hermann and Franz Waxman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Elfman
I agree they seem to be few and far between though.
From humble beginnings on the Gong Show:
To singing in an 80s band whose music was featured in movies:
To movie scores like this:
and of course here's a sample of his Edward Scissorhands score:
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1) JVC/Taiyo Yuden (the important part here is it came from Taiyo Yuden's production line in Japan). I got this from an online duplication house supplier, before JVC shared the brand name. From what I understand, it was just a marketing change. Technically "JVC/Taiyo Yuden" is the same high quality product as when it was just called "Taiyo Yuden".
2) Verbatim AZO (The "AZO" designation is their premium product.) AZO is made in the factories of their parent company, Mitsubishi Chemical Company, "MCC" or similar, as computer programs such as DVD Identifier report it. The non-AZO product is made by third party manufacturers, typically in lower-end Chinese factories, and DVD Identifier reports it as something completely different.
[i have no idea where the Verbatim Datalife line fits in]
They sell Verbatim AZO in 100 packs in my local computer superstore, for 3/4 to 1/2 the price of Taiyo Yuden online, so that is the first place I look when I need DVDs.
As always, on devices that permit, I select the two-pass write so any bad discs will be revealed.
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Updating my list of August premieres based on the MCOH spreadsheet. (Somehow I had missed Police Python .357 on the 25th.)
You didn't. Out of curiosity I just looked at my previous stuff from June and Police Python wasn't there. So they added it since then.
I do a fresh grab of 4 or 5 months worth of schedules, each time I do updates - usually once a month. Everything you see on my Premiere page either gets replaced or added. For the archives, the month-ending is also grabbed for its completion, due to last-minute changes (even if I don't do the reports right away).
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It is a curious piece. Reality TV comes to mind. I'm wondering about this too now.
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Latest updates to my project are up. See my signature link for full set of files.
Here's the link to the premiere list
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Geez Louise! TCM is airing "Back to the Future" on Monday, October 30th? As part of the Trailblazing Women programming?
The DVD set that I have has all three BTTF movies, and includes a director's audio track that you can listen to during each movie. The movie audio is a bit softer and you hear the producer and director narrate through it on their filming techniques and how the different scenes tie together. It's been about ten years since I went through them that way, but very memorable.
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TCM webserver: Apache Tomcat/6.0 EOL
in PROBLEMS with TCM.com
Posted
LOL