# Searching for Authorized Content.....



## DeanS (Aug 23, 2006)

Was the message I received 5 minutes into a PPV movie which I recorded last night but wanted to watch this evening. I asked the HR20 to record the movie using the Program Guide, and it recorded. However, there was no record that a purchase had been made in my purchases records. I was not given the opportunity to purchase the movie when I went to play it from my playlist. Is there something I'm doing wrong? My understanding was you could record PPV movies in advance, and play them back when you desired, at which time you would make the purchase.....


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

DeanS said:


> Was the message I received 5 minutes into a PPV movie which I recorded last night but wanted to watch this evening. I asked the HR20 to record the movie using the Program Guide, and it recorded. However, there was no record that a purchase had been made in my purchases records. I was not given the opportunity to purchase the movie when I went to play it from my playlist. Is there something I'm doing wrong? My understanding was you could record PPV movies in advance, and play them back when you desired, at which time you would make the purchase.....


This is my understanding too. There have been one or two others reporting similar problems. Do you know which version of the software you are running? Menu, Help&Settings, Setup, Info&Test.

Cheers,
Tom


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## DeanS (Aug 23, 2006)

Since I'm in Los Angeles, I am running the very latest version of the software - the version which just enabled OTA. The movie was a PPV on Channel 99 (recorded last evening at 10 PM PST). Since I couldn't play it, I deleted it. Presumably I wasn't charged for it......


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

DeanS said:


> Since I'm in Los Angeles, I am running the very latest version of the software - the version which just enabled OTA. The movie was a PPV on Channel 99 (recorded last evening at 10 PM PST). Since I couldn't play it, I deleted it. Presumably I wasn't charged for it......


One more question that occurs to me. Do you have a phone line connected to the HR20 all the time?

My Hr20's don't so I know I can't order PPV via remote control at any time. (I order via website.) And I can't even conveniently test, alas.

Cheers,
Tom


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## DeanS (Aug 23, 2006)

Yes, I have my HR20 connected to a phone line. In fact I made sure that this line was working shortly after the HR20 was installed. 

I tried to order another PPV movie last evening (Channel 189), but didn't set it to record, just tuned to the station. Similar to the other PPV, it played for 5 minutes, then I got the same "searching for authorized content message" but this was followed by a long list of instructions regarding connection to a phone line, etc....I never was given the opportunity to purchase the movie. I checked my phone connection - working o.k., then ran a system check which indicated that the phone connection was o.k also. 

I don't usually ever order PPV from D*, but it would be nice if this feature worked properly......


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

I talked about this in a different thread earlier this week.

It is most like that Channel 99 has been dropped for bandwith reasons right now. Hence, your PPV recording can not find the information it is looking for about the PPV program. Thus it can't "ask" you to pay for it, as it doesn't know what to ask for.

It is an issue that DirecTV is aware of.


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## Coffey77 (Nov 12, 2006)

I purchased Over The Hedge earlier this week and noticed that there wasn't a Buy/Record option so - I picked it to record and it set up everything record wise but noticed that there was no option to "Buy" it. I went back and selected "Buy" option as well and everything recorded fine. I haven't watched the whole show but getting past initial few seconds (seeing if the Delete Now pops up) seems to be the only problem. Once by that, it's easy cruising. Just be sure to PURCHASE/BUY the program you are going to record and check to see if you've bought it twice but I'm sure that didn't happen for mine.


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## shaun-ohio (Aug 24, 2002)

yeah i ran into the same thing from my local pbs channel 34 here in columbus,ohio, was set up to record etta james last night at 1100 well it recorded it, but then all it gave me back was searching for authorized content, and i have never had trouble with my local channel of pbs, would not even play it


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## DeanS (Aug 23, 2006)

Earl:

The first PPV I recorded was on Channel 99, so your information is pertinent to that channel. But later I tried a new PPV recording on Channel 189 and the same thing happened (i.e. "searching for authorized content"). In both cases I don't recall being given an option to buy the program. Either that, or I missed seeing it in a menu somewhere. When exactly does the "buy" option occur? At the time you tune to the station? After you have recorded the program and want to play it? I think we need a "mini PPV tutorial" for those of us who "just don't get it."


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## bobkatF (Sep 26, 2004)

I couldn't watch the end of "Two and a Half Men" because of the "Searching....." message. 

I went to "Menu", Parental Controls" and allowed access to all content. Still couldn't view the end of the program.


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## chickendonut (Aug 28, 2006)

bobkatF said:


> I couldn't watch the end of "Two and a Half Men" because of the "Searching....." message.
> 
> I went to "Menu", Parental Controls" and allowed access to all content. Still couldn't view the end of the program.


I recorded The Office in HD tonight - it's unwatchable due to the 'Searching for authorized content' message. Any ideas when this will be resolved??


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## NoMax (Aug 25, 2006)

I recorded "The Descent" last week. I set it to record from the guide. I did not yet purchase the movie. Tonight I went to watch it. I got the "Searching for authorized content" message for about a minute, then it looked like the movie was going to play, but about 10 seconds later playback stopped and I was asked if I wanted to delete the recording.  

I guess this is another bug that needs to be worked out. I have version 120.

NM


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## Armathius (Feb 7, 2007)

I have similar issues. Recorded Star Wars ESB from HBO HD and it skipped the first 10 minutes. This was with the latest update. I haven't had my HR-20 very long, but so far not so good  I am patient though...


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## NetComrade (Apr 14, 2006)

I have the same issue trying to watch recorded "Married.. with children"
This is etremely annoying, and I don't have a phone


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## nikwax (Jan 1, 2007)

just experienced this issue with a PPVHD movie we recorded, we got about 3 minutes of the movie, then "Searching for authorized content...", then it asks to save or delete. Software version is 0x1c3.


My understanding is that we no longer need a phone line if the unit is networked with the latest software?


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Forget it. Recording HD PPVs is a joke. I've tried to buy and record them numerous times. Every frickin' time it records the first 5 minutes then gets the message to which you alluded above. I have to tune to the channel in real time then buy and record it at that time.

That's BS. When's DirecTV going to fix this? When I call them to explain this, they tell me it's because "our HD PPV channels are treated differently than our SD PPV channels." No schit! They're different in this sense at least: buying and recording them doesn't work! Idiots.


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## tsrail (Dec 18, 2006)

Set a PPV HD movie to record last week. No problems. 5 minutes into it, it paused and asked "Purchase?" I said Yes... good to go.

Last night, recorded another PPV HD movie...today I go to watch and 5 minutes in I get "Searching for Authorized Content". Hmmmm.... I'll keep searching the message boards. If someone knows how to fix, please reply.

Thanks!


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

PPV HD movies can only be recorded during real time. I confirmed this with more than one CSR, including some upper level supervisor. He explained that only HD PPV movies are handled in this manner. If you wish to record them, you must do so at the exact time they're on; that is, "live," so to speak.


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## davring (Jan 13, 2007)

Order them on line, they will be authorized for all your receivers and I have never had one not work.


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Good luck with that! I usually order them online, but when I recorded it, I got that "authorized content" nag. That's when I called DirecTV to complain and was elevated to upper level personnel who said it had to be ordered live. 

Stupid.


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## davring (Jan 13, 2007)

I guess I have been lucky We order PPV maybe once or twice a month, strange I have not encountered this yet. We used to have problems ordering with the remote, even with a good phone line, so we switched to on-line ordering, so-far-so good. Seems like it would be something that could be easily fixed on their part.


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## sprocto2 (Jul 26, 2007)

This sucks. Sat down to a nice recorded PPV. Already verified it passed the 5min authorization. Then it stopped at 12min searching for authorized content.


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## BRSlim (Jul 30, 2007)

sprocto2 said:


> This sucks. Sat down to a nice recorded PPV. Already verified it passed the 5min authorization. Then it stopped at 12min searching for authorized content.


I'm not even getting the 5 minutes. Mine goes straight to SfAC!


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## clibertynh (Nov 28, 2006)

I've had this happen numerous times. Yet another wonderful "feature" from DirecTV. Right up there with VOD.

I have noticed lately that, if you look at the movie information, it does now say in capital letters than it must be watched or recorded live. So DirecTV is at least alerting you to all the little "gotchas" in their wonderful software...


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## lightprism (Sep 26, 2007)

It's a shame - besides taking away what would be a wonderful feature, I bet it's costing them millions of dollars in lost sales.

Hope this gets fixed soon.


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## brianp6621 (Jun 13, 2007)

Something changed with PPVHD in the last few months. When I first got the box in like May, you could record in the future and authorize at any time, just like regular PPV. However now it seems that you can not authorize PPVHD from the box. You either have to call or do it online. This makes it a much bigger pain to record PPVHD for a future showing. They REALLY need to fix this.


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

davring said:


> I guess I have been lucky We order PPV maybe once or twice a month, strange I have not encountered this yet. We used to have problems ordering with the remote, even with a good phone line, so we switched to on-line ordering, so-far-so good. Seems like it would be something that could be easily fixed on their part.


The ordering live requirement applies to *HD *PPVs and not SD PPVs. Perhaps your luck is because in reality, you're talking about SD or "regular" PPVs.

Brian, you can authorize it from the box, but you can only buy/record it real time, at the exact time it's playing.


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## brianp6621 (Jun 13, 2007)

Lord Vader said:


> The ordering live requirement applies to *HD *PPVs and not SD PPVs. Perhaps your luck is because in reality, you're talking about SD or "regular" PPVs.
> 
> Brian, you can authorize it from the box, but you can only buy/record it real time, at the exact time it's playing.


Has it ever been confirmed that this is a policy change for HDPPV and not some kind of bug? It didn't work this way before.


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Well, for one thing, take a look at the program info when you select an HD PPV show. It will say available for live recording/buying. THAT'S definitely new. Second, I had three different CSRs, along with some supervisor, explain to me that this was the way HD PPVs were being handled. If so, I'm not very pleased.


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## sprocto2 (Jul 26, 2007)

Lord Vader said:


> Well, for one thing, take a look at the program info when you select an HD PPV show. It will say available for live recording/buying. THAT'S definitely new. Second, I had three different CSRs, along with some supervisor, explain to me that this was the way HD PPVs were being handled. If so, I'm not very pleased.


If you look at Ocean's Thirteen, it states "Available for LIVE viewing and/or Recording." That doesn't exactly tell me that I need to hit record while the PPV is playing LIVE and only then. I will try it that way.


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

I set it to record Ocean's Thirteen last night at the 9:00 p.m. showing. I set it up before 9:00 p.m. itself. When I tuned to that channel, there was a nag on the screen that said, "This showing is no longer available..." (or something like that). When I watched the recording, after 5 minutes or so, I got the authorized content message. 

I had to redo it live at the 9:30 p.m. showing. 

This should not be the case. Why DirecTV can't fix this is irritating.


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## w3syt (Feb 17, 2006)

I have been having good luck with PPVH. But, last night Ocean's 13 bulked at me. Finally I went to GUIDE and clicked on the current (running) recording. Immediately , I got the offer to pay and we watched it. Strange stuff !!


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## waynenm (Oct 31, 2006)

Add my voice to the choir. This is unacceptable. Either fix it, or hello Netflix.


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## bubbadawg (Oct 12, 2006)

I just tried to watch Oceans 13 from PPVHD and had the same issues as everyone else...almost like clockwork 5 minutes into the program. Called DTV and they told me it was a 'broadcast' issue. I then tried another channel showing Oceans 13 and exact same thing happened at the exact same point in the movie....unwatchable. Kind of a joke.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

Same issue here.

Had recorded a few PPVH shows (Ocean's 13, Mr. Brooks, ...).

Sat down last night to watch the first and ... "Searching for Authorized Content" at the 5 minute mark ...

What a bummer ...

Every PPVH show that's been recorded is the same. All have been recorded in the last week or two. Figured I'd collect a number of shows and watch (and pay) at my leisure.

Is a fix coming to allow watching previously recorded PPVH shows? or will we need to re-record?


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## Blurayfan (Nov 16, 2005)

This partcular PPVHD bug is extremely annoying. Sometimes the record/Buy Later does work other times your SOL. I recorded 3 successful PPVHDs this weekend, one thing I noticed is while your setting the recording if the HR20 gets the pricing details ($4.99 shown on top right) then recording now and buying later will work. However if after the Please wait.. goes away and no price is listed the recording will not work.


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## Sixto (Nov 18, 2005)

DVDKingdom said:


> This partcular PPVHD bug is extremely annoying. Sometimes the record/Buy Later does work other times your SOL. I recorded 3 successful PPVHDs this weekend, one thing I noticed is while your setting the recording if the HR20 gets the pricing details ($4.99 shown on top right) then recording now and buying later will work. However if after the Please wait.. goes away and no price is listed the recording will not work.


Bingo! You may have cracked the code!

Just checked. Yes indeed. Some PPVHD shows have the $4.99 in the upper right, some do not, seems rather random.

Just deleted the previously recorded PPVHD movies and set to re-record with only showings that have the $4.99 in the upper right. Did find at least one for each.

Thanks for the work-around. Will see if this works ...


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## NFLnut (Sep 29, 2006)

lightprism said:


> It's a shame - besides taking away what would be a wonderful feature, I bet it's costing them millions of dollars in lost sales.
> 
> Hope this gets fixed soon.


Welp .. they just lost $5 (or whatever they charge now) from me! I recorded "Evan Almighty" last night in HD because it was the last night they will offer it in HD and tonight at the 3-5 minute point, it gives me the "Searching for authorized .." message. So .. yet another thing that this boat-anchor of a DVR can't do apparently!

Nothing like sitting down to watch a movie that you've been looking for all day only to have DirecTV crush you into a puff of dust again.


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## lightprism (Sep 26, 2007)

I wished someone from Direct TV would comment as to whether this problem is a software glitch to be fixed in the future or is it due to some strange contractual prohibition.

The reason I wonder if the inability to schedule HD PPV is due to contractual prohibitions is that the large losses of high gross profit revenue due to this problem would seem to be a top priority for software fix if it was due to a software problem.


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## w3syt (Feb 17, 2006)

I have been having really good luck recently. Never the less, I bought a Toshiba HD for $179 at Amazon and signed on for Netflix. Glad I did. Last night we tried to watch previously recorded "EVAN Almighty". Tried a second fresh recording last night- No Go on either. Switched to the other HR20 and bought it "live". Therefore missed the first 3 minutes and at a point where we paused it and came back--- it jumped several paused minutes that were simply gone, never to be seen. Bad deal, I will go straight to Netflix until they fix it at least. Never had an auth problem on non PPV yet. (fingers crossed).


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## lsbrodsky (Dec 3, 2005)

I also just joined Netflix after a bad PPv experience. I keep looking for a post that says this is fixed.


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## allenn (Nov 19, 2005)

What does this message mean? I have an HR21-700, and this is the message I got when the DVR recorded "Passport to Europe with Sam Brown". I saw in previous post for 2006 that someone got this message on an HR20 PPV Program, but none of the replies answered the question of it's cause. Any help would be appreciated.


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

It basically means it's searching for the authorization to watch and record that movie. This would be the actual purchase. However, one cannot purchase an HD PPV movie in the normal manner without doing it in real time, meaning while it's playing. These HD PPV channels must be purchased and recorded live and not in advance, which is utterly stupid.


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## Canis Lupus (Oct 16, 2006)

Same thing happens to me Vader. I haven't looked for the other suggestion above (pricing showing in upper right corner) yet, but it appears that my only chance for success is when the window has opened for the movie and I can "Buy & Watch Now". All other things I've tried (record from guide or search/select/look for $ sign/record) have not worked. I haven't been charged for anything yet thankfully.


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## allenn (Nov 19, 2005)

Lord Vader said:


> It basically means it's searching for the authorization to watch and record that movie. This would be the actual purchase. However, one cannot purchase an HD PPV movie in the normal manner without doing it in real time, meaning while it's playing. These HD PPV channels must be purchased and recorded live and not in advance, which is utterly stupid.


I got the message when the DVR recorded "Passport to Europe with Sam Brown" on the Travel Channel. This was not PPV or HD PPV. This why I am confused.


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## w3syt (Feb 17, 2006)

I sent a copy of my above message (#40) to Directv, and the CR said she would forward it to "management". The part about you must order when playing is not necessarily true. Between 10/28 and 11/18 I bought 8 movies, most PPVH without any problem. I did get double billed on one and got that corrected.
The really bad news is the reports of authorization problems with NON PPV. What is that all about ? Weird beyond words.


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## jaymd (Sep 25, 2007)

Hope this gets fixed soon.[/QUOTE]

+1


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Regardless of what specific problems we and others are having regarding buying and recording HD PPV movies, I think it's an accurate statement to say that something's messed up.


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## illwafer (Dec 4, 2007)

i got this message last night as i was 2 hours+ into a recorded nba league pass game. there was about 2 minutes left, and all of a sudden i got the "searching for authorized content" message. i couldn't ffwd or rwd. it was stuck. 

eventually i was able to get out of the program, go back into List, start the game over, and ffwd to that part of the game...and it worked fine from there through the end of the game.

it was a tie game with 2 mins left. i would have went nuts if i wouldnt have been able to watch it all the way through.


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## dugster802 (Dec 18, 2007)

I've encountered this at least four times when trying to watch an NFL Sunday Ticket game I had recorded earlier in the day and sat down to watch several hours later. 

I can only say I'm mad as blazes at Directv right now. 1st level support doesn't do much more than listen to me and breath into the phone. 2nd level support wasn't much better. They finally put on a supervisor who says this is a broadcast issue but can't or won't give me any more information than that. Geeze, the whole point of having their DVR is to record shows when you can't be there to watch it live. I don't have the time to babysit that idiot box and start watching live just to record the game. 

NFL Sunday Ticket doesn't come cheap and of course Dtv says no refunds, sorry. This fiasco doesn't sit well with the wife who was against the Sunday Ticket $$$ to begin with. Well, guess what Dtv? you've effectively lost a repeat NFL Sunday Ticket customer. If this [email protected] keeps up, I'm bailing. There are other DVR's and other HD solutions out there.


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## gadflysf (Sep 30, 2006)

I'm getting this same message for anything I try to record on HDNET. Anyone else? (I've emailed D* about it.


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## MiaLur (Jun 4, 2007)

I have a HR20-700 that has experienced the PPV SfAC issue a couple of times. Starting around Dec 17th it has had issues with playback of local HD channels in the Atlanta market. I have been recording these channels for a very long time with no issues.
This problem started with CBS channel 46 in multiple timeslots and over several weeks. I have now noticed the same issue with NBC channel 11.
DTV technical service stated that they know about the PPV issue and are working on a software upgrade to fix the problem but they have no record of this issue on Non-PPV channels. They seem very interested in this and are scheduled to call me back tonight to explore the issue further.
It is probably a coincidence that this was noticed the right after authorizing a new (refurbished) HR20-100 in a different room.
I'm guessing this will correspond with a software download that had a bug introduced. I'd like to have them regress the code to a version prior to Dec 17th and see if the problem persists.
Tonight I am scheduled to record the same two series on CH 46 and will see if the problem persists.


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## MongoRanger (Jan 10, 2008)

I wanted to upgrade to HD so we just had a HR21-700 installed and took out our Tivo, which never had this problem by the way. Now I am getting "Searching for Authorized Content..." when trying to record Dr. 90210 on channel 235 STYL. I see this problem has been going on for a while, has anyone found out why that message comes up or a fix for it? This is really starting to tick my wife off.


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## w3syt (Feb 17, 2006)

I gave up & switched to Netflix. It is great, but, it has lots of damaged discs, skipping, etc. I guess nothing is perfect.

Many months ago a CSR said they are aware of this "software" problem. Here we are, not only not fixed, but, affecting non-HDPPV also now ! WOW! Sad.


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## orange-man (Dec 18, 2007)

It happened to me this morning on my HR20-700 on VH1 HD trying to record Rock Honors show. The show never started, just went right into "Waiting for authorized content" It is very frustrating. 

This problem definitely goes beyond PPV.


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## fredandbetty (Jan 28, 2007)

DeanS said:


> Was the message I received 5 minutes into a PPV movie which I recorded last night but wanted to watch this evening. I asked the HR20 to record the movie using the Program Guide, and it recorded. However, there was no record that a purchase had been made in my purchases records. I was not given the opportunity to purchase the movie when I went to play it from my playlist. Is there something I'm doing wrong? My understanding was you could record PPV movies in advance, and play them back when you desired, at which time you would make the purchase.....


Same with me, i downloaded : Who's your caddy" on ch 9899 ( i know i did it just to see if it worked and it died, for about 10 minutes), then i got 'searching for authorized content' ... and i got no indication to pay for it BEFORE i started to play it....and i have checked everywhere to see if i was charged for it and i wasn't either.....
didn't really want the movie anyways, but i figured i could at least see if it worked...


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