DStv dropping the ball on video streaming problems
DStv patched its streaming apps in October 2021 to improve user experience, but the updates appeared to create more problems than they fixed, and the issues are ongoing.
Customers have taken to social media and the Google Play Store to voice their frustration relating to various issues, including freezing streams, quality problems, and an inability to wirelessly cast to their TVs.
A MultiChoice spokesperson told MyBroadband that it is aware of the complaints.
“Our technical team has been and will continue to work around the clock to resolve the issues,” the spokesperson added.
The casting issue has been known for some time, with several users reporting that the app mistakenly detects casting instances as two different streams playing simultaneously.
According to a recent Google Play Store review, the problem persists.
“Used to work perfectly. Now after the limit change the app seems to have broken when casting to my TV,” the review reads.
Here the phrase “limit change” refers to the limit on simultaneous streams DStv implemented in March 2022 to combat streaming piracy and password sharing.
“When I start the casting it connects, I choose a channel and it will attempt to play it but then it stops and a loading circle in the bottom left just spins.”
Quality of life changes to the DStv app included merging its Live TV menu with the TV guide.
“Sometimes it just shows ‘DStv’ in the middle of it. Fix this! It’s unusable. No problems with Netflix at all,” the reviewer added.
Notably, despite threats to boycott the broadcaster after it announced the streaming limit, MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela said limiting DStv streaming to one device worked well.
Mawela said MultiChoice had seen an uptick in DStv streaming subscriptions following their decision to limit concurrent streaming.
However, the broadcaster is still looking into allowing more simultaneous streams per household.
When DStv refreshed its apps in October 2021, users reported several issues with the platform.
When streaming live TV, users experienced stuttering and Catch Up content only seemed to load after a second attempt at opening them.
At the time, DStv said it was working on fixes for the issues, adding that it only impacted a small portion of Android TV devices.
However, more than nine months later, customers still report problems streaming through the apps.
One of the error messages that was commonly displayed to viewers when the update went live
“Dstv app acting up on TVs? Is it just me? I’m on 52mbps, so no it’s not the connection,” a Twitter user recently posted.
“@DStv what is happening with the DStv app? It is not working,” another said.
“The screen is blank. Nothing is coming up,” they added in response to a request from DStv Care for the error code displayed.
Reports from MyBroadband forum members explain the difficulties they have been experiencing with DStv’s apps.
“The DStv App on my Hisense doesn’t let me select the streaming quality — when I go to the settings page, it shows the options to select, but I can’t actually select one — anyone else have this problem?” one post reads.
“I click enter to select the highest quality, but it never puts a tick to show that it’s been selected, and the quality on the TV when using the DStv app is shocking.”
Another member said live TV streams freeze frequently or display a black screen with no sound or picture, and the issue is only resolved after restarting the app.
“All other streaming apps work perfectly fine except the DStv Now app. It is really frustrating that every time while watching DStv one has to refresh/restart the app to continue watching,” they added.
MyBroadband also asked MultiChoice if these issues were device-specific and whether users could expect any updates to correct the problems, but it did not comment on these questions.
Loading ...