vTuner Offline on Some Devices [Nov 2014]

[MK_Slinky]

Hi all,

It looks as though vTuner is now off-line again on some devices. My own STR-DN1040 Receiver remains unaffected at this time however my BDP-S7200 Blu-ray is displaying the following message:

“This service cannot be accessed at this time because the server replied with incorrect or invalid information”.

Please report any other affected devices here for simplicity of colaborating the information, kindly do not start a new thread.

Thanks in advance!

[MK_Slinky]

@Pistabacsi 

Hi chap!

Out of interest have you tried resetting your receiver back to factory default? When I lost my SEN services completely I did this and it restored service. Yes there are still some missing stations, I think we are all experiencing that issue but a reset might help restore a better service than you currently have?

[mypointofview]

Oh my Lord. They messed up all of the stations that used to work perfectly until this evening. Now it's for all of my presets: CANNOT PLAY. This is so sad. It's like a roulette now. Other, new stations (limited selection) work.

Anybody else noticed? It happened somewhat at night between February 4 and February 5 (Central European Time).

[MK_Slinky]

@mypointofview 

Hi there,

I think it would be fair to assume at this stage that vTuner is probably an extinct species. For some customers this likely means your product will no longer be able to receive the vTuner service. In fact I received a call from technical support last week informing me that vTuner has now been discontinued on my devices. HOWEVER, that's not entirely accurate at this precise moment in time and both devices still have access to vTuner. Yes some stations are missing or result in Error Code:55 but these issues have been consistent since the troubles first began.

Meanwhile as some of us know, Sony US have released a statement on 22/01/15 which seems to contradict the above and now claim vTuner is now available again, it's a right mess!

Possibly the best advice right now although perhaps not ideal would be to find an alternative source for your internet radio listening.

[wimvandewater]

On my Sony CMT-G2NiP device in the Netherlands it´s the same. The very limited list of internet stations on my device has partly changed in a very limited list of other internetstations. The list of about 20 preset stations wich I made a few months ago are all "cannot play".
The problem however lies definitly not with vTuner but with Sony!
A friend of mine has a Onkyo device wich also uses vTuner and his device works perfectly fine!
Sony aparrently cannot or wil not solve this problem wich occures now for some months.
I think it´s a shame that such a huge company doesn´t solve a technical problem wich a great number of customers are having and/or doesn´t communicate with its customers in a correct way.
I used to be a Sony fan but I promised myself never to buy a Sony device of any kind anymore!

[teinob]

So here we are, answer of Peter Johnson CEO of vTuner per e-mail:

"Sony only pays for 4,000 stations so they only get 4,000 stations. It is in the contract.

vTuner used to be very nice to Sony but then Sony decided to go use vTuner competition (TuneIn). TuneIn is a company who enjoys ripping off vTuner's station listing and then selling it back to Sony. Sony knew that TuneIn did this before they switched to TuneIn from vTuner.

That is the reason frankly!"

[foldvari]

And we, the customers who paid for these devices, cannot do anything? I cannot belive this.

I did not pay for vTuner but for a device advertised as being able to listen internet radio. I am quite sure that nobody mentioned when I bought the device less than a year ago than this will stop working and then I'll loose this functionalinality without any remediation.

[Pistabacsi]

@foldvari 

I believe Hungarian consumer law states that you can (within 12 months) return the product for a full refund for whatever reason.

Are you anywere near Budapest? Take it to the service centre & return it on the grounds of a "quality problem". They should be forced to refund you.

As for the vtuner email, is it genuine? The grammar looks a bit dodgy. Maybe it was written by a secretary.

[foldvari]

The problem is that according to Sony this is not a quality problem (sic!). The device is working well, the problem is with the vTuner service which they are not responsible for.

[Pistabacsi]

But that's just the support people.

They are just postmen. They don't have a clue about anything.

I would take it to the service centre & just say, "Go on then. You get it to play the stations I saved as favourites. Then tell me it works."

Don't really see how they can argue with that ;o)

[Anonymous]

HI guys.

You may notice that I have 'edited' some of the recent posts.  None of the content that you wrote has been changed.  I have just merely modified the subject back to the oringal. 

Cheers

PS: In regards to the 'email' from vTuner - I have informed Sony of this post in case it was missed by them (but sounds dodgy to me)