Amazon Prime UK - SF now capturing age rating, not series video thumbnails

[artsunlimited]

Instead of capturing the videothumbnails, SF is now grabbing the "age appropriate" symbol instead. When I added the "The Mentalist" to my queue a week ago, it had all the separate episode thumbnails. After a crash a few hours ago that I swear was prompted by the 5058 upgrade popup, my entire queue was deleted yet again - a problem SF is well aware of and is "working on." When I added the series back in the queue, it's now just grabbing the rating symbol that's next to the title.

I tried "Damien Lewis's Spy Wars" - same thing, so it's not just this TV show but a documentary series as well. The Lewis series had all the same series thumbnail, but "The Mentalist" had different ones for each episode, so uniform thumbnails aren't what's doing it.

I'd love to post a screenshot, but apparently the "exceed upload quota" that was supposedly "adjusted" wasn't a fix that was applied to anyone but the member that complained to Mona about it. C'mon, really?

https://forum.dvdfab.cn/forum/software-support-english/youtube-to-mp3-youtube-video-downloader/413781-moderator-how-to-increase-upload-quota-for-forum-posts

[Mona]

We notice that you have submitted a ticket with the same thumbnail problem, it could be that something has been changed on the site, and the developer will check.

[artsunlimited]

We notice that you have submitted a ticket with the same thumbnail problem, it could be that something has been changed on the site, and the developer will check.

Thanks, Mona. US Prime doesn't have those rating symbols displayed so I can get proper thumbnails on series that both sites have in common like Starz' "Serpent Queen" (in the US I get a proper thumbnail, in the UK I get the rating symbol on everything) but I'm out of luck for anything else. And I had no problem for the past month, so something has definitely been tweaked somewhere. Thumbnails are one area where SF excels, as well as providing larger images for series episodes on Prime, so I really miss it!

And with some series, I get half symbols, half proper thumbnails, so who knows any more? Not me, that's for sure. And thanks for cleaning my upload quota!!

[Mona]

Okay, thanks for the additional info.

[october262]

Thanks, Mona. US Prime doesn't have those rating symbols displayed so I can get proper thumbnails on series that both sites have in common like Starz' "Serpent Queen" (in the US I get a proper thumbnail, in the UK I get the rating symbol on everything) but I'm out of luck for anything else. And I had no problem for the past month, so something has definitely been tweaked somewhere. Thumbnails are one area where SF excels, as well as providing larger images for series episodes on Prime, so I really miss it!

And with some series, I get half symbols, half proper thumbnails, so who knows any more? Not me, that's for sure. And thanks for cleaning my upload quota!!

do you happen to have some sort of parental controls / age limit set somewhere in your account settings ??

[artsunlimited]

do you happen to have some sort of parental controls / age limit set somewhere in your account settings ??

That's some excellent troubleshooting on your part - but no, dammit, I'm limit-free. I've also been downloading content that's been displaying them for the past month with no thumbnail issues, so something has clearly changed in the past week.

After reading your question, I was really hoping there might be some way to get rid of those "maturity ratings" altogether to keep them from displaying, but it appears from reading the Prime UK forum they're part of the content; I can't disable them.

Prime is also very inconsistent about applying them, as I'm finding instances in which they only appear on a few episodes in a series, or for only a season, and some series don't have them at all - but now when they appear, SF is tripping up on them and can't provide the thumbnail, as you see. But at least that explains why the half symbols/half proper thumbnails lineup in the earlier image.

Mona - it's not just confined to series or episodes, single documentaries are also affected, and probably movies as well - anything with a rating, really.

[artsunlimited]

Mona, here's an update: in watching episodes branded with maturity ratings in my browser, I notice that it's now actually showing up in the video - about 6 seconds in, the symbol will appear in the upper left corner for a second or two, then disappear. I checked my earlier SF downloads that came with a rating and it doesn't show up in any of those, so I think this is what's making the change here.

Amazon blacks out content so you don't see the video here, but this is what the embedded rating symbol looks like. It occurs - to the eye, at least - well past what would normally be the thumbnail image flicker I can sometimes catch in a downloaded video, as it's actually past the start, but it's somehow overriding that image.

The competition doesn't bother with proper thumbnails (one reason I don't use them unless I have to), so you just get a random image (usually weird looking and more often than not resembling a nest of plumbing fixtures) from somewhere at the start of the video as a take-it-or-leave-it icon, but so far this rating symbol isn't showing up in any of their downloads, even 6 seconds in, so apparently it can be bypassed or stripped out?

[Mona]

Please wait for the coming version and then try again, thanks.

[artsunlimited]

Please wait for the coming version and then try again, thanks.

Mona, version 6 is an unmitigated bloody disaster. Not only did it completely destroy the existing version (5053) I had installed by acting as a completely new install, NOT an upgrade (including requiring authorization), now I can't even generate a download menu on Prime UK! NOTHING works - either on amazon.co.uk or PrimeVideo settings. Every time I exit out and then open it up, I have to competely sign in again by changing the country and then email, pw and all the rest of it. IT DOES NOT FUNCTION.

This is the first version I've encountered that was an utter dud with connecting to Prime via VPN - PLEASE FIX THIS.

PLEASE stop coming up with "upgrades" that completely delete the current installation instead of actually upgrading it. 5.0.5.0 also did this, and was prone to crashing and destroyed itself even after it was upgraded. I'm so sick and tired of glitchy weekly versions that can't be counted on for basic fuctionality that I'm going to call it a day and just not bother with this software any more - it's not even close to the really great functioning product I bought only 9 months ago that I can't tell you how disappointed I am right now. And now I find that even the trials can't be counted on - you expired two of mine after only one download.

[artsunlimited]

Mona - I wanted to update you and the devs on this issue, as it looks like they finally fixed it!

I also found the same ratings inference in Prime Australia with 5057. When it crashed yesterday and upon reinstalling would download, but fail at processing most selections, I upgraded to 6.0.0.2., and to my relief, THAT version not only connected to Prime using VPN, but also captured thumbnails - or at least it does in Prime Australia. Please note that site requires the "primevideo.com" setting.

I haven't tested it yet on Prime UK as I'll either need to find a Freevee series that didn't produce thumbnails, or do else do another free Prime trial. I'll update you as to whether it's successful in the UK, and whether the setting makes any difference.

Please thank the devs for me, and thank you for passing on the issue to them!

[Mona]

Mona - I wanted to update you and the devs on this issue, as it looks like they finally fixed it!

I also found the same ratings inference in Prime Australia with 5057. When it crashed yesterday and upon reinstalling would download, but fail at processing most selections, I upgraded to 6.0.0.2., and to my relief, THAT version not only connected to Prime using VPN, but also captured thumbnails - or at least it does in Prime Australia. Please note that site requires the "primevideo.com" setting.

I haven't tested it yet on Prime UK as I'll either need to find a Freevee series that didn't produce thumbnails, or do else do another free Prime trial. I'll update you as to whether it's successful in the UK, and whether the setting makes any difference.

Please thank the devs for me, and thank you for passing on the issue to them!

You are welcome

[artsunlimited]

Mona - I'm happy to report that series thumbnails with that pesky "maturity rating" on Prime UK (using amazon.co.uk setting) are all capturing just as they should, so yay! Not only that, but the intrusive ratings warning that Prime actually inserted into the actual program during the opening credits has been stripped out, so now it looks as it would if you streamed it direct from the original source.

This is what you see if you stream "The Godfather of Harlem" on Prime UK, right after the opening disclaimer "While this series is inspired by real characters etc". IMO they have no business inserting messages into the video itself, especially AFTER it starts, so please thank the devs for blocking that very annoying intrusion!