LG TV: Endless loop of the "Are you still listening?" message

[jharan]

I listen to Pandora on an LG Smart TV running WebOS. I'm a free listener so I don't mind much when I hear the ads, you guys got to pay the bills somehow. The problem is if the "Are You Listening?" message pops up following an ad while the TV screensaver has activated, then the Pandora app goes into an infinite ad loop. It says "Are You Still Listening?", I click yes, I hear an another ad and then it pops up "Are You Still Listening?" again followed by another ad, forever. If I exit the app and then re-enter it, it's still in this loop. The only way to get it out of this loop is to turn off the TV, turn it back on again and then re-start the Pandora app. Is this a bug or a feature? This never used to happen when I listened to Pandora on my old Roku box, so I assume this is not what your engineers intended to happen. Note the TV does not provide me a way to disable the screensaver, something about OLED burn in.

[AdamPandora]

@jharan Sorry for the trouble you are having with that message continuing to re-appear.

I've enabled a trace on your account to help us better understand what's happening.

For this trace to be useful, we'll need you to help check on a few things for us.

First make sure your device has the latest firmware by checking for a new update. If an update is available, try loading Pandora again once the update is complete.

If you're still having the same problem, then please try a few standard network troubleshooting steps:

• Try connecting directly via an Ethernet cable rather than using Wi-Fi (if you have this option on your device), and see if that helps.
• Try rebooting your modem and router and restarting the device.
• Try removing and re-adding the app (if this is possible on your device).

You can also contact the manufacturer directly to troubleshoot your specific device and settings.

Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes.

[jharan]

> First make sure your device has the latest firmware by checking for a new update. If an update is available, try loading Pandora again once the update is complete.

My experience with this LG WebOS based TV is when new versions of an app are available the TV pops up a window asking me if I want to upgrade it. This has happened several times with other apps, but never with the Pandora app. I don't see any option to check for an app upgrade.

> Try connecting directly via an Ethernet cable rather than using Wi-Fi (if you have this option on your device), and see if that helps.

The TV has been connected to my home network via 1 Gig Ethernet since I bought it.

> Try rebooting your modem and router and restarting the device.

This problem has been going on since I bought the TV many months ago. Since then power outages have resulted in many modem and router reboots. The problem persists. I really don't think this is a connectivity issues. All the other apps work fine including those that stream 4K video which is going to need a far higher data rate than audio. And its the same home network that I used when I listened to Pandora via my old Roku and this problem never happened then.

> Try removing and re-adding the app (if this is possible on your device).

I don't see any option to remove the Pandora app on this LG WebOS based TV. All you can do is move the icons around.

In order to try to avoid having this problem happening I have often waited until the TV screen saver pops up while I am listening to Pandora and then used the remote to fiddle with the app, like scroll through the song history. The point of this was to let the app know that somebody is still there listening. I figured if the app knows somebody is using the app's user interface then obviously somebody is listening so it shouldn't have any need to pop up the Are You Still Listening window. But this doesn't work. The app seems to pop up that window randomly regardless of what I do in the user interface.

If the whole point of this feature is to detect when the user is no longer listening so Pandora doesn't have to pay royalties, why does it pop up this annoying window when the user is obviously still there using the interface? Seems like a poor design to me.

[jharan]

Adam,

The problem just occurred again. Got to listen to the ad about Lucy from Wells Fargo while the TV screensaver was up. When the ad finished, no music so I clicked the remote and got the Are You Still listening popup. Click it yet and then the Lucy from Wells Fargo ad was ready to plan again. To I clicked play to just get past it, and at the end I got the Are You Still Listening? pop up again. Stuck in loop on the Lucy from Wells Fargo ad. Had to power cycle TV to get out of it.

[TannerPandora]

Hi @jharan 

Thanks for the follow up! 

I’m really sorry to hear this happened again, I can definitely understand how frustrating that must be, particularly when you just want to get back to your music.

When you have a moment could you confirm if the following App Uninstall/Reinstall steps might apply to your model LG? Thank you!

Method 1: From the Home Screen

Press the Home button on your remote.
Navigate to the app you want to remove.
Press and hold the OK/Select button (or click the pencil/edit icon if visible).
Select the “X” (Delete) icon above the app.

1. Confirm Yes to uninstall.

Method 2:  From LG Content Store

Press Home.
Open LG Content Store.
Go to My Apps.
Select the app.

1. Choose Uninstall.
2. Confirm.

Reinstall an App

Press Home.
Open LG Content Store.
Use the Search function.
Type the app name.
Select the app.

1. Click Install.
2. Wait for download and installation to complete.

[jharan]

I uninstalled and reinstalled the Pandora app as you suggested. That was a couple weeks ago.

The problem with the end loop between an ad and the "Are you still listening?" message just occurred again. I'd hear the ad while the screensaver was running, ad would stop, no music, click the remote to see "Are you still listening?", click the window and then get to listen the same ad again and repeat. Curiously it was another Well Fargo ad. Only way out of this endless loop of ads and "Are you still listening?" messages is to power the TV off and then on again. Exiting the Pandora app does not help.

[TannerPandora]

Hi @jharan 

Thanks so much for following up and for sticking with us through all of this, I really appreciate the time and effort you’ve put into troubleshooting.

I’m sorry to hear this is still happening. Based on everything you’ve shared, especially the repeated behavior tied to the ad playback, it appears that there may be a deeper issue at play here.

I’ve gone ahead and created a ticket and escalated this to our engineering team so they can take a closer look and investigate what’s causing the loop on your LG TV.

Thanks again for your patience and for providing such detailed information, t’s incredibly helpful for our team. I’ll be sure to keep you updated as soon as we have any news to share.

[TannerPandora]

Hi @jharan 

I wanted to check back in and see if you’ve run into that timeout loop on your LG TV again recently when an ad plays.

Our engineering team has been trying to reproduce this on our end but haven’t had any luck so far. Since you mentioned it was happening intermittently, there’s a chance it could be tied to a specific ad or ad break.

If you do happen to see it again, it would be really helpful if you could share the date and time (as close as possible), and any details you notice about what was playing just before or during the ad.

Appreciate you keeping an eye on this! Thanks again for your ongoing patience!

[jharan]

The problem happened again today about 5:30pm. It was a Lexus commercial. The symptom was a bit different this time. This time the screensaver was on, the Lexus ad played then silence. So I clicked the remove and saw the Are You Still Listening window. So I clicked yes. Then instead of replaying the same ad over and over, it played nothing. I then clicked the Play arrow and instead of playing the ad, it showed the Are You Still Listening window again. Clicked Yes and back to nothing playing. Click the Play arrow and Are You Still Listening pops up again. Went through that loop a couple of times. Exited the Pandora app, started the app again and was back in the same state, Play-Are You Still Listening-Yes-Play. No music. Had to turn TV off and back on to get out of it.

[TannerPandora]

Hi @jharan 

Hope you had a nice weekend! Sorry you’re still running into this! I’ve shared your latest experience with the team to help with their investigation. Based on your reports it seems to be happening inconsistently.  My guess was that it may have been related to the ad, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Very puzzling!

I've let the team know and I’ll keep you posted as soon as I hear any updates. Thanks again for your continued patience!