Same here. iPad mini running OS 8.1.1 It worked on one flight (badly) and after that I was never able to use it again.

Does Delta Studio work to Hawaii?
 

Flying a 75V to Hawaii...does Delta Studio work overwater?

Thanks!

The recorded programming does. I don't remember if the 75Vs also have live TVs — if they do, that won't work once you get a certain distance from land.

Do you mean on the seatback TVs or wifi streaming?

I was on an ATL-SJU last month on a plane with no seatback IFE. I started streaming a Studio movie on my tablet and it played the whole thing, but by the time it was done, we were over water. When I went to go pick out another movie, I got the Gogo splashscreen saying wifi was not available at that location (or whatever), and couldn't even access the Studio menus anymore.

Not a big deal as I just took a nap, but I remember thinking that that was a pretty poorly thought out part of the implementation.

The Delta Studio content is streamed directly from a server located on the airplane. They don't stream it over the plane-to-ground link. However, it appears there is still a bit of a dependency on the ground link when setting up the session based on the above post. So as long as you start the movie before you go over water, you should be okay.

This. Did the same thing LAX-HNL. You have about 15-20 minutes of wifi use before it drops. So... if you're able to get in and start a movie, it will work just fine. However, as mentioned above, you won't be able to start a new movie after that as it does depend on the ground link to setup the initial session.

I wonder if you can start multiple movies so that when you finish one, you can go to the next. I've noticed that movies I've started on a flight is still available to watch within the player on my connecting flight. In the same way, I wonder if, as long as you start a few, the system then already thinks you're cleared and so you can switch.

Well, you still have a wifi session the entire time the movie is playing. You just can't get beyond the local network and server on the airplane to the greater Internet once outside the range of the ground-based radios. The Gogo system acts as gateway with one set of radios for the wifi system and a separate more powerful radio operating on different frequencies to communicate with the ground-based antennas. The Wifi radios and local network are still capable of operating even when the system is outside the range of plane-to-ground radio.

So one should pick a really long movie fast?

Perhaps. Though sometimes it can take 15-20 minutes just to get through to Gogo splash screens ;). I do wonder about the idea of, if you have time, loading multiple movies before you lose air-to-ground connectivity. On my Android tablet in the Gogo Player app, I always get that "My Library" thing where it seems like previously loaded (and unexpired) stuff would be housed.

Better option: Load your own offline media before taking overwater flights.

Even better option: DL/Gogo fixes it so that DL Studio can be operated fully independent of the air-to-ground stuff. (I'm not a technical expert, so I don't know if this is feasible.)

Anything is possible. :)

I would imagine that most birds to HNL have IFE, no?

How about trying to download several different movies on different devices? Will DL Studio let you use it with more than one device per flight?

Most HI flights from the West Coast have IFE (overheads), but no PTVs. They are some of the worst planes in DL's fleet.

I expect the initial need for a connection to ground (cell or satellite) has something to do with billing for paid content (and may be present even for free content). Just my guess...

That perception is out of date as 753s get AVOD and the F-class refurb. Tomorrow's flights from Hawaii:

KOA-LAX 757 overhead screens

OGG-LAX 2 x 757 overhead screens

HNL-SEA 753 AVOD

HNL-SLC 763 AVOD

HNL-SFO (Saturday) 757 AVOD

HNL-LAX 2X 753 AVOD, 763 AVOD, 757 overhead screens

LIH-LAX 757 AVOD

That's 7 of 11 flights with AVOD.