Horizon TV- Awful?

cyrano54 · 08-02-2015 2:39pm

I have upgraded to horizon box about 3 weeks ago.

Set up experience was painless. I do not need a massive wifi coverage so the all in one approach of that box works ok for me. I have about 8-10 wifi devices and they all can connect without any problem. I like the simultaneous 2.4 and 5 GHz broadcasting
So far, the BB experience have been very good and stable (I'm not convinced I get the 240mb but this is working for me)

The TV experience however is just bad. Of course the channels are displaying fine. But the interface on the Horizon box , all the menus and the navigation are poorly designed. It works for a casual use, but after a while you start to wonder about the mad logic behind all those menus and button clicking you have to do to achieve basic tasks.

Here are a few of very annoying shortcomings:
1) no page down or up options, (very limiting for guide pages or long lists)
2) why do you need to go to advance settings to see how much space is left on your box to record new shows?
3) why can't you cancel a series booking? You seems to be able to cancel a specific episode or ALL (and it seems to mean ALL) your bookings
4) The onscreen menu does not highlight very well the currently selected command. Basically it is the same white, same font just slightly bigger, and sometimes above or below a line. Why not having some color or at least something more obvious. Half of the time I end up press OK for the wrong command...
5) My recording and planner lists are just a nightmare to use and to find something. Why not a simple list of independent recordings and series each displayed as one line (as in the old box). At the moment you have all individual episodes displayed forcing you to scroll down a lot to find what you want or to go into refine mode...
6) why the box does not remember that you have watched and deleted a specific episode and will record it again...
7) the Mosaic view is nice, but why only 2 rows, and for some reason the thumbnail of some show revert to the default after a while.
8) still on the mosaic view, the navigation is very counter intuitive between rows. When you go to the top row, it becomes the bottom one.
9) why the box does not remember the specific view setting I last used. For instance in Mosaic view I like to refine by A-Z . The next time I go to that view, after watching something, I have to select Refine again.
10) why can I switch the guide view from a grid to a one channel view without having to go back to the menu
11) better why can't the guide button be customized to the view you want
12) after watching a recording, to delete it you need first to stop it then select it again to delete it.

There are many more issues than that. In particular Now and Next...

Overall I like the possibility of the new box, but I have to admit for something that has been in the market for over 2 years I was seriously expecting a much more mature UI. Considering than most of the above was available in the old box...

08-02-2015 3:34pm

A few people messaged me to ask how I got the box sorted given that I haven't posted in this thread in awhile. My solution was easy, I plugged out the Horizion box and told UPC they could stick it where the sun don't shine.

beauf · 08-02-2015 3:51pm

I dunno if there was a recent update but you used to be able to cancel series. Is showing that option at random for me. It's no longer working as at was.

Global · 09-02-2015 10:50pm

Resolved all my issues with the (2nd brand new box within a 6 month period ) Horizon box ... Always freezing .. awful GUI ... all round balls up by UPC ... By responding to their price increase by choosing to end my contact only six months in without penalty ...Best move ever

Saint_Mel · 15-02-2015 11:43am

I'm on the Horizon box about a month now. Originally I was selected for the trial, but then they reckoned they couldn't provide it in my area!

WiFi range seems better than when I had regular UPC but I have to agree with most, and I've informed UPC many times, the TV user interface is nothing short of woeful. It can't hold a candle to the regular UPC one!!! Recording listings is very poor.

Also, one thing that really annoyed me was finding out that setting shows to record via the Upc app doesn't actually do a series record.

Upc phone app seems like a fantastic service, especially if your out of phone credit and need to make a call...however I just discovered it doesn't appear to work over 3g ... its WiFi only which is a pain.

irishguy1983 · 15-02-2015 11:49am

Contemplating leaving UPC. Is it actually cheaper than Sky these days??! The Horizon packages look quite expensive.

I'm on the old UPC - not a chance I would move to Horizon considering all I've heard about it.

Joo0 · 16-02-2015 11:06pm

irishguy1983 wrote: »

Contemplating leaving UPC. Is it actually cheaper than Sky these days??! The Horizon packages look quite expensive.

I'm on the old UPC - not a chance I would move to Horizon considering all I've heard about it.

If you don't have sports channels no point in having a pay tv subscription

happybob · 18-02-2015 1:03am

irishguy1983 wrote: »

Contemplating leaving UPC. Is it actually cheaper than Sky these days??! The Horizon packages look quite expensive.

I'm on the old UPC - not a chance I would move to Horizon considering all I've heard about it.

TV Navigation is Crap -> Check
Random DNS Resolution Issues -> Check
Random WIFI network drops -> Check
System doesn't work properly if you switch DNS -> Check
Horizon Go doesn't work with HTC One M8 -> Check
"gwlogin.net" randomly works/fails -> Check

Yep; pretty disappointing for an 'upgrade'. Was better off on my previous UPC package.

happybob · 18-02-2015 1:05am

happybob wrote: »

TV Navigation is Crap -> Check
Random DNS Resolution Issues -> Check
Random WIFI network drops -> Check
System doesn't work properly if you switch DNS -> Check
Horizon Go doesn't work with HTC One M8 -> Check
"gwlogin.net" randomly works/fails -> Check

Yep; pretty disappointing for an 'upgrade'. Was better off on my previous UPC package.

P.S. Looks like UPC have had 12+ months to sort this out and still haven't. Expect attrition.

irishguy1983 · 18-02-2015 9:07am

Joo0 wrote: »

If you don't have sports channels no point in having a pay tv subscription

Have Sky Sports and the Setanta package

I'd gladly go another way if I could but I live for sports!

Giruilla · 18-02-2015 11:54am

happybob wrote: »

P.S. Looks like UPC have had 12+ months to sort this out and still haven't. Expect attrition.

Closer to 2 years if you include the trial period - where you imagine the problems would have been fixed.

KungPao · 20-02-2015 3:30pm

I just got rid of this box.

Had issues with the WiFi. Had the same issue with two different Horizon boxes - one laptop in particular kept having dropped/slow connections. Though it was the wireless adapter on it's way out or something but it turned out that the box and my laptop just didn't get on very well.

I have a new router from UPC (we ditched the TV package) and it running like a dream.

beauf · 20-02-2015 3:44pm

What router did they give you?

KungPao · 20-02-2015 4:41pm

Ubee evw3226

EVW3226_1.png?itok=38xSZuh7

Never heard of them before, but so far so good.

SteM · 20-02-2015 7:11pm

KungPao wrote: »

I just got rid of this box.

Had issues with the WiFi. Had the same issue with two different Horizon boxes - one laptop in particular kept having dropped/slow connections. Though it was the wireless adapter on it's way out or something but it turned out that the box and my laptop just didn't get on very well.

I have a new router from UPC (we ditched the TV package) and it running like a dream.

Yeah, I had to do the same thing with the same results. Didn't get that router though. Used to get constant dropouts when connected to my work VPN, now have none at all.

posy2010 · 20-02-2015 11:33pm

I have the old bog standard UPC box. After being charged another tenner a month wondering if I should get Horizon because I feel I am getting not much bang for my buck. Is it worth it? I have a lot of recordings on old box that I would hate to lose too!

irishguy1983 · 21-02-2015 10:44am

posy2010 wrote: »

I have the old bog standard UPC box. After being charged another tenner a month wondering if I should get Horizon because I feel I am getting not much bang for my buck. Is it worth it? I have a lot of recordings on old box that I would hate to lose too!

I'm in the same boat! No chance I am willing to give Horizon a bash but feel I am getting screwed!

cyrano54 · 21-02-2015 11:33am

well if you are used to make a lot of recording on your box, then Horizon might seems interesting. In particular I was lured by the ability to record 4 shows at a time, which is very handy (a bit overkill) to avoid having to sort out conflicts. But honestly, that advantage is completely offset by the poor experience of using the box to manage your recordings or your planner. It is just so counter intuitive in particular coming from the old UPC box.

mfceiling · 21-02-2015 9:33pm

posy2010 wrote: »

I have the old bog standard UPC box. After being charged another tenner a month wondering if I should get Horizon because I feel I am getting not much bang for my buck. Is it worth it? I have a lot of recordings on old box that I would hate to lose too!

Don't touch it with a barge pole. It is beyond crap. Every day it throws up a new problem. Never mind the "record 4 programs" guff that they spin. The yoke struggles with one recording. It has stopped recording Top Gear for me even though i've had it on a "series link" to record every episode. Started off by recording it and the repeats during the week then gave up after 3 weeks.

Piece of junk - avoid.

hitbit · 01-03-2015 4:32pm

So Seems UPC have done nothing to resolve the Horizon issues,

beauf · 01-03-2015 4:48pm

hitbit wrote: »

So Seems UPC have done nothing to resolve the Horizon issues,

Well they've increased the price.

They have fixed some things. And added new bugs.

Pity because if it worked properly it worked be a nice system

ronnie3585 · 10-03-2015 10:03pm

I'm moving and getting UPC as it's the only half decent provider in the area I'm moving to.

I want to get the Horizon Max TV package but I don't want the Horizon box, does anyone know if you can get the old bog standard UPC box instead of the Horizon one - it's nothing special but it works!

Wabbit Ears · 11-03-2015 12:23am

try the horizon box and see how you get on, there is a very large number of UPC horizon users who are perfectly happy with it. its not perfect, but Its also not the nightmare some few folk paint it to be.

Marcusm · 11-03-2015 12:08pm

Horizon is the first UPC box I've had although I have had digital cable in the UK years ago. While I find the user interface frustrating (and not just because it's significantly different from Sky but because of the multiple reconfirms of each action), the functionality is good as regards recording, playback etc.

wally79 · 11-03-2015 12:33pm

I suspect the browsing would be quicker without the preview screen.

If it was possible to turn this off I would be happy with Horizon

Wabbit Ears · 11-03-2015 9:41pm

but the preview doesnt slow down browsing at all! If you wait for a second the screen-in-screen pops up but it doesn't slow anything if you don't wait for it to pop up... Really confused as to what you are doing that this is an issue???

wally79 · 12-03-2015 11:11am

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

but the preview doesnt slow down browsing at all! If you wait for a second the screen-in-screen pops up but it doesn't slow anything if you don't wait for it to pop up... Really confused as to what you are doing that this is an issue???

So you don't think the browsing is slow?

You don't think it's loading before it pops up?

I've used the old UPC and sky and the browsing on horizon is slow.

Wabbit Ears · 12-03-2015 8:06pm

Depends on what you are calling slow. On horizon teh transitions are quick, scrolling is fast but let down by no page up and down option. there is a lot of button clicks to get places but the UI is fast and responsive.

I should mention I have a SKY + HD box and an old UPC box at home. Horizon is by far the fastest of them.

wally79 · 13-03-2015 10:10am

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

Depends on what you are calling slow. On horizon teh transitions are quick, scrolling is fast but let down by no page up and down option. there is a lot of button clicks to get places but the UI is fast and responsive.

I should mention I have a SKY + HD box and an old UPC box at home. Horizon is by far the fastest of them.

Ok

Giruilla · 13-03-2015 11:10am

wally79 wrote: »

Ok

First page of this thread makes for interesting re-reading.

tigger123 · 18-03-2015 9:16pm

Got Horizon a few months ago and it's been a massive pain. The easiest way to navigate the TV guide is through the Android app.

But the real problem is the god awful wifi speed. One of the reasons I got horizon was so that I could stream TV (ie, Champions League and other live sports) to my laptop. But I end up looking at the UPC logo more often than not, cos the speed is so slow.

Is there anything I can do to improve the speed of the wifi? Are there settings on the router that I could tinker with to improve it?

steveon · 19-03-2015 1:02am

tigger123 wrote: »

Got Horizon a few months ago and it's been a massive pain. The easiest way to navigate the TV guide is through the Android app.

But the real problem is the god awful wifi speed. One of the reasons I got horizon was so that I could stream TV (ie, Champions League and other live sports) to my laptop. But I end up looking at the UPC logo more often than not, cos the speed is so slow.

Is there anything I can do to improve the speed of the wifi? Are there settings on the router that I could tinker with to improve it?

Channel the wifI channel to no 7 or 11. Or better still connect a lan cable to another router n use that for the wireless functions instead

Wabbit Ears · 19-03-2015 4:15pm

also turn on 5ghz if you have a wifi card that supports it.

tigger123 · 19-03-2015 10:04pm

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

also turn on 5ghz if you have a wifi card that supports it.

That's a setting on the laptop then? Not the Horizon box?

Cheers for the responses

Wabbit Ears · 20-03-2015 10:04am

log into horizon web gui, http://192.168.192.1 admin/admin and in the wireless section got 5ghz on the bottom left and click on radio and enable it.

If your laptop can see that ssid you're laughing.

tigger123 · 27-03-2015 3:36pm

The Horizon box managed to randomly delete my series linked Match of the Day 2. Yaaaay. Missed the Liverpool v Utd highlights last wkd.

wally79 · 27-03-2015 3:47pm

tigger123 wrote: »

The Horizon box managed to randomly delete my series linked Match of the Day 2. Yaaaay. Missed the Liverpool v Utd highlights last wkd.

I was looking this up for someone the other day and found the following advice on UPC's facebook page.

Its from march 2014 so I'm not sure if its still relevant as my friend couldnt find the menu.

"I would suggest turning off your disc space management option. If you go to: Menu, Settings, Recordings and Reminders, then Disk Space Management and select: Never Delete Recordings, this will stop it from deleting your recordings."

tigger123 · 27-03-2015 4:53pm

wally79 wrote: »

I was looking this up for someone the other day and found the following advice on UPC's facebook page.

Its from march 2014 so I'm not sure if its still relevant as my friend couldnt find the menu.

"I would suggest turning off your disc space management option. If you go to: Menu, Settings, Recordings and Reminders, then Disk Space Management and select: Never Delete Recordings, this will stop it from deleting your recordings."

Sorry, didn't explain myself very well, I had previously set MOTD 2 as a scheduled recording to take place every Sunday, and the Horizon box just decided to stop recording it last Sunday for no reason.

beauf · 27-03-2015 4:59pm

Basically it deletes the schedule you set. I had this for a while. It was also putting things back on the schedule/Planner I had deleted.

What I did was deleted all my recordings and all my schedule. I don't think I did an actually reset.

Then I re-input my schedule again. Seems ok now.

Its like the box has a restore point that it keeps going back to.

mfceiling · 27-03-2015 7:07pm

Does this on me as well. You set a series to record on series link then find out that 3 or 4 episodes in it decides not to bother recording it anymore. I've lost a few shows now because of this.

tigger123 · 28-03-2015 9:53am

Seems crazy that so long after its testing and launch these issues aren't sorted out.

bronn · 02-04-2015 1:53pm

beauf wrote: »

Basically it deletes the schedule you set. I had this for a while. It was also putting things back on the schedule/Planner I had deleted.

What I did was deleted all my recordings and all my schedule. I don't think I did an actually reset.

Then I re-input my schedule again. Seems ok now.

Its like the box has a restore point that it keeps going back to.

I thought that it was just our box that was acting all schizophrenic. This has happened twice and I only discovered the third time by accident. For no apparent reason, it dumps everything out of the planner. Then you have to go and set it all up again. I discovered it by chance recently when I checked the planner only to see everything was gone apart from Wolf Hall. So, I put everything back that I could remember. I then checked it the next day - everything was back in the planner, including random series linked stuff we'd watched and deleted ages ago. Way back when we first got Horizon (as soon as it launched actually) Mythbusters was series linked and it was one of the things that popped back up. Very strange.

I've also discovered that the only way to stop it recording series linked programmes is to do it from the TV Guide. Stopping it from the planner doesn't work. You have to go to the TV Guide and select "stop the series link" option. The exact wording escapes me but it's something like that. If you don't stop it through the TV Guide, it will record the programme again the next time it's repeated, even if it's months later.

beauf · 02-04-2015 2:20pm

Needing to do it from the TV Guide is a new one on me.

But I did have problems clearing series I no longer wanted, they kept recording. I must try doing it from the guide.

I dunno how non techies manage with the Horizon box at all.

bronn · 02-04-2015 8:59pm

I just checked it. You go to:
TV Guide --> find the programme that series linked --> press 'OK' --> select 'Cancel Booking' --> select 'Entire Series'

In the Planner you have the so-called option of 'Cancel This Booking' or 'Cancel This Series Booking'. As we know, if you cancel the series booking, it will resurrect the series at a later date when it's on repeat. This is yet another feature of the Horizon box that drove us spare, as I helpfully set it one fateful day to record Judge Judy for my mum. Six gazillion recordings of Judge bleedin' Judy later (thank you, ITV3) we were fit to be tied and Your Honnor kept coming back. I only found the option via the TV Guide by accident. Bye, bye Judy!

zig · 03-04-2015 1:14am

I left them 2 months ago, so so bad the whole experience.

We started more than a year ago with a regular UPC account and were having issues with the broadband cutting on and off. They said it was the fault of the router which they were no longer responsible for, we would have to buy a new router.

I then got duped into "upgrading" to horizon, to be fair I was going to be paying less than I was at the time due to a promised reduction so it was a win win, so it seemed.

After months of battles and phonecalls and confused operators not knowing the status of the situation we eventually got Horizon in.

Holy crap it was terrible,

Their TV service: slow, confusing to use and unresponsive at times as has been talked about here.

Their apps are pretty awful

The service which allows you to watch your tv on any device was NOT what i was expecting. Logging in only worked half the time, the selection was limited, and the picture quality awful. I felt like a fool watching some programmes on the phone knowing it would be easier wait till theyre on youtube, or better still , watch them on their channel players, like rte player.

Then the broadband issues, first the wifi from the broadband box was terrible, extremely unreliable and inconsistent with a very weak signal, with certain rooms not picking up anything. When we tried to complain they claimed that it was the house and that is something we have to accept even though we never had trouble before.

They eventually got a guy out who installed a separate router/wifi box, so we were no longer using the horizon box for internet, and this was unfortunately just as bad if not worse. At times sitting in the room it was perfect on the laptop but no connection on the phone, and at times vice versa, totally unpredictable.

Another guy came out and pretty much blamed my laptop as he was able to prove that it was fine on his laptop. I was stuck as I couldn't prove him wrong, that's the issue with unpredictable intermittent faults. (This wasnt just me btw, all of us in the house were having this problem with it)

Finally after all this, this supposed reduction wasnt being applied after several calls and online chat help promises that they would start to apply the reduction.

I went to cancel and they told me I couldn't as I had to wait out for the contract, when I told them they broke the contract by not applying the reduction they conceded and said I can give 30 days notice. I just stopped the direct debit there and then, got a free month of service out of it and let them cut me off instead.

One positive note I have to say, when you plugged a cable directly into the router, it sure was very nice fast broadband but thats about it.

sky88 · 08-04-2015 11:44am

Switched to horizon in the house few months ago but have found the internet has been terrible since then especaaly when upstairs it just switches off and doesnt work at random times.

one of the reasons my family have stuck with upc was the braodband and if it still bad i think i will switch

beauf · 08-04-2015 12:13pm

Some of use have the internet de-consolidated from the horizon box. Basically the Horizon just does TV.

We have a seperate UPC router/modem for internet. Sometimes connected to our own WiFi Router as we find it more reliable.

08-04-2015 12:46pm

I still get a lot of PMs asking how I sorted out my issues with Horizon. It was very simple in the end, I unplugged the box, boxed it up and told UPC to take it back.

Virgin Media: Brian · 08-04-2015 1:38pm

Hi Folks,

We just wanted to post up some useful links for anyone seeing issues with their service :-)

If you're seeing any issues with WiFi range or speed we'd always recommend testing your connection on a different wireless channel. Ideally channels 1, 6 and 11, to see which one of these works best for you.

You'll find info on how to do this here: http://support.upc.ie/app/answers/detail/a_id/625/~/check-wireless-settings
You can also find some helpful tips on wireless in general in our WiFi hub here: http://www.upc.ie/wifi/

If you're seeing any issues with this or other aspects of your Horizon service please feel free to PM UPC: Reps with your account details and we can look into this with you, or why not pop over to our Talk To and we'd be happy to answer any questions you may have: http://www.boards.ie/ttforum/1546 :-)

Thanks.

irishguy1983 · 08-04-2015 3:33pm

I wonder how much damage a thread does like this??!

I for one based on this thread am not signing up to Horizon.

Horizon TV- Awful?

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