UPC Horizon Set Top Box trial

dunworth1 · 05-06-2013 6:35pm

who_me wrote: »

Noticed the Horizon has the same problem I had with my previous HD box. If I turn if off, and turn in on again a short while later, it'll turn on perfectly.

But when it's left off overnight, then some time in the wee hours of the morning the box boots up, does something, and shuts off again. After that, the box won't turn on properly - the old HD box would just show video flickering on and off (unable to sync with the AV receiver?), while the new Horizon box just shows a blank screen (actually slightly green!?!)

do you have a Philips tv?

JoeyJJ · 05-06-2013 6:47pm

paulboland wrote: »

make sure you did not do scan of devices library
if you did you will have to do a factory reset with important part DONT keep previous settings
then after setup finishes go to library devices and search in the devices folders best way
its a known problem with horizon box it will freeze if you when setting up home network you say yes to scan and add to library

factory reset don't keep any settings
Playing videos from your computer will still work and any external hard drives you have connected to your computer
windows media player library streaming works great
Use windows media player library add folders files etc to windows media player library and set to auto allow devices that's on your computer
DONT EVER ADD TO LIBRARY ON HORIZON
and to make it play all formats install on your computer shark007 codecs 32bit and if your pc is 64bit
install shark007 32bit first you must install 32bit first
then install 64bit add on
works great

Cheers for the codec part, regarding the other part thats how I do it, I don't have it scanning. I use the folders option on windows media server library.

Deep Thought · 05-06-2013 8:47pm

Horizon keeps dropping My NAS and the only way to fix is reboot the box, which I cant do when trying to stream audiobook from my nas while in bed

therecklessone · 05-06-2013 8:55pm

I noticed a good few of my scheduled recordings were missing from the planner today, that has happened before but when I searched for them in the TV guide they were still set to record . This time none were.

The keyword search is useless.

It takes far too many clicks to delete multiple recordings, you should be able to delete a series in one go.

Have had to do a couple of reboots but for the most part my box has been stable.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp · 05-06-2013 9:00pm

I've noticed my wireless is dropping randomly. Not very often but enough that I've noticed and that it's annoying me! It drops for about 10-15 seconds and then comes back. I've changed some of the settings and still the same.
I am going to switch back on my own wireless box to test if it's the wireless on the horizon box or the internet connection on the box.

Edit: I can confirm it's the internet connection dropping. It's dropped already twice this morning on my external router.

@Deep Thought - all I did was a simple test - disabled the wireless on the horizon box and plugged in my wireless router. It was only to test if it was a wireless or connection issue. I'm back to just the horizon box for now. Will have to ring UPC.

Deep Thought · 05-06-2013 9:08pm

Nathanael Nice Pipe wrote: »

I've noticed my wireless is dropping randomly. Not very often but enough that I've noticed and that it's annoying me! It drops for about 10-15 seconds and then comes back. I've changed some of the settings and still the same.
I am going to switch back on my own wireless box to test if it's the wireless on the horizon box or the internet connection on the box.

How would I switch back to my airport extreme ?

Would I disable wireless and dHCP and then allow the AE to manage it ?

Cheers

dalkiadave · 05-06-2013 9:48pm

Arrived home from work to find horizon box stuck on what appears to be an update loop, bars moving across the front panel.
Phone and broadband still on but no TV anyone else having this issue???? Will have to switch off at back if this keeps up

KenH · 05-06-2013 10:10pm

dalkiadave wrote: »

Arrived home from work to find horizon box stuck on what appears to be an update loop, bars moving across the front panel.
Phone and broadband still on but no TV anyone else having this issue???? Will have to switch off at back if this keeps up

Not sure. But if the box is set to anything but full power, it takes a while to wake up and shows those bars.

breeno · 05-06-2013 10:19pm

Nathanael Nice Pipe wrote: »

I've noticed my wireless is dropping randomly. Not very often but enough that I've noticed and that it's annoying me! It drops for about 10-15 seconds and then comes back. I've changed some of the settings and still the same.
I am going to switch back on my own wireless box to test if it's the wireless on the horizon box or the internet connection on the box.

I'm starting to notice this problem too. It's making watching live online video near impossible. Any fixes for this in advanced connection settings?

Also I just bought a Samsung f5500 smart tv. Is it possible to hook the Samsung tvremote up to the box to change channel etc? An ir blaster came with the tv that offers limited functionality but I can't do anything with the remote.

dalkiadave · 05-06-2013 11:11pm

KenH wrote: »

Not sure. But if the box is set to anything but full power, it takes a while to wake up and shows those bars.

Was like that for 4 hours so ended up powering off at back and then on again seems to be ok now.

kippy · 05-06-2013 11:17pm

therecklessone wrote: »

I noticed a good few of my scheduled recordings were missing from the planner today, that has happened before but when I searched for them in the TV guide they were still set to record . This time none were.

The keyword search is useless.

It takes far too many clicks to delete multiple recordings, you should be able to delete a series in one go.

Have had to do a couple of reboots but for the most part my box has been stable.

Same issue here today with the recordings......well some of them anyway.

UPC reps, if you are reading this, is there any specific email address that users can send emails to with an outline of any issues encountered? I'd rather that than a phone call at this point to be honest.

knoxor · 06-06-2013 7:58am

kippy wrote: »

Same issue here today with the recordings......well some of them anyway.

UPC reps, if you are reading this, is there any specific email address that users can send emails to with an outline of any issues encountered? I'd rather that than a phone call at this point to be honest.

Also noticed that some of my recordings have disappeared.
I would also agree that an email address would be a good idea. It's a pretty bad indictment of UPC that they are having to support Horizon here on boards.ie

They should have their own forums at the least.

Synode · 06-06-2013 9:44am

Deep Thought wrote: »

Horizon keeps dropping My NAS and the only way to fix is reboot the box, which I cant do when trying to stream audiobook from my nas while in bed

My NAS stopped appearing in MyDevices last night. I rebooted but still wan't there. Ended up going to bed. Hopefully it's back when I look later.

Technoprisoner · 06-06-2013 10:19am

kippy wrote: »

Same issue here today with the recordings......well some of them anyway.

UPC reps, if you are reading this, is there any specific email address that users can send emails to with an outline of any issues encountered? I'd rather that than a phone call at this point to be honest.

https://upcbroadband.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0Am9ZD6C7AvGiot

who_me · 06-06-2013 12:20pm

dunworth1 wrote: »

do you have a Philips tv?

Thanks - no, Panasonic. It might be because the HDMI goes through a (Yamaha) AV receiver; I'd say most people plug the HDMI directly into their TV and then either use the TV's audio or an optical out from the TV to their receiver.

Happens every day for me. After that middle-of-the-night bootup the box does, it has to be powered off and on again in order to get a signal out of it.

who_me · 06-06-2013 12:32pm

Just noticed if you hold the up/down buttons, a channel list pops up along the left-hand side. Almost exactly what I was looking for, though it's still a bit sluggish to scroll through. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the controls are the opposite to the Guide, i.e. up scrolls down and vice versa.

Btw, anyone else see any weirdness in the channel list? A few channels (around BBC 2 HD / Sky Arts HD / Sky Living HD) are all muddled up. For example: select BBC 2 HD, and the icon becomes Sky One HD! Then you're watching BBC 2 HD programmes, the LED on the box says it's BBC 2 HD, but the Info button/channel menu tell you it's Sky One HD. Only seemed to start last night.

moonship · 06-06-2013 1:08pm

Technoprisoner wrote: »

https://upcbroadband.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0Am9ZD6C7AvGiot

Why doesnt UPC ask all of the trialists to fill that survey?
I got a quality control guy yesterday to check the box and broadband as its much slower than 100Mb and he said nobody he visited is happy with Horizon mainly due to frequent freezing which is a disaster if you have a box with all in one (broadband phone and tv)

My personal problem is, apart from freezing - there is even no option to delete whole series and this clicking and clickin those buttons to do even something simple..

Another thing is, as somebody above said, this thread should be in UPC forum where you can talk to their support. Or perhaps even hidden and available just for trialists. This trial is not like a proffesional trial, its like some unofficial trial if you know what i mean.

Anyway if this problems happened already in Netherlands, why UPC is still getting involved in those Horizon boxes if Samsung cant fix them for so many months.

JoeyJJ · 06-06-2013 2:03pm

Yeah the whole series delete is a step backwards from the last box. Freezing once a day for me now. Right pain in ass.

kippy · 06-06-2013 2:37pm

I just wonder is everyone suffering this "freezing" issue or just a few.......

Mister Gooey · 06-06-2013 2:45pm

kippy wrote: »

I just wonder is everyone suffering this "freezing" issue or just a few.......

I get the stuttering sound occasionally and sometimes some picture breakup!

paulboland · 06-06-2013 2:52pm

Youtube hd videos 720 and even 360p bad lag and buffering is this to do with youtube or
horizon I have 50mb package
before I got Horizon never had any problems when I was on 30mb package it would play 1080p no buffering
Something not right here
To all using horizon how is your youtube playback

Synode · 06-06-2013 2:52pm

Mister Gooey wrote: »

I get the stuttering sound occasionally and sometimes some picture breakup!

Me too. I've also had freezes on the TV and broadband dropping. Unless they make this far more stable I'll be going back to the old set-up.

KenH · 06-06-2013 4:49pm

Has anyone got the max tv package with the horizon box? That's what we had before....but not now.

zg3409 · 06-06-2013 4:52pm

KenH wrote: »

Has anyone got the max tv package with the horizon box? That's what we had before....but not now.

Some people reported their package changing when moving over to Horizon. They needed to contact UPC who fixed it.

who_me · 06-06-2013 5:46pm

kippy wrote: »

I just wonder is everyone suffering this "freezing" issue or just a few.......

Same here, occasionally. Varying from very slight blips in the sound, to the picture & sound completely freezing. For me, switching channel and back always solves it.

(Assuming you mean the picture freezing up, and not the entire box freezing which happens occasionally).

who_me · 06-06-2013 5:47pm

KenH wrote: »

Has anyone got the max tv package with the horizon box? That's what we had before....but not now.

When I set up mine, I initially had just RTE 1, and the other channels appeared several minutes later. Apart from that though, I've exactly the same channels as before.

Deep Thought · 06-06-2013 11:19pm

Synode wrote: »

My NAS stopped appearing in MyDevices last night. I rebooted but still wan't there. Ended up going to bed. Hopefully it's back when I look later.

AM flummoxed...Synology Assistant can find he NAS, Synology Web assistant cant see NAS, yet when I enter IP address..the mac can log into it

Filebrowser on Iphone can see the NAS, Itunes can see it....

what is this box doing.....wont show the NAS on the LAN but its defo there...

Synode · 07-06-2013 11:05am

Mine was the same - Synology assistant could see it, I could log into it through a browser but couldn't get into it through the Horizon box or my XBox. I rebooted the NAS (from the web browser) and it's now working properly again.

I had a UPC technician out again this morning. WiFi is terrible in the house. Was getting 150Mb wired but only between 10-35Mb on WiFi. Upstairs was never more than 15Mb. On my old set up with a Cisco router I was easily getting between 30 and 60 Mb upstairs. UPC seem to think the Horizon box will give better WiFi signal (it's a question in that survey and the technician also said it) but it's definitely worse. He tinkered around for a bit then said they'll replace the box. It's annoying as I had some stuff recorded I'd like to keep for the kids but it has to be done.

PacificRooster · 07-06-2013 11:34am

Horizion recording playback not great. Box locked up when watching a recording of 'The Amercians' last night after fast fowarding thro ads. Recording still played, but remote disabled - no buttons worked and box display went to clock. Left it overnight and checked to see if it recorded 2nd episode and no it didn't.

Mixed views on Horizion box so far.
Problems/Issues:
Font size tiny on programme info - clock needs to be more prominent.
EPG scrolling slow, hard to control and little preview screen unnecessary (should be optional)
Box doesn't display programme as on old one - this was very handy please bring it to Horizon.
Remote control not very intuitive - too many options for programme control - Back, OK, Menu - all have options.

Likes:
Setup easy
Recording 4 channels simultaneously great but my experience viewing recordings so far not great.

Synode · 07-06-2013 12:10pm

I've had issues with recordings too. Sound sometimes goes haywire and you have to back out then go back in. Very annoying.

I wonder how close to rolling this out they are, considering people are still having so many issues.

PacificRooster · 07-06-2013 12:53pm

Synode wrote: »

I've had issues with recordings too. Sound sometimes goes haywire and you have to back out then go back in. Very annoying.

I wonder how close to rolling this out they are, considering people are still having so many issues.

Agreed:). If they can get the recording sorted I can live with the other niggles.

who_me · 07-06-2013 3:03pm

PacificRooster wrote: »

Mixed views on Horizion box so far.
Problems/Issues:
Font size tiny on programme info - clock needs to be more prominent.
EPG scrolling slow, hard to control and little preview screen unnecessary (should be optional)
Box doesn't display programme as on old one - this was very handy please bring it to Horizon.
Remote control not very intuitive - too many options for programme control - Back, OK, Menu - all have options.

Likes:
Setup easy
Recording 4 channels simultaneously great but my experience viewing recordings so far not great.

Agree with these, though I do like the video in the Guide, helps me check the point the programme is at so I know if I want to switch or not. Scrolling is a bit slow, particularly if you want to hold the button to scroll: it lags for 1-2 seconds, then scrolls quickly, but when you stop it keeps going for 1-2 seconds so zooms past your selection.

If you don't want to use the guide, you also can use the channel list (hold Up/Down for about 1 second). Even without the video though, it still doesn't scroll any faster.

My main problem is the lack of consistency in exiting the menus: sometimes the LiveTV button works, but not in the Apps section or the Channel Bar. Sometimes when you hit Back from the Channel Bar it brings you to the Main Menu, other times it brings you to the Guide. If you keep pressing Back from the On Demand, you get stuck in a loop! Why not bring back the "UPC" button? Press that, and you exit all menus, regardless of where you are!!!

Overall I like it! It's still a good deal faster than the old HD box, in switching channels, bringing up the Guide and scrolling through it, shows more information in the Info screen, looks better etc.

Synode · 07-06-2013 8:01pm

Realistically, what speed would you expect to get on WiFi when getting 150Mb wired?

I'm pretty sure on my old set up I was getting > 60Mb (100Mb wired) but the max I can get now is 35Mb on WiFi. To get that I have change the settings to 802.11n only (which means my iPhone 3GS cannot connect). On a mix of 802.11n and 802.11g I can only get a max of 15Mb. I've messed with channels, changed the Beacon interval, Fragment and RTS thresholds but 35Mb is the max I can get and that's 2 foot from the box. When I go upstairs the speed drops to < 10Mb.

A technician came out and changed the box today as UPC agreed I should be getting more. I wasn't here when he did it but when I got home there was no improvement whatsoever. I'm about ready to throw the towel in.

Anyone any suggestions?

KenH · 07-06-2013 9:20pm

Synode wrote: »

Realistically, what speed would you expect to get on WiFi when getting 150Mb wired?

Anyone any suggestions?

You should be getting at least over 120mb on wifi. Is the box near any cordless phones, a nest of wires, microwave....and other such things? What do you get when connecting via ethernet cable?

Synode · 07-06-2013 9:36pm

150Mb connected. The box is near my UPC phones as they are connected to it. Also a load of wires for TV, NAS, XBox. It's all right beside the TV point.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp · 07-06-2013 9:38pm

Is it me or is the horizon box noisy? Even when in standby mode, there's a serious humming noise coming from it.

KenH · 07-06-2013 9:49pm

No noise off mine.

Griffinx · 07-06-2013 10:27pm

Another bloody lockup, just about fed up with this new box, very near to reverting to the old box

Lockups
Dropped WiFi
Missed recordings
Sluggish remote

NinjaTruncs · 07-06-2013 11:14pm

Griffinx wrote: »

Another bloody lockup, just about fed up with this new box, very near to reverting to the old box

Lockups
Dropped WiFi
Missed recordings
Sluggish remote

I'm the same, haven't really experienced the Wifi drops but the signal is a lot weaker than with my linksys router.

UPC have a long way to go before these boxes are ready to roll out to a wider user base, because as it is they'd be losing a lot of customers due to their inability to provide a acceptable quality of service.

I'm giving mine to the end of the month to improve or it's going back.

paulboland · 08-06-2013 12:06am

Remote control today lot of times its freezing its it just mine or has anyone else having problems with there remote today
Yesterday and before only had odd time it happen but today lot of times its freezing
There was an update today can upc let us know what each software update is so we can notice if working or any problems are been caused by any updates and what update are and if are bug fixes what are they

dalkiadave · 08-06-2013 12:25am

Synode wrote: »

Mine was the same - Synology assistant could see it, I could log into it through a browser but couldn't get into it through the Horizon box or my XBox. I rebooted the NAS (from the web browser) and it's now working properly again.

I had a UPC technician out again this morning. WiFi is terrible in the house. Was getting 150Mb wired but only between 10-35Mb on WiFi. Upstairs was never more than 15Mb. On my old set up with a Cisco router I was easily getting between 30 and 60 Mb upstairs. UPC seem to think the Horizon box will give better WiFi signal (it's a question in that survey and the technician also said it) but it's definitely worse. He tinkered around for a bit then said they'll replace the box. It's annoying as I had some stuff recorded I'd like to keep for the kids but it has to be done.

They to;d me the same, had the box replaced last week and surprise the wifi is still crap!!!!!!!!!!

hotfix123 · 08-06-2013 1:39am

I've had enough of this s**t. Horizan is ridiculous. Constant freeze-ups. At least once a day but sometimes twice or three times a day I have to power off the box and then switch it back on.
Tonight several of the channels I normally watch were showing "No Signal". BBC1 was showing "Blocked" and asking for a password even though I have set the password requirement to off. I entered what I know to be the correct password and each time it said "incorrect password". After the third time trying it said "try again in 15 minutes" and the box promptly locked up.
The remote is so slow. Scrolling through channels is a pain because it is so slow and if I try to go any faster the box is guaranteed to lock up. Rubbish.
I have an Xbox 360. It has apps that work. It even has Internet Explorer for surfing the net. Horizan is way, way behind it.
Xbox streams music, video and photos flawlessly unlike the Horizan box and Twonkey. Xbox lets me choose music by genre, artist, album or song title. It lets me build and store playlists. It just works unlike Horizan which is beyond basic.
The broadband is unreliable. I keep getting the "unable to connect" message and, of course, everytime I have to reboot the box the broadband is off-line for several minutes.
I really really wanted Horizan to be all it promised but it is no where near it and no amount of tinkering is going to solve the problems.
I've had it a month now and that's enough. Tomorrow morning I'm calling UPC and asking to go back to the old system.
I'm sorry UPC but I think you need to go back to the drawing board with this one. It just ain't working.

moonship · 08-06-2013 6:39am

paulboland wrote: »

There was an update today can upc let us know what each software update is so we can notice if working or any problems are been caused by any updates and what update are and if are bug fixes what are they

They wont as they dont give a ****e. Otherwise they would make some official contact channel with us and care what we have to say about their product, which in my case is ****ing frozen again

ct5amr2ig1nfhp · 08-06-2013 10:55am

Does anyone know if there's any update due soon?

paulboland · 08-06-2013 11:41am

Nathanael Nice Pipe wrote: »

Does anyone know if there's any update due soon?

There was a software update yesterday as in Friday at around 22.00
what update was don't know that's why I would like UPC to lets us know what each software update is

ct5amr2ig1nfhp · 08-06-2013 2:08pm

Ah didn't see your post. Thanks for that info. Notice anything different yet?

We're getting pretty fed up with the horizon box issues. We were thinking of getting Sky before we started the trial and I think it's time to revisit this option. Will ring UPC on Monday to see what they say about cancelling the trial.

paulboland wrote: »

There was a software update yesterday as in Friday at around 22.00
what update was don't know that's why I would like UPC to lets us know what each software update is

MAJJ · 08-06-2013 10:59pm

http://www.upc.ie/customer_support/service_status/

Got the box yesterday not consolidated yet but may roll that dice next week.

Simple trouble free self install and later
locked up and froze twice, had to reboot it to power it off last night.

Called UPC and got a twonky licence, thanks Niall, ! and was told the update plans are on UPC web site in the FAQ section.

Don't have my login details to hand but this may be a longshot and may have specifics, if it doesn't would be worth asking UPC reps on the talk to forum.

wush06 · 09-06-2013 12:29pm

Hi all is there any way of resetting the password for logging into the box. On the old router there was a reset button on the back.

I've used the same user name and password on every router I ever owned. I was logging in to this box no prob at the start but over the last two days I can not log in no matter what I try.
I'm in the middle of factory resetting to see will that revert to admin admin as log in. Something tells me that won't work read the manually but noting in it.

Anybody any ideas

paulboland · 09-06-2013 6:16pm

software update on Saturday 8th of June looks as its fixed remote freezing well I hope so as today its been working no problems at all

paulboland · 09-06-2013 6:26pm

wush06 wrote: »

Hi all is there any way of resetting the password for logging into the box. On the old router there was a reset button on the back.

I've used the same user name and password on every router I ever owned. I was logging in to this box no prob at the start but over the last two days I can not log in no matter what I try.
I'm in the middle of factory resetting to see will that revert to admin admin as log in. Something tells me that won't work read the manually but noting in it.

Anybody any ideas

Did you already change the login password if you did you will have to remember it as you cant change settings if you forget you will need to contact UPC for them to rest the router to factory reset if user and password still admin admin then do below note only password change be changed user will always be admin
http://192.168.192.1/
USER admin
Password admin
Click System
you can change the password to one you want to use
There is also option to reset the router to Factory Reset and also save Details if you want to and restore from saved back up

UPC Horizon Set Top Box trial

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