UPC Horizon Set Top Box trial

Synode

ChrisSmets wrote: »

Go figure 2 years into it and they have YET to release an app for the dominant mobile phone OS...

I'd have thought IOS is by far the more dominant market in Ireland.

ChrisSmets

Synode wrote: »

I'd have thought IOS is by far the more dominant market in Ireland.

Couldnt find exact figures for Ireland but worldwide Android has about 55% of the market in hands and iOS about 35% and the rest is badu/BB/WPOS/Nokia's old os.

Synode

Yes but in Ireland I'd say iOS is ahead (probably not for much longer though)

ChrisSmets

Synode wrote: »

Yes but in Ireland I'd say iOS is way ahead

Couple years ago for sure but these days (down here in Cork) I see more and more Samsung mobe's and HTC's... If not now soon our Google Uberlords will dominate the mobe's market...

seanie27

Ok all the recordings set via the app and the web site have worked fine.
Android app on the way sometime during the summer I heard from a poster on this thread... I think. My understanding is that it's easier/quicker to roll out the ios version (particuallry with launch version) first than having to contend with the headache of android's slightly more involved coding or whatever. Not an expert here just repeating what i've read. netherlands, Swiss and german UPC app launch was also on Ios so ireland just following the trend.

goose06

seanie27 wrote: »

Ok all the recordings set via the app and the web site have worked fine.
Android app on the way sometime during the summer I heard from a poster on this thread... I think. My understanding is that it's easier/quicker to roll out the ios version (particuallry with launch version) first than having to contend with the headache of android's slightly more involved coding or whatever. Not an expert here just repeating what i've read. netherlands, Swiss and german UPC app launch was also on Ios so ireland just following the trend.

Iphones have standardised Hardware & OS. Android devices are all different from different companies so it's a hell of a lot harder to Develope & QA apps for android devices

seanie27

goose06 wrote: »

Iphones have standardised Hardware & OS. Android devices are all different from different companies so it's a hell of a lot harder to Develope & QA apps for android devices

Much more eloquently put.

who_me

KenH wrote: »

Not seeing the bugs. You didn't put the card in the back of the box right?

Channel list: Do you mean the guide? That has a button on the remote.

Browse channels: Press Menu and then down/up to get a preview of other channels.

Keyboard has to be facing up and it can be locked (from working) with a button on the same side.

Apps can be brought up for the channel...to show information related to the program you're watching.

Yeah, the UI designers love to press buttons.

I didn't know about pressing up & down in the Menu to preview other channels, thanks! As for the Guide, no I meant just a popup channel list (the HD UPC box didn't have one, older boxes did) which is a lot faster to appear and select from than the Guide.

Oddly enough, most of the issues mentioned no longer occur after the initial day or two. No "can't access hard drive" or problems with the Apps not appearing.

Quite a few new issues I noticed though:
The last two days, the box powered on but with no video or audio. Had to reboot to get them back.
A few freezes, requiring reboots.
Signal breaks up or freezes completely, switching channels always fixes it.
Reminders never work.
Radio channels listed but can't be 'viewed'.
The Daily Motion app is extremely buggy, pretty much unusuable.

I think the main usability thing that I find annoying is exiting out of the menus, it's a little inconsistent:
Hitting the 'Live TV' button exists you out of the menus, except if you're in the Apps section or Channel Menu, then it merely changes channel without exiting the menu.
Hitting 'Back' repeatedly exits you out of the menus, except if you're in the On Demand section where you get stuck in a menu loop.
Hitting 'Back' to get out of the Channel Menu (the menu that appears if you hit Back) often takes you to the Guide rather than back to the TV.

It's a pity there isn't one button that will always take you back to watching the current channel, 100% of the time.

Tazzer

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/upc-plans-major-software-update-for-horizon-box--943374

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/horizon-hit-by-fresh-woes-caused-by-software-update--947166

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/upc-to-offer-customers-alternative-to-horizon-box--938914

All relates to Holland, but wonder is the box the same one that we have.

ChrisSmets

Tazzer wrote: »

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/upc-plans-major-software-update-for-horizon-box--943374

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/horizon-hit-by-fresh-woes-caused-by-software-update--947166

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/upc-to-offer-customers-alternative-to-horizon-box--938914

All relates to Holland, but wonder is the box the same one that we have.

The first link talks about the remote we already have... So maybe we already have the advanced version... Dont know anyone in the Netherlands who i can ask for some pics...

patrickmooney

Anyone else notice new apps appearing including AA/Picasa and Google Maps.

ChrisSmets

might check tonite but tbh i dont really care for the apps

Synode

A Netflix app would be great.

Meesared

Synode wrote: »

A Netflix app would be great.

Would be nice, but it won't happen, would compete with UPC's own On Demand service.

kippy

Meesared wrote: »

Would be nice, but it won't happen, would compete with UPC's own On Demand service.

Would it really?
I don't think it does to be honest.........

One could argue that Youtube does the same.........

Meesared

kippy wrote: »

Would it really?
I don't think it does to be honest.........

One could argue that Youtube does the same.........

YouTube isn't supposed to have full TV shows. That's why its there.

kippy

Meesared wrote: »

YouTube isn't supposed to have full TV shows. That's why its there.

Yeah, but it does......it has tonnes of kids shows as well that are all on their "on demand" menu..........

Netflix is an additional cost per month. (I realise you need a specific subscription for UPC on demand but it is essentially included in the cost). It doesn't in my opinion provide a competitor to UPC as you have essentially paid UPC once you can see the netflix app there. If you want to pay more than that is your problem.

If UPC are that concerned about competing products I would suggest that they would have shown far more imputus in blocking torrents on their networks, than they have had.

I wouldnt be surprised if netflix appeared there at some point.

Meesared

kippy wrote: »

Yeah, but it does......it has tonnes of kids shows as well that are all on their "on demand" menu..........

Netflix is an additional cost per month. (I realise you need a specific subscription for UPC on demand but it is essentially included in the cost). It doesn't in my opinion provide a competitor to UPC as you have essentially paid UPC once you can see the netflix app there. If you want to pay more than that is your problem.

If UPC are that concerned about competing products I would suggest that they would have shown far more imputus in blocking torrents on their networks, than they have had.

I wouldnt be surprised if netflix appeared there at some point.

Still can't see it happening, can't argue it wouldn't be nice though.

ian_mul

Sorry if this has already been discussed but the thread is very long and I don't have time to go through it all.

I've been having issues connecting my Apple devices wirelessly to my MAC mini and also won't allow me to Air Print. Does anyone know of a resolution to this problem or if the horizon box supports Bonjour?

So_Fresh

Is it possible to stream content from netflix on the horizon box?

ChrisSmets

- If you could install a n/f app on it perhaps but as this is not the case nope

who_me

patrickmooney wrote: »

Anyone else notice new apps appearing including AA/Picasa and Google Maps.

Just got my box on Friday, and those apps were there, didn't realise they were new. Picasa works ok, but is fairly buggy. Lots of images appear in the thumbnails, but can't be previewed.

I don't really get the point of the Google Maps app as it is. You can search for your street and thus set your home location; and search for directions. But there's no way - that I could see, of panning around/zooming/street view as you have in the website or mobile apps.

I really like the apps, especially WikiTivia. Quite handy popping that up while watching a movie, if you want to read about it, or missed the beginning. And it looks like more will be added. My only minor qualm is they could make it a bit quicker to get to the apps, as it stands it takes at least 5 button presses to get to any app.

cronolly

ian_mul wrote: »

Sorry if this has already been discussed but the thread is very long and I don't have time to go through it all.

I've been having issues connecting my Apple devices wirelessly to my MAC mini and also won't allow me to Air Print. Does anyone know of a resolution to this problem or if the horizon box supports Bonjour?

I have the same problem. AirPlay printer can't be found by devices anymore. It worked fine on old setup. Not sure if it is supported.

ChrisSmets

the old upc modem didnt support wireless printing...

who_me

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!?!)

JoeyJJ

Last couple of times I used the media player, the box frooze and needed a reboot, right pain in the ass that.

ChrisSmets

ChrisSmets wrote: »

the old upc modem didnt support wireless printing...

I have been using a wireless HP 7200 printer for months with no issues.

paulboland

JoeyJJ wrote: »

Last couple of times I used the media player, the box frooze and needed a reboot, right pain in the ass that.

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

MrVestek

goose06 wrote: »

Iphones have standardised Hardware & OS. Android devices are all different from different companies so it's a hell of a lot harder to Develope & QA apps for android devices

As a former Android dev, this isn't true. The Android OS as of version 4 is quite capable of scaling apps for different devices. Besides all you're doing is implementing basic DRM with streaming, even the lowest end device clocked at 600mhz could achieve that.

paulboland

Horizon wireless 5GHZ
Its disabled
With no option to turn on
Does any UPC Rep know if there are any plans to enable this as its bit of a waste not having this usable
Some customers will have wireless 5ghz on pc built in or from wireless usb dongle
iPhone 5 has both 2.4 and 5 GHZ
Most new wireless have both and would give customer a choice how there devices are wireless connected