New and Improved TV Service - 20th Sept ??

bob11

Hi there,

I just received a letter from UPC saying that there will be a network upgrade happening on Thursday 20th September to give me access to some "exciting new enhancements" .

I will need to re-schedule any series linked recordings as a result, so I presume that this is new firmware / sw being rolled out to the Box.

Has anyone any ideas what are the exciting new enhancement ??

I am in D6 and already in triple-play area with HD, ON-Demand etc ..

Cheers,

Bob

shane.

got the same letter in d12 and we currently dont have on demand, as usual upc's communication is more cryptic than a dan brown novel! please sky bring broadband soon so i can get away from upc........

Eamo71

shane. wrote: »

got the same letter in d12 and we currently dont have on demand, as usual upc's communication is more cryptic than a dan brown novel! please sky bring broadband soon so i can get away from upc........

Sky has (or is introducing) broadband but it's third party through BT thus piggybacking on Eircom. in other words it's Sh*te.
On the new announcement. I wonder is it preparatory work for Horizon?

0ph0rce0

My box is doing some update now ????? 70% N LOADING on The Screen

0ph0rce0

Box updated::

Only change i see is that crap oireachtas tv moved to 207

devnull

My box updated as well but the oireachtas TV was moved before then.

After the box updated I had all the following problems.
- Disabled on demand for the box, with the usual message about not being available in my area.
- Rendered the guide useless, pressing guide gives a blank blue overlay
- Picture break-up on HD channels if pausing and resuming
- Very bad response to remote, press buttons and then don't register for a few minutes only to execute all at once.

I reset the box by a factory reset and it worked fine, not that I should have to do that.

coylemj

I'm on the southside with no availability of On-Demand, phone or HD, got the same letter.

The letter says to go to www.upc.ie and enter your e-mail address (in the 'enter your email address' section the letter says) but I can't see any such section. Is this so that I will be informed about future updates or am I supposed to get more details today about the new services coming on Thu 20th if I enter my e-mail address?

shane.

Eamo71 wrote: »

Sky has (or is introducing) broadband but it's third party through BT thus piggybacking on Eircom. in other words it's Sh*te.
On the new announcement. I wonder is it preparatory work for Horizon?

,

ye but for me a better tv service is more important than broadband and having two separate providers is just to expensive

Eamo71

shane. wrote: »

,

ye but for me a better tv service is more important than broadband and having two separate providers is just to expensive

What's your main gripe on the TV service? Is it the box and EPG? If so this url]http://www.upc.nl/horizon/#intcmp=promo1_horizon[/url is on the way in Q1 next year and is up and running in the Netherlands. Check out the vid.

shane.

Eamo71 wrote: »

What's your main gripe on the TV service? Is it the box and EPG? If so this url]http://www.upc.nl/horizon/#intcmp=promo1_horizon[/url is on the way in Q1 next year and is up and running in the Netherlands. Check out the vid.

its mainly the box and the epg and the whole slowness of the bloody thing!, also the fact that i still dont have on demand, i still dont beleive horizon will be out in q1 either

Cushie Butterfield

coylemj wrote: »

I'm on the southside with no availability of On-Demand, phone or HD, got the same letter.

The letter says to go to www.upc.ie and enter your e-mail address (in the 'enter your email address' section the letter says) but I can't see any such section.

On the bottom right hand side of the homepage, underneath Quick Links & Home Phone:
Sign up to receive UPC offers

Full Name:


Email Address:
Sign up today to receive the latest updates & promotional offers from UPC

coylemj

Cushie Butterfield wrote: »

On the bottom right hand side of the homepage, underneath Quick Links & Home Phone:
Sign up to receive UPC offers

Full Name:


Email Address:
Sign up today to receive the latest updates & promotional offers from UPC

That link is to sign up for circulars and promos, not to receive personalized information on the upcoming network services. I'm already signed up to UPC, they have my e-mail address.

vin.f

From the horses mouth!





Series Link Reset

What is the Series Link Reset?



Series Link Reset

A Digital TV network upgrade will take place on Thursday 20 September, which will enable us to provide exciting future enhancements to our TV service.

What will I have to do?

If you have our Digital+ or HD service you will need to reset any Series Linked shows that you have programmed to record on your box, on or after Thursday 20 September.

You will receive a letter in the post from Monday 17 Sept with instructions for resetting your planned recordings.
Note:

• Recordings made before September 20 are not affected. These will still be available to view in "My Recordings".
• Any 'single' planned recordings (not series linked) are not affected. These will record as normal.

As part of this upgrade, the Series Link feature will be enhanced:

• When you select "All Episodes" to record a series, ONLY episodes from the season you select will be recorded.
• If there are 2 programmes clashing at the same time, your Digital+ box will try to find the episode on another channel - to make sure that you can record everything you want.

You can reset your series linked programmes by following these few simple steps:

1. Go to 'My Planner'.
2. Make note of any planned Series Linked recordings and then delete them from 'My Planner'.
3. Go to your TV Guide, find the programmes you had chosen to record and set up your series recordings again.

It is important that you reset your planned series links, if not your recordings will not work after 20th September.

The programme name will still show in "My Planner" but the show will not record so it is important that all existing series links are deleted and set up again.

You should reset your recordings on or after Thursday 20th September (but not before the 20th).
For more information on receiving future updates and promotions click here.

0ph0rce0

vin.f wrote: »

From the horses mouth!





Series Link Reset

What is the Series Link Reset?



Series Link Reset

A Digital TV network upgrade will take place on Thursday 20 September, which will enable us to provide exciting future enhancements to our TV service.

What will I have to do?

If you have our Digital+ or HD service you will need to reset any Series Linked shows that you have programmed to record on your box, on or after Thursday 20 September.

You will receive a letter in the post from Monday 17 Sept with instructions for resetting your planned recordings.
Note:

• Recordings made before September 20 are not affected. These will still be available to view in "My Recordings".
• Any 'single' planned recordings (not series linked) are not affected. These will record as normal.

As part of this upgrade, the Series Link feature will be enhanced:

• When you select "All Episodes" to record a series, ONLY episodes from the season you select will be recorded.
• If there are 2 programmes clashing at the same time, your Digital+ box will try to find the episode on another channel - to make sure that you can record everything you want.

You can reset your series linked programmes by following these few simple steps:

1. Go to 'My Planner'.
2. Make note of any planned Series Linked recordings and then delete them from 'My Planner'.
3. Go to your TV Guide, find the programmes you had chosen to record and set up your series recordings again.

It is important that you reset your planned series links, if not your recordings will not work after 20th September.

The programme name will still show in "My Planner" but the show will not record so it is important that all existing series links are deleted and set up again.

You should reset your recordings on or after Thursday 20th September (but not before the 20th).
For more information on receiving future updates and promotions click here.

That it? :rolleyes:

vin.f

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

That it? :rolleyes:

Would appear so, yeah. Was hopping for 50meg broadband at no extra cost with a lifetime subscription to sky movies

0ph0rce0

vin.f wrote: »

Would appear so, yeah. Was hopping for 50meg broadband at no extra cost with a lifetime subscription to sky movies

Same as myself, with sports too and in HD

bob11

0ph0rce0 wrote: »

That it? :rolleyes:

I think the Series Link reset is just a consequence due to the new release of Firmware or Software to the Box.
This doesn't tell us anything about the new functionality that will be available

Irish Kev

Same letter here in D11, all ready have HD & on demand etc

MeTV

vin.f wrote: »

When you select "All Episodes" to record a series, ONLY episodes from the season you select will be recorded.

Aw, man, that's going to suck royally - some channels are airing 2 or more seasons of show I have recording (e.g., Dexter & Leverage on FX).

Does anyone know how to check when this update has been applied so we can reset our recordings?

Laird

Happening tomorrow 20th

Stokolan

Irish Kev wrote: »

Same letter here in D11, all ready have HD & on demand etc

Same here in waterford.

icdg

MeTV wrote: »

Aw, man, that's going to suck royally - some channels are airing 2 or more seasons of show I have recording (e.g., Dexter & Leverage on FX).

Actually for me its a big plus - the fact that it didn't discriminate between series made it impossible to series link most shows on E4 (which tends to have multiple series being repeated at the same time as airing first runs).

Ben D Bus

MeTV wrote: »

Aw, man, that's going to suck royally - some channels are airing 2 or more seasons of show I have recording (e.g., Dexter & Leverage on FX).

Can you not series link each season separately?

Hugh Cream

Eamo71 wrote: »

Sky has (or is introducing) broadband but it's third party through BT thus piggybacking on Eircom. in other words it's Sh*te.
On the new announcement. I wonder is it preparatory work for Horizon?

ha ha its sh*te even though its not out yet.

grindle

Hugh Cream wrote: »

ha ha its sh*te even though its not out yet.

Sky does a deal with BT who buy from Eircom. Yeah. Shite.

Do Eircom provide good broadband? Nope.

Can anybody buying a product that is ultimately being provided by Eircom expect good broadband? Nope.

MeTV

Ben D Bus wrote: »

Can you not series link each season separately?

I can, but the point I was making was I could, for example, put Dexter on to record once, knowing it was going to pick up seasons 4-7 as and when they aired. Now I have to keep an eye out for the individual seasons starting and have 4 separate recordings. Deleting episodes from seasons 1-3 from the my planner or recordings was a lot less hassle, although, as mentioned above, E4 was a nightmare, sometimes airing up to 4 different seasons of one show in different timeslots when all I wanted to record was the latest season. If they gave us 3 options - individual episode, individual season & entire show - when adding a recording that would solve all the problems.

0ph0rce0

So any diffeernce in the TV yet? Or is there anything coming at all?

podgeandrodge

MeTV wrote: »

I can, but the point I was making was I could, for example, put Dexter on to record once, knowing it was going to pick up seasons 4-7 as and when they aired. Now I have to keep an eye out for the individual seasons starting and have 4 separate recordings. Deleting episodes from seasons 1-3 from the my planner or recordings was a lot less hassle, although, as mentioned above, E4 was a nightmare, sometimes airing up to 4 different seasons of one show in different timeslots when all I wanted to record was the latest season. If they gave us 3 options - individual episode, individual season & entire show - when adding a recording that would solve all the problems.

Exactly. My wife had some series set and when new seasons came along they automatically recorded. Now what?

Eamo71

MeTV wrote: »

Ben D Bus wrote: »

Can you not series link each season separately?

I can, but the point I was making was I could, for example, put Dexter on to record once, knowing it was going to pick up seasons 4-7 as and when they aired. Now I have to keep an eye out for the individual seasons starting and have 4 separate recordings. Deleting episodes from seasons 1-3 from the my planner or recordings was a lot less hassle, although, as mentioned above, E4 was a nightmare, sometimes airing up to 4 different seasons of one show in different timeslots when all I wanted to record was the latest season. If they gave us 3 options - individual episode, individual season & entire show - when adding a recording that would solve all the problems.

My series link never picked up the new season. So when there was a break of time between each series I'd have to relink the new one.

Tarquin1970

grindle wrote: »

Sky does a deal with BT who buy from Eircom. Yeah. Shite.

Do Eircom provide good broadband? Nope.

Can anybody buying a product that is ultimately being provided by Eircom expect good broadband? Nope.

It's off topic but have a read of this....
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=80246834

grindle

Tarquin1970 wrote: »

It's off topic but have a read of this....
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=80246834

Ooh la la, I stand corrected. 400mbps. *swoon*

Back on topic, why don't they tell us what the exciting enhancements are?
The current box can't even handle the software it's currently running...
Are they going to strip it back completely, or lump more features onto the already crippled OS?
Why not just tell people?

shane.

grindle wrote: »

Ooh la la, I stand corrected. 400mbps. *swoon*

Back on topic, why don't they tell us what the exciting enhancements are?
The current box can't even handle the software it's currently running...
Are they going to strip it back completely, or lump more features onto the already crippled OS?
Why not just tell people?

why not just tell people?............because "nobody does tv like upc" apparently!

kippy

Got this letter today.
It does annoy me that there is no "changelog" with the letter but I suppose most people don't really care knowing what the changes are.

acquiescefc

so did anything happen, my on demand still doesnt work and my old planner is still there.

0ph0rce0

acquiescefc wrote: »

so did anything happen, my on demand still doesnt work and my old planner is still there.

Nout :rolleyes:

coylemj

acquiescefc wrote: »

so did anything happen, my on demand still doesnt work and my old planner is still there.

No but you need to manually delete the series that you've programmed to record (one-off recordings are ok) and reprogram them. I thought the s/w upgrade was going to delete them from 'My TV Planner' but on reading the letter again it appears that you have to delete them yourself. It says that they will still be there but will not record.

If you've no series being recorded this evening, I'd leave it until tomorrow. The lack of detail in UPC's communication means that we don't know if the upgrade is going though early or late on Sept. 20th so it could be tonight.

I still don't have On-Demand, I've PM'ed UPC:Reps as instructed on the 'Talk To UPC' forum but haven't hear a dickie bird.

shane.

coylemj wrote: »

No but you need to manually delete the series that you've programmed to record (one-off recordings are ok) and reprogram them. I thought the s/w upgrade was going to delete them from 'My TV Planner' but on reading the letter again it appears that you have to delete them yourself. It says that they will still be there but will not record.

If you've no series being recorded this evening, I'd leave it until tomorrow. The lack of detail in UPC's communication means that we don't know if the upgrade is going though early or late on Sept. 20th so it could be tonight.

I still don't have On-Demand, I've PM'ed UPC:Reps as instructed on the 'Talk To UPC' forum but haven't hear a dickie bird.

i switched the box off at the back for a couple of minutes and it deleted the tv planner, enquired from the rep about on demand and still no idea of a date

acquiescefc

coylemj wrote: »

No but you need to manually delete the series that you've programmed to record (one-off recordings are ok) and reprogram them. I thought the s/w upgrade was going to delete them from 'My TV Planner' but on reading the letter again it appears that you have to delete them yourself. It says that they will still be there but will not record.

If you've no series being recorded this evening, I'd leave it until tomorrow. The lack of detail in UPC's communication means that we don't know if the upgrade is going though early or late on Sept. 20th so it could be tonight.

I still don't have On-Demand, I've PM'ed UPC:Reps as instructed on the 'Talk To UPC' forum but haven't hear a dickie bird.

Thanks i read the letter and understand theyll be gone, im not too arsed. my box has already died once and i lost everything so assume itll happen again soon.
my on demand recently upgraded from the stage of being able to see nothing at all to now recently be able to see all the choices and then when i try to play something it tells me its not available yet. which is nice.
was hoping the 20th sept meant during business hours in the day when it was off. Assume now its not going to happen at all.

testarossa40

Re the Sept 20 letters regarding Series Linking updates, this explains all.

As part of this upgrade, the Series Link feature will be enhanced:

• When you select "All Episodes" to record a series, ONLY episodes from the season you select will be recorded.
• If there are 2 programmes clashing at the same time, your Digital+ box will try to find the episode on another channel - to make sure that you can record everything you want.

You do need to delete and recreate all your existing Series linked recordings asap and old ones stop working from today.

However, as I have posted here, as ever there is a price to be paid:

As often occurs with anything "New", Improved", or "Fantastic" announced by UPC there's a price to be paid. 1 major & 1 minor regression bug detected thus far:

1. Major bug: Episode/Series number info "tab" no longer available when viewing "Info" about a program in the Guide EPG. Frankly it is a major pain not being able to determine what series or episode number an upcoming show is especially now that the SL update differentiates between different series - so THANKS UPC, what you gave with one hand you've most certainly taken away with the other...
2. Minor: the "HD" text of HD channel names in the Guide/Now & Next EPGs are no longer highlighted in dark blue as before. Not such a dig in the nuts as the last one - just that it's now unnecessarily harder to identify the HD channels at a glance - especially those with long names - when scrolling through the EPGs.

fergiesfolly

If I didn't delete the programmes from My TV Planner, does this happen automatically, or will the box just not update?

Hugh Cream

grindle wrote: »

Sky does a deal with BT who buy from Eircom. Yeah. Shite.

Do Eircom provide good broadband? Nope.

Can anybody buying a product that is ultimately being provided by Eircom expect good broadband? Nope.

not on eircom, the adverts alone would have me avoiding signing up with them.
but in what way are they sh*t, i look on the website and i see their top package is 24mb, by no means any where near what upc are providing but when did 24mb become sh*t, unless im missing something?

btw explanation appreciated : Sky does a deal with BT who buy from Eircom ?

grindle

Hugh Cream wrote: »

not on eircom, the adverts alone would have me avoiding signing up with them.
but in what way are they sh*t, i look on the website and i see their top package is 24mb, by no means any where near what upc are providing but when did 24mb become sh*t, unless im missing something?

24mb for €55 euro is shit enough for the first six months, then it becomes €60, which makes it more shit, then line rental of €25 for not wanting a phone.
UPC offer 100mb for €49, 150mb for €59 with an extra €7.50 for not wanting a bundle.

There isn't a plausible explanation for why somebody would think Eircom aren't shit.
If I walked into a shop and saw a 500ml bottle of Coca Cola for €4, I'd think "Well, this is shit."
If you don't see why, then yes, you're missing something.

It's not like UPC are undercharging for their broadband, they're making mountains of cash for a reason. Their service is atrocious, but their broadband package is, in this country, exemplary.

Eircom are over-overcharging for their broadband to pay the legacy costs of employing too many people a hyper-inflated wage they didn't earn or deserve from a time when there was little to no competition.

Hugh Cream wrote: »

btw explanation appreciated : Sky does a deal with BT who buy from Eircom ?

I was wrong about this and already admitted that.

I thought Sky and BT were just doing what Vodafone do by sub-leasing Eircom (and BT! As I've found out! Which you'd have found out! If you'd read that I found it out!) BB to people.

bronn

Oh for... flip sake. The "new & improved" TV service means my On Demand doesn't work any more. I can get the On Demand menu, it knows what I watched before, but now keeps saying for every choice "this programme is currently unavailable". Maybe it's a hitch and it'll all be magically fixed my tomorrow. I just hope this isn't another "upgrade" from UPC like the last one which removed the dual record feature.

ETA : Never mind - fixed it. I again plugged the box out for a few minutes and started it up (still no joy). Then I did a factory reset (nope). So I plugged it out again and left it for another while. That seemed to work. Just got to set up favourites and lock out a few channels again.

Morf

I now have an On Demand channel on 119 i think.

That and my series link now indicates which series.

zg3409

Hugh Cream wrote: »

not on eircom, ... when did 24mb become sh*t, [/B]

It is "up to". In reality most people will get 8Mb and many far less. I can "see" the exchange and get 19Mb so you would need to be next door to an exchange to get 24Mb. Also the upload speed is important for sending photos, attachments, bittorrent, etc which is probably 1 or 2Mb max.

Have a look at the graph here:
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/articles/adsltips/

For 24Mb on a phone line you would need to be within 100M of the exchange, at 5Km you get 2Mb, so for most rural dwellers they get "up to" 2Mb or less, which assumes your exchange is Adsl2+ at that you are not on an exchange with contention of 48:1 (not next generation).

UPC's network generally you get the speed you pay for more or less. It does slow in the evenings a bit but if they say 50Mb and your computer can handle it and you connect using a cable you probably will get close to 50Mb. Now I don't like UPC's "fibre powered" claim, which it is not, but for the price and speed they are good value for heavy users. Eircom's 24Mb is more of a marketing claim than a service speed.

mccard

Finally I can now series link Match of the Day! Finally, finally, finally. Good job UPC, series link seems to be much improved.

mackersdublin

I've noticed 3 changes since the update

1. As already stated, Series Linking appears different now in My Recordings. For example instead of 101, 201 etc it is now Series 1 Ep 1, Series 2 Ep 1

2. The red button has disappeared from Info TV - no more out of date messages

3. My JVC TV now recognises my HD box much quicker through HDMI when I power it on

All positive but I thought the dummy channels in the 700's would have disappeared. And BBC One HD & Sky Sports 1 titles might have been fixed

paulbok

Had to unplug and reboot the hd box to access the recorded shows today, hadn't tried since the 20th.
Then again, I need to do that every couple of weeks anyway as there is always 'something' not working.