Horizon update August 2014

former legend

Major Update to the User Interface has just come through.

I can confirm successful deletion of an entire series.

More to follow.

Edit: I signed up for the trial so this may not be available to everyone.

former legend

Ability to skip to next day on tv guide confirmed.

Easy streaming of content from mobile to Horizon via twonky confirmed.

Looking good.

mollser

OK things area bit better. More control scrolling down through the guide- scrolling stops when you release a long press of the button, rather than spinning like a roulette wheel.

Still needs a page down button and a proper now/next view. Anyway a step in the right direction.

mfceiling

Still shít compared to Sky.

3 button presses to get to the TV guide. Writing so small you need binoculars to read it. No red button. Constant button presses for the simplest task. Half the time when you press a button nothing happens.

I've pretty much stopped watching TV now because of it.

former legend

mfceiling wrote: »

3 button presses to get to the TV guide.

Look at your remote. See the button that says "guide"? Give it a push.

L1011

Did you use the application form on their website to 'trial' the update or not?

I could just go downstairs and check mine but I'm upstairs with the now rock solid by comparison Thomson mediabox and don't want to

former legend

MYOB wrote: »

Did you use the application form on their website to 'trial' the update or not?

I could just go downstairs and check mine but I'm upstairs with the now rock solid by comparison Thomson mediabox and don't want to

Yeah, should have said I signed up for the latest trial.

mfceiling

former legend wrote: »

Look at your remote. See the button that says "guide"? Give it a push.

From the "menu" button it's 3 presses.

Press guide to get the channels - press it again to leave the guide - what happens.....nothing.

To be honest the buttons are so small on the remote it is next to impossible to find the one you need quickly. The remote is nowhere near as intuitive as the Sky remote. I never used anything that needs as many button presses to perform a simple task.

The TV barely is used in our house now because of Horizon. I asked on the UPC thread as to why the menu kept whizzing round when i stopped pressing the down button - the answer - do you want the older box? Seriously - the one we had was 3 weeks old. Imagine any service provider offering you their old model because the new one (which you had signed up for) didn't work properly.

coylemj

former legend wrote: »

Yeah, should have said I signed up for the latest trial.

Do you have to wait to be asked or is there an option on the UPC website where you can ask to be included?

L1011

Option was there last week, needed the account # and by the time I got home to find that, it had closed.

coylemj

And nobody thought to create a thread to alert other boardsies so we could get in before the great unwashed?

Cheers folks. Not you MYOB, I mean people who had already signed up.

Davy

coylemj wrote: »

And nobody thought to create a thread to alert other boardsies so we could get in before the great unwashed?

Cheers folks. Not you MYOB, I mean people who had already signed up.

I dont think you could sign up unless previously on the original trial, and if you were you would have got an email.

It was posted here:> http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=91507124&postcount=342

coylemj

Davy wrote: »

I dont think you could sign up unless previously on the original trial, and if you were you would have got an email.

Not true, I was on the original trial and heard nothing about this upgrade. The fact that I told them I was seriously underwhelmed by the last s/w upgrade might have been why they didn't bother offering me a preview of this one.

Davy wrote: »

It was posted here:> http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=91507124&postcount=342

I suggested that a new thread would have been appropriate, that thread has >300 posts.

Heisenberg1

I was on the original Horizon trial and I was asked to participate in this trial. It's a lot smoother and quicker browsing the UI no lag between selections. Delete series was a must feature overall very happy so far.

pad199207

Anybody else's youtube app not working on the Horizon?

patrickc

pad199207 wrote: »

Anybody else's youtube app not working on the Horizon?

mine and it hasn't for 4/5 days now.

have rang them they say its something their end they're working on.

i was on original try re new update and was not offered it this time

pippip

I wasn't on the original trial but got asked for this one. Only got horizon about 4 months ago. Will test over the weekend.

Peppa Pig

I wasn't on the original trial but am on this one. Adding a series delete and getting rid of that delete everything option is a simple but huge difference.
Again, move forward a day is so simple but makes such a difference.

Even the whole UI seems to be a bit faster.

One thing I cannot figure out yet is the favourites channels. I can set them up but cannot figure how to scroll through the guide just with these.
The mail says

You can now choose to only view your favourite channels when you open your TV Guide by selecting ‘Favourites Mode’ in the settings menu.
You can add or remove channels as you wish and you can even choose the order of preference in which they appear. If you want to return to normal view, all you have to do is ‘Disable Favourite Mode’ in the same menu.

I don't appear to have a favourites mode option.

Anyone else see this?

pippip

It seems be able to delete a whole series faster than it could do a single episode before. Impressed on that. Also that in the recordings it tells you the series in the name, much better.

Wabbit Ears

Peppa Pig wrote: »

I don't appear to have a favourites mode option.

Anyone else see this?

What Ive figured out so far:

On Any channel press Ok and in there you can enter and exit favorites mode.

Favorites are no longer listed in the guide below channell 100 but now just have a star beside them in the normal guide.

You can re-index the numbers of the favorites in settings>preferences>Favorite channels

Typing in the favorite channels number of the channel will jump to that channel normally but typing in the full 3 digit number will exit favorites mode, even if that 3 digit number is one of your favorites. A bit annoying at first but I dont notice it now once I figured that out.

Its to easy, however, to exit favorites mode by accident and I generally run with it in that mode all the time now, tis a minor gripe though.

Peppa Pig

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

On Any channel press Ok and in there you can enter and exit favourites mode.

Yeah, I see that now - works well. Mind you, it still takes seven button presses to change from one to the other in the guide.

Surely it would make sense to utilise the colour buttons on the reverse of the remote

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

Favorites are no longer listed in the guide below channell 100 but now just have a star beside them in the normal guide.

Never realised that - I always wondered why there were channels listed below 100 :eek:

SpaceTime

mfceiling wrote: »

Still shít compared to Sky.

3 button presses to get to the TV guide. Writing so small you need binoculars to read it. No red button. Constant button presses for the simplest task. Half the time when you press a button nothing happens.

I've pretty much stopped watching TV now because of it.

Sky's gone to krud in recent updates. Their On Demand menus are absolutely baffling at times. I 'rented' a movie and it disappeared immediately after watching a few mins of it. Never showed up in the planner. They've also now added a 'feature' where hitting backup lands you in the menu system.

Their search functions make no sense either.
In general set top box interfaces are pretty awful.

Wabbit Ears

I have a SKY HD box as well as a horizon ( also have an e-vision box). The sky box really isnt all that great, its a 10 year +old design with a badly implemented on demand feature with a limited catalogue, Its slow and clunky. What it has going for it is its simple and intuitive, but thats really it. The horizons picture quaity is much better, channel changes just using channel up/down is much faster then the sky box which, now I use favorites mode most of the time, its wiping the floor with the sky box in this regard.

jack presley

How do I set which channel is on when I switch on? I had it set to a channel before I got this update but it's not happening anymore and I can't find the setting to do it again.

I think the fast forward by day is a great addition but I'm still getting used to the favourites.

coylemj

jack presley wrote: »

How do I set which channel is on when I switch on? I had it set to a channel before I got this update but it's not happening anymore and I can't find the setting to do it again.

This is on the old s/w ....

Settings/Preferences/General/Start Channel

The tax man

mfceiling wrote: »

From the "menu" button it's 3 presses.

Press guide to get the channels - press it again to leave the guide - what happens.....nothing.

Where does it say pressing the "guide" button will exit you from the guide?

The TV button(above info button) will get you out of any on screen data and straight back to the TV pictures. That's two button presses to enter and exit the guide. You're just doing it wrong.

jack presley

coylemj wrote: »

This is on the old s/w ....

Settings/Preferences/General/Start Channel

That option seems to be gone unfortunately

mfceiling

The tax man wrote: »

Where does it say pressing the "guide" button will exit you from the guide?

The TV button(above info button) will get you out of any on screen data and straight back to the TV pictures. That's two button presses to enter and exit the guide. You're just doing it wrong.

Yeah...on the sky remote it really is so easy...press your button and you go back again. One or two presses to do anything...UPC have the most ridiculously stupid remote...numerous button presses for simple tasks, buttons so small you would need a pencil to press them and it seemed that the designer got paid per button he could squeeze on to the remote...

@mfceiling

@mfceiling

Did you join this discussion only to complain, if you really hate UPC's service that much then why don't you cancel and go back to Sky. Problem solved

jack presley

That favourites are deactivated every time you type in a number is a pain.

mfceiling

Deleted User wrote: »

@mfceiling

Did you join this discussion only to complain, if you really hate UPC's service that much then why don't you cancel and go back to Sky. Problem solved

Can't - moved into a new house and the management company won't allow satellite dishes. I'm waiting to hear back from them about this ruling. Pretty much stopped watching television because of it.....so many problems with this box and we've had it about 5 or 6 weeks now. I had Sky for about 4 years and never had a single ounce of trouble with it. A remote that was easy to use and every recording started and stopped and recorded perfect.

former legend

mfceiling wrote: »

Can't - moved into a new house and the management company won't allow satellite dishes. I'm waiting to hear back from them about this ruling. Pretty much stopped watching television because of it.....so many problems with this box and we've had it about 5 or 6 weeks now. I had Sky for about 4 years and never had a single ounce of trouble with it. A remote that was easy to use and every recording started and stopped and recorded perfect.

And what has any of that to do with the latest software update? Are you on the trial?

mfceiling

former legend wrote: »

And what has any of that to do with the latest software update? Are you on the trial?

No, no trial. Last night the wife sat down to watch tv, pressed down on the remote and off it went haywire, just flying past all the channels...she turned it off and watched a dvd.

I don't see what a software update will do to help the ease of use of the horizon system. I can still only see what is on now and next - is this going to be looked at? I've no red button for the extras on the bbc - will this be looked at? There's no page up/page down function -will this be looked at? When I press guide it goes to the channel i'm on and never back to the top - will this be looked at?

I know you seem to like Horizon former, but I came to it from Sky and find it to be a totally inferior product.

Wabbit Ears

The older D4A box works very like a sky box and with recent updates to some of the models, its about on par performance wise. Id suggest you just downgrade to one of these HD DVR's.

former legend

My point is that this is totally off topic. This is supposed to be about the software update, which is performing flawlessly for me after 4 or 5 days.

mfceiling

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

The older D4A box works very like a sky box and with recent updates to some of the models, its about on par performance wise. Id suggest you just downgrade to one of these HD DVR's.

This is what the rep on the UPC told me. The reason the wife signed up for Horizon was she was told on the phone about how superior this product was to Sky and that it literally would blow the competition out of the water. We can't even get internet access from the box if we move to our kitchen!!

coylemj

mfceiling wrote: »

This is what the rep on the UPC told me. The reason the wife signed up for Horizon was she was told on the phone about how superior this product was to Sky and that it literally would blow the competition out of the water. We can't even get internet access from the box if we move to our kitchen!!

This is why UPC don't give a sh1t about what we on boards think about the box. Prospective customers believe everything they are told by the salespeople on the phone and don't do any research like read what people here are saying about it.

Not saying I think Horizon is crap but I do resent the way it was pushed out into the market as the saviour of the world when clearly UPC must have known about the loss of function (no series delete) and slow response times.

They told me last October that series delete was a 'planned product improvement' for the first half of 2014. Again this shows how UPC care more about marketing than they do for their customers. They drop an essential function when they launch a new box, it takes them a year to restore it and they call it a 'product improvement'

former legend

Software update Software update Software update Software update

There are plenty of other threads in which general Horizon updates are being discussed.

onform

Was away for a few days, so only using the horizon box with the firmware upgrade today. Series delete works fine. Favourites mode seems to be an improvement. Jumping by a day in the guide works well.

Overall the box seems to be a bit more responsive.

The settings layout has been changed quite a bit also
eg the amount of disk space remaining is now in settings/diagnostics. Delete everything is now only available in settings /horizon tv hd+ box, much safer!

I think this firmware upgrade has made a big improvement in the usability of the box. TBH I know people have had problems with the box, not disputing that, but for us the box works well(No issues with WiFi coverage etc.)

assasins creed

they removed the option to change the wifi settings through the horizon box[ which I found very handy] has to be done online now which is a bit of a pain

Eamo71

former legend wrote: »

Ability to skip to next day on tv guide confirmed.

Easy streaming of content from mobile to Horizon via twonky confirmed.

Looking good.

Is streaming being addressed on this update? Because I'm finding it v poor streaming from PC to STB via twonky etc...it's rock solid through my PS3 but v unstable through the Horizon STB. It also doesn't format the video properly...

former legend

Email survey on the new update has gone out to trial participants so hopefully if the feedback is good (mine was), then it will be rolled out to everyone shortly.

FloatingVoter

former legend wrote: »

Email survey on the new update has gone out to trial participants so hopefully if the feedback is good (mine was), then it will be rolled out to everyone shortly.

Mine was positive too. The delete series option was a winner. Hopefully now we'll get the €25 off. For a free month I'll write UPC a love sonnet.

jack presley

FloatingVoter wrote: »

Mine was positive too. The delete series option was a winner. Hopefully now we'll get the €25 off. For a free month I'll write UPC a love sonnet.

Did you have any comments about the favourites mode? I think it is ridiculous that it disables when you type in a channel number and you then have to re-enable. My only other negative comment was to do with the fact that the start channel option seems to be gone.

When do we find out if we were in the first 100 to get the €25 credit?

FloatingVoter

jack presley wrote: »

Did you have any comments about the favourites mode? I think it is ridiculous that it disables when you type in a channel number and you then have to re-enable. My only other negative comment was to do with the fact that the start channel option seems to be gone.

When do we find out if we were in the first 100 to get the €25 credit?

I don't use the favourites option. Never did. I'm pretty unpredictable when it comes to what I watch so thats not a UPC fault. The delete series was a big plus for me. Any improvements in the Guide are good.
I did suggest they need to tidy up the apps section (YouTube is a nightmare) and introduce some sort of BBC player option. One is technical and doable, and the other is licensing which I understand.

As for the €25, they'll notify the "winners" on the 15th...ie. Friday.

paulboland

Horizon Go app has been updated for the iPhone

It now works fully with Horizon trial Firmware update
Remote Control and push to TV now working ok

pauleoin

jack presley wrote: »

Did you have any comments about the favourites mode? I think it is ridiculous that it disables when you type in a channel number and you then have to re-enable. My only other negative comment was to do with the fact that the start channel option seems to be gone.

When do we find out if we were in the first 100 to get the €25 credit?

If you only type in the favorite number ie: 1 for your first favorite, 2 for your second and so on instead of the UPC channel numbers it will change to the selected channel with out leaving the favourites mode.

former legend

paulboland wrote: »

Horizon Go app has been updated for the iPhone

It now works fully with Horizon trial Firmware update
Remote Control and push to TV now working ok

They've released an update to Android as well, I'll check it this evening.

jack presley

pauleoin wrote: »

If you only type in the favorite number ie: 1 for your first favorite, 2 for your second and so on instead of the UPC channel numbers it will change to the selected channel with out leaving the favourites mode.

That's good to know, thanks. Still doesn't solve it if you want to go to a channel not on your favourites though.

Eamo71

paulboland wrote: »

Horizon Go app has been updated for the iPhone

It now works fully with Horizon trial Firmware update
Remote Control and push to TV now working ok

The new Go app is generally a decent improvement on previous iterations IMO works much better, more responsive...to date anyway...

former legend

former legend wrote: »

They've released an update to Android as well, I'll check it this evening.

Yep Android app is fully functional again.