NTL software glitch related to TV5

mike65

This has happened before but I forgot to post about it, I was scolling through the NTL Digtal line up and when I reached TV5 (channel 825) everything locked up. And not just the remote, the only way to fix it is to unplug and reboot. Anyone else have this bug effect them?

Mike.

Round Cable

Just tryed it now, no problems.

Aquos76

No problems here either Mike

mike65

I just plugged the box back in and it rebooted without drama, 825 showing without problems as well. Odd.

Mike.

Mr. Presentable

mike65 wrote:

This has happened before but I forgot to post about it, I was scolling through the NTL Digtal line up and when I reached TV5 (channel 825) everything locked up. And not just the remote, the only way to fix it is to unplug and reboot. Anyone else have this bug effect them?

Mike.

Yeah, mine locks up if I try to up channel from TV5. Has done for weeks. Just tested it now. Still does it.

chorus techy

What type of box do you both have? Black, silver or the new ones (purple, I think - can't really remember)?

JohnC.

No problem for me (on this particular issue) on my silver box.

Mr. Presentable

chorus techy wrote:

What type of box do you both have? Black, silver or the new ones (purple, I think - can't really remember)?

Black, about 5 years old.

chorus techy

spannerhead wrote:

Black, about 5 years old.

Call ntl out to check it - it's possible the tuner is faulty and whatever frequency of transport stream TV5 is coming on, the tuner may not be able to handle it. I could be wrong, but since the box is, as you say, 5 years old, this would be the most obvious reason.

Hope this helps

mike65

Mines the PACE black box as well.

Mike.

optiplexgx270

i think the black ones are cheap trash

chorus techy

I'd say it is probably an age fault of some sort. Those boxes were the original ones (if they're that old) and they had a huge amount of overheating problems or "running hot". There was also a weird bug with the EuroNews channel, whereby the sound would drop out for a few seconds after you tuned to the channel, and if you flicked back and forward a bit, it would eventually come back - only to fade out again after about 10 minutes. It could be the tuner on the brink - just give ntl a buzz and they should swop out the box with a newer model (which seem to have "newer" problems :rolleyes:)

DMC

No bother here, black Pace box.

chorus techy

DMC wrote:

No bother here, black Pace box.

Yes, it's probably the "newer" 4010 model you have though, which doesn't seem to have as many "major" problems. I'd imagine mike65 and spannerhead have the original 4000 or 4001 models, which had quite a lot of hardware / software bugs.

mike65

Your're right I've got a 4001 model.

Mike.

chorus techy

mike65 wrote:

Your're right I've got a 4001 model.

Mike.

I'd say your best bet is to get ntl to call out. There is a guy called "cableguy" on this board - he works for ntl, he might be able to give some advice if you don't really want to suffer the hours on the phone to ntl just to get a service call booked

DMC

Is he?

<_<
>_>

Aquos76

yeah, where is cableguy? I carried out a search for him the other night, but his posts seems to be gone missing. Would someone like to explain

The tax man

Yeah I've the Di4001 and it's doing the same as Mikes.
Maybe it's an anti-porn thing in the software cause it won't let me change to 859

chorus techy

The tax man wrote:

Yeah I've the Di4001 and it's doing the same as Mikes.
Maybe it's an anti-porn thing in the software cause it won't let me change to 859

Must be a hardware problem, or unfound software glitch. The 4001 are a little dodg(ier) than most ntl boxes . Eg. if you accidentally pull the cable out of the back, and reboot, then the box displays a message that says it is updating itself! Big stupid but how and ever...

Give ntl a shout and they SHOULD swop out your box for a newer one.

ceejay

I found the same thing started happening to my box (4001 afaik) after I got a Prem+ match. I think that the subscription channels are above TV5, and I think the box may somehow be "remembering" that I had access to Prem+ at one stage, and is trying to display a channel, but then I don't really have access, and it all hangs. Or else it's to do with the software upgrade a while back. Whatever the reason, I used to be able to continue past TV5 into the radio channels, but now I can't.

I really hope that whoever buys NTL sorts out the whole STB thing. I am getting more and more frustrated at the box hanging, being generally unresponsive, not switching to 16:9 for a day or two after I select that setting, etc. etc.

Ciarán.

chorus techy

Well you'll just have to hope and wait! Of course, new software will be the first thing that has to be rolled out after takeover, to remove all the ntl branding, functions, colours etc. etc. and also because ntl hold the copyright to portions of the software. Hopefully, the new software will be decent enough.

But I doubt the service will improve much - not much has happened in the line of improvement's when UPC took over chorus last year :rolleyes:

JohnC.

But if UGC take over NTL Ireland and change the software like you say, couldn't they just use the same software as Chorus, which from what I've read is even worse?

icdg

I'm not sure new software will come that quickly. There may be a (perhaps lenghty) period when the service is still being managed from Langely (until a super-head-end is built, or if it is Chorus' , upgraded) and NTL's software continued to be used. Remember that Chorus uses a completely different platform (Sagdem if I recall), and their current EPG software may not be directly compatabile with the Pace STBs. As I recall NTL uses Liberate, while Chorus uses OpenTV.

What will probably happen is when the company is rebranded, there will be a minor software update which will change the colours to the new company's corporate colours. A full software change will probably wait until the company's software is ported to the Pace STB, and/or the head-end is switched over.

Alun

My wife works for a company which develops the driver part of STB software, i.e. the level below the middleware (OpenTV or Liberate) and the top level user interface stuff. Usually these projects take anything between 6 and 9 months to complete, so I wouldn't hold your breath as regards a new software update any time soon after the takeover. I could say more, but I'd have to kill you afterwards

chorus techy

icdg wrote:

I'm not sure new software will come that quickly. There may be a (perhaps lenghty) period when the service is still being managed from Langely (until a super-head-end is built, or if it is Chorus' , upgraded) and NTL's software continued to be used. Remember that Chorus uses a completely different platform (Sagdem if I recall), and their current EPG software may not be directly compatabile with the Pace STBs. As I recall NTL uses Liberate, while Chorus uses OpenTV.

What will probably happen is when the company is rebranded, there will be a minor software update which will change the colours to the new company's corporate colours. A full software change will probably wait until the company's software is ported to the Pace STB, and/or the head-end is switched over.

Yes, you're correct - ntl use Liberate (which has now gone bust, AFAIK) whereas chorus use OpenTV (same as sky). The Sagem software and NTL software are totally different - Chorus has two different types of STB's anyway - one which uses Rom10 Nagra cards, and the other Rom11 cards. The software for chorus is built to a completely different specification to ntl - ntl is custom made where chorus uses the Sagem software (The original sagem software was rubbish but the new 3rd gen boxes are excellent, with a nice crisp picture, instant channel change and very fast TV guide).

Chances are, UGC will change the software to customize it themselves and that'll be the end of it - no upgrades or nothing :mad:

Chorus software is terrible and all the installers know this - and they get terrible stick over the crapness of it, but it's not just software - the age of both NTL and Chorus network is awful! The bad network causes most of the problems in the first place.

chorus techy

Just to add to the discussion of software problems / box problems - I'm wondering now are ntl now installing the new slim boxes (which Pace do not have as operator specific) because, when ntl pull out of Ireland, they are planning to take all the Pace STB equipment with them, so UPC or whoever the new owners are can have their own equipment? They're not even installing those silver ones anymore AFAIK, which are specifically built for use in Ireland only.

Just a thought!