Freeview HD EPG SLOW

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Wills1

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#68296 18-Sep-2010 16:50

Why is it so damn slow sometimes. I've owned two freeview approved devices and both have been the same. Just wondering why this is.

richms

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#381648 18-Sep-2010 17:25

Sometimes? That doesnt agree with my use of it which is slow all the time.

Blame the decision to use MHEG and not EIT with the box able to cache and use a native interface to show the latter.

Richard rich.ms

Wills1

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#381655 18-Sep-2010 17:58

Yeah fair enough, it is slow all the time. When are they going to damn well fix it!

richms

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#381664 18-Sep-2010 18:43

They cant, thats the nature of pushing an application down to the box when you press the button. Ok for seldom used stuff like the weather channel on sky, not too good for an often used thing like a guide.

Hell, its quicker to open teletext and use that most of the time.

Richard rich.ms

Lurch

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#381669 18-Sep-2010 18:59

Slow, looks really bad, useless layout, sometimes doesn't even load. But other than that a great product :)

sbiddle

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#381765 19-Sep-2010 08:51

Are you meaning the standard guide or the PVR guide?

Wills1

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#381905 19-Sep-2010 15:40

The standard freeview epg

sbiddle

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#381921 19-Sep-2010 16:52

I've only ever used the EPG on TV's and never noticed an issue. Speed probably depends a lot on the speed of the CPU which has to run the MHEG engine.

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richms

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#381938 19-Sep-2010 17:43

Flatmates panasonic often has 5-6 second delays trying to show different channels, takes 10 seconds or so to open from pressing the button on a good day, sometimes getting closer to 20 seconds.

Richard rich.ms

openmedia

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#382111 20-Sep-2010 08:20

A bit hit and miss on my Samsung. It takes the longest if you have just changed channel as it hasn't cached the EPG code.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

Jaxson

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#382138 20-Sep-2010 10:07

I've found the inbuilt TV guides a lot quicker than the standalone boxes I've used. They sometimes do take a while to accept the EPG command and even start loading though.

I actually think the interface design suits the intended target, ie it's very clear and easy to navigate around. Where the whole idea falls over is that they didn't offer EIT data along side. This would have made freeview a lot more appealing to other devices who natively use the EIT standard. ie PlayTV/Windows Media Centre etc.

richms

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#382280 20-Sep-2010 15:00

Ususally when changing channels is when I want the guide to know what else is on because what I have just changed to is not worth watching.

Too few items listed at once IMO, Its clearly designed for people with old small TVs and vision difficulties.

Richard rich.ms

Jaxson

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#382318 20-Sep-2010 15:43

Yeah it offers that second page showing what's on now and next, but not across enough channels. Especially as Prime is in slot 10, away from the main TV 1,2,3 & 4 channels.

Wills1

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#382321 20-Sep-2010 15:51

Jaxson: Yeah it offers that second page showing what's on now and next, but not across enough channels. Especially as Prime is in slot 10, away from the main TV 1,2,3 & 4 channels.

TechnoGuy001

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#383932 24-Sep-2010 09:47

Yeah, I'v used it once or twice, but can't really be bothered waiting for ages so normally just use my iPod Touch with the EyeTV app that then gets the data from EyeTV on my Mac and displays it in a much nicer and responsive UI too.

NZ Freeview EPG is an embarrassment to use, don't know why they even bothered providing it.

I always thought it was my TV making the EPG load so slow, but would make sense that NZ chose the worse standard to use :P

Using a Sony Bravia BTW.

Also +1 on the EPG design, could fit way more program in to one screen.

Jaxson

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#383958 24-Sep-2010 10:33

Was talking to someone else about this the other day. The freeview EPG design looks like it was obviously developed to be clear on a small/older TV. That's fine and I think it achieves that aim well.

However, What I don't get is not offering any alternatives, or EIT data so others can display the data in another way. The universal experience thing just doesn't really make any sense, and basically that EPG design blown up on a 50" HD TV just looks like playschool, a my first EPG thing.

Ideally a second MHEG5 EPG should be developed for HDTV's that you can select from a menu choice of something. That aint going to happen, but many other companies have shown that the same data can be displayed in a much more informative manner.