Vodafone TV - new Gen2 box

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552 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#2485985 18-May-2020 22:43

Thanks @SteveC and @IvanPiacun for your responses/answers.

That answers some of my questions about the Vodafone TV box.

Still waiting to here if there is an ETA for Disney+, ETA for 1.5x playback (not essential), and where I can find a manual online?

Plus has anyone found a particular show they cannot record? (e.g. one of the 10% that vodafone claim cannot be recorded).

rugrat

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#2485990 18-May-2020 22:55

snowfly:

Plus has anyone found a particular show they cannot record? (e.g. one of the 10% that vodafone claim cannot be recorded).

I find it a struggle to find a program I can record, most of the record-able programs are on the paid Sky Channels.

Was very surprised the Ice Age movie on TV3 a few weeks ago was record-able. Did check Disney+ first but couldn't see it there.

That's about the first movie on freeview have seen that can be recorded, haven't checked last couple of weeks.

The saving grace is all of TVNZ can be watched from the last three days on catch up.

SteveC

stevec
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#2486046 19-May-2020 08:11

rugrat:
The saving grace is all of TVNZ can be watched from the last three days on catch up.

Maybe so (haven't had VTV long enough to try often, but we missed recording The Magnificent Seven on Three last Sunday, but we can't watch that on catch up! (Out of stock at JB HiFi - The Warehouse have the original on Blu-Ray, complete with Yul Brynner!)

@snowfly:
Thanks @SteveC and @IvanPiacun for your responses/answers.

That answers some of my questions about the Vodafone TV box.

Still waiting to here if there is an ETA for Disney+, ETA for 1.5x playback (not essential), and where I can find a manual online?

Plus has anyone found a particular show they cannot record? (e.g. one of the 10% that vodafone claim cannot be recorded).

You are welcome! Note - there is no manual for this product! (We wish!)
Something else I forgot to mention is that most things work better on the remote. We have found navigating the onscreen interface terrible. Lack of a 'Guide' button seems to be an issue. I think it was 22 button presses I saw quoted to get to a program from the day before. About four taps on the remoted, then 'Push to TV'.
Big problem with the App is ages it spends spinning circles waiting at various stages.

Yabanize

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#2486105 19-May-2020 10:10

SteveC:

Something else I forgot to mention is that most things work better on the remote. We have found navigating the onscreen interface terrible. Lack of a 'Guide' button seems to be an issue. I think it was 22 button presses I saw quoted to get to a program from the day before. About four taps on the remoted, then 'Push to TV'.
Big problem with the App is ages it spends spinning circles waiting at various stages.

You can use Channel up/down button in the guide to scroll channels quicker, and rewind/fastforward buttons to go to the previous day

SteveC

stevec
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#2486221 19-May-2020 11:35

@Yabanize:
You can use Channel up/down button in the guide to scroll channels quicker, and rewind/fastforward buttons to go to the previous day

So it does! Excellent thanks! Using channel buttons makes sense, but I'm not at all sure how we are supposed to know to use the rewind/fastforward buttons like that.

gmball

578 posts

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#2486261 19-May-2020 12:23

And anyone who is currently using Vodafone for mobile, they are offering the Gen 2 Vodafone Tv units for $99 delivered, click the 'Sweet Times' link in the MyVodafone App.

Samsung

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sansom

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One NZ

#2486269 19-May-2020 12:30

Hi @snowfly, @SteveC, @rugrat and others,

Thanks for the questions, comments and answers over the last few days. In response to those still open:

1. An update on Disney+ availability has to remain an open question sorry.

2. 1.25x and 1.5x playback is a great feature and something that we do plan to have. However, while it's easy to provide this feature on a hard disk DVR, it requires a significant end-to-end rework of the local video platform to achieve this with streams, so it will take a fair amount of development.

3. As @SteveC has noted, there are parental controls. These are found in the Vodafone TV settings menu (its the very first option). There you can set the parental PIN, and set it to be required when viewing any content above a selected age rating. You can also block an entire channel which then hides all content listings and images associated with that channel from the UI and also prevents the channel from being selected by any means.

4. Yes. Again, as @SteveC said with improvements ongoing. The bug mentioned occurs when you restart a live programme and fast-forward to the restart point, from that point on you can only use the 20sec skip forward. The bug doesn't affect recordings or programmes that are no longer playing live.

5. Yes, as answered by others thanks. Also, if your TV on/off is turning off your AV via CEC then this should still continue to work if you set up the VTV remote to also control your TV.

6. Yes, the guide lists the all the channels and programmes and shows whether a programme is recordable with the R in a dotted circle icon. The dotted circle changes to a solid circle when you have it set to record. In terms of publishing a list, unfortunately even the rights epg information is copyrighted and so we're only allowed to show it in the guide. If you have a particular show you must record then DM me as we have an internal online tool that I can use to see whether its on 3 day rewind, recordable, or available on TVNZ/ThreeNow on demand etc.

7. There isn't a fixed storage time, but the 90 days is a good guide. Protecting a recording does mean it is kept much longer, but again it isn't forever.

In terms of a printed manual: We have a printed "Quick Start" guide for Vodafone TV that comes in the box. There is also the Vodafone TV "cheat sheet" here : https://community.vodafone.co.nz/t5/Vodafone-TV-SKY/Vodafone-TV-latest-Cheat-Sheet/td-p/228376 For more detailed information you can find help here: https://www.vodafone.co.nz/help/broadband-and-tv/vodafonetv/. Alternatively, an online search will lead you here to the friendly Geekzone community to help.

@SteveC you had a concern that Vodafone TV " is custom built by/for Vodafone. If Vodafone London had a big spat with Vodafone NZ (which is locally owned), then perhaps we could loose localised support for the box". I can assure all that Vodafone NZ has a binding agreement with Vodafone Group for the ongoing support of Vodafone TV in NZ. You can also draw some comfort from the level of investment you can see Vodafone NZ is committing to the promotion of VTV on local TV and in stores all over NZ. (Cliff Curtis isn't cheap!)

Finally, the 90% programmes recordable in the cloud figure is an actual measurement of the the number of programmes in a week that can be recorded divided by the total number of programmes in that same week. Note that this is the aggregate figure across all programmes on all channels, so this is why it may not feel like 90% if you are looking at an individual channel like Bravo where hardly any programmes on that channel are allowed to be recorded. As mentioned by others, if it can't be recorded it's probably because the rights reside elsewhere (eg TVNZ On Demand, Netflix, Amazon Prime) and often it is still available on 3 day rewind.

Hamish

mclean

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#2486286 19-May-2020 12:52

SteveC: ….Something else I forgot to mention is that most things work better on the remote. We have found navigating the onscreen interface terrible. Lack of a 'Guide' button seems to be an issue. I think it was 22 button presses I saw quoted to get to a program from the day before. About four taps on the remoted, then 'Push to TV'.

Incidentally, if you use a Harmony remote with a "Guide" button it does go directly to the guide, even without "teaching" it.

invisibleman18

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#2486330 19-May-2020 13:43

Thanks for that update Sansom. Also wondering, is there any chance of a Spark Sport app at some point? It's the only thing missing for me with currently my only option being to watch that on my phone. I know Chromecast is not a very expensive device, but don't really want to have to buy another device for one service when my VTV and PS4 provide all my other streaming needs. Either a Spark Sport app, or Chromecast functionality like there already is with Youtube would be amazing. Appreciate Spark Sport comes from the competition, but then I suppose so does Lightbox.

sansom

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#2486372 19-May-2020 14:59

Hi @invisibleman18 there's always a chance, but not in the immediate future.

<edit> Yes Lightbox shows there's no issue for us in distributing content from Spark, but note that Lightbox is now owned by Sky.

Hamish

shanes

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#2486375 19-May-2020 15:02

gmball:

And anyone who is currently using Vodafone for mobile, they are offering the Gen 2 Vodafone Tv units for $99 delivered, click the 'Sweet Times' link in the MyVodafone App.

Looks like it may be available to anyone that VF have a contact for, I only have a VTV2 and I have received an email with the $99 offer.

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ukwaimo

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#2487165 20-May-2020 14:35

Is there anyone who uses this VTV on an adsl connection? I know they state you need fibre or vdsl, but we currently stream Netflix and on-demand without a problem, so am I right in assuming that it will also work through the VTV?

mattwnz

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#2487172 20-May-2020 14:42

snowfly:

Plus has anyone found a particular show they cannot record? (e.g. one of the 10% that vodafone claim cannot be recorded).

For some reason 3 news can't be recorded or rewatched

snowfly

552 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 115

#2487216 20-May-2020 15:10

@sansom - Thanks for the responses.

That answers all my questions for now.

The single and only concern I have is the Disney+ support, the other things are ok for now.
As I wouldn't want to get entrenched in using VTV, and later find out no Display+, so need a second device. Especially getting wife/kids approval for "ease of use".

I have seen previous posts about possible chromecast support, e.g. casting from an android/iphone device to the VTV.
Is this feature being worked on? If so, could we use the Disney+ mobile app to 'cast' to the VTV, even if the VTV does not have its own disney+ app?

Just thinking of other options.

mattwnz:

For some reason 3 news can't be recorded or rewatched

Can 3 news be watched via the three ondemand app via VTV?

e.g. say at 8pm in the evening (once kids are in bed), turn on VTV, navigate to Three on demand, and then watch today's news? (that was broadcast at 6pm)

gmball

578 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#2487223 20-May-2020 15:18

ukwaimo:
Is there anyone who uses this VTV on an adsl connection? I know they state you need fibre or vdsl, but we currently stream Netflix and on-demand without a problem, so am I right in assuming that it will also work through the VTV?

Parents use it on a 20mbit rural Uber wireless connection. Streams fine, no buffering. So provided you’ve got unlimited data on adsl, it should be fine.

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