IvanPiacun: Before I bought Vodafone TV Gen2 Retail Box I saw advertising saying 90% of programs can be recorded. This does not appear to be the case as most programs on TV3 and Bravo do not appear to be able to be recorded. At least 50% of the programs I used to record on Sky Freeview channels do not appear to be able to be recorded on these channels. When is this going to change?

90% is the actual figure when measured across all programmes on all channels.  But, yes, you're right, the rights on TV3 and Bravo in particular is less than 90%.   We must respect the rights that Mediaworks provides us and we have been in multiple discussions with them about their level of cloud recording rights, but if you could provide some additional agitation directly to them that wouldn't hurt!  

IvanPiacun:

 

On the Vodafone Gen2 Retail TV box I found that I can't use the Dolby setting if I want the volume key on the remote to work and instead I have to swap to the Stereo setting to control the volume on my Sony Bravia KDL-60EX720 television connected to Sony Blu-Ray Home Theatre system. Is this a bug?

 

Yes - a high priority one for us to fix.  In the meantime you must use the volume control on your Dolby device to control the volume.  Apologies.

Hey @sansom - I've been trying most of the afternoon to get this added to the Logitech Harmony Hub I have controlling everything else without success, it appears the device simply doesn't exist and the generic model of the box doesn't work.

Just to clarify - does this have IR and if so, do you happen to know what would control it?

Aaron2222:

 

More issues to report:

 

• With the main menu open, there's a glitch in the closing animation when exiting to Live TV.
• Pressing the Back button on the remote takes you back to the previous channel, but if you open a menu (i.e. press OK for program info) it forgets the last channel and just takes you to the main menu.
• I personally think the back button should just display a message saying no previous channel instead of opening the menu.
• Using the channel up/down to move through multiple channels has lag in the display of the name of the newly selected channel updating
• When selecting a recorded program, it shows only the episodes that have been recorded (good) and when they were recorded (also good), but when you move up to select the episode (so you can browse through the different recorded episodes), the display changes to when the catch up for that episode expires (which is irrelevant, ads the episode has been flagged as recorded, so catch up expiry date shouldn't be shown anywhere). It does the same when selecting the episode from the TV Guide, shows recording date when play recording is selected, catch up expiry date when watch catch up is selected (why is this even an option for the same channel and time of the recording of it?), but select the episode info-box and it changes to catch up expiry date.
• I had The Chase (evening, before One News) on live rewind, let it play through to the news was on, then rewound. It displayed as playing One News, rewound past the news back to The Chase and the progress bar updated to display progress through the chase as expected, but still displayed One News as the show. Also, why can't we rewind or fast forward through on a catch up to the previous or next show if catch up is supported for it (maybe not for catch up when selected from TV Guide, but when you get there through pausing or rewinding live TV, you should be able to)?
• When starting a recording or catch up, the now playing status overlay sticks round for too long (also, covering the whole screen for this is a bit unnecessary when starting a recording playback).

Thanks @Aaron2222, we'll feed your observations back into the UI development team. 

The good news is one of the key issues you identify above (why can't we rewind or fast forward through on a catch up to the previous or next show) will be fixed with a feature that's called "continuous rewind".  Currently the player is simply playing a video asset served from the CDN and has no knowledge of the shows that were scheduled prior or after the show being played.  Once the asset is played it comes to an end.  The continuous rewind feature will spin up the show prior and post the current show so that the player can then start up that show in a seamless experience. 

stevemnz: Does it support the new Freeview on demand app or do you need to use the individual on demand apps?

No Vodafone TV doesn't support the Freeview on demand app.  Instead, the native Vodafone TV interface offers over 8000 titles of on demand content directly, rather than a mode-switch into a separate app.  VTV also serves all the linear content, 3 day rewind and cloud recordings directly to the box without launching apps.  However, the individual on demand apps from the free-to-air providers are also there in case the programme you want to watch showed more than 3 days prior and you haven't recorded it.

I was pretty excited about this product, given that Sky abandoned their puck. Was planning to cancel Sky - because we use it mainly to access FTA TV via satellite - and get FTA IPTV via VTV.

However after reading this thread I’m not convinced this product is ready for ‘prime time’. Sounds like some recent Dish products that were released only half-baked. I really do want to believe in it but not sure I can.

michaelmurfy:

 

Hey @sansom - I've been trying most of the afternoon to get this added to the Logitech Harmony Hub I have controlling everything else without success, it appears the device simply doesn't exist and the generic model of the box doesn't work.

 

Just to clarify - does this have IR and if so, do you happen to know what would control it?

 

Hi, it does support IR.  This Sagemcom box for Vodafone is based on this generic model: https://www.sagemcom.com/broadband/audio-video-solutions/uhd-set-top-boxes-product-line/uhd-hdr-stb/diw387-dtiw387/.  Is that the one you were trying?

eracode:

 

I was pretty excited about this product, given that Sky abandoned their puck. Was planning to cancel Sky - because we use it mainly to access FTA TV via satellite - and get FTA IPTV via VTV.

 

However after reading this thread I’m not at all convinced this product is ready for ‘prime time’. Sounds like some recent Dish products that were released only half-baked. I really do want to believe in it but not sure I can.

 

Hi @eracode,

My observation is that the posts here are much more positive than normal on Geekzone for a new Vodafone product.  Also, most of the posts here are from many people who haven't actually used the new product and have long developed biases.  DM me to discuss if we can help you believe in it.  

Regards Hamish (disclaimer: Yes, I'm totally biased towards Vodafone TV)

sansom:

eracode:

I was pretty excited about this product, given that Sky abandoned their puck. Was planning to cancel Sky - because we use it mainly to access FTA TV via satellite - and get FTA IPTV via VTV.

However after reading this thread I’m not at all convinced this product is ready for ‘prime time’. Sounds like some recent Dish products that were released only half-baked. I really do want to believe in it but not sure I can.

Hi @eracode,

My observation is that the posts here are much more positive than normal on Geekzone for a new Vodafone product.  Also, most of the posts here are from many people who haven't actually used the new product and have long developed biases.  DM me to discuss if we can help you believe in it.  

 

Regards Hamish (disclaimer: Yes, I'm totally biased towards Vodafone TV)

sansom:

 

michaelmurfy:

 

Hey @sansom - I've been trying most of the afternoon to get this added to the Logitech Harmony Hub I have controlling everything else without success, it appears the device simply doesn't exist and the generic model of the box doesn't work.

 

Just to clarify - does this have IR and if so, do you happen to know what would control it?

 

 

Hi, it does support IR.  This Sagemcom box for Vodafone is based on this generic model: https://www.sagemcom.com/broadband/audio-video-solutions/uhd-set-top-boxes-product-line/uhd-hdr-stb/diw387-dtiw387/.  Is that the one you were trying?

Yep - tried that. Didn't want to work I'm afraid! I'm now having issues with HDMI-CEC taking over any automation and can't find a way of turning off CEC.

In general however, it is a very good box. I think I can resolve the CEC issue by hooking up the home theater by Optical and disabling CEC.

I tested the pause after XX minutes it just resumes live.. would make more sense if the paused program could be automatically added to cloud recordings so playback could be resumed at a later date. Possibly a timer on screen saying X mins to resume playback? Then a "your program has been recorded to cloud you can find it in your recordings " where it would be marked as partially watched ?

second idea..

Channel 0 should be mapped to a Mosaic channel showing live grid preview of each and every freeview channel with highlight overlay where one could up down left right ok to jump to the channel.

options could be Mosaic on/off

Mosaic Preview default, Freeview or SKY

Just tapping the channel 0 will speed up linear channel access massively

sansom:

eracode:

I was pretty excited about this product, given that Sky abandoned their puck. Was planning to cancel Sky - because we use it mainly to access FTA TV via satellite - and get FTA IPTV via VTV.

However after reading this thread I’m not at all convinced this product is ready for ‘prime time’. Sounds like some recent Dish products that were released only half-baked. I really do want to believe in it but not sure I can.

Hi @eracode,

My observation is that the posts here are much more positive than normal on Geekzone for a new Vodafone product.  Also, most of the posts here are from many people who haven't actually used the new product and have long developed biases.  DM me to discuss if we can help you believe in it.  

 

Regards Hamish (disclaimer: Yes, I'm totally biased towards Vodafone TV)

sansom:

 

IvanPiacun: Before I bought Vodafone TV Gen2 Retail Box I saw advertising saying 90% of programs can be recorded. This does not appear to be the case as most programs on TV3 and Bravo do not appear to be able to be recorded. At least 50% of the programs I used to record on Sky Freeview channels do not appear to be able to be recorded on these channels. When is this going to change?

 

90% is the actual figure when measured across all programmes on all channels.  But, yes, you're right, the rights on TV3 and Bravo in particular is less than 90%.   We must respect the rights that Mediaworks provides us and we have been in multiple discussions with them about their level of cloud recording rights, but if you could provide some additional agitation directly to them that wouldn't hurt!  

 

And that is why Mediaworks does not get very high TV ratings.  If you have a Dish or Panasonic recorder you can record programmes on TV 3 like Hawaii Five O and Magnum PI etc, and watch the next day when you are not working, but not on the Vodafone TV (not Vodafone's fault).  If you can't record it, I won't watch it, like others so Mediaworks misses out on the ratings and advertising revenue.  Very short sighted and narrow minded if you as me as there are a lot of Vodafone TVs out there and with the Gen 2, more.

Cheers

Stu1: The feedback has put me off definitely won't get one until the teething issues and standard features are sorted. Mabey consider customer testing with geekzone members before realease there are some very clever people here with great improvement ideas so far . I am amazed some of the feedback was not thought of as features or were not considered mvp. The only benefit I see over Apple TV is recording and an easier remote to use for people. It will be great product for older generation as a sky replacement though hope it does well

I have contemplated getting one to replace my Apple TV because I wondered if the live TV streaming on Vodafone TV might be more reliable than it is on Mediaworks' Apple TV app. 

Unfortunately the Tidal app is one thing that I use a lot on my Apple TV and Vodafone TV doesn't appear to offer this.