Vodafone TV - new Gen2 box

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#2329662 4-Oct-2019 15:03

IvanPiacun:

On the Vodafone Gen2 Set Top Box PVR is there anyway of seeing if you have already viewed a recording and also is there a way of deleting an individual recording, in a series, after you have viewed it so it no longer counts against your 500 hours of recordings please?

Go to Menu -> Recordings -> Select the Series -> On the Series, arrow up to the episodes and arrow left/right to select the episode you wish to delete, then arrow down -> Select Delete Recording

Cheers,

Grant

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IvanPiacun

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#2329679 4-Oct-2019 16:31

ZollyMonsta:

IvanPiacun:

On the Vodafone Gen2 Set Top Box PVR is there anyway of seeing if you have already viewed a recording and also is there a way of deleting an individual recording, in a series, after you have viewed it so it no longer counts against your 500 hours of recordings please?

Hi

Go to Menu -> Recordings -> Select the Series -> On the Series, arrow up to the episodes and arrow left/right to select the episode you wish to delete, then arrow down -> Select Delete Recording

Cheers,

Grant

Suggested improvements:

It would be nice if Delete options were available on the Watch Next items as well so that they can be easily deleted after you have viewed them, by using BACK key and then deleting the program after you have viewed it by selecting the appropriate Menu item.
It would also be nice if the menu items had a colour key against them for fast action from the remote.
It would be nice if the Watch Next and Recordings Items within each program showed in the details for that episode if it had been viewed and when it was last viewed.

Ivan Piacun CITPNZ

Apsattv

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#2329827 5-Oct-2019 01:45

BlackHand:

Feature Request : Restart option in settings (will save me from having to go behind the cabinet to restart the device, when it goes wonky)

I recall Sky has a button combo reboot from the remote using the coloured buttons? it could perhaps be replicated?

olof

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#2329976 5-Oct-2019 11:02

IvanPiacun:

Suggested improvements:

It would be nice if Delete options were available on the Watch Next items as well so that they can be easily deleted after you have viewed them, by using BACK key and then deleting the program after you have viewed it by selecting the appropriate Menu item.

This is planned in a future release.

IvanPiacun:

Suggested improvements:

It would also be nice if the menu items had a colour key against them for fast action from the remote.
It would be nice if the Watch Next and Recordings Items within each program showed in the details for that episode if it had been viewed and when it was last viewed.

Noted and many thanks again for your feedback!

Apsattv

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#2330014 5-Oct-2019 13:59

Here's my idea..

not enough time in the day for content? viewing?

For the recorded or rewind / catchup / Freeview and Sky content.. a game changer would be offering not just 1x play but 1.25 and 1.5x Playback speed like youtube has.

PolicyGuy

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#2330033 5-Oct-2019 14:17

Apsattv:

Here's my idea..

not enough time in the day for content? viewing?

For the recorded or rewind / catchup / Freeview and Sky content.. a game changer would be offering not just 1x play but 1.25 and 1.5x Playback speed like youtube has.

Or 2x, 6x, 12x & 30x like MySky

Apsattv

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#2331199 6-Oct-2019 03:19

PolicyGuy:

Apsattv:

Here's my idea..

not enough time in the day for content? viewing?

For the recorded or rewind / catchup / Freeview and Sky content.. a game changer would be offering not just 1x play but 1.25 and 1.5x Playback speed like youtube has.

Or 2x, 6x, 12x & 30x like MySky

You cant watch programs at those speeds thats just silly. I'm not talking about ffw or rewind..

unless u plan to watch a whole days cricket in about 10 minutes

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turtleattacks

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#2331203 6-Oct-2019 07:33

Sorry for the silly question but does the new box work without a subscription?

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freitasm

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#2331204 6-Oct-2019 08:02

Yes, for the FTA programs.

turtleattacks

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#2331205 6-Oct-2019 08:04

freitasm: Yes, for the FTA programs.

Thanks! I went into the Newmarket Store wanting to buy one and thought I would ask before making the purchase.

The guy said that I needed a subscription and asked his manager who also said the same.

Might seriously consider this now!

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#2331207 6-Oct-2019 08:17

@tonynz You only need a subscription for things like Sky / Netflix ETC.... As above the FTA stuff just works

I got one Thursday night and had it up and running with Sky in under 5 minutes

Smithy47

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#2331208 6-Oct-2019 08:23

tonynz:

Sorry for the silly question but does the new box work without a subscription?

As stated by others the Box works on the Free to Air Channels without a subscription. The only thing is you have to activate the box with a Web log in, which you can then use to to subscribe to Sky Channels if you want with no contracts, but a subscription is not required just to watch Free to Air TV once activated.

Smithy

Tonsmi

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#2331302 6-Oct-2019 09:40

Hi there

New member and first post here 😃.

I bought the Vodafone TV unit last Sunday, so have been using it for a week now, and here is my review ...

Exec summary - I REALLY LOVE this device and am so thankful to Vodafone for bringing this to market! But, it does need a few tweeks here and there.

Full review - I live in an area that doesn't get a good Freeview Terresterial signal, so I've been with Sky for years to get the FTA channels as well as Soho (tried Freeview Satellite a few year ago but remained with Sky as we wanted Soho).

I've been waiting for Sky to modernise their offering, had been looking forward to 'the puck', and was disappointed to find it was cancelled recently 😐.

I saw an ad for the new Vodafone TV while walking past a Vodafone store so thought I'd check it out. Did some research and decided to pick one up.

Overall the experience has been awesome (I couldn't stop raving about it for the first few days, drove my wife mad with constantly talking about it, and I found it hard to sleep the first night with thinking just how amazing this thing is) 😄.

The physical device is great - small footprint, low power consumption, low heat generation, no moving parts, Bluetooth remote etc etc.

The functional features are INCREDIBLE - all FTA channels, and ability to subscribe to Sky packages (I've subscribed to Sky Starter and the Soho channel). I LOVE the 3 day cloud buffer (on Sky we used to 'chase playback' a lot, but that was only for the channel you were on - the ability to do this for pretty much any show for the last few days just blows my mind!). The ability to record (bookmark!) to the cloud is nice too.

This is exactly what I've been looking for, and hoping for, and assume this is what 'the puck' would have been. I also assume Sky canned 'the puck' due to their partner Vodafone bringing this to market, and being so far ahead.

Some unboxing notes:

1. I like the black packaging, but admit that the dark colouring doesn't stand out in stores. The matt finish of the box is a bit of a fingerprint magnet (but then again glossy boxes can be the same). Overall these items aren't a major.

2. My unit had a large scratch on the underside below the HDMI cable socket. I assume the devices are tested at point of manufacture, and the tester scraped an HDMI cable down the back of the device. Again only cosmetic so no functional impact.

3. The power transformer seems a bit prone in the box (as it is in the bottom of the box, so if heavily placed could get knocked). That being said, they are pretty robust so should be OK.

4. My daughter handled the remote, and I immediately noticed some scratches and marks on the top surface. On closer inspection, it seems there is a really fine grainy coating on the remote, but the coating is delicate. Maybe longer term, Vodafone might offer replacement remotes, or look into this issue and adjust manufacture to avoid this.

Some minor quirks that I've noticed:

1. I've noticed that when viewing the Scheduled Recordings list, and when viewing an individual show to be recorded in the future, the description says "Recorded on n date" (where n date is a date in the future, when the show is next on). This seems to be a labelling glitch, as I believe it should say "Airs on n date", to indicate it is a show that will be recorded in the future.

2. I noticed that the sound levels are different when moving between channels. It appears the 'Audio Language' setting is different between channels, and/or the Audio Language setting doesn't carry across from one program to the next when changing channels. e.g. when I go to a channel, the setting is English, I then set it to English Stereo, but when I go to another channel the setting reverts to English, so I have to set it to English Stereo again. It would be great if this setting remained across channels.

3. I've noticed that when scrolling through the TV Guide, the selected point sometimes skips to another day e.g. I was scrolling across shows on the cloud buffer from several days ago, then it seemed to jump to several days ahead (i.e. no longer the buffer but the upcoming shows on the guide). This has only happened a couple of times so could be user error. I'll report again if I see it again.

4. I had the box hang when exiting the Three app (box was unresponsive, so had to cut the power and restart). I've also lost sound when exiting any app (i.e. came back from app and no sound was present, had to power off and on with the remote), and have lost the ability to set volume or mute after exiting any app (i.e. came back from app and sound was present, but I couldn't change it with the volume button or mute it, had to power off and on with the remote). So there seems to be a few issues when closing an app and going back to the menu (I think some of these are already known bugs).

5. This morning (Sunday morning), the box wouldn't start from the remote. I didn't try the buttons on the box, but just cut the power and restarted.

Some feature requests that I'd like to see:

1. I wish the colour scheme (theme) was more red than purple. Red is Vodafone's colour scheme, so I would have thought the UI would be redder!

2. I'm not a big fan of the menu having transparency over the show that is playing in the background. It isn't transparent enough to see what is really going on, but is just transparent enough to be distracting when viewing the menu. My vote would be for no transparency at all here.

3. Related to point 2 above, I'm not a big fan of a channel playing when you either turn on the device, or when you return to the menu from an app. My vote would be to just show the menu but not have anything playing behind it. Note this would have the benefit of lowering data consumption, as it wouldn't start streaming something you may not end up watching.

4. Related to point 2 and 3 above, I've noticed that when you return to the menu from an app, the app that you've just come back to the menu from isn't always selected in the menu, but the top item in the MyTV section is selected. My vote would be whenever returning to the menu, the item that was last chosen in the menu is selected. Obviously a default will be needed for newly launching the menu when turning on the device.

5. The TV Guide filter options (e.g. to show Subscribed Channels only) should ideally persist once set.

6. I understand the FF/RW previews are on their way. I hope the existing FF/RW speeds can be retained despite the previews.

7. A 'playback speed' setting has recently been mooted by another forum user. It would be amazing to watch the show at say 1.5 speed or 2 speed, including with audio etc.

8. The cloud buffer extending to 5 days, or eventually 7 days! And with more/all programs available in the cloud buffer or to cloud record!

I think this sums up most thoughts and observations for now.

I'll post new findings when I find them 😜.

Apologies for the long post.

Thanks again Vodafone for bringing this to market! This device is a real disruptor, and has changed our TV viewing hablts in a week (watching lots more TV now). Absolutely LOVE IT!

Tony

PS Edited the post to fix a few typos!

Talkiet

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#2331350 6-Oct-2019 11:26

I've read through a few pages and had a look at a couple of basic reviews as well as the spec pages - but I can't quickly see if there is any way to play local media through this STB... It looks like there isn't (and honestly that's kinda what I would expect based on the positioning) but if there was it would probably tempt me away from my Shield as a single easy to use box for someone that doesn't have any sort of aerial...

So, is there a native or app based capability to do this? If so, would it be as capable as a shield? (265, HDR 4k etc)

Cheers - N

[edit - I see you can cast Youtube to it - That's neat but not what I am after]

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

olof

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#2331357 6-Oct-2019 12:13

Apsattv:

Here's my idea..

not enough time in the day for content? viewing?

For the recorded or rewind / catchup / Freeview and Sky content.. a game changer would be offering not just 1x play but 1.25 and 1.5x Playback speed like youtube has.

Great idea and many thanks and noted! We have a great roadmap with Vodafone Group, and we are actively feeding into it with local NZ requests.

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