[TelstraClear] T-Box issues continued

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [TelstraClear] T-Box issues continued

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325 posts

Ultimate Geek

#680369 2-Sep-2012 13:40

ChristineNZL:
lanceanz: I put up with my T-Box for just under 2 years till I finally said "enough is enough". I've had a MySky+ for 2 1/2 weeks and it's even better than I hoped for. Responds to the remote quickly; don't have to point the remote very deliberately at the box; everything is faster; everything integrated into the one box (i.e. no external power supply and modem); I regularly browse the listings on my iPad and add recording-reminders from it; when I have a conflict (more than 2 recordings at the one time) it gracefully cancels one; it's not crashed or lost any recordings; the recordings are way better than what I was getting on my T-Box in the most recent month or two.

What's not better? I think the T-Box makes better use of HD screens for displaying the EPG and recording information. I think the T-Box picture was a wee bit better (and I'm talking generally as I've not experienced rain-fade yet). Also I'm paying a bit more. I now have a satellite dish, but it's barely visible from the street and the cabling was nicely done.

The straw that broke the camel's back was that the quality of recordings deteriorated so much. I'd have stuck with my T-Box a bit longer if not for that. But I'm very happy I did give up. Especially as I found it frozen on the morning that the Sky tech came. My TV viewing is now stress-free. Hope the T-Box fix delivers a decent improvement for everyone.

We've had our MySky for a couple of months now and I couldn't agree more. ?Have not regretted cancelling our T-Box one little bit. ?I only wish we had made the move sooner. ?I'm not sure rain fade is much of an issue these days. ?We have had some appalling weather and never experienced it.

We moved from Telstra to sky 2 years ago, with mysky hdi.
Only one instance of rain fade in the 2 years, it really is a non issue now.

lanceanz

127 posts

Master Geek

#680421 2-Sep-2012 15:45

kendog:We moved from Telstra to sky 2 years ago, with mysky hdi.
Only one instance of rain fade in the 2 years, it really is a non issue now.

Good to know. Thanks. I find I'm watching ever more TV shows on the Interweb. Just from the legal sites mind. Hard to see myself in a panic over loss of signal. Certainly not the panic that would ensue if my TCL cable internet went down for a long time ...

KaroriPete

96 posts

Master Geek

#680484 2-Sep-2012 18:24

Hi Soleil24,

For antenna installation work I'd highly recommend Alistair at Scotts TV (Brunzy on the list here). He did a fantastic job on a Freeview installation with some tricky multi-room cabling for us. He really knows his stuff, and nothing was too much trouble for him.

Satellite installation is advertised on his website, although there's no specific mention of SKY. Definitely worth a call to find out though.

Cheers,
Pete.

BarTender

3606 posts

Uber Geek

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#680511 2-Sep-2012 19:19

soleil24: Now, who is the GZ resident satellite dish expert installer in Wellington?

Why would you pay for the install?

If you're moving to sky they do it for free.

prevaljo

175 posts

Master Geek

#680595 2-Sep-2012 23:02

I have followed this thread for a number of years and have been at times disillusioned by the T-Box's performance but over that time the number of people actually reporting new issues has dropped off. TelstraClear, and the developers have worked through the issues and resolved the majority of them. My own T-Box suffered a hard drive failure at about 18mnths, technology dies get over it.

There are a number of ex T-Box subscribers who follow this thread as if seeking to justify their move to Sky by vicariously commenting on the pain of others - a little like the Apple Android Microsoft Trolls on many tech blogs.

In reality I think the T-Box has come through its difficult (OK some would say VERY difficult) childhood and matured into a stable valuable piece of In Home Entertainment Equipment. Currently (and please note the reservation) I wouldn't be without mine.

I only hope Vodafone don't drop the service, I don't want a dish on the side of my house.......

r2b2

586 posts

Ultimate Geek

#680597 2-Sep-2012 23:09

prevaljo: I have followed this thread for a number of years and have been at times disillusioned by the T-Box's performance but over that time the number of people actually reporting new issues has dropped off. TelstraClear, and the developers have worked through the issues and resolved the majority of them. My own T-Box suffered a hard drive failure at about 18mnths, technology dies get over it.

There are a number of ex T-Box subscribers who follow this thread as if seeking to justify their move to Sky by vicariously commenting on the pain of others - a little like the Apple Android Microsoft Trolls on many tech blogs.

In reality I think the T-Box has come through its difficult (OK some would say VERY difficult) childhood and matured into a stable valuable piece of In Home Entertainment Equipment. Currently (and please note the reservation) I wouldn't be without mine.

I only hope Vodafone don't drop the service, I don't want a dish on the side of my house.......

I don't count myself as one of the more "negative" TBox users on the thread as my TBox is reasonable good however in the last week I've had:

Total TBox lockup at the end of various recordings
Recording of wrong channel
"Tinny" sound when I first turn the unit on which is only fixed by changing from one channel back to another
Black screen on channel which can only be fixed by changing one channel back to another
SLOWWWWWW response

I'm guessing that an update is coming real soon as my TBox seems to get a lot worse just before an update

So in summary I'm not necessarily painting the TBox as a complete dud, but I wouldn't go as far as to agree with your comments as I don't think they have done enough. Until the TBox is stable then we should be seeing monthly releases from the developers and as for the rigourous testing, I'm not sure what they do but perhaps they need to consider beta-testing of releases at client sites as it appears that perhaps their test-bed isn't quite as real-world as they might like to think.

BigBadaboom

151 posts

Master Geek

#680617 3-Sep-2012 02:20

prevaljo: but over that time the number of people actually reporting new issues has dropped off. TelstraClear, and the developers have worked through the issues and resolved the majority of them.

In reality I think the T-Box has come through its difficult (OK some would say VERY difficult) childhood and matured into a stable valuable piece of In Home Entertainment Equipment.

You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. And if your T-Box is operating well for you, then great. Lucky you!

However it is certainly not a "stable and mature piece of equipment". I find it unstable, unresponsive and buggy. The complaints have dropped off because the issues are well known and we are currently in a period of waiting for the new release in the hopes things will get better.

I have those hopes also, but I know in my heart that the chances that the next version will be much improved are so remote that they are negligible. The last half dozen or so (?) updates have not really improved the box much and usually introduce just as many bugs as they fix. My box still crashes 1-2 times a week.

If your box is stable and well behaved, then I envy you greatly.

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langers1972

1039 posts

Uber Geek

#680618 3-Sep-2012 07:06

All of a sudden my TBox is really slow when navigating the menus, have rebooted but still a long delay between key press and menu.

Iceni

109 posts

Master Geek

#680642 3-Sep-2012 08:41

prevaljo: I have followed this thread for a number of years and have been at times disillusioned by the T-Box's performance but over that time the number of people actually reporting new issues has dropped off. TelstraClear, and the developers have worked through the issues and resolved the majority of them. My own T-Box suffered a hard drive failure at about 18mnths, technology dies get over it.
.

I no longer bother reporting issues to either TelstraClear or this forum. Not because I no longer have issues (still have a long list of problems) just that it’s a waste of time. TelstraClear has had years to rectify the problems but either though incompetence, or expertise of TelstraClear and the manufacture, the T-Box still remains a lemon.

wekanz

67 posts

Master Geek

#680688 3-Sep-2012 10:01

Apart from more pixellation than usual, and probably slightly more frequent picture and sound stuttering, my T-box has been working well of late. Hope I haven't just jinxed it!

Fog

372 posts

Ultimate Geek

#680744 3-Sep-2012 11:21

Iceni:
prevaljo: I have followed this thread for a number of years and have been at times disillusioned by the T-Box's performance but over that time the number of people actually reporting new issues has dropped off. TelstraClear, and the developers have worked through the issues and resolved the majority of them. My own T-Box suffered a hard drive failure at about 18mnths, technology dies get over it.
.

I no longer bother reporting issues to either TelstraClear or this forum. Not because I no longer have issues (still have a long list of problems) just that it’s a waste of time. TelstraClear has had years to rectify the problems but either though incompetence, or expertise of TelstraClear and the manufacture, the T-Box still remains a lemon.

I also don't bother reporting any faults to TCL as I know that a reboot usually fixes the problem. However, I have recorded all my problems, for my own information, since the T/Box was installed. If I get really annoyed I will post on the Forum but generally just put up with things in the hope that eventually there will be an improvement. I guess TCL are doing their best to resolve things.

Hifarion

40 posts

Geek

#680760 3-Sep-2012 12:07

Sorry Prevaljo, I couldn't disagree with you more..

Aside from the HDD failure, I can only conclude that either your box hasn't suffered the ongoing issues reported here, or you happy to accept a substandard piece of technology and carry a lower expectation on what you consider to be value for your money.

At no point was it acceptable for the Tbox to "mature" in our homes - this should have been achieved, fundamentally, well before it was released to the market! We are not Guinea pigs! And it is still very far from being a valuable piece of Home Entertainment Equipment.
The fact that comments are made by those that have jumped to MySky only proves to highlight the measure of difference between the 2 services.

Pixilations, failed recording (mostly around midnight), stutters in sound and picture, and a tediously slow epg really tests ones resolve - If you buy a new car that constantly runs poorly, can the vendor say "but you paid less than the other car yard, if you want one that works go buy their's!" - No they can't, and the same applies with the Tbox, you can't stand behind price to validate a shoddy piece of equipment.

prevaljo: I have followed this thread for a number of years and have been at times disillusioned by the T-Box's performance but over that time the number of people actually reporting new issues has dropped off. TelstraClear, and the developers have worked through the issues and resolved the majority of them. My own T-Box suffered a hard drive failure at about 18mnths, technology dies get over it.

There are a number of ex T-Box subscribers who follow this thread as if seeking to justify their move to Sky by vicariously commenting on the pain of others - a little like the Apple Android Microsoft Trolls on many tech blogs.

In reality I think the T-Box has come through its difficult (OK some would say VERY difficult) childhood and matured into a stable valuable piece of In Home Entertainment Equipment. Currently (and please note the reservation) I wouldn't be without mine.

I only hope Vodafone don't drop the service, I don't want a dish on the side of my house.......

ChristineNZL

242 posts

Master Geek

#680850 3-Sep-2012 14:10

prevaljo: I have followed this thread for a number of years and have been at times disillusioned by the T-Box's performance but over that time the number of people actually reporting new issues has dropped off. TelstraClear, and the developers have worked through the issues and resolved the majority of them. My own T-Box suffered a hard drive failure at about 18mnths, technology dies get over it.

There are a number of ex T-Box subscribers who follow this thread as if seeking to justify their move to Sky by vicariously commenting on the pain of others - a little like the Apple Android Microsoft Trolls on many tech blogs.

In reality I think the T-Box has come through its difficult (OK some would say VERY difficult) childhood and matured into a stable valuable piece of In Home Entertainment Equipment. Currently (and please note the reservation) I wouldn't be without mine.

I only hope Vodafone don't drop the service, I don't want a dish on the side of my house.......

Wow - never been called a troll before.

When we had our T-Box the issues got worse and worse until the thing completely died. I didn't bother telling TCL every single time it froze. I also know several people in "real life" who have a T-Box and who have lots of problems with it. The people on here are just the tip of the iceberg.

I still follow this thread because I hope one day that the T-Box will function correctly. Maybe if it does we will even go back to it as we still have our home phone and broadband with TCL. The only reason I mention MySky on here is because it may help some people who are not happy to put up with the T-Box realise that there is a product that works properly and they may find out that all the reasons they didn't want MySky may not be that bad. That's what happened to me. We initially did not want MySky as we thought it would cost more but thanks to someone posting on here I found out that it may not be the case and sure enough we are NOT paying any more than our old triple package Yes we have a dish on the side of the house that I initially was very against but now I don't care - I have a product that works and works well. We shouldn't have to put up with the attitude that "technology dies get over it".

Anyway I will try to refrain from mentioning my MySky box any more as you may get jealous. Sorry - couldn't help myself. I will be following the thread though and hope to see some happy T-Box customers in the near future.

kharris

1209 posts

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#680935 3-Sep-2012 16:08

prevaljo: I have followed this thread for a number of years and have been at times disillusioned by the T-Box's performance but over that time the number of people actually reporting new issues has dropped off. TelstraClear, and the developers have worked through the issues and resolved the majority of them. My own T-Box suffered a hard drive failure at about 18mnths, technology dies get over it.

There are a number of ex T-Box subscribers who follow this thread as if seeking to justify their move to Sky by vicariously commenting on the pain of others - a little like the Apple Android Microsoft Trolls on many tech blogs.

In reality I think the T-Box has come through its difficult (OK some would say VERY difficult) childhood and matured into a stable valuable piece of In Home Entertainment Equipment. Currently (and please note the reservation) I wouldn't be without mine.

I only hope Vodafone don't drop the service, I don't want a dish on the side of my house.......

Hi prevaljo

Although I agree that the number of people reporting issues has dropped off this is two fold:
1. The number of issues the T-Box has have reduced over time (as they should)
2. The current issues people are having with the T-box are ongoing but they have been reported numerous times here and so people are no longer reporting every instance because it is largely a pointless exercise to do so (unless you are considering cancellation - in which case you should report them to TCL direct anyway... not here) . Gary and his team are well aware of the current issues as he has reported in the past.

It is also very evident that some people are having more issues than others. You seem to be one of the lucky ones (as am I) but there is no need for an aggressive stance. The issues some people are having don't make sense given not everybody's experience is not the same, but this could be for a number of reasons i.e. hardware failure, signal quality, high usage vs medium to low, different padding buffers/settings, connection issues with different TV's/Sound systems (HDMI handshaking). The fact they are having them is still a source of frustration to many people. I think it is too early for a lot of people to call the product mature. Also the timeframe between updates seems to be extraordinarily long.

finally, Christine has been a very valuable contributor to this thread in the past and is still clearly interested in seeing if things improve more. The fact she has moved to sky is also a worthwhile experience to report given the number of people on this thread considering that as an option. To call her a troll is a bit rough. She is not just a sky 'fangirl' trolling.

Regards
Kirk.

Kirk

mwh

43 posts

Geek

#680987 3-Sep-2012 18:04

It certainly has gotten better. It's not perfect, but ours went months without crashing (had an end-of-recording crash a couple of weeks ago, one overnight a few weeks before that, but nothing for months otherwise). That's a big step up from how it was for a long while - the last update and the one before really made a difference. We still get occasional pausing/skipping/flickering on some channels, but even that's happening less than it was, and changing the channel off and back clears it up. There are definitely still problems which shouldn't be happening, which are known and I don't bother mentioning any more, and others seem to get it worse, but it has gotten pretty close for me now. They at least seem to have found what caused some of the problems were and made things better, which bodes at least somewhat well for future updates.

My main complaint right now is that they seem to have added all their PPV movie channels to my favourites list the other day with no way to remove them, which is a far cry from breaking three times a week.

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