[TelstraClear] T-Box issues continued

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

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151 posts

Master Geek

#571066 20-Jan-2012 00:43

Garfield69: Conclusion: The TBOX cannot currently record programs that are over 7.5 hours long!
Very unhappy.

TelstrClear, any feedback, news, response? Any suggestions on how to mitigate this problem?

Sounds like there might be a file size limit issue or something. 2GB file limits are not uncommon in file systems - it corresponds to 32 bits. The developers probably didn't think having to deal well with 8 hour recordings was a high priority. Given how rarely they happen.

I know it is annoying for you, but frankly I don't really blame them. There are much worse issues thy should prioritise first.

Like manual recordings. That would provide a workaround for your problem also. :-/

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ChristineNZL

233 posts

Master Geek

#571859 22-Jan-2012 12:39

Well we got back from our holiday and I am happy to report that everything recorded just fine (well apart from Harry's Law which had no sound for the first 5 minutes or so but maybe that was a TV1 issue). HOWEVER since then we have had it freeze up at least 3 times! The last night I had it set to record a show at 6.30 pm and 7 pm. Just after 7 pm I noticed no red record light and going in to the planner it said the reason for the failed recording was "unknown". Nothing else was being recorded at that time and the 6.30 pm show had recorded just fine so there I just don't understand why there should have been a problem.

I've just gone and looked in to Sky prices but from what I can see it is going to be almost $20 more per month (we have a package deal with Telstra with phone, broadband and TBox) plus we would have to pay $99 to get MySky installed. I really would rather stay with Telstra for the price and convenience but how much longer do we have to wait for this damn TBox to work properly! If there are new TBoxes out there that work better why aren't the people who have had the TBox right from the beginning and who Telstra KNOW have been having problems over and over again being offered them? Telstra haven't commented on this thread for a long time and I would really like to know what is happening. I also hope they contact Bimi (hope I got the name right) and offer them a refund for cancelling their TBox - you should NOT be charging people to break a contract when their only reason for doing so is your product doesn't work - Telstra have already broken the contract as far as I am concerned by not supplying a properly functioning product.

RobertT

120 posts

Master Geek

#572125 22-Jan-2012 21:13

ChristineNZL: Well we got back from our holiday and I am happy to report that everything recorded just fine (well apart from Harry's Law which had no sound for the first 5 minutes or so but maybe that was a TV1 issue). HOWEVER since then we have had it freeze up at least 3 times! The last night I had it set to record a show at 6.30 pm and 7 pm. Just after 7 pm I noticed no red record light and going in to the planner it said the reason for the failed recording was "unknown". Nothing else was being recorded at that time and the 6.30 pm show had recorded just fine so there I just don't understand why there should have been a problem.

I've just gone and looked in to Sky prices but from what I can see it is going to be almost $20 more per month (we have a package deal with Telstra with phone, broadband and TBox) plus we would have to pay $99 to get MySky installed. I really would rather stay with Telstra for the price and convenience but how much longer do we have to wait for this damn TBox to work properly! If there are new TBoxes out there that work better why aren't the people who have had the TBox right from the beginning and who Telstra KNOW have been having problems over and over again being offered them? Telstra haven't commented on this thread for a long time and I would really like to know what is happening. I also hope they contact Bimi (hope I got the name right) and offer them a refund for cancelling their TBox - you should NOT be charging people to break a contract when their only reason for doing so is your product doesn't work - Telstra have already broken the contract as far as I am concerned by not supplying a properly functioning product.

I'm inclined to agree. Gary was quite a frequent contributor, but there hasn't been any comment from TCL for some time. Any information is better than none. I too looked at Sky, but I don't want a dish, and the bundle is pretty good.

maddygp

41 posts

Geek

#572141 22-Jan-2012 21:52

The T-box hasn't crashed or black screened in the week or so since we got back, but the EPG disappeared a couple of days ago and didn't come back resulting in some series link recordings not getting recorded.
Had to restart both the cable modem and T-box before the EPG re-appeared.

@ChristineNZL Pretty much agree with all that too - nearly ready to give it up but have persisted this long since box was initially released. TCL triple play pricing is quite a lot less than getting MySky separately and when the T-box is working it's good ... so please TCL fix the issues soon!

lanceanz

127 posts

Master Geek

#572232 23-Jan-2012 09:29

It's still something of a miracle if my T-Box doesn't freeze during a week, and I think the record-run remains at 10 days. But yeah, we've been through a lot together. I hope we can work it out. Wonder if my first T-Box has caused someone else grief?

What would give me more confidence would be for TCL to have a page on their site that recorded (1) known issues and new features; (2) status of each issue or new feature, e.g. being developed, tested, ready for release, under consideration, indefintely postponed; (3) approximate date of release.

I don't think this is asking too much.

ChristineNZL

233 posts

Master Geek

#572239 23-Jan-2012 09:48

lanceanz: It's still something of a miracle if my T-Box doesn't freeze during a week, and I think the record-run remains at 10 days. But yeah, we've been through a lot together. I hope we can work it out. Wonder if my first T-Box has caused someone else grief?

What would give me more confidence would be for TCL to have a page on their site that recorded (1) known issues and new features; (2) status of each issue or new feature, e.g. being developed, tested, ready for release, under consideration, indefintely postponed; (3) approximate date of release.

I don't think this is asking too much.

Great idea.

wekanz

67 posts

Master Geek

#572241 23-Jan-2012 09:51

I agree, lanceanz, they should have a page on their site as you suggest. I think if they did, they would have a much clearer (pun intended) idea how many people are experiencing problems with the T-box, and might take it a bit more seriously!
We had two failed recordings overnight on Sat night, and in between them, one successful. (Unknown reasons for both the failed ones, of course, which is not at all helpful.) These things seem to happen from time to time, with no particular pattern. Mysterious device, the T-box!

ChristineNZL

233 posts

Master Geek

#572263 23-Jan-2012 10:35

Yet another black screen when we turned the TV on this morning. I was able to get in to the planner and guied but could not get anything to play and then that went too so had to reboot. The past few weeks the Tbox has been at it's worst ever with freezing and failed recordings. It did seem to be getting better for a while but so far 2012 does not bode well. Come on Telstra - tell us what is going on! I expect my TBox to be getting better - not WORSE!

ChristineNZL

233 posts

Master Geek

#572264 23-Jan-2012 10:37

wekanz: I agree, lanceanz, they should have a page on their site as you suggest. I think if they did, they would have a much clearer (pun intended) idea how many people are experiencing problems with the T-box, and might take it a bit more seriously!
We had two failed recordings overnight on Sat night, and in between them, one successful. (Unknown reasons for both the failed ones, of course, which is not at all helpful.) These things seem to happen from time to time, with no particular pattern. Mysterious device, the T-box!

Our latest failed recording was also on Saturday night and for an "unknown reason". We were watching another channel at the time. I wonder if there is a reason for these unknown reasons or if it's just a coincidence we had the same problem on the same night?

lurker

804 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#572536 23-Jan-2012 21:37

I wonder if a scheduled soft-boot option in the T-Box would help at all. I wonder if my T-Box was soft-booted every morning at (say) 4am, maybe it wouldn't play up every few days. Mine tends to stay "Off" sometimes and then doesn't turn on until I cycle power. Not sure if that has been suggested already - this thread is pretty long!

Garfield69

126 posts

Master Geek

#572606 24-Jan-2012 08:24

lurker: I wonder if a scheduled soft-boot option in the T-Box would help at all. I wonder if my T-Box was soft-booted every morning at (say) 4am, maybe it wouldn't play up every few days. Mine tends to stay "Off" sometimes and then doesn't turn on until I cycle power. Not sure if that has been suggested already - this thread is pretty long!

An additional complication is that when you reboot the TBOX you also have to reboot the modem, because TLC claim just booting the TBOX causes issues. (Which I have had first hand experience with, the PLANNER and GUIDE get out of sync).
I have been using two POWER timers to turn off the TBOX and MODEM every couple days at 6am, with the TBOX timer powering up a minute after the modem timer.
This had helped my TBOX stability, especially during the high usage weeks, such as the Australian Open Tennis fortnight, where the TBOX is recording for 14 hours a day, and viewing the recording with lots of PAUSE, FF and RW operations.

ChristineNZL

233 posts

Master Geek

#572617 24-Jan-2012 09:16

Well we struck a new problem yesterday (well new for us). My husband tried to watch a recorded programme which looked like it had recorded fine (no partial recorded or failed signs) yet when he tried to view it nothing happened - the screen just stayed on the planner. All the other recordings before it and one after play just fine.

BarTender

3530 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#572620 24-Jan-2012 09:25

Garfield69:
lurker: I wonder if a scheduled soft-boot option in the T-Box would help at all. I wonder if my T-Box was soft-booted every morning at (say) 4am, maybe it wouldn't play up every few days. Mine tends to stay "Off" sometimes and then doesn't turn on until I cycle power. Not sure if that has been suggested already - this thread is pretty long!

An additional complication is that when you reboot the TBOX you also have to reboot the modem, because TLC claim just booting the TBOX causes issues. (Which I have had first hand experience with, the PLANNER and GUIDE get out of sync).
I have been using two POWER timers to turn off the TBOX and MODEM every couple days at 6am, with the TBOX timer powering up a minute after the modem timer.
This had helped my TBOX stability, especially during the high usage weeks, such as the Australian Open Tennis fortnight, where the TBOX is recording for 14 hours a day, and viewing the recording with lots of PAUSE, FF and RW operations.

You don't see any sort of problem with this??? It seems like madness to me to need to go out and purchase your own power timer to reboot the STB and Modem every 2 days or so.

Much as I seriously dislike Sky the only time I have rebooted my MySky HDi was when I was changing around power plugs since I had it put in about 10 months ago after moving off TCL Digital TV. I can't understand how anyone would accept this seriously poor level of service while paying full price for the pleasure of continual missed recordings and a really poor user experience. Maybe if you were part of a beta / test and you were getting it for free / half price or something. But not as a paying customer.

I had MySky installed for $60 and have a half price off the monthly rental for 1 year so am paying about $34 per month.

It just seems insane to me to put up with this sort of thing for so long.

and

mad01

76 posts

Master Geek

#572622 24-Jan-2012 09:27

Oh well, after months of winging and putting up with it, I've cancelled (and not paying the early termination fees).

For price comparison, at first glance I think if I go with Vodafone/Sky I will roughly pay the same price.

But hopefully I'll get a box that works!

Good luck people!

Garfield69

126 posts

Master Geek

#572638 24-Jan-2012 10:24

BarTender:
Garfield69:
I have been using two POWER timers to turn off the TBOX and MODEM every couple days at 6am, with the TBOX timer powering up a minute after the modem timer.
This had helped my TBOX stability, especially during the high usage weeks, such as the Australian Open Tennis fortnight, where the TBOX is recording for 14 hours a day, and viewing the recording with lots of PAUSE, FF and RW operations.

You don't see any sort of problem with this??? It seems like madness to me to need to go out and purchase your own power timer to reboot the STB and Modem every 2 days or so.

It just seems insane to me to put up with this sort of thing for so long.

I would agree with you 100% if not for the following mitigating points:
1. I don't pay rental on the TBOX, 2. I've had the power timers before the TBOX arrived (used during the holidays to manage appliances). 3. TCL's current TV/broadband/phone package works out cheaper for me than alternatives.
I would certainly not put up with it if I had to pay full price for the service!

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