[TelstraClear] T-Box issues continued

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

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40 posts

Geek

#611157 18-Apr-2012 14:24

soleil24:
According to GZ we can report faults with the T-Box here instead of wasting time queuing on your 0800 number.

Be carefull, while posting it on here to get feedback or advice from Gary and other TCL boffins might prove helpfull, I very much doubt your forum post will count if you ever decide to take action to recoup your $499, or ask for a credit to your account for hassles endured.

As much as its a 40min pain in the ass, your need to log the calls to keep a paper trail.

Moaning to the Small Claims Court that "it failed ever week!", but TCL can show you only called for 1 issue over 18month (for example) will see you lose every time.

Trust me, I've been there....

Lenovo

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KaroriPete

95 posts

Master Geek

#611327 18-Apr-2012 17:58

I had a recording fail the other night due to a "schedule conflict".

I had set Game of Thrones Ep1 to record. I then spotted that Ep2 was playing immediately after and added that as well. The system did not object. What I didn't realise was that Prime Rocks had already been set to record at the same time as Ep2.

If the system was even half way smart it would use one tuner to record both Game of Thrones episodes (ignoring the 5 minutes padding between them) and use the second tuner to record Prime.

Instead it recorded Thrones Ep1 and Prime, and failed Thrones Ep2.

I assume it was the five minute overlap that made the T-Box think it needed another tuner, but if so why did it accept the programming in the first place?

Isn't this yet another bug that was supposed to be fixed in Ireland? I'd just love to see the test exit reports.

Also, Gary is there any update on the frequent pauses that have reappeared since the last software upgrades they're starting to get annoying?

Cheers,
Pete.

Fog

320 posts

Ultimate Geek

#611497 18-Apr-2012 21:27

KaroriPete:

Also, Gary is there any update on the frequent pauses that have reappeared since the last software upgrades they're starting to get annoying?

I couldn't agree more. The quicker this problem is solved the better.

prevaljo

164 posts

Master Geek

#611523 18-Apr-2012 21:45

We don't watch much live TV and have a large number of recorded programs, starting last week the recordings we have watched have been full of stuttering and pauses.

These programs have been on TV1 and TV3. My question is is this a consequence of the last update or is my hard drive dieing.

Arghhh another issue in a never ending saga.

mwh

43 posts

Geek

#611524 18-Apr-2012 21:48

KaroriPete:
If the system was even half way smart it would use one tuner to record both Game of Thrones episodes (ignoring the 5 minutes padding between them) and use the second tuner to record Prime.

Instead it recorded Thrones Ep1 and Prime, and failed Thrones Ep2.

I assume it was the five minute overlap that made the T-Box think it needed another tuner, but if so why did it accept the programming in the first place?

I routinely record things one after another on the same channel, with padding, while other things are recording on another channel, and it's always recorded fine (since the update last year sometime). You don't actually get the padding on the overlap; instead one cuts off exactly at the scheduled end and the other starts at the same point. You do miss a few seconds in between the two, but other than that it works fine. I'm not sure what the difference is with your case. The only obvious one is two minutes' padding instead of five, but I don't see why that would make a difference.

Just tonight I had Big Bang going into Happy Endings on 2 and Castle on 1 simultaneously, and I just checked that it worked. Those are series-linked, but last week I only discovered Castle was there seconds before and set it going on the spot and it worked fine as well. There are others set up on different nights and they all work as well. Something must be different, but I don't know what it is. If you push info on the failed recording it will tell you what it thinks the reason is.

It doesn't always object when you set up things it genuinely can't record, though, and it would be nice if it did.

BigBadaboom

151 posts

Master Geek

#611580 18-Apr-2012 22:57

prevaljo: My question is is this a consequence of the last update or is my hard drive dieing.

No it's not just you. Mine doesn't sound as bad as yours, but I also get video and audio pauses immediately (a second or two) after changing channels or starting a playback.

The QA process on these releases seems to be very poor. Both at Digisoft and TCL. If this version was what they thought was "good enough to release", imagine what the previous ones must have been like. Each release fixes a few minor issues and introduces a whole new set. The end result is after 18 months we haven't seen any of the promised improvements or new features. All we get is one buggy release after another.

Not to mention the crash bug that TCL told us had finally been fixed, but is still there after 18 months. How the heck can they let that happen?

I have been a professional software developer for 21 years and have managed plenty of development teams and projects. There has not yet been a release of the T-Box software that I would call production-ready.

I really think TCL should look at setting up a NZ development team, and not rely on what clearly is an incompetent and unprofessional team at Digisoft.

It's also shameful that TCL have let this go on for so long. The project has been managed extremely poorly by them as well.

kiwimordor

21 posts

Geek

#611709 19-Apr-2012 10:33

Having a very interesting on-line discussion with TCL. Have logged a fault call via web portal and have identified the issue of freezing signal. There response is below:

I have forwarded your details to our broadcast team regarding the freezing audio and video as there have been no other reports of something similar post update. Alternatively please power cycle both your T-Box and modem and see if the issue continues. I can see that you modem has been up for over 30 days.

TCL (Gary - Please pass on) - you need to keep your staff up to play on the issues - this is what frustrates us as users. There is clear evidence of the fault, and it has been acknowledged by TCL, so why hide under the cloak of "no other reports"

Sorry for the expectation that I could leave the T-Box and modem up and running for more than 30 days, my internet one never gets turned off, same at the very sizable one at the company that I work at.

wekanz

67 posts

Master Geek

#611782 19-Apr-2012 11:42

kiwimordor, I empathise with your frustration. Left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Recently logged a problem with my landline online, as I had no phone service. Got a useless email back telling me to do troubleshooting, which I had already done, as I was advised to do so on the website where I logged the problem. Decided online comms with them were useless, so rang the faults service by cellphone, had to confirm who I was twice (Acct #, DOB, address, etc) and tell them what the problem was twice, and repeat twice that I had already done their troubleshooting tips, and FINALLY spoke to someone who arranged for someone to come out in two days. My landline now works, but all up it took nearly a week.

A useful response by email would have been good.

There seems to be little communication between their people. Certainly there have been lots of reports about the A/V pauses that many of us are experiencing. I can confirm that Gary is getting it looked into. This problem existed before the Nov update for me, and stopped after that update, but now it is back after the March update, and more frequent than it used to be. Happens at approx a rate of once a night here, and on random channels, when we are watching live TV.

Cheers

kharris

1204 posts

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#611813 19-Apr-2012 12:24

wekanz: Certainly there have been lots of reports about the A/V pauses that many of us are experiencing. I can confirm that Gary is getting it looked into. This problem existed before the Nov update for me, and stopped after that update, but now it is back after the March update, and more frequent than it used to be. Happens at approx a rate of once a night here, and on random channels, when we are watching live TV.

Yes I have the same AV problems as everyone else. This has been reported here so many times and I didn't think I needed to report it again. I wouldn't be surprised if many others see the situation the same as me. If Gary has said it is being looked into there is little point in reporting it again. It is very disappointing that the call centre has not heard of the problem before. Surely the list of known issues needs to be provided to them with a resolution path so that they can advise callers of something useful rather than just the good old standard - reboot - especially when most people not do this often and shouldn't have to.

Lias

5231 posts

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#611845 19-Apr-2012 12:53

mwh:
I routinely record things one after another on the same channel, with padding, while other things are recording on another channel, and it's always recorded fine (since the update last year sometime). You don't actually get the padding on the overlap; instead one cuts off exactly at the scheduled end and the other starts at the same point. You do miss a few seconds in between the two, but other than that it works fine. I'm not sure what the difference is with your case. The only obvious one is two minutes' padding instead of five, but I don't see why that would make a difference.

Just tonight I had Big Bang going into Happy Endings on 2 and Castle on 1 simultaneously, and I just checked that it worked. Those are series-linked, but last week I only discovered Castle was there seconds before and set it going on the spot and it worked fine as well. There are others set up on different nights and they all work as well. Something must be different, but I don't know what it is. If you push info on the failed recording it will tell you what it thinks the reason is.

It doesn't always object when you set up things it genuinely can't record, though, and it would be nice if it did.

MySky seems to be much better at this. With mysky we could record two programs 1 after the other on the same channel, with overlap, and still record another channel on the other tuner.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.

LifeSteala

83 posts

Master Geek

#611895 19-Apr-2012 14:00

I'd like to report that I too, over the last week or two that every now and then when watching TV1 or TV2 and other channels, I'm getting stuttering and pauses. Usually around 6-7:30pm.

I don't report all faults with TC for that reason where it takes so long to reach a service representative and all the tell you is to power recycle the system. I do this once a week without fail due to frozen t-box.

Should I be taking the time to record and report all faults I experience?

TelstraClear

566 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

TelstraClear

#611930 19-Apr-2012 14:54

Hi all,

As noted earlier, we take note of what is being reported here and are aware of the micro-pausing/stuttering behaviours. As also noted, we have asked Digisoft and their driver suppliers to work on software updates that will resolve the identified software-related behaviours as soon as possible.

If you are experiencing something that hasn't already been reported in this thread, then please report it as a fault so that our broadcast technicians can investigate.

Thanks, Gary

MikeB4

18132 posts

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#611945 19-Apr-2012 15:06

TelstraClear: Hi all,

As noted earlier, we take note of what is being reported here and are aware of the micro-pausing/stuttering behaviours. As also noted, we have asked Digisoft and their driver suppliers to work on software updates that will resolve the identified software-related behaviours as soon as possible.

If you are experiencing something that hasn't already been reported in this thread, then please report it as a fault so that our broadcast technicians can investigate.

Thanks, Gary

What is TelstraClears long term intentions with the T-Box, this patch, mend and blinkers policy really is not getting anywhere?

LifeSteala

83 posts

Master Geek

#611969 19-Apr-2012 15:21

TelstraClear: Hi all,

As noted earlier, we take note of what is being reported here and are aware of the micro-pausing/stuttering behaviours. As also noted, we have asked Digisoft and their driver suppliers to work on software updates that will resolve the identified software-related behaviours as soon as possible.

If you are experiencing something that hasn't already been reported in this thread, then please report it as a fault so that our broadcast technicians can investigate.

Thanks, Gary

Thanks Gary. Any new issues I experience, I'll post it here.

LS

kiwimordor

21 posts

Geek

#611995 19-Apr-2012 15:51

Thanks Gary,
Yes - understand that this has been identified, but am begining to realise that TCL may be playing the "its not a big problem" card as TCL has not had many reports on this. I accept what you say and that there is probably no point in logging further faults. However - that would be the case if TCL could also accept that each user is having the fault, and that it is taken as read that there is a fault. If someone were to request early termination of the service and be declined on the grounds of "you have only reported one fault in 18 mths" - see where I am coming from.

We have to place some trust in you that this is being dealt with, however, the reciprical is that TCL accept that there are implied issues that are not reported.

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