AirNZ in-flight entertainment system ...

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Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek

#114098 8-Feb-2013 10:44

What a horrible bit of software that is!!!

It died horribly on the flight over last night so we all got to see it boot up .... and I would love to know who approved it for use, it's awful to behold!! :-(

Apart from the interface being slow and the rewind and fast forward functions only working some of the time, when it boots it spews pages of errors about missing files, missing filesystems and modules that it cannot load (yes it is linux based).

How on earth can such shoddy software get approved for use on an aircraft ? It's like it was hacked together by someone like me! But even I would try to resolve the missing bits.

Anyone know the company who developed it ? Want to add them to my "do not touch with a long pole" list.

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6434 posts

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#757265 8-Feb-2013 12:15

I've never undersatood these things either. Its the same with all the arilines I have flown with. clunky, difficult to navigate, unresponsive etc.
surely given an iPad mini (or similar android like the nexus 7) costs less than $500 and has an infinitely better UI it would be cheaper to just provide these to everyone onboard

Goosey

2829 posts

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#757267 8-Feb-2013 12:19

given the costs, id say the software is here to stay until the new aircrafts commence being delivered.

johnr

19282 posts

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Inactive user

#757273 8-Feb-2013 12:23

Panasonic unit if I remember correct

wongtop

563 posts

Ultimate Geek

#757275 8-Feb-2013 12:28

What aircraft? I saw a windows CE startup screen on a recent Air NZ 777-200ER flight.

Behodar

10503 posts

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#757276 8-Feb-2013 12:40

At least it didn't have "Awesomesoft WinClean" or a similarly-named app pop up and offer to fix registry errors, like I found in the middle of an electronic billboard here the other day :P

Satch

1985 posts

Uber Geek

#757279 8-Feb-2013 12:49

Mark: Anyone know the company who developed it ? Want to add them to my "do not touch with a long pole" list.

I must ask, how often are you in the market for an in-flight entertainment system??

sbiddle

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#757308 8-Feb-2013 13:27

What plane were you on?

Air NZ have three systems from two vendors. A Rockwell Collins system in the 772's and 744's and a Panasonic system in the A320's and the 773's with the 733's all having a newer Panasonic system.

The Rockwell Collins system is horrible, but then again it is nearly 10 years old. The new Panasonic system is awesome.

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wellygary

8313 posts

Uber Geek

#757316 8-Feb-2013 13:35

sbiddle: What plane were you on?

Air NZ have three systems from two vendors. A Rockwell Collins system in the 772's and 744's and a Panasonic system in the A320's and the 773's with the 733's all having a newer Panasonic system.

The Rockwell Collins system is horrible, but then again it is nearly 10 years old. The new Panasonic system is awesome.

I'm fairly sure the Rockwell system runs on Windows CE at the seat back, while the Panasonic runs a linux variant.

sittingduckz

680 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#757320 8-Feb-2013 13:39

I had a similar issue (A320 I think), they had to reboot it which took about 20min of Linux text vomit.

I agree fast forward/rewind etc are all pooooo, but the content can be good

I'm not a complete idiot, I still have some parts missing.

Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek

#757327 8-Feb-2013 13:58

sbiddle: What plane were you on?

Air NZ have three systems from two vendors. A Rockwell Collins system in the 772's and 744's and a Panasonic system in the A320's and the 773's with the 733's all having a newer Panasonic system.

The Rockwell Collins system is horrible, but then again it is nearly 10 years old. The new Panasonic system is awesome.

It was flight NZ108, Sydney to Auckland which I think was a 767-300. It was the more modern looking of th einflight systems I've played with, and yes the content is good ... just when you see behind the scenes and watch it boot ... awful mess!!!

Whoever developed it has no clue what they are doing and I feel just focused on the entertainment application and not the OS hosting it.

johnr

19282 posts

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Inactive user

#757330 8-Feb-2013 14:03

I used the in flight system on the new 777 - 300 back from LA and it was great, This is the new panasonic system

nathan

5695 posts

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Inactive user

#757335 8-Feb-2013 14:11

isnt it great how when you pay to watch movies you get forced to watch adverts

even if you purchase a $4000 business class seat

if I wanted a low cost carrier I would've gone jetstar

Kingy

395 posts

Ultimate Geek

#757344 8-Feb-2013 14:25

I've only had 1 experience with these systems. On an A320 back from Aus a couple of months ago. Aside from the slight lag it worked perfectly fine.

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wasabi2k

2096 posts

Uber Geek

#757368 8-Feb-2013 15:31

Man.

Back when I used to fly as a kid there was one screen in each section. The movies played at certain times. If you couldn't see it (being a kid) then tough.

If you were lucky you might even get seated near (or god forbid IN) smoking, so you would have to deal with that hideous embedded smoke smell too.

Now you can watch a bunch of movies and tv shows when you want. Sure the screen isn't flash and there is some lag, but who really cares? Once it is playing it is fine.

As for the quality of the system -
1. These systems would probably all need to be certified for use in aircraft = $$$$
2. These systems need to stand up to massive amounts of abuse = $$$$ and limited components
3. These systems are several years old and probably need to be to get overall cost/benefit out of them
4. They all run off a central data store I imagine, I doubt each unit has all the stuff stored on it.

No, iPad minis are not a solution. They have no decent method of shared data access or lockdown suitable for this situation, they have no inputs for the remote and they would not be cost effective in the least. Apple has also been proven to be entirely apathetic to embedded use of their devices. Something to the tune of GFL guys, BYE!

In 5-10 years they will probably be massively better, but I am sure someone will be moaning that their movies are only in 1080p and not 8k and that they can't play Call of Duty Black Ops 7 at 60fps on there.

Jaxson

8042 posts

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#757372 8-Feb-2013 15:35

nathan: isnt it great how when you pay to watch movies you get forced to watch adverts

even if you purchase a $4000 business class seat

Yeah I hate it when I pay $4,000 for a business class seat and have to watch adverts, I get that all the time and it really grates me.

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