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New Firmware / (HD) IPG for 8642, 4642 Discussions - Read Post 1 and Links There

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#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Edit by 57 - 2016.03.26:

This thread was developed when the RTN firmware was new. Rogers has pushed the new Navigatr firmware to 8642 and 9865 PVRs & 4642 STBs. (NB2, NB3) Search for Navigatr on this forum to see the new threads on that topic. This thread has been closed and unstuck.


Here's a link to the Rogers info on the new IPG - please read these instructions before asking how to do something since most items are outlined here:

http://rogers-tv-enhancements.com/tips.html



To discuss the Whole Home PVR, please use the following thread:

Whole Home PVR in Ontario Discussions (NextBox 2.0/3.0) - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums


Here's a link for the latest issues and other relevant information regarding the new firmware/IPG. Thanks to viper359 for this summary and the tips that follow the summary.

New Firmware / (HD) IPG for 8642, 4642 Discussions - Read Post 1 and Links There - Page 55 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums



Well, its not a rumour anymore. I just got something in the mail. I am about to scan it and post it here for you folks.


Edit by 57. I have split these firmware/IPG discussions from the "Whole Home" thread since they can apply to any 8642 or 4642.
 
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#89 ·
I got the pamphlet but not the update and after reading all the posts here, I really hope I don't get the update.

They should really take all the feedback and not update the rest until it's fixed.
 
#90 ·
MCIBUS: You can see a screenshot on this page.

http://rogers-tv-enhancements.com/#upgrades3

Keep in mind, that screenshot is very deceptive. The top 1/3 of the screen that the new IPG doesn't take up on the screen would normally display the top 1/3 of what's shown on the current channel (whatever the guide doesn't cover up). But you rarely see a broadcast where the news anchors' heads are positioned in the top 1/3 of the screen... But in the marketing screenshot, their heads are perfectly centred on the top 1/3 of the screen. Deceptive!
 
#91 ·
Give me decent mods....or give me death

MCIBUS: You can see a screenshot on this page.

http://rogers-tv-enhancements.com/#upgrades3
The top 1/3 of the screen that the new IPG doesn't take up on the screen would normally display the top 1/3 of what's shown on the current channel (whatever the guide doesn't cover up).
Yeah..that's dumb...I like the fact that the 8300 [[and non updated 8642's]] show the whole show [[albeit smaller]] when displaying the guide...I was thinking of upgrading the living room to an 8642 and putting the 8300 [[purchased]] in the master bedroom....but if the only improvement is a 16:9 menu...it just doesn't seem worth it...not to mention I like the Remote TV manager [[when it works that is]] ability of the 8300...
 
#92 ·
I just got off the phone with Rogers.
They were very apologetic - and I got the sense that the person I was talking to "also" had one of these 8642's and was feeling the same pain.

In any event, they can NOT roll the firmware "back" to the old guide once they have loaded in the new one.
The only solution would be to get a different (new) box that had not been updated yet. Plus, in doing so, you'd lose all your recorded programs in the process.

They are very WELL aware of the issues/problems and are working towards fixing all of them. In fact he said they are pushing updates "nightly" to try and fix all the problems.
Apparently, they are working with Cisco on this, since I was told that they were the ones who developed the guide.

In any event, a ticket was opened, they took all my input/complaints, and assured me that this is something they are trying to fix.

I also asked if the guide/info/data (whatever) was remotely located, or if it was actually ON my PVR - he said it was on the PVR - thus the arguement that the box needs to fetch data from a remote server is null.

Bottom line - suck it up and be patient while they try to fix the beast they unleashed prematurely.

I would encourage others to actually "call" Rogers and report your issues - he said the more people that do that, and who identify all the problems, the better they can fix what is not working.

Time will tell - hopefully soon, though.
 
#93 ·
Does 8642 HSUD Issue Still Exist with the New IPG Firmware Update?

I still haven't received the new IPG yet (Mississauga, On) ... and by the sound of things, I shouldn't be in a rush to do so!

However, can anyone confirm if at least the HSUD (hard drive spinning up/down) issue has been fixed in the latest IPG firmware update?
 
#95 ·
Classic View

That is correct, As part of the trail program, my wife did not like the transparent view and as such we commented that we did not like the format, and Rogers responded a couple of weeks later with the option to select the Classic view. The guide goes to the top of the screen and the PIP to the bottom Right hand of the screen.
 
#97 ·
Tv no longer recognized as hd after update

Just wondering if any one has experienced the same issue. I connected my 8642 which has receeived the update to my hdtv since the 8642 thats connected to my HDTV has not receved the update. I went into settings and apperance and selected tv type 1080i or 720p. It gave me an error message stating that my tv may not be able to display a resolution of 1080i/720p.

I have also noticed there is no longer the hd setup wizard which used to come up when pressing guide and info when the pvr is powered off.
 
#120 ·
I have also noticed there is no longer the hd setup wizard which used to come up when pressing guide and info when the pvr is powered off.
Yes, I have noticed that - the ability to set up the pvr by pressing guide+info with the power off is now gone.

Also gone is the ability to go into all the service screens by tuning to a channel, holding down "select" until the mail icon lights up, then pressing "info"...

I suppose they did not want anyone accessing the unit with any "backdoor" key sequences on the new firmware.

This sucks, as I wanted to get in there to verify what my firmware revision was, so I could check it daily to see if/when it gets updated - which would allow me to look for any improvements/fixes if the rev. level is different.

If anyone figures out how to (now) access those service screens, please post in here.

(Now I'm wondering if they have locked-down your ability to upgrade your hard drive in the pvr - on this new firmware.....)


As another update, I have noticed no improvements yet - and both my 8642's spontaneously reboot once in a while for no apparent reason.
 
#98 ·
Using the new "sort-by title" option, watch a show and immediately press the STOP button *OR* watch the show to the end. Two things happen:

1) the menu that allows you to delete or start over does NOT appear like it does when you view by date or channel.
2) the cursor is returned to the top of the list, so you have no idea what recording you were on.

So, basically, you can't even delete a recording using sort by title!

Also, I'm not fond that title sort is purely alphabetical. I'd like to see shows grouped by name, and then sorted by last recording date (this is the way another PVR I have operates).
 
#99 ·
OK, so I have already posted a few things wrong with this new guide/firmware.
What follows below are "additional" issues I have encountered - just add them to the list:

AUDIO and VIDEO
- Audio output from analog jacks is only about 50% what it used to be (on one of my tv's I had to change audio connection to use the digital coax - which is fine).
- Video output from the Y/Pb/Pr jacks has a glitch in it - for some reason it introduces red/pink-ish line bleed across the bottom third of the screen. (I verified it is the PVR and not the tv) - and it never did this before the new IPG "upgrade".
- On my other TV (all HDMI) - no issues as per above.

RECORDED SHOWS
- When you go through the painstakingly slow process to navigate to a program you have recorded - and wish to delete it:
--- It will delete it, but when done (after another delay) you will be presented with another useless time-wasting pop-up asking you to confirm that it was already deleted
--- It has NO MEMORY that you were in a particular folder/location in your list of recorded programs. SO, when you are finished deleting something - it kicks you OUT of that location - BACK to the very beginning of the list of ALL recorded programs. This is extremely frustrating, especially if you either wanted to play the next program in that folder, or even to do some "maintenance" like deleting other programs in that folder (or whatever).
- I have a LOT of programs recorded, so this "no guide location memory" issue is an extreme pain to navigate. I spent about an hour last night just trying to delete a bunch of shows - where ALL my time spent was in NAVIGATING, WAITING, SELECTING, WAITING, getting punted back to the beginning and repeating again.
- What I would LIKE: - in the user interface, give an option to SELECT MULTIPLE shows to delete, etc - (AND, of course "remember" to stay in that folder/location after the operation).

WATCHING A RECORDED SHOW
- Once again, there is NO MEMORY of where you are in your show if you happen to hit stop, tune to Live TV, or do something else - and want to "continue" viewing your show. It starts you AT THE BEGINNING again - forcing you to deal with the FFwding to wherever you can remember that you left off.
- In the previous guide, if you stopped playing a program, you were given the option to "skip to end". That option is not present in the new one.
- This means that if you are FFwding to get to near the end of the program, but (because of the LAG), you hit PLAY just a bit too late to stop the FFWD operation and play at the point you wanted - it will go the "very end" and the only option it gives you is to start at the VERY BEGINNING again.
- So, if you only wanted to see the very end of a program, now you have to FFWD all over again, from the beginning, and very slowly/carefully FFWD when you get close to the end, so you don't over-shoot it and get punted back to the beginning of the program again !

GUIDE SCREEN
- The disk space indication at the bottom is a good idea, but the word "PVR" is superimposed over the "numbers percent" whenever the percentage of disk space used is a decimal amount.
- So, if you have used a whole number, like 40%, then the text "PVR" and 40% are not on top of each other. BUT if you have, for example, 40.5%, then the "R" in the text "PVR" is superimposed on top of the "4" and a little bit on the "0".
- With all the wasted screen real estate, they could easily move those two display items further apart from each other so this does not happen.

RECORDING A SHOW
- There is no "fine granularity" on the actual TIME you set for a recording now. Previously we could fine tune the start/end time (to the minute). Now, it is limited to 5 min before/after and then much larger increments.

Please know that as I continue to try and "use" this new system, I am finding more and more issues and will post my observations as I go.
Please also understand that the frustration of dealing with this sluggish, laggy, "tunnel-vision" guide/firmware causes me to not even want to use it.
This is because navigating and "using" the PVR has now become a nightmare I would rather just avoid altogether.
Hopefully everyone else voices their concerns (telephone/email/survey/etc) so they get the message (and the details) so they can quickly fix/improve it.
 
#116 ·
- Once again, there is NO MEMORY of where you are in your show if you happen to hit stop, tune to Live TV, or do something else - and want to "continue" viewing your show. It starts you AT THE BEGINNING again - forcing you to deal with the FFwding to wherever you can remember that you left off.
This one's odd to me - because bookmarking is working fine on my unit, even if nothing else is. There's even a little square icon next to every partially-started recording that indicates whether you're a bit into it, in the middle, or near the end.

Frankly, I would have been happy to see these new features integrated into the old crummy interface (except for the guide - it needed to be widescreen). I get the feeling that a lot of this is due to a slower and more bloated operating system (is it no longer using SARA?), merged with a demanding interface that makes use of too many transparent graphic overlays, and ends up pushing the rendering engine beyond what it can cope with. I do note that it feels SLIGHTLY faster in 720p versus 1080i.

I'm very aware of UI design on low-end hardware, and in many cases even if something is technically capable of doing something, it's often unwise to actually do it. For example, I know of one device which would work with PNG transparencies, but for example if you had a transparent PNG and an animated GIF on top of each other, the rendering engine would come to an unusable crawl.
 
#102 ·
Hey Sammey,
I am also in Orleans - and got the update on Monday.
I don't know why some parts of Orleans would get it on different days - it is not like it is "that" big of a place.
It must be because they are holding off on rolling it out until the next (version) of the firmware is more fully-baked for mass consumption.
I sure hope to see improvement soon, the way it works now is just brutal !
 
#103 ·
This is certainly disheartening.

The worst part is, I don't see a SINGLE post of someone saying "wow really? works great for me!"...

There's usually a very vocal minority of "complainers" on the net, and you can rest assured that more likely than not, the problems are isolated.

That does NOT seem to be the case. Has there been ANYONE who can say the problems aren't happening to 100% of the boxes.
 
#104 ·
Call from Rogers regarding feeback of new guide

Just received a call from Rogers. They wanted some feedback regarding the new guide update. Spent about 30 minutes on the phone with the nice lady. I also read some of the stuff from this thread out to her. In addition I told her to visit this thread online so she could see everything in greater detail.
 
#105 ·
No firmware upgrade on my 8642 or 4642 either, but based on the comments so far, I'm in no hurry!

But can someone please confirm: There's no longer program info displayed when switching channels? How can that be, it's the most basic feature of any STB. I would be totally lost without it. I surf all the time and stop when I see something I like. (I never use the GUIDE)
 
#107 ·
So after reviewing some information I've gotten from some inside sources, if your Cisco 4642 and 8642 are not in the system under the HYBRID product code, the update may not be pushed to you. My area is schedule to receive the update on Jan 30 and my account has my Cisco boxes under the non hybrid code so I'll report back on whether I actually receive the update or not.

Making changes to your TV service however, will FORCE the rep to migrate your Cisco boxes to the hybrid code. So if you're hoping to not receive the update, I would suggest refraining from making any changes to your tv services at this time.
 
#112 ·
Prior to the enhancement, reps could use one of two codes in the billing and provisioning system to add an HD terminal to your account.

HD Terminal Rental/Purchase and HD PVR Rental/Purchase Codes would work with both SA and Cisco boxes.

There is also a product code in the system called HD Hybrid Terminal Rental/Purchase and HD Hybrid PVR Rental/Purchase. These codes ONLY work with Cisco equipment.

If your Cisco HD terminal or HDPVR was issued under the non hybrid code, you may not receive the update according to what I've been told.

My Cisco equipment is issued under the non-Hybrid code and my area is scheduled for the update on Jan 30, so I'll report back on whether I've been spared from this upgrade. It may also explain why, I didn't receive any letters from Rogers regarding the upgrade, despite the fact that I've had Cisco equipment for almost 6 months now.

If this is in fact true, it may be helpful for others to know, as they should refrain from making changes to their cable TV services if they don't want the new IPG, as any changes would force reps to migrate all cisco equipment to the hybrid product codes.
 
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