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

[Balaclava]

Originally Posted by Holmes108

Another issue has popped up today. It's actually the 3rd time it's happened since I received the update just over a month ago...

The replay button (the one that jumps back approx 5 seconds) suddenly jumps back 5 minutes with each press.

I have a similar problem with the replay button. Every time I use it, it goes back anywhere from 0 to 60 minutes. It is unpredictable. Earlier today it paused for a second then continued with no replay. It has happened over a dozen times. I have stopped using it and now only use the REW button. Very frustrating.

[MattyG]

I also have the 2am issue and contacted Rogers about it. They told me that they would put technician on it. The next day I got an automated message saying the issue had been resolved.

It was resolved for a couple of days, where it didn't reboot at 2 am (not sure if or when it did) but now it's back to rebooting at 2am again. I haven't had a chance to call to complain again.

2 am seems like a pretty silly time to me to schedule daily automatic updates. Somewhere closer to 4 am would probably have been a less intrusive time for most people, if they're unable to just set it to update when not being used.

[timberland29]

These nightly updates are really annoying. Why does there have to be an update every night? Why does it have to kick me out of the recorded show I'm watching? And then it doesn't even save where I left off. From what I can tell this nightly update is almost always just the guide listing update. There has to be a more effecient way of doing this. Why wasnt it doing these updates before with old IPG?

[tdub69]

Hey There, I recently upgraded to the new 8642 and 4642 and since day 1 problems.
- random rebooting at 2am
- channels missing
- audio distorted
- On demand intermittent, error messages

I have had the boxes replaced once already and just last night they rebooted again (2am). Biggest pain is that it takes over an hour for them to reboot as the light just spins cockwise trying to connect. Eventually it connects but this is ridiculous.

Can someone advise what model PVR and HD are the most recent before the 8642/4642 as Im thinking of downgrading so that my service works consistantly.

[viper359]

Latest Firmware as of March 31 2012

Software: 3.0.0.1612
UI Version: 3.1.5.24.04.09.11/28392

To find out which firmware is current on your box, Settings -> Troubleshooting -> System Information.

You can find more info about the firmware by visiting the following two links.

Cisco Videoscape Voyager Vantage (Software part of the firmware)
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11279/index.html

Ant Galio Browser
http://www.antlimited.com/ant_galio_browser.asp

Should you experience issues reported here, or not, you should email Rogers Digital TV support. No matter what, this provides them with information that problems are happening, and at some point, they will work on it. (We hope) Email support is usually pretty good. They will ask account information.

digitaltvsupport@rci.rogers.com <--- Email address for Support

Resolved Issues / Conflicts:

1) No more confirmation pop-up, with forced acknowledgement that a recorded program you deleted, is in fact, deleted.

2) After deleting a recorded program, you are returned to the area where you deleted the recorded program, rather than the top of the recorded shows list.

3) No more confirmation pop-up when scheduling something to record within the guide. (Hitting the record button)

4) No more confirmation pop-up when cancelling a recording through the guide.

5) Volume level of the analog outputs now appears to be normal again. (Unconfirmed)

6) When channel surfing, the info banner now shows program name, time remaining, and next program. Previously, it showed nothing.

7) This was fixed a long time ago, but is asked often.... The bug that prevented two programs of the same name, airing back to back from recording one of them has been fixed. An example.... Saturday nights, Cops airs at 800pm and 830pm. The old firmware, often only the 800pm recording would actually record, and the 830pm wouldn't. This has been fixed and tested several times.

On-Going Firmware Issues:

1) Random reboots for no known cause. Too many different situations which caused the reboots to list. No one common task sticks out.(Rogers is aware and its escalated to engineering)

2) Recordings not playing back. You get an almost frozen looking screen with no sound. (Rogers is aware and its escalated to engineering)

3) Guide is lagged or slow to move around in.

4) After finishing a recording, the popup appears for what action to take with the recording. Sometimes, this popup closes immediately after opening, bumping you back to the recorded list.

5) After pressing "D" to open the weather app, pressing "D" to close it does not work. To exit, you must hit the exit button.

6) Random channels are black when you tune to them. Channel banner shows.

7) Some channels are black and show "The service is currently not available, please try again later" error message.

8) Audio drop outs over HDMI. (Unknown if its the HDMI port, or the software)

9) "Not Enough Resources" message when trying to watch recording on networked box

10) You can no longer override the output format of the PVR when using HDMI <--- I consider this a bug!

11) Random channels not tuning. Message "This Service is Currently Not Available. Please Try Again Later" <---Now confirmed by multiple owners.

12) Serious lag for the PVR to respond when trying to fast forward at 4x speed. Sometimes you've already fast forwarded through the commercial but you can't get the recording to play because the PVR is still trying to process the fast forward commands. Several people reported this.



General Complaints that are not bugs

1) No TV call display yet.

2) No remote TV manager functionality yet.

3) Default zooming is too much.

4) TV Guide not using the available space for maximum information. Only showing 1.5 hrs, and a few channels at a time. Could show so much more.

5) When resuming a recording, the default first choice selection is "Play from start" rather than "Resume" If you are not paying attention, you will restart your program. <---Call it old finger habits from the old firmware.

6) When watching a recorded show. The page up and page down button no longer allows you to jump ahead or back in 15 minute intervals like before the update.

7) If you choose to hide channels from the guide or from channel surfing. It won't let you tune to those channels manually even if you enter the channel number.

8) The favorite button on the remote no longer cycles through your favorite channels. Instead it brings up the guide and shows your favorite channels.

9) Some complaints about the size of the text being too small, while the channel number banner is huge.

10) When you hide a channel, you cannot directly tune to it. Some feel this is bad, others disagree.

11) The guide is not always accurate. Example, says a recording is a repeat, when in fact, its new. If you have your PVR set to record only new episodes, it wouldn't record it.

12) 2am System updates. Not very good for us Time-shifting recorders. These updates always force a reboot, and kick you out of whatever you are watching. If its a recorded playback, it does NOT save your last playback location.

13) No more slow motion capability. AKA Frame by Frame. Sports guys use this often.

14) Galaxy music channels do not display the artist and song title when you press Info.

I will continue to update this as we move along. I did not post every complaint, as with the new update, I cannot be sure its still an issue. Shoot me PM or post here if you have something you feel should be added!

[viper359]

This little section if for tips related to the new firmware, as the Tips and Tricks thread is mostly for the old firmware. I am only listing key, new things.

If you do not have a remote with a "D" button, go to any Rogers store and ask for a new one. Bring your old one with you. I would call your local Rogers store first to ensure they have extra remotes, and are willing to exchange.


Tips

If you already have this box, and just received the new firmware, I suggest, along with a few others that you either do a factory reset within the new firmware, or delete all prior scheduled recordings and start from fresh. I am not sure if doing a factory reset will delete any recordings you have. If you are concerned, manually delete every scheduled recording. The reasoning behind this is because many conflicts have occurred with scheduled recordings from the old firmware to the new. Plus, it might help to clean out the list. I had over 100 scheduled recordings, most, being shows that no longer are broadcasted! Menu --->Settings--->Troubleshooting--->Select Restore Factory Settings This should delete scheduled recordings, but, it did not work for a friend, he had to do it all manually.

Parental Control

Once you set a PIN, you have many more options with parental control features. This is very handy. To access this, go to Menu--->Settings ---> Parental Control. Once you are in this menu, you have the following options. Block Channel, Block Ratings, Block Content, Hide Blocked Channels and Block Unrated Programs. The default PIN is 0000. To change the Parental Control Pin, or Purchase PIN, scroll along the top tabs until you find Parental PIN and Purchase PIN. Each has its own tab. I suggest setting them.

Once you tune to a blocked channel, it will ask for your PIN. Once you correctly enter it, a pop up menu will appear giving you the following choices. Unblock Current Program, Unblock Channel, Unblock All Channels, (For a time) (You select time) Unblock All Channels. (Until Standby)

Apps

Right now, the only app included with this firmware is the Weather App. You press "D" to have it pull up on to your screen. At this time, it says press "D" to exit, but, this is not working, you must press "exit" to exit the app.

How to Reboot Box

Now, you can soft reboot the box through the menu's. To perform a reboot of your box, as long as its not frozen, Menu --->Settings--->Troubleshooting--->Reboot Set-Top Box

On Demand

Now you will find your On Demand programming lumped together, all in one place. Just press the "On Demand" button with the red background, or manually tune to channel 100. Unlike before, now all the different On Demand channels are on a few pages. Each with its own icon to access. Rogers, HBO, Movie Network, Food Network etc.

Adding Favorites, or, Hide Channels

To set Favorites:

Press MENU, select Favorites and press OK. You can also set Favorites from SETTINGS--->Channel Setup.
Select a channel to add to your Favorites and press OK. A heart icon will appear beside the channel.

To access your Favorites:

Press FAV key or press GUIDE twice and your guide will appear with only your Favorites channel list.

To Hide Channels:

SETTINGS--->Channel Setup
Select Hide Channels tab, select a channel from the list. An X will appear beside the channel.

Turn On or OFF Closed Captioning

Press the INFO button
Scroll over to CC
Press OK to turn CC on or off

Make Info Banner show when channel surfing

Settings--->System
Go to Channel Change Banner --->Select Show
then press save.

Recording List Changes

Now you can view all your recordings by Date, Title, Channel, and TV Series. These have a folder like view to them. Access your recordings like before.



Any other suggestions to add here, please let me know via PM or here.

[TL_Gator]

Having a 720p signal converted to 1080i by the box only to be converted to 1080p by the HDTV or AVR chip makes no sense. Rogers needs to bring back the option where the user has various options for the output resolution. I want 480i to output at 480i, 720p at 720p and 1080i at 1080i, just like before this update came along..

[Dolfan]

12) Serious lag for the PVR to respond when trying to fast forward at 4x speed. Sometimes you've already fast forwarded through the commercial but you can't get the recording to play because the PVR is still trying to process the fast forward commands. Several people reported this.

I had this happen on Monday but haven't seen a repeat since when playing back a recording.

Now that I think about it, on Monday, I believe it happened after I had paused live TV. I'll have to try it again that way and provide an update.

[speedy1701]

Thanks viper359 for the nice summary of the bugs and the features recap! It's nice to see people contributing to the community!

[MyMedia08]

Originally Posted by viper359

57: Is there a proper order for having splitters and signal amps, or is it different with each situation?

Originally Posted by 57

Usually it's a splitter for internet and TV (and possibly phone), followed by amp for TV signals only, followed by splitters for TV signals. Sometimes Rogers may do something else, but it's really up to Rogers to ensure the equipment is properly installed, signal is good at each STB, return signal is good, etc.

Quick follow up questions:

1) My Rogers suppled 4-way spliiter is labelled 5 - 1000 Mhz; my own 3-way splitter is 5 - 2000 GHZ. Is that relavant? The Rogers supplied amp indicates 1000 Mhz as well.

2) One of the ports on the 3-way splitter is labelled "power passing" , others are not. Is that relavant? None of the ports on the Rogers splitter indicate power passing.


Rogers 4 way splitter:
[[/


Rogers Amp:


3 way splitter:

[57]

Rogers only uses 860 MHz, so 1000 is fine. Don't know about the other, but if it was installed by Rogers, I'm sure it's fine.

[viper359]

Originally Posted by speedy1701

Thanks viper359 for the nice summary of the bugs and the features recap! It's nice to see people contributing to the community!

No Problem. I kind of enjoy it. When I make my weekly email to Rogers to point out other issues, this list helps me remember which I have reported, which I have not, and which I would like an update on. Like the channel not available issue. Never had it happen once on my PVR, but its constantly happening as of late, on my bedroom box.

[yyzlhr]

Originally Posted by TL_Gator

Having a 720p signal converted to 1080i by the box only to be converted to 1080p by the HDTV or AVR chip makes no sense. Rogers needs to bring back the option where the user has various options for the output resolution. I want 480i to output at 480i, 720p at 720p and 1080i at 1080i, just like before this update came along..

Don't think this will happen as they want all their UI elements to either always be in HD or always be in SD.

[Dolfan]

12) Serious lag for the PVR to respond when trying to fast forward at 4x speed. Sometimes you've already fast forwarded through the commercial but you can't get the recording to play because the PVR is still trying to process the fast forward commands. Several people reported this.

I had this happen on Monday but haven't seen a repeat since when playing back a recording.

Now that I think about it, on Monday, I believe it happened after I had paused live TV. I'll have to try it again that way and provide an update.

Tried it with live TV today and had no issues. I haven't seen a repeat of it since Monday.

[yyzlhr]

Just noticed that if you look very closely when browsing On Demand and using the search menu, you'll notice that the interface is actually translucent. Not sure why Rogers chose to make it slightly translucent as it serves no purpose as the colours are so dark you can't see anything underneath anyways. Also, I'm sure it's putting unnecessary strain on the processor.