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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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#955 ·
viper359 - I had the new IPG installed a week ago on my two 8642's (both with the expensive "purchased from Rogers" 1 TB PVR extenders). I hesitated when the guide was first announced and called Rogers to see if I might lose the recordings on the two PVR's, and at the time (early April I believe) they said there was a chance that could happen and they were working on it. Then on May 4 I got the mass email from Rogers offering the upgrade if you requested it, with the URL link to request. I thought the would surely mean they had fixed the problem of losing all recordings during the upgrade, but followed through and read the FAQ questions and found one that specifically stated you would NOT lose any recordings, so I opted to go ahead with the update. Needless to say I lost over 200 hours of recordings (EVERYTHING) on both PVR's when the update took place. A support tech at Rogers had the nerve to say they'd rolled this out to 25,000 customers and no one had lost recordings. I said if those odds were true I'd have won the lottery several times over. A manager I spoke to at Rogers admitted she lost all recordings when her own PVR was updated.

Four days after the IPG update and complaint to Rogers I had the Whole Home PVR upgrade done (free, as partial compensation for losing all my recordings during the upgrade) and a 4642 added in the bedroom to access the two PVR's..

I have some notes I've been keeping about all the problems I've encountered in just one week. I know some of these are in your list, but I have seen all these occur since May 12. My current software versions are:
Software Version: 3.0.0.1612
UI Version: 3.1.5.24.04.09.11/28392

- ALL recordings lost during upgrade to new programming guide

- Scheduled recordings saved during upgrade lost earlier/later start/end times and save settings (5 days, etc.)

- Can only keep recordings 3/7/14 days (or until Space is Needed/I Erase), no more keeping say 5 episodes (could be 5 weeks)

- Freezing after several modifications made to scheduled recordings "by Series"

- Response time to remote inputs often PAINFULLY slow most of the time

- Upstairs PVR rebooted itself around 15:05 2012/05/11 (around 25 hours after update to new programming guide). Observed this several times in the last week on different boxes, was HOPING this was a software update installation occurring.

- Lost track of program being played and paused when went into scheduled recordings to make several changes

- Can no longer adjust exact start/end times (can only adjust by 5/15/30/60 minutes). This is a big problem with lat night recordings where timings are NOT to the 5 minutes. Like the Tonight Show 11:34.5 to 12:27, Late Night 12:37-01:36, Saturday Night Live 11:29.5 to 01:01. What COULD be done before on one PVR using both tuners to record now requires a second PVR because you can only start a show 5 mins early (not 1, 2, 3, 4 mins) and end a show 5 mins late (not 1, 2, 3, 4 mins). Also occasionally it was useful to end a recording a minute EARLY in order to allow the next show on another channel to start a minute early. Now you can't start a recording late or end on early at all.

- "D" button displays weather. Says on screen "D To Exit", which doesn't work (you have to press the Exit button)

- In my "Scheduled recordings by Series" it lists WNED 61 incorrectly as FOX WUTV (Last of the Summer Wine, MI-5). The Guide itself lists the correct name for 61.

- doesn't remove program progress bar a few seconds after you Pause (must manually use Exit)

- can't do Frame Advance/Back from Pause (does Fast Forward/Rewind). HUGE problem for watching certain sports, or trying to freeze frame Chuck Lorre's vanity cards at the end of The Big Bang Theory. ;-)

- Rewind speeds very slow on occasion. Fast Forward also doesn't seem to be as fast as it used to be.

- can't use Page + and Page - to go forward/back 15 minutes in recording anymore (segmented progress bar). BIG problem when trying to locate points in a long recording, like a game, race, etc.

- if playing (or checking/deleting) multiple episodes in a folder (eg. Top Gear) it returns not to the folder contents, but to top level after each Delete. Now takes about 10 times longer to delete unneeded episodes from "Record All Occurences" recordings.

- downstairs PVR, set to record ALL Top Gear episodes, still occasionally ending recordings early (one had only 49 mins another 57 mins) for no apparent reason (no - not a scheduled recording conflict and the result of priority scheduling, the Top Gear series recording for all episodes has the lowest recording priority)..

- "Skip to end" feature gone, have to sit and fast forward all the way through a show (A HUGE PAIN if it is say a 3 hour sports event or movie, as the 15 minute advance/reverse using Page + and Page - is also now gone). I've found myself needing to manually fast forward through several shows, as when I was viewing them the first time the remote was so slow to respond when I tried to stop the fast forward that it went to the end of the recording, so had to play it again and manually fast forward to the end all over again.

- when both tuners were recording, viewing My Recordings, By Date, you can't select a program to play (up/down don't work - Page + and Page - worked).

- Date sometimes overlays episode name text of first item on My Recordings By Date

- started viewing Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 01:15 (45 mins after recording started, scheduled started/end 5 min before/5 min after, so 12:30-01:40), recording showed length of 45 mins when I started viewing, and appears to have stopped recording at that point (could not go beyond 45 mins even after recording finished).

- Inside the Conan (2) folder (indicating 2 episodes), was a Top Gear (31) and Conan (31) folder.
Inside the Conan (31) folder are 2 episodes of Conan, and several episodes of CTV National News, EastEnders, Grey's Anatomy, House, etc. etc. Sort of a multiple level invocation error or loop in the folder hierarchy.
After going back to top level in that folder, the Conan (31) "sub" folder, changed to a single Conan episode.
Checked later, Conan folder now contained 3 folders: Top Gear (41), Conan (41), Conan (41). Again, other shows within those folders.
ALSO, when viewing My recordings By PVR and drilling down into the Conan (41) folder for LIVING ROOM, it ends up showing recordings from BASEMENT.

- If you accidentally go to play a program (eg. Daily Show) after just deleting all of that program's occurrences inside a folder (but before the program guide screen had refreshed again to delete that listing - BECAUSE IT IS SO SLOW), the background audio from the tuned channel continues while the screen ends up totally black (after briefly displaying the black/white program length bar). You then can bring up the program guide, recorded programs, etc. but it will not play anything else. Tried to power off to reset (can't power off via remote - but pressing power on front panel restored picture (all the time the audio from background channel was playing). Could still not get program guide/recorded listings back but remote power off-on then worked BUT ALL CONTROLS STILL FROZEN. Pulled power cord to reboot.

- "Tuning conflict" message when last channel viewed was 581, and was currently playing a recorded program (CTV News, 518, 11:30-12:05) while 2 others were scheduled to record (Late Show with David Letterman 170:OMNBC & Tonight Show with Jay Leno 138:CTV2V). Should be NO conflict with two timer programs recording while viewing a recorded program (only if you were viewing Live TV on a channel that was different than the two that recordings were about to start on). Instead message appeared and PVR recorded show being played back stopped (it also lost the bookmark point where play ended, when viewed later had to start at beginning). (TURNED OUT TO BE THE FACT IT ONLY RECORDED 8 MINUTES OF THE 35 MINUTE SCHEDULED CTV NEWS).


- Series recordings often don't work as scheduled:
SCHEDULED SERIES May 11-12:
CTV News 12:CTVSH All episodes/This timeslot only/Any day of week/Start-End on time-on time
Guide lists as 11:30p-12:05a
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 9:LCTV2 All episodes/This timeslot only/Any day of week/Start-End on time-on time
Guide lists as 12:35p-01:35a (actual is 12:37-01:36)
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 138:CTV2V All episodes/This timeslot only/Any day of week/Start-End on time-5 mins after
Guide lists as 03:35-04:35a (actual is 03:37-04:36)
RECORDED May 11
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 138:CTV2V 11:00-11:37p (Of course this didn't contain ANY of Jimmy Fallon, and Tonight Show recording started 11:37)
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 9:LCTV2 11:38p-01:35a
CTV News 12:CTVSH 11:30-11:38p


SCHEDULED SERIES (after cancelling previous series recording schedule and starting over)
Tonight Show With Jay Leno 524:HDNBC All episodes/This timeslot only/Any day of week/Start-End 5 mins before-5 mins after
Guide lists as 11:35-12:35 (actual is 11:34.5-12:37)
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 524:HDNBC All episodes/This timeslot only/Any day of week/Start-End 5 mins before-5 mins after
Guide lists as 12:35-01:35 (actual is 12:37.5-01:36)
ACTUAL SCHEDULED RECORDINGS
Tonight Show With Jay Leno 524:HDNBC Start-End on time-on time (even after trying to change to 5 mins before/after it refuses to change from on time-on time)
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 524:HDNBC Start-End on time-5 mins after (refused to set start 5 mins before)


BASEMENT SCHEDULED RECORDING/SERIES May 12
Saturday Night Live 524:HDNBC All episodes/This timeslot only/This day only/Start-End 5 mins before-5 mins after
Guide lists as 11:30p-01:00a

BASEMENT RECORDED May 12 (LIVING ROOM didn't record at all, despite being programmed)
Saturday Night Live 524:HDNBC 11:30p-06:00a


SCHEDULED RECORDING/SERIES May 13
Desperate Housewives 518:CTVSH Single episode/Start-End on time-on time
Guide lists as 08:00-09:00p
Desperate Housewives 522:HDABC All episodes/Start-End on time-on time
Guide lists as 09:00-11:00p

RECORDED May 13
Desperate Housewives 518:CTVSH 08:31-09:00p
Desperate Housewives 522:HDABC 09:06-11:59a MONDAY (was STILL recording next day, manually stopped at 11:59a)


SCHEDULED RECORDING/SERIES May 14
Formula One Racing 54:SPDHD Single episode/Start-End on time-30 min after
Guide lists as 12:00-2:00p

RECORDED May 14
Formula One Racing 54:SPDHD 12:00-4:57p (was STILL recording at 4:44P, should have ended at 2:30p, manually stopped at 4:57p)


- Monday 11:55 Recording of Formula 1 (SPDHD) can't start due to limited space on PVR (Desperate Housewives STILL recording after almost 15 hrs, PVR showing 10.6% full)

- message appeared 5 minutes before 5:00p recording due to start:
Attention
The recording of Top Gear which is due to start at 5:00p will not be able to record due to limited space available on your PVR.
Please click Manage Recordings below and remove some recordings in order to ensure there is enough space for this program.
(PVR was only 12.5% full - seems to ignore the space available on PVR Extender when presenting this message and assumes it has only 160GB of disk. Formula 1 scheduled from 12:00p-2:30p was STILL recording, had to manually end recording).

- manually stopped Desperate Housewives recording at 11:59a, recorded 14 hr 53 min, PVR still only showing 10.6% full, Formula 1 recording *SPDHD) started 12:00p
(Stopped Desperate Housewives DOESN'T show up in My Recordings By Date, only By Title and By Channel)

- 04:41 Sat May 12, on screen message about set top software being updated from network, will take several minutes, a reboot may be necessary, call 888-???-???? (only on screen less than a minute - didn't have time to write down number). Didn't automatically reboot HOWEVER would not play any recordings. Disconnected power to force reboot.

- scheduled Big Bang Theory, record series, Ch. 518 Thu 20:00-20:30. On 2012/05/10 recorded 3 hours from 20:00-23:00.

- Guide doesn't remember last position viewed, goes back to channel 1 each time. A real pain.

- Recorded program list doesn't remember position, again takes a lot of wasted time to get back to your position.

- Adding a manual recording, can't use keypad, have to scroll through ALL channels starting at 1 (or back from 999)

- Adding a manual recording, can only alter start/end times in 15 minute increments, based on time you press button to add a recording (ie. 12:47, 01:02, 01:17)

- occasional audio dropouts (using HDMI output to TV)


SUGGESTED ENHANCEMENTS

- Timer App to turn TV off at night (especially useful for boxes installed in bedrooms)
- Option to dim the clock/channel display (again, (especially useful for boxes installed in bedrooms)
- Wasted space with 5 letter channel code, why not channel icon and real network/channel name, separate small HD logo

=====================================================

Advice to those who are unhappy - call Rogers, complain (every time something annoying happens to you with the new IPG). Ask to speak to the retention department and see what they will do to avoid losing you as a customer. My wife wanted me to remove the old Bell Satellite dish from the roof, I said no way - I want it there to make it easy to switch back to Bell.
 
#956 ·
viper359- If you accidentally go to play a program (eg. Daily Show) after just deleting all of that program's occurrences inside a folder (but before the program guide screen had refreshed again to delete that listing - BECAUSE IT IS SO SLOW), the background audio from the tuned channel continues while the screen ends up totally black (after briefly displaying the black/white program length bar). You then can bring up the program guide, recorded programs, etc. but it will not play anything else. Tried to power off to reset (can't power off via remote - but pressing power on front panel restored picture (all the time the audio from background channel was playing). Could still not get program guide/recorded listings back but remote power off-on then worked BUT ALL CONTROLS STILL FROZEN. Pulled power cord to reboot.
Wow. Very detailed and comprehensive post.

I came here today to ask specifically about the issue with the screen going black and found the detailed description above. I don't really use the folders, so it's happening to me occasionally after deleting a show from the default recorded list view (by time). In my case, nothing I did would bring back the picture or change the audio, but all menus worked fine.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Have we nailed down a cause (I've been thinking that I'm pressing buttons too fast for the poor PVR/IPG and it freezes)? And most importantly, has anyone figured out a way to get out of it other than rebooting the PVR? I've been able to go to the settings menu and initialize the reboot but of course I have to wait until any recordings finish to do this.

Even though there's been progress, Rogers still has a way to go to get this firmware right

Thanks!

J
 
#957 ·
Yeah, well they certainly seem to be taking their sweet time in coming up with any FIXES (let alone "enhancements") to this PIG - I mean IPG !!!!
No, actually I probably mean "PIG".

It has been a LONG time now without any new firmware updates.
Maybe Rogers thinks that the longer we "deal" with the issues, the more we will learn to accept them as the "new normal operating mode" - forgetting how horrendously bad it really is.

This is disgraceful.
Rogers should be very very ashamed of themselves for releasing this and then not fixing it.
Pitiful.
 
#958 ·
Just remember they have a few diffrent groups do the firmware! it NOT rogers!
I do belive they are trying to get a few bugs out before they release the new upgrade to stop more from complaing !

Think about it !!!!! if they released a bad or worse upgrade 80% of you would be on here fraking out~! they havent released a new ipg in how may yrs! i hear about this all day long as i work contract for them ! more ppl are happy with the new ipg over the old one!
 
#959 ·
Well Rogers is obviously paying Cisco to develop the firmware for them. So as a Cisco customer, Rogers should be pushing them harder to roll out a firmware that actually functions properly without us having to reboot our terminals every other day.

Also, I think a good number of people are on this forum to complain about the upgrade rather then to praise it. In addition, the ability to reverse the "upgrade" will affect the number of people who actually complain about this buggy firmware. Also, your perception of your customers is not a statistically valid way to say more people are happy with the new IPG vs the old one. As a former rogers frontline rep, I always thought Rogers would be bankrupt within a year because I dealt with so many frustrated customers who wanted to cancel. However, they continue to grow to this date.
 
#960 ·
I still prefer the new guide over the old, but just barely. Given the choice, I would stay with the new though.

Another smaller issue I have (more of a design choice), is that "Play" is the top, default choice, and "Resume" is second, causing me, on several occasions, to accidentally restart a program, and then have to fast forward back to my previous location.

It seems to me I may recall someone mentioning this a while back, but I just wanted to complain again.
 
#962 ·
I know there were questions about how this nextbox firmware works with TVs with a 4:3 aspect ratio and I originally said that it squishes everything. I've done some further testing by actually hooking up a nextbox terminal to my TV via coax. I went into the settings and changed the output to 4:3 and all channels display the same way they would with the old firmware. SD channels appear normal and HD channels are letterboxed. However all the UI elements will still be squished.
 
#963 ·
neilpalmer400:

Many of the things you listed have been mentioned. First, the PVR losing all recordings. It happens, but to a very small minority that have reported on here. Its a risk with any upgrade to any electronic device that you will lose data or worse, brick it. My first upgrade I didn't lose anything. When I moved, I lost everything. The latter being the tech's fault for forcing the old sara software to the boxes, then starting the upgrade from scratch.

I cannot repeat this enough, I have said once you upgrade, to delete all scheduled recordings, and start fresh. This is to remove all conflicts between the old firmware and the new one. Plus, its cleans out the very old lists.

You are in a rather unique situation, running two PVR's. There is not a lot of forum members doing this right now, so the feedback on here is rather limited. I believe this could be causing some of your issues. It was reported by another member, that he was having issues with the two boxes working together correctly.

Your scheduling issues are due to the guide. I have been watching this close. Sometimes, and episode will say new in the title description, but it won't have the red NEW in the guide. When this happens, I have found the recording is not scheduled to occur. <----I believe the guide data is provided by a 3rd party. It is not under Rogers direct control. However, it could be something in their database causing conversion issues, if they work it that way.

Your freezing issues are not something I am experiencing. While I do experience the occasional button input lag, for the last month or more, its been pretty responsive. I am wondering if the two PVR setup could be doing something that is causing this?

Have you tried unplugging your PVR boxes and the coax cable for a good period of time. Say 5 minutes? The one time since switching over to the whole home pvr system that I had issues, I did this, and a reboot seemed to fix it.

Where you around the PVR when the recordings were cut short? I had this issue months ago, and found the box to be rebooting. Unlike the old Sara firmware were it would divide the recordings into two, this firmware keeps it as one. Any chance that is happening to you?

How many filters have been installed within your home? How are your signal levels? Your experience is completely opposite to what I am experiencing now. I would be on the phone demanding a ROGERS (not contractor) senior field tech be at my home investigating everything.

Seems no one installer does the same install.
 
#978 ·
viper359:

Sorry for reply delay, been away for a while and of course more issues with the new IPG when gone, including some programs that start recording and won't end until you manually "stop recording and save", and even then sometimes you have to reboot to actually get it to stop recording.

To address some of your points:

- Yeah, s**t happens, but I figured the odds of losing all recordings on BOTH PVRs during the upgrade was pretty low, unless it was a common problem (note at the time of the upgrade I did not have the whole home PVR installation, so each PVR was independent of the other).

- I have deleted and manually reprogrammed the recording schedule for programs & series. Still occasionally one PVR likes to start recording Saturday Night Live at 23:30 and ending it at 06:00

- I don't set anything in the schedule to record only New episodes (never trust whoever provides the guide to get everything correct, prefer to check the show myself and delete if I confirm it is a rerun). Would be nice if whoever provides the guide listed the correct times for late night programming, like for example The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as 23:34-00:37 instead of 23:35-00:35, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon as 00:37-01:36 instead of 00:35-01:35

- managed to greatly reduce freezing issues by waiting for the response or screen refresh before giving any more remote inputs, especially important when deleting a program to wait until the list of recordings refreshes and deletes the program from the list (seems to do a double screen refresh before the program disappears from the list).

- when viewing a recording on one 8642 from the other, or from the 4642, via whole home PVR the response is definitely a bit slower, though not significantly slower than when viewing a recording on the 8642 that recorded the show

- haven't resorted to actually unplugging the coax, due to the trouble I'd have to go through to get at the back of the cabinets/TV's to do this (though I suppose I could disconnect them at the splitters in the basement for a while - that was basically done when the whole home PVR install was done a week after the IPG "upgrade").

- was around when the box rebooted once while it was recording, but did not notice it showing both parts of the program under one recording (if a recording is interrupted like that I watch a backup copy on the other PVR or recorded as a backup from Pacific time zone (even if not from an HD channel). On the old SARA software I had MANY recordings divided in two parts (even if the box didn't reboot), and several series recordings that would start or end late/early once, then repeated that for subsequent recordings of the same series (most noticeable recording Top Gear all occurrences on one of the PVR's). At least the new IPG seems to have ALMOST completely eliminated that problem.

- when the whole home PVR install was done they sent out two techs. I followed them around to see everything they were doing, asked questions, checked the filter install (two, one on the main line from outside before the first splitter, and one on the branch of a feed from a splitter that feeds the Internet router/modem and home phone box), etc. They seemed very competent, even pointing out the main cable from outside wasn't grounded as well as it could have been and corrected that issue. I asked about signal strength and they assured me that had tested it and it was good. I'm convinced all the issues are software related with the new IPG/8642' firmware and nothing to do with the cable wiring/installation or the 8642/4642 hardware itself,

Also like you I have noticed the number of overnight reboots has dropped drastically (basically to none) - and have also observed the pop-up notice that a refresh was loaded when viewing around 04:41am one day.

I called in to Rogers to cancel my Cable, Internet, Home Phone & Wireless, and ended up speaking to a second level cable support person who confirmed they have received all the detail emails I've sent of problems, and acknowledged them as known issues, and also acknowledged many complaints about losing slow motion/frame advance, skipping forward/back in 15 min intervals, Skip to end, etc. and said they are trying to get them reinstated. I said if I knew there was an update coming in a week or two I may be willing to wait before switching everything over to Bell, but if they were talking several months I wouldn't be prepared to wait that long. He assured me they weren't looking at months for the next update but did not know specifically when it would be available and rolled out.
He did mention that they had a big problem with people losing recordings when the initial IPG update was rolled out, so they stopped the rollout for a while until they had a new update that was supposed to solve that problem, but he said it still happens occasionally (though nowhere near the level they had before). I said it was still misleading to state on their website under FAQ's that you would NOT lose any recordings during the upgrade. Be honest and say there's maybe a 2% chance (or whatever) so the consumer can decide knowing the risk.

I've decided to give them a few more weeks to see if an upgrade is upcoming before switching everything over to Bell.
 
#964 ·
Updates

A few things I have noticed in the last month:

First, the nightly updates / reboots seem to have slowed down. Now its kind of random when they happen. For example, I have been watching TV at 2am every night since last week. Only Sunday night going into Monday morning did I receive an update. <----This was on my 4642, not my 8642. Mind you, I was always watching something off the main PVR, so the updates didn't happen their either.

Not every update this past month has caused a reboot. Several times, I got the update message, and when it was done, I continued to watch TV. However, it did not save my spot in the recording I was watching, so I had to FF to the last part I watched.

If you experience any playback issues etc, reboot both the 8642 & 4642. I also have now made a habit of doing this at least once a week. I find things to just be a little more responsive after the reboot. My wife also noticed this. Not sure if there is any merit to it, or if its just the "placebo" effect.
 
#965 ·
Recordings on external drive not seen by replacement 8642

Hello all,

My 8642 PVR has been working fine and with an external 1 TB HDD (WD) until the software upgrade... After the upgrade, it worked for several weeks more or less ok, and I was able to access all my previous recordings - on the 8642 PVR and the external drive. Earlier this week, the 8642 went into continuous reboot cycle, and the Rogers tech suggested to get a replacement 8642 from Rogers. So I did. The new 8642 works fine -- however, I can't get it to see the recordings on the external drive. Why would that be? Any hope to gain access to these recordings on the external drive? I knew I will lose the recordings on the 8642 itself but was not expecting to lose those on the external drive.

Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.
 
#967 ·
Also, the index for the programming is on the internal HDD, so it went away with the PVR. Here are the eHDD threads if you have any more questions on that topic. Check out post 1 first.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=23773 eHDD

From post 1:
You cannot move eHDDs between different PVRs because the index for the programming is on the internal HDD to preclude just that. The internal drive must be functional for the PVR to operate. The programmes on both drives are encrypted and cannot be viewed on a computer.
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=123790 8642 eHDD.


Useful post for those new to the forum - FAQs, Search Tips, Optimization, etc:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=57741
 
#968 ·
Ok, thank you very much for the prompt explanation. I was expecting that there will be full portability, from one 8642 PVR to another, with encryption and all intact. A false sense of security on my part, thinking that the shows/movies I had on the hard drive are immune from a PVR failure, but obviously not to be. Thanks again.
 
#970 · (Edited)
Not impressed...

Just got the 8642 and I'm disappointed to say the least.
-can't get it to play slo-mo like 8300HD (does it work? how?)
-IPG is only 1.5 hrs coverage... useless, sooo much going back and forth, huge grid and nothing on it... it begs for 2.5-3hrs coverage on big screen
-slow IPG refresh
-likes to reboot for whatever reason (perhaps still keeps loading bits and pieces)

I see no advantage over 500G 8300HD. Is there any way to go back to old Menu/Guide? This is a form over function example. Cisco/SA are slow learners (if at all). Access to quick functions from Info screen the only improvement I could spot... Am I missing the big picture or this is just a minor upgrade from everyday usage perspective...

They (techs) didn't even bother to leave a manual... that says it all.

PS. on HD channels there's more and more of high compression artifacts (large, panning backgrounds refreshing every 0.5 secs, jerky...) on both 8642 and 8300, looks like low bitrate to me, even on some live shows... to the degree that downloaded divx episode looks better then Rogers HD!!!... is this where we're heading with so called "HDTV" here?
 
#972 ·
don't have any, just testing... any idea how to go back to prev. FW?
Do 8642 support slo-mo with either FW? Just wonder if they did away with it... and if so why?
8300 was awfully primitive, 8642 seems they got it backwards... networking is nice provided Rogers have not disabled it for your benefit... meantime in Europe they program PVR's via internet or cell phone... using 9-10 channel IPG with station logos :eek: for easy access, still beyond reach here, just letters and numbers... what a brilliant XXI century idea :rolleyes:
 
#974 ·
wow, that is interesting... slow motion, a very very useful feature for sports etc. allowing you to analyze something without relying on broadcaster's eye, trumpeted before (remember Rogers commercials?) as unique, useful and cool became obsolete... by who's judgment?
Thought it was reconfigured (different button sequence on remote or something)... how wrong was I. Thank you YYZLHR for your answer... it still leaves me shaking my head about the "improvements". Good to know how to go about the FW. I will probably do that really soon.
There is a multitude of PVR's on the market in Europe... but here we are all "standardized" at a pretty low level with just 1... means consumers choice is at the very bottom of priorities. Makes me feel really good... filling Cisco's coffers.

PS. just noticed another reboot/upgrade... well over 10 in just 2 days and in the middle of watching TV at 2am, that's excessive...:confused:
 
#975 ·
On Demand Not Updating on 8642

Hi Everyone,

My family are heavy users or TMN/HBO on Demand. Since switching our 8642 to the new firmware, we find that our On Demand menus do not contain most updates. For example, Game of Thrones Season 2 does not have any HD or SD episodes. Our older SD 3200 does receive the updates. Furthermore, I picked up a new 4642 (which has the new system loaded) this past weekend and it also seems to receive the updates.

I called Rogers twice. The first time, the rep said this was a known issue and he had to force the update and it would take up to 48 hours.....the updates never came. The second time, the rep never heard of this problem and indicated that over the next 48 hours they would revert back to the old firmware and install the new one again....(I can't tell if they actually did this)....still not working.

I've scanned all the forums here on DHC and can't find any related messages. Anyone ever heard of this issue or have any insights?

Thanks.
 
#976 ·
I see the latest episodes of game of thrones on both my 8642 and 4642 running the latest firmware. I believe the menu information for on demand on the new firmware is delivered via IP, therefore you'll want to check to see if your terminal has an IP address. No IP address means no On Demand updates. If your terminal does have an IP address, I would reboot your terminal. That forces it to get a new IP address and will likely force the on demand content to update.
 
#977 ·
YYZLHR,

Thanks for your feedback. I've tried rebooting several times.

Went through the set up pages looking for IP Addresses....

Davic Status

Ethernet IP: 255.255.255.255
RF IP : 47.18.154.112
RF Sub: 255.255.192.0

NW & Tuning Status

Ethernet IP: 43.22.192.0
SubMask: 43.22.230.48

RF IP: 43.18.154.112
RF Mask 255.255.192.0

System Device Address eSTB 47.18.154.112
 
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