[Merged] CR3-Feedback & Questions in Here Please.

[Grafton]

Does anyone else have a problem with the guide menu screen? It did work earlier (got the update today), but now I can highlight the options on the screen, but nothing happens when I press select (ie doesn't go to the listings)....

[magpie]

Having had LCR3 for 2 weeks now, I feel it's about time I wrote a review. Having lived in Manchester up until December, I'm in the fairly unique position of having used CR2, BCR3, v5 and now LCR3.

First thing I noticed after the update (I saw it happen) was a little window showing my favourites and settings being transfered (including 'default scart control ON', despite the warning leaflet to the contrary). My previous favourites were indeed in the right order, but all the others seemed to be rather randomly arranged! (not a gripe - easily fixed)

Welcome screen out the way, I was prepared for the worst (ie BCR3 speed!). I pressed TV, and was pleasantly surprised. Whereas this would cause BCR3 to begin gradually painting the N&N bar to the screen, LCR3 waits until it knows exactly what to display before displaying any of it. This means there's a small delay before it appears, but it seems A LOT more professional. Sadly, this mode of operation doesn't extend to actually using the mini-guide, which behaves exactly like BCR3, only perhaps marginally faster.

Pressing channel +/- has a big improvement over BCR3. The channel is changed, and THEN the mini-guide is displayed, making channel changes as quick (if not quicker, tbh) than v5. Sadly, this doesn't seem to be the case when keying in a number, which is certainly slower.

Next - the guide. It is SO much better than v5 and BCR3. Having chosen a category from the menu, the channel names and times are painted onto the screen, and then, after a short delay, all the programmes themselves, all at once! Gone is the hideous CR2 and BCR3 trick of gradually displaying the programmes line by line. Displaying different channels or times is just as quick. (note, though, that there is no way of entering a time - you must start from 'now', or 'now+24hrs' etc. - however, moving around is generally fast enough for this not to be an issue).

Interactive is pretty much the same as ever (though the 'please wait' is orange and has no spinning circle, which was a surprise). After using interactive for a bit (especially TWTV), the speed of the whole thing becomes notably slower, eventually resulting in a 'Return to optimum performance' dialog (which is just a soft reboot). This has happened to me twice, with it crashing the second time instead of rebooting. I think this is the first time I've had to manually reset the STB all year - a testament to the stability of v5, imo.

Finally - on demand. Although the menu looks nice as a screenshot, I find it to be easily the slowest part of LCR3, gradually painting the events line by line. Otherwise, it does the job and looks good.

Anything else....? The overall look is nicer than the old pink (which never really bothered me anyway). The lack of a favourites or settings button on my remote makes accessing those features a bit more of a chore! The 'cycling through the letters to get to the name of the radio station' screen saver is a nice touch. The Favourites menu has the correct up to date channel names (never mind, BCR3 users ).


Overall, I have to say that I'm impressed. Throw in some ETV apps, and I'm sure most people would agree with me! However, without any of these, I can see why people could prefer v5 (which, imo, is better than CR2, BCR3 and even LCR3 as a no frills EPG). As different as this new software seems, this upgrade was really all about what goes on behind the scenes - I look forward to this being properly exploited.


And finally (really this time!), I'm afraid I've found some bugs, listed here in order of increasing annoyance!

• When browsing channels using the mini-guide, the 'turn subtitles on/off' button only appears if you're looking at certain channels - surely this should depend on what channel you're WATCHING.
• I've had the menu fail to respond to pressing select (as Grafton said above)
• Sometimes, the mini-guide dissapears while I'm still using it (that is, still regularly pressing buttons).
• My screen STILL goes blank at 1.10am, only now it's sometimes for upto 15 seconds, and is accompanied by the remote being completly ignored, the 'back' button being set to the channel you're watching, and the mini-guide listings briefly showing some other random channel.

Phew!... Enjoy


edit: spelling, and the bug Grafton pointed out.

[DeKurver]

Originally Posted by Grafton

Does anyone else have a problem with the guide menu screen? It did work earlier (got the update today), but now I can highlight the options on the screen, but nothing happens when I press select (ie doesn't go to the listings)....

Yes, I've had this problem once before; a reboot fixed it.

[DeKurver]

Originally Posted by stormrider

- Took me a while to work out you can use browse in the guide and miniguide to get programme info - no obvious hint for that.

I think it was covered in the booklet though. The real reason for this is that new remotes have an "i" (for info) button instead of the "browse" button, although there is still a "browse" label above the button. This means that the new remotes now have identical buttons on both Bromley and Langley platforms. You can see some screenshots on the Red-Eye site.

[sir_drinks_alot]

i love CR3 in the hole there's just one thing organizing the channels takes way to long Couldn’t thay have found a Easier way to do it

[Andy C]

Originally Posted by browneggsandham

Oh ok, my bad.
I thought that was the idea of it.

Nah, the 'first channel' button didn't actually change the channel, it just took the Now & Next data back to the first channel in the list, e.g. 101.


Andy.

[DeKurver]

Originally Posted by magpie

Sometimes, the mini-guide dissapears while I'm still using it (that is, still regularly pressing buttons).

I've noticed that the delay timer doesn't reset in the Mini Guide if you don't change pages or channels within the delay period. I listed the exact steps at the end of this post. In addition to that, I've also noticed that the Mini Guide will sometimes just refuse to remain visible when displayed via the navigation buttons. For example, when I press "right" the Mini Guide pops up and I expect it to stay up for at least five seconds, but instead it disappears almost immediately. This doesn't happen when using the "tv" button to display the Mini Guide.

Originally Posted by magpie

My screen STILL goes blank at 1.10am, only now it's sometimes for upto 15 seconds, and is accompanied by the remote being completly ignored, the 'back' button being set to the channel you're watching, and the mini-guide listings briefly showing some other random channel.

Yes, I was under the impression that the screen blanking would go away with CR3. It also used to occur at 0010, although it could be 0110 now simply because of BST. Sometimes my STB temporarily changes to another channel for 10-15 seconds at 0110 instead of blanking the screen.

[Tod]

I have the update now, seems like it updated in the day rather than over night. So far so good, finding it alot quicker when browsing the guide to see whats on TV. Nice one

[dragon]

have the update now, looks nice have yet to try everything yet.

[Nor]

I'm at a total loss as to how people can like this. Have to say if the majority of folk are happy with it, can't ever see anything being done to address the problems I have with the new epg. Perhaps my standards are just higher than others, at least, if high standards means I'm not happy that its quicker to go out and buy the Radio Times than to use the epg.

Originally Posted by Nor

I'm at a total loss as to how people can like this. Have to say if the majority of folk are happy with it, can't ever see anything being done to address the problems I have with the new epg. Perhaps my standards are just higher than others, at least, if high standards means I'm not happy that its quicker to go out and buy the Radio Times than to use the epg.

It seems clear that what problems exist are not universal. From the way you describe your service, I can't see how you and I are experiencing the same thing when we use the EPG. Mine is a definite improvement on what I had before.

[dragon]

my epg is a bit slow but its not THAT slow.

[Andy C]

I don't think it's terribly slow. Yes, there are delays when you press 'Guide' before the menu comes up, but it's only 3 seconds, the same for On Demand. It does take another 20 seconds or so to load the actual On Demand data afterwards, but that was the same with the old software just it used to say 'Gathering Data...'

Maybe it's a box type thing, I'm using a 4010N (Hardware Version: P3.82)


Andy.

[Nor]

The stb I have in the computer room is an old 4000 box iirc. We have 3 boxes in total, this is only one that remains from the initial installation a few years ago when digital was first made avilable. The other 2 boxes in the house are the new models which are about 2x as fast as this one here, replaced due to the others becoming faulty.

The problems are certainly more extreme on this stb here but even on the faster boxes the service isn't adequate. If it wasn't for requiring 3 boxes I'd have gotten Sky long ago. Although I may just take the hit and go for it as the new epg has made it a chore choosing which programs to watch. On the few occasions all the information is actually available, it just takes far too long to setup the evenings viewing.

[2old4this]

Can someone comfirm High Wycombe is CR3?