[Merged] CR3-Feedback & Questions in Here Please. - Page 5

Tristan · 23-03-2004, 21:31

Well in NTL's defence, Sky were hardly forthcoming with info about the Sky Plus dual record software upgrade, which was as longed for by those users as CR3 is by Langley peeps...

EDIT: Er, what Proppin said

memsahib · 24-03-2004, 09:04

I'm in Cambridge. I have a 4001 box. Mine has not updated. Saw a friend last night and he also has a 4001 box and his has.

Rebooting mine results simply in "tune" being displayed for ever, and I can only get it working again by holding the down arrow on the front when power cycling, which bypasses the tuning in some way. That gives me a working CR2 again.

So I don't yet have CR3.

Thank God.

Played with CR3 at his house last night - it's dire in the extreme. Slow, obtrusive and ugly.

So, for how long can I live in the bliss that is CR2? I'm actually GLAD I still have it and don't want to update thank you ntl!

andygrif · 24-03-2004, 10:09

Well...Luton franchise again...update:

Got home last night. Purple. No blue, just purple. Switched off the mains for a few mins to reboot. Purple.

So I guess it didn't happen after all. Or maybe I have such an old box that I haven't got the update yet.

On the plus side....new remote arrived yesterday. Much better than the old one, better buttons, nice TV control feature - kept me amused for...ooooh...minutes!

nstream · 24-03-2004, 12:13

Update to:
I Live in Welwyn Garden City, part of the Luton franchise, no update yesterday on my 4001 box and neither did i this morning even though the box was in standby however switched the unit off at the wall and back on again and bobs your uncle no more queer purple on my TV

gohadz · 24-03-2004, 13:47

Erm, my box the DI4001N keeps on crashing, its not as constant as it was earlier, but it gets very annoying as it seems to be crashing ever 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours.

Tristan · 24-03-2004, 14:27

Think yourself lucky! The first time my box got CR3, it crashed exactly every 4 minutes, regular as clockwork.

Mind you, that was in 2001...

KenK · 24-03-2004, 22:00

(Proppin', thank you for all your posts on this and other forums. It's good to have contributions from someone who's really involved in what's going on. Any time I type 'you', I mean 'ntl' - don't take it personally!

)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proppinupthebar

You are being kept informed honestly of the plan on a week by week basis. What advantage does knowing your particular date weeks in advance give you? If a plan was published and couldn't be kept to then I'm sorry but many people would slate us. Theres confidence in the code, and the delivery method.

Disagree - I'm being kept in the dark about the plan, except for what ntl choose to drip-feed on a weekly basis. I too work in a software delivery job; commitments are given to customers, and are met (almost regardless of cost). I want ntl to commit that they're going to deliver this upgrade to me, before they run out of steam or money and leave me without it. Delays to a plan are ok, abandonment of the plan would not be.

Quote:

Its easy to criticise when you don't understand the impact on other equipment of rolling out the software. Some regions are larger than others and the impacts on other equipment vary across regions and hardware versions.

Sorry, but that's ntl's problem, not mine. I can only presume it has been included in the plan.

Quote:

Sky don't announce dates for software upgrades and as far as I know neither do Telewest.

This isn't just a software upgrade, it's "a major improvement to our digital TV service", to paraphrase an ntl release posted somewhere. You'd think ntl would want the world to know about it.

andygrif · 25-03-2004, 10:24

Luton update # 3.....

Home last night - purple gone! Blue in abundance. I have seen some people say that it is slow, and I do agree but not much slower for basic channel surfing than the purple.

Interactive is still rubbish, not sure they will ever have the system to rival Sky on that front - but then I guess I've got used to not using anyway.

I do like the new customisable features:

I've played around with the channel ordering thing - very nice, but I need to devote an entire afternoon of my life to it I think!

I like the way you can change the colour of the mini-guide (although why the mini-guide is not so mini I don't know), and the length of time it stays on screen for when you're surfing. Nice touch.

I noticed that my favourite board game is on the interactive now (don't know if it was added in CR3 or not), Reversi - but the speed of play is slow slow I gave up.

On the whole pretty good, thank god the purple is gone! Not sure if anyone can do anything about the speed of the thing though.

nstream · 25-03-2004, 13:08

If you switch to box on and off a couple of times it seems to speed up a bit :S dont know why but its now faster than v5

Tristan · 25-03-2004, 13:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by nstream

You'll have to speak up a bit!

James79 · 25-03-2004, 13:56

I received the update this morning too! Seems very good - sound effects are a bit of a welcome novelty - especially the trumpet!!!

Just two queries so far:

1. We have three STBs installed in our house - one in the main TV and two in bedrooms - only one of these received the update - luckily mine!! I understand that the main STB is a new model (without the slot showing in the front of the box and understand that this is a completely different version of STB. Regarding the boxes in the bedrooms mine is DI4001N as is the other one - why did only one receive the update?? (As far as I know - the second STB was on standby last night!!

2. With reference to the Page Up & Down buttons - why do these no longer function when browsing the (what was known as) EPG?

Good to finally see that the mute button actually works on all TVs!!

If anything else crops up I'll share my thoughts

James

andygrif · 25-03-2004, 14:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by nstream

If you switch to box on and off a couple of times it seems to speed up a bit :S dont know why but its now faster than v5

Thanks, I'll give it a go

Tristan · 25-03-2004, 15:01

There are 4 different versions of the 4001, and as far as I know they all look identical on the outside (although the last revision doesn't have audio phonos).

The page up and down buttons stopped working because you now basically have the same software as in ex-CWC regions, and we've never had that functionality. But this seems to be one of the most common complaints about CR3, so I wouldn't be at all surprised to see NTL put them back on in the next update (in a year or so).

bob_builder · 25-03-2004, 17:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tristan

There are 4 different versions of the 4001, and as far as I know they all look identical on the outside (although the last revision doesn't have audio phonos).

The page up and down buttons stopped working because you now basically have the same software as in ex-CWC regions, and we've never had that functionality. But this seems to be one of the most common complaints about CR3, so I wouldn't be at all surprised to see NTL put them back on in the next update (in a year or so).

My page up and down buttons work with the new LCR3 download to move through the new "favourites list" more quickly - or is it somewhere else that they do not work?

ntlrocks · 25-03-2004, 17:30

ok im in belfast and didnt get CR3 however, Channel ntl: has changed, ... and when it shows you the mini guide, It shows the person lookin through the channels, and LIVING TV is on 401 , and LIVING TV + 1 , is on 402....instead of Sci-fi ... could this be a hint at channel numbers changing ?

DeKurver · 25-03-2004, 17:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob_builder

My page up and down buttons work with the new LCR3 download to move through the new "favourites list" more quickly - or is it somewhere else that they do not work?

With the previous software, you could use Page Up and Page Down while using the Browse feature to go up/down by 100 channels. In LCR3, this would be equivalent to using Page Up and Page Down with the Mini-Guide rather than Favourites.

Tristan · 25-03-2004, 17:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob_builder

My page up and down buttons work with the new LCR3 download to move through the new "favourites list" more quickly - or is it somewhere else that they do not work?

It's in in mini-guide -- you can flick left and right to move between channels, but not use the page up/down keys. I guess this is because in a sense you're moving 'across' the guide rather than down it, and so you would intuitively expect page up and down to scroll down the times list for that channel...

magpie · 25-03-2004, 17:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tristan

It's in in mini-guide -- you can flick left and right to move between channels, but not use the page up/down keys. I guess this is because in a sense you're moving 'across' the guide rather than down it, and so you would intuitively expect page up and down to scroll down the times list for that channel...

True, but a lot of people (myself included) have got used to being able to jump over a load of channels on now/next by using the page up/down buttons. If it has been taken out for the reason you suggest, then couldn't it be put back in with different keys - something like holding * while pushing left or right would be pretty neat (making * a sort of shift key).

Paul_cb5 · 25-03-2004, 20:43

I have to STBs in the same room, one for the TV and the other for the video recorder. The NTL engineer who installed the boxes disabled the remote control input to the video-STB, so that the remote control didn't affect both boxes.

The TV STB updated to CR3 on Wednesday morning, and the video STB on Thursday morning. The video STB no longer has the remote control input disabled. The remote control now affects both boxes.

However, this is probably a good thing: with the old software it was possible (albeit a bit tedious) to navigate around the various menus and set reminders using just the buttons on the STB front panel. With CR3 it appears that this is not the case (unless I'm missing something).

I've rectified the problem by applying a couple of strips of black insulation tape to the video STB's clear plastic window - leaving a small gap in the top left hand corner so that I can use the remote in close to navigate the menus and set reminders... Not a particularly hi-tech solution but it works.

Other observations of CR3 (in no particular order):

Manual reminders have gone. All reminders seem to be autotune. Also whereas with the previous software if you were browsing and accidently selected a programme that hadn't started - up came a dialogue box with options of Auto and Manual. You had to go into Diary to delete the reminder. The new dialogue box has options Confirm Reminder and Cancel Reminder. Thank you NTL. This one change is a big plus.

For films we used to get the ratings (12/15/18) when we used the 'More info' option. Now the equivalent information available by pressing Browse might show icons for Widescreen or Subtitles but no ratings. (Well I haven't seen any yet anyway.)

Reminders are still coupled with the Guide/mini-Guide, so you can still only set reminders up to three days in advance. You still cannot set a Timer to change to a certain channel at a certain date/time irrespective of what the programme happens to be called.

Radio channels now display a (slightly) animated channel name instead of the rotating 'Audio' graphic.

SMHarman · 25-03-2004, 21:44

The Mini Guide isn't particulaly mini - it takes a lot of real estate on the screen.

Also why does it need to say Mini Guide - in case we don't know?