[retrospek]

Now that some of us are having the BT Vision box installed I thought it may be a good idea to have a bug thread where we can track the problems we have found..

Some of the problems I've had are:

1) My TV Guide does not always update after I perform a rescan channels for Freeview. Because of this I only get two channels in my TV Guide (VOD and Recordings)

2) I had to perform a system reset which has left 'ghost' series link entries on my planner that I cannot delete. When I do try to delete them the box reboots (and I have to rescan the freeview channels again)

3) The users guide does not contain the remote control codes for programming your remote to work with your TV. You need to ask the BT engineer for this information during the install as it appears they forgot to put this in the users guide (The Toshiba code is 003)

4) I'm getting some picture break-up on some channels. For some reason my Freeview reception is not that good through this box compared to other freeview equipment

5) Sometimes when I change channels the screen will go black after a few seconds.

6) The disk in my machine is quite loud and I can frequently hear clicking noises. I've got a new box coming anyway so hopefully this is just a problem with my box.

7) The EPG can be quite slow when you move around it. I think this is because it is downloading the EPG from the internet. It is a shame it can't cache the whole 2 weeks EPG in memory.

8) The remote control is very directional. You have to point directly at the Vision Box for it to do anything (anyone else with this problem ?)

I think that is it for now... Hopefully other people can add to this thread over time..

I should add that I'm still impressed with this box even with the faults - as I'm sure BT will fix the problems over time.

Mark.

[bobbo2]

I've just had Vision installed and..

1. There is little more picture break up than on my other freeview box - I'd agree that the signal strength seems a bit down.

2. The TV Remote codes haven't actually been missed from the manual and are actually in a third manual called The Installation Guide. The engineer I spoke to advised that they'd been told that they were just being printed and would be forwarded to customers in due course.

3. I've had a couple of occurences where the picture has just gone blank with no picture and sound. Changing channels cured this.

All in all, a nice piece of kit though and I'm very impressed with the quality of the VOD.

[delores_the_man]

I've just had mine installed this morning and when I turn it on get a screen saying Recordings not available. The record and pause buttons etc don't do anything, and Recordings isn't in the menu options. Is this just me with a box fault or will it sort itself out?

[bobbo2]

The engineer who spoke to me told me that the 'not being able to record' was a common problem. Before he did mine, he did a full reset and my recordings worked straight away. I can't remember how you do a reset but I know the method has been described elsewhere in the forum.

[delores_the_man]

Thanks, I'm trying the full reset now. (power off, hold ok and down button together and then power on).

[Dan_Dare]

Originally Posted by bobbo2

The engineer who spoke to me told me that the 'not being able to record' was a common problem. Before he did mine, he did a full reset and my recordings worked straight away. I can't remember how you do a reset but I know the method has been described elsewhere in the forum.

This is very common; I had the same problem when trying to install mine, I thinks it due to a glitch in the broadband whilst the v-box is downloading the software.
You need to do a full "disaster recovery". To do this press down and select (the one in the middle) on the front of the box at the same time, then pull the power cable out, then put it in again (keeping buttons pressed), then when it comes on with a "technical difficulties" screen release the buttons. It will then reinstall all the software (takes about 20-30 minutes).

[Dan_Dare]

To improve the reception of your box, a decent digital specific tv lead (£3.99 in homebase) between the box and aeriel socket can make all the difference.

Also I have found the controller to be excellent so far. very nicely designed, shame it dosen't switch the TV off as well as the box though.

[Peter We]

I can't beleive that there are so many problem. MS IPTV was supposed to be *finished* several years ago. You would have though MS had all the bugs sorted out by now.
They are talking about releasing it in November in the US.

[retrospek]

Originally Posted by delores_the_man

Thanks, I'm trying the full reset now. (power off, hold ok and down button together and then power on).

Be aware that if you have any series links setup on your box and then perform the above reset I've found that these series link's can't be deleted and cause your box to reboot when you try to delete them..

So I've now got a number of series links that I can no longer delete or remove from the list..

[delores_the_man]

Thanks guys, I can now do recordings!

Just another question, does your handset have the BT Globe at the bottom? Mine is missing; I can't see it on the floor or in the box so I'm not sure if the engineer knocked it off or if it was ever even there!

[DeanDS]

Originally Posted by Peter We

I can't beleive that there are so many problem. MS IPTV was supposed to be *finished* several years ago. You would have though MS had all the bugs sorted out by now.
They are talking about releasing it in November in the US.

It's ok BT are helping them sort it out now

The bugs so far seem relatively minor looking at them. (Some such as the 2nd scart not being enabled are not really bugs anyway by the sounds of it). Plus according to one poster a update is due Friday.
The real question for me was the on demand picture quality, I don't think there are any problems with that.

[Kentishman10]

If you work in the VOD industry as I do you will know that the Microsoft VOD solution was so flaky 6 months ago it was one of the rerasons why Deutsche Telekom stopped their IPTV deployment to await developments.

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=91179

[Dan_Dare]

Originally Posted by delores_the_man

Thanks guys, I can now do recordings!

Just another question, does your handset have the BT Globe at the bottom? Mine is missing; I can't see it on the floor or in the box so I'm not sure if the engineer knocked it off or if it was ever even there!

I haven't got one either, I guess they must all be like that.

[forumuser]

The BT Connected world logo is missing from my remote my V-Box has the logo although I have noticed this is missing from some of the boxes too.

[retrospek]

Originally Posted by forumuser

The BT Connected world logo is missing from my remote my V-Box has the logo although I have noticed this is missing from some of the boxes too.

Yep my remote doesn't have the BT logo either. You can see where it should be as they have a hole ready for it.

[ironeagleuk]

Originally Posted by retrospek

Yep my remote doesn't have the BT logo either. You can see where it should be as they have a hole ready for it.

Could it have fallen off, and perhaps be in the box?
Build quality huh?

Am surprised the second scart socket isn't functioning....so you can't even pass through a DVD player or VCR at the moment?

[forumuser]

Originally Posted by ironeagleuk

Could it have fallen off, and perhaps be in the box?
Build quality huh?

Am surprised the second scart socket isn't functioning....so you can't even pass through a DVD player or VCR at the moment?

No the BT logo is missing from all the remotes. Does anyone have a BT Vision remote with the logo on it?

[delores_the_man]

Originally Posted by bobbo2

I've just had Vision installed and..

1. There is little more picture break up than on my other freeview box - I'd agree that the signal strength seems a bit down.

2. The TV Remote codes haven't actually been missed from the manual and are actually in a third manual called The Installation Guide. The engineer I spoke to advised that they'd been told that they were just being printed and would be forwarded to customers in due course.

3. I've had a couple of occurences where the picture has just gone blank with no picture and sound. Changing channels cured this.

All in all, a nice piece of kit though and I'm very impressed with the quality of the VOD.

I hope we all automatically get the missing Installation Guide - I really feel as if I have only half the information - I deliverately didn't ask the engineer how every funtion and button worked thinking there would be full information in the box. I've only just worked out what the mode button is all about after my remote doing some crazy things all afternoon - I don't like the way this function works. I'd also like to know what the green light next to the red record light is for and why it has been constantly lit for the last few hours, even with the box in standby. I've only been able to clear this with the full system reset option.

[smudgermac]

What is really missing is any information on the STB itself. The BT engineer that installed by unit today let me look at the engineer installation guide which explained the meaning of the front panel LEDs (and the list of TV remote codes.) The installation guide was not to be shown to customers, but given I had more apparent knowledge than the engineer he just passed it to me !

I had the "unable to record" bug and had to do a force reset and restart 1st time installation to get this function working, so I was keen to see if the front panel LEDs indicated anything useful as to the status of the box.

According to the engineer they depend on seeing error codes on screen to help them. He also said that too many forced restarts (more than 5) will kill the box and that if multiple red dots appear on screen, the box is "goosed."

[dazzle_b]

In answer to Retrospeks observations:

2) Re ghost series link entries, I had the same problem following reset/crashes...trying to delete them results in a crash. I noted that in each case, the associated channel of the broadcast had also disappeared. These 'ghost' entries are automatically removed after a while and don't seem to affect the box while they are there. Note, if you need to reset the box, try holding the'standby' button in for a few seconds. It initiates a soft-reboot negating the need to unplug the box,etc, and doesn't wipe the recordings.

4) exactly the same for me...no picture breakup on my cheapo Thomson STB but occasional on Vision box...I put this down to me being in a weak signal area (Freeview not even available to me according to the Website) and the signal now being divided between two tuners ?? Sound reasonable? I've read on another thread that the soon-to-be rolled out upgrade will resolve this, so will wait and see.

8) I have an issue with the remote control when using teletext...sometimes the number '0' stops responding, and only works again if I press a different number...so have to enter the required page number again. Also, if I press 'help' instead of '0' by mistake (sausage fingers) it crashes the box.

Other observations:
If you have a long list of recordings, the title of the recording at the bottom of the list is overwritten by the description of the recording you have highlighted so that a scrambled mess of letters is displayed.

Cannot currently record Channel 4 or More4...either via 'TV Guide' or time-lapse. I saw in another thread (below) that this is because these channels have copy-protection on....and if so, not a problem with Vision because Sky users complaining about it as well http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=506832

Hope these are all sorted in imminent upgrade. Other than that, all very good. I'm sure other similar services had bugs at launch. At least with updates available over broadband, any bugs should be fixed quickly. loads of scope for the future when new features are added...was going to buy a full-blown media PC for £800, but don't need to now.

When I first got the Vision box, I had a lot of probs with the stability of the Hub (was using a Netgear before, no probs). Have loaded the latest firmware 6.2.2.6 (didn't do it automatically as not rolled out fully yet) and so far, very stable and connection speed now up by 500k.

Tried the preview of 'half-light' On-Demand, very impressed with quality seeing that it's streamed. Looks like the QOS is doing its job.

[flashflash]

Just spoke to Tech support about weak signals on certain channels. Whilst they admit it is a wide spread problem and has been logged, they dont think its going to be fixed on the next firmware update. He did confirm that an update is imminent, which would resolve other problems.

If any one wants the remote codes for samsung tvs then let me know. There is quite a few of them!

[bobbo2]

My EPG is currently sat just displaying 'Loading' in every cell. It was working fine earlier!!

[flashflash]

Originally Posted by bobbo2

My EPG is currently sat just displaying 'Loading' in every cell. It was working fine earlier!!

yep same here... nothing in the planner at all. I wonder what happens if you have something thats about to record?

[bobbo2]

Is seems to record ok with nothing in the EPG! I guess, that as the EPG is coming via the broadband connection, that there may be a problem at their end. I am a little suprised that it's possible that the EPG isn't locally cached.

[retrospek]

Does anyone else have a problem where the pause button doesn't do anything on some channels ?

I've just tried to pause BBC1 and then BBC2 and I couldn't. However, ITV worked okay..

Weird..