New Genie UI now in CE testing

[ejb1980]

Oh noes! DirecTV should fire whoever approved that commercial. Don't they know, NO PICTURES!!! (of their non private, non NDA beta software)

This is beyond stupid. I'm not registering at another site, just to make mention of a few issues I have with a new release of a beta version of software. To tell you the truth, I really don't care. DirecTV is not my primary TV provider, so whatever happens, happens. I don't care if my HR44 turns into a pumpkin, and the problems I mentioned above don't really bother me, I just wanted to point them out, in case any powers that be read this thread.

I participate in Microsoft Windows 10 Insider program on a Win 10 VM on the fast ring. I've been in an out of Google's Android beta program. These companies get it. Let the geeks who want to try out pre-release stuff, try it and get as much feedback as possible from the users. If DirecTV doesn't want people posting pictures or commenting, then they should have a private beta with NDAs. In the age of pay TV being on shaky ground, you'd think they'd appreciate the feedback from people who are enthused enough to volunteer to be guinea pigs, no matter what website it's mention on.

You'd think they would appreciate it, regardless of the source. I hate the CE site. It's poorly set up and too confusing.

The picture ban has been lifted, but they're only supposed to be on the CE site. Then of course this whole thread isn't supposed to exist so....

 

[rad]

You'd think they would appreciate it, regardless of the source. I hate the CE site. It's poorly set up and too confusing.

The picture ban has been lifted, but they're only supposed to be on the CE site. Then of course this whole thread isn't supposed to exist so....

What would you do to make the site less confusing?

 

[goaliebob99]

This release is giving me all sorts of problems

1) Changing channels, scrolling in the EPG, accessing menus, etc are all noticeably slower

2) When in the EPG and using the Page +/- scroll, most of the time it doesn't recognize I that stopped pressing the button and the guide just rapidly scrolls a page at a time until I hit exit

3) Another guide problem, I lose indication of what channel I'm on or what show I'm on in the EPG

4) There appears to be no way, or at least I can't find it, to delete a show from the Series Manager that has no upcoming episodes. I get the option to Cancel a Series for shows that are airing, but I want to remove Blood Drive since it was canceled by Syfy and that option doesn't show up.

5) I added two new series, Channel Zero on Syfy, Evil Things on TLC, in the Series Manager it says All Channels, not the channel that airs the show

6) The previous two bullet points don't matter anymore, because for the past ~24 hours, just going into the Manage Recording menu causes the box to completely freeze up. Video freezes, doesn't matter if it's live or recorded, the menu freezes up, remote stops responding. Only solution is a RBR which I've done probably about 7 or 8 of in the past day.

And as with the previous release, no cover art, no channel logos, no On Demand.

What's odd is most of these problems were not present after I first downloaded the new release. They showed up about 48 hours after the fact.

Please take these issues over to the CE forum where they can be addressed appropriately. Guys you need to understand a few things. DirecTV wants one consolidated place that they can look at to get issues reported to them as the software goes through the CE process. Discussion about what DirecTV is doing is always welcomed here, but this is such a new release that DirecTV has asked the guys over at the Cutting Edge forum to keep the discussion corralled up over there for simplicity sake. Please respect that as DirecTV chose to keep this open to all at the CE site versus closing it up and assigning everyone NDA's. You also have to think of it this way. They want to polish the product up right so they can get it right the first time, and there is a process that it goes through for that to happen. They don't want people getting confused who may come here for help on features that may never make it to the final release.

A great example of this is the status lights on the Genie 2. There is so much misinformation out there from beta to final release about the color of the status lights that the color changed from the alpha and beta units to the final production units on the software download process. It's not a anti satguys thing at all, and more of a process that needs to happen so they can present the best product. It applies to other websites outside of satelliteguys as well. They want to get this right and in order to do that sometimes you have to get a bit restrictive. Please keep this in mind as you discuss things here and let's work together to maintain a great community discussion here on satelliteguys as everyone works together to bring the best of a premium entertainment experience possible.

 

[ejb1980]

What would you do to make the site less confusing?

You have to find the right forum and click here and scroll there just to see if there is new information for the week. God forbid you have an issue and don't report it in the right thread or format, they'll jump down your throat. There are way too many threads over there for what it needs to be... a thread for the CE announcements, and a thread to report issues as we see fit. I do appreciate the uplink info (like what's in test and whatnot from Gary) but it really doesn't belong on that special site. When the CE info was here, you clicked on the CE banner, and the current week's info was displayed. Boom. One click. No scrolling. Perfect. I would make the not so new CE site that way - the newest info should be displayed first and very obviously, and it is not now. Also, you can tell it's run by DBSTalk so you have to tip toe and walk on eggshells with what you talk about, not like here where you can get info and talk freely.

 

[rad]

If it's that confusing to you probably shouldn't be doing CE's then

You access the site and once a quarter you need to subscribe to the CE announcement thread for that quarter, if you want to receive CE availability announcements in the CE announcement forum.

If you want to report a problem you go to the Cutting Edge Issues Forum and select the current CE software which is a sticky thread at the top couple threads in that forum.

If you want to report an issue they do have a specific format that they would like to be used to help them identify the steps you took that caused the problem and the report number for the error report you've generated on the STB. Yes it's more formal then here, but the reports you used to see here were things like, box locked up, rebooted, no info of what led up to the lock up and no report being sent from the box, totally useless information.

And when it was here I don't remember a like to the CE report being a link on the first page, you had to go to the DIRECTV forum and then find the CE, not much different then at Edgecutter.

BTW, it's not run by DBSTalk, but was started by some former staff from DBSTalk. And it was done with some direction from DIRECTV to help make the flow of information on problems being reported in a more formal format making it more helpful. And yes they do enforce the rules about posting issues since DIRECTV has told them that a bunch of posts that don't include useful information just muddy the posts that do include the info they need.

If you want to discuss things about the current software there are discussion thread for those releases that are more open which are much more free flowing since DIRECTV really doesn't look at those threads. On in special cases, like the new UI, they had a thread that solicited suggestions and comments about the new design where members are made more then a few posts that express displeasure with the new UI.

 

[Jimbo]

If it's that confusing to you probably shouldn't be doing CE's then

You access the site and once a quarter you need to subscribe to the CE announcement thread for that quarter, if you want to receive CE availability announcements in the CE announcement forum.

If you want to report a problem you go to the Cutting Edge Issues Forum and select the current CE software which is a sticky thread at the top couple threads in that forum.

If you want to report an issue they do have a specific format that they would like to be used to help them identify the steps you took that caused the problem and the report number for the error report you've generated on the STB. Yes it's more formal then here, but the reports you used to see here were things like, box locked up, rebooted, no info of what led up to the lock up and no report being sent from the box, totally useless information.

And when it was here I don't remember a like to the CE report being a link on the first page, you had to go to the DIRECTV forum and then find the CE, not much different then at Edgecutter.

BTW, it's not run by DBSTalk, but was started by some former staff from DBSTalk. And it was done with some direction from DIRECTV to help make the flow of information on problems being reported in a more formal format making it more helpful. And yes they do enforce the rules about posting issues since DIRECTV has told them that a bunch of posts that don't include useful information just muddy the posts that do include the info they need.

If you want to discuss things about the current software there are discussion thread for those releases that are more open which are much more free flowing since DIRECTV really doesn't look at those threads. On in special cases, like the new UI, they had a thread that solicited suggestions and comments about the new design where members are made more then a few posts that express displeasure with the new UI.

Thats kinda HARSH, wouldn't you say ?

Just because the other forum isn't as user friendly doesn't mean he shouldn't do CE testing ....

 

[rad]

Thats kinda HARSH, wouldn't you say ?

Just because the other forum isn't as user friendly doesn't mean he shouldn't do CE testing ....

Didn't you see the wink emoji!

 

[larry55]

The CE site is awful . This site is a lot better when the ce was ouer here. We could discuss the ce over here between members and I miss that.

 

[gadgtfreek]

You shouldn't even be talking about it here, that's what the Cutting Edge forum is for.

LOL, sorry, did I sign anything with Directv saying I could not post images or discuss beta software they make public to be able to use?NO. Let's be honest, there are ways to beta in private, they want this out there and have made no attempt to keep it "hidden". I also loved when they would threaten the sites if it wasn't handled correctly, yet they never stopped putting it up for us to get whenever we wanted. DBS was a joke with their snotty rules, and so is the CE forum, plus the layout of that forum sucks.

If Directv doesn't want me to download the CE at will, and discuss it at will, make how you get it private and run a proper beta forum. Another forum member here, or people posting at the CE forum (yes I read it) complaining about what others do with public software is a joke. Basically get over it and get a life, for years DBS and the new site have tried to make this some exclusive club it ain't. Any joe that reads a forum can get it whenever they feel like it, so it isn't by any means private, or some super duper secret club. Regardless of what you "Cutting Edge" fanboys try and make it out to be, you oversell your position.

Hell, for years stuff was reported by CE members as broken and Directv would never fix it in the final release. The whole cutting edge thing is a joke, its the equivilent of Chrome or Firefox letting me download nightly builds and try at my own risk.

Oppo, for example, has a proper beta forum, with beta software, that ONLY beta approved users have access to. Hell Dish setup the same thing here for the H3 touch remote because I went through the process of getting selected. The Cutting Edge is made to be special by certain forum folks who want to feel special, nothing more. I knew it jumped the shark when people at DBS started getting cute CE nicknames under their avatar...

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Feel free to post your pics of the new guide.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Feel free to post your pics of the new guide.

 

[ejb1980]

If anyone doesn't think the CE site is run by DBSTalk fanboiz, you are either one of them or delusional!

 

[rad]

If anyone doesn't think the CE site is run by DBSTalk fanboiz, you are either one of them or delusional!

Never said it wasn't run by a former mod of DBSTalk, just that DBSTalk does not run it and has nothing to do with it.

 

[rad]

The CE site is awful . This site is a lot better when the ce was ouer here. We could discuss the ce over here between members and I miss that.

You can discuss the CE between members there, there is a discussion forum for that purpose.

 

[rad]

LOL, sorry, did I sign anything with Directv saying I could not post images or discuss beta software they make public to be able to use?NO. Let's be honest, there are ways to beta in private, they want this out there and have made no attempt to keep it "hidden". I also loved when they would threaten the sites if it wasn't handled correctly, yet they never stopped putting it up for us to get whenever we wanted. DBS was a joke with their snotty rules, and so is the CE forum, plus the layout of that forum sucks.

If Directv doesn't want me to download the CE at will, and discuss it at will, make how you get it private and run a proper beta forum. Another forum member here, or people posting at the CE forum (yes I read it) complaining about what others do with public software is a joke. Basically get over it and get a life, for years DBS and the new site have tried to make this some exclusive club it ain't. Any joe that reads a forum can get it whenever they feel like it, so it isn't by any means private, or some super duper secret club. Regardless of what you "Cutting Edge" fanboys try and make it out to be, you oversell your position.

Hell, for years stuff was reported by CE members as broken and Directv would never fix it in the final release. The whole cutting edge thing is a joke, its the equivilent of Chrome or Firefox letting me download nightly builds and try at my own risk.

Oppo, for example, has a proper beta forum, with beta software, that ONLY beta approved users have access to. Hell Dish setup the same thing here for the H3 touch remote because I went through the process of getting selected. The Cutting Edge is made to be special by certain forum folks who want to feel special, nothing more. I knew it jumped the shark when people at DBS started getting cute CE nicknames under their avatar...

Yea, I guess DIRECTV could run a proper beta program with everyone needing to sign a NDA and limit participation to just a few folks. But someone decided years ago to go this route and all they ask is that you just follow their rules and if you can you can play with the new code. I agree, and have sent this message to the mods there, that the entire new UI rollout was FUBAR, don't put it out there for folks to grab, the news starts to spread and the next day then come out and say no pics, etc. I just hope that because of the mess that happen with this new UI CE rollout that DIRECTV doesn't step back and say the program is not worth it and shuts it down. Maybe they'd figure with all the additional AT&T employees they've picked up they can just keep it all in house?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I am hearing that the end of the CE program is near. I am hearing that it soon will only be A Team Members only and the software will be pushed to them not downloaded via a key combination.

You can't run a testing program that is available to EVERYONE and not expect people to talking about it in public.

I am told by DIRECTV that the rules are not their rules but the rules of the guys who run the site. I was also told in an email that I was welcome to copy and paste CE notes here to SatelliteGuys if I wished and when I asked about the copyrights that were posted that go along with the notes I were told they were bogus and I was free to use them.

With that said... I DON'T WANT TO. The guys there do a good job and for reporting CE issues it is best to have that all in one place. I don't have the time or energy and normally now I am working at nights when the CE is being done so I can't normally download it myself. And I don't want to ask someone else to try duplicating what Stuart and crew have done... again they have done a good job. No need to duplicate what has been done.

With that said the CE is a OPEN Public Beta Test, if you want to talk about it and post pictures and video here you are more welcome too.... after all this is SatelliteGuys and we talk Satellite.

The new guide is rough around the edges but Rome was not built in a day.

 

[larry55]

That why I like this site.

 

[EarDemon]

The super secret UI for those that don't want to tempt fate. After I took picture #4 the DVR locked up and I had to do a RBR

 

[Jimbo]

You can discuss the CE between members there, there is a discussion forum for that purpose.

No, there is a tread that a poster started with questions .... we haven't have a CE Forum for a few years here.

I vote we get one back.

 

[Jimbo]

Yea, I guess DIRECTV could run a proper beta program with everyone needing to sign a NDA and limit participation to just a few folks. But someone decided years ago to go this route and all they ask is that you just follow their rules and if you can you can play with the new code. I agree, and have sent this message to the mods there, that the entire new UI rollout was FUBAR, don't put it out there for folks to grab, the news starts to spread and the next day then come out and say no pics, etc. I just hope that because of the mess that happen with this new UI CE rollout that DIRECTV doesn't step back and say the program is not worth it and shuts it down. Maybe they'd figure with all the additional AT&T employees they've picked up they can just keep it all in house?

Except they haven't offered it to employees so to speak.
Also, I would take a guess and say that MAYBE 20% of att employees have D* .... maybe slightly higher.