So about a week ago the original Hopper/Joey system in our house was updated to the new CUI (Against my will, I might add. I was going to hold out as long as possible and upgrade kicking and screaming all the way, but someone else in the house decided to accept the upgrade when the message appeared on screen without asking me first.)
Let me be upfront: I was really gunning for positive results. I am always one of the first onboard for new, better stuff, even if it isn't always broken. The old UI was somewhat tired and dated cosmetically, yes, but it certainly was not broken. It had good response time, was streamlined, clean looking, and so dang stable and easy to use. I've been with Dish for many, many years and have swore by their equipment 200%. Their receivers and remotes, in my book, have ALWAYS been the simplest to use and very stable.
I honestly don't know what Dish was thinking with this UI retool. After a little over a week's worth of use, I've noticed so many bugs and dislikes it's not even acceptable. Several steps backward if you ask me. I know the CUI has been around already for the newer generation Hopper, and many of the functional issues I'm getting ready to list may not be happening for those users, but for someone like myself running older equipment that WORKED JUST FINE before, this is almost nauseating.
Functionality Issues:
- Old/deleted recordings randomly being brought back out of trash and appearing as "new" in DVR list.
- When pausing live TV, cannot resume. Nothing works except to either press "Live TV" or sometimes even turning receiver off, then back on, almost like it's frozen.
- Very delayed response from remote commands, if any response at all.
- Sometimes DVR listings inside a folder of the same show do not populate the first few times. I'll often have to exit out of DVR and then try going back in before it will show me the list of recordings.
- When I press "Play" for a DVR event, it often takes a good 10-20 seconds for the program to start playing.
- The overall speed and responsiveness of the system is DRAMITACLLY worse than before. Average of 10 seconds or so for each process it tries to execute. It is literally frustrating trying to do anything with it.
- Browse guide timeout. When I'm using the browse feature to scan through the mini guide at the bottom of the screen, if I let it set for 10 seconds or so, it goes away. I usually will pause, either to watch something that is going on with the current show or another reason, when using browse, and before it has always stayed in the same spot on the screen a good amount of time before going away so that I can pick back up and continue scanning where I left off when I'm ready. Whether intentional or not, this shortened timeout of the browse guide is not a good experience.
Cosmetic and Layout Complaints:
- Poor use of screen area. I know many have griped about the guide, but I just feel with any menu, like the info screen or DVR screen, for instance, has a lot of unused real estate that is causing the main focal points to be smaller or larger than they need to be. I think the main culprit is the info text being on the side instead of on top like it used to be. It causes everything else to have to be shrunk.
- Browse. This is a unique feature I've always loved from Dish because it has allowed me to scan through channels easily while still watching a show. The new browse guide seems so unessecarily bulky and boxy to the point that I feel like it defeats its own purpose.
- RW, FF, Pause, etc. showing at the bottom right instead of top right. Most channels have their logo at the bottom left or right of the screen, and I think it is both cluttered looking and out of place to have these function graphics over the top of the channel logo. I mean, was it even thought about what it would look like when actual programming was playing?
- Overall cluttered feel. In UI past, everything has always seemed like it just had its own place and worked together visually. While I do like the new darker look, I feel like there is no separation between elements being displayed, like it all is just running together.
This is just hitting some of the highlights. I know there is more, but maybe others can use this thread to list your own unique issue(s) or affirm that you are seeing some of the same things. Doesn't seem like there is a thread dedicated to just that as of yet.
I would like to close by saying if you think I'm being critical, I'm not. You know there are legit problems when everyone in the house, most of whom could care less about having the fastest, latest thing, are noticing the step backs of our system and who are now on my toes to do something about it. I see no feasible way of us continuing to use our system the way it is without Dish either (1) revising this software in a major way to fix all these issues and have better backwards compatibility or (2) replace our receivers with newer equipment (which, frankly, is stupid considering they were just fine before the new software. But if that's what it takes to make operation bearable, then so be it).
Let me be upfront: I was really gunning for positive results. I am always one of the first onboard for new, better stuff, even if it isn't always broken. The old UI was somewhat tired and dated cosmetically, yes, but it certainly was not broken. It had good response time, was streamlined, clean looking, and so dang stable and easy to use. I've been with Dish for many, many years and have swore by their equipment 200%. Their receivers and remotes, in my book, have ALWAYS been the simplest to use and very stable.
I honestly don't know what Dish was thinking with this UI retool. After a little over a week's worth of use, I've noticed so many bugs and dislikes it's not even acceptable. Several steps backward if you ask me. I know the CUI has been around already for the newer generation Hopper, and many of the functional issues I'm getting ready to list may not be happening for those users, but for someone like myself running older equipment that WORKED JUST FINE before, this is almost nauseating.
Functionality Issues:
- Old/deleted recordings randomly being brought back out of trash and appearing as "new" in DVR list.
- When pausing live TV, cannot resume. Nothing works except to either press "Live TV" or sometimes even turning receiver off, then back on, almost like it's frozen.
- Very delayed response from remote commands, if any response at all.
- Sometimes DVR listings inside a folder of the same show do not populate the first few times. I'll often have to exit out of DVR and then try going back in before it will show me the list of recordings.
- When I press "Play" for a DVR event, it often takes a good 10-20 seconds for the program to start playing.
- The overall speed and responsiveness of the system is DRAMITACLLY worse than before. Average of 10 seconds or so for each process it tries to execute. It is literally frustrating trying to do anything with it.
- Browse guide timeout. When I'm using the browse feature to scan through the mini guide at the bottom of the screen, if I let it set for 10 seconds or so, it goes away. I usually will pause, either to watch something that is going on with the current show or another reason, when using browse, and before it has always stayed in the same spot on the screen a good amount of time before going away so that I can pick back up and continue scanning where I left off when I'm ready. Whether intentional or not, this shortened timeout of the browse guide is not a good experience.
Cosmetic and Layout Complaints:
- Poor use of screen area. I know many have griped about the guide, but I just feel with any menu, like the info screen or DVR screen, for instance, has a lot of unused real estate that is causing the main focal points to be smaller or larger than they need to be. I think the main culprit is the info text being on the side instead of on top like it used to be. It causes everything else to have to be shrunk.
- Browse. This is a unique feature I've always loved from Dish because it has allowed me to scan through channels easily while still watching a show. The new browse guide seems so unessecarily bulky and boxy to the point that I feel like it defeats its own purpose.
- RW, FF, Pause, etc. showing at the bottom right instead of top right. Most channels have their logo at the bottom left or right of the screen, and I think it is both cluttered looking and out of place to have these function graphics over the top of the channel logo. I mean, was it even thought about what it would look like when actual programming was playing?
- Overall cluttered feel. In UI past, everything has always seemed like it just had its own place and worked together visually. While I do like the new darker look, I feel like there is no separation between elements being displayed, like it all is just running together.
This is just hitting some of the highlights. I know there is more, but maybe others can use this thread to list your own unique issue(s) or affirm that you are seeing some of the same things. Doesn't seem like there is a thread dedicated to just that as of yet.
I would like to close by saying if you think I'm being critical, I'm not. You know there are legit problems when everyone in the house, most of whom could care less about having the fastest, latest thing, are noticing the step backs of our system and who are now on my toes to do something about it. I see no feasible way of us continuing to use our system the way it is without Dish either (1) revising this software in a major way to fix all these issues and have better backwards compatibility or (2) replace our receivers with newer equipment (which, frankly, is stupid considering they were just fine before the new software. But if that's what it takes to make operation bearable, then so be it).