Special One-Night CE for 9/15 -- No Weekend CE's

[cypherstream]

Yeah it was my idea to use the VOD font size. But I also think the way it is now needs to be the default, and the other option should only be available in 720p or 1080i resolution.

I would do 8 channels by 2 1/2 hr. Maybe even a color button toggle to turn off the spoiler window and have a full screen guide with 11 or 12 rows of channels.

I like the animation idea as long as they are quick. A good UI uses subtle animations as visual feedback and to make screen transitions feel fluid and seamless while distracting the end user that the next screen is loading. They don't have to take too much resources. Most of them can be accomplished by mathematical subroutines. They already slide the info window down from the channel banner. Also SD boxes "shrink" the video into the spoiler window as the guide loads when you push the button. That window then expands when you exit. Its really a neat effect. Right now when I push menu or guide there is about 1 - 2 second delay. I wouldn't even notice the delay if it was masked by a screen fade in animation. It would actually feel quicker.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[hipwelljo]

cypherstream,
I completely agree with you. Your logic makes a lot of sense, especially concerning the animations.
Thank you for adding your input. I would also love to see a completely full-screen guide that you can enter using a toggle button.
I'm sure your feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

[JerseyMatt]

Sorry JerseyMatt. I think it is very foolish for any company to not innovate. That is what you are encouraging, since not adding built in WiFi and not making it a beautiful and enjoyable user experience is definitely not innovative. Everyone needs to follow in Apple's steps. They simply make their products easy to use and beautiful. So if animations need more power to work, make the receivers more powerful! (They need to do this anyways!) And they need to have an easy way to access the Internet. Built in WiFi is way way easy and every other company is doing it or has plans to. No, it may not be the best, since there are downsides to using wireless Internet. Who cares? There are a lot of people that would love built in WiFi simply because it is very easy to set up. Why do companies who make blu-ray players brag that one of the features is built-in WiFi? The Ethernet port is there for those who want to use that instead.

I just can't agree with that. There's a difference between innovation and being realistic. Again, there is absolutely no reason for wifi to be built into every box. Your average install has four receivers. Assuming wifi is set up (which only a small number of installs will use it), it remains unused in 3/4 of the hardware, since you only need one connection. They came out with a wireless cinema kit, and that is all that is needed.

Concerning the number of rows, anything to encourage less button pressing should be implemented without a doubt! For my TV, it's not going to make it hard to read. And who cares if the competition also has 6 lines? They need to rise above the competition and outdo them.

No, they really don't in this area. Again there's a difference between innovation and fluff. More lines in the guide (at the expense of readability) is fluff.

Yes, you are right. Apple does charge a lot for their products. And people are willing to pay that much it because it is easy to use and beautiful and will be a wonderful user experience. And they know Apple will always keep their products up to date with new features and innovation via free software updates. Yes, DirecTV is taking a step in the right direction. I'm glad they are giving this update to us users for free. But they can also see improvement.

Actually most of them pay for it because Apple is trendy and they think using Apple products makes them better than thou. Except the joke's on them because Apple deliberately holds back features in its 'innovative' products so that they can be used as marketing hype for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generations of said products. That's why it took what, three generations before the iphone could do video? That's why the first generation ipad didn't have a camera or accelerometer - and it still doesn't have USB ports, card readers, a true GPS antenna, or a video output. The average Apple product user pays three times for the same device in order to get all the features it should've had upon release. So that kinda shoots a huge hole in your claim that "Apple will always keep their products up to date with new features and innovation via free software updates".

 

[JerseyMatt]

Yeah it was my idea to use the VOD font size. But I also think the way it is now needs to be the default, and the other option should only be available in 720p or 1080i resolution.

I would do 8 channels by 2 1/2 hr. Maybe even a color button toggle to turn off the spoiler window and have a full screen guide with 11 or 12 rows of channels.

I like the animation idea as long as they are quick. A good UI uses subtle animations as visual feedback and to make screen transitions feel fluid and seamless while distracting the end user that the next screen is loading. They don't have to take too much resources. Most of them can be accomplished by mathematical subroutines. They already slide the info window down from the channel banner. Also SD boxes "shrink" the video into the spoiler window as the guide loads when you push the button. That window then expands when you exit. Its really a neat effect. Right now when I push menu or guide there is about 1 - 2 second delay. I wouldn't even notice the delay if it was masked by a screen fade in animation. It would actually feel quicker.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

If you have a 1-2 second delay, then there is something wrong. I don't have any such delay with the new UI. Any delay would basically be measured in milliseconds.

 

[hipwelljo]

I'm not going to pointlessly argue with you. You can believe whatever the hell you want. I really do not care if you don't like Apple; if everyone loved Apple then it wouldn't be any fun to argue over whose products are better, right?

I very nicely submitted my feedback and DirecTV can do with it what they please. They obviously have very different customers (me and you for example) and they should do their best to make all types of people happy. Providing options for enabling/disabling animations and how many rows they want displayed and even font size would not be a bad thing at all and could potentially make a lot of people happy.

I did ask you to reply with your thoughts on my suggestions, but there is no need to fight over whose beliefs are "right" or "better".

 

[JerseyMatt]

I'm not going to pointlessly argue with you. You can believe whatever the hell you want. I really do not care if you don't like Apple; if everyone loved Apple then it wouldn't be any fun to argue over whose products are better, right?

And I really don't care that you have forked over a substantial amount of money for their overhyped products. But Apple is not a company that Directv should emulate, for reasons already explained.

I very nicely submitted my feedback and DirecTV can do with it what they please. They obviously have very different customers (me and you for example) and they should do their best to make all types of people happy. Providing options for enabling/disabling animations and how many rows they want displayed and even font size would not be a bad thing at all and could potentially make a lot of people happy.

I did ask you to reply with your thoughts on my suggestions, but there is no need to fight over whose beliefs are "right" or "better".

Basically everything you've asked for is fluff. Does nothing for function, it's all superficial. Right now the focus is on getting things to work. And the one functional thing you asked for - built in wifi - is not something that would benefit anyone. All it would do is raise the manufacturing costs (and ultimately your cost) in order to pander to a very small part of their market.

 

[hipwelljo]

Like I said, believe what you want and I'll believe what I want. I believe everything I suggested is more than "fluff" that can greatly improve the DirecTV experience. If you don't feel the same way, that is ok. No more arguing please.

 

[Jimbo]

Backing up to HDD would be nice, but not as nice as allowing simultaneous use of the internal and an external HDD. DVD will never happen.

Simply being able to move a EHD from one recvr to the next without having it reformat would be nice as well as being able to use the on board as well as the EHD would be helpful.

 

[Jimbo]

JerseyMatt,
I should have mentioned that most of my suggestions should be optional.

You act as if things have to be the way that you like them. Everyone has different preferences so DirecTV should let us personalize it to the way that we like. If your TV is small and it's hard to read the text, change it. Disable the animations if you don't care for them. But they still need to give us those options. I have a big TV and the font is too big in my opinion. I want to see more rows of channels so I don't have to push the button 50 times to find a good show.

Yes, I am an Apple fan and this is what they do. They make their software gorgeous and useful, but if you don't like it you can change it. Why can't DirecTV do that too?

And no, I will argue that the receivers do need built in WiFi. I will not purchase an adapter for something that every other company has it built in (Apple TV, blu-ray players, Xbox 360, even TVs). If they expect us to use their OnDemand and YouTube services, they better provide an easy way to connect to the Internet. I have very reliable WiFi and that is the ONLY way I connect to the Internet on all of my devices. I will NOT string out an Ethernet cable across my living room to plug in my DirecTV box. So I never get to use the Internet features. And it appears that is where the future of DirecTV is heading, they introduced YouTube and TV Apps and a lot of others that all require Internet. So yes, they do need WiFi built in.

Recvrs use to be somewhat changeable back in the day you could change colors and what not, however, if you make a ton of changeable options, the avg user will have it so screwed up, no one will be able to help the sub calling in that can't change a color or animation.

 

[Jimbo]

Lots of ideas here, but ..... don't you think that D* has already gone over all these ideas and implemented the ones that will work with the system that they can do with the recvrs they have, remember, they have to be able to have all this stuff you want to implement work on a wide range of recvrs, not just the newest one.

I see we have a few people here that have BETTER ideas than what D* has brought out. I can see room for improvements, but heck, lets at least look and see what they have done on this CE first before we all decide that we all can do better.

Chances are D* has been running this software for quite awhile before we were able to see it, they have thier own internal testers as well.

 

[Jimbo]

I'm not going to pointlessly argue with you. You can believe whatever the hell you want. I really do not care if you don't like Apple; if everyone loved Apple then it wouldn't be any fun to argue over whose products are better, right?

I very nicely submitted my feedback and DirecTV can do with it what they please. They obviously have very different customers (me and you for example) and they should do their best to make all types of people happy. Providing options for enabling/disabling animations and how many rows they want displayed and even font size would not be a bad thing at all and could potentially make a lot of people happy.

I did ask you to reply with your thoughts on my suggestions, but there is no need to fight over whose beliefs are "right" or "better".

Actually, from your post on previous pages, it looked like you said you could do much better than them and had NOTHING positive at all that they did.

All this from someone thats been here for what, 10 days ?

If your such an APPLE fan, why not get your TV from Apple ?

 

[cypherstream]

Aside from Apple, almost anything these days uses fluid transition / animation effects in their UI's. TiVo, moxi, boxee, windows media center, Passport on Scientific Atlanta (now Cisco) 2200/3200/4200/8300 cable boxes, DirecTV SD receivers, windows 2000, XP, vista/7, Mac osx, android, windows phone, symbian, web os, samsung smart tv's, Xfinity spectrum, tablet's, photo picture frames, digital cameras, etc.

It's almost uncommon to have roughness in a UI these days when navigating from screen to screen. I think we'll get there someday, but there's a lot going on right now in getting this UI developed. So far we are off to a great start.

 

[hipwelljo]

I did congratulate DirecTV on their accomplishment and I am impressed. I was providing my feedback like I was asked to.
Yes, I'm new to the CE team and I want to help DirecTV become even better. They already are the best TV provider out there, but if they don't make improvements they can easily get passed up. Yes, Apple is a contender as well even if it doesn't seem like it at the moment. I would not be here if I didn't want to help DirecTV. And then I come here and other forum members put me down saying my ideas are horrible and should never be implemented. I never told anyone their ideas suck, I only agreed with the ones I agree with and defended my own, which shouldn't have been attacked anyways. I believe everyone can submit anything that they want improved. No reason to argue about it.

 

[knuckhead]

I would love to have more than 6 channels x 1.5 hours in the guide. Thank goodness you can highlight the channel number on the left in the guide and press 'info' and see what's coming up next on that one channel. Reminds me of the Tivo grid guide which was my favorite guide display when I had the DirecTiVo.

Overall, this HD GUI is fantastic in my opinion, no problems for me on my HR23 and HR21 receivers.

 

[Jimbo]

I did congratulate DirecTV on their accomplishment and I am impressed. I was providing my feedback like I was asked to.
Yes, I'm new to the CE team and I want to help DirecTV become even better. They already are the best TV provider out there, but if they don't make improvements they can easily get passed up. Yes, Apple is a contender as well even if it doesn't seem like it at the moment. I would not be here if I didn't want to help DirecTV. And then I come here and other forum members put me down saying my ideas are horrible and should never be implemented. I never told anyone their ideas suck, I only agreed with the ones I agree with and defended my own, which shouldn't have been attacked anyways. I believe everyone can submit anything that they want improved. No reason to argue about it.

Maybe it's the way you put it, your certainly entitled to your opinion and ideas.
Yes this is the place to give feedback.

However, the way you wrote it made me and others think that you could do a better job and that D* put no thought into any of what you mentioned.

I am 100 % sure that D* has thier internal testers and developers and they have decided at this time to add what they have and not other things.
I applaud them for the changes they have made and look forward to future ones.

Some of the things you mentioned may be coming in the future, not just in THIS CE.... I don't know, they didn't ask me or anyone here to help out designing the software they use, they have however asked us IF we choose to, try the new stuff and let them know how IT is working so they can concentrate on what they JUST put out.

Now, like I have posted in a few other areas, it's VERY possible that this CE is only the tip of the Iceburg and a small part of the whole package, maybe.
It's very possible that more parts of the software will come down next week and more the week after and continue till they have the whole package on the recvrs... then once its out there they will decide when to implement it ....

Of course that would mean the people that only showed up for this CE for the NEW stuff would be left out, as they would not have the previous weeks software on the machine.

I like this idea ..... this would prevent the people that jump in ONLY when they hear a new item is coming down, CE testing should be a weekly thing IF you have the time to do it.

 

[charper1]

Maybe it's the way you put it, your certainly entitled to your opinion and ideas.
Yes this is the place to give feedback.

However, the way you wrote it made me and others think that you could do a better job and that D* put no thought into any of what you mentioned.

I am 100 % sure that D* has thier internal testers and developers and they have decided at this time to add what they have and not other things.
I applaud them for the changes they have made and look forward to future ones.

Some of the things you mentioned may be coming in the future, not just in THIS CE.... I don't know, they didn't ask me or anyone here to help out designing the software they use, they have however asked us IF we choose to, try the new stuff and let them know how IT is working so they can concentrate on what they JUST put out.

Now, like I have posted in a few other areas, it's VERY possible that this CE is only the tip of the Iceburg and a small part of the whole package, maybe.
It's very possible that more parts of the software will come down next week and more the week after and continue till they have the whole package on the recvrs... then once its out there they will decide when to implement it ....

Of course that would mean the people that only showed up for this CE for the NEW stuff would be left out, as they would not have the previous weeks software on the machine.

I like this idea ..... this would prevent the people that jump in ONLY when they hear a new item is coming down, CE testing should be a weekly thing IF you have the time to do it.

I would also go out on a limb and bet good money that they also have diverse end user panels where new ideas are discussed, researched and tested out; as well as customer surveys. So things (ideas) that don't naturally float to the top just don't garner top effort as they would not be targeting the best "WINS" or bang for the buck for the MASS end user consumer. Take the EPG/GUI for example, I personally think the current EPG structure is just fine; as I don't want or need to shrink the fonts and format to see 20 channels and 3 - 6 hours at once. I do not care for the new icon based GUI; it looks cheesy and dumbed down. I am sure there are many more just like me. So based on whatever the DirecTV survey or test panel results may have been; MAYBE the majority also thinks the same way, thus we have what we have. It certainly has nearly zero bearing on the actual use of the core product expectation, which is the delivery of audio & HD video by satellite; its just a EPG/GUI.

 

[AriesGodofWar]

Youtube is back if that was not posted yet. Yay!

 

[dfergie]

My HR20 - 700 hasn't rebooted since yesterday but I believe some of that is the tuner 1 problem...

 

[kaylord84]

How do you get to YouTube

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk

 

[rlavinder]

Has anyone else lost most of their On demand channels? I am missing channels like ESPN, Disney, ABC Family, HGTV, Discovery channels, Sony. I don't see them when I select the all channels favorite list? Is there something I am missing to get these channels to show up? They have not showed up all weekend since I updated the software.