Forum Discussion
Optik-Kate
TELUS Team Member
TELUS Team MemberTELUS TV Feature Updates - Ongoing
Dear Neighbours,
We’re experimenting with different formats to assure you we’re listening and working on improvements to the TELUS TV platforms. We have frequent releases designed to tackle the platform's immediate and long-term stability, and we’ll do our best to keep this thread up to date with each new release to celebrate our wins together.
Please note this is not an exhaustive list; minor customer-facing fixes and non-customer-facing backend work are not included. (Note: Previous updates removed due to character limits on post)
Q2 2025 (WIP):
- TELUS TV+ app is now available for download on Amazon Fire TV
- Sports channels upgraded to 1080P at 60 frames per second
- 40+ new Free Stream TV channels
- 4K HDR now available for On Demand content
Q1 2025:
- Firmware Update:
- Dolby vision & HDR support that enhances video quality
- Auto dynamic range adjustment to match the content frame
- Picture-in-picture previews in guide
- Find my remote by holding down the pairing button on the box for >4 seconds
- Advanced audio controls such as normalization of loudness for all content and disable/enable surround sound format
- Privacy & accessibility:
- Customization of microphone and camera permissions
- Adjust text size on-screen with new text scaling options
Q4 2024:
- Zoetrope Previews: See exactly where you're skipping on Live TV, recordings, and On-Demand. Enjoy fullscreen previews when fast-forwarding or rewinding, so you never lose your place. (Thumbnail preview coming soon)
- Fast Forward and Rewind Speeds: Control your scrolling speed with ease:
- 1x: Scroll at 2x speed.
- 2x: Scroll at 8x speed.
- 3x: Scroll at 24x speed.
- Picture Quality Improvements: Most non-sports channels now stream in 1080p (high-definition) for sharper images, with a backup at 720p. Sports channels now uses 720p at 60 frames per second (fps) to keep fast-moving content smooth and prevent display issues—further picture quality improvements to come.
- Recovery After Internet Outage: Your digital box will now automatically resume live TV content as soon as the internet connection is restored.
- Improved Guide on Apple TV: Navigate your TV Guide effortlessly with enhanced performance and no freezing issues.
- Automatic Playback for Recordings: Binge-watch your recorded content with ease as the next recording in your playlist automatically starts playing—no need to press a button!
- Enhanced Restart and Lookback Logic: Enjoy seamless transitions between Restart and Lookback programs for uninterrupted viewing.
Q3 2024:
- Bulk Delete for Recordings: You can now delete multiple recorded episodes simultaneously, making managing your recordings easier.
- Episode List Access: When playing a recorded episode, you can see a list of all other episodes from the same series directly in the player.
- Binge-Watching Made Easy: Enjoy seamless binge-watching of recorded episodes, as they now play sequentially without any interruptions.
- Order Cloud PVR Directly: You can now order Cloud PVR service directly from your set-top box for added convenience.
- Start from the Beginning: Easily start recordings and VOD (Video on Demand) content from the beginning, even if you joined late!
Regards,
Your Friendly Neighbourhood TV Product Development Team.
361 Replies
So let me get this straight. I have 2 "old" Optik boxes in my house, one that is hardly used. I'll have to pay an additional $10 for the privilege of having a 2nd box? And because I'm on the Essentials TV plan, I have to pay an additional $10 for the privilege of being able to record? Huh?
Will there be a way to tell Telus I don't want the ability to record and to tell them I don't want a 2nd box? I'm not paying $20 more a month for inferior technology and service when I'm sitting here on single strand copper. I really, really regret signing a contract last August.
KHRHi KTown
When and if you are upgraded, you will be presented with options for functionality, equipment and pricing. If you want to opt out of certain equipment, you can do that at any time. If you don't want the ability to record, you can opt out of that at any time as well (for example, you can return your PVR and opt for a Digital Box without harddrive).
Further, you seem concerned about the pricing changes. As an example, our current pricing structure for new customers is:
TELUS TV Digital Box rental price: $10/month
Cloud PVR: $10/month
Core package: $35/month
TOTAL: $55/month
The legacy pricing is:
Optik 4K PVR rental price: $20/month
Recordings: included
Essentials package: $43/month
TOTAL: $63/month
The new pricing structure is less expensive AND offers more flexibility.
I hope this helps.
I pay $43/month for my essentials package with one HD PVR and one wireless HD box and don't pay any rental fees on either. So this new hardware initiative will cost me at least $12 more a month.
I'm on 50mb/s single strand copper (not even bonded pair) so supporting two 4K boxes is not feasible. My connection struggles with 2 people streaming HD content and another person browsing. And as far as I'm aware there are no plans to install fiber on my block.
It looks like in my case that after 12 years as a customer, Telus will be losing a customer even if it means paying the penalty to break my contract.
Have you been told this or is this an assumption?
We've been with Telus for many years, starting long before Optik was introduced. We switched to Optik almost 15 years ago and I don't want to think about how many Telus boxes we've been through that ended up in the landfill. We finally got fibre just over a year ago and went through months of unreliability of the NAH, WiFi Booster and PVR/STB equipment. Now that it's finally been stable for a while, Telus is rolling out another half-baked solution. Based on the comments, I'm going to hold off as long as possible. Hopefully by the time Telus forces us to switch, it will finally work.
I wonder how long Telus will let people stay with the older more reliable boxes after reading this on Telus website :
https://www.telus.com/en/support/article/upgrading-your-optik-tv-hardware-to-telus-tv
Good find. Those with the old optik take notice.
"Later in 2024, TELUS will no longer be supporting a selection of older Optik TV HD PVR and Digital Boxes"
viperdiablo1 wrote:I wonder how long Telus will let people stay with the older more reliable boxes after reading this on Telus website :
https://www.telus.com/en/support/article/upgrading-your-optik-tv-hardware-to-telus-tv
Good day. I do not see updates being worked on to fix the always HDR resolution issues.
I just "upgraded" to the Android box from the Arris 4k box and the picture quality on all non 4K is absolutely abysmal. It looks like what SD used to look like on the HD box. I am currently forced to use the old Arris box simultaneously with the Android box.
I also noticed that the sound quality is not as good as the Arris box. I use Dolby DD+ with a receiver, however it sounds worse when comparing side by side.
The always HDR issue/HD upscaling is a HUGE problem and I do not understand how Telus could roll out these boxes to their customers in their current iteration.
Can you please advise whether this problem is being addressed?
Any update on this? It's December and the picture quality is still really bad.
- It’s definitely not an upgrade. The new platform is terrible.
- I think everyone agrees to this statement
- Hi, are there any plans to update the recording options ?
I want to record canucks games, but if i setup a series recording it records every NHL game that comes on so I constantly have to deleted so many recordings
I would like to be able to setup series recording for Canucks only like I used to on my old system.
Also when would this 90 day recoding expire setting go away ?
I want to save certain shows or recordings, I don't want them to delete . . . Please remove this automatic 90 day expire.- KHR
We are looking at a number of improvements to recordings, including more start/end time modifications (either manual or automatic), sports team recordings and a longer storage duration. As usual, we can't promise any timeline on these items, since development times can vary and anything that requires multiple parties to participate gets complicated. TELUS uses a 3rd party service for guide data, and having sports team recordings requires codevelopment.
I will say that is extremely unlikely that TELUS will ever have unlimited forever storage on the cloud PVR service...not only would server space become ridiculous pretty quick but there are copyright law implications that didn't exist with a hard-drive solution. That said, we are evaluating options for download and/or 'keep for longer'.
- Thanks for the info and great to hear there is process being made !
It's be a learning process and a little frustrating coming from Shaw where all these things were already in place. . . . seemed so strange to me to get this brand new system that's so far behind the old systems and their features / options.
You can record locally in real time while watching/playing a show whether live or from cloud recording using a HDMI splitter. While the cloud recording is a file just like the previous PVR I have not found a way to just copy the file.
I started this thread on "Auto update apps"
I was told a while ago how to manually update. That seems to be awol now so if you do not get the push update how do you do a manual update.
My telus tv box is also showing no update so far.
So are you developing the android tv app in tandem with the official telus box? Can I expect my shield tv telus tv app to also be updated? Last update was November 21st which was getting a bit lengthy after 3 months....
I am pretty happy with the android tv app on my shield, obviously some bugs with recordings need to be sorted out, and in general I think everyone would like to see a bump in picture quality so it looks like the old optik tv system when I had fibre with the old system it was very impressive picture. I think thats probably the number 1 wish everyone has.
I dont use the telus tv box and convinced my friend to switch from shaw for this reason this week. He also uses sony android tv telus app. He was done with additional telecom boxes and remotes being required. So I really hope the android tv app will also receive this update soon.
The only other big glaring feature for me personally missing from the android tv telus app is ppv purchases. I still have the cheap telus tv android box for this reason only.
- KHR
Yes, there is an update to Android TV as well.
Google and Apple have different policies and best practice guidelines on app update rollouts. For example, as soon as a new app is published to the Apple App Store, it can be manually updated by anyone. If you have automatic updates turned on, you will get the app pushed to your device according to a set rollout schedule over a few days to a week. For Android, you have to wait your turn; you can't manually update until the end of the rollout schedule for automatic updates.
Optik-KateThe list has been updated with features from the past couple of updates (Jan & Feb). Thank you for everyone's patience. Please ensure you're on the latest box/BYOD version - 1.24.2.200
- How do we update to the latest version?
- KHR
Updates should be pushed to your devices automatically over the next week, but you can always check for system updates in Settings > Device settings > Device Preferences > About > System update.
The latest App version is 1.24.2.200 (found in Settings > System information).
- This new TV product is, by far, the worst product TELUS has released. Endless disappointment—I was lucky I could switch back to the Arris equipment, for now at least.
- I wonder if they offer a revert to the old boxes for new customers ? Have not been impressed at all with how many features and basic functions the new boxes are missing over the old technology.
Hey Optik-Kate,
You might know, why is the Telus TV app not available on my Roku Streaming Stick, and it's not available in the Roku Store ? (I only have Pik-TV)
I keep searching, but it's not there..
Just wondering.
Thanks
Ex-Telis
- Optik-Kate
Hi ExTelis , the TELUS TV+ App is not on Roku because we do not currently support it. We're working on expanding the supported platforms. For example, Amazon Fire TV will be next, but the timeline for Roku is yet to be determined.
Any update on when we can modify start and end times for recordings?
- Optik-Kate
The architecture work required for this will take us to the end of the calendar year if no further delay!
- To be able to edit start and stop times ? All the previous boxes already had that feature.
What about being able to select the team you want to record vs having to record every single hockey game that comes on. I am getting tired of deleting 10 NHL games just to watch 1 Canucks game 🤣
Anybody out there?
- Any more updates ? Still hoping we can customize the home page, or set options to go straight to tv vs trying to navigate away from the home page
- Optik-Kate
There is an update coming in Feb.
The homepage setting is tentatively a part of the Feb release,I'll update the list once the features are launched.Edit: I may have spoken too soon on this. The upcoming release will make it easier to default back to live playback with one click of the back button as opposed to the current method where users need to hold the back button down. It's a slight improvement while we work on customization of home page.
Please change this to a month end report of what was accomplished of what is tops on the priority to be done.
I know you are the messenger. Did anything get done in January, and almost end of February now.
