Optik upgrade -- What's the second box for?

[GregT1]

I live in Vancouver and I have Optik TV. I was advised that I had to replace the existing hardware to continue using Netflix. The existing hardware consists of a single box.

I am confused because Telus sent me TWO boxes to replace the single one.

Box 1 is labelled "Wireless Digital Box" and it looks very similar to the old one. I plugged it in and it seems to work exactly the same, including a "PVR" function. The recordings I had before are still there, so I guess they are stored in Telus's cloud somewhere. Netflix etc. works fine.

Box 2 is labelled "Arris VIP5662W Mail Out" and contents indicate it's a PVR. My question is - why do I need this, given that the "Wireless Digital Box" used to, and still does, seem to include a PVR function?

This system is actually for my 90+ year old Mom and having yet another remote, and yet another "Input option" to deal with, which appears like it would be the case based on the box contents, would be a major issue. So I am hoping to just leave it in its box or sell it on Ebay or something ??

[KHR]

Hi @GregT1 

Can you share the model number of your old equipment? 

The way the legacy Optik TV service with HD/4K PVRs and HD/4K Wireless Digital Boxes work is that your first piece of equipment is ALWAYS a physical PVR with a local hard drive. This is where your recordings are stored. Secondary, tertiary etc. equipment are Wireless Digital Boxes that access recordings from your PVR's hard drive through a local network (called whole home PVR). Our legacy Optik TV service does NOT store recordings in the cloud.

If you are plugging in a new Wireless Digital Box and it is seeing your existing recordings, then you must have another piece of TV equipment somewhere. If you only have one TV connected, is there an electrical panel or connectivity panel somewhere else in your home with another piece of Optik TV equipment hidden? This could have been left from when the home was built or when you moved in.

[GregT1]

Thanks for the reply. I will check that out. It's a single TV and I can't imagine where another box might be hidden, but I'll give it a go!

[xray]

If you find the old PVR box I suggest you just unplug that one and not replace it with the VIP5662W. Put the VIP5662W where the TV is and don't use the new Wireless Digital Box at all. There's no reason to have 2 boxes when you only have 1 TV.

[KHR]

Hey @xray 

There's normally a solid reason that a second box would be hidden away even in 1 TV households - the PVR must be hardwired to the access point, and if the access point isn't near where someone wants their TV, technicians often set it up this way. Wireless Digital Boxes can (as the name suggests) be connected wirelessly. 

[xray]

Makes sense. All 3 of my Optik boxes are hardwired so I never even think about the WiFi bandwidth limitations. Why do the PVR's even have WiFi capabilities if they need to be hardwired?

[KHR]

The PVRs have their Wi-Fi disabled on them to improve recording reliability (basically reducing one point of failure). If you had both a PVR and a Wireless Box communicating back and forth to an access point wirelessly and the Wi-Fi was unreliable, this could present a poor TV experience. Obviously, hardwired as you've got it, is the best solution but not always possible.