Potential new customer - what are options for TV boxes?

[barto]

Current Shaw/Rogers customer, forced to switch from our old classic cable boxes to their new Ignite boxes, but hate it so far.  Aside from technical issues, our 86-year-old father-in-law can't figure out the new system/remote and we're all frustrated.

I see with Telus the latest "TV Digital Box" looks similar to the new Shaw one, but doesn't default to Live TV mode, so that's not any improvement for our situation.

Which older TV boxes are still possible to use with Optik TV?  I found an image of the 'Classic' remote, and that's the style that would be most like our previous Shaw remotes, so is that still a possibility or have some of the older boxes been phased out?

Are there any that show the current channel number?

That's something missing from the new Shaw boxes that has really thrown our father-in-law for a loop, but there are other issues there too.

Thanks for any advice/info on this... we'd still be using Shaw if they hadn't forced the equipment change, but now it's time to look around for alternatives!

[KHR · Accepted solution]

Hi @barto 

New customers to Optik TV are provided with the new TELUS TV Digital Box and accompanying remote. The user interface is definitely geared more towards folks who use a mixture of live TV, On Demand and streaming services. The start-up experience has a Home Screen with featured shows and movies, Apps, a 'Resume' feed, 'Recent recordings' etc. and does not default to live TV, however the home screen can be dismissed with a single press of the 'back' button, which returns the user to the last live TV channel they watched. If you're close to a TELUS store, you can stop in and a rep will be able to help demonstrate the product in person.

There is no channel number displayed on the player feed, but one remote button press (left) brings up episode details including channel number or a press of the down button brings up a live guide that displays what's on now and what's up next on the current and neighbouring channels.  

Legacy Optik TV equipment is no longer offered and is being phased out as it is no longer manufactured or available. In addition, some software and apps are no longer supported on some of the legacy boxes. The 'Classic' remote is more than a decade old and is no longer stocked by TELUS.

As with anything, change can be difficult, whether it's from Shaw to TELUS (different channel numbers!) or from legacy Optik TV to the new Optik TV. Hopefully this info helps you make an informed decision.

[barto]

Hmmm... but is legacy Optik TV equipment *supported*?  Looks like it wouldn't be too hard to find used boxes (and classic remotes)... do they show the current channel number?  

Thanks for the info!

[KHR]

Legacy Optik TV equipment *is* still supported for customers who signed up to Optik prior to the launch of the new hardware. However, the plan you sign up for as a new customer doesn't play nicely with the old equipment. Some things may be finicky while others (recordings, for example) may not work at all. If all you ever do is watch live TV, you might be fine. However, if anything goes wrong, the first step for troubleshooting would be to check that you're on the right equipment.

And while it is true that you can find legacy equipment for sale out there in the wild, I wouldn't personally recommend it. You may have no way to test and might be buying something with a corrupt harddrive. With no record of your purchase, TELUS support wouldn't replace it and you could have an expensive paperweight.

[barto]

Thanks.  I had great success buying used Shaw equipment, so I had kind of assumed it would likely be fine with Telus as well, but looks like we'll stick it out with Shaw's stupid new system and curse that every day instead of switching to Telus to curse *it* instead.  🙂