TELUS TV Feature Updates - Ongoing

[Optik-Kate]

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. 

Q1 2024 (WIP):

• Recording improvements: Series recording on news-related programs
• Guide filter selection such as “my favourite channel” remains after turning the TV off and on
• Search results are now expanded to include third-party streaming apps availability in the program detail page
• Optimized search functionality via content type and cast member names
• Default focus on home - requiring only one click of the “back” button to return to the last watched stream
• User experience and design improvement on Apple TV and iOS

Q4 2023:

• Additional 4K channels on the TELUS TV Digital Box and Android TV devices 
• New and Live tags in the TV Guide
• Increased Cloud Recording duration to 90 days
• Pay Per View events are now available for purchase
• Recording improvements 
• Unviewable recordings can now be deleted
• The recordings manager now shows the newest recordings first
• Bug fixes related to recordings going missing
• Bug fixes for sports recording auto-extension 
• Surround Sound is now available
• Dismissing the “next episode” prompt is now working correctly

Q3 2023

• Chromecast - cast from TELUS TV+ mobile app to Chromecast-enabled receivers
• Game Zone - a dedicated zone on the Telus TV Digital Box with over 180 free and simple-to-play games using your mobile device as the controller 
• Resume from your Apps row on the home screen to resume shows from Disney+, Apple TV+, Prime Video and more

Q2 2023 

• Playback Performance Toggle - A new option in the Settings menu aimed at improving video playback on older Android devices (mobile/tablet).
• Pause Live TV for up to 15 minutes on the TELUS TV Digital Box and TELUS TV+ app
• Restart a show from the beginning that aired up to 30 hours in the past

• Profile improvements
• Recordings only show in individual profiles
• ‘Recommended for you’ personalized by profile
• ‘Favourite channels’ and ‘Favourite movies & series’ by profile
• Live Sports recordings are automatically extended; 90 minutes for tennis & 60 minutes for all other sports

Regards,

Your Friendly Neighbourhood TV Product Development Team.

[broadcastguy]

Haha, but then I’d need to accept the new platform, and I’m not prepared to do that until the video quality is equal to or better than the previous generation 4K boxes.

[MrSL]

I hear you! I guess by all accounts I have been fortunate compared to some. I upgraded to an OLED TV and new Denon amp just before I switched and have not experienced any issues regarding quality otherwise I would have pulled the plug, contract or not!

This has been my first (and probably last) experience of TELUS TV, I have always subscribed to their competitors. After this experience, I will never trust TELUS again on face value. I just assumed it was gong to work, as expected. I couldn't have been more wrong.

This is way to much grief for me. At the end of the day I just want to watch TV. Record what I want, when I want, record across channels, add time to recordings, set a series recording once, not to have it disappear at the end of the season etc etc. Of course with the best possible sound and picture quality. With more and more 'on demand' available with HQ broadcasts I think that maybe the way forward...

[MrSL]

So I don't see any update or posting such as Q2 2024 (WIP) on this thread from any TELUS employees, @Optik-Kate @KHR ? Only a plethora of complaints about the current state of the TELUSTV-21T platform.

What is being actively worked on and prioritized first for an system update?

Any plans for updating the real basics such adding additional time to recordings, bulk delete for series recordings, extending the 90 day recording limit?

[KHR]

Hi @MrSL 

As mentioned 3 weeks ago in this thread "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." We are only about 1/3 of the way through Q2, so when any changes that impact the user experience are available, they will be shared here. More than likely, a view of Q2 changes will likely be towards the end of Q2.

I'm not aware of many telcos that give you this much access to product development roadmaps, timelines and folks on the team, so let's try to be a little bit more civil. I'll end with the cliche that the grass isn't always greener on the other side, but you're welcome to go have a look. https://toronto.citynews.ca/2024/04/05/bell-fibe-to-delete-viewers-saved-tv-shows-after-60-day/ 

[broadcastguy]

Try to be a little more civil? Really? TELUS released a half-baked product, that more people than not have issues with, and you’re asking for people that are expressing their frustration (in a pretty calm manner, might I add) to be more civil?

Now I’m definitely cancelling and moving on at the end of the month. I was waffling, but you helped me make up my mind. Thank you, and best of luck!

[MrSL]

Couldn't agree with you more @broadcastguy - 100%!!!

[MrSL]

Hi @KHR ,

This thread is very large and hard to keep track of what has been previously posted. Apologies if it was previously posted.

As for "telcos giving access to development roadmaps" - well I have never had a need with other companies to spend time looking for answers to problems that really shouldn't be there in a 'Live system'.

Overall I think majority of people are 'very civil' given the issues users deal with on this far from perfect platform. Banging your head against the wall day after day hurts.

Cherry picking reports you didn't mention "Fellow telecom giant Rogers offers a similar cloud-based PVR option through Rogers Ignite where recordings are automatically deleted after one year. A Rogers spokesperson says the company has “no plans” to change that expiry period, which exists to “help manage storage capacity.”

[Nollind]

Your mention of Bell customers having it worse doesn’t make things any better. All it shows is that most corporate management minds in these companies (ie those that signed off on implementing beta products like this) are like-minded in their detachment of the needs of their customers. All it’s going to do is push existing customers away even more so, perhaps to a combination of over-the-air tuners working alongside streaming boxes like Apple TV, so as to still have access to a certain range of speciality channels via streaming providers. 

Like we’re paying Telus for TSN for F1 Racing right now but could easily get better access via the F1 TV app at the same cost. So things are reaching a tipping point, if you will. And unless these problems are resolved expediently, you’ll only see more customers dropping their television packages from typical providers (ie Telus, Bell, etc) and customizing them on their own from an assortment of streaming providers.

Whats hilarious about this all though is that I’ve been mentioning this day would be coming for years to those in your Loyalty Department (who have compensated me immensely for the frustrations I’ve had with your services in the past) but little did I realize that the greatest impetus for this change would be caused by your own companies attempt at creating a streaming box itself. I definitely did not see that coming.

[Rocky3]

@KHR 

Your input here is appreciated. Thanks for reminder that others may not share developement progress.

Where the TelusTV failure is in most cases is that it is the very basic things already well known/used features fom past products are still in development stage with this new product. We are beta testers to develop a product that will become obsolete before fully developed.

Then there is the recent announcement that those with a previous product which in their opinion works better than current will soon be retired and replaced by this current one.

[KHR]

Thanks @Rocky3 

There is currently no timeline for the retirement of the Optik 4K PVR and Wireless Digital Boxes. The HD boxes, on the other hand, will start to be retired this year. They were introduced nearly 15 years ago, have not been manufactured for almost 10 and they don't support any OTT apps like Netflix or Prime Video. In addition, hard drives are starting to fail more frequently on this legacy equipment.

For folks on the HD equipment, upgrading to the 4K equivalent is an option. The user interface and functionality is nearly identical, but Netflix and Prime Video are supported on this platform (other apps like Disney+ and Apple TV+ will likely never be supported due to hardware and platform limitations).

That said - the manufacturers of the 4K equipment (Arris and Technicolor) no longer have a license to manufacture and the vendor of the TV platform (MediaKind) has diverted their attention to their next generation IPTV solution, which is based on a very similar chipset and is Android TV-based. 

[Rocky3]

My condolences to those that have 15 year old equipement that works being retired. Of course they have had the option to update and chose not to. 

Coincidentally I received my Telus bill today and was reminded I have multiple discounts which were used to gain my subscription and which will expire in 1-1/2 years. Just saying.

[kjb5000]

Again - just fix the picture quality please. That’s probably the most disheartening disappointment of the new system.

[Montell]

Yes I'm generally ok with the new system (I did complain in this thread or the other one we don't get free previews like MLB extra innings still, yet my parents do on the old optik, seems like an easy fix but unresolved yet, not sure why customers don't get free previews on this platform ever).

I use the app mostly on my nvidia shield (that to me is the future, the app working well on fire stick, apple tv, android, anything the customer has) but I do agree the picture should be an easy fix, I'm hardwired and using fibre and it looks like the new system is bitrate starved compared to the old optik system on fibre and there's more compression. I have been on the system for a year and it's still the same (4k looks fine but regular HD looks worse). That's probably the number one complaint is picture and also likely one of the top things customers look for with a cable provider.

[kjb5000]

That was like me in the fall - I never received the free preview of NHL Centre Ice

But yeah pic quality is very sub par

[broadcastguy]

This is my biggest beef with the TELUS service overall. The only channels that have looked exceptional are the 4K channels, because they’re getting the bandwidth they deserve. The HD channels have always been inferior to Shaw/Shaw Direct. I visit my parents and always notice immediately that their picture quality is superior.

With TELUS, they’ve always catered to the lowest common denominator (the DSL customers) and encoded the channels at a lower bitrate. I thought fibre customers would eventually get what Verizon FiOS customers have experienced since they launched their TV over fibre product in 2006, offering HD at about 17 Mbps. I believe TELUS encodes at about 5 Mbps tops, but that may have changed.

Anyway, best of luck to customers on the new platform going forward!

[kjb5000]

I honestly don’t even think the 4k channels in the new platform are getting the bandwidth they deserve.

[broadcastguy]

That doesn’t surprise me. I was referring to 4K on the older 4K boxes. I’m still using the Arris equipment I obtained in 2016.

[kjb5000]

Ah. I find the older Optik fine especially the 4k
But this new stuff … no bueno

[bimmerdriver]

It makes no sense for the 4K channels to not be given copious amounts of bandwidth. After all, even the lowest tier of fibre has lots of bandwidth and many people are on higher tiers with massive amounts of bandwidth. I think no one would object if a single 4K channel used much more bandwidth, as long as it was rendered properly by the equipment.

[Dave68]

When will we be able to see and use profiles? I did get a chance to set up a couple of profiles but have never been able to use them or find out where to access them.

[KHR]

Hi @Dave68 

Profiles are live in the TELUS TV+ app and on the TELUS TV Digital Box. If you've set them up, the first screen that you get when you power on the set-top box or launch the app should be a profile selector (see image from iOS). A few details about how profiles work:

1. they each have their own unique list of recordings (set, watch, edit recordings independently of other profiles)

2. they each have their own unique watch list with bookmarks (you can pick up where you left off independently of other profiles)

3. Recommendations are profile-specific so they depend on viewership history within the profile

4. Favourite channels/series and movies are profile-specific

5. Maturity rating filters are profile-specific

6. Purchase PINs are set at the Admin profile level and apply to all profiles 

7. On Demand purchases are available across all profiles (but may not show up or be playble depending on the maturity filters applied. For example, an 18+ movie will not show in a Kids profile)

It's worth noting that profiles are not supported if you have legacy Optik TV equipment; 4K PVRs and 4K wireless digital boxes.