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. 

Q4 2024: (note: had to remove previous updates due to character limits on post)

• 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.

[bimmerdriver]

I currently have UIW8001 PVR and 3X UIW4001e. They work pretty well. The old saying, "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" comes to mind.

From all of the reviews and comments here and elsewhere, such as DSLReports (https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r33851979-ALL-Comments-Experience-New-Telus-TV-Digital-Box-TelusTV-...), these new boxes sound like a step backwards, not only in terms of functionality and also picture quality. I've been with Telus long enough to highly suspect that customers will pay more for the priviledge of having less functionaly and worse picture quality. 

Considering that 4K TVs are common and 8K TVs are becoming more common, it's not reasonable to expect that customers will be satisfied with poor picture quality on their big and expensive TVs.

This makes me wonder if Telus is serious about staying in this business. Eventually, charging more for less will catch up with you. Unless Telus is intentionally trying to kill the TV market, these new TV boxes sound like a mistake.

[Pattydee3]

I see the new Telus TV Android boxes getting a lot of flack here, and I personally don't think it's entirely deserved. 

Full disclosure, I worked at Shaw for 12 years, and via the employee discounts had every iteration of their TV boxes. This includes Rovi, HD Guide, Gateway, and their new X1 boxes both QAM and IP based (Bluesky/Bluecurve TV, now called Ignite TV under Rogers). I'm a big fan of the Comcast X1 platform, so my basis of comparison is that platform. 

I've had the new Telus TV Android boxes for a few months now, after not having cable for a year. Prior to the year without cable I was on Shaw Bluecurve (now Ignite TV) which is the syndicated Comcast X1 platform. I feel like I'm quite particular with picture quality, and quite honestly I don't notice a difference between the Bluecurve  boxes and these new Telus TV boxes. In the past Telus has struggled with picture quality particularly when compared directly to Shaw, but I was pleasantly surprised with these new boxes. Not sure why/how others are saying the picture quality is worse, but my experience has been very positive in this aspect. 

The guide/UI is a little clumsy, and this is where I see Telus has the most opportunity for improvement. I don't like having to hit the back button 10 times to get out of Netflix, and the guide can be a little slow to load when the box first turns on. Having seen multiple iterations of tv boxes launch at Shaw, I know that development is always ongoing and most of those platforms had a less than that stellar launch (I'm looking at you, HD Guide). Keep in mind that Telus is actively developing for this platform so I would expect things to improve substantially over time. 

I got Telus TV in time for the Superbowl and was very happy to be able to watch it on TSK in 4K. It looked fantastic. While these boxes aren't about to win awards for most outstanding anything, I feel like they're better than their reputation on this blog (and the Telus subreddit).

My 2 cents anyways. 

[Craigvee]

The issue is with 4K tvs and with the box pushing content in hdr even if it’s hd resulting in a blown out picture quality.

I have both the previous iteration 4K Arris box and the Android box and the picture quality for HD is not even in the same league.

The firmware issues with the Android box are confirmed by Telus and apparently we’re to wait for a new Android OS.

Are you using a 4K tv?

It’s honestly a joke they’d push this out to customers. I only use it for 4K and for streaming services.

[Pattydee3]

Yup, using 2 4K TV's and one non-4k. Guess I'm lucky I don't have this issue. 

[viperdiablo1]

Do your 4k tvs have HDR? I know my 8 or 9 year old Sony tv has 4k but no HDR compatible.

Get Outlook for iOS

[Pattydee3]

That I'm not sure. These TV's are 5 or 6 years old, and I don't see anything in the options in the settings about HDR. So I'm guessing they don't have HDR. 

[broadcastguy]

Nailed it.

After a recent billing issue with my internet service, I called in and discovered that my TV agreement expires at the end of this month. I’ll cancel and try the OTA TV thing for a while. I purchased an HDHomeRun box with 4 tuners and I’ll pair it with my Plex server for PVR capabilities. I’ll be saving $80 a month and can stream anything that I can’t get over the air.

Good luck to existing and future Optik customers.

[MrSL]

Best of luck... Waiting for my contract to expire but another 13 months to go 😢

[broadcastguy]

13 months isn’t too bad. I may regret my decision—time will tell.

[MrSL]

13 months - Feels like an age to me... and hey, if you regret your decision, I'm sure they won't stop you from coming back! lol.

[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.