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 th...
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.
KHRThanks 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.
- What do customers with owned 330 boxes do when the Optik TV is phased out?
- A-B
Community Manager
If/when anything such as that occurs, we'll be sure to let all of our customers know!
- Again - just fix the picture quality please. That’s probably the most disheartening disappointment of the new system.
- 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!
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.
