UPDATED NextBox Navigatr - December 2015/January 2016

[RogersMargaret]

Hi Community,

On December 15, 2015, I let everyone know that we had started to roll out the updated Navigatr guide.  Take a look here for that post. 

As we continue to roll out the update, customers will be notified ahead of time that they will be getting the new software.

If you have received the updated Navigatr software (i.e. since December 15, 2015) and would like to ask a question and/or share your findings/learnings, please do so in THIS THREAD.  

As always, the Community Guidelines and Terms of Use apply.

Thanks very much for keeping the community a pleasant place to be!

~RogersMargaret

[jays77]

I don't know what it read before but that is what my Espial# is now.

[LB2016]

ROGERS, please bring back previous features of the PVR (prior to Navigtr).

1.  While watching a recorded PVR program and you press "Info" for information of the recorded show being watched, the show stops and goes back to the menu.  Before you could see the recorded info while watching.  Rogers, please change back to the way it was.

2.  Show info text.  Long show info text gets cutoff.  The old system would scroll through the paragraph.  Rogers, please change back.

3.  While watching recorded shows, when you press the green "list" button, the show stops and you cannot hear the audio.

The previous system would play the show.  Rogers, please change back.

[Stouff70]

There are so many usability issues with this guide. I have a hard time believing this was user tested, and by user I mean someone who isn't an engineer. To start: 1) the list of programs now mashes recorded programs together with scheduled. It's impossible to tell what's recorded or scheduled unless you click on each one. 2) if there are two episodes of a show on one day, no way to tell which is first. 3) the "favourites" button turns your default guide button to favourites. You have to scroll through and change your view. How about you keep the buttons/commands separate? Rogers has essentially taken a decent guide and made it utterly useless. I'm a strong user if technology. This isn't an issue with ciping with change, rather having to deal with terrible UX.

[CC]

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@jbulach wrote:

Got the new Navigatr last night here in Ottawa. I agree with the other posts, I like it. I have tried all features and have had no problems. I am sure there will be a few tweaks required, but that’s OK.

I have noticed over the year that quite a few users suffer from R2C, “Resistance To Change”. As Mr. Bean A.K.A. Justin Trudeau said its 2016, get over it and enjoy.

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Do you have a PVR? It seems that most of the problems are there.

[rgottinger]

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@CC wrote:

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@jbulach wrote:

Got the new Navigatr last night here in Ottawa. I agree with the other posts, I like it. I have tried all features and have had no problems. I am sure there will be a few tweaks required, but that’s OK.

I have noticed over the year that quite a few users suffer from R2C, “Resistance To Change”. As Mr. Bean A.K.A. Justin Trudeau said its 2016, get over it and enjoy.

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Do you have a PVR? It seems that most of the problems are there.

I have a PVR and my issues are strictly usability.

[Beelzebot]

Our 2 year bundle is coming to an end this month, so I was talking to Rogers tonight about a new deal (no waiting on hold on Saturday night!) and the rep said there is supposed to be a Navigatr update coming in "the next couple of weeks". How much truth there is in this statement, I don't know, but you can always live in hope!

The only way I will keep the cable tv service is if I upgrade to a Nextbox 3 from our current Nextbox 2. Can anyone tell me the difference for Navigatr in performance/storage/speed I might expect to see if I upgrade? Thanks.

[remaxman]

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@Beelzebot wrote:

Our 2 year bundle is coming to an end this month, so I was talking to Rogers tonight about a new deal (no waiting on hold on Saturday night!) and the rep said there is supposed to be a Navigatr update coming in "the next couple of weeks". How much truth there is in this statement, I don't know, but you can always live in hope!

The only way I will keep the cable tv service is if I upgrade to a Nextbox 3 from our current Nextbox 2. Can anyone tell me the difference for Navigatr in performance/storage/speed I might expect to see if I upgrade? Thanks.

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That next couple of weeks has been coming now for about 2 months. They are frustrated and thats all they got. 

[DrMike]

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@CC wrote:

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@jbulach wrote:

Got the new Navigatr last night here in Ottawa. I agree with the other posts, I like it. I have tried all features and have had no problems. I am sure there will be a few tweaks required, but that’s OK.

I have noticed over the year that quite a few users suffer from R2C, “Resistance To Change”. As Mr. Bean A.K.A. Justin Trudeau said its 2016, get over it and enjoy.

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@jbulach

When I first started reading your post I thought this was satire, from the Onion or the Beaverton. You can't be serious. "I agree with the other posts, I like it". Please point me to these 'other posts'. In fact, point me to ONE post from someone besides you who actually thinks this is a good piece of software. With respect, if you actually like its functionality (or lack thereof) compared to even the previous system, then you must have a VERY low bar indeed.

This is NOT about resistance to change. I am an early adopter of almost everything, yet I can tell you from a development perspective, Navigatr is a retrogressive piece of junk.

[57]

That post by @jbulach was posted February 2nd, right after he got the new firmware.  He hasn't been back since.  No need to waste further time on his comments.

[robindp]

Hello @Beelzebot,

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@Beelzebot wrote:

Can anyone tell me the difference for Navigatr in performance/storage/speed I might expect to see if I upgrade?

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There is a MASSIVE difference in speed between the NextBox 2 and NextBox 3 - in my experience, the newer box does not suffer the excessive lag when navigating the recorded items list or changing channels (or even scrolling down the guide) that the older box does. 

Be be aware that some people are experiencing lag even with the newer box - resolved by a quick reboot (I am not seeing this problem). 

[Attila_]

The major changes between NB3 and NB2: 1TB storage vs 500MB, 8 tuners vs 2 and NB3 has about 4x faster response time.

[yungdai]

@park on your suggestion on #3, I don't think asking your users to add more storage for better performance is a good idea.  The box should behave that way out of the box.  Yes I have thought about adding another hard drive for sure as I've done in the past.  However, issues will still arise as the storage reaches it's limit.  So this is why I think a manadatory limit should be placed on recording to allow for the OS to work properly and not grind to a halt and become unusable.  It's the difference between 10 hours of recording and a box that you can't navigate around.

[OLDYELLR]

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@yungdai wrote:

@park on your suggestion on #3, I don't think asking your users to add more storage for better performance is a good idea.  The box should behave that way out of the box.  Yes I have thought about adding another hard drive for sure as I've done in the past.  However, issues will still arise as the storage reaches it's limit.  So this is why I think a manadatory limit should be placed on recording to allow for the OS to work properly and not grind to a halt and become unusable.  It's the difference between 10 hours of recording and a box that you can't navigate around.

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Some time back, before Navigatr, problems were being blamed on the hard drive being too full. I don't know if that was actually proven. However, it's reasonable to presume that a drive with little space left will slow a system down just like it does on a computer.  So perhaps a warning to delete surplus recordings when the drive is, say, 90% full would be a good idea. But it's all about housekeeping and not hoarding. I delete everything right after watching it unless I really want to keep it for posterity. My little 160 Gig hard drive seldom reaches 50% full. Don't record more stuff than you'll have time to watch. Days only get longer by 1.7 milliseconds each century.

[park]

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@Beelzebot wrote:

Our 2 year bundle is coming to an end this month, so I was talking to Rogers tonight about a new deal (no waiting on hold on Saturday night!) and the rep said there is supposed to be a Navigatr update coming in "the next couple of weeks". How much truth there is in this statement, I don't know, but you can always live in hope!

The only way I will keep the cable tv service is if I upgrade to a Nextbox 3 from our current Nextbox 2. Can anyone tell me the difference for Navigatr in performance/storage/speed I might expect to see if I upgrade? Thanks.

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Hi @Beelzebot

Looks like you may be renting the NB2. If so, and you really really reeeeaaallllyy want to stay w Rogers,

you can get the (officially discountinued offer) rent-to-own option from Rogers for the NB3.

Cheaper than rent, you own it after 3 yr, and you can swap if for another if there are are probs during that time.

BTW: Whether Rogers fixes Navi or not should be part of your decision. It may get better, but if past preformance is any indication, Rogers will find something else to fix that is not broken 😉

[park]

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@yungdai wrote:

@park on your suggestion on #3, I don't think asking your users to add more storage for better performance is a good idea.  The box should behave that way out of the box.  Yes I have thought about adding another hard drive for sure as I've done in the past.  However, issues will still arise as the storage reaches it's limit.  So this is why I think a manadatory limit should be placed on recording to allow for the OS to work properly and not grind to a halt and become unusable.  It's the difference between 10 hours of recording and a box that you can't navigate around.

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Hi @yungdai and @OLDYELLR Or set your less precious recordings up to delete as space is needed.

BTW: I suspect the NB3 records in such a way that requires very recording little head movement as its recording upto 8 at once.  The hardware must somehow interleve all the recordings into one fat stream. else I suspect the HD could just not  keep up. 

Q: Anyone know how it works?

[OLDYELLR]

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@park wrote:

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Hi @yungdai and @OLDYELLR Or set your less precious recordings up to delete as space is needed.

BTW: I suspect the NB3 records in such a way that requires very recording little head movement as its recording upto 8 at once.  The hardware must somehow interleve all the recordings into one fat stream. else I suspect the HD could just not  keep up. 

Q: Anyone know how it works?

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Don't know about the Nextbox, but on my 8300 the default save time is 14 days, which can be changed to 1, 2 or 7 days, or manual erase by user, which is where I have it. Since I closely monitor my free space, I don't need to change that.  I'm the only one using this PVR, but I can appreciate where several family members record, play  and manage their own favourite shows on one PVR, things can get quite chaotic.

I don't know precisely how the NB3 records multiple simultaneous shows, but I expect it multitasks, buffers and writes blocks the same as your computer. However, from what I've been reading, even the NB3's big brain has trouble with multiple recordings starting and stopping at the same time and will start shows late, so it's suggested to schedule recordings to start 5 minutes early and end 5 minutes late to be safe.

[Beelzebot]

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@park wrote:

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Hi @Beelzebot

Looks like you may be renting the NB2. If so, and you really really reeeeaaallllyy want to stay w Rogers,

you can get the (officially discountinued offer) rent-to-own option from Rogers for the NB3.

Cheaper than rent, you own it after 3 yr, and you can swap if for another if there are are probs during that time.

BTW: Whether Rogers fixes Navi or not should be part of your decision. It may get better, but if past preformance is any indication, Rogers will fix something else to fix that is not broken 😉

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I own the NB2 and another NB (no pvr) box. And I reeeeeeaaaallllyy don't want to stay with Rogers. I am calling tomorrow to cancel our 3 services with them and when they ask why, I will say Navigatr drove me to it because it's the truth. I have been a loyal customer for 35 years (OMG!) but it is time to move on. I will pick up internet only from somewhere and get on with my life. My Nextboxes will be on Kijiji soon 

[yyz64]

And back I go to the realllllly  slowwwwwww   laggy NB3 .Worked ok for a couple of weeks.Rogers hold times were between 52 minute and 1 hour 19 minutes whe I called in.Really Rogers stop using us as beta testers.Or compensate us for doing the software testing because Espial sure isn't.

[mfait]

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@park wrote:

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@yungdai wrote:

@park on your suggestion on #3, I don't think asking your users to add more storage for better performance is a good idea.  The box should behave that way out of the box.  Yes I have thought about adding another hard drive for sure as I've done in the past.  However, issues will still arise as the storage reaches it's limit.  So this is why I think a manadatory limit should be placed on recording to allow for the OS to work properly and not grind to a halt and become unusable.  It's the difference between 10 hours of recording and a box that you can't navigate around.

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Hi @yungdai and @OLDYELLR Or set your less precious recordings up to delete as space is needed.

BTW: I suspect the NB3 records in such a way that requires very recording little head movement as its recording upto 8 at once.  The hardware must somehow interleve all the recordings into one fat stream. else I suspect the HD could just not  keep up. 

Q: Anyone know how it works?

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From the diagnotics screen on NB3 I found the model number of the HD used.  It's Seagate ST1000VM002, and it's specifically designed for DVR use, and supports up to 16 simultaneous streams of HD content.

See:

http://www.seagate.com/ca/en/products/media-video-storage/surveillance-drives/video-3-5-hdd/?sku=ST1...

[rgottinger]

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@yyz64 wrote:

And back I go to the realllllly  slowwwwwww   laggy NB3 .Worked ok for a couple of weeks.Rogers hold times were between 52 minute and 1 hour 19 minutes whe I called in.Really Rogers stop using us as beta testers.Or compensate us for doing the software testing because Espial sure isn't.

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And your 'reality' is completely different from mine with an NB3. Usability is an issue but speed isn't  It sounds like a defective box so bite thebullet and exchange it unless you own it. If you do it sounds like a great argument for rent to own.

[park]

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@yyz64 wrote:

And back I go to the realllllly  slowwwwwww   laggy NB3 .Worked ok for a couple of weeks.Rogers hold times were between 52 minute and 1 hour 19 minutes whe I called in.Really Rogers stop using us as beta testers.Or compensate us for doing the software testing because Espial sure isn't.

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What happens after you reboot ?

(Easy method esp if machine is slow to respond to key hits: Pull plug, wait several seconds, plug back in)