Fast-forward and Rewind Responsiveness and User Experience

[422151819119]

In the limited amount of time that I have used the Ignite television service, something that I noticed was that the fast-forward and rewind functions are not implemented well, i.e. rather unresponsive and inaccurate, leading to a poor user experience.  For those that subscribe to Ignite, how have you found the fast-forward and rewind functions?  When you play the video, does it play where you expected?  How is the overall user experience?  It seems to me that this functionality is much better on Nextbox and traditional digital cable instead of the Ignite IPTV service.

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[57]

Here's a post that I wrote previously on this topic:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Ignite-TV/How-do-you-like-Ignite-TV-compared-to-Digital-Cable/...

To expand on that post, I have found that FF & REW work as well on IgniteTV as on a NextBox, except for the fact that the images are "quantized" instead of "smooth", depending on the NextBox model number.  This was something that also concerned me when I was considering the switch.  Ignite has 4 different FF & REW speeds along with "lightning" which is very fast, but relies on looking at the progress bar for time since no images are shown.  If I wish to skip ahead quite a bit I may simply say "skip ahead 50 minutes" into the voice control.

As mentioned in the link, the use of voice commands, or the "skip" functionality may be preferable depending on what you're watching and what you want to do.

[-G-]

@422151819119  One thing that I still find really annoying is that you just can't rewind to a precise spot.  If you missed something on live TV and want to go back a few seconds, you can try to rewind to the precise spot but when you press Play, playback skips a few seconds forward and you miss the bit (again) that you were trying to rewind to.  You need to rewind back 10 seconds or more past the point that you really want to rewind to.  I posted a technical explanation as to why this happens but that thread has been archived by the moderators.  The weird thing is that the "Go back 5 seconds" voice command works perfectly, so there is no technical reason why it should not be possible to rewind 5 seconds using the remote buttons.

[57]

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@-G- wrote:

If you missed something on live TV and want to go back a few seconds, you can try to rewind to the precise spot but when you press Play, playback skips a few seconds forward and you miss the bit (again) that you were trying to rewind to.  

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Use the PgDn (skip back) button instead.

[-G-]

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@57 wrote:

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Use the PgDn (skip back) button instead.

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That's if you know the magic button sequence to program your set-top box to skip back 15 seconds/skip ahead 30 seconds.  (Exit Exit Exit 0 0 3 0)

... and my point was about the inability to rewind back 3 seconds using the remote keys, when somebody on screen spoke too fast or slurred their words or to go back to whatever it was that you missed on-screen.

[422151819119]

It does sound like my initial experience (and disappointment) with the fast-forward and rewind functions on Ignite TV are similar to the experience of other customers.  I do wonder whether the user experience around these functions can be improved on an IPTV platform, and if Rogers is working on them.  @RogersZia, is this something that Rogers has identified as an area of improvement for the future?  Are there any planned software updates that will address this concern?

[js2family]

Hi, my page down and page up is reset back to 5mins, I cannot find the set box settings to bring back to 15s back and 30s forward.  I tried the  (Exit Exit Exit 0 0 3 0), but cannot get it right.  I did find an article, but it is archived.

Thanks, Jeff

[-G-]

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@js2family wrote:

Hi, my page down and page up is reset back to 5mins, I cannot find the set box settings to bring back to 15s back and 30s forward.  I tried the  (Exit Exit Exit 0 0 3 0), but cannot get it right.  I did find an article, but it is archived.

Thanks, Jeff

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The 30 second skip can sometimes go back to the 5 minute default after a software update.  This reversion should only be temporary; the internal set-top box setting is still set to 30 seconds but it is being ignored.

To bring back the 30 second skip, first try setting the 5-minute skip using "Exit Exit Exit 0 5 0 0".  (Do this while watching live TV.)  Now try setting the 30 second skip again with "Exit Exit Exit 0 0 3 0"

[BarryC604]

Two annoying issues with playback  of recorded shows.  

1. Fast forward at more than X 1, eg X2 or X3. When hitting Play the system plays from a much earlier point in the show, not at the point where I push play.  This happens often...Cannot control the place/point when to play when using the FF X2 or X3. 

2. Fast forward at X2 or X3 and everything  freezes.  Cannot stop, play or rewind or FF.  Freezes.  Have to close and exit and then go to Saved and Play episode again.

What a pain.  This never happened with Shaw Gateway.