Feedback After Switching to Ignite TV

[bobleuz]

I recently switched to Ignite TV and internet and I’m sorry that I did.
The channel guide is terrible. It’s black and white and difficult to read. Each page only displays four lines and when you page down the last line on the previous page is repeated.
I set the guide to display only channels that are free to me but it shows dozens of channels that are not free.
The remote is a terrible design. It’s totally black and it’s difficult to see the buttons.
When you want to set the guide to a specific channel it wants you to confirm your choice.
There is a huge display at the bottom of the guide showing details of the program that the cursor is set on. It’s a huge waste of space.
The remote should have a ‘last channel’ button like my previous remote.
All in all this has been a terrible experience.
I wouldn’t recommend Ignite to anyone.
I wish I could go back to the old system.

*** Edited Labels ***

[ChuckTO]

it is ridiculous talking about people don’t like change. It is a total lack of critical thinking. Just be honest and look at the pros and cons instead of blindly advocating for a clunky new digital ignite TV user interface.

[ChuckTO]

yes, this is the problem: Techies just wanted to add bell and whistles. as long as possible, without carefully considering the actual user interface impact who did they hire to design this interface? And sadly, these guys are probably making lots of money why reinvent the wheel
I find your ice cream cone image hilariously accurate, but I would say the new cone is actually crumbling as soon as you hold it everything falls to the ground lol

[adm7007]

I'm still on digital TV and internet and aside from recurring pixelation issues on certain channels in the last few years probably due to Rogers not maintaining the digital network it has been rock solid for many years.They wont fix it now.

The internet rarely goes down and I can't remember the last time it did.

No TV issues for many years other than the above mentioned recent pixelation even with good signal levels.

For me digital TV and internet has been extremely reliable as was the previous analog TV.

Decades of next to no problems.

Not anymore it seems.

I seriously doubt Ignite can match this kind of reliability.

Ignite sounds like overly complicated failure prone garbage.

I think Ted Rogers would be appalled at how his company is being run these days.

[Nicmo]

I agree; it lacks convenience, not to mention their app is terrible. The option to go up and down channels is not available. I wish I had seen this post. I am extremely tempted to just switch back to Bell, much better service.

[wayner92]

Some people are going to complain about anything, but IgniteTV is vastly superior to Rogers' legacy TV offerings due to the cloud PVR functionality, no longer needed coax through the house, a much more modern UI, excellent voice control, mobile apps, etc.

There are things that I would like to see improved - like releasing apps for third party boxes like AppleTV, GoogleTV, Roku, FireTV, and more cloud storage.  

But I was pleasantly surprised with IgniteTV.

[ChuckTO]

or simply get a Roku box and cut cable.... Rogers shooting themselves in the foot...

[ChuckTO]

I am planning to roku or chromecast and cut cable - stupid move by Rogers encouraging folks to leave cable...

[Pauly]

There are folks out there who want a "simple" Residential Cable Television service, that existed it was Digital Cable TV, however times have changed and no one is offering a "simple" television service. Companies are trying to find ways to "innovate" and this involves giving the customer "more value"   the problem is, this may not be warranted by the customer who wants a simple tv service and no frills.  The only thing you can do is either suck it up and switch to Ignite, or cancel and go elsewhere.  There is no middle ground in this case unfortunately.

[Nickhat65]

Is there a way to organize my favorites? I like sports and the channels are not grouped together.

[Biollw]

Simple answer....no, no way to organize channels or favoriyes.

[johnxia]

no longer needed coax through the house -- not a benefit if the cable is already there.

excellent voice control -- that would be awkward for non-English native speaking people.

[wayner92]

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@Pauly wrote:

There are folks out there who want a "simple" Residential Cable Television service, that existed it was Digital Cable TV, however times have changed and no one is offering a "simple" television service. Companies are trying to find ways to "innovate" and this involves giving the customer "more value"   the problem is, this may not be warranted by the customer who wants a simple tv service and no frills.  The only thing you can do is either suck it up and switch to Ignite, or cancel and go elsewhere.  There is no middle ground in this case unfortunately.

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The issue is that in 2024 it no longer makes sense to deliver cable TV as a separate service over coax or fibre.  CableTV is now just 1s and 0s that is the same as the 1s and 0s on your internet connection or the 1s and 0s on your home phone. Everything is now delivered over IP - Ignite is IPTV. To be honest, the simplest solution was the old days of analog cable when you didn't need a box and your TV directly tuned all of the channels.

By the way, there is a "simple" solution that works for most people in the country and is free, at least free after a modest one time cost.  Put up an antenna and you can get a bunch of your basic channels.

[wayner92]

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@Nickhat65 wrote:
Is there a way to organize my favorites? I like sports and the channels are not grouped together.

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Aren't sports all grouped together from about 500-530?  Some of the channels show up on other numbers but I think that they are also all in this block.

[wayner92]

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@johnxia wrote:

no longer needed coax through the house -- not a benefit if the cable is already there.

excellent voice control -- that would be awkward for non-English native speaking people.

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Point 1 is true, but in the past you couldn't easily add a TV to a room that didn't have a coax connection.  Want to put a TV in your kitchen?  Sorry, no coax drop.  Now that isn't a constraint.

[johnxia]

True. Actually after receiving the new devices and using it, the experience is not bad. Most of the features still exist. The back 10s and forward 30s feature is gone, but it still has rewind and forward. And press pause during playing still works.

[-G-]

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@johnxia wrote:

True. Actually after receiving the new devices and using it, the experience is not bad. Most of the features still exist. The back 10s and forward 30s feature is gone, but it still has rewind and forward. And press pause during playing still works.

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Actually, there IS a 30-second skip option with Ignite TV.  To enable it, while watching live TV, key in the following button sequence:  Exit Exit Exit 0 0 3 0

To revert back to the default 5-minute skip, key in:  Exit Exit Exit 0 5 0 0

In case you were wondering... No, you cannot program an arbitrary skip interval.

[johnxia]

Thanks! Is this in the manual or it is undocumented? Is there more hidden tricks?

[-G-]

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@johnxia wrote:

Thanks! Is this in the manual or it is undocumented? Is there more hidden tricks?

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It is not officially documented by Comcast but it also is not a very well-kept secret either.

There are actually several magic button sequences that the set-top box can recognize (e.g. to access diagnostic info screens, temporarily change display resolutions, connect to a different Wi-Fi network, etc.) but they are mainly meant to be used by techs for troubleshooting.

[johnxia]

I'm not sure why, but this didn't work. No matter how may Exit I pressed, once I key in '3', the search menu jumps out.

Also another thing really frustrating is, once I connected all 3 new boxes, the old gateway is disabled automatically. I thought I can still watch the recorded programs, but looks it's impossible.

[-G-]

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@johnxia wrote:

I'm not sure why, but this didn't work. No matter how may Exit I pressed, once I key in '3', the search menu jumps out.

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Try again.  While watching Live TV, NOT on-demand or a recorded program, press the buttons normally, one second apart: Exit  Exit  Exit  0  0  3  0

Yes, it is normal to see the search menu to come up as soon as you key the numbers in.  Press Exit when you are done to close the search dialog.

Also another thing really frustrating is, once I connected all 3 new boxes, the old gateway is disabled automatically. I thought I can still watch the recorded programs, but looks it's impossible.

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Yes, when your Ignite TV service gets activated, if your legacy boxes remain connected, they will get deauthorized and you will no longer be able to watch TV or any recorded content.

[johnxia]

Yes the trick works. I guess the key point is one second apart between the keys.

Right now I have another issue, I can use the remote power button to turn the TV on, but I cannot turn it off. I have to use TV's remote to turn it off.