Skip Channels When Browsing

[ironandivy]

I just upgraded to Ignite today and I love that the guide now has the option to hide channels I don't have. I didn't have that feature before.

What I'm wondering though is there a way to make the remote skip the channels I don't have when browsing with the channel buttons? Sometimes we just flick through the channels rather than use the guide and having to go through all the channels we aren't subscribed to is a pain. 

I looked through the settings and didn't see anything promising, should I just get used to using the guide for browsing instead? 

ETA: Ah, it seems others have had this question as well and skipping unsubscribed channels using the channel buttons is not an option if I'm understanding correctly. If anyone knows otherwise please let me know. 

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[-G-]

@ironandivy  I rarely, if ever, use the channel up/down buttons when trying to find something good to watch on TV.  For one thing, I just don't watch TV that way.  It's also too annoying to have to wait for the stream to start every time I change channels.  I find it works better for me to set my Default Guide View to "Free To Me" and then use the Mini Guide to scroll through the channel list.  At least that way, I can be watching something while trying to find something better to watch.

[ironandivy]

Honestly that's the way I roll as well but my parents never got in the habit of using the guide at all, even though it's been a thing in television services for years and years now. And today both of them asked me separately if skipping unsubscribed channels using the channel buttons was a thing so I had to come check. I'll pass on the mini guide tip! We hadn't found that yet!

[-G-]

Sorry, I wish that I had a better answer for you.  I don't think that the way that things currently work is ideal.  Channel Up/Down really should skip unsubscribed channels, or should at least only run through the channels that are in your current Guide View.  Hopefully, your parents will at least find the Mini Guide helpful.  Unfortunately, I do not know of any other workarounds.

Once they get more familiar with Ignite TV, they may also find Voice Commands helpful.  (To get started, press the Mic button and say, "What's on?")

[ReneHache]

The Favorite button is the option I miss the most from the old legacy digital cable, I use to set all subscribed channels on the Favorite button, so I can channel surf and skip unsubscribed channels. I wish it was an option on Ignite.

Also I remember that on the old Anyplace TV, there was arrows on the left and right to go to the next or previous channel without returning to the guide all the time, I also with Ignite TV web portal (and phone/tablet app) had an option like that.

[Don_Ca]

I don't think you can. As others stated, I never use the up and down channels. My wife's parents do this all the time. Must be an age thing.

[-FU]

Ya this is super annoying. I want my old TV back. The lagging is annoying too and Roger's has the gull to charge extra for this . . This is no upgrade more like a down grade for customer up grade for Roger's.

[sswilson]

So it's more than a year and a half after this initial question.... is there still no way to remove unsubscribed channels from channel surfing up and down? I never use the guide, I scroll up and down though known channels until I find something I'm interested in.

New subscriber here just ported over from bell and this might actually be enough for me to call bell retention back and cancel Rogers.

[-G-]

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@sswilson wrote:

So it's more than a year and a half after this initial question.... is there still no way to remove unsubscribed channels from channel surfing up and down? I never use the guide, I scroll up and down though known channels until I find something I'm interested in.

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I have raised this issue with Rogers but have not heard whether this will ever be possible.  There are a number of people out there (elderly, people who are cognitively or physically impaired) who cannot enter channel numbers or use voice commands, and who get confused when Ignite TV pops up anything unexpected on the screen.  This makes Ignite TV unusable for them.  There is currently no way to set up a list of Favourite channels and to be able to use Channel Up/Down to cycle through those channels (and only those channels).  It can also be VERY confusing for some when you press Channel Down repeatedly, reach channel 2, then cannot change channels anymore unless you have the presence of mind to know that you now need to switch to using Channel Up.

If that's not enough, the Ignite Voice Remote, particularly the XR15 remote, also suffers from a huge number of usability issues that makes operating Ignite TV either very challenging or makes it totally unusable.

Ignite TV has a number of Accessibility settings that cater primarily to those who are either visually or hearing-impaired.  However, they have not given any consideration whatsoever to those who suffer from other impairments or who would simply like to have additional settings that give them more control over their user experience.

(Also, whether it's ads/tips/promotions/whatever, there are more and more annoying things creeping into Ignite TV, and often no way to turn them off.)

[sswilson]

Thanks for the response, even if it's a disappointing one.

We just got it this morning so I guess there'll be some adjustment, but this just seems like a basic function that I can't believe their system doesn't accommodate.

I'm in the same boat as the parents mentioned in the OP... I've never been a fan of using a guide overlay, but for now I guess the side-bar guide is the closest I'm going to get to what I want/need.

As far as the interface goes.... it really feels like they're heavily depending on folks using the voice search to find the content they want. Pretty much the same kind of design elements we got when MS moved to "modern" and started dumbing down fine UI control in favour of a mobile centric interface. (Not a fan)

[-G-]

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@sswilson wrote:

Thanks for the response, even if it's a disappointing one.

We just got it this morning so I guess there'll be some adjustment, but this just seems like a basic function that I can't believe their system doesn't accommodate.

I'm in the same boat as the parents mentioned in the OP... I've never been a fan of using a guide overlay, but for now I guess the side-bar guide is the closest I'm going to get to what I want/need.

As far as the interface goes.... it really feels like they're heavily depending on folks using the voice search to find the content they want.

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Yeah, Voice Control is advertised as a huge feature for finding content... but if you suffer from aphasia, it's unusable.

Pretty much the same kind of design elements we got when MS moved to "modern" and started dumbing down fine UI control in favour of a mobile centric interface. (Not a fan)

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I'm also a former Fibe TV subscriber... and one of the things that I REALLY miss is "List View" when navigating On Demand content.  "Tile View" is a huge pain when scrolling though several hundred (or several thousand) movie titles, especially with the hard-to-press directional buttons on the XR15 remote.

[sswilson]

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@-G- wrote:

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I'm also a former Fibe TV subscriber... and one of the things that I REALLY miss is "List View" when navigating On Demand content.  "Tile View" is a huge pain when scrolling though several hundred (or several thousand) movie titles, especially with the hard-to-press directional buttons on the XR15 remote.

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Heh... My better half is the TV content consumer in the household and she had (has) major beefs with both of those exact issues. I don't find the buttons all that hard to use, but I guess I have to accept her complaint as more than just finger problems since you've validated it as an issue...  🙂

She's started using the voice input, but she's not a cell phone user so hasn't trained her voice by yelling at google that they didn't interpret what she said correctly.  🙂

Ah well... we got a great deal on a 2 year install with rogers. Maybe Bell will try to poach us when they upgrade their equipment here in Atlantic Canada (apparently they're rolling out the HH4000s and new cloud based PVR 4K STBs in Ontario).

On a positive note.... the Ignite interface does seem a lot "snappier".