Okay, this is kinda annoying. @CommunityHelps , do you know if there are any plans to fix Emergency Alerts on Ignite TV? There is no way to stop or cancel the Alert Ready message that is being displayed (and read aloud at full volume) and it also takes a while for streaming to resume again. Furthermore, because the stream restarted, the program that I had been watching was no longer "in the buffer" so you cannot rewind to watch the parts of the program that you missed.
I had also already seen it (multiple times!) ON EVERY OTHER CONNECTED DEVICE in my home so there was no need for me to see (and hear) the message yet again, in its entirety, in both official languages on-screen. At least this one was only 4 pages long.
I also raised this issue during the "Ask an Expert" event a few months ago and had hoped that it would have been resolved already. However, it appears that nothing has been done to date.
Good evening @-G-,
Thank you for your post! We value your feedback greatly.
An emergency alert system (EAS) message was sent to all Ontario residents via mobile devices, radio and TVs regarding COVID-19. I can imagine how annoying this must be if you were watching TV at the time.
Our Ignite TV team is looking into this to see what can be done while taking into consideration the set limitations of AlertReady Guidelines. Unfortunately, we do not have any more information on how to exit the Emergency Alert message while displayed. I apologize for any inconveniences this may cause you.
Thank you for understanding!
RogersMaude
@RogersMaude wrote:
Unfortunately, we do not have any more information on how to exit the Emergency Alert message while displayed.
On Digital Cable it is possible to hit the Exit key and exit the alert on all but the oldest STBs. It should be possible to do the same on IgniteTV.
@57 wrote:
@RogersMaude wrote:
Unfortunately, we do not have any more information on how to exit the Emergency Alert message while displayed.
On Digital Cable it is possible to hit the Exit key and exit the alert on all but the oldest STBs. It should be possible to do the same on IgniteTV.
I remember falling asleep with the TV on one night and then an 8-page Amber Alert started blaring at 2 AM. Went scrambling looking for the remote... finally found it... couldn't cancel it, and then ran over and pulled the power plug. (Yes, I know I probably had better options but I wasn't thinking very clearly under the circumstances.)
With Fibe TV, an Alert Ready message can be cancelled simply by pressing the Exit button on the remote. The programming isn't interrupted in any way either.
With Ignite TV, there is no "off switch" or any way to cancel the message; you have no choice but to wait for it to run its course, however long it may be. Also, if you do want to see what's in the message, there is no way to "go back" to a previous page or to see the message in its entirety in Notifications.
@RogersMaude Thank you very much for bringing this issue to the attention of the product team!
I was watching the news channel when today's was on at 2pm, there was no way to cancel it. Not exit, last. ...nothing.
@57 wrote: It should be possible to do the same on IgniteTV.
Perhaps my previous post was not clear. What I meant to say was Rogers should make it possible to hit a key to stop the alert. In the meantime it's possible to silence the alert in the TV or AVR by hitting the volume or mute button that controls that device and then you're only left with the message on screen. Of course when the loud Klaxon goes off, it adversely affects the thought processes of many people and they may not think clearly about what to do...
@57 wrote:
@57 wrote: It should be possible to do the same on IgniteTV.Perhaps my previous post was not clear. What I meant to say was Rogers should make it possible to hit a key to stop the alert. In the meantime it's possible to silence the alert in the TV or AVR by hitting the volume or mute button that controls that device and then you're only left with the message on screen. Of course when the loud Klaxon goes off, it adversely affects the thought processes of many people and they may not think clearly about what to do...
We knew what you meant... and yeah, that kind of alert tone really should only be used in actual emergency situations where I need to take immediate action to save my life; nothing else. I know that Rogers is only following the rules set out by the CRTC but Rogers can still come up with a better, more sensible implementation and still remain compliant.
I wonder if Ignite TV is using existing code for sending a "Presidential Alert" that (in a proper implementation) is only meant be used in situations where the world is literally about to come to an end.
The Alert Ready system is going to be sending out test alerts nation-wide today. In Ontario, the test alert will be sent at 12:55 PM EST.
@CommunityHelps When will we finally be able to dismiss Alert Ready alerts on Ignite TV? The test alerts are not a problem because they are short. The problem is with the Amber Alerts, where the system reads out 10 pages of text, in both English and French, and there is no way to interrupt it other than by power-cycling the Ignite set-top box.
Thanks!
This is not good. Alert messages still cannot be cancelled/dismissed. The live stream for the channel that I had been watching also got interrupted, so I lost everything that had been buffered and I could not go back to view what I had missed while the alert hijacked my screen. The Alert does not get stored in Notifications either, so there is no way to review it later if you should ever need to. I cannot think of a worse way that this could have been implemented and still meet the minimum requirements.
I don't know what to say. Ignite TV has been around for 2+ years and yet absolutely NOTHING has been done to fix any of these issues.
Ignite TV has been around for 3+ years and this is still a problem. 😠
@CommunityHelps Why has this not been fixed yet?!?!? Why haven't ANY of the issues that Ignite TV users have been complaining about since the service got introduced been addressed? (Okay, that last one was a rhetorical question. I know why... but still... WHY?!?!?)
Don't get me wrong. Ignite TV is not a bad service. What has worked well over the years still works well. However, unfortunately, nothing has been done to address its annoyances and shortcomings either.
I realize that this (lack of alert cancellation) has irked many people in many threads/posts, but I copied the following from a post somewhere a while back:
"APPS - MESSAGES - MORE SETTINGS - EMERGENCY ALERTS et voila"
Does this not apply? As you know I don't have IgniteTV (yet) and I have compiled a list of "Ignite Fails" that is roughly a dozen items long.
@57 wrote:
"APPS - MESSAGES - MORE SETTINGS - EMERGENCY ALERTS et voila"
Does this not apply? As you know I don't have IgniteTV (yet) and I have compiled a list of "Ignite Fails" that is roughly a dozen items long.
Nope, no such thing on Ignite. Those instructions look like they may be for an Android device.
The US Emergency Alert System supports multi-level alerts and Comcast customers may be able to disable certain types of messages on their set-top boxes, but not us. I think that Alert Ready messages are sent to the Ignite set-top boxes as Presidential alerts and Comcast has not made any customizations for us in their code to allow those messages to be cancelled.
There were severe thunderstorms in our area near Yonge & Lawrence today that started at exactly 1PM.
About an hour before the damaging winds and storm blew through, I got a "Thunderstorm Watch" via the Weather Network's Notifications on my iPad (where I have them set since I'm often using my iPad during the day to read)
About a half hour before the storm came through, I got a "Thunderstorm Warning" via TWN's notifications on my iPad.
About 15 minutes before the storm, there was an Emergency Alert (issued by Environment Canada for "my area") on my iPhone (which sits in the kitchen cupboard, is not usually near me and is set to silent). I'm not sure how widespread this alert was, but it probably should have moved ahead of the storm geography-wise.
The storm was over in a few minutes so I went downstairs to watch my recording of F1 Qualifying at about 1:15PM.
At 1:20PM I got an Emergency Alert on my Ignite Box, with the klaxon and red screen. I hit the mute button for obvious reasons and had to wait several minutes for the English and French messages to end. (no way to exit out of it).
Rogers - Exactly what use is an Emergency Alert that is a half hour too late and that you can't exit?
Actually you are not supposed to turn off the alerts, Bell customers also can not turn them off, they are MANDATORY. And by the way, they are called Emergency Alerts not Amber Alerts. An Amber alert IS a type of Emergency alert tho.
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