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  I posted a technical explanation as to why this happens but that thread has been archived by the moderators.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.

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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.  

[Jagman60]

I have similar issues with Ignite, formerly Blue Curve. I was reluctant to move to Ignite because I tried Blue Curve a couple years ago and hated the slow communication with the "Cloud" I much prefered the instant control of the gateway local PVR. This is so frustrating that a newer technology is so much slower than the old technology. I am not sure why it is so bad. It seems to be worse on ours, in the evening(primetime). We will hit the skip ahead and nothing happens. We hit it again and maybe it will skip ahead, maybe it won't. There is no functional smooth fast forward or slow motion as was with the local Gateway PVR. When forced to move over to ignite tv this fall, I had hoped these deficiencies would have bee resolved but no they haven't. The remote is designed for looks only, not functionality. The sharp corners and button locations are not comfortable in any way. The old round bulbus shaped remotes were comfy in your hand and the buttons were in locations that you could just feel and not have to look at them. This technology is 90% backward and 10% forward. the only forward thing is the ability to watch your recorded programs from anywhere and the voice command. The rest is absolutely terrible. I also find the new router is somewhat slow. I get faster speeds off of my access points. 

My biggest disappointment is that I cannot just quickly press the skip button 6 times and expect to be 3 min ahead. On the old gateway pvr, 6ix very fast skip presses and your were 3 min ahead. Also miss the 15min skip ahead but am getting use to having to tell it to skip the 15 min. I wonder how all the streaming services have got it right? their fast forwards and skip aheads seem to be instant. 

Ignite, or the base supplier, needs to get this fixed. Makes for a very frustrating experience and it is frustrating every time you watch TV. This makes for very unhappy customers for when the next contract comes around!

[57]

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@Jagman60 wrote:

1. This is so frustrating that a newer technology is so much slower than the old technology. I am not sure why it is so bad. It seems to be worse on ours, in the evening(primetime).

2. We will hit the skip ahead and nothing happens. We hit it again and maybe it will skip ahead, maybe it won't.

3. There is no functional smooth fast forward or slow motion as was with the local Gateway PVR.

4. The remote is designed for looks only, not functionality. The sharp corners and button locations are not comfortable in any way. 

5. My biggest disappointment is that I cannot just quickly press the skip button 6 times and expect to be 3 min ahead.

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@Jagman60 : I have the following comments:

1. I'm not sure why you are seeing this "slowness", however, it doesn't affect everyone, so it may be a WiFi issue in your home, or perhaps something in your connection to the head end.  All I can tell you is that my IgniteTV responds as quickly as I can press most buttons.

2. Again, this should not happen.  Skip ahead should respond instantly to the first button press.  Subsequent presses may need to be done a bit slower while the system catches up, but it should respond before the first skip is finished, so you should be able to press 6 times in say 6 seconds.  I always use the 2X FF instead because then I can actually see when the programme restarts and I sometimes see something onscreen that's of interest. When the programme restarts when using 2X FF, Ignite will "back up" slightly, so that it takes into account your reflexes, meaning that it won't miss the first 10 seconds, rather it "backs up" a bit so that you don't miss anything. Some people use 3X FF and I used that (or even 4X) when skipping through a programme, rather than skipping commercials.  Obviously, reflexes vary between people.

If I know the exact time required, I will use the voice command to skip ahead X minutes, etc.

3. I miss that smooth FF too. There is a slow motion, but it's only half speed.  You can invoke it by pressing pause, followed by FF.  It's also possible to press and hold the pause button and get a type of frame advance that doesn't work very well, but is there.

4. After using the small square remote for a while, I actually prefer it and now have "muscle memory" for most of the buttons.

5. The 30 second skip can be programmed in, as discussed a few posts up, and it is possible to use it as discussed in item 2.

[Jagman60]

Well @57 This is a new set up from Rogers. My TV is about 15ft from the brand new Rogers Router on my 1gig service. I do not have a sophisticated system but every night in prime time our system bogs down. We will lose sound for a few seconds at a time. The slip ahead will freeze and will take forever to skip. If we watch netflix or prime there is absolutely no delay. It is very frustrating. I just tried it and right now at 13:11 it has no delay and works perfectly. It is only at night between 19:00 and 23:00.(approx.)  I am not positive the shaw/Rogers system is as fast as it measures out to be. I test at around 900mbs download but when on the internet on the  computer, windows are slow to load. If I download a file it is fast. It is quite confusing. 

I will do a hard reset of the tv box and see if that helps.

[Jagman60]

My comment still stands with respect to point 2 you confirm that after the first press you have to wait approx a sec between presses. On the old gateway, as fast as you could press the button, it would skip. Press six times as fast as you can and it would be 3 min ahead. Another major complaint is that if you leave a station you lose all your memory so you cannot rewind. I loved that on the gateway. You could wake up in the morning turn on the news, then pause it while checking another channels news, go back and carry on where you left off. Have you ever heard of throwing the baby out with the bath water? That's what they did here. Threw away all the good features for a couple other features. I can live with it if I can stop it from losing and freezing while trying to skip ahead. Just saying, in the overall scheme of things, it's not really an improvement!