Prepping for change to Ignite.

[crpl2]

I am NextBox user and am very concerned with Rogers push to move to Ignite ... correct me if I'm wrong ...
o Present recordings cannot be viewed offline from Rogers cable due to software forcing regular boots for downloading..
o Favorites will be lost.
o Channel numbers are mixed up - a nightmare to sort out where old channels are and establish favorites again.
o Recording will go to the cloud and be restricted to 200 hours compared to local 1TB HD.

This leaves you with Ignite as if you were never a Rogers customer.

Paul

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[57]

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@crpl2 wrote:

1. Present recordings cannot be viewed offline from Rogers cable due to software forcing regular boots for downloading..
2. Favorites will be lost.
3. Channel numbers are mixed up - a nightmare to sort out where old channels are and establish favorites again.
4 Recording will go to the cloud and be restricted to 200 hours compared to local 1TB HD.

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1. Correct.  I suggest you watch what you can before the migration.  If there's something you want to "keep", you can burn it to a DVD (in SD), or to an Hauppauge HDPVR.

2. Correct - it's a totally different system. Using the IgniteTV app or the web interface, it's very easy to add or delete favourites.  See first link below:

3. For channel numbers over 100 or so, that is correct, however, with voice commands you can just say the channel or programme you want and it will be found. It's a totally different way of "watching TV".  There is no real need to remember channel numbers any more.

4. Correct, however, Service Provider PVRs were always designed as timeshifting devices, not as archiving devices.  Since there's a lot of programming available on-demand or on the web, this is not really an issue any more.  Recordings are automatically deleted after one year, see second link below:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Ignite-TV/How-to-add-a-channel-to-Favourites-in-the-Ignite-TV-...

https://www.rogers.com/support/device-guides/en/connected-home/tutorial/ignite-tv-streaming-device/1...

[wayner92]

Yes you lose recordings and channel numbers change.  I just did the switch two days ago.

IMO the biggest PITA is that you can't buy Ignite cable boxes.  They charge you $10/month to rent for hardware that isn't worth all that much - it is pretty similar to an AppleTV or Roku device.

The channel numbers at the low end are the same - like below 100.

But the sports channel numbers have all changed - like the stuff from 490-520.

The new voice remote is VERY good, and I am not impressed easily.  You can say "tune TSN one" and it will change to TSN one.  You can also say "skip forward two minutes" to skip over commercials.

The system is also good to let you watch content from mobile devices.  But it sucks that they don't have apps for streaming boxes like Roku, FireTV or AppleTV.  There are rumours that those are coming soon.

[crpl2]

I think the channel number changes are very annoying but not a show stopper. What really is are recorde3d program. There is apparently a way to offload but no mention on how to do that or transfer over to Ignite to play back on HDMI tv ?.

[57]

@crpl2 : You cannot transfer recordings to IgniteTV.

If you wish to record to a DVD recorder or VCR see the link below:  This is not something that many people do any more, due to complexity, due to availability of programming on the web and because the recording is SD, not HD.  There is one other issue and that is that some DVD recorders will respect "copy protection" in the PVR recording and preclude the recording entirely.

https://www.digitalhome.ca/threads/faq-how-to-connect-a-vcr-or-dvd-recorder-and-stb.76077/#post-6545...

If you wish to record in HD, you need to utilize an Hauppauge HDPVR and an HTPC. This is beyond the capabilities (or desires) of most people.  Search for the topic on the web if you wish to pursue. 

All recordings are done in "real time", there is no way to simply transfer a file like on a computer since the files stored on the NextBox are encrypted.

As you can tell from most information about these recording methods, these were around 10-20 years ago, but almost no one uses them any more.

[wayner92]

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As you can tell from most information about these recording methods, these were around 10-20 years ago, but almost no one uses them any more.

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Raises hand!  I do. 

I have used PC based recording as my PVR for close to 20 years.  First BeyondTV, then Windows MCE then I moved to SageTV because they supported HD cable channel recording using the Hauppauge HD-PVR.  I had up to four Rogers cable boxes like HD3250HD or HD4250HD boxes connected to my servers, and I also use OTA tuners.  I continue to use SageTV as there advantage of it over Ignite, especially when it comes to archiving your recordings, moving them to other devices, importing into things like Plex, Jellyfin or Kodi. The move to Ignite has been painful regarding keeping SageTV running.  But I have about 10 TVs in my house and I have SageTV extenders in each room.  I don't want to pay Rogers to rent that many Ignite boxes.