Digital Legacy TV Major macro-blocking on many channels like CNN and ALL Global channels!

[mebe]

I noticed today (6pm) that even though most to of my digital legacy tv channels, VOD and PVR are working perfectly, there are still MANY channels that are experiencing MAJOR macro-blocking every millisecond, in the exact same way on the affected channels.

It affects both HD and SD versions of the channels.

Tech support has a greater than 90-minute estimated wait time (by phone), so I'll post the channels here.

Affected channels (BOTH HD And SD versions) with audio and video breakup are as follows (North York/Toronto area): ALL Global channels (ch. 3, 568 etc.) from every region of the country (such as Toronto, Vancouver, etc ).

CNN And CNN Headline News Ch. 33 and 543).

BBC First (Ch. 538) And Nature (ch. 539).

Super Channel, but only bad on ch. 336, etc. (SCHD V), And its gaming channel called Ginx on ch. 337, etc.

I assume this major problem affects other channels that I don't subscribe to.

Hopefully the problem can soon be isolated and fixed, but at least my Global Toronto antenna feed is perfect.

The bad channels are bad whether I watch them Live or via my PVR recordings.

[mebe]

At least some of the channels have been fixed (10:15pm check).

The fixed channels are as follows: BBC First, Love and Nature, and both of the previously mentioned Super Channel ones (ch. 336 and 337).

The fixed channels are perfect, so I'm surprised that the other bad channels are still broken.

[mebe]

Now both CNN And CNN Headline News are now fixed as of about 10:35pm.

Still waiting on all the Global channels to be fixed.

[mebe]

Now (about 11:25pm) Global Toronto has been fixed, but the other regions are still broken.
Just checked again at 11:31pm, and all the other Global regional channels are also fixed.

I'm amazed that each channel had to be fixed separately or in groups, rather than all at once, since all the channels were suffering from what looked like the same macro-blocking issue.

Anyway, it's nice that the problem has been fixed, and no service call was needed.☎️

[mebe]

Unfortunately, the problem has returned as of about 4pm today (Nov. 23).

All the same channels previously mentioned are all glitching the same way as last time, however, this time it also includes all four of the Super Channel channels (last time it was just two them.

I assume this might take another 5 hours or so to fix.

What a weird problem!

[mebe]

As of 5:26pm, only the Super Channel channels (ch. 334 335 336 and 337) are stillb glitching badly every mill-.isecond.

And to add insult to injury, when I tested the Super Channel On Demand channel (it was of course perfect), I heard a voice say that I would be charged for it on my bill, even though it says free with subscription (which I already have) in saved videos section (14 Love Letters, a Heart and Home Movie).

I assume that the box got confused and launched something else. I'll have to call to make sure the error is noted on my account.

[mebe]

All four of the Super Channels wereb just fixed as of about 8:50pm. The channels went to a black screen for about 20 minutes, and then it was fixed.

[mebe]

I spoke to the tech dept. about this macro-blocking issue and was told that many people will experience the problem because the legacy digital boxes will indeed be shut down in various waves, rather than all at once.

The next wave of shutdowns should be Dec. 5, but since I wasn't notified by Rogers, perhaps my next bill will mention a later death date.

At least Rogers is nice enough to fix the channels within 5 hours or so.

RIP Digital Legacy services.

[-G-]

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@mebe wrote:
I spoke to the tech dept. about this macro-blocking issue and was told that many people will experience the problem because the legacy digital boxes will indeed be shut down in various waves, rather than all at once.

The next wave of shutdowns should be Dec. 5, but since I wasn't notified by Rogers, perhaps my next bill will mention a later death date.

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Wait, what??  Somebody at Rogers actually confirmed that there is an imminent, planned, phased shutdown of Digital TV?

I'm not surprised because, as far as I can tell, Rogers is now no longer selling Digital TV to anyone anymore, anywhere.  Yes, they stopped general sales back in 2019... but they were still selling Basic Starter TV as a Digital TV offering up until a few months ago.  They moved customers of their small cable co acquisitions to Ignite.  Now, they are selling Ignite TV for Business.  Once the MDU Bulk Agreements switch to Ignite, that will leave the remaining holdouts who are sticking with Digital TV until the bits stop flowing.

I'm still not sure how this relates to your service disruptions, unless they are shutting down infrastructure in the headends and servicing the remaining Digital TV customers from fewer points of presence.

[mebe]

@G: Although both of the customer care agents (one for Digital legacy and one for IgnteTV) that I spoke to (after speaking to the tech agent) didn't have any death date for Digital legacy TV, the tech support agent led me to believe that I should expect to receive a Dec or Jan death date notice soon.

His previous call before mine was also about the macro-blocking issue, and assumed that I already got a Dec. 5 death date notice, and then mentioned that the boxes are causing problems and need to be shut down. And although He didn't say that Jan is the final month for Digital legacy tv, he painted such a bleak picture of the legacy tv future, that I imagined hearing violin music while attending the funeral for legacy tv.

When I mentioned that I might last longer because I lived in an apartment building, he said that it won't matter if my area is scheduled for a box shutdown..

I never got the impression that the tech agent was trying to sell me on IgniteTV but rather simply letting me know that my digital box was going to soon be put to sleep, and that I should prepare myself for the darkness.

Cue the violins..

[mebe]

The Dec 5 shutdown for some areas appears to be real because just a few seconds into Dec 6, all my channels went black.

My PVR recordings still work, and I called Rogers tech and was informed of the outage in my area, even though there's no notice on my account (or on my new bill) that my digital tv account is scheduled to be killed today.

I assume that many boxes like mine also got zapped by the Men in Black, and that at some point the channels will return to the boxes that still get an extended life.

Warning: Until the channels return, make sure to CANCEL all the upcoming scheduled recordings, or else you increase the risk of a freeze, followed by a forced rebbot ... which leads to a failed reboot that would stop at -01- so that you then wouldn't be able to watch your previously recorded shows (until the outage is over, so that the box can successfully reboot).

Change the channel to the lobby channel if you have a working one, or to the No Information channel (PVRAC) on channel 950, or whatever number it is in your area, so that a forced reboot is less likely.

[mebe]

I just checked at 2:25am and all the channels are working again.

My box has been saved for now, but perhaps my next bill (beginning of January) will have a death date.

[mebe]

It appears that Rogers is preparing for the next digital box outage since it just finished (2:24am) a hit on at least ALL the Global channels (all black screens), probably after midnight this Tuesday morning.

When I checked around 1:30 am, only CNN SD (had macro-blocking, but CNN HD was fine.

When I was on CNN SD, as the macro-blocking suddenly got more severe, my box froze, followed by a forced Rogers reboot. The reboot finished, but stayed on -05- for a much longer time than usual.

I assume that Rogers is going to be sending kill signals at least once a week, so if today was just a test shot, perhaps the next kill shot for some areas will come later this week, or next week.

Sincerely,
The Midnight Caller

[RogersCorey]

Good morning @mebe!

It sounds like there may actually just be issues with the service in the area or there may be an isolated issue with the service within your home. We wouldn't need to do a "test shot" as you're theorizing here.

We'd be happy to take a closer look to see what is going on! Feel free to send a private message to @CommunityHelps so we can assist you further. For more information on how our Private Messaging system works, you can find out more here. 

Regards,

RogersCorey

[mebe]

I haven't noticed any problems since my last post about 3 weeks ago, and my new Jan. bill still has NO message about my digital legacy tv ending.

I assume that my building and/or area has been temporarily spared for now.

Sincerely,
I can't quit you ... Until you quit me!