Automatic Software Update September 2013

Philip Trott

A new software update will be rolled out over the next few weeks to YouView Humax boxes for retail customers.

A number of new visual features have been introduced with this update:

1) An alternative ‘High Contrast’ colour scheme that helps partially sighted users to navigate the YouView user interface.

- The new colour scheme features white text on a black background.
- All graphical overlays become opaque.

You can enable this feature by navigating to ‘Settings’ > ‘Subtitles & Accessibility’ > ‘Colour Scheme’

When pressing OK on this setting you can navigate left and right to select the ‘Default’ or the ‘High Contrast’ option. Pressing OK on the desired option will display a message informing you that the change can take up to 60 seconds. You can then press ‘Continue’ to confirm.







2) The TV picture shown in the corner of the screen when navigating the YouView user interface and Guide can be hidden, for users who find the moving image distracting and to allow text in the guide to be read more easily.

You can enable this feature by navigating to ‘Settings’ > ‘Subtitles & Accessibility’ > ‘Mini TV Screen’. When pressing OK on this setting you can navigate left and right to turn this ‘ON’ or ‘OFF’.

3) An announcement notification is displayed after the software is updated on your YouView box, informing you about new features available.

- This will display once the box has started up and will remain onscreen for 10 seconds.
- The notification only appears when you first use the box after a software update, and it won’t show on subsequent occasions.

You can check if you have the latest version by pressing the YouView button on your remote control, navigate to ‘Settings’ > ‘System Information’ > ‘Software Versions’.

For those boxes that have already received the update you will see the following:

Manufacturer Software: 14.5.0
Component Software: 1.7.6
Platform configuration: 610
ISP Configuration: (varies by ISP)



If your box displays different software versions, please be patient as this is a phased rollout and only available on YouView set-top boxes purchased at retail.

Customers with YouView from BT or TalkTalk will receive accessibility updates in due course.

gomez

Done. Sadly, no changes of interest to me.

stormy

No offence but, seriously? Thats it? Times must be hard at Youview.

happyslayeruk

Very disappointing, no actual problems fixed. eg Been waiting for months for the S/PDIF sound issues and no sound after turning on to be fixed.

Two months since the last update and we get this rubbish.

stormy

happyslayeruk said:

Very disappointing, no actual problems fixed. eg Been waiting for months for the S/PDIF sound issues and no sound after turning on to be fixed.

Two months since the last update and we get this rubbish.

Yeh, I could not quite believe the lack of content to be quite honest.

paulusthewoodgnome

Another non-event for most users. I'm beginning to wonder whether the pace of improvements is just excruciatingly slow, or if many hoped for enhancements are simply never going to happen at all.

Roy

The mountain has laboured and brought forth a mouse :-(

stormy

Roy1 said:

The mountain has laboured and brought forth a mouse :-(

You wait.... Time passes....

parney

Seriously underwhelmed by this update. I thought that given the August update was missed (which was the first month an update had been missed for Humax boxes i think) i thought we might get something more than this!

Geraint Morris

Disappointing

Lee Bool

Got excited when I saw the update post....

Philip Trott

Hi guys, no need to fear we do intend to bring many more features to the platform with coming software updates. However with this release we wanted to focus on delivering better accessibility for blind and partially sighted customers as well as those with motor skill and cognitive impairment.

Phil

Mark Thurley

When did this forum get so negative! Which similar company is developing faster than YouView? Yes its annoying that they can't fix every bug straight away and yes its annoying that you can't have all the new shiny features straight away, but there is a team of people working hard to bring all those features. Why not cut them some slack. This stuff takes time.

I'm sure I will get slated for this post but I don't think that an update every month (apart from the last one) is slow development. Also just because you don't find this update useful, some people out there will. If YouView can help attract more people to the platform with these improvements, this can only be a positive thing for further content partners etc due to increased numbers.

Anyway, these are my feelings!

gomez

TBH I hoped they would have been working on the recordability of the BT Sports channels which was promised to be available soon after the start of August launch.

paulusthewoodgnome

Phil8 said:

Hi guys, no need to fear we do intend to bring many more features to the platform with coming software updates. However with this release we wanted to focus on delivering better accessibility for blind and partially sighted customers as well as those with motor skill and cognitive impairment.

Phil

Feedback is always appreciated. The more, the better. Cheers.

Simon12

@Mark T
Everyone is entitiled to their own opinion, an that's fine. No intention to slate your post, and don't know how long you've been viewing or posting here, because these days I only pop in to view the recent posts infrequently.

And the main reason for this?? There has been not much to look at.

Many YV users here have been awaiting changes to these units for ages.
Some of them quite fundamental
We have requested updates to the prioritized requests (diff thread) posted by users but had nothing back from YV. Big fat silence.
http://community.youview.com/youview/...

The reason you see the feedback here, is from shear frustration.
BTW, This is a Humax retail update, not for TT Huawei or BT boxes.

Check out the other posts on this forum and you will see why all the posts above are understandable. Just 'MY' opinion and YMMV.

churchwarden

Phil8 said:

Hi guys, no need to fear we do intend to bring many more features to the platform with coming software updates. However with this release we wanted to focus on delivering better accessibility for blind and partially sighted customers as well as those with motor skill and cognitive impairment.

Phil

Thanks for the information, Phil. Always welcome.

Unknown

There may be a reason why this update was released as an individual item rather than bundling it with other new features at a later date...

In June 2010 the BBC Trust's "Canvas proposals - Final conclusions" included this:

"In the Provisional Conclusions, the Trust noted that Canvas would incorporate a number of accessibility and usability features, though not all of these would be available at launch. The Trust indicated its provisional view that it is important that these user experience features become a reality if the full public value of the Canvas proposals is to be realised. The Trust expressed an expectation that the accessibility and usability features should be incorporated into Canvas within 12 months of launch and proposed a condition of the BBC's participation in Canvas that the Executive should report to the Trust within 12 months on the realisation of these ambitions."

YouView was launched in July 2012, so progress with these features should already have been made. Maybe somebody reminded YouView of the above statement?

Simon12

@ Phil,

No offense mate - but that is red rag to a bull here. Please refrain from comments that make out other updates are coming, but give no indication of timescales or content.

Even with the recent news, I fully expect a BB10 update to my Blackberry Playbook before anything of consequence for my TT Huawei unit.

Regards,

Simon

Geraint Morris

gomez said:

TBH I hoped they would have been working on the recordability of the BT Sports channels which was promised to be available soon after the start of August launch.

I suspect that because it says "Customers with YouView from BT or TalkTalk will receive accessibility updates in due course." this means that this update is being held back until they are ready with the IPTV features. Visionman reckons this is going to perhaps be the last week of September.

Would be interesting to know if any BT customers with a Retail box are able to record the IP channels with this update

Unknown

gomez said:

TBH I hoped they would have been working on the recordability of the BT Sports channels which was promised to be available soon after the start of August launch.

"Would be interesting to know if any BT customers with a Retail box are able to record the IP channels with this update"

Geraint Morris

gomez said:

TBH I hoped they would have been working on the recordability of the BT Sports channels which was promised to be available soon after the start of August launch.

LOL

Geraint Morris

gwatuk said:

There may be a reason why this update was released as an individual item rather than bundling it with other new features at a later date...

In June 2010 the BBC Trust's "Canvas proposals - Final conclusions" included this:

"In the Provisional Conclusions, the Trust noted that Canvas would incorporate a number of accessibility and usability features, though not all of these would be available at launch. The Trust indicated its provisional view that it is important that these user experience features become a reality if the full public value of the Canvas proposals is to be realised. The Trust expressed an expectation that the accessibility and usability features should be incorporated into Canvas within 12 months of launch and proposed a condition of the BBC's participation in Canvas that the Executive should report to the Trust within 12 months on the realisation of these ambitions."

YouView was launched in July 2012, so progress with these features should already have been made. Maybe somebody reminded YouView of the above statement?

In that case maybe someone should remind them of everything else in their Core Technical Specification for launch boxes. Or as I like to call it the "Optional list of functionality"

nas

Was hoping they would release a version of the YouView app that would allow us to access/view recordings remotely but the service is going at a very slow pace in terms of improvement. At this rate, they'll never catch up or beat other TV service providers such as Virgin media or Sky. Had great hope for this service but I'm beginning to lose faith.

stuart621

Cannot believe the selfish attitude some posters here. Actually, maybe I can. Something which helps people with visual impairments is surely always a good thing.
The only "criticism" I would have is that on the box menu, it states that an "alternate" colour scheme is available - hopefully this wrong grammar will be corrected at some point.

Apart from that, I think that anything which offers increased accessibility to people who have difficulties with things the rest of us take for granted is to be applauded.

stuart621

Simon12 said:

@Mark T
Everyone is entitiled to their own opinion, an that's fine. No intention to slate your post, and don't know how long you've been viewing or posting here, because these days I only pop in to view the recent posts infrequently.

And the main reason for this?? There has been not much to look at.

Many YV users here have been awaiting changes to these units for ages.
Some of them quite fundamental
We have requested updates to the prioritized requests (diff thread) posted by users but had nothing back from YV. Big fat silence.
http://community.youview.com/youview/...

The reason you see the feedback here, is from shear frustration.
BTW, This is a Humax retail update, not for TT Huawei or BT boxes.

Check out the other posts on this forum and you will see why all the posts above are understandable. Just 'MY' opinion and YMMV.

Why are you frustrated? Which updates have you been promised which have not appeared yet? Which of the advertised functions of the YV box aren't there?

Geraint Morris

stuart621 said:

Cannot believe the selfish attitude some posters here. Actually, maybe I can. Something which helps people with visual impairments is surely always a good thing.
The only "criticism" I would have is that on the box menu, it states that an "alternate" colour scheme is available - hopefully this wrong grammar will be corrected at some point.

Apart from that, I think that anything which offers increased accessibility to people who have difficulties with things the rest of us take for granted is to be applauded.

I agree entirely with what you are saying. These improvements for a certain group of users are certainly necessary. Overall for me though this release contains nothing useful for me and is therefore disappointing.

nas

stuart621 said:

Cannot believe the selfish attitude some posters here. Actually, maybe I can. Something which helps people with visual impairments is surely always a good thing.
The only "criticism" I would have is that on the box menu, it states that an "alternate" colour scheme is available - hopefully this wrong grammar will be corrected at some point.

Apart from that, I think that anything which offers increased accessibility to people who have difficulties with things the rest of us take for granted is to be applauded.

Hi,no one is saying the visually impaired shouldn't benefit from Youview's services. I was expecting more features along with the new updates, that's all. Every customer deserves new features especially people with difficulties. But YouView need to move things along in order to keep their customers happy as well as gain new ones. A happy user of this wonderful box would always recommend it to potential customers in the long run

stormy

Mark Thurley said:

When did this forum get so negative! Which similar company is developing faster than YouView? Yes its annoying that they can't fix every bug straight away and yes its annoying that you can't have all the new shiny features straight away, but there is a team of people working hard to bring all those features. Why not cut them some slack. This stuff takes time.

I'm sure I will get slated for this post but I don't think that an update every month (apart from the last one) is slow development. Also just because you don't find this update useful, some people out there will. If YouView can help attract more people to the platform with these improvements, this can only be a positive thing for further content partners etc due to increased numbers.

Anyway, these are my feelings!

TBH looking back over all the 2013 updates, very little has actually been done. So not sure it qualifies as "fast developing" in my opinion.

I agree with you about hopefully some people will find the update useful, out of interest did you?

I just wish we would see more meat on the bones, rather than these tiny iterations.

Lbear1

Simon12 said:

@Mark T
Everyone is entitiled to their own opinion, an that's fine. No intention to slate your post, and don't know how long you've been viewing or posting here, because these days I only pop in to view the recent posts infrequently.

And the main reason for this?? There has been not much to look at.

Many YV users here have been awaiting changes to these units for ages.
Some of them quite fundamental
We have requested updates to the prioritized requests (diff thread) posted by users but had nothing back from YV. Big fat silence.
http://community.youview.com/youview/...

The reason you see the feedback here, is from shear frustration.
BTW, This is a Humax retail update, not for TT Huawei or BT boxes.

Check out the other posts on this forum and you will see why all the posts above are understandable. Just 'MY' opinion and YMMV.

Stuart; for a start, bringing boxes up to the published base specification would be helpful to many.

stormy

gwatuk said:

There may be a reason why this update was released as an individual item rather than bundling it with other new features at a later date...

In June 2010 the BBC Trust's "Canvas proposals - Final conclusions" included this:

"In the Provisional Conclusions, the Trust noted that Canvas would incorporate a number of accessibility and usability features, though not all of these would be available at launch. The Trust indicated its provisional view that it is important that these user experience features become a reality if the full public value of the Canvas proposals is to be realised. The Trust expressed an expectation that the accessibility and usability features should be incorporated into Canvas within 12 months of launch and proposed a condition of the BBC's participation in Canvas that the Executive should report to the Trust within 12 months on the realisation of these ambitions."

YouView was launched in July 2012, so progress with these features should already have been made. Maybe somebody reminded YouView of the above statement?

Yeh, like MHEG-IC support, which has been blatantly ignored from the specification.