[Discussion] Humax Retail software update 31.62.10 / 3.5.134

Louise Murdoch

Hi everyone,

Feel free to discuss the Humax retail software update 31.62.10 / 3.5.134 here.

This update is a component update which contains a number of UI updates rather than a full software update. 

Louise.

jimb

This is good. 
Remember the "add functionality and enhance features in days or weeks" promise? Things are starting to feel a bit more like that.
(For T2000 users.) 
  

Keith

I agree that seeing these more frequent smaller changes shows promise of more steady delivery of developments, and in particular smaller changes that if done well can enhance the user experience.

Unfortunately I don't like some of the small changes as so far delivered:

• In a previous small change the synopsis-in-guide feature was added. In broad terms this feature was a request dating back to 2012. The implementation though as an inflating tile that then obscures other elements in the EPG feels clumsy and I would have preferred the extra info instead were shown say in the blank space at the top of the screen.
• In this release the changes to the MyTV tiles is more of a loss than a gain. Whilst we now have Continue Watching or Watched etc on single items, we have lost the recording date from the tiles. Tiles are of course still in reverse chronological order so one has some perception of time/date but no longer the easy to see specific detail. Losing the date on a series tile is particular disappointing. I find that date particularly useful to see if a series has not recorded anything for more than a week and hence is likely to be complete and ready for binge watching.

So seeing changes coming through is positive in principle but negative in practice in some cases so far. Hopefully though they will make further small changes in the near future that will be more positive.

Personally I do not really care how much of the image I can see on a MyTV tile so would prefer they showed more info on each tile not less, e.g. on each tile show:

• Programme title (preferably over 2 lines to reduce the amount of truncation)
• Number of episodes (not just as something that scrolls into view on the highlighted tile)
• Date of most recent recording
• Status, i.e. what has just been added to say Watch, Continue Watching etc

This could all be done in 3-4 lines and make the tiles much more functional without the need to highlight a tile or go into info etc.

Visionman

Seeing changes coming through quickly is a positive in principle but such so far have been negative in practice and I haven't given good feedback on them. 

Its not 'frilly bits' users want, and poor ones at that, but the guts of the machine. 

Tim C

Visionman said:

Seeing changes coming through quickly is a positive in principle but such so far have been negative in practice and I haven't given good feedback on them. 

Its not 'frilly bits' users want, and poor ones at that, but the guts of the machine. 

Currently on 31.28 on my T2100 so I think I'll be continueing to block further updates as the changes with this release do seem to a step back rather than forward.

Definitely with @Visionman on this.

Roy

You might want to set a sig in a similar vein to mine.

That way, every post you make carries, with no further effort on your part, a standing reproach to YouView for these **** - and often broken - frippery releases, when there is so much they could be getting on with just to put us back where we thought we were in mid-2016.

Roy

Following on from Keith’s observation above about losing the date/time from tiles, this is just dreadful:-

We record Countdown on Series link, and we had three stacked up on a Series tile, plus two standalone episodes, for some reason. We cut the Series down to the one episode we hadn’t seen, but it still left us with three episodes, at first indistinguishable as we had lost all the thumbnails (see below re thunderclap), although now distinguishable by Channel Ident, if you look closely, after we got the tiles back.

But with text only, we had no idea what they were, and had to use the i button to see that they were, respectively, today’s 4+1 showing, today’s 4HD showing (from our series recordings, and the only one we had actually asked for), and an early morning, though still today, showing of an earlier episode on 4 SD.

How come? We did have a momentary power cut this afternoon, one a few seconds long after a thunderclap, and we wondered if the box had got the 4+1 showing because the 4HD showing had perhaps been interrupted. But both were completely intact. And no clear reason at all for the 05:30 one.

The big beef, though, is that it is bad enough to lose these details when you have some idea of what you recorded, and when.

But when the box goes freelance and records stuff you never asked for, and that it arguably shouldn’t have recorded, alongside the stuff you want but can’t pick out unless you go trawling about with the i button, it is simply unconscionable.

Who tests this stuff for usability before inflicting their latest misfire on us?

Anybody?

Keith

Roy said:

Who tests this stuff for usability before inflicting their latest misfire on us?

Anybody?

Indeed, it does very much feel like there is good testing for bugs and malfunctions to avoid pushing those out to the general user base, but no evidence of sufficient 'sense check' as to whether a change is functionally well considered and effectively implemented. I expect though YouView do still get forewarning from some when these new features are poorly implemented but perhaps fail to heed that input and give it sufficient weight

Tim C

Excellent example @Roy

It just gets worse