Humax Retail Software Update - New Home Screen

Sarah · 8 March 2021, 6:15PM

Hi all,

We have begun a new and exciting journey to replace the main menu with an improved home screen, giving you easier access to all the same great content in a seamless experience.

This is the start of releasing many more exciting features, as we aim to create a more personalised experience to help you browse and find TV shows and films that are relevant to you.

More information on the new Home Screen can be found here.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030166/uploads/editor/he/52sr77jitkgn.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030166/uploads/editor/ym/iutrg5hzotwo.jpg

We now have a full-screen search feature. We can help you find what you're looking for and if it's available on demand or on live TV in the next 7 days.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030166/uploads/editor/49/jcyb69utbhh9.jpg

Settings & Help are still located in the top right corner. To get to it, you need to press up and then right on the remote control.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030166/uploads/editor/mi/4ugfbq8tqlp2.jpg

Thanks,
Sarah

al · 8 March 2021, 7:34PM

I found this a bit of a shock at first but I think the only big changes are that search has moved to the top and the top level is now vertical. Looking forward to the new features.

kodikid · 8 March 2021, 9:12PM

No mention of the T4000 so looks like I won't see it for several months.

Rob P · 8 March 2021, 11:02PM

So a shiny new home screen, but STILL after all this time the recordings - my main reason for buying a recordable box - remain several clicks away, whilst the Guide, which already has its own dedicated button on the remote, is still first.

Can anyone please explain this logic...

al · 9 March 2021, 10:06AM

@Rob P This is the actual logic:
"At some point, someone might be using a remote control without a guide button"

Tim C · 9 March 2021, 10:37AM

@Sarah

So when you turn the box do you get the new Home screen or do you have a live TV screen and need to press the Youview button to get the Home screen?

Think I might be blocking updates from now on as for me this is just another unnecessary change.

John L · 9 March 2021, 12:44PM

Tim C said:

@Sarah
So when you turn the box do you get the new Home screen or do you have a live TV screen and need to press the Youview button to get the Home screen?
Think I might be blocking updates from now on as for me this is just another unnecessary change.

@Tim C,
I have been testing this for a while now & can confirm when you turn you box on from standby the WHOLE menu loads up first. It disappears automatically or you can simply press exit or back on the remote to clear menu. Not to everyone's taste, but hopefully Youview will see sense & allow it to be customised. So at the end of the day, you now have to scroll down instead of simply going across as before. At first it looks attractive, but it's a longwinded design that could have been tidier. Yes, you can still watch live tv as usual, but instead of menu as before, now you are being introduced to this new layout. John L

John L · 9 March 2021, 12:48PM

kodikid said:

No mention of the T4000 so looks like I won't see it for several months.

Don't worry @kodikid, enjoy using the old layout while you still have it. John L

John L · 9 March 2021, 12:50PM

Rob P said:

So a shiny new home screen, but STILL after all this time the recordings - my main reason for buying a recordable box - remain several clicks away, whilst the Guide, which already has its own dedicated button on the remote, is still first.

Can anyone please explain this logic...

Good question @Rob P,
There will be users who "love" the new revamp. Everyone has different views. Time will tell. John L

John L · 9 March 2021, 12:52PM

al said:

@Rob P This is the actual logic:
"At some point, someone might be using a remote control without a guide button"

Yes, good point @al,
but what about all the other users that have a Remote with Guide on Remote that don't want this? John L

Keith · 9 March 2021, 1:07PM

I've found this new layout to be perfectly fine in comparison to what we had before. Rather than a horizontal menu you now have a vertical arrangement but broadly speaking functionally it is equivalent. So so far this feels like a bit of furniture rearrangement - hopefully it will not turn out to be just moving around deck chairs though

Next Gen arguably never really delivered the promise of faster development and a steady stream of improvements. From the statement "This is the start of releasing many more exciting features, as we aim to create a more personalised experience to help you browse and find TV shows and films that are relevant to you." I would like to think we really will finally see more exciting and useful features, and personalisation options.

If one could have an option to turn off the menu/icons appearing and staying on the screen for 30 seconds every time you turn on the box that would be a great start to a small personalisation!

Hopefully my ailing T2000 box will actually limp on long enough to see some of the upcoming developments (and thus further delay the day I will have to think what to replace it with)

John L · 9 March 2021, 1:21PM

@Keith,
A very good review! Everyone is going to have different views. At the end of the day, it needs to be user-friendly & not interfere with daily use. It needs to be customised to allow the user to decide how they want to use the new homepage. My very own view is there is too much on the front screen home page. This should really be a "2nd layer" that can be accessed from the "1st layer" on Home page. Any further thoughts? John L

Keith · 9 March 2021, 1:26PM

John L said:

@Keith,
Any further thoughts? John L

I could no doubt write (Youview) a list, but then we've been there before

John L · 9 March 2021, 1:30PM

Yes, I agree with you @keith! John L

countryman2 · 9 March 2021, 4:11PM

There was nothing wrong with the old home screen. It was slick. It was well-designed. It was uncluttered. Now you hit the button...you lose the current channel...wham. Screen full of stuff, your eyes flit all over the place trying to focus on finding the piece of information you want. Say MyTV. Previously a serene gentle scroll sideways, hit OK and you're straight there. Now, it's scroll down, massive jerk on the display as everything shifts upwards. And again.

This epitomises the old adage. "If it ain't bust, don't fix it'. Auto-updates are now permanently OFF.

Keith · 9 March 2021, 4:34PM

I must admit the first thing I do when the box comes on is try to dismiss the menu (old or new style) as quickly as possible to get to a clear screen. I then either watch live TV, enter a channel number to change channel, press guide to set some recordings or look for something, or press the programmed button on my harmony remote to go straight to MyTV recordings. The thing I use least of all in the shiny and screen filling tiled menu experience. Occasionally I use the players but have mostly stopped using those through the Youview box in favour of a better experience via other devices and routes

Now if some personalised recommendations, improved players, or other useful things for me appear in this area perhaps I'll finally use the shiny menus more

Sarah · 9 March 2021, 4:56PM

Hi all,

Unfortunately the new Home Screen feature was incorrectly deployed to all T2000 devices overnight instead of the smaller, intended target base of devices.

To continue with our normal phased approach to rollouts, and to allow us to properly monitor this release for any potential issues, we will be reverting the change on some devices later on today.

We apologise for any confusion caused by this and we hope to have all devices updated again in the next few weeks after we've had time to monitor the boxes

Thanks,
Sarah

John L · 9 March 2021, 5:32PM

countryman2 said:

There was nothing wrong with the old home screen. It was slick. It was well-designed. It was uncluttered. Now you hit the button...you lose the current channel...wham. Screen full of stuff, your eyes flit all over the place trying to focus on finding the piece of information you want. Say MyTV. Previously a serene gentle scroll sideways, hit OK and you're straight there. Now, it's scroll down, massive jerk on the display as everything shifts upwards. And again.

This epitomises the old adage. "If it ain't bust, don't fix it'. Auto-updates are now permanently OFF.

I couldn't agree more with [email protected],
I mentioned this with my original feedback, along with many other trialists, when first having a chance to try out the software some time back. First impressions: far too much on front screen. It was actually slower loading until Youview updated with a slight fix to improve loading speed from standby. It might look "impressive" to a newcomer, but once you actually use it daily/compare to previous version you can only make your own conclusion. My own view . . . still the same view as when originally submitted to Youview. Be interested to hear from other users when they start using new Homepage. John L

Tim C · 9 March 2021, 5:42PM

Just applied my blocking rules so my one remaining Youview box won't pick up this update or any other obviously.

If this was customisable to not show it on startup then OK but for now no thanks.

John L · 9 March 2021, 5:42PM

Couldn't agree more with you @Keith,
They must listen more to regular users. Who is actually using the Youview box? The design team or the end user? I appreciate the time & money that has gone into developing the new vamped homepage, but no one gets a choice? I too am glad I can use other devices. On a positive note, I use my Youview box a lot for the different Players/live tv + occasional recording/not as good for winding through long recordings though! It seems more reliable (most of the time) & I find the main "operating system" to be tidy (well till now!) and robust, compared to older machines: inc. Panasonic, older Humax boxes. But everyone has different tastes. John L

John L · 9 March 2021, 5:51PM

Tim C said:

Just applied my blocking rules so my one remaining Youview box won't pick up this update or any other obviously.
If this was customisable to not show it on startup then OK but for now no thanks.

Hi @Tim C,
It just seems an oversight from Youview for you to have to block the updates. At least you have found a customisable option for your own Youview box! Sounds a brilliant idea. I will have to make sure our BT 2100 boxes can also be blocked. That's a great tip! My Mother who is elderly is dreading it! Thank you. John L

Tim C · 9 March 2021, 6:15PM

@John L,

These are urls I block although maybe not all needed:-

www.humaxtvportal.com
reporting-live.youview.tv
updates-live.youview.tv
config-live.youview.tv
ids-live.youview.tv
ispdiscovery.vision.bt.com
pbthdm5.bt.motive.com

John L · 9 March 2021, 6:21PM

Thank you @tim c,
greatly appreciated. When I can find a moment I will reconfigure my Router setup! It's worth a try. John L

Roy · 9 March 2021, 6:49PM

Sarah said:

Hi all,

To continue with our normal phased approach to rollouts, and to allow us to properly monitor this release for any potential issues, we will be reverting the change on some devices later on today.

Thanks,
Sarah

@Sarah

So for nine years, YouView have been telling us that going backwards to an earlier release can’t be done, and now you are doing it?

Can we have the option to go back to OldGen, please?

Lebowski · 9 March 2021, 7:12PM

I fully agree with earlier comments that it is ridiculous that to get to MYTV incl. my recordings now takes far more button presses, especially when you have a button to take you instantly to the GUIDE.

It also seems more sluggish than it was before (unless this is just because I am having to press the button far more times to get where I want to be).

If you are going to implement this change then please can we have MYTV at the top which I'm guessing is where most of us would want it to be.

This makes such sense given their is already a dedicated button to get to the GUIDE.
Apart from rearranging the furniture as has already been said, and putting a table in the way of where I usually walk in a straight line, I can't quite see that this has brought anything new in terms of functionality, and agree it was very slick and useable beforehand.

Rob P · 10 March 2021, 1:13AM

@Sarah
Whilst I appreciate that YouView "aim to create a more personalised experience to help you browse and find TV shows and films that are relevant to you", what I want to personalise is how this main menu screen appears, or even if it appears at all, on my box that I purchased. These are the same points that were raised with the introduction of NextGen and they remain to this day.

1. The Guide line remains completely pointless to me, given that a) I have a Guide button to go here if I want to and b) the channels that are shown to the right are simply the first few in the guide, which I don't use. If I could default these at least to the HD channels 101-105 it would be less useless but as it stands, the entire line is pointless to me.

2. I don't use the apps any more, those built into my TV are faster and as such the Apps line is completely pointless to me.

3. When I turn the box on there's maybe a 95% chance I wish to watch a recording. After all, I purchased this PVR device for recording TV programmes. So after waiting for the menu to appear I then have to scroll past the above lines which are useless to me, to get to the recordings that I want to watch. The other 5% of the time I'll want to watch live TV. To do this I might want to use the P+/P- buttons. But wait! They don't do that while the menu is up, they scroll the menu instead. So I have to dismiss the menu first in order to do what I want.

4. I don't really want to be guided towards TV shows and films that are "relevant to me". I already know what I want to watch, I don't need to be told.

What I want from my personalised experience is to be able to switch this menu around, and to have the option not to show it at all on start up.

At the moment it feels like YouView are personalising the box for them and not for me. Whilst that may be acceptable for subscription customers for which the box is a means to receive subscription content, I am not one of those customers.

Lebowski · 10 March 2021, 9:47AM

Gosh now that it's been put back I see the old much loved interface also required a couple of button presses to get to MYTV including My Recordings.

But with the old format you can clearly see it all displayed in a row, and seems much quicker to get there.

I know change is often resisted, but it strikes me that the old format has the same functionality, and is quicker and clearer to navigate.

Is there an easy way to disable updates for any of us who would rather not be catapulted onto the new interface when it is rolled out again?

westone · 10 March 2021, 10:08AM

@Sarah as this is a personalised experience. The first thing I will personalise is the hide channels that has taken so long to bring back. Thank you so much for 'allowing' us to hide channels again. Wonderful.

Darren · 10 March 2021, 10:56AM

I would have still liked the mini guide to show the HD versions of channels and not the SD versions of channels. Going by the screens shots on here.

John L · 10 March 2021, 11:01AM

Rob P said:

At the moment it feels like YouView are personalising the box for them and not for me. Whilst that may be acceptable for subscription customers for which the box is a means to receive subscription content, I am not one of those customers.

Well said @RRob P" !
Yes, it seems like that. I can't comment on the OldGen days progress, as I only started on Youview forum back in early 2017. Something I have said a few times recently on the lines of : "is the box for the user or the design team"? If I was in my young 20's/30's/40's still (I'm not) I would love to "explore" new ideas/develop my technology career and improve things, but . . . . back to reality! It has to be done in a more sensible way than this.

The "user/consumer/customer" (in my case I purchased TWO Youview pvrs money from my own wallet as a consumer) in addition to the trial box I use for testing, would like to have their OWN control on THEIR box, as you mentioned @Rob P, being able to decide what YOU want to do with YOUR box. I totally agree! Lets just hope Youview are listening more this week. John L

Roy · 10 March 2021, 12:50PM

YouView are famously uninterested in what any of us want our menus to look like; any decent provider would have let us swap the rows into the top to bottom, and left to right, order that we wanted, with the option of the left to right presentation allowing MRU (most recently used) dynamic resequencing.

So I can’t choose the channels I want on the top line, or the apps I want in the order I want on the second line, and I can’t make the third line into my first line like I want to.

So however ‘more personalised’ this might somehow be, it’s been ‘more personalised’ for somebody else, and then foisted on me. And I don’t like, and don’t want, that person’s choices.

I suspect that YouView’s choices here are governed by BT support requirements; if everybody’s screens look the same, support is so much simpler. And of course, so is the coding of it all; but both are lazy choices.

I’m sure Procrustes would have explained that he ‘just wanted his guests to be comfortable’; much as this new look, yet another of the Procrustean beds that YouView keep forcing us into, will ‘personalise’ our user experience.

Personalise it? Marmalise it, more like 😭

Humax Retail Software Update - New Home Screen

Comments

About YouView

Legal Menu

Industry Zone

Help Menu