truedalife
join:2003-01-10
Brooklyn, MD
| Motorola set-top boxes suck!
It has been posted many times here @ BBR. Firmware issues, and set-top operating system bugs. Not one vendor has been able to write a guide that didn't have bugs and/or cause poor box performance when download to the set-top. The DVR boxes are the worst.
Verizon was so angry at Motorola for the poor design of the IPTV set-top software, that Verizon took control of the software engineering. Sending the code to some of the best engineers they have. Some of the engineers are from the old Mama Bell AT&T Bell Labs. Allot of products we use today started in those labs. These lab techs found Motorola's software to be blotted and not designed very practical for the limited resources available to a set-top box.
In our system we are always dealing with issues with DVR failure's and bug issues. Most customers who have a MOTO DVR for more than a year has had it replaced at least one time. Most customers who have a DVR has called customer service at least one time in the first year about glitches or lost recordings. Wikipedia even has a bug report that takes up a whole web page. (see Wikipedia's MOTO bugs.)
I'm not a MOTO hater. I just hate companies that push products that are not ready for prime-time use. The bottom line is the customer pays the price for poorly designed products. And since there is no regulation, we are forced to wait for firmware updates and code loads. Scientific Atlantic is no different, nor is Pace. DBS systems are not excluded. Remember DirecTV's fiasco when switching from TIVO to there own branded DVR? Poor engineering.
With no regulation, the manufactures know we won't band together and file a class action lawsuit. But we should band together and stop excepting crap in our living-rooms. Microsoft is the worst of them all. There IPTV system in Europe is plagued with problems and cost much more to run then other competing Euro systems. Remember Bill Gates premiere of IPTV and the "blue screen of death" at the CES show. Just recently Vista was reported to have a "blue screen of death" problem too.
Wish there was more than a couple of vendors make set-tops boxes. Then maybe Motorola would step there game up. If Motorola is reading this, I want my set-top box to work when I come home from a long day of work. As a tech, I should not be explaining to customer how to work around glitches and bugs. I know customers who have had 5 DVR's swapped out. I myself have had 5 DVR's and have just recently decided to stop swapping them out and just live with the bugs and glitches.
Be responsible to the customers that use your products everyday. Then I would love to have a Motorola product anywhere. In my home or in my lifestyle. Think about it! |
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sameshtdd
join:2006-01-04
Teaneck, NJ
| Actually, Verizon was fuming at Microsoft for writing code that was too big for their moto boxes...to the point they took over the development...
heres a link from the WSJ that gives the first 2 paragraphs of the article...»users2.wsj.com/lmda/do/checkLogi···wsjie%2F |
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truedalife
join:2003-01-10
Brooklyn, MD
| Yes there is a problem with the middle-ware. Microsoft's IPTV software is the middle-ware. Motorola designs the set-top OS and firmware that controls the hardware. I too have read the WSJ article, but I'm not talking about that story. I read an article after that WSJ story, that was talking about the hardware problems with the new MOTO IPTV set-top boxes. I believe it's called the VIP series. The problem was with the firmware and it doesn't matter what middle-ware is being used. |
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