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FifthE1ement
Tech Nut
join:2005-03-16
Fort Lauderdale, FL

FifthE1ement to turnerbrewer

Member

to turnerbrewer

Re: New Guides for SA/Cisco Areas (Info from Ted Hodgins Blog)

said by turnerbrewer:

What is rollout schedule for the A30 guide? When will it be released in the Atlanta market? What improvements are included in the A30 guide?
Is the A30 guide 16:9?

turnerbrewer the A30 guide is the same as your current iGuide but with a few more features such as closed captioning from the menu (rather than the hidden service menu), DVR recoding playback via online, a few other features and the features from the A28 update if you haven't gotten that yet. However the A30 guide is still not 16:9 and is exactly what you have now. It's crazy that at the core of the A30 is a decade old guide system!? What is Comcast thinking? I thought two years ago that now with technology increasing at an exponential rate that Comcast would HAVE TO put something out there that mimicked the burgeoning smartphone market or similar yet they have done almost next to nothing. The X1 guide is a great start but I think 99% of Comcast users will never see it and if they do it won't be for year! It's really very frustrating!
turnerbrewer
join:2011-11-22

turnerbrewer

Member

It is frustrating that Comcast keeps "patching" the outdated IGuide instead of offering a guide that the customers want.
What is also frustrating to me is that the X1 guide is available in my area, but it is not available to me since I am not a new Triple-Play customer. I have called numerous times and I am always denied the upgrade.

mikedz4
join:2003-04-14
Weirton, WV

mikedz4

Member

write wecanhelp@comcast.net and ask them if they can help you get the x1.

telcodad
MVM
join:2011-09-16
Lincroft, NJ

telcodad to turnerbrewer

MVM

to turnerbrewer
said by turnerbrewer:

It is frustrating that Comcast keeps "patching" the outdated IGuide instead of offering a guide that the customers want.

Well, it looks like Comcast may be putting more priority on improving its OSGs now:

Comcast forms CoMPASS team to develop next generation user interfaces
By Steve Donohue, FierceCable - October 23, 2012
»www.fiercecable.com/stor ··· 12-10-23

FifthE1ement
Tech Nut
join:2005-03-16
Fort Lauderdale, FL

FifthE1ement

Member

said by telcodad:

said by turnerbrewer:

It is frustrating that Comcast keeps "patching" the outdated IGuide instead of offering a guide that the customers want.

Well, it looks like Comcast may be putting more priority on improving its OSGs now:

Comcast forms CoMPASS team to develop next generation user interfaces
By Steve Donohue, FierceCable - October 23, 2012
»www.fiercecable.com/stor ··· 12-10-23

Lol, but we probably won't see the results of this until 2015 by Comcast standards.
Russ6
join:2011-03-17
Houston, TX

Russ6

Member

said by FifthE1ement:

said by telcodad:

said by turnerbrewer:

It is frustrating that Comcast keeps "patching" the outdated IGuide instead of offering a guide that the customers want.

Well, it looks like Comcast may be putting more priority on improving its OSGs now:

Comcast forms CoMPASS team to develop next generation user interfaces
By Steve Donohue, FierceCable - October 23, 2012
»www.fiercecable.com/stor ··· 12-10-23

Lol, but we probably won't see the results of this until 2015 by Comcast standards.

I agree this will further delay getting the X1 Guide deployed to the majority of Comcast customers. Comcast will be spending its time and efforts forming CoMPASS instead of working on the X1 guide and testing it. I hope the person Comcast finds to run CoMPASS doesn't decide to start all over again.

SeattleMatt
Streaming Tech Director
Premium Member
join:2001-12-28
Seattle, WA

SeattleMatt

Premium Member

Well seeing that X1 appears to pretty much be the same program guide that Verizon FIOS has had for over a year - I hope they put some more people on creating new ideas...
Russ6
join:2011-03-17
Houston, TX

Russ6

Member

Comcast needs to get the guides deployed to more people without having to stop the deployment to send out a patch. After that, Comcast can add more features. Also, the guides need to take advantage of the STB hardware. For example, the Cisco RNG 200N supports AnyRoom DVR but it is only deployed in some of the SA/Cisco markets and the Pace X1 gateway has six tuners but the X1 guide only allows 2 shows to be recorded at the same time.
turnerbrewer
join:2011-11-22

turnerbrewer

Member

.
turnerbrewer

turnerbrewer to Russ6

Member

to Russ6
Comcast needs to push the X1 guide to the existing customers boxes now.
Push the guide to compatible boxes. What incentive do I have to stay with Comcast and the A28 IGuide when I can go with DirecTv and receive a free HD Genie with 5 tuners? Comcast even cripples their own X1 box by only allowing 2 of the 6 tuners to operate... Comcast reminds me of IBM circa 1979/1980's. They are arrogant and refuse to listen to their customers.
Comcast requires current customers to subscribe to Triple Play in order to receive the X1 box, but the very market demographic that would be interested in the features of the X1 would not be interested in Phone service over a wired connection. Comcast is out of touch and blind.
Russ6
join:2011-03-17
Houston, TX

Russ6

Member

I don't think the software for the X1 Guide is ready for either the Motorola or Cisco STBs. The X1 Guide is only being deployed on the Pace X1 Gateway.

Comcast is trying to take advantage of the new Pace X1 Gateway by only allowing new triple play customers to get it. Comcast plans to offer it to existing customers after the "new" wears off. This could be a matter of months or years.

I think the real problem is that it takes Comcast years to produce the Guide software and get the bugs out. Comcast is forming the CoMPASS group to address this, but even that will take a long time before it produces good results. In the meantime, Comcast will continue losing customers because of this.

FifthE1ement
Tech Nut
join:2005-03-16
Fort Lauderdale, FL

FifthE1ement

Member

said by Russ6:

I don't think the software for the X1 Guide is ready for either the Motorola or Cisco STBs. The X1 Guide is only being deployed on the Pace X1 Gateway.

Comcast is trying to take advantage of the new Pace X1 Gateway by only allowing new triple play customers to get it. Comcast plans to offer it to existing customers after the "new" wears off. This could be a matter of months or years.

I think the real problem is that it takes Comcast years to produce the Guide software and get the bugs out. Comcast is forming the CoMPASS group to address this, but even that will take a long time before it produces good results. In the meantime, Comcast will continue losing customers because of this.

I think we all agree with everything you said but it's pure BS! Why should new customers be entitled to the latest and greatest while those who have "stuck" and I mean that in the most literal sense of the word, get stuck back in 1999 with iGuide?! Any other company would be out of business but hey monopolies are a great business model. Sometimes I think the extent of Comcast's coders are two monkeys in a room with a computer, lol.

Why disable the other tuners on the X1? Why not have day plus and day minus as one of the first basic features on the X1? When will Comcast ever push out an update? These are questions we probably won't find out till 2014. In fact I'd be willing to make a bet with someone on this forum. $100 if Comcast releases the new update, I'll be sporting, to 50% of it's install base by October of 2013! Anyone want to pick a month and get in the pool?

What blows me away is that I don't even think Comcast writes or codes the guide? I know iGuide was on just about every cable operators boxes? So what have they been doing for years?
Russ6
join:2011-03-17
Houston, TX

Russ6

Member

I don't know if the other tuners were deliberately disabled for some marketing reason or if Comcast simply couldn't get the guide software to correctly record more than 2 shows at the same time and that is why the other tuners were disabled. Also, why hasn't Comcast deployed an AnyRoom DVR Guide for the Pace X1 Gateway?
Russ6

Russ6

Member

Ted has changed his answer and now says that On-Screen Guide 2.0 is NOT currently available in Boynton Beach, Florida, but should be soon. Click the following link that includes his new answer.

»Re: New Guides for SA/Cisco Areas (Info from Ted Hodgins Blog)

FifthE1ement
Tech Nut
join:2005-03-16
Fort Lauderdale, FL

FifthE1ement

Member

Comcast doesn't know what it is doing. It needs to spend a few million on hiring Motorola and Pace engineers (should be the same now right, lol) or borrow them for six months and get this crap worked out. Comcast doesn't know if they are coming or going.
turnerbrewer
join:2011-11-22

turnerbrewer

Member

Comcast - This is what a proper HD Guide looks like-

»www.satelliteguys.us/att ··· id=82022