Faster R5000 Channel Changing according to Nextcom - anyone tried this

[easperhe]

All,

I've had an email exchange with Dave at Nextcom about R5000. I really like the potential of R5000 with Vip-211 but the 6-8 sec channel changing I've read about concerns me. I hear what some others say but this is still an issue for me. Anyway, here is some feedback from Dave about how this may be improving and I thought others would be interested (see below). And I have a couple of questions for current R5000 users.

Q: Has anyone else heard about this?

Q: Does anyone plan to attempt to use this new software release to see how much faster channel changing becomes?


Dave/Nextcom - The tweaks are minimizing the delay between channel digits (default is 1/2 sec) and the delay to start the new stream (default is 2 sec). So, for a 4 digit channel, it takes about 1.5 secs to send the IR codes. Then we wait for the box to change channels and start putting out the new data (typically 2 secs). Then, there's some time for the stream to buffer (SageTV buffers to disk). For a box like the 211 the DVR locks to the stream very quickly so the total time might be around 5-6 secs. The older DirecTV boxes, for example, require more data to pass before we can construct the stream so it might take around 9 secs.

The soon to be new release (like the current beta) saves a lot of time by switching streams on the fly. The data stream is never stopped but rather we look to re-acquire after the channel change. You might be able to get away with less time between digits (1/4 sec) or waiting less time for the new stream to start. There are dangers associated with each (dropping digits and locking onto the previous channel).

easperhe - When will the new release occur? Is it a hardware change and/or software change?

Dave/Nextcom - Everything is software based, there is no new hardware. It will most likely be on Monday (which I believe means 2/1/09).

[Fluffdaddy]

Q: Has anyone else heard about this?

No this is the first

Q: Does anyone plan to attempt to use this new software release to see how much faster channel changing becomes?

If it aint broke don't fix it. I can live with my R5000HD channel changing performance.

[rpmassat]

I plan on giving this a try. Watching live TV with the delays is excruciating. Also have the occasional problem with tuning in CBS via the R5000 where it instead tunes in one of the movie channels by accident. Hoping the new method of tuning might also address this problem.

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by rpmassat

I plan on giving this a try. Watching live TV with the delays is excruciating. Also have the occasional problem with tuning in CBS via the R5000 where it instead tunes in one of the movie channels by accident. Hoping the new method of tuning might also address this problem.

Comcast had this same problem during the superbowl in at least one market too Maybe they should look into this.

[Fluffdaddy]

Stop it

[easperhe]

rpmassat,

Any luck with the new R5000 channel changing software? If you've given this a shot, I'd appreciate it if you could let us know what you found out.

Thanks!