Skippa User Experience so far

[IanL-S]

I prefer external power brick such as the one used by the Skippa. One of the most vulnerable parts of the PVR is the power supply. If an internal power supply goes the whole thing has to go back to the manufacturer. The compact ones that plug directly into power outlet also have issues.

The use of internal power supplies keeps repairers busy. Is not that the case Mark (warkus)?

Ian

[warkus]

Very much!

Much easier to replace the external power pack that we carry sitting on the shelf, here you go and away the customer goes...

Repairs to internal PSU units is well over half of my work, in excess of 3000 Beyonwiz units at least let alone any other brand, strong, homecast, topfield, they all have issues over time...

[Dave at IceTV]

My Skippa remote control puts out a very strong signal. Strong enough to point away from the Skippa and bounce off the wall behind me and still operate the Skippa 2 metres in front of me. I can also put 3 towels over the front of the remote and still operate the Skippa (4 towels were too much, as was 1 thick doona). I didn't have access to the Menacing Thick Fluffy Blanket (MTBF) that www.remotecentral.com use as their standardized(sic) test for measuring the infrared performance of universal remote controls.

My Skippa's remote also works at wider angles than the TV screen is comfortably viewable from (unless you like the blacks on your TV to look grey). I can point the remote left or right 80 degrees (in a 160 degree arc), or down 45 degrees, or up so far that it's now bouncing off the ceiling or back wall behind me.

If anyone is experiencing difficulty getting the Skippa to pickup the signal from their remote control try moving the Skippa forward so it is close to the front edge of the shelf it is sitting on.

[hoadie]

Thanks Ian and Mark, I was passing on my feedback on my experience, not looking for a debate or speculate on the pros and cons of internal vs external PSUs. And as a customer I would prefer an integrated PSU - it means less clutter and less awkard positioning of a power pack who's power lead isn't long enough to read inside my cabinet, so has to sit behind my TV gathering dust.

All that said, and again from a customer point of view, cos the customer is always right (right?), I'd prefer to ship an entire STB for a no-power situation than ship a power pack and then find the STB is defective. Less risk, lower overall cost and happier customers. I say this from the perspective of a repairer too, I have 10,000+ Acer/Foxtel STBs sitting in my workshop, we've repaired in the past STBs for Bush, Sony and Austar. We also do in the order of 1,500 warranty laptop repairs a month plus phones and refurbish all manner of consumer electronics. So I do have my head around the pros and cons of internal vs external PSUs...

Dave: with the remote, I think the issue in my case was with the receiver. I had to angle mine pretty much direct both vertically and horizontally for it to work. Tilting the remote up seemed to help, maybe it was bouncing the beam off the walls. Not sure. In any case, I've since moved it into a cabinet with an IR blaster and it's now perfect.

[Muddy]

A few days in and I have tested my Skippa a little more and have a couple of further comments to my first post.

But first, is anybody elses skippa noisy? Mine constantly whirs away at a constant volume whether it active, in standby, recording or not recording. As I type this I am sitting across the room from my skippa with the tv on and I can still hear it (Even over the running fridge which is right next to me). It is driving me crazy.

Now to some more observations...

I have used the skippa auto ad skip function a bit more and have found that it tends to skip the last couple of seconds of a segment and then has the last couple of the seconds when it skips forward. I don't mind seeing a bit of the ads butSkipping early is a bit annoying for dramas and comedies as they are often talking right up to the break and I find myself having to go back to get the punchline etc.

For sporting events I have found it ok. I have recorded the NRL this weekend and found the ad skipping pretty good although it consistently missed the single ad that Ch 9 often go to between when a try is scored and the goal kick event though there is a clear transition in an out (dip through black). Not a big deal. As the dialogue as they go to a break is usually just filler it didn't bother me having the last few words clipped.

I am still having trouble getting a clear picture, mainly on Chanel 7. There are vertical artifacts in the picture and the picture is considerably worse than if I plug the aerial directly into the tv. Does anyone have any ideas on this?

I haven't had any more freeze ups or restarts since the first couple of days so that is good.

EDIT: Something else I have noticed is that my clock doesn't update when in standby mode. It currently says 20:21 which is when I turned it off last night.

[russell2200]

My updated user experience CRAP

Ice TV promised a replacement Skippa would be sent last Monday given they identified mine as faulty.  Nothing arrived and its Friday arvo.

I'll give people a bit of rope but promise stuff and don't deliver and people get pissed off.

So my current Skippa User Experience is:  Pissed Off

[russell2200]

The guide: I found this kind of annoying. I don't know about you, but when I bring up the guide, it's not because I want to keep watching TV in one quarter of the screen.

Personally I LOVE that when you bring the guide up I get to still see and keep watching TV on a quarter screen.  Generally if I'm watching one program and want to see the guide  I want to still enjoy whats on and not miss it but multitask and check the guide.   

To be flexible I agree , should be user choice and set it up as you want with or without the TV in a quarter screen, please everyone.

[IanL-S]

The guide: I found this kind of annoying. I don't know about you, but when I bring up the guide, it's not because I want to keep watching TV in one quarter of the screen.

Personally I LOVE that when you bring the guide up I get to still see and keep watching TV on a quarter screen.  Generally if I'm watching one program and want to see the guide  I want to still enjoy whats on and not miss it but multitask and check the guide.   

To be flexible I agree , should be user choice and set it up as you want with or without the TV in a quarter screen, please everyone.

I agree that it should be a choice made by individual users. I for one do not like it, ...

Ian

[deanem]

Hi, 1st post......updated the Firmware on Tuesday to V1.1.10600....all worked OK. Until this morning where programs set to record are still showing in the "to Record" area"....have failed to record, but not shown in "Failed Recordings"....rebooted & just tested with another random "record"....again....still in the "Recording Page", but haven't recorded.....any suggestions??  Cheers

[IanL-S]

Did you reboot or power down the unit. Pressing the power button either on the front or on the RCU only put it into sleep mode. You can restart the SKIPPA through the Menu.

Ian

[deanem]

Thanks for the reply.....I rebooted via the Settings Menu --> Restart ......

[Dave at IceTV]

Until this morning where programs set to record are still showing in the "to Record" area"....have failed to record, but not shown in "Failed Recordings"....rebooted & just tested with another random "record"....again....still in the "Recording Page", but haven't recorded.....any suggestions??  Cheers

The bug fix to this issue is being tested at the moment.

[jas55]

Dave dose the AutoSkip still working on the skippa i recorded some shows last night and they have not been process yet
thanks.

[logger]

..does the AutoSkip still working on the skippa i recorded some shows last night and they have not been processed yet

Likewise the Autoskip processing seems to have stalled on my box too. Not sure this is due to the firmware update two days ago, lack of something being processed IceTV side or something totally unrelated. 

My Settings area > IceTv continually reports processing a recording from 36 hours ago. So I deleted that recording, rebooted the box and it incremented on to reporting it was  processing a newer recording. But again it never seems to complete.    Are others seeing this too? 
Not surprising if something/one back office is not currently running on all 8 cylinders given the circumstances.

[Mantorok]

I'm getting the same issue.  See my Bug Report post (http://forum.icetv.com.au/iceforum/bug-reports/47/autoskip-not-working-since-upgrading-to-1-1-10600/4640/msg23307#msg23307)