Cox Cable - whole Home DVR Cisco - Page 5

See... now this is very interesting....
It appears to me that different markets have different experiences with this system.... In the Ct. area it appears that the system is very sluggish and gives people many problems with missed recordings and other problems... and in other markets the people say... no such problems??

one has to wonder.... Are certain markets being pushed updates and the others aren't??

I know this was a very common occurrence with the Moto Boxes running the passport guide... some market were as much as 3 updates ahead of the Ct market... NO LIE!!! this is just horrible.... how can one market be that far behind another?
The excuse i got from a tech i dealt with during that time frame was... well the Ct market likes to see the results from other markets before they hard release the updates to it's own market... hence the delay...

Nothing ventured,nothing gained ... as far as i am concerned. i know so many companies that constantly take feedback from forums and such and constantly pump out updates after updates...to keep improving their product.
Oppo DVD Players is one such company.... once a week or perhaps every other week, for them is not out of the ordinary.... They have people that constantly monitor forums to gather information and contact them for feedback... and say...ok... yup we recognize there is a problem and we will fix it... and then .... they push out an upgrade and repair problems...

Now that's what i call Product support...

Sony with their PS3 is another example.... constantly upgrading their product to correct problems and open up even more functionality...
They went from a bare bones box when it first launched to now being able to play 3D movies all with firm/software upgrades....
Once again.... product support...

So with all this being said... their is no reason that Cox cable can't address or repair their product if they were so inclined to do so...

Now the question is.... does Cox care about their product or was it just a quick push to the market to cover their Butt and say... yeah we have a whole home DVR service just like AT&T.... don't leave us... look what we can do.....??????????

SD user here - the system is screwed. All the same problems. Trio runs like crap.

Looks like I will hang on to my Moto boxes for now based on this thread, but I do have a question.

Can you use two host boxes in the same house and still be able to view all recordings on all tv's? I work nights so I record almost everything I watch. I commonly use three or all four of the tuners on two Moto boxes I have now. So, I need multiple tuners to record all my shows.

Just wondering....thanks.

No. That would require Cox to have done market research on what their customers wanted. They did not.

GTAllison, you are lucky you got free installation. (I was only able to get half off.)

Pig Vomit, you are lucky you have not experienced the "missed recording" issue I experienced, and which was posted on the other AVS forum that deals with the new Cisco boxes.

Incidentally, if I experience no more missed recordings, I too will keep the Cisco box.

Or it could be coming in a patch. smh

I'm in San Diego and just upgraded to whole house Cisco DVR.

Hate ... Trio menu is VERY slow to respond. User Interface and menus more cumbersome than passport was. The Grid View menu only shows 3 half hour blocks. I miss being able to see several hours in grid view. So many different guide views is dumb.

Love ... 500gb hard disk, and being able to view recordings in any room. Search is way cool. Install was easy. Tech said the eSata port is enabled but like before, not officially supported. I don't need it, for now.

I thought I would miss the PAUSE in the client rooms for live TV, but another users tip to hit record, gives me pause & rewind. Also worried about only being able to record 2 shows at once. Old setup with DVRs in all rooms gave me more. Cox "said" they would be upgrading to 4 at once ... someday. Hope they work on UI responsiveness first.

Passport only shows 3 half hour slots (1.5 hours total) and a portion of a 4th half hour.

Let us know how you feel after using Trio for a month or so.

LOL... Yeah after using it for a month he'll hate it just like everybody else does, especially after he misses several recordings and all the other problems that everyone has...

No worries... He'll be wanting to send it back to Cox.... even with their "awesome" product support and all the patches they continually send out.... hahaha....

WOW..... once again i ask... who did Cox have test this Trio guide??? Only about 1 out of every 10 people i read about actually like the guide.... most can't stand the UI.
This is supposed to be the latest and greatest that Cox has to offer??
Pretty embarrassing if you ask me.

And on the plus side... i have not heard of a single person that hates having the 500 Gig HDD... kind of makes you wonder why Cox just never enabled the full HDD capacity (some had 500 gig of which only 160 is usable)?? on the Motoboxes and kept the passport guide.... And waited on the Whole house DVR thing until they had a rock solid device and UI.

Things that make you go HMMMM

At least in Las Vegas we have an alternative to Cox which is CenturyLinks IPTV. It also has multi-room DVR which at this time only allows live pause in the main room but you can record and playback from any room. I cancelled Cox after 15 years and so far I am happy plus I'm also saving 500 dollars a year. They are planning an upgrade to VDSL2 later this year which will allow for at least 4 to 6 HD feeds and 100 mbit DSL. More to come.

I have used it for more than a month...

Not trying to be argumentative or make statements characterized by hyperbole, but Cox has a problem.

I believe they will have to write-off their investment with NDS on the Trio IPG. I don't believe they did proper beta testing of real users and the underlying paradigm of the UI is flawed.

The hardware has a chance to be salvaged with a change to proper middleware and UI. Although, I have my doubts of utilizing bandwith above 860Mhz. At least here in Tulsa, the channels broadcast above 860Mhz have been full of pixalation and sound distortion since inception.

I too am close to returning my boxes and getting my install fees back. I already am getting credit each month for Plus channels as they are impossible to watch with the problems noted above.

This thread and the other thread have dozens of reported bugs and problems with the implementation of Trio and the Cisco boxes. I have encountered the following:

Terrible UI - extreme waste of space for program data
Very Poor Guide Data - Tribune data is very poor
Very Poor Non-Intuitive UI Navigation - Several button presses to accomplish tasks that take single button presses in other UIs.
Poor Tuner Response - Very slow tuner response (channel changes).
Concurrent Recording/Viewing on Client- If a program is being recorded on Host and you try to watch it on the Client concurrently, it breaks up as if there is not enough buffering.
No Native Pass-Thru - Without native pass-thru you have to set defaults for scaling. I set mine to stretch 4x3 (the Cisco boxes have a terrible scaler by the way) and this results in some 16x9 channels being stretched as well.
Missed Recordings/Reminders - What do I have a DVR for?
Recording Cut Short - Again, what do I have a DVR for?
Unauthorized Channels - Often tune to a channel and get a modal window notice the channel is unauthorized even though it is.
Cannot Utilize ESata - 500 MB may seem large to those that are used to only 160 MB but realize that this is a shared 500 MB and if you time-shift only HD, it is eaten up quickly.

and many more... I'm just tired thinking of them.

Cox either:

A) Doesn't know how to beta test a product
B) Doesn't care
C) Both

I found all of the bugs everyone is posting about and more in less than 24 hours of using the product.

Not sure why some of you are having some of the horrible problems that I'm not, but there are some things I'll agree with and disagree with. I'll address them point-by-point, with my responses below in red:


Terrible UI - extreme waste of space for program data - concur and disagree - I like the the UI, but agree that the program data space is wasted.
Very Poor Guide Data - Tribune data is very poor - agree and have made this known to some of the higher ups I've spoken with
Very Poor Non-Intuitive UI Navigation - Several button presses to accomplish tasks that take single button presses in other UIs. - I'm not sure what you're getting at here. Not much difference between what I've used with the Passport/Moto and this. There are some things I'm not thrilled with, but not to the point of hating it. I'd like to know a specific example to see if I agree.
Poor Tuner Response - Very slow tuner response (channel changes). - I've not had this problem. Longest I ever wait for a channel change is 2 seconds.
Concurrent Recording/Viewing on Client- If a program is being recorded on Host and you try to watch it on the Client concurrently, it breaks up as if there is not enough buffering. - I've not had this issue either
No Native Pass-Thru - Without native pass-thru you have to set defaults for scaling. I set mine to stretch 4x3 (the Cisco boxes have a terrible scaler by the way) and this results in some 16x9 channels being stretched as well. - never used this
Missed Recordings/Reminders - What do I have a DVR for? - I've had one missed recording and it was explained to me once again what I've done. It sucks. Essentially the old boxes would ask you if you were trying to record more than two in the same time period which one you wanted to use in favor of the other. It would typically choose the one you set first. The new guide defaults to setting nothing. Not saying that's what happened to you but I do know it happened to me.
Recording Cut Short - Again, what do I have a DVR for? - Hasn't happened to me yet
Unauthorized Channels - Often tune to a channel and get a modal window notice the channel is unauthorized even though it is. - Not happened here either.
Cannot Utilize ESata - 500 MB may seem large to those that are used to only 160 MB but realize that this is a shared 500 MB and if you time-shift only HD, it is eaten up quickly. - n/a for me; I don't use the eSATA.

Give it all time .....
I understand that what is a problem for one person (such as no native pass-through) is no big deal for another... but as everyone is saying in here.... some of this should not occur with new equipment being pushed out and touted as top of the line for Cox and promoted as being what customers want???
As far as surfing the guide for what programs are on... 2 seconds is waayy to long and often results with overshooting what you are looking for then having to go back and forth ... this is a huge pain in the butt...
I Had a friend over the other day who tried using the guide and quickly said.. "oh.. this would drive me nuts"... It is horrible... way to big of a delay.

And my missed recording are not due to programming conflicts... mine have all been the same message.... "recording failed because this program could not be found in the program guide".. even though all indications appeared normal... such as program is highlighted (red dot) in the guide ... but no recording red icon on box front display.
It happens very intermittently.... which makes it even more frustrating... because you never know when you will miss something important.

While some of the above items are not totally unexpected for a "new" product... The lack of support and feedback from COX CABLE is what is horrible...

At least a Rep from COX can post, that the above items have been identified and a patch is in the works and will be released "XYZ"... and that their customers feedback is important and valued.

But I've had this now for about a month and have used it pretty heavily with little or no issues.

And when I talk about 2 seconds, that was for channel changing, and it happens intermittently, which I got with the Passport/Moto setup also. Guide info searching is less than that. For me anyway.

But as far as lack of support and feedback from Cox, I have a regional technical manager for their network in my phone list after he saw a post I made over at DSLreports. He called me last Friday and we talked about what I liked and didn't like for about 20 minutes. He was very nice and told me to keep following up.

I understand this is a new product, and I told him I was somewhat disappointed with many things. But so much more I was pleased with and (for me anyway) and I let him know that as well.

Maybe post some over at DSLreports and see if you get a regional contact like I did? I don't know that would happen, but it could never hurt to try. You may have already done that (posted over there); if so, my apologies.

It is refreshing to hear that a regional tech manager actually called you back and you were able to talk with him....
Around here in CT it is nonexistent. ..... no one wants to talk or gather input at all.... around here it is like.... well you have it so.. live with it...
Terrible customer support.... i have asked many times to talk to tech engineers and have been promised many calls back... but so far nothing....

Not sure why the big secret and what the deal is with keeping "valued customers" so distant from tech people at Cox is just plain weird to me.
perhaps a tiered customer support line is needed... if rebooting the box doesn't work on level 1... pass it up to level 2.. and so on and so forth.. until you get to someone who understands what i am talking about...

i don't know how many times i have dealt with "support people" to whom i ask about Native pass-through... and they go.. "aaaa....what's that"???
Right away i know i am in trouble.
When that happens they should say... hold on and i will pass that up to our level 2 support who might be able to help you.... and then keep going from there..... and if the problem is that technical that it goes up to a high tech level... have the engineer contact the person and work it out...... by that time... it is pretty obvious that "the customer" is smarter than the average bear...

In the past i have dealt with several problems with the moto boxes which had the typical customer support people baffled and the techs never saw such a thing..... i was magically connected (some-how)to an engineer who actually cared and ended up calling me back... and after many long talks was able to verify and pinpoint the problem... ("wow.. we never noticed that") and shortly afterwards a patch was pushed out which fixed problem and all was good.
And i received a "Thanks for all your help" from the Cox engineer.

I guess those days are gone....

2 seconds is an absolutely unreal channel change time guys. It's 2011.

Patience.

I know for a fact that Cox is 100% aware of every issue posted here, and that they are working on software updates that will correct the issues.

Of course it would have been better if they got all the bugs out of the system before release. But it did not happen that way, of course. We early adopters are the ultimate testers.

The Cisco DVR has great potential...and when the new software updates are created, tested, and released, I am confident the DVR will work so much better.

Every DVR released in the past, whether it was the ReplayTV, Moxi, TiVo, etc., has exhibited problems when first released. If you doubt me, check the AVS forum that deals with the Moxi. And all of them have received numerous software updates to fix issues.

There are great people at Cox who have responded wonderfully to the Cisco DVR issues, I promise.

They know. They agree. They want it to work as it should. They are working on it.

I am going to be patient.

And I also stated that was intermittent...as in doesn't happen regularly. Wow.

If you don't like it, get rid of it.

If you've already gotten rid of it, quit complaining about it. Sheesh.

posts deleted

if your post was deleted take note

Just noticed Cox OKC website is showing Trio Whole Home DVR as available. No Plus Package channels currently listed in channel line-up.
Cox Oklahoma City is a Cisco market. The second Cisco market to launch Trio after San Diego.

Cox Oklahoma City
Trio Available in Oklahoma City but no Plus Package Channels listed at this time.
http://ww2.cox.com/residential/oklah...us-package.cox
http://ww2.cox.com/residential/oklah...lehomedvr_1210

Oklahoma City "Plus Package"	Addt'l HBOs	Addt'l SHOs	Addt'l Starz	Addt'l Cinemax
No Channels	listed	at this	time

Update: Cox hasn't fixed anything. The system is still pathetic. I am going to take a video comparing guide update speed on Trio versus Passport. You'll laugh your butts off! Bascially, if you press down repeatedly to scroll through the guide, Trio will *NEVER* display data. You have to stop and wait a second every 5 channels. Passport - continuous update. Trio was definitely designed by people who know nothing about UI or tight code.

Hmmm.. Here's me flipping through channels..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Phfl441EgU

It does take a couple seconds to tune the channel when I stop, but dont have any problem with it not displaying data. On my 8240HDC, Passport would actually freeze up quite often if I changed channels too quick..

I'm talking about the GUIDE. Pull up the guide, change it to grid view, then press down repeatedly. BTW the 8240 is a POS.

For your viewing pleasure! View the AMAZING Cox Trio at work!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPSU7GEPxRI

My son is sleeping in our bedroom, I'll do the same with the 8300HD later - it works flawless. No delay.

HMMMMM
Woke up this morning and found both boxes not in the "ON" position.
This is usually indicative of a system upgrade??
Also all the guide data was completely wrong.
Had to do a hard reboot of box...
Now all is OK.

If indeed it was an upgrade that was pushed through last night i don't see any improvements at all.
Still a sluggish POS that it has always been.
Still no Native Pass-through option...

I am interested to see if an upgrade was pushed and what it contained...

Just saw the video and remain confused at your rant about this system.
You're basing your opinion that the DVR is a "POS" based on you pressing the down arrow button a hundred times at 3 to 4 presses per second, filling up the command buffers??? All I heard was ClickClickClickClickClickClickClickClick as you buffered 20 - 30 commands to a device downloading data in real time as you complain that it's not loading and have to "wait" as it processes all of your Clicks. The IPG is delivered via a data channel to write the IPG pages as they are requested.
You do know you can use the "page down" button to refresh the guide one page down at a time or create your own lineup to have only the channels you want to view, right? Also, If you want to jump 50 or a hundred channels, just type in the channel number and it will go to that section of the guide.

The video is just one of the many problems with the system. I can buffer 50,000 commands to an 8300HD and the guide will roll in real time with no BLANK OUTS. I use a Harmony One and it does not send commands in the way you are implying. I have it set to send 1 command per second. The 8642 wasn't busy "processing my commands", it was receiving them one per second. Before commenting, gather information. Page down does the same thing. I know how to navigate the guide. I was illustrating how you can't "channel surf" the guide. If I don't know what is on, I want to scroll through the guide. Want another video? It does the same thing in all modes/methods, period. Sure wish you had one! Part of your problem in understanding how bad Trio is - you don't have it. How can you comment when you have zero basis for comparison? I will continue to post video until you really have no excuses left for the system.

Another video tonight for vegggas! I'll do 1 press per second this time- guess what happens? BLANK SCREEN EVERY ROLL! I will do page down 1 time per second- guess what happens? BLANK SCREEN EVERY ROLL! I will also show the 8 year old 8300HD smoking the Cisco box with Trio. 8300HD can scroll the guide with zero delay using down, page down, anything. Any requests vegggas? The system sucks in all aspects, it is the worst IPG ever made. Also the buggiest. I can prove with video.

ECI, first, thanks for posting the video. My Cisco DVR does the exact same thing when attempting to scroll a page at a time in Grid View. I have to wait a beat for the listings to appear in the grids.

Also, I noticed a search error for the first time. I searched "Hot In Cleveland" and the search turned up zero results. The only way I could schedule to record the next episode was to go to that specific episode in the Grid TV Guide and then hit the red Record button.

I then tested the search one day later. Two repeats of the show came up in the search results but still not the actual new episodes, even the one I have scheduled.

The software running the search and TV guide is flawed. No one is arguing that. And again, Cox is 100% aware there are bugs.

I will again call out "patience." Give Cox a little more time to fix it. They will fix it. You know they will. I know we all want it fixed yesterday. And it should never have been released broken this badly. They really dropped the ball.

I have been assured a major software update is going to be released in March or April that will fix this.

Got it - just frustrated with several posters here who deny any issues and blame it all on me.