Moxi ( Motorola BMC90xx ) Q&A and Discussion Thread - Page 14

I had a similar wife approval experience. She calls me at work and I hear arguing in the background:

ME: "What's that?"

WIFE: "Oh, the kids are arguing about what to watch on TV"

ME: "I recorded some kid's shows if you want to start that up"

WIFE: "OK, you're going to have to walk me through how to do it"

ME: "Hit the MOXI button"

WIFE: "OK.. Recorded TV.. Wow, this is really easy. Even I can figure this out.

WIFE (to kids): "How about Cat and the Hat?"

KIDS: "YEA!!!!!!!"

Moxi saves the day..

It's funny how different people have different perspectives. Coming from the ReplayTV world, the Moxi remote is very nice. With a couple minor exceptions, (and they really are probably "Moxi Box programming" issues, not remote issues) I REALLY like Moxi's remote. Especially, the cool "rubbery" covering on the back.

For people in the Fort Worth area with charter, I talked to CSR Friday and was told the moxi box will be available in Dec. I don't know if its true, but it is a date to dream for.

Just got Moxi installed today and have a couple of questions, which I haven't seen addressed, but this is a long thread, so apologies upfront if they have been:

Setup:

Samsung HLP-5063W
Yamaha HTR-5450 receiver
Adelphia Cable (LA)

1) With the component connection, I am unable to get 720p input, so I've opted for 1080i. The same happened with the Motorola 6200 I had, but I was able to switch to DVI which did give me 720p, which I prefer. Is this a limitation of Moxi, Adelphia, the nature of component connection or some combination? Would it be reasonable to assume that once Moxi enables its DVI port, 720p will be available?

2) In trying to configure the remote to work the Yamaha, the only code I've found to work will control mute/volume, but not on/off. Don't know if there is any kind of workaround for this or if I'm just SOL on this one.

Thanks, guys.

Welcome.

1) Don't know why you're not getting 720p. I'll ask around. The fact that the BMC9012 and the DCT6200 both have this issue makes me wonder if there's something in the Samsung set up.

2) If you program the Moxi remote to control your audio receiver, you only get volume and mute controls, not power on and off. We're working on changing that. It will, however, require a new remote, not simply a software update. I don't know when the new remotes will be available.

BTW, in the next major software update, we'll have native-mode passthrough, which means that the output resolution will automatically switch to match the input. That way we'll by-pass any scaling in the BMC9012, and let your TV handle it according to your preferences.

This is great news MoxiGuy! Do you know around when this next update will be ready to go?

Also, since I gotta ask, what's the word on more storage??

I've got a Samsung as well as it will not handle 720p. It upconverts to the 1080i.

The 720p output is available (unless your display doesn't allow it.) If you tell the Moxi Box to convert everything to 720p, it will, even the SD broadcasts. Soon the box will have the capability of passing through all of the broadcasts at the same level as it icomes in.


Can't help you with this one, sorry.

MoxiGuy:
RE: 720p -- if it is something with Samsung's setup, it must be hardwired with the inputs, because I can't see any way to enable it via component. Something to do with component being analog, maybe? Any time frame on availability of DVI output, or is that something Adelphia controls?

And thanks for confirming the deal with the remote, at least I won't obsess about that.

tcfila:
I'm assuming your not getting 720p on your Samsung is via component as well? Did it work with DVI?

I know that the way it's supposed to work, but it just doesn't. The TV will keep trying to synch up, but never makes it (the exact same thing happened with the DCT-6200 over component). And since the Samsung's native resolution is 720p, it shouldn't have any problem with that, but it does.

Hopefully when the pass-through feature becomes a reality, this will beome a moot point.

I've got a Samsung 46 inch DLP (HLN model) hooked up via component and I've had no problem with the 720p on Moxi. It works perfectly. Maybe its something with the newer Samsungs (the HLP models)?

I just accidentally found an Easter Egg (literally) on my Motorola BMC9012 from Charter.
On your remote press "Next/"Back" fast and repeatedly. You should see a pie that you can throw at the screen. You can now cycle through with the "Next" and "Back" buttons for other items to through at the screen (Tomato, Strawberry, Egg, etc) you can aim the item with the arrow keys and throw with the ok button.

I have a few points after much watching and using of my system.

First of all, the remote...
Buttons need to be a little bigger for the smaller ones. (next, info, etc) my wife is driven nuts by the fact that she cannot read them.

Interface.
It needs an "esc" key. i know that if i am in MOXI and want to go back to TV, then i hit live TV. Unfortunately, if i am watching prerecorded stuff, and i follow and hit the same thing... then i lose my movie and have to go through a few steps to get it back. As far as i see it, an escape key would be used more than a key to bring me to live TV.

Channel lists.
We really need to have the ability to program these ourselves. I got rid of all the stuff i do not have and rarely watch... including the PPV stuff. However the other night i wanted to see what was on the PPV listings... i then had to key in every one of the 30 channels. This pissed my wife off and ended up up taking quite a while. As well, if i ever want to listen to the audio channels, then i am in for alot of keying just to find the ones i want.

Dish has (to my liking) this one down the best. YOu setup lists (up to 4 i think) and you call them what you like. If moxi just had the ability to add in the menu 3 more channel lists that i could set what shows up in them... then we are talking. let the movies list have the PPV channels, let the audio have all the various MTV, VH1 and coulntry stuff as well as the audio only channels. All of this INDEPENDANT from the main channel list. Then we are talking.

Recorded programs.
I need a status bar of some sort telling me how much stuff is recorded. As well a %age indication on each show showing how much it takes up. And i want to add a big vote for more storage. I barely use this and only record one program in HD (desperate housewives) and that one gets deleted once we watch it. And i am always running out of space. i cannot imagine if i started trying to record lots of stuff... or even if i wanted to record lots of HD...

Thanks for listening moxiguy.

What's happened to me is I have to keep changing recording options and reordering program priorities every time I want to set a new HD show to record. I have about 6 or 7 hours of HD shows that I like to record every week and I usually end up deleting them right after I watch them. It gets to be a real pain if I am away for a couple of days as I am afraid the Moxi will delete something before I watch it or something I have set to save - I currently have about 3.5 hours of an HD Nova special that I have not gotten completely through. I dread what will happen when something like "24" comes back on and I'll want to save a few episodes to go back to.

I know I must sound like a broken record on this issue but it has not been addressed.

Dizzman - I like your idea of a user configurable channel list and escape key - I keep trying to figure out what gets my screen back from any one of the menus.

Here are a few button options that will get you what you want.

• Keep pressing Moxi. The Moxi button is designed so that if you just keep pressing it, you'll get back to whatever you were watching. It won't switch you to live TV. If you are in the menu, but not on Channels, the first press of Moxi will bring you back to Channels. The next press will take whatever is in the corner window and bring it up full-screen.
• Zoom has the effect of zooming a fullscreen picture back into the corner and revealing the menu. Or, if you are in the menu, it will zoom the corner image up to full screen. It zooms the image up from the corner and then back down.

Neither of these will switch you to live TV. As for your other suggestions, thanks for the list. We're planning some version of most of the them all for future releases. Your explanations of why they are important to you will help guide our designers.

I am in So. Cal adelphia, and have a moxi hooked up to a hdtv, using 1080i output...I complained before that I my moxi box seems to sometimes have a hardtime handling non-hd material on high def stations...

For example, when watching ABCHD, I always get alot of picture jitter and flickering when watching shows that are not HD material...I've also seen this on HBOHD on shows like Bill Maher which is not a high def show. I'm not sure what causes the problem, but if I switch my output to 480p output, then the picture is completely fine. Also, if its an HD picture, then there are no problems whatsoever either. I also see this problem when watching an HD show only when it goes to commercial...everything starts jumping, and it can get quite maddening,...I have to turn my head during these moments so my eyes don't go crazy...I'm not sure if anyone has seen anything like this, and if I need to just have adelphia replace my box...

anyone else see this behavior?

To add to my last, since MOXI is essentially a PC, i want to configure these different channel lists (or even jsut all the different options) through either a web page that is accessed via the ethernet connection through my home network, or even better, through my providers website (i can login after all) and then it just updates me.

I have found the adding an removing channels to be PAINFULLY slow (and i am very patient)

Thanks

I have been following the forum for a couple a weeks now and finally this past Saturday I got the pleasure of getting one from Charter. I thought I would share my thoughts on it, and pass on my suggestions that have already been mentioned for the most part.

The interface is great, its easy to use, and hella fast. It is so worth every penny to just get rid of the slower box charter had me using before this one. The key things I am noting and like I said have been mentioned before but I think its worth repeating so that Moxiguy can see more than a few people agree on the same issues.

1) More storage a must, I hope that I can take advantage of nice hard drive/rebate deals and plug any ol' USB2 drive into it to add more storeage. My budget won't allow much if I am forced to go through Motorola, or Charter for the additional storage.
2)more tuners, can't wait for 4, didn't take long to come up with programming conflicts, although I think a lot of those conflcts are caused by the Repeat flag not being set right on shows, or how more shows like to run a minute late or early.
3)going along the idea of the repeat flag problem I see on quite a lot of shows I would love the option to program it to say Record Cops, Every Saturday 7-730. That way I manually set what time to record the show at, but at the same time if the show being played happens to not be cops it would then ignore that time slot. Although if it can not be that advanced then just manually having a time slot selected would be a major plus since it would not be dificult for me to figure out the day time new shows come on and I would just have to figure out when the new season ends.
4)Some sort of Hard Drive status would be great so I know when I am on the verge of filling up. I have only had the device a couple days now, but have already recorded several shows, although right now I immediatly delete em' so I don't have to worry about space. Would be nice to see a numerical or graphical display of space available vs total space under a menu like the recorded tv.

Thats the main points I have right now. I must say I fell in love with it pretty quick and am glad I had the patience to wait for Charter to release a DVR than buying a Tivo or replay tv. Have way too many wires around the tv as it is, having an all in one device just makes since.

Phatty

Thanks for the great post. I'll share it with the development team. Glad you took the time to repeat some requests. One of the ways we know something is of high priority to the subscribers is if lots of folks ask for a feature. By my count, "more storage" and "plug-in USB drives" are far and away the most requested features.

I've read on the "General Samsung HLP Issues & Questions" thread that this is, in fact, an issue with the HLPs. They will not receive 720p via component, as the HLNs did. A fix was mentioned, but it involves a hardware change, something I'm not all that keen on at this point, especially with moxi enabling DVI hopefully soon.

Anyway, just wanted to get back with this info for those interested.

so i get my moxi box to beta test, after about 7-8 hours all of a sudden i get a blue screen and "we are sorry, there is a problem with your account status, please call customer support." anyone else seen this?

There's an issue with the ticker that I think relates to wherever Moxi is getting it's data from. Specifically, my wife and I like to use the ticker to check the weather. The problem is, when I pull up the ticker in the evening, the "weather" category gives you "current", "today", and "tonight", while the "forecast" category gives you the forecast for the day after tomorrow and two days past that. So when I pulled up the forecast on Tuesday evening, it gave me the forecast for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I can't see anywhere where it tells me what the weather will be tomorrow!

Again, I'm assuming this is some issue with the data source, but this can't be what's intended.

Thanks for posting. Anyone else seeing Ticker forecast skipping a day? Anyone have tomorrow's forecast? (I do). Please include your zip code. (PM me if you don'twant to post your zip openly)

My zip is 63122. Please note that I typically only check the weather at night, so I can't say what the forecast would look like if I brought it up now (I'm at work so I can't check). Not sure if it would be different based on the time of day.

Moxiguy,

Is there any plans to have a method to check how many hours have been recorded, or better yet how many hours of space are available before the HD fills up? This seems like something everyone would benefit from.

Any further word on VOD coming to Moxi? That is the highest on my wish list.

Also, suggestion: When pulling up the Moxi menu listing of Movies, Kids, or Sports, it would be nice to get the 'whats on next' like you do with the normal Channel List. I find that my family is checking for a kids show at 2 minutes before the hour, but the "kids menu" will only show the current show, which obviously is ending in 2 minutes.

Thanks for all the help Moxi guy - keep up the fantastic work

Still no ticker here in 93030. We had it for a few days then away it went and hasn't returned.
Aldephia.

Jim

Hard Drive space meter is one of the most-frequently requested enhancements. It's high on our list, but will not be in the next two updates. (The feature set for those are locked in except for the testing and the tweaking.) I'll let you know when we have an ETA on a space meter.

VOD is live in a few areas now. It's being rolled out throughout all the markets. It's high on our priority lists (and our cable partners as well). I don't have a market-by-market schedule to announce.

"On Next" in all of the filters is planned for early next year. (Not the next update, but the one after that).

I second this request. Very often, I am browsing the "Movies" Category, see a movie, realize that it will be ending soon, and want to know what's airing next. Currently, I have to move back to the Channels Category, find the movie, and then navigate to "On Next" just to see what's on next. It would be VERY nice if you could extend the "On Next" function throughout all categories.

Also, no ticker in 90027 (Adelphia).

You answered too fast! Very cool...looking forward to the upcoming updates!