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Hello All,
As promised, here is a follow-up since my activation on Sept 27th. However, to save you time the summary is that I was impressed and service has been very good so far.
Installation
- Booked my cancellation of previous ISP for same day of new activation, loaner modem came in the mail as promised a couple days before hand.
- Received confirmation email of install for Sept 27th between 8am-11am. At 12:30 I thought I better call as no one has shown up yet, upon calling Vmedia customer care, was instructed to replace my existing (previous) modem with new loaner. Upon doing so, all was up and running and I had 55/10 speeds. They then called me back and said it was a typo and that an installer will be by between 8-am and 5pm. Ironically, the installer showed up just after the call. He was surprised I was already up and running and said he better just check the lines or else he's not doing his job. So, still not sure if site visit was needed, but what the heck, up and running as scheduled so good on you Vmedia & Cogeco for keeping to schedule.
Vbox:
-Went to Canadacomputers to purchase Vboxes. Gotta say, a very disorganized and unprofessional store. Found Vboxes right away and asked staff about new remotes. They had no idea what I was talking about. So I informed them that they had new remotes shipped last week. They will be in one box and individually wrapped in bubble wrap. So they checked their inventory on the computer and had 5 in stock. The next 40 minutes were spent by a couple of them looking throughout the store for them, so I used this time to call VMedia and activate the Vboxes I had in my hands. They then got the manager and he found them within 5 mins. So if anyone is going to these stores to buy them, be patient and inform them that they are there, check their inventories and they are individually wrapped in bubble wrap (which BTW, isn't the nicest presentation of a product).
-CanadaComputers informed me I had to call and activate and tell them I purchased Vboxes at their store to get the 2 free months of TV instead of 1. So as mentioned, that was done while they hunted for the remotes. 2 Free months good to go, now taking boxes home to try out...
-Connected Vbox to both wired and wireless setups. (go with wired where possible). Setup was simple, if you're familiar with Android tablets it's a walk in the park.
-Was up and running within a minute.
Viewing Experience:
-Picture quality, not too bad. Would give it an 8/10. Looks like "Lossy" video. The compression used isn't bad, but does have some artifacts and blur when watching things with motion (like NFL on Sundays ). I noticed 1 or 2 audio synch issues but honestly that was only while switching channels and it would buffer for a fraction of a second or two. Overall, not really any audio/video synch issues so far (fingers crossed).
-Vcloud is a nice feature. Tried it out on a couple of channels and works like a charm.
-Did notice that when I tried to record a couple of future shows by following the instructions on-line.(Pressing red button) 4/5 of times came up with Vcloud not available on that channel.
New Remotes:
-Not too bad of a unit. Good weight and feel like others have said.
-Getting used to mouse vs arrow key control takes some time. Would also be nice to know when to use one vs the other. For example, had a heck of a time getting a NetFlix show to actually play. Mouse, vs Ok, vs left-mouse button press, etc..
-Keyboard is handy, just remember left-mouse button vs ok
Issues/Question/Observations:
-Would like to know what compression and protocol is being used for Vbox. As mentioned, it looks like Lossy video with some artifacts. I'm assuming an H.264, wondering if you're investigating H.265?
-Would be a nice feature to have the ability to pause and re-wind "Live TV" like others do. Thinking that if you cache or put into a buffer to allow for a certain number of minutes (say 15min or so), it might not be too had to add this feature??
- When looking ahead in TVGuide, any future dates/times didn't have any listings on any channels (all blank) except for the RT? channel? Tried this several times throughout the day, no future (as in 1 -2 days ahead) listings available.
- TVGuide doesn't provide details like other guides. ie: Says "NFL game" but doesn't tell you which game so you have to select it to figure out who's playing.
-It happened twice so far on the same VBox. It won't power on. Either remote of physically pressing the box's button. Had to unplug power from unit...
-Netflix <- This is bold and underlined for those who use it. Vboxs are Android Tablets and so it's the Android Tablet version of Netflix as you all know. Point is that the picture quality is terrible on this compared to the SmartTV's built-in versions. Looks like standard def. What can we do to improve Netflix on the VBox?
- 1080p vs 720p (read that on the forums too). Yes, XBMC GUI is locked at 720p, can't change that, but it is showing 1080p movies fine. I also set my Vbox to 1080p and adjusted the screen sizes (which BTW, your onscreen controls don't work, could only shrink horizontal or vertical, not expand. "ok" did not switch from shrink to expand). So, for me setting VBox to 1080p works no problem.
- Would like ability set defaults on the remotes buttons. In particular the blue TV, Video, Audio, Apps buttons. For example, TV brings up guide as expected, but video does nothing. Setup XBMC as video app and would like to assign that to the blue Video "movie/film strip icon" button.
So, overall, Vmedia has been good.
-Installation on time/schedule - Check
-Speeds as expected - Check
-Vbox - Not too bad, - I'm a video snob so could be better than 8/10 (motion, blur, artifact)
If you're wondering to VMedia or Not to VMedia. I myself will be sticking with them and have chosen to VMedia.
Cheers.
As promised, here is a follow-up since my activation on Sept 27th. However, to save you time the summary is that I was impressed and service has been very good so far.
Installation
- Booked my cancellation of previous ISP for same day of new activation, loaner modem came in the mail as promised a couple days before hand.
- Received confirmation email of install for Sept 27th between 8am-11am. At 12:30 I thought I better call as no one has shown up yet, upon calling Vmedia customer care, was instructed to replace my existing (previous) modem with new loaner. Upon doing so, all was up and running and I had 55/10 speeds. They then called me back and said it was a typo and that an installer will be by between 8-am and 5pm. Ironically, the installer showed up just after the call. He was surprised I was already up and running and said he better just check the lines or else he's not doing his job. So, still not sure if site visit was needed, but what the heck, up and running as scheduled so good on you Vmedia & Cogeco for keeping to schedule.
Vbox:
-Went to Canadacomputers to purchase Vboxes. Gotta say, a very disorganized and unprofessional store. Found Vboxes right away and asked staff about new remotes. They had no idea what I was talking about. So I informed them that they had new remotes shipped last week. They will be in one box and individually wrapped in bubble wrap. So they checked their inventory on the computer and had 5 in stock. The next 40 minutes were spent by a couple of them looking throughout the store for them, so I used this time to call VMedia and activate the Vboxes I had in my hands. They then got the manager and he found them within 5 mins. So if anyone is going to these stores to buy them, be patient and inform them that they are there, check their inventories and they are individually wrapped in bubble wrap (which BTW, isn't the nicest presentation of a product).
-CanadaComputers informed me I had to call and activate and tell them I purchased Vboxes at their store to get the 2 free months of TV instead of 1. So as mentioned, that was done while they hunted for the remotes. 2 Free months good to go, now taking boxes home to try out...
-Connected Vbox to both wired and wireless setups. (go with wired where possible). Setup was simple, if you're familiar with Android tablets it's a walk in the park.
-Was up and running within a minute.
Viewing Experience:
-Picture quality, not too bad. Would give it an 8/10. Looks like "Lossy" video. The compression used isn't bad, but does have some artifacts and blur when watching things with motion (like NFL on Sundays ). I noticed 1 or 2 audio synch issues but honestly that was only while switching channels and it would buffer for a fraction of a second or two. Overall, not really any audio/video synch issues so far (fingers crossed).
-Vcloud is a nice feature. Tried it out on a couple of channels and works like a charm.
-Did notice that when I tried to record a couple of future shows by following the instructions on-line.(Pressing red button) 4/5 of times came up with Vcloud not available on that channel.
New Remotes:
-Not too bad of a unit. Good weight and feel like others have said.
-Getting used to mouse vs arrow key control takes some time. Would also be nice to know when to use one vs the other. For example, had a heck of a time getting a NetFlix show to actually play. Mouse, vs Ok, vs left-mouse button press, etc..
-Keyboard is handy, just remember left-mouse button vs ok
Issues/Question/Observations:
-Would like to know what compression and protocol is being used for Vbox. As mentioned, it looks like Lossy video with some artifacts. I'm assuming an H.264, wondering if you're investigating H.265?
-Would be a nice feature to have the ability to pause and re-wind "Live TV" like others do. Thinking that if you cache or put into a buffer to allow for a certain number of minutes (say 15min or so), it might not be too had to add this feature??
- When looking ahead in TVGuide, any future dates/times didn't have any listings on any channels (all blank) except for the RT? channel? Tried this several times throughout the day, no future (as in 1 -2 days ahead) listings available.
- TVGuide doesn't provide details like other guides. ie: Says "NFL game" but doesn't tell you which game so you have to select it to figure out who's playing.
-It happened twice so far on the same VBox. It won't power on. Either remote of physically pressing the box's button. Had to unplug power from unit...
-Netflix <- This is bold and underlined for those who use it. Vboxs are Android Tablets and so it's the Android Tablet version of Netflix as you all know. Point is that the picture quality is terrible on this compared to the SmartTV's built-in versions. Looks like standard def. What can we do to improve Netflix on the VBox?
- 1080p vs 720p (read that on the forums too). Yes, XBMC GUI is locked at 720p, can't change that, but it is showing 1080p movies fine. I also set my Vbox to 1080p and adjusted the screen sizes (which BTW, your onscreen controls don't work, could only shrink horizontal or vertical, not expand. "ok" did not switch from shrink to expand). So, for me setting VBox to 1080p works no problem.
- Would like ability set defaults on the remotes buttons. In particular the blue TV, Video, Audio, Apps buttons. For example, TV brings up guide as expected, but video does nothing. Setup XBMC as video app and would like to assign that to the blue Video "movie/film strip icon" button.
So, overall, Vmedia has been good.
-Installation on time/schedule - Check
-Speeds as expected - Check
-Vbox - Not too bad, - I'm a video snob so could be better than 8/10 (motion, blur, artifact)
If you're wondering to VMedia or Not to VMedia. I myself will be sticking with them and have chosen to VMedia.
Cheers.
I'd be comfortable "tweaking" the boxes (can you say xbox mods)
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