Any further Time-Warner "Navigator" software news?

[bbone]

1st post here, fairly new to HD as well as TWC, having just purchased an HD TV in June and having TWC installed in late July. Had a "system update" come thru at about 3 a.m. Tuesday morning and about 20 minutes after that was done the box shut off again for an "explorer" update. After the updates my box was messed up in that I could no longer change the picture size, movie channels and HD channels all were full screen 16:9, but all other channels would display at 4:3, settings could not be changed either thru the settings menu or using the # key, however a program that would display at 4:3 while recording would display at 16:9 after it was recorded!

Finally got frustrated and called TWC and they sent out a couple of techs while I was at work Friday, the tech asked my wife what was wrong and when she told them they said that there were a number of problems with the update and they had replaced a number of boxes. So they ended up replacing our box and then told my wife that there was another update scheduled for this coming week, but that it shouldn't affect our box.....believe it when I see it!

Anyway the new box(8300HD) is working fine and I don't want to reboot it without a reason, how can I find out what software is on it? Our previous box had a guide that was primarily blue as were screens on the settings page, now on this box the guide is primarily purple and seems to function much better than the previous box as far as making changes and picking channels to view in the guide, before we had to punch in the channel number and then hit select to see it in the guide, now we just punch in the # and we can view that channels programming. I just have a feeling that this box might have passport on it instead of navigator which will be a huge disappointment. If on the other hand this is a new version of navigator, it's a big improvement to me!

[Jack 1000]

1st post here, fairly new to HD as well as TWC, having just purchased an HD TV in June and having TWC installed in late July. Had a "system update" come thru at about 3 a.m. Tuesday morning and about 20 minutes after that was done the box shut off again for an "explorer" update. After the updates my box was messed up in that I could no longer change the picture size, movie channels and HD channels all were full screen 16:9, but all other channels would display at 4:3, settings could not be changed either thru the settings menu or using the # key, however a program that would display at 4:3 while recording would display at 16:9 after it was recorded!

Finally got frustrated and called TWC and they sent out a couple of techs while I was at work Friday, the tech asked my wife what was wrong and when she told them they said that there were a number of problems with the update and they had replaced a number of boxes. So they ended up replacing our box and then told my wife that there was another update scheduled for this coming week, but that it shouldn't affect our box.....believe it when I see it!

Anyway the new box(8300HD) is working fine and I don't want to reboot it without a reason, how can I find out what software is on it? Our previous box had a guide that was primarily blue as were screens on the settings page, now on this box the guide is primarily purple and seems to function much better than the previous box as far as making changes and picking channels to view in the guide, before we had to punch in the channel number and then hit select to see it in the guide, now we just punch in the # and we can view that channels programming. I just have a feeling that this box might have passport on it instead of navigator which will be a huge disappointment. If on the other hand this is a new version of navigator, it's a big improvement to me!

The easiest way to tell if you have Navigator or Passport:

If you press "A" on your remote control and and your Access Menu comes up, you have Navigator.

If you press A on your remote and nothing happens, you have Passport.  

If you have Digital Phone added to your Digital Cable service:

For Navigator: (For TV Caller ID) Press A on your remote and scroll down to Caller ID and press Select to see or change settings.  Press Exit to leave the Access Menu.

For Passport:  To examine or change Caller ID settings on TV go to channel 199 and press A to examine the settings.  Follow prompts to change.  To leave settings as they are, change channels.

Jack

[bbone]

That's what I was afraid of, I have Passport on this box and sometime probably soon I'll be stuck with the crappy Navigator again! Figures TWC would take what appears to be good software and replace it with garbage, I was really hoping I had the latest version of Navigator and that they had learned from their mistakes. With Navigator reboots up to 7 times a week were common, I'm not looking forward to that again. Then again I've only had Passport for a couple of days now, maybe this box will start rebooting all of the time too and I'll just have to learn to live with it, but so far to me anyway Passport is a hundred times better.

[kevbeck122]

I think I read on this forum that Navigator would be deployed to the 8300HDs by the end of the year.. let's hope not .

[Jack 1000]

I have a feeling that Navigator is coming sooner than expected to the legacy boxes:

My brochure says begining in December that TWC is making their premium channel On Demand for free (as long as you subscribe to the premium channel in question.)  If you do, you get Free on Demand, supposedly in December.  The current Answers on Demand information (AOD channel 1999) talks about having to pay the $6.95/monthly fee and all of the tutorial menus are Passport related.

I don't think they would change those tutorial videos without changing the system.  This is just a theory.  We'll see what happens.

Jack

[kevbeck122]

I just got a SA4250HDC box with Navigator on it.  I must say it's a lot better on this box than when they forced us to beta test on the Pace DC551 box.  It was really buggy on that box and froze up quite a bit.  The only thing I don't like so far is the constant need to update the guide.  A lot of times I move up a couple of channels and it has to update the guide, taking away the video for awhile.  It's almost like it doesn't keep much in memory.  The interface is a little slower than Passport.. but I can live with it.

[Jack 1000]

Well,

If it's a sign of things to come, Navigator here in TWC-Milwaukee has been moved to the home page of TWC's Wisconsin website. It hasn't been that way since the January test rollout. I wonder if we are going to get a notification of the change over?

Jack

[oz]

I received a call on my mobile phone just now from TWC with a recording about Navigator. Some of the call was cut-off, but I think it was telling me that my box is going to be upgraded soon.

[kevbeck122]

Regarding my post above... after having it for a week I'm back to not liking it.  A lot of times it takes 5-10 seconds for it to respond after I type in a channel.  It still does that stupid guide update many times when just moving a couple channels up the guide.  It's still better than the Pace box.. but not that much better.

[RLJSlick]

I got my new Navigator updated on my 3 HD decoder boxes today.  My boxes been rebooting every other day for about a week. Everything seems nice, lot's a new menus.
BTW the new boxes are called Mystro now not Passport.

[Jack 1000]

I got my new Navigator updated on my 3 HD decoder boxes today.  My boxes been rebooting every other day for about a week. Everything seems nice, lot's a new menus.
BTW the new boxes are called Mystro now not Passport.

Everyone,

Did you get a phone call or mailer before the upgrade, and how much time elapsed between your notification and the upgrade?  For questions, problems, or concerns about the upgrade, please indicate your type of cable box (OCAP or Non OCAP, DVR or standard box, as well as any other pertinent information.)  The Cable Card boxes are designated by a C in the model number. (AKA OCAP) the non-OCAP boxes, where the software that has been, or shortly will be downloaded to legacy boxes and DVR's, have no C in the model number.  Thanks!  Keep us posted!

Jack

[kermtfrg]

I got a phone call Monday, card in the mail Tuesday and one of the boxes(HD, no DVR) was upgraded sometime Wednesday.  The other box (HD DVR) hasn't been upgraded yet.

[tschinner]

I have two Pioneer HD boxes (no DVR).  Both got Navigator yesterday.  My biggest issue so far is that I lost the preview pane when watching an HD channel and you open the guide.  The preview pane is black.

My only hope is that this will allow them to add more HD channels via SDV.  I am not going to wait much longer.

[gparris]

My only hope is that this will allow them to add more HD channels via SDV.  I am not going to wait much longer.

Actually, some avsforum members report not any or many, TWC HD channel additions after SDV deployment, at least in their TWC area, sad to say.
So don't get your "hopes up" too much, okay?

Nobody that can make a switch to D* will stay with TWC for HD channel selection, soon, IMO.
Unless they live with an obstruction to the southern sky like trees, houses on a hill, condo/apartment living without possible access
...or require all their locals in HD, like CBSHD (a requirement for our household).

The only thing that would really be bad for anyone to have TWC with Navigator is HD DVR use messed up like the Nebraska TWC nightmare of months ago.
-That alone could drive me to D* and beg for some kind of waiver to get CBSHD in NYC, if at all possible, like some forum members claim they are able to.
Note: Depending if your TWC area has Passport or Sara, Navigator in DVR boxes can be either a nightmare or a mixed blessing, at best.
Some in avsforums refer to it as "Crapagator", which is not something I would look forward to.

Now, once all the installs due to the dozens of HD channels just added begins to slow down a bit, D* could offer even more incentives to getting them, IMO.
Right now, installers are very busy and STBs can become scarce overnight, it seems, especially this time of year.

After watching my brother's Directv H20 w/Slimline Dish setup, I was very envious.
You don't have a DVR yet, but you might want to get one if you switch, just to keep track of all the great HD available from Directv, like he is.
He's going from the D* model H20>HR21 instead (since he doesn't care to do OTA).

[Jack 1000]

Everyone,

Did you get a phone call or mailer before the upgrade, and how much time elapsed between your notification and the upgrade?  For questions, problems, or concerns about the upgrade, please indicate your type of cable box (OCAP or Non OCAP, DVR or standard box, as well as any other pertinent information.)  The Cable Card boxes are designated by a C in the model number. (AKA OCAP) the non-OCAP boxes, where the software that has been, or shortly will be downloaded to legacy boxes and DVR's, have no C in the model number.  Thanks!  Keep us posted!

Jack

Update info:  Does anyone here know when TWC is supposed to begin Navigator's roll out to DVR boxes?  I don't want to lose my saved recordings and this is what I am most concerned about.  Please post any timetables or schedules for the Navigator upgrade if known.  For those who have been upgraded, how is it working for you?

Jack