We're still hearing a lot about upgrade bugs, but these are either some we're hearing for the first time or that may have gotten buried under all the others.
I am experiencing alot of things you mention in the article. I have an
old classic and every time I try to move from one page to the next it
takes forever. (I leave my IM off) I've also experienced several
sponaneous shut-offs for no apparent reason.
An odd thing I've noticed. When I have an email incoming and at the
_same time_, I try to go to another page, I get "webtv has disconnected
for an incoming call"!! At first, I wasn't sure.. but, this has
happened 6 or 7 times at least. As soon as I reconnect.. "beep" and
the red light comes on!!
ahdn
I don't know whether this is necessarily an upgrade-related bug or not,
but recently I have been totally unable to access any articles found at
Cinescape Online. This is a website I have had in Favorites and utilized
successfully for well over a year now. Up until several weeks ago
everything was functioning normally, relative to this particular site.
Now when I visit Cinescape Online and click on an article, the cursor
box turns green, hesitates a couple of seconds and turns yellow again,
without ever having returned the information I requested. Very
frustrating!
I'd be curious to know if any other WebTv subscribers have also had
trouble with this same website of late. I am currently using a brand-new
PM Plus, just got it yesterday in fact. This model is the MAT976KB, the
newest model Plus which now bundles the re-designed (and now full-sized)
PM kb (MWK350BK) in the box as standard equipment.
Bob
here a couple of problems i'm experiencing regularly since the upgrade
and they are really teeing me off. i didn't see these in your rundown.
i'm on a plus.
1) when i follow a link created in a newsletter such as yours, i very
often get a white page. i usually give up unless it is something i
really need, then i'll go to the newsletter itself and search it out.
2) real (infrequent) audioˆthis one is the biggest bummer of the
summer. i've gotten the "publisher is too busy page" but what i also get
more regularly is "there is no webpage for the chosen item". right. on
every ra link on the page!
there must be a LOT of formats that we can't access. i'm hitting some
very bad luck. i've spent hours searching french radio (my speciality)
and when i find a really promising oneˆ"there is no webpage for the
chosen item"
well, i guess not in webtv world. real infrequent. real bummer.
laura tattoo
1. When I hit 'PRINT' I'm told: "Checking for printer information" or
"Getting printer information." Time consume: 10-24 seconds each time I
press "PRINT".
2. Occasionally my WebTV Plus will immediately disconnect after
pressing "PRINT". When I reconnect, I again have to go to "PRINT".
When I press "PRINT" again, the border aound "PRINT" alternately flashes
between orange and green, but won't print. Then I must press "RELOAD"
before it will accept the "PRINT" command and start printing.
3. When two printed copies of a page are needed, I sometimes have to
"RELOAD" before it will accept the "PRINT" command for the 2nd copy.
4. At Real Audio and Microsoft Windows Media Player sites I'm usually
told, "The item chosen contains a kind of information that WebTV can't
use" or '...the site is too busy...' (even at 3AM).
Problems 1-3 have only occurred since the July 2000 "upgrade."
I still can't access the Britannica encyclopedia site , which is the
most valuable reference site on the web! Absolutely inexcusable!
Some talk shows which could be received (with occasional 'hiccups' in
the stream) prior to the "upgrade" cannot now be accessed.
I would gladly pay to have my pre-upgrade software back. What a sorry
mess!!!
Jim (in Iowa)
First i have to admitt that i love the new upgrade as far as having the
msn...but, when i discovered the disappering addy book i panicked! I
became so frustrated trying to figure out what happened that i just
loged off..sure enough, when i loged back on THERE IT WAS AGIN! This has
happened several times since but i don't freak out anymore since i know
it will come back..and what is up with that "this page is to large"
stuff...man is that irritating.I have the old classic and it seems to me
that it just takes forever to get anywhere anymore....ok thanks for
listening.
carol barreda
wow.
I have experienced almost all of the problems you listed in this
article. One more is driving me crazy.
the tv listings are not always accurate. often times, it will give the
listings for, and display the time from hours ago. sometimes as much as
5 hours earlier. i found this to be quite odd and each time it made me
check with at least two different clocks in the house.
turning the box off and on fixed the problem temporarily.
kylie128
Hi - Thanks for inviting my 2¢; I'll try to keep it short. Have read
this article with interest & it does explain some problems I've had
since this upgrade - the Recent panel nearly useless with a page of
black holes, etc.
I didn't want & don't care about IM; am glad to see one simple tip in
your article that I should have thought of - turn it off! I hope it
helps. I'd love to suggest a campaign to get everybody to turn it off
but the kids would never go for it.
Probs: Sometimes Save is disabled. I have to back up & reload page I
want to save - sometimes can't be done. Print is disabled if I started
to print & had to stop (cartridge change) it won't let me try again.
Both cmd+p & Option were dead. And of course the wait while it "gets
printer info" - every time! Some others you mentioned too.
Worst Prob: Pagebuilder. It's terrible to work in now - the Add Text box
doesn't enlarge as I continue to type & doesn't show what I've typed for
several lines. I can jump it down by hitting Return, but it's sure
aggravating. After Preview, "Back" jumps it back to the last editing
box I was in instead of the page with "Add an Item" It's so slow to
move, this makes it worse. On my pages where I had linked images with
html, and they were centered instead of L or R per page design, they are
now all defaulted to Left & ruin the looks of the page. I can't override
the PB templates with ALIGN tags, never could. The whole Pagebuilder
process is so slow and unreliable now, I just can't work on pages and
don't want to make any more. That was my favorite part of Webtv & I'm
really upset about it.
This is just one of my Users & I don't have IM enabled here at all, but
have the same probs!
Thanks for reading.
S. Goodman
I have been noticing problems with my "save" and "send" funtions BIG
TIME! I press "save" & nothing! I press send and either I get NOTHING or
I get it popping up and down repeatedly super fast, too fast for my to
be able to click on anything from there thus I aam unable to complete
the task of "sending" pages, or "saving" pages! AHHHH!!!! Also I have
noticed that when I am using the MSN to chat on web tv it will start to
make the text go up too far and stay there where ya can't read what's
been said anymore, so I have found I mst use my "back" button then
re-enter into the chat and it is back to where it should be READABLE!
LOL!
Guess this covers my WEB TV Up Grade
Woes for now.
Sure hope the bugs get worked out SOON!!!!
Sincerely,
Lisa Michelle
I have just tried accessing music files on a number of sites using
RealAudio and the Windows Media Player. I was unable to listen to even
one piece of music, though I tried about 50. When trying RealAudio, I
usually got the pop up messages "There is no web page or other
information for the item chosen" or "This is a type of information that
WEBTV canot use." When tried the Media Player I kept getting the pop
up that says "The publisher of that page kept you waiting for more than
one minute without responding." This message appeared almost
immediately after the Media Player appeared on the screen, and much less
than a minute after I clicked on the request.
If it took this long to come up with this lousy "upgrade", I see
no hope for the future of WEBTV.
John Oakes
Both my remote and keyord do not work well since the upgrade. The ky
board skips letters as yo can see, een touh I am typing slow. The
remote control has difficlty in turning the TV on and the volume control
is really messed up, even though I have reset everything as instruced.
However I cannot find a place to reset a number for my Toshib TV. IT s
a LOUSY upgrade, quality wise and when I call WebTV they say call SONY
tat it's a ardware problem!!! Giveme a break!!!!!
s PS. I'm a good typist....and I did not have a problem like this
util the upgrade.
Winson DeWitt
I've had nearly every problem you've mentioned with this latest upgrade.
I got my upgrade on June 6th. I have the MAT972 P/M version... it's a
Plus unit, and I've had some of the problems you labelled as "classic
only". My TV listings are extremely slow now. When I hit the listings
button from the options pane, it takes awhile for it to get to the
listings page. As I scroll through the listings, I frequently encounter
pauses now, that happened VERY rarely before the upgrade (and it only
seemed to happen after a long period of inactivity), now it happens
quite often. Of course, my model is one with a hard drive, so perhaps
it has something to do with that. I usually hear the hard drive start
spinning whenever I go to the TV listings page now. Before, that seemed
to only happened after long periods of inactivity.
I was on the E! channel briefy last night while I was talking on the
phone to someone... E! was providing me with some nice "eye-candy" :)
As you may know, they offer interactive TV with webtv. The whole time I
was on the channel, I had a bar at the bottom of the page with the
interactive TV button. Like I said, I wasn't on E! for very long and I
was paying more attention to my phone conversation than what was on my
TV. I don't know how long it took for that bar to go away (if it went
away before I flipped to something else) and that go interactive bar is
not showing up right now as I type this and switch over to E! in hopes
of getting some solid info to give you :( I think that bar was red...
but I'm not certain right now.
MPEGS are loading noticeably slower than before the upgrade. Also, it
mutes the TV window as soon as it gets to the MPEG file, not after it
loads and plays (if it plays). The only way to get the TV sound back
(without switching over to TV from the web) is use the "cmd+W" keyboard
shortcut to close and reopen the pip window. The sound returns while my
options panel is up, but it covers the pip window, and I can't watch
the MPEG load because the image freezes while the options panel is up.
I have yet to find any compatible (correct speed option) windows media I
wish to view, but the ones I found to test it out from windowsmedia.com
gave me the sometimes it'll play, but usually won't problem. I'll
probably end up turnig off my messenger to see if the MPEGs will load
quicker.
This upgrade is the first I've seen that I thought was going to be
something good. However I've now learned that there are TWO types of
webtv upgrades. Useless ones I don't care about, and the ones that
introduce annoying things and changes that don't make sense.
These thing don't make sense to me and/or generally annoy me:
They changed the way the box beeps. Some functions and actions no
longer have a beep or sound (using the "view" button now has no sound
associated with it) while other beeps have been changed (like the select
all fuction using "cmd+A") Was this neccessary? Does this improve
anything? Not in my humble opinion.
They've given us a "stop" button when we connect to the net (when the
previous surfing session has expired and you aren't flipping over to a
webpage) and get the webtv blue connecting screen. Okay, I guess that's
easier than hitting the power off button to stop it if you hit the view
button in error, but I could care less about this new stop button.
When I get to the user account selection page, I have no TV PIP anymore!
NEVER! Before the upgrade, the TV pip would be there unless I had
turned it off in my last surfing session or if the box had lost power at
some point. After I hit the "cmd+w" buttons to force the TV PIP, select
my account name, and then hit "view" to go back to the TV, it puts me on
the TV home page, not full screen TV as it was when I decided to connect
to the internet. There is one thing I like in this topic though, after
I've selected the account name and gone back to view the TV while the
box connects to the account, it automatically switches to the interent
once the WebTV home page loads. However the TV PIP will only be there
if I forced it when I was on the user account selection page. Before,
as I mentioned above, it would be there unles I had turned it off
previously or the box had lost power.
This upgrade obliterated all of my TV info when I recieved it. I have
to re-enter all of my TV shows I had on my reminder list (my TV was
truly on auto-pilot most of the time), and I had to reconfigure the
whole "Get TV listings" area from the time the box retrieves to which
listings it retrieves from my cable company, as well as having no
listings after loading the upgrade. There are six or seven different
listings to choose with my cable company for some reason... even though
my zip code does not cover a large area. I've always found this to be
wierd.
Okay, now I've had the disappearing pics on the recents page, but
there's something else worse than that to me... possibly my biggest
complaint/gripe. When I use my "back" button, I may or may not go to
the previous page. Sometimes, it'll take back two pages or so... and it
seems to happen more frequently if I'm surfing out of my webtv favorites
area, but that may just be a coincidence. The back button problem has
happened on your net4tv site as well. It haappened when I was on a
article about povertystricken's demise - something I'm extremely angry
and distraught over. When I hit the back button, I expected to return
to my search results page. However I returned to a fresh net4tv search
page... I had to re-enter my search data. When this "back button
problem" happened the other night, I checked my recents panel, and the
pages it had skipped were there, and I was able to hop to them from
there... if that helps to shed light on anything.
Something else that was kinda unexpected, but I have yet to have the
opportunity to replicate it. I was looking at the webtv help and info
pages, reading up about the latest upgrade, when a phone call came in.
I got the standard message box saying "WebTV has disconneced to recieve
an incoming call" that I'm used to, but there was a new button on it.
An "explain" button was next to the "reconnect" button. I hit the
explain button, while I was still on the phone and not connected to the
internet. It took me to my dialing options area, or something similar
telling me or asking me if I wanted to adjust my call waiting
sensitivity. Still trying to cram the "noisy phone lines" down our
throats I guess :) Anyhow, while I was still not connected to the net,
I hit the back button and returned to the webtv network page I was on
when my call came in. I was able to scroll the page and read it as if I
were connected. I didn't try to use any of the links, to see if more
than just that one webtv network page had been loaded into my browser
that I could view offline becaause I was afraid I might get disconnected
from my phone call or something.
I'm simply overjoyed to see that your site has grown and how on top of
things you are. Great Job!!!!! I found your site when I first got my
webtv a little over a year ago, but there wasn't enough there to hold my
interests. That looks like it's changed.
Video Sean
I have one for you: my information bar and progress scope (you know,
that squiggly line that stops when the page is loaded) are gone, and
instead I get the bottom of the current image staying in place.
Sometimes the image stays there when I back up.
This started today; I got the upgrade yesterday.
PeterX
Here's another BUG----my online banking no longer works (or any SECURE
page for that matter)....I've had bills go past due becaue I wasn,t
able to access my online bank account!!!
Everything worked fine before this "upgrade"...I'd rather communicate
with my money than send an IM anyday!!! The irony is that webtv will
draw money from this account to pay for this lame service!!!! I
reported this glitch to the webmaster at my bank and they said there is
nothing they can do (I think they are tired of constantly changing their
content so that WEBTV can use it...lol)
We had a form of IM before: it was called "E-mail" now everythig is so
slow that it could take days to get a mail...Also, I tried to add a
buddy from the MSN network and I got a pop-up saying that the MSN IM
doesn't recognize that address (what a joke)... BTW I am using a SONY
INT W-200 PLUS (or should I say "MINUS")
Another note...I've noticed that all those adds that are forced on us on
the "contacting" screen are always loaded lightning fast.....
Rose n Bob
Ordering groceries through http://www.homeruns.com has changed. It now
seems to run in an endless loop rather than a page-at-a-time. Back
button does not work. Clicking on a button results in a blank grey page
which sometimes takes a minute to bring up the text & sometimes I have
to scroll upward through the grey to find the text. On the other hand I
can now use search & lists which I could not before.
cappie
Hi, Yes I also thought i would let you know us that did online banking
since the upgrade cant even Log in Now, I called Keybank they said it
was because of webtv upgrade. :-(
LATINA1968
I received my Upgrade yesterday and there are a couple of
problems...When I power on and get to my homepage, there is no bottom
bar (with the arrows, heartbeat, red light for Caps, etc.). The "bar"
finally arrives if I hit Options. I've also noticed that choosing flash
animation on WebTv sponsored E-Greetings powers off my set.
~sami~
I use SONY PLUS W200. (2-1/2yrs)
I.. AND.. the online VENDORS that I frequent and make weekly..
bi-weekly.. and monthly purchases from are ALL at our wits end!!...
SOME are "NETGROCER".. "OFFICE-DEPOT"... "HOMEWAREHOUSE"..
"DRUGSTORE.COM" and more!!...
Tho I can browse "NETGROCER" I cannot "buy" "save" or access my acct.
They do not recognize my presence even if I try to log-on as a NEW
USER!!
"OFFICE DEPOT" does not let me link any "departments" off of the home
page.. or permit me to log-on as a NEW or Old user.
The "SECURE SERVERS" are inoperative at all of the above and others that
I have tested.. including "LANDSEND.com"
ALL are claiming (by return mail) that they are receiving numerous
complaints from Webtv users and do not know what to do about it.. as
webtv is not cooperating with them.
The same problems persist in various forms at all commercial websites
that I frequent and have "tested" since accepting the "UPGRADE????"
yesterday morning.
I hve NOT activated "I.M." and wouldn't even attempt it.
I have experienced ALL of the "QUIRKS" in your above report, in one way
or another. This is a disgrace and will make Webtv a laughing stock in
the set-top industry! What were they thinking when they dumped this
monstrosity upon us??..
I am a housebound person and have become dependent on the web to shop
for food and other sustenance. It's been a gift beyond belief!...
There must be a way to FREE me from this "UPGRADE?" untill it is
de-bugged. PLEASE say "YES"??.....
--Sandy S.
I've been experiencing a new wrinkle since the upgrade that I didn't see
in your list. I'm on a old Sony Plus.
Nine times out of ten, when I attempt to do a search in TV Listings, the
box will power off. When I hit the return key, (and the new pop up that
now announces the search comes up), the system will immediately turn
off.
There are several other little nuisance problems, like increased load
times for
the mail page, but the search/power off bug seems to be the worst of the
lot, so far.
Robert Marshall
First let me mention that I accidentally "forced" the upgrade. I had
looked at the post in an ng once, regarding the how to's for safe
forcing. When I went back to look at it again to show my sister, and
clicked on the place for "old" plus users to get the code and
instructions, instead of taking me to the instructions and the code it
just started upgrading. What a shock! Fortunately all went well. I
wonder if others ended up with a premature upgrade the same way...
However, I have experienced some problems on the tv side after the
upgrade that I haven't seen posted, so I can't figure out whether or not
others have experienced any of the same problems. I am afraid to call
the 1 800 GO-WEBTV number because I forced the upgrade. No matter it was
accidental.
My question to you is, have you heard of any of these "glitches"?
And are they being worked on, or do I need to bite the bullet and call
the 800#? (I have not yet been offered the actual upgrade by WebTV)
Here are some of the problems that have occurred while I am on the tv
side of my plus unit:
1. The Go Interactive button isn't bright like the other buttons, and
doesn't work.
2. When I use the Recents option on the TV side, it won't go back down
by clicking on it again. Sometimes using the back button works,
sometimes it doesn't.
3. When I click on the TV picture to enlarge it, either from the TV
Home, from TV Listings or TV Favorites, it usually will not go back to
where it was that I clicked from (by using the back button). The
work around I have used is to click on Home, so it takes me back to the
TV Home and I have to start over.
4. Once the web side has timed out (and I am on the TV side) it is
difficult to get back on to the web side. There is no longer the smooth
transition by clicking on the view button, then the reconnect button on
the web side. Often it has to go through the complete process for
logging on as if I hadn't been on at all.
So far these are the only glitches I have found. But they are real
nuisances! Can you offer any words of wisdom, please?
Thank you for any info you can provide,
Midge
i have one of the old classics and the new upgrade somehow changed some
of the functions on my keyboard. caps lock now work as athe shift key on
some thing. caps lock on and the numbers become !@#$%^&*() as if i were
usig the shift key. as a matter of fact all the symbols the shift key
use to engage are now done with caps lock as well as shift. the alt
function has also changed. needless to say i now have to relearn my kb
I am experiencing alot of things you mention in the article. I have an
old classic and every time I try to move from one page to the next it
takes forever. (I leave my IM off) I've also experienced several
sponaneous shut-offs for no apparent reason.
An odd thing I've noticed. When I have an email incoming and at the
_same time_, I try to go to another page, I get "webtv has disconnected
for an incoming call"!! At first, I wasn't sure.. but, this has
happened 6 or 7 times at least. As soon as I reconnect.. "beep" and
the red light comes on!!