Apple TV - Feedback and Feature Requests

[fjnf_shjh]

Been exploring EE on Apple TV over the last week. Overall I have had no problems, but there are a few things which are a bit annoying. Not sure if there is a way of submitting feedback? 

1. Remove the SD channels - Feels like there are more channels than there are, as most appear twice. On the Mini boxes I can at least hide channels but can’t do that on the Apple TV app - for finding something to watch seeing everything duplicated isn’t great so ability to turn off SD if there is a HD channel or even just allowing hiding channels like on the mini boxes would be good
2. BBC Region - not sure if this is a bug but my region randomly changes back to BBC London. Go and change it back in settings and it updates then a day later it’s back to BBC London
3. Show HD/SD/5.1 in the info panel at the bottom - sometimes hard to work out if im on a HD channel or just have poor internet. Some of the graphics show it, but others dont. Having the details on the bar that appears when you click on a channel would be good. 
4. Allow more Apple TVs - Streams are all the same surely so why not allow us to add more if we wanted consistency across the house. 

As a new product it actually works well. Think it’s weird we can’t register upto 2 other Apple TVs or even get offered to purchase more. Having the two mini boxes when I already have Apple TV or maybe I want to buy more EE Apple TVs would be good, more consistent experience across rooms and missing services - Such as Disney+ - that aren’t on the Mini Box. 

[DarrenDev]

Thanks for your feedback.

Apple TV reverses the model used by set top box - instead of hiding channels you don't want to see, you can favourite the ones you do.

I've raised a bug with the Apple TV that your TV region is resetting - I can see form our logs that you're setting the TV region, but the app is misbehaving on how it then saves that value.

The channels control the logos that they display - some mention HD, some don't.  The programmes themselves mention it though - select the info icon and it'll include [HD] at the end if broadcast in HD.  The channels are ABR though - the channel/programme may be broadcast in HD, but available bandwidth determines whether you're seeing it in that or not. An online indicator of quality has been discussed before and not considered a good experience - the focus should be on the quality of the picture, not the numbers.

There are contractual and commercial reasons why more than one Apple TV cannot be offered I'm afraid.

[Chris_B]

@fjnf_shjh  As for Disney+ on the mini box that’s down to Disney to allow and create the that app for it.   There is a legal side to this and EE can’t just go putting it on there.  

[fjnf_shjh]

Have used favourites but it’s not that useful. Having to go up to filter every time the app loads to then select favourites is just extra steps. Speaking of the categories, they are inconsistent too as there is no hd category like on the mini box if the only way of doing this is to use the filters. 

think when you only allow one Apple TV and mix with mini boxes it’s very consistent to have a different way of things working. The boxes are all in the same house and used by multiple people. 

[DarrenDev]

Thanks again @fjnf_shjh - all useful stuff.  We have a meeting at 4pm today to review all feedback so far, and discuss what the next batch of features will be.  I'll be sure to bring up everything I'd seen on these forums so far.

[TheRumBaron]

Hi Darren,

Looks like this was raised a couple of years ago but never actioned, and I'm seeing a lot of people complaining about the exact same issue with EE TV on Apple TV.

Please, can we get a feature to permanently hide SD channels from the TV guide? SD channels are practically unwatchable—unless I take my glasses off, at which point the blur starts to look normal! Jokes aside, having to reapply the filter every single time you open the guide is a real pain. A persistent setting is badly needed.

One final point: could the channels be organised in a more logical order? Having Sky Sports wedged right between TNT Sports, combined with all the duplicate SD channels, makes the EPG  feel completely cluttered.

It really lets down the overall UX at the moment....and has done for a couple of years....If you guys need some funding to develop this then let me know, ill happily lend you guys the cash and even provide a resource with the dev skills to do this from my own work 🙂

[DarrenDev]

Customers are welcome to provide feedback, but no promises are made.

Feedback about hiding SD channels has been raised, and may be implemented in future.

Changes to the TV Guide need approval from many different people, including broadcasters.

Changing the order of the channels is an even bigger change, and is rarely done without good reason.

[TheRumBaron]

100% I totally appreciate that not every feedback is turned into a promised delivery - but this is one feedback that you will see across not only this community but on social platforms like reddit for example ( referring to the removal of SD channels).

SD TVs were phased out over a decade ago, and from what I understand, the only reason the channels still exist today is to maintain older DVB-T standard transmissions to support legacy external set-top boxes, weaker signal areas, and older digital tuner equipment.....EE TV is purely digitally delivered, so im not sure why you would continue to serve SD channels in this fashion other than to maybe give the illusion offering many channels....The cost of supporting and delivering these unwanted channels surely can not be cost effecitve?

With regards to the TV guide and channel order, fair point, did not realise there was such a big commercial and legal element behind it. 

[DarrenDev]

There isn't the capacity for all channels to be HD over DVB, even ignoring the legacy decoders issue.

EE TV in Internet mode is delivered over multicast to TV Box - there currently isn't the capacity over multicast to deliver all channels in HD, though it could be increased (at a cost) if the demand was there.

For Apple TV, channels are delivered ABR - the TV will consume the highest bandwidth it's capable of, and the subscription allows.

You mention the cost of supporting both SD and HD channels, however ONLY the subscription channels are delivered in both - where customers have to pay for HD.  For the Freeview (non subscription) channels, they're delivered in the best quality according to the feed available to us - some are SD, some are HD (and some are in between).

As things stand, HD is a chargeable extra that most customers choose not to pay.  It's not as important to them as it is to you.

Before you ask: if HD became included as standard, it would raise the cost for those who weren't fussed about HD. Is that fair?  Everything comes at a cost - increased encoding, distribution, and even licensing costs.