Replacing PVR - Frustrating

[Richard60]

Our PVR (UIW8001) kicked the bucket and was not recording. So we had that PVR and a settop box on 2 TV's (UIW4001). After 2 calls to Tech Support and Customer Loyalty (Hate the automated help, basically useless).

A newer PVR was sent out, model VIP5662W, in which the instructions state to place by the modem and not connect the HDMI to your TV. Ok, now we are short a settop box.

I called again and asked for a settop box and received a new old UIW8001 PVR which was manufactured 2 years prior to the original. 

The next day we received a TELUSTV-21T Box, and if we want to record an extra $10 monthly charge.. All I wanted was a replacement PVR and I have ended up with a "PVR/Cloud" for the main TV and a PVR+Settop box for the 2nd TV and the recordings don't transfer between the 2.

Am I missing something here? 

[TELUS_Support]

Hi @Richard60 - it's possible that with inventory constraints a 1:1 replacement was not possible. 

The VIP 5662W can just be swapped with the old box in the same place. Those instructions to not plug it in to a TV is for situations where the PVR is too far from the modem so it is just placed next to the modem as a "dummy" PVR.

The new 21T box will not work with your set up as you've mentioned you need to subscribe for cloud recording.

If the 5662W works just fine where the old PVR was located, just do that and return any equipment that you don't need.

So sorry that this got overly complicated

[KHR · Accepted solution]

The UIW8001 and VIP5662 are functionally identical. You can connect either to your TV and use it as a set-top box. I wouldn't worry about the manufacture date - the guts of the box are basically the same and both would have been refurbished before they were sent to you. These boxes both have an internal hard-drive with locally stored recordings that can be accessed on your home network by the UIW4001s.  

The TELUSTV-21T is a newer generation hardware that does not have a harddrive; recordings are stored in the cloud, which allows full access across the TELUS TV+ apps. This box should not have been sent to you based on what you already have.

Mixed households (cloud PVR and local PVR) are not supported, and other than 2 different recording lists, you will likely run into other problems. If you want to switch to cloud recordings, you'd need to swap all the boxes in your home to the newer equipment or use the TELUS TV+ app. The rental price for the newer generation box is $10 while the rental price for a PVR is $20. So if the plan you choose doesn't include cloud recordings (some plans do), the total price ($10 box + $10 recording add-on) is a wash.  

tl;dr: use your existing UIW4001 and choose the UIW8001 or VIP5662. Send back the other 2.

[Richard60]

Thank-you to both KHR and "TELUS_Support". I'll try one of the new PVR's tomorrow and if all is fine I'll get that "new" equipment sent back to Telus!