TELUS TV Feature Updates - Ongoing

[Optik-Kate]

Dear Neighbours, 

We’re experimenting with different formats to assure you we’re listening and working on improvements to the TELUS TV platforms. We have frequent releases designed to tackle the platform's immediate and long-term stability, and we’ll do our best to keep this thread up to date with each new release to celebrate our wins together.

Please note this is not an exhaustive list; minor customer-facing fixes and non-customer-facing backend work are not included. (Note: Previous updates removed due to character limits on post)

Q2 2025 (WIP):

• TELUS TV+ app is now available for download on Amazon Fire TV
• Sports channels upgraded to 1080P at 60 frames per second
• 40+ new Free Stream TV channels
• 4K HDR now available for On Demand content

Q1 2025:

• Firmware Update:
  • Dolby vision & HDR support that enhances video quality
  • Auto dynamic range adjustment to match the content frame
  • Picture-in-picture previews in guide
  • Find my remote by holding down the pairing button on the box  for >4 seconds
  • Advanced audio controls such as normalization of loudness for all content and disable/enable surround sound format
  • Privacy & accessibility:

• Customization of microphone and camera permissions
• Adjust text size on-screen with new text scaling options

Q4 2024: 

• Zoetrope Previews: See exactly where you're skipping on Live TV, recordings, and On-Demand. Enjoy fullscreen previews when fast-forwarding or rewinding, so you never lose your place. (Thumbnail preview coming soon)
• Fast Forward and Rewind Speeds: Control your scrolling speed with ease:
  • 1x: Scroll at 2x speed.
  • 2x: Scroll at 8x speed.
  • 3x: Scroll at 24x speed.
• Picture Quality Improvements: Most non-sports channels now stream in 1080p (high-definition) for sharper images, with a backup at 720p. Sports channels now uses 720p at 60 frames per second (fps) to keep fast-moving content smooth and prevent display issues—further picture quality improvements to come.
• Recovery After Internet Outage: Your digital box will now automatically resume live TV content as soon as the internet connection is restored.
• Improved Guide on Apple TV: Navigate your TV Guide effortlessly with enhanced performance and no freezing issues.
• Automatic Playback for Recordings: Binge-watch your recorded content with ease as the next recording in your playlist automatically starts playing—no need to press a button!
• Enhanced Restart and Lookback Logic: Enjoy seamless transitions between Restart and Lookback programs for uninterrupted viewing.

Q3 2024:

• Bulk Delete for Recordings: You can now delete multiple recorded episodes simultaneously, making managing your recordings easier.
• Episode List Access: When playing a recorded episode, you can see a list of all other episodes from the same series directly in the player.
• Binge-Watching Made Easy: Enjoy seamless binge-watching of recorded episodes, as they now play sequentially without any interruptions.
• Order Cloud PVR Directly: You can now order Cloud PVR service directly from your set-top box for added convenience.
• Start from the Beginning: Easily start recordings and VOD (Video on Demand) content from the beginning, even if you joined late!

Regards,

Your Friendly Neighbourhood TV Product Development Team.

[Optikal_Speak]

Exactly! Maybe the executive team will get wise before too late. 

I've got (2) 21T's hooked to a Control4 A/V system that controls a few smart TVs and a projector in various rooms. 

Had a lot of initial startup issues, the fall 2024 update seems to have corrected. A few glitches here and there, otherwise picture quality, sound and general functionality seems to be fairly stable lately. 

Have to holster (2) sets of remotes Telus and C4. Bummer, never used to... C4 had compatible drivers to mate with Telus and Shaw legacy PVRs, but not with these Androids unfortunately. 

Sounds like some users are struggling with different forms of technology incompatibilities.

Never a dull moment with this Telus bunch!

[BD17]

Update to picture quality for non-sports channels is great, however the main reason myself and many others still have Optik TV is for live sports. Please have the sport channel picture quality be a priority for the next upgrade. 

[ShawnTheSheep]

Honestly so disappointed in this dev team. They need to up it to 1080p so it doesn’t look pixelated and just for the bandwidth even if it’s broadcasted at 720p60. The pixelation is brutal and I’m a year into my contract. Brutal.

FYI: the non sports channels look great now and the 4K sports channels too but paying this much for the sports theme packs was just a waste of money over the years. 

[hansolo]

The quality is embarrassing. Had some friends over to watch football playoffs and I have a great set up - high end 4K projector, 4K TV etc... and everyone commented how awful it looked. Not exactly great advertising for Telus. 

[ShawnTheSheep]

The frustrating part is it’s been over a year people are commenting about this. They need to up the top layer on the sports channels to 1080p60 even if the broadcast is 720p60, I’ve spent a lot of time in development and I’m in IT this small change will make a big difference while they do updates in the backend to bitrate. 

That’s why the 4K channels look great and the non sports channels look good now too. 

[hansolo]

I just find their channels passable at most. Nothing actually looks great. I do think the remote is awesome and I like all the integration with the apps and obviously Netflix, Prime etc.. show up in true 4K but the actual Telus channels are shocking. I was just in Texas for work and my dated hotel tv looked 10x better than what I have in my home. Truly sad for what we pay. 

[Optikal_Speak]

Telus' digital TV product needs a lot of work to be sure. Honestly I don't have enough tech knowledge to do a deep dive. Having "upgaded" (translation: debatable) from the legacy PVR  product about 6 mths ago the picture quality is far superior re: sports, movies, etc. My devices are non-4K (a LCD Panasonic projector and Samsung smart TVs) combination of HDMI and component connections and all 10+ yrs old. Also, I'm on copper as fiber not yet available in my area. 

It's the plethora of form and function issues that have been ongoing since the "beta" release of this 21T digital gear that I share with all Neighbors in this forum. 

Patience definitely wearing thin. I may give it a year. Definitely not 2 years.  Arguably, a breakup fee should not apply if Telus is not living up to its end of the bargain. 

[ShawnTheSheep]

Well exactly I’m a year into the contract and only watch sports, I use the Sportsnet and Telus app using the Telus account. Not cool. 

[craiger8]

If I’m going to watch a regional Canucks game that is on Sportsnet Pacific only, I will always go to the Sportsnet app to get better picture quality. The Telus Sportsnet channels that are not 4K are awful quality. 

[ShawnTheSheep]

Unacceptable for 61$ a month.

[hansolo]

Yes and I also must note that forums are Internet forever. Anyone searching this product sees ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS, so you may want to get with the times Telus. 

[Optikal_Speak]

Insanity in the Telecom world!

When I switched to the 21T digital boxes in August 2024 and subsequently encountered so many issues and after exhausting the Support team via phone (when you could get a hit with someone) and they were basically throwing their hands up in the air, I found this Telus Neighborhood and immediately thought - I just made a huge mistake! 

Fool me once...!!!

[Rocky3]

The problem is the hardware, of late the 21T power supply has been proven to be the weak link, it fails making it look like the tuner is bad, in fact not.

Having reported this and saying it often many here are not aware. Then the voices at the other end of the phone are not aware of the easy fix and continue to send out new hardware instead of just the power supply.

So many of the issues here may have been solved by PM but never reported fixed in the threads.

I went out and bought a 12V power supply, to be prepared for the fourth failure.

I have Telus cell, telus land line, Telus TV and internet and they are all working well.

Now, waiting for my missing discounts in January to be replaced to cancel out the amount I did not pay.

[Craigvee]

My power supply died on my previous unit also. 

[Montell]

Just seen these posts, my power supply is also dead.

Telus needs to do something about this, to many people having power supplys that die. 

[Optikal_Speak]

Bummer! Got a couple of boxes for my household. No power issues yet, only (6) mths old. 

Hopefully not just something else to not look forward to 🥴

[Craigvee]

Thank you for the Q4 update and finally implementing resolution switching. It is now usable and I can stop using my ARRIS box. 

Of course the quality isn’t perfect but it’s par with Arris. 

[Montell]

Resolution switching? Could you clarify that a bit? Do you just mean you can select something other then auto?

[Craigvee]

Before the update the resolution was fixed at 4K for hdr tvs, however the source content was 720 or 1080. It made the picture quality look terrible. 

You can now set the resolution to match the dynamic range and frame rate. The result is that the box will output to 1080 when watching TV but switch to HDR when watching Netflix or other supported apps.  Telus cable does not put out in HDR and I have never seen that to be the case even with the 4K channels. 

[Montell]

Hmm sounds like two things going on you are discussing. One is the hdr problem so that was the color space issue. I typically use a nvidia shield which had that implemented for years, but its good to have it now on these telus boxes.

Im a bit confused about the resolution comment though. When I use these and arris boxes I just set it to 4k60p since I often watch 4k sports. I guess if you want your tv to do the upscaling you can set it to 1080, but telus might be even broadcasting in 720p, i am not sure.

The problem to me with the new optik system is not the upscaling of the box to 4k, its that the bitrate looks far worse. I kept my arris at 4k60 as well since i often watch 4k sports channels and it looked substantially better. They really need to fix that.

[Montell]

And just to be clear by fix that I mean fix the bitrate of the channels, they look incredibly bitrate starved compared to the old arris optik system. I dont find the upscaling of the box or the resolution the problem to me its a bitrate issue.

[Optikal_Speak]

Begs the question...why is Telus in the box business period?

When you hear things like Nvidia Shield augmenting the Telus gear, the  consumer should have option to choose tuners à la TVs and projectors, etc. 

Telus should concentrate on the upstream side of the Stream"ing" re: apps, talent and financial resources and leave the downstream gear to other specialists...IMHO. 

[Montell]

100% agreed and it's the argument I made when they first introduced this.

The box business is fine maybe for seniors and a nice remote but most people want to use there apple tv, Sony tv, fire stick, that's the future they don't want to rent boxes like it's 1990 but telus is stuck in the past. Even there channel packages they split up into a million tiny packages is from the 1990s and outdated.

One of my biggest issues that beside the poor bitrate issue contributing to picture quality everyone has complained about for years is the poor GUI in the app. Most smart devices only have a few buttons and I hate the "live guide" I like the full guide but it's excruciating difficult and poorly designed to bring it up on these devices easily without there remote guide button.

But most people I know like me choose Telus simply because they have an app that works with smart devices every home has (minus fire stick). And that's what people want to use things like apple tv, not a 25 dollar cheap android box Telus sells.

[Montell]

And to that point I recently had a friend with a family of 5 switch to Telus from shaw for no other reason then the app. They have apple TV's all over the house and I told them they can just use the app and they were sold. Telus imo should be focusing on the app and software development for these devices. 

Nobody is going to pay to rent 5 android boxes from Telus anyway but if you can use an apple tv, Sony tv, Nvidia shield and other things already in everyone's homes you have a much better chance of getting the customer to sign up.

[Optikal_Speak]

Interesting commentary on Shaw (Rogers).

Debating punting Telus. Will do more research. 

Maybe a situation "better the devil you know..." type thing