Revue and Accessories

[Tim_revue]

I know I am certainly not the only person to report this, in fact I see several other threads already but I thought I would make another to try and convey the maginitude of this issue.

Since the March 15 update approximatley HALF the videos on my DLNA server wont play. It lists them but when you click on them it loads for a few seconds and says the video can't be played. I have tried putting the videos on a flash drive and playing them and it still doesn't work so I know it's not a DLNA issue and I know for certain that all the videos played perfectly prior to the March 15 update.

I thought I would be patient and assumed it would be fixed by the next update, but the recent March 29 update did not help one bit.

I have not been unable to track down the common demoninator between the videos that wont play. I have videos encoded with exactly the same software (right down to the build number), the same format, the same writing library and the same codec yet one plays and the other doesn't. It seems that the promlematic videos have all been XVID but I'm not sure if this has any relation to the problem because I don't have many videos in other formats to try, and the other half of my collection which is also encoded in XVID works fine.

This is clearly a significant bug and it has basically caused me to keep my laptop connected to my TV just so I can watch the videos on my media server, which is exactly what my revue is suppose to be for. This has caused me so much frustration and renders my revue practically useless.

I understand that this is a new product and that bugs are expected, but I don't get the impression that a. this issue is being taken seriously, or even being acknoledged and b. that you guys are proactive in fixing it. It was reported by many people after the 15/3 update and the support team even said it was being fixed, but I now suspect they were just telling the customer what they wanted to hear, seeing as there has been an update and no fix.

If it simply the case that the developers can't replicate the issue then please contact me and I will provide you with a file that wont play so you can test it.

Cheers, Tim.

[RZ]

Tim, 

1) There is a major upgrade coming this year, and I have no doubt that your worries will be addressed in it. 

2) This product has major companies involved in development, and they don't care to please a customer, as the size of the company in itself will ensure that the product has enough market for it. So, you have to get used to minimal communication about the functionality of the product and the bugs. 

3) The product was released at least 6 months prior to it being ready for a release, so we are beta testers, although not many people want to acknowledge it.

4) If one compiled a list of bugs that had to be addressed since the resease of the product, google would have to fire most of its programmers. That would be bad for the future of the product, so let's not be too upset about it! 

Just wait till 4th of July!

[Tim_revue]

Hi RZ, sorry to ask but do you work for Logitech? The ranking system on this forum seems ambigious so it is hard to tell.

I fully acknowledge that we are beta testers and I have no problem with that, I consider myself a "early adopter" and I have bought plenty of products prematurely to being "ready for maket". What has got me upset though is that this bug is a regression, ie. it has obviously resulted in a poor fix to another problem, as this functionality worked fine prior to the update. Generally speaking I would consider a regression to be given higher priority than an ordinary bug as it is highly likley that there are users who have already established a dependance on the feature, which is exactly the situation here.

In addition to that point, a well managed beta program should have a rapid release cycle, incrementally fixing bugs as they are discovered by the community (their beta testers). The impression I get is that the response to community feedback is inelastic and the focus of the fixes seems to be on "security", which most likely means preventing rooting. If Logitech expects us to be beta testers, why arn't they listening?

My point overall is that the mere existence of these bugs isn't the problem, it's that Logitech has managed the development cycle of this product poorly.

I have no doubt that one day there will be an update and all my concerns will be resolved, but until then my Logitech revue box is of little use to me. In fact I ordered a Galaxy Tab last night with TV out as a temporary solution until my Revue is working properly.

I shall be awating the 4th of July eagerly, but where does this date come from? Has this been published anywhere?

Thanks nonetheless for your reply RZ, your time is appreciated.

[RZ]

No reason to be sorry - no, I don't, and most of those giving helpful answers don't work for Logitech.

Logitech does not use this forum to provide support to the owners, it is simply setup as a cost saving solution: if peer to peer support can resolve certain issues, then Logitech does not need to pay its own people for the time spent helping. The truth is, though, that Logitech customer support is unable to help customers at the moment, as we all are hostage to the inability of google programmers to resolve the issues with Revue in a way that does not make a bigger mess. Neither google nor Logitech does not want to spend more time implementing online customer support that would provide a venue for submitting bugs or reveal the commitment of the companies to resolve the issues, even though that would be the most logical consumer support move at this point.  

I don't think it is a product release cycle mismanagement, I think it has something to do with Google and their overestimation of their own capabilities, and the desire to make the major partners commit to something that they were not able to deliver on schedule.

I cannot tell you much about dates, but we will most likely see more information coming in May. I was promised that all the features I want will be available on Revue in July, but I will simply wait and see at this point. The fact that they were not willing to add any apps to Revue in 6 months is telling. 

[VladM]

I agree with RZ that the absence of any improvements or new apps from Google / Logitech for the current Revue platform most likely indicates that a major OS re-work is coming. Besides, there are plently of other tips for that (recently announced google-intel deal on Android for x86 platform; some leaks about branch consolidation for android 3.0, vague statements from logitech, etc).

I'd say simply put, nobody wants to spent time on fixing stuff that will be abandoned in a near future. Is it discouraging for the current users [beta-tester]? Yes. But efficient same time - absolutely. I won't be suprised to see current media player dropped completely to be replaced with a google-provided one. Being developer myself, I don't mind this approach though a more opened position from Logitech would be benefitial for their relations with the customers and consequently their image as a company.

[kentoe]

Just to add in, Koush on twitter had just posted this today.

https://twitter.com/#!/koush/status/59993738692399105

If some of you don't know who koush is he is a widely known android developer/hacker/exploiter. Helps develop Cyanogen Mod for phones and was pretty much the first to gain root access on the Xoom.

[betaguy]

Koush is also known as Squeezon on various boards. Very intelligent and in the know!

[RZ]

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betaguy wrote:

Koush is also known as Squeezon on various boards. Very intelligent and in the know!

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Nice job discrediting the guy - he prentends to be a Logitech or Google employee on this forum! Or is he? Rooting devices on the side...

[erikazilla]

So i just bought the Revue and im still not quite sure if i like it or not.

I just started having this error you guys mention before, its November 2011 and i don't see this error to be fixed.

Is there any hope for this in the near future or should i just pack it and return it before is too late?

[erikazilla]

Somebody? please help!