UPC starts rolling out new H3 firmware for Horizon Mediabox
UPC will begin the phased rollout of a new update for the Horizon Mediabox this week. The so-called H3 firmware offers a new text display of vod content. Furthermore, the set-top box would support more codecs and containers.
The H3 firmware is the second major firmware release for the Horizon Mediabox. One of the improvements, showing video-on-demand titles in a text mode, has been made based on the wishes of Horizon users. This text mode is an option in addition to the regular display using thumbnails and should make navigation smoother. A ‘mosaic view’ has just been added to the search option.
According to UPC, the H3 firmware has also simplified the deletion of multiple episodes of recorded TV series or programs: they can now be deleted simultaneously. Also, with a single press of the DVR button on the remote you can jump directly to the recording list, while setting favorite channels according to the cabler is simplified. The options menu has been cleaned up and some default settings have been changed. For example, from now on teletext will always have a standard black background in order to increase readability.
The H3 firmware also promises to support more codecs and containers in DLNA mode, although UPC does not say which formats these are exactly. Fast forwarding in avi, mov, mkv and mp4 files has also been further improved.
UPC opts for a step-by-step roll-out of the firmware. From this week, Horizon owners in North Brabant will receive the update. If no major problems arise, it will be the turn of the provinces of North Holland, South Holland, Friesland, Flevoland and Gelderland until mid-September.
The introduction of the Horizon Mediabox in September 2012 was anything but smooth; UPC had to deal with many complaints about the set-top boxes that suffered from various teething problems. In a survey by the Consumers’ Association, UPC subscribers were most dissatisfied with the Horizon set-top box. The previous H2 update was delayed: instead of a previously planned rollout in June, the H2 update was only released in mid-July.