Wednesday 28 September 2011

FetchTV to beta-test a new 8320HD UI at long last

It's been 18 months of broken promises about a new 8320HD UI, but it looks like Fetch TV are about to start beta-testing it soon, if their request on Twitter for UI beta-testers is anything to go by. Yes, I've applied to join the trial, but there might be some terms and conditions I could be reluctant to agree to.

For example, not revealing the download URL to non-beta testers is a reasonable request (though often the URLs get "leaked" anyway), but if they wanted to "gag" me publicly commenting about the beta, then that could be a showstopper. Judging by the bugginess of previous betas and final releases, I can't say that previous beta testers have been doing a particularly great job...

Thanks to christgill on AVForums.com for the Twitter info 

5 comments:

  1. keep us updated! I've moved on to the $99 google tv (Logitech recur) for all my iPlayer and network streaming, with the 8320hd passing through for my dvb-t, but it would still be nice for the osd to be hd.

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  2. Any news on whether you got accepted for the beta and, if so, what is it like? Assuming you weren't gagged of course!

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  3. i've applied to be a tester twice now with no reply from them at all.

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  4. I suspect from the quality of their software, they don't actually have any testers.... ;-)

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  5. Yeah, I think Fetch TV think "beta" is something you use to whack a carpet with ("beater" - geddit?). The general public are the beta testers for "final" 8320HD firmware releases it seems and, no, I got no response from Fetch with my application to join the beta testing programme.

    Apparently, Fetch TV's latest non-committal statement is that there's "probably" going to be some future firmware releases, but they won't commit to any timescales (either for fixes to the current UI or a new UI to replace the existing one). Don't hold your breath is the Maxim here...

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