Flashing screen messages
OC_Brad
Newbie

Problem 1:

When the batteries in my remote get down to about 80% of their original charge, every time I press a button on the remote, a flashing battery icon pops up with the message "Replace remote battery". I want to be civil about this, but it's not easy. This is beyond the pale. Even if this started when the batteries were almost gone, wouldn't most of Verizon's customers be able to figure out that if they press a button and nothing happens, maybe the batteries are dead? Does Verizon really think we're all going to throw our TVs away if nothing happens when we push a button? Anyone who can't figure this out probably shouldn't be watching TV anyway, but I doubt that there are any such people.

But it doesn't happen when the batteries are almost gone, it happens when they have months of charge left in them. So when I finally replace batteries that are actually worn out, I get a month or two of peace, and then several months of flashing "Replace remote battery" every time I press a button. Words cannot describe  how bad this is. I have a number of suggestions as to what Verizon should do regarding this, but I would be satisfied if they would simply update their STB software without including this "feature".

Problem 2:

Almost every time I navigate to a premium channel that's showing a movie, there's a popup telling me I can watch this movie from the beginning if I press a button to get it on-demand. I already know that Verizon has movies on-demand, and I always assumed that if you watched one, you could see it from the beginning. Are there any Verizon users who don't know they have movies on-demand? Probably not, but if there are, isn't there some way to let them know without flashing a message every time they go to a movie channel? Maybe when Verizon systems get installed, the installer could tell the customer about movies on-demand. Actually, I thought they already do.

Same solution as with the battery message, remove this ridiculous popup from the STB software and find some less obtrusive way of advertising movies on-demend.

As you might guess, I'm hoping someone in a meaningful position at Verizon will read this.

0 Likes
Re: Flashing screen messages
SinCara
Specialist - Level 2

@OC_Brad wrote:

Problem 1:

When the batteries in my remote get down to about 80% of their original charge, every time I press a button on the remote, a flashing battery icon pops up with the message "Replace remote battery". I want to be civil about this, but it's not easy. This is beyond the pale. Even if this started when the batteries were almost gone, wouldn't most of Verizon's customers be able to figure out that if they press a button and nothing happens, maybe the batteries are dead? Does Verizon really think we're all going to throw our TVs away if nothing happens when we push a button? Anyone who can't figure this out probably shouldn't be watching TV anyway, but I doubt that there are any such people.

But it doesn't happen when the batteries are almost gone, it happens when they have months of charge left in them. So when I finally replace batteries that are actually worn out, I get a month or two of peace, and then several months of flashing "Replace remote battery" every time I press a button. Words cannot describe  how bad this is. I have a number of suggestions as to what Verizon should do regarding this, but I would be satisfied if they would simply update their STB software without including this "feature".

Problem 2:

Almost every time I navigate to a premium channel that's showing a movie, there's a popup telling me I can watch this movie from the beginning if I press a button to get it on-demand. I already know that Verizon has movies on-demand, and I always assumed that if you watched one, you could see it from the beginning. Are there any Verizon users who don't know they have movies on-demand? Probably not, but if there are, isn't there some way to let them know without flashing a message every time they go to a movie channel? Maybe when Verizon systems get installed, the installer could tell the customer about movies on-demand. Actually, I thought they already do.

Same solution as with the battery message, remove this ridiculous popup from the STB software and find some less obtrusive way of advertising movies on-demend.

As you might guess, I'm hoping someone in a meaningful position at Verizon will read this.


I've never had the remote issue you talk about using name brand batteries.

It's possible you just have a bad remote and if it isn't and you are that annoyed with it they do make universal remotes such as Logitech Harmony's.

As far as the 2nd issue you can turn pop ups off. Go into your menu > settings >system > notifications then to popup alerts. Choose never show me again. Now go back one menu and go down to promotions and set to disable.

Then go back up to system > television > interactive tv > set to disable.

That will prevent popups, the ad banner guide and interactive ondemand .

0 Likes
Re: Flashing screen messages
OC_Brad
Newbie

Re: Problem 2, 2 of the settings were already correct, but the one for promotions was not. I changed that setting and it solved the problem. Thank you.

Re: Problem 1, I've always used Duracell so brand name isn't the problem. Maybe the remote is bad, but I'll try to get a new one from Verizon rather than buy a Logitech or any other. However, the more basic problem is that this "feature" exists at all. As I said previously, Anyone who can't figure out their batteries might be dead when the remote doesn't work...  I know this idiocy is part of the STB software, coz it used to just flash the battery icon, then it updated itself and now it flashes the icon + "Replace remote battery", for those of who can't figure out why the little battery thingy is flashing. Someone from Verizon who has decision-making authority about such things should have this annoying "feature" removed from the software. It seems like they should welcome such feedback, but there's no indication of that so far.

Anywayz, thanks again. I'll see if they'll replace my remote, and maybe the new one will actually wait til the batteries are almost dead before it demands that I replace them.

1 more comment: Verizon isn't the only one. I have a Radioshack scanner that starts beeping to indicate low battery, it's very annoying. Like the Verizon remote, it starts doing this when the batteries still have months of charge left. Never buy a Radioshack scanner.

0 Likes