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Those who boost "NextGen TV," the supposed successor to HDTV, are boasting about a few new features they've added to the stations broadcasting in the new standard.
Not only do they say sports is much better under the upgrade, but you can now listen to a free music service and play video games through your TV with no other equipment.
"NEXTGEN TV users tuning into the ROXi channel will discover interactive features never seen before on broadcast TV; an interactive app-like experience where viewers use their TV remote to skip through music videos TikTok-style, search on-demand for any artist, song, or mood – or sit back and enjoy curated music video playlists covering Pop, Rock, Country, Best of 80s, 90s, Gospel, Urban, and more. The ROXi music channel will be launched across additional U.S. TV markets on NEXTGEN TV later this year.
NEXTGEN TV viewers are also having fun, beyond conventional television, with GameLoop, a streaming TV channel that brings gamers to smart TVs to watch and play with fun and familiar games like PAC-MAN, TETRIS, Planet Crossword, and Tomb Runner, among many other free choices."
What they don't mention, of course, is that NextGen also requires you to buy a brand new TV set (or perhaps an adapter) and it will let broadcasters decide if your DVR can record a program for later viewing, all while tailoring extra commercials directly to you.
No matter how many "innovations" they promise, it's not something I want, and I don't find there's anything wrong with the current HDTV signals. But they're pushing it hard, so don't be surprised if your next set comes with it already onboard. Whether you want it or not.
Free Over-the-Air NEXTGEN TV Adds New Features
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Those new next gen features use your home internet as the source.If you want to watch the game on your Ipad or PC while thats not supported unlike the current to standard.The licenses and fees will add large cost to new TV..Next gen will report back to the broadcaster what your watching using your internet.You cant timeshift programs using a home network device like HD homerun or Tablo as this is not allowed.Not a worthwhile tradeoff.
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The articles always fail to mention that you need an internet connection for the interactive features, making the whole thing moot
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Very little about this benefits viewers. It's all about boosting the TV companies and broadcasters, not the rest of us. Hopefully, it goes the way of DAB in North America.
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Try and find a Nextgen TV at a Canadian retailer’s store. Companies such as Samsung, and BestBuy’s insignia brand have conspicuoulsly omitted Nextgen capable tuners from the sets they export into Canada. When I purchased a top of the line Samsung OLED, the “same” model had Nextgen in the USA, and the firstgen ATSC tuner in Canada. Guess saving a couple of bucks in the manufacturing stage makes sense to these companies.
Last edited by tvguy (September 22, 2025 9:31 am)
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tvguy wrote:
Try and find a Nextgen TV at a Canadian retailer’s store. Companies such as Samsung, and BestBuy’s insignia brand have conspicuoulsly omitted Nextgen capable tuners from the sets they export into Canada. When I purchased a top of the line Samsung OLED, the “same” model had Nextgen in the USA, and the firstgen ATSC tuner in Canada. Guess saving a couple of bucks in the manufacturing stage makes sense to these companies.
You may have better luck with the Hisense branded TVs.
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What kills me about this is (if it's available through the usual telecoms like Rogers or Bell), it will likely be piped through a bottom shelf, technically stunted box like Rogers Ignite, no matter how expensive and advanced the new TV set is. I'm finding that out after 3 years of Rogers Ignite that the remote and box they supplied is the poorest user experience I've encountered. Talk about gradual enshittification, I had one previously that had a HDD that I kept alive for extra years by installing a new hard drive and the performance, menu layout and remote were excellent. I 'upgraded' to Ignite and everything about it is lesser than it's predecessor, except for the streaming capabilities that are not in-house but on an external server somewhere. This little box does what my high-end TV was built to do but now the TV is just a slave to a piece of substandard cheap technology supplied by Rogers that I can't override.
My expensive TV is just a glorified monitor attached to a poorly designed rental box. What a waste of a good TV.
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SpinningWheel wrote:
What kills me about this is (if it's available through the usual telecoms like Rogers or Bell), it will likely be piped through a bottom shelf, technically stunted box like Rogers Ignite, no matter how expensive and advanced the new TV set is. I'm finding that out after 3 years of Rogers Ignite that the remote and box they supplied is the poorest user experience I've encountered. Talk about gradual enshittification, I had one previously that had a HDD that I kept alive for extra years by installing a new hard drive and the performance, menu layout and remote were excellent. I 'upgraded' to Ignite and everything about it is lesser than it's predecessor, except for the streaming capabilities that are not in-house but on an external server somewhere. This little box does what my high-end TV was built to do but now the TV is just a slave to a piece of substandard cheap technology supplied by Rogers that I can't override.
My expensive TV is just a glorified monitor attached to a poorly designed rental box. What a waste of a good TV.
Wow. I'm glad I don't have the old Ignite system. I LOVE my Rogers Xfinity service.
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Xfinity is Comcast. Rogers recently signed a 10 year deal with Comcast for software, products and technology. Lot of complaints on the Comcast community forums about aspects of Xfinity, so any complaints here would have to be addressed by Comcast, which they seem loath to do. My major complaint is now needing the Xfinity app on my phone to do any detailed changes to my Rogers Modem, for example, Port Forwarding. Used to be able to do that using a browser, but no more. And trying to do that with the mobile app results in, "something went wrong, please try again later". Been like that since Xfinity showed up and Rogers/Comcast have not seen fit to fix it.
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tvguy wrote:
Try and find a Nextgen TV at a Canadian retailer’s store. Companies such as Samsung, and BestBuy’s insignia brand have conspicuoulsly omitted Nextgen capable tuners from the sets they export into Canada. When I purchased a top of the line Samsung OLED, the “same” model had Nextgen in the USA, and the firstgen ATSC tuner in Canada. Guess saving a couple of bucks in the manufacturing stage makes sense to these companies.
Sony has them.
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Radiowiz
Wow. I'm glad I don't have the old Ignite system. I LOVE my Rogers Xfinity service
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My mistake, I have Xfinity but started with Ignite Nothing changed from when I had Ignite, just the branding.
No new equipment, no new software, no new on screen features. They are the same thing. The rebranding to Xfinity occurred in 2024 as part of a licensing agreement with Comcast.
The reaction time for FF and rewind is ridiculously slow as an example and when it's finished, it displays a completely useless overlay that obstructs the image and gives information the viewer already knows. That should toggle on / off because it's an annoyance. But it's not limited to that.
Last edited by SpinningWheel (September 23, 2025 10:01 am)