Red Reliability Question
Jul 26, 2008 | 4:58 pm
#16
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 4,104
I would think about making the switch...but I have several factors working against me.
1) I live in the midwest and commute to work. I don't know if VX has the same agreements the B6 has in place for me to get to/from work.
2) I like the situation that I am in now with Jetblue
3) Early in 2009 I will be leaving JetBlue to go and fly for the US Navy
Soooo reason 3 is the biggest factor but I enjoyed my time riding on VX and would do so again if given the oppurtunity, or if UA's PS flights were full
1) I live in the midwest and commute to work. I don't know if VX has the same agreements the B6 has in place for me to get to/from work.
2) I like the situation that I am in now with Jetblue
3) Early in 2009 I will be leaving JetBlue to go and fly for the US Navy
Soooo reason 3 is the biggest factor but I enjoyed my time riding on VX and would do so again if given the oppurtunity, or if UA's PS flights were full
I probably wouldn't recommend the switch anyway, because they just recently hired many FAs, and it would put you very low in seniority.
Jul 26, 2008 | 5:45 pm
#17
Join Date: Aug 2007
Programs: VX, UA 2P
Posts: 968
There's nothing to say you wouldn't be just as happy at VX. But there is also nothing to say that you wouldn't hate it either.
Congrats!Aviators99 has a pretty good point here too. Especially if you have significant seniority on B6.
Jul 27, 2008 | 5:42 pm
#19
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: DEN & PSP
Programs: UA 1K 27 years/2.5MM, Honors LT Diamond, AVIS & Hertz Prez Club
Posts: 4,956
Jul 28, 2008 | 12:01 am
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: MileagePlus Premier Gold
Posts: 11,522
I don't know if CX has the same issue, but I recently was on a CX flight and their new system (looks suspiciously like the Panasonic eX2 system) also had terrible crashes and was unusable for the entire duration of HKG-NRT.
Jul 30, 2008 | 2:58 pm
#21
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: Deciding Which Airline to Fly in 2012
Posts: 420
Good news is that the wannabe Internet celebrity IFE guy is gone. He seemed a lot more interested in publicity stunts and being photographed with Paris Hilton than developing a quality product. They should ditch all the silly gimmicks and just make it TV and basic Internet access. I know plenty of people who've flown VX and not one has ever played Doom or found more than two other people in the chat room.
Jul 30, 2008 | 3:04 pm
#22
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 4,104
Good news is that the wannabe Internet celebrity IFE guy is gone. He seemed a lot more interested in publicity stunts and being photographed with Paris Hilton than developing a quality product. They should ditch all the silly gimmicks and just make it TV and basic Internet access. I know plenty of people who've flown VX and not one has ever played Doom or found more than two other people in the chat room.
Today:
http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/7/...Still+Inspires
Monday:
http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/7/...Piece+of+Space
Thursday:
http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/7/...e+for+the+Road
Jul 30, 2008 | 4:23 pm
#23
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 21,298
I know plenty of people who've flown VX and not one has ever played Doom or found more than two other people in the chat room.
Jul 30, 2008 | 4:48 pm
#24
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Dublin,Ireland and Nice France
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 2,418
I flew jfk-sfo and lax-jfk in the last 2 weeks in first and red worked perfectly.
Live tv only stopped when the plane had to bank left or right and then only for those few seconds before returning.
Totally loved the experience! I wish I had the time to write a review.
The food was excelent and the service was outstanding
The flight crew couldn't do enough for us
Live tv only stopped when the plane had to bank left or right and then only for those few seconds before returning.
Totally loved the experience! I wish I had the time to write a review.
The food was excelent and the service was outstanding
The flight crew couldn't do enough for us
Jul 30, 2008 | 11:53 pm
#25
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Programs: AS MVP, Elevate, AAdvantage, Mileage Plus
Posts: 1,992
Out of a dozen flights on VX, I've really never had a serious problem with RED. Sure, glitches here and there with the TV channels, map features and games, but on the whole it's not a big deal. The only TV channel I usually watch on board is CNN, so as long as that works, I'm fine. The music and movie selection is awesome, and I've never had a problem with those features. Picture quality is very good, and sound quality is really good, provided you use a decent headset and not the VX ones.
Aug 6, 2008 | 6:59 am
#26
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: Hilton HHonors Diamond, SPG Deadbeat, United 1K/4mm, Delta Diamond/5mm, Singapore PPS, BA Silver
Posts: 62
JFK-LAX: 6 July; RED went haywire twenty minutes in the air and had to be shut off. Oddly enough, it somehow left music blasting in the two rear bathrooms for three hours. Crew was at a loss, handling the entire situation fairly well. We were each handed a voucher for a free movie on a future flight upon arrival at LAX. LAX Station Manager blammed the problem on "new technology." Huh? I have flown over a million miles on Singapore Airlines without ever having had an issue with the IFE. Obviously, Virgin America cheaped-out on the operating system for RED. They also cheaped-out on customer service training.
Aug 6, 2008 | 7:28 am
#27
Join Date: Aug 2007
Programs: VX, UA 2P
Posts: 968
JFK-LAX: 6 July; RED went haywire twenty minutes in the air and had to be shut off. Oddly enough, it somehow left music blasting in the two rear bathrooms for three hours. Crew was at a loss, handling the entire situation fairly well. We were each handed a voucher for a free movie on a future flight upon arrival at LAX. LAX Station Manager blammed the problem on "new technology." Huh? I have flown over a million miles on Singapore Airlines without ever having had an issue with the IFE. Obviously, Virgin America cheaped-out on the operating system for RED. They also cheaped-out on customer service training.
Linux itself is very stable. My guess is that they cheaped-out on the software development (?India perhaps?) and/or the hardware is buggy.
--edit: rushing software is also cheaping-out, this is another possibility.
Last edited by nermaljcat; Aug 6, 2008 at 8:06 am
Aug 6, 2008 | 10:26 am
#28
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: California
Programs: AA Plat.
Posts: 167
Thoughts on RED
After the various flights I have taken with VX, I have also thought about the issues.
The first one is the Sat TV. During one flight I noticed that if more than X people are on the same channel the video goes to .....what is that word..., well. I would look at every screen I could see. If I saw in my range 5 people on one channel, I would tune to it and video would go nuts on all screens. I tune away, and their video goes back to normal. I would then wait for one to tune away, then I would tune back, and video would be good.
From the work I have done in the past this behavior would show up if there was a signal loss from a multi-switch issue. Not knowing how design of the signal distribution in RED, and how many amps and the multi-switches are used, this is just a theory. But I know for a fact with the right hardware, one dish with a set of dual LNBs can supply a whole office building with sat feeds without this issue.
Next is the design of the RED system. Having used linux for years in a production oracle environment it can be stable if done correct. With new accelerated video drivers, a review of the touch screen input drivers in X11 [ the windowing system itself], and performance review of the RED software itself should work as intended. It feels to me like it polls to often for input from a central system, such as system announcements, and house cleaning.
Also my one gripe with the Movie system is the inability to select a specific time to jump into the movie. From SFO to LAS I was in First both ways. I started a movie on one trip, then wanted to pick up the movie around the same time I had to put the screen away for the return, it was more of a pain to get to near the spot in the movie than 15-30min delta from where I left the movie.
Oh, I have played DOOM in the RED for hours at a time.
The first one is the Sat TV. During one flight I noticed that if more than X people are on the same channel the video goes to .....what is that word..., well. I would look at every screen I could see. If I saw in my range 5 people on one channel, I would tune to it and video would go nuts on all screens. I tune away, and their video goes back to normal. I would then wait for one to tune away, then I would tune back, and video would be good.
From the work I have done in the past this behavior would show up if there was a signal loss from a multi-switch issue. Not knowing how design of the signal distribution in RED, and how many amps and the multi-switches are used, this is just a theory. But I know for a fact with the right hardware, one dish with a set of dual LNBs can supply a whole office building with sat feeds without this issue.
Next is the design of the RED system. Having used linux for years in a production oracle environment it can be stable if done correct. With new accelerated video drivers, a review of the touch screen input drivers in X11 [ the windowing system itself], and performance review of the RED software itself should work as intended. It feels to me like it polls to often for input from a central system, such as system announcements, and house cleaning.
Also my one gripe with the Movie system is the inability to select a specific time to jump into the movie. From SFO to LAS I was in First both ways. I started a movie on one trip, then wanted to pick up the movie around the same time I had to put the screen away for the return, it was more of a pain to get to near the spot in the movie than 15-30min delta from where I left the movie.
Oh, I have played DOOM in the RED for hours at a time.
Aug 6, 2008 | 10:38 am
#29
Join Date: Aug 2007
Programs: VX, UA 2P
Posts: 968
After the various flights I have taken with VX, I have also thought about the issues.
The first one is the Sat TV. During one flight I noticed that if more than X people are on the same channel the video goes to .....what is that word..., well. I would look at every screen I could see. If I saw in my range 5 people on one channel, I would tune to it and video would go nuts on all screens. I tune away, and their video goes back to normal. I would then wait for one to tune away, then I would tune back, and video would be good.
From the work I have done in the past this behavior would show up if there was a signal loss from a multi-switch issue. Not knowing how design of the signal distribution in RED, and how many amps and the multi-switches are used, this is just a theory. But I know for a fact with the right hardware, one dish with a set of dual LNBs can supply a whole office building with sat feeds without this issue.
Next is the design of the RED system. Having used linux for years in a production oracle environment it can be stable if done correct. With new accelerated video drivers, a review of the touch screen input drivers in X11 [ the windowing system itself], and performance review of the RED software itself should work as intended. It feels to me like it polls to often for input from a central system, such as system announcements, and house cleaning.
Also my one gripe with the Movie system is the inability to select a specific time to jump into the movie. From SFO to LAS I was in First both ways. I started a movie on one trip, then wanted to pick up the movie around the same time I had to put the screen away for the return, it was more of a pain to get to near the spot in the movie than 15-30min delta from where I left the movie.
Oh, I have played DOOM in the RED for hours at a time.
The first one is the Sat TV. During one flight I noticed that if more than X people are on the same channel the video goes to .....what is that word..., well. I would look at every screen I could see. If I saw in my range 5 people on one channel, I would tune to it and video would go nuts on all screens. I tune away, and their video goes back to normal. I would then wait for one to tune away, then I would tune back, and video would be good.
From the work I have done in the past this behavior would show up if there was a signal loss from a multi-switch issue. Not knowing how design of the signal distribution in RED, and how many amps and the multi-switches are used, this is just a theory. But I know for a fact with the right hardware, one dish with a set of dual LNBs can supply a whole office building with sat feeds without this issue.
Next is the design of the RED system. Having used linux for years in a production oracle environment it can be stable if done correct. With new accelerated video drivers, a review of the touch screen input drivers in X11 [ the windowing system itself], and performance review of the RED software itself should work as intended. It feels to me like it polls to often for input from a central system, such as system announcements, and house cleaning.
Also my one gripe with the Movie system is the inability to select a specific time to jump into the movie. From SFO to LAS I was in First both ways. I started a movie on one trip, then wanted to pick up the movie around the same time I had to put the screen away for the return, it was more of a pain to get to near the spot in the movie than 15-30min delta from where I left the movie.
Oh, I have played DOOM in the RED for hours at a time.
One more simple feature request - I'd like to see a random/shuffle option added to the playlist. I like to create the list while boarding (one genre/artist at a time) and prefer a varied playback rather than the same artist several songs in a row.
Aug 6, 2008 | 10:57 am
#30
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Miami, FL, USA
Posts: 4,104
After the various flights I have taken with VX, I have also thought about the issues.
The first one is the Sat TV. During one flight I noticed that if more than X people are on the same channel the video goes to .....what is that word..., well. I would look at every screen I could see. If I saw in my range 5 people on one channel, I would tune to it and video would go nuts on all screens. I tune away, and their video goes back to normal. I would then wait for one to tune away, then I would tune back, and video would be good.
From the work I have done in the past this behavior would show up if there was a signal loss from a multi-switch issue. Not knowing how design of the signal distribution in RED, and how many amps and the multi-switches are used, this is just a theory. But I know for a fact with the right hardware, one dish with a set of dual LNBs can supply a whole office building with sat feeds without this issue.
Next is the design of the RED system. Having used linux for years in a production oracle environment it can be stable if done correct. With new accelerated video drivers, a review of the touch screen input drivers in X11 [ the windowing system itself], and performance review of the RED software itself should work as intended. It feels to me like it polls to often for input from a central system, such as system announcements, and house cleaning.
Also my one gripe with the Movie system is the inability to select a specific time to jump into the movie. From SFO to LAS I was in First both ways. I started a movie on one trip, then wanted to pick up the movie around the same time I had to put the screen away for the return, it was more of a pain to get to near the spot in the movie than 15-30min delta from where I left the movie.
Oh, I have played DOOM in the RED for hours at a time.
The first one is the Sat TV. During one flight I noticed that if more than X people are on the same channel the video goes to .....what is that word..., well. I would look at every screen I could see. If I saw in my range 5 people on one channel, I would tune to it and video would go nuts on all screens. I tune away, and their video goes back to normal. I would then wait for one to tune away, then I would tune back, and video would be good.
From the work I have done in the past this behavior would show up if there was a signal loss from a multi-switch issue. Not knowing how design of the signal distribution in RED, and how many amps and the multi-switches are used, this is just a theory. But I know for a fact with the right hardware, one dish with a set of dual LNBs can supply a whole office building with sat feeds without this issue.
Next is the design of the RED system. Having used linux for years in a production oracle environment it can be stable if done correct. With new accelerated video drivers, a review of the touch screen input drivers in X11 [ the windowing system itself], and performance review of the RED software itself should work as intended. It feels to me like it polls to often for input from a central system, such as system announcements, and house cleaning.
Also my one gripe with the Movie system is the inability to select a specific time to jump into the movie. From SFO to LAS I was in First both ways. I started a movie on one trip, then wanted to pick up the movie around the same time I had to put the screen away for the return, it was more of a pain to get to near the spot in the movie than 15-30min delta from where I left the movie.
Oh, I have played DOOM in the RED for hours at a time.