It's not possible for them to let you do a side-by-side comparison of the two services. They are using the same cables inside your home that Comcast uses. That's all hooked up at the same point either on the outside or inside of your home. You can't have two services hooked up to it at the same time. It's not physically possible.

That's not entirely true. My Verizon laid down RG6 right next to Comcast RG6. I now have a PVR from both. If Verizon is a 9 then Comcast is a 8 1/2. Verizon is too cheap to get versus in HD and Comcast is too cheap to get HD Net. I want my hockey in HD. So this is what I have to do.

By the way Verizon internet is way over rated. I'm keeping Comcast.

Before if there was a power failure for 2 weeks I would still have a dial tone. Now since verizon cut off my copper line and went to fiber I only have 6/7 hours of dial tone when power goes off. Just beautiful.

That's not entirely true. My Verizon laid down RG6 right next to Comcast RG6. I know have a PVR from both. If Verizon is a 9 then Comcast is a 8 1/2. Verizon is too cheap to get versus in HD and Comcast is too cheap to get HD Net. I want my hockey in HD. So this is what I have to do.

By the way Verizon internet is way over rated. I'm keeping Comcast.

Comcast stated when they launched VSGLF, that any provider that carried Versus and The Golf Channel in SD would get the HD channel for free. It has been rumored on these boards that carriage would begin for non-Comcast providers around the first of April.

I haven't seen or heard of anyone else having it yet, but it will be there eventually

That's not entirely true. My Verizon laid down RG6 right next to Comcast RG6. I now have a PVR from both. If Verizon is a 9 then Comcast is a 8 1/2. Verizon is too cheap to get versus in HD and Comcast is too cheap to get HD Net. I want my hockey in HD. So this is what I have to do.


VS/Golf HD is not a matter of VZ being cheap. AFAIK comcast is offering the HD channel for free to systems that have both VS and Golf. As of now there are no non comcast systems that carry the channel. It was reported that Comcast would make it available for other operators in early April, but I have not seen a follow up on whether that happened or not.

Before if there was a power failure for 2 weeks I would still have a dial tone. Now since verizon cut off my copper line and went to fiber I only have 6/7 hours of dial tone when power goes off. Just beautiful.

Where do you live with all these power outages?

Raven 313, what are the franchise fees and taxes you pay in AA for FIOS TV on top of the VZ package prices?

Public Education Grant .98
Video Franchise Fee 5.00
State Tax 1.34
----------------------------------
Total 7.32

The VZ FiOS-TV surround sound is great! The best was for the HBO series 'ROME'. :)

I agree, VZ does a good job w/Dolby sound. But on occasion my sound decoder(s) will show a signal in 5.1, but its actually only two channels (i.e., the front left-right speakers). So a Dolby signal is being transmitted but three channels are empty for some reason. My question is why are the channels empty. I have two decoders (different brands), and its the same for both of them. I find this quite common on the U HD channel. VZ is better than Comcast with sound. Most sound from Comcast was 2.0p(Dolby Prologic), I assume due to limited bandwidth. I haven't seen 2.0p displayed on my decoders since I've had FiOS.

I know InDemand offers all the professional sports packages for the cable companies like Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, etc. but was wondering if Verizon has any plans on offering their customers any of the out-of-market games too?

I agree, VZ does a good job w/Dolby sound. But on occasion my sound decoder(s) will show a signal in 5.1, but its actually only two channels (i.e., the front left-right speakers). So a Dolby signal is being transmitted but three channels are empty for some reason. My question is why are the channels empty. I have two decoders (different brands), and its the same for both of them. I find this quite common on the U HD channel. VZ is better than Comcast with sound. Most sound from Comcast was 2.0p(Dolby Prologic), I assume due to limited bandwidth. I haven't seen 2.0p displayed on my decoders since I've had FiOS.


I am pretty sure that is normal for when SD programing is showing on the HD channel, i.e. PTI on ESPN HD. The HD channels are always passed in 5.1, so you receiver will light up like its getting 6 channels, but really there is only sound on 2 of them.

However, some channels, UHD comes to mind, just don't know how to properly pass 5.1 audio and it is a crapshoot for it working or not. Look around the programming forum for discussions on how poorly UHD about passing, multichannel sound

I am pretty sure that is normal for when SD programing is showing on the HD channel, i.e. PTI on ESPN HD. The HD channels are always passed in 5.1, so you receiver will light up like its getting 6 channels, but really there is only sound on 2 of them.

However, some channels, UHD comes to mind, just don't know how to properly pass 5.1 audio and it is a crapshoot for it working or not. Look around the programming forum for discussions on how poorly UHD about passing, multichannel sound

The SD channels come in as 2.0. I think your explanation about about how networks pass 5.1 is accurate. Some even have voice from the rear channels, some nothing at all. HDNet can be great on all five channels or at other times from just two.

I had my FIOS TV installed 10 days ago. THey ran all new coax to all TVs in parallel with the satellite cables. On my WD65831 I could do a split screen and compare the FIOS to the DirecTV feed and OTA feeds. There was no comparison video quality to the D* - FIOS was much crisper, better colors that D* (I used the same SD channel for comparison since I did not upgrade to HD on D*). Comparing HD from the OTA, FIOS is close but there are some subtle differences that you can tell FIOS is not quite as good. But the difference was so very slight to be a none issue.

So IMHO, D* = 7, FIOS = 9 OTA = 9

I had my FIOS TV installed 10 days ago. THey ran all new coax to all TVs in parallel with the satellite cables. On my WD65831 I could do a split screen and compare the FIOS to the DirecTV feed and OTA feeds. There was no comparison video quality to the D* - FIOS was much crisper, better colors that D* (I used the same SD channel for comparison since I did not upgrade to HD on D*). Comparing HD from the OTA, FIOS is close but there are some subtle differences that you can tell FIOS is not quite as good. But the difference was so very slight to be a none issue.

So IMHO, D* = 7, FIOS = 9 OTA = 9

IMO:
OTA: PQ=10; signal reliability=8; customer communications=8
D*: SD PQ=7; HD PQ= 9; signal reliability=7; customer communications=9
FiOS: SD PQ=10; HD PQ=10, signal reliability=10; customer communications=5

Where do you live with all these power outages?

You got that right. If I was without power for 2 weeks, I wouldn't be there anyway. Relatives or Motel 6 here I come! :D

After numerous attempts (by myself and others) to advise VZ officials that their TV customer notification procedures need lots of work, they still don't get it. FiOS added local NBC and FOX HD channels on Friday and still haven't updated their web pages to reflect this good news. I guess since it is Easter time, the 'suits' expect the customers to find out about the new channels by accidentally finding them like Easter eggs. The company did automatically add the new channels to the '800 HD series' on the channel listing menu, but not everyone automatically goes there and/or notices such things.

Something else strange: When VZ added the local HD's to the '800' HD series, they simply added an '8' in front of the normal channel numbers which makes sense...except for the latest addition for the NBC channel this past Friday. Instead of making '10' the new '810', they made it '800' ! :confused:

After reading several posts, I obviously was incorrect in saying you could not do a side-by-side comparison. It seemed to me that such a thing would be highly impractical. Obviously for some it is not.

I still have my antenna hooked up to my set for OTA HD viewing if needed. That happens on occasion if we're already recording two shows in HD and I want to watch a 3rd. :-)
The difference between OTA HD and Fios HD is very hard to see.

After numerous attempts (by myself and others) to advise VZ officials that their TV customer notification procedures need lots of work, they still don't get it. FiOS added local NBC and FOX HD channels on Friday and still haven't updated their web pages to reflect this good news. I guess since it is Easter time, the 'suits' expect the customers to find out about the new channels by accidentally finding them like Easter eggs. The company did automatically add the new channels to the '800 HD series' on the channel listing menu, but not everyone automatically goes there and/or notices such things.

Something else strange: When VZ added the local HD's to the '800' HD series, they simply added an '8' in front of the normal channel numbers which makes sense...except for the latest addition for the NBC channel this past Friday. Instead of making '10' the new '810', they made it '800' ! :confused:

My locals do not have 800 counterparts at all. Fox 5 is on 801, CBS 9 is on 802, ABC 7 is on 803, and NBC 4 is on 807. This is typical, but I have no idea why.

For those in Northern VA and Maryland who have MASN, do you also get MASN2? Just wondering because Cox carries both here when there are both Orioles and Nats games on at the same time. Verizon is only carrying MASN, which means when both teams are playing at the same time you get one live and one around midnight. With both MASN and MASN2 they would show both games live.

My locals do not have 800 counterparts at all. Fox 5 is on 801, CBS 9 is on 802, ABC 7 is on 803, and NBC 4 is on 807. This is typical, but I have no idea why.

Based on the national lineup on the FiOS site, local HDs use 800-809. Our regular ABC is 13, so when/if they add the HD to the lineup it would not be able to fit into the scheme anyway. Kinda odd, but I guess that leaves 10 more channels available for National HD content.

For those in Northern VA and Maryland who have MASN, do you also get MASN2? Just wondering because Cox carries both here when there are both Orioles and Nats games on at the same time. Verizon is only carrying MASN, which means when both teams are playing at the same time you get one live and one around midnight. With both MASN and MASN2 they would show both games live.

FiOS1 carries MASN2 programming. I would assume that means they'll at least carry all live sporting events aired on MASN2, and I assume that's why they launched it last week.

FiOS1 carries MASN2 programming. I would assume that means they'll at least carry all live sporting events aired on MASN2, and I assume that's why they launched it last week.

Hopefully they launch something similar down here too....

Based on the national lineup on the FiOS site, local HDs use 800-809. Our regular ABC is 13, so when/if they add the HD to the lineup it would not be able to fit into the scheme anyway. Kinda odd, but I guess that leaves 10 more channels available for National HD content.

One would think that the company would have made 802-813 for local HD's since the analogs are numbered that way.

In northern Maryland, the HD locals go up to 815. (Anne Arundel and Howard counties get locals from both DC and Baltimore; and now that the Baltimore lineup is posted, it shows the same numbering, just with the DC locals dropped.)

In northern Maryland, the HD locals go up to 815. (Anne Arundel and Howard counties get locals from both DC and Baltimore; and now that the Baltimore lineup is posted, it shows the same numbering, just with the DC locals dropped.)
They also need to remap the UHF channels and squeeze 'em into that range... but it would be nice if the VHFs mapped to 8xx.

and now that the Baltimore lineup is posted, it shows the same numbering, just with the DC locals dropped.)

Unfortunately (for me) it's Baltimore County, Not Baltimore City.

FiOS1 carries MASN2 programming. I would assume that means they'll at least carry all live sporting events aired on MASN2, and I assume that's why they launched it last week.

Kes-
I actually have a ticket opened on the MASN2 issue. I worked with a few folks - right now, the only people that are getting MASN2 is the small group of folks that got the DC-originated FIOS 1 channel at the end of March.

For everyone else that gets MASN, including me up here in Delaware - I was told Friday evening that they will launch an additional Channel 1 to us on APRIL 12TH - and this will show up every time MASN2 is on the air.

They did recognize that there would be 4 games missed up until that date because of the "late launch" of MASN2 to the rest of the viewing area.

Hope this helps - and based on former information, I'm not counting on it happening - but I'm not giving up, either.

Kes-
I actually have a ticket opened on the MASN2 issue. I worked with a few folks - right now, the only people that are getting MASN2 is the small group of folks that got the DC-originated FIOS 1 channel at the end of March.

For everyone else that gets MASN, including me up here in Delaware - I was told Friday evening that they will launch an additional Channel 1 to us on APRIL 12TH - and this will show up every time MASN2 is on the air.

They did recognize that there would be 4 games missed up until that date because of the "late launch" of MASN2 to the rest of the viewing area.

Hope this helps - and based on former information, I'm not counting on it happening - but I'm not giving up, either.

Thanks for the update. You would think they could at least show the games on the channel right above MASN when they are on, I'm sure there is some legalize there that I am not aware of, but it would be nice.

I actually have a ticket opened on the MASN2 issue. I worked with a few folks - right now, the only people that are getting MASN2 is the small group of folks that got the DC-originated FIOS 1 channel at the end of March.

For everyone else that gets MASN, including me up here in Delaware - I was told Friday evening that they will launch an additional Channel 1 to us on APRIL 12TH - and this will show up every time MASN2 is on the air.
If by the "small group of folks", you mean the entire Washington Metro market, yes, we did get FIOS1 on March 31. It appears that they did not add FIOS1 to the Anne Arundel-Howard County line-up which is between DC and Baltimore and gets both the DC and Baltimore stations in HD. It is obvious that Verizon did not have a good plan to add MASN2 for the recently added Baltimore and Delaware markets. I see the Delaware line-up includes Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, so it must be a shared market between the Philadelphia and Baltimore sports networks.

I assume Verizon plans to add local FIOS1 channels specific to the Baltimore and Philadelphia markets, so they thought they could add the MASN2 games to that when they started those channels up. But those FIOS1 channels could be quite a ways off, so they will have to add a placeholder channel 1 which may be a test pattern when they are not showing MASN2 games. As it is, from the little I have watched of FIOS1, a test pattern would about as good use of bandwidth.

Afigg-
You nailed it exactly.

And yes, here in DE we're a bit lucky, as we're part of the Phillies / Orioles / Nats "broadcast area", so we get all 3 sports channels.

All, I would appreciate any insight you have on the topics below:
1. Can the folks who live in AA county Maryland (or actually any of the areas on this thread) that have switched from Comcast to FIOS give me their opionions on whether they made the right choice? Verizon stopped by the other night and made an offer that would save me some money but I do not know if it is worth the hassle of switching over.
2. If I kept my Comcast service, did a side by side comparison after the install, and decide that I liked Comcast better, will Verizon let me out of the contract? Is there a grace period or is it that once the install is complete you're stuck?
2. The one thing about FIOS that bothers me a little is that they do not offer HD VOD. Has anyone heard whether this is in the works or not? We love the Discovery channel HD VOD and would hope that Verizon woul do something similar.

There are many pros and cons for switching and I am trying to weigh them; however, since FIOS TV is so new, I do not know anyone that has switched from Comcast to Verizon and I have not been able to see it in action.

Sorry it took a few days to respond. We were away over the weekend.

I live in Montgomery Cty. and we just switched to FIOS TV from Comcast. I switched to FIOS internet from Comcast in 12/05. Best two telecom moves I ever made. Except for one little glitch last week, my internet service has been 100 percent bulletproof. The new actiontec router installed for FIOS TV has some kind of glitch which was reducing my downstream speed from 15 to 8.8. They swapped out the router and I am back up to 15.2. Upstream was unaffected.

We've had the TV service for 2 weeks and the SD PQ is far better than Comcast and the HD quality is slightly better than Comcast. VZ also has more HD channels than Comcast. DVR hardware is very similar but software is different. There are pros and cons with both. I've never had Tivo but Tivo users say that both Comcast and FIOS rate poorly in comparison. I can't comment on that.

My bottom line is that I am paying $12 less per month with VZ (including $5 monthly discount for having internet service and $9.99 monthly discount for signing up for one year commitment) than for Comcast's preferred basic service. In addition to saving money at getting better PQ, I am also getting about twice as many channels and 2 DVRs instead of the one I had with Comcast. A rare case of getting more for less. With the internet service, I am paying 44.95 per month for 15/2 service in comparison to the the 42.95 per month I was paying for Comcast's 6 down 386kb up service. With VZ, except for the problem last week with the bad router, I always get the contract speed. With Comcast, I never got the contract speed. On a good day, I got 4 down but usually it was in the 2 to 3 range.

For phone, I use a VOIP service called Voicepulse that gets good ratings on broadbandreports. I've had the service since October and it has been quite good. I had no problems with switching over to the actiontec router. The only problem I have is one I check my work email from home using the Lotus Notes client. Seems to be a bandwidth hog and causes some breakup. I used some QoS settings found on the Vonage forum site which seems to have done the trick. Voicepulse costs about 27.50 per month with tax for unlimited service and many features including voicemail and caller ID.

With respect to other matters, FIOS TV has only been in existence for a year and half, their network has the capacity to offer far more than Comcast in the way of HD programming and HD VOD. I think we will be seeing big changes for the better over the next year so what so far has been a very good service is bound to get better.

If by the "small group of folks", you mean the entire Washington Metro market, yes, we did get FIOS1 on March 31. It appears that they did not add FIOS1 to the Anne Arundel-Howard County line-up which is between DC and Baltimore and gets both the DC and Baltimore stations in HD. It is obvious that Verizon did not have a good plan to add MASN2 for the recently added Baltimore and Delaware markets. I see the Delaware line-up includes Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, so it must be a shared market between the Philadelphia and Baltimore sports networks.

I assume Verizon plans to add local FIOS1 channels specific to the Baltimore and Philadelphia markets, so they thought they could add the MASN2 games to that when they started those channels up. But those FIOS1 channels could be quite a ways off, so they will have to add a placeholder channel 1 which may be a test pattern when they are not showing MASN2 games. As it is, from the little I have watched of FIOS1, a test pattern would about as good use of bandwidth.

Given the channel lineup as it is, this whole Channel 1 thing is stupid. There's plenty of room to add a real spot for MASN2. I don't quite get what they are thinking here. Of course (to move it back on topic) there are a lot of curious decisions from FIOS, like taking forever to add HD channels that they have contracts for.

Given the channel lineup as it is, this whole Channel 1 thing is stupid. There's plenty of room to add a real spot for MASN2. I don't quite get what they are thinking here. Of course (to move it back on topic) there are a lot of curious decisions from FIOS, like taking forever to add HD channels that they have contracts for.

I'm not sure how most cable operators are doing MASN2(is it even a real station?). The local cable company here, Cox, is using one of their public access channels to show MASN2 whenever there is a live game on.

the real question is whether I will be able to ever get a hocky, nba wizards, or local baseball game in HD before I die?

the real question is whether I will be able to ever get a hockey, wizards, or local baseball game in HD before I die?

I'm not sure how most cable operators are doing MASN2(is it even a real station?). The local cable company here, Cox, is using one of their public access channels to show MASN2 whenever there is a live game on.

From reading about this it sounds like MASN2 is like MSG2 or FSNY2 here. It is not a real channel it is just used for overflow games when MASN is showing something else. Just so you guys know Verizon actually has both MSG2 and FSNY2 as full time channels even though they just show the same programming as their main channel until there is a game on. That was a big selling point for me since Comcast always had problems with this.

the real question is whether I will be able to ever get a hockey, wizards, or local baseball game in HD before I die?
Well, just how long do you expect to live? :D

Seriously, I expect we will see almost certainly see a MASN-HD for the 2008 baseball season. Whether they will have a part-time MASN2-HD, who knows? If you want hockey in HD, HDNet has some hockey games and NBC has shown some in HD on Sundays. Oh, you want the Capitals and Wizards in HD? Oh well, someday Verizon will add Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic HD. Someday...

From reading about this it sounds like MASN2 is like MSG2 or FSNY2 here. It is not a real channel it is just used for overflow games when MASN is showing something else. Just so you guys know Verizon actually has both MSG2 and FSNY2 as full time channels even though they just show the same programming as their main channel until there is a game on. That was a big selling point for me since Comcast always had problems with this.

Comcast carries our RSNs 2nd channel (known as FSN Plus) on one of the local sports channels. They don't have a dedicated slot for it, but it shows in the programming guide as Tigers baseball.

Given the channel lineup as it is, this whole Channel 1 thing is stupid. There's plenty of room to add a real spot for MASN2. I don't quite get what they are thinking here. Of course (to move it back on topic) there are a lot of curious decisions from FIOS, like taking forever to add HD channels that they have contracts for.

They're putting it on Channel 1 b/c that's where they told MASN it would be. If you go to their site, www.masn.tv - and type in your zip and choose Verizon - it shows MASN2 as being on Channel 1.

All,
I had my second visit from a FIOS rep last night, nice guy and seemed knowledgeable, however I am always doubtful about what they say. On his first visit I posed the question about HD VOD and he said that he would check on it. When he came back last night he said that yes, they do have HD VOD. I live in AA county Maryland and I heard on these boards that they did not have it. I would appreciate it if someone could confirm or deny this rep's assertion. Thanks.

FiOS TV does not have HD VOD. The FiOS is either flat out lying, misinformed, or clueless.

As Ricky states, there is NO HD-VOD at this time.

They were testing it a few months back - with "supposed" plans for summer release - but we know nothing more concrete than that.

They're putting it on Channel 1 b/c that's where they told MASN it would be. If you go to their site, www.masn.tv - and type in your zip and choose Verizon - it shows MASN2 as being on Channel 1.

Thanks for that tip, they do show it on channel 1 for my zip, so perhaps on April 12 they will really begin carrying it.

All,
I had my second visit from a FIOS rep last night, nice guy and seemed knowledgeable, however I am always doubtful about what they say. On his first visit I posed the question about HD VOD and he said that he would check on it. When he came back last night he said that yes, they do have HD VOD. I live in AA county Maryland and I heard on these boards that they did not have it. I would appreciate it if someone could confirm or deny this rep's assertion. Thanks.


None for now but this feature is part of their business plan. Take a deep breath and remember VZ has only been in the video business for 18 months. They just started signing carriage agreements two years ago and they have a full plate -- laying cable, equipping CO's, new installs, rolling out new interactive media guide (FIOS 2.0). They will also be expanding HD channels and adding HD VOD. My sense is that these last two are important but the new guide is probably a higher priority. If I had to venture a guess, I would say that we will have HD VOD in 12 to 18 months. With luck, maybe a bit less.

If I had to venture a guess, I would say that we will have HD VOD in 12 to 18 months. With luck, maybe a bit less.

That was quite hilarious. 12-18 months. We all know FIOS will have HD VOD in 12-18 months.

With NHL playoffs upcoming and Time Warner adding Versus HD, its time we put a little pressue on Verizon for the channel. All games broadcast on Versus will be in HD.

customersupport@verizon.com

I'd imagine will start to see ramped up VOD offerings following the FiOS guide upgrade.

When is the Programming Guide update supposed to be released? I apologize if this has already been discussed before.

With NHL playoffs upcoming and Time Warner adding Versus HD, its time we put a little pressue on Verizon for the channel. All games broadcast on Versus will be in HD.

customersupport@verizon.com

C'mon now Ken - there hasn't been a new HD channel in over 6 months. :p

When is the Programming Guide update supposed to be released? I apologize if this has already been discussed before.

Jan-
There really is no real answer. There have been rumored dates, which are already passed - so in all honesty, noone really knows. I don't think VZ even knows when they're going to release it.

When is the Programming Guide update supposed to be released?"By midyear"
http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2007/verizon-unveils-next.html

Channel 1 was added here this morning, no programming info is available from the guide, but they were showing ESPNEWS, which means it must be showing MASN2.

Kes-
Channel 1 also added here. Earlier there was no name or guide info - but it filled in by 7am.

Now showing as "Fios 1" - showing a simulcast of ESPNews - however when scrolling through the guide to 7pm tonight, it is showing the Nationals game listed.

It looks like they've successfully set up MASN2 for us.

Now - more National HD please!

Kes-
Channel 1 also added here. Earlier there was no name or guide info - but it filled in by 7am.

Now showing as "Fios 1" - showing a simulcast of ESPNews - however when scrolling through the guide to 7pm tonight, it is showing the Nationals game listed.

It looks like they've successfully set up MASN2 for us.

Now - more National HD please!

I'll check when I get home to see if the name and programming information have been added here. It was around 6:00 when I checked this morning.

What I want now is ABC in HD and then the National HDs and I will be content for a while.

Someone just posted over on DSL Reports that THREE NEW NATIONAL HD's just showed up.

They live in Texas

Food HD - 840
HGTV HD - 841
Lifetime Movie HD - 845

Can anyone else confirm??????

Someone just posted over on DSL Reports that THREE NEW NATIONAL HD's just showed up.

They live in Texas

Food HD - 840
Lifetime Movie HD - 841
HGTV HD - 845

Can anyone else confirm??????

Damn, I'm at work...

Philly area guys, chill out. Nothing between 839 and 851 this morning. Guess it's not a national rollout.

Damn, I'm at work...
Ditto, have to wait 8 hours to find out.....

I just talked to my wife, and she said that as of 10am there is nothing on 840, 841, or 845.

When she types those numbers directly it just flashes ??? on the guide. when she went into the menu to edit the channel list there was nothing listed for those numbers.

Hopefully we will see them soon in the DC metro area. I want to see Giada in HD mmmmm.

I just talked to my wife, and she said that as of 10am there is nothing on 840, 841, or 845.

When she types those numbers directly it just flashes ??? on the guide. when she went into the menu to edit the channel list there was nothing listed for those numbers.

Hopefully we will see them soon in the DC metro area. I want to see Giada in HD mmmmm.

No additions in Boston yet.

Crap! I really want to go home now and see if this is true for everyone in Texas. Stupid work!

Someone just posted over on DSL Reports that THREE NEW NATIONAL HD's just showed up.

They live in Texas

Food HD - 840
HGTV HD - 841
Lifetime Movie HD - 845

Can anyone else confirm??????

Yep!! They're there for me. I live in Keller, TX.

Yep!! They're there for me. I live in Keller, TX.

Hopefully this means they aren't too far away from being added to the rest of the country, perhaps a day or two of testing on one system befoe expanding?

Hopefully this means they aren't too far away from being added to the rest of the country, perhaps a day or two of testing on one system befoe expanding?

The "Information" has not been updated, but the channels are there with the programs.

The "Information" has not been updated, but the channels are there with the programs.
I just checked and the channels are not here in Sterling, VA in the Washington Metro area. The question is whether only Texas got them today as a test roll-out or did any other areas get the new HD channels as well? Will they do a national roll-out tomorrow or will they add them to only a few areas at a time, taking weeks to do it?

Now I got to look to see what the heck they show on Lifetime Movie HD. I assume mostly Lifetime chick flick TV movies, but do they show all or mostly HD or mostly upconverted 4:3 SD stuff?

Someone just posted over on DSL Reports that THREE NEW NATIONAL HD's just showed up.

They live in Texas

Food HD - 840
HGTV HD - 841
Lifetime Movie HD - 845

Can anyone else confirm??????

Not here in N.Y. :(

I tried doing an online chat to see if I could find out when they would be rolled out nationwide...umm, that went nowhere. The guy said I could emal the channels and tell them I wanted them on Verizon, I said they are on Verizon, but only in Texas. I gave up at that point.

Now I got to look to see what the heck they show on Lifetime Movie HD. I assume mostly Lifetime chick flick TV movies...Ah, yes... The Women-In-Distress movie network...

Afig-
Based on info here, and over on DSL Reports, it seems only TX did receive them.

DE / PA / NJ / NY / VA and MA have all chimed in with no updates.

As to when we'll see them, I have no idea. I'm trying to dig to see if I can get any info. I'll post back later on today.

If I had to guess I would say it would be next Thursday before we see any new national stations. Last Wednesday night/Thursday morning they added the 111 FiOS info channel and then last night/this morning they added some form of FiOS 1 for several areas, it might seem likely this is a weekly thing.

If I had to guess I would say it would be next Thursday before we see any new national stations. Last Wednesday night/Thursday morning they added the 111 FiOS info channel and then last night/this morning they added some form of FiOS 1 for several areas, it might seem likely this is a weekly thing.

New channels every week would be a good thing!! Especially HD!!!

If I had to guess I would say it would be next Thursday before we see any new national stations. Last Wednesday night/Thursday morning they added the 111 FiOS info channel and then last night/this morning they added some form of FiOS 1 for several areas, it might seem likely this is a weekly thing.

Kes-
But you got your local HD channels added on a Friday! :cool:

"On behalf of John Baird, I am responding to your recent HDTV inquiry. A public announcement has not yet been made concerning the exact date for the launch of HGTV-HD and Food-HD on Fios TV, but rest assured it will be very soon."

Thank you for your interest,

Andrea Jomides
Vice President Affiliate Sales/East

If I had to guess I would say it would be next Thursday before we see any new national stations. Last Wednesday night/Thursday morning they added the 111 FiOS info channel and then last night/this morning they added some form of FiOS 1 for several areas, it might seem likely this is a weekly thing.
The pattern in recent weeks, from the posts here, has been to add channels on Friday in the very early morning hours. So we may see the new HD channels added elsewhere tomorrow - or not.

I was not even aware there was a Lifetime Movie Network SD channel (121 on Fios). I went to Lifetime's website and could not find a reference to an HD channel. So the Lifetime Movie Network HD is probably a simulcast of the SD channel. Could not find any threads on it in the programming forum either, so this must be a fairly new HD channel if no one has complained about the picture quality or them showing nothing but upconverted SD. Or the guys on avsforum could care less. :D So soon we mayl have a lot of Women in Danger chick flicks in HD (or presumably occasionally in HD)!

We've been getting commercials on TV (Time Warner) advertising Verizon FIOS TV. Hopefully that means our area will be getting it soon...

There was a report of Lifetime Movie HD being "uplinked" in December. Apparently it never showed up anywhere (until now).

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=770086

Kes-
But you got your local HD channels added on a Friday! :cool:
Good point, but I would rather be pessimistic and be pleaseantly surprised than optimistic and disappointed(happened too many times with the local HDs).

Just installed Fios TV 2 days ago...what a disappointment compared to the Comcast HD service I had for a year. Comcast offers a vast amount of High Def content on their On Demand Service, while Verizon Fios TV offers none! Not even the pay-per-view movies are offered in HD. Comcast offers loads of HBO, Showtime, Starz High Def On Demand...Verizon none. I just spent hours on the phone with Verizon and most of their agents know little about HD.

I also think the HD picture quality on Comcast is superior and I am seriously thinking of switching back to Comcast...what a disappointment

Alan-
It's been discussed here in great detail that FIOS does not offer HD VOD yet. This shouldn't have been a surprise.

Any other regions where the programming info for Starz, Starz West, and Starz HD totally wrong? Starz West is showing what should be on on Starz HD and Starz, but I can't figure out where they are getting the info for Starz HD and Starz.

Edit: It actually seems ok now. Starz/Starz HD had the wrong movie listed, but the next one is correct. Starz West had the time off a little bit on the listings I think.

alanjross created his own thread on these claims. Considering they are his first two posts and extoll the virtues of Comcast over FiOS, I must question the motives of the postings sorry to say. Anyone who even bothered to check would have known that there was no HD VOD on FiOS. To say that the HD PQ on Comcast is superior is a joke.

He posted the EXACT same entry over on DSL Reports also....

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18159452

Posted on another DSL thread too.... must be having a great time!

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18137827

I also think the HD picture quality on Comcast is superior and I am seriously thinking of switching back to Comcast...what a disappointment

That's a first! I've heard various complaints here and there about FIOS, but I can't recall anyone saying their cable service had better PQ!

alanjross created his own thread on these claims. Considering they are his first two posts and extoll the virtues of Comcast over FiOS, I must question the motives of the postings sorry to say. Anyone who even bothered to check would have known that there was no HD VOD on FiOS. To say that the HD PQ on Comcast is superior is a joke.

Me thinks you're on to something JWhip! ;)

I received a response back from my DE media contact at VZ and she stated, yes - they did roll these 3 new channels out in TX today - and that they will be rolled out to the rest of us "soon", at which time there will be a formal announcement.

Unfortunately, that's not too concrete - but I can't imagine it being longer than in the next week.

I would expect them on nationally in about a week, hopefully, they are still 2 short though, even in TX.

Oh boy, speculation time!

I'm guessing Golf/Vs. and A&E.

I received a response back from my DE media contact at VZ and she stated, yes - they did roll these 3 new channels out in TX today - and that they will be rolled out to the rest of us "soon", at which time there will be a formal announcement.

Unfortunately, that's not too concrete - but I can't imagine it being longer than in the next week.

I hate the word "soon" with channel rollouts. Cox told me local hds were coming soon and it took more than 2 years for them to be added....

I would expect them on nationally in about a week, hopefully, they are still 2 short though, even in TX.

JWhip, have you moved away from Comcast. You always got us the latest news from Comcast. Time for you to make new contacts at Verizon : )

He posted the EXACT same entry over on DSL Reports also....

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18159452

Posted on another DSL thread too.... must be having a great time!

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18137827


And on Highdefforum.

http://highdefforum.com/showthread.php?t=41276

Switched in February but still know Comcast people.

Just installed Fios TV 2 days ago...what a disappointment compared to the Comcast HD service I had for a year. Comcast offers a vast amount of High Def content on their On Demand Service, while Verizon Fios TV offers none! Not even the pay-per-view movies are offered in HD. Comcast offers loads of HBO, Showtime, Starz High Def On Demand...Verizon none. I just spent hours on the phone with Verizon and most of their agents know little about HD.

I also think the HD picture quality on Comcast is superior and I am seriously thinking of switching back to Comcast...what a disappointment

I just turned in my COMCAST HD DVR last week. I had both for a month. The FIOS installer ran new coax for me, something I could never convince COMCAST to do despite slow internet service (before I dropped them for a 15/2 FIOS connection) and frequent drop outs with On Demand programs. To me HD was roughly equivalent, with FIOS probably getting the nod, but the SD PQ of FIOS is much better than COMCAST in my opinion. I miss CSN-MA HD, but now that hockey season is over, at least in Washington, I don't miss it much...

Never was a big 'On Demand' person, since COMCAST On Demand was unreliable for me and we had the DVR. With FIOS, I get Showtime, TMC, a second SD box and a multiroom DVR, although that is a bit big buggy, for about the same price as COMCAST with no premium movie channels. Clearly it would be nice to have HD On Demand, but even without it, I still think FIOS is a better value for the money. YMMV.

I'm still betting on 4/30 for the Philly area. Based on a Verizon letter sent a few weeks ago which said that Univision was moving from 26 to 14 on 4/30.

I'll re-confirm what others have said: Texas got Food, HGTV and LMNHD this morning. I can also tell you that much of the programming on LMNHD is indeed in HD. Some was taken from a movie print and converted to HD, others were in HD to begin with. It all looked pretty good, although it's not programming I would generally watch.

What I did find encouraging was the fact that all of the programming on Food and HGTV HD is in HD. The schedule is not the same as the SD versions of either channel.

For what it's worth.. I discovered the addition of these channels quite by accident. I was out late last night and got home around 4:20 this morning. I noticed my HD box had been reset because the time was displayed on the front instead of a channel number. (we typically leave the box on all the time) I turned it on and found 840, 841 and 845 added, but with no information on which channels they were. Furthermore, since all 3 were showing infomercials at the time, there was no ID on the screen to indicate which channels they were.

I also flipped around a bit to see if anything else was different and found that the TV Guide Channel, Local Weatherscan, Weather Channel and the Fios Info channel were all black. The music choice channels were all black too with the exception of channel 600. When I woke up around noon, the program guide info was there for all three of the new HD channels, but the other channels were still black with no sound. They stayed that way until this evening when they were all back on the air just fine.

It seems the glitch was associated with adding the new channels. Since DC and Virginia got Fios 1 and some other channel last week, but didn't get the HD stuff today, it may follow logically that other area will get the HD channels next week and we'll get Fios 1 then too.

Just a thought.

Just installed Fios TV 2 days ago...what a disappointment compared to the Comcast HD service I had for a year. Comcast offers a vast amount of High Def content on their On Demand Service, while Verizon Fios TV offers none! Not even the pay-per-view movies are offered in HD. Comcast offers loads of HBO, Showtime, Starz High Def On Demand...Verizon none. I just spent hours on the phone with Verizon and most of their agents know little about HD.

I also think the HD picture quality on Comcast is superior and I am seriously thinking of switching back to Comcast...what a disappointment

I agree with other posters who have said that something must be wrong with your setup becuase I just switched from Comcast. Verizon HD is somewhat better and Verizon SD is so much better that the two cannot be compared.

What really sold me on the quality of Verizon SD is Fox Movie Channel (FMC) on my flat panel HDTV. With Comcast, SD on my HDTV ran from passable to good. FMC provided a great test for Verizon SD because they broadcast in orginal aspect ratio. I normally don't zoom 4:3 content unless it's letterboxed. When i did this with Comcast (for example with some TCM and PBS letterboxed 4:3 content), all the flaws were magnified. The other night I zoomed True Lies on FMC. The PQ was near DVD quality. In fact, the quality was approaching HDnet Movies. I was truly amazed. VZ SD is the major leagues. Comcast SD is a class A minor league team (maybe even a high school team) by comparison.

HD programming is great -- no breakups, pixelation or any other problems.

Very important note. As others have posted, it is important to set 4:3 override on the STB to 480i to get the best SD PQ.

One other thing. Alan did not do his homework. Pretty clear that FIOS currently does not have HD content available on VOD. However, this is sure to change. FIOS will certainly catchup with Comcast then eventually leave it in the dust with its bandwidth avantage.

What I did find encouraging was the fact that all of the programming on Food and HGTV HD is in HD. The schedule is not the same as the SD versions of either channel.



Arnold-
You are correct. Food HD and HGTV HD is HD all the time. Excellent selection of shows and most importantly, excellent picture quality. I used to watch them all the time on DISH Network - that's why I hope the rest of us don't have to wait much longer.

**Edit** - Over on DSL Reports there is a post that the new HD's have shown up in Florida this morning.

nada in L.A. let's hope "soon" is soon.

Arnold-
You are correct. Food HD and HGTV HD is HD all the time. Excellent selection of shows and most importantly, excellent picture quality. I used to watch them all the time on DISH Network - that's why I hope the rest of us don't have to wait much longer.

**Edit** - Over on DSL Reports there is a post that the new HD's have shown up in Florida this morning.

Is Emril is HD?

Arnold-
You are correct. Food HD and HGTV HD is HD all the time. Excellent selection of shows and most importantly, excellent picture quality. I used to watch them all the time on DISH Network - that's why I hope the rest of us don't have to wait much longer.

**Edit** - Over on DSL Reports there is a post that the new HD's have shown up in Florida this morning.
Perhaps we are going to get 1 state a day until rollout is finished.

Is Emril is HD?

No, Emeril is not in Hi-Def.

FOOD HD is a separate lineup of shows - includes some from Fine Living as well.

Anyone else like me could care less about having HGTV HD, FOOD HD and LMN HD??? I mean I give props for FIOS adding to their HD lineup...but what I'm waiting for is seeing FIOS have SciFi, History Channel, USA, FX, Speed, TBS, TWC etc in HD as soon as they are available.

No, Emeril is not in Hi-Def.

FOOD HD is a separate lineup of shows - includes some from Fine Living as well.

Dang or should I say BAM. I would like to see him kick it up a notch in HD.

More FOOD programming will be added in high-definition later this year. Some sets are now being redone / rebuilt for HD.

You can see the current FOOD-HD schedule below:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/hdtv/0,2857,FOOD_26756,00.html

derek - I'm with you. Sci-fi, Weather Channel can't start soon enough. I had no idea Food Network was so popular. Maybe there are some incentive$ to put those other channels on first.

Anyone else like me could care less about having HGTV HD, FOOD HD and LMN HD??? I mean I give props for FIOS adding to their HD lineup...but what I'm waiting for is seeing FIOS have SciFi, History Channel, USA, FX, Speed, TBS, TWC etc in HD as soon as they are available.

Hard to complain about not having SciFi, History, USA, FX, Speed, TBS, TWC.. etc.. since none of those stations are offered in HD anywhere.

There's really very little in HD that Fios doesn't offer. The big ones are A&E, and INHD (which is owned by other cable companies that aren't likely to make a deal with Verizon - ever)

I don't think he was complaining. He was just saying: the real test from his perspective as to the quality of Verizon service will be how quickly they step up this fall when new HD channels start rolling out much more frequently. I think most of us agree with that, and our concern is that the contracts with Scripps have been settled for months and we're just now seeing the channels come live.

Also, don't forget VS/GLF on your list.

Anyone else like me could care less about having HGTV HD, FOOD HD and LMN HD??? I mean I give props for FIOS adding to their HD lineup...but what I'm waiting for is seeing FIOS have SciFi, History Channel, USA, FX, Speed, TBS, TWC etc in HD as soon as they are available.

USA and SciFi are both owned by GE/NBC.

You'll have to wait a while to see either one in HD

NBC shows SOME of those on Universal HD, but they don't want the "parent" networks to suffer, which is why you see BSG on Universal HD about 2 seasons behind Sci-Fi.

Give them a few years and you'll get your wish.

You'll probably see History, Speed sooner than the rest (TBS usually only shows "older" things that were never filmed in HD). And you want the Weather Channel in HD???

Yes, Weather Channel HD!!! I'm addicted to it (in between sports). It's been announced for later this year. I gotta suffer with Food-HD, so quid pro quo.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quid_pro_quo )

USA and SciFi are both owned by GE/NBC.

You'll have to wait a while to see either one in HD

NBC shows SOME of those on Universal HD, but they don't want the "parent" networks to suffer, which is why you see BSG on Universal HD about 2 seasons behind Sci-Fi.

Give them a few years and you'll get your wish.

You'll probably see History, Speed sooner than the rest (TBS usually only shows "older" things that were never filmed in HD). And you want the Weather Channel in HD???

Um, all of those channels have planned launches for Q3/Q4 2007.

I received a response back from my DE media contact at VZ and she stated, yes - they did roll these 3 new channels out in TX today - and that they will be rolled out to the rest of us "soon", at which time there will be a formal announcement.

Unfortunately, that's not too concrete - but I can't imagine it being longer than in the next week.

Just an FYI, we got the 3 new channels in FL now too. I'm in Tampa and I just noticed them 2 mins ago. Can't say these three HD channels were very high on my list though. I much would have preferred Vs, USA or A&E or HD VOD then Food, HGTV and "Lady's network"....and for godsakes my wife barely cares when something is in HD vs SD..I'M THE ONE THAT CARES!

Nothing new here this morning.

Anyone else like me could care less about having HGTV HD, FOOD HD and LMN HD??? I mean I give props for FIOS adding to their HD lineup...but what I'm waiting for is seeing FIOS have SciFi, History Channel, USA, FX, Speed, TBS, TWC etc in HD as soon as they are available.FOOD is very popular... They have been shooting in HD for over year now...

Nothing new in N.Y.

I was doing a little research on planned HD channels, and it's hard to get too many things nailed down. Supposedly DirecTV has deals with 60 networks and plans to have 100 HD channels on the air by the end of the year. NBCU says they'll have several networks on the air soon, but offered no timetable. USA and SciFi are assumed to be two of the networks. Turner says it'll have TBS and Cartoon - but offers no timetable. They did commit to a September launch of CNN in HD. Fox will supposedly have an HD version of FX, but they won't say when.

With the uncertain nature of these commitments, I'm not surprised we're not hearing more from Verizon about future HD networks.

Oddly enough, as I looked around for info on HD networks, I never saw any mention of the Lifetime Movie Network in HD that's now on Fios!

I'm pretty sure NBCU said they plan to launch USA and SciFi by year's end. There were some threads around here about it that probably say, but I've never had any luck with the search function around here so I'm not even going to try.

I also remember speculation that MSNBC will go HD fairly soon after, given that they're moving to a new HD studio that's being built at 30 Rock. This was seemingly supported by the push for Nightly News in HD and the comments that HD field cams will begin deployment next March.

You're certainly right to be cautious though. Plans change all the time. Warner is the only network to commit to a hard timeline with CNN (and probably with TBS if there's going to be HD baseball playoffs this year). Disney has also said early 2008 for Disney, Toon Disney, and ESPNEWS.

USA and SciFi are both owned by GE/NBC.

You'll have to wait a while to see either one in HD

NBC shows SOME of those on Universal HD, but they don't want the "parent" networks to suffer, which is why you see BSG on Universal HD about 2 seasons behind Sci-Fi.

Give them a few years and you'll get your wish.

You'll probably see History, Speed sooner than the rest (TBS usually only shows "older" things that were never filmed in HD). And you want the Weather Channel in HD???
battlestar galactica is 6 or 7 episodes behind, not a season or 2.

battlestar galactica is 6 or 7 episodes behind, not a season or 2.

they finally fixed that? Good. Maybe I'll start subbing to it then.

Around here, on TW Cable, Universal HD started being offered last year. They were only showing Season 1 on Universal HD.

Food TV, HGTV and LMN HD have shown up in Northern Virginia as of this morning.

-Matt

Food TV, HGTV and LMN HD have shown up in Northern Virginia as of this morning.

-Matt

Still not in Virginia Beach, I was hoping they would add Virginia as a whole, we have such a low subscriber base in this general area right now that my guess is we will be last.

Food TV, HGTV and LMN HD have shown up in Northern Virginia as of this morning.

-Matt

What channel #s are these supposed to be?

What channel #s are these supposed to be?

840, 841, 845.

Yeah, folks in MD over on DSL Reports are also stating they got the channels this morning.

Okay, I was cool with the first states getting added as a test, but this 1 state at a time thing is rediculous.

These are NATIONAL HD channels Verizon.

Everything is done so half-assed with this company.

Yeah, folks in MD over on DSL Reports are also stating they got the channels this morning.

Okay, I was cool with the first states getting added as a test, but this 1 state at a time thing is rediculous.

These are NATIONAL HD channels Verizon.

Everything is done so half-assed with this company.

I'm right there with you. Getting somewhat ridiculous.

Still nothing in N.Y.

Food TV, HGTV and LMN HD have shown up in Northern Virginia as of this morning.

-Matt

FIOS in PG Co MD has the new HD channels as well, probably the same channel set as Northern VA. The guide shows the channels, but no programming. udigtv has the new channels and the programming using zip code 20170, Verizon FiosTV - Silver Springs/Wash Met, for anyone who's interested in seeing what's on.

That Udig website is odd - it doesn't even list Verizon as a provider in my zip - or any around me in DE or PA.

Yeah, folks in MD over on DSL Reports are also stating they got the channels this morning.

Okay, I was cool with the first states getting added as a test, but this 1 state at a time thing is rediculous.

These are NATIONAL HD channels Verizon.

Everything is done so half-assed with this company.
I just checked and was pleasantly surprised to find the three HD channels had been added here to the Washington Metro region. It appears that they were added to the Anne Arundel - Howard County region as well. We need to look beyond the state to the region to get a better picture of where the new HD channels were added. VA now has four regions in it's list of channel line-ups: Washington Metro, Richmond, VA Beach Area, and Ft. Belvoir - Quantico (which looks to be a special feed to the bases as there are no national HD channels in that channel listing). Did anyone in another region - Baltimore, Richmond, SE PA, Northern DE - get the channels today?

I understand your frustration with the deliberate pace of the roll-out, but this is much faster than the cable companies. With Comcast, a roll-out takes months across their balkanized system, even for the areas that apparently have the bandwidth available. This adding of one or two regions at a time means that it may take a week or two to add the three HD channels to all the Fios subscribers. But I hope they will speed this process up in the future as it will take longer and longer this way as they add more regions. What we should do is keep track by region and date they add the channels to see if there is a pattern that we can expect them to follow for future roll-outs.

Still nothing in N.Y.

None of the channels have been added in the Boston region

Food TV, HGTV and LMN HD have shown up in Northern Virginia as of this morning.

-Matt

What he said... :D

There is obviously a reason in their distribution system why they are adding the channels a day at a time up the coast. What is the big deal with a day or two delay? Repeat after me, It is only TV, it is only TV.

hhahhha...of course JWhip! Lol..

The last time national channels were added (AMC, Fuse, etc.) - they were all added across the country at the same time.

Just basing it off of previous "implementations".

It's not just TV - it's HGTV! :D

That Udig website is odd - it doesn't even list Verizon as a provider in my zip - or any around me in DE or PA.

Odd is right. Their link between zip codes and channel lineups is suboptimal, to say the least. My actual zip shows me 10 different COMCAST lineups, two for Millenium Cable, and four apartment house internal lineups, but it only has the FIOS TV listing for the next county over which has different local channels. I had to try serveral different zips in the area before finding the right channel lineup. I didn't see a feedback option to help them update their relationships between zips and providers, either. The listings are accurate, the trick is finding the right zip to use...

I recently had a problem with the one FIOS channel not working. With techs at the house, tech support and network support, I got a glimpse of the local network supporting my FIOS TV service. In Southern California, Pomona has a centralized hub that connects the region to the national network. From there content and channels are fed to local video server offices (VSO was the term used). The techs were comparing Seal Beach to Huntington Beach and having to call the central office to go check the channel. When they checked Seal Beach 802 local KCBS was showing but when they went to HB the channel was off. They then dispatched someone to the HB VSO to enable the channel. This weekend, all music channels were off and they dispatched someone to ‘fix’ the network problem. Given the information that I have learned so far, can anyone provide additional information? Perhaps this is a new Master Topic to identify hubs and VSOs?

According to HGTV's website, their HD channel launched April 10th. I for one am pretty impressed that Verizon is rolling this channel out nationally (albeit state by state) this quickly. I know people like to complain, but with FIOS we have pretty much every available HD channel, with only a few exceptions. Not bad. Now, if we could only get Versus-HD before the NHL playoffs end....

According to HGTV's website, their HD channel launched April 10th. I for one am pretty impressed that Verizon is rolling this channel out nationally (albeit state by state) this quickly. I know people like to complain, but with FIOS we have pretty much every available HD channel, with only a few exceptions. Not bad. Now, if we could only get Versus-HD before the NHL playoffs end....
Um, according to the website, the channel was launched April 10, 2006. So it took a year for Verizon to add it. That does not bother me much as I don't expect there to be that much original HD programming on it. I expect this to be like Wealth-HD or Music-HD - lots and lots of repeats.

I saw the tail end of a TV movie on Lifetime Movie Channel HD this morning. "The Woman Who Sinned" with Susan Lucci fighting off the bad guy, made in 1991 according to the guide. Yep, that is a Lifetime movie title for sure. The movie was upconverted SD; looked to be a combination of stretch and perhaps some cropping - mostly stretch - to fill the 16:9 screen. The stretching did not look as bad as TNT-HD, which is why I suspect some cropping is being done to fill the 16:9 screen. But it looks we have another stretch-o-vision channel when they are showing upconverted SD material.

I just checked and was pleasantly surprised to find the three HD channels had been added here to the Washington Metro region. It appears that they were added to the Anne Arundel - Howard County region as well. We need to look beyond the state to the region to get a better picture of where the new HD channels were added. VA now has four regions in it's list of channel line-ups: Washington Metro, Richmond, VA Beach Area, and Ft. Belvoir - Quantico (which looks to be a special feed to the bases as there are no national HD channels in that channel listing). Did anyone in another region - Baltimore, Richmond, SE PA, Northern DE - get the channels today?

I understand your frustration with the deliberate pace of the roll-out, but this is much faster than the cable companies. With Comcast, a roll-out takes months across their balkanized system, even for the areas that apparently have the bandwidth available. This adding of one or two regions at a time means that it may take a week or two to add the three HD channels to all the Fios subscribers. But I hope they will speed this process up in the future as it will take longer and longer this way as they add more regions. What we should do is keep track by region and date they add the channels to see if there is a pattern that we can expect them to follow for future roll-outs.

What he said. Damn, how quickly we are spoiled and totally forget the completely random and haphazard rollout of "national" channels by companies like Adelphia, Comcast, and TWC. Frankly, if these channels are nationally rolled out in a week's time, then that's 1000 times more efficient and organized than anything Comcast has ever done.

Like I said, i'm just commenting based on when they last had a national channel rollout - it was done all in 1 day, to everyone.

This was when they added the Rainbow Media stations last fall.

1. I have noticed in the channel guide, at times, there is no channel 2. The HD channel 802 works just fine when this happens. Has anyone else seen this before??

2. Lately it is taking the channels longer to change then it used to. Perhaps up to a 3-5 second delay.. Is anyone else experiencing this??

3. Lastly, does Fios TV support on screen caller ID? I had it with direct and assumed that Verizon would have it as well. If it does could you tell me the steps to take to make it function...

Thanks for any and all comments.

3. Lastly, does Fios TV support on screen caller ID? I had it with direct and assumed that Verizon would have it as well. If it does could you tell me the steps to take to make it function...No, they do not. Motorola is responsible for providing the drivers and firmware necessary to make that sort of thing possible.

Motorola is working on firmware that will allow cable systems to integrate caller ID functionality into their software. However, note that caller ID is only possible if you use their VoIP phone service, as cable company DVRs don't have phone jacks. I wouldn't expect to see that feature this year.

Just wanted to clarify my post in that the new additions IMHO just don't do anything to excite my viewing habits. I'm extremely happy with Verizon FIOS, applaud their efforts to expand HD programming and think they are clearly leading the provider race in HD (and SD) programming (content/availability/service/pricing.)

Um, according to the website, the channel was launched April 10, 2006. So it took a year for Verizon to add it.

Whoops! My bad, I didn't notice it said 2006. Should have figured that Verizon, or anybody, wouldn't get a channel rolled out in less than a week. Sorry about that.

Like I said, i'm just commenting based on when they last had a national channel rollout - it was done all in 1 day, to everyone.

This was when they added the Rainbow Media stations last fall.
Sure, they could do it that way... but that would probably mean that the whole country would have to wait until the last area is up and ready. Who knows how long that would take. Maybe our impatience prompted Verizon to change their ways! :)

1. I have noticed in the channel guide, at times, there is no channel 2. The HD channel 802 works just fine when this happens. Has anyone else seen this before??Well, there's never a channel 2 in my lineup; but then, there isn't supposed to be. Where are you, and what do you expect to see on channel 2?

2. Lately it is taking the channels longer to change then it used to. Perhaps up to a 3-5 second delay.. Is anyone else experiencing this??Every time the box reboots, it bogs down for a while. Otherwise, no.

3. Lastly, does Fios TV support on screen caller ID? I had it with direct and assumed that Verizon would have it as well. If it does could you tell me the steps to take to make it function...DirecTV receivers have phone jacks, which they use to report PPV, and to try to ensure that you don't set up boxes at multiple addresses while only paying mirror fees. I've heard it suggested that caller ID was added mainly as an incentive to get people to hook up their receivers to phone lines.

Verizon's boxes have neither the need nor the ability to connect to phone lines. So, there's no way for them to get the caller ID. Sure, Verizon is The Phone Company, so they have the info... conceivably, they could make it available via IP... but AFAIK, they don't.

Well, there's never a channel 2 in my lineup; but then, there isn't supposed to be. Where are you, and what do you expect to see on channel 2?


Channel 2 out here in Southern California is the CBS network.

HELP!

Do any of you live in Bergen County, NJ? I got FIOS and I am sick of waiting for Verizon's customer call line. Even the installer cannot explain it through his calls to VZ. I've ordered the HD STB and assumed that I will get the "NATIONAL HD" channels. Instead the only HD I get are local channels. Is this an unique issue in north Jersey or VZ screwed up my order. I also get channels in the 500+ numbers, some of them are the same as the ones in the 50+. What a disappointment. Yes, the SD PQ is better but why can't they put their act together in customer service and channel offerings?

HELP!

Do any of you live in Bergen County, NJ? I got FIOS and I am sick of waiting for Verizon's customer call line. Even the installer cannot explain it through his calls to VZ. I've ordered the HD STB and assumed that I will get the "NATIONAL HD" channels. Instead the only HD I get are local channels. Is this an unique issue in north Jersey or VZ screwed up my order. I also get channels in the 500+ numbers, some of them are the same as the ones in the 50+. What a disappointment. Yes, the SD PQ is better but why can't they put their act together in customer service and channel offerings?

Common problem, call and have the national HD channels turned on. See http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18162249 for example. Simple issue, call and they turn them on. For some reason they do not turn them on automatically.

HELP!

Do any of you live in Bergen County, NJ? I got FIOS and I am sick of waiting for Verizon's customer call line. Even the installer cannot explain it through his calls to VZ. I've ordered the HD STB and assumed that I will get the "NATIONAL HD" channels. Instead the only HD I get are local channels. Is this an unique issue in north Jersey or VZ screwed up my order. I also get channels in the 500+ numbers, some of them are the same as the ones in the 50+. What a disappointment. Yes, the SD PQ is better but why can't they put their act together in customer service and channel offerings?

Call Encore Sales, not Technical Support. They should be able to enable your National HD channels. A common oversight.

As for the 500's, remove those from your guide. You need to do it on each STB. It's the Spanish/Foreign Language tier. Yes, many of the channels are in English. You should have gotten a printed sheet showing the guide lineup. 440 to 589 (or about there) are foreign language/La Connexion.

In Northern NJ this morning the 3 new National HD channels are now active.

In Northern NJ this morning the 3 new National HD channels are now active.

Just called home to have the wife check. She says the channels are active, but did not look HD, one looked blurry, were just showing infomercials, and the channel banner said no information available.

Verizon's boxes have neither the need nor the ability to connect to phone lines. So, there's no way for them to get the caller ID. Sure, Verizon is The Phone Company, so they have the info... conceivably, they could make it available via IP... but AFAIK, they don't.BTW, AFAIK, Time Warner and some of the other cable companies that have played around with / trialed / tested on-screen caller ID don't do so by plugging a phone line into the box either ...
http://www.timewarnercable.com/centralny/products/digitalphones/callid.html

You use their phone service ... you get a call ... box gets a message with the caller ID info independant of the POTS caller ID info.

WOW also recently launched a caller-id on TV feature. A bit more detail:
http://blog.itvt.com/my_weblog/2007/04/wideopenwest_wo.html

Again, the box gets the caller-id info from the head-end independant of the POTS caller-id info.

Call Encore Sales, not Technical Support. They should be able to enable your National HD channels. A common oversight.

As for the 500's, remove those from your guide. You need to do it on each STB. It's the Spanish/Foreign Language tier. Yes, many of the channels are in English. You should have gotten a printed sheet showing the guide lineup. 440 to 589 (or about there) are foreign language/La Connexion.

Thanks GeekNJ and Toups,

I spent two hours waiting on line for their Billing Dept. to come alive. They finally activated the National HD service for me. I should not have let the installers off the hook while they were here.

All these offerings from FIOS TV is overwhelming for us. I wish there is a simple way to clear everything and selcect only a chosen few.

Here is the list of the VHO's (found it in an earlier thread)...so, my theory that the new National HD's are being rolled out by VHO may be true...

There are 9 VHO's feeding 10 Metro markets

Fort Worth TX Metro (done)
Tampa FL Metro (done)
Southern California
Boston Metro
NYC Metro
North Jersey (done)
DC / Balt / N. VA (done)
Philly(PA) / DE / S. Jersey Metro
Richmond / Norfolk

At this pace, everyone should have the new channels by next Tuesday.

My wife is already hooked on FOOD HD. All issues of blury pictures seem to be resolved, at least she said during the shows..commercials don't look to good to her.

Now all I need is SNY HD and I'll be very happy. Hopefully those May 1 rumors are true.

My wife is already hooked on FOOD HD. All issues of blury pictures seem to be resolved, at least she said during the shows..commercials don't look to good to her.

Now all I need is SNY HD and I'll be very happy. Hopefully those May 1 rumors are true.


The last time I called to ask about SNY HD, maybe 2 weeks ago, they said "you're getting it, and some more national HD channels too." So, since the nationals have appeared, I may be starting to believe them about SNY HD. We'll see.

Thanks GeekNJ and Toups,

I spent two hours waiting on line for their Billing Dept. to come alive. They finally activated the National HD service for me. I should not have let the installers off the hook while they were here.

All these offerings from FIOS TV is overwhelming for us. I wish there is a simple way to clear everything and selcect only a chosen few.


Menu->Settings->Channel List & Favorites. You can remove channels you don't get or don't watch from the guide.

Looks like nothing in DE / PA / NJ / VA or NY today.

MA and CA - chime in if you see the new HD's today.

BTW, AFAIK, Time Warner and some of the other cable companies that have played around with / trialed / tested on-screen caller ID don't do so by plugging a phone line into the box either ...
http://www.timewarnercable.com/centralny/products/digitalphones/callid.html

You use their phone service ... you get a call ... box gets a message with the caller ID info independant of the POTS caller ID info.

WOW also recently launched a caller-id on TV feature. A bit more detail:
http://blog.itvt.com/my_weblog/2007/04/wideopenwest_wo.html

Again, the box gets the caller-id info from the head-end independant of the POTS caller-id info.
Verizon has a service called Iobi at http://www.iobi.com which already does this. There's a web UI as well as a PC installed application. Neither requires a phone line connected and it pops the caller info on the computer.

Looks like nothing in DE / PA / NJ / VA or NY today.

MA and CA - chime in if you see the new HD's today.
Nothing in Ma... :(

I live in Olney, Md and Food, HGTV and LMN show up in my Guide on the 800 (HD) section and even shows the listing and program, but nothing is coming through on the broadcast (black screen). That was as of last night. Is there a glitch or have they simply not activated yet?

Um, according to the website, the channel was launched April 10, 2006. So it took a year for Verizon to add it. That does not bother me much as I don't expect there to be that much original HD programming on it. I expect this to be like Wealth-HD or Music-HD - lots and lots of repeats.

I saw the tail end of a TV movie on Lifetime Movie Channel HD this morning. "The Woman Who Sinned" with Susan Lucci fighting off the bad guy, made in 1991 according to the guide. Yep, that is a Lifetime movie title for sure. The movie was upconverted SD; looked to be a combination of stretch and perhaps some cropping - mostly stretch - to fill the 16:9 screen. The stretching did not look as bad as TNT-HD, which is why I suspect some cropping is being done to fill the 16:9 screen. But it looks we have another stretch-o-vision channel when they are showing upconverted SD material.

HGTV HD and Food HD are all made for HD programming and are all shot in HD. THey are not the same line up as the SD versions. Some of these same shows will be on the SD version, but they will be downconverted. Any network show you see on HGTV HD or Food HD are shot on HD cameras and produced in HD. THey will not be stretched and will be in DD 5.1. Not the same for LMN. It will be upconverted most of the time I suspect. FYI: Some shows on HGTV HD will also be seen on DIY, and some on Food HD will be seen on Fine Living.

I live in Olney, Md and Food, HGTV and LMN show up in my Guide on the 800 (HD) section and even shows the listing and program, but nothing is coming through on the broadcast (black screen). That was as of last night. Is there a glitch or have they simply not activated yet?

AEC-
All of MD should have the channels - i'd try rebooting your STB - or perhaps calling in.

Verizon has a service called Iobi at http://www.iobi.com which already does this. There's a web UI as well as a PC installed application. Neither requires a phone line connected and it pops the caller info on the computer.Thanks for the link. Obviously getting the caller id info via IP which could just as easily go to the TV STB via Moca. Of course, I'd rather see a 'bundled' service as an incentive to go with the double / triple play rather than a $x.xx add-on ... but anyway.

I thought I would post this here even though it has nothing to do with Fios programming. So I had Fios TV and internet installed last Friday. It was great, went quickly and in no time I was up blazing away on the internet and enjoying the great high quality HD programming on my plasma. I just bought the house that I had Fios put in but have not moved in yet. Then monday morning came. I live in Manville, NJ and in case you have not heard we got a little bit of water over the weekend. Perhaps the most frustrating thing was since I was not living there and the whole town was flooded out I could not get it to save my precious electronics (which were the only things I had moved into the house for the Fios install). Amazingly, my neighbor (who I never had met) had seen the Fios guy doing the install and somehow realized that I had a plasma TV in the basement. He then broke into my house and rescued my plasma in the nick of time as the water had just crested over the TV stand. Unfortunately the router and HD box were completely submerged along with my DVD player, Xbox, receiver, sub and computer. So I have to wait till next monday to get replacement boxes from Verizon. Anyways, sorry for the non-related post. Just thought someone might get a kick out of this story. It's nice to know that there are still people out there like my neighbor.

redondo beach (L.A.), CA: food, hgtv, LMN channels active. No guide data yet.

food and hgtv showing hd programs. LMN showing a stretched movie.

Same here.

redondo beach (L.A.), CA: food, hgtv, LMN channels active. No guide data yet.

food and hgtv showing hd programs. LMN showing a stretched movie.
So we have a winner in who gets the new HD channels today lottery! It's California. Who will be the lucky winners to get Lifetime Movie Network HD part time stretch-o-vision of overwrought Women in Danger movies? Will it be PA & DE? NY? MA? Tune in tomorrow and find out! :D

I cannot believe that the FiOS website is so bad. It is useless to the TV viewers:

1. National channel realignment still showing (6 March).
2. Channel listings page for the Virginia Beach area incorrect for several HD channels (7 April).

I cannot believe that the FiOS website is so bad. It is useless to the TV viewers:

1. National channel realignment still showing (6 March).
2. Channel listings page for the Virginia Beach area incorrect for several HD channels (7 April).

I would have to agree with you on this. I wish they would have a private site that lets you log in and see what they are showing VOD in your are, personalized FIOS news (such as future or current channel rollouts), etc. I know Verizon has their main site that will let you look at your bill and change services but it just seems like they haven't brought it all together. nonetheless, FIOS is still in its infancy and hopefully they will eventually make these changes.

Agreed on the FiOS web site. FiOS and Comcast haven't learned that the web site plays a significant part in creating excitement for the product / service. Compare the web sites for Dish Network and DirecTV.

Over in the HDTV Hardware forum, we've seen that some people actually choose their provider based on how "fancy" the web site looks. In 2007, there's really no reason a large corporation like Verizon should have a web site that could be mistaken for the class project of some 10th grade computer class.

I know Verizon has their main site that will let you look at your bill and change services but it just seems like they haven't brought it all together.

they do? on related note: do they charge a fee for adding/deleting programming pkgs?

anyway, my #1 concern is for them to add as many national HD channels as possible. Sooo... what's next for V*? what's out there that they don't already have?

[QUOTE=barth2k]they do? on related note: do they charge a fee for adding/deleting programming pkgs?
QUOTE]

If you go to the main Verizon site (not the FIOS site) and log into your account (or register if you don't have one) there is a link at the bottom left to add/change services. If you click on that it will bring you to a screen that lists all of your accounts with Verizon: phone, internet, tv, etc. and it will step you through changing your lineup (adding Sports or removing Movies) and it says that the changes will be made to your service the same day. I don't think that there is a charge for changing packages (I didn't see anything listed and I seem to recall being told that you can keep switching services without charge).

So we have a winner in who gets the new HD channels today lottery! It's California. Who will be the lucky winners to get Lifetime Movie Network HD part time stretch-o-vision of overwrought Women in Danger movies? Will it be PA & DE? NY? MA? Tune in tomorrow and find out! :D

My bet is on MA or NY.

My bet is on MA or NY.

My bet is on MA :) . I live in the Boston region. I am not too worried. The channels will be here before the end of the month ( I hope)

anyway, my #1 concern is for them to add as many national HD channels as possible. Sooo... what's next for V*? what's out there that they don't already have?

Regional sports HD is spotty in most areas. As far as national HD networks: A&E, GLF/VS, INHD/Mojo, Sleuth, and NBATV.

CNN is set to launch in September. The Tennis Channel is set to launch in December. The Weather Channel is set to launch in the "second half of 2007." MGM HD hopes to launch "by the end of the year." Disney has announced ESPNEWS, Disney Channel, ABC Family, and Toon Disney for (early?) 2008.

Launches with less firm dates but nevertheless confirmed include: TBS, Cartoon Network, USA, Sci-Fi, Chiller (NBCU in the vein of Sleuth), The History Channel, The Hallmark Channel, FX, and Speed.

In the big DirecTV announcement that included most of the first announcements of these coming channels, they also mentioned more premium movie channels, presumably channels like HBO2. Nothing has been confirmed on this front beyond what DirecTV said however.

TCMHD has long been rumored but has never been confirmed. MSNBC is speculated given the move to a new studio they're building at 30 Rock (plus the recent launch of Nightly News in HD and the announcement that HD field cams will be deployed beginning in March 2008).

Needless to say, there's a lot on the horizon, so speed of deployment on Verizon's part will be pretty important and concerns over the (seemingly) long delayed release of Food and HGTV seem warranted. But I wouldn't take money to the bank on any of these networks in the short term until they've popped up on some carrier (and DirecTV will almost surely be the first in most cases).

No new HD's in DE/PA/NY/VA this morning. So that leaves MA to win for today.

Any Mass people out there chime in!

**Edit**
It's now looking like no one received the channels today..the VZ circus continues.

New HD's on in northern NJ (Bergen County) as of at least last night.

New HD's on in northern NJ (Bergen County) as of at least last night.

Yes - North NJ got them on Tuesday.

I thought I would post this here even though it has nothing to do with Fios programming. So I had Fios TV and internet installed last Friday. It was great, went quickly and in no time I was up blazing away on the internet and enjoying the great high quality HD programming on my plasma. I just bought the house that I had Fios put in but have not moved in yet. Then monday morning came. I live in Manville, NJ and in case you have not heard we got a little bit of water over the weekend. Perhaps the most frustrating thing was since I was not living there and the whole town was flooded out I could not get it to save my precious electronics (which were the only things I had moved into the house for the Fios install). Amazingly, my neighbor (who I never had met) had seen the Fios guy doing the install and somehow realized that I had a plasma TV in the basement. He then broke into my house and rescued my plasma in the nick of time as the water had just crested over the TV stand. Unfortunately the router and HD box were completely submerged along with my DVD player, Xbox, receiver, sub and computer. So I have to wait till next monday to get replacement boxes from Verizon. Anyways, sorry for the non-related post. Just thought someone might get a kick out of this story. It's nice to know that there are still people out there like my neighbor.

Dude.... you need to buy your neighbor a nice dinner! ...and then invite him over to watch sports on that rescued plasma. :)

Nothing in MA here today

Nothing in N.Y. either.

I am on the phone w/FIOS TV right now and they are telling me that none of the locations posted on AVS Forum has HGTV, FOOD TV OR LMN in HD. He checked Va, Metro DC and NJ. He is still showing the same channels that are posted on FIOS' website. He added that if those channels are not broadcasting in HD, then I will not see any picture or get audio. If they broadcast in HD then I should receive it. I thought Food TV had been broadcasting in HD. News at 11:00

I get FoodHD, HGTV HD and Lifetime movies in 1/2time HD here in Northern VA (DC). Once again the Fios CSRs are clueleess. I wish VZ would provide a small amount of info to their employees.

You should have theese 3 channels based on you location (Olney). call back and see if you can get a different CSR.

Also Food, and HGTV are all HD all the time (outside of infomercials) so his not broadcasting HD explanation is not only ludacrous, its also irrelevent.

I get FoodHD, HGTV HD and Lifetime movies in 1/2time HD here in Northern VA (DC). Once again the Fios CSRs are clueleess. I wish VZ would provide a small amount of info to their employees.

You should have these 3 channels based on you location (Olney).
I don't understand the 1/2 time HD comment. All three channels are coming in fine for me in Sterling, VA and have been since they were added on Monday. Food-HD and HGTV-HD appear to be all HD for their programming. The commercials are mostly stretched SD, but that does not count. Lifetime Movies-HD is a mix of some true HD movies and upconverted stretched SD movies when I have checked.

The CSRs have not gotten the updated channel line-up because they probably won't update the national channel list until they have rolled out the new channels to all the areas. If the sound or picture for the 3 channels are not coming in for those in the Washington Metro area, try a cold reboot of the STB or DVR. If that does not work, ask the CSR to reset the box and re-enable it for the HD nationals. The STB may not have gotten the proper de-encryption codes when they did the update on Monday.

I don't understand the 1/2 time HD comment. All three channels are coming in fine for me in Sterling, VA and have been since they were added on Monday. Food-HD and HGTV-HD appear to be all HD for their programming. The commercials are mostly stretched SD, but that does not count. Lifetime Movies-HD is a mix of some true HD movies and upconverted stretched SD movies when I have checked.

The CSRs have not gotten the updated channel line-up because they probably won't update the national channel list until they have rolled out the new channels to all the areas. If the sound or picture for the 3 channels are not coming in for those in the Washington Metro area, try a cold reboot of the STB or DVR. If that does not work, ask the CSR to reset the box and re-enable it for the HD nationals. The STB may not have gotten the proper de-encryption codes when they did the update on Monday.

This recent info on bad CSR knowledge doesn't surprise me since the PUBLISHED HD channel lineup for the Virginia Beach market isn't close to being right either and it has been like that since 7 April. How long would it take a programmer to fix that ... maybe 5 minutes?

I don't understand the 1/2 time HD comment. All three channels are coming in fine for me in Sterling, VA and have been since they were added on Monday. Food-HD and HGTV-HD appear to be all HD for their programming. The commercials are mostly stretched SD, but that does not count. Lifetime Movies-HD is a mix of some true HD movies and upconverted stretched SD movies when I have checked.


the 1/2 time comment was directed solely at Lifetime Movies HD as they show a lot of TNT style StrechOVision.

You are right about Food, and HGTV. They are using the DHDT model of all HD all the time, which I happen to like.

Well, they are now listing the new HD channels on the FIOS TV channel site - but not on the individual areas' lineup.

I find this hilarious, since they haven't even launched the channels yet to the entire Northeast market outside of MD and North Jersey.

No new HD's in DE/PA/NY/VA this morning. So that leaves MA to win for today.

Any Mass people out there chime in!

**Edit**
It's now looking like no one received the channels today..the VZ circus continues.

You kind of jinxed it. :) It is good that I did not bet my house that MA is next.

You kind of jinxed it. :) It is good that I did not bet my house that MA is next.

I wish I knew of Verizon's plans for CT, apparently only available in Greenwich. From their web site today...

"Verizon serves over 40,000 customers in Connecticut's Greenwich and Byram area."

I wish I knew of Verizon's plans for CT, apparently only available in Greenwich. From their web site today...

"Verizon serves over 40,000 customers in Connecticut's Greenwich and Byram area."

Well yeah. The rest of the state is served by AT&T/SNET so they will never see FiOS.

Well, I now have Food, HGTV and Lifetime in HD. Giada De Laurentis never looked so good.

I want to swap my receiver for a dvr. will they charge for a service call? anyone in the south bay/L.A. area know if Verizon has an office somewhere I can come and drop/pick up the receiver myself?

I want to swap my receiver for a dvr. will they charge for a service call? anyone in the south bay/L.A. area know if Verizon has an office somewhere I can come and drop/pick up the receiver myself?

I may be wrong, but I believe you have to call and setup a service call, I think the fee is $20.

I may be wrong, but I believe you have to call and setup a service call, I think the fee is $20.If you just got FiOS, and are still in your first month of service, you can usually get the box swapped at no cost. Just explain that you didn't understand your options when you ordered. Or bend the truth and say you wanted a DVR, but the installer didn't have any on hand.

If you've had FiOS for months, you're probably stuck paying $20 fee for the swap.

Be careful of what you wish for:
[Newsday 4/18/07]
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo yesterday blasted the quality of Verizon's repair service, especially on Long Island and in Queens, saying the telephone company should issue rebates for inadequate performance.

"We should not accept Verizon's empty promises for turning around its woefully inadequate repair service," Cuomo said in a statement///
He said competition hasn't eliminated the problem, noting that the worst regions for repair service are the areas where Verizon faces the most competition.

In December, the PSC identified areas where it considers Verizon service "habitually poor," including Queens, Nassau and Suffolk, except northern Suffolk.

I guess. I have had great service in Massachusetts, so it may vary according to region.

I guess. I have had great service in Massachusetts, so it may vary according to region.

The Virginia Beach, VA repair service is good also. :)

Be careful of what you wish for:
[Newsday 4/18/07]
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo yesterday blasted the quality of Verizon's repair service, especially on Long Island and in Queens, saying the telephone company should issue rebates for inadequate performance.

"We should not accept Verizon's empty promises for turning around its woefully inadequate repair service," Cuomo said in a statement///
He said competition hasn't eliminated the problem, noting that the worst regions for repair service are the areas where Verizon faces the most competition.

In December, the PSC identified areas where it considers Verizon service "habitually poor," including Queens, Nassau and Suffolk, except northern Suffolk.

as a resident of NYC until last June this all sounds like Andy Cuomo following the fine tradition of NYS AG's pandering to voters to stay in office-or more likely run for higher office(Cuomo's predecessor is now the governor..if it worked then....?).

as for Verizon I had far more problems with my building's antiquated wiring(which was not Verizon property, BTW) than Verizon's service.

NY is in there this morning! Your choice of paid programming, paid programming or a womanizer romancing 3 women in 3 cities

a womanizer romancing 3 women in 3 cities

I'll take this, only if the womanizer gets off'd by all 3 women with chainsaws

NY is in there this morning! Your choice of paid programming, paid programming or a womanizer romancing 3 women in 3 cities

Yes, apparently NY was the winner for today.

Still waiting:

DE / PA / South Jersey
MA
Southern VA

Yup, got em in N.Y. The funny thing is that they didn't show up on my Tivo S3, but did on my FIOS boxes. Direct tuning on the Tivo did bring them in, but with no program info.

Yup, got em in N.Y. The funny thing is that they didn't show up on my Tivo S3, but did on my FIOS boxes. Direct tuning on the Tivo did bring them in, but with no program info.

There are a couple posts here or on DSLReports.com that people w/Tivo needed to fill out a web form to get them to update the local channel listings. I've never had Tivo, so don't know the proper terminology.

Man, wouldn't you think paying a monthly fee just for the Tivo service, they'd be on top of things like this without having to fill out a form? Strange that I have to do their homework for them. It's one of the reason I never bought a 2nd S3 and stuck with the FIOS PVR for my living room. The FIOS box is sooo much faster than the Tivo too.

Verizon sent out a press release this morning, sorry if this has been posted already:

NEW YORK, April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon, which already offers an abundance
of high-definition programming, is adding more, as HGTV HD, Food Network HD and
LMN HD (Lifetime Movie Network) join the FiOS TV national channel lineup.
Verizon provides FiOS TV over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network,
straight to customers' homes.

"By adding HGTV HD, Food Network HD and LMN HD to our FiOS TV lineup, we're
enriching the customer experience for our HD customers, who now can enjoy their
favorite shows on these channels in brilliant HD and digital surround sound,"
said Terry Denson, Verizon vice president - FiOS TV content and programming.
"With these high-definition networks, Verizon continues to deliver the breadth
of content that consumers want in a way that best fits their lifestyles."

The three channels will be available in all FiOS TV markets by the end of this
week, bringing the total number of HD channels to at least 27 in most markets,
depending on the number of local channels that broadcast in HD. FiOS TV
subscribers with an HD-capable TV and an HD set-top box will receive the three
new channels at no additional cost.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

so it seems everyone should have these 3 channels by the end of the month. Now just give me my SNY HD and i'll be happy.

Can someone with VerizonFIOS TV confirm for me that the following is true/not true?

1. For $43/mo. I get all of the digital channels not tied to a tier, provided I get a box or CableCard.

2. For an additional $13/mo., I get the Movies package which includes channels 340 through 385. This includes Showtime, TMC, and Starz.

3. As long as I have a HD STB or CableCard and subscribe to the Movies package above, I would get ShowtimeHD, StarzHD, and TMC-HD .

4. The local HD channels come in unencrypted QAM.

Right now, I'm paying $50/mo + taxes to Comcast for Extended Basic. I get the local HD channels through my TV's QAM tuner and my Sony DVR's HD tuner.

I guess for my house, I would need at least a cable card and one SD-STB. For this "minimum" package, I would pay $51/mo + taxes. But I would get a ton more digital and HD channels. Is this a no-brainer? Especially if #3 is true.

They just installed the main boxes for FIOS 2 weeks ago. I might have to bite the bullet and get an STB for the kitchen TV. Do they have a small profile STB? Motorola makes the DCT100 for cable providers. Can I get something similar from Verizon?

ft

Can someone with VerizonFIOS TV confirm for me that the following is true/not true?

1. For $43/mo. I get all of the digital channels not tied to a tier, provided I get a box or CableCard.

2. For an additional $13/mo., I get the Movies package which includes channels 340 through 385. This includes Showtime, TMC, and Starz.

3. As long as I have a HD STB or CableCard and subscribe to the Movies package above, I would get ShowtimeHD, StarzHD, and TMC-HD .

4. The local HD channels come in unencrypted QAM.

Right now, I'm paying $50/mo + taxes to Comcast for Extended Basic. I get the local HD channels through my TV's QAM tuner and my Sony DVR's HD tuner.

I guess for my house, I would need at least a cable card and one SD-STB. For this "minimum" package, I would pay $51/mo + taxes. But I would get a ton more digital and HD channels. Is this a no-brainer? Especially if the second part of #2 is true.

They just installed the main boxes for FIOS 2 weeks ago. I might have to bite the bullet and get an STB for the kitchen TV. Do they have a small profile STB? Motorola makes the DCT100 for cable providers. Can I get something similar from Verizon?

ft

1 is correct.
2 is correct
3 is correct
4 I can't answer

They do make an SD STB that is smaller than the HD STB, but of course you would not receive any of the HD stations on it.

1 is correct.
2 is correct
3 is correct
4 I can't answer

They do make an SD STB that is smaller than the HD STB, but of course you would not receive any of the HD stations on it.
Thanks! I guess I really don't have any reason to stick with Comcast. My main thing receiving analog on the secondary TV sets. And with Comcast seemingly phasing out all analog cable channels, I'll eventually have to have STB's on every set anyways.

This is looking more and more like a no-brainer to me. I'll have to do some investigating and see when they are planning on turning our neighborhood on.

ft

Thanks! I guess I really don't have any reason to stick with Comcast. My main thing receiving analog on the secondary TV sets. And with Comcast seemingly phasing out all analog cable channels, I'll eventually have to have STB's on every set anyways.

This is looking more and more like a no-brainer to me. I'll have to do some investigating and see when they are planning on turning our neighborhood on.

ft

I know for me it was a no brainer. I am getting several more HD channels than I was getting with Cox, have an extra HD box, an extra SD box, receiving Showtime/Starz, and have 3+x the internet speed all for a couple bucks more than I was spending with Cox.

anyone knows if Versizon FIOS will be available in Houston?

4. The local HD channels come in unencrypted QAM.
In the Washington Metro market, all the local HD channels are in the clear. Verizon also passes along the PSIP info, so on the newer Samsung ATSC DTB-H260F receiver I tried, the local HD and their SD sub-channels were automatically mapped to their broadcast channel numbers. So for the locals, I got WRC-DT NBC 4 on 4-1, 4-2, WTTG Fox 5 on 5-1, WETA-DT PBS 26 on 26-1, 26-2 and so on. This makes them much easier to find with a QAM tuner! The local channels that are SD only, including those that do have a digital broadcast, did not get mapped, but were buried on QAM channels 63, 65, 67, 68. My older Samsung SIR-T451 did not remap the HD locals when I tried it out on the Verizon signal (although they were there at places such as QAM channel 73, 74), so the remapping may only work properly for the newer TVs and STBs with clear QAM tuners.

I have seen complaints from other markets from people who could not find the HD locals with a QAM tuner, but it may be that Verizon has not finished setting up their locals correctly or the posters did not do the scan correctly.

All the national SD and HD channels, with the exception of WGN and others who have a channel in the 2 to 49 range, are encrypted. To get those you need a STB, DVR, or a cable card. Verizon does not charge extra for the HD channels (except for the premiums that are part of a tier), but they do charge a hefty $10/month for the HD STB. The HD-DVR is only $3/month more so I expect most people just go ahead and get that.

Man, wouldn't you think paying a monthly fee just for the Tivo service, they'd be on top of things like this without having to fill out a form? Strange that I have to do their homework for them. It's one of the reason I never bought a 2nd S3 and stuck with the FIOS PVR for my living room. The FIOS box is sooo much faster than the Tivo too.

Agreed. Weird that TiVo didn't do an auto-update, which they obviously should without prompting. I got an unprompted "Newly Added FiOS Channels" message from Tivo about the three new channels about two weeks ago, even though the channels haven't been delivered to my market (Richmond, VA). I do get TiVo program info for those channels, however.

Separately, I'm curious about the speed of your S3. Mine is not slower than the FiOS box, though it's not faster either.

anyone knows if Versizon FIOS will be available in Houston?


is Houston a Verizon area? if so I would say yes-eventually.

anyone knows if Versizon FIOS will be available in Houston?

Houston is mostly covered by AT&T. If your local phone service is not Verizon then you will never get it. Do a google search on AT&T U-Verse for something similar to Fios.

Agreed. Weird that TiVo didn't do an auto-update, which they obviously should without prompting. I got an unprompted "Newly Added FiOS Channels" message from Tivo about the three new channels about two weeks ago, even though the channels haven't been delivered to my market (Richmond, VA). I do get TiVo program info for those channels, however.

Separately, I'm curious about the speed of your S3. Mine is not slower than the FiOS box, though it's not faster either.

Flipit, I'm basically talking about scrolling through the guide, changing pages, doing searches, hitting 'record' and finishing that process etc. For things like that the FIOS box is much faster. I hit record on the FIOS box and it's done instantly. I hit 'record' on the Tivo and it needs to think about it. I had the same thing when I was with D* and used their HD Tivo. The non-Tivo HD boxes I had with D* were also much faster than the Tivo.

Mass is today's winner for the new HD's.

Now - who get's them next to last?? Lol...

Flipit, I'm basically talking about scrolling through the guide, changing pages, doing searches, hitting 'record' and finishing that process etc. For things like that the FIOS box is much faster. I hit record on the FIOS box and it's done instantly. I hit 'record' on the Tivo and it needs to think about it. I had the same thing when I was with D* and used their HD Tivo. The non-Tivo HD boxes I had with D* were also much faster than the Tivo.

right. otoh, the v* box doesn't respond as fast to clicks. whene you hit pause/rewind or skip (if you have the remote for it), there's a slight but noticeable (hence annoying) delay. if they can fix that, it'd be great. plus the tivo remote is much more intelligently designed to do the same with fewer buttons, e.g., the channel +/- buttons double as page +/- when in a list.

Is MLB Extra Innings available on FIOS?

Is MLB Extra Innings available on FIOS?

Nope, they don't have an agreement in place to carry it.

Flipit, I'm basically talking about scrolling through the guide, changing pages, doing searches, hitting 'record' and finishing that process etc. For things like that the FIOS box is much faster. I hit record on the FIOS box and it's done instantly. I hit 'record' on the Tivo and it needs to think about it. I had the same thing when I was with D* and used their HD Tivo. The non-Tivo HD boxes I had with D* were also much faster than the Tivo.

I agree that searches on the S3 are intolerably slow, though the latest update enhanced speed materially. I don't notice a difference with records.

Anybody have any idea what the next new HD channels will be?

Anybody have any idea what the next new HD channels will be?

Some of us don't even have the 3 new ones yet! But....I would guess VS/Golf would be one of them.

they can have my lifetime back

I agree jrbrangi, but don't tell that to my wife.

Looks like all remaining areas received the new HD's this morning - including me here in Delaware.

Now, when is VZ gonna add more HD? Hhahahha... j/k :D

Next on the list: Weather Channel HD, SciFi HD. No shopping HD (wishful thinking).

So it took two weeks for Verizon to complete the roll-out of the 3 new national HD channels, starting with TX two weeks ago and wrapping up in the SE PA / DE and VA Beach areas today. The question is whether they can speed this up when the higher profile HD channels such as CNN HD, Weather Channel HD start up this fall? The dates have not been announced, but it appears that TBS HD, Sci-Fi HD, History HD, FX HD, USA HD and others may start up by the end of the year. I hope Verizon has a plan to add these channels promptly after they start up, even if it takes two weeks to roll them out to all the areas. I would like to see CNN HD, Sci-FI HD, FX HD as soon as they go live. Sci-Fi, FX, USA have a number of scripted series, all of which I think have been shot in HD for years, but no HD outlet except for the several series that eventually show up on Universal HD. It would be nice to see these channels added right away and not 6 months later.

But for the moment, I believe we are missing only the following HD national networks:

A&E (not much HD on it by all accounts, but why didn't Verizon add this during this roll-out?)
Golf/Versus
InHD/Mojo (owned by Comcast, TWC, and others. Not likely to be added)
15 Voom channels (only Dish carries these in the US. Does Dish have an exclusive deal?)
what else?

Some areas such as Washington-Baltimore are still missing Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic HD. I guess parts of NJ still don't have YES HD?

Is VA Beach is still missing the ABC, CW, PBS, and My Network (if the local My Network station is in HD) HD locals?

They are missing Outdoor Channel 2 HD.

They are missing Outdoor Channel 2 HD.

I would like the Golf/Versus HD channel more for the golf than the hockey and wish that they would move IFC from the movie pack to the regular digital tier.

So it took two weeks for Verizon to complete the roll-out of the 3 new national HD channels, starting with TX two weeks ago and wrapping up in the SE PA / DE and VA Beach areas today. The question is whether they can speed this up when the higher profile HD channels such as CNN HD, Weather Channel HD start up this fall? The dates have not been announced, but it appears that TBS HD, Sci-Fi HD, History HD, FX HD, USA HD and others may start up by the end of the year. I hope Verizon has a plan to add these channels promptly after they start up, even if it takes two weeks to roll them out to all the areas. I would like to see CNN HD, Sci-FI HD, FX HD as soon as they go live. Sci-Fi, FX, USA have a number of scripted series, all of which I think have been shot in HD for years, but no HD outlet except for the several series that eventually show up on Universal HD. It would be nice to see these channels added right away and not 6 months later.

But for the moment, I believe we are missing only the following HD national networks:

A&E (not much HD on it by all accounts, but why didn't Verizon add this during this roll-out?)
Golf/Versus
InHD/Mojo (owned by Comcast, TWC, and others. Not likely to be added)
15 Voom channels (only Dish carries these in the US. Does Dish have an exclusive deal?)
what else?

Some areas such as Washington-Baltimore are still missing Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic HD. I guess parts of NJ still don't have YES HD?

Is VA Beach is still missing the ABC, CW, PBS, and My Network (if the local My Network station is in HD) HD locals?

We have PBS in HD, but not ABC, CW, and MyNetwork.

By all accounts it seems as though their are agreements in place w/the ABC affiliate(I have a friend who works there verifying this for me) and CW(owned by CBS Corp).

I am guessing they are waiting to add these until the VA Beach area VHO is completed. There is a secondary PBS station in North Carolina that they tried to add, but could not receive a decent OTA signal, which I am guessing is because of using the Richmond area VHO.

In NJ they are still missing MSG HD, FOX Sports Net NY HD, and SportsNet New York HD.

Obviously they are also missing INHD, but that's not going to happen and its no loss.

I would love to see Sci-Fi HD and History HD.

Oh, and of course, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic HD.

So it took two weeks for Verizon to complete the roll-out of the 3 new national HD channels, starting with TX two weeks ago and wrapping up in the SE PA / DE and VA Beach areas today. The question is whether they can speed this up when the higher profile HD channels such as CNN HD, Weather Channel HD start up this fall? The dates have not been announced, but it appears that TBS HD, Sci-Fi HD, History HD, FX HD, USA HD and others may start up by the end of the year. I hope Verizon has a plan to add these channels promptly after they start up, even if it takes two weeks to roll them out to all the areas. I would like to see CNN HD, Sci-FI HD, FX HD as soon as they go live. Sci-Fi, FX, USA have a number of scripted series, all of which I think have been shot in HD for years, but no HD outlet except for the several series that eventually show up on Universal HD. It would be nice to see these channels added right away and not 6 months later.

But for the moment, I believe we are missing only the following HD national networks:

A&E (not much HD on it by all accounts, but why didn't Verizon add this during this roll-out?)
Golf/Versus
InHD/Mojo (owned by Comcast, TWC, and others. Not likely to be added)
15 Voom channels (only Dish carries these in the US. Does Dish have an exclusive deal?)
what else?

I posted this a week or so ago:

Regional sports HD is spotty in most areas. As far as national HD networks: A&E, GLF/VS, INHD/Mojo, Sleuth, and NBATV.

CNN is set to launch in September. The Tennis Channel is set to launch in December. The Weather Channel is set to launch in the "second half of 2007." MGM HD hopes to launch "by the end of the year." Disney has announced ESPNEWS, Disney Channel, ABC Family, and Toon Disney for (early?) 2008.

Launches with less firm dates but nevertheless confirmed include: TBS, Cartoon Network, USA, Sci-Fi, Chiller (NBCU in the vein of Sleuth), The History Channel, The Hallmark Channel, FX, and Speed.

In the big DirecTV announcement that included most of the first announcements of these coming channels, they also mentioned more premium movie channels, presumably channels like HBO2. Nothing has been confirmed on this front beyond what DirecTV said however.

TCMHD has long been rumored but has never been confirmed. MSNBC is speculated given the move to a new studio they're building at 30 Rock (plus the recent launch of Nightly News in HD and the announcement that HD field cams will be deployed beginning in March 2008).

Needless to say, there's a lot on the horizon, so speed of deployment on Verizon's part will be pretty important and concerns over the (seemingly) long delayed release of Food and HGTV seem warranted. But I wouldn't take money to the bank on any of these networks in the short term until they've popped up on some carrier (and DirecTV will almost surely be the first in most cases).

It seems likely that if we're getting more HD in the next couple months it'll either be VS/GLF or a regional HD sports network. In my case (D.C. Metro), hopefully it's both.

is there some person at verizon we can bug, I mean, politely inquire, about future HD plans. we need verizon to hear from people who care about hd.

I am seeing the 3 new HD channels here in Mass on the program guide, but when tuning in I get a black screen. Can anyone else in Mass see the channels? I know there is only one VSO in MA so if it works for one it should work for all.

In NJ they are still missing MSG HD, FOX Sports Net NY HD, and SportsNet New York HD.

Obviously they are also missing INHD, but that's not going to happen and its no loss.
You will not be getting MSG HD or FSN-NY HD.
The owners will not sell HD to telco or satellite providers.
Cablevision has their own monopoly to protect.

I am seeing the 3 new HD channels here in Mass on the program guide, but when tuning in I get a black screen. Can anyone else in Mass see the channels? I know there is only one VSO in MA so if it works for one it should work for all.
This problem keeps coming up. Have you tried a cold reset of the STB or DVR by unplugging it? This will lose the guide info which will take a while reload, so don't do this just before recording or watching TV. If the cold reset does not work, call Verizon and have the CSR reset your box or re-enable the HD national channels.

yep just saw HGTV, FOOD and LMN over at my parent's tonight on their Pio 5070. pretty impressed over d*, though i haven't seen "true" HD anywhere that i know of.

i want fios so bad, it's just a shame i'm still under contract with D*.

This problem keeps coming up. Have you tried a cold reset of the STB or DVR by unplugging it? This will lose the guide info which will take a while reload, so don't do this just before recording or watching TV. If the cold reset does not work, call Verizon and have the CSR reset your box or re-enable the HD national channels.

Yes, I do see the channels in the Boston region.

You will not be getting MSG HD or FSN-NY HD.
The owners will not sell HD to telco or satellite providers.
Cablevision has their own monopoly to protect.

I knew about MSG being owned by Cablevision, but didn't realize FSN was too.

Luckily the only monopoly that hurts me right now is the Directv/NFL nonsense.

So it took two weeks for Verizon to complete the roll-out of the 3 new national HD channels, starting with TX two weeks ago and wrapping up in the SE PA / DE and VA Beach areas today. The question is whether they can speed this up when the higher profile HD channels such as CNN HD, Weather Channel HD start up this fall? The dates have not been announced, but it appears that TBS HD, Sci-Fi HD, History HD, FX HD, USA HD and others may start up by the end of the year. I hope Verizon has a plan to add these channels promptly after they start up, even if it takes two weeks to roll them out to all the areas. I would like to see CNN HD, Sci-FI HD, FX HD as soon as they go live. Sci-Fi, FX, USA have a number of scripted series, all of which I think have been shot in HD for years, but no HD outlet except for the several series that eventually show up on Universal HD. It would be nice to see these channels added right away and not 6 months later.

But for the moment, I believe we are missing only the following HD national networks:

A&E (not much HD on it by all accounts, but why didn't Verizon add this during this roll-out?)
Golf/Versus
InHD/Mojo (owned by Comcast, TWC, and others. Not likely to be added)
15 Voom channels (only Dish carries these in the US. Does Dish have an exclusive deal?)
what else?

Some areas such as Washington-Baltimore are still missing Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic HD. I guess parts of NJ still don't have YES HD?

Is VA Beach is still missing the ABC, CW, PBS, and My Network (if the local My Network station is in HD) HD locals?


wasn't cartoon network and one or two others part of this list before?


edit****
found these posts at broadband reports...

"New HD networks starting in 2007 according to a recent news release. Directv already has agreements with them and expect to make them available to its subscribers in the fall.(albeit waiting for its satellite to be launched in July to accommodate them). I can only assume that Verizon is in negotiations with these networks to offer them when they start in 2007.

Bravo
Cartoon Network
CNN
FX
MTV
National Geographic
SciFi Channel
Speed
TBS
The History Channel
The Weather Channel
USA Network "

and

"National Cable/Satellite HD Channels

A & E HD
Discovery HD Theater*
ESPN HD*
ESPN 2 HD*
Food Network HD
Versus/Golf Channel HD
HDNet*
HDNet Movies*
HGTV HD
INHD
MHD*
National Geographic HD*
NBA HD
NFL Network HD*
TNT HD*
Universal HD*
Wealth HD*"

wasn't cartoon network and one or two others part of this list before?
There have been a bunch of cable networks that have announced plans to offer a HD channel in conjunction the new DirecTV HD satellites. But those satellites have not been launched and most of the cable nets have not announced any specific dates or details. CNN is one of the few exceptions with a August or was it September (?) startup window. My guess is that the cable nets are waiting until one of the new D* satellites is in orbit and working. If D* runs into a delay, they will postpone the startup of the HD channel unless enough cable companies have signed up to make it worthwhile to go ahead anyway. But until those new HD channels go live, it is kind of hard for Verizon to add them. :D

BTW, I was checking some of the PDF channel line-ups and I see that the 3 new HD channels are now included in the Washington Metro, MD, TX, FL files. But not in MA, SE PA and DE file as of this time. Since those were the later areas to get the 3 channels, suggests there is a lag of a few days or a week before they update the PDF file.

There have been a bunch of cable networks that have announced plans to offer a HD channel in conjunction the new DirecTV HD satellites. But those satellites have not been launched and most of the cable nets have not announced any specific dates or details. CNN is one of the few exceptions with a August or was it September (?) startup window.I just read there will be a QVC-HD come the end of this summer or early fall. They are replacing 40 SD cams with 40 HD ones. The picture will be letterboxed for 4:3 viewers...

8:00pm - 807 - Ugly Betty - not in HD.

8:07pm - magically switched to HD.

8:00pm - 807 - Ugly Betty - not in HD.

8:07pm - magically switched to HD.

Ditto here on my OTA signal for ABC, must have been a national feed issue.

Ditto here on my OTA signal for ABC, must have been a national feed issue.
OK, it looks like it wasn't an Philly WPVI issue only. I guess I was cursing the wrong guy.

Anyway, it's 2 weeks in a row where Ugly Betty got messed up this way. Last week, they didn't flip the switch until about a minute into the show.

ft

There have been a bunch of cable networks that have announced plans to offer a HD channel in conjunction the new DirecTV HD satellites. But those satellites have not been launched and most of the cable nets have not announced any specific dates or details. CNN is one of the few exceptions with a August or was it September (?) startup window. My guess is that the cable nets are waiting until one of the new D* satellites is in orbit and working. If D* runs into a delay, they will postpone the startup of the HD channel unless enough cable companies have signed up to make it worthwhile to go ahead anyway. But until those new HD channels go live, it is kind of hard for Verizon to add them. :D

BTW, I was checking some of the PDF channel line-ups and I see that the 3 new HD channels are now included in the Washington Metro, MD, TX, FL files. But not in MA, SE PA and DE file as of this time. Since those were the later areas to get the 3 channels, suggests there is a lag of a few days or a week before they update the PDF file.

I remember reading an article several weeks back which quoted Bonnie Hammer, the head of programming for both USA and SciFi channels. In the article she stated that the impementation of Hd simulcast channels for both USA and SciFi "were well underway". Let's hope Verizon can ink a deal soon with NBC Universal (they own both channels). I watch a fair amount of shows on these channels, and it is the hope that Verizon will carry them long before Cablevision (my current cable company) will that is making me switch as soon as I can.

I am seeing the 3 new HD channels here in Mass on the program guide, but when tuning in I get a black screen. Can anyone else in Mass see the channels? I know there is only one VSO in MA so if it works for one it should work for all.


I am on day 4 with no Food-HD, HGTV-HD and Lifetime HD even though when I go to those channels the program guide gives me the info for what is on. Verizon has re-initialized the boxes and that hasn't helped. Has anyone else had this issue?
I was told they added a BBC channel yesterday, I think it was channel 92 and that shows up fine.

I am on day 4 with no Food-HD, HGTV-HD and Lifetime HD even though when I go to those channels the program guide gives me the info for what is on. Verizon has re-initialized the boxes and that hasn't helped. Has anyone else had this issue?
I was told they added a BBC channel yesterday, I think it was channel 92 and that shows up fine.

I've had them since last saturday. No problems, both my wife (HGTV) and mother in law (FOOD) have stopped mocking my rapture with HD since their favorite channels went hi def.

I am on day 4 with no Food-HD, HGTV-HD and Lifetime HD even though when I go to those channels the program guide gives me the info for what is on. Verizon has re-initialized the boxes and that hasn't helped. Has anyone else had this issue?
I was told they added a BBC channel yesterday, I think it was channel 92 and that shows up fine.
If you have tried a cold reset and had the the Verizon phone rep re-initialize the boxes and you still don't get the channels, may be time for a service call. I would still try calling Verizon again and ask for another remote reset, just in case the first Verizon CSR did not enter the correct codes or do it correctly.

I am on day 4 with no Food-HD, HGTV-HD and Lifetime HD even though when I go to those channels the program guide gives me the info for what is on. Verizon has re-initialized the boxes and that hasn't helped. Has anyone else had this issue?
I was told they added a BBC channel yesterday, I think it was channel 92 and that shows up fine.


Got home from work tonight and they are working after I called Verizon again this morning. First the CSR from Texas said those channels were not available in Mass and that I must be thinking of another cable provider. I politely told her she was wrong and told her that she might want to check into it. She came back about 3 minutes later and apoogized saying they had been available since the 24th. I told her I already tried to tell her that. Why are the CSR's not getting proper updates of what is available to their customers? They have been very nice on the phone and helpful but just mis-informed.

I am on day 4 with no Food-HD, HGTV-HD and Lifetime HD even though when I go to those channels the program guide gives me the info for what is on. Verizon has re-initialized the boxes and that hasn't helped. Has anyone else had this issue?
I was told they added a BBC channel yesterday, I think it was channel 92 and that shows up fine.

I had the local CBS listing on the guide but nothing showing. Techs spent the day working on it to find out that the local Video Office Server had it turned off. What was real strange is I have a cable card also and it worked!

I have the same issue and went through the same steps to no avail. vz put in a trouble ticket and a tech called later in the day to schedule a visit. he said it's probably a splitter issue. even though I get all the other hd channels, he said the channels are allocated different frequencies and a bad or improperly connected splitter is probably causing this problem. I haven't scheduled an appointment yet, but I'll post the results when I do.

Can anyone in Massachusetts verify if NESNHD is available on FIOS?