For 'scocoh' and others in the ny area - are the Verizon Video on Demand commercials SIGNIFICANTLY louder than the program content and other material to the point that you have to lower the volume.

Chumley, never noticed so I just checked and everthing is the same here if there is a difference it must be minute because I don't hear it. Then again We dont watch much live TV except for the News and Skip all commercials when possible, so I dont think I'm a good refernce

We started having a problem with the 30 second skip too starting about a week ago. But it is intermittent, sometimes works during the same recording and then doesn't all of a sudden.

I've been seeing the same thing here in Maryland.
Anyone spoken to tech support about it?

I switched to FIOS TV a couple weeks ago, and the 30 second skip has been intermittent. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. More often it doesn't. But it seems like a software bug, rather than a complete deactivation.

A question. How do you page up and down through the guide? I can scroll through one line at a time, but haven't figured out how to do a page at a time. The channel up/down button says Page underneath it, implying it might do that, but it changes the channel, even when the guide is up. I have the new Verizon remote.

Thanks,
Dave

I switched to FIOS TV a couple weeks ago, and the 30 second skip has been intermittent. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. More often it doesn't. But it seems like a software bug, rather than a complete deactivation.

A question. How do you page up and down through the guide? I can scroll through one line at a time, but haven't figured out how to do a page at a time. The channel up/down button says Page underneath it, implying it might do that, but it changes the channel, even when the guide is up. I have the new Verizon remote.

Thanks,
Dave

With the Verizon supplied remote you can't. The function does exist because it works on my Harmony remote. I imagine it will start working with the supplied remote whenever they update the guide software.

I switched to FIOS TV a couple weeks ago, and the 30 second skip has been intermittent. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. More often it doesn't. But it seems like a software bug, rather than a complete deactivation.

A question. How do you page up and down through the guide? I can scroll through one line at a time, but haven't figured out how to do a page at a time. The channel up/down button says Page underneath it, implying it might do that, but it changes the channel, even when the guide is up. I have the new Verizon remote.

Thanks,
Dave

Yup, doesn't work right now. Whenever the upgrade happens for your area, I believe the Channel Up/Down button will serve as the Page Up/Down function when menus/guides are brought up.

VERY Bad move by Verizon to roll out the new (Phillips) remote before that time.

I have a problem with VOD on my DVR.

Very often the programs, mostly subscribed channels (showtime) will have audio drop outs and pixelization. Restarting the program a few times tends to
eventually get a clean broadcast.

Only very rarely on regular programming.

Tech came out and signal was good. Replaced box, but problem
remains. Diagnostic screen shows good SNR and AGC levels on
regular channels.

Does anyone know if this is a widespread problem, if I'm having
a problem somewhere else in my system?

I have a problem with VOD on my DVR.

Very often the programs, mostly subscribed channels (showtime) will have audio drop outs and pixelization. Restarting the program a few times tends to
eventually get a clean broadcast.

Only very rarely on regular programming.

Tech came out and signal was good. Replaced box, but problem
remains. Diagnostic screen shows good SNR and AGC levels on
regular channels.

Does anyone know if this is a widespread problem, if I'm having
a problem somewhere else in my system?

Hey tzzoooma - I have it too, Verizon told me they never heard of it before (of course it was a 98 min conversation which accomplished only me being told I'm the only one having this problem).

I thought it was because I had too much on my DVR (it seems to happen when it's above 50%), however, I erased enough to get it below 50% and it's still doing it. It's happened in the past, however, only for a few days at a time.

Tried unplugging the box, as well restarting the show (however only twice), neither worked. Seems to happen on VOD SHO, TMC & Starz.

Anyone else having this issue? Any fixes??

Thanks!!

That's reassuring, sort of.

Just wish VZ could be informed that this is a true
problem and figure out what is causing it. It's been
a real PITA trying to deal with it so far.

But they have a selection of over 1000 VOD titles, who cares about the quality. I just stay away from VOD because of the poor quality of it. I have complained and techs have come out and they got me no where. They have all of this bandwidth and still crappy SD VOD and no HD VOD? Thank you for being beta testers.

Very true. Push some decent HD shows and VOD will take off.

I am in NJ I had Fios TV installed in January The HD picture is the best I ever seen
& the HD DVR works well. the problem is you cant get UFC on Fios & I cant get a straight anser on when they will offer UFC on PPV. Has anybody heard anything.

Hey tzzoooma - I have it too, Verizon told me they never heard of it before (of course it was a 98 min conversation which accomplished only me being told I'm the only one having this problem).

I thought it was because I had too much on my DVR (it seems to happen when it's above 50%), however, I erased enough to get it below 50% and it's still doing it. It's happened in the past, however, only for a few days at a time.

Tried unplugging the box, as well restarting the show (however only twice), neither worked. Seems to happen on VOD SHO, TMC & Starz.

Anyone else having this issue? Any fixes??

Thanks!!

Oh yes, I'm getting pixelation and audio drops (digital coax) on both HD and SD content out here in Tampa. This past Sunday or Monday (?) I was watching Unbreakable on USA and I swear the audio was dropping out every 2-3 minutes with pixelation. That's the worst I've seen it. Usually it's 4-5 drops an hour during prime-time hours. Nothing during non-peak hours though. It's almost like a bandwidth issue.
I've called, they checked my signal, I have 2 different HD-DVR's in the house in different rooms and it happens on both. I've used at least 6 of their HD-DVR's in total and all of them did it. Honestly, I recall this issue happening over Brighthouse (previous service) too, so it might be a satellite signal thing. Who knows, but if you figure out how to fix it, please let me know! I hate it.

I just got the Fios TV with DVR, switching from Comcast. I'm missing a few features (page up/down, skip to end, switching dates in the guide), but all in all, it's probably worth it for the $20/month we're saving.

Here's something I figured out. If your 30 second skip isn't working, press Info and then Exit, and it will return.

I'm missing a few features (page up/down, skip to end, switching dates in the guide),The box actually supports page up/down, but it's not yet supported by the new remote Verizon is using. If you have a universal remote like a Logitech Harmony, you get buttons for page up/down, day +/i, and 30 second skip.

Yup, doesn't work right now. Whenever the upgrade happens for your area, I believe the Channel Up/Down button will serve as the Page Up/Down function when menus/guides are brought up.

VERY Bad move by Verizon to roll out the new (Phillips) remote before that time.

Maybe I should ask this in the Remote Forum but, I use a Harmony 880 because I couldn't live with out the page up/down working on the remote. Now, folks have been saying that the page down and other functions will work once new software is installed on the box. But if it works on the Harmony, isn't it the remote that needs to be re-programmed not the box? I only have to tell Harmony the Box that I am using and it takes it from there. Unless of course the software that Harmony has programmed to the particular box (on the Harmony Website) is specific to the Box/Software combination, if that is the case once a new software rollout happens, I will need to re-program the remote. (Maybe I answered my own question, but I am new at this FIOS stuff). Does anyone know?

Maybe I should ask this in the Remote Forum but, I use a Harmony 880 because I couldn't live with out the page up/down working on the remote. Now, folks have been saying that the page down and other functions will work once new software is installed on the box. But if it works on the Harmony, isn't it the remote that needs to be re-programmed not the box? I only have to tell Harmony the Box that I am using and it takes it from there. Unless of course the software that Harmony has programmed to the particular box (on the Harmony Website) is specific to the Box/Software combination, if that is the case once a new software rollout happens, I will need to re-program the remote. (Maybe I answered my own question, but I am new at this FIOS stuff). Does anyone know?

No one knows for sure.

But here is my take. The new remote shows that the page up/down will use the same buttons as channel up/down. when verizon releases the new software, they will make the existing channel p/down IR command scroll by page when in the guide, and change the channel when not in the guide. My guess is that when this happens our harmony remotes will still function the same, our page up/down commands will still work, but pressing channel up and down on our harmony will also work as a page scroll in the guide, so you will essentially get the sam result with different buttons.

Basically they are not changing the IR codes, they are just making the channel up/down codes do multiple tasks depending on where you are in the guide.

It is possible that the new software could totally ignore the current page commands, but that seems silly and unlikely in my mind.

At the most you will have to change your harmony page up/down button assignments to send out channel up/down commands.

No one knows for sure.

But here is my take. The new remote shows that the page up/down will use the same buttons as channel up/down. when verizon releases the new software, they will make the existing channel p/down IR command scroll by page when in the guide, and change the channel when not in the guide. My guess is that when this happens our harmony remotes will still function the same, our page up/down commands will still work, but pressing channel up and down on our harmony will also work as a page scroll in the guide, so you will essentially get the sam result with different buttons.

Basically they are not changing the IR codes, they are just making the channel up/down codes do multiple tasks depending on where you are in the guide.

It is possible that the new software could totally ignore the current page commands, but that seems silly and unlikely in my mind.

At the most you will have to change your harmony page up/down button assignments to send out channel up/down commands.
Correct, this is how it's done. The new SW version will simply tell the box to perform a different command when it receives that specific IR code from the Verizon remote, it won't change other functionality (i.e. harmony), at least not on purpose.

Last Night around 1115 Eastern Time Verizon sent a bullet to all of my boxes which reset them and downloaded new programming info.
my my multiroom dvr and 30 sec skip are all working as of this morning

An employee at a local Verizon Plus store (Plano, TX) told me that Verizon is pushing the old remote again because of customer complaints. I just had FiOS TV installed around mid February and received the older remote (that includes page +/- and day +/-).

An employee at a local Verizon Plus store (Plano, TX) told me that Verizon is pushing the old remote again because of customer complaints. I just had FiOS TV installed around mid February and received the older remote (that includes page +/- and day +/-).

What and where is the Verizon Plus Store in Plano?

I switched to FIOS a couple of weeks ago and hate the new remote for the 6416.

When I turned in my stuff to Comcast, I forgot the remote. I just discovered it tonite. It works just fine with the 6416 but won't swap tuners.

I'm getting the same audio drops and pixelation. I thought it was storm interference.

What ticks me off is that I'll have to order a separate box to feed my VCR and TIVO, otherwise it only gets stuff below Channel 49 on their system. No CNN, no Mets,Yanks, etc. I like to back up the digital records on the HD DVR with the Tivo. I didn't have to do that with Comcast. The TIVO says I'm hooked (for my program schedule and channels) into FIOS in Freehold, NJ which is a long freaking way from Montclair. I don't know how we're linked to them.

I switched to FIOS a couple of weeks ago and hate the new remote for the 6416.

When I turned in my stuff to Comcast, I forgot the remote. I just discovered it tonite. It works just fine with the 6416 but won't swap tuners.

I'm getting the same audio drops and pixelation. I thought it was storm interference.

What ticks me off is that I'll have to order a separate box to feed my VCR and TIVO, otherwise it only gets stuff below Channel 49 on their system. No CNN, no Mets,Yanks, etc. I like to back up the digital records on the HD DVR with the Tivo. I didn't have to do that with Comcast. The TIVO says I'm hooked (for my program schedule and channels) into FIOS in Freehold, NJ which is a long freaking way from Montclair. I don't know how we're linked to them.

If your TIVO has a cablecard slot you can pay a small monthly fee(I don't have one, so don't know the cost) for a cablecard and will get all channels on the TIVO, just no VOD or FiOS program guide.

If your TIVO has a cablecard slot you can pay a small monthly fee(I don't have one, so don't know the cost) for a cablecard and will get all channels on the TIVO, just no VOD or FiOS program guide.
Only the TiVo Series 3 is equipped with CableCard functionality, and it didn't sound like he had an S3.

The average cost of renting a cablecard is ~$5/month.

Here's an annoying problem I can't seem to find a solution to:

Recently purchased a new HDMI switching receiver (Onkyo 604) and hooked the QIP6416 DVR up to it. Apparently if I turn on the DVR prior to turning on the receiver (or if I change the input on the receiver), the DVR starts freaking out and blinking an error message I can't see before it shows the time again, and it resets the settings (and reverts the signal to 720p). So to fix it, I have to shut off the DVR and go into the debugging mode and manually set my setting back to 1080i. What exacerbates it is my TV shows 720p at slightly less than full screen (half an inch to an inch of black on all sides) so it definitely is annoying. I've reverted back to using component and optical cabling.

Has anyone found a workaround for this? I even have a buddy that installs the stuff for Verizon and he was no help. I'd much rather have HDMI but it sounds like that's a no go.

What and where is the Verizon Plus Store in Plano?

I've only been there once, and that was to swap remotes for my FiOS service (they allowed me to change my older ones for the newer remotes -- something I ended up not going through with, but that is for another discussion). It is located in Plano on Plano Parkway between Alma and 75.

I *think* it is essentially a Verizon store with the added ability to act as a drop-off location for your equipment.

Hmmmm....interesting, I wonder if you can swap out DVR's and other equipment there?





I've only been there once, and that was to swap remotes for my FiOS service (they allowed me to change my older ones for the newer remotes -- something I ended up not going through with, but that is for another discussion). It is located in Plano on Plano Parkway between Alma and 75.

Hmmmm....interesting, I wonder if you can swap out DVR's and other equipment there?

None here in Jersey but the website has a list of locations:
on the verizon website:

http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/customer+support/set+top+box+dropoff+locations/set+top+box+dropoff+locations.htm

I just had FIOS TV installed yesterday. Adios Comcast.

Last night I set the DVR to record House. For some reason, American Idol ran over by 7 minutes. I figure out how to extend the House recording by 10 minutes during the record process so it wouldn't cut off.

I noticed, however, an option for series recording that tells the DVR to always start recording at 9 or record at anytime. I don't recall having this option with Comcast. I had it set to always start at 9. If I change it to start at anytime will this address the issue ofr shows starting slightly earlier or later than the scheduled start time?

I just had FIOS TV installed yesterday. Adios Comcast.

Last night I set the DVR to record House. For some reason, American Idol ran over by 7 minutes. I figure out how to extend the House recording by 10 minutes during the record process so it wouldn't cut off.

I noticed, however, an option for series recording that tells the DVR to always start recording at 9 or record at anytime. I don't recall having this option with Comcast. I had it set to always start at 9. If I change it to start at anytime will this address the issue ofr shows starting slightly earlier or later than the scheduled start time?

Yep, that will take care of it for you. That is how I have House set to record and it did perfectly fine last night.

I noticed, however, an option for series recording that tells the DVR to always start recording at 9 or record at anytime. I don't recall having this option with Comcast. I had it set to always start at 9. If I change it to start at anytime will this address the issue ofr shows starting slightly earlier or later than the scheduled start time?I recommend using the record at "anytime" setting on all programs shown on the local networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC).

When I first got FiOS, I missed the occasional episode when the network altered the timeslot for some special event. Setting the DVR to record each network program at "anytime" fixed that problem.

If you had the DVR set to record only "new episodes" of House at "anytime," it recorded that program last night, starting and stopping at the appropriates times, without any need to extend the recording.

Yep, that will take care of it for you. That is how I have House set to record and it did perfectly fine last night.

I hadn't thought about the 'record at anytime' option covering programs that were slightly delayed, but that is cool. The other thing 'anytime' does is catch multiple episodes of the same show on the same channel. For example a local station runs three half-hour episodes of a show called 'Liberty Kids' back-to-back every Sunday morning. I set up a series recording for 'Liberty Kids' with 'record at anytime' and I catch all three episodes.

Best Regards,
Marty

I hadn't thought about the 'record at anytime' option covering programs that were slightly delayed, but that is cool. The other thing 'anytime' does is catch multiple episodes of the same show on the same channel. For example a local station runs three half-hour episodes of a show called 'Liberty Kids' back-to-back every Sunday morning. I set up a series recording for 'Liberty Kids' with 'record at anytime' and I catch all three episodes.

Best Regards,
Marty


It's a great show. My 10 year old learned so much about revolutionary history from that show.

Can somebody send me the link for the photos of the FIOS remotes. For my two DVRs, I have Harmonies and they seem to be working without issue. But for the two SD STB's I have the VZ black remotes which do not have page up and page down. Because they are not DVRs, the day+ and day- are not as important. Are there codes that I can use to program unused keys to do page up and page down in the guide?

Yep, that will take care of it for you. That is how I have House set to record and it did perfectly fine last night.

I will have to do that for the Daily Show. On Comcast my recordings usually starting about 30 seconds early and cut off 30 seconds early as well which caused me to usually miss the "moment of zen." Hopefully using the anytime feature, I will now be able to have my fix of the "moment of zen."

Can somebody send me the link for the photos of the FIOS remotes. For my two DVRs, I have Harmonies and they seem to be working without issue. But for the two SD STB's I have the VZ black remotes which do not have page up and page down. Because they are not DVRs, the day+ and day- are not as important. Are there codes that I can use to program unused keys to do page up and page down in the guide?


http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/customer+support/customer+support.htm

I will have to do that for the Daily Show. On Comcast my recordings usually starting about 30 seconds early and cut off 30 seconds early as well which caused me to usually miss the "moment of zen." Hopefully using the anytime feature, I will now be able to have my fix of the "moment of zen."The "anytime" option doesn't work very well on programs that lack the first-run flag. The local broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC supply first-run information on most series, but Comedy Central does not do a good job in that area.

The "anytime" option doesn't work very well on programs that lack the first-run flag. The local broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC supply first-run information on most series, but Comedy Central does not do a good job in that area.

Same thing with The CW. I have a series pass for Smallville and get flooded with repeat recordings.

Same thing with The CW. I have a series pass for Smallville and get flooded with repeat recordings.Do you have the DVR set to record only new episodes of Smallville?

For nearly six months, I've had the Fios DVR set to record only "new episodes" of Smallville at "any time" from our local WB affiliate. It hasn't missed an episode or recorded a repeat since, as far as I am aware.

I am confused, i just got my box and service installed today and i know the firmware doesnt support external devices yet, but i just checked, there is no e-sata port on the thing, people said there was e-sata and it would work like end of the year, am i missing something?

Also, whats up with page up/down it says channel is also page up/dwn but when yo u try to use it in the guide it frigan changes the channel, wth is that? Its insane not to be able to page down in the guide.

I am confused, i just got my box and service installed today and i know the firmware doesnt support external devices yet, but i just checked, there is no e-sata port on the thing, people said there was e-sata and it would work like end of the year, am i missing something?

Also, whats up with page up/down it says channel is also page up/dwn but when yo u try to use it in the guide it frigan changes the channel, wth is that? Its insane not to be able to page down in the guide.

I called tech support to see if they would supply me with the old remote which does page up and page down. If that doesn't work, there is an abundant supply of Comcast remotes on ebay.

I'm getting pretty tired of watching a program after it has started recording, only to be kicked out of it once the recording time ends.

Last night, I was watching about 20 minutes delayed, the DVR stopped recording, kicked me to live TV, but when I went back the last 20 minutes was gone... arghh!

I never had these problems with the Comcast DVRs... and I could switch tuners... and I could watch HD VOD. Don't get me wrong, I love my FIOS internet, but FIOS TV is really starting to wear on me...

I'm getting pretty tired of watching a program after it has started recording, only to be kicked out of it once the recording time ends.

Last night, I was watching about 20 minutes delayed, the DVR stopped recording, kicked me to live TV, but when I went back the last 20 minutes was gone... arghh!

I never had these problems with the Comcast DVRs... and I could switch tuners... and I could watch HD VOD. Don't get me wrong, I love my FIOS internet, but FIOS TV is really starting to wear on me...

Hmm. I time shifted House the other night. Started watching at about 9:15. Paused to go down to kitchen. Was able to watch the entire recording eventhough the live program had ended.

Last night, I was watching about 20 minutes delayed, the DVR stopped recording, kicked me to live TV, but when I went back the last 20 minutes was gone... arghh!


Were you recording it at the same time or merely watching it 20 minutes delayed?

was recording and watching the delayed recording of it - not just time shifting it. I stopped watching things time-shifted as a significant portion of the time, time shifting would just dump out and leave you with nothing.

I'm getting pretty tired of watching a program after it has started recording, only to be kicked out of it once the recording time ends.

Last night, I was watching about 20 minutes delayed, the DVR stopped recording, kicked me to live TV, but when I went back the last 20 minutes was gone... arghh!How did you access the recording in progress? Selected from the recording list or manually tune to the channel?

To watch a recording in progress (ie, a program after it has started recording) select it from the DVR Recordings / List. Don't tune to it via channel surfing / typing in the channel number / selecting in guide / etc.

That usually helps / fixes issues like the above.

Yes, the 'tuner logic' is a little goofy ... especially when only recording one show. One tuner is recording the show. You tune to the channel and think you're using the same tuner ... but no, you're using the second tuner. Another recording kicks in and the tuner you're using is needed and ... hilarity ensues.

I am confused, i just got my box and service installed today and i know the firmware doesnt support external devices yet, but i just checked, there is no e-sata port on the thing, people said there was e-sata and it would work like end of the year, am i missing something?Apparantly some have them and some don't. My QIP-6416 from Verizon doesn't have an eSATA port either.

How did you access the recording in progress? Selected from the recording list or manually tune to the channel?

To watch a recording in progress (ie, a program after it has started recording) select it from the DVR Recordings / List. Don't tune to it via channel surfing / typing in the channel number / selecting in guide / etc.

That usually helps / fixes issues like the above.

Yes, the 'tuner logic' is a little goofy ... especially when only recording one show. One tuner is recording the show. You tune to the channel and think you're using the same tuner ... but no, you're using the second tuner. Another recording kicks in and the tuner you're using is needed and ... hilarity ensues.


IIRC, i accessed the recording from the recording list. Maybe that's why I did not have the same experience.

No, that's what I did, I selected it from the recordings list. I've given up on trying to watch something by tuning/time shifting, as it usually craps out. I was only watching/recording one show, no more shows scheduled to record.

The funny thing is, for all Comcast's faults with their implementation, their recording/tuner swapping is much better the Verizon's.

Only the TiVo Series 3 is equipped with CableCard functionality, and it didn't sound like he had an S3.

The average cost of renting a cablecard is ~$5/month.

What is the montly charge from Tivo?

No, that's what I did, I selected it from the recordings list.Oh ... and don't hit the Live TV button ...

Like I said that "usually helps / fixes issues like the above" ... but (obviously) YMMV.

I watch recordings in progress all the time w/o problem (by selecting from the recordings list) ... but (again, obviously) YMMV.The funny thing is, for all Comcast's faults with their implementation, their recording/tuner swapping is much better the Verizon's.The 'tuner logic' is definately one of the goofier / quirkier / more frustrating aspects of Verizon's current DVR offering ... no doubts.

Apparantly some have them and some don't. My QIP-6416 from Verizon doesn't have an eSATA port either.


thats frigan bs. the fact my cablevision box had a 160gb hd + my 500gb esata drive i think i might cancel fios and go back to the cablevision box. especially if i cant add an esata when they fix the sata problem. what about changing the internal drive? anyone figure out that one yet?

I called tech support to see if they would supply me with the old remote which does page up and page down. If that doesn't work, there is an abundant supply of Comcast remotes on ebay.

Maybe it's because I was used to it, but I like the Comcast remote better than the Phillips remote, plus it's programmable. Got one on ebay for under ten dollars delivered. There are some great Wikipedia entries on the Moto DVRs, including how to program the Comcast remote for 30 second skip, among other things. Search on 'How to use a Motorola DVR' at wikibooks and looks for the 'programming the remote' entry. (I'd post the link, but I'm not allowed to, yet.)

The only other switch I had to make was to reprogram the 'On Demand' button. Apparently Comcast used a non-standard command. I programmed the command in the Wikipedia entry for the 'On Demand' button, 00208, and now the Comcast remote pulls up the FIOS On Demand perfectly. Now if only 'tuner swap' worked...

BTW, holding down the down arrow key on the Phillips remote scrolls the channel listing on my STB. It's not 'page down', but it's close.

No, that's what I did, I selected it from the recordings list. I've given up on trying to watch something by tuning/time shifting, as it usually craps out. I was only watching/recording one show, no more shows scheduled to record.

The funny thing is, for all Comcast's faults with their implementation, their recording/tuner swapping is much better the Verizon's.


I also have never had a problem with watching a recorded show that was still in progress of recording. The only glitch is sometimes 1/3 to 1/2 way thru I will lose the 30 sec. skip but FF still works.
Sounds like you may have a buggy box. Have you called VZ Support and had them force a hard reboot from their end?

The only glitch is sometimes 1/3 to 1/2 way thru I will lose the 30 sec. skip but FF still works.

When that happens, I cycle thru the "Info" button (3 presses) and the 30 sec skip works again.

When that happens, I cycle thru the "Info" button (3 presses) and the 30 sec skip works again.


I had the same problem with the 30 second skip. I will try your remedy. Thanks.

When that happens, I cycle thru the "Info" button (3 presses) and the 30 sec skip works again.

Thanks, same problem but this solution worked for me!

I've run into an odd problem ... the DVR refuses to record the "Tonight Show" ... but only on Thursday and Friday. I've tried to do it MANY ways ... as a single one time recording ... as a series (with a lot of various "options" tried). It always appears in the guide as being set to record ... but the next morning - NOTHING! Like I said, Mon, Tues, Wed all record fine ... but never Thursday or Friday. The ONLY way I've been able to get these nights recorded is to record the news on NBC at 11:00PM and then go into "Options" and change it to record for 60 minutes past the end of the show. Then the next day I can fast forward past the news and watch it that way.

Anybody else have a similar problem? How about suggestions for a fix? BTW - I've done the unplug and reset process 2 or 3 times with no change in this behavior.

When that happens, I cycle thru the "Info" button (3 presses) and the 30 sec skip works again.

I will give it a try. I was never really bothered by it since FF still worked. Before reading your post I tried stopping and restarting the program which worked as well.

Any update on when Verizon might be pushing out the software upgrade in NoVA?

This box is getting more annoying by the day. I am almost ready to pull the trigger on a couple of S3 units and abandon VOD and Motorola.

Do you have the DVR set to record only new episodes of Smallville?

For nearly six months, I've had the Fios DVR set to record only "new episodes" of Smallville at "any time" from our local WB affiliate. It hasn't missed an episode or recorded a repeat since, as far as I am aware.

Yes, I have it set for the The CW HDTV channel (any time; new run only), and it records the repeats that The CW airs on Saturday/Sunday. Maybe it's a local issue?

I just called Verizon to sign up for FiOS TV, my plan was to have the "Multiroom HD DVR" in my main area, and another non-multiroom HD DVR at the kids TV and 3 SD STBs. While placing my order when I asked for the Multiroom HD DVR the CSR said, "we're having lots of problems with that DVR and I don't recommend you get it." He then processed the order without the multiroom DVR. Isn't the multiroom DVR the QIP6416 that is being discussed in this thread? I see that there are some issues folks are dealing with, but tons of people have them and seem to be using them with some level of success. Has anyone else been told by Verizon not to order it?

I just called Verizon to sign up for FiOS TV, my plan was to have the "Multiroom HD DVR" in my main area, and another non-multiroom HD DVR at the kids TV and 3 SD STBs. While placing my order when I asked for the Multiroom HD DVR the CSR said, "we're having lots of problems with that DVR and I don't recommend you get it." He then processed the order without the multiroom DVR. Isn't the multiroom DVR the QIP6416 that is being discussed in this thread? I see that there are some issues folks are dealing with, but tons of people have them and seem to be using them with some level of success. Has anyone else been told not to order it?

The Multiroom HD DVR is the same box as the 6416, they just enable a software feature to give it multiroom capability. I have not heard of a huge number of problems with that feature, other than it has limitations such as no HD in the other rooms and you can't pause live TV on the standalone boxes, but only watch live or DVR'd items.

To add to what robmfielding said, don't forget that FIOS TV currently has NO HD VOD either - somehow they fail to point this out in any significant way... maybe it's in the fine print somewhere, but I used to enjoy watching HD content on VOD with other providers I've had.

No HD VOD, that's dissapointing. Does that also mean there are no PPV movies in HD?

correct

I really think people need to consider that Comcast and other Providers have been around many many many years and Verizon Fios TV is just rolling out in many places and still very much in its infancy.

I think one of their main priorities and expenses is running new fiber optics all over. I know it just started in my NJ area recently and there are Verizon trucks all around.

I myself can hardly fault them for anything right now really. Would I like more HD channels and VOD in HD and stuff like that ? Sure but I realize that they cant add everything at once and I still find the picture better than DirecTV's both SD and HD and way way less expensive than Comcast.

Not complaining, just getting clarification. DirecTV has no VOD and only one HD PPV channel, so I'm only losing one HD PPV channel and gaining all of the SD VOD content.

can someone help me with these issues?

1. cant pull up the channel bar where you can skip up and down and left and right viewing current programs, not the mini guide, just the short channel guide, sometimes the arrows pull it up and sometimes they act like fw/rev

2. fios tv button does nothing except for show the current recording and then skip like a second and thats it, like its turning on time shifting or something, but obviously its not, cause its always on. EDIT: I hear this is normal... odd.

3. they say this new software is going to be released end of april and that will fix the page up/page down problem, is this correct?

4. will a harmony remote allow page up/down work if i dont have an old remote for it to learn from?

5. is it not possible to go back to the guide after viewing info? like if you took an hour to get to like 5 days a head of time and go through all the channels (not using page up page down makes it even worse) then you view info and then sometimes you cant go back, this happens in other places too, the remote needs a back button bad. am i missing it?

6. i search for movies, i get half way down the list (which again takes forever since i cant page down) i find a movie i want, i open the info of the movie and then click record, great, now i cant get back to where i was on the movie list i have to start all over again.

Called Verizon back and spoke to a new rep. She hooked me up with the QIP6416 and said that some of the CSRs are pushing people away from it due to the lack of HD streaming and no PVR functionality in at the other STBs.

Called Verizon back and spoke to a new rep. She hooked me up with the QIP6416 and said that some of the CSRs are pushing people away from it due to the lack of HD streaming and no PVR functionality in at the other STBs.

There is also a software issue on some of the boxes that cause the multiroom DVR to quit working w/the other STBs. Solution is to just launch the widgets on the multiroom DVR and that causes it to get back on the network, which will then make it work with the other STBs.

Does anyone know of a good way to see where you are in a recording? On Comcast I could just hit info and exit. On Verizon I have to hit pause and then unpause. Or I have to wait till a commercial to FF. A little awkward.

Does anyone know of a good way to see where you are in a recording? On Comcast I could just hit info and exit. On Verizon I have to hit pause and then unpause. Or I have to wait till a commercial to FF. A little awkward.

extremely annoying, i assume dumb stuff like this will be fixed in the new software.

What happens if you hit the play?

What happens if you hit the play?

Hitting Play works! Thanks for the tip!

can someone help me with these issues?

3. they say this new software is going to be released end of april and that will fix the page up/page down problem, is this correct?.

There will be a new guide. What features may or may not be added is not known. Verizon also has a Motorola remote whose page up/down works but lacks a 30 sec. skip.

4. will a harmony remote allow page up/down work if i dont have an old remote for it to learn from? .

Yes. I have a Harmony 670 which, when programmed for this receiver, has a working page up/down function.

5. is it not possible to go back to the guide after viewing info? like if you took an hour to get to like 5 days a head of time and go through all the channels (not using page up page down makes it even worse) then you view info and then sometimes you cant go back, this happens in other places too, the remote needs a back button bad. am i missing it?.

Use the "Last" button.

6. i search for movies, i get half way down the list (which again takes forever since i cant page down) i find a movie i want, i open the info of the movie and then click record, great, now i cant get back to where i was on the movie list i have to start all over again.

Again, use the "Last" button.

Maybe I am doing something wrong but I was adding a few SP's last night and some gave me the option to choose from new/repeat/all and some had this field blocked out and said "all and duplicates" with no way to change it.

Maybe I am doing something wrong but I was adding a few SP's last night and some gave me the option to choose from new/repeat/all and some had this field blocked out and said "all and duplicates" with no way to change it.

That has happened to me before, I believe it occurs when the guide does not receive any info on whether or not a show has any new airings or not.

Is it true that with the FIOS DVR you can record two shows at the same time and watch a third show. Also is anyone using a TIVO S2 with FIOS?

Is it true that with the FIOS DVR you can record two shows at the same time and watch a third show. Also is anyone using a TIVO S2 with FIOS?

No, you cannot do that. There are only two tuners in the DVR.

Is it true that with the FIOS DVR you can record two shows at the same time and watch a third show. Also is anyone using a TIVO S2 with FIOS?

No, but you can watch a recorded show.

You CAN record two different programs at the same time and watch a PREVIOUSLY RECORDED program.

Oppps - Olga you just beat me to it! ;)

Interesting problem. KCBS 802 HDTV does not show up any more (did for first week until the NCAA basketball finals when it went black). I thought it was a black out game and gave it no thought. Today upon my return, I find that nothing got recorded because the channel is black. This is on two different DVR units. I have a cable card in the TV and it receives 802 without problem. I get all the other channels without problems. Analog KCBS is okay on all three units.

I have powered the units down. Reset the modem. Tech support has sent a refresh and reload to the units and They now say it is a signal issue. I pointed out that the cable card works and that threw them for a loop. No answer.

Anyone have an idea to try?

Is it true that with the FIOS DVR you can record two shows at the same time and watch a third show. Also is anyone using a TIVO S2 with FIOS?

I'm using a S2 Humax w/DVD on FIOS in MD, whats your question?

I was wondering how to hook up TIVO S2 to FIOS.

Use the "Last" button.



Again, use the "Last" button.

The last button rarely takes you back to the same place, sometimes it brings you back to the channel you are on, sometimes the current time of the channel you were just browsing, sometimes the right place. it really sucks to get through like a week of programming (without page up/down) and then record something and it brings you back to the current date/time/program and you have to find your place all over again.


And does anyone have any definitive info on the additional HD space via e-sata or internal upgrade? this 160gb is a joke, i was barely happy with 660GB on my cablevision box, i think i am def. gonna cancel fios, 160gb vs 660gb recording hd programming is a no brainer, especially since there is no promise of e-sata ever working (and my box doesnt have a frigan e-sata port)

Does anyone know how the IR ports on the back of these fios boxes work? does it allow you to pipe ir signals from a media center receiver (which has output for ir blaster) ??? does anyone use these with ms media center 2005?

EDIT: DAMN, i hooked up my boxes to my media center pc, i cant record OR watch Starz, encore or hbo. SHowtime and TMC work though, wth, it says restricted content on the media center box after like 20 seconds.

Did anyone notice that the default output is now 720p? It's always been 1080i in the past. I wonder why this was changed?

Did anyone notice that the default output is now 720p? It's always been 1080i in the past. I wonder why this was changed?

It's been 720p since the beginning I think. Any time I plug in an HDMI to my TV and don't have the TV on first, it freaks out and resets to 720p. Then I have to manually go into the settings and change it back to 1080i. So I'm back on component now...

what happened to groups on the HD DVR? It used to put shows in a groups folder, now it's just showing them all in one big list....

what happened to groups on the HD DVR? It used to put shows in a groups folder, now it's just showing them all in one big list....It only groups "season pass" (i.e. weekly) recordings. It does not group manual/single program recordings.

It only groups "season pass" (i.e. weekly) recordings. It does not group manual/single program recordings.

ah, makes sense, thanks.

It's been 720p since the beginning I think. Any time I plug in an HDMI to my TV and don't have the TV on first, it freaks out and resets to 720p. Then I have to manually go into the settings and change it back to 1080i. So I'm back on component now...


Wait a sec. So, the default output depends on the connection? On my previous Sharp LCD over HDMI, it would default to 1080i - determined by resetting defaults in the service menu of the DVR. Now, with my new Sharp LCD over HDMI, resetting the defaults results in 720p output. Strange...

Which should I select with a 1366x768 set?

[


And does anyone have any definitive info on the additional HD space via e-sata or internal upgrade? this 160gb is a joke, i was barely happy with 660GB on my cablevision box, i think i am def. gonna cancel fios, 160gb vs 660gb recording hd programming is a no brainer, especially since there is no promise of e-sata ever working (and my box doesnt have a frigan e-sata port)[/QUOTE]


What box do you have from Cablevision that's got 660GB?

My Comcast HD box had less than the 160GB from FIOS.

I was wondering how to hook up TIVO S2 to FIOS.

My FIOS installer gave me a new splitter so I could feed to my PC and my TIVo and VCR. Without an STB I only get up to Channel 49 but everything wotks fine. I'm in Montclair, NJ. When I set up the TIVO it grabbed the Freehold, NJ feed.

Also the rep put signal attenuators on all the lines because he said the signal was really "hot" coming in.

Wait a sec. So, the default output depends on the connection? On my previous Sharp LCD over HDMI, it would default to 1080i - determined by resetting defaults in the service menu of the DVR. Now, with my new Sharp LCD over HDMI, resetting the defaults results in 720p output. Strange...

Which should I select with a 1366x768 set?

Gee, besides having the ability to add more disk space, Verizon really needs to have the ability to pass the shows native format (720p or 1080i at least) to the TV. For odd ball implementations such as the rash of 1366x768 sets, it is possible that letting the TV descale could result in a better picture. However, since some of these are less expensive sets, could you tell the difference? I don't know.

As far as which to select, I guess it depends on the format of what you normally watch. Try both for both format stations and let us know how it works.

I just got my Moto DVR replaced. I believe my old model was a 6416-2 and just got replaced with the same model. My old box would pillar box my SD channels and the HD channels would be widescreen. Now the new box does not pillar box and displays SD channels stretched to 16:9. Does anyone know how to make the box pillar box SD content? I got used to it and it made watching SD alot easier. It's a pain to switch my aspect ratio on my TV every time I go from HD to SD.

Edit: Nevermind. I found out how to get to the DVR menu. You have to turn 4:3 override off for it to pillar box.

[


And does anyone have any definitive info on the additional HD space via e-sata or internal upgrade? this 160gb is a joke, i was barely happy with 660GB on my cablevision box, i think i am def. gonna cancel fios, 160gb vs 660gb recording hd programming is a no brainer, especially since there is no promise of e-sata ever working (and my box doesnt have a frigan e-sata port)


What box do you have from Cablevision that's got 660GB?

My Comcast HD box had less than the 160GB from FIOS.[/QUOTE]


I have an external 500GB e-sata drive that actually works. Wow, a feature that actually works, verizon needs to get on the ball.

Plus no native pass of show res?

My SD quality is terrible coming from my 2 sd boxes to my media center pc.

I lost power yesterday afternoon and I never turned on one of my boxes. Is it normal for it to not update program information until it is powered on? I turned it on this morning and it told me it was downloading program information, 10 minutes later it was still doing it, so I just reset it again and will see what happens. If this is normal then that is really not a good thing.

I was wondering how to hook up TIVO S2 to FIOS.

I am using a Humax Tivo-DVD player/burner with the Verizon HD STB(non-DVR)
I have mine hooked up using the IR blaster for channel control.
First I have HDMI from the STB to my TV for HD watching.
Second I have S-Video from the STB to the Tivo in( on my Tivo that's the highest quality input.
Then i have the component video from the Tivo ( DVD version of the Tivo) into the TV.

I just got my Moto DVR replaced. I believe my old model was a 6416-2 and just got replaced with the same model. My old box would pillar box my SD channels and the HD channels would be widescreen. Now the new box does not pillar box and displays SD channels stretched to 16:9. Does anyone know how to make the box pillar box SD content? I got used to it and it made watching SD alot easier. It's a pain to switch my aspect ratio on my TV every time I go from HD to SD.

Edit: Nevermind. I found out how to get to the DVR menu. You have to turn 4:3 override off for it to pillar box.

Keep the TV on, turn your STB off and press the menu button. Scroll down to 4:3 override and set it to 480i. That should take care of it.

I am using a Humax Tivo-DVD player/burner with the Verizon HD STB(non-DVR)
I have mine hooked up using the IR blaster for channel control.
First I have HDMI from the STB to my TV for HD watching.
Second I have S-Video from the STB to the Tivo in( on my Tivo that's the highest quality input.
Then i have the component video from the Tivo ( DVD version of the Tivo) into the TV.


Is the tivo letting you record HBO, Starz and Encore? I have 2 boxes hooked this way to a media center pc, it tells me restricted content and wont let me watch or record those channels in standard def?????!!!!!! it really sucks, its sending some kind of flag...

Hello all
I just switched to Verizon from Comcast. On my remote there is a "skip" button above the FF button. It appears to be ~30 seconds. However, it won't "skip" toward the end of a recording for some reason. It will FF at any speed but won't skip. Is this a known issue or do I have some type of problem? This also occured when I starting watching a show from the beginning while it was still recording. As I got closer to live the skip button shut down.

Many thanks.

I just switched to Verizon from Comcast. On my remote there is a "skip" button above the FF button. It appears to be ~30 seconds. However, it won't "skip" toward the end of a recording for some reason. It will FF at any speed but won't skip. Is this a known issue or do I have some type of problem? This also occured when I starting watching a show from the beginning while it was still recording. As I got closer to live the skip button shut down.Info -> Info -> Info usually clears / fixes the 30 sec skip not working (and the lack of a progress bar).

Well known issue.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10164275&&#post10164275

I was looking for Closed Captioning support for my Philips remote with the 6416 DVR. It doesn't work, so I asked about it in the Verizon Direct forum over on DSL Reports.

According to Verizon, CC will be supported in the menu screen of the next release of the new "IMG" (Interactive Media Guide), which replaces the IPG. However, it's unclear if CC will be supported over HDMI. There's no prediction on the new guide release date.

I'm using the S-Video output for CC support, since my display doesn't support CC over HDMI.

Is the tivo letting you record HBO, Starz and Encore? I have 2 boxes hooked this way to a media center pc, it tells me restricted content and wont let me watch or record those channels in standard def?????!!!!!! it really sucks, its sending some kind of flag...

I have no problem with recording any stations. I know Tivo has the ability to flag programs as protected, but i have not ever come across one- except for a movie i downloaded from Amazon uncrate.
I also regularly back up programs to the built in DVD and stream content to my PC through Tivo to Go and then to my Ipod.

Hello all
I just switched to Verizon from Comcast. On my remote there is a "skip" button above the FF button. It appears to be ~30 seconds. However, it won't "skip" toward the end of a recording for some reason. It will FF at any speed but won't skip. Is this a known issue or do I have some type of problem? This also occured when I starting watching a show from the beginning while it was still recording. As I got closer to live the skip button shut down.

Many thanks.

I had a similar experience. FSC reinitialized the box and my quick testing last night suggests that it is working properly now. Will post an update as I do some more testing.

I just got my FIOS TV installed Friday. I have an HDMI cable going to my Vizio GV-47LF. The QIP-6416 is outputting 720P. I can't find how to change to 1080i any place in the menu system.

Is 720P native for the set top box? Can I change to 1080i, and if so, how?

Thanks, Steven

I just got my FIOS TV installed Friday. I have an HDMI cable going to my Vizio GV-47LF. The QIP-6416 is outputting 720P. I can't find how to change to 1080i any place in the menu system.

Is 720P native for the set top box? Can I change to 1080i, and if so, how?1) Turn on TV
2) Turn off box
3) Hit Menu button on box

Note: This only works for me if nothing is being recorded.

This will access a settings menu where the output resolution, 4:3 override mode, some HDMI/DVI settings, and some closed captioning settings can be set / adjusted.

Thanks dt_dc. It worked! The picture now looks like I expected.

I just bought a JVC HM-D30000U on Ebay. It should arrive by the end of the week. I'm looking forward to recording from the QIP-6416 to the D-VCR. Now that this issue is resolved my recordings will be top quality, too.

Steven

I just bought a JVC HM-D30000U on Ebay. It should arrive by the end of the week. I'm looking forward to recording from the QIP-6416 to the D-VCR. Now that this issue is resolved my recordings will be top quality, too.I believe the output setting doesn't affect Firewire (from the 6416 to the JVC). AFAIK, Firewire is always output at the same resolution as the content is broadcast / recorded. Could be wrong ... but I think that's what happens. The output setting only affects HDMI and component outputs.

Let us know how the DVHS recordings go ... haven't played around with Firewire from the 6416 myself ... but ... some other posters have reported som 'glitchiness'.

Another GIOS update today... now on 17.25. Can't see any difference....

Same here in Philly area. Version 17.25, March 13, 2007 13:32:15. The details are in the Code Modules section of the diagnostics menu. I gave the time because it's an old trick to use time for internal version number tracking.

The HD video was stuttering a bit, so I cleared the buffer by toggling the HDMI/PbPrPy output (Off, then Menu) through the various resolutions, 1080i, 720p, 480p, 480i, then back to 1080i. Will see if that works. I guess you still need to "reboot" after new firmware.

Whoop! This may be old news but I just realized Food HD, HGTV HD, and Life HD were added to the program guide. Food and HGTV look good but Life has some old stretched movie on (ala TNTHD).

Whoop! This may be old news but I just realized Food HD, HGTV HD, and Life HD were added to the program guide. Food and HGTV look good but Life has some old stretched movie on (ala TNTHD).

What area are you in? From what we can tell Texas is the only area to receive these channels so far.

I am in Texas (Plano). I didn't see any talk about it on AVS...am I missing a thread/forum that discusses FIOS on avs besides this one?

I am in Texas (Plano). I didn't see any talk about it on AVS...am I missing a thread/forum that discusses FIOS on avs besides this one?

There is a FiOS Programming Thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10289733)

I am in Texas (Plano). I didn't see any talk about it on AVS...am I missing a thread/forum that discusses FIOS on avs besides this one?

Tampa, FL also got these channels

jank - which channel is the food network HD on then in tampa/fios?

jank - which channel is the food network HD on then in tampa/fios?

should be 840, 841, and 845 for the new HD channels.

Sweet - just found them on the tiVO channel list - fyi for tivo s3 users, you will need to add them to your channelist, no guide info, they will appear blank..

I have an external 500GB e-sata drive that actually works. Wow, a feature that actually works, verizon needs to get on the ball.

Are you saying that your e-sata is recognized by the Verizon box ??

Are you saying that your e-sata is recognized by the Verizon box ??

The statement was referring that it worked with his previous cable operator(Cablevision if I remember correctly)

A google search revealed nothing. Where are the Firewire Drivers for the QIP6416-2 HD DVR box? I've got star wars and Back to the future just waiting on there :)

The statement was referring that it worked with his previous cable operator(Cablevision if I remember correctly)


yes that is correct, i have 660GB recordable space on my cablevision SA box. 160GB internal and 500GB external. Its a HUGE difference, i can actually have like 50-60 hd shows, even more sometimes. On the verizon box you will be lucky to store like 10.

yes that is correct, i have 660GB recordable space on my cablevision SA box. 160GB internal and 500GB external. Its a HUGE difference, i can actually have like 50-60 hd shows, even more sometimes. On the verizon box you will be lucky to store like 10.

On my box each 1 hour HD show takes 6% of the space, except for Fox which for some reason is 3%(original broadcast is 720p could be the reasoning), so based on the 6% figure I could get about 15 shows. Not a lot, but unless I am out of town it is not a problem for me. Now, that is not to say I would not hook up an e-sata drive if given the opportunity.

This feature is not available yet - just something Verizon promised. :(
I have the DVR and 3 STB's. I can play back recording from the DVR to any of the 3 STB's.

Is there an FAQ page for the 6416 similar to the one for the SA8300HD (SA 8300 HD Tips & Tricks -- SARA (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=471859) )?

Having all that information in one place is very useful.

I'm considering switching to FIOS from Cablevision, primarily because of all the problems with the 8300HD software, but I want to find out what I'm getting into with the 6416. I have a tough time believing it's worse than the 8300, but it would be good to know as much as possible.

Is there an FAQ page for the 6416 similar to the one for the SA8300HD (SA 8300 HD Tips & Tricks -- SARA (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=471859) )?
It's not specific to the FIOS 6416, but wikibooks has a great entry on using Motorola DVR's, including codes for programming a remote, bugs, etc.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR

So far my FIOS 6416 has responded to all the standard codes I've tried, including '30 second skip', and 'On Demand'. If you don't have a multifunction programmable remote, ebay has many comcast remotes for sale which are programmable and work well with the FIOS box. The remote Verizon provides does not have 30 second skip or page down keys enabled by default and so far I haven't seen any info on how to program it to enable these functions.

...... The remote Verizon provides does not have 30 second skip or page down keys enabled by default and so far I haven't seen any info on how to program it to enable these functions.


Well not quite, as delivered, the Philips remote has the 30 second skip but no page down, the others I believe have the page down but no 30 second skip.

Well not quite, as delivered, the Philips remote has the 30 second skip but no page down, the others I believe have the page down but no 30 second skip.

Toups you're right. I sit corrected. I could swear that the skip button didn't work with the 6416 when I first got the Philips remote, but it's working fine now. I read somewhere Verizon was going to tweak their code to make the channel key work as page up/page down on the guide menus, but it doesn't appear to be working yet.

Toups you're right. I sit corrected. I could swear that the skip button didn't work with the 6416 when I first got the Philips remote, but it's working fine now. I read somewhere Verizon was going to tweak their code to make the channel key work as page up/page down on the guide menus, but it doesn't appear to be working yet.

I've seen that rumor here or on dslreports, but it has yet to materialize.

I have been quite displeased with this box. The GUI is terrible and the program menu and guide lacks many useful features. So far, the BEST box (I forgot the model) is Dish Network's DVR, which has the best menu system, nice features, and a very ergonomic remote.
This box has many problems, one of them is the picture and sound quality becoming so choppy to the point where the TV is unwatchable, which brings me to my question:
Is there any way to fix the video and sound issues? I called up Verizon and they said they will update it, which it seems like they did, but it did not fix the problem.

I know you guys are talking about the remotes supplied, but, I'll add this. The remote for my Mits Tv died and I was in need, so after much hand wringing over the price, I gave in and bought the Harmony 720 from Costco. After programing it, the 30 second skip was enabled by default as the chapter FF. It also 30 second skips back as the chapter back button. I'll say that I never gave much thought to the usefulness of the feature, but now that I have used it I can't give it up. I hope for those that are in the market for a multifunction remote they can stand to part with the cash like I decided to do, the Logitech Harmony 720 is a fine product.

It always amazes me that people actually use the remotes that come with their products.

I have been quite displeased with this box. The GUI is terrible and the program menu and guide lacks many useful features. So far, the BEST box (I forgot the model) is Dish Network's DVR, which has the best menu system, nice features, and a very ergonomic remote.
This box has many problems, one of them is the picture and sound quality becoming so choppy to the point where the TV is unwatchable, which brings me to my question:
Is there any way to fix the video and sound issues? I called up Verizon and they said they will update it, which it seems like they did, but it did not fix the problem.

If the sound and picture are still poor after the update, I'd ask them to swap the box and/or check the cable run from the ONT to the box. If this is a new install and it's never worked right, I'd suspect a bad cable run or a defective box. I haven't had that particular problem with the FIOS box, in fact the SD picture quality on the 6416 was significantly better than the pq on a 6412 from Comcast.

The somewhat primitive Guide/DVR interface is a known issue. It works, but it's not pretty. They've talked about an updated interface, but as far as I know they haven't committed to a time frame for the roll-out. Verizon ought to be working with you to figure out the other problems.

I have been quite displeased with this box. The GUI is terrible and the program menu and guide lacks many useful features. So far, the BEST box (I forgot the model) is Dish Network's DVR, which has the best menu system, nice features, and a very ergonomic remote.
This box has many problems, one of them is the picture and sound quality becoming so choppy to the point where the TV is unwatchable, which brings me to my question:
Is there any way to fix the video and sound issues? I called up Verizon and they said they will update it, which it seems like they did, but it did not fix the problem.It's rare, but sometimes the box will develop an out-of-memory issue and you'll get stutter on every channel. Fortunately, it has an easy fix. Turn off the box, press menu, and switch HD output resolutions (i.e. from 1080i to 720p). Also enable 4:3 override set to 480i while you are in the menu.

Exit that menu, turn the box on, then turn it back off, and then press menu again to change the output setting back to your original resolution (i.e. from 720p back to 1080i). That should fix the stutter. If it does not, then you either have a defective box, or your signal level is inadequate -- in either case, you call Verizon to setup a service call.

The somewhat primitive Guide/DVR interface is a known issue. It works, but it's not pretty. They've talked about an updated interface, but as far as I know they haven't committed to a time frame for the roll-out. Verizon ought to be working with you to figure out the other problems.

Just how primitive is "primitive"? The interface on the 8300HD is nothing special, but its good enough, if only the rest of the software wasn't buggy and unreliable.

It's rare, but sometimes the box will develop an out-of-memory issue and you'll get stutter on every channel. Fortunately, it has an easy fix. Turn off the box, press menu, and switch HD output resolutions (i.e. from 1080i to 720p). Also enable 4:3 override set to 480i while you are in the menu.

Exit that menu, turn the box on, then turn it back off, and then press menu again to change the output setting back to your original resolution (i.e. from 720p back to 1080i). That should fix the stutter. If it does not, then you either have a defective box, or your signal level is inadequate -- in either case, you call Verizon to setup a service call.

Unfortunately not everybody can support both 720p and 1080i, I did something yesterday and had an incrediby hard time getting it set back to 1080i(seeing as though when I changed it to 720p I could not longer see anything o the screen).

Just how primitive is "primitive"? The interface on the 8300HD is nothing special, but its good enough, if only the rest of the software wasn't buggy and unreliable.
My frame of reference is limited to the COMCAST 6412, so that's all I've got to compare to. All the basic functionality is there. On the plus side, the FIOS DVR gets more channels, has more capacity, a better picture, works reliably, and it costs less.

The primitive piece is really how the interface looks and a few differences in functionality. The Guide font is so large that unless the show is at least an hour long, you've got virtually no shot at seeing the complete name without actually highlighting the block. The Guide and menus have a very basic, blocky look to them. COMCAST had a much more polished look, including things like a Guide with fonts that wrapped within the blocks to show long names.

The FIOS search capability needs some fine tuning. Searching by title requires an exact match starting from position one. Just typing in 'Beren' doesn't find "The Berenstain Bears", you need to type 'the beren'. Comcast did a better job at finding strings within a show name. FIOS has a 'search by actor' option which is able to find strings within a title or description. The FIOS categories aren't all that helpful either, for example 'Kids' shows a couple of channels with cartoons but misses all the current kids shows on PBS, Nick, etc. Comcast's 'Kids' category did a much better job of showing all the kids shows available at a given time.

One feature COMCAST had that I used to use was a tuner swap capability to switch between the two built in tuners without dumping either buffer. To get to the same function with FIOS, you have to start recording both shows and then switch between them using the DVR menu. It's crude, but effective.

Bottom line, all the basic functionality is in there, it's reliable, and if you know how to get what you want, it's very serviceable. There is a new interface in the works, but no commitments on when it will roll out. I tried FIOS side by side with Comcast for a month and FIOS, quirks and all, won out in the end.

This thread is too long to search through so I will ask this simple question. Sorry if it's a repost.

Does anyone get audio cutouts on NBC HD? I'm pretty sure that's the only channel it happens on for me. The audio will cut out for 2-3 seconds at a time multiple times in a show. It's pretty annoying. I live in the Tampa, FL area.

This happened before when I had Brighthouse cable so it's either the channel itself or possibly my drop. I told them I wanted a new drop ran when they installed FIOS but I'm not sure they actually did that.

Any comments that could help to narrow this down?

This thread is too long to search through so I will ask this simple question. Sorry if it's a repost.

Does anyone get audio cutouts on NBC HD? I'm pretty sure that's the only channel it happens on for me. The audio will cut out for 2-3 seconds at a time multiple times in a show. It's pretty annoying.

This happened before when I had Brighthouse cable so it's either the channel itself or possibly my drop. I told them I wanted a new drop ran when they installed FIOS but I'm not sure they actually did that.

Any comments that could help to narrow this down?

You need to post your location, it may be specific to your local affiliate. I have not noticed it with our affiliate.

You need to post your location, it may be specific to your local affiliate. I have not noticed it with our affiliate.

Oops sorry. Tampa, FL area.

Update on the multi-room DVR problem

Verizon appears to have fixed this for me. My remote STB's were losing the connection to the QIP6416 DVR once or twice a day effectively disabling this feature. I called and got a month's refund on my DVS service.

I haven't seen the problem in over a week so I think it's fixed.

On my Tivo's I used to be able to go into the status screens to see the date and version of the Tivo software. How do I do that with my Verizon QIP6416? Is there a software version and version date somewhere?

Any word on what the IR jack on the back does? If I have a USB-UIRT (which I do) can I plug a 1/8" jack into the UIRT and the other end into the box and control it? Just got FIOS hooked up yesterday, all's good except the stupid interface, after using Comcast's, Verizon's looks like a 3rd graders art project.

Update on the multi-room DVR problem

Verizon appears to have fixed this for me. My remote STB's were losing the connection to the QIP6416 DVR once or twice a day effectively disabling this feature. I called and got a month's refund on my DVS service.

I haven't seen the problem in over a week so I think it's fixed.

On my Tivo's I used to be able to go into the status screens to see the date and version of the Tivo software. How do I do that with my Verizon QIP6416? Is there a software version and version date somewhere?

Menu/Settings/Other Settings/Diagnostics

I believe that is correct, am doing it from memory.

DiskDude: Thanks. It sounds like the FIOS 6416 is extremely similar to the Cablevision 8300HD. If it can do simple things like not forgetting to record things, not losing HDCP handshaking, and not getting into modes where it breaks up or blinks the picture, then I'm sold.

Here, for what I want, the price is about the same as Cablevision's normal price, but the FIOS choice of HD channels is a better match to what I watch. So that and a reliable DVR is a good enough reason to switch. I've got about 2 months left on a special price deal I got from Cablevision, but when that's over, so is Cablevision and these worthless 8300HD's.

I've got yet another obnoxious bug with this box that continues to make me consider the very expensive option of moving to a series 3 Tivo. Has anyone else seen this?

Disclaimer: I acknowledge that FIOS HD programming and picture quality is currently a great deal (especially compared to my previous provider, DTV). I just think their STB and their customer relations are worthless! (By customer relations, I do not mean customer service for fixing major problems...I mean the things they do that are just annoying.)

My wife was watching a delayed recording last night that originally aired from 8-9pm. She was actually watching it from about 8:45 to 9:30p. We also had another program recording from 9 to 9:30p. We had some pretty bad weather in North Texas last night that triggered the emergency response system multiple times.

During the program she is watching, at about 9:15p, the recorded emergency alert chimes in (timestamp of 8:22). At this point, no DVR functions are possible (no FF, no REW) and no recorded programs are available on the menu. After the emergency alert is over, the box kicks out to live TV. The only way to watch the rest of the program she recorded is to restart the program and FF3/FF4 past the ERS and 'hope' that she is quick enough to not have it skip all the way to the end.

That behavior is annoying but that is not all...
In addition to having to restart the program, the scheduled recording from 9-9:30p was stopped when the recorded emergency alert came on screen. It did restart after the alert was over, but the recording lost 15-20 seconds and showed up in the menu as multiple entries (similar to what happens if the power goes out).

Now, I could see some value to this if the ERS kicked in when it was actually being broadcast (although, honestly, I would find this annoying too). But to have the box take 'extreme' measures when displaying a recorded emergency alert is useless and ridiculous.

Bottom line, all the basic functionality is in there, it's reliable, and if you know how to get what you want, it's very serviceable. There is a new interface in the works, but no commitments on when it will roll out. I tried FIOS side by side with Comcast for a month and FIOS, quirks and all, won out in the end.
DiskDude - Could you please elaborate a bit on your VZ-Comcast comparison. Our neighborhood is getting wired right now for FIOS, so I'm considering switching to VZ when it becomes available. I'm in South Jersey and use the SA8000 DVR. Thanks for your help.

NJHD42 - Go on over to the Philly area Verizon thread. Lots of info on picture quality, etc. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10390200#post10390200

This thread is too long to search through so I will ask this simple question. Sorry if it's a repost.

Does anyone get audio cutouts on NBC HD? I'm pretty sure that's the only channel it happens on for me. The audio will cut out for 2-3 seconds at a time multiple times in a show. It's pretty annoying. I live in the Tampa, FL area.

This happened before when I had Brighthouse cable so it's either the channel itself or possibly my drop. I told them I wanted a new drop ran when they installed FIOS but I'm not sure they actually did that.

Any comments that could help to narrow this down?

Yes, I also live in Tampa and get audio drops. It's not just NBC though (for me). Here is the link to my previous post on this thread.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10090635#post10090635

If anyone has this problem and corrects it somehow, please let me know!

After the emergency alert is over, the box kicks out to live TV. The only way to watch the rest of the program she recorded is to restart the program and FF3/FF4 past the ERS and 'hope' that she is quick enough to not have it skip all the way to the end.


Not the way mine works. When I am ever kicked out it always starts exactly where I left off. Maybe she selected to restart from the beginning not the option to restart where you left off.

I dont think this is Verizons doing about the Emergency Alerts, I would "guess" its hard coded into the alert to disable all functions and would happen anytime the alert is shown, either live or recorded.

This thread is too long to search through so I will ask this simple question. Sorry if it's a repost.

Does anyone get audio cutouts on NBC HD? I'm pretty sure that's the only channel it happens on for me. The audio will cut out for 2-3 seconds at a time multiple times in a show. It's pretty annoying. I live in the Tampa, FL area.

This happened before when I had Brighthouse cable so it's either the channel itself or possibly my drop. I told them I wanted a new drop ran when they installed FIOS but I'm not sure they actually did that.

Any comments that could help to narrow this down?

I switched to FIOS from COMCAST for these very reasons, it wasn't tied to a single channel but the audio would drop out and sometimes the picture would freeze. In a 3hr evening of watching TV this would happen 5-6 times lasting anywhere from 1-20 seconds a time. The final straw was when watching 24 a month or so ago and I missed about 10 minutes of the show b/c it kept cutting out. I eventually switched over to SageTV where I also had it recording, rewound and finished watching the show in SD. Given that I was paying around $70/mo to comcast for this crappy signal I dropped them for FIOS.

Now, I've only had FIOS for 3 days now the audio has cut out once on HD (during the 'previously on 24' intro of all things) for only a second or two. Yesterday the wife said she had to stop watching the Jamie Kennedy Experiment due to audio drops and picture freezes, that wasn't even in HD. I really hope FIOS has their stuff more together than Comcast or else I'm going to DirectTV, the picture freeze/audio drops are unacceptable to me. I'd rather the picture degrade for a few seconds like on analog vs dropping completely out.

I switched to FIOS from COMCAST for these very reasons, it wasn't tied to a single channel but the audio would drop out and sometimes the picture would freeze. In a 3hr evening of watching TV this would happen 5-6 times lasting anywhere from 1-20 seconds a time. The final straw was when watching 24 a month or so ago and I missed about 10 minutes of the show b/c it kept cutting out. I eventually switched over to SageTV where I also had it recording, rewound and finished watching the show in SD. Given that I was paying around $70/mo to comcast for this crappy signal I dropped them for FIOS.

Now, I've only had FIOS for 3 days now the audio has cut out once on HD (during the 'previously on 24' intro of all things) for only a second or two. Yesterday the wife said she had to stop watching the Jamie Kennedy Experiment due to audio drops and picture freezes, that wasn't even in HD. I really hope FIOS has their stuff more together than Comcast or else I'm going to DirectTV, the picture freeze/audio drops are unacceptable to me. I'd rather the picture degrade for a few seconds like on analog vs dropping completely out.

Sounds like you may have an internal wiring problem. Did the FIOS tech run new cable from the ONT to your TV(s) ?

LOL, you want to see what dropouts, freezing, and lost audio are really like, then go to DirecTV. And, you'll really enjoy complete loss of signal due to bad weather, that's a fun one you don't get right now. Ooh, one last thing, you want an HD DVR? Sure, that'll be $300 please... Believe me, been there, done that - you don't want DirecTV unless you have NO other options.

I've gone from DirecTV to Comcast to FIOS - I get the same number of dropouts on FIOS that I got on Comcast, but with FIOS I lost HD on demand... nice. I now understand that the grass is the same no matter what side of the fence you're on.

I switched to FIOS from COMCAST for these very reasons, it wasn't tied to a single channel but the audio would drop out and sometimes the picture would freeze. In a 3hr evening of watching TV this would happen 5-6 times lasting anywhere from 1-20 seconds a time. The final straw was when watching 24 a month or so ago and I missed about 10 minutes of the show b/c it kept cutting out. I eventually switched over to SageTV where I also had it recording, rewound and finished watching the show in SD. Given that I was paying around $70/mo to comcast for this crappy signal I dropped them for FIOS.

Now, I've only had FIOS for 3 days now the audio has cut out once on HD (during the 'previously on 24' intro of all things) for only a second or two. Yesterday the wife said she had to stop watching the Jamie Kennedy Experiment due to audio drops and picture freezes, that wasn't even in HD. I really hope FIOS has their stuff more together than Comcast or else I'm going to DirectTV, the picture freeze/audio drops are unacceptable to me. I'd rather the picture degrade for a few seconds like on analog vs dropping completely out.These dropouts aren't in the FiOS signal, so any problems would be in your wiring. That would not surprise me in the least, especially if they re-used the older Comcast wiring.

Some older A/V receivers were also known to exhibit dropout issues, if you have not upgraded in awhile.

bfdtv, I completely appreciate and respect your contributions to this board, but in my case, with FIOS dropouts, my cables were completely redone and in one case I have a run that is less than 10' from the router/box. The FIOS signal may not have dropouts, but I'm pretty certain the router/interface introduces some problems, not to mention the Motorola DVR!

Sounds like you may have an internal wiring problem. Did the FIOS tech run new cable from the ONT to your TV(s) ?

These dropouts aren't in the FiOS signal, so any problems would be in your wiring. That would not surprise me in the least, especially if they re-used the older Comcast wiring.

The wires to my HD tv have been replaced 3 times, twice by comcast, once by me, no change. I showed the FIOS tech what was done, he said it was great. He also said I had a nice strong signal to the DVR/HD box. The only thing changed w/ my internal wiring (by the FIOS tech) was we switched out my 4 way splitter for a 6 way and ran 2 more home run's, so I only have the one splitter in the house now, about 5' from the 'router' and 30' from the HD/DVR.

The dropouts may not be b/c of the FIOS signal, but it is because of something, be it the piece of crap Motorola DVR, the software on it, or the original signal. I can only change so many things on my end yet still have the same problems.

bfdtv, I completely appreciate and respect your contributions to this board, but in my case, with FIOS dropouts, my cables were completely redone and in one case I have a run that is less than 10' from the router/box. The FIOS signal may not have dropouts, but I'm pretty certain the router/interface introduces some problems, not to mention the Motorola DVR!I should amend the post above. Like most cable and satellite companies, FiOS gets its local DTV/HDTV network signals from an antenna, so there exists the potential for occasional dropouts due to severe weather, winds, etc. However, if you are experiencing audio dropouts on cable channels, then there must be something else at work.

I used to experience audio dropouts some years ago with Comcast and my old Marantz receiver, and they drove me nuts. However, I have not had any dropouts since I got a newer receiver, except when we had severe thunderstorms / winds, which affected the locals. I'm not saying the receiver is the problem -- you may not even have a receiver -- just that something between the regional VHO and your TV is at fault.

NJHD42 - Go on over to the Philly area Verizon thread. Lots of info on picture quality, etc.
Thanks for your help!

LOL, you want to see what dropouts, freezing, and lost audio are really like, then go to DirecTV. And, you'll really enjoy complete loss of signal due to bad weather, that's a fun one you don't get right now.


Well, to see the other side of the coin, I've been a Directv user for 8 years now, owning multiple boxes and configurations. I don't remember every having dropouts or freezing or lost audio. I live in the Dallas area where we get more than our share of thunderstorms, high winds and tornado alerts. In 8 years we've never lost complete signal for more than 5 minutes and that only happens a few times per year. I can't even remember the last time it happened, but probably last summer.

Stew, you're right. DirecTV is highly dependent on where you are, trees, etc. When I was in the Northeast, I'd lose my signal if a bird would fart nearby.

But to my second point, it does pretty much suck having to drop that kind of cash on equipment. I'm running 2 HD DVRs in my house right now - would be quite painful if I had to actually buy them... and then when they break, ouch!

Well, to see the other side of the coin, I've been a Directv user for 8 years now, owning multiple boxes and configurations. I don't remember every having dropouts or freezing or lost audio. I live in the Dallas area where we get more than our share of thunderstorms, high winds and tornado alerts. In 8 years we've never lost complete signal for more than 5 minutes and that only happens a few times per year. I can't even remember the last time it happened, but probably last summer.My experience with DirecTV in Dallas was quite different (I had DirecTV for ~10 years). Any significant thunderstorm resulted in picture outages (right when you really wanted to see the weather). I'd say it happened to us 5-6 times a year, sometimes for as long as half an hour or more. I even had DirecTV come out and relocate and reposition my dish, no noticable difference. We had some severe storms pass through Dallas this week, sure was nice being able to see the weather with FIOS TV this time.

The picture pixelations and the audio dropouts are getting beyond ridiculous to the point that I am honestly considering switching back to DirecTV. I recently had lightning hit around the house and fry a lot of the equipment resulting in all Verizon products being replaced from the ONT to the router to the HD-DVR. The same problems exist making me think it is something on Verizon's end. I have also tried replacing the splitter in my attic.

We had a storm last night, and while the DVR seems to be fine, my internet is dropping in and out not reaching sites....only for a few seconds though. Dunno what that's about.

...But to my second point, it does pretty much suck having to drop that kind of cash on equipment. I'm running 2 HD DVRs in my house right now - would be quite painful if I had to actually buy them... and then when they break, ouch!
I can't help but wonder how much of a scramble there will be when the drives in these DVRs start failing, especially if they all start going bad around the same time. I'm guessing we'll all either get new shiny DVRs with bigger drives, or only the first few will be replaced, and the first batch of failing units will be refurbed and recycled.
We haven't had a Motorola DVR more than a year (went through two cable cos. and now FiOS) but two of our 3 ReplayTVs are on their 3rd drive. Like PC drives, they seem to fail every 3-5 years (and usually a month or two after the warranty runs out.... great engineering!)

Stew, you're right. DirecTV is highly dependent on where you are, trees, etc. When I was in the Northeast, I'd lose my signal if a bird would fart nearby.

But to my second point, it does pretty much suck having to drop that kind of cash on equipment. I'm running 2 HD DVRs in my house right now - would be quite painful if I had to actually buy them... and then when they break, ouch!

True. I don't have HD yet, which is why I'm researching FiOS. When I switch (probably this fall when the new Sony SXRD's come out) to HD, I need to make sure I'm with the right provider.

My experience with DirecTV in Dallas was quite different (I had DirecTV for ~10 years). Any significant thunderstorm resulted in picture outages (right when you really wanted to see the weather). I'd say it happened to us 5-6 times a year, sometimes for as long as half an hour or more. I even had DirecTV come out and relocate and reposition my dish, no noticable difference. We had some severe storms pass through Dallas this week, sure was nice being able to see the weather with FIOS TV this time.

We had no dropouts this week (or any other in recent memory) even during all the storms. Heck, a couple of weeks ago, Wylie Texas (where I live) was on the national news for tornadoes and storms. We never even lost our signal then. Must be living in a sweet spot.

Speaking of weather, is there any way to keep the annoying weather alerts that FIOS forces through from interrupting the signal ? We'd be watching the radar, tracking the storm, and that alert would blank out everything to alert us to what was going on earlier or somewhere else. What a pain. I'd have been really pissed if it would have interrupted a recording.

Speaking of weather, is there any way to keep the annoying weather alerts that FIOS forces through from interrupting the signal ? We'd be watching the radar, tracking the storm, and that alert would blank out everything to alert us to what was going on earlier or somewhere else. What a pain. I'd have been really pissed if it would have interrupted a recording.

Unfortunately not. It's an FCC requirement that digital boxes be able to be pre-empted with emergency alerts. That being said, I don't know if Verizon has to do it on the local tier or not, however that is how every cable company I have been with has done it(pre-empted everything).

Just be glad you don't have emergency tests during primetime like we do here. I have had several recordings not pick back up after the tests(about 1/4 of the time they don't).

Speaking of weather, is there any way to keep the annoying weather alerts that FIOS forces through from interrupting the signal ? We'd be watching the radar, tracking the storm, and that alert would blank out everything to alert us to what was going on earlier or somewhere else. What a pain. I'd have been really pissed if it would have interrupted a recording.

That IS annoying. The other night they interrupted at least 3 times in a 30 minute period, and that's just while I was watching. And then if you are watching a recorded show it resets the pointer so your only option is to start over. They could at least fix it from doing that.

I should amend the post above. Like most cable and satellite companies, FiOS gets its local DTV/HDTV network signals from an antenna, so there exists the potential for occasional dropouts due to severe weather, winds, etc.

I don't think that's true as a general rule. I know that in our market (Richmond, VA) both Comcast and FIOS get the local DTV/HDTV feeds via a fiber optic link from the station to the Cable or Fios office.

That can be good and bad. For example, when the local CBS OTA transmitter was down during the final four, cable customers still had CBS HD via the fiber link, but those of us that relied on OTA for our CBS HD didn't get it.

Conversely, when the fiber link was down between Comcast and Fox, those of us using OTA were OK, but those trying to get Fox from their cable system were SOL.

This is more of a QIP2500 Question, but I didn't see a thread for it, my guess is it would apply to the DVR box as well.

I've been trying to use the DCT serial program to control the QIP2500 for SageTV over the serial port for a few days now with no success. I finally called up Verizon and asked if that port was enabled and the Tech was very sure that port wasn't even hooked up in the Firmware. I questioned him several times and he said they have been specifically told that it doesn't do anything. Currently I have to rely on IR blaster to change the channel and we all know how reliable (and slow) those can be in an automated situation. Yes, I told him it was for a Tivo and didn't even say the dirty word 'computer' or 'HTPC'.

Does anyone have any in site of another way to change the channel on the 2500 box or what I need to say on the phone so they don't blow smoke up my arse?

Thanks,
Chad

RE: Dropouts of audio and video
I experienced loss of signal from both comcast and fios digital feeds. The analog feed from comcast continued to record cleanly in my TIVO. I believe what you are experiencing is a product of digital technology. With digital, the signal is either there, or it isn't. With analog a partial signal will still produce usable, albeit degraded picture and audio. The interference with your signal could be practically anywhere between the original source and your receiver. Maybe it's rain, sunspots, flooding, act of God, or a bad hard drive and not necessarily your hard drive.

I'm in North Jersey & just got Fios w/ this multi room DVR HD box .
Does anyone know if the "overlap" will be user selectable and/or only on if STB is "off" with this next update?? (1 min before/2mins after added to recordings)
** It's a MAJOR , major pain in the butt.
For those that may not know ... example:

Say I'm watching a show on Scifi from 8-9PM, & the wife wants me to record 3 sitcoms, 8-8:30 CBS, 8:30-9 NBC, & 9-9:30 CBS.
I Am "Theoretically" never doing more than watching 1 program while recording another .....
........ I select them for record from the guide, but at 8:29, in the middle of my SciFi show a message appears that the DVR needs me to switch ( my viewing tuner) to NBC or lose the recording .. & I must stay on NBC until 8:32, (!?), before I can switch back, same happens at 8:59-9:02, causing me to possibly miss the ending of the show I was watching... This box creates conflicts where they don't need to be! .. And the constant pop-up Conflict messages while TV viewing are an annoyance too!
( The DVR tuner is still recording CBS, ( 7:59 until 8:32 ), so the "view" tuner must be used to start recording NBC from 8:29-8:32, leaving no "3rd" tuner for viewing!!)

I, & I'm sure many people that watch TV during primetime use their DVR / VCR to record programs that are on another channel, this forced overlap screws that up.
There are 4 easy "updateable" solutions:
A) - Forced overlaps only occur when the STB is off & not being used to view another channel
B) - Overlaps on/off are user selectable thru a setting menu selection.
C) - Forced overlaps are automatically removed/overrided "back to normal times" when there is a programmed record selection is added directly before or after a record selection show.
D) - Overlaps occur only when either the STB is off, or if the STB is on & the viewing tuner is already on one of the channels being recorded, thereby not causing a conflict.

I would prefer "A" or "C" , but could live with any of the above added to a box update ....
Anyone have any details regarding this ???

Is this problem of overlaps only with the multiroom DVR? Are you watching the remote STB, or on the DVR itself?

Is this problem of overlaps only with the multiroom DVR? Are you watching the remote STB, or on the DVR itself?
It has nothing to do with the remote STB's, only while watching the actual DVR / tuner TV.....& any fios DVR will react the same ...
They "build in" the extra mins when you select a show to record, causing the above conflicts .. & I hope they add one of my suggested "fixes" above to an update soon ...
There were other complaints abount this earlier in this thread, about a billion or so posts back :)

Does anyone know if the "overlap" will be user selectable and/or only on if STB is "off" with this next update?? (1 min before/2mins after added to recordings)Dunno. Certainly this (and the 'tuner management' in general) is a bit goofy ... hard to imagine it not improving ...

But anyway, in the mean time ... record the 8-9pM SciFi show ... it won't auto-pad the other shows ... you'll be able to watch live (or buffered) uninturrupted ... you won't get the pop-ups ... etc.

Just to clarify a little more ... the box only "auto-pads" recordings when there is a tuner 'available' that is not being used for another recording. Unfortunately, it only looks at recordings to determine if a tuner is 'available' or not. It doesn't take into account if the tuner is being used for live TV ... or VOD.

So anyway, back to the example above, if you 'record' everything you'll be fine (yes, it's a PITA but anyway, it works). Heck, you should be able to even wait untill the "warning, must change channel" pop-up comes up ... hit OK (allow channel change) or exit ... hit record ... and I think you'd be good to go (but, not 100% sure on that one) which wouldn't be that much of a PITA. Otherwise ... well, you've seen the results.

Unfortunately, this doesn't help people who want to watch VOD and get kicked out because of an auto-padding issue. Then you're SOL (wait untill a tuner is free ... go back to VOD).

Dunno. Certainly this (and the 'tuner management' in general) is a bit goofy ... hard to imagine it not improving ...

But anyway, in the mean time ... record the 8-9pM SciFi show ... it won't auto-pad the other shows ... you'll be able to watch live (or buffered) uninturrupted ... you won't get the pop-ups ... etc.
I sure hope this gets fixed soon ...
I used the "SciFi show vs a couple of sitcoms as simply a hypothetical example - There are many other situations that come up weekly where I (or anyone), would be recording just 1 show at a time, throughout primtime, while still "watching TV", & the conflicts will popup & arise all thru the night & there would be no 1 "show" to watch to stop it...
Say, ABC "Lost" nite you are watching whatever 3 one hour shows are on ABC from 8-11Pm.
If you are recording "other stuff" from 8-11 , 1 at a time per time slot, on CBS, NBC, CW or SciFi ect, There would be annoying conflicts poppoing up every 30 to 60 mins all night, even though you have never set the DVR to record more than 1 show in any particular time period!
Even if you recorded the ABC shows & watched the others it wouldn't make any difference.
Verizon needs to address this quickly, if it's not already scheduled to be fixed in the next update .... :)
( & What's up with my local CW ch 11 , & PBS 13 HD being on chs. 801 & 803 while 811 & 813 are unused?? - Northern NJ ??? )

I sure hope this gets fixed soon ...


Hey, at least they got rid of the problem of shows on the SAME CHANNEL overlapping... now that was annoying. Been at least a year since that ever affected me.

Say, ABC "Lost" nite you are watching whatever 3 one hour shows are on ABC from 8-11Pm.
If you are recording "other stuff" from 8-11 , 1 at a time per time slot, on CBS, NBC, CW or SciFi ect, There would be annoying conflicts poppoing up every 30 to 60 mins all night, even though you have never set the DVR to record more than 1 show in any particular time period!
Even if you recorded the ABC shows & watched the others it wouldn't make any difference.Again ... record them all ... regardless of whether you are going to watch the show 'live' that night ... or later ... or whatever ... record it. That's how you get rid of the pop-ups and conflicts. The box can record two shows at once while watching one of those shows (or another pre-recorded show). The trick isn't to use one tuner to watch live (unrecorded) TV while the other tuner records. That's what causes the problem ... the goofy tuner management when only one tuner is being used for a recording and another show is being watched (unrecorded / live). The trick is to record everything you want to watch.

Record the ABC shows. Record the CBS, NBC, CW, SciFi, etc. shows. Record whatever you're interested in watching (regardless of whether you're going to watch it that night or later).

Tonight I'll be recording:

My Name Is Earl - NBC - 8:00 - 8:36
Survivor - CBS - 8:00 - 9:00
The Office - NBC - 8:36 - 9:19
Grey's Anatonomy - ABC - 9:00 - 11:00
Scrubs - NBC - 9:19 - 9:53
Shark - CBS - 10:00 - 11:00

I'll probably sit down about 8:30 or so and watch Survivor from the beginning. FF through commercials / previously on / stuff I'm not interested in ... probably finish around 9:10. I'll watch The Office ... again, FF through commercials probably finish that about 9:30ish. And then ... probably Grey's Anatonomy ... probably catch up to 'live' by the end of the show. No pop-ups, no warnings, no conflicts. Nothing missed. No sitting through commercials. Done and done. Shark, Scrubs, and My Name is Earl will get watched another night. (Edit: or, if I can't figure this bug out I'll end up having to stay at the office tonight save all of them for another night :( ).

Anyway, I'd group your ABC / Lost example and the SciFi example into the same scenerio. If you want to watch the show (that night or later) ... just record it ...

Scenerio 1: Bunch of stuff on you want to watch and / or record.
Solution: Record it all. Watch it live, that night ... or later ... or whatever at your leisure. But ... record it all. If something's on you know you want to watch ... record it.

Scenerio 2: Bunch of stuff on that you want to record on one tuner while channel-surfing on the other tuner.
Solution: That's where things get wonky. Personally, I've usually got so much stuff recorded that I'm probably going to be watching a pre-recorded show instead of channel surfing. But, well ... sometimes you just want to channel surf. In this case, if you stuble onto something you want to watch ... and you'r watching it ... and the 'warning, must change channel' pop-up comes up. Just hit OK and then hit record. Any conflicts due to 'auto-padding' will get resloved by not auto-padding. If it's a true conflict though ... the show you've stumbled into is going to run into two previously scheduled recordings ... well then you've got a choice to make.

Record them all ... regardless of whether you are going to watch the show 'live' that night ... or later ... or whatever ... record it.....
I see your point .. in other words , the workaround until a real fix is to record what you are watching, even though you don't actually want to record it .. this you are saying should "override" the forced overlaps, & then simply delete the wasted recording later.
I will try this , however there are still 2 problems I see:
A - I do have a wife & kids, & believe me they will never go thru this "riga-marole" when they sit down to simply surf /watch primetime when I am not around (& I am surely recording things then) ..
B - Often at or around say, 9PM, 8:30 ect someone may not be "sure" what they will watch, & will channel surf directly to a half-dozen or so channels to see what is starting ... in this situation the viewing tuner will be locked from 8:59 - 9:02, allowing a look at the guide only ......
I will try your method today or tomorrow & see what happens ...

Again ... record them all ...


I get the feeling this person just wants to complain.

I get the feeling this person just wants to complain.
Sorry, Didn't mean to sound that way :)
I appreciate the semi-workaround that DT-DC mentions, ( I'm glad I "complained", & found out about his work-around !! :) :) ), & as I said I will try that, I was just pointing out the problems even his workaround may not address ...
At any rate , I am hoping someone had some inside info if this would be addressed in this supposed next big update, or at least verification Verizon is aware & working on this quirk ...

A - I do have a wife & kids, & believe me they will never go thru this "riga-marole" when they sit down to simply surf /watch primetime when I am not around (& I am surely recording things then) ..
B - Often at or around say, 9PM, 8:30 ect someone may not be "sure" what they will watch, & will channel surf directly to a half-dozen or so channels to see what is starting ... in this situation the viewing tuner will be locked from 8:59 - 9:02, allowing a look at the guide only ......
I will try your method today or tomorrow & see what happens ...

Is this your first DVR?

After you get used to it, you'll never "surf" live TV. I watch sports live usually and that's it. We record everything else and watch it when we want. If it's not worth recording, it's not worth watching. Soon "surfing" Live TV will be a thing of the past for the whole family. My son's 4.5 years old and I don't even think he knows live TV is possible.

Is this your first DVR?

After you get used to it, you'll never "surf" live TV. I watch sports live usually and that's it. We record everything else and watch it when we want. If it's not worth recording, it's not worth watching. Soon "surfing" Live TV will be a thing of the past for the whole family. My son's 4.5 years old and I don't even think he knows live TV is possible.


Agreed. I can't watch Gameshows live anymore, thanks to all the over 60+ commercials that get annoying after the second viewing. Now it's standard for ALL shows.

I've had FiOS a month - very pleased w/ results.

I have one Multiroom HD DVR and 3 SD STB. I'm thinking about getting a new HDTV to replace one of the SDs. Can the HD DVR send an HD signal to the HD STB on the new HDTV? The technician said yes and I've heard the opposite.

Thanks

And to the guy thinking about the recording problems - every one who has responded is correct. Appointment TV is over for the family. One of the reason we switched from Comcast is b/c my wife wanted another DVR. W/ the Multi room set up we wound up w/ 3 additional "DVRs" for $20 less a month than Comcast.

I believe my box is going bad. We had a few brownouts yesterday that may have affected the box in some way. My guess is that the hard drive is on its way out.

While I realize this will happen from time to time and is in no way the fault of Verizon or Motorola, the way the the box has responded is indicative of my overall user experience with FIOS.

I do not have the unit plugged into my UPS because, for whatever reason (as mentioned in a post a while back), the box resets when my UPS switches from wall power to battery power which obviously defeats the purpose of the UPS.

When the brownouts happened yesterday, the box reset a few times and, when it eventually came back up (~3-4 minutes), it was slow to respond to any remote commands or button presses on the actual box. So I hard cycled power and when it finally came back up, it said I had no DVR on my account. So I cycled power to both the router and the settop box. This appeared to fix everything (although now I had a few recordings with 2-3 minutes segments missing).

I come home from work today and the box has been wiped completely clean...no saved programs, no season passes, nothing. So I've resigned myself to the idea that I will need to set all that crap back up again and likely will call tomorrow to get a replacement box. In fact, as I typed this, the box hosed again while trying to record the Mavs/Warriors game. SOB!

Disclaimer: I seem to need to put this on all of my posts related to FIOS. I do think the picture quality of FIOS HD is great. I do think that (if the service worked correctly and wasn't so frustrating) the FIOS package is an excellent value for the price. I just think the user experience compared to my previous DirecTivo is awful. That DirecTivo was rock solid... Unfortunately, my wife agrees (and bangs me over the head for it every time one of the boxes bugs rears their ugly heads).

I think Verizon has a really good thing going and could basically deliver a complete knockout punch to DTV/Dish/Cable if they could get their act together from a user experience point of view.

/rant off

Once in the "power off / menu " Settings menus, What's the proper way/keystroke to "save settings & exit" from them??

MeatChicken,

As asked earlier ... is this your family's first DVR? If so, give it about a week ... or two ... three at the most. Typically by that point, no one will be hung up on live TV anymore or primetime schedules or whatnot. No one will be sitting down at 8:00 to watch something (and commercials) they may or may not be interested in ... then hunting around at 8:30 or 9:00 or whatever for something else (and commercials) they may or may not be interested in. Instead, they'll sit down at 7:42 ... or 8:16 ... or 9:09 ... or whenever they want and watch what they want when they want without knowing or caring about what airs when. Then you get to argue over season pass priorities (good luck with that).

If you want to help the process along, set up all-episode recordings for all your wife and kids' favorite shows. And ... anything else they might like. And ... things they'd never get to watch because they're on at 2:00 AM or whatever. Find all kinds of stuff on those 100-and-whatever channels you subscribe to. Load up the DVR / Now Playing List. Pack it full. Take them out for dinner and ice-cream and a movie on one of those 'must see' TV nights when everyone's favorite shows are all on. It's Spring and DST ... have a back-yard BBQ and toss the baseball around untill 8:10 ... or 8:20 ... or whenever it gets dark and you want to come inside and then sit down to watch American Idol.

If this isn't your first DVR ... and your family still prefers to watch whatever happens to be on (and commercials) that may or may not interest them at whatever times the networks choose ... well, different strokes for different folks I guess.

But seriously ... that's one of the main points / advantages of a DVR. Watch what you want when you want ...I see your point .. in other words , the workaround until a real fix is to record what you are watching, even though you don't actually want to record it .. this you are saying should "override" the forced overlaps, & then simply delete the wasted recording later.Yes and no.

The best workaround is to set up the DVR to record everything you and your family will want to watch. And everything you'll probably want to watch. And everything that you're kindof-sortof interested in and may or may not watch. And something that catches your fancy that you probably won't watch but you never know. Record it. Record it all. Then sit down whenever the heck you (or your family) wants to watch TV, hit the LIST button, and pick whatever most interests you. Doesn't matter if you happen to watch it live ... or not. Doesn't matter if the show is airing now ... or aired yesterday ... or whatever. Record everything ... sit down whenever the heck you want to watch TV and pick what most interests you from your recordings list.

That should cover you 99% of the time.

That being said ... yes, channel-surfing on one tuner while back-to-back recordings are going off gets wonky. Hence my 'workaround' above. But ... seriously ... most families with DVRs spend very little time channel surfing and hunting around for stuff to watch. Instead, they're watching stuff they've recorded that they know they want to watch.

I don't understand the "wasted recording". What is a "wasted recording"? Set the box up to record everything you and your family may want to watch. Don't worry about whether or not your're going to watch it live or not. Just record it all. If you're not in front of the TV when they air ... they'll be there when you do want to watch TV. If you happen to be in front of the TV when they air ... they'll be there too. Why wouldn't I set up a recording for anything that interests me that I might want to watch? And when I want to watch something ... why am I going to hunt around and channel surf when I've got a hard-drive full of stuff that interests me?

A - I do have a wife & kids, & believe me they will never go thru this "riga-marole" when they sit down to simply surf /watch primetime when I am not around (& I am surely recording things then) ..I have a wife and kids too. When they want to watch TV, they hit 'LIST' and pick whatever most interests them ... whenever it happens to be (primetime or not).B - Often at or around say, 9PM, 8:30 ect someone may not be "sure" what they will watch, & will channel surf directly to a half-dozen or so channels to see what is starting ... in this situation the viewing tuner will be locked from 8:59 - 9:02, allowing a look at the guide only ......And when they want to watch something else, they hit 'LIST' and pick whatever most interests them ... whenever it happens to be.

Record everything. When you want to watch TV ... pick what most interests you from your list of recordings.

*** Important note: When you do watch a show as it's being recorded ... pick it from the LIST too (not from the guide). Ie, if you sit down at 8:15 to watch American Idol ... pick it from the recordings list and hit play. Works out better that way.

Once in the "power off / menu " Settings menus, What's the proper way/keystroke to "save settings & exit" from them??POWER

My son's 4.5 years old and I don't even think he knows live TV is possible.Same here ... same age ... when he sees a commercial for a movie or show he wants to watch (that we don't have recorded ... or on DVD ... or on VOD) he doesn't understand why we can't watch it now. Thinks my wife and I just won't let him watch it.

MeatChicken,

As asked earlier ... is this your family's first DVR? If so, give it about a week ... or two ... three at the most. Typically by that point, no one will be hung up on live TV anymore or primetime schedules or whatnot. No one will be sitting down at 8:00 to watch something (and commercials) they may or may not be interested in ... then hunting around at 8:30 or 9:00 or whatever for something else (and commercials) they may or may not be interested in. Instead, they'll sit down at 7:42 ... or 8:16 ... or 9:09 ... or whenever they want and watch what they want when they want without knowing or caring about what airs when. Then you get to argue over season pass priorities (good luck with that).........

Record everything. When you want to watch TV ... pick what most interests you from your list of recordings.*** Important note: When you do watch a show as it's being recorded ... pick it from the LIST too (not from the guide). Ie, if you sit down at 8:15 to watch American Idol ... pick it from the recordings list and hit play. Works out better that way.
DC-DT , thanks for the response --- I really do appreciate your insights.
Yes, My 1st DVR. I'm very sure after reading your descriptions of how you use your dvr that my viewing habits will migrate over to recording most things as you have suggested, probably not as "completely" as your "list only" viewing habits, but perhaps 70% or so .. :)
The "If it ain't worth recording it ain't worth watching" seems a little over the top to me right now, as I often surf & "land" on something that ends up being really interesting, that I never would dream of recording from the title of the show ... But we'll see ....
With your viewing habits, how do you feel about the 160mB capacity, & how much % full are you usually hovering at (I ASSume you are recording about as much as you are deleting on any given week) ..??

The "If it ain't worth recording it ain't worth watching" seems a little over the top to me right now, as I often surf & "land" on something that ends up being really interesting, that I never would dream of recording from the title of the show ... But we'll see ....Life is short. If you watch any content live, you are wasting 20% of your time.

I record everything I watch. I can typically count the number of commercials I see in a week on one-hand. On average, 18-22 minutes of every hour on network and cable television is commercials. Once you've had some practice with FF and 30s skip, you can watch every 60 minute show in 40-41 minutes.

With a DVR, you don't have to wait until the program is done -- you can tune into your 6pm news recording at 6:20pm, and you'll finish at 7pm, the same time it ends, having skipped every commercial. The same goes for sports; set your DVR to record NFL football at 1pm, then tune in at 2pm, and just by skipping commercials, you'll catch up to live with two minutes left in the fourth quarter. You won't miss any plays and you'll know the outcome of the game at the same time as everyone else -- you'll just have saved yourself an hour to do other things.

I suggest you take five minutes per week to scroll through the schedule for your favorite channels to find out what programs you think you would like to see -- and record them all. This isn't really necessary for most broadcast and cable networks, which show the same series every week, but its useful for Hdnet, Hdnet Movies, Universal HD, Discovery, SciFi, and the various History channels which show a variety of content from week to week.

For series content, setup a series recording set for "only new episodes" at "anytime" so you avoid repeats. Also remember to configure your Series Priority order (under Series Recordings) so that network shows -- which only show once during a season -- take recording priority over cable shows, which are typically repeated several times during the course of the week. That way, if you have, NBC's Heroes, FOX's 24, and History's "Cities of the Underworld" series all set to record on Mondays @ 9pm, the DVR knows to record the first two on Monday, and then grab the History program when it is re-aired later in the week.

With your viewing habits, how do you feel about the 160mB capacity, & how much % full are you usually hovering at (I ASSume you are recording about as much as you are deleting on any given week) ..??The 160Gb capacity is a problem, which is why I got the Tivo Series3 (which can be expanded to 1Tb). With the 160Gb, you really have to prioritize your viewing to HD shows. I record a number of network series in high-def, and you need to watch those before you watch other recordings off SciFi, History, Military, etc channels.

Same here ... same age ... when he sees a commercial for a movie or show he wants to watch (that we don't have recorded ... or on DVD ... or on VOD) he doesn't understand why we can't watch it now. Thinks my wife and I just won't let him watch it.

I don't post much here, mostly lurk, and grab what info I need, but I felt compelled to say your above comment made literally LOL. I see what's in store for us when our 11-month old gets to that age. :D

Given the recent posts I thought I'd ask if anyone has heard anything regarding if / when we may see a firmware upgrade to allow us to swap tuners. I've been following this thread since the beginning and know it was discussed awhile ago, but haven't seen anything recently. Having switched from Comcast the only thing I miss is the ability to swap tuners. Great for watching two sporting events at the same time (recording both isn't great because you will certainly see a score of the game you're recording with the apparent mandatory scroll all networks run. I'm also aware of the "record both and swap between recordings" but that's a PITA compared to the simple one step of hitting the swap button.)

Any new news would be appreciated. Thanks.
KB

how much % full are you usually hovering at (I ASSume you are recording about as much as you are deleting on any given week) ..??DVR disks always hover near full ... 95% - 100% ... all the time. What's the point of empty space on the disk? Empty space is empty space ... filled space is stuff I can watch if I wish. Fill 'er up.

Now, alot more gets recorded in a week than we actually watch. Alot of stuff gets recorded ... and slowly gets dropped down the now playing list as other stuff gets recorded ... and we don't watch it and it eventually gets (automatically) deleted by the DVR to make space for a new recording. A more compelling measurement to me is "how long from the time you record something before it drifts to the end of the Now Playing list and automatically gets deleted". For me, that's ideally a minimum of 2-3 weeks. If I haven't watched something in 2-3 weeks I probably don't really care about it that much and don't really care about it getting deleted. Record something new ... old stuff gets automatically deleted. Fine.

Of course, stuff can be marked to be saved untill it's manually deleted (so it won't get automatically deleted). I make sure my favorite shows get marked "Save Untill I Delete". Then again, I usually watch my favorite shows before they drift to the end of the Now Playing list so not such a big deal. I've usually got a couple "Save Untill I Delete" shows down at the end of the Now Playing List. For example, right now I've got a New Yankee Workshop episode down there for a project I'd really like to do ... probably never will ... and it'll probably re-run 10 times before I get around to it ... I could delete it or archive it off to DVD ... but ... that's as good as admitting I'll never get around to it so there it sits. Ahh well.

But anyway ...how do you feel about the 160mB capacityDVR space is like closet space. Or garage space. Or PC hard drive space. You'll always fill it up. You could always use more. Trick is to make it work most effectively.

I find 160GB adequate ... or even more than adequate for SD content. Even with the wife's shows ... and the kids shows ... 160GB goes pretty far. I agree with bfdtv though about HD content. 160GB is a little limiting for HD. Especially as a 'whole family' DVR. Especially (for me) when football and / or series premier time comes around (we usually record just about any new series premier that looks at all interesting ... give it a whirl, see if you like it ... and, especially lately, for series we like but think may get cancelled we'll often record several episodes and make sure it's going to stick around before watching them and getting into it). You can make do with 160GB for HD but ... yes ... it does get a little limiting.

BTW, when you first set up all your recordings for all your favorite must-see shows ... after a few weeks ... you'll typically find a bunch of 'must see' shows down near the bottom the Now Playing list ... getting ready to be deleted ... not enough space. Oh no, 160GB must not be enough! We have to mark them "Save Untill I Delete" or watch them before they get deleted or (...)! No, take a breath. For my wife and I it was the 'procedurals' like CSI and Law and Order. Don't get me wrong. Perfectly fine shows. We still record them and watch them occasionally. But ... alot of them get automatically deleted before we watch them. Turns out, we actually tend to like the 'serialized' shows like Lost and The Shield and Battlestar Gallatica and Friday Night Lights ... shows with some character development and multi-episode plot-lines. Shows that ... before the DVR we'd miss too many episodes to really get into so we didn't watch them much ... instead watching things like CSI and Law and Order where you could miss an episode now again no problem. Who knew? But with the DVR ... we watch the shows that interest us the most and the others ... they're there and we'll sometimes watch them ... but sometimes we don't and they get deleted. Oh well.

Point is ... DVR space is about choice when you hit the LIST button. It isn't a correlative to how much TV you watch or want to watch. It's about having your favorite shows ... and some shows that you're kindof interested in ... and some shows that you might watch but might not. 160GB (for HD) is enough space for all your favorite stuff ... but ... well, sometimes it limits that 'choice' factor for some of the niche and record-on-a-whim type of stuff (again, especially as a whole-family DVR).

The "If it ain't worth recording it ain't worth watching" seems a little over the top to me right now, as I often surf & "land" on something that ends up being really interesting, that I never would dream of recording from the title of the show ... But we'll see ....Like I said ... I still 'channel surf' occasionally. Mostly late at night ... about to go to bed ... don't want to watch a whole show ... check out Sports Center or CNN or Discovery HD. Sometimes "land" on something really interesting that I wouldn't have thought to record. But ... here's the thing. Why do I want to watch the commercials? Hit record and watch it later ... or tommorrow ... or whenever. Or, more than likely, I've "landed" on the show 1/2 way into it. If it's interesting, why do I want to watch 1/2 the show? Info -> More Info -> Future Showings ... oh, it's on again Thursday at 2:00 AM ... record it in its entirety and watch the whole show Friday. And if it's really interesting I'll set up a season pass / all episode recording. Heck, maybe 10% - 15% of stuff I watch I find through channel surfing ... I still usually end up watching it via recordings.

Same here ... same age ... when he sees a commercial for a movie or show he wants to watch (that we don't have recorded ... or on DVD ... or on VOD) he doesn't understand why we can't watch it now. Thinks my wife and I just won't let him watch it.


LOL, that's exactly right. He'll say "Can I watch (insert show here that he just heard about)". We'll say "No, we don't have that". He'll say "Yes, we do". He thinks we have every show ever made cued up and ready to watch.


Regarding the 160mb capacity: That's ONE of the main reasons I haven't switched to FiOS yet. I currently have 2 Directivos, each with 225 hours (SD) of capacity. They're in my living room and they distribute the signal to any of the other 7 TV's in the house. I don't think I could go down from 450 hours of capacity right now.

Alot of stuff gets recorded ... and slowly gets dropped down the now playing list as other stuff gets recorded ... and we don't watch it and it eventually gets (automatically) deleted by the DVR to make space for a new recording.

Does anyone know how the auto delete is supposed to work? I've got a recording in my DVR that won't erase. I even tried to let the box fill up and have it clear stuff on its own, but once it hits 100% full, it stops recording and the stuck recording is still there.

LOL, that's exactly right. He'll say "Can I watch (insert show here that he just heard about)". We'll say "No, we don't have that". He'll say "Yes, we do". He thinks we have every show ever made cued up and ready to watch.


Regarding the 160mb capacity: That's ONE of the main reasons I haven't switched to FiOS yet. I currently have 2 Directivos, each with 225 hours (SD) of capacity. They're in my living room and they distribute the signal to any of the other 7 TV's in the house. I don't think I could go down from 450 hours of capacity right now.


Go to a S3 Tivo, cable cards.
Works great with VZ.
Specially now you can add an external ESATA drive to the Tivo S3

Given the recent posts I thought I'd ask if anyone has heard anything regarding if / when we may see a firmware upgrade to allow us to swap tuners. Having switched from Comcast the only thing I miss is the ability to swap tuners. KB

Not being able to swap tuners is a HUGE defect in the FIOS HD DVR, and would have been a dealbreaker for me if it weren't for the expanded programming choices available to me with Verizon as compared to Comcast. It's certainly the most missed feature of my Comcast DVR. To me, it's such an essential benefit of the DVR experience that I explored ways of doing it for days after installation, thinking it was me - I must have been missing something. But no, with FIOS, you cannot check what is going on on another station without wiping out your buffer and returning to live TV.

The second significant flaw I've discovered with the FIOS DVR is that you cannot even watch a recorded program without wiping out your buffer on the channel you are tuned to. When returning to the current channel after watching a recorded program, there is nothing in the buffer, so if you're joining a program late (which I often plan on doing), you cannot rewind to the beginning. It is lost.

The inappropriately small hard drive is no worse than what I had with Comcast, but I do wish there were a way to add an external drive.

I like the Verizon offerings and quality - outside of the customer service which is extremely remote and hard to reach as compared to Comcast - but the DVR is simply lacking in basic features as compared to what is offered by the competition.

Not being able to swap tuners is a HUGE defect in the FIOS HD DVR, and would have been a dealbreaker for me if it weren't for the expanded programming choices available to me with Verizon as compared to Comcast. It's certainly the most missed feature of my Comcast DVR. To me, it's such an essential benefit of the DVR experience that I explored ways of doing it for days after installation, thinking it was me - I must have been missing something. But no, with FIOS, you cannot check what is going on on another station without wiping out your buffer and returning to live TV.

The second significant flaw I've discovered with the FIOS DVR is that you cannot even watch a recorded program without wiping out your buffer on the channel you are tuned to. When returning to the current channel after watching a recorded program, there is nothing in the buffer, so if you're joining a program late (which I often plan on doing), you cannot rewind to the beginning. It is lost. .
According to the post that DT_DC made , in answers to my earlier questions, the apparent "workaround" is to "record everything" .. if you had hit "record" on your live channel before you went to watch your prev recorded show, you would have then been able to "return" to it , no buffer loss ...... However I realize that this doesn't "excuse" the shortcommings this box has when trying to watch live TV ...

I like the Verizon offerings and quality - outside of the customer service which is extremely remote and hard to reach as compared to Comcast - but the DVR is simply lacking in basic features as compared to what is offered by the competition.

I agree, the no tuner swap, & also the conflict problem mentioned earlier need to be addressed, regardless of weather or not "never watching live TV - record everything" is a workaround. .. These are problems apparently other DVR boxes don't have, I too hope Verizon has these fixes in the next update ... :)

Does anyone know how the auto delete is supposed to work? I've got a recording in my DVR that won't erase. I even tried to let the box fill up and have it clear stuff on its own, but once it hits 100% full, it stops recording and the stuck recording is still there.When the DVR hard drive is full, and space is needed for a new recording, the oldest recording marked "Save Untill Space Is Needed" will be erased to make room for the new recording. Space is reclaimed as needed ... ie, if you are recording a two hour program and your four oldest recordings are 1/2 hour shows ... it will delete them one at a time as needed throughout the recording (not all of them at the start of the recording). Shows marked "Save Untill I Erase Manually" (which is indicated by the SAVE icon in the list) will not be erased automatically. They will only be erased when you erase them.

If you have a recording that won't erase ... I dunno, never ran into that before. Did you try a reboot (unplug, re-plug)? That often fixes little glitches like that for me.

Go to a S3 Tivo, cable cards.
Works great with VZ.
Specially now you can add an external ESATA drive to the Tivo S3

Not really an option. I'm as big of a tivo fan as there is, heck I have a tivo sticker on my car and two tivo dolls flanking my entertainment unit. However, with my set-up, I'd need 2 units and I'm very reluctant to spend $700 for one unit, let alone $1400 or so for two of them. Just isn't feasible.

Go to a S3 Tivo, cable cards.
Works great with VZ.
Specially now you can add an external ESATA drive to the Tivo S3


Where can I purchase a ESATA drive for the series 3?

Where can I purchase a ESATA drive for the series 3?Any external SATA drive up to 1Tb should work. You can buy an external eSATA enclosure with a drive included, or you can buy the drive and enclosure separately. Buy.com sells an external Seagate 750Gb eSATA drive for $250 -- that'll give you 120-200 hours of HDTV storage capacity.

You should see the Tivo Series3 thread for more information.

Does anyone know where I could find a little tutorial or explain how to capture a stream onto a PC with the firewire port? Some mention that it's only possible to this LIVE and not with recorded material. Others mention that it can also be done only with broadcast material while other claim this can be done with all the so-called non encrypted channels below channel 50.

Is the tool of choice DVHS? Anything else needed for this? I record mostly HDTV material, so I'm hoping to backup that up too if it's possible. Thanks....

this is my first post though I have been lurking in the fios threads for a bit now and have read them all. apologies if this been addressed or is in the wrong thread.

on last night's SNL "best of the 90's" show the sound was not working as it should.
the problem was on the HD version of the show, but not in the SD version.

when they showed old clips the sound worked OK, but the dialogue was softer in volume than the audience applause. also, the clips they showed of the actors giving their opinions in present day (which was in HD) had zero volume.

I haven't made any changes to the DVR (6416-2) nor the TV (Panasonic TH-50PX6U) which is connected via HDMI.

I've also noticed, on occasion, NBC HD will sound "hollow" during some HD shows though not consistently (two weeks ago heroes sounded hollow, this past week it didn't) and for some commercials (one day an HD verizon commercial was "hollow" and the next day the same commercial on the same NBC HD channel wasn't).

Hey everyone.

I've searched the box, but does anyone know if the box has a 'PCM Digital' option? My new sound card can only decode that signal for it's Optical In jack.

Thanks :)

My QIP6416 started "chirping" this weekend. I sat down to watch some nature-thing off of Discovery HD and noticed that they were piping in far too much background cricket-type noise, but this noise continued when the show sent to commercial! I muted that sound and noted the kind of scratchy disk drive sound that is either the hallmark of an older drive, one about to blow its last bearing, or perhaps doing a major disk scan of some sort. I smacked the unit on its side which actually reduced the noise. It has continued intermittantly all weekend, but to this same lesser extent.

Given that I haven't heard a peep out of the disk drive on my QIP in all the time I have had it (> 1 year) I am a bit concerned that I am about to lose all of my recorded programming (mainly a bunch of Planet Earths waiting to be watched). Has anyone else had this occur and/or could it be an indication of something other than drive failure?

I am doing my own research before calling FiOS support, as I'm sure their default answer will be to swap the box.

Appologies if this has been previously answered but I have searched all over and cannot find any other posts addressing this particular problem. I have a QIP-6416-2 box (installed about 6 months ago) and I have recorded several programs that will not play all the way to the end (both SD and HD shows). The recorded time shows up correctly, but when viewing these shows the recording will 'freeze' somewhere, then jump directly to the end and go to the 'watch again, delete, save?' menu screen.

No matter what I try I cannot even jump past these 'frozen' spots... the picture always hangs for a while and then jumps right out of the program.

Has anyone else encountered this problem? My DVR is only running around 50-60% full at any one time but that is still a lot of shows to lose if this drive is going bad.

Any help would be appreciated... thanks!

John Allen

I have a QIP-6416-2 box (installed about 6 months ago) and I have recorded several programs that will not play all the way to the end (both SD and HD shows). The recorded time shows up correctly, but when viewing these shows the recording will 'freeze' somewhere, then jump directly to the end and go to the 'watch again, delete, save?' menu screen.

I have had this happen on a couple of rare occasions, but am not totally sure what is going on. I would, however, at least try unplugging and restarting the unit to be sure your programs aren't actually there. In a couple of cases programs showed up as you described but would not play at all (immediately jumped to the "end of show" screen). After a restart they played fine. In cases where the signal was lost and only part of the show was recorded the timeline can be confusing. I think in one case it looked like the entire program was there but at a point in the middle it would suddenly jump to the 2/3 mark. I could FF and RW back and forth over this "warp" point in the program.

I wish I could be of more help. At least in my case this is a very very rare occurance if that makes you feel any better.

Thanks BTDT! I'll try the unplugging / resetting and see if that helps any. I've been hanging on to the shows with these 'bad spots' in them (I was afraid of just recording over and over onto the same disk area and getting the same dead areas in my new recordings) and it would be great to free that disk space up again if this solves the problem.

Thanks BTDT! I'll try the unplugging / resetting and see if that helps any. I've been hanging on to the shows with these 'bad spots' in them (I was afraid of just recording over and over onto the same disk area and getting the same dead areas in my new recordings) and it would be great to free that disk space up again if this solves the problem.

I have had this same problem. Several shows I had recorded did the same thing as you described. Unplugging the box did not solve the problem. I called FIOS tech support and they fixed the problem by sending a software update to the box. I don't know whether this was a new version of the software or just a reload of what I already had. All I can say is that FIOS support sent something to the box and now all is OK. The FIOS support person did say that there had been prior reports of this issue.

rHiss,

Great news.. thanks a lot. I'll call them and ask about this update and see if that can clear my problem up as well.

this is my first post though I have been lurking in the fios threads for a bit now and have read them all. apologies if this been addressed or is in the wrong thread.

on last night's SNL "best of the 90's" show the sound was not working as it should.
the problem was on the HD version of the show, but not in the SD version.

when they showed old clips the sound worked OK, but the dialogue was softer in volume than the audience applause. also, the clips they showed of the actors giving their opinions in present day (which was in HD) had zero volume.

I haven't made any changes to the DVR (6416-2) nor the TV (Panasonic TH-50PX6U) which is connected via HDMI.

I've also noticed, on occasion, NBC HD will sound "hollow" during some HD shows though not consistently (two weeks ago heroes sounded hollow, this past week it didn't) and for some commercials (one day an HD verizon commercial was "hollow" and the next day the same commercial on the same NBC HD channel wasn't).

Weenah-
I notice you're in Richmond, too. The problem had nothing to do with FIOS. It was an NBC12 problem, as reported here in the RIchmond thread.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10483555#post10483555

Hi, I have a Samsung 5054 plasma tv. Using HDMI connection from FIOS DVR Motorola 6416. Playing with the 4:3 settings and such trying to get HD and SD channels to fill screen without using WideFit from TV. Is this possible, what settings do I change?

My TV specific thread said to set "pass through" settings, but not sure what was meant.

Any advice as to what provides eveyrone best SD & HD picture is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi, I have a Samsung 5054 plasma tv. Using HDMI connection from FIOS DVR Motorola 6416. Playing with the 4:3 settings and such trying to get HD and SD channels to fill screen without using WideFit from TV. Is this possible, what settings do I change?

My TV specific thread said to set "pass through" settings, but not sure what was meant.

Any advice as to what provides eveyrone best SD & HD picture is appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Your SD channels should already fill the screen, but the HD channels will only fill the screen when they are xmitting 16:9 content, .
When the HD channels xmit 4:3 content, as many of the network shows such as Survivor on not yet HD widescreen, you will need to use the TV aspect settings for that show.
If, however, all your SD channels are showing up in 4:3 then you need to get into the "hidden" screen menu to adjust, or reset the box.
A quick call to Fios CS should solve that.

Has anyone tried to record from Verizon Fios' QIP-6416 box via Firewire to an Other World Computing external Blu Ray recorder? Wouldn't this work just like D-VHS? The same 5C copy protection that permits write-once copying onto a D-VHS should allow write-once copying onto an optical disc, shouldn't it?

Of course at this point in time, the price for the drive is high. Also, the cost of blank discs makes recording to them much more expensive than to D-VHS. But the hardware and media should drop in price as more recorders are announced.

Steven

Your theory sounds very logical, lets hope the Optical drive sends back that same flag to the DVR.

Weenah-
I notice you're in Richmond, too. The problem had nothing to do with FIOS. It was an NBC12 problem, as reported here in the RIchmond thread.
a thousand thank you's!

Has anyone tried to record from Verizon Fios' QIP-6416 box via Firewire to an Other World Computing external Blu Ray recorder? Wouldn't this work just like D-VHS? The same 5C copy protection that permits write-once copying onto a D-VHS should allow write-once copying onto an optical disc, shouldn't it?

Of course at this point in time, the price for the drive is high. Also, the cost of blank discs makes recording to them much more expensive than to D-VHS. But the hardware and media should drop in price as more recorders are announced.I don't think the OWC Blu-ray recorder is an authorized 5C device. I believe its meant as an external drive for PCs.

Merely having a Firewire connection is not sufficient to record 5C encrypted content. The device must have the appropriate license and hardware/software to record that material, as in the case of the JVC D-VHS HDTV VCRs.

lets hope the Optical drive sends back that same flag to the DVR.

Do you mean that in order to record from the STB, the BD recorder would need to 'handshake' the write-once flag?

This implies that if no flag were sent back to the STB, it would not output HD through its Firewire port.

What got me thinking about this idea in the first place was a press release that talked about the OWC external drive, and upcoming Samsung and Sharp stand-alone BD recorders.

In fact, the Sharp has been released in Japan. It is designed to record OTA signals via the Firewire port on Sharp TVs. After looking at what info I could find on the net, I was unable to determine if the Sharp recorder could accept HD video from any MPEG source, or just the OTA tuner in a Sharp TV.

The Samsung looks like it might work perfectly, but so far no detailed info as to what can or can't stream to it has been released. Besides, it will probably be really expensive, and won't make it out before the end of this year at the earliest.

Here's the press release.

http://www.dvdrecorderworld.com/news/445

I bought my VIZIO GV47L from Costco before they changed their return policy, so I can return it any time and get my money back. I love the TV, but I would consider returning it and paying more for a Sharp or Mitsubishi with a Firewire port, if I was sure that the OWC drive will record from the QIP-6416.

I'd also like to know if Firewire would support 1080P playback for commercial Blu Ray DVDs. I assume that even if Firewire did pass 1080P, that the TV manufacturer would have to implement it.

The OWC BD recorder ($740 with Toast 8 authoring software) would seem to start making some economic sense to me if I could play back commercially released discs and record with it from the STB. Since a PS3 at $600 only lets me play back, the price difference for recording is well worth it, even with media prices presently very high.

Blank 25GB single sided discs (about 3 hours of HD recording time) start around $17. Re-writable 25 GB discs start at $22. I pay about $8 for a 2.5 hour Maxell D-VHS tape. But the disc will last far longer than the tape, so for critical recordings I'd pay for the more expensive media.

So I'm hoping someone has actually tried recording from a STB to the OWC drive successfully.

Steven

I don't think the OWC Blu-ray recorder is an authorized 5C device.

That is a real drag. I guess we'll have to wait for the stand alone BD recorders from Sharp and Samsung later this year to try this out.

Steven

I just found an article about four HD hard disc recorders coming from Sharp with Firewire.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/14/sharps-5-aquos-hd-recorders-with-up-to-1tb-and-counting/

These models are for the Japanese market only, at least for now. The tuners in them are the Japanese HD standard, not ATSC standard tuners, so even if you got one, you wouldn't be able to use the built in tuners as a recording source.

However, if these recorders will take an HD stream from the QIP-6416, it may be possible to use them as DVRs, fed by the STB's HD stream. The article says that content from the HD recorders can be dubbed to Sharp's BD recorder. No mention about copy protection. Hopefully 5C content can be archived this way on BD media.

I found a list of specs on Sharp Japan's web site. Here's the link:

http://sharp-world.com/corporate/news/070214_1.html

Specs for all four of the models are given. Also on a very encouraging note, it lists the iLink (Firewire) ports as TS jacks. If I'm correct, this implies that the Firewire ports will send and receive 5C content through Firewire.

The top of the line model, with 2 tuners and 1 TB of storage has 12 bit video.

It seems like HD video over Firewire isn't dead after all. At least in Japan.

Steven

It has been 4 weeks since I switched to Verizon from TWC. I am just getting around to playing with this DVR. It seems that buffering time (that is, you pause the live TV, answer a phone, or door, etc. and come back to resume watching from where you left) is about 20 minutes. This used to be close to an hour on my SA 8300HD with TWC. I am wondering if this is a shortcoming of the Motorola DVR’s or my particular unit is defective. I will appreciate comments, words of wisdom from other members.

It has been 4 weeks since I switched to Verizon from TWC. I am just getting around to playing with this DVR. It seems that buffering time (that is, you pause the live TV, answer a phone, or door, etc. and come back to resume watching from where you left) is about 20 minutes. This used to be close to an hour on my SA 8300HD with TWC. I am wondering if this is a shortcoming of the Motorola DVR’s or my particular unit is defective. I will appreciate comments, words of wisdom from other members.

Mine buffers the same ~ 20 minutes. Just enough time to edit out the commercials on a 1 hour program.

It has been 4 weeks since I switched to Verizon from TWC. I am just getting around to playing with this DVR. It seems that buffering time (that is, you pause the live TV, answer a phone, or door, etc. and come back to resume watching from where you left) is about 20 minutes. This used to be close to an hour on my SA 8300HD with TWC. I am wondering if this is a shortcoming of the Motorola DVR’s or my particular unit is defective. I will appreciate comments, words of wisdom from other members.
Are you referring to HD?? I'm pretty sure I read it was 18 min HD, & 70 mins Standard.

Are you referring to HD?? I'm pretty sure I read it was 18 min HD, & 70 mins Standard.

Yes I am referring to HD. My SA8300 experience was also of HD, to the best of my recollection. I wish current SA8300 users confirmed this.

So, I'll have to live with shorter buffering times. My overall impression of Verizon's FIOS TV service has been so positive that I will not let this bother me for the time being. Hope they will improve the capabilities of the Motorola box in the future.

Yes I am referring to HD. My SA8300 experience was also of HD, to the best of my recollection. I wish current SA8300 users confirmed this.

So, I'll have to live with shorter buffering times. My overall impression of Verizon's FIOS TV service has been so positive that I will not let this bother me for the time being. Hope they will improve the capabilities of the Motorola box in the future.
If they ever have an update to allow an External SATA, hopefully the firmware update will also increase buffer size when it's connected..

I'm also curious if anyone has ever tried to swap out a bigger internal drive in these boxes, & if the box can "recognize" it ..??

I have 4 episodes of a show that I regularly record that for some reason will not delete.
I've tried to manually delete them and I've tried to setup the series manager so that they would automatically delete but nothing happens. I've also disconnected and reconnected the power cord with no luck. I've called Verizon and they said that they could wipe the hard drive, but I'm not ready to lose everything I've recorded.

Has anyone else had this problem, and if so, how did you fix it?

Has anyone else noticed how noisy the fan is on these things? I am disapointed... I have two and both are loud, it is ecspecially noticable in the bedroom. Any tips or tricks? Obvously putting it behind an entertainment case door would help.

Thanks,

Alon in Beaumont, CA

Has anyone else noticed how noisy the fan is on these things? I am disapointed... I have two and both are loud, it is ecspecially noticable in the bedroom. Any tips or tricks? Obvously putting it behind an entertainment case door would help.

Thanks,

Alon in Beaumont, CA

Mine is pretty quiet. I assume your room temperature is not too warm ? It also could be a noisy hard drive.

Has anyone else noticed how noisy the fan is on these things? I am disapointed... I have two and both are loud, it is ecspecially noticable in the bedroom. Any tips or tricks? Obvously putting it behind an entertainment case door would help.

Thanks,

Alon in Beaumont, CA

Mine is also pretty quiet and it's in my bedroom. Way back it used to be extremly click and twirp happy in the middle of the night, but that hasn't been happening near as much in a while.

Mine is pretty quiet. I assume your room temperature is not too warm ? It also could be a noisy hard drive.

Room temp is 80 max. Not the hard drive... I am computer tech, so can tell :)

Alon :)

Room temp is 80 max. Not the hard drive... I am computer tech, so can tell :)

Alon :)
Unfortunately I'm not totally familiar with the DVR. Does anyone know if it has a variable speed fan ? If so, crank your A/C up to get it good and cold in the room and see if its still loud. I'm sure you have already thought of this, but you can always swap one out at a time and see if the replacement is any better. Also, you could have "golden ears". Mine are pretty beat up from too much loud music :o

It does appear to be variable speed fan. I recently switched back off the MR DVR and had the real DVR put back in the bedroom. Come to think of it the bedroom is quieter than the living room... maybe the living room one needs replaced or is running hotter.

And ya, I have very precise ears, its a curse.

Anyone ever notice the KFC commercial? It was on one of the HD channels, don't remember which one. It had a horrendous high pitch ring, I have to mute or switch channels it is so bad.

Alon :)

Unfortunately I'm not totally familiar with the DVR. Does anyone know if it has a variable speed fan ? If so, crank your A/C up to get it good and cold in the room and see if its still loud. I'm sure you have already thought of this, but you can always swap one out at a time and see if the replacement is any better. Also, you could have "golden ears". Mine are pretty beat up from too much loud music :o

It is well known that this DVR does not have the ability to pass through the 'native' HD broadcast from the channel. It MUST convert everything to one resolution (720p or i or 1080i). Here is my workaround solution:

CableCard and DVR

IF your tv will except a cable card you can order one from Verizon. There is no install fee and it tacks on 2.99/month.

Then you just use a good coax splitter and pipe one end to the DVR and the other to the TV. Ask the Verizon guy to help you with this when he comes.

My Verizon guy had no experience with cable cards, nor did anyone he called, so it took a little effort, but it finally worked. One key note is that Verizon needs some numbers off the card, some of which don't show up until after you plug it into your TV, then they show up on the screen.

Once this is done you can watch cable directly from your TV in the native HD resolution. The only CON of this is when you are watching directly from your TV you don't have access to the guide and other DVR features. I suppose another con of this is that it only works for Live TV.

An advantage though is that your DVR can now be recording two shows, and you can be watching a 3rd directly on the TV.

Does it really make a difference? i.e. Can I see the differnce of 'native' 1080i vs 1080i downconverted to 720p by the DVR (or any other combination)? I will let you know. for $3/mnth it is fun to play with at least.

Alon :)

It does appear to be variable speed fan. I recently switched back off the MR DVR and had the real DVR put back in the bedroom. Come to think of it the bedroom is quieter than the living room... maybe the living room one needs replaced or is running hotter.

And ya, I have very precise ears, its a curse.

Any ever notice the KFC commercial? It was on one the HD channels, don't remember witch one. It had a horrendous high pitch ring, I have to mute or switch channels it is so bad.

Alon :)

After my installation (last March) my mother-in-law's DVR was noisy. I couldn't tell if it was the fan or hard drive, called Verizon service and had the thing replaced. No problems since. You might have a defective one, I have three and no noise problems.

I've had my DVR for under a month and the only time I hear it is after a reboot of the box. Say, I've unplugged it and then plug it back in. It has to re-download the TV Guide and such, and during that time it's quite loud. After a few minutes it softens and becomes unnoticeable.

Unrelated: How do we get these new HD channels from Verizon FIOS? I heard they released a few more... but still they're just black screens when I flip to the appropriate channels.

Unrelated: How do we get these new HD channels from Verizon FIOS? I heard they released a few more... but still they're just black screens when I flip to the appropriate channels.

Is your TV and HDTV?

Alon :)

Anyone know where I can find the online manual for the box? A Sound card CSR rep and I are trying to determine how we can get it to work with optical out - optical in, and all we could find on the motorola site was DCT-6412 and that's obviously not the same model..

I couldn't find it on verizons' page either...

Has anyone else noticed how noisy the fan is on these things? I am disapointed... I have two and both are loud, it is ecspecially noticable in the bedroom. Any tips or tricks? Obvously putting it behind an entertainment case door would help.


We have the regular HD DVR (not multi-room). Ours was silent until a few weeks ago when the weather here in Virginia started getting warm. Since then the fan spins up and down all day, really loud for 10 seconds, then quiet for 5 seconds. It drove us crazy... and our unit WAS behind an entertainment case door. As a test, I removed it from the case and now have it sitting vertically next to the case, and it's completely quiet. I guess inside the case it wasn't getting enough ventilation. Never had a problem with my DirecTivo in that case though.

-Mike

The QIP6416 data sheet is at Motorola. They call this a "business solution" box, but there's no manual: http://broadband.motorola.com/business/digitalvideo/product_qip6416_settop.asp

The manual is buried under Customer Support at Verizon (took a while to find): http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/customer+support/customer+support.htm
You might want to pick up the manual for the remote at the same time - it's also there.

Is your TV and HDTV?
Alon :)

Yup - I've been enjoying the existing HD channels for a few weeks now.

Is there any way so the clock doesn't display when the unit is turned off?

Is there any way so the clock doesn't display when the unit is turned off?


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8635508&highlight=clock#post8635508

Is there any way so the clock doesn't display when the unit is turned off?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Electrical-tape_black.jpg/225px-Electrical-tape_black.jpg

The manual is buried under Customer Support at Verizon (took a while to find): [You might want to pick up the manual for the remote at the same time - it's also there.

Thanks for the link. (I had to remove the URL from the quote since I don't have 5 posts yet.) It's very interesting to read the following in the manual: "Watch two programs and easily switch between them using the SWAP key on your remote control (dependent upon program guide support and remote control)"

So the unit itself is capable of swapping tuners . . . . it's the remote supplied by Verizon that's a dud!

Thanks for the link. (I had to remove the URL from the quote since I don't have 5 posts yet.) It's very interesting to read the following in the manual: "Watch two programs and easily switch between them using the SWAP key on your remote control (dependent upon program guide support and remote control)"

So the unit itself is capable of swapping tuners . . . . it's the remote supplied by Verizon that's a dud!

Actually, not really. The swap feature does not work using other remotes(Harmony, etc) either. Since it does sound like the box itself can do it, it must be a feature that the current IPG lacks. Lets hope this is a feature that is added whenever the new one is released.

Already tried to search and I am either using the wrong "keywords" or just don't know what I am doing.....

Anyway, I had FiOS TV installed 2 weeks ago and love it. I still have my Directivo box and still working to transfer my season passes over, but having them both hooked up is working out great. Everything is controlled by the Harmony 890, but I am having one problem I haven't been able to figure out. How do I get SD programming to stretch on the FiOS box? Since my Directivo is SD it is automatically stretched to fit the TV, but I haven't figured out how to get the FiOS box to stretch SD programing and not change HD programing. Is it in the FiOS menu, is there a button on the FiOS remote that I need to press that isn't on the Harmony? It's been really hard to test/work through since I can't use my FiOS remote to control the STB (all my boxes are located in the basement and the TV is on the main floor, hence the reason for the 890)

Hope this makes a little sense.....