Anyway, I agree that the stutter problem is worst on NBC Football. I did see a Basketball game, I think on ESPN last week that was terrible. The Fox game right now is not as bad, hardly any stutters. Hef

I concur in regards to the sportscasts being the worst on NBC. However, I have had the stutter just as bad on all of the other HD channels.


BTW, I'm running Component Cables with the Stutter, Upstairs where I do not get stutter, I'm running HDMI. Hef

I only have one TV that matters and it is being fed through the component video input. It is a CRT RPTV.

It seems that there is in deed a problem and that people have complained about it. Yet for some reason Verizon is not interested in actually documenting the problems or working towards a true solution. If it is in fact a level of signal strength that is affecting everything, what is the "true" number sought after?

You are right, the temporary fix is just that, a bandaid. So I called Verizon and Motorola yesterday. First Motorola told me they did not have anything to do with QIP boxes and that I would have to call Verizon FIOS (again) for any help with the box. I called Verizon, they reinitialized my box (again) and as you said, the BCS game last night was perfect. Verizon told me to call when the stutter started again and they would test the line as it is happening. I will. I have used Component and HDMI, no difference. As it stands, Verizon thinks it has to be a fluctuating signal issue as a weak signal would cause stutter. Maybe a damaged wire in the house? So, next time it stutters, maybe you can also call them as it is happening and hopefully some real solution can be found and we can let the other "stutter" sufferers know.

You are right, the temporary fix is just that, a bandaid. So I called Verizon and Motorola yesterday. First Motorola told me they did not have anything to do with QIP boxes and that I would have to call Verizon FIOS (again) for any help with the box. I called Verizon, they reinitialized my box (again) and as you said, the BCS game last night was perfect. Verizon told me to call when the stutter started again and they would test the line as it is happening. I will. I have used Component and HDMI, no difference. As it stands, Verizon thinks it has to be a fluctuating signal issue as a weak signal would cause stutter. Maybe a damaged wire in the house? So, next time it stutters, maybe you can also call them as it is happening and hopefully some real solution can be found and we can let the other "stutter" sufferers know.


I really dont believe its the line in the house. Why would so many ppl be experiencing this? Also why does it work fine for a while and then over time start up again? I think it probably has something to do with the hard drive and maybe whatever type memory the box uses. The Direct TV HD Tivo had a problem over time failing from heat and this could be a similar matter.

Mine does not have a hard drive. It is the plain HD box, without DVR. This is like a video game of hidden clues with never quite right solutions which goes on and on. Hopefully the real answer will be found soon. (Probably a bad signal from Verizon which they don't know about yet or don't want to acknowledge.)

PS: I'm in Plano too, which lends more credence to the signal issue.

Had a really good install yesterday, 7 TV's. No issues, installer was great. 2 DVR's, 1 HD box, and 3 standard boxes. One TV direct into the wall, locals only. So far everything is working. Installer gave me his cell, told me to call him before I called CS and he would see if he could help me out. I was surprised that the router did not require a Cat 5 connection. It gets data direct via coax, so he did not run any Cat 5 at all. I was able to put the router in my entertainment center and plug my xBox 360 directly into it. I am running three desktops and a lop top wireless on the Actiontec. Signal varies from 75-100%. So far, so good. No issues with the boxes or the broadcasts last night and had all of the sets fired up for several hours. The video service seems better than Comcast, but the Verizon website for email is pretty clunky.

Mine does not have a hard drive. It is the plain HD box, without DVR.

It was my understanding that the HD box is actually everything in one. In other words, if you want the DVR option, all you have to do is call and have it activated. The box is produced as "all inclusive" and it is up to the content provider to activate what options they and their customers want.

It was my understanding that the HD box is actually everything in one. In other words, if you want the DVR option, all you have to do is call and have it activated. The box is produced as "all inclusive" and it is up to the content provider to activate what options they and their customers want.
The vanilla HD STB is the moto 6200 series, while the HD DVR STB is the moto 6416 series

ccorrect. they are two different boxes

It was my understanding that the HD box is actually everything in one. In other words, if you want the DVR option, all you have to do is call and have it activated. The box is produced as "all inclusive" and it is up to the content provider to activate what options they and their customers want.
You got the Media/multi-room option confused with the DVR. The option can be turned on remotely on the DVR, the HD box is just an STB with no DVR functionality possible.

Can anybody comment on this router's range? How about compared to the original Dlink 624? Thanks.

It appears to be pretty good. I get a stronger signal then I did with my old D-link router, and I was using D-link wireless adapters. However, for some reason I lost my Internet connection last night and had to turn the router off and back on again to reset it. Not sure why, but I was downloading an update for my harmony remote at the time so I am not sure if that had any effect or not. I just got the router installed on Monday.

I was hoping someone here could help me. I just had my FIOS TV install done back in the middle of december. I bought the home media dvr service for the remote viewing of DVR recorded programs. In addition it comes with the media server application that allows you to view music and pictures from your pc.

I have been told two different things. One, that the media server only streams images to the 6416 box (the DVR) and Two, it should stream to both the 64XX box and the 2500 STB.

I can't for the life of me get it to work with the 2500 box, just with the DVR. Tech support hasn't been much help. Any insight would be appreciated.

Verizon will only provide FIOS to areas where they are the local phone service provider. If your local phone service is not Verizon then you will never get FIOS.

I believe Sacramento is covered by AT&T and they have their own version of FIOS. It is called U-Verse. Here is more information on it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-Verse

Well it has been quite a disappointment to read up on U-verse. The main issue being that it has the very same problem that lead me to be interested in FIOS: it's bandwith-limited, and is not FTTP. I guess I'll just have to go with Comcast Cable or Direct TV.

Brandon

Just noticed something while watching The Today Show on NBC. The Stutter is there, hard to notice with just regular video, but when they scroll the news on the bottom of the screen, it's almost like a clock where it jumps about every 5 seconds. When I say jumps, it actually looks like it is rewinding a fraction of a second. Of course when the camera is panning you notice it more.

i had the problem yesterday and i went into the setup menu and switched it to 480i for a commercial break length of time and switched it back to 1080i and the stutter was gone. does that work for you?

I was hoping someone here could help me. I just had my FIOS TV install done back in the middle of december. I bought the home media dvr service for the remote viewing of DVR recorded programs. In addition it comes with the media server application that allows you to view music and pictures from your pc.

I have been told two different things. One, that the media server only streams images to the 6416 box (the DVR) and Two, it should stream to both the 64XX box and the 2500 STB.

I can't for the life of me get it to work with the 2500 box, just with the DVR. Tech support hasn't been much help. Any insight would be appreciated.

I have 2 DVRs and 2 standard STBs. Only the DVR designated as the "home media" DVR accepts the pictures or music from my computer. The other DVR and the 2 standard STBs do not get the pictures or music.

I was hoping someone here could help me. I just had my FIOS TV install done back in the middle of december. I bought the home media dvr service for the remote viewing of DVR recorded programs. In addition it comes with the media server application that allows you to view music and pictures from your pc.

I have been told two different things. One, that the media server only streams images to the 6416 box (the DVR) and Two, it should stream to both the 64XX box and the 2500 STB.

I can't for the life of me get it to work with the 2500 box, just with the DVR. Tech support hasn't been much help. Any insight would be appreciated.

Correct that the 6416 is for the media server. The confusion about the 2500's is that they are capable of being used in the MRDVR(multi room DVR) network. The 6200's will not.

Thanks Shawn, I did the quick fix - set to 480 for a few minutes. Instant fix, and 12 hours later it's still good.

It's still odd though that I had a box upstairs not stuttering, brought it downstairs and it started to stutter. I still think it's somthing in the line, but this fix did FIX.

Thanks
Hef

the ActionTec router that Verizon Fios uses blows. I had to daisy chain my netgear router to it and use that for everything.

supposedly fios used to use a dlink router which was better but had to switch to the actiontec because it was one of the only ones that did the mocha translation for the NAM or whatever and now that the new ONT box takes care of that they are talking about going back to the superior dlink router now that they dont need the actiontec to do that.

i'm on a list to get the dlink as soon as they switch back.

the ActionTec router that Verizon Fios uses blows. I had to daisy chain my netgear router to it and use that for everything.

supposedly fios used to use a dlink router which was better but had to switch to the actiontec because it was one of the only ones that did the mocha translation for the NAM or whatever and now that the new ONT box takes care of that they are talking about going back to the superior dlink router now that they dont need the actiontec to do that.

i'm on a list to get the dlink as soon as they switch back.

I though you hated the TV service. Why do you still have it?

The "stutter" problem definitely is the worst for me watching NBC NFL football. The Cowboys/Seahawks game last week was stuttering all over the place. My friends complained loudly about that. It even shut down to SD for a while in the middle of the game, then eventually came back HD.

Watched a game on Fox the next day and it was awesome. I don't see the Stutter problem as much watching NBC regular HD programming, but it does happen occasionally. I have never seen it on Discovery HD, NGC HD or Showtime HD.

I called Verizon and they said it was NBC's problem and they get a lot of complaints about NBC's HD, especially NFL games. Too bad I don't have an OTA rig to test to see if it really is just NBC.

I hope they can smooth something out because when the Stutter kicks in it really ruins the HD experience.

Burticus, You are the third Plano person here (that I know of), including myself, to report the exact stutter problem. So at least here, it seems to be in the FIOS signal and they are blaming everything else. They have been very nice when I complain, new box, new wiring, whatever. I am now testing the new wire this week and hope it's the cure, but who knows. If it works, I'll let you know. I use the 480 to 1080 switch I mentioned on the last page for emergencies, but am hoping the wire is the cure.

I have a wireless phone and when I use it, my wireless internet connect doesn't work. Any suggestions?

PS- I see a bit of the stutter in Garland TX.

The "stutter" problem definitely is the worst for me watching NBC NFL football. The Cowboys/Seahawks game last week was stuttering all over the place. My friends complained loudly about that. It even shut down to SD for a while in the middle of the game, then eventually came back HD.

Watched a game on Fox the next day and it was awesome. I don't see the Stutter problem as much watching NBC regular HD programming, but it does happen occasionally. I have never seen it on Discovery HD, NGC HD or Showtime HD.

I called Verizon and they said it was NBC's problem and they get a lot of complaints about NBC's HD, especially NFL games. Too bad I don't have an OTA rig to test to see if it really is just NBC.

I hope they can smooth something out because when the Stutter kicks in it really ruins the HD experience.
I do have OTA as well and it *was* a local broadcast/NBC issue. FiOS won't automatically switch to SD, it will just stutter if it is a DVR issue.

Also note that for some reason the 720p support on the QIP is better than the 1080i support. There may also be some masking of NBC's lower-quality picture (the rest is eaten by that very-useful (sarcasm) weather station they multi-cast). I usually run mine at 720p into my Sony XBR RP-LCD. I tried 1080i for a while but was happier with the picture with 720p. I expect these kind of problems will only be fixed with new hardware.

I have a wireless phone and when I use it, my wireless internet connect doesn't work. Any suggestions?

PS- I see a bit of the stutter in Garland TX.
I think 2.4GHz wireless phones interfere with wireless internet. A 5.8GHz phone will solve the problem.

The "stutter" problem definitely is the worst for me watching NBC NFL football. The Cowboys/Seahawks game last week was stuttering all over the place. My friends complained loudly about that. It even shut down to SD for a while in the middle of the game, then eventually came back HD.

Watched a game on Fox the next day and it was awesome. I don't see the Stutter problem as much watching NBC regular HD programming, but it does happen occasionally. I have never seen it on Discovery HD, NGC HD or Showtime HD.


I guess this is validation of FOX/ABC/ESPN's decisions to broadcast in 720p v. NBC and the other networks choices of 1080i....

Get a 5.8ghz phone.

Fox is wonderful for me. My CRT RPTV only does 1080i so I can't go 720p to compare.

Watching Saints/Eagles on Fox right now and it's awesome. Zero stutter, great picture.

If it is truly NBC's HDTV platform problem, all I can hope for is next year there won't be so many Cowboys games on NBC (plus Madden is a putz).

I have a wireless phone and when I use it, my wireless internet connect doesn't work. Any suggestions?

PS- I see a bit of the stutter in Garland TX.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11

802.11b and 802.11g standards use the 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) band, operating (in the United States) under Part 15 of the FCC Rules and Regulations. Because of this choice of frequency band, 802.11b and 802.11g equipment can incur interference from microwave ovens, cordless telephones, Bluetooth devices, and other appliances using this same band. The 802.11a standard uses the 5 GHz band, and is therefore not affected by products operating on the 2.4 GHz band.

I could use some advice from the helpful membership here. A little background to put my router related question into context first.

We have both the FIOS internet and TV service. An initial signal strength problem has led to another unintended problem. Verizon located the ActionTec router on the far end of my house where signal strength is very low for my entire house (My old Netgear router worked for my entire house). I countered by installing a range extender from Netgear which works as intended. However, the Netgear range extender gobbled up one port on the ActionTec and I'm now left with only three - when I need at least four (more would be even nicer).

So here is my question - What is the best way to expand the number of wireless ports in my circumstance?

I have my old Netgear router as well as a spare ActionTec. Can I simply daisy chain the routers to gain more ports? If so, I would appreciate an understanding of how to do so. I'm hoping the solution is a simple matter...

Daisy chaining should work - I use the extra ports on the Linksys Vonage box when the FIOS D-link router ports are full.

Can I simply daisy chain the routers to gain more ports? If so, I would appreciate an understanding of how to do so. I'm hoping the solution is a simple matter...
You can daisy chain them or fan them out behind the ActionTec. Note that if you daisy chain them then packets from a computer connected at the far end of the chain must traverse each router in the sequence. Not a huge deal, but perhaps something to consider.

In my case I have a Linksys Vonage Router, a fast Vonage Wireless Router, and the NIM fanned out behind the FiOS DLink. This gives me the benefit of isolating VOD and Vonage calls from internal network traffic. I like to stream things around the house, and it is nice to know that I won't cause stutters in my wife's phone conversations when I am doing so.

Hope you get things set up to your liking!

I my VZ FIOS scheduled to be installed on coming Friday. How does the VZ routers/service work with VOIP providers? I was considering Vonage? Any service better than others?

I had FIOS TV installed about 2 weeks ago. Was already a FIOS internet subscriber. They swapped out the D-Link router for the ActionTec. The only thing that sucks abut that is I had a D-link wireless card and when they're paired together you can get up to 108Mbps due to some proprietary things D-Link does. Picture wise, it definitely outperforms DirecTV in PQ. The HD-DVR lacks a couple of the features I liked with my D* Tivo but I've gotten use to the shortcomings. The two weird things that I have encountered, are when I went to change the router to usa a different DHCP range and tried to enable WPA I couldn't connect wirelessly, when I changed it back things worked fine. It seems like your DHCP range has to start with .2, don't know why WPA didn't seem to want to work. The 2nd thing I noticed is the ABC in HD has a lot more intermittent pixelation then FOX, NBC or CBS. So far I don't have any real complaints and I'm paying $8 less than DirecTV for the same channel lineup. Consider me a satisfied customer

I could use some advice from the helpful membership here. A little background to put my router related question into context first.

We have both the FIOS internet and TV service. An initial signal strength problem has led to another unintended problem. Verizon located the ActionTec router on the far end of my house where signal strength is very low for my entire house (My old Netgear router worked for my entire house). I countered by installing a range extender from Netgear which works as intended. However, the Netgear range extender gobbled up one port on the ActionTec and I'm now left with only three - when I need at least four (more would be even nicer).

So here is my question - What is the best way to expand the number of wireless ports in my circumstance?

I have my old Netgear router as well as a spare ActionTec. Can I simply daisy chain the routers to gain more ports? If so, I would appreciate an understanding of how to do so. I'm hoping the solution is a simple matter...

What's the model of the range extended you are using. I am having the same limited range problem with the Dlink router.

I'm getting fios installed on the 24th but I'm starting to have a few concerns. The first is that I don't have a firm grasp on whether TiVo will run into any issues. It looks like it shouldn't be a problem, but does anyone else have any experience? It's not an HD TiVo.

The second concern is whether I need any special cable to connect the STB to the TV for HD. Currently I have Comcast Cable and just use whatever came with the STB. I never got HD programming so it wasn't an issue before.

I'll keep searching the forum to see if anyone has information but I don't have a ton of time to pour through hundreds of posts. I have a 60" 2006 SXRD if it helps at all.

I'm getting fios installed on the 24th but I'm starting to have a few concerns. The first is that I don't have a firm grasp on whether TiVo will run into any issues. It looks like it shouldn't be a problem, but does anyone else have any experience? It's not an HD TiVo.

The second concern is whether I need any special cable to connect the STB to the TV for HD. Currently I have Comcast Cable and just use whatever came with the STB. I never got HD programming so it wasn't an issue before.

I'll keep searching the forum to see if anyone has information but I don't have a ton of time to pour through hundreds of posts. I have a 60" 2006 SXRD if it helps at all.


Go for it!! I too has a 60sxrd and saw a significant improvement from directv on hd pictures. I activated the cablecard service that is available with the SXRD and the cablecard does HD. If you don't have hd on your sxrd, then you're wasting the money you invested on the tv.

As for the DVR, there is no special cable is required. everything is like the regular cable install and verizon will try to use all of your existing cable.

i hope this helps.

tungaw

I'm getting fios installed on the 24th but I'm starting to have a few concerns. The first is that I don't have a firm grasp on whether TiVo will run into any issues. It looks like it shouldn't be a problem, but does anyone else have any experience? It's not an HD TiVo.

.
It depends on how you're using TIVO now and what you expect to do with it after FIOS is installed.

TIVO has come up with an interface for the 6416 DVR used by FIOS - not sure if FIOS will ever use it.

I'm getting fios installed on the 24th but I'm starting to have a few concerns. The first is that I don't have a firm grasp on whether TiVo will run into any issues. It looks like it shouldn't be a problem, but does anyone else have any experience? It's not an HD TiVo.

Your Tivo (Series 2?) will work, but it will only be able to record the analog channels which are in the 2 to 49 range. Check the channel line-up for you region for what channels are there, but the channels will be only the local broadcast stations and WGN. All the other national cable channels are digital only. To record these, you will need the Verizon DVR or the Series 3 HD Tivo with cable cards or another HD/digital capable DVR.

The second concern is whether I need any special cable to connect the STB to the TV for HD. Currently I have Comcast Cable and just use whatever came with the STB. I never got HD programming so it wasn't an issue before.

You will need to connect the TV using either component or HDMI cable. Either will offer a excellent picture for the HD channels. The installer will probably bring a cable, but you probably have a set of component cables around; maybe a set came with the TV.

Before the installer leaves, verify that you are getting the national HD channels on 810 to 823 (most places). When I did my install back in October, I was getting the local HD channels & the premium HD channels I had signed up for, but channels 810 to 823 were locked out. A phone call to the CSR by the installer fixed this while they were finishing up the setup. I have seen other postings here from people who had the same problem that the default setting apparently is/was to lock out the national HD channels unless people had specifically requested HD. For that matter, do a random check of the SD, HD, and the premium channels you signed for before the installer leaves - easier to get it fixed while he/she is there.

Thanks for all the replies. I was hoping that TiVo would record the digital channels too like it does for my Comcast digital channels. If not then I have a big problem.

Are there opinions as to which is better: STB or CableCard? It seems that most users prefer the STB when given the option except for the fact it takes up additional space. Did anyone specify a CableCard before they came out or did they carry both at the time of installation?

It'll be interesting to see how they use the existing coax and such. The previous owner must've thought they had a degree in shoddy wiring because there's coax running all over the outside of my house (including rusty splitters, even a run inside my gutter). Luckily the utility lines enter my house right next to my garage which is adjacent to my family room. This should make running CAT5 easier, plus I can now put the new wireless router in the family room behind the TV or the garage. I'm a little concerned about interference when I eventually buy a Wii but I can always cross that bridge when I come to it.

I'll make sure I specifically check those 800's channels.

The Tivo does record the digital channels if you use Verizon's stb with it. Just plug in the cable to the stb and then the Tivo will record from the stb. Tivo works with Fios TV. My Tivo works with it. The only problem that I don't like about it, is that Verizon has not activated the serial port and Tivo can only use the IR port to change channels. It's slower then I would like but it's not too bad.

I my VZ FIOS scheduled to be installed on coming Friday. How does the VZ routers/service work with VOIP providers? I was considering Vonage? Any service better than others?

Any thoughts guys?

Thanks for all the replies. I was hoping that TiVo would record the digital channels too like it does for my Comcast digital channels. If not then I have a big problem.

Are there opinions as to which is better: STB or CableCard? It seems that most users prefer the STB when given the option except for the fact it takes up additional space. Did anyone specify a CableCard before they came out or did they carry both at the time of installation?
Cablecard will only allow you to watch live TV. It also won't support Video On Demand (VOD). I suggest you get the HD-DVR that Verizon provides. The 6416 interface and capabilities are nowhere near to what you are used to with a Tivo, but it will do the basic recording and time shifting programs task. The 6416 is another $13/month, but you are not buying it, so there is no upfront or sunk cost. If you decide you don't want the DVR, you can return it. You could also rent a cable card and try that out in the TV for live viewing.

I have the Motorola 6416 DVR, but may eventually get a Series 3 HD Tivo. I am waiting until the promised updated software for both the Verizon and Tivo boxes come out to see where we stand feature wise at that time. Also, I'm waiting for the Tivo 3 list price to drop with any cable card & HD capacity upgrades that may come along. But with the Tivo 3, I would have to rent 2 cable cards from Verizon ($6/month IIRC) and pay the monthly Tivo fee, so it would raise the monthly cost.

Thanks for all the replies. I was hoping that TiVo would record the digital channels too like it does for my Comcast digital channels. If not then I have a big problem.

Are there opinions as to which is better: STB or CableCard? It seems that most users prefer the STB when given the option except for the fact it takes up additional space. Did anyone specify a CableCard before they came out or did they carry both at the time of installation?

It'll be interesting to see how they use the existing coax and such. The previous owner must've thought they had a degree in shoddy wiring because there's coax running all over the outside of my house (including rusty splitters, even a run inside my gutter). Luckily the utility lines enter my house right next to my garage which is adjacent to my family room. This should make running CAT5 easier, plus I can now put the new wireless router in the family room behind the TV or the garage. I'm a little concerned about interference when I eventually buy a Wii but I can always cross that bridge when I come to it.

I'll make sure I specifically check those 800's channels.


at the current state of development cable cards lack features-specificaly on-screen program guide & PPV.

if your wiring is as bad as it sounds i suspect VZ will run new cable.

mallu2u from what i've heard FiOS will work with any VoiP provider you want. don't know exactly how it would connect with the FiOS interface-i assume it would work thru the router.

Thanks for all the replies. I was hoping that TiVo would record the digital channels too like it does for my Comcast digital channels. If not then I have a big problem.

Are there opinions as to which is better: STB or CableCard? It seems that most users prefer the STB when given the option except for the fact it takes up additional space. Did anyone specify a CableCard before they came out or did they carry both at the time of installation?

It'll be interesting to see how they use the existing coax and such. The previous owner must've thought they had a degree in shoddy wiring because there's coax running all over the outside of my house (including rusty splitters, even a run inside my gutter). Luckily the utility lines enter my house right next to my garage which is adjacent to my family room. This should make running CAT5 easier, plus I can now put the new wireless router in the family room behind the TV or the garage. I'm a little concerned about interference when I eventually buy a Wii but I can always cross that bridge when I come to it.

I'll make sure I specifically check those 800's channels.

Having never had Tivo, I don't know what I am missing but having had a moto DVR through Comcast, I have to say that it does everything I need it to do and pretty easily. It may take a Tivo user some adjustment but I would not dismiss the FIOS DVR out of hand.

The Tivo does record the digital channels if you use Verizon's stb with it. Just plug in the cable to the stb and then the Tivo will record from the stb. Tivo works with Fios TV. My Tivo works with it. The only problem that I don't like about it, is that Verizon has not activated the serial port and Tivo can only use the IR port to change channels. It's slower then I would like but it's not too bad.

I do this as well, and I see the same slow reponse but ti does work. The TiVo has to gather the entire IR commands (possibly 3 numbers then and enter) before it starts to send any commands to the STB.

The setup went great, I was very impressed how easy TiVo made it, just simple menu selections to enter service provider and seetup (with STB).

The problem is that I've already paid for the TiVo box and unlimited service. Getting another DVR would be an additional cost I was hoping to avoid. Plus I don't like the monthly charges though I suppose I'll have to go that route eventually if I want to record HD content since TiVo doesn't offer lifetime plans anymore. I guess I could always move the TiVo to the bedroom.

dragonglen,

You can sell your old Tivo with lifetime on ebay, or buy a Tivo Series3 and transfer the lifetime subscription to that. The Series3 [CableCard] HDTV Tivo tunes and records all digital SD and HD channels on FiOS at 100% original quality, and you get full guide information because Tivo provides that.

I don't think you'll want to use the older Tivo Series2 with FiOS, at least, not on a HDTV.

mallu2u from what i've heard FiOS will work with any VoiP provider you want. don't know exactly how it would connect with the FiOS interface-i assume it would work thru the router.

thanks for the reply. I am now looking at lingo and vonage. Not sure which one is better.

For those who haven't received the notice yet, Verizon is making some channel lineup changes in February. DC area customers get CSN-HD on 2/20.

It'll be interesting to see how they use the existing coax and such. The previous owner must've thought they had a degree in shoddy wiring because there's coax running all over the outside of my house (including rusty splitters, even a run inside my gutter).

The existing coax will probably be reused if it meets specs. All splitters will be replaced with 1 gHz varieties, and all ends will be replaced with compression types. More than likely wire wont be rerouted or replaced unless loss is unacceptable. Since the signal comes out of the ONT fairly hot, loss is not usually a big issue.

For those who haven't received the notice yet, Verizon is making some channel lineup changes in February. DC area customers get CSN-HD on 2/20.

while this is certainly good news, my new channel lineup sheet for Howard/Ann Arundel Counties no longer has the DC HD stations listed. There is nothing listed for channels 801, 802, 803, 804, and 807 -- where those stations used to be.

one of the main reasons i switched away from comcast to verizon was that verizon carried both the DC and Baltimore HD channels. of course, their customer support lines are closed for the evening, so i can't determine if they are reducing the total number of HD channels available, or if it was just a misprint. i hope it's the latter -- but fear it's the former. i am not a happy camper!!!

The existing coax will probably be reused if it meets specs. All splitters will be replaced with 1 gHz varieties, and all ends will be replaced with compression types. More than likely wire wont be rerouted or replaced unless loss is unacceptable. Since the signal comes out of the ONT fairly hot, loss is not usually a big issue.

They do not always use compression fittings. They used most of my existing cable with the existing ends, but where they added cable it has compression fittings

They do not always use compression fittings. They used most of my existing cable with the existing ends, but where they added cable it has compression fittings
It mostly depends on the installer. I ran brand new cables to every set, with the high quality connectors like Comcast uses. The FiOS installer didn't even try to use the connectors... he just said they wouldn't work, cut them off and replaced them with new. (What are compression fittings anyway? Where does the compression come in??)
Eventually I disconnected the coax from the DVR, added a 4-way splitter to feed the ReplayTV, LG 3410 and ATSC tuner, and used regular old cables... some with really old connectors. It all works fine.
Maybe the HD OnDemand will have problems with these connectors. :)

thanks for the reply. I am now looking at lingo and vonage. Not sure which one is better.
I have been using Vonage with FiOS for just over a year now and it works very well. There have been a few minor issues due to the newer Vonage adapter/router I was using, but they tend to get those things ironed out over time. The high downstream and especially upstream bandwidth of FiOS should give you crystal clear calls.

This is certainly a wealth of information.

I'll look into transferring the lifetime membership. I'm pretty sure TiVo stopped offering that. I got a notice about it in December, but we just had a baby in November so with the chaos, holidays and stretching the budget, it just wasn't the right time. That's one of the reasons I'm pulling the trigger on Fios, because it'll end up saving me money over Comcast Cable (currently paying $87 for Digital + HBO, no HD).

I just took a look at my wiring outside. I found out that my house was the first in the development and was the "model house" used as the base of operations while the developer was building, showing people the possibilities. I'm pretty sure my family room is an addition because it comes off the back side of the garage and has a shallow roofline and is hotcoated instead of shingles. I think the garage used to be a double, but somewhere along the line they put up a wall in half of it and used one half for the garage and built the addition on the other half. It's nice inside though, but looks a little strange. That's the background information.

I have a rooftop antenna and a dish (I think dish network). I have comcast coming in also. It looks like the antenna comes down the wall and directly in my house. I actually hooked it up to the TV to get some of the local HD channels. It's not nearly as good as I had hoped. It looks like the dish and the cable both run parallel down to the side of the house and one goes into a connector and I think the other is terminated. The other side of the connector then goes into the house. I believe this was done so another hole wouldn't have to be drilled into the house. Inside the house the cable then goes to a 3-way splitter with one end going into the TV (through the comcast box and TiVo box), one is capped, and the other goes back out the house, up the side, through the gutter, along the roof and into the upstairs. There's a wall jack there. Inside the upstairs bedroom it then goes to a 2-way splitter with one coming into the TV and the other going behind the wall to the other bedroom and is laying idle.

Depending on what they come out to do I might redo the wiring myself in the spring to make it cleaner with shorter runs and better/smarter connections. I know I'm getting a ton of loss by the time it hits the backside of the house due to the connecter, 3-way splitter, wall jack then 2-way splitter (there's another connector in there too somewhere I think after the 2-way).

Thanks again for all the replies, it's much appreciated.

while this is certainly good news, my new channel lineup sheet for Howard/Ann Arundel Counties no longer has the DC HD stations listed. There is nothing listed for channels 801, 802, 803, 804, and 807 -- where those stations used to be.

one of the main reasons i switched away from comcast to verizon was that verizon carried both the DC and Baltimore HD channels. of course, their customer support lines are closed for the evening, so i can't determine if they are reducing the total number of HD channels available, or if it was just a misprint. i hope it's the latter -- but fear it's the former. i am not a happy camper!!!


update as of this morning (1/17): i spoke to the customer service folks at verizon fios, and they called the tech folks who told them that the DC HD stations would remain in the system for the Howard/Ann Arundel County subscribers. that would be a huge relief if it's accurate. i guess we really won't know until february 27, when the channel line-up changes. i'll be holding my breath!

I have been using Vonage with FiOS for just over a year now and it works very well. There have been a few minor issues due to the newer Vonage adapter/router I was using, but they tend to get those things ironed out over time. The high downstream and especially upstream bandwidth of FiOS should give you crystal clear calls.

Did you ever consider other companies as well. Lingo allows you to call many European countries for free and that interests me. But I am not sure of their service. I am not even sure if I get Lingo but dont like their service, then can I move to Vonage and port the phone number?

Looking for some answers and advice.

My neighborhood is being dug up this morning for FIOS and my son was actually handed a flyer.

I'm planning on getting FIOS Internet. I have four computers in the house that are currently using Dial-up and AOL. I plan to keep AOL since it will be a free service once I have the high-speed internet. The reason for keeping it is that the whole family is very used to the interface and change is not good, if you know what I mean!

I know very little about high-speed internet. I'm and audio/videophile and live and breathe that end of the spectrum.

I would appreciate any advice/info on what to sign up for speed-wise....I know there are several tiers or levels of "speed". All my computers are made by Dell.

Is the wireless connectivity the way to go? It looks like I'm going to have to pay $60 - $75 per extra PC for either wired or wireless connectivity.....is that right?

Any advice....pitfalls....suggestions are very welcome.

On a side-note.....I will not be buying the FIOS TV service for the moment. I am a very happy Directv customer with a year-old AT-9 5lnb Dish, and H20 and HR20 receiver and am very happy and pleased with the PQ that I am receiving both from satellite and OTA.....Winegard UHF/VHF antenna roof-mounted. Not to mention that I'm also on a two-year committment. :cool:

In terms of speed, the 5/2 should be fine. If you did a lot of stuff online such as heavy gaming or video downloads I could see the need to go higher given that you could have 4 simultaneous users, but it probably wouldn't be necessary.

Looking for some answers and advice.

My neighborhood is being dug up this morning for FIOS and my son was actually handed a flyer.

I'm planning on getting FIOS Internet. I have four computers in the house that are currently using Dial-up and AOL. I plan to keep AOL since it will be a free service once I have the high-speed internet. The reason for keeping it is that the whole family is very used to the interface and change is not good, if you know what I mean!

I know very little about high-speed internet. I'm and audio/videophile and live and breathe that end of the spectrum.

I would appreciate any advice/info on what to sign up for speed-wise....I know there are several tiers or levels of "speed". All my computers are made by Dell.

Is the wireless connectivity the way to go? It looks like I'm going to have to pay $60 - $75 per extra PC for either wired or wireless connectivity.....is that right?

Any advice....pitfalls....suggestions are very welcome.

On a side-note.....I will not be buying the FIOS TV service for the moment. I am a very happy Directv customer with a year-old AT-9 5lnb Dish, and H20 and HR20 receiver and am very happy and pleased with the PQ that I am receiving both from satellite and OTA.....Winegard UHF/VHF antenna roof-mounted. Not to mention that I'm also on a two-year committment. :cool:

Go wireless, young man! You don't have to pay extra for each wireless connection. The installers will put a wireless router somewhere in your house and run an ethernet cable (unless you house is newer and the existing phone wiring is adequate) to it from the ONT they will be placing on the outside of your house. After that it is up to you as to how you connect all your computers to the wirless router.

For example, in my house I have three computers. The main computer I have connected via ethernet cable directly to the router. The other two computers have wireless adaptors and connect wirelessly to the router. For the computers you choose to connect wirelessly, you will need to buy (Verizon will not supply them) wireless network adaptors (either PCI or USB). The advantage to USB is you won't have to open up your computer case, simply use a USB port.

Just wanted to let everyone know I just got FIOS Internet and TV installed today. I was at work but the wife reported that the install went real smooth and the installers were excellent. I will check everything out and give some feedback.

This is 20901 zip code in Maryland - Silver Spring (Montgomery County)

EZ

Go wireless, young man! You don't have to pay extra for each wireless connection. The installers will put a wireless router somewhere in your house and run an ethernet cable (unless you house is newer and the existing phone wiring is adequate) to it from the ONT they will be placing on the outside of your house. After that it is up to you as to how you connect all your computers to the wirless router.

For example, in my house I have three computers. The main computer I have connected via ethernet cable directly to the router. The other two computers have wireless adaptors and connect wirelessly to the router. For the computers you choose to connect wirelessly, you will need to buy (Verizon will not supply them) wireless network adaptors (either PCI or USB). The advantage to USB is you won't have to open up your computer case, simply use a USB port.

Thanks for the advice.

The workers are still in the neigborhood this morning digging, pulling, and burying the orange conduit with fiber cable. The did this in front of my house and I would have to say they did a very good job. There is an in-ground 2ft by 3ft or so junction box at the side of my property.

From reading Verizon's website, they will provide wireless network adapters for each computer (up and above the first) at a cost of around $60 each.

How long before Verizon contacts you after they finish the wiring in the neigborhood?

In terms of speed, the 5/2 should be fine. If you did a lot of stuff online such as heavy gaming or video downloads I could see the need to go higher given that you could have 4 simultaneous users, but it probably wouldn't be necessary.

I will probably go with 5/2. I would think I could go higher by just calling them if needed....correct?

My son does play some on-line gaming.....no one else does.

We don't download videos......we really can't with dial-up........so I don't see us changing.

We are looking for speed......ability to view pictures quicker......and the real lifesaver......being able to answer the phone or call home and not get a busy signal!

Verizon FIOS is going to be available in my area very soon. Right now I have Dtv and I have Verizon DSL for my computer. I will be switching to FIOS for both my television and computer. Right now I do not have a home phone,I use my cell phone for my phoneservice. Do I need a house phone in order to have FIOS?

I have had it for a little over a month now..

1. The install was done in around 2 hours by two installers. Seeing as I had Direct it was a very easy install for them.

2. The problem on the install, initially, was the PQ was not good. Nowhere near as good as Direct. The installer worked on this for over an hour and it never got better. It looked like their was a haze or a light fog over the picture. He finally left it with me with a shrug of his shoulders. My Sony has DVI and he hooked a cable to it that was DVI on one end and HDMI on the other. So I got out my good old monster component cables and hooked them up and changed it from video 7 to video 6 and as Emeril would say, BAM. The picture was healed in that instant.

Looking at American Idol the other night it looked like the judges were setting in my living room. It was that good.. Much of the HD that I see on is a stretched picture and not true HD. But, the things that are filmed or being filmed in HD is far superior to Direct.

3. I have to say that after using Tivo for several years and then having to use the Motorola HDDVR is a huge letdown. You can only record two channels at the same time if the tv is turned off or you are watching a recorded show. It does not have a 30 second skip that I can find. I really miss that... The guide compared to TIVOin plain english, just plain sucks. The VOD is good but does not have a very large selection.

In conclusion if that get a better STB, a remote with bigger numbers and words, a 30 second skip and a better guide there is not any competition out there for them.

In conclusion if that get a better STB, a remote with bigger numbers and words, a 30 second skip and a better guide there is not any competition out there for them.1) New remote

I'm assuming from your comments that you got one of the old remotes ... namely, one of the following two:
http://www22.verizon.com/fiosforhome/images/fiostv/drc800_user_guide.pdf
http://www.scientificatlanta.com/ExplorerClubGuides/getting_started/734357.pdf

And my guess would be the Motorola one (listed first).

However, Verizon does have a new remote coming out:
http://www22.verizon.com/nroneretail/nr/rdonlyres/0d93f875-4498-460f-8fc4-a15d519b4e7c/0/welcomekitremotecontrolinsrt_nc.pdf

Alternatively, there's tons of universal remotes that work with the Motorola DVRs (including some very cheap $10 - $20 ones).

2) 30 sec skip

The DVR supports 30 sec skip. Unfortunately, the two older remotes Verizon deployed don't support it. The new remote does (as does several of the universal remotes that the Motorola boxes are compatible with).

3) Better guide

Verizon was showing off a new interface last week at CES. The guide still looks like a traditional 'grid guide' and not the 'Tivo guide' that you may like / be used to. But ... still looks like some good improvements.

Verizon has said they expect the new software to be deployed to all customers by 'mid-year'.

The new remote seems optimized to work with the new software so ... I'd take a look at the link above and see if it will meet your needs. If so, wait untill the new software gets rolled out and then see about getting one. If not, check out some of the other universal remotes for sale that work with the Motorola boxes.

4) Better STB

Your main complaint seems to be "You can only record two channels at the same time if the tv is turned off or you are watching a recorded show". Well, the same is true for Tivo and any other 'dual-tuner' DVR.

However, you can watch TV (live) via another source while the DVR records two shows. If you split the coax and run one end to the DVR, and the other end to your TV, you can watch a (limited) amount of channels 'live' (via the TV) while the DVR records two shows. Verizon carries the locals / PEGS (channels 1-49) as unencrypted analog so you can watch those without a STB. Verizon also carries the local HD channels in unencrypted QAM so ... if your TV has a QAM tuner you should also be able to get those via the TV.

Verizon isn't deploying a 'three tuner' DVR anytime in the near future (although, they have talked a little bit about nDVRs).

Hello dt

You are correct about my having the remote that you thought I would have. I went to the PDF on the link you made for the newest remote and it sure looks like it's laid out much better and all the names and numbers are larger. If it, indeed, has 30 second skip then I will wait for the midyear rollout you brought up.

In regards to my Tivo. I could record two shows at the same time and watch live tv when they were recording. Not a doubt in my mind about it.

Thanks for you post. It was informative...

achevyman2

You can only record two channels at the same time if the tv is turned off or you are watching a recorded show.In regards to my Tivo. I could record two shows at the same time and watch live tv when they were recording. Not a doubt in my mind about it.Are you talking about recording two shows and wacthing (one of those two shows) live (or buffered / trick play) while they are being recorded? You can certainly do that with the Verizon DVR.

How long before Verizon contacts you after they finish the wiring in the neigborhood?
Probably several months. Maybe shorter if the work you saw was toward the end of the job in the area.

Do I need a house phone in order to have FIOS?
No. They sell all the services independently.

Probably several months. Maybe shorter if the work you saw was toward the end of the job in the area.

I would think shorter as our section of the neighborhood is basically the last to receive due to the fact that our cables are underground.

In other words, the development next to us where Verizon initially stopped has above ground utility poles......then it goes to our development which has underground utilities.

In regards to my Tivo. I could record two shows at the same time and watch live tv when they were recording. Not a doubt in my mind about it.

Thanks for you post. It was informative...

achevyman2


Record two shows and watch a third show live? I can do that with my Directivo's (actually I can record 3 and watch a fourth live), but only because I have two of them hooked up. It's impossible to do with one box from anyone.

Record two shows and watch one of them while it's recording? Yes, that can be done with TiVo. It can't be done with FIOS?

Record two shows and watch one of them while it's recording? Yes, that can be done with TiVo. It can't be done with FIOS?
Yes that can with FIOS as well.

I would think shorter as our section of the neighborhood is basically the last to receive due to the fact that our cables are underground.

In other words, the development next to us where Verizon initially stopped has above ground utility poles......then it goes to our development which has underground utilities.
But you don't know how much more work they have to do before connecting all that stuff to the head end and going live. They might even roll it out street by street, so even someone a couple of streets down might get it but you won't. Just keeping checking the FIOS online site for availability at your address.

(What are compression fittings anyway? Where does the compression come in??)
Most standard connectors are crimped on, whereas a force is applied to the outside barrel of the fitting at 4-6 "flats". Theoretically leaving gaps for RF leakage. The compression fittings are supposed to be more of a 360deg connection. This gives it less loss and a firmer physical strength.

How long before Verizon contacts you after they finish the wiring in the neigborhood?

It definitely all depends on what phase they are on in your area. Mostly the conduit and vaults are buried by a subcontractor well prior to Verizon actually running the fiber. If local neighborhoods already have the service, then I would suspect 3-6 months. If not, then a year or more may not be out of the question.

It definitely all depends on what phase they are on in your area. Mostly the conduit and vaults are buried by a subcontractor well prior to Verizon actually running the fiber. If local neighborhoods already have the service, then I would suspect 3-6 months. If not, then a year or more may not be out of the question.
I kind of doubt it would be that long. They're not going to go through the trouble & expense of putting fiber in if they don't start getting a return on it in a hurry. 3 months or so is more likely.

Verizon (their sub-contractor) first started breaking concrete and digging holes on my street in early October. A few days later they pulled the conduit ... another week or so the cable. They then worked on the "boxes" ... cleaned up and patched everything. Finally started connecting houses on my street about the last week of December. They have been going through street-by-street and pretty much following this routine ... first one crew does their thing and moves on ... then the next crew comes and does theirs ... etc.

I called on 12/29 and got an install date for 1/25 ... I understand that now the appointments are running about 6-7 weeks out. They're getting a LOT of neighbors switching from Dish and Time Warner!

a week before i could order the service there was a verizon guy walking about my neighborhood with a device that he said was used to test the fiber...it was some kind of wand he just waved above the ground. when i asked him when it would be ready he said probably in a week and what he was doing was the last step they had to do before the service was ready. so i would ask the guys in the verizon trucks...our trucks had something like "ask me about FiOS" written on them.

It definitely all depends on what phase they are on in your area. Mostly the conduit and vaults are buried by a subcontractor well prior to Verizon actually running the fiber. If local neighborhoods already have the service, then I would suspect 3-6 months. If not, then a year or more may not be out of the question.

A block away....above ground......they have had service for at least six months. They stopped at our neighborhood because our utilities are underground.

I would think that it should be fairly soon after the work is performed.....but I really don't know.

Am I able to use my Series 3 HD Tivo with FiOs?

Am I able to use my Series 3 HD Tivo with FiOs?

Yes. there are people here that have them working.

Yes. there are people here that have them working.

But it does lack some functionality like VOD as well as some other things correct? Im wondering if the Tivo 3 integrates the off air local station multicasts into the FIOS lineup?

A block away....above ground......they have had service for at least six months. They stopped at our neighborhood because our utilities are underground.

I would think that it should be fairly soon after the work is performed.....but I really don't know.

Well if thats the case, there is a good chance it is coming out of the same FDH(Fiber Distribution Hub), the large tan boxes in which the "cross connect" is made. That would mean that its already set up in the Central Office(CO) and if the fiber is already pulled through the conduit, shouldnt be long at all. All that should be left at that point is final testing.

The reason I gave longer is that in many areas, they are basically in a new start up, signal still not active from the CO. typically the contractors are laying the foundation while Verizon is still building it into the system. In DE, I have seen many communities already pulled for over a year and still not active.

But it does lack some functionality like VOD as well as some other things correct?Just VOD...

Im wondering if the Tivo 3 integrates the off air local station multicasts into the FIOS lineup?Yes, it does.

At some point, FiOS may transition to IPTV delivery which wouldn't work with the Series3, but that is probably four (or more) years off, if it happens. It won't happen in the next two years.

Are you able to view the menus and the guide with TIVO S 3 using FiOs?

Thanks

Are you able to view the menus and the guide with TIVO S 3 using FiOs?Tivo's menus and guide/EPG ... yes.

Verizon's menus and guide/EPG ... no.

Tivo has their own guide / EPG which is what you use / see with the S3.

Verizon just started offering their Fios TV service in my area. When I asked where I can see the quality of the picture and what local information they had, they suggested that I check out my local Circuit City of Best Buy. Well, of course, none in the area are wired up yet for Verizon Fios.

What I'm trying to find out (question from my wife) is, on the Weather Channel when they do "locals on the eights" do they insert local weather information just as they do for my Comcast Cable service? Can anyone confirm that they do or don't insert local weather info? Also, what is the Weathercan Local channel that's in their lineup?

Some additional questions -- If I didn't get a converter box for one of my TVs, what channel range would I receive on my cable ready TV? Channels 2-125 or something less. Also, is the firewire port on the HD Motorola 6200 box enabled? And finally, are their local HD broadcasts unencrypted and in QAM 256 so I can receive them with my QAM tuner?

Thanks in advance for the answers to all of these questions. The Verizon service center, wherever they are, hadn't a clue on any of these. They are merely order takers.

What I'm trying to find out (question from my wife) is, on the Weather Channel when they do "locals on the eights" do they insert local weather information just as they do for my Comcast Cable service? Can anyone confirm that they do or don't insert local weather info? Also, what is the Weathercan Local channel that's in their lineup?

Some additional questions -- If I didn't get a converter box for one of my TVs, what channel range would I receive on my cable ready TV? Channels 2-125 or something less. Also, is the firewire port on the HD Motorola 6200 box enabled? And finally, are their local HD broadcasts unencrypted and in QAM 256 so I can receive them with my QAM tuner?

Thanks in advance for the answers to all of these questions. The Verizon service center, wherever they are, hadn't a clue on any of these. They are merely order takers.
Probably same exact weather feed as Comcast.
Chs below 50 are available in analog and clear QAM (inc HD) - basically all the locals.

You might get better answers in the your local HD thread.

You might get better answers in the your local HD thread.

I've tried that, however it's so new here, I've yet to get a response from anyone, that's why I thought I would open the question up to other markets.

Probably same exact weather feed as Comcast.
Chs below 50 are available in analog and clear QAM (inc HD) - basically all the locals.

You might get better answers in the your local HD thread.

The weather channel inserts on our FiOS are for Pomona, CA, about 80 miles east of where I live by the coast, and our weather here is significantly different from there, so I do not consider it useful, even in the least. My previous provider, Adelphia, inserted to the local weather for my local area.

The "Widgets" (optional crawl at the bottom of the screen) is by zip code, so it can be anything you want.

The "Widgets" (optional crawl at the bottom of the screen) is by zip code, so it can be anything you want.
If you don't mind the format this would be a good way to get the info.

if you use a S3 Tivo, the cable card is required from Verizon, correct? how does it deterrmine if you're "allowed" to receive HD content?

As I understood it, all the boxes are the same with regards to HD and the HD DVR, they just turn on different options depending on what you purchased. if i wanted to use a CC, would it just "pass" the info to the tv? is there still the $12 monthly fee for the DVR if i'm using the CC and a S3?

if you use a S3 Tivo, the cable card is required from Verizon, correct?The CableCard is required to get any encrypted channels. You can use an S3 with Verizon without a CableCard ... you basically end up getting the locals (including HD locals). Although, there's a few 'quirks' to using an S3 with unencrypted QAM ... see other threads for details.how does it deterrmine if you're "allowed" to receive HD content?With a CableCard you get the channels you subscribe to. That's the point of the CableCard. If a channel is included in the package you subscribe to ... you get it.As I understood it, all the boxes are the same with regards to HD and the HD DVR, they just turn on different options depending on what you purchased.The regular HD box and DVD HD box are different. DVR box has a hard drive ... regular HD STB doesn't.if i wanted to use a CC, would it just "pass" the info to the tv?Not sure I understand this question.is there still the $12 monthly fee for the DVR if i'm using the CC and a S3?No, the $12.99 fee is for Verizon's DVR. With an S3, you pay for the CableCard(s) (I think it's $2.99 each) ... and of course, you pay Tivo service fees / whatever ... but no, there's no $12.99 DVR fee to pay Verizon.

I though you hated the TV service. Why do you still have it?

because its more trouble to switch back and I wanted to keep all the work of the install and wiring now that basement is finished etc. I just have to hope things improve. My wife seems fine with it and they did reimburse me for the damaged attic access panel and recepticle. I could go on but obviously we have our reasons for keeping fios for now.

I did however keep Comcast for standard cable (chans 2-99) for 2 tvs/rooms and one hd dvr box for the ton of recordings we still had on that and for the superior comcast on demand including hd on demand content.

It seems crazy to pay for both services and hopefully i can get rid of comcast all together at some point but in the meantime its a best of both worlds scenario and another reason why i'm keeping fios.... because i still have comcast too.

It also allows me to more actively compare service and pricing.

the std def box i have in kitchen is free from fios and not just for 6mo or a year. As long as we keep phone (which we already had) or internet service, it is free.

Fios charges about a dollar more for the hd dvr box and dvr boxes but Comcast charges a higher rate for your second dvr box and charges some HD equipment addtnl charge for the hd package or whatever if you have even one hd box and chans.

Fios charges less for the tv package before boxes but right now i actually got a great deal from comcast for 6 mo where that is cheaper then fios for that but otherwise its usually more.

Got some credits and good deal from Fios for now so thats another reason to keep.

The internet I'm afraid while originally i thought was more the clear winner over comcast cable modem internet seems to be the opposite. I figured being a better medium in fiber then coax and not suffering from speed fluctuations the way cable modem from comcast does that the fios internet service was superior.

Well I had a great and fast comcast connection and was paying the lowest service rate for that since we had before they added diff prices for diff speeds.

We were getting just about the fastest speeds you can from comcast at about 19mb/s for my highest speed test and the rest of the time was still between 10-15. Fios tries to tell you that comcast is 3mb/s but ifyou look online at the speed tests and what ppl get, in recent times there is some new permanent speed boost and not just for the first 10-20mb of your dl anymoe.

was only getting 5mb/s for the 5/2 fios service. I upgraded to the 15/2 just to get speeds like i was getting before with comcast but i'm not paying more i think. i still have to check up on that. But if i can get faster for less with comcast i may have to actually switch back to comcast for internet.

problem with that and i told fios that is that then i have cable modem, my own router (needed even with fios router cus actiontec one sucks) and the fios AT router which is a lot of clutter.

Having to keep a router even if you just have tv service is dumb and you dont need to with comcast so if i go back to comcast internet i would be tempted to ditch fios tv and having to have the router.

Then comcast would offer us some too good to turn down triple play offer and we would end up with nothing from verizon after being a verizon phone customer for long time.

So while they are trying to add tv and internet services to get our dollar they would end up losing the one service they had us as a customer for because of failing at providing those new services in a good way for a good price. Realizing this Verizon did kind of crap themselves at the idea of losing a long time phone customer because of their trying to get into tv and internet and failure at least with us, so only then did they give the reimbursements originally promised from the install and other issues.

I'm still not totally happy but they did enough to keep me for now.

Speaking directly of the stb's guid and the dvr funcitons I will say, i do not like the guide at all compared to comcasts. With fios guide you cannot see the full name of the show. With comcast you could and i hate having to hit info everytimne with fios just to see the full name of the show as it only shows first few lettes and cuts the rest off so many you can't even figure out.

Also the dvr function is not as good as comcast especially the being it has no swap feature. When i have 2 things recording i can't switch between the 2 of them easily at all and still haven't figured out how to as typing in the chan of the other show recording doesn't work as it asks if you want to continue that action and stop recording or not do it continue recording.

i was told you could switch to chan of other show recording and then hit last to switch back and forth between the 2 tuners just like the swap button on comcast but i haven't been able to. And just in general the dvr doesnt' seem to be as good and sometimes it doens't record shows etc.

I guess i need to call fios to request the new remotes and hope they are any better then the horrendous first ones. for now i just use the comcast remote but get annoyed that certain funcitons like swap dont work on fios. The dvr button does thogh and i dont know why the verizon remote doesn't have a dvr button and you have to hit menu then go to recordings.

They need to get over themselves and thinking they are topping comcast and start just copying comcast down to the detail. Once they are matching them in every way they can then start to try to beat them. Just claiming the novelt of fios isn't enough. Anyone who knows, knows comast has been using fiber in the ground for years and just doens't run it to each house but prob could at any time.

They are both huge monopoly companies and though i like the competition i kind of just have never liked verizon in anything they do and hope they fail or a better more customer friendly cooler more competent, less cocky company buys out their tv and internet services.

I could use some advice from the helpful membership here. A little background to put my router related question into context first.

We have both the FIOS internet and TV service. An initial signal strength problem has led to another unintended problem. Verizon located the ActionTec router on the far end of my house where signal strength is very low for my entire house (My old Netgear router worked for my entire house). I countered by installing a range extender from Netgear which works as intended. However, the Netgear range extender gobbled up one port on the ActionTec and I'm now left with only three - when I need at least four (more would be even nicer).

So here is my question - What is the best way to expand the number of wireless ports in my circumstance?

I have my old Netgear router as well as a spare ActionTec. Can I simply daisy chain the routers to gain more ports? If so, I would appreciate an understanding of how to do so. I'm hoping the solution is a simple matter...

The ActionTec Router is horrible period and Verizon knows it. They ony had to use it because it was one of the only ones that could do the MoCa translation they needed for eternet to coax but now that he ONT box handles that they are talking about going back to the Dlink routers they used to use and i'm on the list to get one as soon as they do.

In the meantime I also have a netgear router daisychained to the actiontec which has better range.

I spent hours with a fios internet tech figuring out how to do it as the netgear makes it a little more complex then just disabling DHCP as you can with other routers. I think it was just a matter of changing the ip and some stuff but i can't remmeber it all what we actually did that worked since we tried a few things and it took 2 or 3 diff call backs by same tech working on the matter for me. he went above and beyond supposedly because of the problems I had with install and use of service and fact that fios install knocked out my comcast internet conneciton forcing me to get the fios inet.

Why do you have a spare actiontec router? same one that fios uses? from them or your own?

You should have and still can make them install the router in a better place of your choice in house and preferably in same room as your desktop pc if you have one. My installers tried to put it in basement at first also because they were lazy and to be nice i just agreed to that and several other things though i really wanted them to do it different or place things elsewhere including the battery backup. But next visit had them move the router from the basement because i was going to being having work down there and it was going to be in the way and get all messed up.

anyway try to read online or call fios tech support about daisy chaining the router. They should have documentation on how to do it now at least from my case and if not ask for a tech support guy named Talmage.

Daisy chaining should work - I use the extra ports on the Linksys Vonage box when the FIOS D-link router ports are full.

how did you get a dlink router already? or do you nto have fios tv service and therefore never were changed from the dlink to the actiontec? as i said they may go back to the dlink for everyone including tv service ppl.

1) New remote

I'm assuming from your comments that you got one of the old remotes ... namely, one of the following two:
http://www22.verizon.com/fiosforhome/images/fiostv/drc800_user_guide.pdf
http://www.scientificatlanta.com/ExplorerClubGuides/getting_started/734357.pdf

And my guess would be the Motorola one (listed first).

However, Verizon does have a new remote coming out:
http://www22.verizon.com/nroneretail/nr/rdonlyres/0d93f875-4498-460f-8fc4-a15d519b4e7c/0/welcomekitremotecontrolinsrt_nc.pdf

Alternatively, there's tons of universal remotes that work with the Motorola DVRs (including some very cheap $10 - $20 ones).

2) 30 sec skip

The DVR supports 30 sec skip. Unfortunately, the two older remotes Verizon deployed don't support it. The new remote does (as does several of the universal remotes that the Motorola boxes are compatible with).

3) Better guide

Verizon was showing off a new interface last week at CES. The guide still looks like a traditional 'grid guide' and not the 'Tivo guide' that you may like / be used to. But ... still looks like some good improvements.

Verizon has said they expect the new software to be deployed to all customers by 'mid-year'.

The new remote seems optimized to work with the new software so ... I'd take a look at the link above and see if it will meet your needs. If so, wait untill the new software gets rolled out and then see about getting one. If not, check out some of the other universal remotes for sale that work with the Motorola boxes.

4) Better STB

Your main complaint seems to be "You can only record two channels at the same time if the tv is turned off or you are watching a recorded show". Well, the same is true for Tivo and any other 'dual-tuner' DVR.

However, you can watch TV (live) via another source while the DVR records two shows. If you split the coax and run one end to the DVR, and the other end to your TV, you can watch a (limited) amount of channels 'live' (via the TV) while the DVR records two shows. Verizon carries the locals / PEGS (channels 1-49) as unencrypted analog so you can watch those without a STB. Verizon also carries the local HD channels in unencrypted QAM so ... if your TV has a QAM tuner you should also be able to get those via the TV.

Verizon isn't deploying a 'three tuner' DVR anytime in the near future (although, they have talked a little bit about nDVRs).


I still dont like look of thenew Verizon remote or the shape compared to the comcast one and it still seems to now not have a swap button unless its the Change button. They shouldn't just take away the button and hope we forget, they need to implement a swap feature. When 2 shows are recording you should be able to easily change between the 2.

We were getting just about the fastest speeds you can from comcast at about 19mb/s for my highest speed test and the rest of the time was still between 10-15. Fios tries to tell you that comcast is 3mb/s but ifyou look online at the speed tests and what ppl get, in recent times there is some new permanent speed boost and not just for the first 10-20mb of your dl anymoe.

was only getting 5mb/s for the 5/2 fios service. I upgraded to the 15/2 just to get speeds like i was getting before with comcast but i'm not paying more i think. i still have to check up on that. But if i can get faster for less with comcast i may have to actually switch back to comcast for internet.

problem with that and i told fios that is that then i have cable modem, my own router (needed even with fios router cus actiontec one sucks) and the fios AT router which is a lot of clutter.

My internet service with Comcast ranged from ok to awful. I was supposed to get 6 down 386Kbs up. I never got close to that. Usually it was about 2.5 to 3 down. For one 4 month period it went down to 1 to 1.5 down. I called repeatedly and go the same set of responses: spyware (my system was clean), reboot modem and router (did it countless to times to no effect), signal strength is fine -- must be a problem with your computer, etc. Finally after 4 months, they sent a tech out who replaced the badly corroded cable running from the pole to my house. Voila. Back to 3 meg down.

As soon as FIOS internet was available I switched. For $2 more than comcast, I signed up for the 15/2 service. According to the speakeasy speed test I routinely get between 14.8 and 15.2 down and 1.8 up. I have had the service for 13 months and my speed has never gone down from this. FIOS internet has been rock solid reliable and a great change from Comcast.

Good to know that they are changing ONT's and going back to Dlink. My Dlink router is not great but I least I know my current setup works well with it, especially my VOIP service.

Well if thats the case, there is a good chance it is coming out of the same FDH(Fiber Distribution Hub), the large tan boxes in which the "cross connect" is made. That would mean that its already set up in the Central Office(CO) and if the fiber is already pulled through the conduit, shouldnt be long at all. All that should be left at that point is final testing.

The reason I gave longer is that in many areas, they are basically in a new start up, signal still not active from the CO. typically the contractors are laying the foundation while Verizon is still building it into the system. In DE, I have seen many communities already pulled for over a year and still not active.

I've seen the large tan box....it's big!, about three blocks from the house.

I thought they were done, but the diggers were back this morning working the other side of the street. Verizon told me that they will contact us through mailings once everything is set to go. They would expect this to happen "in a few weeks".

how did you get a dlink router already? or do you nto have fios tv service and therefore never were changed from the dlink to the actiontec? as i said they may go back to the dlink for everyone including tv service ppl.
I have the original D-link from my 9/05 install of FIOS.

Verizon told me that they will contact us through mailings once everything is set to go. They would expect this to happen "in a few weeks".
I would periodically check the availability of FiosTV at the website. It took about 3 weeks after FiosTV became available on my street for the announcements and flyers to start showing up in my mail. I happened to check the weekend my street was added and had actually had Verizon FiosTV installed before the first flyer showed up in my mailbox. Just keep the site (http://www22.verizon.com/content/FiosTV/ should work) bookmarked and enter your phone # and even your address to be sure from time to time.

Verizon told me that they will contact us through mailings once everything is set to go. They would expect this to happen "in a few weeks".

In my case I noticed a neighbor was getting it installed. I went over and talked to the installer and he gave me a number to call. I called and arranged for the install. A few days later a verizon rep was in the neighborhood going door to door.

I'm scheduled to have FiOS installed on Thursday. Today I was talking to an installer that was doing the home across the street. He encouraged the homeowner to go with a wireless connection to his office computer rather than running Cat5.

My question is ... won't that impact speed? I'm signed up for the 15/2 ... and I definitely don't want anything bottlenecking the speed by using wireless. Anyone out there with experience on this issue???

I have wireless 5/2 and I get 5.2/1.8 consistently.

Just checked it

5.189/1.864

The internet I'm afraid while originally i thought was more the clear winner over comcast cable modem internet seems to be the opposite. I figured being a better medium in fiber then coax and not suffering from speed fluctuations the way cable modem from comcast does that the fios internet service was superior.

With FIOS you are sharing a connection with no more than 32 other subscribers. In most instances it is 16. The combined bandwidth is over 630 Mb. So at worst case if all on that one fiber pulls 15 Mb, there is still headroom. With cable you are sharing with dozens or even hundreds of other subscribers. If everyone gets on at the same time(after work, school, etc) and there's a bottleneck.


Having to keep a router even if you just have tv service is dumb and you dont need to with comcast so if i go back to comcast internet i would be tempted to ditch fios tv and having to have the router.

Well this is NOT cable service, as cable is not satellite. These are different technologies plain and simple. Does that make it better or correct? Not by any means, it all depends on the end user.


They need to get over themselves and thinking they are topping comcast and start just copying comcast down to the detail. Once they are matching them in every way they can then start to try to beat them. Just claiming the novelt of fios isn't enough. Anyone who knows, knows comast has been using fiber in the ground for years and just doens't run it to each house but prob could at any time.

They are both huge monopoly companies and though i like the competition i kind of just have never liked verizon in anything they do and hope they fail or a better more customer friendly cooler more competent, less cocky company buys out their tv and internet services.

What good would it do to "copy" and be exactly the same as the local cable co.? Thats just bad business. Your right comcast has been using fiber for years, so has verizon. Running it to the house is a huge difference than running it to an area. The investment would be tremendous for cable companies to change. As a matter of fact it was an option that Verizon looked in to. FTTP won out because it offers a major bandwidth advantage. That and you have a completely passive system between your house and the Central Office. Along with coax, wireless and powerline transmission was also a consideration.

The ActionTec Router is horrible period and Verizon knows it. They ony had to use it because it was one of the only ones that could do the MoCa translation they needed for eternet to coax but now that he ONT box handles that they are talking about going back to the Dlink routers they used to use and i'm on the list to get one as soon as they do.

Yep that Actiontec is a big ugly router. I have found it though to be an easy to use, powerful device. I cannot however compare the range of that and the D-Link as I have not done side by side. The new 612 ONT's that are starting to replace the 611's are indeed MoCa capable and are defaulted to use the coax port for data. As far as Verizon going back to the D-Link? I cant see it happening. The router still has to tie into the MoCa which the D-Link is not capable of. The installation of a NIM would be required with a D-Link. Yet one more device at your computer desk and another port used up on your router.

I'm scheduled to have FiOS installed on Thursday. Today I was talking to an installer that was doing the home across the street. He encouraged the homeowner to go with a wireless connection to his office computer rather than running Cat5.

My question is ... won't that impact speed? I'm signed up for the 15/2 ... and I definitely don't want anything bottlenecking the speed by using wireless. Anyone out there with experience on this issue???

The router is 802.11b and 802.11g capable. The 802.11g is capable of 54 Mbs transfer, well above the 15M service, and 802.11b is 11Mbs. Now with that said, other factors can affect performance. Distance from pc to router, outside interference (cordless telephones, neighboring routers, even microwaves)and home construction materials can all slow things down.If its feasable, I would personally ask for the Cat5e run and if you want to use wireless later, then that is up to you. The other option is if the are installing a MoCa enabled ONT then existing coax may be used for the data.

I'm scheduled to have FiOS installed on Thursday. Today I was talking to an installer that was doing the home across the street. He encouraged the homeowner to go with a wireless connection to his office computer rather than running Cat5.

My question is ... won't that impact speed? I'm signed up for the 15/2 ... and I definitely don't want anything bottlenecking the speed by using wireless. Anyone out there with experience on this issue???
If you have any choice at all go for a wired connection - the speed, security, reliability can't be matched by wireless.

Of course the tech will tell you to go wireless - he then doesn't have to install the CAT5 cable. :rolleyes:

I'm scheduled to have FiOS installed on Thursday. Today I was talking to an installer that was doing the home across the street. He encouraged the homeowner to go with a wireless connection to his office computer rather than running Cat5.

My question is ... won't that impact speed? I'm signed up for the 15/2 ... and I definitely don't want anything bottlenecking the speed by using wireless. Anyone out there with experience on this issue???

The actual best throughput you can get with 802.11g is around 27Mbps. Distance and interference will knock that down quickly.

For me, the ONT was connected to the NIM via coax and the main computer's Ethernet adapter was connected to the NIM and other computers are connected via Wifi.

Thanks for the advice.

The workers are still in the neigborhood this morning digging, pulling, and burying the orange conduit with fiber cable. The did this in front of my house and I would have to say they did a very good job. There is an in-ground 2ft by 3ft or so junction box at the side of my property.

From reading Verizon's website, they will provide wireless network adapters for each computer (up and above the first) at a cost of around $60 each.

How long before Verizon contacts you after they finish the wiring in the neigborhood?

I didn't know Verizon would provide the wireless network adapters (at any price). I already had mine, so it wasn't an issue. $60 is not a great price, but it could be worse.

Don't know how long how long before Verizon will contact you after wiring the neighborhood.

I was surfing around the great interweb and saw that Actiontec got a coax ethernet adapter certified by the MoCA people.

http://www.actiontec.com/products/home_networking/megafast_coax_net_adapter/index.php

Has anyone heard about this or know when I can expect retailers to offer it? I have been using a D-Link Access Point to bridge to my Xbox 360 and DSM-520, but this looks like the way to go. Thoughts?

Boy am I annoyed. I should've been enjoying my fios TV and internet by now. Unfortunately Verizon made a mistake. When I had ordered fios I was originally given an install date of the 29th. 2 days later a Verizon rep called my wife and asked if they could move the date up to the 24th instead. I talked to my boss and took off the 24th. Yesterday 10:30 approaches and no one is here yet. I know it takes several hours to install so we call up Verizon. They have no record indicating the 24th (although during one of the many transfers one of the agents confirmed that they were moving up dates in my area) and even went so far as to accuse my wife of being the victim of a prank call. You know, those prank calls where a person pretends to be a Verizon rep and places you on a 3-way call with another rep to update your install date of fios... happens all the time.

Anyway, she wanted to cancel the whole thing and asked to be transferred to customer service. We've never been a big fan of Verizon in the past due to weird issues like this and she really didn't want to change to fios in the first place. She told the rep she wanted to cancel and they said they would give us a free month. She told them she would agree only if they guaranteed someone would be there the 29th no matter what. Looks like I'm going back to the waiting game.

Boy am I annoyed. I should've been enjoying my fios TV and internet by now. Unfortunately Verizon made a mistake. When I had ordered fios I was originally given an install date of the 29th. 2 days later a Verizon rep called my wife and asked if they could move the date up to the 24th instead. I talked to my boss and took off the 24th. Yesterday 10:30 approaches and no one is here yet. I know it takes several hours to install so we call up Verizon. They have no record indicating the 24th (although during one of the many transfers one of the agents confirmed that they were moving up dates in my area) and even went so far as to accuse my wife of being the victim of a prank call. You know, those prank calls where a person pretends to be a Verizon rep and places you on a 3-way call with another rep to update your install date of fios... happens all the time.

Anyway, she wanted to cancel the whole thing and asked to be transferred to customer service. We've never been a big fan of Verizon in the past due to weird issues like this and she really didn't want to change to fios in the first place. She told the rep she wanted to cancel and they said they would give us a free month. She told them she would agree only if they guaranteed someone would be there the 29th no matter what. Looks like I'm going back to the waiting game.


When I had FIOS internet installed in 12/05, they called the day before to confirm. Given your story, once they start TV installs in my neighborhood, I will call the day before to confirm. Still doesn't guarantee anything but it does confirm that the appointment is in their system.

I was surfing around the great interweb and saw that Actiontec got a coax ethernet adapter certified by the MoCA people.

http://www.actiontec.com/products/home_networking/megafast_coax_net_adapter/index.php

Has anyone heard about this or know when I can expect retailers to offer it? I have been using a D-Link Access Point to bridge to my Xbox 360 and DSM-520, but this looks like the way to go. Thoughts?
Perfect timing! I was wondering just yesterday if such a device existed... and if not, might be an opportunity. It's probably just 2 dumbed down cable modems with complementary transmit and receive frequencies. (I wonder how it will avoid interfering with cable modem or FiOS MOCA signals... different frequencies?)
What a shame the DVR doesn't enable the ethernet port on the back, to provide access to the router. (You may have noticed that your DVRs are "on" your ethernet network... you can ping them, typically the addresses start at 100 or 101.)
ActionTecs site lists a bunch of online retailers... I checked a few but could not find this product anywhere. I'd say this is a new product, still in the pipeline. (Their web page isn't even finished... no specs, no minimum requirements.) How can something that isn't available get "certified"?!?

Perfect timing! I was wondering just yesterday if such a device existed... and if not, might be an opportunity. It's probably just 2 dumbed down cable modems with complementary transmit and receive frequencies. (I wonder how it will avoid interfering with cable modem or FiOS MOCA signals... different frequencies?)

It's a MoCA product as well, so I presume that spec allows multiple IP devices to properly use the same frequency space. You should only have to purchase one of these things with the ActionTec router on the other end providing the routing.

It looks like the thing to get. Too bad it doesn't look like it's available yet.

I have the original D-link from my 9/05 install of FIOS.

yes they only switch you to the ActionTec if you get fios tv service.

The router is 802.11b and 802.11g capable. The 802.11g is capable of 54 Mbs transfer, well above the 15M service, and 802.11b is 11Mbs. Now with that said, other factors can affect performance. Distance from pc to router, outside interference (cordless telephones, neighboring routers, even microwaves)and home construction materials can all slow things down.If its feasable, I would personally ask for the Cat5e run and if you want to use wireless later, then that is up to you. The other option is if the are installing a MoCa enabled ONT then existing coax may be used for the data.

Where you can't have cat 5 run, a good alternative is the wall electric outlet internet sharing plugs.

Basically you have an ethernet cable from one port in say the Verizon Action Tec Router running to one of the plugs where it connects say in the bottom like my netgear ones then plug it in.

Then in other location or floor of house you just plug the other one in and connect the included ethernet cable to that and your device like say, a desktop pc, laptop, or xbox 360 which i do.

The internet connection travels through the electric in your house and out your recepticles.

I remember reading about this technology when it was new and thought it was pretty neat. I forget exactly how it works but its pretty simple

Its like having a wired connection which is always preferable. I'm not sure if its full strength like a wired connection direct to the router or if it loses a little traveling through the electric wiring and out the outlet.

My fios install guys originally installed the cat 5 for the router down in the basement but then it was movied to my home office.

Im hoping its still connected becaue i had electrician helping to finish basment make an outlet for it on my tv wall so i thin i could plug that right into my xbox 360 or other game system there without using an additional wall plug, but you can buy the 2 pack to connect one to modem/router and the other for one device and then you can buy single ones for connection additional devices.

i think i'll go check the activeness of that ethernet cable down there because if its not i'd want them to have it connected.

oh but I will say that strangely enough when my 360 is connected through the netgear wall socket pseudo wired connection that it can't seem to stream 1080p wmvs from my pc as well as it can using the wireless adapter and wifi.

you would think the opposite, but that tells me that maybe that pseudo wired connection through electric outlet does lose some speed. I guess i can connect laptop and compare the speed to wireless. but the 360 could get diff speed with both the outlet and its own wireless since its diff adapter then the laptop.

ok, of cours its not connected and now i broke the plastic that my electrician had over the box he installed for the ethernet cable/cat5?

installers prob just ran a new line from outside to upstairs office. hopefully then its just a matter of connecting the line that runs to the basement back into the box on side of my house.... i hope.

you dont need to have the cat5 go through the router or something like it and then to the device i want connected?

I guess I'll call verizon on it, i meant to sooner and hope they wouldn't need to get to any wiring in the now finished dry walled ceiling. at least i had electrician run it and make a box for it, if it can just be connected out side that will be great and i'll find out if i need anything else or if it can just be connected to a device.

hm, i guess i'm dumb on this subject. i guess technically that line will have to run from the router in 2nd floor office down to basement so if the line in basement just runs to the outside and isn't connected then they would just need to connect it outside and run it up to 2nd floor from outside so it comes from basement to outside then up to 2nd floor and back in.

that or if it is connected to the outside still maybe there is just a device it needs to run through before going into laptop , 360 or other device, hm. can you just use any router? or does the coax need to be plugged in also? thats just for the stb's guide right, other wise the coax wouldn't need to be plugged into the action tec router as it gets its inet connection from teh cat 5 cable right?

oh well i hope that can be easily connected but i'm thinking short of having another action tec rtouer which verizon wont supply free i'm sure it will have to run up to office and into the router for it to be a working connection down there and that may not be hard to do and wont require adjusting the cable down there and good its already in place where i want it.

meanwhile i somehow had same wireless signal down there as i do on 1st floor with router on 2nd floor so i guess i could use the wireless card of the laptop and the wireless adapter of the 360 or the electric socket plug thing though it being new woring i wonder but i guess its tied into same house wiring/circuit breaker.

just would like to make use of that cat5 down there since it was left and electician made a an outlet box for it.

also i did recently upgrade to the 15/2 from 5/2 with fios because i was getting much faster speeds with my previous comcast inet connection then the fios 5/2

well, i'm not getting much more then 5 at least not wirelessly on laptop using wireless G and 3 out of 5 bars of signal strength. maybe that is why and will have to check wired desktop pc but i better be getting more then just a little over 5 if i'm paying for 15/2 otherwise i mine as well switch back to 5/2 whic i was getting just a little over 5 like 5.2 or so and now just 5.9mb/s. that just isn't enough of an increase and not close to 15.

The wall outlet converters are limited to a maximum throughput - usually 2mb/s but I have seen some that say 10mb/s. There is a lot of error correction that has to occur from all the electrical noise.

It's very unlikely that you will see a single download hit anything near 15mb/s simply because the source of your download must also be able to provide that speed and the route between you must support it.

Where the 15/2 comes in handy is when you are remoting in to work, downloading massive files, streaming music, watching tv, and talking on the VoIP phone all over the same fibre connection. The bandwidth is there to support multiple activities that would ordinarily max out a 5mb/s connection.

I will never go back to cable because at least in my area, the script kiddies are hammering away with their scan and hack tools such that browsing speed slows to a crawl. I'm glad I'm off that party line!

yes they only switch you to the ActionTec if you get fios tv service.
I had the TV service for a few months and was never switched to the Actiontec (just NIM was added)

Where the 15/2 comes in handy is when you are remoting in to work, downloading massive files, streaming music, watching tv, and talking on the VoIP phone all over the same fibre connection. The bandwidth is there to support multiple activities that would ordinarily max out a 5mb/s connection.

I will never go back to cable because at least in my area, the script kiddies are hammering away with their scan and hack tools such that browsing speed slows to a crawl. I'm glad I'm off that party line!

5/2 is plenty for most folks even if they do all that. I watched TV, used VOIP and downloaded Vista all at the same time with no issues.

Yeah, the speed of cable is very dependent on who else is on in the hood. In my hood I'm willing to pay FIOS $10 more ($30 vs $20) /mo than cable (for the same on paper speed) just because of that issue.

The wall outlet converters are limited to a maximum throughput - usually 2mb/s but I have seen some that say 10mb/s. There is a lot of error correction that has to occur from all the electrical noise.
I tried what was apparently a first generation electrical outlet network solution from Netgear, it maxed out at 1 mb/s on what was then a 5/384 cable internet.

I now have 15/2 FIOS.

Needless to say, I returned it to the store for a refund. I've read some reviews in Max PC of some 2nd gen products that are getting more in the ballpark.

If you have any choice at all go for a wired connection - the speed, security, reliability can't be matched by wireless.

Of course the tech will tell you to go wireless - he then doesn't have to install the CAT5 cable. :rolleyes:

I agree CAT5 gives you the best connection possible. But I think wireless is a very good alternative when running CAT5 is not viable. I have wireless connections to two computers in my house. I have the 15/2 package from Verizon. With the Verizon 15/2 package, I typically get between 12-15 Mb per second download on my wireless workstations and 1.8 on the upload.

As for security, I realize that wireless (by definition) is more susceptible to intruders than wired. I use 128 bit WEP encryption and MAC address filtering and am perfectly comfortable with this setup.

Yes the latest gen (Netgear HDX101) electrical adapters actually far outstrip current wireless connections with far, far better reliability. You may have to try a few outlets to get the best speeds and reliability though. I had to try 3 different ones in the same room to get a solid connection. The first 2 were very unreliable, I never did figure out why because they are all on the same circuit. I can not recommend highly enough the new netgear adapters.

Yes the latest gen (Netgear HDX101) electrical adapters actually far outstrip current wireless connections with far, far better reliability. You may have to try a few outlets to get the best speeds and reliability though. I had to try 3 different ones in the same room to get a solid connection. The first 2 were very unreliable, I never did figure out why because they are all on the same circuit. I can not recommend highly enough the new netgear adapters.

Priced at NewEgg for $80 each (you need one for each computer, plus one at the router). So for one computer, it would cost $160. You can buy a decent wireless adaptor for about $40.

200Mbps is impressive. If you do a lot of file transfers from one computer on your home network to another then 200Mbps is great! But, if you goal is to connect to the internet, a wireless G adaptor provides up to 50Mbps which handles my 15Mbps FiOS download speed quite nicely.

Reliability? My wireless network is very very reliable. Maybe I'm just lucky?

I had the TV service for a few months and was never switched to the Actiontec (just NIM was added)

so you still have the dlink even though you have fios tv now as well. thats strange. though the new ont box can now do the moca translation they still have beenusing the actiontec router as the official router until they make an official decison to go back to the dlink.

i guess mostly for new installs where as if you already had the dlink and got fios once they were using the new ont boxes that did the moca they were able to let you just keep your dlink. interesting.

do they even need a router at all then for fios tv if the box does the moca translation now?

so they left your dlink in tact when you got fios tv? they had to at least plug a coax into it right? does the dlink even have a coax input? if not then its not really connected to the fios tv which is why i asked my previous question.

maybe the stb's can get all the info they supposedly need for the guide from the ont box instead of from the router?

were my techs just dumb then in thinking that i need the router for fios tv when i was getting just that at first and no internet? did they not know it was no longer neccesary? i dunno, i just dont see how if the dlink doesn't have a coax input that they didnt' make you switch to the actiontec.

i guess the same way t hey supposedly could now go back to it now that the ont box does what they needed the actiontec to do previously.

Which means also instead of waiting for them to make an official decisoin of which i'm on a list to get a dlink when they do, i should be able to get one now as i'm sure they still have some evne though they are officialy using the actiontec.

hopefully i can request a dlink router asap then. the only question is, Is it compatible with xbox 360
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/connecttolive/xbox360/homenetworking/equipment.htm

though i'm sure some are not listed that are compatible. the ActionTec isn't listed and does work with 360 but just gets a moderate NAT which isnt 'ideal but hasn't given me any noticeable problem and i have my netgear g router daisy chained to it so i have a choice and usually the netgear has a stronger signal from further away (again the actiontec is crap in several ways)

ideally though i want an a/b/g router for the 802.11a which is ideal for 360 and its wireless adapter.

That site shows only 2 compatible a/b/g routers. a dlink one and a linksys one so i may try getting one of those to daisy chain to the actiontec and least then i'll have the option of an A signal.

5/2 is plenty for most folks even if they do all that. I watched TV, used VOIP and downloaded Vista all at the same time with no issues.

Yeah, the speed of cable is very dependent on who else is on in the hood. In my hood I'm willing to pay FIOS $10 more ($30 vs $20) /mo than cable (for the same on paper speed) just because of that issue.

but considering i was getting 19mb/s on comcast while still paying for the original grandfathered in price before they added different tiers of speed/price, plus had a special rate at that too i think at least for a year or something.

i was basically forced into getting fios data because they disconnected my comcast homerun feed even though i told them to make sure not to as i had comcast internet and the installer threw out teh amp and then said he didn't have any and that comcast would have to come back at my expense to reconnect what fios disconnected and discarded.

plus the fact that as i've said you have to supposedly have the actiontec router for fios tv anyway so mine as well make use of it for data. especially if its by your computer which for me was the best logical place to put it evne if i wasn't subscribing to data so would have been a big useless router taking up desktop space in my office next to pc.

they prob dont need it anymroe and just put it there to remind you and force you to also subsribe to data.

anyway point is my comcast speed was much faster then 5/2 fios. yes i know it suffers from traffic etc but i never had any problem and it ranged from fast to super fast but never slow for me.

now i had to pay more to upgrade to 15/2 just to get close to what i was getting from comcast and even so i dont get a full 15 down on speed tests where as with 5/2 i was getting just under 6 but over 5.

The wall outlet converters are limited to a maximum throughput - usually 2mb/s but I have seen some that say 10mb/s. There is a lot of error correction that has to occur from all the electrical noise.

It's very unlikely that you will see a single download hit anything near 15mb/s simply because the source of your download must also be able to provide that speed and the route between you must support it.

Where the 15/2 comes in handy is when you are remoting in to work, downloading massive files, streaming music, watching tv, and talking on the VoIP phone all over the same fibre connection. The bandwidth is there to support multiple activities that would ordinarily max out a 5mb/s connection.

I will never go back to cable because at least in my area, the script kiddies are hammering away with their scan and hack tools such that browsing speed slows to a crawl. I'm glad I'm off that party line!


wall outlet converters limited to 2mb/s usually? hm so that would explain why it doesnt' sream 1080p wmvs from my pc as well as the wireless does.

i dont know what generation it is but i got it from comp usa, it was a $100 ripoff and was the only brand they had i think and i figured since i have a netgear router i'd go with the netgear anyway.

sounds like my best bet for 360 would be a wired connection and i shoud have had fios run a cat 5 line from actiontec router to behind tv on 1st floot. then i could return the netgear thing but it might come in handy in other locations/rooms. the wireless adapter for 360 i dont mind having and i got that cheap plus right now its my faster connection i guess at least for streaming though dling stuff on 360 the electric outlet connection seems faster who knows.

my bro runs an ethernet cable from his upstairs to 360 and i could do that when noones around or whatever but that is messy and a pain. damn lazy fios installers could have ran me a line. now its too late cus basement is finished , unless they fish down from 2nd floor where router is to 1st floor tv.

as it is i have the one in basement not connected to anything and they will complain to come out and possibly charge me to run that one to the router so its active in basement. i'm hoping it wont be much of a problem if they just have to take the end that is outside or wherever and run that up behind drain spout and into attic as they did others then down wall where they put a cat5 outlet and i think it has a slot for another one on same cap. its a 2 cat 5 and one phone line plug wall recepticle i think (can't see it behind office desk wall unit)

Prob moving the 360 to the basement eventually anyway especially so i dont wake my wife up on 2nd floor when i'm talking loud on xbox live, so 2 floors down will be better. But can't do it for now because we prob want to keep the 1080p tv up on 1st floor room as its main tv viewing room. The tv going in bsement is only 720p, heh, so that would be a waste especially for the hddvd. So until i get another 1080p tv, i can't see moving the 67" one down to basement if it can even get down steps and bringing the old 720p one that is also 7" less back in fam room. will be a downgrade where as its fine for basement, though basement does have better sound setup with better 6.1/7.1 channel receiver (3 rear speakers instead of 2) in wall speakers though i may get a center rear speaker for fam room too and compatible new receiver because the long wide room could really use a rear center speaker.

its just the cat 5 line is already down there in basement and run to a box where cable, electric etc. is where tv is going so its a shame its not connected.

i guess ideally verizon could connect both but then i'm runnig out of ports on the router though i can keep the basment one disconnected until its needed.

they will complain and charge me to run a cat 5 line from router to 1st floor and even to connect the line they left in basement. i dont know if they even can fish one from 2nd floor down to first, they will prob have to go outsideand into basement and then up or something like that. should have done all this before finishing basement though half is still unfinished storage the side where tv is , is finished, ugh.

I tried what was apparently a first generation electrical outlet network solution from Netgear, it maxed out at 1 mb/s on what was then a 5/384 cable internet.

I now have 15/2 FIOS.

Needless to say, I returned it to the store for a refund. I've read some reviews in Max PC of some 2nd gen products that are getting more in the ballpark.

hm, i hope my netgear one isn't the same. i really need to connect it to laptop and test the speed cus 360 has no way to test speed and thats all i've used it for.

hope i can still return it to cusa if my mine is only 1mb also, that sucks.

prob have to order online the newer ones capable of faster speed.

Priced at NewEgg for $80 each (you need one for each computer, plus one at the router). So for one computer, it would cost $160. You can buy a decent wireless adaptor for about $40.

200Mbps is impressive. If you do a lot of file transfers from one computer on your home network to another then 200Mbps is great! But, if you goal is to connect to the internet, a wireless G adaptor provides up to 50Mbps which handles my 15Mbps FiOS download speed quite nicely.

Reliability? My wireless network is very very reliable. Maybe I'm just lucky?

hm, mine is the Netgear XE102G and says its compatible with 10Mbps or 10/100 Mbps ethernet with data rates up to 14 mbps.

it was $100 and comes with 2, then you can buy additional single ones for 40-50 i forget. i'm sure you can find cheaper online but was just convenient to grab at cusa.

might see if they have the faster one and either way prob return the xe102g and get that faster one online somewhere.

but considering i was getting 19mb/s on comcast while still paying for the original grandfathered in price before they added different tiers of speed/price, plus had a special rate at that too i think at least for a year or something.

i was basically forced into getting fios data because they disconnected my comcast homerun feed even though i told them to make sure not to as i had comcast internet and the installer threw out teh amp and then said he didn't have any and that comcast would have to come back at my expense to reconnect what fios disconnected and discarded.

plus the fact that as i've said you have to supposedly have the actiontec router for fios tv anyway so mine as well make use of it for data. especially if its by your computer which for me was the best logical place to put it evne if i wasn't subscribing to data so would have been a big useless router taking up desktop space in my office next to pc.

they prob dont need it anymroe and just put it there to remind you and force you to also subsribe to data.

anyway point is my comcast speed was much faster then 5/2 fios. yes i know it suffers from traffic etc but i never had any problem and it ranged from fast to super fast but never slow for me.

now i had to pay more to upgrade to 15/2 just to get close to what i was getting from comcast and even so i dont get a full 15 down on speed tests where as with 5/2 i was getting just under 6 but over 5.


I find it implausible in the extreme that you are getting 19 down from Comcast consistently. Maybe for a few seconds but not consistently. I had Comcast for nearly 3 years. When I signed on they offered 3 down, 384 Kbs up. Then they upgraded to 6 down. I never got more than 4 down. Currently I have the FIOS 15/2 service. I consistently get 15 down and 1.8 up. When tested over the weekend, I got 15.2 down. Comcast supposed offers this speed burst service. That may get you over six for very short periods of time but I just don't see you getting 19 down as a regular speed.

there is a kit for the hdx101 that comes with 2 but its 160, same as if you got 2 separately.

"It follows a demonstrably inferior, European-brewed standard. Netgear simply jumped the gun and didn't wait for HomePlug-AV chipsets to become available. This HDX[B]101 product is a dead end, because HomePlug-AV will win the standards war.

If you truly need higher speed than is attainable from HomePlug-Turbo products such as Netgear's XE104 (85Mbits/s best-case raw channel bitrate), then wait a little while for HomePlug-AV-compliant ("200Mb/s") products to hit the market in the USA, supposedly in December. They hit the market in Europe in November.

This HDX[B]101 product runs VERY hot, so much so that it probably should have a fan inside! Don't expect good long-term reliability from it.

Caution: Neither this product nor forthcoming HomePlug-AV ("200Mb/s") products can intercommunicate with HomePlug ("14Mb/s") and HomePlug-Turbo ("85Mb/s") products--not without the use of a bridge product, anyway. They supposedly can detect each others' presence and can do something to peacefully coexist, but at some cost in performance. It'd be better to have a homogeneous network on your powerline.
"

i think i'm going to look for this homeplug av. i heard someone from europe talking about it. hoipefully its out here now. either way i hae to return the ex102 to cusa and hope its not too late cus receipt says 21 days on back and today is 28. now i'll be without a powerline device until whicever i order gets delivered. i can't believe all cusa has is the old slow one.

http://www.intellon.com/products/homeplugav/

this may be for another thread but after looking into homeplug AV which i think is still not out yet here for us in the US, but it seems like it can share hdtv.

this would fit into this thread about fios tv hardware because it seems like it might be able to share one stb to another tv? i guess you would still need some type of stb that had an ethernet port and if the fios ones do i dont know if its activated but having another fios stb would defeat the purpose anyway.

if there is a stb with an ethenet port and you have the ohter one connected to a fios hd dvr stb you could maybe share that stb and all its contents abilities with another tv witout having to pay for another stb.

http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/22/homeplug-av-powerline-networking-part-deux/

that is a solution i continue to look for. how to elimanate paying for so many stb's especially since fios doesnt' get the standard cable chans through coax without stb the way comcast does.

if not this definately shares a stb
http://www.x10.com/products4/google/wireless_video_sender_vk80a_t.html

but i'm not sure if it can share the HD or not and i heard in previous in model it couldn't.

"Welcome to the HomePlug Powerline Alliance

Imagine:
Entering your house, you unpack and plug in your newly purchased flat-panel TV. Simply and quickly - the TV automatically connects to the cable box, the DVD player, the Digital Video Recorder, the Home Theatre system, and also to the Internet."

http://www.homeplug.org/en/index.asp

http://www.homeplug.org/en/docs/inthenews_press/Powerline.pdf

notice how comcast is sponsor and verizon isnt.

so it looks like technically they can use this technology to bring video, data and voice into the home.

they might not like the idea of not being able to charge as much for a stb at each tv but you still need some device to connect from outlet to tv so...

either way it looks like a way comcast could compete with fios.

I'm building a new home in a Fios service area.

As I understand it, the optical interface goes on the outside of the house by where the fiber comes in. The battery backup and power supply go inside within 50 feet of the optical interface.

We have an electrical closet about 20 feet from where the fiber will come up to the house where we'd like to put the battery backup and power supply. I'd like to prewire that 20 feet while the drywall is down and access is easy. Otherwise there will be stapling, drilling and/or fishing through a bunch of new drywall and insulation, which is just stupid.

Verizon tells me that they won't be able to get a tech to either come out and do this prewire, or even tell me or my electrician what needs to happen, unless I order service. Of course, I'm not ready to order service - and they won't start a service order now for final instation 4 months from now when the house will be finished. Catch 22.

Verizon MUST have to deal with this with new developments, but 4 calls to both the order center and the tech center have yet to produce any resolution.

Any suggestions? This is not a good start to my Fios relationship....

Any suggestions? This is not a good start to my Fios relationship....
Simple - install the ONT inside the house where the power supply will be. Just need a path for the fiber to that location. Everything else (coax, CAT5, phone) might be simplified with this approach.

I'm building a new home in a Fios service area.

As I understand it, the optical interface goes on the outside of the house by where the fiber comes in. The battery backup and power supply go inside within 50 feet of the optical interface.

We have an electrical closet about 20 feet from where the fiber will come up to the house where we'd like to put the battery backup and power supply. I'd like to prewire that 20 feet while the drywall is down and access is easy. Otherwise there will be stapling, drilling and/or fishing through a bunch of new drywall and insulation, which is just stupid.

Verizon tells me that they won't be able to get a tech to either come out and do this prewire, or even tell me or my electrician what needs to happen, unless I order service. Of course, I'm not ready to order service - and they won't start a service order now for final instation 4 months from now when the house will be finished. Catch 22.

Verizon MUST have to deal with this with new developments, but 4 calls to both the order center and the tech center have yet to produce any resolution.

Any suggestions? This is not a good start to my Fios relationship....

Why not have the builder / electrician install a run of conduit from the wiring closet to the outside, where the ONT (FIOS Optical box) will be installed? Then, when the FIOS installers come, then can just fish their wires through the conduit.
At the same time, I would recommend having conduit installed to allow them to fish the CAT5 to wherever you will need it for data, as well as COAX for the FIOSTV.
Then, they won't need to drill or staple anything, the wires will go right through the conduit, leaving your walls nice and clean.

noamparn, installing a conduit may be the best alternative. biker19, your solution would have the same problem - we'd still have to get the fiber to the electric closet after drywall and insulation are in.

I don't think there will be any need to install additional CAT5 or coax - we have structured wiring throughout.

I don't think there will be any need to install additional CAT5 or coax - we have structured wiring throughout.
You have to get the coax and CAT5 from the ONT to the nearest connection point. But as someone else suggested the conduit will be needed regardless.

noamparn, installing a conduit may be the best alternative. biker19, your solution would have the same problem - we'd still have to get the fiber to the electric closet after drywall and insulation are in.

I don't think there will be any need to install additional CAT5 or coax - we have structured wiring throughout.

I am guessing the structured wiring all terminates at the wiring closet.
You will still need to get the coax, CAT5, and phone wires from Verizon's ONT to the wiring closet.
They may or may not be willing to fish the fiber through a conduit to allow them to install the ONT inside. You need a rather sizeable hole an conduit to pull the pre-terminated end through. The fiber can't bend too tightly. They did install my ONT inside my basement at my request, but they had to drill a 1.5-inch hole through the wall to get the fiber through. if your conduit run is not straight, they may have trouble fishing the fiber through it. I would use a 2 or 3 inch conduit at least, with gradual bends.

I've got a question about the Moto boxes. For those of you that have them, do they run hot at all? If I jump ship and finally get rid of this portable toaster that Directv gave me, I'd like to finally be able to close my media cabinet.

2nd, do the Moto boxes use IR or RF? About the only thing I like about the H20 from D* is the RF feature.

I've got a question about the Moto boxes. For those of you that have them, do they run hot at all? If I jump ship and finally get rid of this portable toaster that Directv gave me, I'd like to finally be able to close my media cabinet.

2nd, do the Moto boxes use IR or RF? About the only thing I like about the H20 from D* is the RF feature.
It's warm, but I wouldn't call it hot by a long shot. I also have H10 and Samsung DirectTV boxes... they're about the same. This time of year I wish they put out more heat!
The Fios STB uses IR.

hm, mine is the Netgear XE102G and says its compatible with 10Mbps or 10/100 Mbps ethernet with data rates up to 14 mbps. .
I'd have to check to be sure, but that sounds like the model I bought and returned since it was useless to surf the net with.

yeah mine was fine except for streaming 1080p hd wmvs for which the wireless was actually better and less choppy so i guess faster. So i returned the netgear xe102 homeplug powerline adapter.

Seems like the hdx101 or whatever is not an official certified home plug 200mb device

"Beware: HDX[B]101 doesn't follow the HomePlug-AV standard

It follows a demonstrably inferior, European-brewed standard. Netgear simply jumped the gun and didn't wait for HomePlug-AV chipsets to become available. This HDX[B]101 product is a dead end, because HomePlug-AV will win the standards war.


If you truly need higher speed than is attainable from HomePlug-Turbo products such as Netgear's XE104 (85Mbits/s best-case raw channel bitrate), then wait a little while for HomePlug-AV-compliant ("200Mb/s") products to hit the market in the USA, supposedly in December. They hit the market in Europe in November.

This HDX[B]101 product runs VERY hot, so much so that it probably should have a fan inside! Don't expect good long-term reliability from it.

Caution: Neither this product nor forthcoming HomePlug-AV ("200Mb/s") products can intercommunicate with HomePlug ("14Mb/s") and HomePlug-Turbo ("85Mb/s") products--not without the use of a bridge product, anyway. They supposedly can detect each others' presence and can do something to peacefully coexist, but at some cost in performance. It'd be better to have a homogeneous network on your powerline."


So I would maybe get the Netgear XE104G 85Mbps Powerline Adapter Kit. But i'm wondering what the difference is between that and the Netgear 85Mbps Wall-Plugged Ethernet Adapter Kit ( XE103G-100NAS )

i would think the 104 was newer yet amazon was selling the 104 first and the 103 came later so i dunno.

The 104 has the Netgear 85Mbps Powerline Adapter with 4-Port Switch ( XE104NA ) though while the 103 just has additional outlet and not one with 4 port switch and i dont know that the xe104na wiht 4 port switch will work with the 103?

But the 103 is cheaper. i think i'm just going to hold off for now. It seems the homeplugs aren't this perfect wired connection that it leads you to believe and its definatley a ymmv type of thing.

http://www.homeplug.org/en/products/products.asp

has a list of HomePlug Certified Products which i guess the netgear hdx101 isn't but i can't find any certified ones that are the 200 mbps only 85 i thnk though i didn't try looking for them all and you can't tell what speed they do by thename of most of the products by diff manufacs.

i guess in the end running the Cat 5 is still the best and cheapest way if you can do it.

i have Verizon tech coming tomorrow to try to run a line from my router on 2nd floor in front of house down to tv for xbox 360 on 1st floor in rear of house. i dont know how they are going to do it or if it will be possible. my electrician was going to try but never got to it.

could have prob gone into wall and then up into attic or just outside and down to basement and then up underneath tv but i just got my basement finished.

i got the install and most other important stuff done before the basement got underway but didn't think of this until now and didnt' want to bother with the trouble of it. now i'm trying anyway when its going to be much harder.

Also they had left a cat 5 cable run to basement from when they put the router there so my electrician ran it into wall and into a box where it can be capped with a cat 5 wall plate but id ont know what the other end is connected to.

if it is still connected to the box outside then what do i need on it at the other end to use it for a connection? another router or something? can i use any? i guess it has to be connected to the router at the other end to be able to plug into any devices in basement. so they will have to see where the other end is outside or wherever and run it up to the route rinstead.if its just outside they should be able to go up behind drain spoiut and into attic and then down from attic into office wall the way the installers did for the other one.

Running a brand new cord form 2nd floor office to 1st floor tv room though is oging to be the hard one.

i hope it works out as then i dont have to buy a homeplug/powerline adapter. i like them and wanted to try a faster one but figure at this point its better to wait for the certified 200mbps ones.

they m ight be bringing me the dlink router if they have any and definitely the new remotes so that is good.

i also might get a linksys a/b/g router though too to use on A for the 360 which wont interfere with all the 2.4ghz stuffand other wifi connections.

man i really wish we had done this before basement was finished. could have come right up from the basement underneath the tv where some others wires come up from therewhere tv is anyway.

im thinking its going to be too hard and i'm going to be stuck using G wifi through eithe rthe actiontec or my netgear until i can get a new homeplug powerline adapter or the linksys A router.

might be able to get teh basement one connected and i hope considering i have a box for it and wire is already there just needs to be connected to the right thing at the other end but i'm only putting 720p tv there for now so prob not the 360.

it is my better sound down there so it will be tempting to move new better 1080p down there where i have the better sound in wall and the wired connection but i just can't move the old 720p tv back in fam room.

i mean there is prob a diff type of set that would be more ideal for the corner location in my fam room but id ont know what. AS it is, i though of just getting something new 1080p for basement for the whole new setup including considering getting a sony sxrd 1080p projector but its like 4k but then could use a large screen as i have a prett big flat wall but with cabinets that are going there and low ceiling in basement in that spot id ont know how large of a projection screen i could go. Can't spend anymore money though.

i dunno what i'm g oing to do but its going to be stupid when the basement is all nic ean new with better in wall sound setup and receiver and has the wired ethernet connection but then i put a 720p tv there , no 360 and prob just a reg prog scan dvd player until i get another upconvert one for that spot.

oh plus i actually have comcast cable running to that spot down there and where i'm moving the one comcast hd dvr i kept mostly for hd on demand etc. i do have an access panel for that and can switch it to fios tv fairly easily i think and then have to get another stb or whatever and can drop comcast but i'm keeping it with one box and mostly for 2 othe rrooms so they h ave starndard cable t hrough coax.

what a mess.

Verizon finished up my FiOS install yesterday. All in all 3 crews came out. There was a 2-man crew for the TV, a 2-man crew for the Internet, and some random guy who was also working on the internet stuff. It took them under 4 hours to complete. All my channels work fine from what I can tell. I'm getting a little over 5Mbps down and 1.84Mbps up. TV looks great. I did a picture-in-picture of the SD vs. HD so I could see the difference. My only regret is having the 60-inch TV since I only sit between 13 - 16 feet away... the picture looks much better another 4 feet away. I guess I should've listened to my wife and got the 50" instead.

Now all I need to do is some tweaking to try and calibrate it to show HD content better and learn how to program the remote to have TiVo as the Aux input so I can have 1 remote for everything.

Hey everyone... I've been lurking this thread for a while laboring over the jump from COX cable in chantilly to FIOS. Finally pulled the trigger last week and ordered the FIOS HD with DVR, 2 sd stb, 5/2 wireless internet. I was surprised to get an install date for 2/2 (just a tad over 1 week from initial call in). Monthly cost is cheaper than COX. As well, because I ordered last week, I get an AMEX gift card in the mail in a few weeks!

Anyhow, looking forward to the FIOS HD connection. COX pq has been dropping off lately and I finally got frustrated enough to make the plunge. They could never seem to get the line hot enough for decent sd pq on my HD panel. Low db on the Sci Atl stb just could not be brought up. They didn't want to put an amp on the system because they said it worked only one way in and not back out. In fact, it would drop the signal level back to the home office so low, that it too would cause problems. This is just an example - one problem after another with it. So, I'm finally making the switch.

I'll let you all know how the install goes and what I think of the service afterward. I'm expecting great things but we'll see what happens....

Oh - one last thing... anything I should watch out for that maybe I haven't already read through the installation?

I am guessing the structured wiring all terminates at the wiring closet.
You will still need to get the coax, CAT5, and phone wires from Verizon's ONT to the wiring closet.

True, but that's pretty much a no-brainer for my general contractor. Those basic connections (at least the coax and twisted copper pair) would be needed whether we have FIOS or traditional phone and cable service.

So I had my install yesterday. Got the TV (1 HD-DVR, 2 SD boxes) and 10/2 Internet (although I am going to call tomorrow and get their triple play which will up my speed to 20). It went more or less fine. The biggest problem was that my computer could not negotiate a dynamic address from the Actiontec. I tried two different ethernet cards (I am a dork, I admit it. I have ethernet cards just lying around) and neither worked. I eventually convinced him to change the size of the DHCP pool and static the computer and it worked fine. The speed is tremendous (I had 768k DSL before. Slow yes, but it is hard to beat $15 a month).

On the TV side I got the "new" Philips remote. It is terrible. Moving around the guide is painful since the page up/down buttons don't work and there are no Day +/- keys. I have a Harmony for the DVR but the other boxes are stuck with the supplied remote. PQ is tremendous. HD and SD both superior to Comcast. I am not fond of the DVR but I think that stems more from the learning curve (coming from an SA 8300HD) than anything else. Closed Captioning is annoying since you have to access the "hidden" menu on the box to toggle it and cannot do it with the remote. VOD is slim pickings but I rarely used that on Comcast (really only for NFL highlights) so no big deal.

I called Comcast before I switched to see if they could give me a reason to stay. Unless I was willing to pick up their Internet and/or phone service they did not want to talk to me. I had their Internet service once and it was so unreliable. I will say this for DSL. It may not be the fastest but it was rock solid. In the three+ years I had it, I only had to reset the modem/router once.

I save $40 a month for TV, but spend $25 more for Internet so net $15. Once I do the Triple Play I will save even more.

The best news is I get a dedicated YES-HD and don't have to worry about Comcast's crazy sports pre-emption scheme any more.

From reading this thread I cannot understand why Quatre switched from Comcast. It seemed like he was getting a good deal both in terms of service and price. The reason people are so excited about the prospect of switching to FiOS is because they have a problem with either the service or the price of their current provider. If you are happy with both why switch? The install is always going to be free (or at least heavily subsidized since no one would sign up if Verizon charged $600 to install it).

I had a problem with both on Comcast. I was paying over $100 a month for an HD DVR and 2 analog sets and no premiums (my problem with the price). The way they handle HD sports in the NY area is a total joke (my problem with the service). My wife won't allow a dish on the side of the house so FiOS made total sense for us.

The real advantage Comcast and other Cable Co's have is that they offer greater analog service. Don't underestimate people's hatred of STB's because of the space they take up and the addl monthly cost.

The install is not trivial. It took 7.5 hours all told and we were without phone for 4 of them. You have to be really committed (or maybe you should be committed :)) to get it. I think my wife summed up the whole FiOS experience pretty well "If I had known what [the installation] was going to be like I wouldn't have wanted it but now that it is over I am glad we have it."

I've got a question about the Moto boxes. For those of you that have them, do they run hot at all? If I jump ship and finally get rid of this portable toaster that Directv gave me, I'd like to finally be able to close my media cabinet.

The manual for Motorola QIP6416-2 recommends leaving 2 inches clear above the STB for ventilation and heat dissipation. While this does not directly answer your question, I can say that my STB is barely warm to the touch. I have an open front cabinet and there is 3 inch space above and 1/2 inch left and right. I just put a thermometer on top of the STB, temperature reads about 90F when room temp is 75F.
HTH

One thing Verizon didn't tell me (or maybe it just wasn't clear enough) was that each TV requires an STB if you want all the channels. With Comcast I had digital cable on the main TV and ran coax to whatever other TV I wanted. Now with Verizon I have my main TV hooked up but my coax run only carries the local channels. Unless I pay another $5 a month I'm stuck with that. It's not a huge deal because there's still a tremendous amount of savings, but it's also an issue.

I knew about the STB for each TV by reading through the many threads included on this forum (what a great source of info). As you pointed out, even though you have to get the boxes, the monthly still undercuts COX. My setup is going to be like Tiyuri but with the 5/2 internet. That should be enough. I'm curious to see how it performs over the cable line which was similar.

So far the installation phase is progressing for the 2/2 install. Ordered on Thursday, Miss Utility painted the yard on Saturday, contractor buried the cable to the house on Tuesday (and by the way - I had to really look to see that it was there - they did a nice job even around the landscaping) and finally, I got my confirmation call on Wednesday for the 2/2 (Friday) install.

Only hitch so far - when I signed up, they said the installers would arrive between 8am and noon. When the confirmation call came in on Wednesday, they said they would be there between 8am and 5 pm! A much wider range. I hope they don't show at 430pm to start the 4-6 hours install process. Mama won't be too happy... and when mama's not happy...

One thing Verizon didn't tell me (or maybe it just wasn't clear enough) was that each TV requires an STB if you want all the channels. With Comcast I had digital cable on the main TV and ran coax to whatever other TV I wanted. Now with Verizon I have my main TV hooked up but my coax run only carries the local channels. Unless I pay another $5 a month I'm stuck with that. It's not a huge deal because there's still a tremendous amount of savings, but it's also an issue.


Their website is pretty clear about the need for STB's for each TV.

I guess what I hadn't realized was that it was a 100% digital connection. I knew that I needed an STB for their digital service but what I didn't realize was that their non-digital service consisted of only a few channels. Comcast cable had around 60 channels and the digital cable had 200 or whatever.

I commented earlier today that I received a confirmation call for my Friday 2/2 installation. This was an automated process where I press 1 to confirm... yadda... yadda....

Well, now I just received a call from "Betty" in customer service to "personally" confirm my installation. Two confirmation calls in one day - one automated - one personal. Now that is customer service. ...am I dreaming?

I never got this kind of attention from COX or any other service company for that matter. Last time I scheduled to have them out, 5 minutes before the schedule window was over, I received an automated call telling me that I wasn't home when the technician arrived and to press a # to reschedule. Of course I had been home all day and was home to receive the call. Aaargh!

Well, its not Friday yet... we'll see how prompt the Verizon techs are. No, I'm not from Missouri but with past experience in pay tv how can I not be cynical? Stay tuned...

jim based on my experience you should get a call from the tech the morning of the install letting you know he's on the way. in my case he got here at 9:45 AM. if you're lucky you'll get Ed Cooper who's a good guy & takes some extra effort to make the install look as clean as he can(Ed mentioned he does a lot of installs in NOVA). good luck & lucky you that you can get TV now(still waiting here in N.N.)


Jim

This "horizontal stutter" problem involves only WVEC channel 13 (ABC) in SE Virginia. The local channel 13 signal is received analog by FiOS. At times during the day (during Good Morning America everyday), only the FiOS channel 13 PQ becomes fuzzy and the picture "stutters" horizontally. When the same analog signal is viewed OTA, the "stutter" and fuzziness are not there. The problem only appears via FiOS and I have it recorded on my FiOS DVR. FIOS is currently studying the problem. I was wondering what information the members can give me on this type of problem and has anyone seen it in other areas of the country? This is not a network or station problem since it is not there OTA. All other FiOS local/national SD/HD channels are OK. Thanks in advance.

Stutter is well documented here and on other related FIOS DVR forums. It happens to me with all of the HD channels. It can be temporarily resolved by turning off the box and going into the setup menu (hit menu key) Choose 480i and then back to 1080i. It will be fixed for a while. I do not think that Verizon has acknowledged this problem yet.

jim - same experience here ... day before installation 2 calls from CS to verify appointment (one automated - one a real live person! :eek: ) ... crew came later that day and pulled the fiber to the house. The next morning the installer called and said he was on his way and would be there within 30 minutes (he showed up 25 minutes later!). Then the day after installation - 2 more calls from CS "welcoming" me to FiOS (both were automated) ... next day a real person called and asked if I had any questions or problems. WOW! This can't be happening in today's world of CS from voices stationed on the other side of the world. Keep up the good work, Verizon! :)

This "horizontal stutter" problem involves only WVEC channel 13 (ABC) in SE Virginia. The local channel 13 signal is received analog by FiOS. At times during the day (during Good Morning America everyday), only the FiOS channel 13 PQ becomes fuzzy and the picture "stutters" horizontally. When the same analog signal is viewed OTA, the "stutter" and fuzziness are not there. The problem only appears via FiOS and I have it recorded on my FiOS DVR. FIOS is currently studying the problem. I was wondering what information the members can give me on this type of problem and has anyone seen it in other areas of the country? This is not a network or station problem since it is not there OTA. All other FiOS local/national SD/HD channels are OK. Thanks in advance.

The problem was fixed this morning. The local FiOS system was receiving a good signal from the local station, but the FiOS head-end equipment was acting up causing the problem in a very large group of neighborhoods (although almost no one reported it). FiOS techs made the necessary adjustment at their regional tech center and all is well again. Nothing needed to be done at my home. :)

I had my install a week and a half ago, install went smoothly, other than cablecard (I opted for an additional card to go on the same tv as my dvr, just for a third tuning option).

While at work, I recieved a phone call from my wife saying that the technicians "were having problems getting the cablecard working"...they later gave up and said they'd have to schedule another, more experienced technician. What bothered me was that on arrival at home, I found a cablecard slotted in the back of my tv forced into the slot upside down and no connection to made to my television other than component out of the DVR stb.

I then properly seated the card, made the correct connection with coax to the tv, and spent a week of hour-per-night phone calls to Verizon to get things sorted between their orders department and thier tech staff , and the whole thing could have been avoided if they had gotten my order right in the first place. Lesson: be present for the install if you want cablecard, the tech's do not necessarily know what they are doing in that regard. My wife quotes one of the techs as saying, "We're phone techs, we're not trained for this sort of thing."--scary, although they did a good job with the internet and wiring the house.

PQ is superior to comcast, especially in high motion scenes. Even my wife can tell the difference. Internet is stable and routinely 15.2.

how can I enable the spdif digital audio coax output on my 2500 box (or the 6416)? thanks. The installer is here right now and can't figure it out. (trying to do the power + menu button thing to get to the menu but can't get in.) thanks.

Fios tech came out the other day and ran me 2 wired cat5 cable for internet connection from my router to 1st floor and basement. They did this complimentary for all the problems we had with our service and foul ups with install etc.

The one cat 5 was already in basement left there from original placment of router but the other end was just in the ont box not connected. he had to cut that in basement and tie into it with a line h e ran up to attic and down wall into my router. put a wall plate on box in basement and one with 2 cat 5 coming out in office. ran other one threw basement, under deck up by drain spout and into fam room behind tv.

This prob could have been done without going outside before basement was finished and i gave them the chance to do it then and told them it was getting drywalled. there was alread anotehr wire tha came through the floor from basement under tv but this way worked fine and its not outside much and protected.

Can Cat5 get messed up being outside in the cold and precip etc? its only outside on side of house behind drain spout and under deck against house so still somewhat protected.

Anyway it is great to have a wired connection now on 1st floor and basement with router on 2nd floor. Especially great for xbox 360

I was about to cancel all Fios services because i was so annoyed with everything that had happened especially when the tech never came for appt the day before after i made myself available and i talked to customer service several times who said they were going to call me right back and never did. Then i was on hold for an hour only to get disconnected and have to call back. AT that point i was so steaming mad i wanted to cancel everything including phone which we already had before geting fios tv and data.

i had originally just wanted to try it feeling luciky to have it in our neighborhood even thoug i didn't have much to complain about with comcast as when there was a problem they usually fixed it and made it up to you with credits etc. so we hadn't had any problems with comcast for some time. But i wanted to take advantage of the free fiber install figuing it would be good to have and get the wiring down before basement finished.

I was just really annoyed when on first day install right after i told the guy not to disconnected my comcast line at all and especially not for internet, he took the amp off for that and threw it out and when came back the next day admitted that and said they didnt' have any and that comcat would have to come back and add new amp etc at my expense.

some of these installers just have a pissy attitude and one even said i wanted the world. which its like no, i just want what i had with comcast and preferably slight better otherwise why switch. they act like they are doing you a favor, but your paying for hte service and they are being paid to do the install. yes its pretty time consuming and involved sometimes but if they can't hack it they shoudln't take it out on the customer who has these guys tracking through their house.

Anyway like i said i was ready to cancel everthing including phone which we always had as i knew comcat would offer us best deal to come back with triple play. i told verizon that that would be a sh ame that in them trying to get our tv and data dollar they end up losing the one service we were customers of for long time. i think this jumped them into action. it wasn't a bluff it was just fact that after allt he trouble that we would get best deal from cocmast to go triple play and then verizon wold have spent all that money and even on my install only to not gain a new tv and data subsriber and lose a long time phone subscriber.

I feel that them making you have the router for tv, leads you to say i mine as well get data plan if i have to have the router anyway. plus for me the guy knocked out my cable modem line forcing me to basiclaly get fios data if i wanted my internet back sooner. I felt that was really wrong and even just making you have the router for tv as a tactic to lead you to get data is wrong too.

So i reversed that point to them when i was thinking about switching back to comcast for tv due certain things fios tv lacked compared to comcast like not being able to get standard cable chans (2-99) through coax and w/o stb. plus no hd on demand on fios just to name a few. As far as internet, i was getting faster speeds from comcast then i was the fios 5/2. So i had reasons to switch back to comcast on both services and if i did one i would do the other because why have the router for one service or the other if you dont have both, so i reversed that on t hem though it was mostly if i got rid of internet i would still have the router, plus cable modem and my own router and wodln't want the 3rd thing taking up desk space with the tv router so would get rid of that, hten in switching back to comcast i would get triple play and drop long time verizon phoen service.

Again i think this sprung them into action somewhat though they were still pretty lax and disorganized and didn't follow up, but they wanted to keep me past the 30 day trial so iw as a locked in customer. So they sent the tech to do the cat 5 runs complimentary.

This was smart, and i do realize how much an electrician might have charged for that including the long runs of cat5.

i'm happy with the wired internet connectiosn i have from neat wall plate i have now on 2 floors and getting used to the tv and data service from comcast. So we are keeping it now thanks to what they did. They also brought us the new remote which i believe is made by phillips (cus i've seen ppl say that and the batters were philips) and it is better in some ways and lights up nicer though it has a big FIOS TV light up button which is a little obnoxious and like an advert. overall i guess its better and the larger buttons are welcome but its missing certain buttons the old remote had like the day + and - buttons and still no swap button/feature. it seems they just can't get it righ twith the remote.

now in one room we have the comcast remote, the orig fios remote and the new one, plus other dvd nad reciever remotes, xbox 360, light dimmer remote. xm radio, gas fireplace, tv and whatever else i may be forgetting. its too many remotes. i dont feel like spending money on an all in one remote and programming all that. i just wich fios had a good remote and dvr that worked like comcasts and had a working swap button/feature and i'd be fine.

meantime I have 2 hd dvr boxes. one that we use a lot and one in bedroom that doesnt get much use. have an hd box in office that we never use so is dumb to pay for, but the tv is a plasma that doesnt have a coax input or tuner so it needs a box. Should maybe think about getting a std box for that as at least the one we have in kitchen (where we never needed a box beofre with comcast) is free i think. but dont know if 2nd std box is free. nice ot have 2nd dvr in bedroom but mostly just need an hd box. i hope soon they come out with hd multi room then we maybe wont need that 2nd but i guess the extra storage is nice when you fill up the one dvr.

Meantime i also kept comcast for standard cable in 2 rooms and an hd dvr box that still had a tone of recordings on it and also kept it for hd on demand for a 3rd room. stupid to pay for both services, but right now that is the only way to get best of both worlds and i have a decnet enough deal on both at least for 6 mo that i can do it before re addressing what we are paying and for what.

i should be able to switch those other 3 to fios without too much trouble if i ever need to but even when fios gets hd on demand i'll still prob want to keep the other 2 rooms wtih cocmast for standard cable through coax unless fios offers multiple free std boxes (which they should).

a Supervisor is comign to my house to follow up and get measurement for an attic access panel they broke and give me a cable we needed for 4th stb. i feel this is a nice gesture and will wrap things up to satisfaction that started off real bad and have ended pretty good thanks to the techs install of cat 5 runs.

We'll see how things go from here, but looks like we are keeping fios. If they just match comcasts on demand offerings especially hd on demand and get teh swap button/feature working ill be happy. multi room hd dvr would be nice too and a solution to the fact of no standard cable through coax like comcast has. my suggestion was multiple free std boxes then like i said.

Dude, you have to tell short version of the story.

Dude, you have to tell short version of the story.

He doesn't know how to tell the short version. I don't bother reading his posts anymore. They just give me a headache.

I hope English is his second language because if it's his first, ouch.

Someone in my NYC TWC local AVS forum posted a link to another board thread discussing a Manhattan apartment building just wired with fibers to each apartment. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17725924 There's a post on the 2nd page from someone consulting about the topic in general. The site's ~40 blocks from my coop, and suggests NYC Manhattan installations might develop quicker than most suggest--unless someone's post about a Verizon VIP initiating the installation (and perhaps pulling strings) makes this only an exception. Anyway, some discussion there about FIOS in MDUs (multiple dwelling units). -- John

I am currently a D* subscriber with 2HD box,1 HD DVR, and 1 SD box. I am getting FiOS internet installed in a couple weeks, however FiOS TV is not yet available in my market. The FiOS TV should be available shortly. I was looking at the pricing structure for FiOS TV on line and it mentions an HD box is 9.99, HD DVR 12.99 and SD 4.99. With my current struction am I to understand I would have to pay $37 monthly just for the set top boxes? I would think they would have some sort of break or it will be cost prohibitive?

The only break you'll get is on the SD box - those are usually free with a 1 yr commitment.

Ron:

Channel 89 (available only with an STB) is TWC, localized for Tampa, not Sarasota. This isn't that big of a deal to me, since the radar is the same anyway.

Channel 49 is the weatherscan channel -- same as 101 on Comcast, but again is localized for Tampa.

If you don't get an STB but have a QAM tuner, you can find all of the locals in the clear. They're not on the right channels, but they are there if you let your tuner hunt for them. PQ looks pretty good on my Panny 50" plasma, although I do the majority of my TV-watching through the moto STB.

AFAIK, the 1394 port on the STB isn't supported in the current release of the software.

FYI, I'm in Palmer Ranch, so I assume we're neighbors...

--Les


Verizon just started offering their Fios TV service in my area. When I asked where I can see the quality of the picture and what local information they had, they suggested that I check out my local Circuit City of Best Buy. Well, of course, none in the area are wired up yet for Verizon Fios.

What I'm trying to find out (question from my wife) is, on the Weather Channel when they do "locals on the eights" do they insert local weather information just as they do for my Comcast Cable service? Can anyone confirm that they do or don't insert local weather info? Also, what is the Weathercan Local channel that's in their lineup?

Some additional questions -- If I didn't get a converter box for one of my TVs, what channel range would I receive on my cable ready TV? Channels 2-125 or something less. Also, is the firewire port on the HD Motorola 6200 box enabled? And finally, are their local HD broadcasts unencrypted and in QAM 256 so I can receive them with my QAM tuner?

Thanks in advance for the answers to all of these questions. The Verizon service center, wherever they are, hadn't a clue on any of these. They are merely order takers.

I have been a DirectTV subscriber since 1995. I just had FIOS TV installed this week. After a week of use, I am ready to cancel DirectTV.
Here is my analysis.

PRICE:
FIOS TV, Internet and phone is 160 /month for ALL the channels (except plaboy) and one HD DVR and on HD reciever, 20 DL\5 UL and unlimited calling nationwide.

I was paying over $108 before with FIOS Phone and internet (15\2) and $98 DirectV with just HDTV, HBO and Starz\encore added.

So I am saving over $30 per month, have faster internet and more channels.

HDTV
Looks great, At least on my Hitachi 60v500 I can't really see much of a difference between DTV and FIOS.
FIOS has a few more HD channels. FIOS has no HD on demand or HD PPV yet (DTV had only one HD PPV -channel 95)

VOD

DTV has no VOD, I love FIOS VOD, as does my wife and daughter.

DVR
Works just fine compared to HR10-250, and it is faster.
The only difference is that it does not automatically record on keywords (but you can search programs by keyword). For instance I can have Tivo record all programs have the word Tennis. But that is no big loss for me.

STB
The motoroloa 6414-2 is great. I can set how it displays Standard TV by hitting the menu key with the STB off then turn STB off,
I did not get the home media server because it can't stream HD yet. When it can, I will get it.

CHANNELS:
Many more channels on FIOS. I especially like the tennis channel.

MISC.
No more rain fade!! No electric interference from electrical storms (fiberoptic!)

Ron:

Channel 89 (available only with an STB) is TWC, localized for Tampa, not Sarasota. This isn't that big of a deal to me, since the radar is the same anyway.

Channel 49 is the weatherscan channel -- same as 101 on Comcast, but again is localized for Tampa.

If you don't get an STB but have a QAM tuner, you can find all of the locals in the clear. They're not on the right channels, but they are there if you let your tuner hunt for them. PQ looks pretty good on my Panny 50" plasma, although I do the majority of my TV-watching through the moto STB.

AFAIK, the 1394 port on the STB isn't supported in the current release of the software.

FYI, I'm in Palmer Ranch, so I assume we're neighbors...

--Les

Thanks for the info. Where on Palmer Ranch are you? How would you compare PQ between Comcast and Verizon?

Thanks for the info. Where on Palmer Ranch are you? How would you compare PQ between Comcast and Verizon?

I'm in Silver Oak. PQ is no contest in favor of Verizon. As I'm sure you know by now, the main complaint with FIOS is that the analog channel offerings are pretty lame -- no cnn, cnbc, etc without an STB.

--Les

I'm in Silver Oak. PQ is no contest in favor of Verizon. As I'm sure you know by now, the main complaint with FIOS is that the analog channel offerings are pretty lame -- no cnn, cnbc, etc without an STB.

--Les


Les, yes we are neighbors. I'm across the street in Turtle Rock.

Wife still wants Sarasota local weather. What I may do is keep both for now. I've got the install scheduled for a week from tomorrow, with one month free service. Then we can compare side by side, and then decide on one, the other, or even both, with maintaining just a limited package on Comcast.

Decisions, decisions.

As promised, Verizon installed my FIOS TV and Internet 5/2 on Friday and I must say - tremendous improvement over Cox (Fairfax VA). Here's the details for anyone considering the switch....

Installation -
Installer called 45 minutes before he arrived and arrived exactly as he said he would. Installed the ONT outside on the side of the house and the battery backup in the basement just on the other side of the wall. Very well done - professional installation. Only thing I didn't know and its not that big of a deal is that I am responsible for replacing the backup battery if it goes bad. I can have Verizon do it for a fee or get one myself. Easy enough to do - just didn't realize it. No biggie. Installer used "booties" on shoes every time he came inside so as not to mess the floor or carpet. I was very impressed. I only had one guy at my installation. Used the in-wall cable infrastructure as it was in good shape but replaced all wall to unit cables with new cable and compression connections. Also provided new HDMI, component, S-video and audio cables where applicable. All cables are a standard 10-foot. They don't carry shorter or longer. Installation time = 6 hours which included a tutorial on how to work everything.

Internet -
I have the 5/2 and it outperforms the Cox standard Internet which is advertised at 15/3 I believe. Anyway, web pages snap and the download speeds are rock solid at 5.1mb down / 1.8mb up. Pathping shows less hops out of Verizon vs Cox and those hops are about 30% to 40% faster. Router is Actiontec router employing the MOCA capability so I don't have a CAT5 from the ONT - it uses a cable and all of the STBs communicate through the cables back to the router and are all assigned their own IP address. The wireless connection is very simple to setup and performs similar to my Linksys wireless. Range is about the same. Router has a much larger desktop footprint.

FIOS TV -
High Def - MUCH better than Cox. Crystal clear HD and all of the banding, fuzzyness (soft image), etc is gone. Love the DVR function. Never really used one before but cannot ever go back I think. SD on the HD panel is also MUCH better. MUCH clearer than anything I ever had before. In general, image *noise* is gone. Very happy and glad I switched. Audio 5.1 seems clearer and stronger as well (best way to describe it). Its sounds like it should sound.

Only two things I would like to have changed... Make the HD local channels match the std channel numbers. For example - channel 4,5,7,9 in std are channels 807,801,802,803 respectively. Why not 804,805,807,809?? Its not huge but less intuitive. Also, it would be nice to channel surf your favorite channels live rather than through a list and then choose. I like to *surf and see* as I'm cruising through the channels. Can't find a way to do that with this system.

SD boxes -
Pretty straight forward. Menus and all work like the HD box so once you learn one, you have learned them all.

Programming -
Many more channels. Channel grouping makes sense where channels for Cox seemed to be scattered. Tough to learn the new numbers though after many years with Cox. More HD channels. Many of the channels display an *alert* warning me that the channel numbers are going to change in many cases late in February. Nice info rather than wake up one day and everything has moved. Many speculate this is because they are making room for more HD channels. I hope so. But many of the SD channels are moving around too.

In all, if you are wondering whether to switch or not - do it now. You won't regret it.

Many of the channels display an *alert* warning me that the channel numbers are going to change in many cases late in February. Nice info rather than wake up one day and everything has moved. Many speculate this is because they are making room for more HD channels. I hope so. But many of the SD channels are moving around too.


I don't have an HDTV, but I noticed this on almost all of the SD channels from 65 on up to the mid 200's. I didn't check out the HD channels, because I don't watch them yet.
I called Verizon, and spoke to the Tech Support, and the billing departments. Neither one had any information on the channel lineup changing.
It seems that they are making room for more SD channels, and so they are shifting everything up by about 10 (give or take), to make the space available.

I'm wondering what will happen with scheduled recordings. will we need to re-program all of them, since they are only set for specific channels?

Anyone have any more information on this?

All customers were [supposed to be] mailed their new channel lineups. If you threw the mailer from Verizon in the trash, you missed it.


I'm wondering what will happen with scheduled recordings. will we need to re-program all of them, since they are only set for specific channels?You will not need to reprogram your recordings, they will adjust automatically. However, you will need to go through settings -> channel listings again to verify that all the channels you want are shown in the guide. For example, if you currently have your STB/DVR set to hide channel 150, and 160 moves to 150, you won't see it in your guide anymore until you enable it in settings.

if you go to the channel line up listing on the Verizon web site, it shows all of the current and the new line up. It also has a calendar for the roll out, as it is not all at once and will vary depending on your location. the last date is March 6 for Texas. I have not gotten the letter yet, but I expect to receive it any day now, based on what others have reported.

The info on reprogramming is correct, and is also addressed on the Verizon website. While the DVR settings will still show the old channel number when it records it will automatically go to the new channel. Of course, if you set up a future recording you would use the new channel numbers,

Only two things I would like to have changed... Make the HD local channels match the std channel numbers. For example - channel 4,5,7,9 in std are channels 807,801,802,803 respectively. Why not 804,805,807,809?? Its not huge but less intuitive. Also, it would be nice to channel surf your favorite channels live rather than through a list and then choose. I like to *surf and see* as I'm cruising through the channels. Can't find a way to do that with this system.



are you saying there's no Picture-in-Guide? that sucks! not a deal breaker, but come on...

I like to *surf and see* as I'm cruising through the channels. Can't find a way to do that with this system.are you saying there's no Picture-in-Guide? that sucks! not a deal breaker, but come on...There's picture-in-guide ... there's no 'surfing' of your favorite channels. You can set up a favorites list ... and you can pull up a favorites guide that only lists those channels ... but you can't just 'surf' through those channels (which some cable boxes allow).

I have been waiting for FIOS in my neighborhood for a while now. I see the orange conduit coming out of the ground at the end of my street. My townhome community was newly constructed so I am thinking the fiber line may already have been layed during construction.

Does anybody know what the actual fiber line that gets run to your house looks like? Is it black or red or orange or anything? I have several unhooked wires coming out of the ground iin front of my townhouse!

I have been waiting for FIOS in my neighborhood for a while now. I see the orange conduit coming out of the ground at the end of my street. My townhome community was newly constructed so I am thinking the fiber line may already have been layed during construction.

Does anybody know what the actual fiber line that gets run to your house looks like? Is it black or red or orange or anything? I have several unhooked wires coming out of the ground iin front of my townhouse!

Just had the install done at my house last week. They put an orange conduit in the ground that contains a single black cable (the fiber line). There should be a cap on the end of the black cable - don't remove it.

Do you call any specific labeling or wording on the cord itself? I have a black coming out of the ground at the front my house which yet has no prupose. I am hoping it is a prewire for FIOS.

There's picture-in-guide ... there's no 'surfing' of your favorite channels. You can set up a favorites list ... and you can pull up a favorites guide that only lists those channels ... but you can't just 'surf' through those channels (which some cable boxes allow).

When you are scrolling through the channels in the picture-in-guide you are only seeing the current channel you are tuned to... it doesn't change as you scroll through. I just think it would be nice to run through the channel list and collect all of your favorites and then when you chan+ or chan-, those are the only ones you see. Its not a deal killer at all but it sure is a nice feature that I miss from Cox. Having said that - no way would I go back! :D

Do you call any specific labeling or wording on the cord itself? I have a black coming out of the ground at the front my house which yet has no prupose. I am hoping it is a prewire for FIOS.

I'll try and remember to see if there is anything labeled on it tonight. I seem to remember though a photo I saw on another link that detailed the install and if I remember correctly, there was white lettering on the cable that clearly defined it as fiber cable. I just don't recall seeing that on mine but I didn't look that closely. The cable has a pretty good diameter to it - about the size of some hefty RG6 cable.

Here's that link....
http://www.bricklin.com/fiosinstall.htm

Does anybody know what the actual fiber line that gets run to your house looks like? Is it black or red or orange or anything? I have several unhooked wires coming out of the ground iin front of my townhouse!


the fiber cable has a sturdy black sheath of insulation. the cable that runs from the main line to your house is taken off the installer's truck-he mentioned the cables come in standard lengths. he used 150 ft. for me.
now i understand if the cables in your neighborhood are underground they bury the cable to your house. my neighborhood was built in the '40's & the utilities are all on poles so my FiOS cable was strung overhead from the existing telephone overhead lines. it's no worse than what was there before-in fact it looks the same.
any FiOS lines coming out of the ground should have orange conduit & labelling like 'caution-fiber optic cable'

I've actually just called this morning to switch to FIOS (From Cablevision in NJ) - I have a few installation questions, just so I know what I'm in for! (I tried searching, and these are the questions i couldn't get difinitive answers for, so I apologize in advance if they were asked and I missed them in the previous 47 pages)

1) I've got 5 TV's in my house, my main TV will get the HD DVR, my bedroom TV will get a SD Box and I'll use my current Tivo box with it.. 2 other TV's aren't heavily used (Computer Room and Kitchen) - so I'm opting to not get boxes on them - if i opt for a box later, will I get charged anything other than the monthly fee for the rental? (I thought I read I'd be charged for installation, but can't find any confirmation). (the 5th TV is mainly for gaming so I'm not overly concerned).

2) For the TV in the Kitchen, its small 13" LCD, and while theres a window in the kitchen its not really in a place where I could run an antenna - I don't really want to give up the counter space for a STB (I couldn't put the TV on top of it, theres not enough room between the counter and cabinet) - Can the box be 'hidden' if I had to get one in order to get more than local channels?

3) With the Multi-Room DVR, its $19.99, what does that cover? is there an additional charge per box? Is it the standard $4.99 box or the $9.99 box, or the DVR $12.99 box?

4) Does Verizon offer CableCard support so I could use with a Series3 Tivo if I wanted to purchase one at some point?

5) Does the HD DVR offer PIP capabilities through the box (like my Cablevision DVR does) or will I go back to using the PIP feature directly from my TV?

Thanks in advance....

I've actually just called this morning to switch to FIOS (From Cablevision in NJ) - I have a few installation questions, just so I know what I'm in for! (I tried searching, and these are the questions i couldn't get difinitive answers for, so I apologize in advance if they were asked and I missed them in the previous 47 pages)

1) I've got 5 TV's in my house, my main TV will get the HD DVR, my bedroom TV will get a SD Box and I'll use my current Tivo box with it.. 2 other TV's aren't heavily used (Computer Room and Kitchen) - so I'm opting to not get boxes on them - if i opt for a box later, will I get charged anything other than the monthly fee for the rental? (I thought I read I'd be charged for installation, but can't find any confirmation). (the 5th TV is mainly for gaming so I'm not overly concerned).

2) For the TV in the Kitchen, its small 13" LCD, and while theres a window in the kitchen its not really in a place where I could run an antenna - I don't really want to give up the counter space for a STB (I couldn't put the TV on top of it, theres not enough room between the counter and cabinet) - Can the box be 'hidden' if I had to get one in order to get more than local channels?

3) With the Multi-Room DVR, its $19.99, what does that cover? is there an additional charge per box? Is it the standard $4.99 box or the $9.99 box, or the DVR $12.99 box?

4) Does Verizon offer CableCard support so I could use with a Series3 Tivo if I wanted to purchase one at some point?

5) Does the HD DVR offer PIP capabilities through the box (like my Cablevision DVR does) or will I go back to using the PIP feature directly from my TV?

Thanks in advance....

two things i can comment on:

yes, VZ does support cable cards

as for the kitchen tv, what about mounting the STB under a cabinet or sitting on top of a cabinet. sounds like this problem is only limited by your imagination.

I've actually just called this morning to switch to FIOS (From Cablevision in NJ) - I have a few installation questions, just so I know what I'm in for! (I tried searching, and these are the questions i couldn't get difinitive answers for, so I apologize in advance if they were asked and I missed them in the previous 47 pages)

1) I've got 5 TV's in my house, my main TV will get the HD DVR, my bedroom TV will get a SD Box and I'll use my current Tivo box with it.. 2 other TV's aren't heavily used (Computer Room and Kitchen) - so I'm opting to not get boxes on them - if i opt for a box later, will I get charged anything other than the monthly fee for the rental? (I thought I read I'd be charged for installation, but can't find any confirmation). (the 5th TV is mainly for gaming so I'm not overly concerned).

2) For the TV in the Kitchen, its small 13" LCD, and while theres a window in the kitchen its not really in a place where I could run an antenna - I don't really want to give up the counter space for a STB (I couldn't put the TV on top of it, theres not enough room between the counter and cabinet) - Can the box be 'hidden' if I had to get one in order to get more than local channels?

3) With the Multi-Room DVR, its $19.99, what does that cover? is there an additional charge per box? Is it the standard $4.99 box or the $9.99 box, or the DVR $12.99 box?

4) Does Verizon offer CableCard support so I could use with a Series3 Tivo if I wanted to purchase one at some point?

5) Does the HD DVR offer PIP capabilities through the box (like my Cablevision DVR does) or will I go back to using the PIP feature directly from my TV?

Thanks in advance....

Call customer service about the "installation" of another box later. I would bet they will charge. Its probably cheaper for you to just go ahead and get it now while they are generous on installation.

The SD STB is the size of a typical cable box. You'll need to get creative to "hide" it. Its probably thicker or similar size to the 13" LCD.

The PIP buttons on my HD DVR do nothing at all. Maybe someone knows of a way to activate these but I can't find a way.

Call customer service about the "installation" of another box later. I would bet they will charge. Its probably cheaper for you to just go ahead and get it now while they are generous on installation.

The SD STB is the size of a typical cable box. You'll need to get creative to "hide" it. Its probably thicker or similar size to the 13" LCD.

The PIP buttons on my HD DVR do nothing at all. Maybe someone knows of a way to activate these but I can't find a way.

Thanks..

2 more questions: Someone mentioned that Verizon will offer discounts on the SD boxes with a one year activation - is this true? Can anyone confirm this?

I was sorta "complaining" to the guy i spoke to this morning about the additional cost of the STB's - if i added them all in, it would cost MORE than what I pay for Cablevision - he didn't offer me anything.. If this is something they've done int eh past I could push a little more...

And 2nd.. I signed up for the triple play package (TV, Internet, Phone) and was told the internet speeds are 20/5, but most people here are mentioning 5/2.. Is this part of the promotion?

2) For the TV in the Kitchen, its small 13" LCD, and while theres a window in the kitchen its not really in a place where I could run an antenna - I don't really want to give up the counter space for a STB (I couldn't put the TV on top of it, theres not enough room between the counter and cabinet) - Can the box be 'hidden' if I had to get one in order to get more than local channels?
What do you normally watch on the TV in the kitchen? Is it mainly local broadcast channels for the weather, Today Show, local news? Does the LCD TV has an analog or digital QAM tuner (this would be unusual in a current 13" LCD TV). The local broadcast stations are provided in analog in the channel 2 to 49 group. They are also digital simulcast and mostly unscrambled from what I could tell when I looked with a QAM capable receiver. You can hook the co-axial cable to the TV and tune the locals in with the TV NTSC or QAM tuner. But if you watch the national cable channels such as CNN, CNBC, Weather Channel for news or other cable channels, then you will need a STB for it,

2)5) Does the HD DVR offer PIP capabilities through the box (like my Cablevision DVR does) or will I go back to using the PIP feature directly from my TV?
The 6416 has no PIP capability that I am aware of.

I've actually just called this morning to switch to FIOS (From Cablevision in NJ) - I have a few installation questions

1) Charges for adding additional STB after initial install:

Verizon will typically charge $24.99 to come out (after the initial installation) and add a new STB (assuming they don't have to pull new coax, install new outlets, or other additional work at additional cost).

See the following rate sheet:
http://www22.verizon.com/NROneRetail/NR/rdonlyres/09769D3D-93F6-41CB-A214-6090DCD67BE3/0/FiOSTVRateSheet_010307.pdf

3) Multi-Room DVR charge

The $19.99 covers the hardware / service / software for the (one) central DVR. It's the standard $12.99 DVR ... they just enable the multi-room capability on it. The 'client' boxes (STBs in other rooms that can view programs from the DVR) are the standard STBs and are charged normally. Right now, only the SD STBs can view programs from the multi-room DVR so ... $4.99 each.

4) CableCard

Yes, Verizon FiOS TV supports CableCard. See the Verizon CableCard FAQ (far right tab):
http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/customer+support/faqs/faqs.htm

5) PIP via the DVR

No, the Verizon DVR / software does not support 'PIP' ability on the box.Someone mentioned that Verizon will offer discounts on the SD boxes with a one year activation - is this true? Can anyone confirm this?Lots of people (including myself) got a deal where we signed up for a one-year TV committment and got $5.00 off per month (ie, a 'free' STB). Personally, I didn't get any SD STBs so ... I just got $5.00 of per month. As always with pricing ... YMMV, individual deals, promotions, and what-not may or may not apply ...

Specifically:I signed up for the triple play package (TV, Internet, Phone) and was told the internet speeds are 20/5, but most people here are mentioning 5/2.. Is this part of the promotion?If you're signing up as part of a promo package ... the $5.00 off per month with one-year committment very well may not apply.

Read the terms and conditions of the triple-play promo you're signing up for carefully. I seem to remember getting a triple-play with 20/5 connection flyer in the mail and ... it came with a one year committment anyway. I also seem to remember the triple-play price only applying for a few months ... basically you were getting a reduced rate on the 20/5 package ... after which you had to pay the full, regular 20/5 price.

Anway, read terms and conditions carefully.

And 2nd.. I signed up for the triple play package (TV, Internet, Phone) and was told the internet speeds are 20/5, but most people here are mentioning 5/2.. Is this part of the promotion?
I believe in the NY area FIOS has to compete with Cablevision speeds which are higher than norm. So there FIOS's lowest speeds match Cablevisions' 10/2? Most cable co's basic Internet speed is 5/2 so that's what FIOS offers in most other parts of the country. NY LI is special :p

Les, yes we are neighbors. I'm across the street in Turtle Rock.

Wife still wants Sarasota local weather. What I may do is keep both for now. I've got the install scheduled for a week from tomorrow, with one month free service. Then we can compare side by side, and then decide on one, the other, or even both, with maintaining just a limited package on Comcast.

Decisions, decisions.

make sure you watch the VZ FiOS installers carefully. for me, they literally cut the Comcast coax outside the house and used that hole to bring in the fiber-optic cable. they crimped a connector onto the coax and put on a terminator, but Comcast was not an option after the cable was cut. You should ask them to leave the Comcast cable intact and drill a new hole for the fiber. they can do this, i just was not watching carefully enough and VZ probably likes slicing the Comcast cable taking you to the point of no return.

make sure you watch the VZ FiOS installers carefully. for me, they literally cut the Comcast coax outside the house and used that hole to bring in the fiber-optic cable. they crimped a connector onto the coax and put on a terminator, but Comcast was not an option after the cable was cut. You should ask them to leave the Comcast cable intact and drill a new hole for the fiber. they can do this, i just was not watching carefully enough and VZ probably likes slicing the Comcast cable taking you to the point of no return.

I still have Comcast broadband internet, so VZ will be ill advised to touch the darn cable. Beside, the ONT in going to be installed inside my garage, so they will have to drill a separate hole to get their fiber inside the garage.

I'm not even thinking of switching to VZ internet until I'm 100% sold and satisfied with the Fios service. I'm taking them up on thier free installation and service to give the TV service a try.

In reading through this forum I've seen many references to a stuttering problem in the video. I've experienced this same issue with Comcast's service using the Motorola 6416 DVR box. In the past I was using the box with no problem then one day switched from using the component video out to HDMI connection. I noticed almost immediately the stuttering problem and opted to just switch back to component video on my Sony 60" rear-projection screen. I didn't do a lot of experimenting at the time since I was looking for higher video quality through HDMI not lower and just switched back to component video.

About a year ago in building out my new dedicated theatre using Sony's 1080p VPL-VW100 projector I opted to run only HDMI and DVI connections. Everything was fine then one day after I had inadvertently powered off the DVR unit at the circuit breaker I noticed that I started having this stuttering problem in the video. I tried resetting the unit several times by again removing power to the unit. After several attempts I noticed the problem went away. My theory is that there is some sort of synchronization issue with these Motorola boxes and the incoming video signal and perhaps only an issue with HDMI.

Problem is extremely annoying when it occurs. I've swapped out boxes in the past when it's gotten too bad only to have the same problem crop up with the new box. I leave my unit powered on all the time and unless I lose power to the unit when it gets in a groove it runs fine with no incidents. I haven't tried the going into the menu button and changing video resolutions to see what effect that has. Generally removing power to the unit until I get an error free picture generally takes care of it. Not sure if others have experienced this with Comcast but based on my experience I'd suspect some sort of issue with the Motorola box versus FIOS or Comcast signal.

Based on all the feedback I'm getting ready to take the plunge on FIOS. Generally I'm happy with Comcast but would like to get better quality SD channels and a couple more HD channels. I also think Comcast needs a bit more competition which in the long run should benefit all of us. I'm still annoyed that neither company offers a DVR with higher capacity than 160 GB nor the ability to hookup external harddrive to record and store more programs. If anyone has a solution for this please let me know as I'd like to be able to store much more HD programming than the 25-30 hours my current configuration allows. I'm also optimistic that FIOS should be able to offer much more HD programming since they have lots more bandwidth available.

The cable cos are at the mercy of the market when it comes to DVR choices. 250 G units should become mainstream soon enough.

I’ve been lurking for a while but this is my first post to the AVS forum. Recently, I switched from Comcast cable and internet to FiOS TV and Internet...very happy with the switch! The installation went great and the installers answered all of my many questions. The quality of the HD on FIOS is head and shoulders above Comcasts AND without pixelization. The internet has been ok (5/2). Recently, when making changes in the supplied Actiontec router I turned off broadcasting of my network. Since then the wireless light on the router is constantly blinking. Prior to turning off "broadcasting" the wireless light only blinked when I was online with my laptop. Is the blinking normal?

Hi everyone,

I live in Bethesda, MD and yesterday I had my Fios TV installation (I was already a Fios internet subscriber). I switched from D**h to which I subscribed for several years.
A single installer arrived promptly at 8:30 AM. He proceeded to visit the location and I showed him around-he entered the house with no shoes protection. The house was in general well wired and he used mostly the preexisting cables. In only one room he had to pull a cable across an inside wall from the next room. He did not clean the small debris left over after the drilling. He installed 2 regular boxes, one HD and one HD-DVR. In general he appeared proficient and he finished the job in ~3.5 hours. I have never saw him check signal strength on my preexisting cables but they did work in the end. He briefly explained the functions of the remotes and the programming. He mentioned that the HD-DVR would take some time to register all programs and did not elaborate when I asked him how long. When after several hours I noticed that that box, unlike the others still was showing only some programs I called the tech support. The tech who answered sounded really knowledgeable (funny how you can tell that by his voice tone). He immediately confirmed that the installer did not in fact finished the activation of the HD-DVR and he performed the activation remotely. In 3 minutes all programming was accessible. I will be back to compare the d**h with fiostv quality wise.

Sounds like a typical install.

I believe in the NY area FIOS has to compete with Cablevision speeds which are higher than norm. So there FIOS's lowest speeds match Cablevisions' 10/2? Most cable co's basic Internet speed is 5/2 so that's what FIOS offers in most other parts of the country. NY LI is special :p

You're correct biker19. Base speed here on LI is 10/2. I've had FIOS Internet for about a month now. No complaints.

There's picture-in-guide ... there's no 'surfing' of your favorite channels. You can set up a favorites list ... and you can pull up a favorites guide that only lists those channels ... but you can't just 'surf' through those channels (which some cable boxes allow).

Figured out how to do this.... if you want to channel surf through the stations you like rather than just surf through a FAVORITES list, do the following from your remote....

Menu > Settings > Channel List and Favorites > Change Channel List

...then go through the list and uncheck what you don't want to show when you Chan+ or Chan-. Its a pain to go through a couple of hundred channels you don't have (because they all default to on) but once its done, you can visually surf through your channels without seeing the channels you don't want to see or don't subscribe to.

You can always still punch in a channel if its not on your list. You'll have to add it back into this list if you want to see an unchecked channel in the Guide as this will remove the channels from the Guide too. Also, I expect I will have to reprogram this list with the upcoming changes.

I am having FiOS TV installed next week. I'm switching from Time Warner because after a period of no problems the picture quality is now suffering from pixelization. This apparently is because of the recent switch from the Adelphia to Time Warner system (at least that is what a TW rep and a tech told me).

I'm having three cable cards installed (one to Sony XBR2 and two to Tivo Series 3) and two boxes. Has anyone in the Redondo Beach area had any problems with the Verizon techs being familiar with cable card installation? I plan on being present the entire time they are there.

I will be switching to Verizon FiOS from cablevision within two weeks. I am new to the DVR vs Tivo debate. I was told from the Verizon sale rep that the FiOS DVR was Hi-Def (I think 150G hard drive) and the additional cost was only $3 month. My understanding was that Tivo is much better than Cablevision’s DVR. I never had cablevision’s DVR. I also understand that the Tivo–3 is a Hi-Def version at was expensive approx $700-$800 plus a monthly subscription for approx $10. So my question to the owners of the FiOS DVR is this: is truly the equivalent to the Hi-Def version of Tivo? OR am I missing something here and should just get a Tivo?

I will be switching to Verizon FiOS from cablevision within two weeks. I am new to the DVR vs Tivo debate. I was told from the Verizon sale rep that the FiOS DVR was Hi-Def (I think 150G hard drive) and the additional cost was only $3 month. My understanding was that Tivo is much better than Cablevision’s DVR. I never had cablevision’s DVR. I also understand that the Tivo–3 is a Hi-Def version at was expensive approx $700-$800 plus a monthly subscription for approx $10. So my question to the owners of the FiOS DVR is this: is truly the equivalent to the Hi-Def version of Tivo? OR am I missing something here and should just get a Tivo?


In the interests of full disclosure let me get two things out on the table. First, I've never had Tivo. Second, I am a comcast subscriber but will be switching to FIOS hopefully in the next month or 2 so I follow the FIOS threads. On other hand, I have a moto DVR from comcast that is very similar to the FIOS DVR. I think the software is also similar.

Having never had Tivo, I think the Comcast DVR for the most part has worked fine for me. Therefore, I think that I will also find the Verizon DVR acceptable as well. A big plus for VZ is that you can customized the guide. With comcast, you have a secondary favorites guide but it's not has convenient. Comcast, though has the swap feature which VZ currently lacks. On the whole, I would give the node to VZ. Rather have the more convenient guide that the swap feature.

From what I read on this site and broadband reports, most of the complaints about the DVR come from folks who have had Tivo. Those that have not had Tivo seem to be okay with the DVR. My recommendation is to go with the FIOS DVR. You will save yourself the significant upfront costs. The monthly cost will end up being the same because you will need to rent a cable card from VZ to pop into the Tivo. If at some point, you find that you just can't live with the FIOS DVR, you can always upgrade to the Tivo Series 3. By then, the price of the Tivo will probably have come down anyway.

For me, it is very unlikely that there will be a Tivo in my future. I think that the VZ DVR will probably meet my needs just fine.

I will be switching to Verizon FiOS from cablevision within two weeks. I am new to the DVR vs Tivo debate. I was told from the Verizon sale rep that the FiOS DVR was Hi-Def (I think 150G hard drive) and the additional cost was only $3 month. My understanding was that Tivo is much better than Cablevision’s DVR. I never had cablevision’s DVR. I also understand that the Tivo–3 is a Hi-Def version at was expensive approx $700-$800 plus a monthly subscription for approx $10. So my question to the owners of the FiOS DVR is this: is truly the equivalent to the Hi-Def version of Tivo? OR am I missing something here and should just get a Tivo?

The basic functionality is the same (they both record TV shows in HD and SD), but Tivo is a much more polished and easy to use product. Keep in mind that if you decide to get a Tivo you need to rent two cable cards (at $3 a month each) from Verizon in addition to Tivo's monthly fees.

In the interests of full disclosure let me get two things out on the table. First, I've never had Tivo. Second, I am a comcast subscriber but will be switching to FIOS hopefully in the next month or 2 so I follow the FIOS threads. On other hand, I have a moto DVR from comcast that is very similar to the FIOS DVR. I think the software is also similar.

Having never had Tivo, I think the Comcast DVR for the most part has worked fine for me. Therefore, I think that I will also find the Verizon DVR acceptable as well. A big plus for VZ is that you can customized the guide. With comcast, you have a secondary favorites guide but it's not has convenient. Comcast, though has the swap feature which VZ currently lacks. On the whole, I would give the node to VZ. Rather have the more convenient guide that the swap feature.

From what I read on this site and broadband reports, most of the complaints about the DVR come from folks who have had Tivo. Those that have not had Tivo seem to be okay with the DVR. My recommendation is to go with the FIOS DVR. You will save yourself the significant upfront costs. The monthly cost will end up being the same because you will need to rent a cable card from VZ to pop into the Tivo. If at some point, you find that you just can't live with the FIOS DVR, you can always upgrade to the Tivo Series 3. By then, the price of the Tivo will probably have come down anyway.

For me, it is very unlikely that there will be a Tivo in my future. I think that the VZ DVR will probably meet my needs just fine.

I used Tivo for years and, as mentioned, aside from some refinement, the FiOS DVR is not all that dissimilar. And I agree, I would rather have the customized guide than the swap feature.

I used Tivo for years and, as mentioned, aside from some refinement, the FiOS DVR is not all that dissimilar. And I agree, I would rather have the customized guide than the swap feature.
... and Verizon is promising a completely reworked interface this spring.. presumably adding many improvements. Some FiOS subscribers in New Jersey already have this interface.

... and Verizon is promising a completely reworked interface this spring.. presumably adding many improvements. Some FiOS subscribers in New Jersey already have this interface.

I have heard about this. How can I tell if I have the "new" interface or the old one?

I have heard about this. How can I tell if I have the "new" interface or the old one?Old:
http://newsfeed.verizon.com/detail?source=&mid=VER2006041765797&mime=JPG
http://newsfeed.verizon.com/detail?source=&mid=VER2006032965387&mime=JPG
http://newsfeed.verizon.com/detail?source=&mid=VER2006031066963&mime=JPG

New:
http://newsfeed.verizon.com/detail?source=&mid=VER2007010753931&mime=JPG
http://newsfeed.verizon.com/detail?source=&mid=VER2007010753895&mime=JPG
http://newsfeed.verizon.com/detail?source=&mid=VER2007010753967&mime=JPG

Good. I have the old one. There are lots of things I am not impressed about so I would be disappointed to find out this was the new one.

Does V* have a new remote coming sometime in the new future and is there any chance of a tuner that allows you to record two shows at the same time and watch live tv? They dont both have to be recorded in HD.

One final question: What is with this finishing shows at 10:01. It messes up recording other shows following it.

Does V* have a new remote coming sometime in the new future and is there any chance of a tuner that allows you to record two shows at the same time and watch live tv? They dont both have to be recorded in HD.

One final question: What is with this finishing shows at 10:01. It messes up recording other shows following it.
You'd need a 3 tuner DVR to do that - don't see that happening.

You can thank the networks for shows running over - their trickery to keep an audience. :rolleyes:

I have been reading this forum for a long time, ever since I got the Cox DVR. This is my first post. I switched from dial-up to Verizon FIOS internet last March, and have been extremely happy with it. As soon as FIOS TV became available, I started giving serious consideration to switching, and read this forum almost daily for information. I wasn't unhappy with Cox particularly, but I wanted the Multi-Room DVR function! I have never had Tivo, and I don't have a high-definition TV.

Our FIOS TV installation was last Friday, and it went pretty well. The installers were very knowledgeable. A few glitches, which I'm sure happens on every install, but fixed and everything working fine before they left.

As I said, we do not have an HD TV, and I'm not particulary a videophile...I just want to watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it! That said, even I could see a difference in picture quality, on both the analog and the digital channels, on all our TVs. Very impressive! As are the number of channels and how they are organized!

I had no problem with the Cox DVR functionality and interface. Having read the posts here and on DSLReports, I was prepared for some of the shortcomings of the Verizon software. Some of these have been mentioned on this forum, but I thought I would post my questions/observations/concerns, as a means of getting the information "out there." If anyone knows of the best way to pass my thoughts on to Verizon for consideration, for future fixes, I would appreciate knowing where to do so.

1. When changing to a channel which has been set up to record, say 15 minutes into the show, you are not changing to the tuner that is recording, and therefore have the 15 minutes available...it appears you are taken to the other tuner. This is ridiculous! With Cox, you tuned to the channel and the buffer was available back to the point the show started recording. One should NOT have to go to the recording list in order to view and have the ability to time-shift a channel that is being recorded.

2. I was watching and recording a program on CBS from 8-9, while also recording a show on NBC from 8-9. I also had scheduled recordings from 9-10 on both those channels. I had time-shifted during the CBS show I was watching. When 9:00 came, I was given a notice that a show was scheduled to be recorded, and I had the option to either go to live TV in order for my show (the CBS one I presume) to be recorded, or the option to cancel the recording. Also ridiculous! With Cox, this was transparent...when 9:00 came the first show stopped recording, the second show started, and I was free to time-shift to my heart's content in the recorded show that I was watching!

3. Last night I was recording and watching 24, starting at 8:00, which I believe showed on the guide as a 2-hour block, rather than two 1-hour blocks. At nine, I had scheduled to record Heroes. Shortly before 9, I noticed I was no longer on Fox but was in fact watching NBC! Why this would have happened, I have no clue!

I never used the Swap feature all that much with Cox, and I thought that if I had to record both shows in order to swap and maintain the individual buffers, as people here have posted, then I could adjust. However, if all of this ties together with the problems I've outline above, then it is a big deal to me. Verizon really needs to fix this.

4. The time that a recording starts seems off...and it's not the issue of the network running their show till a minute after the hour or whatever...Sunday night Desperate Housewives cut off quite a bit before the end (it had started recording early)...luckily I was recording Brothers and Sisters also, so I could see the end of DH at the beginning of B&S. This would happen some with Cox, but not nearly as much of the show, it seems. I did notice last night that the recording light came on a full minute before 24 started (based on the time showing on the DVR). If the recordings start a minute early, they will stop a minute early, and if you are not recording the following show, you will miss the ending.

I have some questions, if anyone can answer them...

1. It appears to me that there is no way to pad an individual show recording...that seems to be doable only if you pick the Series recording option. Is that correct?

2. Is there a setting that can be changed so that the time displays on the DVR when you are playing back a recorded show, rather than "Play?"

3. I've noticed that when a recorded show you are watching ends, the screen sits there waiting for you to indicate if you want to re-watch from the beginning, or select "Last." I've not tested it to see if it eventually goes away and live TV comes back like it did with Cox...does anybody know?

4. For anyone with the Multi-Room capability, do you have any issues with the playback controls on the standard STB? I find that the controls (FF and rewind) are very slow to implement. Also, the skip back and ahead commands result in extreme stuttering/pixelation. I don't know if it is my STB or if it is this way for everybody. It's not a deal-breaker for me, but it's extremely annoying.

I apologize for the length of this post. Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated, particularly on how to give Verizon my feedback! And for the record, I do not regret my decision to switch from Cox...I just want to see Verizon fix what I consider to be big issues. I'm aware that they will never make everyone happy, but some of these issues are no-brainers in my opinion!

1. It appears to me that there is no way to pad an individual show recording...that seems to be doable only if you pick the Series recording option. Is that correct?You can pad an individual show recording (in set increments) by selecting the 'Recording Options'. This can be done while setting up the recording. For example ... Choose show in guide -> OK -> 'Recording Options' (I think this is the menu choice ... exact wording may be different). You can also choose any scheduled recording (after you've set it up) and do the same. You can also switch from an individual recording to a series recording.

What I haven't figured out ... and would be nice ... is a way to pad the recording while it's in progress.2. Is there a setting that can be changed so that the time displays on the DVR when you are playing back a recorded show, rather than "Play?"No. Goofy / annoying.3. I've noticed that when a recorded show you are watching ends, the screen sits there waiting for you to indicate if you want to re-watch from the beginning, or select "Last." I've not tested it to see if it eventually goes away and live TV comes back like it did with Cox...does anybody know?I believe in this case ... it would eventually go to a blank screen. I've only done this a couple times (leave a menu up for a very long period). IIRC, it will eventually (after a long wait) go to whatever is being shown in the picture-in-guide. In many cases, this is live TV. However, in the case of a recording at the end ... the picture-in-guide shows a blank (end of show) message ... and ... when the menu eventually times out, it just goes to a blank screen. Like I said ... this is just memory ... not exactly a typical use-case for me.One should NOT have to go to the recording list in order to view and have the ability to time-shift a channel that is being recorded.
(...)
Any advice or information would be greatly appreciatedWhen viewing a recording-in-progress ... use the recording list and select the show. Seriously. Regardless of whether (or not) one should have to do it ... doing so should adrress issues 2 and 3 on your list. The box / tuner logic just works better when doing so ... and if you don't you get into situations like you've described with 2 and 3.particularly on how to give Verizon my feedbackVerizon has a feedback survey on their website ...
http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/about+fios+tv/about+fios+tv.htm (the "Love Your FiOS TV? Share your input here" link).

You'd need a 3 tuner DVR to do that - don't see that happening.

You can thank the networks for shows running over - their trickery to keep an audience. :rolleyes:

It's not trickery to keep an audience, it's trickery to increase ad revenues. Ads sold for popular shows cost more than the not so popular shows that follow them. So scheduling say Heroes to end at 10:01 allows NBC to sell an additional minute of advertising at high Heroes rates instead of lower Studio 60 rates.

PMcmil5450:

- Last night 24 was two distinct 1 hour blocks.
- The Verizon DVR will automatically start recording 1 minute before and end 2 minutes after if a tuner available.

Does V* have a new remote coming sometime in the new futureThis is Verizon's 'new(est)' Philips remote (OEM-ed specifically for Verizon, so, I wouldn't expect anything newer for a while). It's started being deployed in some areas:
http://www22.verizon.com/nroneretail/nr/rdonlyres/0d93f875-4498-460f-8fc4-a15d519b4e7c/0/welcomekitremotecontrolinsrt_nc.pdf

Verizon has also deployed (alot of) Motorola DRC800 remotes:
http://www22.verizon.com/fiosforhome/images/fiostv/drc800_user_guide.pdf

And ... a few Scientific Atlanta AT8550 remotes (just a guess ... but ... they seemed to deploy a few of the Scientific Atlanta ones as a tide-over measure between running out the old Motorola remotes and getting the new Philips ones in):
http://www22.verizon.com/NROneRetail/NR/rdonlyres/B230637F-7C53-46CE-A6EC-E87CD763CB5E/0/AT8550DFU.pdf

These can all be found on Verizon's support page:
http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/customer+support/customer+support.htm

[QUOTE=dt_dc]This is Verizon's 'new(est)' Philips remote (OEM-ed specifically for Verizon, so, I wouldn't expect anything newer for a while). It's started being deployed in some areas:

These can all be found on Verizon's support page:
[QUOTE]

Thanks for the links. Can they purchased from verizon or must you wait until they decide to deploy them in your area?

Thanks for the links. Can they purchased from verizon or must you wait until they decide to deploy them in your area?Verizon will sell you extra / additional / replacement / whatever remotes.

If you're talking specifically about the new Philips remote. Some people have had success calling up (or going to one of the 'Verizon Experience' stores) and getting one ... some people haven't. Seems to be a region by region / CSR by CSR thing.

Note: the 'new' Philips remote has some deficiencies when used with the 'old' (current) software. I've got one at home ... but ... I still use the Motorola remote for day to day use. I would expect the 'new' software to address this and work better with the 'new' remote ... but ... untill then ... the 'new' remote gives you 30sec skip but takes away page up / page down and day + / day -.

I'm debating whether or not to switch from my local Cablevision to FIOS... I swore about 10 years ago that I was never going to deal with Verizon again after some shoddy customer service (and I haven't) but I'm hearing good things about FIOS. Just a few things I'm wondering, and hopefully these aren't questions I should be asking in my local group:

1. Does the Verizon HD-DVR force you to press the guide button twice to actually get to the guide? CV does; the first press takes you to the main menu, second to the guide. Really annoying because the DVR takes about 3 seconds to respond to each click most of the time.

2. Has anyone directly compared the Verizon DVR with the SA8300HD DVR (running SARA), and if so, how do they compare?

3. What OS is Verizon using for their DVR's? Is it a custom-developed OS? Based on Linux or something else? How stable? Crashes, reboots or anything that anyone's experienced?

4. One of the features I really miss from my TiVo was recommendations - I don't suppose Verizon's got anything like that, do they?

5. How fast are channel changes/general responsiveness of the unit?

My main concern is obviously the DVR - I *hate* the SARA software on my SA8300, especially coming from my old S2 TiVo (wish I could afford an S3 TiVo, but I can't). If Verizon's DVR is obviously better in some way, it would probably push me over the edge to switch.

1. Does the Verizon HD-DVR force you to press the guide button twice to actually get to the guide? CV does; the first press takes you to the main menu, second to the guide. Really annoying because the DVR takes about 3 seconds to respond to each click most of the time.One-click on the Guide button gives you the guide. There's also a 'favorites' guide you can set up, one click on the 'favorites' button brings up the 'favorites' guide.2. Has anyone directly compared the Verizon DVR with the SA8300HD DVR (running SARA), and if so, how do they compare?Yes.

Well ... overall I would call the Verizon DVR a 'significant improvement' to the 8300HD running SARA (which is what I had from my encumbant cable company). Then again, you can find individual positives (and negatives) to each so ... hard to really compare without going point by point.3. What OS is Verizon using for their DVR's? Is it a custom-developed OS? Based on Linux or something else? How stable? Crashes, reboots or anything that anyone's experienced?I believe the underlying OS is Motorola specific (GIOS or something like that). Motorola bought GI way back when ... GI had their own OS running for their boxes ... and I think the QIP series keeps that underlying GIOS. On top of that is a middleware layer from Microsoft (a customized version of their Microsoft TV Foundation software) ... and then on top of that is the actual 'application' layer. IIRC.

I would say 'stable ... doesn't crash', but it does get a little 'unresponsive' at times. Ie, every once in a while it stops responding to remote commands for some amount of time (5 secs ... 10 secs ... 20 secs ... something like that). This is a commonly reported issue / problem with the Motorola DVRs (regardless of whether they are running the Verizon software ... or Comcast's iGuide).

A generality ... YMMV.4. One of the features I really miss from my TiVo was recommendations - I don't suppose Verizon's got anything like that, do they?No5. How fast are channel changes/general responsiveness of the unit?Decent ... although ... that is one of the (few) places I would rate the 8300 / SARA ahead.If Verizon's DVR is obviously better in some way, it would probably push me over the edge to switch.I would call Verizon's DVR 'significantly better' than SARA. But ... as always ... different people use DVRs in different ways and ... different features are going to be more / less important.

I'm debating whether or not to switch from my local Cablevision to FIOS... I swore about 10 years ago that I was never going to deal with Verizon again after some shoddy customer service (and I haven't) but I'm hearing good things about FIOS. Just a few things I'm wondering, and hopefully these aren't questions I should be asking in my local group:

1. Does the Verizon HD-DVR force you to press the guide button twice to actually get to the guide? CV does; the first press takes you to the main menu, second to the guide. Really annoying because the DVR takes about 3 seconds to respond to each click most of the time.


Pushing "Guide" brings up the guide directly. The Philips remote that Verizon supplies makes maneuvering the guide very painful as the Page +/- and Day +/- keys are missing,


2. Has anyone directly compared the Verizon DVR with the SA8300HD DVR (running SARA), and if so, how do they compare?


I had an SA8300HD w/ SARA from Comcast before I switched. I have been using the Verizon DVR for 2 weeks now and still prefer the 8300. You can attach an external drive to 8300 to increase capacity. I also prefer the way the 8300 sets up series recordings and the timing options they give you. On the SA you can begin an end a recording whenever you like, on the Verizon DVR you have minimal choices to change the timings. On the plus side, Verizon's DVR does have a 30 second skip, allows you to set series priority and has guide data out two weeks. Scrolling through the guide is much faster on the 8300. Also, a local example you can probably understand. Short of using a manual recording you cannot set up the Verizon DVR to only record new episodes of the Simpsons on Channel 5. It will always record the episode that airs weekdays at 7PM as well as the 8PM Sunday episodes.


3. What OS is Verizon using for their DVR's? Is it a custom-developed OS? Based on Linux or something else? How stable? Crashes, reboots or anything that anyone's experienced?

4. One of the features I really miss from my TiVo was recommendations - I don't suppose Verizon's got anything like that, do they?



I have no idea what software it runs. I have not had any problems with it crashing or rebooting.

No recommendations..


5. How fast are channel changes/general responsiveness of the unit?


I find channel changes to be very responsive. Sometimes the menus, especially VOD and DVR series settings can be sluggish.



My main concern is obviously the DVR - I *hate* the SARA software on my SA8300, especially coming from my old S2 TiVo (wish I could afford an S3 TiVo, but I can't). If Verizon's DVR is obviously better in some way, it would probably push me over the edge to switch.

Well ... overall I would call the Verizon DVR a 'significant improvement' to the 8300HD running SARA (which is what I had from my encumbant cable company). Then again, you can find individual positives (and negatives) to each so ... hard to really compare without going point by point.And BTW, you have to keep in mind the big, much-hyped, 'FiOS 2.0' software update. From the screen-shots / articles ... it sounds like a complete revamp so ... hard to really talk comparitively about Verizon's DVR software right now.

Yes, SARA (and iGuide and other MVP DVR software) goes through tweaks and upgrades too. But ... usually this is just minor tweaking / upgrading / bug fixes / etc. And, usually by the time there's the testing / field trials / etc, everyone at AVSForum has a pretty good idea of everything that's coming. In a nutshell ... even though a 'new' iGuide or 'new' SARA might be out there and coming ... you can still get a pretty good idea of them for a comparison basis.

The new 'FiOS 2.0' stuff ... I got no clue (beyond the fuzzy / marketing / CES / non-specific hype) what it'll be like and how it will compare.

You can pad an individual show recording (in set increments) by selecting the 'Recording Options'. This can be done while setting up the recording. For example ... Choose show in guide -> OK -> 'Recording Options' (I think this is the menu choice ... exact wording may be different). You can also choose any scheduled recording (after you've set it up) and do the same. You can also switch from an individual recording to a series recording.

What I haven't figured out ... and would be nice ... is a way to pad the recording while it's in progress.No. Goofy / annoying.I believe in this case ... it would eventually go to a blank screen. I've only done this a couple times (leave a menu up for a very long period). IIRC, it will eventually (after a long wait) go to whatever is being shown in the picture-in-guide. In many cases, this is live TV. However, in the case of a recording at the end ... the picture-in-guide shows a blank (end of show) message ... and ... when the menu eventually times out, it just goes to a blank screen. Like I said ... this is just memory ... not exactly a typical use-case for me.When viewing a recording-in-progress ... use the recording list and select the show. Seriously. Regardless of whether (or not) one should have to do it ... doing so should adrress issues 2 and 3 on your list. The box / tuner logic just works better when doing so ... and if you don't you get into situations like you've described with 2 and 3.Verizon has a feedback survey on their website ...
(the "Love Your FiOS TV? Share your input here" link).

Thanks for responding! I could swear that I checked for a recording option both when setting up a recording initially, and after one is scheduled, and could not find the ability to add time. I will check this again (could have been a blond moment!) I agree with you about padding a recording in progress...it would be a very nice feature.

In the scenario I described (#2), I did select the CBS show from the recording list and was watching/time-shifting it, not the live TV. It therefore makes no sense that when 9:00 came I was forced to stop viewing the recorded program and switch to live TV in order for my 9:00 recording to commence, and then go back to the list of recorded shows and resume viewing the show. Maybe it was just a fluke.

I also still don't understand why my TV changed from Fox to NBC at 9:00 last night...Fox was scheduled to record both 24 segments, 8-9 and 9-10, and NBC to record 9-10. I would have thought that NBC would just start recording in the background. Obviously, it was not that big a deal, I just changed the channel back. I just wonder if perhaps some of these little "quirks" would disappear if both tuners were buffered. Some of these issues seem to be no brainers, but in any event, I'm sure I'll get used to the differences and workarounds, with the hopes that Verizon will continue to tweak the software.

Thanks for the link to the Verizon feedback area...I completed the survery and listed these issues as suggestions for improving the DVR functionality.

Still hoping to hear from someone with the Multi-room capability to determine if the stuttering/pixelation I am getting, and the slow response to the playback controls on the remote when playing back a recording on a 2500 STB, is common to everyone, or if I need to make a call to Verizon CS.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond (and sorry I couldn't quote the specific areas of your post for my response, as I haven't figured out how to quote only parts of a post!) Thanks Tiyuri for your clarification as well. :o

On the plus side, Verizon's DVR does have a 30 second skip, allows you to set series priority and has guide data out two weeks. Scrolling through the guide is much faster on the 8300.On the contrary, scrolling on the Verizon DVR is much faster if you customize your guide. Unlike the 8300, the FiOS DVR lets you completely remove any and all channels you do not want from the guide. My FiOS DVR guide has less than 40 channels, whereas with the SA8300HD, I was stuck scrolling through 300+ channels.

Short of using a manual recording you cannot set up the Verizon DVR to only record new episodes of the Simpsons on Channel 5. It will always record the episode that airs weekdays at 7PM as well as the 8PM Sunday episodes.It sounds like Simpsons episodes are not being flagged as first-run. I don't watch the Simpsons, but I haven't had any problems recording first-runs of my other programs on FOX. For example, I have the FiOS DVR set to record all first-run episodes of 24, at anytime, and it hasn't missed an episode yet, regardless of whether they showed it at 8pm, 9pm, or two episodes back-to-back.

For The Simpsons, why don't you try scheduling a series recording with "new only" and "8pm only." Or try "new and repeats" with "8pm only."

On the contrary, scrolling on the Verizon DVR is much faster if you customize your guide. Unlike the 8300, the FiOS DVR lets you completely remove any and all channels you do not want from the guide. My FiOS DVR guide has less than 40 channels, whereas with the SA8300HD, I was stuck scrolling through 300+ channels.

It sounds like Simpsons episodes are not being flagged as first-run. I don't watch the Simpsons, but I haven't had any problems recording first-runs of my other programs on FOX. For example, I have the FiOS DVR set to record all first-run episodes of 24, at anytime, and it hasn't missed an episode yet, regardless of whether they showed it at 8pm, 9pm, or two episodes back-to-back.

For The Simpsons, why don't you try scheduling a series recording with "new only" and "8pm only." Or try "new and repeats" with "8pm only."

That is how my Simpsons series is set up. 8PM/New Episodes Only. It seems that 8PM Only is just a suggestion and it pads +/- an hour to catch things.

Yes, it is nice that Verizon gives you control over what channels you have in the guide but it still scrolls much slower than 8300. If you hold down up/down the SA guide flies.

Yes, it is nice that Verizon gives you control over what channels you have in the guide but it still scrolls much slower than 8300. If you hold down up/down the SA guide flies.Yes, in terms of channels scrolled per second, the 8300 is faster. In terms of actually getting to the channel I want, the FiOS DVR is much faster for me, simply because I only have to scroll through 36 channels instead of 360.

And BTW, you have to keep in mind the big, much-hyped, 'FiOS 2.0' software update. From the screen-shots / articles ... it sounds like a complete revamp so ... hard to really talk comparitively about Verizon's DVR software right now.

Well that's interesting. I'll have to look that up; I had no idea a major update was coming.

I think, honestly, that you might have had me at point 1, though - the guide coming up with one button-press. That is honestly so freakin' irritating to me about Cablevision that it's almost reason enough on its own for me to dump them. They're so much more interested in serving up ads and getting me to watch VOD (which I couldn't care less about until there's more HD available) than they are about actually letting me get to the TV listings that I clearly want or I wouldn't be pressing the "guide" button, that it's just infuriating.

That reminds me though - what about ads in the Verizon interface? I realize this may change in 2.0 regardless. (I really hope they don't try to learn anything from CV's interface with the update...)

There has been no noticeable upgrade that I've seen to my SARA software since I first subscribed to CV a year ago.

Well, I'm probably gonna call Verizon tomorrow.

That reminds me though - what about ads in the Verizon interface? I realize this may change in 2.0 regardless. (I really hope they don't try to learn anything from CV's interface with the update...).There are no adds in the current FiOS interface. Nor are there any in FiOS 2.0.

Here's hoping the new software improves things.

Here's my list:
1) Fix the delay associated with the DVR functions. Very clunky.

2) Please please please give us several user defined sets of guides. The favorites list is just a damned mini guide. Let's have 3 or 4 so we can set up relevant guide lists like HD, Movies, whatever...

3) Are all movies ever rated anything but 2 stars? :)

4) Name base recording is really great! If only it worked....

5) Pipe dream dept. : Let us use external storage.

Last but not least: Keep those HD channels coming!


Pete

... and Verizon is promising a completely reworked interface this spring.. presumably adding many improvements. Some FiOS subscribers in New Jersey already have this interface.

Do we not have anyone from Jersy that has this new interface and can coment on how they like it?

There are no adds in the current FiOS interface.I personally would consider the video that plays while navigating VOD an ad. Every time I have particularly taken note of it ... it's an ad for Verizon products. But, still an ad.

Do we not have anyone from Jersy that has this new interface and can coment on how they like it?It does not seem to be in 'general' release in NJ yet. On another forum ... someone reported having the 'new' interface on their SD STB (but not their DVR). Lots of problems ... got pulled ... wasn't supposed to be on his box ...
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,17653529

Sounds like it's just in 'friends and family' / beta testing right now ...

Since my FIOS TV installation, I've noticed some video drop-outs but only when I am using Component Video. HDMI is perfectly fine. These dropouts happen consistently on MHD and only sometimes on Discovery HD but only when a banner ad shows up at the bottom of the screen. Banner ad goes away and so do the video dropouts. Basically - the screen goes black than back on again - back and forth a few times then it is ok. It never did this with Cox which I ran exclusively component input (HDMI was horrible). It also does not seem to do it on any other channels either. I first thought maybe it was the feed but now I'm not so sure.

Only reason I'm using component is because I have that dialed-in better from having used it with Cox for so long though I did have to cut the brightness and contrast a bit when Fios came in to keep the picture quality up. I haven't got the HDMI setup quite where I like it yet so on those "critical" shows - I use the component input. I just happened to notice the issue - so I thought I would pass it on to the group and see if anyone had any insight...

There's something I'm dying to know but can't seem to find info on. What is the FiOS installer willing to do as far as wiring in the house? Right now I have Comcast and have cables and splitters all over the place. I'm getting FiOS TV and internet this Sunday, Feb. 18. I want them to install cable jacks in all the rooms getting TV in them, probably five. From the website I know that they will do this for $50 each. I would LOVE to have him install Cat5 at the same time so I'd have a coax and RJ45 jack in each room. On the phone Verizon didn't know if the installer will also run Cat5 to each room. Anybody know if they will?

Also, I've heard that the installer may or may not do the wiring inside the house for the extra jacks. If he does it outside how does that work? I'd just have cables tacked to the side of my house?

There's something I'm dying to know but can't seem to find info on. What is the FiOS installer willing to do as far as wiring in the house? Right now I have Comcast and have cables and splitters all over the place. I'm getting FiOS TV and internet this Sunday, Feb. 18. I want them to install cable jacks in all the rooms getting TV in them, probably five. From the website I know that they will do this for $50 each. I would LOVE to have him install Cat5 at the same time so I'd have a coax and RJ45 jack in each room. On the phone Verizon didn't know if the installer will also run Cat5 to each room. Anybody know if they will?

Also, I've heard that the installer may or may not do the wiring inside the house for the extra jacks. If he does it outside how does that work? I'd just have cables tacked to the side of my house?

If you treat him nice - he may do just about anything within reason. I would imagine he would pull the cat5 with the RG6 if you are right there with him.

I had Cox cable in my house. Cox did a lame job of installing cables before I was ever there. The main line went all the way around the outside of the house tacked under the edge of the siding. The rest of the house was fished through the walls. They couldn't fish through the solid joists for the main line. Because the cable lines were already there - the Fios installer used those. But for a fee he would install things very nicely - like they should be done. I opted to stay like it was as it wasn't too bad and I didn't want to spend the extra $50 per - but in hind-site, that seems like a small price to pay for what he would have had to do.

If you treat him nice - he may do just about anything within reason. I would imagine he would pull the cat5 with the RG6 if you are right there with him.

I had Cox cable in my house. Cox did a lame job of installing cables before I was ever there. The main line went all the way around the outside of the house tacked under the edge of the siding. The rest of the house was fished through the walls. They couldn't fish through the solid joists for the main line. Because the cable lines were already there - the Fios installer used those. But for a fee he would install things very nicely - like they should be done. I opted to stay like it was as it wasn't too bad and I didn't want to spend the extra $50 per - but in hind-site, that seems like a small price to pay for what he would have had to do.

You might want to buy a box of CAT5 cable, just in case. they are usually more willing to do it if you say, "I have this box of Cat5, would you mind pulling a run to each location for me when you pull the coax?"
They might say no, but it doesn't hurt to ask (nicely).

You might want to buy a box of CAT5 cable, just in case. they are usually more willing to do it if you say, "I have this box of Cat5, would you mind pulling a run to each location for me when you pull the coax?"
They might say no, but it doesn't hurt to ask (nicely).


I actually own a mostly unused 1,000 ft. box of Cat5e cabling. I will arrange to have cookies and deli sammiches present when the installer arrives.

<Emperor>Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen...</Emperor>

I actually own a mostly unused 1,000 ft. box of Cat5e cabling. I will arrange to have cookies and deli sammiches present when the installer arrives.

<Emperor>Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen...</Emperor>

Good plan. I wouldn't expect them to put jacks on the ends of the CAT5 for you, but just saving you the effort of fishing the wires would be a huge labor savings for you. Good luck.

Good plan. I wouldn't expect them to put jacks ont he ends of the CAT5 for you, bt just saving you the effot of fishing the wires would be a huge labor savings for you. Good luck.

It would certainly be nice if they did put jacks on the ends, but you're right, even if all they do is run the cable I'm WAY better off than before. I can crimp my own ends or put a jack in if need be. Maybe brownies would help with the jacks... I'll let everyone know how it goes.

It would certainly be nice if they did put jacks on the ends, but you're right, even if all they do is run the cable I'm WAY better off than before. I can crimp my own ends or put a jack in if need be. Maybe brownies would help with the jacks... I'll let everyone know how it goes.

I wired my house with (mostly) salvaged and leftover parts. The office I used to work for was rewiring everything with CAT6, so I took home 5 or 6 of the old 48-port CAT5 patch panels, a pile of CAT5 wall plates with jacks, and a lot of extra CAT6 cabling, mainly scraps off the ends of the rolls (several really long pieces, though).
I ended up buying a 1000 foot spool of CAT5e at Home Depot, and I had to buy the metal inserts to attach the plates to the holes I made in the drywall.

It would certainly be nice if they did put jacks on the ends, but you're right, even if all they do is run the cable I'm WAY better off than before. I can crimp my own ends or put a jack in if need be. Maybe brownies would help with the jacks... I'll let everyone know how it goes.
Verizon probably does that kind of wiring as a service, so the installer might get in hot water (or FIRED) if he pulls it for free. Don't send his boss a thank you letter!
If nothing else, maybe you or the installer can attach a "pull string" to the coax, then you can use the string to pull Cat-5 along the same path later. (If you do, tie another string to the cable you pull through so you can use it to pull your fiber next time.) :)
I ran lots of coax and copper (not CAT-5) 20+ years ago when the house was built.. wish I had placed conduit instead.

Due to Verizon forgetting that I called, my original install date of 2/16 has been pushed back to 3/2.. I'm just curious though - with the regular install, what sort of cables are supposed to be run throughout the house?

I currently have coax run from the pole to my house, and then variously throughout my house to each of the TV's. In some instances, its not done the way I would have liked (ie. the lone coax line running along the front of my house instead of through the attic or someplace inconspicious). I don't have Cat6 (or cat5) run anywhere.

I was under the impression that the only 'wiring' they'd need to do was for the fiber to Coax box they put somewhere.. Dare I dream that my house might be properly (and cleanly) re-wired?

BTW - I'm getting the 'triple play', not sure if that matters in what they need to do.

It depends on the tech and the difficulty in running the wiring. If it's simple enough they might rewire some of your house, if it involves fishing through walls or crawling through an attic, not likely. The Internet install usually involves the installation of the router and one LAN drop. Anything more than that is up to you - or like a lot of people do, you go wireless.

I was under the impression that the only 'wiring' they'd need to do was for the fiber to Coax box they put somewhere.. Dare I dream that my house might be properly (and cleanly) re-wired?

BTW - I'm getting the 'triple play', not sure if that matters in what they need to do.

As Biker said, they won't.

If you have coax wired, then you're in decent shape. It's just a matter of time before the MoCA ethernet adapters hit the market. I wish they'd hurry.

As Biker said, they won't.

If you have coax wired, then you're in decent shape. It's just a matter of time before the MoCA ethernet adapters hit the market. I wish they'd hurry.

My install on 2/2 included a MoCA router. All STBs show an IP address on the router. Only coax is run in my house to router and stb.

It depends on the tech and the difficulty in running the wiring. If it's simple enough they might rewire some of your house, if it involves fishing through walls or crawling through an attic, not likely. The Internet install usually involves the installation of the router and one LAN drop. Anything more than that is up to you - or like a lot of people do, you go wireless.

My fiber comes into my house in my basement. However, I wanted the wireless router upstairs so that I'd get the best coverage possible. The installers that came to my house were great -- they fished a cat5 from the basement, up through a chimney chase, into my attic, and down the wall to exactly where I wanted my wireless router.

And to top it off, they worked at my house until about 4pm on 12/22, the Friday before Christmas weekend. Maybe I should have given those guys a tip or a Christmas bonus!

I wouldn't expect that kind of service from most of the Verizon installers. I think I just got lucky.

My install on 2/2 included a MoCA router. All STBs show an IP address on the router. Only coax is run in my house to router and stb.
He's talking about an adapter from coax to CAT5, so that CAT5 doesn't have to be run to the PC from the router.

He's talking about an adapter from coax to CAT5, so that CAT5 doesn't have to be run to the PC from the router.

No - not at all. From the ONT is a coax cable to my router. From my router is cat5 to my PC. There is no cat5 out to my ONT. I watched the guy install it and even pointed it out which got us into the discussion about the MoCA router.

So am I right in thinking that when an ethernet to MoCa adapter is released that I could plug my computer into a coax jack and as long as there is a MoCa router also plugged into a coax jack that this could be used as my home network?

Does anyone know if MoCa products like switches, NICs and routers are planned for consumers or is this stuff really for providers like Verizon?

Sounds like great stuff, won't have to worry about rewiring the house with Cat5.