So, I guess what I am asking is this...for those who did go to the triple package and got FIOSTV, would you still do it all over again and why.

I'd do it again because over the two-year agreement I signed with Verizon I will be saving about $850 over sticking with Comcast. That assumed that Comcast didn't raise their rates over that two year period, which they've already done once since I did my calculations.

Nope, anyone who has 5/2 will be updated or upgraded, whichever way you want to look at it.

I'm going to have to find and re-read that notice. I had read it that the 10/2 was going to be a new package that would cost more. Of course they're dropping all the binary groups from their NNTP servers next week, so the extra speed isn't all that helpful to me.

Another article I saw said existing customers must ask for the speed increase, but that reads in that it's a free upgrade.

A Verizon csr told me that I could go from 5/2 to 10/2, but that my fios internet bill would increase $3 a month. I declined.

A Verizon csr told me that I could go from 5/2 to 10/2, but that my fios internet bill would increase $3 a month. I declined.



Well, I got my 10/2 today and was told that my price would not change at all. Not sure where I can see my new bill. I guess I have to wait a Month.

Did you just call them up mpsan today?

I'll have our's upgraded tomorrow.

Did you just call them up mpsan today?

I'll have our's upgraded tomorrow.

No, yesterday.

I signed up online and was charged $3/month. I haven't called Verizon to see if I can get out of that.

I signed up online and was charged $3/month. I haven't called Verizon to see if I can get out of that.

Well, as I said "Sandy" said my price would be the same and gave me her #. I now see, online, that they increased my rate $3/Month. She said that would not happen.

My guess is they're not ready to roll out the 10/2 service upgrade as their new "entry" tier, so anyone who calls and explicitly requests a 10/2 upgrade will be charged for it. As we all know, the Vz billing system has not yet entered the 21st century (I'll bet IBM mainframes and 30 year old Cobol software are in there somewhere).

The other possibility is they're charging you a one-time service change fee.

Or somebody just screwed up... :)

Somebody just screwed up...

I just got off the phone with the rep who told me the upgrade would be free. She said that she made an error and that is why I was charged $3 more a month. She said what happened was that I was already 1 year into my 2 year contract and that she created a new 2 year plan. She made it 1 year and I went back down to my original price of $39.99.

So I guess the big question is this.... are they going to automatically do an upgrade to all the 5/2 accounts at some point? Or will they only upgrade people who call in and specifically request the speed bump?

You need to call in. Most of the articles that I can find on the net say that it's a free upgrade but you must request it.


I just called them and they upgraded me to it...they're still having issues with the bundles though, don't believe they're actually operational in Oregon yet still.

And the bundle looks to finally have gone through. Will save about $25 a month or so.


Call today!

According to the person I just talked to, they're going to "flip the switch" and upgrade everyone currently on 5/2 up to the new 10/2 minimum tier "in the next couple weeks". But maybe if you are insistent on getting it now, they can upgrade you now if you request it. That's probably why the weird billing stuff is happening - they're not exactly prepared for how to manually upgrade individual accounts for free in advance.

And the bundle looks to finally have gone through. Will save about $25 a month or so.


Call today! Odd, I've had the "Freedom Essentials" bundle since it was installed back in December. Maybe you can make a stink with them and get some sort of credit for the time you could have been on the bundle.

Well our tv, internet, and phone bill was about $157 or so a month...now it's $122 (both are not including taxes) and faster internet.


The internet order goes through instantaneously.


If you have a bundle already, they'll cancel and start it back up again for you. Apparently they will try to raise the tv price on you from 42.99 to 47.99, but you can also upgrade to the 20/10 tier for another $5.

Anybody getting a better deal than this?

FIOS Triple Freedom: 104.99 (FIOS 5/2 internet, Freedom Essentials phone, FIOS TV Premier)
Movie Package: 12.99
Movies Discount: -1.00
HD DVR Rental: 15.99
DVR Discount -7.96
HD STD Rental - 2 @ 9.99: 19.98
Cable Card: 2.99

Total is $147.98

Anybody getting a better deal than this?

Not better but a little different. When do your discounts expire?

Triple Freedom w/ 15/2: $114.99
VIP Triple Savings thru Nov 10: -$5
Movie Package: $12.99 (I had a $10 discount first three months)
SD STB: $4.99
HD DVR: $12.99
Taxes, Fees & Other Charges: $14.55
--------------------------------------
Total: $155.51

Anybody getting a better deal than this?

How'd you get the DVR discount?

FiOS Triple Freedom: $104.99 (FIOS 5/2 internet, Freedom Essentials phone, FIOS TV Premier)
FiOS Freedom - partial month ($5.00)
Multi-room DVR $19.99
Taxes, etc... $14.48
=======
$134.46

Because I scheduled my install for mid-week they gave me the SD STB for free for a year, that's what the ($5.00) is.

I signed up for a two year contract. I got installed in January 2008, so I guess I'm good for these rates until January 2010. At that point I'll be comparing Comcast, FiOS, and Satellite rates and offerings again.

My contract is 2 year, expires Jan 2010.

The DVR discount was offered in combination with the "movies" package. They said it would be $19.99 for the HD DVR with Showtime, Movie Channel & Starz. At the time, this was pitched to me as getting those movie channels for an additional $4 over the HD-DVR alone. But on the bill, the discount is shown as -$1 off the movies and -$8 off the DVR. Regardless it still works out to $19.99 for the combination.

I did not include taxes and such... Don't have the bill in front of me now, but as I recall it seems about in line with yours.

Got the new channel guide in the mail today, lights up on the 21st.

Glad we finally have a hard date. That is a couple weeks later than what I originally heard, but good news regardless.

Glad we finally have a hard date. That is a couple weeks later than what I originally heard, but good news regardless.

A message posted in the on-screen Message Center 6/30 advised of the new channel lineup for 7/21 and 7/22 with mail follow up. Looks like the channel changes will be progressively introduced over the 2 days rather than a complete changeover during the wee hours.

For the life of me I don't understand why Verizon sneaks these messages to us without employing the message light on the STB. :confused::rolleyes:

I did notice that the golf/vs HD channel is not going to be available initially for the Portland area, didn't look to see if other channels were not going to be available.

Looking at this web address and the one I got in the mail, I noticed a few more differences in the HD channel lineup (not bothering with non-HD since I watch so few of those channels anymore).

http://www22.verizon.com/NROneRetail/NR/rdonlyres/EC99286E-16BF-4D6C-8400-28DBB398DAE2/0/Portland_OR_effective_7_21.pdf

These channels are not on the list that Verizon sent out in the mail recently.

Sports category: Big10 network, ESPNEWS HD, Versus/Golf Channel HD

News: MSNBC HD

Women: Lifetime West HD

Pop Culture: MOJO HD


The only channel on the mailing list that's not on the web address is: The Movie Channel HD

A message posted in the on-screen Message Center 6/30 advised of the new channel lineup for 7/21 and 7/22 with mail follow up. Looks like the channel changes will be progressively introduced over the 2 days rather than a complete changeover during the wee hours.

For the life of me I don't understand why Verizon sneaks these messages to us without employing the message light on the STB. :confused::rolleyes:

Has anyone else noticed that the channel lineup in your favorites and DVR interaction has been going Wonky on your set-top boxes recently??

It's started out with adding channels to our favorites that we can't delete and messing up with series' we record in the series manager on the DVR. I have a feeling some of the channel lineup side-effects are sneaking out early. It's a pain. grrrr

Not I, but I'm not using Verizon's DVR either. Don't watch much tv upstairs on the regular STB so can't say that I've noticed it there either.

Looking at this web address and the one I got in the mail, I noticed a few more differences in the HD channel lineup (not bothering with non-HD since I watch so few of those channels anymore).

http://www22.verizon.com/NROneRetail/NR/rdonlyres/EC99286E-16BF-4D6C-8400-28DBB398DAE2/0/Portland_OR_effective_7_21.pdf

These channels are not on the list that Verizon sent out in the mail recently.

Sports category: Big10 network, ESPNEWS HD, Versus/Golf Channel HD

News: MSNBC HD

Women: Lifetime West HD

Pop Culture: MOJO HD


The only channel on the mailing list that's not on the web address is: The Movie Channel HD

I got my new channel lineup in the mail today and did notice those discrepancies - works for me, esp. GolfHD. I understand the folks in Ft. Wayne who preceded us in these roll-outs did get those extra HD channels in spite of them not being on the printed notice.

Verizon's letter still promises more than 100 HD channels by year-end. That means about 50 more than what we will have at the end of the month. I hope some of it is worthwhile content. Things are looking up!

Ft Wayne did not get the MOJO channel.

Does anyone else here think the VOD standard def movies look like crap or is it just me? Broadcast SD looks better than Comcast as does HD broadcast and HD VOD but VOD SD just looks poor.

Overall after having FIOS for a month or so I do like it better than Comcast but their SD VOD is lousy and there are no free HD VOD movies with your subscriptions (TMC, Starz, etc) as there was with Comcast. Disappointed in their free VOD overall.

I had the problem with certain channels in the favorites not appearing for a while but it is now working fine. DVR was also acting strange for a period, but no problems anymore.

Has anyone else noticed that the channel lineup in your favorites and DVR interaction has been going Wonky on your set-top boxes recently??

It's started out with adding channels to our favorites that we can't delete and messing up with series' we record in the series manager on the DVR. I have a feeling some of the channel lineup side-effects are sneaking out early. It's a pain. grrrr

Has anyone else noticed that the channel lineup in your favorites and DVR interaction has been going Wonky on your set-top boxes recently??

It's started out with adding channels to our favorites that we can't delete and messing up with series' we record in the series manager on the DVR. I have a feeling some of the channel lineup side-effects are sneaking out early. It's a pain. grrrr

Yep. I noticed 4 channels that snuck into my favorites. I started deleting them and the DVR rebooted. :confused: When it came back up I was able to delete them.

Has anyone else noticed that the channel lineup in your favorites and DVR interaction has been going Wonky on your set-top boxes recently??

It's started out with adding channels to our favorites that we can't delete and messing up with series' we record in the series manager on the DVR. I have a feeling some of the channel lineup side-effects are sneaking out early. It's a pain. grrrr

Yes, and not the first time either. :mad: The current episode has been going on for 4-5 days. See the link below for what other people have been reporting on this issue. Supposedly a fix is in the works and should be available "soon".

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20733126-Favorites-All-Messed-Up

I got some new favorites too. Just looked on my box. Assuming the other boxes got them as well.

Big 10 network will be in Portland according to this...maybe Verizon will finally get a correct channel guide to us sometime soon as both the online and the one we got in the mail are both wrong

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080709/nyw099.html?.v=101

Everyone ready for Monday?

Updated channel lineup here, looks like they combined the original link with the one they sent everyone in the mail.

http://www22.verizon.com/NROneRetail/NR/rdonlyres/EA767695-087E-416E-89FB-F04149016F3F/0/PortlandOR_CLU_Feb08.pdf

The correct link for the 7/21/08 lineup is:
7/21 PDX Verizon FiOS Lineup (http://www22.verizon.com/NROneRetail/NR/rdonlyres/AD985A5D-DB91-4928-911E-17DCCF1ED9B4/0/PORT_P1_0721.pdf)

Weird, my link worked and gave the exact same schedule yours did mmihalik, but not at home. You do have the correct version.

Everyone ready for Monday?



Guess I'll be turning over to Golf Channel that part of my life I reclaimed when I switched from Comcast last Nov. Being too cheap to buy the Sports tier to get SD Golf, I will revel in getting Golf/VersusHD for "free".

How do they get away with that? - charging for SD Golf and putting HD on the Premier pkg.? But I'll not complain.

Have you seen USAHD on 884 today?

Have you seen USAHD on 884 today?


I do now! And I think the Versus/Golf HD channel being on the premier tier is more due to Versus than it is for Golf. Also doing a channel listing, 879 is CNBC+ HD, 896 is going to be Live Soccer HD (Olympics) and 897 is Live Basketball HD (Olympics)

Have you seen USAHD on 884 today?

Yes, but while the Guide shows channel 884, the Info screen shows channel 872 on my 6416 box.

I guess there will be some funnies during the transition.

Glad to see USA HD finally appear (missed it in FiOS -- enjoyed watching Monk and Psych in HD over on Comcast).

I also note that the Search inventory is not as robust as the onscreen Guide. I find things in the Guide one week out or more, that Searchisnot able to see.

I hope this too is temporary, and will be resolved once the switchover to the new lineup occurs tonight. I wonder what will be happening with one of my recordings tonight after midnight.

Mike

Looks like everything switched over, now if only my TiVo guide will now update to the correct channel listings. Looks like local channels on the TiVo are at both the 500's and 800's for now, but everything else has moved to it's correct location.

I forgot to check before I left for work today. Are the new channels up?

Edit: thanks rifleman69

Yes
When I checked this morning, the new channels were there.

Yes
When I checked this morning, the new channels were there.

And in the guide, the old channels have an "X" preceding their call letters and a map to the new number assignment. You can still even tune to the old channel number and the info bar tells you the new number. Pretty handy - wonder how long they'll keep that up?

I understand the potential value of the X-yyy channels still showing up at their old locations but my gosh, it sure makes browsing through legitimate channels a real pain. Personally I hope the old X-yyy channels in the guide go away quickly.

BTW, it looks like the cablecard systems don't have the X-yyy channels. I have one TV with a cablecard and after resetting the cablecard, the new channels showed up without any of the old X-yyy channels. Great news for you Tivo people.

Yeah on my TiVo, the channel guide is using the old station numbers. KGW comes in on 508 and 808 as well as the rest of the local channels.

Hopefully Tribune gets the updated channel numbers up so that the TiVo's can grab the correct channel listings. Someone said that Vs/Golf and TBS are not available yet on the dslreports forums.

in can take a couple of days for that guide information to start to fill in on a TiVo box...and I imagine with such a drastic channel realignment, it may be the case depending on how quickly Verizon gets everything over to Tribune...

If you've got season passes set to record over the next couple of days (i'd manually schedule them on the new station number)...as the guide info may not be filled in by the time its set to record. I know I'm going to need to do this for Big Brother/Deadliest Catch/The Mole over the next couple of nights probably.

was very excited though to wake up this morning to the new stations...and it will be nice to have the locals on their old station numbers, 502, 506, 508, 510, 512...etc.

I did notice too that CSN NW (SD) moved to channel 77 from 66. and that its specified as (standard definition) gives me hope that there's an HD channel coming.

Anyone geting TBS HD, ch 552?

I am getting a message saying I am not subscribed to this HD channel.

Also, ch 600, CNN HD shows as coming soon in the guide, and also then the message comes up that I am not subscribed to CNN HD.

Getting all the other HD channels OK in the settop Guide. Still NOT getting all the HD channels listed in the July channel listing PDF in the link above.

Did not see any expanision of the VOD HD offerings.

Thank you Verizon for the expansion so far!

Mike

TBS and CNN are supposed to be later adds from what I read...possibly the same with Vs/Golf but that could have been bad info on that channel.

Good thing I printed off a channel guide so that I can find everything again.

I'm curious to see what others are receiving. I'm now getting both TBS and CNN, but not Outdoor HD.

I'm missing several of the advertised HD movie channels including all but Starz HD, Showtime HD and TMC HD. None of the others are in my channel guide. Anyone getting different results?

Nope, that's exactly what I have as well mm.


Good news for TiVo users, I'm seeing stuff slowly start to populate the channel menu (not on the guide yet) at their correct places so things are in motion.

TBS HD and CNN HD were viewable later in the day for me on Monday. So just a few more of the extra premiums are MIA - like HBO HD and Cinemax HD East Coast feeds, and all the extra Starz feeds.

With channel numbering extending from 2 to 1999, we're approaching nearly 2000 cahnnels with still nothing to watch :)

Mike

Hmmm..

I'm having issue with most of my 'new' HD channels. Alot of distortion on CNNHD, VersusHD, Weather Channel HD. My TBSHD audio is in spanish! Anyone else experiencing this?

I did have TBS-HD in Spanish for one show (Friends) but another show later on was in English.

I had some major artifact problems with Smithsonian HD around 8PM last night.

online scheduling app on TiVo.com and it's still showing a mish-mash of new/old channels/descriptions, etc. I'm sure it will sort itself out in the near term, but sheesh...I'm sure there's something Verizon/Tribune could do to make this a smoother transition somehow.

Start by getting rid of the frickin' X channels. All that does is confuse things.

Outdoor HD still shows as not subscribed. Also, the guide data for TBS HD, TNT HD and USA HD is off by 3 hours. They are currently showing the East Coast feed, but the guide data is for the West Coast Feed.

Anyone else noticed this?

Anyone else who has a TiVo box still have TBS HD in Spanish? Granted not all of the shows are broadcast in Spanish but a quick check of Friends tonight was in Spanish. The Bill something show I saw a few days ago was in English though, as well as most of the commercials.

showing 506 listed twice? the "first 506" after 503, the channel banner shows it as CW. the 2nd "506" is right as KOIN HD. Just wondering if anyone else was seeing this. Otherwise everything appears to be okay...some pixelation on History HD this morning, but otherwise things look to be really good. Still getting used to the new channel numbers of all of the HD channels though.

Yep, I dumped the KRCW version off of my TiVo guide so I don't see it anymore.

Is the Versus/Golf channel 590 just a part-time offering? Golf coverage was on earlier today but this evening when I try to tune to 590 it says "Currently Unavailable". The guide has listings for golf programming all through the evening on 590. Maybe this is why the 590 channel is missing from the PDF and printed lists we got - it's incomplete programming. Since it was never advertised as being available, how can I complain to Verizon?

My Golf Channel says the same thing. This is the definition of FUBAR.

590 works for me at 10:20pm

Mine is back now too.

I understand the potential value of the X-yyy channels still showing up at their old locations but my gosh, it sure makes browsing through legitimate channels a real pain. Personally I hope the old X-yyy channels in the guide go away quickly.

BTW, it looks like the cablecard systems don't have the X-yyy channels. I have one TV with a cablecard and after resetting the cablecard, the new channels showed up without any of the old X-yyy channels. Great news for you Tivo people.

My plans when Boston gets the switchover is to reset my favoerites so they go only to the new channel designations. :)

My plans when Boston gets the switchover is to reset my favoerites so they go only to the new channel designations. :)

Actually, the changeover of favorites should be automatic (at least that's what happened here). All the channels in the favorites should be listed with their new location numbers (e.g., 5xx instead of 8xx).

Now, if the favorites can stay put and not randomly disappear...:(

I still notice light pixelation on History + Weather Channel.

showing 506 listed twice? the "first 506" after 503, the channel banner shows it as CW. the 2nd "506" is right as KOIN HD. Just wondering if anyone else was seeing this. Otherwise everything appears to be okay...some pixelation on History HD this morning, but otherwise things look to be really good. Still getting used to the new channel numbers of all of the HD channels though.

Is anyone having DVR recording issues since the channel changeover? We deleted most of our old series, and created new series (even though it appeared they converted the channel numbers on the original series). Two and a Half Men is on KCW at 7 and 7:30. I tried to record both of them as series, yet it only recorded two days worth; the 3rd day was not recorded; nor do any of the future listings in the guide indicate they will be recorded. So I deleted both of those from the series manager and created brand new series recordings. After that, the guide shows scheduled recordings for only the next week, and it says after next week, those shows are NOT marked to record (the little checkbox isn't there).

We have our series options set to record first-run AND reruns - all shows.

Is anyone having DVR recording issues since the channel changeover? ....

Not here. I did what you said, deleted the old series and created new one for OPB's ch. 510 "Newshour With Jim Lehrer" to be recorded daily at 4 PM, and it has been recording flawlessly since the 21st. BTW, I have QIP6416-2 HD-DVR.

Is anyone having DVR recording issues since the channel changeover?

Yup. I left most of the channels because it looked like they got migrated automatically. However, I wanted to change all the SciFi shows to the HD channel. I deleted BSG, Stargate Atlantis, and Eureka, found the shows on SciFi HD and set a series recording. The schedule showed it recording most of the reruns, but not the new episodes. I had to specifically select the new episodes and force them to record. I suspect there's some lingering guide issues from the switchover.

since the re-alignment. Many of the channel listings still seem as though they are on EAST COAST time. It's all throughout the lineup...the most noticeable are USA HD, Disney Channel, VH1 Soul, etc. just to name a few. Hopefully this will be resolved soon.

since the re-alignment. Many of the channel listings still seem as though they are on EAST COAST time. It's all throughout the lineup...the most noticeable are USA HD, Disney Channel, VH1 Soul, etc. just to name a few. Hopefully this will be resolved soon.

Maybe I'm wrong, but you do realize that's because USA HD and a few other stations, SciFi HD too I believe, are showing the east coast feed, right?

Yep, USA-HD is the East Coast Feed, which is why the guide shows WWE Raw at 6pm while the regular USA channel shows it at 9pm.

I don't notice any guide problems on channels that I currently watch on the HD side.

I sort of like that we are getting the east coast feeds for these channels. With a DVR, can record some of my shows and watch them at a more convenient and earlier time; before they appear at their "normal" 10pm time.

I sort of like that we are getting the east coast feeds for these channels. With a DVR, can record some of my shows and watch them at a more convenient and earlier time; before they appear at their "normal" 10pm time.

Amen!

I sort of like that we are getting the east coast feeds for these channels. With a DVR, can record some of my shows and watch them at a more convenient and earlier time; before they appear at their "normal" 10pm time.

I'd be happy with that, if it would actually record my shows. I missed the season premier of Eureka (SciFi) tonight because even though I've got a series recording set up (First Run & Repeats, Save All Episodes, Record all channels), and when I checked it last night it was set to record at 9:00pm tonight, when I happened to check it at about 9:45 I noticed that the recording had been bumped. Don't know why, because when I tuned to 680 there it was.

SciFi HD seems to be the only channel I'm having this trouble with. All my regular network stuff is recording just fine.

I'd be happy with that, if it would actually record my shows. I missed the season premier of Eureka (SciFi) tonight because even though I've got a series recording set up (First Run & Repeats, Save All Episodes, Record all channels), and when I checked it last night it was set to record at 9:00pm tonight, when I happened to check it at about 9:45 I noticed that the recording had been bumped. Don't know why, because when I tuned to 680 there it was.

SciFi HD seems to be the only channel I'm having this trouble with. All my regular network stuff is recording just fine.

Are you using a Verizon box or a TiVo?

I don't mind having the east coast feed, but unless the guide reflects the actual feed I'm receiving, it makes recording programs very difficult.

I sort of like that we are getting the east coast feeds for these channels. With a DVR, can record some of my shows and watch them at a more convenient and earlier time; before they appear at their "normal" 10pm time.

If you're a tennis fan, you might wish otherwise. East coast feed of USA (during the US open) cuts off at 9 PM (midnight EDT), while the West coast feed keeps showing Tennis. Let's hope UHD will remain on West coast time and continue showing US open in HD!

If you're a tennis fan, you might wish otherwise. East coast feed of USA (during the US open) cuts off at 9 PM (midnight EDT), while the West coast feed keeps showing Tennis. Let's hope UHD will remain on West coast time and continue showing US open in HD!

Or you could take the hit and watch in SD again. That feed hasn't been touched and will likely remain the west coast feed.

I don't mind having the east coast feed, but unless the guide reflects the actual feed I'm receiving, it makes recording programs very difficult.

What channel and are you using a Verizon box or a TiVo?

Just to get this thread going again since the data loss and server problems at AVS, I thought I'd paste the text of a post I made on 8/9/08.

"The dialog box that appears when changing channels now has a "Mode" selection by hitting the right arrow. It sorts channels by "genre". Is this a new feature? Doing sorting by HD sports this morning is pretty handy, esp. with the additional sports programming of the Olympics.

BTW, is anyone else experiencing rather frequent audio breakups on HD programming? I see it on all channels anytime of day. Just wondering if it's a box or feed problem. They seem to be more frequent since the added channels came on board."

Previously I posted that audio was OK for me.

Unfrotunately for me, I am starting to experience the issue too yesterday and today. Changing the channels restored the audio, so itmay be a box issue. I'll have to look more closely the next time to see if the audio drops out on my other boxes, too.

Also, I just got a new FiOS HD DVR; still the same Motorola 6416. I ordered from the Tanasbourne Verizon storefront. Silly me, I though you could just go in to get another box like you can do with Comcast. Took about 5 working days to get the additional box; it is delivered by UPS, and a return label wa provided so I could return the 2500 box I was replacing.

I was concerned when the self-install instructions did NOT accurately describe the process or experience:
- after connecting the box, I plugged in the power cord. For several minutes, the display had a flashing animation in the left most digit, and the right two digits diplayed "dL"
- after several minutes, the dL was replaced by "EF" for a few minutes
- eventually the display then when dark, then flashed the "----" display like when powering up a normally working 6416 box
- only after the above steps finished (all told about 10 minutes), did the box respond to my remote - I could then turn box on and off, and I was able to display a few channels
- finally, I followed the steps using the FiOS website for self-install to authorize the box, and after about another 10-15 minutes I was able to view the Guide and the channels I subscribed to.

So...if you want another set-top box, and are considering the self install, go for it, with the preceding advice.

Of course, you'll have to have the wiring already in place.

Mike

Well it looks like this thread lost a few days of posts due to the great database backup blowup on avsforum.

While waiting for FIOS-TV, I acquired Verizon FIOS phone+internet and wireless adding insult to injury. They started charging me in Dec. 2007 for FIOS/TV service+equipment.(never delivered!)
Having uncovered the ~$500. in overcharges that they acknowledge, they refuse to return the money. I foolishly allowed autopay. Go to Verizonpathetic.com to read many horror stories. I will back away fully from ALL Verizon ASAP. I will be taking them to small claims court. Watch your bills very carefully!!

Can't say that it's not totally Verizon's fault on this one (but the majority is on them). Always always always check your bills.

Previously I posted that audio was OK for me.

Unfrotunately for me, I am starting to experience the issue too yesterday and today. Changing the channels restored the audio, so itmay be a box issue. I'll have to look more closely the next time to see if the audio drops out on my other boxes, too.



Mike: As I said in my post gobbled up by the AVS problems, it seemed to me the frequency of audio drops has increased since we got our new channel lineup. I also theorized the problem may lie in the buffer. To test that, I was going to hit the record button next time I experienced the drop. The issue should then appear on the recording, I think. That would be something to show a tech, if I call. Haven't done either of those yet.

I also said I didn't hear the problem on my non-DVR 6200 box, leading me to think it's not the signal. I only have one 6416.

....I will be taking them to small claims court Go to their customer advocacy page and give a brief statement of the problem.
http://www22.verizon.com/foryourhome/ContactUs/CustomerAdvocacy.aspx
This gets you past all the phone/billing/support people and directly to someone who is empowered to fix things. I had a problem and someone from this office phoned me within a week to discuss my problem and it was resolved to my satisfaction. MUCH better than trying to deal with the billing people who don't really have much authority to fix things when they get screwed up.

Edit: By the way, I would not recommend the above URL for every issue you're having. I think it's intended as a last resort when you're unable to resolve your concerns with normal support. I don't think they are equipped to handle anything technical.

several posts ago I applauded what appeared to be an improvement in the responsiveness of the STB (6416) to remote key input. But now I have a different opinion. Watching the Olympics on the several different channels NBC has put them on has put a new emphasis on key input akin to text messaging. I've been trying to go "touch" to jockey between UHD on 567, NBC (KGW) on 508, 581 and 582. Many times the past few days I have found the STB lag has kicked in and I get the "5" repeated or some other mis-key to a number not assigned to a channel and I get shunted off to Ch 1951, which is the Urge Radio comedy channel. I realize this is the last channel assigned numerically by Verizon in the current lineup and it appears this is a default by the software when it can't figure out what the channel command is. But couldn't they pick another default besides a MA-rated channel? There's quite a bit of offensive language there.

And now that I tuned to 1951 and paged down through the Urge channels from there, it appears most of them are severely broken up both in audio and video tonight. Is this what's been going on here since we got the channel additions?

A different kind of reception issue:

When watching the Saddleback Forum yesterday on CNN HD, I noticed a glimmer/sparkly glow on many of the people. the darker areas had some sparkly "snow", feint but there.

This is viewing with a 6416 DVR (live or recorded), and connected via component to my Vizio 32" -- box set to output 720p.

Switching at the same time to the SD feed of CNN, the video is much softer.

I played with the Vizio settings (DNR), but no change.

Is something wonky with the CNN HD feed, or should I look elsewhere? the other HD channels don't see to exhibit this.

I'll be checking the other forums to see if others share this comment.

Mike

When I had my billing problems -- which were significant -- I simply asked to speak with a supervisor, who promptly reversed the wrong charges and gave me a slew of credits to make up for my troubles. If you talk to someone who has some authority, you can typically get taken care of.

For a couple weeks now the CBS Evening News have been broadcast in HD. Today I switched to channel 506 during the evening news but much to my surprise it wasn't in HD. Is Verizon not passing on the HD signal? Local KOIN news just before the national news were in HD. Anyone know what's going on with this?

Local KOIN news is not HD. I imagine someone didn't flip the switch at KOIN for the national broadcast, and since CBS is the old people's network, no one was awake to call into KOIN to complain.

For a couple weeks now the CBS Evening News have been broadcast in HD. Today I switched to channel 506 during the evening news but much to my surprise it wasn't in HD. Is Verizon not passing on the HD signal? Local KOIN news just before the national news were in HD. Anyone know what's going on with this?

It wasn't in HD for the first week or so. Sent an e-mail to KOIN, of course didn't hear back, but noticed it went to HD a couple of days later. However, as you noticed, it reverted back to 4x3. I thought the days of "calling to ask them to flip the switch" was long gone. Apparently not!

After about a month I tuned in to the FSC the other day, and was underwhelmed. It seemed to me, at least subjectively, that the picture was very much washed out. EPL matches were almost unwatchable. Even their studio programs suffered from very poor PQ. Anyone else noticed it? Could this be a consequence of recent FIOS lineup expansion?

So I'm watching the Beavers at Stanford on ESPN2HD (BTW, thanks, Verizon, for ESPNUHD) and during a timeout I thought I'd check Ch 590 to see what's on VS/Golf. After a few seconds the screen comes up with a "You are not subscribed to VS Golf HD". Huh? Was that just a trial for the past few weeks or what?

I pressed OK to view subscription options and the message says that they are unable to process my request at this time.

Anyone know what is going on?

I think it was just a programming error. We still get the Vs/Golf.


Love the ESPNU HD though, nice to have when both Oregon and Oregon State are on the road...all day football watching.

I think it was just a programming error. We still get the Vs/Golf.


Love the ESPNU HD though, nice to have when both Oregon and Oregon State are on the road...all day football watching.

VS/Golf still shows as subscription required here on my 2 boxes in Tigard. See this link: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20961981-VersusGolf-HD-Not-Subscribed
that says I'm not alone. Have you checked this morning?

Personally, I'd trade ESPNU for Golf. ;)

Now it's out, wondering if it's going to become unlocked at night for Vs programming or are we simply screwed with that channel?

Now it's out, wondering if it's going to become unlocked at night for Vs programming or are we simply screwed with that channel?

Check my link above ^, we're screwed! Unless, of course, you sign up for the sports package.

As for ESPNUHD, this afternoon's game was the same one they broadcast on ESPNHD. Who needs duplication?

On Saturday, both KATU and ESPNU will show the Oregon State/Penn State game, doubling it up yet again.

Looks like it'll be sports package time for October and November.

On Saturday, both KATU and ESPNU will show the Oregon State/Penn State game, doubling it up yet again.

Looks like it'll be sports package time for October and November.

You mean it won't also be on the Big Ten Network? :rolleyes:

Starting to get those audio dropouts on the CW and KGW every now and then, anyone else?

Backing up the TiVo does give the sound back so it's not like the sound is muted at the source.

Starting to get those audio dropouts on the CW and KGW every now and then, anyone else?

Backing up the TiVo does give the sound back so it's not like the sound is muted at the source.

Audio dropouts have been a regular occurrence for me during the 10 PM newscast on CW! I recall having a similar issue with KATU when I had Comcast (and their version of Motorola HD-DVR).

A co-worker pointed me to Verizon's internet video beta testing but its closed now. Apparently you'll be able to watch video from internet sites like youtube and hulu. It requires the 7216 DVR, which unfortunately has the same size HDD.

Hey Guys,

I've been trying to figure out why Verizon's address checker was trying to place me in SW when I live in NE (70th, near Tabor). Found out by calling that I am in a Qwest area and therefore I am SOL with regards to getting FIOs at all. Since I am about to purchase a new Kuro, I am trying to figure out what the next best thing is with regards to HD service. I currently have Comcast cable.

Also - would Comcast be able to tell if I can get FIOS? Thinking that if I did go with them for HD that I could get some leverage by mentioning FIOS rates (assuming they are better).

Verizon called yesterday and pitched a new "Extreme HD" package for $10/month. They said they were rolling out up to 100 new HD channels by the end of 08 and I wouldn't get any of them without the new package. The new channels are coming on line sporadically as they become available. Anyone else hear about this?

Also, reading in the general programing forum, there's a discussion of a software update that allows HD streaming from the Home Media DVR to an standard HD box (i.e. no need for a second HD DVR). Anyone hear about this? I don't find anything on V's web site, and the HM DVR information is outdated (or at least unchanged).

Extreme HD is currently the sports pack, but that will change by the end of the year.

Is there anyone here with news regarding FIOS installs in Happy Valley? The trucks have been all over the place and they just installed a fiber panel in my neighborhood. I'm curious if anyone has some inside info. I can't wait to switch from DirecTV.

Everything's been in our neighborhood since June...still no love from VZ. :( :confused:

Probably nothing, but I noticed the HBO and Cinemax HD channels (901 and 921) are now listed as HBO HD W and Max HD W. No change for the SHO STZ and TMC HD channels.

I understand the roll-out of additional HD channels may come in a channel-by-channel manner, so maybe this is a sign that we're getting close to the first of the new HD channels.

OK, for the past three days channel 510 has been having this weird sound "popping, clicking" issue (at least around the time that I watch Nightly Business report and Newshour). At first I thought it was the OPB-HD signal. However, when I switched to TV's internal HD tuner, the sound was fine and switching back to FIOS HD-DVR, the clicking and popping was back!

Called the FIOS tech support and received the useless "reboot" command which of course did nothing! BTW, all the other channels are fine, and SD channel 10 is also trouble-free, just 510 seems to have this problem. Anyone else noticed this?:confused:

OK, for the past three days channel 510 has been having this weird sound "popping, clicking" issue (at least around the time that I watch Nightly Business report and Newshour). At first I thought it was the OPB-HD signal. However, when I switched to TV's internal HD tuner, the sound was fine and switching back to FIOS HD-DVR, the clicking and popping was back!

Called the FIOS tech support and received the useless "reboot" command which of course did nothing! BTW, all the other channels are fine, and SD channel 10 is also trouble-free, just 510 seems to have this problem. Anyone else noticed this?:confused:

I watched Newshour last night on 510 and didn't notice this. However, I might be getting pop-deaf as I have had day after day of dropouts and audio breakups on CNBC-HD+ 602, and KGWHD 508. It is becoming more and more frequent.

At first I thought it might be the buffer in my 6416 DVR but I get the same problems on my non-DVR 6200. The problem appears in playback from the DVR, too. I have been putting off calling for a tech but I think that will happen fairly soon. What I need to do is watch those stations on my SD setup to see if it's a signal issue. Could be an amp or attenuation issue. Anyone know how to diagnose that without a meter?

Verizon called yesterday and pitched a new "Extreme HD" package for $10/month. They said they were rolling out up to 100 new HD channels by the end of 08 and I wouldn't get any of them without the new package. The new channels are coming on line sporadically as they become available. Anyone else hear about this?

Also, reading in the general programing forum, there's a discussion of a software update that allows HD streaming from the Home Media DVR to an standard HD box (i.e. no need for a second HD DVR). Anyone hear about this? I don't find anything on V's web site, and the HM DVR information is outdated (or at least unchanged).

I've had FiosTV for a little over a month here in Seattle area, and am using the Home Media DVR with v 1.6 guide. Basically the DVR is the new Motorola 7216 with the multimedia features turned on ( costs extra ). If you just get a regular DVR, it's the same 7216 box without these features turned on. The box in the other room is just an HD box with no recording features but will playback from the main one.

When you get the Extreme HD rollout, if you haven't already, it will probably be very similar to our lineup except your locals will be different. You can check out the HD lineup I posted here to get an idea of what channels are coming your way soon. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1061867

With the WA addition of HD channels did the FSN NW HD actually come on line? It sure would be nice to have this before football is over....both local college teams are supposedly on there tomorrow and it sucks watching in SD.

Made the switch today from Comcast, I have a couple of Tivo HD XL's. Much to my surprise the installer showed with Multi-stream cable cards. I had been holding out for them before before I make the comcast - verizon switch, but had given up. He was surprised also he said from here on out it Multi-stream cards and he had never installed one before. Took him a couple tries go get all the numbers entered right but they are up running. Do not know what the billing for cards is going to be yet but hope it is no worse the $3.99 * 2.

Steve

With the WA addition of HD channels did the FSN NW HD actually come on line? It sure would be nice to have this before football is over....both local college teams are supposedly on there tomorrow and it sucks watching in SD.

Beaver game isn't in HD anyway, Duck game is. I hear they're breaking out the new black uni's, that'll win some games! :rolleyes: :eek: :confused:

The additional FIOS HD channels have started showing up here in Beaverton. Of course I'm not subscribed to many of them :( but there are several new HD Starz, Showtime and The Movie Channel selections now which display beautifully and are welcome additions.

RE: new FiOS HD channels

Same here! Wow, quite a few, especially for those who subscribe to the premium movie channels.

Even the regular tiers have additions, though I am beside myself now that QVC is available in HD :)

There are still a few channels listed in the guide that don't quite display yet, with the screen telling me that I "don't subscribe" to this channel; this should be temporary, like last time channels were added, as I surely do. For example, DisneyHD, MGMHD,a nd FOXNEWSHD.

Mike

Have y'all seen the discussion on the FiOS main thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14854695#post14854695
that talks about the Extreme Package? If you do nothing it's possible for existing customers to lose HD nationals and get only local HD channels when they switch or discontinue offering the Premier package to new subs. I wonder if we'll get any warning or notice from Verizon. Sounds like others have used the switch to negotiate better package deals. This bears watching closely.

Existing customers don't get the just added HD channels on the Premiere package, you must upgrade to the Extreme or whatever it's called package.

Also commitments are now only one year in length instead of two.

Here's the new channel lineup: https://www22.verizon.com/NROneRetail/NR/rdonlyres/32E096F6-BD1C-4BA9-A6CF-AD699D11AC4F/0/PORT_HDX.pdf

I'm going to wait and see how it goes for others trying to switch to Extreme. If they're able to then I'll give it a shot.

I switched to the Verizon Flex package(20/5 internet + Extreme HD) today as it's cheaper for me since there wasn't an internet+TV package before. My monthly bill will actually got down $12 per month now even after adding in the $30 movie package to it.

I just switched to the Extreme package as well, but I'm not exactly sure how it will turn out. The CSR didn't seem all that certain of what would change after I put her on the spot about it. She said that without it I'd lose sports channels like ESPN, though she was surprised when I told her I could still get it.

But like with Toenut, she said I'd be saving about 14 bucks (and her calculations with my bill seemed to confirm it). Though as I told her, I'm always suspicious when a company tells me I'm getting more for less money, lol.

Does Lifetime HD 640 works for you?

Does Lifetime HD 640 works for you?


I haven't been home to check this afternoon...as of this morning I could tune to the channel number but there was no actual video on any of the new channels...and I've converted my package over to the Extreme HD...

gdeep, in WA, did you get FSN HD? I'm hoping that Verizon adds that channel in the Oregon market as well as use a channel for HD Blazer games on CSN NW...

Does Lifetime HD 640 works for you?


I haven't been home to check this afternoon...as of this morning I could tune to the channel number but there was no actual video on any of the new channels...and I've converted my package over to the Extreme HD...

gdeep, in WA, did you get FSN HD? I'm hoping that Verizon adds that channel in the Oregon market as well as use a channel for HD Blazer games on CSN NW...

Thanks for the reply....FSNNW HD isn't part of HD lineup yet. Also I would be happy to see FIOS to add CSN HD here in seattle....

GO Blazers....

Does Lifetime HD 640 works for you?

Same here.. I recently converted to the extreme+internet pkg as well. I could get all the new HD channel except for that one.

btw.. if you're going upgrade/convert your fios tv to the new plan don't forget to ask for special saving like free HD-DVR rental for 3 months and HBO/Cinemax 30 days free-trial.

I made the switch this morning. Should be about $5 cheaper with more HD channels and faster internet. :cool: Too good to pass up. You do have to do a new 12 mo agreement, but I was able to keep the discounted rate for my dvr.

Does Lifetime HD 640 works for you?

I switched to the Extreme HD as well, and that's the only channel in the 502-888 channel range that is not working. :confused:

I hope you guys are calling/emailing Verizon often to complain about the lack of Blazer HD game carriage. I keep complaining but still no word from them on it. I am soooo ready to dump Comcast. At least for me their HD PQ has really taken a turn for the worse in the last few months since they started cramming all the new HD channels in. But I just can't switch to Fios until they figure out some kind of arrangement to host the Blazer HD games from CSN though :(


ron

You folks that are getting the "reduced pricing" can you confirm what you left and what you got?

I signed up for their phone/internet/TV when they first offered and got a 2 year agreement...it is coming to $174/month:

FiOS® Triple Freedom: Full Month Sep 28 - Oct 27 $114.99
FiOS Triple Freedom $114.99 - Verizon Freedom Essentials - FiOS Internet 15/2 - FiOS TV Premier
Call Waiting ID $0.40
TV Additional Services $42.93 Standard STB Rental (4@4.99) High Definition STB Rental (2@9.99) Cable Card Rental (1@$2.99)
Taxes, Fees and Other Charges $15.73

What are people getting when the move from a plan like mine to a plan including the Extreme HD option?

You folks that are getting the "reduced pricing" can you confirm what you left and what you got?

I signed up for their phone/internet/TV when they first offered and got a 2 year agreement...it is coming to $174/month:

FiOS® Triple Freedom: Full Month Sep 28 - Oct 27 $114.99
FiOS Triple Freedom $114.99 - Verizon Freedom Essentials - FiOS Internet 15/2 - FiOS TV Premier
Call Waiting ID $0.40
TV Additional Services $42.93 Standard STB Rental (4@4.99) High Definition STB Rental (2@9.99) Cable Card Rental (1@$2.99)
Taxes, Fees and Other Charges $15.73

What are people getting when the move from a plan like mine to a plan including the Extreme HD option?
Extreme HD is $109.99 so you'll pay about $5 less. Your STB's and CC will be at the same rate.

Extreme HD is $109.99 so you'll pay about $5 less. Your STB's and CC will be at the same rate.

I was going to call them tomorrow to see if I could get a better deal, but by the sounds of it I won't.

I'm currently getting the Triple Freedom:


Verizon Freedom Essentials (phone)
FiOS TV Premier
FiOS Internet (5/2)


I'm paying $104.99 + additional services (Home Media DVR) + taxes, fees, etc.

Sounds like I'd end up paying $5 more if I went to the Extreme HD package.

For those with Extreme HD: It seems like they fixed the issue with channel 640 (Lifetime HD). I can now receive it too, so all channels from 502~888 work OK for me.

Well I switched from my 114.99 phone - premium TV - 10/2 Internet package to the phone / extreme HD - 20/5 internet package and they gave me it for 99.99/mo 1st year with cinemax/HBO for a month! Because I called before end of october they were offering a $10 discount so woohoo and thanks to this thread!

Did anyone notice the guide was messed up on Sunday for the 49er/Giants game? The game was actually at 10am pacific time, but the guide showed 1pm. Looks like yet another mix up with the east coast time zone. I planned to watch but didn't even check that channel until 1pm so I missed the whole game. I suppose it would have been the same problem if I had set it to record on the DVR. I also noticed other channels (like FX-HD) were in the guide with east coast times so the show they listed was already done.

Well I switched from my 114.99 phone - premium TV - 10/2 Internet package to the phone / extreme HD - 20/5 internet package and they gave me it for 99.99/mo 1st year with cinemax/HBO for a month! Because I called before end of october they were offering a $10 discount so woohoo and thanks to this thread!

Thanks for your post. It save me $20! I called and they wanted $129.99 for the new package. Then I literally read your e-mail to them, and they checked back and sure enough gave me the package for $99.99 for one year. Thanks again, and I owe you a lunch! :)

I e-mailed the following two individuals this morning...asking about the carriage of Blazer home games in HD on FiOS TV for the Oregon Market...

heather.b.wilner@verizon.com

bobbi.henson@verizon.com



Doesn't hurt to e-mail and ask and it keeps the issue in front of them. If they don't understand the demand for it, they're not likely to find a way to add it if they're not restricted in doing so.

I e-mailed the following two individuals this morning...asking about the carriage of Blazer home games in HD on FiOS TV for the Oregon Market...

heather.b.wilner@verizon.com

bobbi.henson@verizon.com


I've been wanting to contact someone to complain about our receiving only the east-coast feed of several channels in HD (3 hrs early). Examples: Discovery Ch.620 vs 120, and History ch.628 vs 128.

Who are these people and why did you choose them? Do you think they might be responsive to my issue as well?

Anyone else have siggestions of people who can be contacted with programming requests/complaints?

I e-mailed the following two individuals this morning...asking about the carriage of Blazer home games in HD on FiOS TV for the Oregon Market...

heather.b.wilner@verizon.com

bobbi.henson@verizon.com



Doesn't hurt to e-mail and ask and it keeps the issue in front of them. If they don't understand the demand for it, they're not likely to find a way to add it if they're not restricted in doing so.Good work J. I just sent detailed emails to both of them as well. If anybody else comes up with any other contacts they think might be worth sending requests to, send them emails and tell them you'll be forced to dump your Verizon service if they don't figure out a way to host the HD games. Please post their contact info up here as well so everybody else can do the same. I'm getting really tired of the deteriorated Comcast PQ but at least I get the HD games. I seriously feel for you current Blazer fan Verizon subs who only get the SD feeds...


ron

Well I switched from my 114.99 phone - premium TV - 10/2 Internet package to the phone / extreme HD - 20/5 internet package and they gave me it for 99.99/mo 1st year with cinemax/HBO for a month! Because I called before end of october they were offering a $10 discount so woohoo and thanks to this thread!

Thanks for your post. It save me $20! I called and they wanted $129.99 for the new package. Then I literally read your e-mail to them, and they checked back and sure enough gave me the package for $99.99 for one year.

Just out of curiosity, what number did you folks call to reach someone? I've called the national number (1-888-591-6076) and they told me that it was only for new services. They told me to call 800-483-4000 instead and the person I talked to there said they knew nothing about a $10 discount, she quoted me $109.99 for phone/Extreme HD/20/5 internet.

Who are these people and why did you choose them? Do you think they might be responsive to my issue as well?

Anyone else have siggestions of people who can be contacted with programming requests/complaints?


Heather Wilner
Manager, Media Relations
(212) 321-8333
heather.b.wilner@verizon.com
FiOS TV and FiOS video content

Bobbi Henson
Director, Media Relations
(972) 718-2225
bobbi.henson@verizon.com
FiOS broadband, TV and voice services

Jon Davies
Manager, Media Relations
(805) 372-6969
jon.davies@verizon.com
Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington


I chose Heather and Bobbi, because they addressed a previous issue that I had early on in my TV service when I'd contacted them directly. I'm going to copy my original message to Jon Davies as he's the Media Manager for the Oregon Market.

EDIT:

This is the message I just received from Heather Wilner:

"Hi Josh. Thank you for your note. We're working on making both channels available and hope to offer them in the near future. So, keep a look out for this and other new content on the FiOS TV lineup."

Heather Wilner
Verizon - Media Relations



Keep sending e-mails to them asking them about carriage of Blazer games in HD, and also FSN HD...be kind and thoughtful in your e-mails, dare I say, thanking them for the recent addition of HD channels in our market...if we stay on it, I'm hopeful something will be done and we'll be able to see the CSN NW HD Blazer games.

Heather sent me this reply:

Hi Ron. Thank you for your note. I've passed it along to colleagues who manage our content. I can tell you that we're working on making the channel available and hope to launch it in the near future. So, keep a look out for this and other new content.

Heather Wilner
Verizon - Media RelationsIt seems she didn't quite understand the situation as I described it, since there's not a "channel" per se that we want added. Hopefully whoever it is that she's passed it on to will understand a bit better. I think you're right that perhaps this Jon Davies would be someone that at least would have some kind of idea of what the issue is. I'm going to copy him on my email as well.


ron

It seems she didn't quite understand the situation as I described it, since there's not a "channel" per se that we want added.
ron

I copied Jon on my original message as well, and also sent a reply back to Heather/Bobbi/and Jon...here's what I wrote...

Heather,

Thank you for getting back to me about the carriage of Portland Trail Blazer Games in HD and also FSN HD. I truly appreciate you taking the time to let me know the status.

We (I'm speaking for many Trail Blazer fans with FiOS TV) are very excited about this upcoming season and to be able to see these games in HD would be amazing. My friends with Comcast are laughing it up that we as FiOS TV subscribers will only see the Standard Definition broadcast of the games, given the claims of how much better FiOS TV is than Comcast cable.

Fortunately for us, the first two games of the season will be televised nationally (TNT-HD and ESPNHD)...after that, beginning Nov. 1, seeing games (esp. home games) broadcast in HD through CSN NW will be imperative.

I'm hopeful the timeline for adding the HD broadcast is sooner than later and that I won't have to add Comcast cable service to my cable bill in order to see Blazer home games in HD.

Again, thank you for taking the time to get back to me, and I look forward to those additions (CSN NW-HD games and FSN-HD games) in the near future as you stated.

Sincerely,

Just out of curiosity, what number did you folks call to reach someone? I've called the national number (1-888-591-6076) and they told me that it was only for new services. They told me to call 800-483-4000 instead and the person I talked to there said they knew nothing about a $10 discount, she quoted me $109.99 for phone/Extreme HD/20/5 internet.

I called the billing number (1-888-553-1555) and had to press the CSR to go to another "screen" to see the deal. Of course this being Verizon it took another 4 phone calls since Wed. to straighten things out, and I am still not confident if everything is sorted out. I'll have to wait for the next bill.. (gulp)!

A few weeks ago, I began to notice frequent audio drop-outs. I watch only SD channels, mostly locals (2, 6, 8, 12), but drop outs occur on them all, at all times of the day, purely random as far as I can tell.

When the audio drops, the video usually continues fine but can occasionally have some pixelization. The drop-outs are recorded on the DVR and can be played back.

This past week I finally called Verizon. They remotely downloaded new software, then sent me a new DVR. Neither worked. Then a tech came and replaced one coax cable; that didn't help either. Today a second tech replaced all the coax connectors, barrels and splitters. She also changed out the ONT (outside on the garage wall) and "cleaned the fiber". Nothing helped; the audio is still dropping occasionally.

In fact, while we were discussing her work, with the TV playing, the audio dropped out. She looked shocked. Then she grabbed her cell and called an upstream colleague. They chatted, and she then told me that he had been receiving reports of audio dropouts on their Fox Sports feed (the channel we had been watching). Quite a coincidence, that... ;)

Now I find a few reports here from others who apparently see the same occasional audio drop-outs. So it's not just me?? The most recent dropout I caught was on channel 2 news, at about 6:07pm tonight (Sun). Anyone else see it?

We weren't watching at that time. But my wife records a soap on CBS-HD from 11am-noon every weekday. We noticed some audio drops in the recording on most days last week. They lasted anywhere from a few seconds to a couple minutes. They were on the DVR recording at specific times. You could rewind and get the same issue. So it is definitely NOT an HDMI or TV problem - it is something that happened upstream of the DVR.

We weren't watching at that time. But my wife records a soap on CBS-HD from 11am-noon every weekday. We noticed some audio drops in the recording on most days last week. They lasted anywhere from a few seconds to a couple minutes. They were on the DVR recording at specific times. You could rewind and get the same issue. So it is definitely NOT an HDMI or TV problem - it is something that happened upstream of the DVR.

Thanks for the info. I've come to the same conclusion, that the problem is NOT on my site but the dropouts are being broadcast that way... when others see them too, that confirms the theory. Today I'm going to try recording BOTH the HD and SD versions of a couple shows to see if any dropouts in one are present in the other.

So then what? How do we get Verizon's attention at the right level to address this??

Thanks for the info. I've come to the same conclusion, that the problem is NOT on my site but the dropouts are being broadcast that way... when others see them too, that confirms the theory. Today I'm going to try recording BOTH the HD and SD versions of a couple shows to see if any dropouts in one are present in the other.

So then what? How do we get Verizon's attention at the right level to address this??

Good question and nearly impossible to do with the contact means at our disposal.

I've been having audio drops for a few months. I noticed them mainly during KGWDT HD evening news and NBC Nightly news on 508, as well as on CNBCHD+ in the mornings (6:30 - 8:00am and noon - 1:00pm, usually). The CNBC breaks seemed to occur more frequently than from any other source.

I called last week to change my pkg to the new Extreme HD and during that sales call voiced my concern about the audio. I spoke with a tech who hit my boxes with resets, etc. and asked if that fixed it. I told her it would take a period of viewing/listening to determine that and I wasn't prepared to do that while she was on the phone.

Long and short - I had a service tech visit last Friday afternoon. He tightened some loose connections, mainly at the distribution feed outside the garage. He then took some signal readings and determined a booster was needed and installed that between the coax coming out of the ONT and the house distribution line. Solved? Who knows, yet. I'll be watching the news tonight but I have to say I didn't perceive any problems between my 6:30 and 7:15am viewing of CNBC 602 this morning.

I did notice the audio breaks during the WS game last night but I think that has been an issue with Fox for all the games so far. I saw some comments about that on the AVS World Series thread.

Actually, the primary reason for the tech visit was to resolve an issue the phone person had never heard of. This where when you ask the STB to tune to a channel by pressing a series of numbers it can't figure out what to do with, the STB automatically tunes to Ch 1951, URGE Radio comedy. Try inputting 5555 and see what results. All 3 of my boxes do the same thing and tune to 1951. Problem is, that station is rated MA and some pretty foul language can occur. It seems to be a programmed default but I was hoping Verizon could make a change to default to any other channel. The tech says the solution is to add 1951 to a Parental Block. Well, OK, but I still think Verizon should own up to making a pretty lousy choice for it's default, which so far no one at Verizon acknowledges. Or am I the only one with this issue? Maybe my FTTH is the culprit and I am truly alone. :rolleyes:

Good question and nearly impossible to do with the contact means at our disposal.

I've been having audio drops for a few months. I noticed them mainly during KGWDT HD evening news and NBC Nightly news on 508, as well as on CNBCHD+ in the mornings (6:30 - 8:00am and noon - 1:00pm, usually). The CNBC breaks seemed to occur more frequently than from any other source.

I called last week to change my pkg to the new Extreme HD and during that sales call voiced my concern about the audio. I spoke with a tech who hit my boxes with resets, etc. and asked if that fixed it. I told her it would take a period of viewing/listening to determine that and I wasn't prepared to do that while she was on the phone.

Long and short - I had a service tech visit last Friday afternoon. He tightened some loose connections, mainly at the distribution feed outside the garage. He then took some signal readings and determined a booster was needed and installed that between the coax coming out of the ONT and the house distribution line. Solved? Who knows, yet. I'll be watching the news tonight but I have to say I didn't perceive any problems between my 6:30 and 7:15am viewing of CNBC 602 this morning.

I did notice the audio breaks during the WS game last night but I think that has been an issue with Fox for all the games so far. I saw some comments about that on the AVS World Series thread.

Actually, the primary reason for the tech visit was to resolve an issue the phone person had never heard of. This where when you ask the STB to tune to a channel by pressing a series of numbers it can't figure out what to do with, the STB automatically tunes to Ch 1951, URGE Radio comedy. Try inputting 5555 and see what results. All 3 of my boxes do the same thing and tune to 1951. Problem is, that station is rated MA and some pretty foul language can occur. It seems to be a programmed default but I was hoping Verizon could make a change to default to any other channel. The tech says the solution is to add 1951 to a Parental Block. Well, OK, but I still think Verizon should own up to making a pretty lousy choice for it's default, which so far no one at Verizon acknowledges. Or am I the only one with this issue? Maybe my FTTH is the culprit and I am truly alone. :rolleyes:

You are not alone. Just tried it; my DVR does the same. Not having children in our home any longer, it's not much of a big deal to me, but I can see your point. It's sad that there is seemingly no way to give meaningful input to Verizon.

For example, it's clear that we (customers) are calling in Verizon techs who replace cables, connectors, splitters, even DVRs and ONTs, all at great expense to Verizon, when none of those are the cause of the problem!! Plus it ties up the tech's time when they are already seriously short of tech resources. It sure seems to me that the proper folk at Verizon would want to correct the REAL problems, to better utilize their scarce and expensive tech resources...

Actually, the primary reason for the tech visit was to resolve an issue the phone person had never heard of. This where when you ask the STB to tune to a channel by pressing a series of numbers it can't figure out what to do with, the STB automatically tunes to Ch 1951, URGE Radio comedy. Try inputting 5555 and see what results. All 3 of my boxes do the same thing and tune to 1951. Problem is, that station is rated MA and some pretty foul language can occur. It seems to be a programmed default but I was hoping Verizon could make a change to default to any other channel. The tech says the solution is to add 1951 to a Parental Block. Well, OK, but I still think Verizon should own up to making a pretty lousy choice for it's default, which so far no one at Verizon acknowledges. Or am I the only one with this issue? Maybe my FTTH is the culprit and I am truly alone. :rolleyes:

My SD STB goes to 1951 but my HD DVR goes to 888. I'm guessing it went 888 because that's the highest channel in my favorites. Fortunately my kids would see that there's no cartoons on that channel and change it within 1/2 sec. :D

I got a call this morning from a Verizon tech, "I'm scheduled to come fix your TV service today". Interesting, since I didn't request anyone. I explained that another tech had just replaced "everything" on Sunday and that I was convinced the problem (audio dropouts) was not on my end. He said, "okay, I won't come out."

About 30 minutes later, he called again, to tell me that Verizon *was* now aware of audio dropout problems with local channels here (Beaverton). "They're working on it."

We'll see...

So far with my limited viewing of CNBCHD+ and KGWDT news programming yesterday and today, I can't say I've had any further audio drops. I'm not in a mode where I can pay constant attention to this but I will continue casual observation. Has the amplifier fixed my problem? Maybe.

klac: Thanks for testing/reporting. I think you're right about the 888 and Favorites. My HD DVR, HD non-DVR and SD STB all go to 1951. I have no favorites saved on any of them.

byronl: Good to get your confirmation. Thanks.

Still no joy... at least six (6!) audio dropouts last night on channel 2 during Dancing With The Stars...

So far with my limited viewing of CNBCHD+ and KGWDT news programming yesterday and today, I can't say I've had any further audio drops. I'm not in a mode where I can pay constant attention to this but I will continue casual observation. Has the amplifier fixed my problem? Maybe.

klac: Thanks for testing/reporting. I think you're right about the 888 and Favorites. My HD DVR, HD non-DVR and SD STB all go to 1951. I have no favorites saved on any of them.

byronl: Good to get your confirmation. Thanks.


I get it as well with NBC-related stations (including KGW's 10pm news on whatever station that is now). And it's not just the standard receiver as it does it with the TiVo as well. Problem is I can back up and listen to the audio as it was intended so something is going a little haywire with the broadcast.

I get it as well with NBC-related stations (including KGW's 10pm news on whatever station that is now). And it's not just the standard receiver as it does it with the TiVo as well. Problem is I can back up and listen to the audio as it was intended so something is going a little haywire with the broadcast.

Really? Are you sure you can rewind/replay and the audio is then present?? Every audio gap I've had can be replayed because the audio gap was recorded.

Yep, but I don't have the motorola dvr boxes either. I've had audio dropouts on non-NBC related channels but they were like you described, not able to rewind back and hear the audio.

Well, so far, I think I have noticed just one drop this morning on CNBC. So for the most part I think my problem has been fixed.

Not a Verizon issue but has anyone else noticed the crackling in the audio stream on KGWDT? I noticed it first during my recording of Heroes from Mon. night. It started to appear about 15 minutes into the program and lasted for the better part of a half hour. When it stopped, the picture shrunk to a smaller widescreen size bounded by black all the way around. When I mentioned this to my wife (she's not interested in Heroes), she said she experienced a similar audio crackling during Oprah earlier that afternoon, watching on my daughter's HD TV via Comcast. I noticed it again last night watching my recording of My Own Worst Enemy but it was only a brief encounter and no image change.

It seems KGW has contracted the in-the-show promo bug. The add a bottom screen promo for the News and other shows (KGW-centric) during a show. And when they do this the audio drops about 50%. One of these days the geniuses at KGW will figure out how to handle their own technology. But why should I be critical? - it took me a while to learn how to use my DVR and other electronic toys.

Did you guys get FSNNW HD added yet? Seattle got FSNNWHD added last night.

Not a Verizon issue but has anyone else noticed the crackling in the audio stream on KGWDT? I noticed it first during my recording of Heroes from Mon. night. It started to appear about 15 minutes into the program and lasted for the better part of a half hour. When it stopped, the picture shrunk to a smaller widescreen size bounded by black all the way around.

Yes, I noticed it. It seemed focused on the surround speakers. I was getting worried that my surround sound speakers or wiring was having a problem while I was watching Heroes off the DVR. VERY annoying. I also saw the mini-widescreen version of the show you mention. At least now I know it wasn't my equipment.

Yes, I noticed it. It seemed focused on the surround speakers. I was getting worried that my surround sound speakers or wiring was having a problem while I was watching Heroes off the DVR. VERY annoying. I also saw the mini-widescreen version of the show you mention. At least now I know it wasn't my equipment.

I thought the same about my rears. I turned off the surround and could still hear the crackling in my mains so I determined it was in the feed.

gdeep: I just paged through my HD list in the guide and don't see FSNNW HD. What channel number is assigned to it?

I thought the same about my rears. I turned off the surround and could still hear the crackling in my mains so I determined it was in the feed.

gdeep: I just paged through my HD list in the guide and don't see FSNNW HD. What channel number is assigned to it?

Channel 576. Yesterday it didn't show up in guide so i had to manually go to that channel. Today the guide shows that channel now as FSNNW HD.

Now I want Verizon to add CSN in HD.

Or does it just show FSN-HD games when available? Does it simulcast the non-HD programming of the SD channel?

It was my understanding they just showed HD games on the MOJO channel when available...and that it wasn't a full time channel.

Patiently awaiting some announcement of HD Blazer Home Games from CSN NW...

Or does it just show FSN-HD games when available? Does it simulcast the non-HD programming of the SD channel?

It was my understanding they just showed HD games on the MOJO channel when available...and that it wasn't a full time channel.

Patiently awaiting some announcement of HD Blazer Home Games from CSN NW...


Yeah looks like FSN NWHD will only show HD programming. Right now when I tune in to that channel all i get is colored bars and the guide says next programming in HD will be airing at 9:30 am tomorrow.

I will be really happy if Fios adds CSN HD here in seattle too...Go Blazers.

Awesome, Beaver game should be in HD tomorrow night.

I thought the same about my rears. I turned off the surround and could still hear the crackling in my mains so I determined it was in the feed.I had to turn my rears all the way down to make it watchable as well (via comcast).

I also have been annoyed by the giant bottom 1/3rd of the screen upcoming show promos that drop the audio out of DD and lower the volume. Do they really need to use that much of the screen to post a friggin' promo? :rolleyes:. They'd be so much less offensive if they'd just make them half the size and do away with the whole blue "banner" look so they don't cover up so much of what you're trying to watch. I don't like them at all and seriously wish they would discontinue the practice, but I can understand why they have them. If they did them more discretely so they didn't totally disrupt the show, I would even say it was a fair trade off for having DVR functionallity. On the other hand, if they start doing something like NBC was previously doing with the continuous text promo next to the network logo, I will quit watching just like I did while NBC was doing it. I've also noticed that every morning during the early part of the Today show KGW runs a screen crawl across the bottom listing all their translators. When they do that it temporarily drops to the slightly delayed windowboxed SD signal you mentioned as well.


ron

Anyone getting 576 in Portland? Doesn't seem to be there.

Anyone getting 576 in Portland? Doesn't seem to be there.

Nope, at least not here in Tigard.

So will we have the chance tonight to compare HD of the Blazer game from KGW and ESPN? Or will we have the blackout of ESPN that we have discussed ad nauseum in the past? :rolleyes:

HD of Blazer player intros on KGW is very good IMO, but the audio breakups are prolific!

OK, I give up. Why do we have the game on both channels? PQ, IMO, is a push.

A few blips on the KGW broadcast, I'm a Spurs fan but I'd much rather listen to Barnett and Rice.

before heading out last evening, i checked out my DirecTiVo and my Verizon HD DVR to make sure recordings were set up to get last night's Saturday Night Live.

Strange things on Verizon FiOS 510 - PBS HD -- center channel audio was gone, but the back channel for audio was still there. You could here footsteps and background audio from the program that was on around 10pm, but no dialog - the lips were moving, but you could not hear any of the actual center channel dialog. I quickly checked the SD ch 10, and all was OK there. The OTA HD broadcast was also OK, as was the SD DirecTiVo broadcast.

I wonder how Verizon managed to miss that the center channel dialog was missing?

By the 11pm broadcast of Mystery, all was OK again.

Mike

before heading out last evening, i checked out my DirecTiVo and my Verizon HD DVR to make sure recordings were set up to get last night's Saturday Night Live.

Strange things on Verizon FiOS 510 - PBS HD -- center channel audio was gone, but the back channel for audio was still there. You could here footsteps and background audio from the program that was on around 10pm, but no dialog - the lips were moving, but you could not hear any of the actual center channel dialog. I quickly checked the SD ch 10, and all was OK there. The OTA HD broadcast was also OK, as was the SD DirecTiVo broadcast.

I wonder how Verizon managed to miss that the center channel dialog was missing?

By the 11pm broadcast of Mystery, all was OK again.

Mike

I'd be interested to know how your recording of SNL turned out. We watched ours last night and the severe crackling was back at about 20 - 25 minutes into the program. It finally went away right before the end of the show. Again, I noticed it mainly from the rears - right rear especially - and when I switched to stereo it was evident in the mains.

I had the same thing happen to me...very crackly sound coming through under the audio...I've only ever noticed this on NBC (508)...not on any other channels...


patiently waiting for FSN-HD and CSN NW-HD...was disappointed it didn't show up over the weekend as it did late last week in Seattle. I did notice that if you manually put in 576 or 577, under the channel banner provided by TiVo it stays on that channel and says TBD, but there's obviously no audio/video, just a blank black screen.

If you check the Portland Comcast thread, Comcast and OTA users were having the same problems with SNL...so it was a problem with KGW, not FiOS.

I'd be interested to know how your recording of SNL turned out. We watched ours last night and the severe crackling was back at about 20 - 25 minutes into the program. It finally went away right before the end of the show. Again, I noticed it mainly from the rears - right rear especially - and when I switched to stereo it was evident in the mains.

Yes, my Verizon HD recording of SNL had the audio issue; crackling.

My SD recording from DirecTV did NOT have any audio issues.

Mike

Comcast customer here, researching FiOS.

Heroes and other NBC programming was crackly as h**l! I pulled the banana plugs on my surrounds just to be able to watch the Heroes episode.

I've got a question: I've seen reports about not being able to toggle between two shows, or one recorded show and another live show, with the LAST button on the remote. True or false? I'm especially interested in being able to toggle between a recorded show and a live one. Thakns!

Yes, my Verizon HD recording of SNL had the audio issue; crackling.

My SD recording from DirecTV did NOT have any audio issues.

Mike

Not sure about crackling... my complaint has been frequent audio dropouts on local SD channels. Well, I have a friend who knows someone... and I just got off the phone with a local FiOS Tech Support manager in Beaverton. He said the audio dropout is a known problem which "we are trying desperately to get fixed". He says it began with the release of IMG 1.6 here in the NW, and that as a result of the problems here, the release of 1.6 has been delayed elsewhere in the country. Other problems include missed series recordings, "channel unavailable" messages, and the audio dropouts.

He was also very surprised to hear that I had not been told of this known issue when I called, even though I've spoken to at least 4 different support people (two on the phone, two on-site). And he said it was fine if I post this info. Unfortunately he didn't have any estimate of when updated software might be rolled out.

The crackling was an NBC-specific issue, as I also got it on Comcast. NBC doesn't know anything about sound. :mad: 10dB hotter than anyone else, crackles, etc. SUCKY!

Does FiOS support the LAST button on the remote, especially switching between one live and one DVR'ed show?

What bitrate does FiOS send sound? Comcast passes most SD content at junky 192kbps, or insufferable 128kbps. Some of the HD content is at a respectable 320kbps, but most isn't. Any comparison to FiOS out there?

I've seen reports about not being able to toggle between two shows, or one recorded show and another live show, with the LAST button on the remote. True or false? I'm especially interested in being able to toggle between a recorded show and a live one.

You will lose the ability to toggle between a recorded show and a live show with the Last button. When I was a Comcast subscriber I sometimes used that feature and did notice it was gone when I switched. However, I felt the money I was saving (about $800 over two years, YMMV) made that inconvenience less of a big deal.

Thanks craig!

Any comments on sound quality on FiOS? Even if you don't know actual bitrates, what's your subjective opinion? Also, is Dolby Digital enabled on any SD content?

Any comments on sound quality on FiOS? Even if you don't know actual bitrates, what's your subjective opinion? Also, is Dolby Digital enabled on any SD content?

It sounds fine to me. But I also listen to all my music on my iPod, think the factory stereo in my car is just fine, and enjoy a Big Mac once is a while. If I can hear it and understand it, it's good enough for me.

I've never noticed whether my receiver is showing DD when I watch SD content. I actually don't watch very much SD content anymore.

Anyone getting the occasional video/audio breakups on the NFL Network game tonight? Saw in the main thread that FiOS users across the country were having problems with the signal.

Anyone getting the occasional video/audio breakups on the NFL Network game tonight? Saw in the main thread that FiOS users across the country were having problems with the signal.

What "main thread" are you referring to? I didn't watch the NFL game, but I'm still getting audio/video breakups on every channel (I watch mostly local SD channels).

I talked with a friend yesterday who has FiOS TV but NO DVR. He doesn't remember ever seeing/hearing dropouts. So... that is consistent with what I was told by a FiOS tech manager - that the problem was in the 1.6 IMG software. The problem MAY be related to the fact that on the DVR, everything must be written to/read from the hard drive, even the "live" programming (so it can be paused, etc.)

Anyone getting the occasional video/audio breakups on the NFL Network game tonight? Saw in the main thread that FiOS users across the country were having problems with the signal.

Yes, I had it here, too. I saw your post in the "main" thread here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1082287 and also saw that it was being experienced by FiOS users across the country. This particular issue was certainly not related to the 1.6 rollout as it was very source-specific.

But with all that being said, the picture quality was astounding when it wasn't breaking up, even on my 6 year old RPTV. I don't have the means to retrieve the bitrate for programs but this one had to have been sent at the max. It really goes to show that when minds are set to deliver an unbiased signal, HD can really shine.

Yes, I had it here, too. I saw your post in the "main" thread here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1082287 and also saw that it was being experienced by FiOS users across the country. This particular issue was certainly not related to the 1.6 rollout as it was very source-specific.

But with all that being said, the picture quality was astounding when it wasn't breaking up, even on my 6 year old RPTV. I don't have the means to retrieve the bitrate for programs but this one had to have been sent at the max. It really goes to show that when minds are set to deliver an unbiased signal, HD can really shine.

I have a TiVo so the 1.6 rollout wouldn't have affected me I don't believe with the cablecards. Still glad/mad that other FiOS customers had the problems as it seems to be not just specific to our region.

Anyone getting the occasional video/audio breakups on the NFL Network game tonight? Saw in the main thread that FiOS users across the country were having problems with the signal.
Yes! :mad:
I flipped between the SD and HD feeds and only the HD feed had the breakups.

Has anyone heard whether Comcast users also had the same issues on NFL-HD channel during the game? I'm curious whether the problem originated at the source, or somewhere on the Verizon equipment.

Anyone who had FIOS issues with NFL-HD last night, I suggest you at least contact them so they understand the magnitude of the problem.

<edited - the URL didn't work>
Well, it looks like you can't leave them an email... I guess you need to phone them (888) 553-1555.

Yes! :mad:
I flipped between the SD and HD feeds and only the HD feed had the breakups.

Has anyone heard whether Comcast users also had the same issues on NFL-HD channel during the game? I'm curious whether the problem originated at the source, or somewhere on the Verizon equipment.

It was a Verizon problem only from what I saw on dslreports.

Yeah, but the real question is.... does Verizon know it's a Verizon problem?

Yeah, but the real question is.... does Verizon know it's a Verizon problem?

Who knows? It's just such an ordeal trying to get to someone at Verizon on the phone to voice those kinds of concerns. It really requires an investment of time and patience that I, for one, am not prepared to make unless the situation is totally bringing my systems down. And their online CS is worthless, IMO. I tried a chat session once to explore what the Extreme pkg would mean to my overall costs and the guy on the other end was so absolutely clueless I had to quit.

It was so much easier dealing with Comcast. I could pretty much depend on talking with someone in Beaverton when I had reception or equipment problems. But I like to think, maybe naively, that Verizon reps are part of the membership at AVS and they monitor what goes on in these threads.

I couldn't agree more :)

There was a conflict this weekend in that CSN NW had a Blazer game at 5pm, but there was also a Duck game they were trying to get on TV at 3:30pm. It has been resolved by Comcast and sat. putting the feed on an alternate channel. I'm doubting VZ will do the same (they don't seem to accomodate these sorts of local demands) but was wondering if anyone else had a clue. Thanks.

There was a conflict this weekend in that CSN NW had a Blazer game at 5pm, but there was also a Duck game they were trying to get on TV at 3:30pm. It has been resolved by Comcast and sat. putting the feed on an alternate channel. I'm doubting VZ will do the same (they don't seem to accomodate these sorts of local demands) but was wondering if anyone else had a clue. Thanks.


Head to a bar with Comcast/satellite tv.

I talked with a friend yesterday who has FiOS TV but NO DVR. He doesn't remember ever seeing/hearing dropouts. So... that is consistent with what I was told by a FiOS tech manager - that the problem was in the 1.6 IMG software. The problem MAY be related to the fact that on the DVR, everything must be written to/read from the hard drive, even the "live" programming (so it can be paused, etc.)

On the 8th, I bought my first HDTV (Panny 50" 720p) and so have been watching a lot more HD the past week. I'm pleased to report that there have been virtually no audio dropouts. I've seen maybe one video pixelization per day, but otherwise almost perfect reception. Of interest, I still have IMG 1.6, so it's not due to a software update. Maybe the audio dropout issue is mainly on SD channels? Or maybe they've found and fixed the actual cause.

Hot off the PR Machine:

Comcast SportsNet Northwest, the source for complete Northwest sports coverage, and BendBroadband today announced that Comcast SportsNet will launch to BendBroadband customers on channel 40, as soon as today. BendBroadband will also offer CSN content available in high definition on channel 640.

http://www.oregonlive.com/tailgate/index.ssf/2008/11/just_another_reason_to_move_to.html

So BendBroadband has reached agreement with Comcast to carry CSN, including any HD content they provide.... This would be the first I've seen that another provider carrying CSN would also get any HD content, indicating that Comcast is not "holding it back" for themselves or something. Geez, if Bend Broadband can work it out, what valid excuse does Verizon have not to?

edit:

Here's a list of all the remaining HD Blazer niceness Verizon is not providing it's upstanding, good-money paying subs....

November Opponent Time Local TV
Mon 24 vs Sacramento 7:00pm CSN HD
Wed 26 vs Miami 7:00pm CSN HD
Fri 28 vs New Orleans 7:00pm CSN HD
December Opponent Time Local TV
Tue 09 vs Orlando 7:00pm CSN HD
Fri 12 vs LA Clippers 7:00pm CSN HD
Tue 16 vs Sacramento 7:00pm CSN HD
Tue 23 vs Denver 7:00pm CSN HD
Sat 27 vs Toronto 7:00pm CSN HD
January Opponent Time Local TV
Fri 02 vs New Orleans 7:00pm CSN HD
Wed 07 vs Detroit 7:00pm CSN HD
Sat 10 vs Golden State 7:00pm CSN HD
Mon 19 vs Milwaukee 7:00pm CSN HD
Sat 24 vs Washington 7:00pm CSN HD
Wed 28 vs Charlotte 7:00pm CSN HD
February Opponent Time Local TV
Sun 08 vs New York 3:00pm CSN HD
Wed 11 vs Oklahoma City 7:00pm CSN HD
Wed 18 vs Memphis 7:00pm CSN HD
Fri 20 vs Atlanta 7:00pm CSN HD
Sun 22 vs LA Clippers 3:00pm CSN HD
March Opponent Time Local TV
Wed 04 vs Indiana 7:00pm CSN HD
Sat 07 vs Minnesota 7:00pm CSN HD
Mon 09 vs LA Lakers 7:00pm CSN HD
Fri 13 vs New Jersey 7:00pm CSN HD
Mon 23 vs Philadelphia 7:00pm CSN HD
Sat 28 vs Memphis 7:00pm CSN HD
Tue 31 vs Utah 7:00pm CSN HD
April Opponent Time Local TV
Mon 13 vs Oklahoma City 7:00pm CSN HD

edit 2:

Oh yeah, there could be some additional PLAYOFF GAMES at the end too that are not done nationally in HD :D


ron

Here's a copy of the em I just sent to the three contacts JTrain identified for them in his previous post:

Why does Verizon still not have the Blazer HD games from CSN?

Come on people, this is getting ridiculous... If podunk little BendBroadband can get it done why not Verizon? That's downright shameful:

"Hot off the PR Machine:

Comcast SportsNet Northwest, the source for complete Northwest sports coverage, and BendBroadband today announced that Comcast SportsNet will launch to BendBroadband customers on channel 40, as soon as today. BendBroadband will also offer CSN content available in high definition on channel 640."

http://www.oregonlive.com/tailgate/index.ssf/2008/11/just_another_reason_to_move_to.html

Hey, I've heard directly from a bunch of local Verizon subs how pathetic their customer service experience has been so far and that has me a little concerned (as I've said in previous emails, I'd like to dump Comcast triple play to move to Verizon for the better fios HD picture quality). But this non action on getting the HD CSN Blazer games is a complete deal breaker. Do you guys just really not care about the Oregon market?


ron

ron: I know you're passionate about this and I share your skepticism about Verizon's good faith in the Oregon/Portland market. Thanks for running with it. I have sent similar pleas. I get a headache watching games on Ch 78.

But just to play devil's advocate for a second - where would you propose Verizon place the once/maybe twice weekly HD broadcast? It's not like CSN has a ton of HD content to warrant a dedicated HD channel assignment (do they have ANY HD besides the Blazer games?). Comcast has the advantage of its 788 for ad hoc local uses. Verizon has a national scheme that includes the RSNs and depends on them to carry local teams. If I am correct, the Blazers and FSNNW are not in any game production arrangement. I think that has to change in order for us to have any hope of getting those CSNHD games here.

Anyone know if KGW's carriage tonight will be in HD?

Ridge,

To answer you last question first, no, tonight's game is a road game so no HD. Blazer Broadcasting only does HD for their Rose Garden games, so unless it's a national game on espn or tnt it's SD.

You're right, since the Blazer games are it, there is definitely not enough HD content to warrant a dedicated CSN HD channel at this point. But I don't think they need one. Why can't they set up a channel slot to air random HD content like Comcast does sharing the current "MOJO+" channel? When I used to have DirecTV they put the "local" blazer games on those "altenate" channels they had set up that only carried local games for various markets and nothing else... BendBroadband is now going to be doing it for the HD games on their local system. I'm the first to admit I have no understanding of how Verizon's system works, but I have to think there's got to be some way for them to do it. I believe they just have not felt the need to do it yet because not enough of their subs have complained. It's a business and if that is the case, of course it would not make sense for them to hassel with it for a small number of people. I have little doubt though that if enough subs and potential subs (like me) complained, they would figure a way to get it done and probably pretty quickly. Who knows for sure. I just figure that unless people bitch, there's no need for them to address it since it's not a problem. If you don't ask for it, you usually don't get it.


ron

Considering also, that Seattle has FSN-HD and the Oregon market doesn't (yet), it's confounding really, how the rollout of channels works for Verizon. You know they've got other agreements with RSN's throughout the country, so figuring it out for one NBA team (and only choosing an alternate channel to show the HD games, can it really be that difficult? Apparently so.

Wholly agreed, If Bend Broadband can get the HD games, why can't Verizon. I sent another message to Heather Wilner/Jon Davies on Friday afternoon asking for any updates they might have.

It doesn't hurt to keep asking...tomorrow night (Monday) is the first night where Comcast customers will be able to rub it in the face of Verizon customers as they'll be able to see the Blazers home game in HD vs. the Kings.

UPDATE:

In a note I received from Heather Wilner this morning, all she said was that she did not have any updates to any of the channels (CSNNW-HD/FSN-HD/NHL Network/NBATV) at this time for the Oregon Market. Stunning really.

I shot off another note in response to Heather's reply to me. Basically stating that when I switched from Comcast to Verizon, I'd assumed that Verizon would be ahead in thought leadership on issues such as this one, esp. when trying to attract new customers in the Oregon market and wanting to be a market leader in HD programming.

I'm going to keep e-mailing them periodically. I think it was Heather's understanding that we were looking for a CSN NW dedicated channel, not just an alternate channel in the lineup to view HD games. I tried to set that as straight as I could too.

If anyone has any other contacts we should be addressing this issue with, it'd be greatly appreciated. Bobbi Henson looks like she is Heather's boss, but she is out this week (or at least today). These are also just "media contacts" not the upper echelon of the FiOSTV decision makers for the Oregon market.

FWIW, I am concentrating on Jon Davies as the 2 ladies seem geographically removed from our situation. One is in NY and the other in Dallas. At least Jon seems to have our region's interests within his scope of responsibility.

What's the response been from Jon Davies, if any? I'm going to send another e-mail today, just basically stating that last week as Verizon customers we missed 3 home games in HD that our Comcast counterparts were able to view.

On the 8th, I bought my first HDTV (Panny 50" 720p) and so have been watching a lot more HD the past week. I'm pleased to report that there have been virtually no audio dropouts. I've seen maybe one video pixelization per day, but otherwise almost perfect reception. Of interest, I still have IMG 1.6, so it's not due to a software update. Maybe the audio dropout issue is mainly on SD channels? Or maybe they've found and fixed the actual cause.

I've noticed that both audio AND video dropouts have increased dramatically over the last week. We're routinely getting them on both HD and SD programming. There are at least two or three every thirty minutes.

I hope they're working on it. It's getting sorta annoying.

What's the response been from Jon Davies, if any? I'm going to send another e-mail today, just basically stating that last week as Verizon customers we missed 3 home games in HD that our Comcast counterparts were able to view.

No replies yet, although I don't really expect any. Just planing seeds, I hope.

Add tonight's game to your list of "missed".

I've noticed that both audio AND video dropouts have increased dramatically over the last week. We're routinely getting them on both HD and SD programming. There are at least two or three every thirty minutes.

I hope they're working on it. It's getting sorta annoying.

It is annoying. I watched my recording of Sunday's The Unit last night and there were a disturbing number of audio glitches. But when I watched my recorded Sarah Connor Chronicles immediately after, there were no problems I noticed. Could they be station-specific? I'll have to begin to be more attentive to possible trends.

I've seen a bunch of audio drops out of KOIN lately on Dish and DTV (Soon to be FIOS only) . There's popping when they switch from a 2.0 source to a 5.1 source and drop outs during shows. I haven't noticed it on other locals, just KOIN. YMMV.

I did a quick search here and did not see any info on this...

I'm in Camas (Washington) and on my door today was a hanger from Verizon letting me know there would be some delays and roads being torn up as they lay fiber in the area. Sure enough, all the roads are now painted with lines showing the fiber lay.

They were advertising speeds between 5 and 50 Mbs plus phone/TV bundles.

Woo hoo!!!

Looks like my part of the area is meeting modern technology. Soon we'll even have indoor plumbing!

complete video dropouts for extended periods? I've had this happen to me twice in the past week (once for the Office and also for the Amazing Race Finale).

I've got a TiVo Series 3 with Cablecards and season passes for both shows.
Last week when I went to watch the recorded version of the Office, there was no video, and the same thing happened to me for the Amazing Race finale as well this past Sunday evening. The respective channels I have set up for my season passes are 508 and 506 for those shows.

With a TiVo Series 3 you can check the signal strength of those channels and compare it to others on the system. While the other local and national HD channels come in consistently in the upper 80's to mid 90's, these two channels only register in the 60's to 70's. I do have some attenuation on the incoming line, so maybe I need to back it off just a bit and see if that helps.

But I'd be interested to hear if others have experienced anything similar.

complete video dropouts for extended periods? I've had this happen to me twice in the past week (once for the Office and also for the Amazing Race Finale).

I've got a TiVo Series 3 with Cablecards and season passes for both shows.
Last week when I went to watch the recorded version of the Office, there was no video, and the same thing happened to me for the Amazing Race finale as well this past Sunday evening. The respective channels I have set up for my season passes are 508 and 506 for those shows.

With a TiVo Series 3 you can check the signal strength of those channels and compare it to others on the system. While the other local and national HD channels come in consistently in the upper 80's to mid 90's, these two channels only register in the 60's to 70's. I do have some attenuation on the incoming line, so maybe I need to back it off just a bit and see if that helps.

But I'd be interested to hear if others have experienced anything similar.

Yep, I don't watch KOIN besides football but I've noticed it there as well. KGW it happens quite a bit, one simple pause and play and the sound is back. Have experienced it with many NBC-related channels like the 10pm news on the CW, CNBC, and MSNBC too.

I did some tinkering. I had a -12 attenuator on the incoming line and took that off and plugged the line directly back into the TiVo box. The signal now on 506 and 508 is in the upper 80's/low 90's, while the rest of the channels are in the mid to upper 90's.

I turned on the Blazers pre-game last night on 508 about 7:15 and there was no incoming video signal on that channel. That's when I decided to take the attenuation off and see what happened. So far so good, and we'll see how it remains going forward.


FYI...for FiOS TV users there is a FREE Preview Weekend of HBO/Cinemax going on right now (12/12 thru 12/15).

I turned on the Blazers pre-game last night on 508 about 7:15 and there was no incoming video signal on that channel. That's when I decided to take the attenuation off and see what happened. So far so good, and we'll see how it remains going forward.

That was your problem - you should've been watching the HD feed on TNT! :p

FYI...for FiOS TV users there is a FREE Preview Weekend of HBO/Cinemax going on right now (12/12 thru 12/15).

Thanks for the tip! I usually only find out about these on Sunday night.

Yep, was much better in HD on TNT than KGW.

Rest assured I watched it on TNT (better announcers)...just wasn't wanting to watch the blowout (overrun) of the Boston/Washington that's why I switched over to the pregame on 508.

Barrett/Rice are okay, but I'm too much of a fan of basketball in general to listen to the the homer side of games if I don't have to. I actually prefer to watch basketball games with the TV muted (which pisses off my son to no end) unless there's some kind of skirmish or something of which then it's interesting enough to turn up the volume. Just a personal preference.

for anybody that signed up to the original triple freedom package last year when it first was offered.. i made a phone call today asking verizon if i could switch over to the new package being offered with freedom essentials phone + 20/5 internet + extreme hd package for 109.99/month (instead of what i currently have - freedom essentials + 15/2 internet + tv essentials for 117.99/month). not only did they switch me over with no questions asked, but they also threw in 3 free months of an hd-dvr (which i've already been renting) and a free month of hbo/cinemax/movie package!! seems verizon is spreading some christmas cheer in these hard times for its loyal customers!! :D

What's up with the Portland stations the last couple of nights? Stuff that used to be shown in 16:9 is now showing up as 4:3 with the cute blue bars on either side. Recorded Eli Stone and NCIS and when we went to watch them both were in 4:3. Is that due to the weather warning ticker that is constantly scrolling across the bottom of the screen? Two-and-a-Half Men on CW (at 7:00 and 7:30) was shown in 16:9.

for anybody that signed up to the original triple freedom package last year when it first was offered.. i made a phone call today asking verizon if i could switch over to the new package being offered with freedom essentials phone + 20/5 internet + extreme hd package for 109.99/month (instead of what i currently have - freedom essentials + 15/2 internet + tv essentials for 117.99/month). not only did they switch me over with no questions asked, but they also threw in 3 free months of an hd-dvr (which i've already been renting) and a free month of hbo/cinemax/movie package!! seems verizon is spreading some christmas cheer in these hard times for its loyal customers!! :D

Yup. Got the same deal ~ 2 months ago when the Extreme pkg first came out. Plus they added 3 mos. of the media center functionality for the DVR.

What's up with the Portland stations the last couple of nights? Stuff that used to be shown in 16:9 is now showing up as 4:3 with the cute blue bars on either side. Recorded Eli Stone and NCIS and when we went to watch them both were in 4:3. Is that due to the weather warning ticker that is constantly scrolling across the bottom of the screen? Two-and-a-Half Men on CW (at 7:00 and 7:30) was shown in 16:9.

Some of the local stations have trouble running the crawls you see on the HD channels. In order to make the crawl work they have to go to SD in pillar boxes and the crawls run inside the box.

just sent off another message to Heather Wilner/Jon Davies asking about HD feed for Blazer home games from CSN NW and also about FSN NW-HD. Still waiting to hear back (but i'm not holding my breath that we'll get any kind of solid answer).

anyone still suffering audio dropouts on the local network channels? I haven't experienced anything significant in some time, and it looks like this thread has quieted down somewhat. Maybe people are happy with the product, or gravely concerned and unable to vent anymore...hehe.

the hd feed of Blazer home games would be some nice icing on the cake for most Verizon customers in the Oregon market, I think.

Must admit I haven't been diligent about sending my wishes to the Verizon reps about Blazer HD. I'll get back to it.

But that brings up a thing I notice in just about every game on Ch 77. Every so often the picture freezes for a couple of seconds and then resumes in real time. It has become quite annoying and I wondered if it was a product of some glitch in the fact we were getting SD of an HD pickup from CSN. I don't regularly watch any other programming on 77 so I don't know if this happens on other shows. But I did watch quite a bit of a Sharks/Red Wings game the other night and the same thing was happening - freeze, then miss a couple of seconds of action. Now, this was a pickup of an HD broadcast out of BayAreaFSN so it's not happening as a result of anything they do from the Rose Garden. Just seems to be a CSN issue - or is it my STB that has a gremlin attached to Ch77?

Yeah, I haven't noticed those annoying audio drops for quite some time.

FYI...I got an out of office response for Heather Wilner (maternity leave). Here messages says to contact Bobbi Henson and someone else, I can't recall right off hand. Still no response from Jon Davies.

I've noticed that same glitching/stop motion on CSN as well. I haven't noticed it on any other channels though. must either be a CSN feed issue, or the way it's coming through from CSN to Verizon...

I'm glad to see that others are seeing that. I thought it was a signal problem with my TivoHd. I was going to go down to Fry's this weekend and get some attenuators.

Totally forgot the name of the place but it's on Nimbus (north of Hall Blvd) in Beaverton that has attenuators for cheap. Right hand side almost to the storage area at the end.

I think that you are referring to Norvac Electronics? Is that correct?

I'd forgotten all about Norvac and it's much much closer, it's on my way home.

Yep, Norvac is the one I was thinking of!

I threw a 3db attenuator on the line to my TiVo HD and the freezing stopped. When checking in the TiVo diagnostics, the SNR doesn't look like it changed at all with the attenuator, but, the freezes and pixellation has stopped.

Check Discovery HD Theater, TNTHD, and I'm forgetting another channel...these channels are usually lower on the SNR scale so enough attenuation screws up those channels. I think I have -15db attenuation on my TiVo and I don't see any pixillation other than what's being broadcasted.

just sent off another message to Heather Wilner/Jon Davies asking about HD feed for Blazer home games from CSN NW and also about FSN NW-HD. Still waiting to hear back (but i'm not holding my breath that we'll get any kind of solid answer).

anyone still suffering audio dropouts on the local network channels? I haven't experienced anything significant in some time, and it looks like this thread has quieted down somewhat. Maybe people are happy with the product, or gravely concerned and unable to vent anymore...hehe.

the hd feed of Blazer home games would be some nice icing on the cake for most Verizon customers in the Oregon market, I think.

I'm currently with DishNetwork but my commitment is done and I'm waiting to see if Verizon adds NBATV-HD and CSNNW-HD. When (if) they do, I'm ordering immediately.

NBA should be coming soon, I'm betting Comcast wants to hold onto CSNW in the Portland Metro Area by any means necessary.

I hope to God Verizon comes through this year and offers up MLB Extra Innings......it was said to be done last year so I expect no excuses however I have a feeling I'll be let down, yet again.

NBA should be coming soon, I'm betting Comcast wants to hold onto CSNW in the Portland Metro Area by any means necessary.

CSNW is available on FIOS, only in SD, but it is on here in the Seattle area. Comcast does not show CSNW in HD here in the Seattle area at all.

I hope to God Verizon comes through this year and offers up MLB Extra Innings......it was said to be done last year so I expect no excuses however I have a feeling I'll be let down, yet again.

MLB Extra Innings WILL be on FIOS this year, done deal.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/11/11/mlb-network-hd-mlb-extra-innings-sliding-into-fios-tv-in-2009/

thanks for this......I hadn't looked into it really since it was promised to me last season when I chose to dump Comcast.

CSNW is available on FIOS, only in SD, but it is on here in the Seattle area. Comcast does not show CSNW in HD here in the Seattle area at all.It was reported a couple months ago that Bend Broadband completed a deal with Comcast to add CSN-NW, and would also carry the HD Blazer games on an alternate channel like Comcast does here in Oregon. So it is being done somewhere locally. I believe that because there is no dedicated full time CSNNW-HD channel, it means that systems have to set up an additional slot that will only be used to carry the occasional HD games. That takes space, effort, requires non-standard handling. For competing systems it may even entail an additional programming fee over and above the cost for the SD channel perhaps. If they don't see the cost/benefit as high enough to dedicate the resources for it, they don't. As you said, it's not even on their own system in Seattle, undoubtedly because they don't see the demand for it

As far as Verizon in PDX goes, I very much doubt that Comcast is refusing to provide the HD game feeds to them just so they can maintain an "HD exclusive" for themselves. If that was their mindset they wouldn't even strike deals with competing providers for the SD feed which is a far bigger deal...


ron

If the stories are true, FSNW-HD is included in the Seattle markets, even though it doesn't carry full-time HD programming. I hope Verizon hasn't assumed that people in Oregon don't like FSNW, or wouldn't utilize an HD version of that channel. Basketball (both Pac-10 and NBA) is in full swing and still not a peep from Verizon on when we can expect the addition of either HD channel. They need to get going on this now.


It was reported a couple months ago that Bend Broadband completed a deal with Comcast to add CSN-NW, and would also carry the HD Blazer games on an alternate channel like Comcast does here in Oregon. So it is being done somewhere locally. I believe that because there is no dedicated full time CSNNW-HD channel, it means that systems have to set up an additional slot that will only be used to carry the occasional HD games. That takes space, effort, requires non-standard handling. For competing systems it may even entail an additional programming fee over and above the cost for the SD channel perhaps. If they don't see the cost/benefit as high enough to dedicate the resources for it, they don't. As you said, it's not even on their own system in Seattle, undoubtedly because they don't see the demand for it

As far as Verizon in PDX goes, I very much doubt that Comcast is refusing to provide the HD game feeds to them just so they can maintain an "HD exclusive" for themselves. If that was their mindset they wouldn't even strike deals with competing providers for the SD feed which is a far bigger deal...


ron

Yep, FSNW should be on Oregon FiOS BARE MINIMUM since it's our RSN! Be nice to see the M's games on even if they suck in HD.

CSNW should be on as well but it's not as big of a priority outside of the Blazers (summer will be boring on that network big time).

Can confirm that we received:

CBS College Sports (SD) ch. 94
Chiller (SD) ch. 193
BlueHwys (SD) ch. 246
QUBO ch. 491
ION Life ch. 492
Worship ch. 494
MyNetwork TV (HD) ch. 513
Golf HD ch. 593

among others, but those are the ones that stood out to me...there were one or two up in the 1700's somewhere of which I don't venture.

glad to see it.

Can confirm that we received:

CBS College Sports (SD) ch. 94
Chiller (SD) ch. 193
BlueHwys (SD) ch. 246
QUBO ch. 491
ION Life ch. 492
Worship ch. 494
MyNetwork TV (HD) ch. 513
Golf HD ch. 593

among others, but those are the ones that stood out to me...there were one or two up in the 1700's somewhere of which I don't venture.

glad to see it.

Now all we need it CBS Sports in HD and some channels a little more meaningful.... :)

Can confirm that we received:

CBS College Sports (SD) ch. 94
Chiller (SD) ch. 193
BlueHwys (SD) ch. 246
QUBO ch. 491
ION Life ch. 492
Worship ch. 494
MyNetwork TV (HD) ch. 513
Golf HD ch. 593

among others, but those are the ones that stood out to me...there were one or two up in the 1700's somewhere of which I don't venture.

glad to see it.

Hey, great news about Golf Channel. Can't wait to see for myself. Returning from Tampa (no, can't stay for Super Bowl :() tomorrow. This is the ONE I have been waiting for since I abandoned Comcast. Life is good once again. Yay!!

This probably doesnt apply to us, or maybe it does.


From the Comcast forum

Fsn hd
I got this message on my box tonight
"effective on or after 3/2/09 FSN HD is being added to our HD Lineup on ch 734"
my guess is this channel will launch after this date in the areas that have transitioned then when each area is transitioned


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15741407#post15741407



I'll take FSN HD for the Mariners games and college football in the fall!

Comcast is starting to bug us...
I already have FIOS Internet and Phone and wonder if FIOS TV is still less money with more and/or better HD? We have 2 HD DVR's, a non-DVR HD STB and an SD STB...would FIOS TV be better in any way? Do DVR's stutter? Do the Lock up? Can you watch DVR shows in other rooms at least in SD? Will they add HD?

We pay Comcast $110/Month for TV only, and that seems to now be way too much!

TIA

$110 is WAY too much, but both Verizon and Comcast over charge for their DVR's so it's about even there. They're the same exact boxes on both, just different software.

Someone else will be able to tell you about the DVR's and MRV as I've got a TiVo and it works just fine.

$110 is WAY too much, but both Verizon and Comcast over charge for their DVR's so it's about even there. They're the same exact boxes on both, just different software.

Someone else will be able to tell you about the DVR's and MRV as I've got a TiVo and it works just fine.

OK...with TiVo there is no on demand, however I am not sure how much free on demand is on FIOS.

I'm seeing it on a variety of HD channels. Mostly lines of 1 inch "blocks" that stretch across the screen from left to right. Not a pixelation issue. This is more like a low signal artifact.

I'm seeing in on a variety of HD channels. Mostly lines of 1 inch "blocks" that stretch across the screen from left to right. Not a pixelation issue. This is more like a low signal artifact.

Not seeing anything like that here. Perhaps some line interference? Or check your connections.