I haven't posted in awhile. I have been using my DirecTV HR10-250 HD Tivo STBs to record both satellite HD and OTA HD programs to my Sony RDR-HR715 and GX300 DVD recorders using S-Video from the HR10-250. I set the HR10-250 to get an anamorphic video to record on on these DVD recorders. There are many posts in this forum as to how to do that. The DVDs that you record (N.B., 2 hours or less for the GX300 and 2.5 hours or less for the HR715) on these Sony DVD recorders will have the ifo flags set correctly and the burned DVD will play perfectly in Normal Mode on a 16:9 widescreen HD TVs and it will not be squeezed from the sides on a 4:3 SD TV.

I am thinking of getting Verizon's FIOS service and replacing the Tivo HR10-250 HD STBs with the Motorola FIOS QIP6416 HD DVR STBs but I am concerned that I will have problems recording anamorphic video to my Sony DVD recorders. I suspect that the Motorola FIOS QIP6416 STB will not output an anamorphic signal on S-Video and I will get a letterbox image with bars all around when you burn a DVD and play it back on a 16:9 widescreen HD TV in Normal Mode. I know I can zoom the letterboxed image to fill the screen but it isn't as sharp as an anamorphic image.

Has anyone had experience burning DVDs from Verizon's Motorola FIOS QIP6416 HD DVR STBs? Or has anyone had experience burning DVDs from a Tivo Series 3 or HD DVR connected to Verizon's FIOS service?

Someone must have tried this.

aprest,

I am currently a DirecTV subscriber, but no DirecTV DVR. I use my Toshiba RD-XS32 to record from the Phillips receiver. As I am not a candidate to get the 5LNB dish (because of trees in the back yard), I am considering signing up with Verizon. I tried getting an answer about recording from their HiDef receiver, but either no one knows or they just aren't willing to tell.

Their two year offer of $99 for phone, internet and FiOS TV sounds tempting but I am really concerned about Verizon's customer service. (Note: the STBs and DVRs are additional monthly fees; they don't even provide one SD STB with the service price they quote!) Of course, if you ask DirecTV anything more than the cost of their service, I have never received very good customer service.

I hope someone out there has Verizon FiOS TV service and has tried recording and are willing to share their experience.

Has anyone had experience burning DVDs from Verizon's Motorola FIOS QIP6416 HD DVR STBs? Or has anyone had experience burning DVDs from a Tivo Series 3 or HD DVR connected to Verizon's FIOS service?The FiOS' Motorola DVR does not output anamorphic video through s-video or composite. High-definition channels are output in letterbox format.

The Motorola DVR may output anamorphic SD through component if you set the box to output SD rather than HD. I can't see anyone with a HDTV doing that, though.

In contrast, the $260 TivoHD and $600 Tivo Series3 do output anamorphic through s-video and composite. I am using the TivoHD with FiOS. The following screen caps are from my Slingbox, connected to the TivoHD with s-video.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/2706/nowplayingui3.jpg

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/7127/sysinfoic8.jpg
Note the above image reflects a 750Gb drive upgrade.

Here's a shot of the Slingplayer UI:

http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/974/slingboxss3.jpg

Every FiOS channel is digital and the TivoHD records and plays back the original digital bitstream (i.e. 100% original quality). Of course, the same is also true of the FiOS' Motorola DVR, which doesn't even support analog channels.

The SD and HD are a noticeable improvement over DirecTV. FiOS doesn't do rate shaping (re-compression) or downconversion on their HD like DirecTV. FiOS does do rate shaping with SD, but at least they pass SD cable channels at higher resolution. Some FiOS SD channels are 720x480 while others are 528x480 or 544x480. By comparison, DirecTV downconverts all of its SD to 480x480, which wastes much of the resolution available on DVD recorders.

The FiOS' Motorola DVR does not output anamorphic video through s-video or composite. High-definition channels are output in letterbox format.

The Motorola DVR may output anamorphic SD through component if you set the box to output SD rather than HD. I can't see anyone with a HDTV doing that, though.

In contrast, the $260 TivoHD and $600 Tivo Series3 do output anamorphic through s-video and composite. I am using the TivoHD with FiOS. The following screen caps are from my Slingbox, connected to the TivoHD with s-video.


Every FiOS channel is digital and the TivoHD records and plays back the original digital bitstream (i.e. 100% original quality). Of course, the same is also true of the FiOS' Motorola DVR, which doesn't even support analog channels.

The SD and HD are a noticeable improvement over DirecTV. FiOS doesn't do rate shaping (re-compression) or downconversion on their HD like DirecTV. FiOS does do rate shaping with SD, but at least they pass SD cable channels at higher resolution. Some FiOS SD channels are 720x480 while others are 528x480 or 544x480. By comparison, DirecTV downconverts all of its SD to 480x480, which wastes much of the resolution available on DVD recorders.

Thank you bfdtv! You confirmed my suspicions. I really appreciate your input.