AVS Forum banner

Verizon FIOS-TV: Any reviews of the DVR

31K views 44 replies 34 participants last post by  bfdtv 
#1 ·
As I anxiously await availability of FIOS TV, I'm curious as to what people think of the HD-DVR they are using. I understand it is a Motorola DCT 6412, but I don't hjave any info on the software it runs.


Your thoughts would be appreciated.
 
#27 ·
I had FIOS TV installed a week ago with the 7216 STB. I love the service and find it the PQ and overall offering to be excellent. However, one feature I cannot seem to locate on FIOS is the feature to set a program reminder. I really enjoyed this feature and used it quite often with my previous cable provider (Time Warner).


Is anyone familiar with this feature on FIOS? If so, any info would be appreciated.


Thanks.
 
#28 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by heavylee /forum/post/14720926


Interesting note, Fios' HD channels are noticeable better quality than Comcast's; but that's not a major factor to me.

this is why i live with the quirks of the dvr... noticeably better picture quality trumps any dvr issues...


although i have to say that i don't experience a lot of the issues that you are pointing out... no lip-synch problems... no responsiveness problems... etc.
 
#29 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by ccotenj /forum/post/14906270


this is why i live with the quirks of the dvr... noticeably better picture quality trumps any dvr issues...


although i have to say that i don't experience a lot of the issues that you are pointing out... no lip-synch problems... no responsiveness problems... etc.

The FIOS CableCards work great in a TivoHD - you get the nice Tivo functionality plus the excellent picture quality of the FIOS service. I wish i had FIOS available in my town but we're AT&T here so no go. I see lots of complaints about the FIOS DVRs so maybe TivoHD would be a better choice.
 
#30 ·
yea randy, i've strongly considered getting a tivo to get around dealing with the qipxxxx boxes... i just have to convince myself to spend the coin...
 
#31 ·
Isn't it the case that if you use cable cards with your S3 or TivoHD that you can't do HBO On Demand (or Showtime On Demand, etc) to catch up to those shows that you have heard about and want to try? For example, I'd be interested in getting Showtime on Demand and watching "The Wire" and "Dexter" from the beginning. That can't be done with the current cable cards I think.


A Tivo HD with Verizon quality picture would be the ultimate combination of picture quality and DVR usability.
 
#32 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by heavylee /forum/post/14720926


Continuing on, sometimes when watching a playback, usually of an HD recording, the show would 'catch'. Meaning, the video would pause for a second or two, as if I had hit PAUSE, but the audio would continue as it should. Then the video would catch up. It makes continuity very choppy and distracting.


Lastly, the DVR box was often slow to respond to my remote's commands. When I'd press a button, it could take up to 4-5 seconds to respond to it (even when not recording any shows). Aside from the annoyance, it sometimes caused a problem for me because I'd hit the button again, thinking I didn't press the button correctly, and when the DVR catches up, it would sometimes do something I wasn't trying to tell it to do because of the extra commands it received.


All of these issues occurred much more than just once for me, and I called Fios tech support 3 or 4 times regarding them - the last of these calls I was on with a rep for over an hour discussing all these issues. The only resolution suggestions I'd ever gotten from Fios tech support was to reset the box. During one of my first calls, the tech remotely reset my box to try to clear up some of these issues. It did not help. During one of the last calls, the tech offered to remotely do a major reset of the box, which potentially could have erased all the scheduled recordings I had set up (and spent so much time pruning through). I agreed to let him do it. It did not solve any of the problems, nor did it delete any scheduled recordings.

My experience exactly. Fios tech support is literally pathetic. They treat the customer as if we're complete morons and don't offer any real technical knowledge. I talked to them tonight for an hour only to have them tell me they can't connect to my HD DVR in order to do a cold init. Pathetic doesn't even scratch the surface.


Chris
 
#33 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by parallel /forum/post/15037534


Isn't it the case that if you use cable cards with your S3 or TivoHD that you can't do HBO On Demand (or Showtime On Demand, etc) to catch up to those shows that you have heard about and want to try? For example, I'd be interested in getting Showtime on Demand and watching "The Wire" and "Dexter" from the beginning. That can't be done with the current cable cards I think.


A Tivo HD with Verizon quality picture would be the ultimate combination of picture quality and DVR usability.

Unfortunately that's correct. UDCP devices like the TiVo HD can't do interactive services like iPPV and VOD. However, you can get their plain old non-DVR STB and have the TiVo - from what I've read, it really does blow FiOS' DVR box out of the water.
 
#34 ·
I just ordered FiOS TV and will have it installed later this week. I noticed my order includes the Motorola DCT-700 Digital Adapter. I assume the DCT-700 is a DVR, but I noticed that equipment does not have an external serial ATA disk interface. I would like to have SATA to hook up my external drive to record shows that don't fit on the DCT-700. Should I change my order to the Motorola 7216 HD DVR? or am I stuck with the DCT-700?
 
#35 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dennisv21 /forum/post/15308115


I just ordered FiOS TV and will have it installed later this week. I noticed my order includes the Motorola DCT-700 Digital Adapter. I assume the DCT-700 is a DVR, but I noticed that equipment does not have an external serial ATA disk interface. I would like to have SATA to hook up my external drive to record shows that don't fit on the DCT-700. Should I change my order to the Motorola 7216 HD DVR? or am I stuck with the DCT-700?

The DCT700 is a very small, very cut-down STB, set up to be "just enough" for receiving cable programming on an SD TV. It is not a DVR, and I'm not sure if it even has a guide. If you're expecting DVR functionality from it, you're going to be pretty disappointed. Might want to switch to an actual DVR box if that's what you're expecting...
 
#36 ·
Most of the expandability questions/ input is from over 1 year ago.


Has Verizon allowed for an external HD attachment yet? I am quite unsatisfied with the minimal storage space on the DVR.
 
#37 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by CTarna /forum/post/15338556


Most of the expandability questions/ input is from over 1 year ago.


Has Verizon allowed for an external HD attachment yet? I am quite unsatisfied with the minimal storage space on the DVR.

Unfortunately, no.


No provider in the United States currently offers a Motorola DVR with functional support for storage expansion. Verizon does hope to support eSATA expansion in 2009, but that will all depend on whether Motorola can make that capability function reliably with DRM. There are unconfirmed reports that Verizon may deploy a DVR with a 320GB hard drive at some point in 2009, but there is nothing concrete on that yet.


For the short to intermediate term, you'll have to buy a TivoHD or TivoHD XL if want more than 160GB storage in a standalone HDTV DVR for FiOS.




If it wasn't obvious from the above, my TivoHD has a 1TB hard drive for 160+ HD hours capacity.
 
#38 ·
I also have had a constant problem with the dvr. After watching recorded programming on another tv I always get an error about 40 to 60 minutes into my movie or game and I have to start watching the show from the beginning again. The error says can not locate network hub...
It is so frustrating. I called tech support and they say Verizon is aware of the problem and is working on it. In the meantime power off and restart the DVR only. (It does not help).

I agree the verizon guide is almost worthless. Not even close sometimes. I doubt I will pay $19.99 a month for this, when I can go back to tivo and at least know the guide works and the recoded programs will not reset to the beginning every hour.

Fios picture quality and the internet is the best, but customer service is the worst trying to get through to anyone! It is worse than cable if you can believe that!
 
#39 ·
The "cannot locate network hub" is a fairly common problem with the current version of Verizon's MRDVR software.


Verizon is expected to address some issues with their current software in a 1.6.1 update due in late January or February. People are hoping it will address the "cannot locate network hub" issue, as well as the degraded SD output on the 6416 which was introduced with the 1.6.0 software.


Unfortunately, Verizon plans to stick with its current guide data provider (FYI Television) for the foreseeable future, so no help is expected on that front.
 
#40 ·
I have FIOS DVR and although I think FIOS is the best quality all together, the fact that the DVR is so aweful makes me think of going back to directv and get the TIVO. I miss my old TIVO more and more. This thing is just plain aweful! I complained about the DirecTV HR20 and that thing was great compared to this motorola garbage. My video settings just change for no reason. Every time I turn on my TV in my HT, I have to change the video settings from 480i to 1080i. Then the DVR itself is so slow and glitchy. On top of that, for some reason my DVR in my HT only has about 13 hours of space on there instead of the 35 it's supposed to have. My living room version actually seems to hold the 35 hours but that is just as slow and glitchy. The DVR in my living room already had to be replaced after the first one just died after about 3 days. luckily it was under warranty.


I might go with the TIVO with the cable card eventually or go back to DirecTV.
 
#42 ·
John and Bobby...

If you have Verizon Fios... then turn in the Fios DVR and get a Tivo HD.

I just had my Fios installed last week. I have a free Fios DVR in the bedroom for 6 months. For my living room, I purchased a Tivo HD... Check on Tivo Community for posts under my name on where you can get the best price. You can also find deals on the lifetime service on ebay. I got the Tivo HD and the lifetime service and they will be saving money in three years versus paying the $15-20 a month through FIOS. I was able to get my installer to locate an M card for my Tivo, as opposed to using two S cards. Tivo is far and away better than any other DVR. After my free six months, I will add a second Tivo in the bedroom.
 
#43 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by heavylee /forum/post/14720926


I had been a Comcast customer for years and years, and honestly never had too many problems. My service was not flakey, and I didn't need to call them very often - except to haggle with them to be put on a pricing promotion each time the previous promo ran out. But I felt like my luck couldn't last forever, and I disrespect Comcast for the way that they overall run their business. So I was very excited to see that Fios fiber was being run in to my neighborhood.


About 6 weeks ago, I got a call from a Verizon salesperson offering Fios services and I chose to get my POTS service moved to Fios, 10/2 Internet, HD TV service with one HD DVR, and a basic converter box for my old crappy TV. All this was about $110/month.


On the day of installation almost exactly one month ago, the installer arrived at the beginning of the appointment time block and was very friendly and knowledgeable. The area of my house where Comcast/Verizon service comes in is about 20 feet from the pole that Fios was strung to, so they didn't bury the fiber (which is what I preferred). Installation went quickly and without problem.


My telephone service is fine - no change in service quality, none expected. Their internet service was as fast as I signed up for. I did several speed tests at different times of day and 10/2 is pretty much what I was getting. Wifey and I don't do any online gaming, nor heavy downloading. Mostly just typical surfing and email activities. Once in a while, I'll upload a bunch of content to my website, but a couple dozen MBs would be rare.


The TV service was a horrible experience for me. Bare with me as this part is going to get quite long-winded. Previously with Comcast, I was using a home-built DVR (SageTV). But since I had ordered the Fios DVR which has a dual tuner, I thought I'd be all set to be able to fully replace the functionality (that I love) of SageTV and everything would be perfect in HD quality. Boy was I wrong.


The DVR recording settings include a choice of whether to record new episodes only, or new and rerun episodes. I thought that when they say 'new episodes' that means episodes that haven't ever been aired before. No, 'new episodes' means episodes that the DVR has never recorded before. So if I put SouthPark in as a 'favorite' and told it to record only new episodes, it'll still record every episode it can find since it had never recorded any before. I thought this had to be a mistake, but in addition to experiencing exactly this, 2 seperate conversations with 2 seperate techs at Fios confirmed this. This is a huge strike against their DVR for my purposes. But on top of that, the DVR sometimes continued to record episodes that I had already recorded on the Fios DVR, watched on the DVR, and deleted from the DVR, as if I had never even recorded them.


The next problem I had was with the programming guide information. Even after allowing ample time for the DVR to download completely, the guide information was significantly generic. Many show descriptions were only just basic SERIES descriptions, (not even an episode description) and didn't include original air dates. The EPG (electronic programing guide) in SageTV was reliably comprehensive and this is what I expected from Fios. Fios tech support tried to tell me it was because the networks didn't make specific episode information available, but when I asked them how SageTV (who uses Zap2it's EPG) was able to have it, they didn't have an answer. This was a problem for me when trying to manually prune through the huge lists of scheduled recording the DVR was accumulating because it couldn't differential between reruns and actually new episodes.


The next problem I had was with what Fios tech support calls 'lip-synching' which is when the audio and video of a show get slightly out of synch so that I hear someone still talking after I see them close their mouth. This happened with recorded shows and live shows, and Verizon's only suggestion for fixing it was to reset my box which did not solve the problem. It didn't happen for every show, but often enough that it wasn't a fluke.


Next, sometimes when I would tune in to a live channel that was available to me (not a premium channel like HBO), I would get a message "Currently Unavailable" on top of a black screen. If I change the channel, then change back to the original channel it would often clear this up, but not always. I shouldn't have to do this in the first place.


Next, when watching recorded shows and FFing through commercials, sometimes the DVR would get hung when I would press PLAY to resume watching. For example, I'd be FFing through commercials, get to the return of the show and press PLAY and it would act as it I pressed PAUSE. It would not respond to any remote control button except for STOP, which would then force me to go back in to the DVR's menu, and resume the playback.


Another problem I had was that when a scheduled recording would be recorded, sometimes in addition to the full intended episode, it would also record 7 or 8 second clips of the same show. So I might have, what it considered 3 copies of the same recording. More rarely, the intended episode would not be recorded at all but the 7 or 8 second clips would be, so I wouldn't have a full recording of the show at all.


Continuing on, sometimes when watching a playback, usually of an HD recording, the show would 'catch'. Meaning, the video would pause for a second or two, as if I had hit PAUSE, but the audio would continue as it should. Then the video would catch up. It makes continuity very choppy and distracting.


Lastly, the DVR box was often slow to respond to my remote's commands. When I'd press a button, it could take up to 4-5 seconds to respond to it (even when not recording any shows). Aside from the annoyance, it sometimes caused a problem for me because I'd hit the button again, thinking I didn't press the button correctly, and when the DVR catches up, it would sometimes do something I wasn't trying to tell it to do because of the extra commands it received.


All of these issues occurred much more than just once for me, and I called Fios tech support 3 or 4 times regarding them - the last of these calls I was on with a rep for over an hour discussing all these issues. The only resolution suggestions I'd ever gotten from Fios tech support was to reset the box. During one of my first calls, the tech remotely reset my box to try to clear up some of these issues. It did not help. During one of the last calls, the tech offered to remotely do a major reset of the box, which potentially could have erased all the scheduled recordings I had set up (and spent so much time pruning through). I agreed to let him do it. It did not solve any of the problems, nor did it delete any scheduled recordings.


To get my dual-tuner SageTV DVR to work with Fios (so I could not have to use the Fios DVR) would require a USBUIRT device, an IR emitter, 2 more Fios digital converters from Verizon, and (what I perceived to be) significant time of trial and error getting all of those things to work correctly. I chose not to.


Yesterday, 2 days before the end of Fios' 30-day customer satisfaction period, I called to cancel my Fios TV and Internet service. The rep asked what he could do to keep me, and I explained all the issues I was having. I said that there is absolutely nothing you could realistically do to keep me - even if you gave me the service for free - because the majority of the problems is how the STB works (or doesn't, for that fact). So of course I'll pay for the time I used the service, but I will not have to pay the Fios contract's ETF.


With my head hung in shame, I crawled back to Comcast. I was sure they had deals to entice Fios customers back, so they offered me their HD DVR box with HD service and 6/2MB internet for $83/month. With Comcast's service, I can use my SageTV box again, and if I feel like recording anything in HD I can use Comcast's HD DVR.


Interesting note, Fios' HD channels are noticeable better quality than Comcast's; but that's not a major factor to me. Another FYI: The Fios equipment installed in my house will remain because now my Verizon phone service runs through it. I didn't want Comcast's VoIP.


So there it is, my experience with Fios. I am so disappointed in the TV service. I realize that I may have higher expectations than other consumers, possibly because I am spoiled by SageTV. But I don't think my expectations are unreasonable. Mostly, I was just expecting the STB to do what it was supposed to be doing. I may try Fios again in a couple years, after they've had more time to work out these bugs.

How I wish I had read your now eerily familar assessment before I got switched to Fios TV, Phone and Internet. Fios has been a terrible dissapointment coming from DirecTV, with a TiVo interface; the DVR is shocking, all Tech Support want to do is reset the box and all I want to do now is turn the clock back 3 weeks. I urge anyone considering switching to only do so if your previous user interface was a rotary channel selection dial on the front of your TV; if you are equipped with any technology beyond that you are taking a step backwards by taking on the FIOS user interface. I can only hope DirecTV will have me back!
 
#44 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by M3 adjuster /forum/post/15907534


John and Bobby...

If you have Verizon Fios... then turn in the Fios DVR and get a Tivo HD.

I just had my Fios installed last week. I have a free Fios DVR in the bedroom for 6 months. For my living room, I purchased a Tivo HD... Check on Tivo Community for posts under my name on where you can get the best price. You can also find deals on the lifetime service on ebay. I got the Tivo HD and the lifetime service and they will be saving money in three years versus paying the $15-20 a month through FIOS. I was able to get my installer to locate an M card for my Tivo, as opposed to using two S cards. Tivo is far and away better than any other DVR. After my free six months, I will add a second Tivo in the bedroom.

Is there a way to stream recorded shows to other TVs in the house using TIVo?
 
#45 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve1033 /forum/post/16133177


How I wish I had read your now eerily familar assessment before I got switched to Fios TV, Phone and Internet. Fios has been a terrible dissapointment coming from DirecTV, with a TiVo interface; the DVR is shocking, all Tech Support want to do is reset the box and all I want to do now is turn the clock back 3 weeks. I urge anyone considering switching to only do so if your previous user interface was a rotary channel selection dial on the front of your TV; if you are equipped with any technology beyond that you are taking a step backwards by taking on the FIOS user interface. I can only hope DirecTV will have me back!

You are aware that TiVo is available for FiOS, right?


Many on this forum use FiOS with the TivoHD. The TivoHD is like your old DirecTiVo, except it is based on newer/faster hardware with a much newer version of the TiVo software. More information in my signature.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Forseti /forum/post/16137128


Is there a way to stream recorded shows to other TVs in the house using TIVo?

The TivoHD supports multiroom viewing with both HD and SD. However, it only works between TiVos; it won't stream to Motorola boxes.


You can see a few screenshots of multi-room on the TiVoHD right here .
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top