Verizon FiOS HDTV - Page 442

50 HD's Matt?? Thanks for the sobering news on a Monday morning...heh...

Do we really need 150-200 HD channels? There is nothing that I watch that isn't in HD now. This is not much different than when you had over 300 SD channels yet only watched 20-30 of them and then complained about how we thought all those other channels were a waste. I believe were at that point. I also applaud Verizon to resist the more is better analogy and instead provide us with the most pristine PQ available.

That seems like a false choice. Currently we have about 120 HD channels and about 300 useless SD channels. I would rather have 200 HD channels and no SD channels whatsoever. At least I scroll through the HD lineup occasionally. I can't remember the last time I even looked at an SD channel.

Plus some of those "HD" channel don't have any HD programming! (TCM-HD is one such example.)

Until all of the SDs are in HD I will still continue to watch some SD channels. VH1 Classic, Military History, Military, and for my kids Boomerang, Cartoon Network and the other Nicks (Nick 2, Teen Nick, Nick Jr).

Yes we do. there are many channels people want that are not available in HD yet, or are available and fiOS does not carry it. Everyone has their own preferences which is why there are a wide range of channels. What is not important to one person might be important to another.

For instance, i would rather all the ESPN HD channels be dumped for other HD channels since I rarely watch the ESPN channels. Other people would rather have ESPN HD. but again everyone has their own preferences.

Same here. Kids really upset only Nick is in HD.

Are you judging that this channel is not broadcasting in HD by the aspect ratio of the films?

Seems like some here need to change their provider then. Good luck finding time to watch your 200-300 HD channels.

It would incur no less time than when people only had the Sd channels. The whole point in having alot of channels available is choice. Since different people have different preferences.
Unfotunately FiOS was shortsighted with their initial specs and the issue was brought up years ago that they would eventually run out of space.

You keep sending the same message, but it assumes that every TV within a home has been replaced by high def panels. For those that require it, standard def channels are still quite necessary for the most of us that have a large collection of old CRTs still in use.

An SD display with an HD capable box attached can pass a downconverted HD signal, so that's not true.

Verizon already made everyone purchase an STB when they switched to digital. It's an inevitability that one day they'll phase out the SD STBs to purge the QAM space of all duplicate SD signals. Obviously, we're not there yet because not enough channels are available in HD (though we're probably getting pretty close, pushing 200 available HD channels).

At some point the downward trending cost of STBs and the increased value of bandwidth savings will converge, and Verizon will decide to kill the SD STBs and cull every duplicate SD channel. In a perfect world, Verizon would only deploy one STB, allowing them to remotely activate any feature that the consumer might desire to add on, removing the need entirely for administrative truck rolls and reducing significantly the load of STB shipments.

SO when will Verizon FIOS clean up their act and upload those 40-50 addition HD channels? People like me are sick and tired of their excuses. LAck of bandwidth - then fix the damn problem by the end of this year. There are reasons why I'm still with FIOS - Time Warner may be the leader, but not having NFL Network in HD or SD is an unforgivable crime. DISH has most of what I want. But cancelling Smithsonian HD and not having MLB Network in HD is frickin pathetic.
Look, I may be one of the "villains" on this board. But as far as I'm concerned, everyone on the AVS board has a right to voice their opinion even if their arguments create some heated arguments from others. And until the idiots at FIOS start playing hardball and give us customers a boatload of HD additions, I'll keep stating my case much to everyone else's chagrin.

^^^

still waiting for you to throw a dollar figure out there...

put up or shut up....

I know several people that don't own an HD set yet(or every set they own isn't HD yet). But they use an HD STB/DVR and mainly watch the HD channels on their SD set. they use the composite or Svideo outputs and watch the HD content in letterbox mode on their SD set. Or they use the zoom function so the HD channel fills the SD screen. Either way, having an SD set is no obstacle to watching the programming on HD channels.

I know no one who does that!

Everyone has a right to say what they want, but we're here to discuss the stuff, not pull the pin on the grenade and run out of the room (multiple times).

If you really want to add something to the discussion fine, but every single post you make on this thread has been to flame about how much you hate Fios. It doesn't move the debate.

Poor kids, no HD cartoons; wow, what's the world coming to?

Everyone who has a DVR but not an HDTV can do it.

Nor do I, nor would I! Why would you pay for a HD box for an SD TV?

Well in my brothers case, he didn't like seeing 40% of the picture missing. Before the analog shutoff he was using a couple of Hd DVRs from comcast so he could see the entire picture and it was also a better picture than what comcast broadcast over Sd.

In my girlfriends case she has a couple of TiVos, S3 models. She only uses OTA and has one SD set on a TiVo and one HD set on a TiVo. She also has another SD set but that is attached to an OTA STB and she has a little 7" and 11" set.

But anyway on the Sd set and TiVo she watches it in zoom mode which gives you a picture that fills the screen and looks just like it did when there was an analog broadcast, only better quality. And she has a couple of siblings that do the same thing with a FiOS HD DVR, and a Comcast HD DVR.

And I know a few people at work who also use an HD STB/DVR with an SD set.

Hasn't FIOS discontinued their SD DVR? That would be one huge reason right there. Wanting to time shift TV isn't exclusive to owning an HDTV.

There are also a few HD exclusive channels. Wanting to watch programming on HDNET and HDNET movies uncut and commercial free would be a big draw.

Ummm...

All of a sudden I'm getting HBO.

I don't suppose it's free preview this week?

And the Fios website is crashing more than usual so perhaps it's not just me.

Just because you don't want the channel doesn't make others desire for them invalid. I for one would love Cartoon Network-HD, some HD stuff there, and G4-HD for their videogaming material and their upcoming exclusive Marvel anime in HD.

And you could watch these HD channels on a pad, especially a 16:9 pad. I'm still waiting for you to supply a list of those pads in 16:9 format that you said existed. It's very much an HDTV programming issue, so please don't use that excuse. Thanks so much.

So what your telling me is people like the to throw money away because none of that makes sense to me.

Concept remote and new mini-search.

For the TV in my office (aka "man cave") at home I'm using an old SD set (19 years old actually) with a TiVo S2 and a digital adapter. I'd be OK to see the SD channels go away if Verizon offered a downconverting adapter for the same price as the current digital adapter. Granted, letterboxing can be annoying at times but it is already happening on quite a few SD channels (such as BBC America) so the end result won't be any different.

One thing I am left wondering, how many SD channels have to go away for each new HD channel added? I thought I remembered reading at one time that a QAM slot can hold six SD channels or 2 HD channels. If that is so then we would need to loose three SD channels fo reach new HD channel added.

Stuff-
Right now, they have about 8-9 SD's per QAM. Comcast and others usually do 12-13. I believe the only exceptions are the MLB/NHL/NBA channels.

So, for 25 QAM's to add 50 HD's, they'd need to move appx 200 SD's to IPTV. Yeah, that's not happening anytime soon!

You like being a villian. In fact, I think you crave the attention. No one has a problem with your comments that VZ needs to up their HD offerings. I think many agree. It's your empty promises to drop the service that gets commented on.

There are a few channels on that list that I would like to have. But there is no magic compromise, since everyone has different preferences. The only way to satisfy everyone is to figure out how to carry all the channels. For now, I will continue to settle for the best PQ at the expense of a few channels I would like that are missing. I still have plenty to look at with the channels I do have, and they look awesome compared to the competition in my area.