Verizon FiOS HDTV - Page 6

Switched broadcasting and IPTV do work in the same type of way but they are different. For a basic overview of the difference please read below.

With IPTV everything is sent as data or packets so you would tune a TV channel in a similiar way to streaming a music video from say Yahoo Launch.

With switched broadcasting the TV program is still being sent as a video file and not as a data file. So in simple terms you would tune into a channel number and the set-top box would tell the head-end to send "this" feed down to this box. This feed is still in MPEG2 and QAM 256 is still being used. By using switched video a cable company if in the event of hardware failure can switch off to sending everything down the pipe even if that means not being able to offer the full lineup of channels. Its better to have to not offer 10+ HD channels compared to not being able to offer anything at all. That is the drawback with IPTV is that if that hardware crashes and burns you have no backup.

I hope this gives you an idea of the difference of these two options.

MPEG2? Is there a reason why FIOS wouldn't use MPEG4? (perhaps availability of compatible cable boxes and/or other equipment?) It would be nice if the 160GB of the DVR could record more due to the better compression ratio of MPEG4.

MPEG-4 chips are likely still somewhat expensive, and MPEG-2 chips are likely dirt cheap. Plus, the only thing that MPEG-4 does is improve bandwidth efficency. Since they have Fiber, that really isn't an issue for them today. And when it does become an issue, MPEG-4 will be much cheaper and possibly superceeded.

You are right about the DVR, but I don't think that gain motivates them.

Right now all of their boxes support MPEG4 and MPEG2. With that said because they will be using switched video hardware and pretty much have tons of bandwidth they didn't feel that the big extra cost for the MPEG4 head-end encoders was worth it at this point in time. When and if that changes they can switch everything out without even requiring one box swapout because everything would be done at the head-ends.

So in simple terms the encoders aren't worth the extra money.

Thanks.

It's taken three months to get the regular FiOS service up and running in the Hummelstown/Hershey area of PA. Now Available !

I wonder how long it will take for TV service after the franchise agreement is approved ?

Verizon was just awarded state wide franchise in Texas. Yee Haw!

Any confirmed dates for video rollout in Northern NJ? Are the franchise agreements signed yet?

not yet.. Town by town right now..
www.tvchoicenj.com

According to this... http://www.verizon-media.com/iWeb/vz/100105vz.pdf

next in line in no particular order are Florida, Virgina, California, and Massachusetts

I can't wait to see this in MA

I can't wait either. I'm looking to get the heck out of Florida because the stress of every hurricane lately has been killing me. I'm looking to move to either Boston or Portsmouth which will have fiber either today or in the near future. I think I've got my mind set for Portsmouth, HN which does have most areas installed with fiber. I sure won't be buying a house unless the area is wired for fiber to order that day.

Heck does anyone know if Boston College has an opening for a professor in Political Science. I have my Masters and I graduated at Boston College in this major with a GPA of 3.78 so I'm pretty darn sure I can get a job. I even got drunk for nearly my entire senior year for crying out load.

I'm in Belmont, MA and started digging through the minutes of some of the town meetings that happen. I was ecstatic to see that back over the summer negotiations began on the franchise agreement so I thinking of actually popping into the next meeting to see where it's at. Unfortunately the most recent minutes were July so I wasn't able to find anything more recent, but i was just happy to hear it is making progress.

Internet or video? Somebody I work with lives in Bedford and has been able to order FIOS internet service for a at least a month or so. I'm sure it will be a while before I see it in my neck of the woods.

larry

If you want to get a feel for where FIOS video is coming next simply track the availability of the voice and data network. That is always up and running 1st with video lagging as they wade through the video franchise agreements with each municipality.

Recent press releases indicated an agreement was reached in Massapequa Park, NY. That is pending with the PSC for approval.

I have been reading up closely on this and it apears that this is going to blow the doors off of the incumbent video providers.

Verizons web site will tell you if you qualify for the voice/data product. As soon as its available in my area I am switching. They have so much bandwidth availability that they will be the leader in HD and VOD going forward.

A few things I have gleamed from talking to friends who have FIOS data. Fiber is to side of your house. From there its taditional delivery, so you can utilize existing inside infrastructure. All pipes are dedicated, no more shared bandwidth like with a cable modem.

From reading reviews in the Texas area:

TV packages are very robust, and they seem to be signing additional providers at a rapid clip. No special HD or DVR packages....simply the cost of the set-top box rental.

No I am looking for the video

I sent a letter to the local politicians through the TVCHOICENJ.com web site, and one week later got a phone call from a guy who was hired by my township (Lawrenceville NJ) to advise them on Verizon. He told me, and believe me he knows what's really going on, and spent an hour with me on the phone, that Verizon could have a TV franchise in this area just by asking, which they HAVE NOT DONE. Instead, they are trying to get a statewide franchise, which makes their life a lot easier since they wouldn't have to bargain with each municipality, and because one statewide franchise makes renewals very easy - you only have to deal with one renewal date. He also told me that Verizon is offering to pay double the rate Comcast pays statewide, but what Verizon DOESN'T tell you is that they will increase a certain fee from pennys to over $2.00 on all customers so the customer will end up paying for their franchise costs. He said the internet wiring is almost done in this area, and that internet service should be available in the very beginning of 2006.
He said that he is forwarded all the form letters from the TVCHOICENJ.com web, and that he plans to call everyone who submits it because it contains some inaccuracies.

He told me Comcast does not down rez HD signals like Directv. I told him I'm interested in Verizon cause I want the best quality picture on all channels, including SD channels, and I believe Verizon is the only provider that will be able to give me that.

I think this is really only relevant if Verizon charges the same as a similar package at comcast...looking at their FIOS internet service I find it to be a much better deal then the equivalent at comcast. You either pay less for equivalent content or you can pay the same and get much more (ie...15Mbps (verizon) vs 7Mbps(comcast)).

And when i mentioned franchises before I was talking about video franchise being negotiated in Belmont, MA. Apparently here they are doing town by town franchise agreements, hence the negotiations with my town specifically, so call your local cable/IT town board and you can probably find out what is going on. I got the information from my town's website by looking at the minutes of the most recent Info Tech Advisory board.

I've been a FIOS internet subscriber now for over a year and have been extremely pleased with the quality of service and speed. I've had virtually no interruption of service during that time. I've been blessed to have FIOS TV service now for over 2 months. This service too has been very good. There have been some minor glitches along the way but nothing major. The picture quality is very good in my opinion. I was a 4+ year subscriber to E* with their HD package. I think the pq is probably better than DISH on both the SD and HD channels. I have no regrets of letting DISH go at this time. The channel line-up has been posted several places and the HD offerings are quite adequate. The pricing is very competitive with DISH and other cable offerings. Based on the fact that I have such good internet service and no weather interference with my TV, I'll be staying with FIOS for a long time.

John

Our neighborhood (Manhasset in Long Island, New York) was wired last summer and I was offered a deal for the FIOS internet service that was the same as I was paying for Verizon DSL. On top of that they offered a promotional $5.00 a month discount for one year since I already have a verizon telephone package (local, regional and long distance for one charge).

I had a cable modem for about a year and the service was okay but they wanted to charge extra for more than one computer. Cablevision which ran the service pushed my rates up from about $30 a month to $45. I switched to Verizon DSL which gave me a free router about a year ago and their regular rate was $30 monthly plus taxes with no planned increase. In theory the cablemodem was faster (about double) but I noticed no difference. Several months ago I switched to FIOS and the transmission rate was much greater (I took the cheaper package of five MBS). In fact I performed a speed test (upload and download) and found FIOS 17 times faster than my DSL service!

Verizon has started to negotiate to provide video services locally but a letter in our local newspaper indicated that our local cable commission turned Verizon down because they did not offer local channels as does Cablevision. The result has been a furor as many residents dislike Cablevision, our local provider, intensely and have accused the commission of selling out. Cablevision's service is awful and they are expensive as I am one of their unhappy customers.

I then got our cable commission representative on the phone and he stated that Verizon must offer the same "services" as Cablevision (local programming, etc.). I told him that most people could care less about local programming and would prefer Verizon without it to Cablevision with it. I think he was taken aback by the communities response and he did state that they were making efforts to get competition to Cablevision. He was hoping that the Verizon package would be available by the end of the year but he was not too optimistic as Cablevision was threatening some kind of legal action (which they do best in lieu of service and value).

Cablevision has tried to fight back by offering a package of telephone and internet services for $30 a month each as long as you have their video services but this lasts for one year when rates go up. Verizon has responded by offering a $15 a month DSL package and they are promising a real good deal for a combined telephone, internet and video package.

I tried to get details from Verizon concerning their video package and the person I spoke to said it would be equivalent to DirectTV which would be an improvement over what Cablevision offers.

Nothing like real competition which, thanks to your local congressman has up to now been non-existent.

John

John,

I posted about this on dslreports.com, http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,14566580, and how I agree with you assertion that the commission is selling out to Cablevision, heck they get free cable for just being on the commission. The next meeting I am going to be there to voice my disgust with the lack of movement and truth from the commission. Thanks for providing more info as well.

FIOS Expanded Basic:

1-49 Basic channels - ABC, NBC, CBC, Fox and much more.

Entertainment
50-USA Network
51-TNT
52-TBS
53-FX
54-Spike TV

Sports
60-ESPN
61-ESPN Classic
62-ESPNews
63-ESPNU
64-ESPN2
68-Speed Channel

News
70-CNN
71-CNN Headline News
72-Fox News
73-CNBC
74-MSNBC
75-Bloomberg TV
76-CNN International
77-CNBC World
78-ABC News Now
79-C-SPAN
80-C-SPAN 2
81-C-SPAN 3
89-The Weather Channel

Information
90-Discovery Channel
91-National Geographic
92-Science Channel
93-Discovery Times
94-Pentagon Channel
95-The Military Channel
96-Military History Channel
97-History Channel International
98-History Channel
99-Biography Channel
100-Animal Planet
101-TLC (The Learning Channel)

Women
110-Lifetime
111-Lifetime Movie Network
112-Lifetime Real Women
113-Soapnet
114-Oxygen

Shopping
120-QVC
121-HSN
122-Shop at Home
123-America's Store
125-Jewelry
126-EXPO
127-Shop NBC

Home & Leisure
130-Style
131-Discovery Health
132-Wisdom
133-Fit TV
134-Food Network
135-Home & Garden Television (HGTV)
136-Fine Living
137-DIY (Do It Yourself)
138-Discovery Home
139-Wealth TV
140-Travel Channel

Pop Culture
150-Sci-Fi Channel
151-A&E
152-Crime & Investigation Network
153-Court TV
154-GSN
155-Bravo
156-TRIO
157-Logo
158-Ovation
159-BBC America
160-Comedy Central
161-E! Entertainment Television
162-Fox Reality
163-Fuel
164-ABC Family

Music
170-MTV
171-MTV2
173-MTV Jams
174-MTV Hits
175-VH1
176-VH1 Classic
177-VH1 Soul
179-BET Jazz
180-CMT
181-VH1 Country
182-Great American Country
183-Gospel Music Channel
184-BET Gospel
185-Soundtrack Channel

Movies
190-Turner Classic Movie
192-Fox Movie Channel

Family
200-Hallmark Channel
202-Family Net
203-AmericanLife TV
204-TV Land

Children
210-Disney
211-Toon Disney
212-Nickelodeon
213-Nick Too
214-Nick Toons
215-GAS
216-Noggin
217-Cartoon
218-Boomerang
219-Discovery Kids

People & Culture
230-BET
231-TV One
232-Black Family Channel
234-Galavision
235-Mun2
236-SÃ* TV
237-AZN Television

Religion
240-EWTN
241-INSP
242-I-Life
243-Church
244-JCTV
411-Verizon Information

600-646 Digital Music

HDTV Broadcast**
801-808-Please consult the Interactive Programming Guide for local listings

HDTV National**
810-TNT HDTV
811-ESPN HDTV
812-ESPN 2 HDTV
814-NFL Network HDTV
817-HD Net
818-HD Net Movies
819-Universal HDTV
820-Discovery HDTV
821-Wealth TV HD

http://www22.verizon.com/FiosForHome...V/channel.aspx

The politics surrounding this is ridiculous. Competition is good for the consumer, yet you have local officials and incumbent cable companies trying to be a roadblock to this.

It is critical that everyone in a region where this is being developed pressure their local government officals. Remind them that you are a voting resident of their district and will make certain to take it out on them at the polls if they do not invite competition into your neighborhood.

Even if you dont want this service, dont you think its presence will force your local cable company to improve service or lower prices?

Answering the first question, you can subscribe and get a "basic" analog service, which I believe are just your local channels, and you DO NOT need a box for the service, and you should be able to hook it up to your tv and get the channels. If you want any of the expanded basic channels you HAVE to have the box, as it decodes the channels. This information is confirmed on their webpage:

Basic service package also available. Basic provides access to local TV channels, community and educational programming for $12.95 a month.

Verizon FIOS TV - Packages and Pricing

Answering the second question, I have not heard any people that have the service give much information, but if the firewire (IEEE1394) is active on the box, then you should be able to record to DVHS and capture to your computer, but again, until someone with the service confirms this, I don't have the answer. I too, would like to know the question to that, because at that point, someone could let us know the bitrate for their programming and see how much better it is than anything else.

As far as the third question, since it is a Motorola box, it should output simultaneously SD and HD, as Motorola's cable boxes do.

Verizon's FIOS TV does offer local channels at least in Keller, TX, the FIRST and ONLY city offering FIOS TV at this time. I think Verizon does plan to offer local channels in ALL the cities they plan to offer it to, but I can't confirm it. OBviously for them to fully compete with cable and satellite, they would have to offer the local channels. You might want to research that issue locally and confirm if Verizon was going to offer local channels in your city.

They will be offering both SD and HD local channels in all the markets they will serve.

Are they offering sports packages yet? ie, NHL center ice, MLB extra innings?

In my posting concerning a discussion with a Coble Commission rep I meant public Access channels, not local channels. Cablevision provides serveral channels that are public access and the commission wants Verizon to make the same offer and perhaps even some money to support a studio.

My position is let Cablevision offer public access channels and Verizon none and let the consumer decide. I bet most will say to heck with Cablevision and their public access offerings.

John

PS-I intend to show up at our next village meeting and make a fuss about failure to push through a franchise agreement for Verizon. If everybody did this we might get quicker action.

John

I got a knock on my door last night from a teenager going door to door selling FIOS TV in my neighborhood (Keller, TX). I had to help him out quite a bit with his sales pitch, but he made a sale last night.

I'm going to get the HD DVR box. My question to anyone who knows is: what kind of connection goes to the box? My FIOS demarc is on the detached garage and I've run Cat5 into the house, and have punched down 5 ports behind the TV. If the box runs on cat5, it'll be the easiest installation the installer has ever done.

If I need to run RG6, I'd like to know now, before the installer shows up, because I want the jack on an inside wall and my experience with the installers is they won't work in an unfinished attic and will only install jacks by drilling through the brick on an outside wall.

Yes, you need RG6.
http://www.i4u.com/article4365.html