Verizon FiOS HDTV - Page 13

Who is your Telco service provider?

My old service provider was Grande Communications. Verizon was supposed to port 2 telephone numbers over from them and install 2 telephone lines when they installed service, but somehow only one number got ported. The technician who installed my service said specifically he was not allowed to touch the second phone line. So, I now have copper lines through my yard supporting one phone line and a fiber optic cable through my yard supporting the other phone line, Internet service, and TV service.

Verizon is scheduled to come out again and set up the second phone line once that number gets ported over.

Who owns the copper? Verizon or Grande?

Has to be Grande. Verizon couldn't provide service in our area when we first moved there. Is that what people are seeing? Verizon cutting their own copper lines?

Hope your install has gone well (or will go well?). I am scheduled for Friday.

Let us know your impressions of the DVR (should be a QIP6416) and how it compares to an HD-TiVo (if you have that comparison point). I know that will be the major factor in my household, only trumped by pure "quality of service" problems like missed recordings, box failures, etc.

Here in Palm Desert CA Verizon is talking about video by March or so.
I have FIOS now for telephone and internet and very happy. In fact they used the phone copper wire to pull the fiber into the box and then cut it off, no more copper.
The downside is only 3 or so hours of use during a power failure with the backup battery.

Cable and cable internet here is fairly expensive and FIOS is a much better deal in terms of speed and cost.
Will stop regular phone service soon and only use Vonage, it has worked very well for about 9 month now plus two cell phones.

Looking forward to video.

Tomorrow night will be my last with D*. FiosTV is confirmed for install on this Thursday Full report soon.

Anyone in an apt/condo have FIOS yet? How do they do it?

I live in a big development and all of my town is wired up for it already.

Wow! Where do I start? I have to grab a few hours of sleep so I will try to be concise. Let me point anyone who is interested in perhaps some of the more technical aspects to the Verizon FiOS section of broadbandreports.com. I have read a lot there and find it to be complementary of AVS. They will discuss and explain such things as the NIM and what its function is. My overall install experience was very positive. I didn't expect anything less. And, no, I am not a shill for Verizon. I've had my share of communications issues with them over the years but I am sold on FiOS. Its reliability is unparalleled. My install from start to finish took about 4-1/2 hours. Three different techs were here, arriving about an hour apart. Good team effort. They ran cable to three different locations, two upstairs bedrooms and the basement where my setup is. They put the NIM in the loop and got everything tested, downloaded and set up. Nothing real eventful in the install. I haven't had any glitches to this point some 10 hours into my service. Let me just wrap this up with some overall thoughts and add more later. Does the service have some glitches? You betcha. Do I think they are going to be resolved? Absolutely. Here are some of the ones I have noted thus far:

1) HDMI output kills 5.1 digital audio. Is it a firmware problem? I have read that it is. Will an AV receiver with HDMI switching take care of it? I sure hope so. For now I have decided to go with component even though I'd rather go digital with my DLP. I can't be without digital audio.
2) No HDNet to this point--at least not here. I called Verizon last night (Tuesday 1/24) and the rep I spoke with relayed this issue to his technical people. He is calling me later this morning and plans to apply some type of remote "fix." I'll let you know. I am also missing a couple of the ESPN suite of channels. I don't care about those since they're SD, anyway .
3) We don't have our local RSN so far. It's owned by Comcast. I don't think Comcast can keep Verizon from carrying it but it may take a while. Not having our local NBA and NHL team on your system is not going to fly for some people.
4) A few of our local stations' analog feeds are being simulcast in our digital tier (FOX, UPN and one of our PBS stations) so we are not getting HD programming from them. Hopefully that is something minor and can be corrected tomorrow as well.
5) No sports subscriptions. Verizon apparently has to deal with iNDemand for those rights.

Just briefly on the plus side:
1) You folks with the big displays are going to notice more than me watching on a 46-inch screen from 12 feet away, but the picture quality is definitely better. Some of the SD I have seen appears kind of grainy but not in a bad way. The difference in resolution is striking. It may be comparable for those folks with digital cable but it is huge step-up from D*.
2) The limited IPTV they are using with the program guide and the VOD is very responsive. I am not coming out of an HD-TiVo background so I don't have that as a comparison. So far I have been impressed. I downloaded the codes for the DCT6412 into my MX-700 and haven't missed a beat.
3) I don't have to tell anyone who is reading this thread about the breadth of HD we lucky FiOS people are getting. This service at the outset is not going to please everyone, particularly the sports fans. I will be posting further experiences in the days ahead. One other note: firewire port is 6 pin. I erroneously assumed it was 4 based on my DVHS VCRs.


Good luck. Will be looking forward to your report. I bid D* farewell last night. A little bittersweet after 6-1/2 years, but no turning back now.

Glad your install and experience so far has gone so well! I am looking forward to my own.

I am a bit concerned that you mention the DCT6412. I absolutely want the QIP6416, as it has a 160GB disk and thus more recording space. The rest of its functions may be equivalent, but I think the QIP is a bit more future-ready for what F* plans in the near future. It seems that everyone with recent installs in my area has gotten the QIP, so perhaps we are the close-in test market for this newer device?....

Never fear. I did indeed receive the QIP6416. I had mentioned it in my first draft but left it on the cutting room floor (it was getting late) . URC doesn't yet have remote control codes for the QIP6416 so I opted for the codes for the closest match, the DCT6412, instead. Sorry for the confusion.

Do the codes you have for the DCT6412 include the ability to swap tuners and have a 30-sec skip (and do they work with the QIP6416)? These 2 features are what I miss most from my D* Tivo unit.

swap tuners 30 sec skip http://www.***************.com/htsth...4/Main/694534/

The QIP6416 boxes come with a black remote that lacks a "Setup" button. These black remotes can't be user-reprogrammed (as far as I know).

I'm trying to get my hands on the silver remote that used to come with the DCT6412 boxes. The silver remotes can be reprogrammed as shown in the link you provided.

I was hoping someone could confirm that the DCT6412's codes for swapping tuners and skipping 30 seconds worked with the QIP6416. If not, the silver remote won't help me get these features with the QIP6416.

Hello again. The remote model number is DRC800. On a quick read of the remote manuel (dated 11/03), it appears the only user activated options are the following:

981--reset all settings
990--checking codes
992--reassigning device keys

Picture-in-Picture settings are currently disabled. I see no way of doing a swap or skip function. There is a PIP swap button but as I said they haven't enabled PIP.

Remote is squishy and cheap and has to be aimed directly at 6416. Hopefully will just take some getting used to. Made in China. 6416 is made in Taiwan.

I have the same remote.

You said you were getting the codes for the DCT6412 from URC. I know the DCT6412 supports the swap tuner and 30-second skip features (since the silver remotes for those boxes can be programmed to use these features). Did you program a universal remote with the DCT6412's codes? If so, did you try to use the swap tuner and 30-second skip features?

This is what Motorola says about the DRC800.

http://motorola.digitalriver.com/DRH...uctID=35029300

A whole $20 from their site

Also the users guide;

http://broadband.motorola.com/consum...User_Guide.pdf

It's not an issue of getting this remote. I already have it. The issue is whether the QIP6416 box can actually perform a swap tuner function and a 30-second skip function. If it can, I'm hoping the silver remote previously shipped with the DCT6412 box can be used with the QIP6416 to access these features.

I know you have the remote. Bill commented on how cheap it felt and I was just pointing out that if it can be had for $20 from Motorola then it is, in fact, cheap.

Also note on the users guide that some functions can only be set by the provider.

What is the model number of the remote that came with the 6412?

My bad. Sorry.

I've only ever seen it referred to as the "silver remote." I've never seen a model number.

Yes, I did. With the touch of my MX-700 remote and the power of the software, it is very responsive indeed. It is really lightning fast. There are some navigation things I hope can be corrected or modified farther along. The 30-second skip feature was a part of the code set that I downloaded but it is DOA. Totally as expected from what I have read. Of course not coming out of a TiVo background I don't know what I am missing--or not missing as the case may be. I haven't fooled with the recording functions much yet but I just started recording two separate programs and was able to toggle back and forth between them using the Previous Channel button on my MX-700. Would that satisfy the "swap" function? As I said, the only swap button is in the PIP area. There is also a PIP move button. All disabled currently. Also, there was no swap function in the code set I downloaded.

Not sure I understand this one. Are you saying you aren't getting the DC FOX-HD, UPN-HD and PBS-HD channels?

Let me respond to that over in the Local DMA Thread.

Bill,
Did you get the sense that the FIOS install crew was receptive to your needs? I don't need any cabling installed - just the DVR. How long was it after the cabling was done until you got a picture? Was anything done to the ONT? Do you also have FIOS Internet and was that affected in anyway? Our area must be a different head end - service not available here until early March.

Back to the telephone pole - Verizon was the Telco in my area and all copper is replaced with fiber from the pole in the street to the house. I didn't really care about a "normal" Telco connection - I have no regular land line - Vonage VoIP only. Unless high speed Internet is not available to wherever I move next I don't think I'll ever have traditional telephone service again!

Biker, whose pet peave is the nickle-and-dime telco/locality taxes.

We have 3 lines... all on different accounts. (Son has his own line, wife's office pays for another.) Only one line got cut over... the one associated with FiOS (where the FiOS billing shows up.)
I suppose if you had DSL and didn't give it up (maybe for a month?) the associated line wouldn't get cut over.

I didn't have a choice of DSL - Verizon told me "it's FIOS or nothing".

With enough planning they should have been able to cut over all 3 at the same time - the ONT has 4 lines. I'm sure Verizon would much rather have an all fiber connection to the house - cuts down on confusion come maintanance time.

Has anyone who has gotten FIOS TV been able to deal w/Verizon on pricing? I wonder if they'll match the cable co pricing - kinda like pitting two car dealers in a price matching war.

Fios TV was cheaper for me than DirecTV (and I didn't even have HD with DirecTV). I have heard that if you agree to a year's commitment they will either give you a cable box free or give you some kind of discount on a movie package.

I know there have been multiple posts about FiOS TV, but I had it installed Tuesday afternoon and here are some of my first impressions about it:

-First off...the installation was very smooth. I already had FiOS Internet so the ONT and power supply was already installed. The tech was at my house for about 1-1.5 hours. Not only did he wire our main TV with the HD DVR and the other TV with the regular STB, he activated all the coax jacks in the house for analog cable. He installed the NIM or NIN (not for sure which one) right next to our existing router and made everything look very nice. He even threw in the last HDMI cable he had...no charge! Just said to tell others to sign up.

-When speaking to the tech he told me they are not being able to keep up with install requests. I live in the DFW Metroplex and it is exploding in popularity around here. He said they have been putting in crazy hours just to keep pace with the requests for installation.

-I am subscribing to the Expanded Basic package which include the HD channels and local in HD. The PQ is unbelievable! Even the other digital channels seem to look better than when we had D*.

-I had the SD TiVO from D* for the past 2 years and liked the TiVO software so getting used to this new DVR software will take some getting used to. It is a little more difficult to set up a season pass and to do some other things. There are a few more clicks invloved. Overall, I think I will really grow to like it.

To sum it up...if you have access to FiOS and are can get it installed...go for it! You will not be disappointed!

Thanks for the review I am waiting for it to be offered in my area as I am tired of D* although ST still is a hook to keep me.