Philadelphia, PA - Verizon - Page 11

Boy oh boy do those HGTV HD programs look good!

Of course any new HD channels are welcome but I would like to see SciFi and Spike in HD eventually if they even have HD feeds.

By yesterday afternoon, the Guide notations were up and running, at least giving a sense of what the channels were. Life Channel in high-def won't be a biggie for me, but seeing Giada in high res was entertaining!

OMG, a new camera for the Phillies game! Mounted just to the right of the 1st base screen, in line with the 3rd base line. Not an aerial cable guide like ESPN, but an honest to goodness real camera mounted on a pole that can change height and view. Wide angle zoom. Steady shot, minimal motion. Nice. Kudos to ComCast for the experiment.

At first glance, it looks fairly neat. I think they need some time to get used to it. At first, it was just used for return from commercial "big picture" pan around the stadium. The panning is a bit disorienting if it's done too quickly.

As the game progressed, they started to use it more. For the game play, I like the view. However, they have to zoom in a bit more to capture just the catcher and pitcher. You can definitely see the height of the ball, but it's very difficult to catch where it is over the plate. Needs to be located a bit closer to home plate to get the angle right. Best spot would probably be closer to the broadcast booth, but maybe they were limited due to the screen (high-home camera?).

I was worried that the left-handed batters would block the plate view, but it looks OK.

Can they start showing the entire pitching sequence instead of cutting to the center field camera as the ball is thrown? I'd like to see continuity through the entire play after the ball is hit as well. That's a great perspective for when there's no one on base, or, 1st and 2nd. Long-ball home runs as well.

Try showing an entire inning without the center field camera, or, a split screen view with the center field camera in the upper right corner and the "sneak cam" as the main view.

I take back what I posted earlier . Tonight, the camera was by the right field foul pole. The announcers gave it a quick description, even showing it going up and down. It's a stupid marketing pitch for some company that sells aerial shots for sporting events. Here's the link: http://www.stealthaerialcameras.com/index.asp

There's a bunch of press releases on the web site. Selling point is that it's cost effective for those on limited budgets. Rentals run from 10,000 to 15,000 per event.

My rant is because I thought that this was ComCast being proactive. Turns out it's yet another way to generate revenue, although I'm not sure which way the funding is going since they gave it a good amount of air time. Fox is another customer and TNT used it for NBA shots.

I didn't edit my previous comments because I still think that's the way to broadcast baseball.

what makes you thnk its just a straight commercial for the cam and they dont intend on continuing to use it

I don't. Maybe they're trying to see what shots look best in live situations. From 3rd base, they had the right idea to zoom in when there was a man on 1st. However, they never followed him to 2nd base (almost did once, but switched to a different camera).

I don't see the need for yet another camera where either a dug-out, press booth, or the many other designated camera areas are already in use. This camera is also in front of the fans and can block the view, albeit for a short period of time. The continual movement can be distracting.

Well,
The well-publicized move of Univision from 26 to 14 happened overnight.

Not sure we'll know why this ever happened - but it's complete.

It figures. I just switched to only being able to watch in the evenings, so I missed the great event. On top of that, I forgot to set the DVR!

Hi all,

I am seriously considering Verizon FiOS for our house. They recently put in boxes on our cul-de-sac, and I'm just waiting for them to call me to say that they're ready to run the fiber to the house.

I also had a dream this morning that they installed FiOS to my house and only my wife was at home. So I had to check out the work to make sure they did it right. Anyways ...

Here's my question. I own a Sony DHG-HDD250 DVR that I've been using for Comcast clearQAM. It works great and we love it. If we switch to Verizon, I'd like to continue using it with CableCard ($3/mo) so that we can record all of the additional HD channels that we'd get with the Premier tier. I know the Sony will work with FiOS (I can select the FiOS channel line-up for the TV Guide set-up), but I've heard horror stories with CableCard/Sony combination. Admittedly, they were mostly problems for cable systems, not FiOS.

I have not read any accounts of people using the Sony with Verizon FiOS CableCard. Anyone have stories to share?

Thanks.

ft

Why pay $3 for the cable card addition when the DVR cable box is $3 extra per month? Know ahead of time that the "guide" function of FiOS isn't as nice as Comcast's, but the DVR function works well, and you can record two programs at once if you care to. Are you trying to not subscribe to the high-def cable box via FiOS? If so, why? The picture quality is terrific on high-def, and you certainly get a lot more channels that way!

The FiOS HD-DVR is $13/month. The cable card is $3/month. That's a $10 difference.

I already have the Sony DVR, and it records HD just like the FiOS DVR would, in full quality. The only thing the Sony doesn't have is VOD and the 2nd tuner.

For $10 more per month, I don't know if it's worth it. I guess I could try the CableCard first and if need be, I could replace it with a FiOS DVR (and just use the Sony to record the QAM locals) or I could get the FiOS DVR in addition to the CableCard (assuming the Sony/CC/FiOS set-up works well).

ft

I found a few horror stories back on DSL Reports (search the Verizon FiOS TV forum), but they were old posts and nothing about SONY.

When I was with ComCast, I used a Pioneer DVR-533H for clear QAM also but ditched it for the FiOS HD DVR. However, it was SD so it was an easier decision. Can your DVR do "live pause"? Nice to have.

BAD NEWS!

I have used a HDD 500 for a year with comcast and didn't use cablecards so when I had FIOS TV installed in the beginning of January 07 I didn't expect any problems but!!!!

Install went fine, 2 cablecards for the Sony which worked great but the Sony relies on Gemstar or TVGuide which is broadcast on a vertical blanking signal from local channels for the clock set and schedule, FIOS doesn't pass this data through. Spent 2 weeks talking with FIOS techs and a PBS station engineer from Phila and no resolution. So as the days passed all the guide data for programs disappeared.

Ended up selling the Sony and picking up a Tivo S3, which works pretty well. I wrote to TVGUIDE techs in NYC and they said there were no plans to support FIOS in this unit.

Unless someone can verify it now works or if you have an exernal antenna that you can hook up to the other RF, you may be out of luck.

Jack

anyone in the area missing HD Net and HD Movies tonight (833 / 834)?

Both are blank screens here for me in Northern DE.

I'm trying to figure out how local the issue is.

I am getting 833 but not 834

Thanks JWhip-
Still missing both here in DE. Had a ticket opened a few minutes earlier - but not sure what the resolution will be or how quickly.

Odd though that you're at least getting 833. Usually we all see the same problems.

yes 833, no 834. 8:15 PM

Hey kids-
For the past week, I've been trying to get VZ to correct the program guide info for Univision, Channel 14.

I realized this has NEVER been correct - as they were showing program info for "CW - WUPV" instead of "WUVP" - basically, a totally incorrect channel. It was showing "Tyra Banks", etc. I was like, hmmmm...Univision doesn't show that!

Last night, I was finally told that it had been corrected - but nothing changed at least in my Delaware lineup - even after STB resets.

Can anyone check their guides in PA to see if it's fixed? More than likely it will be in Spanish.

Here it shows as WUVP, and yes, it is in Spanish!

Yes, it is in Spanish and the program guide is correct.

Thanks Jim and Geek for the posts. Apparently they had fixed it in PA - but it didn't flow down to the lineups here in Delaware.

They apparently found the issue last night, and I woke up this morning to a correct guide listing!

(This was my good deed for the week since I don't even watch the channel!)

The crazy thing is I don't think the guide data for Univision had EVER been right.

I watch Telemundo on occasion. They seem to have their act together on closed-captioning. Maybe because they're NBC Universal. For example, Zorro (still around!) has both CC1 and CC3 available for English and Spanish. Great way to learn Spanish. A blend of the culture with the language add up. In this case, Southern California in the early 1800's (colony of Spain at that time).

The DVR does play back closed-captioning, but I have to use the analog outputs. Too inconvenient to switch the STB, especially between CC1 and CC3.

Anybody else experiencing audio drop outs accross the board tonight (early this AM)? I'm struggling to watch the Spurs/Suns on TNT-HD - sounds like somebody is rapidly pressing the mute button every second.

I'm experiencing the same thing on all channels (non-HD & HD). Curious to hear if it is limited to my living room, or if others have the same problem.

Borrowing a page from my old Comcast days, I tried unplugged/re-plugged the box - sure enough, everything is back to normal now. Funny, I used to perform that activity at least once a week with Comcast - it had gotten to the point that it didn't even bother me anymore - I just accepted it as normal.

I think this is the first time that I've ever had to do it since switching over to Vz.... I can deal with one re-boot every 6 months or so --- here's hoping it stays that way.

EDIT: TNT-HD is working fine, but both ESPN-HD and ESPN2-HD are dark black screens... 1 am. All other HD and regular channels seem to be fine.

Wait until you start seeing the video "stuttering". The sound will be out of sync and all of a sudden the picture looks like it's frame dropping. Reset your box for that one, too.

Lots of picture pixelation and audio dropouts yesterday. Anyone else have this going on in various areas, or was it just here in Yardley?

Jim Hef-
It was a total service interruption yesterday across PA / DE / NJ. Started around Noon - I first called it in then and had a ticket opened.

It got progressively worse throughout the day. Called in around 5pm, was told - oh, they haven't even looked at your ticket yet.

At one point, the picture was breaking up so badly you couldn't even watch 10 seconds uninterrupted. I gave up on it and went outside.

If you check out DSLReports.com - and the FIOS TV forum, you'll see a large group of us all posted about the problems. Apparently it was still terrible at 10pm last night and 1am this morning based on posts.

I watched a bit of SportsRise this morning while getting dressed - seemed like perhaps it was fixed.

The entire issue of this happening almost every weekend is getting quite annoying.

Yes, the picture and sound cut out quite a bit, and made watching almost impossible, at least from an annoyance standpoint, for most of the evening. I tried listening to the Who concert, and I lasted for half a song before I turned it off. Sopranos and Entourage later in the evening was much better, but still flickering. Today, it seems to be cured. I need to sign up on DSLReports so I can log into some of those threads.

I threw out this question on DSL Reports as well, but does anyone else in the area think the HD channel quality has been degraded since the fiasco on Sunday?

Last night I noticed the HD's just weren't as sharp as usual - somewhat grainy - and just not as "popping" as usual - Food HD always gave that "WOW" effect, and just didn't have it last night (or this morning).

this morning HBO HD was grainy - as well as some of the others.

A poster from DE also stated his wife thought they looked worse last night.

I'm just wondering if something happened Sunday and in order to "temp" fix it - they had to reduce the quality of the HD feeds....who knows...but I really hope it goes back to where it was.