OMG I have Fios TV v.review

NYSpeed Automotive NYSpeed Off Topic
1

A few people have PM’d me about Fios TV and how it’s going for me. Here you go:

Most of us don’t watch alot of TV outside of a few weekly shows, news, sports, and the Discovery / History Channels. However, when I do want to watch TV I expect two things: It should work, it should look good. We’re running 3-4 TVs, two of them HD. Whole house is 3G coax & high bandwidth equipment (barrels, diplexors, etc).

Had TWC Digita; Cab;e ~3 yrs ago, got sick of the “digitized” pics as service would drop / fade pretty regularly. Then realized how much it sucked in comparison to the PQ & hardware of Dish.

Had Dish Network the past ~3 yrs. 622 was the best STB I’ve used. Cool hardware, running two unique TV sets per STB. Etc. For the 1st 2 yrs we had ONE signal dropout during a monsoon. In the last ~6 months since a firmware update we experienced some form of drop out a few times a month.

3 weeks ago we saw a lawn sign @ St Ben’s church saying Fios TV installed. Went online to VZ, put together a package, setup install. As cumbersome as their site is, it only took ~10 minutes.

We ordered the “TV Essentials” package: 267 channels, 101 HD (less the 43 HD premium channels), VOD, interactive widgets

Hardware we got: HD STB (no DVR); SD STB (no DVR); Media Server STB (DVR that will push content to any other STB).

We were previously paying $88/mo for Fios internet (20/5, which = 18/5 verified user speeds) and “Land line” home phone, unlimited calling, blah blah blah.
To add in TV, including promos (Free Media DVR for a yr; HD STB $3 off for a yr; no activation) brought our monthly bill upto ~$124. Once the Promos expire it will be ~$144.

$144 / mo for 20/5 internet that has not had a single issue in ~8 months, home phone with all the bells / whistles, and 200+ channels w/60 HD.

So we’ve had it for a little over a week now. I’ll admit that we were spoiled by the Dish STBs, guide, and DVR capabilities. I do mish them.

The picture quality is amazing, everyone in the house noticed / commented that detail is better and things look better in general. The guide & interfaces are pretty cool, albeit a bit cumbersome still as we get used to them. I will definately say that the guides themselves are a bit more intuitive then Dish. I dearly miss the “page up/down” buttons.

The interactive features (“widgets”) are surprisingly useful, and cool. Local weather, games, sports tickers, etc. The interactive portion of the TV service is definately something that you could get used to using / accessing a few times a day.

The STBs are alright. Quiet, discreet, relatively small form factor. They are network connected through the coax system and back into the ONT.

The media sharing DVR is a nice concept, but there is surely room for improvement.

  • The search & setup recording functions are VERY intuitive, quick, and super easy to use / understand. Beat other STB’s I’ve used hands down.
  • The harddrive is fairly small, but we don’t record alot of broadcasts, nor do we hold on to them for long.
  • The DVR pushes SD contect to SD or HD sets in the house, but can only push HD content to the HD set. It can only push to 1 HD set at a time (which is fine as we only have 2 and it serve
  • On two occasions now we’ve had the DVR hang / glitch while viewing from the alt HD box. It gives a message of “Playback on one HD set at a time” and you have to start the recording over. I have not looked into this yet.
  • Lastly, when playing content from alt STBs, the DVR is a bit slow to react. By slow I mean there is a ~0.3 second delay between a button press and a response.

I looked into the STBs online, on the usual A/V sites & forums and I don’t recall seeing any issues in regards to mine, but I have not gone looking for these issues as yet. Partly out of laziness, partly because it’s occurred ~1am each time.

All in all its an awesome service, with alot of cool bits to go along with the otherwsie advanced functionality. It has shown me two drawbacks so far, and only one of them is really any kind of issue to us. However, to be honest: I’ll deal with a couple of small glitches to save more then $60 / mo on TV service that we maybe use a few days a week.

2

sucks u dont get the sabres in HD tho. Seems like a good service, but with no YES or sabres in HD, ill stick with DTV

3

Do you NEED the STBs at every TV inorder to access channels? Or are they just there so you can access the main DVR?

4

You NEED the STBs to access the “extra” content such as interactive widgets, GUIDE, DVR, PPV, OnDemand.

With an existing install You can get your basic service at a TV with a $3.99 adaptor that basically decodes the signal and sends it into the set in place of the STB (so no software) Think cable from ~10 yrs ago without the guide. I honestly do not know if you get all of the same channels as you do through the STB, but I can tell you that you will not get HD.

5

I envy you

6

Duh.

:mamoru:

7

Is the VOD similar to that of TW? Does it have all the shows from HBO, SHO on demand?

8

I haven’t used nor seen TWC’s stuff in 3 yrs.

From what I remember of it, Fios VOD is >>>>>> TWC’s.

Yes it lists HBO et al, but I didn’t subscribe to the channels, so I don’t have access to them.

I will tell you that there is a SHITTON of on demand stuff available. Sortable by title, actor/actress, channel, genre.

9

how much does regular cable + internet cost?

does regular time warner cable have HD?

i looked on TW webby and i couldn’t seem to get any prices…

10

Yes HD blows anyways

11

http://www22.verizon.com/Residential/VZPackages/

12

The thing I really HATED about the FIOS TV DVR…

The fast forward and rewind are so inacurate and speedy, you can’t precisely fast forward within a few seconds, skip commercials with ease, and you want to throw the remote against the wall.

With DirecTV, I will DVR tons of shows and fast forward through the commercials. It is such an intelligent design with DirecTV that if you see your show as you’re fast forwarding and press play, it takes into account your reaction time and it starts playing at the end of the last commercial.

With FIOS TV, pushing fast forward SUCKS. It will just skip 30 seconds at a time and when you push play, you’re into your show. Pushing rewind, it is so fast it goes back 3 minutes in less than a few seconds!

I cannot get FIOS TV for this reason alone. That was the most annoying thing I could imagine with a DVR system. I need precision… or it is useless.

13

I have not had a problem with FF / RW, nor skips as yet.

14

Did you electric bill do anything once fios was installed?

15

We have regular roadrunner with regular digital cable with the free HD Tier from Time Warner.

Our bill is 79 bucks a month including tax for a year, then it goes up to 109 a month after that.

They also hooked regular cable (no box), into two other rooms in the house for free.

That and NO CONTRACT.

I’d love to see what the contract Verizon and DirecTV lock people into.

16

stfu who asked u anyways

17

meh… in 25 years when i can get it ill let you know what i think

18

Does the Fios DVR have the 30 second skip ahead, 4 second skip back like Dish has?

I can’t imagine going back to a DVR that doesn’t have that feature now. I use it so much the paint is worn off my remote in that section.

Also, that $124/$144… is that pre or post fees, taxes, taxes on fees, and fees on taxes?

19

It went down, overall.

?

There is YES HD. I don’t watch it though. :gotme:

IDK the time frame honestly. It is def a larger “back” then Dish.

Honestly, the Dish DVR > Fios DVR as far as: capacity, FFWD/RWND speeds, and the skip buttons. The search & setup is FAAR easier then Dish though.

If VZ can make the DVR more like Dish, I’d be in love. As it is, IMO, it works “alright” and I don’t mind the few inefficiencies.

FWIW

20

124/144 pre taxes.

Haven’t gotten a first bill as yet.

I was paying ~$128/mo for Dish with HBO.
This breaksdown to ~$58/mo with no HBO (~$18 option IIRC).

Jay, IIRC in comparison to Dish: No $20 HD fee, no $10(?) DVR fee, no STB lease fee on the Media Share DVR ($15 off for a yr), no $5 mo access fee for the extra box that I owned. So there is ~$50 in savings.