Am I reading the other posts on this subject correctly, that it isn't enough to order the Home Media DVR and have it installed in order to be able to view recorded programs on your other FiOS-ready televisions? You have to activate a service to do this? I spent hours on the phone with sales people and with installation techs in my home, repeatedly saying that the ability to view recorded programs on multiple televisions was the reason I ordered the Home Media DVR, and yet, when I tried to view my first recording on another television, I couldn't do it. And other posts on the forum suggest some FURTHER activation is required? Is that true?
Yes, you have to have it activated and pay for the extra service. It cost about $5 a month extra. I was surprised like you when I found out the box was not enough. I signed up for the extra service, but I will be dropping it because it does not do what I hoped it would do (and what I thought I was told it would do).
Thanks for the responses. I think (?) this has been resolved with Verizon. I called tech support during the weekend and it still doesn't work, but I was told it could take up to 24 hours to activate the feature. This whole experience has been infuriating. When I ordered my FIOS service, I was very specific with the salesperson. I said I wanted the Home Media DVR. If you look at Verizon's on-line information about the Home Media DVR, it says: "Record shows on one DVR and watch up to three recorded shows on three different TVs at the same time. No more TV wars!" Nowhere I looked did I find any information that said, "Even though you tell us you want the Home Media DVR, you have to then tell us you want us to activate its features." I guess I assumed incorrectly that if I ordered the Home Media DVR, it would be understood by Verizon that I was ordering it for its advertized features and not just for it to be fancy set-top box.
Honestly, it sounds like they screwed something up on your order.
If you did order the Multi-Room DVR at the time of installation, you should not have had to activate anything further. As others stated, it is $19.99/mo vs. $15.99 for the standard HD-DVR.
The way I understand it is that here are 2 different boxes, one is just the HD-DVR and the other is the Multi Room HD-DVR. If you get the Multi Romm version the other boxes will see it and work just fine and if you do not get the Multi Room version then you can not see it from the other boxes. At least this is what was told to me 3 years ago when I first got FIOS. And yes there is a $5 difference between the two.
I don't know about 3 years ago, but now the HD-DVD and the MR-DVD is the same thing. That's how you can upgrade your service without needing a new box. Is just a account switch.
DCGTLS wrote: The way I understand it is that here are 2 different boxes, one is just the HD-DVR and the other is the Multi Room HD-DVR. If you get the Multi Romm version the other boxes will see it and work just fine and if you do not get the Multi Room version then you can not see it from the other boxes. At least this is what was told to me 3 years ago when I first got FIOS. And yes there is a $5 difference between the two.
There is currently only an HD-DVR (although 2 different models). The Multi Room is a firmware difference in either a 6416 DVR or 7216 DVR.
When you call to order service and they say home media dvr they are referring to a DVR witht he MRDVR feature on it. Otherwise they will tell you it is called a Hi-Def DVR. The MRDVR is just a feature that is added onto the account seperatly and costs $4.00 when you order the Home Media DVR service. If you would like to send me your account info so i can pull it up in a PM i will be happy to look at it for you. Most problems stem from when a technician actually activates the STB. If he doesnt set the MRDVR service flag to on before activation the feature wont be turned on. We can activate it manually regardless here in tech support.
TS
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Sanchez is exactly right. It took another visit from a tech, who confirmed that the feature had not been activated prior to installation. He fixed everything. About two hours after he left, the UPS man delivered -- you guessed it -- another Home Media DVR. The problem here is not with the technicians, but with the sales and customer service staff, every one of whom seemed to ignore my problem and try to tell ME what was wrong. I even had one customer rep who tried to convince me that what I got was better than what I'd asked for anyway, pitching the virtues of HD even after I told him I have no HD televisions. Then he tried to sell me Verizon's antivirus software subscription for my Internet connection and an International Long Distance phone package.
Anyway, I finanlly have what I ordered two weeks ago. Thanks to everyone who responded.
