Verizon at Home

[#1]

Media Manager is a FiOS TV service that lets customers see personal photos, play music or stream videos from a computer to the FiOS TV screen.  The service also includes a function to search and watch online videos from blip.tv, Dailymotion and Veoh on the TV rather than the computer screen.

Until now, Media Manager has only been available to certain subscribers, but now we’re opening up the service to any TV and Internet customer who also has a DVR.  There’s no extra charge.

We’ll announce this later this week, but I wanted to let readers of the Verizon at Home blog know about it first.

We’ll also announce that all FiOS TV DVR users will be able to use Internet-enabled cell phones to manage their DVRs remotely.  Previously this capability was available only to Home Media DVR users.  Already, any FiOS TV subscriber can remotely manage their DVRs via a Web site.  Now, if you’re a FiOS TV DVR customer, you can use the Web site or a cell phone to review, change or add recording requests, delete recorded programs, browse and search TV and video-on-demand listings, set parental controls and more.

One of the biggest benefits of Media Manager is that it frees your personal videos, photos and music from other devices so that you can play them on the big screen in the family room.  Besides content stored on the PC, the system also finds content on connected cell phones, digital cameras and portable media players -- devices with flash drives or SD memory cards.  Simply hook up the device to your computer’s USB port.

FiOS TV DVR and Internet subscribers can access Media Manager by signing into their Verizon.net account to download the Media Manager software to their computer and following instructions to activate the service.  Once it’s activated, you select the “Media Manager” option on the FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide to use the service.

If you’ve never tried Media Manager, I think you’ll find that it turns vacation slideshows, wedding photos and dance recital videos into a totally different kind of experience when viewed on the big screen.

Let me know how you like it.

	Verizon Media Manager PC Home Screen on PC Media Manager includes Video, Photo and Music Manager features that help customers organize, manage and enjoy multimedia both online and on TV.
	Verizon Media Manager Photo Home Screen on PC Users can organize photos into albums and slideshows for viewing on the PC or on FiOS TV. Photos can be browsed by date, month and year.
	Verizon Media Manager Video Home Screen on PC Users can organize videos into personalized playlists and folders.  Video Manager also gives users the ability to search for and enjoy online videos from blip.tv, Dailymotion and Veoh.  All Video Manager videos can be viewed online via a video player in the Media Manager or streamed to FiOS TV for enjoyment on the big screen.
	Verizon Media Manager Music Home Screen on PC Users can organize music into playlists, add folders from their computer, plus view and listen to all of their music either on the PC or via FiOS TV.
	Media Manager Main Screen on FiOS TV Media Manager includes Video Manager, Photo Manager and Music Manager features that help customers organize, manage and enjoy multimedia both online and on TV.
	Photo Manager Main Screen on FiOS TV
	Photo Manager Photo Display on FiOS TV

Message Edited by Eric_Rabe on 08-20-2009 10:26 AM

[#2]

So what will seperate a Home Media DVR subscriber from a standard DVR subscriber?  Are you really going to charge "Home Media DVR" subscribers an extra $5/month just to be able to play shows on another set top box?

[#3]

This is great news, since Media Manager is the primary reason I have had the Home Media/Multi-Room DVR capability until now.  I'm not particularly interested in watching shows recorded in one room in another.

Will Media Manager function be limited to just one DVR per household, or will they be available on each DVR independently?

[#4]

This is great.  Thanks.  How about a Mac version of Home Media Manager?  I know there is a beta, because I downloaded it.  But I've lost the link.  Any way you can post it here or send it to me?

[#5]

BigPete82,

The Home Media DVR has multi-room DVR capabilities so it allows customers to have non-DVR set top boxes (which are less expensive) for all of their TVs except the main set in the family room or living room where the DVR set top box is located.  So, yes, we do charge for the Home Media DVR, but overall a customer with several TVs will save since only one DVR box is needed.  Not only is this a less expensive solution to watching recorded movies on several TVs, but also many customers find the Home Media DVR more convenient since all recorded content is in one place.

--Eric

Message Edited by Eric_Rabe on 08-12-2009 06:07 AM

[#6]

CapnTrips,

To answer your question, Media Manager functions on any DVR in the house. So no, not limited to just one DVR, which makes it an even more usable feature. 

--Eric 

[#7]

Well, I've tested it out briefly on each of my 2 DVRs, with two computers running Media Manager.  It's a wonderful idea, but still lacking in execution.  A great many files one tries to play - either from the computer or from the internet, simply "time out" and do not play, or play with broken, jumpy audio and video.  These are not HD, bandwidth-hogging files, but simple camera-created avi files that are struggling to play smoothly, with all other programs on the computer shut down.

These sorts of problems with Media Manager have been routinely pointed out previosuly during the beta testing of MM, and have yet to be fully resolved.

Hopefully Verizon is applying some effort and resources to tracking down and fixing these problems, since it's a great idea and certainly puts FIOS ahead of other service providers (except for TIVO) in this area.

[#8]

I agree with CapnTrips.  I'm using the Mac version of MM.  While Photos generally work okay (although I would like to be able to view avi files) I've been totally unsuccessful playing music. On one TV I can pull up the audio files.  When I click play the time bar moves but there is no sound.  On another TV, the DVR freezes when I click play (or press the OK button - I forget which) and I have to reboot.  If it helps, I get a "50" flashing on the DVR front display.

Going back to photos, I'd like the option to modify the screenshow features... change duration of each photo, maybe add photo transitions and have the ability to play music in the background.  Right now the audio of the current tv program plays.  I'm glad it's free now, cause it's not ready to be a premium service.  I'm looking forward to improvements over the next few months.

[#9]

I love the new video capabilities, most of my avi files  are now viewable on my tv and don't look too bad even at low rez. However Verizon should add capabilities for ripped VOB DVD files.

The problem I have is that it sometimes scans your files incessantly and then hangs. I've had to kill the MM process several times and then restart it. But I have both my laptop and desktop media now in the Manager and otherwise works fine.

My other issue is that the MM is only viewable on the main TV that has the DVR recording capabilites. However, the 2nd TV that only plays the DVR programs has no MM in the menu. Shouldn't it also be able to view the MM?

[#10]

Also, you cannot pause a movie and resume a movie. You can only stop and then restart from the begginign. Verizon needs to integrate the pause, rewind & ff of the remote. Frustrating.

[#11]

Davidgro,

These are the sorts of problems we expect to uncover in a beta trial. We wanted to Media Manger to all of our customers as soon as possible and resulting was this beta version, so it's not the final cut. So we appreciate hearing from users so that we can adapt to the issues at hand as we hear about them.

Also, here is the latest link for the beta Media Manager for Mac users, recently updated late last week: 

http://www36.verizon.com/widgets/fioslink/Mac/MediaManager.dmg

Eric

[#12]

Thanks, Eric. I have been waiting a long time for the Mac software,

David 

[#13]

CapnTrips,

Verizon's Media Manager supports .avi, .mp4, .flv, wmv, .3gp/3g2, .mpg file types. However, there are many flavors when it comes to video files, and not one unviersal solution addresses them all. If you could give me more information on the file; size, type, etc., then I will be able to circulate it on my end to nail exactly what the issue was. Feel free to personal message me on the forums at any time with that information - eric.rabe@verizon.net.

We are always looking to improve our features and make them as usable as possible for our customers so thanks for the feedback.

Thanks,

Eric

[#14]

Is ther a size limitation for MM? It will play MP4 videos that were ripped from DVD for my IPODs resolution, but if I rip them again using higher resolution for my TV, resulting in a 4GB+ file, MM gives a non supported or corrupt message.

Thanks

[#15]

This is really cool stuff, but us early adopters with PPOE, old dlink 624s and NIMs have often upgraded our routers (anyone heard of 811.n?) and find this feature is not supported.  Can understand the need to keep service calls reasonable by insisting on your hardware, but some of your hardware is antique.  Also, my home has 3 DVRs and 2 set top boxes.  Will remote DVR work with each DVR or do I have to pick one and how does one tell Verizon which DVR is the "one"?   

[#16]

Hi there Bsparrow,

Yes, there are some limitations because each video has to be converted in real-time by the computer. A large file might cause some processing problems, even on a powerful computer. Memory and processor limitations could also be factors. 

--Eric 

[#17]

Eric,

Thanks for the reply. Sorry if I wasn't clear. MM won't allow me to import the file, saying it is unsupported, bbut the same movie, with a lower resolution equaling a smaller file imports just fine. I've not done enough testing to see exactly where the size limit is. Up to 1gb seems to work, but anything 4gb and above wont import.

[#18]

So is there any word on the ability to at least pause a video streaming from my computer?  I don't see much use for this if you can't pause.

[#19]

I've played around a bit and have a few questions/comments:

Music:

1.  Is there a button to "shuffle" a play list?  What buttons do what on the remote?  All I seem to be able to do is go forward and back.  No pause or shuffle.

2.  I find navigating the music a bit difficult.  I would like to be able to go Artist/Album like in other music programs (like iTunes).  It seems I can either go by Artist OR Album here, not Artist first and then into that artist's albums.

3.  The songs by album are in alpha, not numeric order

4.  I have a huge music collection -- there should be a way to jump down, for example, the artist menu more quickly.  (In my old Tivo version, I could use digits 1-9 on the remote to go a percentage through menu -- i.e. if I wanted to go to "Los Lobos", or about halfway through the alphabet, I would choose "4" or "5".

Video:

1.  My videos play in a small box on the screen -- can it be expanded to the whole TV?

2.  Some of my .avi files play, and some don't.  (The ones that don't are home videos from minidv, captured by WinDV)

3.  I'll echo the request to be able to "control" the video file with pause, etc.

But, all that aside, I love that this is being provided and worked on!

[#20]

Yeah count me in as one of those that thinks stream videos is worthless if you can't pause, rewind or fast forward.  I mean really even a "beta" version should have had these options in them before being released.