Ok, it's unanimous that the new guide is terrible, BUT WHY??
sxrd60inch
Enthusiast - Level 3

I was away on a business trip for 2 weeks.  Near the end of my trip, talking to my wife on the phone, she told me that Fios changed their guide and it was TERRIBLE.  Alright, the old guide had a few quirks but it worked, did what it needed to do, but I figured I would give it a chance and see it for myself.  Well..I've used it for 3 weeks now and the hate posts here are all 100% right on.

I won't go into all the reasons that it is terrible, we all know why, but there are two things that I cannot understand.  This is more aimed at Verizon, I hope they read this and respond.

1. Why would a large corporation like Verizon not even poll its users on the new guide?   Better yet, why not let us "try it" and give us a choice?

2. Why not have a feature RIGHT ON THE GUIDE to enter suggestions?  We have the opinions that matter, we USE the darn thing.

3. How can the designers of this new guide POSSIBLY think this was an improvement???

Speed is one of the big complaints here but by far not only the ONLY one.  I was shocked at how slow this new guide is, delays.  I've read posts that said I can upgrade to a new receiver.  I have a QIP6416,  is this upgrade free of charge?  I've had Fios for 3 years.  Will I need to resign for a new contract.  IS THERE A WAY TO TRANSFER EVERYTHING ON MY DVR HARD DRIVE? <<<BIG Question.

Please give me constructive answers.

Thanks.

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Re: Ok, it's unanimous that the new guide is terrible, BUT WHY??
Justin46
Legend

@questioning wrote:

.....
Justin, I never knew there were Verizon stores that carry updated set top boxes.  I know in my vicnity, we just have the Verizon Wireless stores that carry cell phones.

Here is a link to a Verizon webpage that lists the stores that are FiOS TV stores:

https://www22.verizon.com/ResidentialHelp/FiOSTV/General+Support/Account+Issues/QuestionsOne/84843.h...

I have no idea where either of you are located, but you might check the list and see if one is close to you. And if there is one, I strongly suggest you call first and ask if you can exchange STBs there. The web page I linked does not say that you can exchange STBs but I know that many customers have done so, and some of the individual state pages do say you can. And I have seen posts from a number of customers who say they have been able to exchange their old DVR for a new 7232 at a store at no charge.

Worth a try if you have an old STB.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, Internet, and phone user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9A
Keller, TX 76248

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Re: Ok, it's unanimous that the new guide is terrible, BUT WHY??
tns
Master - Level 2

Actually they did for the first time allow a large number of people near Philly and in NJ to trial it.  And these people did report to Verizon a large number of problems, suggestions, etc. many of which were fixed or incorporated.

In many ways on a newer box it is an improvement.  But not on the older 6xxx and SD boxes.

The upgrade to a newer box (but not necessarily the latest boxes) is free.

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Re: Ok, it's unanimous that the new guide is terrible, BUT WHY??
questioning_old
Contributor - Level 2

My set top box is the Motorola QIP7100 series.  Is that an older box too?  I have only had the Fios for 2 years. 

If it really is the case that the type of set top box is the reason behind the poor graphics display of the TV Guide Listing , I wonder why the rest of us were never informed about this.  When I called Verizon about this, the only answer I could get was that I should fool with the brightness and contrast settings on my TV?  lol...I really think this concept of forcing all of this unnecessary change on everybody is not a good thing over the long run. 

And regarding what was said  about people in NJ and Philly being allowed to try the new TV Guide Listing and give feedback, I'm from northeastern Jersey and I will assure you that no such polling for that ever took place here in my area...at least not that I am aware of.  It sounds like you're referring to South Jersey which isn't representative of the rest of the state.  A lot of outsiders think that all of NJ is the same when it's not.  North and South Jersey are very different from each other and part of that has to do with North Jersey's affiliation with New York City and South Jersey's proximity to Philly.  The mentality of each area is very different too.

 
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Re: Ok, it's unanimous that the new guide is terrible, BUT WHY??
sxrd60inch
Enthusiast - Level 3

Those are all great questions but you will more than likely not get an answer.

Wasting your time calling Verizon is just that, a waste.  They actually told you to fool with your TV settings to get the guide to look better?  Amazing.  "Hey thanks phone support, my guide is readable now but my picture is garbage, yey".Telling you to change your picture settings because their guide changed is absolutely ridiculous.  Dish Network was a great system but Ilearned very quickly, do not call customer support with these types of questions.

What a shame, a fabulous high-end fiber optic television system, the only one I know of, and it's made awful by a cumbersome, SLOW guide.

I ask again Verizon, WHY?

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Re: Ok, it's unanimous that the new guide is terrible, BUT WHY??
questioning_old
Contributor - Level 2

LOL!!!  Yep....change the TV settings.  And I actually tried that just to see and it didn't make any difference.  I could lower the contrast and brightness but all that does is make the picture worse.  I agree...it's stupid.  And believe me, I wasn't honestly expecting an answer to these questions I just posted.  I was really just thinking aloud and wondering because  it doesn't make any sense.

And it seems to me too that you probably won't get an answer from Verizon to your question "why" because nobody here so far has gotten a substantial answer to that question.  lol

My guide isn't slow.  It's just hard on my eyes.  And now I'm just wondering if the only thing I really need to do is get my QIP7100 Series set top box upgraded to a new one.  Is that one of the older models for which the new TV Guide Listing doesn't work as well?  I wouldn't ask customer service if that would make a difference.  I would only ask if the upgrade is available.  Very often they don't know themselves and they're just doing their jobs.  I have called Verizon with other issues that they did resolve.  But if I can upgrade my set top box to a new one free of charge, then what would I have to lose?  We're paying plenty of money per month just to watch TV in the first place.

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Re: Ok, it's unanimous that the new guide is terrible, BUT WHY??
sxrd60inch
Enthusiast - Level 3

Give the upgrade a try and let us know the outcome.

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Re: Ok, it's unanimous that the new guide is terrible, BUT WHY??
questioning_old
Contributor - Level 2

Hmmm...you have the QIP6416.  It sounds like the TV Guide display on your TV is worse than mine because you have an older model.  It sounds like an upgrade to the 7100 series might be worthwhile for you because if you were to do that, your experience with the TV Guide listing would be more like mine.  I guess then we would have more in common.  lol...But seriously, at least you wouldn't be dealing with so much slowness like you are now.   

I was just poking around on line to find out information about the set top boxes.  The 7100 series is the highest listed and the only upgrades I see advertised are the ones that allow access to more HD channels and more recording capabilities, neither of which I want, and which translates into a higher monthly bill.  The more I think about it, I'm probably just going to leave it alone.

Another thought I had is that the TV Guide graphics might bemore suitable for a flat screen TV and that an analog standard TV just can't accommodate those graphics.  It wouldn't surprise me if the customers who gave feedback and suggestions on this initially all had the flat screen TVs.  Am I about to get rid of my analog TV in favor of a flat screen TV?  No way...not until my TV stops working.  lol...The other thing too is that in my case, the graphics display is all right for all of these other listings with more detail and that show the entire synopsis of the program.  It's just with the general TV guide display for all the channels listed horizontally, with the TV program minimized and playing in the upper left hand corner.  So given that it's really just with that one thing, it's probably due to the way my analog TV is.  That suggestion from the one customer service rep at Verizon to fool with the TV settings was kind of silly but I remember he seemed to hint at the possibility that it's from the way my TV is.  My TV is a Symphonic, a lesser known brand, which I have had for 6 years.   

So I'm getting the feeling that what I have is as up to date as I can get.

Good luck! 

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Re: Ok, it's unanimous that the new guide is terrible, BUT WHY??
questioning_old
Contributor - Level 2

I think I have actually resolved my own question after hearing your complaints.  lol

My co-worker whose Verizon Fios setup is the same as mine loves the new TV Guide display and she has the flat screen TV.

So if that's the only difference, then that has to be reason why the contrast isn't so good with the TV Guide's color display on my analog TV, especially since my set top box is the latest one. 

So my 2 choices are to either kee what I have or get a new flatscreen TV.

So after going back and forth about this enough, I'm going to leave it alone.

Maybe some day soon Verizon will admit that it screwed up with this whole thing and either go back to the old display or modify it to include choices as how to we want the graphics and colors to come out.  All these corporate giants care about is making the profits.  Like I've been saying, time will tell.

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Re: Ok, it's unanimous that the new guide is terrible, BUT WHY??
sxrd60inch
Enthusiast - Level 3

For me the colors and clarity are fine.  I am using a 60" Sony HDTV.

In particular, here are the problems:

1. There's a bunch of room (and maybe memory) wasted by the logo on the left side.  I know what the channel names are, I don't need the logo also.

2. I can only see 6 channels vertically at a time.

4. The channel highlighted that has the info also shows the same channel schedule right above it, confusing and a waste or room.  Who possibly this was a good feature to include in an upgrade?

5. Channel flipping in the guide, as well as moving around, DVR, menu features are real SLOW.  They used to be lightning fast.

6. I can only see 90 minutes of programming at a time.

7. Left arrow menu is gone.  Ok, yeah, I can get these featrues with other buttons now but WHY remove it???

8. I still CANNOT flip all the way around the channel numbers.  This would have been a cool adder to the upgrade.

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Re: Ok, it's unanimous that the new guide is terrible, BUT WHY??
Justin46
Legend

@sxrd60inch wrote:

For me the colors and clarity are fine.  I am using a 60" Sony HDTV.

In particular, here are the problems:

1. There's a bunch of room (and maybe memory) wasted by the logo on the left side.  I know what the channel names are, I don't need the logo also.

2. I can only see 6 channels vertically at a time.

4. The channel highlighted that has the info also shows the same channel schedule right above it, confusing and a waste or room.  Who possibly this was a good feature to include in an upgrade?

5. Channel flipping in the guide, as well as moving around, DVR, menu features are real SLOW.  They used to be lightning fast.

6. I can only see 90 minutes of programming at a time.

7. Left arrow menu is gone.  Ok, yeah, I can get these featrues with other buttons now but WHY remove it???

8. I still CANNOT flip all the way around the channel numbers.  This would have been a cool adder to the upgrade.


I think you either have a) an old STB that will not properly display the new HD Guide or b) you have something set incorrectly. What model STB do you have? (ie, QIP64xx, QIP71xx, QIP7232, Cisco, etc)

To try to address your comments, here is what I see on my six year old Sony 40" LCD with my QIP7232 DVR (sorry for the quality of the picture, I am a very poor photographer):

image

1) I agree, the logos do take room that potentially could be put to use displaying maybe another 30 minutes. But, I have had FiOS TV for just over 6 years now, and some time back, for whatever reason, the logos disappeared from the Guide for a while. You should have seen the whining and complaining about the logos disappearing, you would have thought Verizon had removed all of the actual program data or something. So clearly there are people who really like the logos, maybe I guess they even depend on them if they don't know the channel numbers.

2) As you can see in the picture, I see 7 channels.

3) (you skipped 3, you just couldn't bear to describe whatever this issue is? Smiley Happy )

4) I do not understand this comment. As you can see in my picture there is no duplication of channels. Can you explain further?

5) I find the Guide to be fast, as fast as 1.8 was on the same 7232 DVR. I understand that it is slow (or extremely slow) on the older equipment, that is one reason I suspect that you do have an older STB.

6) As you can see in my picture, I see 2 12/ hours, not 90 minutes. Makes me think you either have old hardware or it set up wrong.

7) Yep, the left arrow menu is gone. But all of the functionality has been incorporated into the Options button. I think using the Options button is just as easy, and a little bit more intuitive. Just my opinion....

😎 I assume you mean that the Guide won't roll over from the highest channel to the lowest or the lowest to the highest when going up/down in the Guide. I find this to be true when I am viewing a Favorites list in the Guide, but not true when viewing all channels. I of course no longer have 1.8 to verify it, but I thought that 1.8 acted the same way (could be wrong of course).

By the way, thanks for enumerating your issues the way you did, it makes it a whole lot easier to read and respond to each item. I wish more posters here would do that.

Anyway, as I said up front,  I think you have either an old STB or the Guide set up wrong. If you will come back with your STB model and perhaps the major settings you are using for the Guide, maybe somebody here can help you improve your experience.

Oh, just for the record, I am very happy with 1.9. Not just the Guide but every aspect of it. I find it to be a hugh improvement over 1.8, which itself was a hugh improvement over prior levels.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, Internet, and phone user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9A
Keller, TX 76248

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