Justin, I am not arguing at all with quality of Verizon service: Internet is the best around, phone and TV also are pretty good.This is not the point. The rollout of 1.9 in my view simply shows inability of Verizon management to be a cutting edge technological company. If any other software company would tell their clients that development of new software will take 4 years in a making and then, after testing and retesting and beta version testing, God knows what else, it will take almost a year to rollout new software - well, this company will be out of business very, very soon. It looks like Verizon profits do not depend much of the implementation of new technologies, software, equipment, so they are not afraid to be years behind of DirectTV and Dish. They know that being a monopolist of FIOS internet which is unquestionably best Internet around, customers will not quit from Verizon TV to satellite or cable as triple service saves money.
I am former customer of DirectTV and if I am not mistaken last software upgrade was done OVERNIGHT to all customers without any major problem. Verizon?? It's different story. The best course of action for Verizon was to just hire outside software company do develop new IMG as they proved their inability to make good reliable software within reasonable timeframe .
Honestly, Verizon shall be ashamed of themselves and Verizon top management should fire those involved in disastorous development and implementation of 1.9
Alex
Alex,
Well, lets see....how long have DirecTV and Dish been in the TV business? (I don't know, but I do know it is a lot longer than Verizon). Did they have issues with their software, etc, in their first 6 years? (I don't know, but I bet they did, I have certainly seen lots of comlaints). Where did your "4 years in the making" come from? I don't remember Verizon ever making any statements about 1.9 four years ago.
You want Verizon to hire an outside company to develop the new IMG? Well, just a little history here....the first version of the IMG that came from Verizon in 2005 actually was from an outside company. I was told it was Microsoft but I don't know. It worked reasonably well, with pretty limited function, but apparently Verizon wanted more functionality than they could get from outside, so they decided to develop it themselves, plus it gave them complete control over the software. Good idea or bad? I don't know, but you can bet it took quite a while to assemble a group, develop the technology skills and facilities, set up all of the development and testing protocols, and on and on. Certainly they have had plenty of bugs in the initial Verizon-developed levels. But at least now they can put what they want into the product. Go back to an outside company? I highly doubt it, after all of the effort they have put into it. But who knows.....
And now on to 1.9. How long has it really been in development? What was the original rollout schedule (not the rumors, the real schedule)? How bad are the current problems, and what are they? When will the rollout resume, and what will be the effect on the total footprint? I surely don't know, and you surely don't know, the answers to any of the above. I do know for a fact that there were quite a few problems identified and fixed during the beta, and that there were some issues identified that were not resolved. Should they have delayed further before initial delivery? Maybe. Should they have just kept rolling it out once it started? Maybe. I for one think they probably made the right decision now to stop the rollout, address whatever the issues are, and then move forward. While there are some (I think it is a few) who think this is a great disaster, I think the majority of FiOS TV customers have no idea what is coming, when it is coming, don't know that it has been delayed, and probably really don't care much if they care at all.
Do like DirecTV and roll out overnight? Sure Verizon could have done that. But apparently the corporate policy at Verizon is to do in area by area.
Having been involved very much in initial specs, beta testing, early customer trials, initial product rollout, education, documentation, etc, for software and hardware for 20+ years before retiring, I have seen the good and the bad. In my view this is really only mildly bad, no where near as serious as some, including I guess you, are making it. Just my opinion of course, and in the next few weeks or months we will all find out 
I want to get a working 1.9 as soon as possible, but far more important to me is for Verizon to add more HD channels. I watch TV to watch TV, not to watch a Guide, or view YouTube or Facebook trash or play with other widgets, or record a 1000 hours of programs that I will never watch, and on and on. Give me the best TV picture, with the greatest choice of HD channels, and I will be happy.
Anyway, whatever we say here isn't going to make any difference anyhow, Verizon is going to do whatever they want to do.
__________________________________
Justin
Verizon FiOS TV, Internet, and phone
QIP7232, IMG 1.8, Build 02.54
Keller, TX 76248
I heard rumors a wile ago that the sata port would be activated eventually. Nothing official though. So periodically I poke around on the site and yesterday morning I find this page....
http://www22.verizon.com/residentialhelp/fiostv/other+hardware/esata/129841.htm
Woo freakin' hoo!!!!
I drop what I'm doing and run out and get a 2TB eSata drive and cable. Maaaaannnnn am I excited!
Come home, rip the entertainment center out from the wall, hook 'er up and wait to get the "prompt to press OK on your FiOS TV Remote Control to activate the eSATA device. " ... woooo hoooo....
Waiting.... waiting..... booooo hoooooo..... nothing.
Call support and fight with some automated chick that has no clue what I'm talking about. 15 minutes later finally get a support lady with a pulse. She has no clue what I'm talking about either. None. 20 minutes later after several times being put on hold I'm told it's not available yet. I say sure it is, it's plain as day on your website that it's available. Complete with very simple instructions. No sir, that can't be, the update isn't even done yet. Uh-huh.
So now, after poking around these forums, I find out that only a couple drives have even been tested, and none over 1 TB. So much for .....
Do I need a special eSATA device or is any eSATA device compatible with FiOS TV?
You do not need a special eSATA device for FiOS TV.
Does the eSATA device I use require a minimum or maximum storage limit for FiOS TV?
Any size eSATA device works with your Verizon FiOS TV DVR provided the DVR is compatible with eSATA.
Helluva way to run a business.Good chance I'm out a buck and a half.
