Picture in Picture and limitation of the DVR
wileecoyote
Newbie

Over the past several years I have been attempting to get an answer from Verizon as to why it does not support PIP.  I of course was told at the time I went with FIOS that the system did support PIP.  Anyone have any idea why an old technology such as PIP is not supported by Verizon and yet most new TV's come with the capability?

Also any idea why Verizon has not equaled AT&Ts DVR capability to record four programs rather than just two?

Thanks

Wileecoyote

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Re: Picture in Picture and limitation of the DVR
Hubrisnxs
Legend

unofficial answer of course, FiOS can "Technically" deliver four dvr recordings like the ATT UVerse because it has more bandwidth to the home than uverse does, but as I understand it, did not want the functionality of that, as it severely hampers viewing experience for homes with more than 4 tv's.  Basically when you do 4 programs with uverse the rest of your TV channels are inaccessible, a 5th or 6th TV will not be able to watch anything other than what is being dvr'd, and even without a 5th or 6th tv, you would only be able to toggle between those four programs.   my mother in law has it and doesn't use it terribly often because they were dissapointed with that fact.   she has a large house though, while my wifes cousin has u-verse is just her and her daughter, and for her, it's a godsend.   they just have the two tv's.  so I Think it depends on your application whether the 4 dvr's is going to be super great or not. 

the PIP, I Think is something going away as a feature, and I think it's in part because of digital TV.

with old analog systems, you could plug into a standard coax with out anything special and get at least basic cable, that makes it super easy to run a splitter and get the PIP with at least those basic channels.   with digital - you have to have something special on the TV (a qam tuner - and a lot of new tv's have one so that you can get basic SD and HD) or a cable box.

So you CAN acheive PIP, but you have to have either an OTA antenna for your SD And HD Locals, or a QAM tuner built into your TV (look at your owners manual for one) or a 2nd cable box to do PIP.

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Re: Picture in Picture and limitation of the DVR
Hubrisnxs
Legend

unofficial answer of course, FiOS can "Technically" deliver four dvr recordings like the ATT UVerse because it has more bandwidth to the home than uverse does, but as I understand it, did not want the functionality of that, as it severely hampers viewing experience for homes with more than 4 tv's.  Basically when you do 4 programs with uverse the rest of your TV channels are inaccessible, a 5th or 6th TV will not be able to watch anything other than what is being dvr'd, and even without a 5th or 6th tv, you would only be able to toggle between those four programs.   my mother in law has it and doesn't use it terribly often because they were dissapointed with that fact.   she has a large house though, while my wifes cousin has u-verse is just her and her daughter, and for her, it's a godsend.   they just have the two tv's.  so I Think it depends on your application whether the 4 dvr's is going to be super great or not. 

the PIP, I Think is something going away as a feature, and I think it's in part because of digital TV.

with old analog systems, you could plug into a standard coax with out anything special and get at least basic cable, that makes it super easy to run a splitter and get the PIP with at least those basic channels.   with digital - you have to have something special on the TV (a qam tuner - and a lot of new tv's have one so that you can get basic SD and HD) or a cable box.

So you CAN acheive PIP, but you have to have either an OTA antenna for your SD And HD Locals, or a QAM tuner built into your TV (look at your owners manual for one) or a 2nd cable box to do PIP.

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Re: Picture in Picture and limitation of the DVR
10nisman94
Contributor - Level 1

Easy answer. Motorola boxes don't support it, but Cisco/Scientific Atlanta boxes do.

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Re: Picture in Picture and limitation of the DVR
spacedebris
Master - Level 2

As for PIP. Its not that Verizon doesnt support it or offer it. Its that the Motorola boxes used by Verizon physically cannot do PIP. Supposedly the next STB's that Verizon will be upgrading to (Cisco) will support PIP. 

ATT is the only company offering 4 tuners in a box. That should tell you something right there. Not even the major rivals (Time Warner, Verizon, Comcast, not even the top of the line TIVO's) are doing it because it is too much of a drain on performance. From what I understand, even ATT has issues with the 4 turner setup. Its just to glitchy of a system and most providers are not willing to sacrifice performance to support it.

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