Just added FIOS TV and not too happy
Coozman1
Newbie

Have had FIOS Internet for 2+ years and finally decided to bite the bullet and try out the TV side - opting not to cancel my Dish Network service until I was sold on my new TV choice.

So after 4 days here is my review:

Likes

 

Audio and video quality is fantastic. Definately an improvement over my Dish

Subscribed to the Prime package with the free Movie package and my bill went up only $20. Gotta love that!

Absolutely love On Demand. After having satellite for almost 4 years - forgot how nice of a feature this is.

Media manager is very cool. Was able to remove my "Media PC" which I had hooked up strictly to be able to listen to my 18,000+ song music collection and view my thousands of digital photos

Dislikes

When changing channels -there seems to be a slight delay in between. Not nearly as bad as DirecTV - but definatekly not as smooth as my Dish service

Experienced many dropouts,brief freezes and stuttering when watching both regular TV as well as an On Demand movie.

Remote distance. My couch has a clear line of site to the box - and is only 12 feet away. Not sure if I may have a bad remote ( I already changed the  batteries) or possibly a bad box. All I know is that unless I was aiming the remote directly at the box - I was finding myself having to re-enter my selections - volume, menu, channel etc... multiple times before the action took place.

Can't stand not being able to pause Live TV anywhere in the house with the exception of the room where the DVD is located. Dish's 622 DVD has had this feature forever - and this feature alone will probably be the primary reason as to why I will be keeping my Dish subscription. Was told by a Verizon rep that the only way to "fix" this would be to upgarde by STB to DVR's

Would love to hear everyon'e feedback - especially the few points regarding the remote and dropouts.

Thanks

0 Likes
Re: Just added FIOS TV and not too happy
Justin46
Legend

Welcome to FiOS TV and the Forums. I hope you wind up being a happy customer.

Re your dislikes:

1) Delay changing channels. Are you using an HDMI connection? If so, is the delay when switching from an HD channel to an SD channel or vice versa? If so, the reason is the need for the STB to re-sychronize the connection between the STB and the TV. You can eliminate this delay by:

Menu ==> Settings ==> Video Settings ==> SD Override ==> Off

The SD picture may be slightly worse but I have found I much prefer the channel change to be immediate. Plus I don't watch much SD any more Smiley Happy

2) Dropouts, freezing, and stuttering: I think this usually indicates a signal strength issue. You might want to recheck all of the connections from the ONT to the splitter to the STB. You apparently have more than one STB, does it occur on each?If so that would indicate to me a problem between the ONT and the splitter, or a problem from the central office to your house.

In the Menu there is a section called Customer Support; there are several diagnostic tools you can run there that might help identify the problem source. There is also a "hidden" menu in the STB where you can get detailed signal information on any channel, but lets see if the above helps before we delve into that.

And you aren't trying to share any of the coax between FiOS and Dish by any chance are you? That would be a no-no.

3) Remote distance. For my DVR I somewhat experience the same thing. For my SD boxes, no, much more forgiving. I have no idea why, all boxes are made by Motorola, but there clearly is a difference.

Many people have also reported problems with their HD boxes when using a flat screen TV, mostly plasma but sometimes LCD, when they have it set to "bright" or some similar setting. Some flat screens apparently emit IR signals that interfere with the IR signal from the remote to the STB. You could perhaps check your TV settings to see if you can find one that has an effect, or you could try moving the STB away from the TV temporarily and see if the problem disappears. If so then it is almost certainly TV IR interference.

4) Can't pause live TV from anywhere in house (I am assuming you have the Multi-room feature on the DVR). True, can't do it with FiOS. Yes, if you get DVRs for each location, then you can pause at that location, but then you can't watch a recording on one TV from a DVR attached to another TV. That function is supposedly coming, but is not available now.

Hope this helps a little.

__________________________________
Justin
Verizon FiOS TV, Internet, and phone
QIP6416-P1, IMG 1.7.1, Build 09.97
Keller, TX 76248

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Re: Just added FIOS TV and not too happy
GaryDoug
Specialist - Level 1

I experience a few dropouts on recorded programs only, not on live tv or O/D. They don't repeat if I rewind and play again, so it's a playback issue and I'm switching to Component video instead of HDMI just in case my set has a problem with sync. No stutters ever and very rare freezes of less than a second.

Remote performance for me is excellent. I can point it anywhere in the room and it still works, and with dark paneling too. I even tried pointing it at myself and it still works fine (white t-shirt). Examine the plastic window on the front of your remote for smudges or major scratches. The IR sensor on the box is in the left corner of the display window, so make sure you aren't pointing from the far left side of the unit or the bezel will block the signal.

As for the pause issue, I suppose you could use an IR repeater set (or two).

0 Likes