LOW Quality DVR
NOVA118
Enthusiast - Level 2

I have had the FIOS TV service for about a month after switching from Cox because of the price.  I guess a person really does get what they pay for.  The DVR I had through Cox was about 4 years old, and while the hard drive had started to get a little noisy it seemed to be a much better DVR than FIOS's new DVR.  I would think that with that many years difference in models, that it would at least be as good, and should be better. 

The main problems are as follows:

1.  Pause function is horrible - What first year programmer was in charge of this?  Only lasts about 15-20 minutes, then jumps to live TV.  Kind of ruins pausing a sporting event.  Also seems to unpause itself at the top of the hour (hit pause at 1:55 and it starts playing again at 2:00).  With Cox's DVR it has an hour buffer and when that's full it starts playing from where I paused it.  FF through the next commercial to clear some of the buffer and I can pause it again.

2.  Modifying the recording time for a program - The only way I've been able to figure out how to add some time on to the end of recording a show is to set up a manual recording.  NASCAR and other sports often run over, so with Cox I normally just added an hour to the end time when setting up the recording from the guide.  Nothing like having the recording end with 3 laps left!  Of course, I wouldn't have been using the recording function, but I've already learned not to use the pause function with sports or it's likely to play spoiler when it switches to live TV.

The multi-room function is nice, but why can't I set up a recording from another TV? 

The recording space is about the same as Cox, so I'm happy with that.

The Cox DVR menus were much simpler and more direct, while still offering ever function I ever needed.  The graphics on the FIOS menus are better, but who cares about that when it makes it more complicated (more pushes of the button) to do things.

The Cox DVR had a quicker response time when pushing the buttons, which made scrolling through menus much quicker.

Cox had a button on their remote to jump forward to Live TV, which did come in handy sometimes instead of waiting for the FF function.  Not a make or break it thing, but why doesn't FIOS have it?

So hopefully FIOS will work on their new DVR to address some of these things.  But the only real make it or break it thing is the pause function, which is horrible.  It really needs immediate attention or I might be looking for another option for my DVR needs.

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Re: LOW Quality DVR
Justin46
Legend

I agree with you on some of your points, but not others. Here are a couple of areas:

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2.  Modifying the recording time for a program - The only way I've been able to figure out how to add some time on to the end of recording a show is to set up a manual recording.  NASCAR and other sports often run over, so with Cox I normally just added an hour to the end time when setting up the recording from the guide.  Nothing like having the recording end with 3 laps left!  Of course, I wouldn't have been using the recording function, but I've already learned not to use the pause function with sports or it's likely to play spoiler when it switches to live TV.

Try recording as a "Series with Options."  Even if it isn't a series it will work with most programs. You do that by pressing the Record button a second time while viewing in the Guide. This will give you the option to extent the start or end times, the end time for up to 120 minutes. Of course if it is really a series and you don't want to record later episodes you will need to remember to delete the series.

Cox had a button on their remote to jump forward to Live TV, which did come in handy sometimes instead of waiting for the FF function.  Not a make or break it thing, but why doesn't FIOS have it?

FiOS does. The big, round "FiOS TV" button on the remote will take you directly to the currently tuned channel, live. If you are watching a recording, when you hit the button your position in the recording will be saved, and when you later hit the DVR button and select what you were watching, it will give you the option to restart where you were or at the start (or delete it if that is what you want).

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I agree about Pause, I keep hoping they will fix that in the next level of the software, but so far it hasn't happened.

I do not have the multi-room feature so I don't have any issue about that. But I think that function is coming (not sure though).

More hard drive space is definitely coming, supposedly both a DVR with a larger drive and an option to connect an external hard drive via eSATA (if your DVR has an eSATA port; unfortunately mine does not, I have had mine for 5 years now, before Verizon offered a DVR with an eSATA port).

My scrolling through the menus and guide is very quick, I do not experience any lag at all. What model DVR do you have?

Hope this helps.

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

Re: LOW Quality DVR
lasagna
Community Leader
Community Leader

I've not experienced the pause issue you describe ... you've given me something to test when I get home tonight!

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Re: LOW Quality DVR
Keyboards
Master - Level 3

@NOVA118 wrote:

2.  Modifying the recording time for a program - The only way I've been able to figure out how to add some time on to the end of recording a show is to set up a manual recording.  NASCAR and other sports often run over, so with Cox I normally just added an hour to the end time when setting up the recording from the guide.  Nothing like having the recording end with 3 laps left!  Of course, I wouldn't have been using the recording function, but I've already learned not to use the pause function with sports or it's likely to play spoiler when it switches to live TV.


Simple way to extend a non-series recording (assuming it hasn't started already):

  • Go to the DVR menu (after scheduling the recording)
  • Got to  "VIEW SCHEDULE"
  • Select the scheduled recording you want to extend
  • In the sub-menu that comes up select "Modify Start & End Time"
  • Make whatever changes you want to the start and end times (in the preset increments allowed).

Agree with the pause issue.  Don't know why it doesn't hold for the duration of the buffer (supposed to be an hour) and if that runs out it should start from the pause point, not go to live Smiley Mad

Re: LOW Quality DVR
NOVA118
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thank you Justin!  I hadn't figured those two things out.  That completely solves #2 in my complaints.

Still hoping they get the pause working correctly sometime.

As far as the lag issue.  I have the HD DVR QIP 7216 1. 

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Re: LOW Quality DVR
NOVA118
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thank you Keyboards for the info.  The Series with Options will probably be easier, but it's good to know I can do it that way as well.  That just takes more button pushes, which the lag makes frustrating.  Sometimes the box responds immediately to a button push and sometimes it takes 1-3 seconds, and occasionally 5 seconds.  The DVR does have a buffer for button pushes, because after a couple of seconds, when I think it didn't pick up the signal, I push the button again.  When the box finally responds, I wind up not where I meant to be on the menu.

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Re: LOW Quality DVR
Justin46
Legend

@NOVA118 wrote:

As far as the lag issue.  I have the HD DVR QIP 7216 1. 


Hmmm....I have the QIP6416-1, which is the older DVR Verizon currently provides. I have had it 5 years, and only very rarely see any lag. I just did a quick test this morning, timing the responses to the Guide, Menu, DVR, On Demand, Channel Up/Down buttons, etc, and every one seemed to be about 1 second or less. The only area where I usually see delays, maybe up to 3 ot 5 seconds, is in the On Demand area, when it apparently has to go to a server somewhere to get the current information.

Is the lag only when using the Multi-room feature, or does it occur directly on the DVR? I have heard of lag issues using Multi-room,  hopefully that lag is being addressed in the new software that is starting to roll out now.

Unfortunately I can't come up with any suggestions, other than maybe consider asking Verizon to replace the DVR. Hopefully somebody else with a 7216 may will have some suggestions. Sorry.....

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

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Re: LOW Quality DVR
Gus_Gutz
Enthusiast - Level 3

I too am frustrated with the poor quality of the DVR. Wait till you want to record something and your box wont respond from the internet. There are all sorts of ways to get it connected back up, but it wont stay and you cannot do it remotely. When you need to record that one of a kind program from work you can bet that is when it wont work. 

If you think the pause problem is an issue, you will really like this. Lets say Survivor is recording and you get home 15 minutes and you decide to start watching it.  When the show is done recording, it will jump to the end. Even if you have 15 minutes left to watch. Of course if it is a show like Survivor and you don't want to see the end.. too bad... 

With VOD, two thirds of the shows do not allow yout fast forward or rewind. If you fall asleep and miss the last 5 minutes of a show, guess what. You have to watch the whole thing again. How Nice. Last night I found out that the volume drops at random times on my DVR's using vod. My daughter told me it happens all the time. 

FiOS says there are new boxes coming out, but you now have one. What are your chances of getting a new one. Of course they have been saying new ones are coming out for years, but so is the end of the world. I would bet the end of the world will be here first.  You are now an old customer and it the new ones that will get the new stuff. 

The YouTube widget is great. It's as if you ware trying to watch a video on your home computer at work using remote desktop. That is if you can configure it to work and the moon and stars are in the right location.

Oh and of course there will be no more channels for a while. All this bandwidth and the DVR's are limited in the amount of channels they can display because of the technology that is used.

If you wait long enough, you will give up trying to make it work and live with the flaws.. and dream of the day when that two year contract comes to an end.  

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Re: LOW Quality DVR
Justin46
Legend

NOVA118,

Just because some people experience issues does not mean everyone, or most, or even many, will experience them. To comment on Gus_Gutz's statements:


@Gus_Gutz wrote:

I too am frustrated with the poor quality of the DVR. Wait till you want to record something and your box wont respond from the internet. There are all sorts of ways to get it connected back up, but it wont stay and you cannot do it remotely. When you need to record that one of a kind program from work you can bet that is when it wont work. 

I have had Remote DVR for probably two years. During that time, yes, there have been a few times, maybe three or four, where I was unable to connect remotely to the DVR. And yes, you cannot fix the lost connection remotely. But I don't think I have had a failure now in probably six months at least, and I either use the feature or check to make sure it is working probably once or twice a week (we have two houses and when I am at the one without FiOS I fairly frequently access the DVR to set recordings or to manage the space). Why do you have problems and I don't? I don't know, could be lots of things, like maybe you turn the DVR and/or router off, or you reboot the DVR and/or router regularly, or ???? But I can say definitively it works well for me.

If you think the pause problem is an issue, you will really like this. Lets say Survivor is recording and you get home 15 minutes and you decide to start watching it.  When the show is done recording, it will jump to the end. Even if you have 15 minutes left to watch. Of course if it is a show like Survivor and you don't want to see the end.. too bad... 

I have never, ever experienced this. I frequently start watching a show after it has started recording, so I can fast forward past the commercials, and my DVR just keeps playing the show until it ends, well after the next program on the same channel starts. Now if you have another program scheduled to record on the same channel immediately after the one you are watching, yes, I believe it will skip to that when that program starts. But as far as I know that is pretty much the only time it will do so.

With VOD, two thirds of the shows do not allow yout fast forward or rewind. If you fall asleep and miss the last 5 minutes of a show, guess what. You have to watch the whole thing again. How Nice. Last night I found out that the volume drops at random times on my DVR's using vod. My daughter told me it happens all the time. 

Two thirds is not my experience. Now I will admit I don't watch that much VOD, but my experience is maybe 10-20% don't allow fast forward or rewind. And that will depend entirely on which programs you watch. Some of the programs are distributed by the supplier with a flag set that prevents the fast forward or rewind, it is my understanding that all of the cable, etc providers must honor that flag. So if your favorite program does not allow fast forward or rewind, it almost certainly won't no matter which provider you choose to use, and is not Verizon's fault.


Volume drops? Never, ever for me. Sounds like you should check the definitions in the STB for audio output format, might help (assuming you are connected using HDMI).

FiOS says there are new boxes coming out, but you now have one. What are your chances of getting a new one. Of course they have been saying new ones are coming out for years, but so is the end of the world. I would bet the end of the world will be here first.  You are now an old customer and it the new ones that will get the new stuff. 

Good question. I am hoping that Verizon figures out a way to give the existing customers that want them access to the newer STBs. But they have not said anything yet that I know of about what if anything they might do. And Verizon certainly does not have a stellar record on delivering new function and/or hardware in a timely manner. So all we can do at this point is wait and see, but in the meantime enjoy what we have now.

The YouTube widget is great. It's as if you ware trying to watch a video on your home computer at work using remote desktop. That is if you can configure it to work and the moon and stars are in the right location.

Could be, I don't use any of the Widgets. I have FiOS TV to watch TV, not YouTube videos. To each his own I guess....

Oh and of course there will be no more channels for a while. All this bandwidth and the DVR's are limited in the amount of channels they can display because of the technology that is used.

I believe this statement is incorrect, I think there are several QAMs available that they could put channels in if they had contract agreements in place. But then maybe you know more than I do....and I am certainly hoping Verizon will add some HD channels soon.

If you wait long enough, you will give up trying to make it work and live with the flaws.. and dream of the day when that two year contract comes to an end.  

Well, I have had FiOS for five years, have no plan to drop it anytime soon.  And I think there are plenty of others who feel the same way.

And an honest question: if you really dislike the service that much, why don't you just pay the termination fee and go to another provider? The fee is not really that much - what? $360 I think, not cheap but being continually frustrated and perhaps giving yourself a heart attack or something is just not worth it. IMHO of course.


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

Re: LOW Quality DVR
Gus_Gutz
Enthusiast - Level 3

NOVA118,

Just because some people experience NO issues does not mean everyone, or most, or even many, will not experience them. If that were the case we would not need a support board. And if there was no support board then there would be place for people to brag how perfect their system is.

Justin

For me, 360 bucks is a lot of money. I do not have two house, I only have one. I signed up for FiOS tv having been a FiOS user for over 5 years. Cheaper does not only reflect the price here. I stand by my issues.

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