How much does Fios TV really cost?

[riffjim4069]

I currently (for the time being) have both DTV and now Fios. It seems to me the HD is also a little softer on Fios than DTV which really surprised me. But on that point I don't know if the reason is related to my having to go to component because the HDMI port on the 6416 died. I'm also a little worried that the installers reused existing cable company coax to bring it on from the poi...they tested the cabling and said it was good though. Any thoughts?

The last time I checked, my friends D* HD looked pretty good. I didn't think it looked at good as my FiOS...but I tweak my HDTVs and, to be honest, the difference was minimal. I would not be unhappy if I were an D* HD customer. Having said that, there are a lot of factors involved...HDMI typically looks better on a digital set (HDMI looks better than component on my Mits Diamond DLP), components typically looks better than on a CRT RPTV and, to honest, I couldn't tell the difference between HDMI and components on my Sony 3LCD RPTV (native resolution something like 768). Although it is hard to do a direct comparison on my Mits DLP (it doesn't have PIP), I didn't notice a difference between my 6416 (HDMI), CableCard, and OTA. Of course, I tweaked all three inputs.

Offhand, I really don't know how well the Motorola box fares against the other cable boxes, but I can tell you that I didn't noticed a significant difference between the 6416 and the Tivo HD box we used for almost a month. If anything, I think the 6416 looked a little better, but the difference would have been insignificant, if anything at all.

 

[riffjim4069]

One thing that I've heard that will be included in the next s/w release is the ability to adjust the SD output on the HD DVR. Many have complained that one of the later s/w versions left the SD channels on the 6416 too soft. I did notice a bit of softening. Apparently this was done intentionally. Verizon adjusted some scan settings in that version of the s/w to intentionally soften the SD picture, because their focus groups told them that they preferred that type of picture on their HD TVs when watching an SD channel.

The next s/w upgrade, apparently, will allow you to modify that setting. You'll even be able to shut it off, to go back to what it was BEFORE the last s/w upgrade. Personally, I'm ok with how the box handles SD channels, but I understand what others are saying. Verizon also said that they made major upgrades to the video processing routines in the s/w, to help eliminate artifacts that people were complaining about. Based on my experience - they most certainly did.

Here's the deal. In the past I tried different SD override (4:3 override) settings on my TV, but with some channels both 480p and 'off' resulted in mosquitoing - white dots popping up randomly over my screen. Turning the contrast settings way down on my TV helped, but never got rid of the problem, so I set my 4:3 override to 480i. When Verizon indicated that they upgraded their video processing, I decided to play around with my SD override again. I found out that Verizon was correct - both 480p and 'off' are now artifact-free. As a result, I left my SD override set to 480p. That seems to be the best setting for my TV, and indeed sharpened the SD picture to a decent extent.

BTW, this ONLY seemed to apply to the 6416 HD DVR. My 2500 (SD STB) and DCT700 (digital adapter) are still producing as sharp of SD as ever. In fact, I think it's actually better than it was when I first got FiOS. Hell, that DCT700 even made an ancient TV look good. When they gave those boxes away when they eliminated their analogs, I took one for that TV, which was collecting dust in a spare bedroom. I hooked it up, and was astounded at how good the PQ looked on that ancient 19" (complete with rabbit ears, and an actual dial - 2 of them - one VHF and one UHF).

Thanks for the info! We rarely watch SD, but my wife watched a Christmas show in SD on Hallmark Channel the other day. I remember thinking to myself how soft the picture looked, but I didn't give it any though until you mentioned a s/w glitch. In retrospect, I remember tuning to an SD channels and thinking how good it looked when we first switched to FiOS TV.

 

[cebbigh]

Called Verizon re the HDMI and they rebooted the box and now it works again. Did some playing wtih the settings which are pretty consistent on my other devices. The Motorola seems to like the level of black set lower. I suspect with tweaking I'll be okay.

 

[pinkey2u]

Once you get past their billing and ordering process, you will be happy with your decision. Yes, we still miss the 622...but the FiOS HD DVR is tolerable and getting better all the time.

Hahaha, that situation with billing was quite an adventure...felt sorry for the person in billing I was talking with as she really had no idea what took place during the install. Anyway we got through straightening out the extra charges added, (I hope) and now I can get my blood pressure back down to where it belongs. You're right about the FiOS HD DVR as it is tolerable but not up to the VIP-622 standard. We had the install on Jan 2 and after three weeks of use I can say that I am impressed with the SD viewing the most and that the HD is just a bit better than what I had with E*. The most improvement to me is the quality of sound being more stable over my Surround Sound system then we had with E*. So far my wife and I are pleased with the FiOS Triple Freedom package and are still getting the hang of using the QIP-6416-2 HD DVR.

 

[cebbigh]

Hahaha, that situation with billing was quite an adventure...felt sorry for the person in billing I was talking with as she really had no idea what took place during the install. Anyway we got through straightening out the extra charges added, (I hope) and now I can get my blood pressure back down to where it belongs. You're right about the FiOS HD DVR as it is tolerable but not up to the VIP-622 standard. We had the install on Jan 2 and after three weeks of use I can say that I am impressed with the SD viewing the most and that the HD is just a bit better than what I had with E*. The most improvement to me is the quality of sound being more stable over my Surround Sound system then we had with E*. So far my wife and I are pleased with the FiOS Triple Freedom package and are still getting the hang of using the QIP-6416-2 HD DVR.

I'm going back and forth if the HD is better or worse than D. I think that because of their MPEG4 D does a better job with less than spectacular HD offerings but that when it comes to really good high quality movie offerings Fios has a significant edge. That's just subjective opinion though. SD there is no question Fios has it all the way.

The Motorola box is challenged and challenging. I've never had Tivo, hope it is at least as good as the D HR20. Should know by Weds if Verizon gets me my cable cards and the used Series 3 I ordered on Ebay works as advertised.

 

[pinkey2u]

I'm going back and forth if the HD is better or worse than D. I think that because of their MPEG4 D does a better job with less than spectacular HD offerings but that when it comes to really good high quality movie offerings Fios has a significant edge. That's just subjective opinion though. SD there is no question Fios has it all the way.

The Motorola box is challenged and challenging. I've never had Tivo, hope it is at least as good as the D HR20. Should know by Weds if Verizon gets me my cable cards and the used Series 3 I ordered on Ebay works as advertised.

Hopefully Wednesday will be your lucky day!!! Let us know how your Tivo setup works out. Might be an option I may be interested in.

 

[cebbigh]

Hopefully Wednesday will be your lucky day!!! Let us know how your Tivo setup works out. Might be an option I may be interested in.

Sorry, I posted more over on:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/verizon-fios/159886-fios-motorola-hd-dvr-2.html

After you get it all set up it works way better than the motorola IMO. I'm liking it more each day. Plus it does netflix HD streaming which I think is a big plus. Of course if you're used to using either D or E boxes there's going to be things that you miss. But the Tivo is not bad for the ways that I like to use a DVR.