FiOS TV Review

[Ioman]

I finally had Verizon FiOS TV installed today. Here is my mini-review so far. I will add to it as I get more experience with the system.

Equipment Purchased:

1) Home Media DVR (Multi-room DVR)
2) Two Standard Definition Set Top Boxes (so I can access recorded equipment on the Home Media DVR)

For an extra $10/mo you can ditch one of the standard set top boxes and add an HD DVR, but it will not be able to access recorded programming on the other boxes, so it acts independantly (which is fine since it records in HD anyways), so it will not be able to stream music, videos or anything you transfer from your PC to the home media DVR.

Guide:

I like the new guide, although it feels a bit cluttered. It loads fast, and lets you browse between channels very quickly. It gives you a few different GUI options, so you can change the way it looks and displays things. Hitting the skip forward button will load the next days programming instantly which is nice. Comcast has the worst guide in my opinion; it is slow to browse and is loaded with advertisements. Dish Network has a pretty decent guide in my opinion too; it looks good, is easy to navigate and is relatively fast although not as fast as Verizons. I do not have experience with DirecTV unfortunately, so cannot compare things there.


Extras:

Some extras included with the Home Media DVR (and FiOS Network) includes on-screen widgets that will show you the local weather and traffic reports.


Media from your PC:

I have not transferred media like music or videos from my PC to play on my TV yet, will update this section later.

Recording:

You can record content on your main Media DVR and play it back on the two standard set top boxes. You cannot record content to the DVR using the set top boxes however, it only works the one way which is VERY silly I think. The main reason for a multi-room DVR is to have the same functionality as the main box, and FiOS TV does not. You cannot record live TV on the standard boxes either. So for my wife (who wants to record Dora the Explorer for our daughter), she will need to figure out how to access the main DVR in my media room, set up the box to record, then play the shows back on the downstairs TV. Dish Network has a lot better multi-room DVR. The two standard boxes will also not play back recorded HD content. Dish for example will let you record a show in HD and then play it back on another TV, it just downconverts the picture to non-HD so the TV can display it or something. This is a big boo boo on Verizons part.


Picture Quality:

The picture quality on the main DVR looks good in HD, not as good IMO as HD content recorded through Dish Networks HD DVR. I am using a Hitachi 42" plasma and displaying the picture in 1080i using an HDMI cable.

The two set top boxes have coax, composite (RCA), and S-video output on the video side and optical/coax digital audio output on the audio side. The picture quality of the local channels look subpar in my area, lots of ghosting etc going on. The rest of the channels look fine.

I think its the video feed and not the box though, because the guide, menu GUI etc look sharp, its just the video feed that is ghosting with artifacts. Hopefully they can fix this.

I will update this review as I play with the system more. Hopefully you will find this helpful.

[neuroking]

Keep the reviews coming. My area is getting FIOS this half of the year and I'm considering switching. I saw that this month's Consumer Reports has a review of various providers, like Veriszon FIOS, Comcast, etc. They rated Verizon FIOS the best in every category and service, basically.

[Ioman]

Just updated the picture quality section, it seems to only be the local channels that are having issues.

I spoke with a technician today and he said that the reason why the local channels look bad is because they are using an analog signal in the Portland area. That will be changing early February when they tap into Comcasts direct feed (license deal), then the local channels will be 100% digital.

Of course if you have the HD package, the local channels are all in HD so they look great!