Thread: Another FiOS TV Review

Originally Posted by Stingray1

Does anyone know if Verizon FIOS service can use any box with a QAM tuner, i e can a Sony DHG HDD500/250 be used with Fios?

Good question...this should work for the basic channels and I don't see why they shouldn't support Cablecard. Also wondering if they will be passing TVGOS?

i will see what channels my tv will scan tomorrow. i know it has the first 50 or so channels, but will see if it picks anything else up.

Originally Posted by Scott Greczkowski

I would not say that...

Here is one I had a chance to play with...

I see Yellow, Red and White -no YPbPr, no optical, no HDMI - thus no HD outputs.

If the computer is supposed to handled this, why does it have the Yellow, Red and White connectors?

And where is the usb connector?

Originally Posted by korsjs

i will see what channels my tv will scan tomorrow. i know it has the first 50 or so channels, but will see if it picks anything else up.

i scanned with my qam tuner and it picked up all analog channels as expected. they did not look good.

it pulled in 70 digitial channels. they did not look as good as it does with the verizon box. i saw one hd channel which was tnthd, but it did not have any sound. some of the regular digital channels did not have sound either.

about 20 - 25 of the digital channels were the music only channels. they displayed the cover art and so forth.

i added another thought about the hd pvr to the review.

EDIT ON 3/19/06, 7:15 - One big positive I noticed with the Verizon HD DVR is that you can start to watch a recording while the show is still live and it does not stop when the show ends. For example, my old Scientific Atlantic 8300 would stop when the show was over. You would have to restart what you were watching and fast forward to the point where you previously had got cut off. This is a big plus for me because I start watching alot of shows before they are over.

i added some sd screen shots.

EDIT ON 3/19/06, 8:22 - I added some SD pictures. I don't know if you will be able to tell the quality of the pictures, but it does look great. The last pictures kind of show the detail the FiOS picture gives. You can see the strands of hair on the top and side of her head. (jpg 41).

Originally Posted by Scott Greczkowski

I would not say that...

Here is one I had a chance to play with...

According to a PCMagazine Article out today:


http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1936141,00.asp

"It's a leap forward, because the PC can replace those brain-dead digital set-top boxes to provide DVR functionality (such as recording HBO and ESPN HD)—but it'll work only on "certified" PCs, authorized by the cable industry's tech cops at CableLabs. You'll be able to buy a CableCard-equipped Dell, but not build your own. And what happens if you decide to upgrade that Dell? Will that "decertify" your PC? I smell a big mess, and again the DIY guy loses"

Again, it appears that no one is going to be adding a USB PC-Card to their system - only buying an all in one system and not make any modifications to it.

Originally Posted by korsjs

One big positive I noticed with the Verizon HD DVR is that you can start to watch a recording while the show is still live and it does not stop when the show ends. For example, my old Scientific Atlantic 8300 would stop when the show was over. You would have to restart what you were watching and fast forward to the point where you previously had got cut off. This is a big plus for me because I start watching alot of shows before they are over.

That is huge. TiVo has always worked this way. Whoever designed the the SA-8300HD should look at either of these examples as the proper way to design a DVR.

I'm a newbie and enjoyed reading your report on FIOS. I'm awaiting installation in a couple of weeks. Does your HD box have component outputs?? I have an older tv that doesn't have the newer digital connections. It's a Mits. 55" about 3-4yrs old.
Thanks.