FIOS Guide???

[mrtrance]

I will soon get fios tv and was wondering if anyone can give some feedback on what the guide is like. I have directv h10 right now and the guide info gives a lot of detail for each program including stars, director/writer, stars, ratings, content(i.e. AC, N, V, etc..), etc. Is the fios guide as informative as well? My bro has comcast with the motorola stb but they don't give content info on movies and other items? Is this something that has to do with verizon or with whoever does their programming info?

 

[riffjim4069]

You can try this link: http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=55623&highlight=fios+review

 

[jrjazzman]

I haven't been able to find Actors, director/writer, etc. On movies you generally get the year. Unfortunately, for non-movies, you don't get the year, which is really annoying for me. You do get new/repeat in the form of the word "Repeat" or the abscence thereof. I'm not sure how reliable the abscense of the word Repeat is.

 

[mindgrind]

You'll miss the ammount of info you currently have with the Fios guide. You get a rating such as TV-14 or PG13, as well as a "critic rating" up to 4 stars. As previously stated, you will not receive info stating the actors or directors- which is annoying. I do believe you can do a search for actors though.
It's not a bad guide, but not a good as Tivo, DirectTV, or Dish. I think it eats up to much of the screen as well, although you get two choices- a normal and a mini guide. Normal shrinks your currently viewed into a small window in the upper left while mini leaves the currently viewed the same size and you get the bottom portion cut off for the smaller guide.

 

[riffjim4069]

I'm sure the product (software, guides, etc.) will continue to improve over time. I would send your recommendations to: http://www22.verizon.com/ForYourHome/ContactUs/ContactUs_email_mail_Phone.asp

 

[mindgrind]

I agree that their software will improve over time- in fact, I'm pretty darn impressed how far along it is now. I'm surprised how smoothly (most the time) things go when recording two HD shows while watching another- that's got to be a lot of processing going on there- don't get me wrong, sometimes it chokes, but they'll work that bug out I'm sure.

 

[LonghornXP]

If you want new specific features added to your Verizon FIOS TV guide you must contact Microsoft for this as they make the software that runs on the FIOS TV boxes. Its Microsoft TV Foundation Edition. If you would like to request specific features the only way I've been told is to contact Microsoft and request it. As of now you must be able to afford a long distance call but this is the office you will call. Either leave a message or if you speak to an operator for Weber's office just tell him/her that you would like to request that a feature be added into the Foundation TV software for use on your Verizon FIOS TV DVR boxes. Make sure you say your using a FIOS TV DVR from Verizon and also make sure you say what specific feature you want. They will consider all requests but that doesn't mean it will be added into the software. This is who you will need to contact below.

Weber Shandwick
(425) 452-5400
Seattle.

This person is in charge of the public relations department for Microsoft TV. Again any new feature requests for DVRs must be passed onto Microsoft and not Verizon as Microsoft makes and supports the software. You can check out how similiar your FIOS TV guide is to these Foundation TV pictures on Microsoft's website.

http://www.microsoft.com/tv/FoundationEdition.mspx

 

[mindgrind]

Longhorn, is this a carry over from Microsoft's attempt to make a Tivo box we saw several years ago? Can't remember what it was called.

 

[Kaos]

Longhorn, is this a carry over from Microsoft's attempt to make a Tivo box we saw several years ago? Can't remember what it was called.

Ultimate TV? Directv used it as a DVR STB.

 

[LonghornXP]

Longhorn, is this a carry over from Microsoft's attempt to make a Tivo box we saw several years ago? Can't remember what it was called.

This is a seperate project from the Ultimate TV project.

 

[Johny H]

I have been lurking here for the past year or so but I had to register so I could post.

QUOTE]This is a seperate project from the Ultimate TV project.[/QUOTE]

It might be separate but most of the problems that I am seeing are similar to the ones I had with a DishPlayer/Webtv 7100. This was Microsoft's first venture before the Ultimate TV. What has gotten my blood boiling is Verizon is telling us to contact Microsoft about a Verizon product. Dish Network did this with the 7100 also and it turned into a game of pingpong. Microsoft blamed Dish, Dish blamed Microsoft! Verizon has to put Microsoft on a short leash, and cut that leash if things are not resolved quickly.

 

[mindgrind]

UltimateTV... yeah, that was it. Maybe there was good reason it went by the wayside; never used it though, so couldn't say.

I don't believe the problem with Fios' DVR is as annoying as Dish's DVR problem last year when you would start playing after ff and the sound was out of sync! Sheesh, THAT was annoying!

Dish fixed theirs, and let's HOPE that Microsoft fixes bugs too- any confidence out there?

 

[Johny H]

Yes Dish fixed the problem. Dish and Microsoft had two models a 7100 & 7200 they replaced 8 receivers in 2 years on me before they came out with a 501 and completely got rid of Microsoft. I have had a 6416 for about 4 weeks and am already on number 3!