Multi-room DVR on FIOS?

[philhu]

Hi

I saw a commercial for a multiroom DVR, showing 6 TV's in various rooms, allowing the user to pick up where they left off at any TV/DVR

How does this work? Are they using the VOOM design that was never implemented before they died where each output had a 'channel' and they all talked over the coax to determine where to put new programs and how to get programs playing in any room?

Curious!

 

[JPL]

I have the multi-room DVR. Everything with fios is connected to your computer router via coax. Part of their feeds (video on demand, guide data, and widgets) all come in via the IP feed, e.g. Also the router serves the other set top boxes.

I have the MR DVR in my living room and an SD STB in my family room. When I want to watch something on the family room TV off the DVR, I can access the programming from that STB. The programming follows: DVR -> router -> SD STB. All commands from my remote move the opposite direction (SD STB -> router -> DVR).

Overall it's a nice setup and works really well. But there are some limitiations (currently - Verizon is working to fix some of these):

1) Even though you can hook up 6 other STBs, you can only access the DVR from 3 of those at one time.

2) The other STBs HAVE to be the SD STB. You can't feed MR DVR to DVR, e.g., or even MR to HD STB. The other boxes have to be the SD STB, even if you have the HD version of the MR DVR. This is one that Verizon is working on fixing.

3) Along with #2, you can only feed SD recordings to your other STBs. Again, this is something that Verizon is working on.

4) You can only watch recorded material from those other STBs. While you can do things like pause, rwd, ffwd from those other STBs, you can't manage recordings from them. I can't set up a recording on my family room STB, e.g., nor can I delete one from there when I'm done watching it.

5) There is a bit of a latency on the other STBs - button pushes take a few seconds to register - for obvious reasons - the signals have to go: STB -> router -> DVR, and the response has to come back the same way.

There's also another cool feature with the MR DVR. It gives you access to their Media Manager s/w. That allows you to feed digital pictures and music (and soon, video) from your PCs to your DVR. Unfortunately you can only access the material from your MR DVR - not from the other STBs hooked up.

 

[dvrman]

How does the move program work. Can you tell the main box to move the show to another room and then go continue watching in the other room ?
Can you only access the programs thru the playlist and if so can you restart from the last frame you were watching or need to start from the beginning ?

 

[JPL]

How does the move program work. Can you tell the main box to move the show to another room and then go continue watching in the other room ?
Can you only access the programs thru the playlist and if so can you restart from the last frame you were watching or need to start from the beginning ?

You don't move the program from the DVR. You access the programs through the playlist. I have the MR DVR in my living room, and a standard STB in my family room. If I want to watch a recording off the DVR via the standard STB in my family room, I just hit the DVR button on my remote. The playlist shows up on the TV in my family room. The only difference is this - if I bring up the DVR menu off the DVR itself I get all the normal DVR type functions (schedule a recording, set up a series, etc.). When I access the DVR menu from the standard STB, I only get one option - playing something that's already recorded. But aside from that, there's no difference. If I'm on the TV with my DVR, I access the recordings via the DVR button - ditto if I'm on the TV in my family room (with the standard STB).

Next, the playback continues where you left off. Say I start watching something directly off the DVR, in my living room. Halfway through the show I hit 'stop'. I then go down to the TV in my family room. I bring up the recording and hit 'resume play', and it picks up from where I left off.

Finally, you can access more than one recording at the same time. My wife can watch a recording on the TV in the living room while I watch another recording off the TV in the family room. Very cool. You can access up to 3 recordings at the same time - one off the TV with the DVR, and one each on 2 other TVs.

 

[AJF]

4) You can only watch recorded material from those other STBs. While you can do things like pause, rwd, ffwd from those other STBs, you can't manage recordings from them. I can't set up a recording on my family room STB, e.g., nor can I delete one from there when I'm done watching it.

5) There is a bit of a latency on the other STBs - button pushes take a few seconds to register - for obvious reasons - the signals have to go: STB -> router -> DVR, and the response has to come back the same way.

I was so excited to hear that they are finally bringing Fios to my house but those 2 points are deal killers for me, especially #4. What good is it if you can't manage it all from the remote TV's (like Dish's DVR's) . And can you only watch recorded shows, not live TV ? And there is nothing more annoying than a remote that takes a while to respond.