Series 3 Verizon FIOS HD compat?

[webin]

...and I had a tech there Sunday morning of Memorial Day weekend. (He got them working.)

Wow. That's a tech that's dedicated to his work.

[FiosUser]

I'm a recent FiOS TV customer (just a few months now) and I haven't had a single problem with pixelation. My installer included an attenuator on the cable that goes into the TiVo.

I had an initial problem with getting the S-cards activated. The install was Friday of Memorial Day Weekend. They still weren't working right Sunday morning, and I had a tech there Sunday morning of Memorial Day weekend. (He got them working.)

What size attenuator do you have?

[dalesd]

I think it's 9dB.

[webin]

I'm fairly happy with 6dB on my line. Others around here use as much as 20dB. Your results can definitely vary. The best bet (in my opinion) would be to buy a pack of them so you can mix and match as needed. I got mine from SmartHome.com http://www.smarthome.com/7800.html

[riffjim4069]

I ordered a $179 refurished TiVO HD from yesterday. I decided that I could no longer live with the FiOS HD DVR...especially since Verizon cannot tell me when, or if, eSATA will ever be enabled, and I have a WD My DVR that is currently not being used. Earlier that day, I called Verizon's Fiber Solutions Center and they told me a couple things: the M-Card will only be available in the new receivers (FCC's requirement for separable security), and I would have to schedule an appointment for installation since they don't permit self-install. Ugh!...continue to get a different story each time I call. Anyway, I elected to order a free digital set-top-box (due to the upcoming analog to all digital conversion), and take care of the Cablecard issue another day.

This morning I decided to order Cablecards and was told that a Verizon Tech could install the cards at $74.99, or they could mail the cards, install it myself, and save the installation fee, plus taxes, fees, etc. Needless to say, I opted to install it install it myself and save $80 for ten minutes of work. As it turns out, I cannot order Cablecards until my previous order (free digital STB) is completed (received, activated, plus one business day for processing). I love the FiOS broadband and TV, but their billing and ordering systems is terrible.

Oh well, at least their CSRs are always friendly and speak english!Ugh! Why is getting TiVo so difficult!

Factory "reNEWed" TiVo HD arrived last week. When I opened the box, I noticed the unit had multiple scratches on the faceplate and a few minor dents and dings. None of my electronic components are scratched and/or dinged, and I've had a 26-year old Yamaha receiver travel with me to the far-east and back several times. Scratches, dings, and what appeared to be greasy finger print smudges are what I consider to be factory renewed condition.:mad:

Anyway, TiVo reluctantly agreed to pay for return shipping...can't believe they told me I had to pay return shipping after they mailed such a horrid POS. Since this was not an "Exchange", I was told to send back all the unopened items (remote, manual, cables, etc.) - I was told this one a "Return" and reissue. Additionally, I checked off the items on TiVo's return checklist and I enclosed a letter stating referencing my conversation with the TiVo representative.

On Monday, the replacement TiVo HD arrives. This time, the unit is appears to be in factory renewed condition so I can't wait to get it working. Well, I noticed there was no bag of goodies (remote, cables, etc.) in the box so, after screaming, I called TiVo. The TiVo representative was unable to help me since he could only ship a remote and power cable, so I asked to speak to a supervisor. The folks at TiVo are very friendly, but it took almost 40 minutes before he could figure out how to order the missing items. Ugh!

Now on to Verizon...as you will recall, a Verizon tech gave me the option of self-install or rolling a truck and paying Verizon $74.99 to install the Cablecards. Needless to say, I selected the self-install method at $0.00 and was told the cards would be mailed to our home address. Today I realized that almost 2-weeks have passed so I viewed our online account and notice the order lists a service time scheduled for tomorrow between 8am - 5pm. This is very surprising since I didn't schedule a service appointment, my Cablecards were supposed to be mailed, I received no calls or email to confirm the appointment I did not make, and there was no way in heck I am going to pay $74.99 for someone to slide in a Cablecard and pair the device.

Well, I called tech support and explained my situation. I was then passed over to the orders section where a very nice lady explained the previous representative "screwed-up" since Verizon doesn't allow a customer to install Cablecards - they must be installed by a service tech. Ugh! As it turns out the $74.99 installation charge is only a $19.99 additional outlet charge, but someone needs to be home tomorrow from 8:00am - 5:00pm...and I still haven't received my bad of goodies from TiVo. I guess I could borrow the power cord from my Pannasonic DVD burner and program my MX-700 Univeral Remote, but I really don't want someone touching my stuff (to include my wife) while I am away at work.

Anyway, so much for my simple Cablecard self-install.:o And here I thought I was special.:rolleyes:

[richsadams]

<snip> Anyway, so much for my simple Cablecard self-install.:o And here I thought I was special.:rolleyes::eek: Soooo, things can only get better?! ;)

[riffjim4069]

:eek: Soooo, things can only get better?! ;)Well, yesterday evening I received a call from Peter at the local "Call ahead group" regarding tomorrows installation. When I explained what had happened, he apologized for the confusion and told me he would personally mail the Cablecards to our home address. Great!

Anyway, this morning my wife gets a call from Mary at the local dispatch telling her that Peter made a mistake and the cards would have to be installed by a Verizon Tech. My wife wasn't too happy since since she will be having a little dental work this afternoon, but Mary agreed to waive installation charges and work around my wife's schedule.

Verizon's billing and ordering system is horrible, and the left-hand often doesn't know what the right-hand is doing...but they sure are friendly and willing to go the extra mile in most cases.:)

[richsadams]

Well, yesterday evening I received a call from Peter at the local "Call ahead group" regarding tomorrows installation. When I explained what had happened, he apologized for the confusion and told me he would personally mail the Cablecards to our home address. Great!

Anyway, this morning my wife gets a call from Mary at the local dispatch telling her that Peter made a mistake and the cards would have to be installed by a Verizon Tech. My wife wasn't too happy since since she will be having a little dental work this afternoon, but Mary agreed to waive installation charges and work around my wife's schedule.

Verizon's billing and ordering system is horrible, and the left-hand often doesn't know what the right-hand is doing...but they sure are friendly and willing to go the extra mile in most cases.:)Ouch. What a nightmare!

We have Verizon cellular and agree...their billing and ordering system is a disaster. They seem to have a horrible time getting things right in the first place and then...and THEN if you have to change anything, say your prayers. We've been trying to get them to change our billing address for over six months now! Just the address!! Unbelievable.

I really want to switch from Comcast to Verzon FIOS, but the whole billing thing (not to mention attenuation, but I think I can deal with that) is making me think twice...or three or four times. Sigh. :rolleyes:

[riffjim4069]

I really want to switch from Comcast to Verzon FIOS, but the whole billing thing (not to mention attenuation, but I think I can deal with that) is making me think twice...or three or four times. Sigh. :rolleyes:We had a Comcast (Internet only) for 7+ years because they were the only broadband player in our area. My my opinion:

FiOS broadband is superior (faster, cheaper, and more reliable) to Comcast; FiOS TV has the best picture quality and is a better value than Comcast (hardware/software are about the same); FiOS Phone...well, to be honest we were happy with our sub-$10 VOIP service for many years and will likely cancel phone service after our 1-year obligation; FiOS Customer Service is head-and-shoulders superior to Comcast (rarely did we talk to someone who could speak understandable English...and these Comcast reps were in Louisianna, Mississippi and Alabama)

If you can get passed the ordering and billing systems (finally got my first accurate bill after 4-months of service), then FiOS is a very solid and cost effective product. However, if you're happy with Comcast in your area, then by all means stay the course.

[richsadams]

All good points, thanks. :up: The techy side of FIOS is REALLY appealing to me...but not so much the wife. She was happy with her 19" CRT color TV when we met and still doesn't quite get all of the Hi Def, DD5.1, thunder woofer thing, but tolerates it. :) She does however handle the bills and nothing ticks her off more...well, almost nothing...than when a company can't get their billing system straight. She handed Verizon off to me a while back and I've just now gotten them sorted, I think. Soooo...if Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. :eek:

But I'll deal with the "war department" for a bigger pipe and better PQ any day, so FIOS will happen at some point. :D

[winter]

Well, yesterday evening I received a call from Peter at the local "Call ahead group" regarding tomorrows installation. When I explained what had happened, he apologized for the confusion and told me he would personally mail the Cablecards to our home address. Great!

Anyway, this morning my wife gets a call from Mary at the local dispatch telling her that Peter made a mistake and the cards would have to be installed by a Verizon Tech.I'm still amazed that after all this time the VZ reps keep telling people that they can mail out the cablecards when they can't.

I chuckle every time someone posts that VZ said that the cards will be mailed out because I know full well that they will later post that VZ made a mistake and the cards can't be self-installed.

[Flyinace2000]

i really wish they would let us do self installs. I mean it is pretty brainless. Insert cards and give Verizon some numbers. Clickity Clickity Done.

[webin]

I think the reason they keep saying that is if you are getting a new set-top box, they can mail it, and they aren't trained well enough on cable cards to realize that they are a whole other ball of wax.

[MidgetBorderCollie]

I just had a very pleasant experience with Verizon FIOS in the DC area. The tech originally called me with about 30 minutes to go in my 8a. to 11a window, but I had to leave right at 11, and he told me that wouldn't be enough time, but he agreed to come back at 2, when I would be back at the house. He called again a 1:55 and was at the house at 2. He left about 15 minutes ago. He seemed to spend most of his time waiting for TIVO to do its thing. He was very knowledgeable about the process and seemed to have experience with the TIVO HD. He did have to call the home office once and get one of the cards refreshed (I am a little bummed they didn't have an M card - but I'll keep trying to get one), but all is working well. I am still repeating guided setup to get my new channels into the guide, but we're almost done with that too.

I read this thread originally and started to worry that I had made a mistake in buying the TIVOHD, but then I thought to myself, it's probably just that people that have uneventful installs don't bother to post. So if you are thinking about getting an TIVO HD to go with your Verizon FIOS service in Northern Virgina, I say - GO FOR IT!

[Ziggy86]

Thanks for the positive feed back :)

[webin]

Welcome to the club MBC :) I got my TivoHD and Fios last March, and had a similarly nice install experience. One thing to note is that Verizon still doesn't offer M-Cards. You can keep trying to get one, but don't expect results for a while.

[Gregor]

I'm getting FIOS on 8/23. Ordered some attenuators from smarthome, putting an outletn in where their box will be, is there anything else I should do?

[y8s]

Northern Virginia FiOS still doesn't have Multi-stream cablecards yet.

I had the sales woman transfer me to the tech guy who said they have been trained on their use and installation but that they wouldn't be available until "later this year" with "no definite timeline".

But he had experience with them to some degree so that's promising. He seemed to indicate that the switchover was part of the all-digital TV changes next year--to eliminate differences between providers.

So the Verizon truck (79.99) is coming tomorrow morning with two s-cards. The saleswoman was already aware that a truck had to roll even though there was a mail-out option. Smart of her to check ahead.

Matt

[V7Goose]

I have FIOS and a Tivo S3. The problem you will have is pixelation. You have to keep updating your connections every few months or so with attenuation, etc.

I got my pixelation fixed, but after a handful of months the pixelation returned. It has been a few weeks since it returned and I'm still going through combinations of different amounts of attenuation (a few weeks because it is hard to find time in between recordings to reboot the Tivo--since the Tivo reboot takes so dang long).
FiOS service does NOT have to pixelate! And it does NOT need attenuation. If you make them set it up correctly and fix their problems, it works perfectly with the best quality picture. See post #10 in this thread for more detailed info on how to find and prove their problems:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6580907#post6580907

Good luck,
Goose

[webin]

Just followed your link and ready your entire post over there (I had skipped it this morning because I didn't feel like reading long posts). I find your observations to be fairly interesting, and to the best of my knowledge, new and unique. I can't remember anyone else mentioning finding the uncorrected errors in the Verizon box. My interpretation would be that the issue isn't in signal strength, but in how Tivo handles signal errors.

Would it be possible to transfer your post, or at least the main points of it, to the Pixellation troubleshooting thread: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=361244&page=28. I don't want your information to get lost in some other thread. In particular, I'd be interested in any insight you might have about what they found as the source of the issue (if you know), and how they fixed it.

[V7Goose]

I don't mind copying that info into the pixelation thread - I just don't want to look like a goofy cross-poster by doing that too much!:rolleyes:

From my experience, it was very clear that my TiVo S3 did not handle signal errors near as well as the Motorola STB. While this problem was going on, the affected channels would have various degrees of pixelation and freezing ever few minutes - programs completely ruined. But the STB would only show an occasional line, maybe once an hour. The key was to pay attention to both CORRECTED and the UNCORRECTED errors. Both S3 and STB showed HUGE numbers of corrected errors - something like 30,000 every 5 seconds. The S3 reported uncorrected errors down around 1,000, where the STB uncorrected number was more like 5 - that is why I so rarely saw the problems on their hardware. But they were still there. All of the channels on the unaffected frequencies consistently showed 0 Corrected and uncorrected errors. Strangely enough, none of the techs who worked on this problem even knew about the error count screen in their own diagnostics. Every time I had to teach it to one of them, they were surprised.

BTW - as part of this troubleshooting, not only did they change the ONT 3 times (seems they could not believe it wasn't the problem, even though they could see signal errors on the line going into it!), but they ran a new coax straight from the ONT to the TiVo to prove that nothing in the house, such as bad coax or cheap splitters, was causing the problem. I think that running a new coax directly to one of the boxes is critical when "proving" to them that the error counts are in their signal!

They eventually found bad equipment in the central office - had to wait for a maintenance window at 0darkthirty Sunday morning to bring system down and switch it out. Then everything cherry.

[Gregor]

I don't mind copying that info into the pixelation thread - I just don't want to look like a goofy cross-poster by doing that too much!:rolleyes:

From my experience, it was very clear that my TiVo S3 did not handle signal errors near as well as the Motorola STB. While this problem was going on, the affected channels would have various degrees of pixelation and freezing ever few minutes - programs completely ruined. But the STB would only show an occasional line, maybe once an hour. The key was the UNCORRECTED errors. Both S3 and STB showed HUGE numbers - something like 30,000 every 5 seconds. The S3 reported uncorrected errors down around 1,000, where the STB uncorrected number was more like 5 - that is why I so rarely saw the problems on their hardware. But they were still there. All of the channels on the unaffected frequencies consistently showed 0 uncorrected errors. Strangely enough, none of the techs who worked on this problem even knew about the error count screen in their own diagnostics. Every time I had to teach it to one of them, they were surprised.

They eventually found bad equipment in the central office - had to wait for a maintenance window at 0darkthirty Sunday morning to bring system down and switch it out. Then everything cherry.

how do you get into those error screens on the STB?

[rocko]

how do you get into those error screens on the STB?

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/15925

[y8s]

Follow-up on my cablecard install:

It took under 20 minutes for two cards to be installed in my TiVo HD. Both show up as SUBSCRIBED. that cost roughly 240/hr :)

[JacksTiVo]

As promised here is a summary of how my install went yesterday...
...Now the unhappy experience, I called Cablevision to cancel my services. It was a very unpleasant experience since the CS representative kept asking why I was leaving, bad mouth FiOS, offering free basic TV service for one month and not listening to my only reason for leaving. That is, they are switching to SDV and are thus discriminating against CableCard and TiVo users.

I repeated to him the conversation I had with a representative of Cablevision who had called me after I complained about the SDV move. She stated that SDV is a business decision Cablevision has decided to implement and I had then told her that I would then make my own "business" decision to consider FiOS.Just to give an update on my experience with FiOS for the last three plus months and the followup calls from Cablevision.

The FiOS service continues to be great. The Internet speeds exceed what I pay for (20/5) and I have never had to restart the modem/router as I had many times with Cablevision. When I initially had some technical problems their Tech support personnel were very friendly and helpful. They are also local, in fact they work out of the Freehold, NJ tech support center, the town next to mine. When my initial upload speed was only 4.5 they kept working on it until it was correct with no excuses that it was "rounded up" to 5 or it was my PC. It is now about 8.5.

In the beginning of August FiOS added a significant amount of HD channels so that the total is now 100. They are all non-compressed and all tune with the S3's CableCards. The channel lineup change that occurred with the introduction of the new HD channels was screwed up by a combination of Verizon, TiVo and Tribune for about a week. Fortunately, I did not miss any of my SP shows since I was able to work around the problem.

The FiOS telephone service is exactly the same as if you had the old copper wire service, that is, not over the Internet, however, with fiber the sound is perfect with not static or cross talk. The only thing I miss is some of the features that were included by Cablevision, in particular, call forwarding (Verizon charges extra for it). On the other hand they just introduced a new free feature that provides caller ID, voice mail and telephone directory on your PC as a pop-up.

Now to Cablevision. They have called and I have spoken to them at least four times since I terminated service. The first followup call came the next day after I terminated and was the one in which they expressed surprise. It went like this: "Mr. XXXXXX you have been a customer for 26 years, why did you leave us?" I gave her the same SDV explanation, again. She offered to pay any FiOS cancellation charges and they would give me about a $17 discount/month (from $144) off my bill. I told her that making my S3 obsolete was the reason I left them.

I have continued to receive calls from Cablevision at least once per month and per my caller ID records they call almost daily until someone answers the telephone since they will not leave a message. The last call offered me the same service I had had for a $45 discount/month for two years ($99/month). Yet there is still no SDV adapter available.

I hope this posting is somewhat helpful to those considering leaving a cable provider or are interested in negotiating a lower rate by threatening to leave. Per my experience, they are willing to adjust their pricing to retain customers.

[richsadams]

Thanks for the update Jack...it was indeed helpful. :up: I've been keeping up with your various trials and tribulations and I'm glad to hear that things are going well.

Although they've installed everything in our neighborhood VZ hasn't offered up FIOS just yet. The more positive feedback I read the less nervous I am about jumping ship.

Are you still using a splitter to attenuate your signal...or have you had to do anything more for good PQ? TIA!

[JacksTiVo]

Thanks for the update Jack...it was indeed helpful. :up: I've been keeping up with your various trials and tribulations and I'm glad to hear that things are going well.

Although they've installed everything in our neighborhood VZ hasn't offered up FIOS just yet. The more positive feedback I read the less nervous I am about jumping ship.

Are you still using a splitter to attenuate your signal...or have you had to do anything more for good PQ? TIA!I still have the splitter although I am not sure I even need it. PQ is crystal clear.

[richsadams]

PQ is crystal clear.Now that's a sentence I love to hear! :)

[Gregor]

Jack, I appreciate your update. Tomorrow, I'm getting FIOS and ending a 26 year association with Comcast. Can't wait!

[FiosUser]

I am using a splitter and one or two (can't remember) attenuators.

I've had to change this configuration a couple of times since I first got Tivo (with FIOS).

I'm not sure why the signal from FIOS changed, but it did (and apparently does every so often).

I haven't had the channel realignment yet, but am dreadding it. About a month ago, I received the CNBC and the USA HD channels but the Tivo guide will not show any guide data for those channels.

[Gregor]

Lemme tell y'all about my fun with Verizon today.....pull up a chair, this is gonna take awhile. Smoke 'em if ya got 'em.

I'm hearing impaired, and sometimes it's hard for me to understand folks on the phone.

Today I got a call from someone claiming to be from Verizon that needed to verify changes I was making to my phone service. It was hard to understand, but I thought I got through the call OK. It's basically a 3rd party making sure that changes to phones are done by the right people and they aren't being changed without the customer knowing. In my case I had ATT as LD and inter-lata serive and Verizon as the main phone service, this was all being changed to Verizon.

I hadn't gotten a call from Verizon confirming my install appointment for tomorrow, so I logged into verizon.com to check the order status. My original order status was "cancelled" on 8/20 and a new order placed on 8/20 for the same 3 services. The phone service was "on Hold" and the internet and video was "on schedule". The installation date on the new order was blank, so I called Verizon with the help of an online relay service.

I got bounced around to 3 or 4 different operators before someone could tell me what the hold on the phone service was, and it was indeed on hold due to the 3rd party confirmation on phone changes, so an operator finally got me to the 3rd party and I could get it all straightened out. Basically they want yes or no answers to their questions while recording.

Got all that straightened out, and the order online now showed "On schedule".

Hung up and called back to Verizon to see about the install date originally promised for tomorrow (8/23). Got to a rep right away who started trying to figure out what happened. Never could figure out what happened, but worked for a long time to get the installation re-scheduled for tomorrow, as promised. This took over an hour to accomplish, mostly me waiting on hold, and the rep trying to find the right person to reschedule the install they'd cancelled 2 days ago. No one could explain why my order got cancelled 2 days ago, but they would work with the new order. Finally the rep comes back and says they can do the install on 8/23 as promised, and it will take all day. When he asks if there's anything else, I ask him to check if the 4 cable cards I ordered are on the new order. He checks and they are not, and he gets me transferred to the billing dept to get the order fixed. (At this point I'm about an hour into the call, again, mostly on hold). The new rep tries to add the cards to the order, fails and calls in a "specialist" who also fails. She tells me that she can't do it, and the cards are in short supply anyhow. I ask for a supervisor. After a short wait the super comes on-line and I explain the whole issue to her, telling her I'm not happy about having to spend 2 hours straightening out a mess Verizon caused, and I don't want to hear "the computer won't let me" as an excuse. She calls the dispatch office to get them to modify my order. After another 30 minutes on hold, she succeeds in getting them added and confirms to me the the tech will bring 4 cards to the install tomorrow.

I guess the cautionary tale here is to check your order status online while you're waiting for the install, and to start walking up the chain if things don't look right.

I'll report back tomorrow what happens. I'm considering cancelling the install if the tech shows up without cable cards, I don't really want to be without my S3s for any length of time....

[FiosUser]

I'm sorry to tell you that your install tomorrow may not happen. They might do a no-show.

This happens to me each time I have an order (6 times so far).

Their system is broken somehow for some houses.

I have finally worked out a process where I call in for an order and then get the order number once it is all complete. Then, I have to call some guy's cell phone number that works in the dispatch department, give him my order number, and tell him what I ordered.

Somewhere between customer service and the dispatch department the order for my house gets lost (and they do not know why and cannot fix it).

Every time I call this guy's cel phone he gets mad at me and acts like he's never talked to me before and wants to know how I got his number (he actually gave it to me a long time ago when I originally had the problem--ha ha I guess he thought I would never have the problem again and just gave it to be to try to make me happy). It was hilarious at first but now it is painful.

[Gregor]

I'm sorry to tell you that your install tomorrow may not happen. They might do a no-show.

This happens to me each time I have an order (6 times so far).

Their system is broken somehow for some houses.

I have finally worked out a process where I call in for an order and then get the order number once it is all complete. Then, I have to call some guy's cell phone number that works in the dispatch department, give him my order number, and tell him what I ordered.

Somewhere between customer service and the dispatch department the order for my house gets lost (and they do not know why and cannot fix it).

Every time I call this guy's cel phone he gets mad at me and acts like he's never talked to me before and wants to know how I got his number (he actually gave it to me a long time ago when I originally had the problem--ha ha I guess he thought I would never have the problem again and just gave it to be to try to make me happy). It was hilarious at first but now it is painful.

If they do a no-show I will be very unhappy, especially after spending a lot of personal time getting this straightened out (or so I hope.)

In all honesty, they can't be worse than Comcast. I'm tired of dealing with Comcast...

[sender_name]

just a q? about the pixelations and signal skips. i am getting that on USA HD and SCIfi HD right now..But the signal strenght is jumping form 70% to 99% slowly up and down...and I have a 10:1 ratio of corrected to uncorrected w/ 30,000 uncorrected and climbing. Is this an indicator of an attenuator being needed, or is it a different error all together? I asked the tech when he was here if i needed an attenuator and he said since they are all digital it isn't necessary, but i had to show him how to install the tivo cable cards so i don't really know if he understood my concerns...anyone? tia!

[sender_name]

hate to 2x post but i was doing some research..I have fios set top box qip6200-2. How do you view signal strenght/errors corrected uncorrected? Also, what role does rebooting the tivo play in the whole resolution of the pixelation on hd channels

[sender_name]

further research reveals (trial and error via tivo diagnostics..)

Fios Tv errors...
Ch. 680 Scifi HD
141000khz
SNR is jumping 33 to 37dB and signal strenght is 60-100 variable, no pattern
Ch. 550 USA HD
135000khz
same deal...
So it looks like a problem in that range, 135000-141000 and of course there is no correlation between channel # and frequency range so i am hunting and pecking for more

[Gregor]

I'm sorry to tell you that your install tomorrow may not happen. They might do a no-show.

This happens to me each time I have an order (6 times so far).

Their system is broken somehow for some houses.

I have finally worked out a process where I call in for an order and then get the order number once it is all complete. Then, I have to call some guy's cell phone number that works in the dispatch department, give him my order number, and tell him what I ordered.

Somewhere between customer service and the dispatch department the order for my house gets lost (and they do not know why and cannot fix it).

Every time I call this guy's cel phone he gets mad at me and acts like he's never talked to me before and wants to know how I got his number (he actually gave it to me a long time ago when I originally had the problem--ha ha I guess he thought I would never have the problem again and just gave it to be to try to make me happy). It was hilarious at first but now it is painful.

Total no-show. :mad:

[ogre1]

Had unwatchable pixelation on NBCHD, particularly during Olympics (other random channels/shows too). Had SNR ~36-38db w/ RS uncorrected off-the-charts during 'bad' times. Read a couple threads/posts stating may help, so tried a new splitter (5mhz-2ghz replacing 5-900mhz one), but absolutely no difference. Added 6db of attenuation & things much improved (SNR down to 30-32db). Still get occ pixelation, but at least Olympics are watchable now. Thanks everyone.

Signal path:
Fios > TivoHD > Pio 74txvi receiver > Pio 1120HD 50" plasma

[lrhorer]

Total no-show. :mad:
I feel for you. It seems these days most comany's idea of idea of "customer service" is to annoy the customer more and more until they quit calling.
Someone needs to pass a law requiring all service companies (including doctors and dentists) to be liable for up to four times the customer's effective hourly salary for any delay in excess of 30 minutes beyond the appointment time. The BS of scheduling a truck roll "any time between 8:00 and 5:00" should be illegal, as well. If they were forced to pay $175 an hour or so for not showing up, you had better believe they would have showed up.

[Gregor]

I feel for you. It seems these days most comany's idea of idea of "customer service" is to annoy the customer more and more until they quit calling.
Someone needs to pass a law requiring all service companies (including doctors and dentists) to be liable for up to four times the customer's effective hourly salary for any delay in excess of 30 minutes beyond the appointment time. The BS of scheduling a truck roll "any time between 8:00 and 5:00" should be illegal, as well. If they were forced to pay $175 an hour or so for not showing up, you had better believe they would have showed up.

Rescheduled for Wednesday morning. Supposedly my order got "stuck in the system" so the techs never got it. I asked V to waive the installation charges, and the billing folks said they couldn't do anything about charges that weren't billed yet. So I have to call back after the install and they said they will remove the charges then.

More to come...

[SCVTFR747]

Jack,

I'm in Northern NJ (Dad's in Howell though). I'm switching from Cablevision to FIOS. Did you run into any problems getting the Verizon cable cards installed/activated. Do I need to do a complete reboot of TIVO so it's like it just came out of the box?

Thanks,

Scott

[JacksTiVo]

Jack,

I'm in Northern NJ (Dad's in Howell though). I'm switching from Cablevision to FIOS. Did you run into any problems getting the Verizon CableCards installed/activated. Do I need to do a complete reboot of TIVO so it's like it just came out of the box?

Thanks,

ScottThe Verizon cable cards will install very easily. To make it go quicker, while the Verizon Tech is installing the ONT hardware in the house, re-run Guided-Setup on the TiVo and select Verizon "your location" as the service provider. Also remove the Cablevision CableCards. Remember, when installing teh CC's make sure you insert teh first card in slot no. 1 first and finish its installation, prior to installing the second card in slot no. 2.

The Verizon CableCards have operated flawlessly since first installed.

[SCVTFR747]

Jack,

Thanks for the quick response. I'll let you know how it goes. The big day is 9/3.

Scott

[kazz244]

Rescheduled for Wednesday morning. Supposedly my order got "stuck in the system" so the techs never got it. I asked V to waive the installation charges, and the billing folks said they couldn't do anything about charges that weren't billed yet. So I have to call back after the install and they said they will remove the charges then.

More to come...

I wish you luck. I had a similar problem getting install to come out when promised to work on a Tivo install that required 2 S cards. It turned out that, at the time, the techs were unfamiliar with cable cards, so no one wanted to do them. I had to badger the dispatcher to send out a new tech after 2 no shows.

I happened to catch a guy who finished his first job early, and was looking for something to do. He did the cable cards no problem, and was extremely helpful.

This probably sounds like I'm not happy with Verizon, but I am. A problem with install and billing, but no worse than I had with Comcast. And, the Verizon product is far superior.

[FiosUser]

Rescheduled for Wednesday morning. Supposedly my order got "stuck in the system" so the techs never got it. I asked V to waive the installation charges, and the billing folks said they couldn't do anything about charges that weren't billed yet. So I have to call back after the install and they said they will remove the charges then.

More to come...

They will not show up again. I'm telling you. This is exactly the same problem I had.

In order to fix it (well, to get someone's cell phone or direct line) you have to email Verizon's executive customer support complaining about the no-shows.

Here is the email address you need to send a polite, firm complaint to:
virginia.p.ruesterholz@verizon.com

[JacksTiVo]

I finally received a "clean" bill from Verizon. By clean I mean without any of the installation charges, credits or adjustments etc.

For those considering dropping cable service here is the breakdown of what I pay to Verizon:

FiOS Triple Freedom (2 year fixed rate) $104.99
includes unlimited phone service, TV and Internet at 20/5 speed. (You can save $10/mo if you take a one year contract and 10/2 Internet speed.)

CableCard rental: $7.98

International calling: $1.00 per month ($3/mo. discount for one year)

HBO $15.99

Movie and Sports Package (Showtime, Starz, etc.) free until Dec. 31. (Normally $17.99/mo)

Internet Security suite (virus, firewall, spyware, etc. $4.99/mo ($60/year). (I subscribed to their service since I have three PC's and subscriptions for Symantec's protection services is something like $69/year per PC.

Taxes, fees & other charges = $15.28

So I am paying about $150 per month which is about $4/month higher than I was paying for Cablevision. However, I am getting a lot more for my money.
I now have two free STB on my other TV's including the one with the S2 so I now have all channels available to all sets. With Cablevision I only had access to analog channels on my S2 and other TV and they were converting more channels to digital. I now have 100 uncompressed HD channels on my S3 with no threat of SDV and/or the need for another box to keep it working.

In addition, I received in the mail a $200 American Express gift card from Verizon after being a FiOS customer for 1 month.

[richsadams]

Thanks for the update and detailed breakdown Jack. All good stuff. :up:

[Gregor]

They will not show up again. I'm telling you. This is exactly the same problem I had.

In order to fix it (well, to get someone's cell phone or direct line) you have to email Verizon's executive customer support complaining about the no-shows.

Here is the email address you need to send a polite, firm complaint to:
virginia.p.ruesterholz@verizon.com

V called twice today to confirm Wednesday's appointment. Once with an automated caller, the second a live caller.

Thanks anyway for the contact, I hopefully will not have to use it.

[JacksTiVo]

V called twice today to confirm Wednesday's appointment. Once with an automated caller, the second a live caller.

Thanks anyway for the contact, I hopefully will not have to use it.They will also call on Wednesday to tell you they are on their way.

[JasonE]

On the other hand they just introduced a new free feature that provides caller ID, voice mail and telephone directory on your PC as a pop-up.

This is cool, what is the service called?

- jason

[JacksTiVo]

This is cool, what is the service called?

- jasonVerizon Call Assistant

[V7Goose]

They will not show up again. I'm telling you. This is exactly the same problem I had.

In order to fix it (well, to get someone's cell phone or direct line) you have to email Verizon's executive customer support complaining about the no-shows.

Here is the email address you need to send a polite, firm complaint to:
virginia.p.ruesterholz@verizon.com

I'm sorry you obviously had such a bad experience with them, but you can't assume everyone will. I have never had them miss an appointment (a little late once, but still came). In addition, they have not charged me for either truck roll to just put in cable cards. The guy that came out last week to put them in my new THD unit had never done a TiVo before, but had absolutely no problems. In addition, despite my pointing out the instructions said to do slot 1 first, he just stuck them both in at the same time. In fact, he activated the second card first, and everything still went just fine! It just took him about 10 minutes more to get card 1 working because he miss-typed the serial number when he tried to activate it.

So, my experience in North Texas with FiOS: They have been very reliable in showing up on all appointments. Neither the tech that did the CCs in my S3 last year nor the one that did my THD last week had ever done a TiVo before, but both had no concerns and no problems activating the cable cards. When pushed by my repeated complaints of problems on certain frequencies, they found and fixed problems with the signal quality coming to my house WITHOUT my having to play games with attenuators, and they gave me a good credit for the amount of time I had to live with the signal errors. Lastly, the FiOS picture quality is WAY WAY WAY better than any cable or satellite signal I have ever seen. The company is not perfect - I have my complaints on some things with them, but they have generally done an acceptable job for me.

Oh, one other really nice thing - they don't use any maddening copy protection flags on the signals they broadcast!

[slocko]

Hi all. I just ordered two HD Tivos. I'm going to need 4 cards right? 2 for each Tivo?

Is lifetime service worth it? I'm debating it.

I just dumped Directv after 6 years. Got tired of not getting new HD channels since I had the HR10-250. My HD locals came off an OTA antenna, but they were very susceptible to atmospheric conditions. I was using Vonage which was pretty good service, unfortunately, once a year, a storm will take out the adapter and they wouldn't replace it. And finally I got tired of the tangle of coax cables, splitters, and amplifiers.

I've been using the FIOS HD DVRs but the lack of recording capacity and the interface is not as nice as Tivo, makes it less than desirable. Dealing with Verizon is a pain in the butt. You get bounced around, someone tells you one thing, someone else something else. It took countless calls to get a feature added that makes your the red light on your phone light up when you have vmail. No one knew what code to punch in to activate it. Some said it wasn't supported. Same thing for changing the number of rings before going to voicemail. Took a while to find somebody who knew how to do it. Signing up online to combine all services was another pain in the arse. Since I already had FIOS internet from years ago, the online system had a hard time dealing with that scenario. But luckily I already knew from the past, how painful it can be so I was mentally prepared to deal with it. And I work from home so it gives me more flexibility with spending time on the phone.

[JasonE]

Verizon Call Assistant

Thank you,

- jason

[slocko]

Call assist is another thing I'm currently trying to add, and getting the run around.

Thank you,

- jason

[sender_name]

just an fyi...you can pretty much get any online deal over the phone just by asking. I couldn't select cable cards in optional equipment through the online special offer...so I called and they honored it

[slocko]

i tried, but they told me the 10 dollars off a month for your phone bill for the first year was only an online offer.

[SCVTFR747]

The Verizon cable cards will install very easily. To make it go quicker, while the Verizon Tech is installing the ONT hardware in the house, re-run Guided-Setup on the TiVo and select Verizon "your location" as the service provider. Also remove the Cablevision CableCards. Remember, when installing teh CC's make sure you insert teh first card in slot no. 1 first and finish its installation, prior to installing the second card in slot no. 2.

The Verizon CableCards have operated flawlessly since first installed.

Jack,

Not sure if you have the internet. One thing I'm confused about is the wireless router. Does that mean all of my computers need a wireless adaptor? Right now I have a router, but I can still connect to it with an ethernet line. Thanks.

[SCVTFR747]

Jack,

Not sure if you have the internet. One thing I'm confused about is the wireless router. Does that mean all of my computers need a wireless adaptor? Right now I have a router, but I can still connect to it with an ethernet line. Thanks.

Jack,

I'm referring to FIOS internet off course.

Scott

[webin]

Jack,

Not sure if you have the internet. One thing I'm confused about is the wireless router. Does that mean all of my computers need a wireless adaptor? Right now I have a router, but I can still connect to it with an ethernet line. Thanks.

When you sign up for FiOS service, Verizon provides their own router for use with Internet service, very similar to this one: http://www.actiontec.com/products/product.php?pid=189

It's basically an off-the-shelf router you could buy at Best Buy (it has a very handy features Verizon likes). It offers 4 ethernet ports, plus Wireless-G (which is why it gets the name wireless router). Assuming you put it near your computers, there's no reason to add wireless adapters to your computers, the ethernet cables will work just like they do now for you.

[JacksTiVo]

Jack,

Not sure if you have the internet. One thing I'm confused about is the wireless router. Does that mean all of my computers need a wireless adaptor? Right now I have a router, but I can still connect to it with an ethernet line. Thanks.I have all three FiOS services. Verizon will provide you with a combination modem/router that is both wireless and has 5 ethernet ports. Thus you will be able to hardwired directly and/or wirelessly from your PC or TiVo. In my case the S2 is connected via a USB to ethernet adapter and my S3 is via a TiVo wireless adapter. The wireless function of the router is excellent since the signal is about 50% stronger than the Belkin wireless router that I previously had.

The nice thing about the Verizon service is that all the components are supplied by them and thus they are fully compatible. My experience with Cablevision is that they supplied a Motorola modem, I had a Belkin router and they supplied SA CableCards that always seemed to be either defective or needing a firmware update. The Motorola components supplied by Verizon all have worked from day one.

[rocko]

Another nice side benefit -

Since Verizon runs MoCA on the coax you can get wired 'net connectivity anywhere you have a TV (connected to the coax, of course). Just hook up a NIM-100 and say buh-bye to wireless TiVo/XBox/PS3/whatever connections.

Bribing the Verizon tech with beer is a sure-fire path to at least one free NIM (mine left me 2). Otherwise, they seem to be plentiful on eBay for about the price of the TiVo wireless adapter.

[FiosUser]

I'm sorry you obviously had such a bad experience with them, but you can't assume everyone will. I have never had them miss an appointment (a little late once, but still came). In addition, they have not charged me for either truck roll to just put in cable cards. The guy that came out last week to put them in my new THD unit had never done a TiVo before, but had absolutely no problems. In addition, despite my pointing out the instructions said to do slot 1 first, he just stuck them both in at the same time. In fact, he activated the second card first, and everything still went just fine! It just took him about 10 minutes more to get card 1 working because he miss-typed the serial number when he tried to activate it.

So, my experience in North Texas with FiOS: They have been very reliable in showing up on all appointments. Neither the tech that did the CCs in my S3 last year nor the one that did my THD last week had ever done a TiVo before, but both had no concerns and no problems activating the cable cards. When pushed by my repeated complaints of problems on certain frequencies, they found and fixed problems with the signal quality coming to my house WITHOUT my having to play games with attenuators, and they gave me a good credit for the amount of time I had to live with the signal errors. Lastly, the FiOS picture quality is WAY WAY WAY better than any cable or satellite signal I have ever seen. The company is not perfect - I have my complaints on some things with them, but they have generally done an acceptable job for me.

Oh, one other really nice thing - they don't use any maddening copy protection flags on the signals they broadcast!

Glad you had such a good experience. I actually was not making a blanket statement, but was referring to the specific story the person was telling--there were too many specific similarities to my past problems to be something to ignore.

You obviously had none of these similarities which proves the problem doesn't happen to everyone. But, the problem does happen and the symptoms look like what this person was going through.

[webin]

Bribing the Verizon tech with beer is a sure-fire path to at least one free NIM (mine left me 2). Otherwise, they seem to be plentiful on eBay for about the price of the TiVo wireless adapter.

Why are these things not available from retail outlets? I'm fairly happy with the Tivo Wireless Adapter (which I got for free), but it these NIM-100s were being sold somewhere other than eBay, I'd be willing to try them out.

[rocko]

Why are these things not available from retail outlets? I'm fairly happy with the Tivo Wireless Adapter (which I got for free), but it these NIM-100s were being sold somewhere other than eBay, I'd be willing to try them out.

1 -I don't think they're manufactured anymore and B - I'm pretty sure they're Verizon-specific hardware-wise.

[richsadams]

If you do a search for "NIM 100" there are many threads here with more info including this one (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=379206&highlight=NIM+100) and this sticky (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=371710&highlight=NIM+100). For those using MRV and/or transferring programs to their PC on a regular basis, the speed difference between wireless and MoCA is amazing. We don't have VZ FIOS yet, but when we do we'll certainly have look at using it.

[webin]

Yah, I was too lazy to search... I think I might read up on it anyway because it's an interesting aspect of FiOS setups. I'm unwilling to buy one from ebay though, so I'm probably out of luck for a while (seems cisco/linksys is developing one called the MEB200).

[JonHB]

I thought some of the pixelation issues on FIOS were being attributed to the THD not working well with MOCA??

[webin]

Well, that's a theory, but we haven't been able to prove it conclusively. In fact, I had my ONT reconfigured so it doesn't produce MOCA signals at all, and still get pixelation. My current top theory is that the signal issues are being generated in the Verizon central office, and being sent out to both Tivo and Verizon set-top box users.... but the tivo doesn't do a good job of hiding the errors compared to the set-top box. This is V7Goose's theory, based on his experiences getting picture quality completely cleared up in Texas.

[Gregor]

Had a great experience with the FIOS install today. The 2 techs arrived within the time window (8-12) and had everything working before they left.

Arrived at 9:30 and left around 3. Only snag was getting the cable cards working, they had them configured right, but had to call someone on the backend side to get the cards authorized to get the premium and HD channels.

Very nice experience overall. They did a very nice job locating the ONT in my basement and tidying up wires so it looks a lot better than the rat's nest that Comcast left.

Even with my AV cabinet being very complex, (4 Tivos, STB, DVD, Wii, etc) they were very positive about making everything work right.

Great picture, too!

[webin]

(4 Tivos, STB, DVD, Wii, etc)

Holy Cow!

[jklst14]

hey all,
I currently have the Comcast Triple play package and after months of setup headaches, it has worked perfectly for about a year. Now Fios is finally available in our area and I'm debating a switch. I would like the faster speeds of Fios but I am terrified of going through the whole cable card setup stuff again. So I was just wondering what people out here might recommend.

Thanks,

JKL

[webin]

Any potential hassle is far outweighed by the better picture quality and higher internet speeds.

[JacksTiVo]

hey all,
I currently have the Comcast Triple play package and after months of setup headaches, it has worked perfectly for about a year. Now Fios is finally available in our area and I'm debating a switch. I would like the faster speeds of Fish but I am terrified of going through the whole cable card setup stuff again. So I was just wondering what people out here might recommend.

Thanks,

JKLSearch my posts from May 5, 2008 and August 22, 2008 describing my experience and costs. I am very satisfied with FiOS and would not hesitate to recommend the service to others.

[Gregor]

hey all,
I currently have the Comcast Triple play package and after months of setup headaches, it has worked perfectly for about a year. Now Fios is finally available in our area and I'm debating a switch. I would like the faster speeds of Fios but I am terrified of going through the whole cable card setup stuff again. So I was just wondering what people out here might recommend.

Thanks,

JKL

I just did a FIOS bundle install today and it went very well. The Techs did a great job and the cable card experience was pretty good. Verizon in my area uses a web application to enter the cable card numbers, a huge improvement over Comcast reading the numbers over the phon.

I'm very pleased, it took multiple visits by Comcast to get the cable cards right.

[jklst14]

thanks for the input! I think I'm going to give at a try. Wish me luck!

- jkl

[Fahtas1]

I got fios last week and cancelled cablevision. I wanted scifi hd which wasn't on cablevision. i was also pissed that they put voom on sdv. I told cablevision so.
Of course the installer didn't show up with cablecards --not on the order so he said---but another truck brought them. The installer said that "nobody is using cable cards anymore and 1 out of 1000 installs needs them. I guess we have a dying technology. Tivo better get a tru2way box soon.

The installer did a great job but left the 4 cablecard installs until the end. All but the last cablecard installed easily. It seems that with the 4 other fios boxes I needed for my house, the 4 cable cards put the grand total over 7 which kicks out the last cable card install. An initial install can only have 7 boxes or cable cards. To learn this info took like 4 calls to his tech support. He got a ton of misinformation about what to do . Finally a tech guy deleted one box which freed up a spot and presto---the card worked.
I was impressed with the installer. He stayed to like 9 at night and personally called me in the am to make sure that the deleted box was turned on by cust service in the am.
Fios is great with tivo---very clear---
My only problem is that AMD HD isn't on fios---no mad men in hd --and MSNBC isn't on Fios either---kind of odd. I didn't know that when I signed up.

[juicygrl88]

Let me tell you since 24 August I have been trying to get Verizon to give me cablecards and I've had no luck with them. I posted this in a separate post as I didn't have this one.

[Gregor]

I got fios last week and cancelled cablevision. I wanted scifi hd which wasn't on cablevision. i was also pissed that they put voom on sdv. I told cablevision so.
Of course the installer didn't show up with cablecards --not on the order so he said---but another truck brought them. The installer said that "nobody is using cable cards anymore and 1 out of 1000 installs needs them. I guess we have a dying technology. Tivo better get a tru2way box soon.

The installer did a great job but left the 4 cablecard installs until the end. All but the last cablecard installed easily. It seems that with the 4 other fios boxes I needed for my house, the 4 cable cards put the grand total over 7 which kicks out the last cable card install. An initial install can only have 7 boxes or cable cards. To learn this info took like 4 calls to his tech support. He got a ton of misinformation about what to do . Finally a tech guy deleted one box which freed up a spot and presto---the card worked.
I was impressed with the installer. He stayed to like 9 at night and personally called me in the am to make sure that the deleted box was turned on by cust service in the am.
Fios is great with tivo---very clear---
My only problem is that AMD HD isn't on fios---no mad men in hd --and MSNBC isn't on Fios either---kind of odd. I didn't know that when I signed up.

My initial install had 10 devices, with the last 4 being cable cards. No problems other than having to have them linked to my account to get the right channels, which required a phone call.

[Jasper]

[QUOTE]and MSNBC isn't on Fios either---kind of odd. I didn't know that when I signed up./[QUOTE]

That's strange....I have always had MSNBC here in Herndon, VA, but we are still on the analog system.

[wmcbrine]

The installer said that "nobody is using cable cards anymore and 1 out of 1000 installs needs them. I guess we have a dying technology. Tivo better get a tru2way box soon.Tru2Way devices will still use CableCards. And, it doesn't matter how reluctant the cable companies are to provide them (very). It's the law.

Far from dying, in fact, the cable companies must now use the cards themselves, going forward, in their own set-top boxes. Unfortunately I don't think they're mandated to deploy them separately, so they can still play dumb about installation procedures, and even pretend to have none in stock.

--and MSNBC isn't on Fios either---kind of odd. I didn't know that when I signed up.This problem is specific to your area, where Cablevision has an exclusive contract with MSNBC. I think it's due to expire in the not-too-distant future, at which point Fios should pick up the channel. They already carry it everywhere else.

[Ziggy86]

Search my posts from May 5, 2008 and August 22, 2008 describing my experience and costs. I am very satisfied with FiOS and would not hesitate to recommend the service to others.


Any pixelation issues with Fios and your Tivo.

[Gregor]

Any pixelation issues with Fios and your Tivo.

I had some that I noticed last night. Followed the instructions in the pixellation sticky and got rid of it. -10db seems to be the right number for my Tivos.

[JacksTiVo]

Any pixelation issues with Fios and your Tivo.None recently. I have the new version ONT that Version is installing and I understand it does not overpower the S3.

I understand some pixelation and sound skips are most probably caused by signal transmission issues from the satellites to the cable providers receiving antennas.

My most serious problem is that I have a vintage(?) 2000 Sony 53" projection
HD ready television. They designed it to automatically detect the type of definition in the signal from the external tuner (in this case the TiVo S3, previously the SA HD STB). That is, is the signal from the tuner 480, 720 or 1080i? The set then displays briefly on the screen the type of signal it is receiving.

So when there is very fast action or bright flashes the video goes black and then the TV resets and displays that it is again receiving a 1080i signal. Very, very annoying and I am going to be replacing it this Fall. There is no way I can set the Sony TV to a fixed 1080i input. I have experimented with all kinds of S3 output formats, but that does not fix the issue.

I know it is the TV because another forum member described the exact same experience with the exact same Sony model that I have. A classic example of when you are an early adapter of new technology.

[Jasper]

Hey Jack, my Dad's new VIZIO does that. I thought it was the OTA tuner in his HR10-250......Could you please point me it the direction of that Sony thread. Thanks :)

Sorry for the Hijack guys :(

[JacksTiVo]

Hey Jack, my Dad's new VIZIO does that. I thought it was the OTA tuner in his HR10-250......Could you please point me it the direction of that Sony thread. Thanks :)

Sorry for the Hijack guys :(It was not a Sony thread, but discussed in a TiVo community forum see: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=389181

[SuperRob]

Had my install today. Mostly painless, after solving some residual networking issues in the house. Cable box and one cable card came up fine. Second cable card seems to only be getting the basic channels, and HD locals, but isn't getting anything 550 and above. I'll need to call to see if I can get that ironed out. Any ideas anyone?

[webin]

The second card isn't properly initialized... probably in the Verizon system. A call to the Fiber Solutions Center should remedy your issue.

[SCVTFR747]

Help!

FIOS was installed, but TIVO won't connect wirelessly. It identifies the verizon router, but after I put in the wep key shown on the router, it won't connect. As a workaround the verizon guy used a really long ethernet cable, but that's a temporary solution. Any suggestions? Is it correct to enter the wep key when tivo asks for the password? Or should I say there's no password?

[webin]

Your question might be better placed in the Help forum..... I don't remember the specifics of setting up the wireless connection, but I would recommend first disabling WEP on your router (so that you have an open hotspot), and see if tivo and connect to that. Then try putting a WEP key back in.... I think it's in the password slot, but I can't remember off the top of my head.

[Gregor]

Help!

FIOS was installed, but TIVO won't connect wirelessly. It identifies the verizon router, but after I put in the wep key shown on the router, it won't connect. As a workaround the verizon guy used a really long ethernet cable, but that's a temporary solution. Any suggestions? Is it correct to enter the wep key when tivo asks for the password? Or should I say there's no password?

Check to see that you're keying it in correctly. The only allowable characters are 0-9 and A-F. Also be sure you're connecting to the right router, I can see 7 FIOS routers from my house!

[rocko]

Help!

FIOS was installed, but TIVO won't connect wirelessly. It identifies the verizon router, but after I put in the wep key shown on the router, it won't connect. As a workaround the verizon guy used a really long ethernet cable, but that's a temporary solution. Any suggestions? Is it correct to enter the wep key when tivo asks for the password? Or should I say there's no password?

I'm pretty sure the Actiontec stores and displays the WEP key in hex format. You need to make sure you're entering the key in hex mode during the TiVo network setup.

[Gregor]

I'm pretty sure the Actiontec stores and displays the WEP key in hex format. You need to make sure you're entering the key in hex mode during the TiVo network setup.

Good catch!

Yes the key is in hex.

(Also good practice to change the key to WPA....)

[SuperRob]

Got home today, and the second card was working fine. Must have just taken a while to kick in.

So now the new question ... anyone know when TiVo will have a correct channel lineup for the Seattle, Washington market? I'm using Portland, OR right now because TiVo didn't have a listing for FIOS Seattle yet.

[dpoterek]

I have 2 Tivo HD's....one newly installed and one a few years old.

The olderr until started with Pixelation and partial records a few weeks ago.

The new box has 2 cable cards installed and has pixelation and sometimes gray channels (both tivo's get this problem).

Comcast has cycled thru several cards and they are not sure what to do.

I notice only 1 of the 2 cards in each unit says subscribed....I pointed this out to the techs, but they say the pairing signals show successfull at the head end.

What diagnostics can I do to ensure cards are working properly, or to look for any signs of trouble via the tivo diagnostics screens?

I have been a subscriber for years, but I am ready to put a couple S3's up for sale and get a Comcast DVR.

[Ziggy86]

Does the pixelation happen for a few seconds? DOes it happen many times during a show? I am curious because Fios is available in my area now but I am worried about this issue. Does it make the viewing very bad because I can deal with it happening for a second or two once during a show.

Steven



I have 2 Tivo HD's....one newly installed and one a few years old.

The olderr until started with Pixelation and partial records a few weeks ago.

The new box has 2 cable cards installed and has pixelation and sometimes gray channels (both tivo's get this problem).

Comcast has cycled thru several cards and they are not sure what to do.

I notice only 1 of the 2 cards in each unit says subscribed....I pointed this out to the techs, but they say the pairing signals show successfull at the head end.

What diagnostics can I do to ensure cards are working properly, or to look for any signs of trouble via the tivo diagnostics screens?






I have been a subscriber for years, but I am ready to put a couple S3's up for sale and get a Comcast DVR.

[dpoterek]

It can be for a few seconds or it can go to a gray screen. I also have it pop to the cablecard screen. So the results vary each time.

[dslunceford]

I'm still noticing pixelation on a couple of channels, but waiting until new channel lineup kicks in here on 9/22 before calling VZ back out to check it again. It's been a while since I poked my head in this thread...in general, are folks finding that the new ONT (asking for a replaceent) is fixing their issues?

Also, a question on how SPs will hold up when VZ switches around the channel locations. Will I need to go back and re-setup those for channels that have moved ("standard" HDs moving out of 800s down to the 500/600 range). I know SPs follow "time," but because they are channel dependent, I would think I'd need to go in and reset.

[Ziggy86]

I currently have the 611 ONT from Fios and I have heard it had some problems.

If I opt for Fios TV will they change this to the new one if I ask for it, if they don't I will not be getting FIOS tv

[webin]

I'm fairly certain they will want to upgrade your ONT to whatever the latest model is. When I added TV service in February, they tech wanted to swap out my ONT before he did anything else. If you ask, I'm almost certain you can get yours replaced.

[Gregor]

What's the new ONT model #?

[JacksTiVo]

What's the new ONT model #?The ONT they installed in my home in May is model 612.

[Ziggy86]

Mine is 611, I have had it for about two years but we only have phone and internet now, looking to get TV in a few weeks.

[mamosley]

I currently have the 611 ONT from Fios and I have heard it had some problems.

If I opt for Fios TV will they change this to the new one if I ask for it, if they don't I will not be getting FIOS tv

Which router do you have, the actiontec or dlink? It really depends on the tech whether or not they will swap out the ont. If you have more than two phone lines, forget getting the new ont, it only has 2 voice ports.

As far as a previous post concerning providers having to use cable cards in their stbs. Yup, you can no longer as a provider purchase equipment that does security and channel tuning in one device, but you dont have to stop using the current ones you have that do either.

[sender_name]

so using my tivo's card diagnostics i have Id a channel range that is corrupted...it is all channels from 135000khz to 153000khz. It is about 10 hd channels. I called tech support and they did a bunch of remote cable card reboots and are sending a tech out monday. I am pretty sure it is an issue on their end because in that range i get 1,000,000's of errors in 1/2 hour and 100,000 uncorrected errors that result in programming skips etc. I told them all of this and they are coming out to see...I will let you all know what happens

[urkel-Os]

I currently have the 611 ONT from Fios and I have heard it had some problems.

If I opt for Fios TV will they change this to the new one if I ask for it, if they don't I will not be getting FIOS tv

I think the answer to your question is "maybe." I have a 611 ONT and have been told that the hardware at my CO will not support newer ONTs. I have the same problems as this (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5386874) poster. VZ has been unable to fix it -- inline low pass filter in the ONT didn't do anything, and the results with attenuators have been unsatisfactory (still some pixellation, and now the signals on some non-pixellating channels are too weak to tune).

Fyi, the pixellation was more or less eliminated with attenuators until a couple of months ago, which seemed to coincide with the removal of analog in this area. So I am speculating that there was some change at the CO that made it worse. I hope the channel realignment will put the six affected channels on different frequencies or at least allow me to get a new ONT here. Wonder what VZ would charge to replace the ONT...

[Gregor]

The ONT they installed in my home in May is model 612.


I checked and that's what I have, and I had to fix the pixellation problem with S3s.

[sender_name]

a verizon tech told me that attenuators are not necessary anymore with the series 3 since they eliminated the analog and went all digital...

[Gregor]

a verizon tech told me that attenuators are not necessary anymore with the series 3 since they eliminated the analog and went all digital...

I'm supposedly all-digital and I have the pixellation problem.

[webin]

a verizon tech told me that attenuators are not necessary anymore with the series 3 since they eliminated the analog and went all digital...

It's too bad verizon techs aren't required to get their engineering degree before telling people stuff...

[ira_l]

I'm fairly certain they will want to upgrade your ONT to whatever the latest model is. When I added TV service in February, they tech wanted to swap out my ONT before he did anything else. If you ask, I'm almost certain you can get yours replaced.

Not necessarily!

I still have the Model 611 ONT. I added FiOS TV to my (existing) FiOS Internet in January 2008. The low pass filter solved my pixellation problems.

[sender_name]

Ok...I had a tech out yesterday to check out my pixelation. He confirmed... 1. It was not the tivo's fault, 2. The cards were working ok. 3. Buy hooking up to the coax he could see that there as a smalls signal issue in the Khz frequency range that all of my pixelating channels were on. The frequency range that the bad channels (Massive uncorrected errors) are sent on and a bad "something" card at the head was most likely the culprit and needs to be cleaned or replaced. There are several cards at the head that handle ranges of channels and the one that handles like 135000khz to 150000khz is bad in my town...i think he said each one handles 15,000 khz so you will have probs across that range..


I do want to point out that the attenuator solution doesn't work when this is the problem..But would work if coax was too hot from the ont. If you are experiencing errors on only a few channels then it's not hot signal..

[webin]

Sounds just like the solution V7Goose reached, where he convinced Verizon to replace something in their head end. It makes me really want to check out which frequencies I'm experiencing issues on.

What market are you in sender_name?

[sender_name]

I am in Northboro Ma. We just got fios tv like Aug. 1. We have had internet/phone for over a year but tv took a while. I love it. except for the bad channels...



What market are you in sender_name?

edited my profile...i didn't realize i was so secretive :)

[kurtster]

FIOS TV being installed as I type. Let's just say the installer doesn't like TiVo so much. He thinks they're a doomed cause because they're a hassle for installers and TiVo corporate doesn't like to work with Verizon. He said Verizon went to TiVo and tried to resolve incompatibilities and TiVo told Verizon they they shouldn't have to change anything to work with Verizon so Verizon tells all their customers to go with their own DVR because its more compatible and gets all of the channels. He straight up told me there may be channels I can't get with the Series 3. He is going to watch me install the TiVo portion and call to authorize the cards when needed.

More info once we're done with the instal...

[Ziggy86]

Good luck with your install, make sure he leaves you some attenuators so you can try and fix any pixelation that may occur.

[aaronwt]

FIOS TV being installed as I type. Let's just say the installer doesn't like TiVo so much. He thinks they're a doomed cause because they're a hassle for installers and TiVo corporate doesn't like to work with Verizon. He said Verizon went to TiVo and tried to resolve incompatibilities and TiVo told Verizon they they shouldn't have to change anything to work with Verizon so Verizon tells all their customers to go with their own DVR because its more compatible and gets all of the channels. He straight up told me there may be channels I can't get with the Series 3. He is going to watch me install the TiVo portion and call to authorize the cards when needed.

More info once we're done with the instal...


That sounds odd considering I have Three Series 3 TiVos and one TiVoHD on FIOS with eight cable cards and have zero problems. Install of the TiVos was very quick. As long as the tech knows what they are doing TiVO installation is a piece of cake.

I have access to all FIOS channels except for VOD. Unfortunately it sounds like the tech doesn't have a clue and those are the techs that have problems installing TiVo.

Plus he should be using his laptop for the cable card install. No calls to anyone are needed. Everything can be done for the authorization from their laptop, if they know what they are doing.

[Ziggy86]

That sounds odd considering I have Three Series 3 TiVos and one TiVoHD on FIOS with eight cable cards and have zero problems. Install of the TiVos was very quick. As long as the tech knows what they are doing TiVO installation is a piece of cake.

I have access to all FIOS channels except for VOD. Unfortunately it sounds like the tech doesn't have a clue and those are the techs that have problems installing TiVo.

Plus he should be using his laptop for the cable card install. No calls to anyone is needed. Everything can be done from their laptop, if they know what they are doing.


Any issues with pixelation on your Tivos with FiOS?

[aaronwt]

Any issues with pixelation on your Tivos with FiOS?


No.

I did have problems from Comcast on a TiVoHD and had to put an attenuator inline, but that same box had no problems with pixelation from FIOS. I didn't have any problems with FIOS and didn't need any attenuators with the FIOS signal.
I have an 8 way splitter on the output of the ONT that the tech put in place since the ONT signal was so hot.

[wmcbrine]

TiVo told Verizon they they shouldn't have to change anything to work with VerizonThey shouldn't. Verizon is supposed to be putting out a straight QAM signal, but they don't always keep it clean. Verizon's own boxes seem to have better error correction than TiVo's, but we shouldn't have to rely on that -- there shouldn't be any errors. On the other hand, if it's possible for TiVo to improve their error correction, they should -- not just for the sake of Fios, but on general principles.

[richsadams]

No.

I did have problems from Comcast on a TiVoHD and had to put an attenuator inline, but that same box had no problems with pixelation from FIOS. I didn't have any problems with FIOS and didn't need any attenuators with the FIOS signal.
I have an 8 way splitter on the output of the ONT that the tech put in place since the ONT signal was so hot.Thanks for continuing to post your VZ/FIOS experiences here (and on the AVS Forum)...it gives me hope that if/when we switch from Comcast that things will go okay. :up:

Some of the horror stories you hear/read such as kurtster's make me wonder if switching is a good move as we haven't had any issues with any of our TiVo's for a couple of years now.

I really (really!) want FIOS non-compressed HD PQ as well as the big broadband pipe, but I really (REALLY! :mad:) hate dealing with technical issues that only someone else can resolve...particularly if they have a pre-conceived notion about things they know little about.

I'm just glad to hear that things can and do go well, probably most of the time as most people that are enjoying their FIOS fed TiVo's aren't likely to show up here. Thanks again! :)

[richsadams]

They shouldn't. Verizon is supposed to be putting out a straight QAM signal, but they don't always keep it clean. Verizon's own boxes seem to have better error correction than TiVo's, but we shouldn't have to rely on that -- there shouldn't be any errors. On the other hand, if it's possible for TiVo to improve their error correction, they should -- not just for the sake of Fios, but on general principles.+1 :up: :up:

[slocko]

my tech had never installed cable cards in a Tivo and he still managed to get the job done with no problems. he was a really nice guy and even expressed interest in getting his own tivos. lol

[kurtster]

Okay it's done but not as expected. He had to run off to another call while the TiVo said it would need 30 min to download program data.

I get all local channels both SD and HD but NO cable channels, HD or otherwise. Is there anything I can do on my end to make them show up? It sees the channels are there and has program data for them but no image appears for any cable channels.

The Verizon DVR gets everything the way it should, but man the menus are ridiculous on that thing. It's like navigating a Windows file structure and there's seemingly no way to edit whether "subscriptions" (their equivalent to Season Pass) record First run only or all. I guess it's just going to grab all of them. Blah. i have to get this S3 working.

[SeanC]

I get all local channels both SD and HD but NO cable channels, HD or otherwise. Is there anything I can do on my end to make them show up? It sees the channels are there and has program data for them but no image appears for any cable channels.

It sounds like your cards aren't authorized (not sure if that is the exact terminology). By default CCs on FIOS will receive all the locals, including HD. When I had my install one card worked right, the second card only did locals, they had to come back and swap it out.

[webin]

It's entirely possible that you can finish the install yourself by calling the Fiber Solutions Center at 1-888-553-1555.

Edited to change "FiOS Services Center" to "Fiber Solutions Center". Also, I hate acronyms.

[rocko]

It's entirely possible that you can finish the install yourself by calling the FiOS Service Center at 1-888-553-1555.

Just to add my $.02 - On both of my CableCARD installs the tech had to call in to get the cards properly activated - even though the activation process on their laptops reported success.

I agree that a call to the FSC should get you squared away.

[Gregor]

Just to add my $.02 - On both of my CableCARD installs the tech had to call in to get the cards properly activated - even though the activation process on their laptops reported success.

I agree that a call to the FSC should get you squared away.

That was my experience as well. Once the phone call was made, the cards started receiving all channels.

[kurtster]

Bingo. you guys are dead right. I called the support number and within minutes all channels appeared. After using DTV for 15 years I have to say, SD channels have NEVER looked better. Holy cow there was a noticeable increase in quality on SD channels.

Now, for the first time, I have way more than a handful of HD channels, I've got gobs of them. CNNHD is stunning. So is Sci-Fi HD (Here comes the BSG finale in HD! Woo hoo!). I wish I could get MSNBC and an MLB package in HD but I'm sure those are coming in the future. Here's a summary of the results:

PROS:
• Reasonably quick installation
• Finally! TiVo and plentiful HD channels have arrived.
• No glitches (as some early adopters reported) noticed in the first few hours at all.
• Amazing picture quality. Noticeable upgrade from the HR10-250. I had expected them to be close to OTA HD broadcasts, but I didn't expect it to rival terrestrial quality and they do.
• Motorola DVR can do cool stuff with VOD and PPV.
• Single cable runs can provide dual-tuner (DTV w/HR10-250 required two cables to each location)
• More channels than DTV for about the same cost. Includes Outdoor channel (my brother is on the show Off Road Adventures - Tune in!)

CONS:
• $6/month CableCard fees despite having a lifetime TiVo subscription
• Waaaay too many channels. Dozens of channels are duplicated, making the process of going through the hundreds of channels and removing duplicates in the high number range (1500-1800) takes a lot of time. Also lots of Premium International channels that needed to be removed from the Channel List.

• Installer was either ignorant of TiVo advantages, towing the company line, or just plain stupid. NOTE TO VERIZON EMPLOYEES: When a new customer tells you they've chosen FIOS because after 15 years of loyal service, DirecTV forced them to choose between TiVo and DTV, and the customer wants TiVo, try not to tell the new customer how uninteresting TiVo is and how the they are going to go away eventually anyway.

• Motorola DVR is really bad. Too much going on when the guide button is pressed, even in the alternate view. The third view doesn't give enough info. The folder view is so mechanical and non-human in its design that I want to throw my remote at the TV when i see lists of folders like that. The USB ports are turned off (WTF?). This port disabling crap is one of the things that makes TiVo so cool. There's a community built around enabling dead ports, or buying new boxes that have them enabled like the S3. Motorola and other like them just don't get it. It's a bit of a tangent I know, but when I see this box I'm reminded of why for more than 20 years phone companies like Motorola ignored the importance of user interface, opting to focus on utilitarianism and function over style and smoothness. It wasn't until Apple introduced the iPhone that the phone providers woke up out of their user interface coma. This DVR's menus are scarily similar to that of Motorola phones, which is bad IMO.

• No MLB package at any price

Sorry to bag so long on their DVR. Probably not appropriate here, but I thought i'd help anyone thinking about the jump to know what to expect. There was no option to order FIOS TV without a set top box or DVR and still get the bundle deal price. At least the DVR is free for a year.

[kurtster]

I've noticed some anomalies in aspect ratio on some material. For example, I downloaded the first episode of Til Death free from the Amazon service ability on this S3. The show appears to be squished vertically to force a letterboxed look from 16:9 source material. The show isn't HD but is the full width of a 16x9 image. If I stretch the screen vertically (as I would for a 2.35:1 presentation) it properly fills the 16x9 frame.

That could be explained as an Amazon problem but I also noticed on TBSHD the show Sex and the City (noticed in passing...I wouldn't watch that if you paid me) was stretched horizontally. it appears to be a 4 x 3 image being stretched at the source to fill the 16x9 screen. Using the Aspect button on the TiVo remote has no effect. Settings are for 16x9 TV and Letterbox/Pillarbox option. These are the only source material i've noticed this with. All other channels appear normal.

[aaronwt]

Several channels do that crap with 4:3 content.

[nemein]

Just did the switch to FIOS from Cox myself yesterday. Overall it went fairly smoothly, the tech did have to call twice to get the pairing to work properly, but when he left everything was working fine (and unlike w/ Cox I mean everything/all the channels). I haven't had much time to play around w/ it yet so I'm not sure about the quality/pixilation issues but I'll keep an eye out for it. It does seem like changing the channels take a little longer but it's not too bad.

One thing I did notice (not sure anyone has mentioned this) if you swap the top two items on your season pass list it'll re-sequence all of them and change the channels to what they should be/what the new one are.

[Ziggy86]

Keep us posted as to your picture quality and pixelation issues, hope you have none.

[sender_name]

Several channels do that crap with 4:3 content.

TNTHD, HGHD both do that...so it gives it a fish bowl effect...everyone on the edges is 10ft tall...I was watching an Angel rr on TNTHD the other day and it was just too much to take. After getting use to real hd that stretch crap is horrible. I would rather expand the SD letterbox via tivo aspect

[3morgans]

I have a Series 3 (original) and am in the Northern Virginia area. I have a new install of FIOS scheduled for Friday. I have called Verizon twice to ensure the tech is going to bring two cable cards, but when I call, they say they can't see the installer notes. They also say that since cable cards aren't serialized they don't sign them out, the installer would just have them on the truck. I highly doubt that is true.

Any suggestions to ensure that this install appointment isn't a waste of my time? I don't want to have to schedule another appointment just to get my TiVo up and running.

Eric

[Gregor]

I have a Series 3 (original) and am in the Northern Virginia area. I have a new install of FIOS scheduled for Friday. I have called Verizon twice to ensure the tech is going to bring two cable cards, but when I call, they say they can't see the installer notes. They also say that since cable cards aren't serialized they don't sign them out, the installer would just have them on the truck. I highly doubt that is true.

Any suggestions to ensure that this install appointment isn't a waste of my time? I don't want to have to schedule another appointment just to get my TiVo up and running.

Eric

Escalate the call to a supervisor. I got the same answer and I finally told them "I don't want to hear that your computer won't let you do something".

I had to be persistent :)

[nemein]

It also seems to matter when you order. I initially responded to one of those MANY MANY fliers they would send in the mail but it was after hours so I got passed on to some sort of call service center. The guy I talked too and setup the initial order w/ told me I could add the S cards on later. I called back during normal hours to verify the order and the person I talked to that time said orders couldn't be changed like that so I had to cancel that one and create a whole new order that specifically stated S cards were needed.

[aaronwt]

I have a Series 3 (original) and am in the Northern Virginia area. I have a new install of FIOS scheduled for Friday. I have called Verizon twice to ensure the tech is going to bring two cable cards, but when I call, they say they can't see the installer notes. They also say that since cable cards aren't serialized they don't sign them out, the installer would just have them on the truck. I highly doubt that is true.

Any suggestions to ensure that this install appointment isn't a waste of my time? I don't want to have to schedule another appointment just to get my TiVo up and running.

Eric

You might not have a choice but to have a second appointment, especially if there are any problems with the cable cards. One of my cards crapped out on me several hours after the install. But at least they were accommodating with the return appointment.

[richsadams]

I've noticed some anomalies in aspect ratio on some material. Thanks for the updates and glad to hear things are working well. :up: So no low-pass filters, attenuators or anything? Just a line in to TiVo? Good news.

As aaronwt mentioned, a number of channels try to pass off 4:3 content as HD by modifying the picture when it was never HD to start with. Reminds me of Ted Turner trying to colorize old movies. :down: Amazon has the same issue although you should be able to use the aspect ratio to fill the screen. There are several threads about it elsewhere. Hopefully one day they'll go with true HD.

So enjoy! :)

[nemein]

One other thing I've noticed already is the file sizes on the shows are larger. I'll go back and double check that the recording settings haven't changed but for example previously a typical Myth Busters eps would be around 1.2G, now it's about 2.2G. Does that sound right? I guess it means the quality is a little better but it's going to throw off my DVD burning ;)

[ilh]

Recording settings are irrelevant for digital cable channels as the TiVo simply dumps the digital stream to disk. FiOS does generally have higher bit rates (i.e., higher quality) than competitors.

[nemein]

Recording settings are irrelevant for digital cable channels as the TiVo simply dumps the digital stream to disk. FiOS does generally have higher bit rates (i.e., higher quality) than competitors.

I'm pretty sure w/ Cox I did get the "quality" option on both Myth Busters and Iron Chef (the two I'm archiving onto DVD). I just haven't checked it under FIOS yet to see if that's still there or not.

[sender_name]

I'm pretty sure w/ Cox I did get the "quality" option on both Myth Busters and Iron Chef (the two I'm archiving onto DVD). I just haven't checked it under FIOS yet to see if that's still there or not.

if you are recording standard def than you can chose your quality...if you are recording an HD channel you cannot set the quality b/c it is a fixed digital signal, reguardless of wether it is actually HD Widescreen or just a 4x3 carried on an hd channel.

[ilh]

You cannot set the recording quality on digital SD either. It is a fixed digital signal (MPEG2) just like HD.

[nemein]

if you are recording standard def than you can chose your quality...if you are recording an HD channel you cannot set the quality b/c it is a fixed digital signal, reguardless of wether it is actually HD Widescreen or just a 4x3 carried on an hd channel.

I understand that, but I thought it went beyond that as well. W/ Cox there were some non-HD channels that didn't offer the quality selection, I just haven't checked if these programs still offered that or not... or if somehow they switched from the non-HD version of the channel to the HD version. Although I don't think that's the case because most of the HD files seems to be 5-10G.

[nemein]

You cannot set the recording quality on digital SD either. It is a fixed digital signal (MPEG2) just like HD.

That's what I expect happened. W/ Cox, even though it was supposedly digital service, I believe the channels weren't actually digital whereas w/ FIOS they are now. Like I said I'll look into it more when I get a chance.

[DeWitt]

Just a quick note to relay my so far positive experience. Installed this morning in NJ. We are a new area, Fios has only been available for a few months. Cable cards came up no problem. So far everything looks fine, no pixellation. Tech told me they where told the Tivo needed a really hot signal! he wanted to run it with an unsplit line. I had him put it in as it was and everything looks great.

It is worth noting that I ran all new RG6 quad shield cable.

[nemein]

That's what I expect happened. W/ Cox, even though it was supposedly digital service, I believe the channels weren't actually digital whereas w/ FIOS they are now. Like I said I'll look into it more when I get a chance.


That does seem to be the case. I just checked and I no longer seem to have a "quality" option on anything, even those that w/ Cox I did.

[Ziggy86]

Just a quick note to relay my so far positive experience. Installed this morning in NJ. We are a new area, Fios has only been available for a few months. Cable cards came up no problem. So far everything looks fine, no pixellation. Tech told me they where told the Tivo needed a really hot signal! he wanted to run it with an unsplit line. I had him put it in as it was and everything looks great.

It is worth noting that I ran all new RG6 quad shield cable.

Keep us posted. I live in Queens and they just started to install FiOS tv, I am holding off until I hear how things go but all this pixellation talk has me concerned. Hopefully since this is new to my area maybe they will have the latest equipment and it will not cause this problem.

I thought a hot signal causes TIVO problems.

[acvthree]

A lot of us, maybe most of us, don't experience pixilization and haven't had to use any filters to achieve that result. It just worked from the very beginning.

Al

[Ziggy86]

That is good news, I guess you just hear about the problems.

Thanks for letting me know.
Steven

[kurtster]

Thanks for everyone's advice and help. Nearly a week has passed and it's freakin' great. I'm so glad I did this.

One thing I didn't mention is that I called to order the cable cards before the tech arrived and they had no issues with adding them, and when he came, he had them so I can't complain one bit about the process of asking for the cards and having the tech bring them.

I'm really hating this Motorola DVR. What's with the ridiculous pixeliation/artifacting on this DVR whenever you pause an image? It's like their interlacing/de-interlacing and really doing it poorly. Freeze-frames are awful. I may pick up one of the refurb TiVo HD units. I have some questions maybe someone can answer:

1.) Will I be able to transfer to and from the Series 3 and the TiVo HD without any weird stuff?

2.) Can I just call up Verion and ask them to mail me two more Cable cards? Has anyone else here with FIOS had to order more cards because they bought a second TiVo?

Thanks again.

[aaronwt]

I was told I needed a truck roll when I added my 7th and 8th cable cards.

If they didn't charge so much for a truck roll, and didn't charge me extra for CC I would get two more cable cards. But I'm already paying $24 a month for the ones I have.

[DVRaholic]

Just had New Verizon Fios service installed on my Series 3 on Wednesday

My area was turned on for Internet and phone in July, finally turned on for Video a few weeks ago

I initally had the Double play, transferred over to the Triple play without asking twice :)

It Took them a while to get the Cable cards activated on my Series 3
Tech insisted on doing both at the same time even though I showed him the Series 3 instructions
But we eventually got them going

Picture has been PERFECT no problems whatsoever on the HD channels.

Tech did put a 6 db Attenuator on the line as he said the signal was coming in very hot, so this more then likely eliminated any potential problems

The HD channels are noticeably sharper then Directv's Mpeg-4 HD (at least to my eyes they are :)

ESPN-HD looks Fantastic tonight!!!

I'm so glad I made the Switch :)


FYI.. My ONT is the Motorola 1000

[nemein]

I'm curious about the pixelation problem everyone has been talking about. I noticed on some shows I was watching today (recorded not live if that matters) occasionally part of the screen would go kind of fuzzy for lack of a better description. It wasn't as noticeable as what would happen w Cox sometimes when parts of the screen would be obviously "blocky" and frequently change to different/random/solid colors. So if the former description is what people are talking about I think I can live w/ that. If it's more similar to what I would see w/ Cox I haven't seen anything like that yet.

[richsadams]

I'm curious about the pixelation problem everyone has been talking about. I noticed on some shows I was watching today (recorded not live if that matters) occasionally part of the screen would go kind of fuzzy for lack of a better description. It wasn't as noticeable as what would happen w Cox sometimes when parts of the screen would be obviously "blocky" and frequently change to different/random/solid colors. So if the former description is what people are talking about I think I can live w/ that. If it's more similar to what I would see w/ Cox I haven't seen anything like that yet.Most are referring to macroblocking such as you described from Cox, nothing "fuzzy". What you saw sounds like a random broadcast issue, likely from the source so probably nothing to worry about.

[richsadams]

Just had New Verizon Fios service installed on my Series 3 on Wednesday <snip>
I'm so glad I made the Switch :)Great to hear and encouraging to those of us waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for FIOS.

Enjoy!

[nemein]

One other really odd problem I've been encountering since switching to FIOS is the Tivo Desktop app is frequently crashing now and isn't doing the regular xfers it's supposed to be doing. I guess I should mention when I did the install I had to change to location of the router so the machine running the app was previously hardwired but it is now on wireless (as is the Tivo both before and after) but that's the only real change I can think of (aside from getting the ActionTech router... or whatever it is). Has anyone else seen a similar problem? I think I may be able to move this machine and hopefully find a work around, it's just very odd...

[markp750]

Here in the burbs of DC we just got the massive channel rearrangement. My lineup is all screwed up since this morning. Wrong logos, no program info, etc. I suppose all of my season passes are going to record gray or the wrong shows.
How long does this info take to get updated? Will the Season passes automatically correct themselves or will I have to go in and rebuild them?

Thanks,
Mark P.

[aaronwt]

Here in the burbs of DC we just got the massive channel rearrangement. My lineup is all screwed up since this morning. Wrong logos, no program info, etc. I suppose all of my season passes are going to record gray or the wrong shows.
How long does this info take to get updated? Will the Season passes automatically correct themselves or will I have to go in and rebuild them?

Thanks,
Mark P.

Use the 21044 zipcode in the guided setup and pick the Arundel channels. This is what I did with my four boxes. I just unchecked the Baltimore stations and kept the DC stations checked. All the other stations are the same. All my season passes changed to the correct channel numbers and my boxes are ready to record tonight. The HD channels are there in the guide mapped properly. This is the best solution for now and the only thing you need to do is uncheck the Baltimore stations since they aren't on the DC lineup. While the Arundel Mills area has both the DC and Baltimore stations in their FIOS lineup.

[markp750]

Nope. Didn't work. I tried Repeat Guided setup with first my own zip code and then the one you sent me for Anne Arundle county. No luck. Still wrong logos and many gray channels on the old line up. Oh well, I will just wait and expect many gray season passes.
Jeese, I miss DirecTV's perfect interface. Anyone want to buy my Hughes DVR340 with about 350 hours of record time?

Mark P.

[wkearney99]

Try using zip 10001 and select the New York Plus lineup. That works over here in Bethesda 20817.

[markp750]

Try using zip 10001 and select the New York Plus lineup. That works over here in Bethesda 20817.

I did realize that I still selected Md Fios instead of Anne Arundlel so lets try this again. Gosh, this should be EASY.

Mark P.

[markp750]

OK, It worked. I did the Anne Arundle zip code and selected Ann Arundle instead of DC Fios. Now I have correct channels. Channels are showing correct but Season Passes are still wrong. What a mess. Il will wait to see if this mess corrects itself.

Marl P.

[rocko]

OK, It worked. I did the Anne Arundle zip code and selected Ann Arundle instead of DC Fios. Now I have correct channels. Channels are showing correct but Season Passes are still wrong. What a mess. Il will wait to see if this mess corrects itself.

Marl P.

It will take a little bit but the SPs will correct themselves.

[nemein]

A quick way to force an update of the SPs seems to be to swap the order of the top two. One other thing to note is even after the SPs and channels were all correct, the "To Do" list may still show the wrong channels. It didn't seem to matter though, it recorded the correct shows for me tonight :D

[aaronwt]

A quick way to force an update of the SPs seems to be to swap the order of the top two. One other thing to note is even after the SPs and channels were all correct, the "To Do" list may still show the wrong channels. It didn't seem to matter though, it recorded the correct shows for me tonight :D

Right after I did the guided setup I had the box connect to the TiVo service. As soon as that was completed all my favorites I set up with teh new channels showed up and all my season passes changed to the correct new channel numbers.
If you don't force a connection it could take a while for things to be right. Everything was fine on my four boxes after forcing a connection. Although the whole process, including the guided setup to over 40 minutes for me which included the OTa channel scan..

[pandiegirl]

You cannot set the recording quality on digital SD either. It is a fixed digital signal (MPEG2) just like HD.

Ah, so that explains why I can't control the quality. Does anyone know how many hours the TiVo HD (regular, not XL) can record of the standard definition digital video? I just upgraded a Comcast/TiVo Series 2 to Fios/Tivo HD (the 160 GB, not the older 250 GB series 3 model) and I was surprised to find that after adding about 10-12 shows to my Season Pass manager, I wasn't able to add anymore because I'd run out of necessary space. I've not added any HD shows, and have all the usual settings like recording no more than five episodes of each show and deleting shows when the space is needed, so I'm a little worried. Could I be inadvertently recording everything in HD mode, without actually getting HD, of course, as these are not HD channels I'm recording.

What a pain about the DC channel lineup. I got home to discover that my Daily Show was instead No Reservations on the Travel Channel. Thanks on the tip to use the Arundel channels.

[aaronwt]

My hourlong SD shows on FIOS seem to be between 1 GB and 7.5GB depending on the channel. Some SD channels seem to take up as much space as an OTA HD channel even though it's an SD channel.

When you look at the description of the program in the "Now Playing List" hit the info button and at the bottom of that screen you can see how much space the recording uses.

[richsadams]

I've run into situations where I've recorded the same show (SD and HD) on our Series3 and our TiVo HD and the recording size is different...almost always larger on the THD. :confused:

[b0rg]

I called Verizon to order new FIOS service in NJ. I was going to order online, but I can't get CableCards ordered from their website, as far as I can tell.

The CSR told me that there would be an installation fee of $79 PER card. Is this accurate? It will cost me $160 to have someone come out and installed the cards? It's absolutely ridiculous. I believe Comcast charged me $25 total.

Please let me know if anyone has had similar experience, and if you been able to get out of paying that inane amount.

Thanks so much!

[SeanC]

Sounds wrong to me, the initial install for me, phone, internet, cable box, and 2 cable cards was for a single 80 dollar charge.

[wmcbrine]

They charged you for your initial install? WTF?

[b0rg]

So what should they charge me? I assume at the very least they should charge once for both cards, not for each?

[wmcbrine]

Initial install, they should charge you $0. The $80 is a per-visit charge (definitely not per-card) for post-install tech visits. That would apply if, for example, you'd had Fios installed, and only later decided to get a TiVo HD, and needed cards. Even in that case, you may not have to pay it.

Disclaimer: I haven't had a tech visit since they imposed the $80 policy, so I may not have the fine points down.

[b0rg]

I just called back and placed my order. Spoke with a very nice lady (Lynn) which was super helpful. No CableCard install fees at all.

Much happier..

[webin]

Yah, whoever you talked to before was highly confused.

[sender_name]

yeah...I think someone was being lazy and didn't want to do any more work before they took their break...You can get them to waive just about every fee there is...

[dlesando]

All you need is the cable cards that verizon will supply for 6.99 a month.
I have had no problems until verizon decided to renumber their channels. It took a few days and then tivo updated the guide and it works great.

Dan...

[jap3]

I just called back and placed my order. Spoke with a very nice lady (Lynn) which was super helpful. No CableCard install fees at all.

Much happier..

Please let me know how you make out with the S3 and Fios. I just got mine installed last week in Salem, NJ. I love the internet over DSL. I'm not too impressed with the TV. I've had D*TV for 10 years and Tivo Standalone, DirecTivo an HD Tivio.

My SD channels are not as clear as D*Tv. I do like the variety of HD with Fios though. I have a MOTO box and I HATE the fios guide. :down::down::down:

When you do get your cable card(s) can you let us know if they are the "S" or "M" cards? Everything I've read said the "M" cards should be out by now. Though I did read one post that said October.

Thanks,
John

[wmcbrine]

My SD channels are not as clear as D*Tv.Mine (with a Series 3 TiVo) were way, way clearer on Fios than they were on DirecTV (with an HR10-250). I guess a lot depends on your receiver.

[lrhorer]

When you do get your cable card(s) can you let us know if they are the "S" or "M" cards? Everything I've read said the "M" cards should be out by now. Though I did read one post that said October.
M-cards have been out since early 2007. I suppose it's possible Verizon doesn't have any stock of them pending their use of all their old S-card stock, but I find it unlikely.

[jap3]

Mine (with a Series 3 TiVo) were way, way clearer on Fios than they were on DirecTV (with an HR10-250). I guess a lot depends on your receiver.

I re-read my post and it was unclear. I don't have a S3...yet. My HR10-250 is clearer than the MOTO box that came with Fios.

[wmcbrine]

No, that was clear. That's why I said "I guess a lot depends on your receiver."

[nemein]

Wow... I see what people mean about the pixelization problem now :( The HD shows recorded over the last couple of days have been almost unwatchable. The SD shows seem to be fine though.

[JacksTiVo]

Wow... I see what people mean about the pixelization problem now :( The HD shows recorded over the last couple of days have been almost unwatchable. The SD shows seem to be fine though.I posted on another thread, http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=347640, that my recent problem with pixelation was caused by loose connections of the coax cables into my S3 and by using too many 90 degree swivel connectors. All of my connections are now wrench tight and I removed all 90 degree connectors and my picture and audio have never been better. That is not to say that the older FiOS ONT model 711 are also troublesome with pixelation. My ONT is model 712.

[sinanju]

All you need is the cable cards that verizon will supply for 6.99 a month.
I have had no problems until verizon decided to renumber their channels. It took a few days and then tivo updated the guide and it works great.

Dan...

While ordering service, when I told Verizon that Comcast was currently charging me $0 for the first card and $1.74 for the second card in my S3 and that a $7/mo charge to replace the STB they'd otherwise give me for free was a deal breaker, they agreed to take those charges off of my bill.

We'll see what actually happens.

[webin]

they agreed to take those charges off of my bill.

Wow, I'm jealous.

[jap3]

Mine (with a Series 3 TiVo) were way, way clearer on Fios than they were on DirecTV (with an HR10-250). I guess a lot depends on your receiver.

So, are you saying that with a S3 on Fios your reception was clearer than an HR10-250 on DTV? I'm so close to buying an S3. I may pull the trigger tomorrow. Just not sure if I should get the S3 that has been discontinued or the Tivo HD. I'm wondering if the S3 (discontinued) will have the ability to get the latest software upgrades.

[wmcbrine]

So, are you saying that with a S3 on Fios your reception was clearer than an HR10-250 on DTV?Absolutely.

Just not sure if I should get the S3 that has been discontinued or the Tivo HD. I'm wondering if the S3 (discontinued) will have the ability to get the latest software upgrades.Yes, it will get software updates for the foreseeable future, just like the oldest of the Series 2's still gets. (Admittedly, they no longer support the S1.) Whether it's worth the premium vs. a TiVo HD, though, is questionable.

[aaronwt]

If I had my way all my boxes would be Series 3 boxes. INstead of only three of them while the other four are TiVoHD boxes.
The Series 3 boxes have been much better in every way in my setups. The only two things I like better about the TiVoHD is the location of the cable card slots and the price.
But on regular usage I would have a serious problem using the TiVoHD everyday in my main system. After fast forwarding or rewinding it always takes the DD signal 1 to 2 seconds to come back up. But from my Series 3 boxes it comes back up in a split second.
My TiVoHD boxes in my other locations are set for pcm output so they don't have this problem.

[DeWitt]

So, are you saying that with a S3 on Fios your reception was clearer than an HR10-250 on DTV? I'm so close to buying an S3. I may pull the trigger tomorrow. Just not sure if I should get the S3 that has been discontinued or the Tivo HD. I'm wondering if the S3 (discontinued) will have the ability to get the latest software upgrades.

Night and day difference from the HR10-250. HD channels look just like OTA to me on my new Tivo HD with Fios. Suprisingly it is even better than the HR10-250 was on OTA signals.

[Dzipi]

I had an Verizon Fios installation yesterday, techs spend most of the time on other issues (FIOS - phone, TV and internet installation). When we finally got to the point of installing cable cards it was very late and here is what I am stuck with currently (I am at work and I'll call them later today, they were trying hard but they did not do it before - so I am afraid thay can't help a lot):

- Tivo is showing only broadband/local channes - in Standard def. and HD, but nothing else I apologize is this has alreayd been asked, but anyone had this issue before?

- Which zip code should I select during the Guided Setup? I live in Redmond,WA (98052) and Verizon is not offered as an option. Tried a couple of ?educated? guesses but got nowhere...


Thanks in advance!

[bkdtv]

- Tivo is showing only broadband/local channes - in Standard def. and HD, but nothing else I apologize is this has alreayd been asked, but anyone had this issue before?This is what you see when your CableCards have not been properly authorized.

- Which zip code should I select during the Guided Setup? I live in Redmond,WA (98052) and Verizon is not offered as an option. Tried a couple of ?educated? guesses but got nowhere...

That's the first I heard of that. Submit a lineup report:

http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/contactsupport/lineup_tool.html

[jap3]

Absolutely.

Yes, it will get software updates for the foreseeable future, just like the oldest of the Series 2's still gets. (Admittedly, they no longer support the S1.) Whether it's worth the premium vs. a TiVo HD, though, is questionable.

Very good. I was looking at the TivoHD today and almost pulled the trigger. But I got an email today from a certain upgrade place offering a discontinued Series 3 for $399. It's a bigger hard drive and after the comments from aaronwt I may just get the S3. I'll decide before bed tonight. Thanks for your comments regarding this. I love this place.

[tividiot]

Which zip code should I select during the Guided Setup? I live in Redmond,WA (98052) and Verizon is not offered as an option. Tried a couple of ?educated? guesses but got nowhere...


Try 98072 (which is Woodinville). Worked for me.

[pjb923]

This is getting really frustrating. I am trying to order FIOS and finally got someone on the phone that knows what cablecards are and confirmed that they should work with the Tivo. I placed the order, making it very clear that I needed 2 cablecards and a DVR for a 2nd room, and the 20/5 internet service.

When I got the email confirmation it said:

You ordered: FiOS Internet [10Mbps/2Mbps]

FiOS TV Order Details:
You ordered: Essentials
-DVR Provisioning
-Digital Adapter - DCT 700
-Service Installation
-Free Existing outlet (up to 3)

She read the entire order to me on the phone. 2 cablecards and a DVR, and 20/5 service. Where are my cablecards, and where did the DCT 700 come from?

Looks like I'll be making yet another phone call to Verizon.

[richsadams]

This is getting really frustrating. I am trying to order FIOS and finally got someone on the phone that knows what cablecards are and confirmed that they should work with the Tivo. I placed the order, making it very clear that I needed 2 cablecards and a DVR for a 2nd room, and the 20/5 internet service.

When I got the email confirmation it said:

You ordered: FiOS Internet [10Mbps/2Mbps]

FiOS TV Order Details:
You ordered: Essentials
-DVR Provisioning
-Digital Adapter - DCT 700
-Service Installation
-Free Existing outlet (up to 3)

She read the entire order to me on the phone. 2 cablecards and a DVR, and 20/5 service. Where are my cablecards, and where did the DCT 700 come from?

Looks like I'll be making yet another phone call to Verizon.That sort of thing worries me too. I haven't ordered FIOS yet, but our cell phone billing experience with VZ seems to echo what others here are saying...they are less than stellar. :mad: Apparently their tech side is pretty good, but when it comes to getting something done on the paper-side of the equation, VZ gets a D- in our report card. We tried to have our address changed and it took them over seven months! Simple thing...we moved, please change our address. We did it on line, we called, we did it on line again, we called again, and again and again. What a nightmare. Hope they get their act together one of these days. :down:

[nemein]

So I just received my first FIOS bill and I'm confused... First they said everything would be broken out (so a $ for the TV, $ for the I'net and $ for the phone) but it's not, everything is just listed as FIOS bundle. This really sucks because work reimburses me for I'net access, provided I can show what I paid. Here's where it gets really odd though. I used to access my DSL bill/receipts [paid for it w/ a CC] online. When I logged in to look at that there is a charge there still. One that is higher than was I was paying for DSL so I assume it is the FIOS charge, but it seems to me they are billing me twice now (once online charged to the CC, and then a paper bill covering some of the same service). I'm going to call them later but I figured I'd ask here to see if anyone knew anything or had a similar experience.

[nemein]

Wow... I see what people mean about the pixelization problem now :( The HD shows recorded over the last couple of days have been almost unwatchable. The SD shows seem to be fine though.

Well it seems it was just the recordings early last week (last Mon & Tues) that were screwed up, so hopefully it's a transient sort of thing. It was kind of stormy those nights IIRC, is this setup that susceptible to storms/interference like that?

[passatdream]

I have FiOS and two Tivos. I have one S3 and one Tivo HD. Both have two cable cards. Verizon provides single-stream cable cards, so you will need to of them to use the dualtuner functionality. I've had no problems with Verizon's CableCards.

Chris.

[sender_name]

So I just received my first FIOS bill and I'm confused... .....


Verizon has an online billing statement that is all broken down. That's what i use. Perhaps somewhere on your bill it directs you to the website for a more detailed bill?

EDIT: I just checked mine and they do indeed have a VERY detailed bill online.

[sender_name]

This is getting really frustrating. I am trying to order FIOS and finally got someone on the phone that knows what cablecards are and confirmed that they should work with the Tivo. I placed the order, making it very clear that I needed 2 cablecards and a DVR for a 2nd room, and the 20/5 internet service.

When I got the email confirmation it said:

You ordered: FiOS Internet [10Mbps/2Mbps]

FiOS TV Order Details:
You ordered: Essentials
-DVR Provisioning
-Digital Adapter - DCT 700
-Service Installation
-Free Existing outlet (up to 3)

She read the entire order to me on the phone. 2 cablecards and a DVR, and 20/5 service. Where are my cablecards, and where did the DCT 700 come from?

The Digital Adapter is a $4/month box that allows the standard def channels (like 0-499) to be viewed on a standard def tv. It is essentially a micro cable box. I have one in my bedroom for my tivo series 2 and 24" standard def tv.
If you have told them you have 2 tv's and only ordered 1 HD box they might have sent a Dig. Adapt for the 2nd tv...if you have a standard def tv or a series 2 tivo you will need a dig adapter//

[pjb923]

The Digital Adapter is a $4/month box that allows the standard def channels (like 0-499) to be viewed on a standard def tv. It is essentially a micro cable box. I have one in my bedroom for my tivo series 2 and 24" standard def tv.
If you have told them you have 2 tv's and only ordered 1 HD box they might have sent a Dig. Adapt for the 2nd tv...if you have a standard def tv or a series 2 tivo you will need a dig adapter//

I know what the digital adapter is, and I know that I don't need one. I have an HD Tivo and made it very clear on the phone that I needed 2 cablecards and a DVR for a 2nd room. She even got a tech on the phone with us to verify the availability and compatibility of the cable cards. Then she repeated the entire order back to me, re-stating that I needed 2 cablecards. 20 minutes later I received the order confirmation that I posted here.

I tried calling them back before I left work today, but didn't want to spend any more time on hold and gave up. I'll try again tomorrow.

[timmymac123]

I called Billing. I had to work the young woman a little bit.
First I called my local Verizon office to see if they had the cards on hand...which they did. They mentioned if I had an Order Number, I could just stop by and pick up the cards.

So I asked about Cable cards. I mentioned I wanted to pick them.
It sounded odd to her, but she accomodated.
I got my order number for two cards and ppicked them up.

I got home, put one in my tivo and called support to activate them.

Another weird call....the support guy asked if I was a tech...he he.
I of course said no, how much brains does it take to read two numbers
to a support person on the phone...he laughed.

After a few minutes and one remote reset later (I was only getting local HD, he did a reset and that provided the rest of the HD channels) I was off an running at my leisure with no support person on site!

--tmac

[sender_name]

I called Billing. I had to work the young woman a little bit.
First I called my local Verizon office to see if they had the cards on hand...which they did. They mentioned if I had an Order Number, I could just stop by and pick up the cards.

So I asked about Cable cards. I mentioned I wanted to pick them.
It sounded odd to her, but she accomodated.
I got my order number for two cards and ppicked them up.

I got home, put one in my tivo and called support to activate them.

Another weird call....the support guy asked if I was a tech...he he.
I of course said no, how much brains does it take to read two numbers
to a support person on the phone...he laughed.

After a few minutes and one remote reset later (I was only getting local HD, he did a reset and that provided the rest of the HD channels) I was off an running at my leisure with no support person on site!

--tmac
NICE...
It is so simple to do the cards when you are familiar with the tivo interface...I was tempted to post on youtube "How to configure fios cards for tivo"

[webin]

After a few minutes and one remote reset later (I was only getting local HD, he did a reset and that provided the rest of the HD channels) I was off an running at my leisure with no support person on site!

Congrats! You are the very first person I've heard of that managed to convince Verizon to let you do the job yourself. Of course we can all handle it, but they won't let us!

[richsadams]

<snip>

After a few minutes and one remote reset later (I was only getting local HD, he did a reset and that provided the rest of the HD channels) I was off an running at my leisure with no support person on site!

--tmacWell done! :up: But didn't you miss having nothing to do for four hours while you sat around waiting for the VZ tech to show up?! ;)

[pjb923]

I wanted to give a quick update on my order status. I called back to update my order with cable cards in place of the digital adapter.

Calling the number provided on my order status page I am greeted by a maze of menus, always asking for the phone number you are calling about. Since i don't have a Verizon phone, I just hit pound a few times to get through this first stage. Then I am asked what service I am calling about and press the button for Fios and say that I am calling to update an existing order. Once I am finally connected to a person I start to read my order number and he says "oh, this is about Fios... I will need to transfer you". Ok, why did I have to choose the Fios option in the menu if they are going to send me to someone that can't help me with Fios??

Next person picks up and asks for me Verizon business phone number. I tell them I don't have a phone number, but I have an order confirmation number. Her response... "I can't help you if this is regarding a residential account, let me transfer you." She was nice enough to give me the direct number for Fios support making my next call much easier, and she transferred me to the correct department this time.

I explained the error on my confirmation and she made the appropriate changes to my order. A few hours later I saw that the order had been updated and now shows 1 cablecard and 1 digital adapter. I called back again and was told that the status on the website is not updated and that my order is correct in their system. She also managed to try to sell me their phone service before we hung up.

My installation date is Saturday Oct. 25th, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed until then. I will be armed with information about attenuators, low pass filters and cablecard installation when the techs show up.

[webin]

Don't you just love the Verizon phone system? Even if I do find a convenient path through the subsections, I always seem to get transferred incorrectly as least once.

I've done some simple phone system routing programming, and I can't imagine how complicated their flowchart must be.

[Jonathan_S]

Don't you just love the Verizon phone system? Even if I do find a convenient path through the subsections, I always seem to get transferred incorrectly as least once.I love the part where you call the same number four times in two days and it presents you with 2 or 3 different menu trees. You can't even memorize your way through.

Or the fact that it tries it's damndest to avoid connecting you to tech support after you've got a scheduled visit. (Um, guys, I'm trying to cancel the now-unnecessary tech visit.)

[sender_name]

i just hit random buttons until i get a person...and then i go from there...Somtimes i even try to get as far from the correct person as possible...call fios and make your way to the business cellular or something

[rocko]

I've found that if you say "agent" at any time during the call you are released from voice-prompt hell and connected to a live person. The bad news is that it's a crapshoot whether or not that talking head can actually help :o

[Dana_B]

Called Verizon to start getting some of the new channels offered. Like SpeedHD.

If you do the same get an order number before you hang up.

I had to call twice to get it installed as the order the first time was never entered into the system and one of the first questions I got in regards to the order was the order number. I did not have one. Placed the order again and got an order number and new channels in less then a minute showed up.

TiVo HD Fios cable cards
1gb internal upgrade

[JacksTiVo]

I recently posted my experience with stuttering audio & pixelation on another thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=407509). In my case it wasn't FiOS and the need for a low pass filter, but an issue with the My DVR Expander.

In any event in reading some recent posts, i thought I would provide what I hope are some helpful comments.
If your FiOS service has gone 100% digital, Verizon will give you two digital to analog converter boxes at no monthly charge. I initially was charged $3.99/mo per box.

When I converted to FiOS from NJ Cablevision cable service I was pleased with the quality of the HD video and saw some improvement as compared to Cablevision's HD.
My TV was a 53" Sony rear projection set purchased in June 2000. It was HD ready at the time so adding the S3 was not a problem.

After saving money in my "mad money" account (I save a few dollars each month to buy myself gadgets, toys and such without having to worry that my DW will complain about the expenditure), I finally had enough to purchase a new LCD HD TV.
Wow, the FiOS HD is absolutely unbelievable. I purchased a 52" Samsung series 6 unit that received high marks from Consumer Reports & CNET. The FiOS picture is so good and lifelike that it almost feels as if you are looking out of your window.

In other words, if you want to experience the full extent of the FiOS service, you should have a newer model HD TV, not one that is 8 years old.

[dave843]

I just had FIOS installed on Friday. It went fairly well. But the installer hadn't done a cablecard installation in a couple of years, and had never done a Tivo. So he didn't know what he was doing. But he was friendly, and willing to learn. He let me deal with the Tivo. He wrote down the numbers, and I ran the Tivo. After trying to activate the first card for a few minutes, he figured out that the cablecards were not on my account (so they would not activate). After adding them to my account, they activated.

But now the fun part -- I got two M-Cards. The installer mentioned that my cards were brand new when he picked them up. So it looks like Verizon is slowly moving to the M-Cards.

[slocko]

does that mean you only needed one card? why did he install 2?

[dave843]

does that mean you only needed one card? why did he install 2?

According to the Series 3 and Tivo HD FAQ (http://www.gizmolovers.com/series3-faq/), the Tivo HD supports the dual-tuner capabilities of the M-card, but the Series 3 does not. This means that the Series 3 must have two cable cards to use both tuners (it doesn't matter if the cards themselves support it or not). Hopefully the Series 3 will support it at some point.

Can I use one Mutli-Stream CableCARD, or M-Card?

Currently the TiVo HD supports M-Card, but the Series3 does not yet support it. While the Series3 Viewer’s Guide has the following on page 102: “Note: A single multi-stream CableCARD decoder installed in the bottom slot on the back of the DVR enables dual tuner functionality.”, this is incorrect! I spoke with Bob Poniatowski (aka TiVoPony) of TiVo by phone on Thursday, September 21st, 2006 and he clarified that. He also later made a post at TiVoCommunity.com which contained the following:

There is currently no certification process for multi-stream cards (MCARD) in uni-directional devices such as the Series3. We are tracking the creation of the certification for this very closely and will work with CableLabs as this certification is finalized and becomes available. In the mean time, you will need two cable cards in your Series3 to enable dual tuner functionality (MCARDs in a uni-directional device act as SCARDs).

The Series3 should support M-Card via a software update in the future.

[SeanC]

There have been comments on this board from TivoPony that have made it sound unlikely that the S3 will ever be upgraded to support the M card's dual tuner capability.

[aaronwt]

Oh well. It's not worth it for me anyway. Just to have them come out to install M cards would cost a lot and only save me $2 on each tiVo.

[JustAllie]

I just had two family members contact me in the past week ranting about Verizon's crappy DVR that they insisted on installing with the Verizon FiOS TV service.

I'm now officially going to just cut and paste my recommendations for what equipment to ask for so that my friends and family members can use their TiVos with FiOS, and reassuring them that no matter what the Verizon tech says, FiOS is compatible with TiVo, and they do not "have" to get the Verizon DVR. :rolleyes:

[JStew]

Has anyone recently had a Vz truck roll to install cards? I had it done about a year ago and it was $25.00 for the tech to come do the job. Recently, there have been grumblings that the cost is presently at $79.00. Can anyone confirm this?

[Gregor]

I just had two family members contact me in the past week ranting about Verizon's crappy DVR that they insisted on installing with the Verizon FiOS TV service.

I'm now officially going to just cut and paste my recommendations for what equipment to ask for so that my friends and family members can use their TiVos with FiOS, and reassuring them that no matter what the Verizon tech says, FiOS is compatible with TiVo, and they do not "have" to get the Verizon DVR. :rolleyes:

I think the current "deal" with FIOS is a free DVR for a year. My parents took it, and really like it, but they've never had a DVR. Unfortunately, I've never been able to convince them how great Tivo is.

[sender_name]

so using my tivo's card diagnostics i have Id a channel range that is corrupted...it is all channels from 135000khz to 153000khz. It is about 10 hd channels. I called tech support and they did a bunch of remote cable card reboots and are sending a tech out monday. I am pretty sure it is an issue on their end because in that range i get 1,000,000's of errors in 1/2 hour and 100,000 uncorrected errors that result in programming skips etc. I told them all of this and they are coming out to see...I will let you all know what happens

Just quoting myself here...

The pixelation was fixed by verizon at the office. The PON? card was swapped out and the specific fiber connected to it was cleaned (this is what the tech determined had to be done) and now i have no uncorrected errors in that range. Actually i have no errors...So i am now re-recording all the Stargate atlantis eps that were pixelated :)

Ahh..I needed my USAhd and ScifiHD
Has anyone recently had a Vz truck roll to install cards? I had it done about a year ago and it was $25.00 for the tech to come do the job. Recently, there have been grumblings that the cost is presently at $79.00. Can anyone confirm this?

when i had my install done (the guy brought the cards) the cost was 3x $6.99 (over 3 months) for the entire install...

[V7Goose]

Has anyone recently had a Vz truck roll to install cards? I had it done about a year ago and it was $25.00 for the tech to come do the job. Recently, there have been grumblings that the cost is presently at $79.00. Can anyone confirm this?

Both time I had them come out to install cable cards (about 18 months ago, then again two months ago) there was no cost for the truck roll. The only thing on my bill is the additional cost per card per month.

[JStew]

Both time I had them come out to install cable cards (about 18 months ago, then again two months ago) there was no cost for the truck roll. The only thing on my bill is the additional cost per card per month.
Thanks, sender and Goose. I think customer service gave out wrong information (again).

[smcmanus]

Verizon cable cards. I do not know if others have run into this. Verizon tech support advised me that I needed 2 single stream cards and that Tivo 3 will not handle the M series (multistream) card at this time, bu tthey are coming out with a different tivo next year that will. He stated that the M series cards are bigger than the S series and will not fit in the current series 3 box. The tech wanted to drop ship the cards to be, but Verizon billing insisted they could only be installed by a service tech and the charge for the service call is $79. I live in the Philadelphia area, so I do not know if this is the same everwhere. The cards are being installed tomorrow, so we'll see how it all works.

[Jonathan_S]

Verizon tech support advised me that I needed 2 single stream cards and that Tivo 3 will not handle the M series (multistream) card at this timeSort of correct for the original series 3, not true for the TiVo HD and TiVo HD XL.
but they are coming out with a different tivo next year that will.There are already two TiVos out that fully support M-cards.
He stated that the M series cards are bigger than the S series and will not fit in the current series 3 box.Nonsense. The cards are the same size.
Heck, even the original series 3 will work with M-cards; it just can't use more that 1 stream from one. (So you need two M-cards for dual tuner support).

[debtoine]

We just jumped ship from cable to Fios. Our install is next Friday, and I can't wait. :)

No more worrying about tuning adapters for us.

deb

[sender_name]

Dammit...I just had Fios extreme HD activated and I turned FX HD and it is garbage with uncorrected errors...Time to call Vz and have them clean another PON card and fiber...It only took 2 months for them to track down the error on the 135,000 range now this one is in the 335,000 i think...

[richsadams]

Verizon cable cards. <snip>Welcome to the forum! Per Jonathan's note, the VZ rep obviously knew little about the subject matter. "M" cards are bigger than "S" cards?! :rolleyes:

In any case as long as the tech they send out isn't the same guy you should be fine. Give him the TiVo HD cable card installation sheet (http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/technicalsupport/hdandcablecards/Installing_CableCARDs_in_a_TiVo_HD_DVR.html) or the Series3 installation sheet (http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/technicalsupport/hdandcablecards/Installing_CableCARDs_in_a_TiVo_Series3_HD_DVR.html)(not sure which you have) that came with your TiVo, make sure he follows it (in particular make sure he/she installs and pairs cable card 1 first and then 2...trying to activate them both at the same time is the most common mistake) and everything should be fine.

With regard to the $79 truck roll charge, IIRC others here have pushed back, cajoled and/or threatened VZ and had the charge reduced or waived. YMMV.

Feel free to report back! :up:

[webin]

<removed my snarky reply to a spammer>

[richsadams]

<removed my snarky reply to a spammer>Oh come on...where's the fun in that? ;)

[eddietr]

Well, I'm about to give up after 6 months of S3 + FIOS.

All was fine for about 4 months with 2 M cards. But for the past two months one of the two cards will stop working every couple of days. Then I restart the TiVo or call and have the card "pinged" and that card will work again.

And then invariably a day or two later the other one will stop. So effectively I'm restarting our TiVo 3 times a week and more importantly I'm losing a lot of shows.

So Verizon replaced both M cards. Then we replaced the TiVo. And still the same behavior.

Which is strange considering all was well was for 4 months. Very frustrating.

So I guess the plan now is to go with our antenna and iTunes for a while. No sense in paying for service when half our cable shows don't tape anyway.

[moneytrain8]

I had Fios installed on Tuesday. I have two TiVo HD boxes. It was beautiful.

When Comcast came out 18 months ago, it literally took 6 visits to get my cable cards working correctly. Each one was hours long, with some 47 IQ contractor on the phone with a 48 IQ dispatcher who couldn't seem to get Comcast's Enigma-esque codes in place to give me the channels I paid for. Each time met with some new act of idiocy and miscommunication. It still didn't fully work even after that, I was missing channels - luckily they were the crappy ones I didn't care about and not the HD ones.

ANYWAY... Verizon came out at 9 a.m... I had phone, Internet and Extreme HD in under 3 hours. He had the cable cards activated in minutes, which was made super easy by a thumb drive that allowed him to activate via my computer. I have all my channels, the TiVo works beautifully. I have tons of HD channels with dozens more to come in the net 60 days.

Comcast... are you listening? Get rid of the dolt subcontractors and use Comcast employees (the Comcast cable cards only worked after a visit form a real Comcast employee).

I'm sure people have horror stories about Verizon. I had a great tech who knew what he was doing... but I have heard plenty of good Verizon stories, which I nearly NEVER hear about Comcast installs.

[richsadams]

Verizon installed all of the fiber optics, etc. in our neighborhood back in June and I've been waiting for them to let me know when FIOS was available but I hadn't heard from them (expecting a flyer, letter or something). This morning I was out walking the dog on the next street over when I spied a VZ truck with a repairman pulling some equipment out of the back. I stopped and asked him if/when FIOS would be available at my house? He said he was installing it for my neighbor and that it might be available for our house already. I asked him if he had any dealings with TiVo's and he told me that he had and that they had one particular frequency that was "too hot" and required attenuation. He also said that they had just started receiving "M" cable cards and that seemed to cure the problem. He started to explain attenuation, cable cards and such and I told him that I'd been following this forum and what I had learned (thanks to the brilliant contributors here :up: ). He looked a little stunned, smiled and said that I seemed to know as much as he did and that he should hand me the equipment and let me do the install myself. Well, I don't know that much I told him.

He took my address and phone and said he'd check on availability on his laptop when he was done with his current installation. He called back in about two hours and said that he had confirmation that our house was ready. :D But then...:eek: After reading so many pro's and con's here I'm still on the fence. Right now I have Comcast and it's okay, but I would really love to have all of the uncompressed HD channels as well as the huge broadband pipe.

It's decision time I guess. I suppose I can wait, but I'm not sure why other than I'd hope that things will get better with regard to attenuation. If they have "M" cards now that might be the key. Hmmmm...what to do. :confused:

[moneytrain8]

Rich... They put M cards in my two TiVos this week, although you and I are in slightly different areas. :)

[richsadams]

Rich... They put M cards in my two TiVos this week, although you and I are in slightly different areas. :)And it sounds like everything is as it should be. :up: No attenuation, no problems?

[JacksTiVo]

Verizon installed all of the fiber optics, etc. in our neighborhood back in June and I've been waiting for them to let me know when FIOS was available but I hadn't heard from them (expecting a flyer, letter or something). This morning I was out walking the dog on the next street over when I spied a VZ truck with a repairman pulling some equipment out of the back. I stopped and asked him if/when FIOS would be available at my house? He said he was installing it for my neighbor and that it might be available for our house already.
He took my address and phone and said he'd check on availability on his laptop when he was done with his current installation. He called back in about two hours and said that he had confirmation that our house was ready. :D But then...:eek: After reading so many pro's and con's here I'm still on the fence. Right now I have Comcast and it's okay, but I would really love to have all of the uncompressed HD channels as well as the huge broadband pipe.

It's decision time I guess. I suppose I can wait, but I'm not sure why other than I'd hope that things will get better with regard to attenuation. If they have "M" cards now that might be the key. Hmmmm...what to do. :confused:Rich,
Visit the Verizon FiOS Web site and enter your zipcode. The site will advise if it is available to your home. They did not send any flyers or sales reps into my neighborhood. After they install the optical terminal boxes (if you have underground service the terminals boxes are in the larger boxes) they are good to go since they test each fiber back to the central office as they "wire" each terminal.

Their system is all prefab. After installing the ONT in your home, they plug the prefab optical cable into it and then run the optical cable from your service box through the conduits to the nearest terminal box, where they plug in the other prefab end of the optical cable.

I have had no attenuation issues with the ONT712. The FiOS service is superior to standard cable and with my new Samsung LCD TV the picture is so sharp that sometimes it appears you are looking out of a window.

I had cable service with the same company for 26 years, so it was hard to depart since I was comfortable with them. But when the SDV became an issue I was able to make up my mind rather quickly to change to FiOS.

[richsadams]

Rich,
Visit the Verizon FiOS Web site and enter your zipcode. The site will advise if it is available to your home. They did not send any flyers or sales reps into my neighborhood. <snip>Thanks for the info and positive feedback Jack. I did indeed check on line a while back and it said FIOS was available at my house. I just hadn't done anything about it because of my TiVo questions/concerns and was glad I was able to ask the VZ installer about it.

When they installed the lines in my brother-in-law's neighborhood they sent him a big promo package in the mail. I was kind of waiting for that as well to see if they had any "deals". (According to the VZ web site I can apparently get their DVR free for one year...oh boy! :rolleyes: )

In any case, thanks again. Hearing about your and other's positive experiences plus knowing that they're using "M" cards now is a plus. I think I'll pull the trigger as soon as I can find time to stay home for a day and ensure they get everything right. :)

[markp750]

Hi all.
Just read a Tivo message about new HD channels added. They are now in my lineup but I receive nothing. Just gray. I have a series 3 with two cards.
Will these new channels appear in a few days or does some tech have to update my cards?

Thanks in advance.

Mark P.

[wmcbrine]

Just read a Tivo message about new HD channels added. They are now in my lineup but I receive nothing.You have to call Verizon to switch to the "Extreme HD" package. (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=409161)

[markp750]

You have to call Verizon to switch to the "Extreme HD" package. (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=409161)


And how much extra per month is that??

Mark P.

[wmcbrine]

Read the thread I linked to.

[moneytrain8]

Rich... Yup, no issues so far with the M cards. Looks as good as it did with Comcast. No sure HD can look that much "better" anyway. :) Good luck with whatever you decide.

Extreme HD/Phone/Internet is $99 a month (plus taxes/fees) here in Baltimore. When you are on the phone, tell them you want to the $10 a month discount you'd get from ordering online. They'll give it to you with little/no pushing. Otherwise it's $109/month. Still cheaper than the $160 I gave Comcast each month for the same thing.

[Gregor]

Rich... Yup, no issues so far with the M cards. Looks as good as it did with Comcast. No sure HD can look that much "better" anyway. :) Good luck with whatever you decide.

Extreme HD/Phone/Internet is $99 a month (plus taxes/fees) here in Baltimore. When you are on the phone, tell them you want to the $10 a month discount you'd get from ordering online. They'll give it to you with little/no pushing. Otherwise it's $109/month. Still cheaper than the $160 I gave Comcast each month for the same thing.

Actually, the HD looks better that Comcast (imho). Remember that Verizon does not re-compress HD channels, while Comcast does. I noticed an immediate difference in PQ when I changed.

[richsadams]

Rich... Yup, no issues so far with the M cards. Looks as good as it did with Comcast. No sure HD can look that much "better" anyway. :) Good luck with whatever you decide.

Extreme HD/Phone/Internet is $99 a month (plus taxes/fees) here in Baltimore. When you are on the phone, tell them you want to the $10 a month discount you'd get from ordering online. They'll give it to you with little/no pushing. Otherwise it's $109/month. Still cheaper than the $160 I gave Comcast each month for the same thing.Thanks for the support...and the tip! When I looked everything up on line and ordered it, (but didn't complete the order) the same services came out to $109. :confused: Wonder if it's $10 higher out here? Our Comcast bill is about $160 as well, so whatever it ends up being will be a huge savings! Thanks again. :up:

Actually, the HD looks better that Comcast (imho). Remember that Verizon does not re-compress HD channels, while Comcast does. I noticed an immediate difference in PQ when I changed.A number of other folks here said the same thing. That's what I'm looking forward to!! :)

[aaronwt]

I have fourteen months on two of my cable cards and around eleven months on six cable cards with FIOS. They have been working fine. Although I have the single stream cards.

Well, I'm about to give up after 6 months of S3 + FIOS.

All was fine for about 4 months with 2 M cards. But for the past two months one of the two cards will stop working every couple of days. Then I restart the TiVo or call and have the card "pinged" and that card will work again.

And then invariably a day or two later the other one will stop. So effectively I'm restarting our TiVo 3 times a week and more importantly I'm losing a lot of shows.

So Verizon replaced both M cards. Then we replaced the TiVo. And still the same behavior.

Which is strange considering all was well was for 4 months. Very frustrating.

So I guess the plan now is to go with our antenna and iTunes for a while. No sense in paying for service when half our cable shows don't tape anyway.

[David Platt]

Thanks for the support...and the tip! When I looked everything up on line and ordered it, (but didn't complete the order) the same services came out to $109. :confused: Wonder if it's $10 higher out here? Our Comcast bill is about $160 as well, so whatever it ends up being will be a huge savings! Thanks again. :up:


Just to give you a bit of comparison since I'm in your area, I have the 20/5 internet, TV with HBO, and phone and I pay right around $160/month.

[richsadams]

Just to give you a bit of comparison since I'm in your area, I have the 20/5 internet, TV with HBO, and phone and I pay right around $160/month.Thanks David...sounds good, especially the speedy/unlimited broadband connection. As someone else mentioned, if we start downloading movies from Netflix that will cause us to hit Comcast's bandwidth cap pretty quickly (particularly if/when they offer HD downloads). It'll be a great not to have to worry about that with VZ.

Thanks again! :up: