ByeBye D*TV ... Hello FIOS

[xfm]

Well, made the jump to FIOS after 10+ years with D*TV, but haven't pulled the plug on my D* service yet.

After I cancel the satellite services, I presume that I can still access the Now Playing programs for viewing or archiving to DVD-R. Can someone confirm this assumption to be true?

Will there be any other functionality remaining on my HR10-250, R10, HDVR2 & DSR-6000 units? Can I unplug, move to another room and reboot without satellite connections?

BTW, got a FIOS DVR to start off with, but it's terrible after 8+ years of TiVo. Also have a TiVo S3 (with CableCards) and a TiVo S2 (with a STB) to use with FIOS, and will later use my Promo $200 Best Buy gift card to get a TiVoHD for $99. At that point the FIOS DVR will be returned.

[cowboys2002]

All you can do without a subscription is watch what has been recorded.

Do you want to sell your HD DVR?

And I forgot to add that without programming data, you lose the ability to schedule recordings.

[trnsfrguy]

From what I've read at other forums, you should disconnect the satellite feed from the dvr before you call to cancel so the the dvr function can't be disabled.

[xfm]

Originally Posted by trnsfrguy

From what I've read at other forums, you should disconnect the satellite feed from the dvr before you call to cancel so the the dvr function can't be disabled.

Can you define 'dvr function'? Can they actually do this and would that mean that saved programs could not be viewed or burned to DVD?

Can you point me to a discussion where additional info could be obtained?

[xfm]

Originally Posted by cowboys2002

All you can do without a subscription is watch what has been recorded.

Do you want to sell your HD DVR?

And I forgot to add that without programming data, you lose the ability to schedule recordings.

Haven't made any decisions yet on equipment disposal, but I'll keep you in mind if I decide to sell my HR10.

[Dkerr24]

Good luck with FIOS. I love letting folks like you beta test new technology so I know that when I finally adopt it, it will be trouble-free.

[trnsfrguy]

Originally Posted by xfm

Can you define 'dvr function'? Can they actually do this and would that mean that saved programs could not be viewed or burned to DVD?

Can you point me to a discussion where additional info could be obtained?

You can get more info at www.dbstalk.com. As I understand it, once you cancel the dvr can't even play back anything you have on your playlist.

EDIT: here's a thread that answers your question.http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=110874

[xfm]

Originally Posted by trnsfrguy

You can get more info at www.dbstalk.com. As I understand it, once you cancel the dvr can't even play back anything you have on your playlist.

EDIT: here's a thread that answers your question.http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=110874

Thanks. I'll check it out.

[doncoolio]

Originally Posted by Dkerr24

Good luck with FIOS. I love letting folks like you beta test new technology so I know that when I finally adopt it, it will be trouble-free.

Is fios even offered in your state? Do you have personal experience with Fios? I do, and D* is getting kicked to the curb when my neighborhood gets lit up.

[xfm]

Originally Posted by Dkerr24

Good luck with FIOS. I love letting folks like you beta test new technology so I know that when I finally adopt it, it will be trouble-free.

FWIW, FIOS has been a great investment so far -- better picture quality, lots more channels (especially HD), more premium channels, ability to use my TiVo S3 with cable cards, faster internet, and I save $95/month vs old independent TV/Phone/Internet. Plus I get a choice of a free Sharp 19" HDTV or a $200 Best Buy gift card, which I plan to use for a TiVoHD DVR.

Order administration at Verizon is an absolute horror show, but tech support guys are sharp and helpful in working around administrative screwups.

[JimSpence]

Originally Posted by xfm

FWIW, FIOS has been a great investment so far -- better picture quality, lots more channels (especially HD), ...

Since each community is different for channel availability, please list what HD channels you have. Thanks.

[acvthree]

Originally Posted by Dkerr24

Good luck with FIOS. I love letting folks like you beta test new technology so I know that when I finally adopt it, it will be trouble-free.

Well, I've been "beta testing" this for over a year. I would say it is one of the best technology moves I've ever made, both for the video and the 15/15 internet. It's really great to down load an unbox movie in under 30 minutes order to completion.

If you have it available, you should go for it. Beta testing is over.

Al

[cowboys2002]

Originally Posted by doncoolio

Is fios even offered in your state? Do you have personal experience with Fios? I do, and D* is getting kicked to the curb IF my neighborhood gets lit up.

FYP.

I lived in the Long Beach Ca market and as of last week, my former area STILL does not have FIOS!

I live in an ATT market and can't get VOICEMAIL let alone U-Verse. DTV,Dish or Comcast are my only options (other than OTA).

I had my issues with Comcast in another market with outages on my HSI. Had problems with TV access in the past as well. I am very leary of trusting my home phone service to a company with a history of not meeting my service expectations on their "core" products.

That said, I really hope FIOS comes to your area and meets your needs.

I am sticking with DTV for my TV needs for CONTENT. My HD DVR gets installed 12/22/07, so I will check in later.

[xfm]

Originally Posted by JimSpence

Since each community is different for channel availability, please list what HD channels you have. Thanks.

Northern NJ HD channels:

CW
CBS
PBS
NBC
FOX
ABC
My9 WWOR
TNT
ESPN HD
ESPN2 HD
NFL Net HD
YES HD
SNNY HD
HDNET
HDNET Movies
UHD
Discovery HD
Wealth TV HD
Nat'l Geographic HD
MTV HD
Food Network HD
HGTV HD
Lifetime Movie Net HD
HBO HD
Cinemax HD
Showtime HD
TMC HD
Starz HD

[20TIL6]

Originally Posted by cowboys2002

FYP.

I lived in the Long Beach Ca market and as of last week, my former area STILL does not have FIOS!

I live in an ATT market and can't get VOICEMAIL let alone U-Verse. DTV,Dish or Comcast are my only options (other than OTA).

I had my issues with Comcast in another market with outages on my HSI. Had problems with TV access in the past as well. I am very leary of trusting my home phone service to a company with a history of not meeting my service expectations on their "core" products.

That said, I really hope FIOS comes to your area and meets your needs.

I am sticking with DTV for my TV needs for CONTENT. My HD DVR gets installed 12/22/07, so I will check in later.

I'm in Cypress too and I seem to get U-Verse mailers weekly. But U-Verse does not interest me in the least.

[JimSpence]

Thanks,
Well, there are a few there that DirecTV doesn't yet carry.
And a whole lot more than TWC carries. Also, FIOS isn't even mentioned around here. Guess I'll stay with DirecTV.

[TonyTheTiger]

OK, without going to a full list - off the top of my head, here's what I can see missing from yours...

CNN
TBS
VH1
MUSIC
CMT
WEATHER
NICK
SCIFI
BRAVO
FX
BRAVO
Multiple Movie channels, not just one of each
FOX BUSINESS
SMITHSONIAN
A&E
ANIMAL PLANET
BIG 10 (x2)
CARTOON
CNBC
TLC
USA

D* doesn't have...

CW
PBS
Wealth
My9 (Local I guess)

I'm not meaning to start a war here, but how can you claim you have "lots more channels (especially HD)" when you clearly don't?

[Dkerr24]

Originally Posted by doncoolio

Is fios even offered in your state? Do you have personal experience with Fios? I do, and D* is getting kicked to the curb when my neighborhood gets lit up.

Yep, FIOS is offered here through AT&T (formerly Southwestern Bell)... just hasn't made it to my neighborhood yet. I'll have to rate compare it to what I pay to Directv/AT&T for my TV, phone and DSL. I really don't even want/need a landline anymore, I just keep it for the DSL. My Directv bill runs around $75/month, my AT&T landline with DSL costs $50/month.

I only have SD sets, no real desire to go to HD. In my opinion, HD sets are still too expensive. I'll wait until a 36" or so HD set costs less than $400 before I'm buying in.

And like others have posted, the channel lineup will have to closely mirror what I currently get with Directv.

I really would not want to pay more for Tivo... $14.99/month is what it costs for a S3 subscription, right?

[cowboys2002]

Originally Posted by Dkerr24

Yep, FIOS is offered here through AT&T (formerly Southwestern Bell)... just hasn't made it to my neighborhood yet. I'll have to rate compare it to what I pay to Directv/AT&T for my TV, phone and DSL. I really don't even want/need a landline anymore, I just keep it for the DSL. My Directv bill runs around $75/month, my AT&T landline with DSL costs $50/month.

I only have SD sets, no real desire to go to HD. In my opinion, HD sets are still too expensive. I'll wait until a 36" or so HD set costs less than $400 before I'm buying in.

And like others have posted, the channel lineup will have to closely mirror what I currently get with Directv.

I really would not want to pay more for Tivo... $14.99/month is what it costs for a S3 subscription, right?

Isn't FIOS a Verizon product, and U-Verse the ATT product?

[cowboys2002]

Originally Posted by 20TIL6

I'm in Cypress too and I seem to get U-Verse mailers weekly. But U-Verse does not interest me in the least.

I keep seeing ATT trucks in the area "upgrading" or doing GOD knows what.

I am interested in having a true alternative to COMCAST.

Until then, I will stick with DirecTV.

[tboggs13]

I have had the THD for about a week, but today the FIOS guys came out to perform the install. It took 3 hours to complete. You may think that is bad, but I live in Keller, TX where FIOS fist rolled out. As soon as the fiber was on my street and before the grass regrew around the junction box on my corner, I had it ordered.

The first install (all Verizon supplied equipment) took 6-7 hours. By the end of the day I had three teams parked out front. They had a rule that all the teams gather with the last team working.

Then, Verizon rolled out their multi-room media DVR upgrade. You could upgrade on device to those features with a click of a switch, but at the time I had two DVR's and they do not support DVR to DVR streaming, just DVR to STB (non-HD) streaming. So, I had them come out and "downgrade" one DVR to an STB and then I could use the streaming feature. This took 4 hours as I recall.

I have learned to schedule installs in the morning and be prepared to have them here all day.

Even with the long installs, I wouldn't trade the Internet or Cable service for anything. In fact if I have to move it will be a determining factor. It has been the most reliable internet service I have ever had and a fairly reliable Cable service.

The CableCard install was probably more frustrating for them than me. I was prepared for the worst and compared to other installs with all their equipment, it went very well. They installed the cards and TiVo recognized them fine. Immediately I had the HD broadcast channels that were missing before. The hard part came when they had to get all the "other" cable channels. They had to refresh and "validate" each card 3-4 times to get it to pick up my service plan and add the missing channels.

During those attempts, the TiVo rebooted once on it's own and it locked up once after loading updated programming info.

So, after four hours, it seems to be working rather well. Only problem is that all my show are on hiatus and I can't schedule anything.

So, we shall see how it goes from here. I definitely like the TiVo better than the FIOS DVR, especially after their recent GUI makeover.

[doncoolio]

Originally Posted by Dkerr24

Yep, FIOS is offered here through AT&T (formerly Southwestern Bell)... just hasn't made it to my neighborhood yet. I'll have to rate compare it to what I pay to Directv/AT&T for my TV, phone and DSL. I really don't even want/need a landline anymore, I just keep it for the DSL. My Directv bill runs around $75/month, my AT&T landline with DSL costs $50/month.

I only have SD sets, no real desire to go to HD. In my opinion, HD sets are still too expensive. I'll wait until a 36" or so HD set costs less than $400 before I'm buying in.

And like others have posted, the channel lineup will have to closely mirror what I currently get with Directv.

I really would not want to pay more for Tivo... $14.99/month is what it costs for a S3 subscription, right?

1. Fios is a Verizon product, ATT sells UVERSE. Again You know nothing about Fios.
2. I couldn't care less about you not wanting to spend extra for a s3 subscription, or what channels suite you, because my original post was in response to your calling Fios a Beta product when you have no knowledge about it.
3. D* is your best option where you live, that doesn't mean it fits other peoples needs.

[tfederov]

Originally Posted by cowboys2002

Isn't FIOS a Verizon product, and U-Verse the ATT product?

Yep.

[Dkerr24]

Originally Posted by cowboys2002

Isn't FIOS a Verizon product, and U-Verse the ATT product?

You are right... it's U-verse in my area... very similiar technology to FIOS, just a bit different transfer mode in the last few thousand feet to the end user. From what I've read, the possible top end transfer speed of FIOS is much higher than Uverse.

[Dkerr24]

Originally Posted by doncoolio

1. Fios is a Verizon product, ATT sells UVERSE. Again You know nothing about Fios.
2. I couldn't care less about you not wanting to spend extra for a s3 subscription, or what channels suite you, because my original post was in response to your calling Fios a Beta product when you have no knowledge about it.
3. D* is your best option where you live, that doesn't mean it fits other peoples needs.

Feeling superior now? I'm happy for you.

[doncoolio]

"Good luck with FIOS. I love letting folks like you beta test new technology so I know that when I finally adopt it, it will be trouble-free."

Feeling superior now? I'm happy for you.

[lew]

The poster is probably basing his comparison on what DTV was offering when he made the decision to dump DTV. A few months ago when DTV was charging $10/month for not much more then a handful of channels.

Verizon has already announced they'll have 150 HD channels by the end of 2008. They further announced the number of channels will double prior to that, in the beginning of the 2008.

We're in the middle of a small (6 month window) during which DTV has more (useful) HD channels then FiOS

Originally Posted by TonyTheTiger

I'm not meaning to start a war here, but how can you claim you have "lots more channels (especially HD)" when you clearly don't?

[xfm]

Originally Posted by lew

The poster is probably basing his comparison on what DTV was offering when he made the decision to dump DTV. A few months ago when DTV was charging $10/month for not much more then a handful of channels.

Verizon has already announced they'll have 150 HD channels by the end of 2008. They further announced the number of channels will double prior to that, in the beginning of the 2008.

We're in the middle of a small (6 month window) during which DTV has more (useful) HD channels then FiOS

I only listed HD channels, not SD. PLUS, I'm comparing to the HD stations that I can get with TiVo service, NOT the inferior HR20 POC.

[TonyTheTiger]

Originally Posted by xfm

I only listed HD channels, not SD. PLUS, I'm comparing to the HD stations that I can get with TiVo service, NOT the inferior HR20 POC.

..and you have experience with the "inferior HR20 POC" or have you just decided to hammer it?

[JimSpence]

Originally Posted by xfm

I only listed HD channels, not SD. PLUS, I'm comparing to the HD stations that I can get with TiVo service, NOT the inferior HR20 POC.

Psst!.. I hate to tell you this, but TiVo doesn't provide any HD channels. That would be your FIOS system.