[chazas]

I have unhooked my cruddy FIOS DVR and hooked up my new Series3 while I wait for the FIOS technician to bring the cablecards.

I notice that I can tune in some analog channels - but they are very inconsistent. The signal for some of them appears to be fading in an out - sometimes they appear on both tuners, sometimes only one, sometimes none.

Is this something I should be worried about, or will the cablecard install take care of it?

 

[dt_dc]

Is this something I should be worried about, or will the cablecard install take care of it?

In one sense, the CableCard will 'take care of it'. With a CableCard you'll get the digital versions of those analog channels so ... the poor analog quality won't affect you.

OTOH, the underlying problem will still be there so ... if you care about the analog channels (for example, if you're going to hook up a TV somewhere w/o a box or something) ... something to get looked at. And you could have a more general signal issue ...

The installer is going to be there anyway ... might as well have them hook up a signal analyzer and check it out.

Note: My analog channels were pretty bad when I first got FiOS installed. I didn't really care though ... didn't complain ... now, they're pretty good ... they seem to have worked something out (upstream) of me to take care of the problem themselves.

 

[AbMagFab]

You are probbly looking at antenna signals, not FIOS analog. FIOS analog should be crystal clear and constant.

Ibhave FIOS and the analog on my S3 pre-CC was perfect.

 

[dt_dc]

You are probbly looking at antenna signals

Possible as well. Easy enough to check ... pull up an analog channel that doesn't have an OTA equivalent (PEGs, Weatherscan, etc.)

Could also be getting some signal leakage / ingress somewhere.

 

[aindik]

FIOS has analog channels? I thought it was all digital like DirecTV.

 

[bkdtv]

FIOS has analog channels? I thought it was all digital like DirecTV.

FiOS has both analog and digital versions of the local channels on their systems. They don't have cable channels in analog.

When you use a Verizon STB/DVR or a TivoHD with a CableCard, you get the digital versions of those channels.

FiOS has committed to eliminating the analog locals on its systems by February 2009.

 

[chazas]

It's clearly FIOS analog - no OTA broadcast of the TV Guide channel!

I reseated the coax and restarted the box - so far so good. Except the tech is running late. I want my TIVO!

 

[aindik]

It's clearly FIOS analog - no OTA broadcast of the TV Guide channel!

I reseated the coax and restarted the box - so far so good. Except the tech is running late. I want my TIVO!

Are you sure it's not FIOS in the clear digital?

 

[chazas]

?? aindik, I don't understand what you mean. It's not digital because I have no cablecards yet.

Spoke too soon - it does appear that the FIOS analog signal disappears from time to time. I will have the tech check it out when he gets here.

 

[TiVotion]

Without a box, I get FIOS channels 2-49 only. Several of those are Spanish language (no help to me), many are "local origination", one is the TV Guide channel, and weather. So you're left with a handful of useable channels without the box.

I still have a couple locations in the house connected this way in places I only care about watching one of the local broadcasts for news and such - like the kitchen.

 

[aindik]

?? aindik, I don't understand what you mean. It's not digital because I have no cablecards yet.

Spoke too soon - it does appear that the FIOS analog signal disappears from time to time. I will have the tech check it out when he gets here.

My cable company sends digital channels in the clear, receivable without a box or a cablecard. They can be tuned by a QAM tuner in an HDTV, or in a TiVo without cablecards installed. My cable company sends the locals in HD (and their digital subchannels) this way, and also the Music Choice channels, some digital "copies" of the analog cable channels, and certain other content. I don't know if FIOS does the same thing. It is possible for the TiVo (which contains a digital tuner) to be receiving digital channels that are sent unscrambled.

 

[vman41]

FIOS has analog channels? I thought it was all digital like DirecTV.

The way I understand FIOS, the fiber is operating on 3 different wavelengths and one of them is just modulating the exact same signal a regular cable company would carry on its coaxial.

 

[chazas]

All good after the install. The tech said that at least in the DC area FIOS analog channels are pretty unreliable - but the digital versions seem to work fine.

He wasn't quite sure what he was doing with the Tivo but it all worked out. Bye bye, FIOS DVR!