Verizon FIOS TV install - comments, questions (1 Viewer)

[Charles_Y]

Last post for Philadelphia - Verizon was 11/29. I hope that indicates that this service is pretty decent and reliable.

I previously had Comcast for many years and completed a triple play bundle deal for the FIOS TV. Install was this past Tuesday (my birthday - natch). I have 4 sets in the house with two getting little digital adaptor boxes, one the standard Verizon stb and for my home theater two Cable Cards for a TiVo HD box. The Verizon hardware went fast and fine on setup, the Cable Cards was another matter.

It took the tech installer, a very nice guy, working with a dispatcher/tech guru at a Verizon Control Office over three hours to get them activated. I'm the first person in my township to go the cable card route, which is news to me. I was told by the dispatcher they have had significant problems with each Cable Card install in the past.

I live in Coatesville in Chester County in the suburbs of Philly and he cited prior installs in West Chester. From experience it is software systems issues most of the time but he has always been successful in the end. He was about out of solutions when a last idea of his finally paid off. I was having problems getting one of the tuner/cards to display the HD channels. However, we got 'em all at last!

I must say there is over all a real improvement in comparison with Comcast's signal and the HD material is super. However, the paltry 30 odd channels in HiDef must be upped in the year or so to come in my view.

So far so good. Three days and counting...

A couple of questions if I might here:

1. I have my TiVo set with "panel" for Aspect Correction, which gives me the original broadcast ratio and also "Native" for Video Format, bringing in the signal at the originating broadcast resolution (1080i, 720p, etc.) . Can anyone tell me why the channel change and lock-on takes so long with the digital HD channels and also briefly displays (a second or two) visual pyrotechnics (lines, distorted images, etc.) during this "delay" before putting out a solid picture?

I'm presuming that the cards/Tivo are having to adjust the picture for my monitor (a 16:9 Sony KDL 32XBR4) before before displaying it.

2. Also, why is it that certain HD channels will display an image during a broadcast show in 16:9 and then switch to 4:3 during the commercials? There are other instances even within a show where certain segments of the show will go to 4:3 and then later back to 16:9. All the while incidentally the resolution on the TiVo or my Sony will stay the same (ex. 1080i).

I don't want to go to Zoom or Full (stretch) but wish to know why the networks do this. It's really disconcerting. It seems inconsistent. I guess I should be prepared for the fact that not everything on a "HD Channel" is broadcast in HD.

These are minor caveats but some clarification would be appreciated. Now, where will I find time to watch all these new channels?

 

[Jack Briggs]

Charles, your thread now is where it should have been posted in the first place. The "TV Shows" area is about television programming. This area, A/V Sources, is where you discuss what you are talking about. JB

 

[Charles_Y]

Sorry, Jack. I checked over all the forums and didn't find any that specifically applied. This was as much a "service" install as a hardware based one, which is what threw me. Thanks!

 

[JustinCleveland]

Mazal tov.

When I lived in State College, I had a cable card for my set. It took three visits from the then-Adelphia techs (now Comcast) to get the system set up right. The fault of the difficulties lies in the cablecard technology, not the installer or service.

But I'm glad you like the quality. I'm hoping the next house I buy has the ability to choose between FIOS, cable, or dish.

As for your question about 4:3 for commercials, that is normal. Few commercials are HD, so the set will go back to the native aspect ratio for the commercials. More and more commercials are coming in HD, though.

To your first question, there is a natural delay for the digital signal to become encoded since there's more information that needs to be processed when changing channels. As for the visual pyro, that I have no idea.

 

[Norm]

I'm thinking of switching to Fios from Directv.

 

[Scooter]

Charles, regards commercials:

They were probably shot in 4:3 and not 16X9. With the broadcaster keeping the original aspect ratio, you avoid the "squishy" effect on the image.

 

[JohnBoyToo]

New member here, but have some friends in the North Texus area that have the fios.... VERY VERY fast internet and clean tv however they have it set up.... will have to as questions of them next time I'm up there....