[mythtv-users] Verizon Fios, any success stories?

[Jarod Wilson]

On Jul 22, 2009, at 4:58 PM, Ajay Sharma wrote:

> I'm thinking about switching from Dish to Fios and was wondering if  
> someone can give me a definitive answer on it's support with myth?

Sure. For starters, I've been using Verizon FiOS TV w/my own MythTV  
setup for close to 2 years now.


> Right now I'm only doing normal SD Video (no HD stuff yet as I don't  
> have an HDTV).  But I'm thinking about making the plunge to go HD,  
> so the HD-PVR seems like the best bet at the moment.

I have one, but I rarely need it.


> Is anyone running Verizon Fios with the HD-PVR?  In that you're  
> recording HD channels and got the HD-PVR to change channels on the  
> Verizon STB.

The IR part of the HD PVR is not yet enabled. I control my cable box  
over firewire anyway though. (And that same firewire connection is a  
part of why I rarely need the HD PVR).


> Secondly, if you're NOT using HD, can you still get the channel  
> changing to work on the STB with lirc?

Yes. At least in my area, they just use Motorola cable boxes like  
several other cable providers.


> HD isn't a show stopper for me as I'm still happy with normal SD.   
> But I would like to swap my dish tv + cable internet + vonage phone  
> for fios.


So to expand on my setup a bit more...

- There are NO analog channels at all anymore on my FiOS feed (there  
were briefly when I first got it, but it was only the broadcast  
channels, which already came through in HD versions clear QAM, so they  
were worthless). Regardless, I haven't given a damn about analog (or  
really, any standard def channels) in years, so its a non-issue to me.

- The bulk of my recordings are actually done with digital capture  
devices (some PCI/PCIe cards and an HDHomeRun), since most of what I  
care to record is on the broadcast channels (which again, are clear  
QAM).

- The secondary route for recording HDTV content that isn't clear QAM  
is over the FireWire port on my cable box. I get a pretty decent  
number of channels off that w/o any 5c encryption.

- The tertiary route for recording HDTV content is the HD PVR, hooked  
up to the same cable box as the FireWire cable. There's rarely  
anything for it to record.

- The quaternary route by which I get video is off one of those  
digital-to-analog adapters they shipped out free when they killed off  
analog. I don't even have this set up in my production mythtv setup,  
as I just don't care that much (plus, the analog side of the HVR-1800  
wasn't working quite right w/mythtv last time I bothered to look at it).

If all else fails, Hulu and/or xtvi.com to the rescue...


-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod at wilsonet.com