<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 11:46 AM, Eric Sharkey <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:eric@lisaneric.org">eric@lisaneric.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
So, a few years back Verizon made FIOS available in my area and<br>
they've been marketing it heavily, but I chose to stick with Comcast<br>
due to the fact that they didn't block ports on the internet connect<br>
and that there were a wide variety of channels available without a set<br>
top box which I could get either on analog cable or through clear QAM.<br>
Fast forward to today and Comcast has consistently worked to reduce<br>
the ease of use of their service to the point where I no longer see<br>
any advantage to sticking with them.<br>
<br>
Is Verizon any better? What's the general feel for people on this<br>
list? Is firewire capture from Verizon STB's any more reliable than<br>
with Comcast?<br>
<br>
I really would like a solution that just works with the same<br>
reliability I once had with my PVR-150 and HDHR to get a recording<br>
that I can be reasonably confident will actually happen (and record in<br>
its entirety) when I schedule it and be watchable, including support<br>
for closed captions, preferably in HD when available.<br>
<br>
Eric<br></blockquote></div><br>I've had FiOS Internet for the better part of 5 years now, but just recently switched from Dish Network SD to FiOS TV HD. (The TV service wasn't available when I first got FiOS Internet!)<div>
<br></div><div>I do not capture via firewire however as I have two HD-PVRs. I change channels via firewire using the 6200ch program on the wiki.</div><div><br></div><div>As far as Clear QAM is concerned, I did a scan and found that I got about 1/2 of the locals I can get via ATSC OTA, plus a boatload of 'local' government/public channels. Since I could get more 'locals' with my roof-top antenna, and the 'government' channels didn't interest me, I chose to use the HDHR for ATSC instead. </div>
<div><br></div><div>As a side note, I think I read that FiOS carries the first 50 channels in analog as well, but I haven't tried tuning anything to see if there is anything worthwhile in that range... (Plus I'm spoiled by HD now!!! Analog SD would be a major step down!) </div>
<div><br></div><div>BTW: Typically the cable companies have to re-compress HD channels in order to be able to fit more channels in the limited bandwidth they have available on Cable. FiOS has much more bandwidth, and doesn't re-compress the original HD signal, so their HD is absolutely stunning!</div>
<div><br></div><div>Oh, and there do not seem to be any blocked ports on my FiOS internet service now... Which is a nice bonus. (as is the 35/35 data rates that comes with the Extreme HD package I subscribe to!) </div>
<div><br></div><div>J-e-f-f-A</div>