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

[Richard Freeman]

Ajay Sharma wrote:
> 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.
> 

This thread had a lot of good info on HD video capture, but I'm actually 
interested in sticking with SD since half of my hardware won't support 
HD and I don't have tons of space to burn.

Right now I'm using DirecTV and I have two receivers attached to a 
PVR-500, with serial control for channel changes.  I also have an ATI HD 
tuner which I occassionally tinker with, but I tend not to use it since 
I need to transcode everything I capture before I can watch it on my 
front end.  I also have a single Firewire port that I occasionally use 
for DV capture from a camera (not sure if Firewire supports multiple 
devices on a single interface like USB).

I'm considering switching to FIOS.  What are my options?  It seems like 
my options are:

1.  Get two SD tuner boxes.  That will cost me about $14/month and I'll 
need to get IR Blasters to control them (with all the problems 
associated with those).  That is, of course, assuming IR control of 
these boxes is well-supported.

2.  Get two digital media box of some kind that outputs firewire.  I 
won't get all channels (I'm getting the cheapest package, so no premium 
channels, but it sounds like TNT at least isn't supported over 
firewire).  Plus, I suspect I'll have to transcode all my recordings to 
watch them in SD.  And, I'm sure there is a rental fee of some kind. 
Also - I'm not sure if I need a second firewire adapter to capture two 
shows at once.

3.  Use my existing HD tuner and QAM.  This limits me to one recording 
at a time.  Also, I'll get even fewer channels than with firewire. 
Also, I'll have to transcode all my recordings to watch them.  However, 
it won't cost me anything per month and tuning is a no-brainer.

4.  Get some digital converter boxes and then use option 2 or 3 in 
combination with my existing SD tuners.  That would at least eliminate 
the need to transcode everything, with a significant up-front cost.

Am I missing any options?  Has anybody had success with changing 
channels on their SD tuners?  That would be the configuration most 
analogous to my current setup.  To be honest, I can't see how FIOS is 
going to be competitive with DirecTV on cost with the need to rent one 
extra tuner (since DirecTV gives you one for free and FIOS apparently 
does not).