What do you FIOS TV subscribers use?

[vorius]

Hey all, just doing a routine check to see if there is anything better out there yet

I am still using my R5000 modded STB for capturing Verizon FIOS TV It's a relatively painful experience though - only one tuner because I only modded 1 STB, plus the channel switching is excruciating slow, plus I have several technical problems with the signals.

I have always been hoping and praying for something better, an internal card with multiple tuners so that I can throw away this STB and hopefully have reliable HDTV...

So has anything popped up yet?

I have saw some chatter about Ceton card, particularly one internal card with 4 tuners !!! Would this work for me even though I dont have cable card? Can I get a cable card that works with Verizon FIOS and if so, how? And does it work with WinXP SageTV 7?

[Telecore]

I'm using HDHomerun Prime + SageDCT 1.9 + SageTV 7.1.9 on Win 7 Pro 64 bit. Had some issues/recording halts at first, but went away with recent Silicondust software/firmware updates. All FIOS channels are viewable, but I'm not paying for any extra premiums, I just get Showtime which is included in 1 of their 3 packages. HDHR has 3 tuners and is a network device, not a plug in card. Forgot to mention, you can get a cable card from FIOS with self-install instructions. I received it within 2 days after ordering over phone and was easy to set up.

[mayamaniac]

So no problems with recordings whatsoever with the HDHomerun Prime + SageDCT 1.9 + SageTV 7.1.9 on Win 7 Pro 64 bit setup? So all the Fios HD channels work? I have the Fios Extreme HD package which includes all the HD channels, but no premium channels. If yes, then I think I will get an HDHomerun Prime. Currently I'm using the HD-PVR and its working well.

[Telecore]

There is some additional info - initially, I did have glitches and brief recording halts, although I would say everything was watchable with only minor problems. I did a number of things to get it all working:
1. updated HDHR Prime with latest Beta software - 20111013beta1
2. removed comskip plugin
3. turned off Microsoft Security Essentials

So I am running a very minimal setup. My wife didn't like comskip anyways, so not sure if I'll try it again soon. I think that CPU usage goes up with SageDCT+HDHR Prime compared to the regular HDHR/HD-PVR setup. That plus my older motherboard may be a limiting factor. I have an Asus M2NPV-VM which has an older Nvidia chipset + gigabit ethernet.

In addition to the HDHR Prime, I have two HDHR's for ATSC tuning (=7 total tuners), wired gigabit network.

All FIOS channels work in the Dallas, Tx. area. I too came from a dual HD-PVR setup with firewire channel changing and two STBs. The current setup is much easier and cleaner to deal with - less cables, less software, etc. See the procedure for re-installing SageTV and preserving all your recordings - its somewhere in the forums.

[camTexas]

I've had great success with FIOS and the HDHR Prime (just under two weeks installed). Self install went quickly and have had 30-40 recordings with no glitches. The only slight problem I had was, for the first time, watching live TV last night the stream just stopped. I stopped and restarted the show and it came back fine.

Running the latest firmware (20111013beta1) and DCT (2.0 I think). Very happy with the switch from my dual HD PVR setup.

I also have the FIOS Extreme HD package and don't see any problems tuning any channels. I actually get Showtime and all the Starz as well even though my 12-month "free" deal runs out this month so I'll be cutting them off in the next week anyway.

[vorius]

Wow, that HDHomerun Prime sounds fantastic!

I actually already ordered one of those Ceton 4-tuner cards after talking to someone else who had success with it. I'm thinking of using a PC I recently replaced as my new HTPC, and keep everything I have now the way it is as a backup. Would probably be pretty frustrating if I wipd my current HTPC and then experienced some sort of difficulty setting up the new hardware and not having any PVR

With the HDHomerun how fast is channel switching? And you never get any issues with HD channels that have advertisements in SD? My current setup is quite glitchy on those transitions...

[mayamaniac]

That's fantastic info guys, thanks.

I'm definitely ordering the HDHR Prime now. I'm stuck with Win7 32bit because of the firewire channel changing driver, but without it, I can go to 64bit and make use of all my memory.

Telecore, what is the spec of your server? I know comskip can be very taxing on the system, that's why even with a quad core, I set it to only process in the middle of the night.

[Telecore]

After a recent CPU upgrade, my server has an AMD Athlon II X2 270 (3.4 GHz) 65W CPU + 6Gig DDR2 + ATI 4350 HDMI graphics card + Asus M2NPV-VM motherboard w/ gigabit ethernet + 3 x 2TB green HDDs. Win7Pro 64 bit SP1. It runs mostly headless with SageTV in service mode. All TV watching is done through extenders (5 x HD300s) via wired gigE. I use Remote Desktop to control/setup/administrate the system. BTW - You need Win7 Pro to be a Remote Desktop server. Also have Sage 7.1.9 and SageDCT 1.9.

Before the HDHR Prime upgrade, it ran WinXP 32 bit + Sage 7.1.9 system with a AMD Athlon 64 X2 C5000+ cpu. I think it ran at 2.6 GHz (dual core). I actually had no problems with comskip when running the 2 HD-PVRs (firewire channel changing) and 2 HDHRs under this config. Comskip would generally not run when watching TV, but could run most other times. The server was also my web server running Mongoose. Ran great this way for about 1 year until the upgrade about 4-5 weeks ago.

[flashcore]

Originally Posted by Telecore

After a recent CPU upgrade, my server has an AMD Athlon II X2 270 (3.4 GHz) 65W CPU + 6Gig DDR2 + ATI 4350 HDMI graphics card + Asus M2NPV-VM motherboard w/ gigabit ethernet + 3 x 2TB green HDDs. Win7Pro 64 bit SP1. It runs mostly headless with SageTV in service mode. All TV watching is done through extenders (5 x HD300s) via wired gigE. I use Remote Desktop to control/setup/administrate the system. BTW - You need Win7 Pro to be a Remote Desktop server. Also have Sage 7.1.9 and SageDCT 1.9.

I am also running HDMR Prime with FiOS and ALL premium channels which are working fine here in Maryland with no flags on them. The only real difference is I am running on a Intel Q6600 with 8G RAM (Less then 2G in use even when recording 3 channels) and 6x500G WD Black drives in raid 5 and a cheep video card since it runs headless. The only issues I have had with it are when the system got confused and dropped its IP, once I changed it to a static IP and rebooted I have had no other problems.

[Telecore]

New development on FIOS, new channel 696, E! HD, is flagged "protected-copyonce" and cannot be viewed by the HDHomerun Prime/SageDCT combination. For some reason, this is the only channel I can't seem to get. I'm wondering if this is a mistake and Verizon will fix it, or if this is a bad omen.

[EnterNoEscape]

EHD is working ok for me. I have FiOS in Harrisburg, PA. Might have just been a fluke for you.

[mistergq]

I have a license for Windows 7. how difficult is it to set up SageTV with Windows 7? I may do this, but will probably ask for Prime for Christmas.

[vorius]

Just had some time to mess around with this... actually I was forced to.

Can you believe both of my hard drives crashed at the same time? What in the heck could cause that? That is no way such a coincidence...

so instead of reinstalling winXP on my new HD I put Windows 7, plugged in the Ceton InfiniTV card and tried setting it up.

No luck for me...

The Ceton diagnostics does not seem to recognize my CableCARD as a M-card, it thinks it's a S-card.

But clearly Verizon gave me an M-card. If not for the receipt which specifies an M-card then the big old "M" stamped on the card itself should identify it

Ah well, contacted Ceton support hopefully they will respond and help me. As of now, dead in the water no TV

[Telecore]

Update - FIOS turned off copy flag on E! HD, now all channels are in the clear and viewable. I'm interpreting this as a good sign that Verizon intends to keep things "copy freely".

[doncote0]

Too many channels in the expanded band are flagged as protected-copyonce.

(So they will not record.) The technician says that it's my device. This is the same device that worked for the last two years without issue on Comcast.

It records everything 2-49 including the HD versions. All the others come up as copy protected.

HEY FRONTIER, STOP FLAGGING CHANNELS WITH CCI PROTECTION THAT DO NOT REQUIRE IT. If your agreement with the content providers does not allow unrestricted copying of non-premium services, then get a different agreement!

Gonna break out the dusty old HD-PVR again. BS!

If you are in the Washington state area and have Frontier FIOS, let me know.

[doncote0]

Talked with two advanced techinicians from Frontier (confirmed what the first told me).

Frontier FIOS has legacy agreements with broadcast networks that were originally provided by Verizon. Those agreements do not allow many channels to be recorded (but of course their DVR records everything). Any digital recording device other than their DVR fails to record a majority of non-premium channels.

Worse yet, they tell me that it will be difficult to get agreements for recording the currently unrecordable channels, because COMCAST has paid in an effort to make those unrestricted agreements available to COMCAST only.

I thought fair competition and monopoly laws prevented this. Time to contact the FCC and complain.

[KryptoNyte]

Unfortunately, I believe it's just the opposite. There was legal movement late last year/early this year that essentially allowed cable companies to encrypt anything they wished, even the local affiliate channels (which had previously been held open per the FCC).

Most folks don't have their own, stand-alone, recording solutions at home, so it's pretty much impossible to fight these kinds of issues, and let's face it, these companies are in the business of renting equipment rather than providing a respectable, solid service. At this point, the burden is on the user to find a workaround.