Brand X set top box for FIOS?

Braindeaf

I've got FIOS TV, and want to dip my toe into the HD waters. Don't want to pay another $6/month to rent the HD Set top box (instead of the non-set-top-box). Can one buy a Brand X HD box compatible with FIOS? If so, what do you recommend, how much, and where?

BentleyGT

I'd like to know also if you can buy boxes rather than rent.

DallasDan

It is not cost affective....do you realize that the HD Verizon boxes made specifically by Motorola are probally 400+ dollars? (give or take 100 dollars) Take that and divide that by 6 dollars and tell me how many years it would take to make that up by leasing it every month. Verizon is not about to allow just any sub-standard cheap box to get a Fios signal. You also have to remember that these boxes have specific uses like Pay per view (Video on Demand) and there is a Weather button you press and not to mention important settings for audio and video presentation. Here in Plano, Texas where I live I get 2 SD recievers and a HD DVR reciever and all the normal SD and HD channels (no HBO,Cinemax or other premium stations) for 56 dollars a month plus tax. CHEAP! Maybe they have a cheaper package where you get the basic 21 channels and can add the HD channels with a non DVR HD box and no other boxes for far less. Call up Verizon and ask about promotions and maybe they can set up something for you where you get the basics with HD broadcasting....you never know.

slowpolk

A TiVo Series 3 with two cable cards works with FIOS TV. But like others have said the TiVo is expensive. A reason to go with a TiVo is that it is the standard by which all other DVRs are measured.

scottbrown77

OTA Antenna or you can pay $72 a year for the FIOS HD. Sounds like a no brainer. The antenna and cables will be more than that. Don't be so cheap, get the HD from Verizon. You'll be very happy.

BentleyGT

I did a price comparison between Directv (currently have) and FIOS TV. FIOS TV will be installed on 2/8.

samcrut

You think FIOS costs $72/yr? Are you high? You're leaving out a heck of a lot of nickels and dimes.

OTA HD costs $50 for a tuner. I'll assume you already have cables and an antenna. If not, add about another $50. That's a one time expense. Let's call it $100/year. If you have 3 TVs, it would be under $250/yr for a top notch antenna and all the cabling with tuners.

FIOS TV costs $48/mo for the core service. Add $10/mo for the HD tuner. Add a one time charge of about $25 for cabling. That comes to a one year charge of $721. 3 TVs? Over $1000 in recurring charges.

Over 3 years the 3 TV OTA HD system costs the same initial $250. FIOS costs over $3000. Take the money you save and rent the DVDs of the series you want from HBO or Showtime. You'll have enough money for a Blu-ray DVD player and you won't be contributing to the system that shoves 200 channels of garbage down your throat when you only watch maybe 12, and over half of those channels are watched by NOBODY!

The days are numbered for this kind of pricing structure.

digs5446

No, he's just saying an HD box costs $6 more than an SD box (which may no longer be accurate, but close enough), multiplied by 12 months equals $72. Simmer down, bro.

rkkeller

People pay for cable/fios as they want a lot of channels.

If your happy with just your locals great, not many others would be.

Panzer1

I just got one of those HD boxes today from Verizon. When you look inside it's mostly air.

They are charging me $10 a month for the new HD box, the old standard STB box was $6 per month.

Panzer

PoloDude

You rate what something is worth by how much space it takes up?
The 7100 HD stb is the same box form as the HDDVR STB. The DVR has the hard drive in it. That's why there is extra space in the 7100 box.

Panzer1

Just after I hooked up my new HD box from verizon I got a message on my PC in the McAfee security center. The message said "intruder" and also gave the IP address which I did not recognize. I told McAfee to mark this IP address "mark as Intruder" as opposed to "mark as friend".

Is it possible that the new HD box had something to do with this message since I have verizon for phone/internet/TV? They all come into the house on the same wire.

I have not activated the new HD box because the new TV (from East Coast TV) is not supposed to arrive until next week.

Panzer

richh

Possibly... BLUF: You need to open certain IP ports to allow the FiOS STB's to get their TV channel programming guide for the On Screen Display (OSD) once you register your STB and get your TV. You won't want McAfee blocking that or the OSD features won't work and you won't be able to order PPV video content.

Techy answer: FiOS uses MoCA (Multimedia over Coax Alliance) to support Internet, IPTV and Interactive on-demand video but all that is over the CoAX cable (not the RJ45 data connector). What the FiOS tech told me is that for some strange reason the Motorola STB's are gathering the channel line up via an internet feed that terminates on the FiOS wireless router and then merges it back into MoCA. And yes the FiOS boxes are technically capable of gathering and reporting your TV viewing habits (as well as order PPV). Most folks know this on this forum as aware but Dish Network is actually the video content provider for Verizon (just rebranded for FiOS).

The reason I asked/mentioned this, is a small tip to internetworking DIY's. The FiOS tech tried to wire up my home ONT (Optical Network Terminal) primary internet connection to their crappy FiOS WiFi router first via the Coax connection only. Internet and TV services were going to be fed in via Coax only from the ONT. I run my own small ISP from home and didn't want to hack the FiOS WiFi firmware and firewall DMZ. I requested the FiOS tech to setup the empty RJ45 (data) port on the residential ONT for Internet services, instead of the MoCA Coax connection. The FiOS tech complained that it would work for Internet but the TV viewing guide would probably not work. I gave him a little IP-NAT tutorial lesson, where the electronic TV guide and Internet worked just fine. I.e. the FiOS wireless internet hub will get programming guide updates when connected behind my custom DMZ and firewall. Just remember to connect the WAN port of the FiOS WiFi router to your home DMZ (not the LAN port) and make sure the MoCA cable is connected to the FiOS installed splitter. Apologies for the long post but thought folks might be interested that RJ45 ethernet data port on the ONT is ACTIVE by default!

PJL2

The video content on FiOS is most definitely NOT provided by Dish Network. You can verify this by reading the article at http://hd.engadget.com/2009/12/17/an...and-video-hub/. This article discusses how Verizon receives the programming directly from the providers and distributes it all the way to the home.

richh

My bad appreciate you catching my mistake, I MEANT DirectTV is the satellite partner (going way back) for Verizon. I am not sure if the engadget article is misleading but should have mentioned this relationship for where Verizon gets their Satellite HD content.

I do apologize to this thread/forum and will correctly state Verizon's business/tech approach to HD satellite video feeds (if anyone really cares who handles Satellite transponders). I transposed one of the two possible partners for Verizon and AT&T. Both use DirectTV as their satellite partner (not Dish Network). Check out FierceIPTV_dot_Com - Verizon Dismissess Directv Acquisition Chatter - 2009-12-14.

Peace brother, we are both talking about different ends of the pipe. Verizon and AT&T have no satellite assets that support digital HD video, so they partnered/puchase feeds with one of two possible businesses that had the rights in the U.S. and transponders in place to support HD satellite feeds, DirectTV in this case.

It will be interesting to see if AT&T and Verizon duke it out for the DirectTV asset, if DirectTV stumbles...