Ok, it's unanimous that the new guide is terrible, BUT WHY??

I was away on a business trip for 2 weeks. Near the end of my trip, talking to my wife on the phone, she told me that Fios changed their guide and it was TERRIBLE. Alright, the old guide had a few quirks but it worked, did what it needed to do, but I figured I would give it a chance and see it for myself. Well..I've used it for 3 weeks now and the hate posts here are all 100% right on.

I won't go into all the reasons that it is terrible, we all know why, but there are two things that I cannot understand. This is more aimed at Verizon, I hope they read this and respond.

1. Why would a large corporation like Verizon not even poll its users on the new guide? Better yet, why not let us "try it" and give us a choice?

2. Why not have a feature RIGHT ON THE GUIDE to enter suggestions? We have the opinions that matter, we USE the darn thing.

3. How can the designers of this new guide POSSIBLY think this was an improvement???

Speed is one of the big complaints here but by far not only the ONLY one. I was shocked at how slow this new guide is, delays. I've read posts that said I can upgrade to a new receiver. I have a QIP6416, is this upgrade free of charge? I've had Fios for 3 years. Will I need to resign for a new contract. IS THERE A WAY TO TRANSFER EVERYTHING ON MY DVR HARD DRIVE? <<<BIG Question.

Please give me constructive answers.

Thanks.

Accepted answers

Justin46

@questioning wrote:

.....
Justin, I never knew there were Verizon stores that carry updated set top boxes. I know in my vicnity, we just have the Verizon Wireless stores that carry cell phones.

Here is a link to a Verizon webpage that lists the stores that are FiOS TV stores:

https://www22.verizon.com/ResidentialHelp/FiOSTV/General+Support/Account+Issues/QuestionsOne/84843.htm

I have no idea where either of you are located, but you might check the list and see if one is close to you. And if there is one, I strongly suggest you call first and ask if you can exchange STBs there. The web page I linked does not say that you can exchange STBs but I know that many customers have done so, and some of the individual state pages do say you can. And I have seen posts from a number of customers who say they have been able to exchange their old DVR for a new 7232 at a store at no charge.

Worth a try if you have an old STB.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, Internet, and phone user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9A
Keller, TX 76248

All comments

tns

Actually they did for the first time allow a large number of people near Philly and in NJ to trial it. And these people did report to Verizon a large number of problems, suggestions, etc. many of which were fixed or incorporated.
In many ways on a newer box it is an improvement. But not on the older 6xxx and SD boxes.
The upgrade to a newer box (but not necessarily the latest boxes) is free.

questioning_old

My set top box is the Motorola QIP7100 series. Is that an older box too? I have only had the Fios for 2 years.

If it really is the case that the type of set top box is the reason behind the poor graphics display of the TV Guide Listing , I wonder why the rest of us were never informed about this. When I called Verizon about this, the only answer I could get was that I should fool with the brightness and contrast settings on my TV? lol...I really think this concept of forcing all of this unnecessary change on everybody is not a good thing over the long run.

And regarding what was said about people in NJ and Philly being allowed to try the new TV Guide Listing and give feedback, I'm from northeastern Jersey and I will assure you that no such polling for that ever took place here in my area...at least not that I am aware of. It sounds like you're referring to South Jersey which isn't representative of the rest of the state. A lot of outsiders think that all of NJ is the same when it's not. North and South Jersey are very different from each other and part of that has to do with North Jersey's affiliation with New York City and South Jersey's proximity to Philly. The mentality of each area is very different too.

sxrd60inch

Those are all great questions but you will more than likely not get an answer.

Wasting your time calling Verizon is just that, a waste. They actually told you to fool with your TV settings to get the guide to look better? Amazing. "Hey thanks phone support, my guide is readable now but my picture is garbage, yey".Telling you to change your picture settings because their guide changed is absolutely ridiculous. Dish Network was a great system but Ilearned very quickly, do not call customer support with these types of questions.

What a shame, a fabulous high-end fiber optic television system, the only one I know of, and it's made awful by a cumbersome, SLOW guide.

I ask again Verizon, WHY?

questioning_old

LOL!!! Yep....change the TV settings. And I actually tried that just to see and it didn't make any difference. I could lower the contrast and brightness but all that does is make the picture worse. I agree...it's stupid. And believe me, I wasn't honestly expecting an answer to these questions I just posted. I was really just thinking aloud and wondering because it doesn't make any sense.

And it seems to me too that you probably won't get an answer from Verizon to your question "why" because nobody here so far has gotten a substantial answer to that question. lol

My guide isn't slow. It's just hard on my eyes. And now I'm just wondering if the only thing I really need to do is get my QIP7100 Series set top box upgraded to a new one. Is that one of the older models for which the new TV Guide Listing doesn't work as well? I wouldn't ask customer service if that would make a difference. I would only ask if the upgrade is available. Very often they don't know themselves and they're just doing their jobs. I have called Verizon with other issues that they did resolve. But if I can upgrade my set top box to a new one free of charge, then what would I have to lose? We're paying plenty of money per month just to watch TV in the first place.

questioning_old

I think I have actually resolved my own question after hearing your complaints. lol

My co-worker whose Verizon Fios setup is the same as mine loves the new TV Guide display and she has the flat screen TV.

So if that's the only difference, then that has to be reason why the contrast isn't so good with the TV Guide's color display on my analog TV, especially since my set top box is the latest one.

So my 2 choices are to either kee what I have or get a new flatscreen TV.

So after going back and forth about this enough, I'm going to leave it alone.

Maybe some day soon Verizon will admit that it screwed up with this whole thing and either go back to the old display or modify it to include choices as how to we want the graphics and colors to come out. All these corporate giants care about is making the profits. Like I've been saying, time will tell.

sxrd60inch

For me the colors and clarity are fine. I am using a 60" Sony HDTV.

In particular, here are the problems:

1. There's a bunch of room (and maybe memory) wasted by the logo on the left side. I know what the channel names are, I don't need the logo also.

2. I can only see 6 channels vertically at a time.

4. The channel highlighted that has the info also shows the same channel schedule right above it, confusing and a waste or room. Who possibly this was a good feature to include in an upgrade?

5. Channel flipping in the guide, as well as moving around, DVR, menu features are real SLOW. They used to be lightning fast.

6. I can only see 90 minutes of programming at a time.

7. Left arrow menu is gone. Ok, yeah, I can get these featrues with other buttons now but WHY remove it???

8. I still CANNOT flip all the way around the channel numbers. This would have been a cool adder to the upgrade.

Justin46

@sxrd60inch wrote:
For me the colors and clarity are fine. I am using a 60" Sony HDTV.
In particular, here are the problems:
1. There's a bunch of room (and maybe memory) wasted by the logo on the left side. I know what the channel names are, I don't need the logo also.
2. I can only see 6 channels vertically at a time.
4. The channel highlighted that has the info also shows the same channel schedule right above it, confusing and a waste or room. Who possibly this was a good feature to include in an upgrade?
5. Channel flipping in the guide, as well as moving around, DVR, menu features are real SLOW. They used to be lightning fast.
6. I can only see 90 minutes of programming at a time.
7. Left arrow menu is gone. Ok, yeah, I can get these featrues with other buttons now but WHY remove it???
8. I still CANNOT flip all the way around the channel numbers. This would have been a cool adder to the upgrade.

I think you either have a) an old STB that will not properly display the new HD Guide or b) you have something set incorrectly. What model STB do you have? (ie, QIP64xx, QIP71xx, QIP7232, Cisco, etc)

To try to address your comments, here is what I see on my six year old Sony 40" LCD with my QIP7232 DVR (sorry for the quality of the picture, I am a very poor photographer):

1) I agree, the logos do take room that potentially could be put to use displaying maybe another 30 minutes. But, I have had FiOS TV for just over 6 years now, and some time back, for whatever reason, the logos disappeared from the Guide for a while. You should have seen the whining and complaining about the logos disappearing, you would have thought Verizon had removed all of the actual program data or something. So clearly there are people who really like the logos, maybe I guess they even depend on them if they don't know the channel numbers.

2) As you can see in the picture, I see 7 channels.

3) (you skipped 3, you just couldn't bear to describe whatever this issue is? Smiley Happy )

4) I do not understand this comment. As you can see in my picture there is no duplication of channels. Can you explain further?

5) I find the Guide to be fast, as fast as 1.8 was on the same 7232 DVR. I understand that it is slow (or extremely slow) on the older equipment, that is one reason I suspect that you do have an older STB.

6) As you can see in my picture, I see 2 12/ hours, not 90 minutes. Makes me think you either have old hardware or it set up wrong.

7) Yep, the left arrow menu is gone. But all of the functionality has been incorporated into the Options button. I think using the Options button is just as easy, and a little bit more intuitive. Just my opinion....

😎 I assume you mean that the Guide won't roll over from the highest channel to the lowest or the lowest to the highest when going up/down in the Guide. I find this to be true when I am viewing a Favorites list in the Guide, but not true when viewing all channels. I of course no longer have 1.8 to verify it, but I thought that 1.8 acted the same way (could be wrong of course).

By the way, thanks for enumerating your issues the way you did, it makes it a whole lot easier to read and respond to each item. I wish more posters here would do that.

Anyway, as I said up front, I think you have either an old STB or the Guide set up wrong. If you will come back with your STB model and perhaps the major settings you are using for the Guide, maybe somebody here can help you improve your experience.

Oh, just for the record, I am very happy with 1.9. Not just the Guide but every aspect of it. I find it to be a hugh improvement over 1.8, which itself was a hugh improvement over prior levels.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, Internet, and phone user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9A
Keller, TX 76248

questioning_old

Thanks for showing that photo of the TV Guide display on your TV. I definitely see the difference between how ithat main menu shows on yours vs. mine so that confirms the answer to my own question. An analog TV has pixels, which is definitely one difference. It seems minor in my case so I'm not going to make an issue out of it.

sxrd60 inch, I think I would agree with what the others here have said, that your problem is with your STB 6xxx series. The 7xxx series accommodates the graphics much better.

justin, it seems like even now, there are some people here who whine and complain about anything. lol...I knew that with the advent of the digital TV era and the move to fiber optics or cable, that it would lead to more problems and questions, more petty stuff than we ever had with the antenna reception if you ask me.

Take care.

questioning_old

I was just going through my records to see when I received the set top box that I have now. It's definitely the 7100 series. The box that I have is a replacement that I received on 04/13/11, which isn't that long. I could still call customer service just to confirm that what I have is the latest or if there really is a 7200 upgrade available for my set up. If the only upgrade is for recording and for extra channels, then that's definitely not worth it for me.

sxrd60inch, if you order your STB replacement over the phone and you receive it via UPS, hold onto your receipts. I kept my receipt to prove that I dropped off my old STB at a UPS location, I kept the tracking record from UPS's website to show that the new one was delivered, and I kept the Verizon receipt of the new one so that way if there is ever a question or a problem, i.e. if Verizon ever comes back and complains that I never sent back the old STB and wants to charge me for it, I have the proof. I remember the associate at the UPS Store recommended keeping everything for at least 2 years just in case because he had a horror story this one lady who had her STB replaced and then a year later, Verizon was claiming to have had no record of her sending back her old one. He said that Verizon has gotten better about that but I always air on the side of caution and keep records for a long time to cover myself.

questioning_old

This is just some information I found on line about the 7200 series if you're interested.

https://www22.verizon.com/ResidentialHelp/FiOSTV/Receivers/Equipment+Issues/QuestionsOne/124820.htm

https://www22.verizon.com/ResidentialHelp/FiOSTV/Receivers/Equipment+Issues/Top+Questions.htm

jjd1621

it's like the Classic Coke people have resurrectedtheir careers at Verizon

LumpyG

It's not unanimous. I find the new guide to be a definite upgrade over the old one. There are probably a few minor tweaks that could be made, but overall I am very happy with it. I think Justin also is a proponent of the new guide. I guess the folks that like it or are indifferent generally don't feel the need to post here.

Justin46

@LumpyG wrote:
It's not unanimous. I find the new guide to be a definite upgrade over the old one. There are probably a few minor tweaks that could be made, but overall I am very happy with it. I think Justin also is a proponent of the new guide. I guess the folks that like it or are indifferent generally don't feel the need to post here.

Yes, I am very much a fan of the new Guide. That is not to say that some changes don't need to be made in some areas, but I view this new 1.9 level to be a big improvement over 1.8.

The focus of discontent seems to mostly be the colors used in the Guide, and the size and display duration of the channel info banner. I know Verizon is well aware of these concerns, and I feel pretty sure that we will see some changes in the future. Unfortunately I have no idea when in the future that might be. There are also a few actual "bugs" that have been reported in some areas, but from what I have seen most are pretty minor.

Another area of complaint is poor speed or inability to make the Guide fill the screen. I am pretty sure this is just an equipment problem. The old 6xxx STBs simply do not have the storage and graphics capability to display the Guide in HD and they are very slow in operation. This is not a problem with the Guide, it is the old hardware. Customers with the old 6xxx hardware should contact Verizon and request new STBs, that will eliminate this problem.

And those who are unhappy appear to be totally overlooking the great new features, such as:

- eSATA external hard drive attachment to increase capacity on all 7xxx DVRs

- Chaptering on recordings

- Improved search function

- Recovery of deleted programs on the DVR

- Multi-hub function if you have multiple DVRs

- Ability to schedule and delete recordings on the DVR from other STBs

- The HD Guide itself. Ignoring the colors (which I happen to like!) it now displays more program data at a time, offers a Channel View option if you want it, skip ahead several hours instead of just a half hour at a time.

Plus lots more....

And yes, human nature being what it is, I believe those who are unhappy about something will almost always post their complaints on the internet, while those who are happy just go about their business and we never hear from them. So just because a few have come here to complain does not mean that the whole customer base is unhappy, especially if they take the time to see all of the other new stuff that is now there.

Edit: Bill Kula just posted something that I found interesting. Here is the link if you are interested in the entire post:

http://forums.verizon.com/t5/Verizon-at-Home/What-a-Difference-1-825-Days-Makes-Progressing-Into-the-Future/ba-p/363013

But what I found interesting was this:

"Fast forward to today. Our subscriber counts for FiOS Internet and FiOS TV have swelled to 4.6 million and 4 million, respectively."

Four million FiOS TV customers! Wow! How manyof them have 1.9? I don't know, but I bet it is somewhere between 2 million and 3 million. And how many have come here to complain? Again, I don't know, but it sure is a miniscule number in comparison. Just a thought....

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, Internet, and phone user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9A
Keller, TX 76248

mdwalters1

Just came here to get an upgrade of a box and saw this. I thought this new guide graphic problem was actually due to my progressive lenses in my eyeglasses. I even tried adjusting my angle to the guide to see if it changed the guide. Well it did. Made it worse. I feel so much better now that it is not my glasses because without them I would not be able to read the guide anyway.

I am from the Northeast corner of NJ and I agree with the customer that was disturbed by the fact that we are always ignored as to our location and grouped in with either NYC, NY State or South Jersey. Especially if a storm is on its way. The weather center is based out of Newark and we hardly ever have the same whether results that they do even though they are just an hour away.

Proof - Snowtober this year. I don't think I have to repeat the horrific damage that we had up here due to this storm. However, that Saturday all day while watching the news updates it never singled us out as an area all of its own. The weather casters reported the snow was ending when in fact up or over here it wasn't. This can also cause major accidents when the news stations do not tell us about this area specifically because people think it is ok to go out when it is not.

I never complained about this to any of the news stations because I thought I was the only one who felt this way because I never heard any complaints about it until now. So a big THANK YOU to the other North Jerseyian.

oldfashioned

That was me and you're welcome. 🙂 It's definitely not your eyesight. If your only problem is with reading the guide because the colors clash and bleed into each other and are hard on your eyes, then it's more than likely because your TV is analog and you need to replace that with an HDTV to get the full benefit of what you are paying for.

You and I know the deal about NJ. You were reading my initial reaction while trying to sort through this problem and find a solution.

Glad I was able to help.

prisaz

I like the 1.9 guide. Much thought and testing went into it, regardless of what others might say. You need 7xxx series boxes for it to look nice,.plain and simple! The worst set I have is a 17" flat panel 4:3 aspect ratio TV in my kitchen. After a few tweeks it 1.9 looks good there. The only issue there is no wide screen, but I am still able to run it at 720 and 4:3. Tube TVs should all be gone for those who have them. I picked up a 36" Vizio LED set for my daughter, at under $300 last December. I do have a 19" tube TV collecting dust, and it just might be interesting to see what people are complaining about.

oldfashioned

priasz, I definitely agree with you that without the right updated equipment, the display isn't going to work so well. It's a very good guide once all the equipment is in order. The graphics are pleasing with the colors and the options listed are very user friendly. I wonder myself what the complaints really are about for those who are already up to date with their TVs and STBs. I brought my tube TV to the curb. It was so heavy and bulky to carry and then by the next day, someone grabbed it pretty quickly.

As far as thought and testing are concerned, I'm sure testing was done but what I criticize is the lack of communication about this. It was like fishing through the dark trying to understand and figure out what this was about and how to resolve it. And I just thought it was weird how only South Jersey and not North Jersey was included in the mix of feedback and testing but even putting that aside, all Verizon had to do was send out notification about this to everyone with some troubleshooting tips, letting us know in advance that we need flatscreen TVs and the 7xxx series of the STB/DVR. I'm sure that kind of advance heads up would have eliminated or at least reduced a lot of the confusion.

david552

As with all changes, sometimes it takes a while to adjust but I do echo the thought that this is not an improvement for several reasons.

my main gripes:

A. Banner duration at the bottom of the screen when flipping channels stays on way too long. I have not found a way to adjust the duration as one could before. Driving me nuts really. anyone know a way to adjust it?

B. General menu (Full screen) lacks readability. Don't get the colors, more it's the font size or something.

In general I really like the look of the old menu, I know there are some additonal features but the ones above need to be

addressed.

Why am I a hamburger?

tricia520

I hate this new guide. It is hard to read and very very slow. When i do manage to find what i want i have to wait till it finishes scrolling on it's own so i can then scroll back down to again find what i was looking for. This has annoyed me so much i am thinking of leaving FIOS.

BillSM

Certainly not unanimous!

This guide is fast and quite readable on my Sony 40-inch HDTV. Of course I have the 7232 DVR, which I believe is necessary to see the guide in full HD, i.e. 2 1/2 hours of programming instead of 90 minutes.

This guide is much, much better than the guide that displayed with my DirecTV subscription for the previous four years.

Suzanne7777

The guide seems to work much better if you have HDTV and one of the 7200 series stbs. But if you have a standard stb and standard tv it is awful. We have both and the difference is unbelievable. On the standard stb I can barely read the guide at all and it is very very slow. The print against the faint background is almost illegible--I have to go up to the tv sometimes to decipher. Much less of the guide is visible as well. There should be a way to rollback the guide on the standard boxes rather than have to upgrade and pay more just to read the guide.

bcool2665a

OMG! I just spoke with the Fiber Solutions Technician and he was at a loss as to how to answer my complaint about the display of the TV Guide... the fact that I can barely read it no matter which glasses I put on nor how close/far I sit/stand from the screen. In reading the comments in this section, I do believe the problem has been found. Both of my TVs are digital. I cannot afford 2 flat screen TVs!!! But this must be the problem... the graphics are updated to accommodate the new television.

Verizon, if this is the case, you should offer a solution by making available guides that match the customer's needs! As it is, I must go online to view my channel lineup! How sad is that!!!

Malcolm_Stanley

Have you looked in menu->settings-> video settings?

there are settings in there for SD override and for TV type that may need to be changed to optimize the display of the guide on your set.

ekelks1

I agree the guide is awful. Changing settings to SD as suggested below makes no difference. The only thing that does help people like you & me see better is changing the guide to the channel guide as your second option -- so you can see a listing of what's on the channel at a certain time. Then mess around with the different scrolling buttons to find a channel & time of a show, then press more info -- from there if you want you can record. Ridiculous but at least it's easier to read. No way am I buying a new tv set for this either.

KH-OrnEsh1

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