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4:3 Menu and DVR Storage

OK. I just switched to FIOS TV, Internet, and Phone....for the most part I am very happy. However, I have two major complaints and I hope Verizon is working to resolve these issues!

1. The program guide simply sucks. It's 4:3, difficult to navigate and read. Where the heck is a 16:9 format version for my LCD HD TV?

2. The storage capacity on the DVR is crazy. After recording just 3 shows the DVR said it was 40% full. What the heck? will I only get about 10 HD shows on this thing?

Outside of the above, the picture quality is great and the internet is awesome. I switched from DirecTV and the DVR rocked compared to what Verizon is giving you. These are two major disappointments and I really hope Verizon is working on a firmware upgrade that will at least give me the ability to add an external HDD and a guide that's actualy readable in 16:9 format.

Comments

fiostvman

I have had to resort to recording all my shows in SD because HD fills up the DVR too quickly. The bad thing though is that SD picture quality on FIOS TV is poor and hopefully will be fixed in the next IMG release 1.6.2

KenAF

I understand your frustration with regard to storage capacity, and I agree that a 16:9 guide would be very nice.

That said, DirecTV also uses a 4:3 guide. They stick a 90 minute, 4:3 guide on a 16:9 background. You get the same amount of information on the FiOS DVR, FiOS just doesn't have the nice background showing on the sides.

KenAF

There's also a bug that can sometimes cause the FiOS' Motorola DVR to misreport available capacity. To fix that, unplug the unit for 30 seconds.

TimSykes

@KenAF wrote:
There's also a bug that can sometimes cause the FiOS' Motorola DVR to misreport available capacity. To fix that, unplug the unit for 30 seconds.
To elaborate on this point, you should get 20 hours of HD. Just power cycle and you should be fine.

hotzorro

You are wrong about the DirecTV guide. It is a 16:9 guide, fills the entire screen, and shows me 2.5 hours or programming on a single screen per channel. I know, I have the thing and there is no comparison between the FIOS guide and the DirecTV guide.

PJL

@hotzorro wrote:
You are wrong about the DirecTV guide. It is a 16:9 guide, fills the entire screen, and shows me 2.5 hours or programming on a single screen per channel. I know, I have the thing and there is no comparison between the FIOS guide and the DirecTV guide.

Then stick with DirecTV (and it's inferior picture quality and lack of many premium HD movie channels) by all means!

Message Edited by PJL on 03-05-2009 01:44 PM

CharlesH

What I suggest is to make the guide see through so you dont get the black bars at the side. It looks much better and will not bother you as much since it will not fill up the entire screen.

hotzorro

It really bothers me when someone thinks they know what their talking about when they don't. I'll stick with FIOS because I am a picture quality freak. That's why I had DirecTV instead of cable. The day FIOS became available I ordered it.

At the end of the day, the guide is a simple thing for verizon to fix. If they really want people to convert to FIOS, putting aside the picture quality, they need to offer similar features to their competitors. Hands down, the guide and DVR capacity of DirecTV blows them away. However, I'll live with the handycap because the picture quality is what counts.

I've read this forum and it appears MANY others have the same gripe. Verizon should listen to their customers and get with the program.

KenAF

@hotzorro wrote:
You are wrong about the DirecTV guide. It is a 16:9 guide, fills the entire screen, and shows me 2.5 hours or programming on a single screen per channel. I know, I have the thing and there is no comparison between the FIOS guide and the DirecTV guide.

Is there any chance you could take a picture and post it somewhere? I would very much like to see this 2.5hr DirecTV guide of yours. 😉

DirecTV HR21 guide with 90min info

The site for DirecTV DVR feature requests is http://www.wishlistsurvey.com/. Can you guess what the #1 UI request is?

Reaper

KenAF wrote:
Is there any chance you could take a picture and post it somewhere? I would very much like to see this 2.5hr DirecTV guide of yours.

Your photo shows the 90 minute guide that I had with DIRECTV when I left the service three months ago. I watch the DBSTalk online boards daily and I haven't seen any announcements that the guide has changed. I think that the OP was likely wrong.

For my part, I agree with the OP in principle though. Verizon has already done the hardest work, building out their infrastructure (hardware), and done it well. The two main complaints that FiOS TV customers have are the guide and DVR storage. Both of these are addressable via relatively inexpensive software changes. At least stretch the guide to 16:9, or better yet rollout a true HD 16:9 grid. And enable the ability to add an external hard drive. Again, these should be relatively easy changes to implement that would not only make their existing customers happier but would also serve to remove barriers to Verizon drawing even more TV customers away from DIRECTV and Dish Network.

Message Edited by Reaper on 03-06-2009 12:20 PM

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