Resubscribed to Fios TV+

[gomets1969]

Recently resubscribed to Fios TV service and received the following new equipment:

Two 4100 DVRs. These are the newest models that have no HDMI connection. They are only used as servers.

Two Verizon Stream (V2) devices.

I have since found out this is what's called Fios TV+, and it is a different animal from the regular Fios One TV service.

Setup and initialization were smooth. The Stream (V2) boxes are fast and responsive. The 4100 DVRs function properly as DVRs and servers. The wireless signal between the Stream (V2) and new 4100's is strong. (Only the Stream (V2) gets connected to the TV via HDMI.)

The problem is with the video processing. All 720p channels (examples: all the ESPNs, FS1, FS2, local ABC and FOX) look terrible with live programming. The signals appear to be coming through the Stream (V2) boxes at 30FPS instead of at 60FPS. When I connect coax directly to my TV and tune to ABC and FOX, the picture looks normal. 

There is no way to change any settings with the new 4100's. The Stream (V2) boxes have very minimal settings that can be accessed, none of which involve changing the picture quality.

I realize this is a new way for Fios to deliver TV programming, but someone needs to know about the 720p issue. Hopefully it will only require a software update. 

For those that are wondering, I have Fios GB internet. This is not IPTV, or VIP, as the channels are still delivered via  QAM/RF through the coax connected to the 4100. Customers with the Fios 2GB internet service receive actual IPTV/VIP. I was told this service just started being used in my area of NJ last week for new TV customers.

[Silversurfer1]

Ok, I hope I am not jinxing myself but I think that the issues that I was having with the new style of equipment are finally fixed! Previously the longest I ever went without the TV channel I was watching locking up on me or losing VMS connection and unable to watch anything live or recorded or my TV losing internet connection and all sorts of other errors was about 2 hours.  At 6 pm tonight we will be at 2 days with no issue.   If it rears its ugly head again, I will post a follow-up.

The only thing that happened was at one point last night I wanted to watch something On Demand.  I scrolled up to the OnDemand Section on top of the screen and then went to the Network section to find the show I wanted to watch.  The part that separated the networks by alphabet groupings. Well, the first few groups were blank.  I was specifically looking for the AMC network, but no networks were listed.   The popular section had some networks listed, but not the one I was looking for. The Show section had all shows listed though.  I turned off the Stream tv box and turned it back on but that didn't fix the problem.  I did not attempt the 5-minute power disconnect method. The networks would all show up on the other sections just not the OnDemand.  Does anyone who has the V2 StreamTV box encounter something similar? This has happened once or twice before and I do not know what causes it.  Some glitch in the Android operating system I assume.  It ended up working properly after a while.  I'd say about 15 mins later. I have an Android-based information system in my car too and sometimes that has glitches so I am guessing this is something similar.  

So to recap the fix, the tech took out the 2-way MoCa-rated cable splitter and replaced it with a 3-way MoCa-rated cable splitter to knock the signal down a bit.  Then he installed a MoCa adapter and ran the V2 StreamTV box into the MoCa adapter.  This essentially did away with my wireless connection for the V@ Streambox and connected it by coax instead.   I think I may have left the part out about a MoCA adapter being installed in my earlier post so I wanted to make sure I mentioned it here. I found that I was among the first in my area to have the new V2StreamTV box and VMS4100ATV box system. They had so many complaints over the past two months and learned that the StreamTV box does not like a "hot " signal and they had to pad the signal down.  When they started padding the signal down and using a MoCa adapter the problems went away so they have begun doing that as a part of the normal install for V2 StreamTV boxes.

My fingers crossed that this is really fixed but it looks to be true.

[dexman]

I suspect future installations to include some sort of attenuation device to pad levels. 🤔

Thank you for keeping the community updated. 🙏  🙂

[gomets1969]

Three questions:

1) How does your 720p live programming look? And by live, I mean sports, news, game shows, etc. Does it look like 30FPS, or 60FPS? (My 720p live programming looked awful.)

2) How did tech connect the MoCa adapter to the Stream (V2)? A USB to Ethernet adapter, I assume?

3) When you look at the "Connected Devices" in the Fios TV menu settings, does it show the Stream (V2) as connected, and are you able to access DVR recordings? (The brief period that I hard wired the Stream (V2) with an adapter, it took the Stream offline and would not allow access to one of the DVRs recorded programs. The other DVR was accessible however, which was just plain weird.)

Glad it's working for you (knock wood). You certainly earned it. 🙂

[Silversurfer1]

I haven’t watched much 720p as of yet. I will take a look later today. 

As far as the MoCa and V2 stream box connection connection that was what I expected but that’s not how it is.  I don’t understand the way it works but the MoCa adapter is connected to the third spot in the 3 way splitter.  The other splitter ports  run to the VMS4100ATV and  to the CR1000B router.   The MoCa adapter has a power cord that runs to my electrical outlet. It also has a power port that a runs to the power port of the V2 stream box.  It must also feed a cable signal somehow. The  usb port is empty.  The hdmi cord runs to the vms box. 
everything shows up as a wired connection. Only thing that does not show as being connected is my extender which is connected via coaxial cable. 
I can access the dvr and use it to record and watch my recordings. 

[gomets1969]

Huh, something doesn't seem right in that description.

You say "the hdmi cord runs to the vms box," but the VMS box (VMS4100ATV) doesn't have an HDMI port, only the Stream (V2) does. And a power cord runs from the MoCa adapter to the Stream (V2) box? 

Any chance you could post some photos of this setup, because none of it makes sense in my mind's eye. 🙂

[Silversurfer1]

You are correct. I mistyped.  The V2 stream box connects to my AVR.  If I didn’t have an AVR it would go directly into my tv which I tried at one point to remove it from the equation when troubleshooting. 
yes the only connection the V2 box makes with the MoCa adapter is the power cord ports. I’d think it would make it a wireless connection but in my mind that would make the MoCa adapter function like an extender which I don’t think it does. It seems to function as a powerbrick that sends a cable signal over the power cord to the V2 box.  The tech had removed the usb c cord and its cellphone style power adapter from the V2 box and replaced it with this cord that runs from the MoVa Adapter to the V2 box power port.   I thought it would be connected with a usb Ethernet dongle but it isn’t.  The V2 box shows as being connected to an Ethernet connection not the hidden tv signal network.    I do not understand why the extender does not show as being connected through being it’s wired via coaxial just like the router and VMS box. I will try to post pics. I got a real rats nest of wires lol but will try to take some useful pics. 

[dexman]

A quick heads-up about pictures. Submitted pictures first go into queue for a quick Moderator review. Once that's done, the pictures will appear. 🙂

[Silversurfer1]

Ok hopefully this will help.  I looked up online what MoCa adapter I have and it is not a regular MoCa adapter.  It is a Stream TV MoCa Ethernet adapter.  The power cord I was referring to that connects the V2 Streambox to the MoCa adapter is in fact a USB C cord but instead of having the larger USB connector on one end, it has both smaller USB C connectors.  This USB C cord supplies power AND transmits data.  So it does provide a wired connection.

Here is a diagram online of how it is connected, but in my case instead of being plugged into the wall via ethernet, they instead connected it via coaxial (there are ports to do either on the MoCa adapter).

This is the link for the diagram and information about the Stream TV MoCa ethernet adapter.

www.verizon.com/support/residential/tv/equipment/stream-tv-landing/moca

[gomets1969]

OK, that makes MUCH more sense. I have a couple Verizon MoCa adapters and they don't do what this one does. (Mine are white, with four Ethernet ports, no USB C port.) Thanks for the link and explanation. 

[Silversurfer1]

Well my TV issue does seem to be resolved but I ran into another issue yesterday afternoon and I am not sure if it has anything to do with the MoCa adapter being installed or if maybe my CE1000B router was bad from day 1.    I all of a sudden had witless speeds that were download of 10 to 15 and upload speeds of 5-7.   Absolutely crawling.  I contacted the tech that installed the MoCa adapter. He checked my router remotely and said he was seeing speeds of 900 for both.  I reset my router and it was quite a bit faster.  I unplugged the router and plugged it back in and it was a wireless download speed of 70.   I plugged directly into the router and hit 600.    
a different tech came today and swapped out my CE1000B router to a G3100 router.  The speeds went back to 900 upload wired and 600 wireless.  
So I will keep an eye on it and see if speeds suffer again. I’m not sure how to feel about a potential downgrade in routers.  I would have like to have tried a different CR1000B first. Aesthetically the CR1000B looks nicer to me and I’d assume it is more future proof but what do I know.   I know I’m glad my tv is finally working properly but I now wonder if maybe the router had some part to blame in all the problems I was having even though ivy internet never went down on me or seemed slow during the time I was having tv problems. 

[dexman]

The cr1000a & b support 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz. The G3100 omits 6GHz. The downside to the 1000a & b, for me, is that they have fewer Ethernet ports on the rear. Not so much of a problem in residential settings, but in a SMB setting, it makes the need to purchase a switch all the more likely.  😐

[Silversurfer1]

Thanks for the reply.  I have two gigabit switches at my house that I can use so that’s a non Issue for me.  I have noticed the front led ring light does not appear to be lit which seems odd to me. On the E3200 extender it stays lit.  I am tempted to do a restart just to see if it lights up. I wasn’t watching  it when it got installed.  Other than the light everything seems to be working fine.  I wonder how big a deal the lack of 6g is.  Previously, before I got fios I had a Deco 6e mesh system that had tri band.  I don’t currently have anything that uses 6 g.  I am not sure how long that will be the case though as new cell phones are certainly in the future as well as laptops. 

[Silversurfer1]

I also just realized this is taking a turn off of the original thread.  If it needs to be moved please do so. 

[dexman]

A new topic can be started to continue to discussion. 😊

[dexman]

If my memory is correct, early on when the G3100 and E3200 first came out, the LED rings were quite bright.

I think that a software update dimmed them considerably.

The port LEDs on the rear of the E3200 remain lit 24/7. The LEDs on the back of the E3200 will.go after a certain amount of time.

5GHz and 6GHz are more susceptible to attenuation than 2.4GHz when going through walls

As of this moment, I don't think that the low amount of hardware that can access the 6 GHz band, I 'm not too overly concerned about obsolescence at this time. 🙂

[Silversurfer1]

You are right on the LED ring light.  On the extender it’s very bright.  On the router it is so dim it looks like it is not lit. I didn’t realize it was actually lit until I walked very close to it and took a good look at it when my room was dark. 

[dexman]

The 3100 and three 3200s here at home all have dimmed front facing LEDs.

I think that an update dimmed them. If I disconnect the Ethernet cable from the back of any extender the LED brightens up quite nicely.

Same for the 3100. Remove the WAN connection to the ONT and the LED glows brightly. 

[clem21]

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@Silversurfer1 wrote:

Yes we definitely have the same system and yes the techs are dreadfully undertrained on the new Verizon stream tv boxes.   Everyone of them admitted that to me the second they walked in the door  basically to let me know not to expect much out of them.   I had actually had a post where I quoted them verbatim  but it was removed because it was against the rules of this forum. I wasn’t aware of the rule (my fault). My comment wasn’t meant to disparage them it was only to let others know that the techs are in a bad spot having to deal with equipment they are unfamiliar with. From all accounts the new stream boxes were only two weeks old from roll out when mine was installed. 
I will try your suggestions. I believe mine connection is to the special TV network as I recall the tech saying it’s a special signal the system puts out there. I will double check. I do know it definitely was at install and the problem was even going on back then. 
I have thought about going to the older box. I suggested that myself but the techs really didn’t know if that was an option. They don’t have them on their truck.  I think what was suggested if I recall properly was I would have to cancel my tv portion of fios and then reorder and request the old equipment and again it was not known if this was possible, it was a mere suggestion when I inquired about getting older equipment instead of the new stuff that wasn’t working. I will say however  being I never had the older box I wonder how different it is. I really wanted to get this to work because I like the format of the operating system. It feels like Apple TV or roku when I’m moving through the system. Only difference is those work flawlessly and this doesn’t. I really like the remote for this too.  I like it works by radio signal instead of infrared so I can be not facing the tv or even in the room and it will work. I like how the voice control works as well. I think the older style you had to keep the button pressed while you speak?

I really wanted this to work but after over a month of letting them try to fix it and over two weeks of hearing nothing as far as what is being done about it, today will be the last day I’m trying to fix it. It’s not my job, this is expensive and the techs should be doing this, not me.  I have been more than patient and accommodating. What I was trying to avoid is now imminent.  I am hosting Thanksgiving with many people at my house and my tv will not be watchable. While that is probably actually a good thing (more people engaging each other in conversation instead of watching tv, it is not what I had planned.  
this has been such a disappointing experience. I am thankful for those of you that have tried to help me. This is a great resource.  

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I was looking at the Stream box, which has actually been around since 2021 but in limited areas. It ONLY connects via WiFi and I'm not sure if it takes it's signal from the hidden 5Ghz network the Fios router provides, or ANY 5Ghz network in your house. I am trying to get more info on the device to help people with these, but it will take some time with the holiday coming up. You could try going into the router and assigning a static 5Ghz channel and see if ti helps at all.

[Silversurfer1]

The stream tv box is currently on a 5ghz channel.   It does connect to the TV network put out by the router.  I have a strong signal. I tried connections it to the regular network too and that is a strong signal as well. Either way the problem persists. Being there is the usb port I am going to try connecting it with a usb / Ethernet cable to the router like gomets1969 said he had his connected for awhile to see if that helps. 

Thanks for your help. I know this is rather time consuming. We should all work for Verizon as the streamtv Troubleshooting crew lol 

[gomets1969]

No problem. 🙂

One thing I'd like you to check though.  Under -- Network Status -- WiFi Status, what are you signal readings?

Mine are the following:

Wi-Fi Signal - Good

Wi-Fi Link Quality - Good (100%)

RSSI Quality - Excellent (-46 dBm)

Noise Level - Low (-89 dBm)

SNR - Good (34 dB)

PHY Rate - Good (1172 Mbps)

My router is in my basement, and I have an extender on the third floor. Neither of them are close to the TV. 

[Silversurfer1]

I did take a look at the status this morning after checking h to make sure I was on the special - tv network   While the numbers are a little different (but I also am at 100%) the rest are the same.  Good good excellent etc.  I was surprised the first time I looked at it awhile ago that it only says good next to 100%. I’d think it would be excellent.   I found that to be odd. But nothing indicates there is any problem 

when I go thru the troubleshoot guide when I have a problem the network connection test always fails.  Then magically it will work moments later to only start locking up and black screening a little while later