VIOS DVR CAPACITY

[DHA]

I FEEL SWINDLED!!!!!!  

I just switched from DISH network to Verizon FIOS, where I had:

1. One  DVR with the capacity to record hundreds of shows and hundreds of hour of SD and HD plus the ability to store and easily retreive shows from a 750 GIG hard drive. This DVR fed a second room SD TV as well

2. A second one room DVR that could record hundreds of hours of SD that the kids used.

What I got now is one sucky low capacity DVR that feeds a set-top box in a second room that has very limited DVR functionality. The kids can watch stuff on the DVR, but they can't even erase shows they've watched from that second set-top box. 

Worse, the DVR  reaches capacity with less less than 50 hours of HDTV and I can't use the 750 GIG hard drive at all, even though it looks like I could hook it up.

DISH Network has had this level of storage since 2006, when we got our HDTV. 

I thought that on-demand would help reduce the need for real storage, but I was sooooo wrong.  This thing can't even hold a week of what we watch, and the On-Demand programs are not even close to meeting our needs.  The Star Trek fan in the family is quite PO'd -- its not "on-demand".

And I can't believe that I overwritten two HD football games because of capacity issues.

Before I pull the plug on FIOS, does anyone have any idea how to increase or add capacity?   This is A MAJOR ISSUE FOR US, AND i FEEL LIKE VERIZON LIED ABOUT THE CAPACITY OF THEIR DVR.

[PJL]

This topic has been discussed numerous time.  Verizon's STB DVR capacity is clearly stated in numerous places, so I don't think you've been lied to.  In fact, the Verizon web site states:  "...you can record up to 40 hours of standard definition digital TV programming and up to 18 hours of HD programming..." -- although I usually get around 25 hours of HD recording on mine.  (See http://www22.verizon.com/residential/fiostv/faq/faq.html#two_seven.) 

BUT THE GOOD NEWS:  IMG version 1.9 is supposed to include the ability to add an eSATA drive to the STB to increase the capacity.  See discussions on http://www.dslreports.com/forum/vzfiostv.  See Verizon's FiOS blog  http://forums.verizon.com/t5/Verizon-at-Home/FiOS-TV-IMG-1-8-Release-Notes/bc-p/236652#M1518 and the answer to the question about eSATA. 

[marcw1]

Any idea when 1.9 comes out, i am still on 1.7.1 in Staten island NY.

[prisaz]

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@marcw wrote:

Any idea when 1.9 comes out, i am still on 1.7.1 in Staten island NY.

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This year.

[DHA · Accepted solution]

Sorry I don't believe Veri when they say that 1.9 is out this year. My research says next year deployment to actual customers. On my brand new motorola box I've got version 1.7 something. What is 1.8? Why would they go to 1.9? Anyway, even if they upgraded the software,  will I be able to swap out the DVR box immediately for one with a larger internal drive, or will I only be able to hook it to an external drive?  Unless Verizon gets real fancy with the software, the harddrive interface has some limits, it is hard to record directly to the hard drive. Current tech from others force you to record to the DVR and then to move the files to the external drive, where you can watch from it directly later.  I bet you will still need a large drive in the DVR box itself.

So yesterday I call Verizon  It takes me 15 minutes to get a live person, but  I get bounced back and forth between several reps, because no single person can answer all my questions. I spend close to two hours on the phone w these guys, most of it on hold waiting for someone else to answer a question.  Finally I get someone who offers something like a solution for a small hard drive DVR: Lease a second one for our second TV, at an additional charge of $15. But the second TV is SDTV, and is not the problem. The problem is that 20 hr HD limit on the first HDTV.  

Verizon won't come out and say it, but the real solution appears a $4.00 a month cable card with a DVR from a third party, or going back to DISH.

So I price out TIVO. Tivo has a nice little Premier box, which can be loaded with either a .5 or 1TB drive. I lose On-demand, but can subscribe to Netflix (for more $) and I need to buy two Tivos, (TIvo can't feed a second TV). That, plus the price for buying down the subscription.... and its $1,100!  Gulp, even with the savings from not renting a Vios box, that doesn't pay off for 5+ years. And I am still paying Verizon $110 a month for premier programs and HBO. 

Next up the new MOXI DVR. No subscription. $800 for a really nice three tuner DVR and "Moxi-mate". Plus I can feed two TVs with HD. Cheaper than two Tivo boxes, one more tuner than Verizon or Dish but I still lose On-Demand, and I still have to pay Verizon $110 a month for lousy customer service, premier programming with HBO and a cable card. Better, but still too expensive.

Is it worth it going back to Dish? The website says Dish's price is $6.00 a month for a .5 Tb, 2 tuner, DVR that can hook up to a 6 TB hard drive and feed a second TV a SD signal. Programming a $99 includes HBO, Cinamax, Showtime, Encore, all regional sports channels etc etc. Total comes to $105 a month. I still have access to On-demand thru their new Internet service. I can also hook up my outdoor antenna and record on the DVR the Baltimore stations. 

Plus they answer the phone in less than five minutes. Always have. Even the day I cut them off in August.

On October 8 its back to dish. For what I am paying now with bundled savings that expire in a year, I can get a real two room DVR that is four times as large as the Fios Motorola box. I can also hook up a 6.0 terabyte hard drive to the thing -- lets say that is unlimited storage for HD

We are also considering turning the home phone line off.  We will still be Verizon customers. Fios for Internet and V Wireless. 

[kliang]

I too just switched over from D*TV and I'm dissapointed with the capacity of the FIOS STB.  I'm also not happy with the user interface of the Motorola box...not as user friendly as the DTV box.  I might switch back since I'm still within the 30 trial period.

[newtocable]

The capacity issue has been around a long time and Verizon CS won't comment on an answer. They do acknowledge it though. A bigger problem that is NOT getting fixed is recordings that won't play back. So even if you record something there is a good chance you won't be able to watch it. This started with the 1.7 release and is absolutely not being addressed. FIX THIS PROBLEM PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[spacedebris]

Version 1.8 is being rolled out right now. some areas already have it and others are going to get it shortly. 1.9 is going to be needed for the new 3D programming that is tentatively scheduled for around Christmas time. Granted they have not given out a time table, but they are trying to have all the 3D channels available for the Christmas shopping season. So if they are to have the 3D available, 1.9 goes hand in hand.  But your right, its a wait and see position we have to take.

[Hubrisnxs]

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@newtocable wrote:

The capacity issue has been around a long time and Verizon CS won't comment on an answer. They do acknowledge it though. A bigger problem that is NOT getting fixed is recordings that won't play back. So even if you record something there is a good chance you won't be able to watch it. This started with the 1.7 release and is absolutely not being addressed. FIX THIS PROBLEM PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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that problem will be resolved with the 1.8 software release that spacedebris mentioned is being rolled out right now.  as long as everything goes according to plan that should be done by end of the month

[DHA]

Folks, I have concluded that Verizon's DVRs have  teeeeny, tiny archaic hard drives driven by junk software that was outdated years ago.  As I read the technical problems that you all are posting here, I am reminded of the same conversations that took place among Dish, DirectTV and even Tivo users.......... 5-10  YEARS AGO!

We had DISH since 1997. We were one of the first to upgrade to a DISH 501 "PVR", which, because of high demand, DISH made you buy for a couple hundred bucks  It had only one tuner and enough software bugs to aim a can of Raid at. But it could record about 40 hours of SD TV, and we could skip commericals.  WE LOVED IT - 6 years ago. 

Today's Verizon DVR reminds me of that first Dish unit.  The user interface stinks, it allows you to enter phantom timers for channels you don't get (with no error message that nothing will record), there is frequent  hard-rebooting, freeze ups, and screen pixelization.  It all sounds and feels like that first DVR Dish sold me years ago.

But guess what? DISH, TIVO, MOXI and Direct TV have upgraded those old buggy boxes, they offer terra-bytes of drive space and user interfaces that actually work. 

So, after less than a week of living with the newest Verizon Motorola Media DVR, my family revolted.  The kids hate your service. I do as well.

You may ask, Why did I aven bother to try Verizon TV?  I wanted to cut what we were spending on TV, internet,  and phone service. I thought that the On-Demand feature would make up for the lack of a decent hard drive.  I did not realize that Verizon's interface stunk as well, and I did not realize that On-Demand only has current TV shows and movies available. The Star-Trek fans can't  keep 10 or 15 shows to choose from with On-Demand.

So we are going back to DISH, and the land-line phone is going away. Why not? Everyone, even the youngest, has a cell phone. The only reason to have a landline phone is so I can get called by pollsters and those who are trying to get me to give them money.  Everyone else calls on the cell. Or sends a text message.

[retiredme]

As a former Dish subscriber, I understand your frustration in stepping down from top-line model DVRs to a lesser product; but the specs have been clearly posted for a long time and freely available in many locations. So I must say that the decision to switch, like mine, was voluntary and no swindle involved. I have stayed with FIOS because of the quality of the signal. Because of the age of FIOS, around 5 years, I give FIOS some latitude in catching up technologically. With two software updates remaining this year, one of which will allegedly enable an external hard drive, some of the issues will be resolved. There is still plenty more to want fixed as well, such as better VOD library and PIP functions for the DVR. I really miss side-by-side PIP during football season. Because you have a family and time may not be on your side, your decision to switch back to what you know is understandable. We all make decisions in the best interest for our individual situations.  Good luck.  Thank you.

[TwoShoes]

I am also disappointed with the capacity available.  I have a question that I did not see asked anywhere in this post.  Is it possible to offload recordings from the DVR to a DVD burner on your PC?  In other words, you can access your DVR remotely via your PC to program it, so it has networking capabilities.  Can the DVR's HD be made to look like a shared drive on a network?  Not the best solution but at least something temporary until something better comes along.

[prisaz]

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@TwoShoes wrote:

I am also disappointed with the capacity available.  I have a question that I did not see asked anywhere in this post.  Is it possible to offload recordings from the DVR to a DVD burner on your PC?  In other words, you can access your DVR remotely via your PC to program it, so it has networking capabilities.  Can the DVR's HD be made to look like a shared drive on a network?  Not the best solution but at least something temporary until something better comes along.

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No.

The only thing that comes close to being able to do this is the TiVO. The TiVO HD transfers are Very Slow, but I believe the newer TiVO is faster. If you have a Tivo you can add an external drive.

So perhaps with the 1.9 in a Verizon DVR this will not be an issue since you can add an external drive.

Still same Guide provider.

Still same lack of third party VOD options.

Still no ability to transfer content? We shall see on this one.

If Verizon does not allow existing customers to upgrade to the newer Cisco hardware. I will be ordering Cablcards and replacing it all myself. The HD box I just picked up is the same giant size as the DVR. It might as well be a Tivo.

[TwoShoes]

Thanks for the reply, hoped for a better answer but did not expect there would be one.  Need to see what the new software will do then maybe time to look for a new provider.  Thanks again.

[ericb2]

The "solution" I use is to copy programs from the DVR to a DVD recorder.  The drawback is that a DVD+R only holds 2 hrs, and it's a manual process.   I use a Toshiba D-R400, which is an SD recorder that upconverts to HD.   I can't tell the difference between HD and an upconverted DVD, but maybe I need new glasses. 🙂

[blegs38552]

I also have a Toshiba DVD-R. My complaint is that FIOS, unlike Cablevision, does not enable a user to do a "Background" recording. When I was with Cablevision, I could download a recording while watching another program. This was probably because Cablevision had (has?) picture-in-picture capability, while FIOS does not.

FIOS - any chance of Picture-in-Picture being added? The remote supports it, and I would guess, the cable box would too with the right software/firmware.

[Hubrisnxs]

they probably have accessible dual tuners, while fios has dual tuners but only one is accessible at a time -  PIP is not coming anytime soon, but quad tuners may be coming which would let you do that.       The bigger hard drives will solve your problem before all of that happens.     so right now hard drives are only 160 gb's they will be upto 1.5 TB after 1.9 rolls out and allows the 1tb expansion.  that will be more than 619.6 hours of SD and 147.8 hours of HD

[alden]

Tomorrow I am installing FIOS bundle with DVR and despite all my efforts nobody at Verizon can tell me what DVR will I get -old 6416 or newer 320MB DVR, that I know is coming... One Verizon rep. told me that new DVR are already available in some areas and I have to insist to the tech to install new DVR, others don't know the answer altogether. So, I just wonder is new 320Mb is available? Or we will have to wait many more months for the newer DVR? And, by the way, which DVR will come first CISCO or Motorola? And what is the difference between those...

[rweintra]

Mine is being installed as we speak and I'm getting 7216s. I'm in NYC and am wondering if any of the newer ones are here yet?

[Hubrisnxs]

buffalo was one of the first places to get the cisco's and the bigger motorola's so you may get them.   i wouldn't call customer serrvice because they can't specify, unless you call them understanding that all they can do is "write a remark" on the order that the tech hopefully see's indicating you want one.   I don't think they can garuntee that yet?

[rweintra]

The tech who is here said that he hasn't seen any at his place yet. He said Buffalo is the only place he knows of as of now and that the guys like him are the last to know.