Fuzzy Standard Picture, great HD

[anialw]

I just got FIOS TV yesterday and noticed immediately as it was installed that it looked terribly fuzzy and in fact I could hardly ready the text on any ad or on the CNN tickers, etc.  It was significantly worse than COX, which we just watched at 1pm, and then Fios at 2pm.  The technician said it was my tv and I should play with settings.  That made no sense to me as the HD channels were great, and when we hit "guide"  the small and medium picture also showed excellent.  Just the regular sized image was way too fuzzy, almost as if it was behind plexi glass.

Please help, this is really frustrating as all my HD tvs now look horrible unless it is HD channels.  I do not want to cancel this service but I will if it does not look better.  I got it with the idea that it would look better than cable.

Any help is appreciated.

[matcarl]

It's a known problem with the 6xxx series boxes, Verizon is working on a fix to be hopefully deployed within 2 months.

Message Edited by matcarl on 01-31-2009 09:59 PM

[lensam]

These are problems that only exist on standard definition channels? I only have a standard definition television. If I get this service my tv will look like this?

[matcarl]

Lensam: If you get a standard def box it will be OK, it only affects some of the HD boxes.

[lensam]

Thanks a lot, that's good to know. But, will I still get the allegedly crappy program guide with the SD box?

[matcarl]

The program guide is the same for all boxes.

[MJ_123]

My Verizon FIOS service was just installed today.  I am very disappointed with the picture quality of both SD and HD channels.  Some HD channels look okay, but others don't look good at all.  And the SD channels are very disappointing.  I had read such good reports about picture quality with FIOS, and now I am beginning to feel I've made a big mistake by switching from Comcast.

[lensam]

How are the SD channels disappointing? Are they blurry or fuzzy? What's the major difference between FIOS and Comcast in terms of picture quality and otherwise? Thanks!

[ksoza1]

The difference in pIcture quality betwen Comcast and FIOS is observable by virtually everyone whom I have shown it.  Even my wife, who does not know HD from FM remarked the day after install how much better the pciture looked.  The same caveats apply however when you deal with hundreds of stations - the source will ultimatley determine the end stream quality, regardless of how well the provider sends it.  I watch less and less SD content, so the preceived softness issue being related has not effcetd me.  PQ is a real advantage for FIOS over Comcast, as well as content, useability of the supplied hardware and internet speed.  There is much complaining over the Moto boxes and the DVR streaming issues but they still leave FIOS way ahead compated to the sluggish and poor QoS from Comcast.

[MJ_123]

Lensam,

The SD picture quality is fuzzier than it was with Comcast.  The difference between SD and HD is more noticeable with FIOS.  I just asked a neighbor who dogsits for me to look at the picture and she agreed that it wasn't as clear as previously.

In addition, the HD quality is not as good as with Comcast.  A few stations are as good, but others are not.  With Comcast I did not notice a variation in quality across HD channels.

I spent some time on the phone today with a very helpful support person, and he helped me experiment with changinf some settings, but the picture quality did not improve.

I have read elsewhere that when there was an upgrade last year the SD quality went down for some people, but that with an upcoming upgrade that may improve.  However, the support person had not heard about this being a benefit of the upgrade,

I am seriously considering going back to Comcast.