Short version: Yes and No. 

• If you want to view non-local channels without buying another device.
• If you want to view local programs, but your TV does not have a QAM tuner.
• If you want access to Verizon's on-screen program guide or VOD.

No. 

Your FiOS (and cable TV) Set-Top Box (STB) is a device that needs to be able to process signals in real-time, record (if you have a DVR), respond to your remote, and send video and audio out to your display and stereo in a number of different formats.

There's a lot of information that your STB would like to tell you. It's available in the Diagnostic menu. You don't really need to know about this menu. But for those with a technical curiosity, or, need to troubleshoot something, this is the menu for you.

If you are looking to change your STB's output resolution, aspect ratio, closed captioning, or HDMI advanced settings; that's the setup menu. With the STB On, hit "Power, Select, Menu" in quick sequence.

To enter the diagnostics menu: With your STB powered On, hit "Power, Select, Select" quickly in sequence from the front panel or remote. To exit the menu, hit "Power" to turn off the STB. The next power up will be back to normal.

Digital Adapters (DCT700): This box has an entirely different diagnostics menu. See the next section.

Backgrounders: »cjhengineering.com/hdtv/ ··· diag.htm (old!), DCT6400 Series Installation Manual: »www.midcocomm.com/_docum ··· /DVR.pdf (used a lot below, thanks to darcilicious for the find)

d01 GENERAL STATUS: System status information. Displays a top level error code and lots of times and dates. Remod Channel might be the RF tuner output channel.

d02 PURCHASE STATUS: Previous purchases.

d03 OOB Status: Out Of Band. On Verizon, it's used for firmware and channel map and other items to allow you to see the video. 75.25 MHz.

d04 Inband Status: The status of the current channel, from an RF perspective. WIth the STB ON, select the channel of interest, then access the diagnostic menu. The menu will report the channel it's currently tuned to. Be careful to note which tuner is in use. My HD-DVR has 2 tuners, the current channel was on Tuner 2, not Tuner 1.

SNR is >37 dB, AGC "Good", 0 errors. Helpful if you have pixelation errors or lose a channel. I mapped a few channels:
Notice that the STB is using the SD digital channels for 2 - 49, not the analog. Knowing the right frequency is very helpful if you think you are having signal problems. Like if you are having a problem on a channel at 800 MHz and not having problem at 100 MHz, check your coax. Or, if you are using a QAM tuner without an STB, you could map frequencies to channels. d05 UNIT ADDRESS: Displays the MAC address of the STB and others; such as DOCSIS, Ethernet, 1394, and USB. TVPC Installed: Some sort of renewable security for a TV PassCard. No for my STB. d06 Current Channel Status: Displays info about the channel, but with a focus on the digital status. Includes the flags used to set copy protection. AVS forum has a thread for those interested in recording over firewire:»www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ ··· t=403695 Search that thread for interpretation of the flag status. One set of info for each tuner. d07 Upstream Status: "Ethernet Return". Get your STB's IP settings and MAC address here. DHCP stuff, DNS enabled, RADD Name Resolved (?). Looks like the IP address is configured for IPv6: 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:192.168.001.100. d08 Code Modules: The firmware versions. Platform Built: Version: 19.38, Nov 15, 2007 13:36:00 Code objects: fios_0064 version 5.68 (shown in IMG as Build Number), odc_0064 version 8.68 (shown in IMG as data object filename). Digital Secure Processor: M02. Analog Secure Processor: none. d09 MEMORY CONFIG: Onboard memory. System 128 MB, Flash 16 MB, NvRAM 256kb. d10 Audio/Video Status: Use this to check the audio and video formats. Audio: Surround, Video: 16:9 1920 x 1080i 30 (also 4:3 528 x 480i 30 for local SD). The "30" means 30 Hz refresh. d11 Interface Port Status: All things digital plugged in. Displays status of firewire (1394), USB, MoCA. Like if the firewire port is enabled (Y) and active (N). Page 2 is the display EDID data. It's a map of supported video resolution formats. Helpful for debugging 480i vs. 480p vs. 720p vs. 1080i. - Page 3 contains details about the 1394 copy protection status, e.g. 5C implementation. Same as D06 menu, but in E-Z read format. d12 USER SETTING STATUS: A repeat of the setup menu. Verifies what you entered. d13 DVR/HDD Status: Hard drive central. Like size (160 GB), disk space, IDE, model, etc. The bottom of the screen contains the hard drive temperature. Temp: 100F 38C, Max: 113F 45.0C, Over Temp: No, Count: 0 (Current temperature 100 deg F or 38 deg C, maximum was 113 deg F or 45 deg C, is not over temperature now, has been over temperature 0 times). d14 Application Specific Information: Blank entries for server names and IPs. Guess I don't have anything specific... d15 Interactive Status: IP all 0's, nothing active here. Perhaps on a different STB. d16 Connected Home: This is how your STB talks to the ActionTec router (that's not my real MAC address). RF Freq: 1150 MHz, MoCA 10/10, RF Password: (blank), MAC/IP: 01:23:45:67:89:AB, 169.254.001.209. You can match this to the ActionTec router. Page 4 (scroll up/down) shows the STB's TX data rates in Mbps. I think it might be useful for those with home media DVRs that transfer their videos around the house. My data rate is around 241 Mbps. d17 Keypad/LED: Test your keypad and LED. < > U D I M P, etc. Front panel testing. Press each arrow or button and watch the associated letter get highlighted. Use your remote to back out of the menu. Power key will turn the STB off. Digital Adapters (DCT700) Diagnostic Menu: Here's the info for the DCT700 (digital adapter). I used the installation manual to help with the explanations, found here: »www.comcast.com/medialib ··· 0man.pdf To access the diagnostics menu, start with the STB ON, then hit POWER, OK. There's no front panel, so everything is via the remote. The menu is somewhat similar to the STB 64xx series, but it's more of a "barebones"view only type of box. More networking, less on-board stuff. 01 GENERAL STATUS: Error codes, number of pending purchases. Tuner is Alps TDER-001A. 02 OOB STATUS: Out-Of-Band status. I think this is the state of the data channel used for the info pop-up. In here, hit "Menu" to change the channel. Read the manual for more info (!). If you select a channel that it can't lock to, you need to power cycle the box (Off / On with remote). It will then give a Verizon "start-up" menu while it fixes what you broke. No harm, it will reset back to the right channel (75.25 MHz in Philly). 03 IN BAND STATUS: The RF details of the channel you were watching. Get your SNR, error counts, frequency, modulation format here. No AGC, however. 04 AUDIO/VIDEO STATUS: Status of the audio and video. Audio: mono, stereo, or surround (a lot of good that does for this box...). Video: Mute Black (Probably what it does with no signal (black screen). Other choices are Unmuted, or Mute Still) 05 UNIT ADDRESS: MAC and multicast addresses. All 0's. 06 FIRMWARE VERSION: Operating system and boot firmware rev info here. Version 3.18 Jan 11, 2007, Boot ver. 3.09 07 CURRENT CHANNEL STATUS: Additional info- analog / digital, encrypted (ENC) / unencrypted (UNE). Tuned frequency = Carrier frequency + 1.75 MHz (in manual). 08 RENEWABLE SECURITY: If a TvPC (TV Pass Card) card is required. N/A for this box. 09 UPSTREAM MODEM: RF return channel info. Disabled. 10 APP CODE MODULES: Application Code Modules. The various pieces of the firmware. fios0700 Version 4.10. 11 MEMORY CONFIG: Onboard memory configuration. DRAM - 8 GB, flash - 2 GB. 12 INTERACTIVE INFO: Not used. 13 MAC FREQUENCY TABLE: For upstream communication. Not used. 14 CONTROL CHANNELS: Control channels. Not much info except that there's activity on 0, 1, 8, 9. 15 MESSAGE TYPES: PID counts. Not much info, but it's active (numbers are changing). 16 IN BAND PAT: Program Association Table. Description is Motorola use only. OK. 17 IN BAND PMT: Program Map Table. Description is Motorola use only. OK, no problem. 18 TASK STATUS: Description is Motorola use only. It's the task manager for the box. Task IDs are in most recent (highest order) first. Scroll down to see the entire list. 19 USB STATUS: USB port diagnostics. Blank - not in this box. 20 IB MCA STATUS: In-Band Multicast Address Filter. Not used. 21 KEYBOARD / LED: N/A for this box.

No. Even though you may find such devices for sale on eBay or in other places, if they are not issued by Verizon, they will not successfully authenticate with the Verizon servers. An alternative would be using a device capable of decoding video with a CableCard (rented from Verizon), such as a TiVO, or using a TV with a QAM tuner.

For more details, see this FAQ: »Verizon FiOS FAQ »Does FiOS TV require a Verizon STB?

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Please use the feedback link below only to suggest improvements to this FAQ. If you have questions about this FAQ, please post them in the »Verizon FiOS TV forum.

No, they are not enabled, however they are powered, and therefore can be used to charge cellphones, etc.

No, with the exception of the IPC1100 & IPC4100, where they do work as a replacement for Coax In.

If you need an ethernet connection where the STB is, see this FAQ:
»Verizon FiOS FAQ »Can I get an ethernet connection in a room with only coax?

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Please use the feedback link below only to suggest improvements to this FAQ. If you have questions about this FAQ, please post them in the »Verizon FiOS TV forum.