JeepMatt
Delaware Fios
Premium
join:2001-12-28
Wilmington, DE
 ·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | reply to JeepMatt
Re: Continuing Picture Quality Degredation In Philadelphia
Ironically, I came home from work today, and had a voicemail from someone at the FSC in Virginia.
Noping - it wasn't Joe, but he is on my case. 
Apparently they did pass on the information I gave to the Presidential Appeals desk on Monday.
We'll see where this takes us. 
--
"ONE team - ONE city - ONE dream!!" |
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knarf829
join:2007-06-02 | Just when I thought that I was out, he pulls me back in! |
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JeepMatt
Delaware Fios
Premium
join:2001-12-28
Wilmington, DE | Oh, it's not over yet.
The Tier 3 mgr is going to visit KA3 on Tuesday! I'll leave the next chapter up to him!
--
"ONE team - ONE city - ONE dream!!" |
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Motortree
join:2007-06-09
Melrose, MA
| reply to JeepMatt
In your STB, press power then menu within two seconds. Arrow down to the 4x3 override setting and set it to 480i. Don't set it to 480p or strecth. You may not want to do this but....it will improve the picture quality a bit. Vertical lines during fast motion etc. |
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JeepMatt
Delaware Fios
Premium
join:2001-12-28
Wilmington, DE | Motor-
Thanks, but that's the setting i've been on since january.
--
"ONE team - ONE city - ONE dream!!" |
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Hooper
Premium
join:2001-10-22
Villanova, PA
2 edits | reply to JeepMatt
FWIW I am serviced out of the Wayne, PA CO and have seen some of issues you mentioned intermittently. I watch around 15-30 minutes a day of TV. When I get the chance to watch more, after reading your posts, I definitely notice some things.
Number 1 complaint is MHD - Verizon must have a bootleg antenna for this station or something. Most issues around audio to video sync and pixellation.
Number 2 is the HD movie channels for SHO and TMC - these look like they are pirated copies of the real thing as well.
Number 3 - SD feeds of TMC and SHO channel blocks. Better hope there aren't any dark scenes in anything you are watching or you will think you are playing Tetris.
Comcast didn't have the best local SD/HD feeds, but their SD and HD movie channels looked pretty damned good compared to FIOS. |
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JWhip
@verizon.net
| reply to KA3SGM
Just to clear up a point here but the problem with MHD lies with MHD not Verizon. People around the country with difference service providers are reporting the same issues with MHD. Another problem is the fact that people are now looking for issues are are seeing them when the didn't before simplay beciase they are looking for them. (Many are MPEG2 issues with low bite rate feed) I too see variations with SD content because they are present in the signals sent from the source. I saw them with Comcast and Directv and I see them with Verizon. These things are normal and are to be expected. There is no such thing as a perfect system or transmission. On the whole, the SD I get with Verizon is way better than I ever got with Comcast. The same thing is true of the HD. HBO on Verizon looks way better than I get with Directv and slightlu better than Comcast. CSN HD looks clear on Verizon than on Comcast, it is like a slight haze has been removed from the screen. On the whole, the HD is alittle better on Verizon across the board than Comcast. As far as Matt is concernied, I have seen his set up and there are issues there to be sure. I have spoken to the same tier 3 people as he has and they don't see a problem. There is one and I am sure it is an easy fix. Perhaps it is the feeder line to that area or a malfunctional applifier. It is not his TV however and not his box. Hopefully it will be fixed and soon. I have been dealing with HD since 1998. There are times that the enginners have to have open minds and think outside of the box to get issues resolved. Hopefully there will do so here. I have 3 HD sets, one CRT and 2 plasmas and the Verizon service looks great on all three. Hopefully |
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jwhip
@verizon.net | reply to KA3SGM
Sorry for the spelling! |
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KA3SGM
- -... ...- -
Premium
join:2006-01-17
West Chester, PA
clubs:
 ·Cricket Broadband
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to Motortree
said by Motortree  :In your STB, press power then menu within two seconds. Arrow down to the 4x3 override setting and set it to 480i. Don't set it to 480p or stretch. You may not want to do this but....it will improve the picture quality a bit. Vertical lines during fast motion etc. Motortree, I keep the 4:3 override turned off altogether. My set does not support 480i 'override' via the HDMI cable, just 480p or stretch, both of which don't look right being zoomed of stretched.
I guess it does not want to re-interlace 480p or 720p back to 4801. I keep it turned off and I get a 4:3 box with the side bars showing as black, it is true 4:3 giving me about a 33" diagonal picture while watching SDTV. The set automatically switches to 16:9 when the received video format switches.
I have an active cablecard in the set, so I can receive everything without a separate box, although I still have a HD-DVR attached via HDMI, giving me the ability to do HD Picture In Picture, or record 2 shows while watching a third.
The cablecard does not provide VOD capabilities, or an interactive program guide, but I can always check the guide on the DVR as a reference, then tune the channel I want to.
I have the TV hooked to an off-air antenna so I can A/B between Fios and broadcast TV, and there is a fairly obvious difference between off-air(Best) to Fios via cablecard(not quite best) to Fios through the Motorola DVR(fair to Poor).
So there could be some issues with the DVR's, but I have 3 of them and already switched them around the house with no improvment, and I don't see how I could magically have 3 DVR's go bad the same way, simultaneously, on May 19,2007. 
The set is only 4 months old, and was Samsung's top of the line 40" LCD when I bought it. Nearly $3000 it cost me.
A true 1080p capable set (1920/1080p), although I don't have any 1080p sources yet, maybe HD/DVD iin the future...
It supports 2 HDMI, 2 Component, 1 S-Video, 3 Composite, 2 1394 Firewire, and a HD15 PC VGA Input. Plus an NTSC/ATSC RF tuner input, and a QAM RF tuner input. It has a Dolby Digital S/PDIF optical out to feed a home theater receiver.
Heres the spec sheet if anyone wants to look: »www.samsung.com/Products/TV/LCDT···inal.pdf
I have tried several HDMI cables, Component Cables, S-Video cables. Nothing ever makes a difference, other than you can't get HD via Composite or S-Video cable.
14 years ago I discovered the perfect analog picture via C-band satellite. My 10' C-band dish still stands in my backyard, as a monument as to what was.
Analog satellite employs FM for video transmission, instead of the AM NTSC(never the same color) broadcast video we all know and hate. As long as the signal is strong enough, the FM video is essentially immune to noise and distortion as conventional AM analog video.
As long as the signal was full quieting, I had the same 'studio grade' picture quality that was being delivered to broadcast stations and cable operators. Along with an S-VHS VCR I had the best PQ available in the pre-HD days.
I got that back when I first hooked my HD set up to FIoS, but somewhere since 5/19/2007, that PQ has slipped away.
I can even see the PQ diminished on a 27" Sony CRT, so I won't accept any suggestions that there is a problem with my HD set.
I have NOT re-adjusted ANYTHING on my TV, and all the signal levels, equipment operation has since then been verified OK by a Verizon tech, and they agreed that the picture does not look like it's supposed to, and a month later, still no one can tell me why.
They want to waste more of my time for another look.
Well their engineer is supposed to be showing up Tuesday evening to take another look, Both myself AND my wife will be here to see what they have to say.
She is more mad than I am, and has been telling me to just cancel the Fios TV service and go back to Dish Network or DirecTV.
Even my kids complain about something wrong with the TV picture.
I ask that they review my service account records before arriving, to note that they are the 14th
(YES, F-O-U-R-T-E-E-N-T-H)  , separate Verizon visit to my home since February 2007.
I have my erroneous $1380.45 FiOS bill on hand to show them too.
It would be nice to finally hear from someone face to face as to why they don't want my business!
I hope they can give me a good answer, or they can gather up any equipment that they want, and I will show them the door.
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jwhip
@verizon.net
| reply to KA3SGM
Does anyone who is having PQ problems have a DVHS machine? It would seem logical for us to make recordings and compare them on the same set. I get great PQ here. We can record the same shows in SD and HD and play them on your set. If there is a problem and from my check into Jeepmatt's picture there sure is, this will reveal it to the FiOS techs. I will be hard to argue that it is your TV when tapes of the same program taped on diferent sections of thje system show very different results. My email is jawhip@mac.com. Please feel free to email me. |
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KA3SGM
- -... ...- -
Premium
join:2006-01-17
West Chester, PA
clubs:
·Cricket Broadband
·Verizon FIOS
| JWhip, sorry, I don't own a D-VHS machine, I gave up on tape when my S-VHS machine died after 12 years of heavy use. Right about the time DVR's were becoming popular, and video rental stores had migrated to DVD from VHS tape.
I am working on being able to record to a PC via the Firewire port on the Fios DVR, as my TV has a firewire input also. My PC that is 5 feet away from the TV has 320 GB system drive, and a pair of 500GB drives strictly for storage, so it would give a very nice sized video archive to store and play back, or burn to HD-DVD-R or Blu-Rat-R when that option becomes affordable.
Thanks for the novel idea though !
If I look into going towards D-VHS, do you recommend any particular tape deck?? Are they specific to a special kind of tape?
I remember that the original S-VHS tapes were 5x the price of standard VHS tapes, but you could drill a hole in the standard tape housing where the S-Video tape detect switch was, and record S-VHS on any cheap standard VHS tape, and there was no real obvious difference in PQ.
I do remember if heavily used with non S-VHS tapes you had to clean the drum head more often because the azimuth was different to cover a wider swath of the tape during operation, and that the tapes wore out a little faster too.
But I am no stranger to TV/VCR repair, and a few foam swabs and a little TF solvent 2-3 times a year more than made up for spending more than $20 for a single T-120 S-VHS tape.
Thanks! |
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jwhip
@verizon.net
| I have a JVC and they can be had pretty cheaply on ebay. The tapes are pretty cheap and you can use SVHS tapes and record HD on them. The player records the data strem. I do prefer the Maxell DVHS tapes though and buy them online. You get arounf 2 1/2 hours of HD per tape. I have quite a collection of HD stored on tape. It is great to look back on some of the shows no longer around that look great in HD! Too bad you don't have one! I spoke with Brett at verizon at length about this issue for Matt with no luck. I believe there is a bad component in your network down there. I am not sure why they can't find it. Something is not working to spec. Maybe one of the lines is being stretched by a branch, who knows. This reminds me of my inital delaings with CD with separate converters and transports. The engineers didn't believe that differnet transports sounded different feediong the same dacs. After all, bits is bits. They measured the same but they didn't know about jitter which explained alot. Now they do. Brett should keep an open mind. I would love to meet with him. let me know. |
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KA3SGM
- -... ...- -
Premium
join:2006-01-17
West Chester, PA
clubs: | JWhip, I PM'd you over on the AVS Forum. Let me know if you want to stop by on Tuesday.
You might want to grab a 'free' basic account over here. enables IM/PM'ing and all. Join the group..
Thanks ! |
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KA3SGM
- -... ...- -
Premium
join:2006-01-17
West Chester, PA
clubs:
·Cricket Broadband
·Verizon FIOS
| reply to JeepMatt
Well it's official. I have started going door to door, and the first neighbor I asked is having the same kind of Picture Quality Problems that I am.
They were getting ready to ask me about the same thing.
Freezeup's, artifacts, fuzzy HD, blocking, audio drop outs, unwatchable DVR recordings, the works. They are now calling this in to the Verizon FSC.
Same tap, in the same vault under the same street, same FDH cabinet, same CO, and Verizon's technicians have already said everything is fine. NOT!!!
Tomorrow I will be knocking on a few more doors.
I was the one that INTRODUCED my friends and neighbors to FiOS TV, I have been Verizon's best salesman, and it now seems I may have made a mistake.
This is affecting more than a few isolated people, and there is strength in numbers.
This is by far is not over... |
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JeepMatt
Delaware Fios
Premium
join:2001-12-28
Wilmington, DE
·Verizon FIOS
| Good luck on Tuesday KA!
The Escalation group (who are now in touch with me since Friday) - are anxiously awaiting the results of your visit.
--
"ONE team - ONE city - ONE dream!!" |
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JeepMatt
Delaware Fios
Premium
join:2001-12-28
Wilmington, DE
·Verizon FIOS
| Good Luck KA!
Here is my big GOOD LUCK wish to KA3 tonight in regards to his visit from the big bad Tier 3 manager.
This may be the last hope for us West Chester / Wilmington folks to see the "crystal-clear quality" FIOS TV picture we came to love prior to May 20th.
--
"ONE team - ONE city - ONE dream!!" |
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KA3SGM
- -... ...- -
Premium
join:2006-01-17
West Chester, PA
clubs: | The tech just left. I was home for lunch and getting ready to leave around 2 when a Verizon van pulled up.
Signal levels are fine.
They agree that the picture looks like crap.
Brett was nowhere to be found |
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matcarl
join:2007-03-09
Franklin Square, NY | So now what?? |
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JeepMatt
Delaware Fios
Premium
join:2001-12-28
Wilmington, DE | WHAT? Was the tech aware that someone else was coming?
--
"ONE team - ONE city - ONE dream!!" |
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KA3SGM
- -... ...- -
Premium
join:2006-01-17
West Chester, PA
clubs:
·Cricket Broadband
·Verizon FIOS
1 edit | said by JeepMatt :WHAT? Was the tech aware that someone else was coming? The tech had absolutely no idea that anyone else was coming.
I asked where's Brett?????
They asked me, "Who's Brett ?"
After several calls to his manager, it turns out that Brett is still coming this evening, but no one knows why they dispatched a separate tech out. The manager wanted this tech to wait around 3+ hours, until 5:30PM, to be here when Brett showed up, but the tech had other jobs to do, so they let him leave.
Brett is now bringing one of the local managers with him too.
My quick stop at home for lunch has once again scrapped another afternoon, all thanks to Verizon. |
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