| reply to BosstonesOwn
Re: What I don't quite get... said by BosstonesOwn:Fios is good also because it doesn't require you to change anything heavy to upgrade. If they choose to go mpeg4 it's as easy as changing the main feed compressor at Fios down link centers. And change the boxes on the user premises if a upgraded firmware couldn't be hacked to add mpeg4. From what I have read, the current Motorola QIP STB and DVRs provided by Verizon do not support mpeg-4. They will have to swap them all out to incorporate mpeq-4. Remember, Verizon started the TV service over 2.5 years ago and probably picked the STBs a year or two before that. Fios TV is now approaching or will soon be over 1 million subscribers. Verizon will run into the same legacy issues facing cable with the huge costs of replacing existing equipment that is only a few years old. Verizon has reportedly put out specs & asked for bids for a new generation of STBs, but those reportedly won't begin to be deployed until well into 2009. By then, Fios TV could have > 2 million subscribers. Figure an average of 2 (?) STB/DVRs per house, that is a lot of deployed STBs to replace at great expense.
No, mpeg-4 is some years off for Fios. But 135 QAM channels with no channel bandwidth used for analog, VOD or internet will give Verizon a lot of bandwidth for HD and SD channels. |
Reviews:
 ·Comcast
| Yeah , thats why I said they need to replace the boxes at the customers homes.
I have heard that there are unofficial patches to add mpeg4 to the 64xx series of moto boxes. But they fall flat on their face.
--
"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" |
