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HarleyYac
Lee
Premium Member
join:2001-10-13
Allendale, NJ

HarleyYac to PhreePhly

Premium Member

to PhreePhly

Re: Move to FiOS TV from DirecTV?

Quality is somewhat diminished as of late .It seems they are starting to cram more channels in to a qam. Prices are going up etc.. If you like your picture and pricing I would stay. If price minded, I guess you will have to do the math.
If you really don't need a phone you could just use your cell, or maybe Net talk or something similar. VZ Fios phone is $30 with a the triple play. To be honest if we make 30 calls a month on our phone.. its alot. Better off with the cell or other voip per min service.
Lee

PhreePhly
join:2001-10-24
Riverside, CA

PhreePhly

Member

Thanks for the reply. Yea, I wasn't looking to add phone, I haven't had a landline in over 2.5 years. I currently am paying almost $100 for DTV and $75 for FiOS internet (25/25). With the new tiers announced, a move to 75/35 plus the Ultimate Package would be about $100/$125. $50/month won't kill me, but it would be nice to pocket as well.

With DTV, the DVR is good, VOD is ok, etc. I've heard the FiOS TV DVR has some quality issues, but I really want to hear from folks that have used both and are not fanbois. Unfortunately, these kind decision end up being long-term contract issues and i don't want to lock myself in. I'd rather use someone else's experience to help in the choice.
bsangs
join:2002-08-21
Montclair, NJ

bsangs

Member

Well, here you go. I had Directv for 10 years, switched to FiOS a few years ago. When my contract was up, FiOS didn't offer me anything special to stay, so I went back to Directv. Three months into Directv I was regretting going back and lo and behold, FiOS comes to me with a great offer (that had they offered me when my contract was up, would have kept me at the time) so I decide to switch back.

The FiOS DVR's - the 7232 models, which is what I have - are perfectly fine. Add an external HD and you have a ton of recording space. They are much faster than the molasses slow Directv DVRs. It's not even close - even the new Directv models. I loved the convenience of the Directv five tuner DVR, but it was so slow overall and deathly slow when multiple streams were being recorded.

If you like a lot of HD sports, don't switch. Directv offers so much more in that department. I will say this, since this 1.9.1 update, I've noticed a few more audio/video glitches than before. I don't know what else to attribute it to besides the guide update.

Also (knock wood) I've never lost my FiOS signal for any reason. Not during the crazy October snow storm, not during the hurricane/tropical storms that battered my state last summer. Nothing. Directv? Not so much.

Cost favors FiOS with their bundles.

So there's my two cents. Good luck with your decision.
kes601
join:2007-04-14
Virginia Beach, VA

kes601 to HarleyYac

Member

to HarleyYac
said by HarleyYac:

Quality is somewhat diminished as of late .It seems they are starting to cram more channels in to a qam. Prices are going up etc.. If you like your picture and pricing I would stay. If price minded, I guess you will have to do the math.
If you really don't need a phone you could just use your cell, or maybe Net talk or something similar. VZ Fios phone is $30 with a the triple play. To be honest if we make 30 calls a month on our phone.. its alot. Better off with the cell or other voip per min service.
Lee

While I agree quality has diminished, I think your statement about squeezing more stations into a QAM is misrepresenting what is really happening (unless I missed the new somewhere).

All I have seen is that the providers are sending lower level quality feeds to Verizon (NBC Universal / Comcast to name one). Vz can't clean up a bad signal.

HarleyYac
Lee
Premium Member
join:2001-10-13
Allendale, NJ

HarleyYac

Premium Member

I did think there was a new one with more Latin HD cramming the qam. I'll look it up soon..
In this economy, I will be downgrading the TV portion, and seriously thinking about getting rid of phone. I will be trying Bet talk or some other inexpensive VOIP that will work with m alarm over the summer. If all goes well I'll port the number.
Lee
JPL
Premium Member
join:2007-04-04
Downingtown, PA

JPL

Premium Member

said by HarleyYac:

I did think there was a new one with more Latin HD cramming the qam. I'll look it up soon..
In this economy, I will be downgrading the TV portion, and seriously thinking about getting rid of phone. I will be trying Bet talk or some other inexpensive VOIP that will work with m alarm over the summer. If all goes well I'll port the number.
Lee

Yeah, but with the new Spanish channels, those are being sent in mpeg-4, which would allow you to put more per QAM.

HarleyYac
Lee
Premium Member
join:2001-10-13
Allendale, NJ

HarleyYac

Premium Member

Cool, thx!!