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Alternative to FIOS STBs?

I was wondering if anyone knows of a good, relatively cost effective replacement for FIOS HD boxes? The ones I have now (Motorola 7100-P2) can be painfully slow when trying to use the guide or VOD and frankly I hate seeing the $25/month charge for such relatively crappy devices.

I know I could rent a cable card and put it on something like the HD HomeRun+ but that has 2 deal breakers. 1st is that it only works with MS Media Extenders/Windows PCs (I own 1 XBox360 and all my PCs are in a room with no TVs). 2nd is that I won't have access to VOD.

I read somewhere that the Tivo Roamio/Mini work with FIOS but the price for the devices + lifetime subscription makes it hard to justify to the wife. Are there any other good options to replace the STBs (relatively) cheap?

Thanks!

It depends on what you want. If you want full HD channel selection, you have to use one of theirs. I have 3 Moto 7100's and they work fine. FIOS Mobile is available on certain channels on Mobile devices and I think the Xbox 360 still. If you are fine with just your local OTA HD's, there are boxes for that, plus most TV's can receive those signals.

If VOD is a requirement, I don't think you have an option.

the homerun prime has dlna which lets you stream it to a lot of stuff. it sure isnt as good as a extender but it works.

you can get cheap xbo360 used. there is also the option like the echo from ceton.
»cetoncorp.com/products/echo/

you can set up a computer to record and turn it into a dvr which should help with the vod problem.

if vod is a must you stick with their boxes.

there are a ton of people offloading their "old" tivo premieres and series 3 HD, all are cablecard and compatible with fios.

as others have mentioned, the sacrifice is VOD. However The tivo would give you access to online streaming services if you have subs for those.

There is no way that a Motorola 7100 p2 is painfully slow! It's one of the fastest in the industry. Check your MOCA rates through your stb. You may have a wiring and/or communication problem between your router and stb.

I've had the wiring checked by a friend who is an installer. Wiring measures correctly. The 7100 P2 just randomly slows down when bringing up the guide or after pressing the on demand button.

At first I thought it was because I'm not using the Actiontec as a primary router but the same thing happens at my parents' house.

I just tried the new TiVO Roamio and only kept it for a few days. I used TIVO back in the early DirecTV TIVO days and loved it then. They haven't updated their DVR interface since then it seems so it felt archaic to me and less intuitive.

I can honestly say I like the FIOS DVR much better than the TIVO. Plus the fact that you don't have to fork over your arm and leg to get the boxes from VZ like you do TIVO.

Yeah, that's what I noticed. You either get destroyed by TiVo's pricing model for their devices + service (I guess their 10+ year old software that schedules recording is expensive to run?) or you get slowly bleed by Verizon's monthly box charges. I wonder how much we've all overpaid for these things...

Not to dispute your math, but I've tried working out the math, and I get a break-even point that's greater than 33 months. Are you including the rental fee for the cable card in your computation? Because at $5/month per cable card, you're adding nearly another $165 to your bill in that time. Something that needs to be included in the computation. I do agree that if you can resell the TiVo, that that has to be included in the cost-benefit analysis.

I definitely have saved money by going TiVo over a FiOS STB.

If you went with the Roamio Plus and 2 Minis you would pay $1400 + $60 a year for the CableCARD.

To recreate that on FiOS you would need 3 Multiroom DVRs which according to Verizon here would be $20 a month x 3 or $720 for the year. I am guessing though you can't stream DVR to DVR without multiroom DVRs, but if you could it would run you $17 a month x 3 or $612 a year.

Second year is $60 or a total of $1520 for 2 years with TiVo or FiOS is $612 or a total of $1224 for the second year. At 30 months FiOS is $1530 vs TiVo $1550 with the next month FiOS becoming more expensive by $26 and then $46 a month after that. This is based off the basic $16.99 DVR. If you truly need, the three Multiroom DVRs to stream to all three boxes, the flip happens at month 26 where TiVo is cheaper by $30 and $55 a month after that.

I didn't double check my math, but it looks close to what I figured out before back when I was looking at the Elite and CableCARDs were $4. This is also assuming no price increase on Verizon's part for CableCARDs or DVRs.

A Roamio Plus and two Minis, all with lifetime is $1300.(The plus is $400 and lifetime is $400. The Minis are $100 each and lifetime is $150 each)
A Roamio Pro and two Minis, all with lifetime is $1500.(The Pro is $600 plus $400 for lifetime.)

Lifetime service is only $400 either with the Multi Service discount or the PSLR code which has been active for many years. I typically use the PLSR code when I activate a new TiVo since those TiVos can still be a qualifier for future MSD discounts. While a TiVo with MSD lifetime supposedly isn't a qualifier.

I used my break even calculation with the Pro. And added $150 and 3 months to the equation to get 33 month and $1650 and compared it to the approximate cost on FiOS and Comcast.

Don't forget to factor in the Time Value of Money.

I'm happy with what we've got. We use VOD a lot too. There is so much stuff on TV today that I often learn of good, new series (e.g. Orphan Black, Broadchurch) after they've started. It's nice not to have to wait for chance re-runs or for them to hit NetFlix.

Have your friend bring up the diagnostic screen and find the MOCA rates between the stb and router. The rates should be between 230-240 for good communication. Anything lower than 200 indicates a problem.