I like Verizon's answer to the question "Can I purchase the equipment instead of renting it for a monthly fee?" They want to save us the cost of purchasing the equipment by charging a monthly fee.

http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/customer+support/faqs/faqs.htm#q10

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Backend R5E50
P4 1.3 - 384MB, 250GB HD, HD5000AV, PVR150 non MCE
Frontend R5E50
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Yeah, funny how concerned they are about our financial well-being, eh?

On to a small update concerning FIOS channels:

I get 14 unencrypted HD channels as well as the SD channels mentioned previously using analog signals.

Not entirely shabby, but....well, I want a FEW of the HD channels recordable and quite a few of the SD channels as well.

And from what I hear, he pchdtv 5500 does not get along too well with ivtv cards, so I have something else to research too.

Right now the big project is getting lirc set up with the remote and an IRBlaster so I have full function at regular quality, anyway.

I got my FIOS set up and working. I have two PVR150s so I split the cable before the Verizon STB and ran one directly to one of the PVR150s. I took the other side of the split cable and went through the STB, out the S-video port and in to the PVR150 S video port.

As reported, I can get about 30 channels on the tuner with the direct connection and all the channels with the STB connection. This works well for me as I only have one IR blaster and also I only have to pay for one STB. Of course I can't record two encryted channels at the same time but that hasn't been for a problem (so far).

Picture quality is fantastic on both. I can't tell the difference between the direct connection and the STB.

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LINHES 8.6.1 BE/FE - MSI K9N6SGM-V with AMD A64 X2 4600+, 4GB Ram. 1.5TB WD. HDHR Prime. Nvidia GT210. MCE remote.
FrontEnd - Dell Vostro 400 3.0GHz Core2Duo NVidia GeForce210. MCE Remote

I wish I could get my irblaster working with my pvr350- no luck at all, no matter WHAT I try.

And on a further note: I have been frustrated no end for the time being and have taken the easy way out for now: Verizon DVR is on its way to me.

Not that I am giving up on the project entirely, of course....
But its going on the back burner for now.

Roger, what kind of blaster are you using? Is it the one that plugs in to the back of the 350? or is it a seperate serial blaster? I am using the blaster that plugs into the back of my 150 and had some problems at first. Let me know if this is what you have and what its doing and maybe I can give you some pointers.

The only problem I had since getting it working was the cat pulled the transmitter off the STB. I had a few ideas how to solve this problem but the wife wouldn't let me.

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LINHES 8.6.1 BE/FE - MSI K9N6SGM-V with AMD A64 X2 4600+, 4GB Ram. 1.5TB WD. HDHR Prime. Nvidia GT210. MCE remote.
FrontEnd - Dell Vostro 400 3.0GHz Core2Duo NVidia GeForce210. MCE Remote

Nope, the irblaster I have is serial, purchased separately.

I did start a new thread concerning the thing- right here and any suggestions are welcomed.

As for the issue you had with the stb:
I had the same a few weeks back with the family TiVo not recording properly..... because the TiVo's blaster was relocated. lol

My HDHomerun just arrived a couple days ago and Verizon is getting ready to roll out their FIOS TV service in my area so I'm itching to find out what QAM content they have "in the clear".

From what I've read it appears that Verizon uses clear QAM for their "basic" channels but I'm not sure if that includes anything in HD or just 480i. I'm pretty sure they at least rebroadcast the local OTA content in HD when available.

I'm hopeful that their entire "basic" lineup will be available in clear QAM even if it's only 480i. That's still better than analog. It would be really great if there were a couple non-premium HD channels in clear QAM with the "basic" package (something like TNT-HD) but I'm not going to hold my breath.

I'll post back if / when I find out more. I'd love to hear from anyone else who has any information on Verizon's line-up. Even if it's just speculation.

Martian

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ABIT NF-M2 nView | Athlon 64 X2 3800+ | 2GB DDR2 800 | HDHomerun | GeForce 6150 (onboard) | WD 640 GB SATA HD | DVD-RW (sata) | StreamZap IR receiver with Logitech Harmony remote

Vizio 37" LCD HDTV (1080p)