Conversion from Direct Tv to FiOS gives Sage New life.

[davefred99]

I have been a Sage TV user for several years now, having come over from BTV when they failed to live up to there promise to integrate There BTV product with Beyond Media.
I have never fully converted to full time use of Sage TV because I prefer to use a PVR for my primary time shifted viewing. I originally started or as a Direct TV customer using a DTivo box in my living room and a couple of basic receivers hooked up to a pair of PVR-150 sd capture cards. I eventual added an HD-Home Run so I could get Local HD reception and added an HD-100 for playback. I had problems with intermittent OTA reception and eventually just upgraded my Dtivo to an Hr21 HD PVR from Direct TV. All seemed to be OK but I had problems with the HD PVR missing recordings and just never really liked it compared to Tivo.
Then about 2 mos ago I saw Verizon working on the poles out back and asked them what they were doing. They replied , "installing FiOS cables. I said oh, and my wheels started spinning. So I investigated the option of FiOS first for Phone and internet mostly and thinking maybe later on adding FiOS TV. A few days later I got a flier in the mail saying FiOS is now available in your area with some really good package deals. Knowing that I was under contract with Direct TV I at first dismissed the Idea of getting FiOS Tv but was still very much interested in the Phone and Internet Bundle. So I called up the local office and asked some questions and confirmed that I could indeed get the service and save some money too. The lady asked what about FiOS Tv and I explained that I was under contract with Direct TV. I did ask do you have any type of trial offer and she said well you could add the basic service for $12.99 and you would get the locals . A bell went off in my head, Hm I asked does this include Local HD reception and she replied well if you have a QAM tuner built into your TV it does. I thought OK then my HD-Home Run should work too. So I said ok just add it to my plan and if It doesn't work I will cancel it after 30 days. The order was placed and about 10 days later the Verizon installer was at my door. I will not go into the details of my install at this time because I want to get to how this all works out with SageTV.
Well after the FiOS was installed I went about setting up the HD-HomeRun for QAM instead of OTA reception and after a short time I had it all up and running. I know had Direct Tv for SD stuff from Direct TV and used the HDHR for all Locals and Local HD stuff. All was ok for few weeks and then my Direct TV HR21 started acting up again so I started thinking maybe I should look into just ditching Direct all together and getting the Full FiOS TV package and receivers. So I called Direct TV and first asked them to send me an exchange PVR and they said oh no we have to send a tech out to verify your problems and it will cost you $79.95 for the service call and if its bad they will exchange it then. I said hell no I am not paying you a nickle to send a tech to look for an intermittent problem that is well documented on other forums and hung up. After a day or so I talked to the wife and she suggested that that maybe it would be cheaper to just pay the ETF and be done with it. So I called Verizon back and confirmed I could upgrade to there triple play plan and get one HD-PVR and one HD receiver and knowing that I could also get 3 free basic receivers because of there analog to all digital conversion once it was all installed.
This is where it gets interesting, I was also reading about how to set up multiple line-ups with the latest Beta Sage TV because I needed to be able to have the HD-Home Run only tune to Locals and Local HD and the HD receiver tune to everything but only if the HDHR was not being used first. I also set up one Basic receiver using a separate line up for just the SD stuff no HD. By using the Merit function in sage properties. my merit goes like this, Merit + 4 for both HDHR tuners with the lineup only tunning to Local HD and Sd channels, Merit=3 for the HD reciever with all channels active for tuning on the Verizon Fios line up and the SD tuner set for to the default merit for all Sd only channels.
I am using this mostly for my secondary TV's using 2 Haupage MVP clients and also on my primary HD TV in the living room using an HD-100 Client. I also have one Verizon HD PVR hooked up in the living room for all general purpose TV viewing.
I love this set up now I can use Sage everywhere and still have the FiOS PVR available for the wife. Now we can watch all our Ripped DVD'S on any TV and have FiOS via Sage on all the remote TV's via the MVP's
Seems like the best of all worlds .
Sorry it got so long, Dave

[evilpenguin]

I'm a little confused about FIOS TV? Does it come to your place through your coax or does the fiber get converted to coax by something inside your place?

[davefred99]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

I'm a little confused about FIOS TV? Does it come to your place through your coax or does the fiber get converted to coax by something inside your place?

There is a device called an Optic Network Terminal (ONT) that gets installed. The Fiber cable comes to this box and then it gets converted to Coax for the TV part. From there its just like most any other Digital QAM Cable set up. So yes it gets converted to coax and you use new or existing cables for the distribution. Because its fiber to your house it is a perfect signal with no loss like regular cable and you have the best possible picture quality available.

The best part is its also cheaper too when bundled with your phone and high speed internet service. My bundled price for Unlimited Phone , 10/2 Internet and the premier TV package is $105 mos. You do have to rent the cable boxes to though. My total bill with boxes is about $130 mos. I was paying about $190 before for Direct TV and my Phone and internet services separately.

[jasmithvr6]

Originally Posted by davefred99

There is a device called an Optic Network Terminal (ONT) that gets installed. The Fiber cable comes to this box and then it gets converted to Coax for the TV part. From there its just like most any other Digital QAM Cable set up. So yes it gets converted to coax and you use new or existing cables for the distribution. Because its fiber to your house it is a perfect signal with no loss like regular cable and you have the best possible picture quality available.

The best part is its also cheaper too when bundled with your phone and high speed internet service. My bundled price for Unlimited Phone , 10/2 Internet and the premier TV package is $105 mos. You do have to rent the cable boxes to though. My total bill with boxes is about $130 mos. I was paying about $190 before for Direct TV and my Phone and internet services separately.

Very helpful post. I'm in the process of converting to FIOS and would be interested to hear more about how you connected your setup. I'm inclined to just run everything via FIOS and drop cable altogether. I want to capture HD QAM and Digital channels (I read somewhere that FIOS no longer broadcasts in analog). I posted some questions under another thread and copied the link below for your reference.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33820

I have a ton of questions, but don't know enough about FIOS and how it interacts with Sage to know what to ask. I appreciate any insight you can offer. Thanks!

[bcjenkins]

FiOS never really broadcast in analog. Their offering with just a coax and no box was maybe 15 usable channels. (locals, cnn, wgn, types) Everything else was local government, community access. 42 total I think.

To get anything good you needed a box.

B