On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:20:02 GMT, Al wrote:

On Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:14:52 -0400, mm wrote:

Will VErizon FIOS, on glass cable instead of co-zx, be broadcast on the
same frequencies as cable TV?

That is, will TV's and DVD recorders be able to use the same methods,
settings etc. to tune in FIOS tv as they use for cable tv.


There was a doorknob card on my door last Thursday, with contact info on

I realized there was a phone number on this card. I was reluctant to
call him because I thought even he would not know the answer as well
as you guys, or he'd have a tendency not to give the full story.

(A guy came to my door last summer selling cable and he low-balled the
price to me, claiming that I could get basic cable, with Nickelodian
etc. for the price that was really poor man's cable, only the
broadcast stations and one or two community service channels.)

But I called the FIOS guy. He said, No, with FIOS you have to have a
settop box. He said they don't advertise it but if you use TIVO they
have cards available that you can plug into that box. I said I didn't
want TIVO.

He said there had to be a set-top-box becuase all but 13? of the
stations were digital. I said again that I was planning to have a
digital DVD reocrder, with a digital tuner, (and a digital tv
(eventually) with a digital tuner, but recording was the issue.)

He finally said that there would be a set-top box that records, but it
would be a rental and he didn't know the price. And wouldn't know the
price until FIOS was available in my n'hood. That sounds like they
have more than one price, or FIOS isn't running anywhere yet. Even
so, it woudl be strange. They have managed to have a price for
phone/net/tv for about 100/month, and for just FIOS tv, 48/month (plus
a 25 more for HBO and movies, down to 8 for sports or karaoke), and
for just broadcast, community and educational for 13/month. (plus
taxes I'm sure for any of them) How long does it take to price the
enhanced set top box? After more hunting, I found a page for it on
their website, but no price. And they have a multi-room DVR too but
no price. (I don't think either will record to a DVD.)

He said he woudl call me back when he knew. I said if it's easier you
can just email me. He had my phone number and I gave him an email
address after getting him to say he won't give it to anyone. (He
probably stores it in his verizon laptop and they probably just suck
it out without his doing anything.)

I'm sure the settop box features won't be nearly as good as a retail
DVDR, but Verizon should have a chance to say what they have.

So the guy didn't know a lot of things, but he did know that it
requires a set-top box, unlike cable which only requires something to
be cable-ready.

how to sign up. The very next day they showed up drilling holes in my
yard and my n'bors. They used something like a horizontal derrick, that
fed in new 8 foot pieces of pipe automatically. Could make one hole
that was at least 300 feet long. They cleaned up pretty well, though.

I don't have cable and don't plan to get FIOS. I get 23 HDTV channels in
my area; that's more than enough.

I don't have cable and don't want to get FIOS. I have 13 channels in
my area -- don't know or care if they are HD or not -- and that's not
nearly enough. Anymore. It used to be that 3 channels were enough,
there was usually two things on that were worth watching any time
after 5PM. But now all the shows are gruesome**, irreality,
fantasy***, or smutty****.

Didn't plan a rant, but wrote this anyhow:

**CSI, 3 versions a week; NCIS; Criminal Minds; a couple other autopsy
shows; sometimes Law & Order. Bad for me, worse for children.

***Numbers, which just rattles off nonsense as if it meant something,
Medium, all but the first 1 or 2 seasons of Lost.

****Some shows are downright smutty and wouldn't have been allowed on
tv years ago. Both in language and because the characters sleep
around, and because they make clear that single people are sleeping
with each other. I especially hate when they have one character
expressing outrage or annoyance at that stuff, because he's just a
pretense. The first few year of MASH had a lot of sexual jokes but a)
they were in the context of a funny show, b) not every joke was a
sexual one. Current shows are like comedy clug and nightclub routines
where -- at least it used to be -- all the comic had to do was say a
dirty word and everyone laughed.

It's not like I haven't heard all these words, and don't know about
all these things. I've even done some of them. And I've attended an
autopsy, too, although I decided one was enough and on another
occasion years later, left before it started.

BTW, the King of Queens is an excellent show, and though there might
be a bit more sex sometimes than in MASH, it's in the context of a
funny show.

Well, if anyone is still reading, thanks for letting me get this off
my chest.

If you are inclined to email me
for some reason, remove NOPSAM :-)