# Cincinnati Bell Fioptics DVR?



## itzme

Does anyone know what kind of DVR Fioptics uses? Is the DVR hardware and TV service any good. I'd be curious to know from anyone who has or has used Fioptics services.


----------



## dorfd1

Cincinnati Bell offer the Directv service.


----------



## redsoxfan26

They have there own dvr's.

http://www.cincinnatibell.com/customer_support/product_support/fioptics/video/


----------



## dorfd1

redsoxfan26 said:


> They have there own dvr's.
> 
> http://www.cincinnatibell.com/customer_support/product_support/fioptics/video/


we have directv throught cincinnati bell and we have an hr20.


----------



## Shades228

http://www.cincinnatibell.com/customer_support/product_support/fioptics/video/ outlines that this is a specific program of fttp and limited areas. It's their version of FIOS.

The OP's question is answered in the URL that was posted.


----------



## dorfd1

Shades228 said:


> http://www.cincinnatibell.com/customer_support/product_support/fioptics/video/ outlines that this is a specific program of fttp and limited areas. It's their version of FIOS.
> 
> The OP's question is answered in the URL that was posted.


fioptics is not avaible the website still advertises dsl and directv


----------



## redsoxfan26

It probably will be soon. Read this article:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090626/BIZ01/906280311/Bell+charges+into+cable+market


----------



## Zellio

Ohio fiber optic? You guys have 14%+ unemployment rate and fiber optic before our less then 10% unemployment rate city (That still looks new, not like Cleveland) Atlanta????

I guess this guy may have something to ACTUALLY PUT in his tourism videos soon:











Yes, I realize Cleveland is upper Ohio, but that's the point. We're a major city and you guys with your recession rate and bad cities get fiber???! Before us??!


----------



## dzucco

Fioptics uses both the Motorola iGuide DVR and Cisco (Scientific Atlanta) SARA DVR solutions depending on location. What is your address or complex name and I can check?


----------



## jleupen

Here is the link to Cincinnati Bell's Fioptics FTTH service:

http://www.cinbelltel.com/fioptics/


----------



## dorfd1

jleupen said:


> Here is the link to Cincinnati Bell's Fioptics FTTH service:
> 
> http://www.cinbelltel.com/fioptics/


it is not avaible.


----------



## itzme

I"m on the southern part of the river, so its not near me yet. BUT I would sure love to hear from someone who's had a Dish HD DVR, or bet yet a Directv HD DVR and made the switch to this service. I'd love to hear what they think of the fioptics hardware and service.


----------



## dpeters11

Looks like I'll stick with DirecTV. I couldn't stand going to a Scientific Atlanta or Motorola.

Though I'm always for more Internet bandwidth, likely not at the price I'd want though.


----------



## EcFlay

Hey guys, I just recently moved into an apartment complex and when I was looking in April Cincinnati Bell was laying their fiber down. I decided to get the fioptics internet with directv (I would take anything but TWC).

When they guy showed up to set up my internet, he also informed me that they offered a cable service....I had no idea, it wasn't on their website that I could find, but I told him I'll just stick with Directv. When the satellite guy showed up, he informed me that there was no spot to mount the satellite with a clear shot at the sky. Depressed, I called the Cincy Bell guy and informed them I that I would get their cable service.

I couldn't be happier. I have the motorola DVR and it is fantasic. It changes channels with no delay, the HD looks better than TW, and the internet one of the fastest I have ever experienced. If you have the chance to get Fioptics, I would highly suggest it.


----------



## itzme

EcFlay said:


> Hey guys, I just recently moved into an apartment complex and when I was looking in April Cincinnati Bell was laying their fiber down. I decided to get the fioptics internet with directv (I would take anything but TWC).
> 
> When they guy showed up to set up my internet, he also informed me that they offered a cable service....I had no idea, it wasn't on their website that I could find, but I told him I'll just stick with Directv. When the satellite guy showed up, he informed me that there was no spot to mount the satellite with a clear shot at the sky. Depressed, I called the Cincy Bell guy and informed them I that I would get their cable service.
> 
> I couldn't be happier. I have the motorola DVR and it is fantasic. It changes channels with no delay, the HD looks better than TW, and the internet one of the fastest I have ever experienced. If you have the chance to get Fioptics, I would highly suggest it.


Good to hear. Can I ask which make/model HD DVR you've used in the past?


----------



## EcFlay

I previously used a scientific atlanta cable box with TWC


----------



## itzme

EcFlay said:


> I previously used a scientific atlanta cable box with TWC


Well maybe someone whose had a HR2x or Dish equivalent can chime in with the pros/cons of fioptics hardware?


----------



## dpeters11

EcFlay said:


> Hey guys, I just recently moved into an apartment complex and when I was looking in April Cincinnati Bell was laying their fiber down. I decided to get the fioptics internet with directv (I would take anything but TWC).
> 
> When they guy showed up to set up my internet, he also informed me that they offered a cable service....I had no idea, it wasn't on their website that I could find, but I told him I'll just stick with Directv. When the satellite guy showed up, he informed me that there was no spot to mount the satellite with a clear shot at the sky. Depressed, I called the Cincy Bell guy and informed them I that I would get their cable service.
> 
> I couldn't be happier. I have the motorola DVR and it is fantasic. It changes channels with no delay, the HD looks better than TW, and the internet one of the fastest I have ever experienced. If you have the chance to get Fioptics, I would highly suggest it.


What's the storage capacity like? Meaning how many hours of HD can it hold?


----------



## itzme

dpeters11 said:


> What's the storage capacity like? Meaning how many hours of HD can it hold?


Good question to start, may I add:

Does it offer multi-room viewing with other units in the house?
Dual Live Buffers (switch between 2 channels without missing anything)?
Widgets? Apps?


----------



## redsoxfan26

dpeters11 said:


> What's the storage capacity like? Meaning how many hours of HD can it hold?


See my link in post #3


----------



## EcFlay

The website reports the DVR holds 20 hours of HD or 90 hours of SD

It does not offer multi-room viewing. My current setup is a HD-DVR in my family room and a HD box in my bedroom.
I'm not sure if it had a dual buffer or anything. I know when I change the channel it is instant unless I am changing from HD to SD or vice versa. And no widgets or apps.

I will say that it is not perfect, the interface could be more user friendly, and the VOD could be better, but it is a very new service and I believe these are things that can easily be repaired. As it is now, it is pretty raw but very simple.


----------



## EcFlay

Oh and when they set the cable up they included HDMI cables with both of the sets, something that TWC never did for me.


----------



## itzme

Does anyone know if Fioptics would accept a Tivo instead of their low-tech receiver?


----------



## CJTE

itzme said:


> Does anyone know if Fioptics would accept a Tivo instead of their low-tech receiver?


Probably not.
You can use a Tivo WITH their low-tech receiver though.


----------



## dzucco

itzme said:


> Does anyone know if Fioptics would accept a Tivo instead of their low-tech receiver?


You can lease a CableCard from Cincinnati Bell to use in a Tivo. This will eliminate the need for a set top box. However, VOD (video on demand) will not function without their set top box.


----------



## thecid

So I felt I had to register to share my story.

I moved into an apartment complex that is wired with fioptics. The internet is great. I have 30/30 so there is really little to complain about. Tech said they can easily go 100/100 when competition drives them up there.

As for the cable, well, I cancelled it. I had poor signal and they really couldnt figure out how to boost it. The DVR was the worst part:

-Shows will start and stop at inproper times leaving you with too little of a show
-The DVR will occasionally stop recording a show then start again leaving 2-3 entries for a show
-You will tell it to record a show, and it will the first time, then it will not record future shows.
-I have even seen it mark a show as recording on the guide, but not record it while I was on another channel.

I have the Cisco Explorer 8540. The software is just awful, unintuitive and plain bad. I hate giving up 30/30 internet, but I have to in order to reliably record shows.


----------



## itzme

thecid said:


> So I felt I had to register to share my story.
> 
> I moved into an apartment complex that is wired with fioptics. The internet is great. I have 30/30 so there is really little to complain about. Tech said they can easily go 100/100 when competition drives them up there.
> 
> As for the cable, well, I cancelled it. I had poor signal and they really couldnt figure out how to boost it. The DVR was the worst part:
> 
> -Shows will start and stop at inproper times leaving you with too little of a show
> -The DVR will occasionally stop recording a show then start again leaving 2-3 entries for a show
> -You will tell it to record a show, and it will the first time, then it will not record future shows.
> -I have even seen it mark a show as recording on the guide, but not record it while I was on another channel.
> 
> I have the Cisco Explorer 8540. The software is just awful, unintuitive and plain bad. I hate giving up 30/30 internet, but I have to in order to reliably record shows.


I'm wondering if they offer a bundle of just Internet and Phone? And how much that would be. The Fioptics website only shows bundles with TV. I think I want to keep my DirecTV for the equipment and Sunday Ticket, mainly the equipment.


----------



## raabeye

I posted 2 videos on Youtube of my Fioptics installation if anyones interested. 

It wont let me post links but if you go to youtube and search Cincinnati Bell Fioptics it will be the first videos that come up.


----------



## dpeters11

raabeye said:


> I posted 2 videos on Youtube of my Fioptics installation if anyones interested.
> 
> It wont let me post links but if you go to youtube and search Cincinnati Bell Fioptics it will be the first videos that come up.


Welcome to the Fioptics family. I'm glad after seeing your second video that I opted only for the Internet service. I went 30/10, and it totally flies.


----------



## matt

raabeye said:


> I posted 2 videos on Youtube of my Fioptics installation if anyones interested.
> 
> It wont let me post links but if you go to youtube and search Cincinnati Bell Fioptics it will be the first videos that come up.


You only get 9Mbps with your fiber?


----------



## itzme

How much are you paying for internet only? I assume its phone also, no? Can't wait til it comes to my hood. It's very near but I'm in a single family homes area, and they seem to put a priority on MDUs.


----------



## dpeters11

matt1124 said:


> You only get 9Mbps with your fiber?


He got the lowest level, I was getting 9/768 with DSL. They also offer 5/5 and 30/10. There's talk about possibly going faster.

Itzme: They are now doing more homes. Several houses on my street switched, my neighbor got his install the same day I did mine. You can get phone through fiber, but I just do Internet and dropped the phone line. My bill dropped $40 going from DSL+phone to Fioptics 30 megabit/s.


----------



## itzme

Well I hope they get here soon, though I'm not expecting a savings. My Zoomtown is $15, but I get 3000 kbps/650 kbps. I'll pay for more speed, no problem!


----------



## raabeye

matt1124 said:


> You only get 9Mbps with your fiber?


Yeah, Im cheap. For $10 more you can get 20 Mbps, and for an additional $10 you can bump to 30 Mbps.

Keep in mind the 10Mbps is probably twice as fast as anything you have experienced up to this point in a residential environment.


----------



## raabeye

dpeters11 said:


> Welcome to the Fioptics family. I'm glad after seeing your second video that I opted only for the Internet service. I went 30/10, and it totally flies.


Heres the thing with the TV- It is a good value, the picture quality is good, and you get all the channels you could ever need. But if you cant set the DVR, browse for shows, and you have to look at an awful OSD that reminds me of the Asteroid Atari Video game how valuable is it? In others words, how much is your time worth?

I hear they have a new OSD in the works that is supposed to include multi-room DVR. I will update everyone once its available.


----------



## raabeye

itzme said:


> How much are you paying for internet only? I assume its phone also, no? Can't wait til it comes to my hood. It's very near but I'm in a single family homes area, and they seem to put a priority on MDUs.


Yeah, the focus originally was on MDU's, but consumer acceptance was low and the focus now seems to be on dense residential neighborhoods.

A nice benefit to fiber is you do not need the phone service to have internet, so there will be some savings there is you cut the cord like I did.


----------



## raabeye

Ok heres the links for my YouTube videos. I reached the 5 post threshold!


----------



## dpeters11

raabeye said:


> Yeah, Im cheap. For $10 more you can get 20 Mbps, and for an additional $10 you can bump to 30 Mbps.
> 
> Keep in mind the 10Mbps is probably twice as fast as anything you have experienced up to this point in a residential environment.


Zoomtown Max supported 10 using ADSL2, but it was dependent on location and distance to the office. That didn't get anywhere close to 2mbps upload though.


----------



## itzme

raabeye said:


> Ok heres the links for my YouTube videos. I reached the 5 post threshold!


Thanks so much for those videos. Good job! Keep us informed if you try the Tivo route.


----------



## raabeye

dpeters11 said:


> Zoomtown Max supported 10 using ADSL2, but it was dependent on location and distance to the office. That didn't get anywhere close to 2mbps upload though.


Yup. Thats why I said "Probably". TWC had some good speeds too.....if you were surfin' the net at 3 in the morning. My Zoomtown averaged around 3.5 Mbps, and 500 Mbps uploads.

Its sooo nice now watching online video that doesnt have to buffer and pause anymore. Man I hated that.


----------



## dpeters11

Cincinnati Bell twittered that new speeds launching in August. 50/10 and 100/20, with 50/10 being $100 if bought by itself. So 100/20 closer to $200?

Would love it myself, but, and I never thought I'd say this, I'm not sure I need more speed.


----------



## itzme

dpeters11 said:


> Cincinnati Bell twittered that new speeds launching in August. 50/10 and 100/20, with 50/10 being $100 if bought by itself. So 100/20 closer to $200?
> 
> Would love it myself, but, and I never thought I'd say this, I'm not sure I need more speed.


I'm jealous that you can make that statement. I DO need more speed than my 3000 kbps/650 kbps. But right now I pay $15 for that. $100 is quite a jump.

You guys got me searching for little black boxes on the lines down the street, and unmarked white vans that could be doing installs. Odd behavior! I did realize that all the lines on my block are buried. I wonder if that will slow the expansion to my house.


----------



## dpeters11

itzme said:


> I'm jealous that you can make that statement. I DO need more speed than my 3000 kbps/650 kbps. But right now I pay $15 for that. $100 is quite a jump.
> 
> You guys got me searching for little black boxes on the lines down the street, and unmarked white vans that could be doing installs. Odd behavior! I did realize that all the lines on my block are buried. I wonder if that will slow the expansion to my house.


I can see wanting more speed than that. When I saw that going to 30/10 was only $10 more than 20/5, I thought it was a no brainer for me. But to pay an extra $40 for 20 more down, it is getting to be a bit much. The price needs to come down quite a lot.


----------



## raabeye

dpeters11 said:


> Cincinnati Bell twittered that new speeds launching in August. 50/10 and 100/20, with 50/10 being $100 if bought by itself. So 100/20 closer to $200?
> 
> Would love it myself, but, and I never thought I'd say this, I'm not sure I need more speed.


Thats great that they are working hard on getting more speed, but Im with you, I can wait for 15 seconds to download an iTunes song, or a minute or two for a video. I don't need everything instantly. At least not for $100.

Personally I would like to see CB work more on improving their TV product. Its so close to almost being a viable competitor to DirecTV and Time Warner.


----------



## raabeye

I have posted a third video on YouTube highlighting the new Cisco boxes.


----------



## Steve

redsoxfan26 said:


> They have there own dvr's.
> 
> http://www.cincinnatibell.com/customer_support/product_support/fioptics/video/


Another company offering only 20 hours of HD storage, similar to FiOS? What are they thinking? :scratchin


----------



## dpeters11

Steve said:


> Another company offering only 20 hours of HD storage, similar to FiOS? What are they thinking? :scratchin


Yeah, I don't get it. So far, I'm glad I went ahead and just got Internet service.


----------



## itzme

I'm still going crazy with my slow Zoomtown. Can't wait for it to get to my area of NKY. Its all around me but not within about a mile. 3.6 mbps just ain't cutting it!


----------



## dpeters11

itzme said:


> I'm still going crazy with my slow Zoomtown. Can't wait for it to get to my area of NKY. Its all around me but not within about a mile. 3.6 mbps just ain't cutting it!


It seems to be expanding very slowly. It's in my neighborhood, and I'm on a dead end street, but it's not available to the biggest part of the neighborhood.


----------



## bshapiro

I had CB fioptic video service installed just recently and have a Cisco DVR. The on-screen programming and guide is very much below my expectations. There is no ability, for example, to search for a show unless you know the show's air date and/or network. Title searching is by first letter only and limited to a specific date. 

I am trying to decide if I should drop the service but want to consider workable alternatives first. The CB pricing is very good. Has anyone used a TIVO DVR with the fioptic service from CB? I am wondering how CB/TIVO combination would compare with DirectTV; a) how well TIVO will work with the fioptic service and b) is there still a $$ savings if I were to go that route?

Thanks for any help.


----------



## dpeters11

bshapiro said:


> I had CB fioptic video service installed just recently and have a Cisco DVR. The on-screen programming and guide is very much below my expectations. There is no ability, for example, to search for a show unless you know the show's air date and/or network. Title searching is by first letter only and limited to a specific date.
> 
> I am trying to decide if I should drop the service but want to consider workable alternatives first. The CB pricing is very good. Has anyone used a TIVO DVR with the fioptic service from CB? I am wondering how CB/TIVO combination would compare with DirectTV; a) how well TIVO will work with the fioptic service and b) is there still a $$ savings if I were to go that route?
> 
> Thanks for any help.


According to the site, they do support Cable Card, so you'd need a cablecard Tivo. They may charge per month for the card, and then there's the Tivo fee, but it may not be too much more than you pay now, and have a much better box.

You would lose Fioptics VOD, as that is not cablecard compatible.
http://www.cincinnatibell.com/customer_support/product_support/fioptics/video/


----------



## bshapiro

Thanks much

I did learn from CB that a cable card rental is available for the same charge/month as the DVR rental fee. By switching out the CB DVR for TIVO I would save $5/mo but would add the monthly TIVO fee (currently $20/mo).

CB support mentioned that they plan a software upgrade sometime next year. The TV field is very confusing right now. Difficult to weigh the future significance of appleTV, Roku, Hulu, etc.


----------



## etcret

I switched form TWC to CB last Feb. I love the internet speed and the TV is ok. The only complaint I have is when watching TV my screen goes blank and no sound for a few seconds or longer. This is completely random. I have moved other devices to the same HDMI input and have no issue with it. I am thinking maybe a new box is need. I also know it is not the signal to the box because I back the video up to before the black out it shows the programing. 

Has any one else have this problem? if so have you resolved it and how.


----------



## dpeters11

etcret said:


> I switched form TWC to CB last Feb. I love the internet speed and the TV is ok. The only complaint I have is when watching TV my screen goes blank and no sound for a few seconds or longer. This is completely random. I have moved other devices to the same HDMI input and have no issue with it. I am thinking maybe a new box is need. I also know it is not the signal to the box because I back the video up to before the black out it shows the programing.
> 
> Has any one else have this problem? if so have you resolved it and how.


So this isn't just when you turn it on, but when it's been on for a while?


----------



## Shades228

This thread is over 2 years old. I would probably find a Cbell forum or call them about the tech problem.


----------

