Six months ago I talked about my options for TV on the remodeled porch. I was going to string coaxial cable with the assumption that the analog channels on Verizon FiOS TV weren’t going away. Well, they went away. But now I have something much better. Free FiOS TV.
Verizon provided two free digital converters. They don’t control the HD DVR like a full-featured set top box can, but they give me everything I want. The converter needed to be small for the porch, and I was frustrated that I couldn’t find a picture of one online. So here one is.
It’s the Motorola DCT-700, and as you can see it’s plenty small. It’s sitting on top of a Magnavox DP100MW8 DVD player, made by Funai, that I bought at Wal*Mart for $27.88. I think this is the best inexpensive DVD player, partly because it has an S-video output, which is something other super-cheapie models have been dropping. The picture is excellent on the old Sony XBR 32-inch set, but on the Panasonic video projector its progressive component video image can’t compare to my Panasonic DVD-recorder.
My friend tastewar lent me his well-stocked tool kit, and after my contractor drilled a hole in the floor of the porch, Eric and I strung new RG-6 coaxial cable. Eric got the hang of using the stripper and crimper, and soon I was ready to activate the boxes online. The process took about 20 minutes, and when it was done everything worked. Thanks again for the parts and loan of the tools, tastewar!
Happy as I was with having FiOS TV on the porch so I can watch The Colbert Report up there, I’m even happier now that downstairs I have all of the HD channels I was supposed to be getting. My friend across the street and my buddy Bismo followed my lead and got FiOS, but both had many more HD channels than the meager five I was getting. A phone call to Verizon fixed that in a matter of minutes. What a difference! I now have over 20 HD channels. I also now have access to free Video on Demand HD programs, about which I’ll be saying more in my next post.
Am I mad Verizon didn’t set the HD service up right in the first place? Not really. Did I hassle them for a credit? Nah, not after getting two free digital converters. What’s the second converter doing? It’s set to Comedy Central and patched into the DVD recorder. Its sole purpose is for recording The Colbert Report for my friend Morris, who doesn’t have cable TV.
Excellent, Dougie! Now Tom has all the info he needs to rewire our TV when we are forced to go digital next spring. It’s great having a husband who can do just about EVERYTHING from cars to plumbing, to, of course, electrical work, since he nearly got a doctorate in that.
Say, just how much TV DO you watch? We have our dinky cable package, and there’s NOTHING ON!