Isn't FiOS TV cable but over Fiber lines? - Verizon FiOS (2024)

PhoenixAZ

Premium Member

2006-Jan-18 8:11 pm

Tzale

Premium Member

2006-Jan-18 8:30 pm

FIOS TV uses existing (or new if needed) coax in the home. The fiber optic line terminates at the ONT on the side of your house and then converts to coax which is connected to your existing coax lines. So basically the box doesn't know that the cable is coming over FIOS.

-Tzale

mrbadss

Member

2006-Jan-18 9:50 pm

Does the ONT have a Fiber to analog cable converter in it? How would one get traditional analog cable (split it to 1000 tvs) without having to have a box at each TV?

I want to have a HD DVR at one or two locations, but I also want to be able to have traditional analog cable to a few other locations. This is why I have not gone with satellite exclusivly...

Mrbadss

Tzale to mrbadss

Premium Member

2006-Jan-18 10:05 pm

I believe certain channels are available in analog but not every one. The fiber optic network is totally passive (no electric at all between the telco and your home). The electric is provided by a power supply plugged into your home electric, so the analog (electric signal) originates just a few wire feet from your box/tv which is nice considering standard cable signals originate hundreds of feet away at the neighborhood node (fiber to the node is standard for cableco's today).

-Tzale

DMS1 to PhoenixAZ

Member

2006-Jan-18 11:29 pm

FiOS TV uses an analog overlay on a separate wavelength which essentially provides an emulation of CATV. The exception is VOD which uses IPTV over a MoCA network (which is Ethernet over coax). The DVR is a QIP6416 which is similar to the DCT64xx used by cable companies, but with IPTV capability and no analog tuners or MPEG encoders.

mrbadss to PhoenixAZ

Member

2006-Jan-19 12:43 am

I searched this forum and found a diagram that basically helps with what you guys are saying...

basically there is a filter/amp somwhere in the ONT that filters the correct wavelength coming off the fiber and converts that into electrical signals that your TV tuner can read.. the cable box gives you additional channels, VOD, and HDTV presumably because the box decodes the signals coming over in a subset of the cable bandwidth...

make sense? am I on the right path?

MRBADSS

sdgthy
@optonline.net

sdgthy

Anon

2006-Jan-19 2:12 am

Any modern cable system uses HFC(Hybrid Fiber Coax), the signal is sent via fiber to a node where it is amplified and sent to many homes. FiOS TV emulates that for the most part, the exception being that a smaller amp is in the ONT as it only has to provide enough signal for a single home.

A big difference of FiOS is that unlike most cable companies, and as most cable companies are now trying hard to convert to, most channels are digital. There is good reason for that, it makes it possible to offer more channels in the same bandwidth. Currently most cable companies are trying hard to convert subscribers to digital, so they can free up bandwidth and eventually offer more channels also.

cdru to mrbadss

MVM

2006-Jan-19 7:49 am

Sort of, but not quite.

Here's a simplified version how everything works.

Verizon has 3 different ways that they can transmit video to you: analog "cable", digital "cable", and VOD.

The analog and digital portions of the signal come to you on a separate wavelength (aka color or lambda) on the fiber. This is done so that the video portion doesn't consume any of the internet bandwidth. The ONT converts this wavelength from the fiber to an electrical frequency on the coax. It's considered an overlay because it's putting down the signal all at once. There isn't 200 little RF modulators in there, one for each channel.

The analog and digital portions of the signal are for all intents and purposes just like what you might be use to with CATV. The analog signal is only the basic package: locals, weather, maybe a few local access channels, that type of thing. I don't believe any HD channels are included in it. Any TV can hook up to the analog signal and get those channels, no box is required. All the rest of the channels are digital and require a box in order to convert the digital signal into something that your TV can use. I don't believe the digital side of things is cable card compliant.

So up until now, things are pretty much like they are with CATV, just that instead of having a fiber-coax converter at the front of your neighborhood, you have it on the side of your house. It makes for a better signal as there is less chance for interference and shorter cable runs.

The thing that is unique to FiOS is that the video on demand is sent via IP. When you request a show on demand, Verizon will stream the video over your data portion of your connection. Your overall data rate is suppose to be boosted during this period so that you never really "lose" your bandwidth that you pay for.

Above, DSM1 wrote about the MoCA network. Basically think it's an ethernet network for coax instead of cat5e. There are several different ways the signal can go from your ONT/Cat5e network to the coax. I'm not sure how Verizon is currently doing it, but I've heard of a separate adapter, one built into the ONT, or one built into the receiver. Regardless where the bridge is at that joins the IP traffic with your Coax, it will allow your box to receive the IP traffic, where it is then decoded and converted to something your TV can understand.

What you said about the cable box is, on the basic level, somewhat accurate. In theory it pretty much the same thing that a cable box does. It just has a little different internal guts to do a few unique things for FiOS TV.