FiOS TV runs rings around Comcast

I try not to be a jealous person but after seeing some improvements to FiOS TV's on-screen menu displays and technological advances, I'm green with envy. Alas, as a City of Pittsburgh resident, FiOS TV is not yet an option for me, so I'm stuck with Comcast as my cable TV provider. (Verizon spokesman Lee Gierczynski said the company would love to have a license agreement with the city for FiOS TV worked out by the end of the year, but it seems more likely to come sometime in early 2009.)

But FiOS TV is oh-so-enticing. First, there's the cleaner design of the on-screen menus. Comcast's looks like they were created on a Commodore 64; FiOS TV's menus have a comparatively crisp, clean look. But it's the technological advances, rolled out in recent weeks, that really wowed me when given a tour of new FiOS TV options by Anil Guntupalli, director of systems and architecture for Verizon Data Services.

Interestingly, FiOS TV uses similar or the same Motorola cable boxes as Comcast, but the FiOS TV software is more advanced. My favorite innovation in the FiOS TV two-way interactive service is the ability to program your home DVR from the Web. So if you go out of town and forgot to set the DVR to record "30 Rock," no worries, you can log on and program the FiOS DVR remotely, a feature I believe is also available to TiVO users.

Currently in beta testing is the ability to program the DVR from three LG models of Verizon mobile phones (Chocolate, Voyager and Envy). That service will likely roll out in Pittsburgh in a few weeks. But pulling shows from your DVR to the phone isn't happening soon due to digital rights issues, although FiOS has the technological know-how to make that happen, too.

Another nifty feature: "Wait for me." FiOS customers can pause a live program on one channel, flip to another channel and then return to the initial channel, where the program remains paused.

FiOS TV's channel listings can be displayed in myriad ways, some that take up little screen space and others that take up more screen space. There are also widgets that provide links to text news articles, sports reports, horoscopes and even a real-time look at what the most popular programs are among FiOS TV users in the region at any given moment. (Simmer down, privacy advocates, the FiOS TV people say they don't store customer viewing info, just a snapshot aggregate of what channels viewers are tuned to.) There's even a beta test of a Facebook widget that can pull in friends' photo albums and status updates.

Currently, FiOS TV offers four free games (sudoku, chess, solitaire, Wordplay) that users play against the computer. As many as 20 games will be launched by late December, some of which will be for purchase as part of a subscription.

Then there's the Media Manager, which allows subscribers to watch on TV videos that are stored on their computers. Currently a link from FiOS TV to Internet videos, like those from YouTube, is in beta trials, so users will be able to search and watch YouTube from their couches. This took a little longer to load than other applications, but no more than the time it takes to get into the on demand menu on Comcast.

Next year FiOS TV plans to target more interactive advertising, social networking applications and interactive features (maybe some polls that can be pulled up while watching CNN). 

One caveat: Some services aren't available on lower-end cable boxes or are more limited (two free games instead of four), but for anyone with a FiOS TV DVR and HD, there is new technology to test drive.

If you're a Verizon FiOS TV customer who's experimented with this new technology, please tell us about your experiences below. An in-home opportunity to live with this technology is going to be more telling than the demo I received. Do you like it? Am I over-selling it? Please login (or register to login) to post below.