34 Comments Add your own

• 1. Barney Lerten  |  July 19th, 2007 at 9:34 pm

  You mean translucent, Steve, opaque you couldn’t see through. (Wise guy in school;-)

• 2. Brock  |  July 20th, 2007 at 3:11 pm

  Looks great!

• 3. SALINAFAE  |  July 20th, 2007 at 8:02 pm

  VERIZON EVERY THINGS “”GREAT”" REALLY,YOU WOULD THINK ALLL THE THECHNOLOGY IN THIS WOURLD & VERIZON`S DOING GREAT WITH IT!

• 4. wbz  |  August 17th, 2007 at 7:13 am

  I got IMG two days ago in Arlington VA (August 14, 2007)and would rather go back to old Guide. Beyond my frustration of trying to deal with VZ CSR, here are the problems:

  1. Eliminated Channel Selection feature and only offer Favorites. Therefore, it is impossible to use Channel Up/Down feature on Remote to click through channels without getting all the channels such as Local Programming, spanish, sports, mil history etc etc etc. Favorites is not the same as Channel Selection List. (For me right now, identifying Favorites only means that the Guide feature lists only the favorites; it does not translate to the actual picture/channel up/down control.)

  2. Informed by VZ rep that Channel List Selection will be included in “next release”. When asked for timeframe, response was “We do not have a time frame for the new release. I know they want to get it out quick, but not so quick as to cause more problems that it solves.”

  3. Takes at least a second for program info to load as you channel up/down. Way too slow.

  4. NO advance notice of upgrade.

  5. Obviously did not Beta test IMG. Beyond serious issues identified here, there are numerous flaws.

  6. After spending two hours on toll free, discovered that my AT8550 remote does not work with new Guide. VZ made no attempt to contact subscribers and arrange for new remote prior to implementation of IMG.

  7. After 2.5 hours on telephone with operators, am now informed that new remote will be mailed to me. My fear is that when it comes, I will likely STILL be frustrated at the simple task of advancing through channels that I am interested in viewing.

  8. Video display of Guide is harder to read. Presentation and color selection is poor, as is font size. Far too little info displayed requiring a second click for any meaningful data on Info feature.

  9. I switched to Fios from Comcast and was very satisfied prior to this IMG Upgrade. All of my neighbors and co-workers with Fios are reporting similar frustration.

  10. I am curious as to whether VZ will respond to any of these posts with a corrective action plan. Posts from folks who are only looking at screen shots doesn’t come close to the agony of actually using the software.

• 5. Todd  |  August 20th, 2007 at 8:01 pm

  Yeah. it looks great… too bad they didn’t actually test it.

  The FIOS TV department should be ashamed of themselves for releasing this software change. It is horrendous.

  But, hey, it looks good… clearly the only thing Verizon was going for. Let’s just make it prettier.

• 6. Jan Robison  |  August 21st, 2007 at 9:20 am

  I HATE HATE HATE the new IMG. Right now it isn’t even working. Can’t change the channel, can’t read the information because it is so cluttered. It is just awful. Please return to the old style. At least I could tell what was on and coming on later. That ability is gone now.

• 7. Adam  |  August 25th, 2007 at 9:01 am

  The new Fios TV guide is a huge set back. It is slow and non-responsive. You can’t see all of the listings and it is nearly it is very difficult to delete items from the DVR. I am not sure what they are thinking.

• 8. SK  |  August 27th, 2007 at 7:38 am

  This is the “WORST” upgrade (Or should we call downgrade) I have seen rolled out by any.

  I was so excited when I switched to FIOS from Dishnetwork. I did loose a lot of features when I had to abandon my REPLAYTV-DVR and switch to VERIZON-DVR.

  However, I was happy for the basic functionalities. Now with the new release they made this DVR worthless.

  How could a reputed company like Verizon with millions of customers rollout something without testing it?.

  As the users already experienced, the frustration level prevents me from listing out any single issues. Its errors everywhere. The crashes are more often.

  Hope the roll back to old version.

• 9. dc  |  August 27th, 2007 at 7:40 pm

  roll out does not allow frame by frame ff or rew.
  looks pretty but is confusing. verizon wants to charge 7.00 to send you the correct remote.
  agreed. the old version was better.

• 10. mz  |  September 25th, 2007 at 11:51 am

  The new interface is terrible. The system crashes periodically when you delete recorded programs. It is very hard to tell what you have scheduled to record. Can’t search by day/time or channel. The old interface was much better.

• 11. Bill Cave  |  October 28th, 2007 at 7:45 am

  Did anyone at Verizon Beta test this system? The first ver they put out had some flaws, but it was not as bad as it is now. I’m a long time Verizon customer, but I will be canceling this TV service, and go back to Brighthouse, or one of the Sat providers.

  This entire system is just too much work to endure, and I would not keep this TV service if it were free.
  Clearly the people responsible for this upgrade have never actually used this interface and should be FIRED!!

• 12. Jonathan  |  October 30th, 2007 at 5:00 pm

  I just got switched today and there is way to describe how terrible the new interface is. Pretty much what the others have said but the big issues for me are:

  1. Can’t eliminate channels from the guild making it nearly useless.
  2. The favoites menu, which I’m now forced to use doesn’t roll from 2 to 888 forcing me to click every channel between 2 and 800 to get to that channel because, YOU CAN’T ENTER A NUMBER FROM THE FAVORITES SCREEN.
  3. Slow, Slow and Slow.

  Golly Verizon, you’ve just taken my system and ruined it. Thanks.

• 13. Jim  |  October 31st, 2007 at 1:07 pm

  I agree with the earlier comments. Did anyone at Verizon Beta test this system with real users!!!!

  The original worked very well and was fast. This new just sucks!!
  1. IMG is real……. slow
  2. doesn’t have any real custom setting
  3. very small screen view while in checking the guide
  4. DVR access, and deletion time is slow…….
  5. The DVR menu layout is just bad!!!
  We have been been on FIOS for over 6 months (switched from DirectTV). This IMG is enough for me to switch back!!!
  Also, the Verizon team responsible for this upgrade should be FIRED!!

• 14. Roxanne Nuckols  |  November 3rd, 2007 at 1:49 pm

  New DVR indicator shows I have HD recorded but I don’t have HD. IT also doesn’t show that any of the shows listed under “Recorded” are HD. How do I get this time back?

  Guide text is smaller than before. My TV is not 50″ plasma and I don’t intend to buy one to read the Guide. Maybe there needs to be a text size option. What is with the Guide taking up the whole screen. Half Screen option should be vertical half screen or horizontal half screen - or just put it back like it was before. What is “Transparent” supposed to gain anyone? It makes the text harder to read and the picture is impossible to see, so what’s the point?

  Why doesn’t the guide info give more info? Show stars in movies; guest stars on reg series.

  REL: 1.03 Build: 03.32

• 15. Ed Fagan  |  November 4th, 2007 at 11:57 am

  As an employee of Verizon, I’m being bombarded by neighbors on why we made such a drastic change in the Interactive Media Guide and I sense their frustration. My biggest complaint is that HUGE box in the middle of the screen that displays the channel and takes up way to much screen and provides way too much information. Most of our customers do not require the amount of informaton that you’re trying to put in there. I’m trying to scan down through the channels like we used to do and it just cannot be done without getting confused. I agree the channel should be highlighted but it should not be done with that HUGE HUGE highlight screen. Please at least downsize that and that might make some of our customer a little happier. Thanks.

• 16. Holley Minton  |  November 6th, 2007 at 3:23 pm

  This “upgrade” is a nightmare. When we switched from Direct TV to Fios, the deficiencies were apparent right away. We were told to be patient because an upgrade was on it’s way. What a joke! Practically every function is harder to use if not completely absent. The very idea that we can’t block certain channels from young eyes is enough to make us switch back to Direct TV. Verizon- just give us TIVO.

• 17. Deanne  |  November 13th, 2007 at 2:11 am

  This is awful. You can’t fast forward through commercials on recorded programs because once you hit play it forgets where it was and starts the show over AGAIN. You basically have to fast forward, then hit stop, then go back to the listings, find the show, and hit resume play. Might as well watch the freaking commercial. I can’t believe how they ruined my tv.

• 18. Rod  |  November 23rd, 2007 at 4:37 pm

  Just found another fantastic glitch in the new IMG upgrade… When the upgrade came through, it also brought a line on the left side of the screen, about 2 inches from the edge. It acutally looks like the 2 inch section is shifted up. I’ve done some surfing and am finding others with the same issue. It appears like it only effects 1080p screens as I have other smaller, 1080i and below TV’s in the house and there is no issue. I’ve changed boxes, ran test lines etc and no fix. There is no line with any other devices running through to this tv but of course, Verizon denies any problem.

• 19. Tim B  |  November 30th, 2007 at 11:19 am

  If any Verizon decision-makers are reading this, hang your empty heads in shame. In the process of putting lipstick on the new guide to market it, you completely botched the basic functionality that cableco’s perfected decades ago. I don’t even know where to begin in stressing just how awful this upgrade is, especially considering that the original guide was terrible to begin with. At least it worked the way you would expect. Now I regret the decision to move to FiOS every time I turn on the TV. The Favorites functionality is buggy as hell; if I scroll using the page up/down buttons, most of the HD channels don’t appear at the end of the list. Scrolling one channel at a time minimizes this to just a few AWOL channels, but the list doesn’t wrap around to the beginning so there’s lots of extra button pushing. When a recorded program ends, or if you stop playback, you’re dumped out to the top of the recordings list instead of the details page for that recording. But by far my favorite “feature” is how the box unmutes itself when a program ends, whether you want it to or not. Really something to be proud of guys. Great job.

• 20. HDTVCAMERA  |  December 2nd, 2007 at 7:18 am

  If we had the option of purchasing our DVR and software you could bet that the manufacturers would never think of selling such a horrible system.

  I agree with all of the other comments on super slow DVR response time, horrible lay out, the lack of ability to delete channels you will never watch and other bad choices made by Verizon.

  I’d like to add that I don’t need 100 volume selections. It takes way to long to turn the volume down when loud commercials come on.

  The Verizon team responsible for this upgrade should be FIRED!!

• 21. Russelln2003  |  December 12th, 2007 at 7:35 am

  I’ve noticed that in the past month or so when a commercial comes on, it is very loud. Not all commercials do this, just a few. Does anybody else have this problem. This has only happend since the new upgrade.

• 22. Harris2007  |  December 13th, 2007 at 11:43 am

  The new IMG is probably the worst I have ever used. Cable, Direct TV, Dish, all have better IMGs. I have had major resets of the receiver upon deleting program content from the Hard Drive. The favorites is a joke, and doesn’t allow deletion of unwanted channels. The menu system is slow and confusing.

  Verizon TV…alllow users to switch back to the old IMG NOW! or bye bye verizon TV.

• 23. Victor J. Vigna  |  December 19th, 2007 at 9:51 am

  I have one remote with cable box now both not work where I can bring cable box with remote to change or come over my home to see what wrong my self deaf need help ok
  Let me know soon.

  Victor J. Vigna

• 24. alicia  |  January 9th, 2008 at 6:44 pm

  I hate it, it just garbage its not user friendly, we hate the magnifier.FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!PLEASE GO BACK TO THE CLASSIC GUIDE BEFORE I LOSE MY EYE SIGHT. why did they get in bed with the tv guide? I would rather read the dictionary from cover to cover than read the guide!!!
  talking about sensory overload!! at these prices, the least you could do is provide a comprehensive guide. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111

• 25. tammy  |  January 11th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

  PLEASE GO BACK TO THE ORIGINAL OR QUICKLY FIX THE NEW GUIDE!!! Absolutely TERRIBLE. Problems:
  1) Serious visual overload caused by a poor choice of colors and fonts
  2) SLOW.
  3) SLOW
  4) SO SLOW IT APPEARS LIKE YOUR TV IS ON DIAL-UP
  Hopefully someone at Verizon will get the picture [literally] and either fix it with a quick upgrade, or go back to the original unti all the kinks are worked out.

• 26. Anonymous  |  January 16th, 2008 at 4:01 pm

  I woke up this morning to the new “Interactive Media Guide.” At first, I was intrigued; then, it turned to incredible dissatisfaction. I saw the change coming, but I didn’t think it would be this bad.

  The new guide tries to look nicer, and it does to some degree, but its faults are just too numerous. The first few times I pressed my Favorites button, it gave me all the channels, as if I pressed the Guide button. For a moment, I thought there were no more Favorites, but the faves finally returned.

  The new guide is also way slower to respond. With the old guide, the remote light flashed on the box, and the menu popped up quickly. On this new guide, the remote light on the box stays lit for a few seconds before the menu/guide/info (i.e. everything) finally appears on the screen. It is flat out SLOW, all around, everything which way, altogether.

  The new organization is terrible. The box in the center in the full and half-screen guides is awful; it makes it much more difficult to read and browse the listings. Also, why does the program information show up when one program ends and the next begins? I can see why they used it, but at least give the option to turn that off. If I want to know what the new show/episode is, pressing the Info button is easy enough.

  There’s a reason this became a cliche: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

• 27. Anonymous  |  January 16th, 2008 at 4:07 pm

  Agreeing with Jonathan about the favorites. Unlike the old IMG, this new thing can’t go from last to first (or first to last) without going through all the channels in between.

  Can I unbrick my tv service?

• 28. Chris  |  January 16th, 2008 at 9:14 pm

  I was forced to use this new IMG this morning when I woke up… unbelievably SUCKY.

  Main issues:
  1 SLOW
  2 I can’t delete the channels I’m not subscribed to (HBO, Cinemax, Sports, HD packages) and the ones I hate (spanish, military history, and the god channels)…. they ALWAYS show up in the guide which is absolutely HORRIBLE. I can’t browse for a movie now… it’s too much of a pain in the ass…. just god-awful…. the channels thing REALLY pisses me off… even if I favorite all the ones I watch… the guide STILL shows me what’s on HBO and Cinemax… I don’t CARE what’s on those channels because I don’t subscribe! I’m so friggin’ frustrated just TYPING this.
  3 SLOW….. SLOWWWWWWWWWWW.
  4 TWO GUIDE VIEWS? One full-screen, one vertically half? When I go into the guide, and get out of the guide, I want to see the TV full-screen again…. not a second view of the guide (which is actually faster than the full-screen guide). What a pain in my ass.
  5 the options are sooooo limited. I can’t save anything, I can’t do anything….

  But…

  Isn’t it great that the MARKETPLACE is the first thing you see when you click “MENU”…. I wonder what their purpose was…. surely couldn’t be to get extra money, now could it?

  Verizon, bite me.

  If it ain’t broke…. don’t fix it.

  And since it’s broke now…. FIX IT.

• 29. a  |  January 17th, 2008 at 5:11 pm

  god is this awful. it’s unbelievably slow. i hate the layout.

  re: “The box in the center in the full and half-screen guides is awful; it makes it much more difficult to read and browse the listings. Also, why does the program information show up when one program ends and the next begins?”
  you could not be more right.
  the “double” guide is annoying. it just feels as if its more difficult to maneuver now. it all blends together. i hate the information in the middle of the screen. when the info was in the upper right you could just skip right past it and it wouldn’t bother you unless you wanted to read it. now it’s always there no matter what breaking up the browsing.

• 30. DABerg913  |  January 18th, 2008 at 3:13 pm

  I’m glad I’m not the only one who hates this change. Go back to the old one and just add a page down feature. How stupid is it to put the detail box in the middle of the screen!?! That totally negates the value of either the top or bottom portions, since you can only read one at a time. So now your field of vision is only 3 lines! To add insult to injury, now you need 2 clicks to get back to the program, and you still have to wait for that last info window to time out. Looks like another case of cost savings by outsourcing to the low bid! If I wasn’t locked into a 2-year deal, I’d go back to Comcast in protest!

• 31. NJDan  |  January 27th, 2008 at 9:18 pm

  …terribly slow. They claim a 2/10 second response time in their press release…it’s actually 3 seconds (I’ve measured).

  It’s impossible to scroll through the channel listings because of the non-intuitive extra-large center listing. When I’m scrolling through channels, I don’t want to look at the center listing, I want to look at the next one on the bottom or the top. It’s very hard to read those when the entire screen is being taken up by the stupid box in the middle.

  Argh!

• 32. CK  |  April 6th, 2008 at 6:39 pm

  Everything said above, and more. We are way past the sneak peek point, people. We are dreaming if we think Verizon gives a rat’s rear end about complaints. Believe me, if Cablevision had a multi-room DVR, we’d switch back like a shot. All the problems we had with them, we now have with FIOS, plus…. Sound quality is not consistent within a program anymore. The newest quirk, when we delete recorded programs from the DVR, they are not removed, and keep occupying space! Spent almost 2 hours this morning waiting for IMG to update, total waste of time. Tech keeps apologizing. I feel sorry for the techs and reps - that’s all they can do. What kind of service can VZ expect them to provide when the product is crap?

• 33. Stan  |  April 22nd, 2008 at 7:00 am

  where can I get a copy of the manual for the RC1445301/00B remote

• 34. Dan  |  May 12th, 2008 at 9:45 am

  This weekend, I was trying to order a movie on VOD. Due to the lack of responsiveness, I clicked through too many times and inadvertently ordered a movie I didn’t want. There was no way to reverse it on screen. Turns out I have to wait until my bill comes to reverse it.

  The tech said that I was the first person ever to claim that the slow responsiveness resulted in a mis-selected movie. BS!

  He said that he was unaware that the slow responsiveness was an issue. I said, read the thousands of blogs, forums, and complaints on the web … just google “fios remote slow”. She said, well there’s lots of blogs out there.

  Verizon is either stupid of ignoring a lot of valuable, free market research.

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