This post explains my setup for recording over-the-air (OTA) TV programs via Verizon FIOS TV.
Even though the solution is pretty obvious, it took me a while to figure it out, mostly for figuring out what won’t work.
It boils down to hooking up a digital video recorder (DVR), or equivalent device (see purple below), directly to the FIOS TV coax cable, eliminating the FIOS set-top box. (That is, hook the DVR (or equivalent) to the coax that feeds into the Verizon set-top box. If you want to keep the set-top box hooked up, use a coax splitter (below) to attach both DVR and box to the same cable.)
Duh. Or maybe, huh. Depending on whether you knew you could do that, or not.
In my case, I didn’t know you could do that. If nothing else, this will help you avoid going down the same rabbit holes I went down.
Edit: In the end, we got two different devices to work as DVRs for OTA TV channels provided via Verizon FIOS. One was TV tuner for Windows computers by Hauppauge (Amazon reference), $80. That was a little glitchy, so we also got a stand-alone Homeworx tuner/DRV via Amazon, $35. That has the klunkiest interface of any device I’ve bought this century. But it does, in fact, work, in the sense of letting me record a chosen OTA TV program straight off Verizon FIOS. With the second option, you also need a spare USB drive to record onto.
Below is the diagram for recording using a USB-plug-in card and a personal computer to do the recording. (STB = set-top box).
Next is the diagram for using a cheap stand-alone digital video recorder plus USB hard drive to do the recording. In addition to attaching a USB hard drive to record onto, you need some connection to your TV so that you can see what you’re doing as you set this up to record.
NOTE that in both cases, you tune in the channel you wish to record on the recording device, not on the TV. Depending on how you set this up, what’s playing on your TV may or may not be what you’re recording on whatever digital video recorder you have chosen.
A final note is that you can’t use this to, e.g., pirate movies. This only allows you to record content off broadcast (over-the-air) channels that are included with your Verizon FIOS TV subscription. Near as I can tell, no legitimate stand-alone digital video recorder will allow you to tune in encrypted, copy-protected channels provided by Verizon, and then copy that content off the DVR for posting or viewing elsewhere.
In other words, this is not a method for breaking the encryption on copy-protected content on Verizon.
Continue reading Post #1957: Recording an over-the-air TV program with Verizon FIOS TV