The Verizon FiOS TV IP STB That Never Was

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fios-ip-stb

Back in 2014, Verizon was working on a number of FiOS hardware offerings with Greenwave Systems… most of which have never seen the light of day. While the Quantum Router made it out of the labs, the heir apparent to their scrapped Home Control service did not. Further, the unannounced FiOS TV STB, pictured above, was another casualty. Beyond never being released, what makes the IPC 2100 notable is (was?) the inclusion of WiFi, in addition to their standard MoCA coaxial channel, as a means of receiving video content from one’s home gateway. Whatever piece of hardware that was intended to be… Router, VMS as done with mobile streaming, something else?

In any event, Verizon is changing tack (again), as they reportedly look to leverage acquired Intel OnCue hardware and technology “to launch its next-generation TV service in at least one of its Fios markets later this year.”

5 thoughts on “The Verizon FiOS TV IP STB That Never Was”

  1. Dave,

    IPTV on the Fios platform was never scraped per se, just delayed a bit due to some technical issues. Its literally been in perpetual beta/lab testing for well over 2 years. The hardware pictured above has been gone a long time. Moto/Harris is the current vendor for the new hardware and it looks very similar to the VMS units already deployed. That being said, it’s release is supposedly nearly upon us. “4th quarter” Although i wouldn’t be surprised if that date is pushed back again.

    Also, from what I’ve seen most of the OnCue assets are being used for an entirely different project altogether.

  2. I didn’t make any claims regarding IP as a communication protocol, either within the home or to the home. Just this specific box and Greenwave in general. Thanks for the potential roadmap clarification, though! The OnCue stuff is the more fascinating piece – will be interesting to see where and how it pops up.

  3. The OnCue assets are being incorporated into the new IPTV service from Verizon outlined in the story from Variety back in April.
    http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/verizon-ip-tv-service-set-top-box-1201754543/
    Greg, are you indicating that the existing FiOS service (and all its STBs) will switch from QAM to IP and that Verizon will also simultaneously launch a separate IPTV service using different STBs based on OnCue? Interesting. Although once a given region is switched from QAM to IP, I guess it’s really just a marketing/branding decision to offer two different TV services. It’s all just individual IP streams anyhow, whichever brand they’re under…

  5. Ha! Sorry, Dave. Since I was already familiar with that info, I didn’t bother clicking your link. I provided that same link as a reference for Greg about my question.

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