My decision has been made. I've got Verizon coming out in a couple weeks to install FiOS TV and a simple two-TV setup (one multi-room DVR, one regular STB to connect to it.) I'll connect the other TVs to the additional outputs of those as needed. I'll end up saving money while getting more HD channels, faster internet, and hopefully still have a good DVR interface to work with, but we'll see about that.

One annoying thing I wasn't prepared for is the complexity of the billing, and the obfuscation involved in hiding the true cost from the end user. I'm sort of used to these things from my dealings with Comcast, and to some extent all providers do it, but it was particularly difficult with Verizon to compare plans and figure out the real cost of their plans. They give you all sorts of different credits for different time periods, and then when things expire, you might or might not be able to get those credits renewed.

I ended up going with their middle-tier "Double Play" internet and TV bundle. The normal price of the services without the bundle credit is $119.99, but they offer $25 off for 24 months, and also $10 off for the first six months. That's all before paying for the equipment -- which costs $19.99 for the DVR and $8 for the other set-top box.

So, if I just look at the first six months, my bill is very low -- about $110/month before taxes and whatnot. But, averaged out over the 24-month period (during which I doubt they'd give me any additional discount) it ends up being closer to $120. This is still around $30 less than my combined bill now between the two providers, so it's still worth doing, but doing all the math to figure that out (and then comparing it to the Triple Play deals with phone service) ended up being a real hassle.

Then, as if that wasn't enough of a hassle, I got distracted by a "Free multi-room DVR for life" deal that would have been awesome, but is only available in the NYC area (I would have known this if I'd read the fine print.)

The bright side is that there's no contract commitment at all, so I should have some leverage if my bill ends up going up anytime soon. The hassle involved will be frustrating, but if I can save $30/month and go from 15/2 to 25/25 internet, it's worth it.

I'll report back with my findings in a few weeks.