AT&T U-Verse

[HDPokeFan]

First and clarification because the information I provided earlier was not updated.  HD On Demand movies is 68 movies for Cox and 42 for AT&T.  Cox has another 190 free HD On Demand titles that are regular shows ... AT&T has zero.


Tim --  A couple of questions for you.

1) Did you ask you engineer about the fact I provided that Cox has more bandwidth available in one channel than AT&T has available for the whole house?  (Nathann - that is why you won't get 100 Mpbs because AT&T only has 25 Mbps available to the home and if you are watching a HD channel and recording another you use all but 7 to 8 meg.  You start using the internet and you are toast.)  That is why Cox's network is better because they can channel bond and provide way faster internet speeds and still offer no bandwidth issues on the television since they are completely separate channels.

2) Why doesn't AT&T offer PBS in HD?

3) Why did AT&T decide to build their U-Verse network (Project Lightspeed) on the cheap instead of following Verizon's plan for FIOS? (i.e. AT&T only used existing copper wires which have inherently limited bandwidth versus FIOS building a more state-of-the-art network like cable companies and have vastly more bandwidth (Seem to make better sense to me -- and results definitely show FIOS is a tough customer to cable companies)

[tim huntzinger]

quote:Originally posted by HDPokeFan

First and clarification because the information I provided earlier was not updated.  HD On Demand movies is 68 movies for Cox and 42 for AT&T.  Cox has another 190 free HD On Demand titles that are regular shows ... AT&T has zero.


Tim --  A couple of questions for you.

1) Did you ask you engineer about the fact I provided that Cox has more bandwidth available in one channel than AT&T has available for the whole house?  (Nathann - that is why you won't get 100 Mpbs because AT&T only has 25 Mbps available to the home and if you are watching a HD channel and recording another you use all but 7 to 8 meg.  You start using the internet and you are toast.)  That is why Cox's network is better because they can channel bond and provide way faster internet speeds and still offer no bandwidth issues on the television since they are completely separate channels.

2) Why doesn't AT&T offer PBS in HD?

3) Why did AT&T decide to build their U-Verse network (Project Lightspeed) on the cheap instead of following Verizon's plan for FIOS? (i.e. AT&T only used existing copper wires which have inherently limited bandwidth versus FIOS building a more state-of-the-art network like cable companies and have vastly more bandwidth (Seem to make better sense to me -- and results definitely show FIOS is a tough customer to cable companies)

1. Does not matter. I prefer the quicker channel changing, picture in picture, 4 DVR streams and still have a better quality picture than I did with Cox.  I surf the web and TV all the time and have not experienced the speaker coil wire plasma switcher geek-talk-bs that you keep laying down.  I have heard where mathematics perfessors can prove that 2+2=5 and this is what you are doing. All I know is that the picture quality is great, my surfing is faster and funner, and my internet works consistently.  I had Cox digital for a decade and the quality of picture is better.  I dunno why.  The speaker coils I guess.

2. PBS in HD? No idea. Are you sure about that? You were wildly incorrect earlier about your disinformation so maybe you are wrong here too! Of course I am 'only' using SD and it looks great! Every HD channel can be conveniently DVR'd so all the slow-poke 'on demand' cox has to offer is beside the point.  S-t-r-a-w-m-a-n.

3. Inasmuch as AT&T beats cable in customer satisfaction sounds like they made a good decision to go 'cheap!' Ha ha! Someone can have an arm that will allow them to throw from the back of centerfield all the way to home plate but will still be slower than a relay.

Your agenda is to misinform and confuse. Folk here are smarter than that. No contract. No activation fees. NO MORE DOPEY COX COMMERCIALS EVERY TEN MINUTES.

[EricP]

Please, PLEASE DO SHUT UP ABOUT PICTURE QUALITY. You DON'T HAVE HD.

"Ha Ha!!!"

Do you just sit there flipping SD channels all day to see how fast the low resolution picture changes on your oak console TV with vaseline on the screen? Have you heard of a guide before?

I am done with this thread. Gawd. Nothing useful or informational anymore at all. Lock it and throw away the key.

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by tim huntzinger

quote:Originally posted by HDPokeFan

First and clarification because the information I provided earlier was not updated.  HD On Demand movies is 68 movies for Cox and 42 for AT&T.  Cox has another 190 free HD On Demand titles that are regular shows ... AT&T has zero.


Tim --  A couple of questions for you.

1) Did you ask you engineer about the fact I provided that Cox has more bandwidth available in one channel than AT&T has available for the whole house?  (Nathann - that is why you won't get 100 Mpbs because AT&T only has 25 Mbps available to the home and if you are watching a HD channel and recording another you use all but 7 to 8 meg.  You start using the internet and you are toast.)  That is why Cox's network is better because they can channel bond and provide way faster internet speeds and still offer no bandwidth issues on the television since they are completely separate channels.

2) Why doesn't AT&T offer PBS in HD?

3) Why did AT&T decide to build their U-Verse network (Project Lightspeed) on the cheap instead of following Verizon's plan for FIOS? (i.e. AT&T only used existing copper wires which have inherently limited bandwidth versus FIOS building a more state-of-the-art network like cable companies and have vastly more bandwidth (Seem to make better sense to me -- and results definitely show FIOS is a tough customer to cable companies)

1. Does not matter. I prefer the quicker channel changing, picture in picture, 4 DVR streams and still have a better quality picture than I did with Cox.  I surf the web and TV all the time and have not experienced the speaker coil wire plasma switcher geek-talk-bs that you keep laying down.  I have heard where mathematics perfessors can prove that 2+2=5 and this is what you are doing. All I know is that the picture quality is great, my surfing is faster and funner, and my internet works consistently.  I had Cox digital for a decade and the quality of picture is better.  I dunno why.  The speaker coils I guess.

2. PBS in HD? No idea. Are you sure about that? You were wildly incorrect earlier about your disinformation so maybe you are wrong here too! Of course I am 'only' using SD and it looks great! Every HD channel can be conveniently DVR'd so all the slow-poke 'on demand' cox has to offer is beside the point.  S-t-r-a-w-m-a-n.

3. Inasmuch as AT&T beats cable in customer satisfaction sounds like they made a good decision to go 'cheap!' Ha ha! Someone can have an arm that will allow them to throw from the back of centerfield all the way to home plate but will still be slower than a relay.

Your agenda is to misinform and confuse. Folk here are smarter than that. No contract. No activation fees. NO MORE DOPEY COX COMMERCIALS EVERY TEN MINUTES.

You have obviously not seen Cox's new ONdemand, which is much snappier.  Oh, and still has more titles than AT&T

[]

[nathanm]

They did my install this morning.

Thus far, I've noticed that there are some annoying PQ issues on a few of the HD channels and the Total Home DVR feature is nearly useless. You can't request a recording from the secondary DVR. Additionally, there are no trick play features available. Why they couldn't have spent the extra few bucks a box and put a decent amount of RAM in it so it could buffer live tv, I'll never figure out. It's just stupid.

The secondary boxes not being able to request a recording on the DVR is beyond stupid; it's inexcusable.

On the plus side, the install went smoothly, only 3 hours, there are quite a few more HD channels, although I don't care about most of them, and the DVR itself hasn't yet done anything to annoy me. It's not even slow. Channel changes are much faster than I would have thought possible without bloating the stream's bandwidth with a whole bunch of I frames.

[TheTed]

I guess it depends what your interests are but for me AT&T offers so many more channels that Cox will not offer any time in the near future. I'd be willing to put up with a reduction in quality for the increased quantity.

Now if Uverse would just hurry up and come downtown, or at least give me the slightest idea of some sort of timeframe for downtown.

[MDepr2007]

Gosh after all this I am thinking : DirecTV + Tivo + Amazon movie downloads thru Tivo[^]

[EricP]

Wait.... no buffering/pausing live TV?? Ew.

[lms68]

quote: Thus far, I've noticed that there are some annoying PQ issues on a few of the HD channels and the Total Home DVR feature is nearly useless. You can't request a recording from the secondary DVR. Additionally, there are no trick play features available. Why they couldn't have spent the extra few bucks a box and put a decent amount of RAM in it so it could buffer live tv, I'll never figure out. It's just stupid.

Nathan, I just ordered U-Verse but it can't be installed until the end of the month for a variety of reasons, some mine and some AT&T's.  Anyway, I hope you don't mind if I ask you a couple of questions -- I'm still a little nervous about making the switch from Cox since I don't know anyone else who has U-Verse yet.

1.  What do you mean by "PQ issues"?  

2.  What are "trick play features"?

3.  Do I understand you correctly that you cannot pause live TV?  I thought was a basic feature of all DVRs.

4.  Did you get the phone?  If so, are you using it with a security alarm?

Thanks for your help!

[nathanm]

quote:Originally posted by lms68


1.  What do you mean by "PQ issues"?  

2.  What are "trick play features"?

3.  Do I understand you correctly that you cannot pause live TV?  I thought was a basic feature of all DVRs.

4.  Did you get the phone?  If so, are you using it with a security alarm?

Thanks for your help!

I'm happy to answer questions. Answering my own questions about the service was my primary reason for ordering, anyway. []

1. By PQ issues I mean obvious compression artifacts on some, but not all, HD channels. Their encoders seem to have this bad habit on news shows and other programming without a lot of motion. When the screen is fairly static, it'll alternate between being sharp and soft every few seconds. If it were just soft the whole time, it wouldn't be nearly as noticeable.

2. Trick play features are pausing live TV, instant replay, 30 second skip, that sort of thing. If you only have one TV, it's nothing to worry about, as the DVR box itself can do those things. On any secondary TVs, you don't get a DVR box, you get a regular box (they won't rent you a second DVR, even!) that can't do those things.

The shows on the DVR are available for viewing (and trick play use) on secondary boxes, however. The major oversight here is that you can't hit record on a non-DVR box and have the DVR start recording it on behalf of the non-DVR box. You can't even schedule future recordings from the non-DVR box. You either have to use the website or go to the DVR box itself. That basically makes the service unusable in my home. (My SO will not be pleased when she figures that one out!)

3. As I mentioned before, the DVR box can pause live TV, but any other boxes cannot..and you can't get multiple DVRs at this point.

4. No..my security system has a cell modem.

Oh, and just for what it's worth, if you do get the phone, they can't run wires for you without charging, apparently. At least that's what my installer seemed to think.

Also, there's a glitch on the music channels that can cause audio dropouts if you use the trick play features on them.

[tim huntzinger]

quote:Originally posted by EricP

Wait.... no buffering/pausing live TV?? Ew.

SPIT, ERIC! SPIT! Full DVR functionality is available on the Master Box (setting, erasing recordings, pausing live TV) and on the extra boxes one may view recorded programs.  If there is a show I want to watch in the other room like last night's game, I will set the channel to record on the Master Box and then go to my recordings and play the recording from the other box.  I quickly and easily pause rewind and ff from that box no problem.

Folk still get picture-in-picture viewing and super-fast surfing on the other boxes.

[EricP]

quote:Originally posted by tim huntzinger

quote:Originally posted by EricP

Wait.... no buffering/pausing live TV?? Ew.

SPIT, ERIC! SPIT! Full DVR functionality is available on the Master Box (setting, erasing recordings, pausing live TV) and on the extra boxes one may view recorded programs.  If there is a show I want to watch in the other room like last night's game, I will set the channel to record on the Master Box and then go to my recordings and play the recording from the other box.  I quickly and easily pause rewind and ff from that box no problem.

Folk still get picture-in-picture viewing and super-fast surfing on the other boxes.

What exactly are you on, anyway?

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by EricP

quote:Originally posted by tim huntzinger

quote:Originally posted by EricP

Wait.... no buffering/pausing live TV?? Ew.

SPIT, ERIC! SPIT! Full DVR functionality is available on the Master Box (setting, erasing recordings, pausing live TV) and on the extra boxes one may view recorded programs.  If there is a show I want to watch in the other room like last night's game, I will set the channel to record on the Master Box and then go to my recordings and play the recording from the other box.  I quickly and easily pause rewind and ff from that box no problem.

Folk still get picture-in-picture viewing and super-fast surfing on the other boxes.

What exactly are you on, anyway?

I think the term is a 'shill pill'.

[tim huntzinger]

quote:Originally posted by EricP



What exactly are you on, anyway?

. . .  a quest, a never-ending journey of truth, justice, and the American Way!

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by tim huntzingerFull DVR functionality is available on the Master Box (setting, erasing recordings, pausing live TV) and on the extra boxes one may view recorded programs.

If that's the essence of 'Total Home DVR' then Im disappointed, as I would prefer fully-functional DVR's instead of master/slave boxes.

I can say that DirecTV TiVo's are pretty robust, and you can have as may DVR's as you want (however many outputs your multiswitch has) and Dish network is pretty much the same.

Their price for internet is less than the equivalent speed on DSL, so I would upgrade to U-verse for my internet at least, and keep the satellite TV.