AT&T U-verse HDTV [Text View] - Page 10

Ken H

09-26-09, 09:27 PM

I just had AT&T U-Verse installed and I really like it so far (especially since I'm saving A LOT over Comcast). Except...the HD content or lack of HD programs. They claimed over 100 HD channels vs. Comcast's (I think) 30 :rolleyes: so I was very interested!

I notice, when I view the guide, it will have an "HD" icon if it is broadcasted in HD. I believe all of the channels 1,000+ are HD channels but most of the programming is NOT HD. Is this b/c of AT&T's service or is the network not broadcasting in HD? Or is this how AT&T is keeping the cost down?

I spoke to a Tech at AT&T this morning and he claimed ignorance to what I was asking. Am I not explaining this right? Here is my problem...

When I had Comcast, I thought the majority of the HD channels were in fact in HD. But now I'm watching the same shows on AT&T's U-Verse and the shows do NOT look HD (crisp, clear picture quality). Or am I imagining this?

I will say that the SD pq is much better but that's not what I'm after when I'm watching HD channels on my 58" plasma! :mad:

1) Please look for existing topics before starting new ones. I have merged your topic into the main AT&T topic.

2) It's well known (here at least) that U-verse is typically less in HD image quality than most other HD alternatives.

3) U-verse does not control how much HD is on any given HD channel. If the channel is HD, and the program is not HD, all carriers get the same SD feed.

oktoberrust11

09-28-09, 12:25 PM

Does anyone know if AT&T has slowed the roll-out of U-Verse? The new box was installed at least 10 months ago in my sub, but U-Verse is still not available.

Thanks,
Matt

Fade2Black

09-28-09, 01:17 PM

So I get a call from a belligerent U-verse sale guy who tries realllly hard to get me to switch from Directv. He tells me that I can have 6 simultaneous HD streams for viewing/recording because of 'phase 2'.

I'm in a mid-70's neighborhood with underground utilities and twisted pair running to the house. Has anyone heard of 6 HD streams?

The call spiraled to the point where he said "you don't know what you're talking about", and I hung up. I'm an engineer at a local network TV affiliate, by the way. Skippy probably lost AT&T a U-verse customer for the time being.

I just got off of a pleasant on-line 'chat' with AT&T where I was told that the sales guy was smokin' crack. Well, she didn't say that exactly... My guess is that he does what he needs to make the sale, then the installer/customer service gets to clean up the mess. Nice.

black_macleod

09-28-09, 01:20 PM

bgooch

09-28-09, 03:09 PM

September 14th, 2009, 12:53 pm · by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

Today, AT&T unleashed new features for its U-verse TV customers who live in various parts of Orange County and the nation. These include some I mentioned last week as part of a story on Microsoft Mediaroom, which is the software used by AT&T U-verse in its set-top boxes.

New U-verse TV features announced today are:

* Multiview: The ability to watch four channels at the same time using U-verse TV Multiview. AT&T allows 4 simultaneous channels, although Microsoft’s feature allows six. There are specific multiviews available: Sports, (Channel 601) Kids (Channel 301) and News (Channel 201). Subscribers to ESPN GamePlan package can get a special ESPN GamePlan Multiview, channel 4400, at no extra charge. You can also record programs while in multiview.

AT&T U-verse gets ability to view up to 4 channels at the same time.

* Media Share: View photos and listen to music stored on home PCs on the big-screen TV. Any U-verse-connected TV can now access those files.
* AT&T offers U-verse TV channel showcasing Hollywood entertainment awards, also available as an iPhone app.And then there’s Channel 95, geared to iPhone users. If you want to check out who’s been nominated for an Emmy, Teen Choice or other award, there’s an app for that. All the entertainment award news you want, apparently.

The new features are available to all Orange County U-verse customers at no extra charge. To see the new features in action, watch the official AT&T video at http://www.youtube.com/user/ShareATT#play/all/uploads-all/0/uixaVRE4l0Q posted on YouTube.

http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/2009/09/14/4-screens-of-football-photo-sharing-more-heads-to-u-verse-tv/21157/

Sam S

09-28-09, 03:48 PM

I'm in a mid-70's neighborhood with underground utilities and twisted pair running to the house. Has anyone heard of 6 HD streams?

Sounds like my neighborhood. We only have twisted pair from the VRAD. We should see a bump to 3HD/1SD in the near future, but nothing along the lines of 6HD.

Nickerz

09-28-09, 07:32 PM

With all due respect, did you research UVerse before you switched? HD quality limitations are apparently well known. Fortunately, I had Fios as an option and recently switched. If U Verse was my option, I would have stayed with Dish.

No, I really didn't do any indepth research but for the savings in price, I would have still made the switch to AT&T U-Verse. Trying to save as much as I can and every bit helps!

1) Please look for existing topics before starting new ones. I have merged your topic into the main AT&T topic.

2) It's well known (here at least) that U-verse is typically less in HD image quality than most other HD alternatives.

3) U-verse does not control how much HD is on any given HD channel. If the channel is HD, and the program is not HD, all carriers get the same SD feed.

Not to be rude but...

Yes, I did attempt to research this. - this thread dates back to 2006!!!!! I would still be reading through it to attempt to find an answer.

So just to confirm...

AT&T's guide is saying tonights Monday Night Football game is not in HD for example. So I'm assuming no one else's service is broadcasting this in HD (i.e., Comcast/Cox Cable, Dish, DirecTV, etc.)?

oktoberrust11

09-28-09, 07:49 PM

So just to confirm...

AT&T's guide is saying tonights Monday Night Football game is not in HD for example. So I'm assuming no one else's service is broadcasting this in HD (i.e., Comcast/Cox Cable, Dish, DirecTV, etc.)?

I'm assuming you're being a bit facetious, but provider's guides aren't the most accurate source of information at times. Of course the game will be in HD, as is the current pre-game.

Ken H

09-28-09, 08:43 PM

No, I really didn't do any indepth research but for the savings in price...You get what you pay for.

Yes, I did attempt to research this. - this thread dates back to 2006!!!!! I would still be reading through it to attempt to find an answer.I didn't suggest that. What I did say was it's well known that U-verse is less HD image quality than most other alternatives. This could have been learned from the posts in the last few weeks, taking maybe 15 minutes to scan through. Or, you could have posted the question here before making your decision, and at least knew what you were getting into.

So just to confirm...

AT&T's guide is saying tonights Monday Night Football game is not in HD for example. So I'm assuming no one else's service is broadcasting this in HD (i.e., Comcast/Cox Cable, Dish, DirecTV, etc.)?1) MNF is always HD.
2) U-verse has two ESPN channels; ESPN & ESPN HD, are you looking at the guide info for ESPN HD?
3) The guide can be wrong, and not just for U-verse.
4) Again, U-verse gets the same HD feed as all other carriers, so if a program is HD on one carrier, it's HD on them all. Of course there is always the possability of a technical issue that a carrier may have, but you would hear about it here or in a local topic. U-verse is on par with other HD providers in this respect; they rarely have technical issues that take an HD channels off the air.

Nickerz

09-29-09, 03:48 PM

Again, thanks for the responses! I think I might be getting somewhere!

I'm assuming you're being a bit facetious, but provider's guides aren't the most accurate source of information at times. Of course the game will be in HD, as is the current pre-game.

No, I was asking an honest question b/c the program before MNF was (I believe) "MNF Countdown" and this was in HD (at least, it had the HD symbol in the guide. But MNF was NOT in HD.

...

1) MNF is always HD.
2) U-verse has two ESPN channels; ESPN & ESPN HD, are you looking at the guide info for ESPN HD?
3) The guide can be wrong, and not just for U-verse.
4) Again, U-verse gets the same HD feed as all other carriers, so if a program is HD on one carrier, it's HD on them all. Of course there is always the possability of a technical issue that a carrier may have, but you would hear about it here or in a local topic. U-verse is on par with other HD providers in this respect; they rarely have technical issues that take an HD channels off the air.

Thank you Ken for also following up!

Like I mentioned above, MNF was not in HD for me last night and I can confirm I was viewing ESPN HD (channel 1602).

I figured MNF was definitely in HD which is why I asked the question in the other post. So if you can confirm that it was in HD, I can confirm I wasn't getting it in HD. Why would AT&T have MNF Countdown (right before the game) in HD and NOT the game? I've asked AT&T this question and again, the two techs I spoke to said this shouldn't be but they didn't offer any help.

However, I checked my guide for MNF this coming Monday (10/5) and it DOES show the HD symbol. So go figure. I can confirm this was NOT the case last night. And yes, I triple checked. I really did!

Thanks for your help guys! I keep an eye on it and compare as I go through the week.

stonecrd

09-30-09, 12:02 PM

The game was in HD for me down here in Miami.

YOTR

10-01-09, 08:49 AM

Did you force your Kuro HDMI input to 0-255 to get rid of the crushed blacks and dark picture?

Yes and it worked. I just hate having to change it right back to 16-235 when I want to use any of my other sources (PS3/XBOX 360).

LilGator

10-01-09, 05:37 PM

Yes and it worked. I just hate having to change it right back to 16-235 when I want to use any of my other sources (PS3/XBOX 360).

Ah, I hear ya- I was doing the same, it was a pain. I just cancelled U-verse a few days before my 30days were up. Switched to Dish Network, which has been fantastic so far.

I'd be more than happy to come back to U-verse if they'd work out the bugs and actually do things proper.

8-10mbps HD streams, and more than 2 at a time for a household; fix the stupid audio dropouts and I'd be happy. Everything else, inlcuding the DVRs, shared recordings, and internet were all great.

With Dish Network and 2 DVRs I can now record 4 HD channels at the same time, in addition to another 3 OTA HD channels.

cwh

10-02-09, 01:01 AM

Fade2Black

10-02-09, 03:37 AM

I suspect he mearn you could stream 4HD off the DVR and still have 2 live HD streams with the phase 2 dvr. But sounds like he was was trying to hide the face that you only get 2 live HD streams, or that he was misinformed on the capabilities of the system.

He first called last Friday, and it all sounded good, except that I didn't know they had expanded/upgraded that quickly (they hadn't). I told him I'd talk to some people I work with who have U-verse and if he'd call back Monday, I'd have an answer for him.

I -specifically- asked "how many HD channels can I simultaneously record?". I asked that on Friday and again on Monday. I had already told him that I have 3 HD-DVR's with DirecTV and can record 6 HD streams at once. He just parroted that back to me to make a sale (my opinion).

Regardless of motives, what really upset me was him telling me I didn't know what I was talking about when I asked how they could get that much HD to my house over a phone line, along with DSL? He even said they used "the same lines as DirecTV"! I assume he meant the coax inside the house, but by that point the conversation was over.

On 2nd thought, maybe DirecTV comes in over the phone line and the dishes are just a cool fashion statement. You know, like those giant wings superglued to Kias! Is that the secret he was giving away? :rolleyes:

ctsooner

10-02-09, 09:25 PM

I am curious to know if anyone has any experience with uverse in the Danbury/Ridgefield Area. I got the mailer from them that is was now available and went to check out the line up especially HD. The number of HD stations available is significantly more than Comcast in my area - while the Comcast service is good it seems that our area (Danbury) is the last to get HD adds, or upgardes.

My question is expectations and what to ask if I call. Currently we have 3 large (42 -to 52") HD TVs, 3 small (19" LCDS) HDs that are all QAM ready. I assume from reading the Uverse site, that like Sat, I will need STBs for all the TVs (currently the small ones don't have them). It is not uncommon to have 3 different HD shows going on the TVs, will I be able to do this? Also will our viewing have any impact on internet connections or voice speed.

I have read the posts about the HD quality and I guess I will have to go somewhere and see the picture to see if it is acceptable, but I am not sure that Danbury Comcast is a good reference.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

RemyM

10-03-09, 04:13 PM

Only 2 HD streams available at once with U-Verse plus 2 SD for 4 total. So 3 HD channels at once is a no go. Every TV needs a box, the first one is included, each additional one is $7. HD PQ has not gotten rave reviews.

ctsooner

10-03-09, 11:08 PM

Remy

Thanks -- Yikes how will they survive with people being able to only watch two HD streams. I guess I will just have to hold on for Comcast in Danbury to either start offering more HD or consider SAT.

bodean

10-04-09, 02:04 PM

Is there a way to keep the PIP box open, and not closing after 10-20sec? Would like to be able to watch 2 football games at once.

ltownsend

10-04-09, 07:17 PM

Any one done a comparison between Uverse and Dish Network?

LilGator

10-04-09, 10:59 PM

Any one done a comparison between Uverse and Dish Network?

I have had both, also Charter cable, within the last month.

U-verse can't compete based on the fact that they choke HD streams with limited bandwidth. In my case, 2 HD streams for a household is also ridiculous- compared to the 4 I have with Dish (and another 3 OTA HD).

ltownsend

10-05-09, 12:00 AM

They just installed fiber throughout my neiborhood and ATT is advertising their DVR capability to record 4 shows at the same time with the ability to watch the recorded program on any connected TV.

RemyM

10-05-09, 09:36 AM

They just installed fiber throughout my neiborhood and ATT is advertising their DVR capability to record 4 shows at the same time with the ability to watch the recorded program on any connected TV.

But only 2 of those 4 recordings can be HD.

AuroraProject

10-05-09, 01:24 PM

Is there a way to keep the PIP box open, and not closing after 10-20sec? Would like to be able to watch 2 football games at once.

Hit menu and go to sports multiview.

ltownsend

10-05-09, 05:38 PM

But only 2 of those 4 recordings can be HD.

That should work out alright for me. How does the pricing compare?

RemyM

10-05-09, 09:03 PM

That should work out alright for me. How does the pricing compare?

Go to U-Verse's web site and compare for yourself. I don't know what you're paying.
https://uverse1.att.com/un/launchAMSS.do

HondaF1Fanatic

10-06-09, 05:52 PM

I just got an HDTV (47LH90) to go with my Uverse (but am waiting on the HDMI cables from Monoprice). Can I properly send HD channels through the coax cable I was using with my SDTV? I ask because I tried setting the display to 720p in the Uverse settings and it cut off parts of the guide/show on me.

Robert LG

10-07-09, 01:27 AM

NBuckmaster

10-07-09, 07:02 AM

bgooch

10-07-09, 12:48 PM

J.D. Power and Associates Reports: Overall Satisfaction With Television Service

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Customer satisfaction with television service providers has increased considerably from 2008 as a result of improvements in outages and problem resolution, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 U.S. Residential Television Service Satisfaction Study(SM) released today.

Overall satisfaction averages 632 on a 1,000-point scale--an increase of 23 points from 609 in 2008, which marked the lowest industry average during the past five years.

"In the wake of receding satisfaction scores in 2008, improvements in product performance and the service surrounding it this year suggest that providers are eager to better position themselves to retain and grow their customer bases," said Frank Perazzini, director of telecommunications at J.D. Power and Associates. "For instance, average time on hold required to resolve a customer's most recent problem has declined 13 percent from 2008 to 9 minutes, 5 seconds this year. Additionally, fewer customers are experiencing outages, with 11 percent reporting an outage in 2009, compared with 15 percent in 2008."

The positive impact of these changes has also driven an improvement in intention to recommend television service providers. Among customers who receive programming from satellite providers, 78 percent say they "definitely will" or "probably will" recommend their provider to others, an increase of 6 percentage points from 2008. Sixty percent of cable customers say the same--an increase of 5 percentage points from 2008.

"Despite an improvement in recommendation rates, there isn't a corresponding increase in loyalty," said Perazzini. "In fact, the percentage of cable customers affirming their loyalty to their provider has declined to 25 percent in 2009 from 27 percent in 2008. Satellite providers have experienced a similar decline with a loyalty rate of 40 percent in 2009--a four-percentage-point drop from 2008. Given the current state of the economy, customers generally want to keep their options open, even if they are satisfied with their current provider. To increase loyalty, providers should continue to enhance the service improvements offered this year, and to remain competitive from a cost and offerings perspective."

The study measures customer satisfaction with cable, satellite and Internet protocol (IPTV) television providers in four regional segments: North Central, East, West and South. In each segment, five factors are measured to determine overall customer satisfaction: performance and reliability; customer service; cost of service; billing; and offerings and promotions.

For a second consecutive year, AT&T U-verse ranks highest in the West (with an index score of 721) and South (718) regions. In the East region, Verizon FiOS ranks highest for a second consecutive year with a score of 714, while WOW! ranks highest in the North Central Region (724).

The study also finds that the number of cable customers who subscribe to additional premium channels has declined to 29 percent in 2009 from 32 percent in 2008. The number of customers who utilize video-on-demand (VOD) and pay-per-view services has also moderately declined, as 33 percent report using VOD (compared with 35 percent in 2008) and 16 percent report using pay-per-view (compared with 18 percent in 2008).

"It appears the economy has had an impact on the use of additional video services in 2009," said Perazzini. "However, while there has been some belt-tightening regarding most additional services, DVR usage has risen 22 percentage points to 40 percent this year as more households utilize this tool to shift the view time for their preferred free programming."

The 2009 U.S. Residential Television Service Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 28,118 U.S. households that evaluated their cable, satellite or IPTV provider. The study was fielded in January, March and July 2009.

Customer Satisfaction Index Ranking

East Region
(Based on a 1,000-point scale)

JDPower.com Power Circle Ratings
Provider Index Score For Consumers
-------- ----------- --------------------------------

Verizon FiOS 714 5

DIRECTV 684 4
DISH Network 669 4

iO TV (Cablevision) 649 3
Cox 644 3
East Region Major Provider
Average 635 3
Time Warner Cable 622 3

RCN 602 2
Comcast 597 2
Charter 566 2

North Central Region
(Based on a 1,000-point scale)

JDPower.com Power Circle Ratings
Provider Index Score For Consumers
-------- ----------- --------------------------------

WOW! 724 5
AT&T U-verse 715 5
Verizon FiOS 712 5

DIRECTV 674 4
Insight 672 4
Cox 652 4
DISH Network 650 4

North Central Region Major
Provider Average 625 3
Bright House Networks 618 3
Time Warner Cable 605 3

Comcast 590 2
Charter 573 2
Mediacom 555 2

South Region
(Based on a 1,000-point scale)

JDPower.com Power Circle Ratings
Provider Index Score For Consumers
-------- ----------- --------------------------------

AT&T U-verse 718 5

Verizon FiOS 702 4
DIRECTV 685 4
Bright House Networks 674 4
Insight 658 4
DISH Network 654 4

Cox 641 3
South Region Major
Provider Average 635 3
Cable One 632 3
Suddenlink 632 3
Time Warner Cable 612 3

Comcast 579 2
Charter 573 2
Mediacom 560 2

West Region
(Based on a 1,000-point scale)

JDPower.com Power Circle Ratings
Provider Index Score For Consumers
-------- ----------- --------------------------------

AT&T U-verse 718 5

Verizon FiOS 702 4
DIRECTV 685 4
Bright House Networks 674 4
Insight 658 4
DISH Network 654 4

Cox 641 3
South Region Major
Provider Average 635 3
Cable One 632 3
Suddenlink 632 3
Time Warner Cable 612 3

Comcast 579 2
Charter 573 2
Mediacom 560 2

About J.D. Power and Associates

Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services company operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, performance improvement, Web intelligence and customer satisfaction. The company's quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. For more information on car reviews and ratings, car insurance, health insurance, cell phone ratings, and more, please visit JDPower.com. J.D. Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2008 were $6.4 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.

SOURCE J.D. Power and Associates
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jd-power-and-associates-reports-overall-satisfaction-with-television-service-providers-rebounds-due-to-improvements-in-product-performance-and-customer-service-63666832.html

rodeoclown

10-07-09, 12:59 PM

You guys are bumming me out. I was all set to switch from Time Warner cable to Uverse, and finally get rid of TWC's horrific mid 80's looking program guide and interface.

But with bitrate caps as low as I have seen posted here, there is no way I am going to go there. I remember when I got my first HDTV (Sony, RPTV, GREAT unit!), I was like the 4th person in my city to get HD service according to the installer. I also remember when the only local HD content at that time was our PBS station, who at first had an incredibly high bit rate and ran demos all the time (shuttle launch, nature scenes, etc). It was truly spectacular.

Then when HD went more mainstream, they split the channel into 2 others (at least) and the bitrate dropped by half or more. Those previously beautiful demos were now full of artifacts and macroblocking on any kind of movement. But we had more channels! This IS America, so more IS better to most people's line of thinking...I shouldn't be surprised I guess.

The ol MP3 Effect strikes again...quantity over quality. Sigh...it's hard being a fidelity nerd in the 21st century.

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/magazine/17-09/ff_goodenough?currentPage=all

The second I see them double their bitrate potential I will switch.

black_macleod

10-07-09, 02:54 PM

rodeoclown

10-07-09, 03:09 PM

Interesting, older piece on bitrates per provider/format:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=962&tag=col1;post-959

Would like to see an updated article to see if anything has changed since then.

johaen8

10-07-09, 08:59 PM

Did anyone catch the Sunday night football on NBC. The picture was the best that I have seen on Uverse in a long time. I am viewing on a 110" screen so you know that I am not happy while watching uverse most of the time.

Not Sunday football, but the Monday night game. Normally I notice quite a bit of pixelation, but MNF looked really good. About the only time I saw any problems was when the ESPN logo was shooting up and down the screen.

kodaker

10-08-09, 09:40 AM

Not Sunday football, but the Monday night game. Normally I notice quite a bit of pixelation, but MNF looked really good. About the only time I saw any problems was when the ESPN logo was shooting up and down the screen.

It's been my experience that the pixelation is network dependent. At least for me the worse is CBS, next is NBC, and both ABC and ESPN are better. I have only seen it on fast action during football. It is more prominent with Uverse, but it was there to some degree before when I had Charter cable. It is even there to a less degree OTA, as I can also see it using my outside antenna.

Rammitinski

10-08-09, 04:27 PM

For a second consecutive year, AT&T U-verse ranks highest in the West (with an index score of 721) and South (718) regions.If they're talking about SD, then yeah, I can understand that.

I imagine a high percent of the demographics in the West and Southwest doesn't even care about HD. Since most provider subscriptions are for SD packages, I can see why AT&T might lead in places.

jpjibberjabber

10-12-09, 12:02 AM

If they're talking about SD, then yeah, I can understand that.

I imagine a high percent of the demographics in the West and Southwest doesn't even care about HD. Since most provider subscriptions are for SD packages, I can see why AT&T might lead in places.

Well, here's my perspective coming from Charter as broadband provider and DirecTV for television.

HD is not much different that what I'm used to from D*. Now, many here will chuckle that the bar wasn't that high to begin with, but my contention is that if we're talking about a 1-2% difference in perceived quality, I'll take the increase in programming, DVR sharing, and Mediashare over sweating small resolution differences. I've learned over the years to watch the content instead of the image. Display is a calibrated 46" Bravia.

Broadband is the same, no real comments here.

I'm about 600' from my box, and operate at about 45%. So, my signal integrity is very good. I see almost no - as in none- pixelization. At least, not worse that previously experienced.

Point is, most people are concerned with price, functionality, and everyday reliability over a very small difference in PQ, even if we operate under the assumption that all users are "suffering" with reduced quality vs what they had, which one has to assume is not a universal truth.

JChin

10-21-09, 06:14 PM

Ken H

10-21-09, 09:42 PM

Can a HDMI splitter (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10113&cs_id=1011303&p_id=2522&seq=1&format=1#largeimage) work connected to the STB? Trying to split to two different HDTV using HDMI.

It should, but HDMI can have 'handshake' issues. You'll only know for sure by trying it.

I would suggest using component video instead.

JChin

10-22-09, 01:39 AM

It should, but HDMI can have 'handshake' issues. You'll only know for sure by trying it.

I would suggest using component video instead.

Thank you Ken, I will give it a shot and see.

theabs

10-22-09, 03:18 PM

Well, here's my perspective coming from Charter as broadband provider and DirecTV for television.

HD is not much different that what I'm used to from D*. Now, many here will chuckle that the bar wasn't that high to begin with, but my contention is that if we're talking about a 1-2% difference in perceived quality, I'll take the increase in programming, DVR sharing, and Mediashare over sweating small resolution differences. I've learned over the years to watch the content instead of the image. Display is a calibrated 46" Bravia.

Broadband is the same, no real comments here.

I'm about 600' from my box, and operate at about 45%. So, my signal integrity is very good. I see almost no - as in none- pixelization. At least, not worse that previously experienced.

Point is, most people are concerned with price, functionality, and everyday reliability over a very small difference in PQ, even if we operate under the assumption that all users are "suffering" with reduced quality vs what they had, which one has to assume is not a universal truth.

While I partially agree, I think that people who are spending thousands of dollars on their A/V equipment want & expect "it all": top quality of signal along with price/selection, & the quest is never-ending. We are Americans, after all ;).

pumbaa071

10-22-09, 03:39 PM

Posty-McPost

10-22-09, 04:17 PM

I cannot read 77 pages so I will just ask. How is the pq and the actual quality of the service. We had Uverse equipment set up especially for this neighborhood, it took them it seems like forever to get it done. Well now I can get a 200 dollar rebate and leave TWC anyone made the switch from TWC in the Charlotte area to Uverse? Price would be about the same, so I guess how is pq, aq, dvr, and customer service compared to TWC.

PQ is quite good for SD but pretty bad for HD. AQ is fine. DVR is very good if it meets your needs. Only 4 streams 2HD/2SD and only 1 DVR per house though it can feed 2 other STBs.

I've had good experiences with customer service. My service was getting tons of errors and dropping for 2-10 minutes at a time. They sent someone the day after I called and refunded an entire month without any prodding.

pumbaa071

10-22-09, 04:33 PM

Any idea how it compares to TWC HD? Also I have contacted TWC no less than 8 times about having constant banding in my tv from the stb. I think its their lines around here since no matter what input I use the stb has these purple bands through the tv but no other device on any input does it.

Ken H

10-22-09, 08:28 PM

While I partially agree, I think that people who are spending thousands of dollars on their A/V equipment want & expect "it all": top quality of signal along with price/selection, & the quest is never-ending. We are Americans, after all ;).
Not to mention this is AVS.....

Ken H

10-22-09, 08:32 PM

Any idea how it compares to TWC HD?In general, U-verse is not as good for HD as other providers. Check the topic for your area, in the HDTV Local Forum to see what others think.

Also I have contacted TWC no less than 8 times about having constant banding in my tv from the stb. I think its their lines around here since no matter what input I use the stb has these purple bands through the tv but no other device on any input does it.You have a technical problem. If TWC can't fix it, anything else would probably be better.

pumbaa071

10-22-09, 11:18 PM

In general, U-verse is not as good for HD as other providers. Check the topic for your area, in the HDTV Local Forum to see what others think.

You have a technical problem. If TWC can't fix it, anything else would probably be better.

Yeah and they will not fix it, the Wii, 360,Ps3, and dvd player all do not have any display problems on any input but the box does. Also I will get days where half the channels will not tune in. They will remain black but give me the guide for the menu on them if I hit info. Its always the HD feed and the higher digital channels. They have not tried to fix it and just over all have been a let down since i left Dish.

bgooch

10-23-09, 06:57 AM

Oct 22, 2009

-By Georg Szalai

AT&T Corp.'s U-verse TV service continued to lose subscriber momentum in the third quarter when compared to earlier quarters of the year.

The telco giant's video service, which competes with cable and satellite TV providers, added 240,000 subscribers in the latest quarter, up from 232,000 in the year-ago period. But the growth was down from the 248,000 adds recorded in the second quarter and the 284,000 in the first.

U-verse now has a total user base of 1.8 million.

Including AT&T customers who get satellite TV service as part of a product bundle, AT&T ended the third quarter with 4 million total video subscribers.

The U-verse broadband service added 252,000 net new users in the three months ended Sept. 30.

"AT&T U-verse has good traction and is redefining our wired consumer experience," said CEO Randall Stephenson.

On a conference call, CFO Rick Lindner predicted overall U-Verse revenue to top $2 billion this year. AT&T's third-quarter profit declined 1.2 percent to $3.2 billion on revenue of $30.9 billion, down 1.6 percent. Verizon reports earnings and latest subscriber figures for its FiOS TV service next week.

Nielsen Business Media
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/cable-tv/e3i3b357564e8af014ef01d9f083720c40f

bgooch

10-23-09, 07:01 AM

AT&T Inc. (T)

Q3 2009 Earnings Call

October 22, 2009 10:00 am ET

Executives

Brooks McCorcle - Senior Vice President of Investor Relations

Richard G. Lindner - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Executive Vice President

Ralph De La Vega - President and Chief Executive Officer - AT&T Mobility & Consumer Market

Analysts

John Hodulik - UBS

Jason Armstrong - Goldman Sachs

Simon Flannery - Morgan Stanley

David Barden - Banc of America Merrill Lynch

Timothy Horan - Oppenheimer

Mike McCormack - J.P. Morgan

Presentation

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the AT&T third quarter earnings release 2009. (Operator Instructions) With that being said, I will turn the conference over to Brooks McCorcle, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations for AT&T. Please go ahead.

Brooks McCorcle

Thank you, John. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our third quarter conference call. It’s great to have you with us this morning. As John mentioned, this is Brooks McCorcle, head of investor relations for AT&T, and joining me on the call this morning are Rick Lindner, AT&T's Chief Financial Officer; and Ralph De La Vega, AT&T's President and CEO for Mobility & Consumer Markets.

In a minute, Rick and Ralph will cover our results. Then we will follow with questions and answers.

Before we get underway, let me remind you that our release, investor briefing, supplementary information, and the presentation slides that accompany this call are all available on the investor relations page of the AT&T website -- that’s www.att.com/investor.relations.

I also need to cover our Safe Harbor statement, which is on slide 3 and that says that information set forth in this presentation contains financial estimates and other forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially. A discussion of factors that may affect future results is contained in AT&T's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T disclaims any obligation to update or revise statements contained in this presentation based on new information or otherwise.

This presentation may contain certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations between the non-GAAP financial measures and the GAAP financial measures are also available on our website at www.att.com/investor.relations.

Before I turn the call over to Rick, let me call your attention to slide 4, which provides a consolidated financial summary. EPS for the quarter was $0.54, very much in line with results for the first half of the year, versus third quarter last year EPS includes $0.04 of pressure from incremental non-cash, pension OPEB expenses. In addition, this quarter EPS benefited by $0.03 from the resolution of tax issues, which were offset by $0.02 of pressure due to severance charges.

Consolidated revenues were stable at $30.9 billion. That’s up slightly on a sequential basis for the second straight quarter. This reflects strength in wireless, AT&T U-verse, and strategic business services offsetting economic pressures.

Our consolidated operating margin was also relatively stable, reflecting solid cost performance in both wireless and wireline, and free cash flow continues to be strong, $5.5 billion in the quarter and $13.9 billion year-to-date, both up substantially over comparable periods a year ago. This reflects solid cost efforts, lower capital expenditures, and the timing of cash tax payments.

With that quick overview, I’ll now turn the call over to AT&T's Chief Financial Officer, Rick Lindner. Rick.

Richard G. Lindner

Thanks, Brooks. Good morning, everyone. Before we get into the operational details, let me take just a brief minute to comment on the business overall and to put some perspective on the quarter.

When we talked with you in January, we outlined our expectations for the year and like everyone, we knew we faced a tough economy in a challenging business environment. So we laid out for you a clear set of objectives for 2009. The first was to be aggressive and persistent in improving our cost structure to preserve margins and to drive cash flow. And second, we committed to continued investment and expansion in the industry’s key growth areas. Number one among those is wireless data, and the explosion of capabilities that are enabled by wireless broadband. Number two is our all IP U-verse platform for a redefined consumer market built on integrated TV, broadband, and voice.

And number three, we wanted to expand and drive growth in our most advanced business capabilities, including products like virtual private networks, ethernet, hosting, IP conferencing, and application services. And I think what you have seen from us throughout 2009 and particularly in our third quarter results is that we’ve delivered against these top priorities. The highlights are on slide five.

Now Ralph is going to give you all the details in just a minute but I have to say we had just a terrific wireless quarter -- 2 million net adds, our best post-paid 3G integrated device quarter to date, strong ARPU growth, record low churn, and on top of it, margin expansion.

We had another solid U-verse quarter with continued high voice and broadband attach rates. I expect U-verse revenues this year will top $2 billion, with more growth ahead.

Strategic business service revenues were up better than 16% and more than 5% sequentially, and as Brookes noted, free cash flow continues to be strong. So from my perspective, the execution continues to be good across the business and we are delivering what we outlined to you.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/168288-at-amp-t-q3-2009-earnings-call-transcript

stewa

10-23-09, 09:18 AM

Point is, most people are concerned with price, functionality, and everyday reliability over a very small difference in PQ, even if we operate under the assumption that all users are "suffering" with reduced quality vs what they had, which one has to assume is not a universal truth.

Sadly, I think you are right (except for the "very small difference" part.:(

pumbaa071

10-23-09, 05:22 PM

Sadly, I think you are right (except for the "very small difference" part.:(

So the PQ is that much worse? That makes me almost want to go back to DISH.

Ken H

10-23-09, 05:39 PM

So the PQ is that much worse? That makes me almost want to go back to DISH.
For HD image quality, it would be better than U-verse.

pumbaa071

10-23-09, 06:41 PM

For HD image quality, it would be better than U-verse.

Well today was the last straw I am looking back into dish or uverse. I had an app. set up for a tech to look at all the constant problems I have had with TWC. I was in class until 4:45pm today, so I had the app set at 6-9pm time frame. He calls me at 4pm(I told the rep over the phone I was in class until 5) which I of course could not answer, once it hits VM he informs me that since I did not answer the app. had been canceled. I AM DONE WITH TWC!!

AuroraProject

10-24-09, 02:36 AM

AuroraProject

10-24-09, 02:38 AM

PQ is quite good for SD but pretty bad for HD. AQ is fine. DVR is very good if it meets your needs. Only 4 streams 2HD/2SD and only 1 DVR per house though it can feed 2 other STBs.

The DVR can support up to 7 additional stb's for a total of 8 boxes.

JimboG

10-24-09, 02:43 AM

The DVR can support up to 7 additional stb's for a total of 8 boxes.

Even if this is true, it does nothing to address the quality of the so-called "High Definition" content on AT&T's thin copper wire to the home video service.

AuroraProject

10-24-09, 02:59 AM

Even if this is true, it does nothing to address the quality of the so-called "High Definition" content on AT&T's thin copper wire to the home video service.

Gauge of wire has nothing to do with it. The majority of U-Verse customers can't see a difference in the HD quality, or are first time HD users. Since at&t is a for-profit business the almighty dollar fuels the product. The customer base is still growing and will continue, and new features will be added along the way. Increased HD pq wont be one of them.

JChin

10-24-09, 03:03 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Posty-McPost
PQ is quite good for SD but pretty bad for HD. AQ is fine. DVR is very good if it meets your needs. Only 4 streams 2HD/2SD and only 1 DVR per house though it can feed 2 other STBs.

Is there a reason why I get only 1 HD stream and not 2 HD?

Rammitinski

10-24-09, 04:04 AM

The majority of U-Verse customers can't see a difference in the HD quality, or are first time HD users.Do the majority of U-Verse customers even subscribe to HD?

Posty-McPost

10-24-09, 05:04 AM

The DVR can support up to 7 additional stb's for a total of 8 boxes.

Thanks for fixing my misinformation. I guess the real question is how many people's HD viewing habits could be sustained on one of those relatively small DVRs. It's not 8.

Posty-McPost

10-24-09, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Is there a reason why I get only 1 HD stream and not 2 HD?

There is a 1HD/3SD limit for people "too far" from the box. This could be anywhere north of 2500' and maybe less but possibly more. There doesn't seem to be a constant line but it sucks to be on the wrong side of it.

AuroraProject

10-24-09, 02:07 PM

Do the majority of U-Verse customers even subscribe to HD?

I don't have hard numbers, but in Northern California it's roughly a 50/50 split.

JChin

10-24-09, 10:12 PM

There is a 1HD/3SD limit for people "too far" from the box. This could be anywhere north of 2500' and maybe less but possibly more. There doesn't seem to be a constant line but it sucks to be on the wrong side of it.

Thank you Posty, is there a way to check to see how far I'm away from the box?

cwh

10-25-09, 12:04 AM

Odd, we all got an email yesterday saying we had 2 million active U-Verse customers.

The 1.8m number is what they had at the end of the 3rd qtr as opposed to yesterday.

hayalex6

10-25-09, 01:21 PM

Great, U-Connect and the guide says I'm supposed to be getting the Vikings and Steelers game, but they're showing the Texans and 49ers.

Ken H

10-25-09, 01:42 PM

Gauge of wire has nothing to do with it. The majority of U-Verse customers can't see a difference in the HD quality, or are first time HD users. Since at&t is a for-profit business the almighty dollar fuels the product. The customer base is still growing and will continue, and new features will be added along the way. Increased HD pq wont be one of them.

Very well put.

cwh

10-25-09, 10:26 PM

Very well put.

I would say it is going to be more accurate to say increased bit rate wont be a feature. I would say picture quality has improved since they rolled out HD, even with declining bit rates.

I will agree that they see lower bit rate as more important than overall quality.

Ken H

10-25-09, 10:38 PM

I would say it is going to be more accurate to say increased bit rate wont be a feature. I would say picture quality has improved since they rolled out HD, even with declining bit rates.

I will agree that they see lower bit rate as more important than overall quality.
Regardless of how much it's improved since introduction, U-Verse HD image quality is still generally considered less than most other options, and will not get a lot better unless it gets more bits.

supraru

10-30-09, 06:40 PM

Regardless of how much it's improved since introduction, U-Verse HD image quality is still generally considered less than most other options, and will not get a lot better unless it gets more bits.

hey guys. been reading through the last two pages of this, and from what i can see, most people are quoting that the U-verse HD bitrate is lackluster in comparison to other options. Unfortunately I havent really seen any concrete facts regarding this though, and I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction. I saw a link to a comparison back in early '08, which didnt list U-verse anyway. So, for you who have said the PQ is not as good as other options, where is this info coming from?

Im asking because Im moving soon and from the outside looking in, the U-verse/internet package is very appealing coming from comcast cable. I pretty much only watch HD programming, and I am pretty serious into A/V performance. I dont want to make the wrong choice, so I was hoping to get a better idea of how poor the HD PQ is in comparison to other options, satellite, cable etc. Anybody have any comparison results/articles/reviews?

thanks!

supraru

10-30-09, 06:57 PM

well, after searching in my local (Detroit, MI) forums, havent gotten much more clear facts about it. I did learn that its not straightforward to compare PQ from cable to U-verse. Maybe I should just try it to see...i think they have a 30-day return policy. I was mainly attracted for the price, and available HD channels, and the DVR features. Dont know if its worth a severe drop in PQ.

AuroraProject

10-30-09, 11:28 PM

I am pretty serious into A/V performance. I dont want to make the wrong choice

thanks!

Honestly, U-Verse is great for the average consumer, lots of channels and features. However, for the serious a/v enthusiast I wouldn't recommend it based on hd quality. Yes they do offer a 30 day satisfaction guarantee, so by all means you can try it an see what you think.
If awesome looking hd is your priority, you may want to look elsewhere.

supraru

10-31-09, 12:05 AM

Honestly, U-Verse is great for the average consumer, lots of channels and features. However, for the serious a/v enthusiast I wouldn't recommend it based on hd quality. Yes they do offer a 30 day satisfaction guarantee, so by all means you can try it an see what you think.
If awesome looking hd is your priority, you may want to look elsewhere.

thanks for the input. i have a feeling you are correct. the more i researched the equipment, i already have a problem withe their "gateway" box they supply. i mean, the thing is a "one stop box" (which typically just means it does everything, in a mediocre manner), but

a) is only a wireless G router
b) does not have gigabit ethernet
c) doesnt even have an external antenna

thats pretty much strike three on the internet side of things. if they say that i have to use their sub-standard equipment, ill certainly have to pass. i didnt buy good stuff to waste it. im assuming the HD TV will be the same story. although i am willing to take a chance for the programming choices, but not if i cant work with better devices.

do you suggest direct TV? i want to switch from comcast due to it being very expensive (relative to comparable service from other providers), and serious lack of HD programming. they (comcast) have announced a LOT of channel additions back in May(ish) that about 10% have come to fruition. how long am i supposed to wait?

maybe a direct tv/comcast internet deal is in my future. wont save me any money though.

AuroraProject

10-31-09, 01:29 AM

You can run your own router with U-Verse, it just plugs into the RG, so if you want N it's possible. No getting around the 10/100 though. The RG has 3 internal antennas, and it does a pretty good job of covering large spaces.

I'm currently tv-less, so I can't comment on Directv. I have had Comcast HD in the past, but I lived in a "weak signal" area (or so they said) and it was constantly pixelating and generally looked very poor.

pumbaa071

10-31-09, 02:48 AM

Well I can say that TWC HD is horrific in my house. The artifacts and the purple banding is so awful. I cannot see that U-Verse would be any worse.

limiter

10-31-09, 07:33 PM

supraru

10-31-09, 08:02 PM

My priority was "not comcast". AT&T Uverse does that really really well.

Picture quality on Uverse isn't fantastic but it is also not horrible IMO. Actually being able to tune channels reliably is a big plus. Internet that doesn't crap out once a week is also nice.

thanks for the comments guys. limiter im actually in the SE michigan area. Howell to be exact. i get the internet crapout at least once a week w/ comcast, and i know what you are talking about with the channel tuning reliability.

i believe i read that the install can use existing coax cable already run at your house. is this true? are there any disadvantages to this? i am renting a new place, and i was trying to avoid having something installed that would affect the place, that cant be reversed. Im already going to have to run a bunch of speaker cable etc. in-wall.

limiter

11-01-09, 08:08 AM

thanks for the comments guys. limiter im actually in the SE michigan area. Howell to be exact. i get the internet crapout at least once a week w/ comcast, and i know what you are talking about with the channel tuning reliability.

i believe i read that the install can use existing coax cable already run at your house. is this true? are there any disadvantages to this? i am renting a new place, and i was trying to avoid having something installed that would affect the place, that cant be reversed. Im already going to have to run a bunch of speaker cable etc. in-wall.

They can use Coax, but my installer told me they are trying to avoid using coax in apartments because they have cable techs disconnecting the service more often than they would like (Uverse connect multiple rooms by connecting the outside cable lines together, then cable techs come out and disconnect any lines that are not receiving service from the cable co. because they're not used to having another service using the lines, or because the two connected cables looks wrong).

My Uverse installer said they can connect multiple boxes over existing phone lines in your house or apartment, or if they have to they will run Cat5 but I think they try to avoid that. I already had cat5 in my apartment so the twisted pair comes into my apartment to the 2wire Residential Gateway (RG) and both Uverse boxes (DVR and non-DVR) are connected to that over Cat5 (ethernet).

NetworkTV

11-01-09, 08:35 AM

Thank you Posty, is there a way to check to see how far I'm away from the box?
The problem is knowing "which box" you're connected to. It may not be the closest one. You could have a box right in front of your house, but that one may not serve your node. Yours may be a block away - or 20 feet away, depending on how things are mapped out.

supraru

11-02-09, 01:03 AM

They can use Coax, but my installer told me they are trying to avoid using coax in apartments because they have cable techs disconnecting the service more often than they would like (Uverse connect multiple rooms by connecting the outside cable lines together, then cable techs come out and disconnect any lines that are not receiving service from the cable co. because they're not used to having another service using the lines, or because the two connected cables looks wrong).

My Uverse installer said they can connect multiple boxes over existing phone lines in your house or apartment, or if they have to they will run Cat5 but I think they try to avoid that. I already had cat5 in my apartment so the twisted pair comes into my apartment to the 2wire Residential Gateway (RG) and both Uverse boxes (DVR and non-DVR) are connected to that over Cat5 (ethernet).

thanks for the info. kinda funny about the cable guys

HDOrlando

11-02-09, 11:03 PM

Westly-C

11-02-09, 11:47 PM

My Dad is considering getting him and my Mom U-Verse TV.

I've looked in their channel lineup and did not see Boomerang but have heard they had it.

Can you guys let me know if Boomerang is available on U-Verse so I can watch it when I visit them?
The flyer I got in the mail last week has Boomerang listed in their U-Family package and included with additional packages if one subscribes to larger extended channel groupings.

HDOrlando

11-03-09, 12:16 AM

Thanks Westly!

I am simply looking at what they'd lose if they switch.

Has there been any word on when they will add more HD channels like MLB Network, NBA TV, AMC, Cartoon Network, etc.?

supraru

11-03-09, 12:24 AM

Has there been any word on when they will add more HD channels like MLB Network, NBA TV, AMC, Cartoon Network, etc.?

i spoke to someone today about MLB network. As expected, all they really could say is that it is a serious consideration do to the number of people like me requesting it, and that they are currently in talks with them. Who knows if that is the b.s. response that i would have gotten no matter what channel I asked about, but figured Id comment. Not sure about the others. A quick check online shows the channel line up is down for some reason, lets hope its because its being updated with more HD!

Ill be getting the install a week from today. Ill be sure to comment next week in regards to my comparison to Comcast HD service in the SE Michigan area.

davisdog

11-03-09, 01:16 AM

My Dad is considering getting him and my Mom U-Verse TV.

I've looked in their channel lineup and did not see Boomerang but have heard they had it.

Can you guys let me know if Boomerang is available on U-Verse so I can watch it when I visit them?

It's on channel 327 and available in either the Uverse "Family" package or the Uverse "200" package or higher

That means its just not in the lowest package, which is Uverse "100"..I believe most people get U200 or higher (there's only a few bucks difference between U100 and U200...lots more channels in U200.

You can get the full channel lineups on the uverse website.

Rammitinski

11-03-09, 03:06 AM

The U100 price is $15.00 less, but you get the DVR included with U200.

If you add the DVR to the U100, it comes out to the exact, same price as the U200 package.

So if you wanted the DVR, which would you choose? ;)

supraru

11-03-09, 04:05 PM

yeah the channel line up still seems to be down

" The AT&T U-verse Channel Lineup is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later. "

Rammitinski

11-03-09, 06:16 PM

Everytime I've checked it in the last couple of months, it's been "down".

Same with Comcast. Appears they're using the same tactics of getting you to actually sign in and go to certain lengths first before you can see what they got. They don't want to make it easy for people to fly-by check, without actually having to contact one of their sales representatives first.

Don't you get the booklets of theirs in your mail? (I do.) They will tell you all the non-local channels in each package, at least.

supraru

11-03-09, 07:00 PM

no, i dont have a booklet. its not even installed yet. I've checked the site all this week, until yesterday, and it was working fine. Not sure whats up with it now.

Rammitinski

11-03-09, 07:09 PM

Maybe it's the browser I'm using or something.

The booklet is just an advertisement that they send out about every couple of months.

supraru

11-03-09, 07:27 PM

ah... i figured it out. you have to either log in (which i dont even have an account yet), or click on "search by street address." once you do that, it comes up.

JChin

11-03-09, 07:59 PM

On the STB VIP1216, is there a menu to change output signal? Like if I want to change from component connection to HDMI connection? Or is it like plug and play?

Posty-McPost

11-03-09, 09:14 PM

On the STB VIP1216, is there a menu to change output signal? Like if I want to change from component connection to HDMI connection? Or is it like plug and play?

Plug and play. Both are active at all times.

JChin

11-03-09, 11:35 PM

Plug and play. Both are active at all times.

Thanks Posty.

RCA don

11-04-09, 03:04 PM

Ken H

11-04-09, 03:43 PM

Now for my quandry: there's a sea of negative reports in this and other forums about horribly glitchy DVR performance, picture freeze, "soft" HD pictures compared to cable and satellite and more from U-verse customers.U-verse is generally considered less in HD image quality than most other options. Read some of the recent comments in this topic.

RFP2009

11-04-09, 03:43 PM

Hope I'm posting this in the correct forum. I have a u-verse installation ceheduled for early December, replacing my Comcast cable. The reason is price only. For signal quality and DVR performance, I give my Comcast service and A-. The price, however, is about to jump $30/month.

Enter U-verse with a much lower monthly rate and a $200 rebate offer which I went for. Now for my quandry: there's a sea of negative reports in this and other forums about horribly glitchy DVR performance, picture freeze, "soft" HD pictures compared to cable and satellite and more from U-verse customers.

Can any of you current or recent U-verse customers confirm that the above problems are a thing of the past with U-verse? Or do the problems persist?
Based on your observations, I'll either carry through with the installation or cancel it and negotiate like crazy with Comcast.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.
I had U-Verse 2 years ago and had a lot of problems. Picture would freeze at the most inopportune time. By the time rebooting was done whatever you were watching was over. Couldn't hook up VCR's to it. There was no program guide for my ReplayTV. Recently Time Warner announced price increases unless I signed up for 2 years. I rent and didn't feel like I could commit to 2 years. I thought about U-Verse again. I researched and made phone calls. Program Guide was available for ReplayTV and was told I could hook up a VCR. I scheduled installation. The initial installation took 4 guys eight hours. I was surprised when one guy showed up. I told him I wanted everything working like it's working now. He said no VCR. After a few minutes I decided it was a go. I could live with that. He started and I had another question. Will my P-I-P work? He sad no. That was a deal breaker.

So unless you don't need a VCR or PIP and can live with rebooting go for it. I negotiated a lower price with Time Warner and as much as I hate them they are the lesser of all the other evils

supraru

11-04-09, 04:07 PM

so are you saying that, more recent than 2 years ago, you still have to reboot often? VCR is not a problem, and is the PIP you are referring to TV based or service based? meaning, were you expecting to still have both TV tuners work with PIP on your TV, or is it the uverse PIP-style that was not going to function?

i wish i could renegotiate with comcast here in SE Michigan. I tried, told them why i was leaving, and that i would listen to any offers they had. Both people i spoke with just referred to the 6month discount offer available to anyone who knows how to use the internet. When asked if i was leaving Comcast because it was not offered in the area I was moving to, I straight up told them "No, its offered just like anywhere else, but frankly your HD service is far too overpriced and not nearly as comprehensive as the competitions, which also happens to be at a more competitive price."

there was literally no response for a good 10 seconds, with both people I spoke to. Its like they were both searching a database of rebuttals but couldn't find any for the comments I made. kinda weird. oh well, comcast rant over.

oh and in reference to peoples comments about the quality of HD, id really like to see (as suggested in my first post in this thread) some actual quantification of these claims. Everything seems to be opinion based, which is like asking people online for speaker comparisons . I dont doubt people are correct in these assumptions, but Im wondering where this actual claim was spawned from? What is the real reason for this? and is it closer than people make it out to be? comcast now runs a U-verse HD bashing commercial, which immediately makes me think that its BS

I tried to ask a "technical associate" at att's u-verse line, what the bitrate of their HD was, and he wasnt familiar with the word. This was after i asked twice and both times he attempted to tell me the price of the HD service (thinking that the word "bitrate" was a slang word for "rate"). Thats not too encouraging for someone who was interested in having their service installed....

Ken H

11-04-09, 04:25 PM

.........but Im wondering where this actual claim was spawned from?Direct A/B comparisons from end users who've had more than one service at the same time, or one shortly after the other. At best, there have been a very few comments where it was said it looks no worse than other services.

Some of the more pertinent comments come from long time AVS members who have high end HT systems, and who's track record in this area is very consistent, and others from AT&T employees who have daily hands on experience with the product.

supraru

11-04-09, 04:30 PM

oh awesome! so some people had both services and did a comparison? thats basically exactly what i am looking for. do you know where i could find this? or if it was on this forum, maybe what username and or approximate month or even season to search for?

or even the ATT employees that I can send an inquiry to through this forum?

Ken H

11-04-09, 04:33 PM

I tried to ask a "technical associate" at att's u-verse line, what the bitrate of their HD was, and he wasnt familiar with the word. This was after i asked twice and both times he attempted to tell me the price of the HD service (thinking that the word "bitrate" was a slang word for "rate").

None of the HD providers are going to provide you with that kind of info. If you do some searching here, you'll find some pretty accurate technical info comparing U-Verse to other providers, which completely supports the visual perception of end users.

Maybe someone else remembers the details, and will chime in.

Ken H

11-04-09, 04:33 PM

supraru

11-04-09, 07:01 PM

yeah unfortunately I dont have the luxury of hours of internet research. but i get the point you are making.

looks like from the time i have spent reading pages upon pages of posts, what it boils down to is, get it installed, like it or dont like it, and act accordingly.

ive made some notes to address during the install, and also calibration steps for a u-Verse specific input. And essentially its a case-by case comparison, my comcast HD PQ seems to be below average from what i have read, and it looks like this may be on par with the BEST u-verse PQ. so maybe it wont be a big deal.

Ken-H, if you dont mind me asking, what town in metro detroit do you live? I live in Howell. I cant get FIOS, so im just going to have to try this U-Verse and judge for myself. Im wondering what your Comcast HD experience is like? Do you know if they are ever going to add all of the channels they are claiming they will (in our area)?

RCA don

11-04-09, 07:04 PM

I'll continue to monitor this thread for a few days but,as a reaction to these initial and welcome responses about the quality of U-verse HD pictures and DVR functioning, I'm prone to saving myself a lot of aggravation and AT&T some installation costs by cancelling my order. Unlike Supraru, I've had reasonable success in getting Comcast's customer rentention group here in SE michigan to come through with discounts on my monthly cable costs, 33% off their regular rate for the past twelve months. If I can't get a repeat performance from them in December, I just might try to get by with OTA and my DVD recorder as a time shift machine for a month or two while I research Dish Network and Direct TV as options. Just doesn't appear that U-verse is an acceptable alternative from any vantage point.

Is there anyone out there who's experienced good-to-great HD picture quality and failure-free DVR performance over a sustained period from U-verse?

supraru

11-04-09, 07:17 PM

yeah im still kinda on the fence, but i figure it may be worth the aggravation to rule out U-Verse as a good option. I got through many, many aggravating proceedings in the name of R&D.

not to keep going on about comcast, but i had a ton of issues with their internet service as well. plus, the overall HD programming availability is substantially less that what U-Verse is claiming. Right now, the juice is worth the squeeze for a potential better alternative.

I will certainly have to go back to comcast at my new place if the u-verse quality is unbearable. Honestly i dont watch a ton of tv, and when i do Im often working or just on the internet at the same time, so maybe my expectations arent very high for TV HD viewing. with that said, I dont think ive ever actually sat down and watched any program in SD, since comcast finally picked up SpeedHD for my F1 viewing pleasure.

Im more of a serious movie viewer, and expect absolutely no compromises when viewing movies. Until HD TV programming reaches blu-ray potential (joke) i will expect compromises.

RCA don

11-04-09, 07:23 PM

supraru

11-04-09, 07:37 PM

thats good advice, ill have to keep that in mind. would the number you got be any different than the one I would find since I am also located in SE michigan? or is it a city by city type of grouping?

thanks for the help, do you know anything about Comcast expanding their lineup?

supraru

11-04-09, 07:39 PM

And FWIW, i intend on giving a first impression review next week after i get everything installed, operating and calibrated etc. Although it may not be fair due to the service being in a different location (5.4 miles from my comcast service location)

RCA don

11-04-09, 08:30 PM

I'm in Dearborn Heights, Michigan so I don't know if the number I have would apply to you or not. If it sounds like it might, PM me and I'll put the number in a reply. I'm not aware of any major additions to the Comcast lineup but it seems as though they add an HD free movie channel or whatever about every forty-five days to so. Incidentally, I'm on the threshold of cancelling my U-verse order and getting a price from AT&T for Dish Network just in case my Comcast dickering doesn't work this time(I already have a pair of Dish dishes on my roof courtesy of the previous homeowner.). I've heard and read mostly good things about Dish HD quality and the reliability and performance of their DVR(722?). Any confirming or countering opinions about Dish?

Rammitinski

11-05-09, 04:04 AM

He said no VCR.Why not, exactly?

NBuckmaster

11-05-09, 07:44 AM

Can any of you current or recent U-verse customers confirm that the above problems are a thing of the past with U-verse? Or do the problems persist?
Based on your observations, I'll either carry through with the installation or cancel it and negotiate like crazy with Comcast.

I switched from Charter in St. Louis to U-Verse at the beginning of September. So far I'm very happy with the system.

My System:
5 TV boxes
3 HDTVs, 2 SDTVs
Windows Home Server
2 HTPCs
3 other PCs
3 Netcams
450 package
Phone
18M internet

My comments:

SDPQ - Much better than Charter

HDPQ - As least as good as charter - I see pixelation at times, but I had the same on Charter. I believe I have it less on U-verse on the main HDTV, and much less on the 2nd HDTV

Menus - Now that I am used to them, I like them better than the Moxi menus on Charter (which I thought were pretty good at the time)

The ability to watch recorded shows on any TV is simply outstandng.

The ability to stream music from my home server to any TV/Stereo setup is nice.

Setting up remote access for the WHS to took a little time and research, but worked. The Residential gateway/router replaced my Linksys router and WHS couldn't configure the ports automatically - but I was able to do it manually.

All of the TV boxes are connected with Coax, and I have one network switch connected to the RG. all works fine

Internet speed is consistently around 17M down, 1.4M up.

I've had to reboot one TV box twice to get back HDMI sound to one (older) HDTV. The other TV connected by HDMI has had no problems.

Price is just about the same as Charter wanted for everything I had - 10M internet and one less TV box.

I had fairly reliable service from Charter for 10 years, but it was a pain to get anything chnaged of fixed. ATT so far has been very responsive.

The only complaint I have is with CallerID on the phones - I had to move my main phone down by the RG to get it to work, and it is still flaky sometimes. ATT said they are aware of the problem, are working on it, and gave me a $10 credit on my bill.

Right now, I have no desire to go back to charter or anyone else.

Ned

limiter

11-05-09, 10:15 AM

My experience with Uverse DVRs has been very good. The Uverse DVR system for me is far better than the Comcast DVR, and slightly worse than the TivoHD. I have had no problems with freezing/pausing or rebooting. The worst glitch I've had was when I deleted a show and it never actually was removed from the list of shows until I deleted it again. Channels tune surprisingly fast and multi-room viewing works as advertised. I have the Cisco 4320 DVR.

For picture quality, on my 32in TV it looks great, on my 46in TV it looks good enough. Comcast looked better when it worked, OTA looked better than Comcast. If getting the absolute best PQ is your primary concern do not get Uverse, you will be disappointed.

If you are like me and you are looking for a number of things like reliability, cost, internet that consistently works, decent TV package selection, along with PQ then maybe Uverse is worth it. Go to an ATT store and look at it yourself if you are unsure.

When I get a promotion from Comcast they tell me I have to wait a minimum of 6 months before I can get another promotion and they do not budge on that stance. Even retentions refused to offer anything except "Did you know Comcast offers the MOST HD and the BEST PICTURE QUALITY?" over and over and over until I hung up on them.

feathermerchant

11-05-09, 11:44 AM

FWIW on the comparison, I had an ATT sales guy saying they could install Uverse and leave whatever else I had so I could compare during the 30 day trial period. If I did not like Uverse, I could bail in the 30 day period.

I had to tell him twice what over the air meant. I also told him about this site.

Basically OTA is the least compressed and therefore best PQ for me. I think all my other options Dish, TWC, Direct, TWC, and Uverse are all selling channels not PQ so they necessarily have to compress the 'as broadcast' signal.

Long story short, in some Uverse markets they are allowing direct A/B comparison for the 30day trial period.

adrian ballard

11-05-09, 01:08 PM

Just FYI, I live in the grand city of Eiuless as well and have been really happy with my U-verse services. Looks great on my Pio 151.

tighr

11-05-09, 04:56 PM

Just recently moved into a house, and opted to go with U-Verse. Previously had Brighthouse Cable in my apartment, and have been using my antenna for locals the last month or so. Figured it was about time I got internet and ESPN back, though.

Price for me was the motivating factor; BHN was sticking it to me for a limited supply of HD channels. U-Verse is not only going to be $15-$20 cheaper, but I will also be getting three times as many HD channels. After hearing the quality isn't that top notch, I will have to gauge it against what I had seen with BHN, because I was not all that impressed with their quality, either. In any event, I will still have antennas for the locals, and will have no problems watching them that way.

AuroraProject

11-06-09, 01:47 PM

Not sure why the tech would say "no vcr" they work fine when hooked up correctly. I had zero issues with my dvr in the 12 months I've had it.

JChin

11-07-09, 12:39 AM

Anyone using Netflix? And how is this compare to Uverse VOD?

SD Kirk

11-10-09, 12:08 AM

supraru

11-10-09, 01:02 AM

Just got the install today, few comments:

First impressions were very good. As mentioned in a prior post, I came from Comcast in the SE MI area. My specific area seems to have had a below than average HD PQ. So I didnt have much to lose.

Install couldnt have been any better. Turns out all my phone lines were actually Cat5, so we switched to RJ45s everywhere (I dont use home phone) and wired the RG into my home phone/cable hub. I then used my own router behind it. The installer was actually a really good guy who was pretty geeked on my HT setup, was generally interested in HT, and worked with me to accomplish everything I intended to do with this service (integrating within the HT). So all TVs were run via Cat5. Very simple to exclude all coax. He even ran considerable lengths of extra Cat5 cable to accommodate my server into my laundry room, my A/V rack in living room etc. He also worked with me to conceal all the extra wiring, running it out of site/under carpet/tucked along wall and changing all wallplates. We made sure everything was working properly, did some speed tests and I was completely satisfied with the results. So if i were to give a grade
it would certainly be a A/A+. Only other installs ive had were comcast, which is obviously a much different process, so cant compare.

Now, the PQ. Let me start by saying from the research I have done, I was going into this EXTREMELY critical. I could write a very long review on my first impressions but Ill get to the point: relative to my location, and my previous service, its very good. B+. With that said, I noticed certain programs with a lot of artifacts during scenes of quick movement. Standard scenes with no/average/slightly above average amounts of movement were identical to what I have seen w/ my previous comcast service. So yes, I can give examples of some pixelation for very short durations. BUT, unlike I expected, this is NOT TRUE across the board for all channels (in my case). While my installer was there, I was quickly going through the channel line up to point out HD problems. Took me a little bit to even find any (daytime programming may not be conducive to scenes of high action). I happen to find World Rally Championship on HDTheater. flipped it on, and its was absolutely UNWATCHABLE. Considerably worse than a YouTube video. Seriously. I instantly started bitching (half joking), and the installer was responded: "that is truly a horrible broadcast, make sure its just that channel." I did, and of course, it was. WRC ended, and some show about West Coast Customs came on, and the program went straight to being good PQ. Another example to illustrate my point that the HD PQ is not consistent across all channels, is that when I went to HBOHD, the Dark Knight was on, a film I am VERY familiar with on bluray, a favorite of mine. I can honestly say that the PQ was at the very least on par with my comcast. I am leaning towards saying that it was actually better. Scenes like the tractor trailer action scene were well detailed and I noticed NO pixelation! I have no idea why.

All accounts of the U-Verse service having a dark look to them are completely true in my case. Black detail is lost in "out of box" hook-up. I didnt even re-calibrate my monitor yet, for the room, let alone this service. But theres no way this is just the room cal that Im seeing. Ill update once I get everything together.

SD channels, are better than I experienced w/ comcast. Dont really care though because the HD channel line-up is why chose U-Verse in the first place. SD in the bedroom is great quality.

The HD channel availability is excellent, again, coming from comcast where they had less than half the channels.

The DVR is bigger, the GUI is much more pleasant, and logically ordered, and less cluttered. Just a better design overall in my opinion. Obviously the "whole home DVR" feature is great.

internet speed is very consistent so far, which doesn't mean much. Only had it up for 7 hours. Ill update if problems, but so far, from speedtest.net. my speeds are much faster (for supposedly identical 6m service). Which proves that comcast was really screwing me. My internet with them was approaching unacceptable. So this U-verse stuff is probably just standard.

So far not a single audio dropout via HDMI. again, ill have to wait to see if this is consistent.

Bottom line: as I expected, its just relative to your location and previous service quality. For me, I am going to live with the occasional decrease in PQ v. comcast PQ, the benefits FAR outnumber it at the moment. Like I said, it really seems that some channels are better. Some channels are worse. All SD is better. Internet is better. Channel selection is over double. Service is over $50 cheaper per month. User interaction and networking is far superior.

As a final note, I should mention again, that my comparison is at a new location, 5.4 miles from the location where I had comcast service. Not exactly a controlled experiment but because it is so close I feel it is a justifiable comparison for this town.

Ill chime in after 2 weeks and see if I still feel this way about it. Im pretty good at hating things I love after I get used to them....

feathermerchant

11-10-09, 12:58 PM

RCA don

11-10-09, 02:54 PM

SD Kirk: After actually giving all of the major providers a close look for HD quality and reading the most recent posts by yourself and Supraru, I'm almost certain that I'm going ahead with my U-verse installation on Dec. 4. Almost certain. Only an agreement from Comcast, my current service, to exend my current promotional rate for an additional year would give me pause. I believe my chances are, at best, one in five of that happening.

Here's where I netted out on my HD picture comparisions, beginning with U-verse at an AT&T store and ending with a look at Dish at a Radio Shack. I'll use a ten point scale.
Directv and Dish: 9.5 to 10. OTA: 10. Comcast: 8.5 to 9. U-verse: 7 to 7.5. Damn that low bit rate. I'd actually describe the U-verse picture quality as "near-HD." But guess what? I think it's a difference I can live with, at least for an extended in-home tryout. That's a nod to all of the U-verse benefits I noted: low price, scads of channnels, instant channel switches, absolutely beautiful and functional programming menus and more, plus the $200 rebate after two monshs or so

I'm just going to enhance my OTA reception quality with an outdoor antenna, make a list of the important installation considerations from this thread and wait for the U-verse tech to arrive. Unless, Comcast is in a generous, giving holiday mode when I call. Ho, ho, ho.
Thanks again for the input and recommendations, guys. I'll also post my impressions when(and if) my U-verse is up and running.

Ken H

11-10-09, 04:31 PM

Readers should remember this is primarily an HD forum, so it should be expected that HD image quality would be what most members are going to focus on.

Of course, many other considerations are valid.

RCA don

11-10-09, 05:37 PM

Read you loud and clear, Ken. I'l be sticking primarily to HD picture quality as it relates to U-verse from this point on.

supraru

11-10-09, 05:48 PM

supraru - Do you have access to OTA to compare your PQ? I'm curious.
Also I have seen OTA pixellation on football. It was a game carried by one of our locals thru NFL Network. It's the only pixellation I have seen and really showed up when the action on the screen got lively. Maybe that's what you're seeing.

unfortunately I do not. im entertaining the idea though, honestly dont know much about the appropriate steps to take. I don't watch a lot of local channels, with the exception of Tigers games and Lost. Im just going to assume that OTA is far superior to my U-Verse in HD PQ. I havent had the service long enough for me to purposely watch local HD programming. Ill take note to quality when I do.

supraru

11-10-09, 06:38 PM

just started watching Horton Hears a Who on HBO HD, a channel I previously said looked better than comcast when watching The Dark Kinght. Today, for HD I will give it a C+. Lack of quality is more prevalent in animated movies. Again, this is really speaking relative to action sequences. Still looks like HD 70% of movie duration. Im not ecstatic about that, but im satisfied overall so far. Still compared to SD movie, its a B/B+ (vs. my recollection of watching HHaW three weeks ago on comcast being a B+/A). Like I mentioned before, Im not much of a TV watcher overall, so I can see if people specifically rely on HDTV for movies etc, then you would be unsatisfied with this. I dont. When I actually want to see a movie, I watch bluray.

Ill try to watch some football this weekend and update with sports programming quality.

Ken H

11-10-09, 10:23 PM

Read you loud and clear, Ken. I'l be sticking primarily to HD picture quality as it relates to U-verse from this point on.
?

I wasn't trying to send a read between the lines message, I'm way too direct for that.

It's natural for the other services and pricing options to be discussed here. If we saw a shift to extended discussion of Internet or phone service, I'd step in with a reminder. At this time, it is not the case.

feathermerchant

11-12-09, 01:36 PM

RCA don - Please let us know what you think about OTA vs UVerse when you get there.

jjfeo

11-12-09, 02:51 PM

Hi everyone. I currently have D* and I have an installation scheduled for Tuesday for U-Verse. I am a bit concerned about all the negative posts about the HD PQ. I have a Samsung 50" Plasma 720p TV. Will I notice a problem with PQ with a 720p HDTV? I haven't seen any issues with my D* PQ.

However, I wanted to see if someone could clear something up for me. My main reason for wanting to leave D* was because of losing Versus (I am a hockey fan, mainly the Red Wings). I found out that the UVerse sports package will allow me (living in Northern Indiana) to watch all sports on Fox Sports Detroit (along with all the other FS channels). Is that correct? This was a big reason that I went through with the installation.

Basically, with D*, (I have the sports package as well) the game is blacked out, unless you purchase the MLB, NHL, MLS, or NBA subscriptions.

I haven't called Dtv to cancel my subscription yet, I want to make sure there are no issues with UVerse before I cancel. I appreciate the 30-day guarantee.

RemyM

11-12-09, 04:59 PM

Basically, with D*, (I have the sports package as well) the game is blacked out, unless you purchase the MLB, NHL, MLS, or NBA subscriptions..

They'll be blacked out on Uverse too. You only get the games of teams who are in your market.

Qixotl

11-12-09, 05:21 PM

They'll be blacked out on Uverse too. You only get the games of teams who are in your market.

Yep, that is how it works. Go to the page below and enter your zip code. The teams listed there should be the teams you would see if you switched to UVerse. This seems to be directly linked to blackouts as I get two more RSNs than it lists for my location, but I get blacked out for those channel's pro sports events.

http://www.att.com/gen/sites/iptv?pid=13716

jjfeo

11-12-09, 05:41 PM

I typed in my Zip code, and it came up with:

U200 and above
CSN - Chicago
MLB: White Sox

CSN - Chicago
NBA: Bulls
MLB: Cubs
NHL: Blackhawks
WNBA: Sky

U450 and Sports Package
FSN Detroit
MLB: Tigers

FSN Midwest
NHL: Blues

FSN Ohio - Cincinnati
MLB: Reds

I was told that if I signed up for the sports package, that I wouldn't have anything blacked out on these channels. I was told this by two CSR's when I called to ask about it. I am most concerned with FSD and the Red Wings.

RCA don

11-12-09, 05:42 PM

feathermerchant and other interested parties: Sure, I'll post my impressions when U-verse is installed on 12/4 IF I have it installed that is. I can't negotiate with Comcast until December 1 when my current promotional rate expires. The rep I talked to gave me a new way(new number) to contact customer retention and was pretty optimistic about me being able to extend my current rate for another year. Another option is Directv through ATT. They have some pretty good D* promotional packages. Either Comcast(if the price is right) or Directv will give me higher HD quality than U-verse. I simply have to make up my mind about watching a lot of HD channels at slightly sub-standard quality with U-verse or going with one of the higher-quality HD alternatives. One way or another, I'll let you know shortly after December 1st. I'm just not one to "try out" anything for a week or two; then dump it the first time a picture looks too dim or grainy or a little pixellation appears. If I go the U-verse route, it's going to be for at least four-to-six months. Who knows? By that time AT&t might replace all of their copper wire with fiberoptic and up the HD bit rate by a zillion or so. Did I mention that I have a very active phantasy life?

SD Kirk

11-12-09, 10:13 PM

I was told that if I signed up for the sports package, that I wouldn't have anything blacked out on these channels. I was told this by two CSR's when I called to ask about it. I am most concerned with FSD and the Red Wings.

Sorry mods if we are drifting OT again.

As someone mentioned above you will be blacked out on out of market games. For example, a Sharks/Ducks game you would see on CSN-California would be blacked out due to contractual obligations.

Coming from D*TV I think you are getting less regional carriers and there are very few in HD. I came from TWC, so the extra regional carriers are a plus for me.

My biggest negative w/ U-verse is no NHL Center Ice package availability (in addition to no MLB and NBA). FIOS wound up getting NHL CI post roll-out, so hoping AT&T does the same.

jjfeo

11-13-09, 12:05 PM

Sorry mods if we are drifting OT again.

As someone mentioned above you will be blacked out on out of market games. For example, a Sharks/Ducks game you would see on CSN-California would be blacked out due to contractual obligations.

Thanks Kirk.

I live in Northern Indiana, and with the sports pack I get FS Detroit, but I am allowed to get the Tigers, but not the Pistons, or the Red Wings.... But I will get the Blues from FS Midwest...... That makes no sense to me. Why not just give me all of FS Detroit?? I don't know if anyone can answer that or not....

Ken H

11-13-09, 12:07 PM

Sorry mods if we are drifting OT again.
Not OT at all.

RCA don

11-13-09, 12:20 PM

Just as abruptly and enthusiastically as I ordered U-verse earlier this month...I cancelled the order today. Sitting front of the tv last night and watching a couple of Comcast network feeds and a piece of a movie on MGMHD, I asked myself: "Do I really want to watch one hour of HD at lesser quality?" My answer was no.

Called AT&T this morning and talked to a customer service rep; then a cancellation specialist, both of whom seemed amazed by my reason for cancelling. They cancelled my order with a minimum of counter-sell. The cancellation rep, at my request, gave me a quote on Directv that I found highly satisfactory: $45 per month for the first year; $66 per month for the second year of the contract(Just about what my current Comcast rate is). That's for the Choice Extra package with free HDDVR, 200+ channels and free premiums for three months.

The net net? I have an acceptable alternative to Comcast if they don't extend my promotional rate and I'll never have to settle for U-verse's lower HD quality. Too bad: it appears to be a great service otherwise.

This will be my last post to this thread unless some of you have a vested interest in the results of my Comcast negotiations in early December. Just post a "keep us posted" or "good riddance" reply and I'll respond accordingly

RemyM

11-13-09, 01:36 PM

I live in Northern Indiana, and with the sports pack I get FS Detroit, but I am allowed to get the Tigers, but not the Pistons, or the Red Wings.... But I will get the Blues from FS Midwest...... That makes no sense to me. Why not just give me all of FS Detroit?? I don't know if anyone can answer that or not....

The territories are not the same for all leagues. Baseball has by far the largest territories and many overlap. If you lived in Las Vegas you would get games from 6 different MLB teams.

jjfeo

11-14-09, 10:44 AM

The territories are not the same for all leagues. Baseball has by far the largest territories and many overlap. If you lived in Las Vegas you would get games from 6 different MLB teams.

OK. Thanks.

I guess I just don't understand how I get the St. Louis Blues on MS Midwest, and not the Red Wings on FS Detroit, or even the Bluejackets on FS Ohio. St. Louis isn't that close to us...... I can set getting the Reds and the Tigers for baseball, they are somewhat close.

I guess I am just bitter because I was told something that wasn't true.

sll0037

11-14-09, 04:19 PM

Hmm... I'm feeling pretty bad right now. I pushed my parents to get UVerse and it's been a nightmare for them.

The main problem is the TV. It freezes and the picture breaks up A LOT. It's worse than watching satellite service during a rain storm.

Anyone have any ideas as to what can be causing this?

The technician has come out twice today. The first one found a lot of "noise" in the line and sent technician number 2 out. The second technician said he found a problem with an "unbalanced" line. He went down the street for about 30 minutes, came back and said it was fixed.

5 minutes after he left, it's looking just as bad.

Ken H

11-15-09, 05:53 PM

This will be my last post to this thread unless some of you have a vested interest in the results of my Comcast negotiations in early December. Just post a "keep us posted" or "good riddance" reply and I'll respond accordinglyKeep us posted, but in the Comcast topic, for Comcast info.

Ken H

11-15-09, 05:54 PM

jjfeo

11-20-09, 02:29 PM

U-Verse was installed on Tuesday, but the PQ isn't very good on my HDTV. The SDTVs look fine. I just called tech support and they are refreshing the connection. When I get home from work they want me to cycle power on the boxes to see if the PQ gets better. If it doesn't get better, they are going to have to send out a tech to fix the problem. I'm already starting to regret switching from Dtv.

I finally had a chance to watch TV last night, and I was able to compare U-Verse to OTA, and the PQ wasn't even close to as good as OTA.

Ken H

11-20-09, 11:21 PM

jjfeo

11-21-09, 12:01 AM

DTV = Digital TV, as in over-the-air

D* = DirecTV

Thanks Ken. I'll make sure I use it that way from now on.

Ken H

11-21-09, 12:05 AM

jjfeo

11-21-09, 12:11 AM

I called ATT and they rebooted the system on their end, and I rebooted my receiver. My TV is a 720p, when I first started using UV, I set the aspect ratio to 720p. After rebooting, I switched it 1080i and it made a huge difference. I hooked up my D* receiver and I was comparing D* and UV most of the night. After switching to 1080i, D* is still a better picture (but not as much as before the switch to 1080i). So, now I need to see if the better pitcure is worth the extra $57/month..... My D* payment is due on Monday, so I'll make up my mind by then.

Would people with a 1080p set see issues with PQ? I'm guessing they would.

okron

11-21-09, 12:17 AM

I have my STB connected via HDMI to the TV and optical to my receiver but I"m not getting surround sound. Perhaps I'm just not finding a show that's broadcast in 5.1?

Also....should my STB always have a blue light on when I'm on an HD channel?

Thanks
Ron

jjfeo

11-23-09, 11:16 AM

supraru

11-23-09, 12:48 PM

I watched the Colts-Ravens game yesterday on UV, but the picture was so pixely, I couldn't watch it (even my wife complained about it and she doesn't notice that kind of thing). I switched over to D* and there were no problems with PQ.

The ATT guy was here today and removed the HDMI cable and connected the box with component cables. The picture isn't as pixely, but the overall quality of the picture isn't as good as it was through HDMI. He told me that the box is fine and the signal is fine. He said that the feed from networks is where the problem is. He asked me to give them time to get the problem fixed...... I don't know how much time I have to give them.

I can verify this is the case with me as well. I wouldn't say it was
completly unwatchable. But it was noticably bad when zoomed in on a player who was moving. The background looked like a you tube video. It's a shame too, in all other aspects the uverse is a great service. But for most people pq is the most important, and therefore loses out to other providers. I'll at least have this service until I recieve my rebates, and I'll probably switch when comcast finally gets even remotely on the same table as uverse in HD programming.

tighr

11-23-09, 01:15 PM

AuroraProject

11-24-09, 01:37 AM

I want to move my RG to another room. Before I do that, I will go to my home networking panel and swap the incoming signal to add that room, but other than that are there any issues with moving the RG around the house? The install tech seemed to indicate that a tech needed to be the one to move the boxes, but I see no reason why I'm not capable of doing this myself.

How is the rg fed? Are there boxes backfed via coax? Do you have U-Verse voip? If yes, do you have a home alarm? There's more to it than rerouting the signal to the new room, but if you're fairly tech savvy you can do it yourself. PM me with any questions regarding moving it.

jjfeo

11-25-09, 12:02 AM

Today I finally cancelled my D*. I am sticking with UV because of the cost. Although I really like the PQ from D*, they couldn't drop the price enough to keep me. It wasn't a bad deal, but in the long run, UV is cheaper.

bpeacock22

11-28-09, 08:22 PM

For those looking for the ESPN2 game tonight (either Georgia or Notre Dame), I just got off the phone with tech support. There is apparently a broadcast outage from ESPN to AT&T. He had not estimate of fixing it, so you'll just see a screen that says the game is blacked out. But I found it on channel 615, so I guess they've set up an alternate broadcast until the problem is resolved.

kmillard92

11-28-09, 10:07 PM

tighr

11-28-09, 11:37 PM

Anyone looking for the UCLA v USC game can find it in HD on ch 1691 (ALT1HD) with the feed from FSN Midwest. Thank God for these alt channels because here in the LA area its the only channel the game is on :)
I'm loving the ALT channels, way more football on Saturday than I ever got with Brighthouse!

dolmar

11-29-09, 03:47 AM

I had U-verse installed 2 weeks ago, They sales rep that came to my house lied to be about how u-verse tv worked but i really did not care as I really only wanted the internet and figured i would cancel the tv within a few days of install. By getting the TV installed at the same time att waives $200 install fee.

Now for some background I am less than 500 ft from Vrad installer said and my line is sync on the new "enhanced" 32/5 profile which i guess makes no difference as I was still only able to get a max of 2 HD and 2 SD streams and my internet was capped at 18/1.5. He said ATT plans to roll out 24/2 Internet speed and adding a 3rd HD stream but that has been in the plans for over 6 months and no word on when that would be offered to customers.

If you are recording 2 HD and 2 SD streams my internet would slow down to around 6-8 megs download and 500k upload max but if no one was using TV in my house i would get over 17 megs download and close to 1.5megs upload. So i guess for people getting one one of the cheaper internet options of 6 meg or less this will not be a big issue but anyone getting TV service will be disappointed with internet speeds as they will be no better than DSL.

The DVR menu is much better than my Vip722k except each of my Vip722k can record 2 sat HD feeds and 2 OAT HD at the same time. ATT boxes allowing you to watch anything recorded in any room is nice except i only watch and record HD TV anyways, and vip722k has 3x as much stock storage and you can add external storage to expand that even further and can record 4 HD streams at time per box. If Moto dvr had an OAT option like dish network and allowed you to record 2 OAT HD and 2 HD IPTV streams i might have keep U-Verse TV even tho it slowed down my internet to around dsl speeds and i paying almost 2x as much for it as I paid for dsl as i got Max Plus speed on U-verse which was 3x as fast my old elite plus service but having the ability to record/view a max of 2 HD streams is just unacceptable when you have 3 HD tv's in your house.

The picture quality on dish is a little better than U-Verse but OAT put both of them to shame and I normally have my dvr set to record OAT channels before Sat anyways so i can keep free a sat tuner to watch premium channels in HD etc.

Problem imo with ATT U-verse is caused by U-Verse being fiber to vrad and then using pots to your house limiting ATT bandwidth and ability to compete with cable for good all in 1 solution. Fios is Fiber to curb for most installs unless you live in a newer planed area where their is fiber to the terminal box at your location thus allowing Verizon service access to tons more bandwidth and making their service works and act like a traditional cable service.

ATT U-verse should be much cheaper than it is currently priced considering the limitation it has in service. Dish network is basically the same price on their top end package as U-Verse TV on an ongoing monthly basis without new sign up bonus. And Dish gives you promo like crazy too just like U-verse I personally have been getting $15 a month credit for over 3 year now cause i asked for it and threaten to cancel each year when my promo expires.

Sure the internet prices is on par with cables companies and DSL prices and if ATT was willing to do internet only installs for free at any speed that would be 1 thing but problem is at least in my area if you want internet only option you have to take 18 meg service and ATT charges $200 install fee. When i called to cancel the TV i was told if i wanted to keep U-Verse internet I would be required to maintain 18 meg service which i did not mind anyways as that was the service i wanted.

The second you add TV and Telephone that reduces your true bandwidth to around 6-8megs from max 18meg service and it still has that huge limitation of only being able to watch/record a maximum of 2 HD live streams in your whole household. Just image if Cable or sat told you that you could only record or watch 2 HD streams even if you were paying an extra $8 per box per TV. Or if your cable company told you could pay $60 bucks a month for 15meg internet service but if you use your tv then you are going to get capped at 6megs.

That is why I think ATT either need to do line bonding to up the bandwidth or do fiber to curb like Verizon or discount their tv to like 50% of the price of traditional cable/sat TV. As their service is not comparable in service so it should not be priced comparably either.

Harley_Dude

11-29-09, 02:32 PM

Now for some background I am less than 500 ft from Vrad installer said and my line is sync on the new "enhanced" 32/5 profile which i guess makes no difference as I was still only able to get a max of 2 HD and 2 SD streams and my internet was capped at 18/1.5. He said ATT plans to roll out 24/2 Internet speed and adding a 3rd HD stream but that has been in the plans for over 6 months and no word on when that would be offered to customers.

The Max Turbo speed tier will actually be 24x3M and available in 3 trial markets next week. Depending on how those trials go, it will be nationwide within a few months after that. The 3rd HD stream is also loosely tied to the new code implementation that allows the 24M Internet tier but has a separate time line.

Problem imo with ATT U-verse is caused by U-Verse being fiber to vrad and then using pots to your house limiting ATT bandwidth and ability to compete with cable for good all in 1 solution. Fios is Fiber to curb for most installs unless you live in a newer planed area where their is fiber to the terminal box at your location thus allowing Verizon service access to tons more bandwidth and making their service works and act like a traditional cable service.

Comparing VZ to T doesn't really matter as few, if any, customers live in an area where they can choose from both U-verse and FIOS. T is getting 50M and higher synch rates over a single twisted pair and can increase that again by 50% via pair bonding so it's not like VZ is leaving them in the dust or anything.

That is why I think ATT either need to do line bonding to up the bandwidth or do fiber to curb like Verizon or discount their tv to like 50% of the price of traditional cable/sat TV. As their service is not comparable in service so it should not be priced comparably either.

Pair bonding is a logical progression (rumors have it available before '11) and it has already been announced that T is doing fiber to the curb in many new housing developments. On the pricing, you fail to mention that T is only charging you $7 per month on additional STB's, all of which can access the Whole Home DVR vs. cable that charges you $20 or more monthly for additional DVR's. How many HD programs are you recording at one time in your household? At a certain point, it doesn't matter what provider you are using in terms of recording multiple HD programs at the same time.

dolmar

11-29-09, 05:01 PM

The Max Turbo speed tier will actually be 24x3M and available in 3 trial markets next week. Depending on how those trials go, it will be nationwide within a few months after that. The 3rd HD stream is also loosely tied to the new code implementation that allows the 24M Internet tier but has a separate time line.

Well that is good to hear, I just passing on the info the installer told me two weeks ago and I assume Los Angeles must not be one of the test markets either if the installer was unaware of it nor was cancelation department.

Comparing VZ to T doesn't really matter as few, if any, customers live in an area where they can choose from both U-verse and FIOS. T is getting 50M and higher synch rates over a single twisted pair and can increase that again by 50% via pair bonding so it's not like VZ is leaving them in the dust or anything.

I was not and did not compare U-Verse to Fios i just stated U-verse has many short comings and does not compare nor can they compete with traditional cable or Fios based on their current limitation. Considering i am less than 500ft from the Vrad my connection etc are about as good as you can expect to get.

Pair bonding is a logical progression (rumors have it available before '11) and it has already been announced that T is doing fiber to the curb in many new housing developments. On the pricing, you fail to mention that T is only charging you $7 per month on additional STB's, all of which can access the Whole Home DVR vs. cable that charges you $20 or more monthly for additional DVR's. How many HD programs are you recording at one time in your household? At a certain point, it doesn't matter what provider you are using in terms of recording multiple HD programs at the same time.

I said $8 per box. Not sure where you live and what your cable companies charges but TWC in Los Angeles is $8 per month per HD box and $12 for DVR. Direct TV charge $5 per extra box per month no matter if it is DVR or not and Dish charges $7. So not sure which cable company is charging $20 per month for each DVR but that is a joke considering Sat charges much less and first DVR has an additional $5 DVR Charge only on Sat. TWC charges $19.99 for first dvr but $12 for everyone after the first as they don't charge the "DVR Recording fee" per box but per account just like Sat so if you dont pay that "DVR Recording fee" all other boxes in your household which are DVR just pay the box fee which is $12 for a DVR with TWC.

In my household we tend to record between 3 people almost all of the primetime network line up ie ABC, FOX, NBC and CBS. Sure We might be recording ABC on 2 dvrs at the same time but we have the ability to record 2 OAT and 2 SAT HD feeds at the same time.

Like i said in my review considering the current limitation U-Verse has ATT should have added an OTA module like dish/direct tv offer on their current DVR allowing you to record a total of 4 HD streams 2 being from IPTV and 2 from OAT. Which would have made the system a lot more usable plus allowing other TV in the household a chance to view some live HD Feeds always.

I noticed you did not rebut or make any comments about the fact if you are recording 4 shows at once on your DRV that your download speeds go from 17 to about 6-8 meg either and making online gaming impossible as you are lagging like crazy and pings are even worse then with plan dsl at that point. Like i said U-verse has lots of short comings and limitation. And the service is not comparable to other TV offerings which is why i fell the price should not be comparable to other competitors offerings.

That is my opinion which you may or may not agree with.

Ken H

11-29-09, 05:02 PM

T is getting 50M and higher synch rates over a single twisted pair and can increase that again by 50% via pair bonding so it's not like VZ is leaving them in the dust or anything.Not for Internet. HD image quality and number of streams is another story.

How many HD programs are you recording at one time in your household?It's not at all unusual to have two recordings and another viewing in mine, all HD.

On the pricing, you fail to mention that T is only charging you $7 per month on additional STB's, all of which can access the Whole Home DVR vs. cable that charges you $20 or more monthly for additional DVR's.?

I don't know of any cableco that charges $20 per month for an HD DVR.

At a certain point, it doesn't matter what provider you are using in terms of recording multiple HD programs at the same time.And at that point, any other pay provider has more capability than U-Verse.

jjfeo

11-30-09, 01:37 PM

dolmar

11-30-09, 03:00 PM

Hopefully I was reading this correctly, but is ATT doing anything about the PQ? Or are they worrying about internet speed?

I can deal with the internet speed going down when 2 shows are being watched/recorded in the HD. I would just hope that the PQ issue is being addressed.

I think they need more Internet speed either way cause currently they are limiting the number of HD streams based on the fact if they allowed 3 HD streams you would have super slow internet connection. So they need to increase the bandwidth to provide more than 2 HD streams which I think is ATT number 1 complaint currently. I am sure once they figure a way to get enough bandwidth out of coper wires either by pair bonding or some other method they might consider upping the picture quality but I dont think that will be any time soon unless some new codec/compression comes out which is much better than the current mpeg4 allowing them to compress signal down to same size with less picture quality loss and even then ATT might opt for more streams over picture quality.

cwh

12-01-09, 10:59 PM

The second you add TV and Telephone that reduces your true bandwidth to around 6-8megs from max 18meg service and it still has that huge limitation of only being able to watch/record a maximum of 2 HD live streams in your whole household. Just image if Cable or sat told you that you could only record or watch 2 HD streams even if you were paying an extra $8 per box per TV. Or if your cable company told you could pay $60 bucks a month for 15meg internet service but if you use your tv then you are going to get capped at 6megs.

That is not exactly accurate. Whiat you are describing is the worse case scenerio, but that does not mean it is the average case either. 2HD+2SD could drop the bandwidth down to 8-10. But remember they are also using variable bitrate, so it quite unlikely that all streams would be hitting their max bitrate at the same time. Then you would actually have to be hitting something that would even let you use max bandwidth. I recently switched from 3 to 12 and there is no difference in speed for most things. ATT also noted as that people tend to use the computer or watch tv, usually not at the same time. Phone does not take enough bandwidth to really talk about.

dolmar

12-01-09, 11:43 PM

That is not exactly accurate. Whiat you are describing is the worse case scenerio, but that does not mean it is the average case either. 2HD+2SD could drop the bandwidth down to 8-10. But remember they are also using variable bitrate, so it quite unlikely that all streams would be hitting their max bitrate at the same time. Then you would actually have to be hitting something that would even let you use max bandwidth. I recently switched from 3 to 12 and there is no difference in speed for most things. ATT also noted as that people tend to use the computer or watch tv, usually not at the same time. Phone does not take enough bandwidth to really talk about.

Well i am reporting the results I saw, Installer even called tier 2 support to confirm my line was working correctly etc and that the loss in speed was not being cause by some line issue etc. I am less than 500 ft from VRAD profiled on 32/5 "Enhanced Profile" which is about as good as you can get, Sure those last 500 ft the signal travels on coper could be reducing the speed a bit but lets be honest being less than 500 ft from Vrad is pretty dam close.

The way I tested it with the installer was we set up the dvr to record NBC and CBS in HD as they had some soap opera on in HD at the time and ABC and FOX in SD. Then we ran speednet.net test I never got a score above 8megs download and over 500k upload and my pings were 80-100ms most of the results were between mid 6 to mid 7 range download Then we canceled all the DVR recordings and ran the same speed test I was getting over 17megs downloads always and over 1.4meg upload and pings between 18-21ms always. We ran speedtest.net like 5-6x with Dvr recording and with it not recording at all. Like tier 2 recommend I tried speedtest.net while recording 4 SD streams and I was getting between 10-12 megs results but I personally only watch SD programing of channels that dont offer HD and even then I tend not to watch SD programing very much as picture like horrible to me compared to HD.

I have 3 people in my household and we tend to record tons of stuff and normally have 1-2 TV going plus 1-2 computers. Sure if you live alone and record nothing durning prime time this limitation might not be important to you but I tested it cause 2 people in my household play Xbox360 online and my GF tends to watch TV while we are playing Xbox many times. Also just so you know I also tested my COD:MW2 with the tech and while the dvr was recording 4 streams it was lagging super hard making my old DSL connection look good.

Again like I said for people who don't need or care about super fast I-Net connect and can live with 2 HD streams etc V-verse could be a viable option just think it is over priced considering it short fall and should not be price comparable to cable/sat as the service is not comparable either. For people claiming they are saving money etc cause they only need 1 DVR that is really not a savings considering Sat DVR record 4 stream and all 4 can be HD you are giving up something for having the ability to watch that content on any TV in your house and that is ability to record 8 HD streams vs 2 HD. The savings over Sat or Cable is basically the cost of the 2nd DVR which is between $1-6 depending if have Sat or Cable. For example Dish charges $8 for the 2nd HD DVR and ATT charges $7 for 2nd box so the savings is really $1 compared to Dish and more like $5-6 per box compared to cable. Sure if you have 4-5 DVR before on cable the savings could be $20-30 per month but also remember you were able to record 8-10 HD streams before vs 2HD so you are giving something up for that savings.

mfogarty5

12-01-09, 11:55 PM

I don't know of any cableco that charges $20 per month for an HD DVR.

TWC here in Charlotte charges $20 per additional HD DVR. It's $9.26 for the box and $9.95 for the DVR Service.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/Carolinas/shop/pricing.html

dolmar

12-02-09, 12:06 AM

TWC here in Charlotte charges $20 per additional HD DVR. It's $9.26 for the box and $9.95 for the DVR Service.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/Carolinas/shop/pricing.html

But do they charge the $9.95 charge per DVR or per account? TWC in Los Angeles is $9.95 per DVR and $9.95 DVR service fee but they only charge you the DVR Service 1x per account not on every box. I have a felling TWC in Charlotte does the same thing.

Both Dish and Direct TV also only charge the DVR service fee 1x per account not per box.

Ken H

12-02-09, 12:23 AM

Hopefully I was reading this correctly, but is ATT doing anything about the PQ?Nope.

cwh

12-02-09, 12:34 AM

Well i am reporting the results I saw, Installer even called tier 2 support to confirm my line was working correctly etc and that the loss in speed was not being cause by some line issue etc. I am less than 500 ft from VRAD profiled on 32/5 "Enhanced Profile" which is about as good as you can get, Sure those last 500 ft the signal travels on coper could be reducing the speed a bit but lets be honest being less than 500 ft from Vrad is pretty dam close.

The way I tested it with the installer was we set up the dvr to record NBC and CBS in HD as they had some soap opera on in HD at the time and ABC and FOX in SD. Then we ran speednet.net test I never got a score above 8megs download and over 500k upload and my pings were 80-100ms most of the results were between mid 6 to mid 7 range download Then we canceled all the DVR recordings and ran the same speed test I was getting over 17megs downloads always and over 1.4meg upload and pings between 18-21ms always. We ran speedtest.net like 5-6x with Dvr recording and with it not recording at all. Like tier 2 recommend I tried speedtest.net while recording 4 SD streams and I was getting between 10-12 megs results but I personally only watch SD programing of channels that dont offer HD and even then I tend not to watch SD programing very much as picture like horrible to me compared to HD.

I am quite surprised by that result, considering you are on the new profile as well. There should easily be 12-15 meg left over with everything going and SD should have no effect at all. So it seem to me you might have been experiencing some sort of glitch while you were doing that testing.

cwh

12-02-09, 12:36 AM

Nope.

Nothing other than updating their codecs on a regular basis. No the bitrate has not increased, but better codecs have improved the picture quality over time.

dolmar

12-02-09, 12:47 AM

I am quite surprised by that result, considering you are on the new profile as well. There should easily be 12-15 meg left over with everything going and SD should have no effect at all. So it seem to me you might have been experiencing some sort of glitch while you were doing that testing.

I dont think i was experience a glitch either. Tier 2 said they are setting new installs on the new 32/5 profile if they qualify for it at the time of install now but my line is still limited to 18/1.5. I know tier 2 switched me back and forth durning the call to see if I got better results on 25/3 or 32/5 profile and I was getting the same results with both. Tier 2 at first thought maybe I had some interference on my line which is why he tried putting me on the lower profile. He claimed the reason why the new higher profile currently makes no difference is because even tho my modem is sync at 32/5 I am profiled @ 18/1.5 in the router so the router is limiting me from getting more than 18/1.5 currently. They have not hit the switch yet to enable 24/2 speeds on the routers. Tier 2 mentioned once they do activate the new Max Turbo speed I would have more left over bandwidth while recording TV but he also stated he had no idea when the Max Turbo would be offered to customers as it been in testing for a while for ATT employee's.

limiter

12-02-09, 11:11 AM

But do they charge the $9.95 charge per DVR or per account? TWC in Los Angeles is $9.95 per DVR and $9.95 DVR service fee but they only charge you the DVR Service 1x per account not on every box. I have a felling TWC in Charlotte does the same thing.

Both Dish and Direct TV also only charge the DVR service fee 1x per account not per box.

Where I live Comcast charges $7.95 digital outlet fee plus $8.95 for each HD Box, not $20, but close enough to make Uverse's $7 fee look like a deal. I have never been able to get them to remove the DOF.

Ken H

12-02-09, 04:33 PM

Nothing other than updating their codecs on a regular basis. No the bitrate has not increased, but better codecs have improved the picture quality over time.

And to be fair, better codecs will improve video quality. Unfortunately, the improvements are the same as other providers are implementing, so comparatively U-Verse will always be less HD image quality than the alternatives, until they allocate more bandwidth for HD.

mfogarty5

12-02-09, 09:36 PM

But do they charge the $9.95 charge per DVR or per account? TWC in Los Angeles is $9.95 per DVR and $9.95 DVR service fee but they only charge you the DVR Service 1x per account not on every box. I have a felling TWC in Charlotte does the same thing.

Both Dish and Direct TV also only charge the DVR service fee 1x per account not per box.

TWC charges the $9.95 DVR fee on each box.

We have 2 HD DVRs in our house. The price of the first box(DVR or non-DVR) is included in the price of digital cable, but we are charged a $9.95 DVR service fee on the first DVR. For the second DVR we are charged $9.26 for the box and $9.95 for the DVR service. If we added a 3rd DVR, then it would be another $20 and so on.

cwh

12-02-09, 11:45 PM

Ken H

12-03-09, 12:32 AM

Are cable companies still moving to 3HD per qam instead of 2?

Moving? No. Moved? Yes.

It varies, but many cable systems use 3 per QAM while others do that and real time rate shaping, and/or resolution reduction. I've even been told some cableco's pack 4 HD channels into a QAM.....

2 HD channels per QAM is considered a pass through that if done properly does not negatively affect HD image quality. Going to 3 per QAM is the rough ATSC equivalent of 12.7Mbps per channel, compared to a full ATSC payload of 19Mbps.

Comcast for example, passes local HD and some channels like ESPN, TNT, Versus at 2/QAM, and others come from Comcast Media Center (CMC) at 3/QAM; to my knowledge, they do not additionally compress HD with resolution reduction or rate shaping. CMC is a sophisticated system that uses state of the art technology from a central point to distribute channels via satellite and fiber across the nation. It's not ideal, but it compares very favorably to most other options, except Verizon FiOS, which is the only national HD provider that does not additionally compress or otherwise reduce HD image quality when received from the source.

In my direct comparisons with cable 3/QAM channels and U-verse, 3/QAM looks noticeable better. Those who've done the math say in general U-verse uses less bandwidth than cable or DBS HD providers.

cwh

12-03-09, 12:46 AM

And to be fair, better codecs will improve video quality. Unfortunately, the improvements are the same as other providers are implementing, so comparatively U-Verse will always be less HD image quality than the alternatives, until they allocate more bandwidth for HD.

Moving? No. Moved? Yes.

It varies, but many cable systems use 3 per QAM while others do that and real time rate shaping, and/or resolution reduction. I've even been told some cableco's pack 4 HD channels into a QAM.....

2 HD channels per QAM is considered a pass through that if done properly does not negatively affect HD image quality. Going to 3 per QAM is the rough ATSC equivalent of 12.7Mbps per channel, compared to a full ATSC payload of 19Mbps.

Comcast for example, passes local HD and some channels like ESPN, TNT, Versus at 2/QAM, and others come from Comcast Media Center (CMC) at 3/QAM; to my knowledge, they do not additionally compress HD with resolution reduction or rate shaping. CMC is a sophisticated system that uses state of the art technology from a central point to distribute channels via satellite and fiber across the nation.

In my direct comparisons with cable 3/QAM channels and U-verse, 3/QAM looks noticeable better. Those who've done the math say in general U-verse uses less bandwidth than other HD providers.

But really how different is a 12 meg mpeg2 stream compared to a 6 meg mpeg4 stream?

jjfeo

12-03-09, 08:12 AM

Yesterday I moved backed to D*. What I used to notice on U-Verse as "very pixely" was now slightly noticable with D*. I am sticking with the phone/internet with U-verse, but I am very happy to be back with D* for my TV. Thanks to everyone here for their opinions and feedback.

Ken H

12-03-09, 12:26 PM

But really how different is a 12 meg mpeg2 stream compared to a 6 meg mpeg4 stream?

If done properly, they should be about the same. Unfortunately for U-verse HD viewers, they are not.

NetworkTV

12-03-09, 01:34 PM

But really how different is a 12 meg mpeg2 stream compared to a 6 meg mpeg4 stream?
I'm pretty sure that, MPEG4 or not, 6Mb/s isn't enough for anything resembling HD outside of that little window on your computer.

cwh

12-03-09, 07:18 PM

I'm pretty sure that, MPEG4 or not, 6Mb/s isn't enough for anything resembling HD outside of that little window on your computer.

mpeg4 uses 1/2 the space of mpeg2, so in theory they should be about the same.

cwh

12-03-09, 07:21 PM

If done properly, they should be about the same. Unfortunately for U-verse HD viewers, they are not.

So you now admit codecs are very important. And this is something that ATT has been without a doubt been working on and continue to work on, but yet you insist they are doing nothing about video quality. I can say that u-verse HD has improved, even with falling bitrates.

Ken H

12-03-09, 07:48 PM

So you now admit codecs are very important. And this is something that ATT has been without a doubt been working on and continue to work on, but yet you insist they are doing nothing about video quality. I can say that u-verse HD has improved, even with falling bitrates.

?

I never said codecs weren't important. As a matter of fact, yesterday in this topic I said:

And to be fair, better codecs will improve video quality.

The problem for AT&T is all providers have access to the same technology when it comes to codecs, so none of them have any advantage in that specific area.

It may well be that U-verse HD is better than it was two years ago, due to codec improvements. So, yes, they are doing something. But, the exact same codec improvements apply to all HDTV providers, and have the same incremental improved effect.

The question is, are they competitive with other HD providers on HD image quality?
The answer is no.

Until AT&T increases bandwidth for HD, U-verse HD image quality will remain at the bottom of the HD food chain.

Is U-verse HD bad HD? I don't think so, I just know for HD I would chose Dish, DirecTV, most local cable, or Verizon FiOS (of course) before U-verse. If you read what others have consistently said in this topic, this should be no surprise.

cwh

12-03-09, 10:47 PM

?

I never said codecs weren't important. As a matter of fact, yesterday in this topic I said:

The problem for AT&T is all providers have access to the same technology when it comes to codecs, so none of them have any advantage in that specific area.

It may well be that U-verse HD is better than it was two years ago, due to codec improvements. So, yes, they are doing something. But, the exact same codec improvements apply to all HDTV providers, and have the same incremental improved effect.

The question is, are they competitive with other HD providers on HD image quality?
The answer is no.

Until AT&T increases bandwidth for HD, U-verse HD image quality will remain at the bottom of the HD food chain.

Is U-verse HD bad HD? I don't think so, I just know for HD I would chose Dish, DirecTV, most local cable, or Verizon FiOS (of course) before U-verse. If you read what others have consistently said in this topic, this should be no surprise.

While u-verse would benefit from a boost in bitrate, it also benefits from codecs improvements as well. So it was quite false of you to say ATT is doing nothing about HD quality.

Mpeg4 and mpeg2 are different and mpeg4 optimization often require more computation power than what can be transcoded in real time. There is also a quality loss in transcoding, but this will become less of an issue as drop mpeg2 in favor of mpeg4. This is already happening some extent.

strindl

12-04-09, 12:30 AM

I've had Uverse since 2007 and am very satisfied with the service. My nephew just got it in a new apartment, but the installers could not set up a receiver in the bedroom because there was no way for them to get a cable in there.

I found a solution that actually does work very well. Linksys as well as other networking manufacturers make powerline ethernet networking devices. One device, about the same size and shape as a linksys router, is plugged into your existing router, or in this case your uverse gateway, with an ethernet cable, and then plugged into a wall outlet.

You then take another of the devices, in this case it was one with 4 ethernet ports, and place it where you need the ethernet connection in another part of the residence... in this case, next to the remote Uverse receiver that doesn't have a connection to the gateway. You plug an ethernet cable into one of the ports in the back of the device and the other end into the back of the uverse receiver. Plug the device into a wall outlet and the two devices in different parts of the residence talk to each other over the electrical wires in the walls.

I tried one with one of my uverse receivers...it works flawlessly. No dropouts or picture stuttering and full control of the DVR works great. It operated just as if it was connected directly with an ethernet cable.

For anyone who wants a uverse receiver in a place that is difficult to wire directly, this is a solution.

mdavej

12-04-09, 12:33 AM

Until AT&T increases bandwidth for HD, U-verse HD image quality will remain at the bottom of the HD food chain.Cable PQ seems to be pretty hit or miss across the country. In my area, HD cable is far worse than Uverse. To my eyes, DirecTV and Uverse are pretty close. Cable in my area has severe compression artifacts, macro-blocking, etc. I'm a DirecTV sub now and plan to switch to Uverse as soon as it's available. It has good HD PQ, great SD PQ, more channels, multi-room DVR and no 2-year commitment. Limited streams and less sports aren't issues in my house. Fios would be my top choice of course, but it's not an option in my area.

davisdog

12-04-09, 01:36 AM

While u-verse would benefit from a boost in bitrate, it also benefits from codecs improvements as well. So it was quite false of you to say ATT is doing nothing about HD quality.

Come on...he never said that. He's point was pretty clear that almost all providers are doing codec improvements that are improving each of their image quality. As long as they all work to improve codecs at a similar pace (which they seem to be), the one with the least bandwidth will never become the one with the best quality.

Most people that have been around here for a while remember the bitching about the image quality of E*, D* and Comcast (and probably TWC etc..) All have improved their quality using codecs as well as bandwidth.

I've got Uverse now for a variety of reasons and it usually provides 'decent' HD quality (some channels and material do look pretty good), but not in my wildest dreams would I say that it is consistently on par with the same channel/material on the other providers I could get. My wife/kids dont know any better, and I tolerate it for now given some of the other benefits (channels/price/no commitment/WHDVR etc..)

Ken H

12-04-09, 02:02 AM

Come on...he never said that. He's point was pretty clear that almost all providers are doing codec improvements that are improving each of their image quality. As long as they all work to improve codecs at a similar pace (which they seem to be), the one with the least bandwidth will never become the one with the best quality.Thank you very much.

I've got Uverse now for a variety of reasons and it usually provides 'decent' HD quality (some channels and material do look pretty good), but not in my wildest dreams would I say that it is consistently on par with the same channel/material on the other providers I could get. My wife/kids dont know any better, and I tolerate it for now given some of the other benefits (channels/price/no commitment/WHDVR etc..)And there are other benefits, for many. Just not those looking for the best possible HD image quality.

Ken H

12-04-09, 02:11 AM

Cable PQ seems to be pretty hit or miss across the country. In my area, HD cable is far worse than Uverse.That can happen. No question.

Fios would be my top choice of course, but it's not an option in my area.Ditto. No Rush L. reference intended.

slowbiscuit

12-04-09, 07:34 AM

The problem for AT&T is all providers have access to the same technology when it comes to codecs, so none of them have any advantage in that specific area.
They might all have access to the same codecs, but for cable making the move from mpeg2 to mpeg4 is a huge leap. Frankly, I don't see how they can do it within the next decade because of their installed base and bandwidth limitations. So U-Verse and sat both have an advantage in this space, at least at the delivery end of the pipe.

TrueBlueLS

12-04-09, 08:26 AM

bgooch

12-04-09, 04:53 PM

By Alexandru Floriceanu, Mobile Editor
4th of December 2009, 13:33 GMT

For those visiting AT&T's stores in Connecticut

Wireless carrier AT&T announced recently it had just put in place a new holiday offer for users following the recently announced promotions for the Black Friday. Shoppers in Connecticut now have the opportunity to win a free TV ($1,000 gift card) per day, until Christmas Eve, by visiting one of AT&T's retail locations while learning about Advanced TV services and U-verse TV.

The company, as many of you already know, offers a wide range of services besides mobile telephony, and among them we can count TV offerings that include the AT&T U-verse and AT&T |DIRECTV brands.
AT&T U-verse incorporates multiple technologies like TV, broadband, wireless services and home phone on one single bill, offering many new features that allow a whole-new level of control, convenience and integration for the company's customers.

AT&T U-verse TV, a 100-percent Internet Protocol-based television (IPTV) service, is the only one of the kind a national service company delivers to its users, the carrier notes. U-verse is one of the most innovative and dynamic services on the market today, including some unique award-winning products, like Total Home DVR and Multiview, the company adds.

"AT&T is taking holiday shopping up a huge notch in Connecticut by giving away a TV every day until December 24," Steve Krom, vice president and general manager of New England for AT&T, said. "We know Connecticut customers want a better choice to break free from cable. I can't think of a better way to enjoy AT&T's Advanced TV service this holiday season than by watching it on a free TV."

AT&T U-verse customers are able to watch recorded programs from a single DVR on a number of up to eight TVs in the house by using the U-verse Total Home DVR. At the same time, they can enjoy more than 110 HD channels, customizable on-screen weather, sports and stock information with AT&T U-bar, programming DVR recordings from the PC or mobile phone, uploading and viewing photos on flickr.com, or weather check for any U.S. city using Weather On Demand, and many more.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/AT-T-Offers-One-Free-TV-per-Day-Until-Christmas-Eve-128884.shtml

primus_2001

12-06-09, 12:02 PM

Hey Guys,

I have one of those Motorola STBs which has an ethernet port on the back.

Can i connect it to a Ethernet switch - like a 5 port D-Link Gigabit (open to recommendations) so that I could hook-up my XBOX and htpc?

I have used the port in the past and I know it works, but not sure if it causes drop in quality or overload of any kinds.

Also, is there a plan for newer STBs in the Dallas areas?

Thx!

TrueBlueLS

12-06-09, 10:23 PM

Ken H

12-06-09, 11:00 PM

They might all have access to the same codecs, but for cable making the move from mpeg2 to mpeg4 is a huge leap. Frankly, I don't see how they can do it within the next decade because of their installed base and bandwidth limitations. So U-Verse and sat both have an advantage in this space, at least at the delivery end of the pipe.
Different providers will have different advantages, but MPEG2 development will continue just like MPEG4 development will.

AuroraProject

12-07-09, 11:52 AM

tighr

12-07-09, 07:22 PM

Harley_Dude

12-07-09, 08:08 PM

Not for Internet. HD image quality and number of streams is another story.

That is the sync rate at the NID, the actual sync rate showing in your RG is going to be dictated by the profile that your line is assigned. The 24M Max Turbo product was released last week in Austin and comes out in San Antonio and St. Louis on Wednesday. Trust me when I say that there is another higher speed tier being researched within AT&T Labs.

TWC charges the $9.95 DVR fee on each box.

We have 2 HD DVRs in our house. The price of the first box(DVR or non-DVR) is included in the price of digital cable, but we are charged a $9.95 DVR service fee on the first DVR. For the second DVR we are charged $9.26 for the box and $9.95 for the DVR service. If we added a 3rd DVR, then it would be another $20 and so on.

That is exactly how TWC in San Antonio charges for DVR service as well. Each DVR in your home costs $9.95 per month to rent and $9.95 for the service fee. The $7 per box that AT&T charges makes that a no brainer.

Ken H

12-07-09, 08:40 PM

That is the sync rate at the NID, the actual sync rate showing in your RG is going to be dictated by the profile that your line is assigned. The 24M Max Turbo product was released last week in Austin and comes out in San Antonio and St. Louis on Wednesday. Trust me when I say that there is another higher speed tier being researched within AT&T Labs.Perhaps I wasn't clear, but I have absolutely no doubt about AT&T's plans for increasing Internet capability.

But, assigning HD more bandwidth is a completely different story.

That is exactly how TWC in San Antonio charges for DVR service as well. Each DVR in your home costs $9.95 per month to rent and $9.95 for the service fee. The $7 per box that AT&T charges makes that a no brainer.I fully agree that many will think the same way. But, this is AVS, and members here are interested in more than just the lowest price for a service.

Harley_Dude

12-08-09, 10:52 AM

Perhaps I wasn't clear, but I have absolutely no doubt about AT&T's plans for increasing Internet capability.

But, assigning HD more bandwidth is a completely different story.

True but as sync rates continue to increase, the profiles that are assigned to that customers connection will include expanded concurrent HD capability. New customers that qualify (~2,000 kft) for the new MaxTurbo (24M) speed tier that launched last week in Austin and tomorrow in San Antonio and St. Louis are also on a new profile that allows 3HD/1SD. It would be logical to assume 3HD/1SD being available to the entire customer base that qualifies when the new profile is released to the remaining markets in 1Q.

I fully agree that many will think the same way. But, this is AVS, and members here are interested in more than just the lowest price for a service.

Well sure, there are people that pay $39K for an entry level Lexus when the $28K Camry SE is basically the same car with different badges.

Ken H

12-08-09, 11:37 AM

True but as sync rates continue to increase, the profiles that are assigned to that customers connection will include expanded concurrent HD capability. New customers that qualify (~2,000 kft) for the new MaxTurbo (24M) speed tier that launched last week in Austin and tomorrow in San Antonio and St. Louis are also on a new profile that allows 3HD/1SD. It would be logical to assume 3HD/1SD being available to the entire customer base that qualifies when the new profile is released to the remaining markets in 1Q.I would hope U-verse HD is improved. IMO, up to this point HD has been the red headed stepchild of the U-verse product offerings. We shall see.

Well sure, there are people that pay $39K for an entry level Lexus when the $28K Camry SE is basically the same car with different badges.Bad analogy. First, there is a difference in the two cars. Items like memory seats are not even available in the Toyota (Disclaimer, I once looked at buying a Lexus ES 300 or Camry XLE, because they were very close to being the exact same car, built on the same assembly line, except for the name and sheet metal, and high end options. I ended up with the Camry XLE.......). The difference is probably most obvious in resale values.

Second, at this time there is a difference in the two HD products.

Harley_Dude

12-08-09, 12:39 PM

Bad analogy. First, there is a difference in the two cars. Items like memory seats are not even available in the Toyota (Disclaimer, I once looked at buying a Lexus ES 300 or Camry XLE, because they were very close to being the exact same car, built on the same assembly line, except for the name and sheet metal, and high end options. I ended up with the Camry XLE.......). The difference is probably most obvious in resale values.

Second, at this time there is a difference in the two HD products.

Not sure that it is a bad analogy or not. My point was that there is a difference between the PQ of cable (and DTV) and U-verse at this time with U-verse typically being slightly behind in the view of most videophiles. Just like there are some higher end options only available on the Lexus at this time, the Camry is a great choice for a big percentage of the population because of the value it offers. The same thing goes for PQ and >3HD streams with U-verse.

Ken H

12-08-09, 01:09 PM

Not sure that it is a bad analogy or not. My point was that there is a difference between the PQ of cable (and DTV) and U-verse at this time with U-verse typically being slightly behind in the view of most videophiles. Just like there are some higher end options only available on the Lexus at this time, the Camry is a great choice for a big percentage of the population because of the value it offers. The same thing goes for PQ and >3HD streams with U-verse.I'm not saying U-verse is a bad option, or that U-verse HD is bad. As a matter of fact with the Whole House DVR it's a unique option that I can see many, many consumers wanting.

AuroraProject

12-08-09, 05:21 PM

What does it cost to have AT&T come out and move my RG to another room? Also, I was talking with my father who had U-verse installed at his house, and he said the tech wired it up so a STB can be hooked up to any of the coax jacks in the house; my installer only hooked up the jacks for the two TVs that I have, not the other 4 jacks in the house. So if I want to move an STB, I'd need to reterminate all those lines and hook them up to the splitter (which was only big enough for the two tvs in the first place). Will they do this for free within the first 30 days?

Charges are typically left up to the tech. If the move is a simple one the tech will most likely waive the $55 trip charge. If there is new wiring involved you may be charged for that also, again it all depends on the tech.
Techs are told to only wire existing tv's during the install, but often will wire all jacks in the house if asked, 75ohm caps are needed at all unused locations.

IceAgeTom

12-08-09, 06:23 PM

I'm not saying U-verse is a bad option, or that U-verse HD is bad. As a matter of fact with the Whole House DVR it's a unique option that I can see many, many consumers wanting.

Hi, I'm getting U-Verse (U200 package+HD, 12 Meg internet, voice) installed on the 15th, and I can say that the whole-house DVR is a major attraction for me. Currently I have three DVR's from Charter Cable in Madison, WI, and they run $45 a month (they're hooked up to three HDTV's in three different rooms, and just one DVR is definitely not enough :) ), so it would be great to replace them with just one free one. Now I've read about the potentially poor HD quality of U-Verse, and I wonder if I'm going to keep it beyond the first 30 days. I'm not particularly demanding when it comes to HD programming over cable (Charter's picture looks just fine to me), but if U-Verse looks like glorified YouTube or SD, I'll have to some serious thinking about it. I do have OTA capability for my primary 57" TV, so I can always watch the few broadcast network shows that I like that way if U-Verse looks like crap. Will have to see how ESPN HD looks on that TV, since that's the channel it's usually tuned to. :)

dolmar

12-08-09, 06:28 PM

Just an update, You got to love Los Angeles it rained for the first time from when my U-Verse was installed(first time we get rain in close to 10 months)and sure enough my U-Verse went down last night. Called U-Verse support and they claimed my line is reporting having both a bridge tap and loop length and neither were cut. And my DB noise margin was way to low considering my distance from the Vrad which means a moisture might be getting into my line as well which is why they are seeing tons of packets being dropped. So they send a tech today to check out my line.

He came with someone else who was outside my house to cut the loop length and the bridge tap while the inside tech tested my line and they discovered the pair was bad because cutting the bridge tap and loop length had no effect on my line. So they switched the pair out and my I-net is running better than ever.

Now looking at my modem stats my max speed went from 58XXX to 91XXX but my noise margin went from 21 to 34 db. I am still on a 32/5 profile.

I wonder if that was part of the reason I-net was unusable when dvr was recording 4 streams ie 2 HD and 2 SD and that was the reason it dropped my Inet from 18 megs to around 8 megs as even tho I was sync at 32/5 profile I really was getting the same bandwidth as someone profiled on 19/2 profile.

Marcus Carr

12-09-09, 09:46 AM

AT&T U-verse TV Marks 2 Million Customer Milestone

Continuing Its Steady Rollout of U-verse Enhancements, AT&T Introduces Fastest Surfing Speed Ever with Up To 24 Mbps Service

NEW YORK, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AT&T* today announced at the UBS 37th Annual Global Media and Communications Conference that it will reach its 2 millionth AT&T U-verse(SM) TV customer today. In the last year, AT&T has added one million customers to the award-winning TV service available to millions of homes across 22 states.

AT&T today also announced the launch of AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet Max Turbo, which offers broadband speeds of up to 24 Mbps downstream and up to 3 Mbps upstream. Available today for AT&T U-verse residential and small business customers in the Austin, San Antonio and St. Louis markets, Max Turbo is the fastest Internet package available from the nation's leading provider of broadband services. AT&T plans to roll out the service to additional U-verse markets in the future.

"This has been an outstanding year for U-verse, and we're glad that customers are responding to the value, choice and simplicity we're adding to this service," said Ralph de la Vega, chief executive officer of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "Customers love that they can get a complete and integrated quad-play of services with U-verse, and that's why we continue to enhance our entire bundle with new apps and more broadband choices. We've shown what we can do with our advanced IP platform, and we're not done yet."

AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet Max Turbo is available to eligible residential customers for $65 a month, under current promotional offers, as part of a bundle with AT&T U-verse TV. Professional standard installation is included for new U-verse TV customers, and current U-verse Internet customers can upgrade their package at any time without additional installation costs or appointments. New residential U-verse customers who bundle U-verse TV (U200 or higher), U-verse Internet (Pro or higher) with Wireless 450 (or higher) or U-verse Voice Unlimited will receive $200 back.

AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet Max Turbo is available to eligible small business customers for $95 a month.

Throughout 2009, AT&T has continued to make the U-verse experience better with more apps, service enhancements, new broadband speeds and more. In 2009 alone, AT&T U-verse:

Launched 13 U-verse TV apps, bringing the total number of TV apps to 21 and giving U-verse TV customers more control and interactivity with their favorite content. Two of the most recent app additions include the award-winning Multiview, which lets you watch up to four channels at one time on your TV screen; and Santa Tracker, which lets families visit the North Pole to play holiday games, listen to sing-a-longs, follow Santa around the globe on Christmas Eve and more.
Added more than 25 High Definition (HD) channels, bringing the U-verse TV HD channel lineup to more than 110 HD channels in every U-verse TV market. U-verse continues to offer more HD channels than the major cable providers in every U-verse TV market.
Enhanced the Total Home DVR experience to include Mobile Remote Access for the iPhone, an app that allows you to schedule and manage DVR recordings and easily search U-verse TV program listings from your iPhone. AT&T also added the capability to schedule and delete recordings from any U-verse connected TV in the home.
Continued to deliver more broadband choice by launching Max Turbo. AT&T also added extra value for U-verse High Speed Internet Max customers by increasing speeds from up to 10 Mbps to up to 12 Mbps -- a 20 percent speed increase at no extra charge.
Expanded U-verse availability in the Southeast region. U-verse TV is now available in all 22 states of AT&T's traditional footprint, and the advanced fiber network passes more than 20 million living units.
Ramped U-verse Voice availability. U-verse Voice is now available in all 120 markets that offer U-verse TV, giving consumers another option for their home phone services and more quad-play integrated features.
Ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction in the South and West Regions Two Years in a Row," according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 and 2009 Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction Studies(SM).
Customers continue to respond to the convenience and integration that AT&T U-verse bundles provide. As of the end of the third quarter, more than 90 percent of U-verse TV customers bundle High Speed Internet, more than 60 percent of new U-verse TV customers bundle U-verse Voice, and more than 75 percent of U-verse TV customers have a triple- or quad-play.

AT&T U-verse TV is the only 100 percent Internet Protocol-based television (IPTV) service offered by a national service provider, making AT&T U-verse one of the most dynamic and feature-rich services available today. For additional information on AT&T U-verse -- or to find out if it's available in your area -- visit www.att.com/u-verse.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/att-u-verse-tv-marks-2-million-customer-milestone-78857492.html

strindl

12-09-09, 01:48 PM

AT&T today also announced the launch of AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet Max Turbo, which offers broadband speeds of up to 24 Mbps downstream and up to 3 Mbps upstream.

I want that!! Now I have to go see when they will make it available in Wisconsin.

Harley_Dude

12-09-09, 03:00 PM

I want that!! Now I have to go see when they will make it available in Wisconsin.

Provided everything goes as expected in the trial release, you would probably be looking at sometime around mid-March.

jjfeo

12-10-09, 10:21 AM

Will have to see how ESPN HD looks on that TV, since that's the channel it's usually tuned to. :)

I had U-Verse for about 3 weeks here in Indiana and I ended up going back to D*. I have a 50" Samsung Plasma 720p and the bad PQ was intermittent. The kicker was when watching the Colts from the local CBS channel, it looked like the players were "Pig Pen" from Peanuts. Now, my sister has UV as well, and her 37" Samsung LCD looks fine everytime I've been at her house. So I guess it's a crap shoot.

I don't remember ESPN being a problem with PQ.

Sam S

12-10-09, 03:51 PM

Harley_Dude

12-10-09, 03:58 PM

I'm in North Texas, and got a robo-call from AT&T U-verse saying that my U-verse service would be automatically upgraded tonight between 10pm and 5am. No action was required, it said.

Any ideas what this is referring to? I'm on the 25/2 profile.

There might be a firmware release or network upgrade being pushed out in your market tonight. It wouldn't be the 32/5 profile (UV11) because that is still only in Austin, San Antonio and St. Louis.

Sam S

12-10-09, 04:26 PM

Harley_Dude

12-10-09, 04:38 PM

Interesting. I've never had a call before, so I figured it could be something major.

Does the 32/5 profile just give you one extra HD stream? Any upgrade to the picture quality? The compression blocking still drives me nuts.

The 32/5 profile does give a 3rd HD stream. Improvements to PQ are constantly being worked through enhancements to the codecs and network, there shouldn't be a call to customers about those. If you are getting compression blocking, you might want to call customer service and have a technician come and check your line.

IceAgeTom

12-10-09, 06:18 PM

I had U-Verse for about 3 weeks here in Indiana and I ended up going back to D*. I have a 50" Samsung Plasma 720p and the bad PQ was intermittent. The kicker was when watching the Colts from the local CBS channel, it looked like the players were "Pig Pen" from Peanuts. Now, my sister has UV as well, and her 37" Samsung LCD looks fine everytime I've been at her house. So I guess it's a crap shoot.

I don't remember ESPN being a problem with PQ.

Since I'm pretty close to a VRAD (definitely less than 2000' loop length, maybe even as close as 500' depending on how ATT ran the line), I'm hoping that will improve the odds of getting at least decent HD PQ. I also live in a 7-year old condo, hopefully the coax is good enough to carry the U-verse signal without problems. I'll find out soon enough. :)

Sam S

12-10-09, 06:33 PM

The 32/5 profile does give a 3rd HD stream. Improvements to PQ are constantly being worked through enhancements to the codecs and network, there shouldn't be a call to customers about those. If you are getting compression blocking, you might want to call customer service and have a technician come and check your line.

I've had them come out three times :(

They took the WiFi out of my RG, gave me new gigabit switches, and ran various tests on the line. Everything checks out OK. Apparently I'm just very sensitive to the blocking/artifacting. It's not the TV. I had FiOS for 3 years prior, and damn their HD picture was near-perfect.

slowbiscuit

12-11-09, 08:07 AM

You went from FIOS to U-Verse and want them to fix the PQ??

*smack*

Sam S

12-11-09, 08:16 AM

You went from FIOS to U-Verse and want them to fix the PQ??

*smack*

I moved, didn't really have much of a choice in the matter.

Posty-McPost

12-11-09, 02:48 PM

Flipping around just now I noticed.....NEW HD CHANNELS!

BET - 1155
TV1 - 1157
msNBC - 1215
Cartoon Network - 1325 (placeholder, not live)
TBN - 1560 (placeholder, not live)
Fishing - 1679 (placeholder, not live)

Don't know about the premiums because I don't know what we had as of yesterday for comparison. As I wrote this they flipped TV1 on so these might light up any moment. Happy HD Holidays from U* and me.

Sam S

12-11-09, 02:57 PM

Cool, that must have been part of the update.

Ken H

12-12-09, 05:53 PM

Hi, I'm getting U-Verse (U200 package+HD, 12 Meg internet, voice) installed on the 15th, and I can say that the whole-house DVR is a major attraction for me. Currently I have three DVR's from Charter Cable in Madison, WI, and they run $45 a month (they're hooked up to three HDTV's in three different rooms, and just one DVR is definitely not enough :) ), so it would be great to replace them with just one free one. Now I've read about the potentially poor HD quality of U-Verse, and I wonder if I'm going to keep it beyond the first 30 days. I'm not particularly demanding when it comes to HD programming over cable (Charter's picture looks just fine to me), but if U-Verse looks like glorified YouTube or SD, I'll have to some serious thinking about it. I do have OTA capability for my primary 57" TV, so I can always watch the few broadcast network shows that I like that way if U-Verse looks like crap. Will have to see how ESPN HD looks on that TV, since that's the channel it's usually tuned to. :)

You may be pleasantly surprised about U-verse, compared to Charter.

How does your OTA look compared to Charter?

IceAgeTom

12-12-09, 09:00 PM

You may be pleasantly surprised about U-verse, compared to Charter.

How does your OTA look compared to Charter?

They're actually pretty similar to my eyes, but then I'm not a videophile and am pretty accepting of cable PQ issues (if I want the best HD I go to Blu-Ray). Where I live, Charter is good enough that I don't bother with OTA for stuff like CBS and ABC college football games and TV series. If U-Verse HD is only half as good as that then it should still be fine.

Mantonite

12-14-09, 02:04 PM

Interesting...

I've been experiencing the Surround Sound dropouts ever since upgrading my AVR (Onkyo TX-SR-607). I did the customer service call, truck roll, "fix" is to use stereo, got my discount for not having functioning HD sound, etc.

Checked my e-mail, and I had one of the InsightExpress UVerse surveys and it was a somewhat lengthy survey about the HD service, and seemed to target the audio dropouts. Asked how I was hooked up, when the dropouts occur, Motorola v. Cisco box, etc. Also asked if they could contact me regarding the issue. Anything I can do to help ;)

Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel for our surround sound...

bgooch

12-14-09, 06:48 PM

AT&T U-verse gets Cartoon Network HD, MSNBC HD, 3 more HD
December 14th, 2009, 9:30 am · 5 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

AT&T U-verse Noted: For those in Orange County who can order TV service from AT&T, a few more high-definition channels of interest are launching. The company said today it added 5 new HD channels for its U-verse TV customers. Those channels are:

* Cartoon Network HD
* MSNBC HD
* TV One HD
* TBN HD (begins Dec. 15).
* WFN: World Fishing Network HD

The new channels join existing U-verse HD service, except for the World Fishing Network, which is part of the HD Premium Tier.

“Customers don’t think of HD as bonus content anymore. HD is now the norm,” said Dan York, executive vice president of content and programming, AT&T Converged Services.

AT&T also added two foreign-language, non-HD channels:

* VivaTV, a 24-hour Filipino-language channel that joins the Filipino Package.
* TVBe, a Cantonese-language channel, which is $17 a month.

U-verse is only available in certain parts Orange County (SoCal) Aliso Viejo, Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, La Habra, La Palma, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Mission Viejo, Orange, Placentia, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Stanton, Villa Park, Westminster, and Yorba Linda. For more details and an archive of older U-verse stories, please visit the Gadgetress Guide to U-verse, at gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/uverse.
http://gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/2009/12/14/att-u-verse-gets-cartoon-network-hd-msnbc-hd-3-more-hd/29745/

RemyM

12-14-09, 09:55 PM

Tele-TV

12-15-09, 08:23 AM

Recently I just got the following HD channels. ID HD & TV 1 (One) HD. And TBN HD, starting date, soon. Bleh! to all three. Wouldn't mind getting MSNBC HD like Orange County is getting.

EDIT 1 - Just found out MSNBC HD is Available and Live and in my area.

IceAgeTom

12-15-09, 10:38 PM

The install was today, and it went well. Five TV's, internet and phone in about 4 hours, no wiring was needed, my RG6 was fine, got the Cisco receivers. The installer was real nice, he did things slightly differently in that he did all the connections to the outlets before going to the VRAD. Asked him about the coax-cat5 debate, he said that there isn't any difference, he himself uses coax in his place. :)

My worries about PQ were unfounded, HD and SD are great, even on my 57" Mits DLP, certainly no different that the Charter cable, which looked fine to begin with. Watched some basketball, saw no problems, was not YouTube-like. :) A big reason for this is most likely my proximity to a VRAD. There's actually a second one in my vicinity, even closer than the other one, stuck between some neighboring condo complexes so I didn't see it before, it's gotta be less than 500' for loop length. I talked about the PQ issues with the installer, he agreed that there so many factors involved that any definitive answer is not possible.

I recorded something to test out the DVR, I sure love the ultra-fast FF/REW speeds. Makes it easy to get to the final scene of an episode. The Charter DVR was a turtle in comparison.

The current 2 HD stream limit is obviously the biggest negative point I have, but it won't pose too much of a problem for me, as I'm not a heavy recorder or time-shifter anyway (only shows that will recorded: Lost, Chuck and Fringe :) ).

Charter is already a distant memory, brought all their stuff back today.

strindl

12-16-09, 01:21 AM

So is anyone getting good results using HDMI with Uverse? I have a friend who has Uverse and just got a HDTV. I need to go hook it up for her and want to know if I should bother using HDMI or if I should just stick with component.

I've been using HDMI to connect my uverse DVR to my Integra processor and from there to my HDTV, since 8/2007. It works fine. I also have it hooked directlly to the TV with component video and RCA jack audio, for times when it's not important to have the full audio system turned on....like just watching the news or something.

cbrox

12-16-09, 02:07 PM

The new channels join existing U-verse HD service, except for the World Fishing Network, which is part of the HD Premium Tier.

“Customers don’t think of HD as bonus content anymore. HD is now the norm,” said Dan York, executive vice president of content and programming, AT&T Converged Services.

So if HD is the norm now when is U-verse going to drop the $10 HD fee? Yeah, didn't think so.

tighr

12-16-09, 03:40 PM

So if HD is the norm now when is U-verse going to drop the $10 HD fee? Yeah, didn't think so.
These days, I don't consider the $10 fee for HD anymore. It's more like you get a $10 discount if you DON'T need HD.

Kinda like the gas stations that charge 10 cents less if you don't pay via credit card.

Rammitinski

12-16-09, 04:39 PM

Personally, I don't like having to pay more to get two versions of the same channel/programming - no matter what resolution they're in.

But I know how this stuff works, and I know that it will never really be any "cheaper", no matter how they arrange things.

JASK0

12-19-09, 09:36 PM

Football looks pretty terrible on Uverse. :(

Only when they're showing players after plays it's clear, but during snaps and whatnot...... very pixelated.

IceAgeTom

12-20-09, 12:01 AM

Football looks pretty terrible on Uverse. :(

Only when they're showing players after plays it's clear, but during snaps and whatnot...... very pixelated.

Not on my U-Verse! :) Football looks at least the same as it did with my cable, so I'm happy.

davisdog

12-20-09, 02:10 AM

depends on the Channel...It usually looks good on ESPN, but the NFL Network feed sucks (at least on Uverse...)

andydumi

12-20-09, 08:51 AM

depends on the Channel...It usually looks good on ESPN, but the NFL Network feed sucks (at least on Uverse...)

It sucks on Comcast too.

JASK0

12-20-09, 02:00 PM

depends on the Channel...It usually looks good on ESPN, but the NFL Network feed sucks (at least on Uverse...)

On Fox and CBS right now it looks atrocious when showing the plays from the sideline angle. Like I said, if they do a shot on a player or coach after the plays, it looks good..... but during gameplay... jeeze. I don't know. Makes me want to cancel. Very pixelated.

oktoberrust11

12-20-09, 04:16 PM

It sucks on Comcast too.

Really? I was thinking last night how good the game looked, via DirecTV.

Ken H

12-20-09, 05:28 PM

Really? I was thinking last night how good the game looked, via DirecTV.

It looked fine on Comcast in Detroit; I gave it a 'B'.

slowbiscuit

12-21-09, 10:20 AM

It sucks on Comcast too.
Not in the ATL it doesn't. NFL HD is way better than ESPN here.

Schlepper

12-21-09, 11:17 AM

Rammitinski

12-21-09, 01:38 PM

Is MLB's Baseball coverage as heavily Yankees/Red Sox-favored as ESPN's and "Baseball Tonight"?

If so, I wouldn't have any use for it, either.

oktoberrust11

12-21-09, 01:43 PM

Is MLB's Baseball coverage as heavily Yankees/Red Sox-favored as ESPN's and "Baseball Tonight"?

If so, I wouldn't have any use for it, either.

Not at all. I can't find a list of games aired for the '09 season, but they had a decent variety.

crimsonclear

12-21-09, 09:32 PM

I had U-Verse installed on Sat 12/19. Having just purchased a HDTV the week before, I was eager to have access to HD programming.

I live in the STL metro area, and was given an offer of U200 + HD programming, 6 mbit internet, and a landline for 99mo + HD fee for 1 year. Compared to my previous provider, Charter, this was a good enough of a deal for me (compared to Charters offer of $140). My wife reported that the install tech said that we don't need the landline, so I am going to be trying to drop to promo (was 134/mo) and just keep internet/tv.

My initial reaction to U-verse is overall positive. The tech was at our house for 4 1/2 hours (unfortunately I was working and the wife was the one home for the install, so I couldn't ask questions, and my wife was just along for the ride...as long as she was getting TV again). No major changes were done to my wiring, aside from switching out a phone jack to Cat5.

The HD programming is decent. I was disappointed to see pixelation and slight juttering while recording an HD program and watching another (for the most part very minor annoyances, most HD programming and all recorded to DVR looks good to me). But compared to my SDTV set, it is defiantly a leap in my TV viewing experience (and they do offer an awful lot of HD programming imo). The internet has a constant clock of 5.7mbs, with 1.2 up. No notation on the VoIP service, we use our cell phones.

I had seen posts that some people were received PQ issues due to their distance from the VRAD? or whatever box lifts the signal from the fiber optics to my home. Others had had wiring problems in their home (mine was built in the 1970's). So could anyone point me somewhere that could help me determine if there are wiring issues or distance issues that my affect my viewing (I do believe ATT says that they will ''upgrade'' the wiring in a home if necessary? I really wish I could have been home to grill the install tech).

But perhaps it is just an issue with the adoption of IPTV.

Also, a second question, I saw posts from 2008 saying ATT would be rolling out 3HD steams to the St Louis market in 2009, however, I am capped at 2HD atm. Was this never implemented? Or could some phone calls boost me up to that next tier.

But anyways, I will try to update in a few weeks after I have a more complete opinion of U-verse, but for the moment, and price, it is defiantly fitting my HDTV programming needs for the moment.

dolmar

12-22-09, 03:22 AM

I had U-Verse installed on Sat 12/19....

I live in the STL metro area....

Congrats on getting an HD TV and U-Verse. STL is one of three test markets for U-Verse and all new features and configurations are tested in Austin, Dallas and STL. For example ATT launch Max Turbo in those 3 markets last week which is 24/3 internet service besides those 3 markets all other markets are currently limited to 18/1.5 internet service. Earlier this year when they added the ability to program the DVR from any box in your house and those 3 markets also got that upgrade 2-3 months before the rest of the country. Same was true for Weather on Demand widget it was tested in those 3 markets 2-3 month before launching nationwide. I assume once they start testing out 3 HD streams those 3 markets will have that new feature first as well.

The HD programming is decent. I was disappointed to see pixelation and slight juttering while recording an HD program and watching another (for the most part very minor annoyances, most HD programming and all recorded to DVR looks good to me). But compared to my SDTV set, it is defiantly a leap in my TV viewing experience (and they do offer an awful lot of HD programming imo). The internet has a constant clock of 5.7mbs, with 1.2 up. No notation on the VoIP service, we use our cell phones.

I had seen posts that some people were received PQ issues due to their distance from the VRAD? or whatever box lifts the signal from the fiber optics to my home. Others had had wiring problems in their home (mine was built in the 1970's). So could anyone point me somewhere that could help me determine if there are wiring issues or distance issues that my affect my viewing (I do believe ATT says that they will ''upgrade'' the wiring in a home if necessary? I really wish I could have been home to grill the install tech).

Your understanding of how U-Verse works and it limitations seem to be wrong. Distance from the Vrad effects capacity of your line, Ie max bandwidth your line can handle and based on that you are assigned a profile currently their are 3 profile assigned to all U-Verse accounts, 32/5, 25/2 and 19/1. Both the 32/5 and 25/2 currently are limited to 2HD and 2SD and 19/1 is limited to 1HD and 3SD streams. The 32/5 profile is the new profile ATT is using for 24/3 Max Turbo and the soon to be released 3HD/1SD profile. As long as your line is under 70% capacity of your profile you should have no line issues what so ever in general but if you are over 70% capacity then your line could be unstable depending on how clean your pair is and you could have problems with your line which could affect you video picture. Easy way to find out is log into your router and http://192.168.1.254/xslt?PAGE=J03&THISPAGE=J02&NEXTPAGE=J03 goto detailed stats and see if you are getting tons of errors on your line. If you have little to no errors on your line and max rate vs profile is under 70% then your service is working correctly.

Most common problem with inside wiring is when U-Verse tech uses existing coax cable to connect your STB to RG. If the line is still currently connected to cable or over the air antenna that could cause interference with U-Verse Homepna connection reduce the bandwidth between your RG and those STB connected via HomePNA. Another common problem with older coax cable is that it is not shield very well and some times act as an antenna which also cause interference on the line and reduces your bandwidth via Homepna and a solution U-Verse does is install terminating caps on all connectors and that basically cause a short on the cable which stop it from acting as an antenna. If you are seeing some minor pixelation tho on an STB connected directly to RG via CAT6e then it has nothing to do with your inside wiring.

The number 1 complaint about U-Verse is the picture quality and fact that ATT over compress all the channels like crazy compared to most other providers. And that is what is causing in most cases some slight pixelation or blockiness of the picture. The internet and Voip service from U-Verse is rock sold and very stable and imo one of the best around. Everyone I know who has U-Verse Voip says the voice quality is better than any other Voip service they have ever used and no one can tell you are using an Voip service as their is no echo or delay at all.