ATT Homezone? Other suggestions for dual HD DVR solutions?

[segami]

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with one of these setups. I will be moving soon and am trying to decide the best setup for my new house. I think the homezone is available in HD now (but not 100% sure) and I like that it has dual OTA tuners. I haven't found too much info about it anywhere other than ATT's website.

As for a new setup in general, my wife and I generally only watch network programing and need a dual HD tuner setup for dvr'ing programs. We have HD available OTA in our area and believe the reception will be good in the new place (based on other forum members results). Thanks for any suggestions.
-Chris

[bfdtv]

Keep in mind the high-definition through Homezone is pretty heavily compressed. From what I've been told, it's even worse than DirecTV's "HDTV Lite."

[segami]

I thought the homezone was hooked up to the Dish network, so wouldn't it be pulling HD from the same feeds?

[bfdtv]

Clarification: my post above applies to AT&T's Lightspeed service, not Homezone.

[CHDinCT]

Originally Posted by bfdtv

Clarification: my post above applies to AT&T's Lightspeed service, not Homezone.

As of today, from what I read, AT&T Uverse (aka Lightspeed) is only offering 1 HD stream at a time, with plans to offer two at some future date. Their DVR does allow 4 recordings simultaneous records, but only 1 HD. You can find more details here:

www.uverseusers.com

[MW1597]

Originally Posted by segami

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with one of these setups. I will be moving soon and am trying to decide the best setup for my new house. I think the homezone is available in HD now (but not 100% sure) and I like that it has dual OTA tuners. I haven't found too much info about it anywhere other than ATT's website.
-Chris

Homezone is currently only available in SD. The Homezone HD box is expexted to be available sometime 2nd qtr 07. The boxes are made by 2Wire and require that you also have AT&T DSL with the 2Wire wireless router. The on-demand movies (Movielink) are downloaded from the internet. Live TV is from Dish Network Satellites.
-Mike

[TrueDis]

Originally Posted by MW1597

The Homezone HD box is expexted to be available sometime 2nd qtr 07.

What's your source on this?

[Interactive]

Originally Posted by MW1597

Homezone is currently only available in SD. The Homezone HD box is expexted to be available sometime 2nd qtr 07. The boxes are made by 2Wire and require that you also have AT&T DSL with the 2Wire wireless router. The on-demand movies (Movielink) are downloaded from the internet. Live TV is from Dish Network Satellites.
-Mike

AT&T is showing the 2Wire HD box on their site right now. Are you saying that they're not actually delivering at this time? I'm very interested to learn about this package. I'm about ready to throw out Time Warner for a variety of reasons and this AT&T/Dish package is looking pretty good.

Why isn't there more info on the web about this service? Is it just that new or that bad?

[jcayo11]

I currently have Homezone. We do not have the HD homezone box. I have an hd box from dish network though.

[Interactive]

Originally Posted by TrueDis

What's your source on this?

I spoke with the AT&T folks about HomeZone yesterday. Seems they're offering the 2Wire box today, BUT (<<-- Big BUT) they're being told not to provision it with HomeZone AND HD. It's either to be deployed as an HD receiver with DVR (without HomeZone functionality) or as an SD-only HomeZone box. Of course this doesn't make much sense, but hey, why would it? She confirmed that some new offers related to HomeZone and HD are being released on 2/1/07 but she was not able to discuss them further. (Actually she didn't know anything, it was her manager that told her about this off-line while I was on hold)

Of course this conversation came shortly after the debate over "which AT&T" I am a subscriber of; the "old" AT&T or the "new AT&T". I dared not debate with this woman and explain that ALL of the AT&T's are the OLD AT&T's again....sorry, I'll stop ranting...

Anyway, I'm a little surprised this box isn't getting more attention here on this forum. Like many here, I've really been searching for a dual-tuner, HD DVR with some advanced network features. I'm close to buying the Tivo S3 but I'm so frustrated with Time Warner's terrible service that I'm hesitant to make that investment. This HomeZone package offers a very nice feature set (on paper) and is priced attractively. In fact, some of the "HomeZone" features one-up some of Tivo's offerings with Home Media Options. For example, once connected to the network, you can access the box remotely to schedule recordings (Tivo can do this as well) but you can ALSO access all of the shared files on the network. You could stream music and view photo's from your home PC's across the internet...a feature I think is at least somewhat useful.

What's the deal with this? Why aren't more people talking about it? What am I missing here?

[yunlin12]

Originally Posted by segami

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with one of these setups. I will be moving soon and am trying to decide the best setup for my new house. I think the homezone is available in HD now (but not 100% sure) and I like that it has dual OTA tuners. I haven't found too much info about it anywhere other than ATT's website.

As for a new setup in general, my wife and I generally only watch network programing and need a dual HD tuner setup for dvr'ing programs. We have HD available OTA in our area and believe the reception will be good in the new place (based on other forum members results). Thanks for any suggestions.
-Chris

If all you watch is network stuff, and you get OTA HD, why go with a service provide at all?

[technikal]

I have the Homezone reciever. It's not HD - SD only. No OTA or HDMI option on the box I have, though there is an 'HD Enabled' line (which is set to 'No') in the System Information area of the menu. I don't see how this unit could display HD content, though.

I've called into tech support multiple times, as recently as this Monday (see issues below) and each time I've asked about HD. The only response I've gotten is that they are working on it and hope to release it 'this year'.

The service has been a bit of a disappointment to me, enough so that I'm seriously considering ditching the service and moving to something else. I'd spent the last 4 years using a DirecTivo, so that's by basis of comparision. My primary complaints are:

- Usability : It's lacking several basic features. You can't sort the 'My Recordings' list at all - you can only see things ordered by date recorded. You can't search 'My Recordings' either - so managing multiple episodes of a show is a pain. The search feature in the program guide looks at both title and description and you can't change that - so searching for something like 'House' will return tons of hits, none of them being the 'House' program you're looking for. There's no ability to record by keyword - you have to select a program from the guide. Changing series priorty is absolutely painful.... I wasn't expecting it to be as good as Tivo, but it's worse than any other DVR I've used.

- Connectivity stuff doesn't work : 'Webremote' just doesn't work most of the time. The 2Wire gateway they require you to use is dumbed down so that you can't easily add the required firewall rule to access the Homezone unit remotely. This means each time you do something that results in a new IP address for the unit (you can't make it static, and you can't even assign a static DHCP rule on the 2wire Gateway) - ex: anytime you have to reset your modem, reset the Homezone box, reset the wireless bridge, the unit becomes inaccessible remotely. It's supposed to fix this automatically within 48 hours, but it doesn't. When it does work, you still can't do some things advertised like listen to MP3 files stored on the box. Loading content to the box using the MediaScout applciation was a slow and buggy process. It loads 100 or so MP3s, then loses it's connection with the box and stops. I haven't found a card reader the USB ports recognize yet, either.

- Movielink is a bust : Relatively sparse content, high prices, and you can only keep the movie 24 hours after you start watching it. It's a neat concept, but the short comings are enough that I stick with PPV.

- Stability : I've gotten to know the tech support guys well. They're a friendly bunch and ATT should be proud to have them. However, I'd prefer not to have to call them at all. I've had the unit for less than 2 month and I think I've had to make 5 calls to tech support. Besides the webremote issue mentioned above, I've had the unit spontaneously reformat itself and wipe out all of my recordings, mp3s, photos and season passes; I've had the unit fail to download program guide data for 8 consecutive days, leaving me with no recorded series and a guide full of 'No Program Info'; and a couple of spontaneous, random reboots. In the 4 years I had DirectTivo, I never had to call in for support. I understand the Homezone unit is more complex, but don't think the stability issues I've experienced are reasonable.


The Good Stuff: The remote is awesome. Launchcast Music works great. Photos and Music on the box is cool (though after the hassle of loading it, then having it all wiped out by a spontaneous reformat, I'm not incented to load everything again). Integration with Yahoo Photo is cool. True 30 Second Skip. Really fast FF & RW. Webremote (when it works) is nice (and eliminates a few of the pains of the inadquate on-the-box UI).

The concept is neat and I applaud ATT/2Wire for being innovative. Unfortunately, the execution is just not up to snuff right now. In the end, I find I'm paying an extra $10 a month compared to a regular Dish DVR and all I'm getting out of it is an inferior UI and the ability to listen to Launchcast through the TV. If they'd improve usability, I'd probably stick around. I'm not going to wait long, though. There are too many alternatives out there.

[Interactive]

Originally Posted by technikal

I have the Homezone reciever. It's not HD - SD only.

technikal: Thanks so much for the review. This is exactly the kind of information I was interested in. The lack of HD is simply unacceptable at this stage of the game. I don't know why I'm surprised that AT&T wouldn't get this right...but I guess I'm so hungry for a well thought out program (hardware, services, bundled pricing model that makes sense for consumers, etc) that I was quick to get excited.

Besides the lack of HD, though, I was thrilled to get your detailed info on the poor usability, etc. If you stated that everything was awesome but simply lacked HD at this point, I'd hold out hope for their HD solution. If it sucks now....it's not going to get exponentially better when they add HD service so I should probably count this OUT for now as a candidate.

I may switch my broadband service over to AT&T's DSL and voice package...maybe there's a chance they'd get that right since it's their core business. I'll leave the TV solutions up to the experts (TiVo) and take the plunge and get the S3.

[technikal]

The service is frustrating for me because it's so close to being a great product. I know I spent hours hacking a DirecTivo to get MP3, photos and remote access, and the Homezone unit has much better functionality out of the box. The remote is awesome - just what's needed for an integrated device. But the stuff I use the most each day - like the Guide and the My Recording list, is just not good. Kind of like getting a Ferrari with a 800 hp engine, but finding out you can only start out in 4th gear and the headlights don't work. It has unfulfilled potential.

They are adding to the service, though. I just noticed today that they've added the Akimbo 'channels' to the downloadable content area. Kind of like being able to access 'Youtube' from the TV. Works well and most content is free, though they do force a short 'ATT Blueroom' comercial in front of it. I just wish they'd spent the time adding simple functionality to the DVR section.

So, I'm stuck wondering if I should wait to see if they improve the DVR and add HD on Homezone, improve the connectivity and OTA functionality on Dish's HD DVR, improve the stability and interface on DirecTV's HD DVR or if I should just suck it up, spend the money and buy a S3. It's a shame that no current HD DVR can improve on the interface and stability of a 5 year old DirecTivo.

FWIW - I have ATT DSL and it's rock solid. I'd had it for 4 years, then switched to cable internet early last year when I moved to voip and I had more issues in the 6 months I used that than in the 4 years I had DSL prior. Nothing major with cable - just a need to reset the modem a few times - but I was spoiled by DSL. I switched back a couple of months ago after having a kid and deciding that I wanted a 'real' landline for 911 (still use voip for all my normal calls). The DSL package I can get here isn't as fast as what I can get from cable on a download standpoint, but I notice no difference in normal day-to-day usage.

[Aug3r]

I have the homezone bundle also..well did until yesterday. AT&T ruined SBC..IMO.
First of all, we had installation a day before the lawsuit went thru that would not allow Dish Network to give you any location as your local channels. I asked the tech about this and he knew nothing about it. I really wanted to be able to watch all the Chicago Bears games .
Anyways, I also had DSL for 3 years, but with the new 2Wire modem/router I was only offered a slower speed than what I WAS getting with SBC..and it would drop connection about every 10 minutes.
I also experienced some of the issues technikal talked about , but only on few occasions. And we didn't really use the web scheduling, since it's extra for that service.
Not that I have found any experience with a utility Co. or any major Corp to be anything less than frustrating and disappointing, but this one really took the cake...unfortunately these days..it seems like most choice are between the lesser of two evils..and I need my internet.

[technikal]

FWIW - I canceled my Homezone package as well. I switched over to a vip622 dvr, replaced the 2wire gateway with my old dsl modem and router and I'm much happier. The 622 is world's better from a DVR/Guide functionality standpoint than the Homezone. I miss the Yahoo Launchcast stuff - but that's it.

Homezone has great potential and I hope they continue to improve it.

[ecwade]

I just signed up for HomeZone service. Just this month they are finally offering HD with the HomeZone service. Unfortunately, it turns out that despite being told otherwise by two sales engineers (since the customer service reps didn't know) the MediaScout software is NOT compatible with Intel-based Macintosh computers at all. In fact, after having me uninstall and reinstall the software eight times, their rep gave up and told me that in order to take advantage of my contractual obligation for HomeZone, I should go out tomorrow and buy a Windows Vista PC (also not compatible with HomeZone according to another tech of theirs).

This is the same kind of runaround crap that made me finally drop my cable company after 15 years.

[schneid]

I started with HD in June after being with DirecTV for ten years. I switched to HZ HD service in July. The HZ sounds good but does not deliver on its hype. Nothing about it works well. Its shortcomings are well known and documented and it doesn't appear they will be fixed.

A quick list of complaints:

You cannot search Web Remote, it is slow, and not Windows compliant.

Movlielink has no HD offerings. AT&T doesn't want you using the bandwdth you are paying them for. Use NetFlix instead.

The MediaScout photo/music applet is not Windows compliant.

The Screensaver is incompatible with 16:9 displays. It will only Pillarbox to 4:3.

For me, I am waiting until the first of the year to see he whether Dish or
Direct have the best HD offerings. I will then switch to real Dish or back to Direct.

AT&T obviously doesn't have theitr heart in making Homezone a success.

[wigley]

To update this thread, I have HomeZone as of Dec 2007 in Chicago, IL. I have HD. I have installed and used successfully the MediaScout software on a WinPC running Vista Ultimate. Here's what I've noticed so far (the good and the bad):

1) I love that I can have SD content display on my Sony Bravia LCD in 16:9 ratio, something I could not figure out how to accomplish w/ the newest Dish HD Receiver, 722 (correct model #?). Thus, all content, regardless of SD or HD, does not have the annoying vertical black bars on the left and right

2) The panorama view (only used for 4:3 SD content) sucks. Weird fisheyeing on the sides of the screen when the camera pans

3) The Guide is sometimes quick, sometimes slow.

4) Typing anything via the remote and on-screen keyboard is painful (although expected). The movement of the cursor, when highlighting each letter you want to enter, is slow (not too slow - it's tolerable, but could be much faster)

5) For me, the guide presentation is much more appealing than the standard Dish guide format

6) I don't care that my pictures that I've uploaded (via MediaScout) are displayed in 4:3 ratio. That's how I took them. I don't have a digital camera that takes pics in 16:9. Maybe if I did, I'd be pissed about it.

I'm out of time, but that's about it. I'll post back later if I encounter anything else worthy of posting.