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AT&T U-verse HDTV - Page 94

post #2791 of 4010
4/20/10 at 4:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by recoil View Post

So I got my U-Verse installed today and am pretty pleased with the picture. For the HD shows that I typically watch on Monday's, I watched them on my DirecTV and then on U-Verse, and they pictures looked really close --- hard for me to tell a PQ difference.

Now I think with Sports, that may be another story, with all the motion, but we will see how that ends up.

One thing I DID notice, was that the U-Verse picture seemed darker a bit. Now it goes into my TV via the same HDMI input as my DirecTV and Blu-Ray player, and I did calibrate the TV for that. But the HDMI out of the U-Verse did seem a bit darker.

Are there any "advanced" tricks that can be done to tune the color of the U-Verse DVR on the HDMI port to help calibrate it? I thought I read somewhere that someone had dome some tweaking on the HDMI for U-Verse, but I can't remember where I saw that or how it was done, or what recommended settings may be.

Thanks

The UV STB outputs 0-255 for color over HDMI most TVs prefer 16-239, if you can adjust your set to handle 0-255 it will look better otherwise it will crush the blacks. Many people use the component output which does not appear to have this problem.
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post #2792 of 4010
4/24/10 at 3:03pm
U-verse is available in my location, san jose, 95148. I was wondering if my HD-DVR is recoding a program and it's 20 mins into the recording, can i watch that program on any TV in my house? If so how many TV's can watch the program that is being recorded? I'm thinking of making the switch due to Comcast encrypting their channels and my QAM tuner is not able to pick up comedy central and MTV, ETC.
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post #2793 of 4010
4/24/10 at 5:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ryany84 View Post

U-verse is available in my location, san jose, 95148. I was wondering if my HD-DVR is recoding a program and it's 20 mins into the recording, can i watch that program on any TV in my house? If so how many TV's can watch the program that is being recorded? I'm thinking of making the switch due to Comcast encrypting their channels and my QAM tuner is not able to pick up comedy central and MTV, ETC.

Once the DVR is recording, you can watch that recording on any TV in the house. I believe the egress for most people would be 2HD/2SD still for playing between all the STBs.
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post #2794 of 4010
4/25/10 at 8:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WRX_Rocky View Post

I made a new post over in the hardware section, so as not to dilute this forum, could you please reply over there?

About a week ago, all of a sudden all my recordings off of my local HD TV channels (for shows like 24, Lost, etc) have begun to sound like the old blown out car window speaker boxes from an outdoor theater! Scratchy and muffled, like having the volume pushed past the speaker limits. This only happens when digital surround is selected. If I set the sound to stereo, it clears up. But we are NOT paying for stereo sound on HD channels!!!

Example: 1004, FOX. I have not yet had a chance to check on the plain channel 4, as I work long hours and prefer to record off the 1XXX HD local channels because the normal, lower channels (as in 4, FOX) don't always seem to be in true HD mode.

Mine started this today. All of my recordings, prior to today are great. I have googled it and read here and the common denominator "might" be the receiver I am using. Are you using a Pioneer 1019 ?
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post #2795 of 4010
4/30/10 at 10:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ctrl@ltDel View Post

Mine started this today. All of my recordings, prior to today are great. I have googled it and read here and the common denominator "might" be the receiver I am using. Are you using a Pioneer 1019 ?

This is a known issue; there are a couple of lengthy threads on this over on Utalk. AT&T and Microsoft have been working on a fix, and it's already shown up as a test in a couple of markets.
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post #2796 of 4010
4/30/10 at 11:50am
Any significant improvements in PQ or number of HD streams since I left U-verse in the Fall of '09?

The channel selection is fantastic, but those two are deal breakers.
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post #2797 of 4010
4/30/10 at 11:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LilGator View Post

Any significant improvements in PQ or number of HD streams since I left U-verse in the Fall of '09?

The channel selection is fantastic, but those two are deal breakers.

I haven't noticed a PQ change in that time, though it looks pretty good to me. YMMV and all that.

Some folks are starting to see 3HD streams. As near as I can tell:
  • You need to be on the 32/5 profile
  • You need to call in to tech support and ask for it
  • The ingress profile on the DVR doesn't change, so the DVR itself is still limited to 2HD (i.e. the 3rd stream is only available for watching live HD on another set-top box)
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post #2798 of 4010
4/30/10 at 11:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LilGator View Post

Any significant improvements in PQ or number of HD streams since I left U-verse in the Fall of '09?

The channel selection is fantastic, but those two are deal breakers.

I have not seen a change in PQ but it was not horrible for me. I have
3HD and 1SD stream and internet speeds have increased to 24Mb/3Mb
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post #2799 of 4010
4/30/10 at 12:13pm
My box has done something weird three times now in the past week. I'll go to turn it on, and it will be unresponsive. It ultimately requires a reboot (hold the power button for 5 seconds) before it will turn on, and then it takes a few minutes to boot up. Anyone else have this happen to them? I haven't yet missed a recording because of it as far as I know, but its definitely strange.
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post #2800 of 4010
5/3/10 at 10:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tighr View Post

My box has done something weird three times now in the past week. I'll go to turn it on, and it will be unresponsive. It ultimately requires a reboot (hold the power button for 5 seconds) before it will turn on, and then it takes a few minutes to boot up. Anyone else have this happen to them? I haven't yet missed a recording because of it as far as I know, but its definitely strange.

A couple weeks ago, my box got stuck and rebooted. When it came back on, all my recordings were cleared. I lost the full series of the Discovery Channel's "Life". The tech wasn't able to tell me what happened. I don't know if what you're experiencing is the pre-cursor to what happned to me. Good luck.
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post #2801 of 4010
5/20/10 at 8:50am
If you switch from hdmi to component cables like I did to improve the "darkened" picture, be sure to adjust the output resolution (called "aspect ratio" in the menu) again. After I switched to component, the picture looked terrible. When I went into the system options, I found that the unit had reverted to 480i!
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post #2802 of 4010
5/20/10 at 10:47am
I've heard a few different things from different people. Is it possible to get 5.1 sound through HDMI using Uverse?
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post #2803 of 4010
5/20/10 at 10:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by XavierMike View Post

I've heard a few different things from different people. Is it possible to get 5.1 sound through HDMI using Uverse?

I am currently not getting 5.1 through HDMI. It will not allow me to select that option in the menu. I have not tried to set it up using an optical cable.
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post #2804 of 4010
5/20/10 at 11:10am
I'm getting 5.1 threw my receiver just fine with HDMI. It use to only see it threw optical, but a firmware some where down the road fixed that. Also make sure in the uverse setting you have the audio set to surround or is it multi channel (I forget) and not stereo.
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post #2805 of 4010
5/20/10 at 12:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DenisG View Post

I'm getting 5.1 threw my receiver just fine with HDMI. It use to only see it threw optical, but a firmware some where down the road fixed that. Also make sure in the uverse setting you have the audio set to surround or is it multi channel (I forget) and not stereo.

I get pro-logic surround just fine, but if I set the audio to surround in the menu, I get no sound. That's not true 5.1.
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post #2806 of 4010
5/20/10 at 2:47pm
Menu -> Options -> Audio/Language Options ->Digital Audio Output -> Stereo or Surround Sound

if you are connected over HDMI, the default is 2 channel stereo. I suspect that is because most people just have TV's connected to their AT&T UVerse box. When you enable Surround sound, it works for me on my Onkyo 886 and Meridian pre-pro.

Not all channels output 5.1, HBO or CNBC usually broadcast 5.1 Dolby Digital so they are good channels to check. You might hear some "drops" or "pops" due perhaps to the digital compression technology ... or you might not! Good Luck!
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post #2807 of 4010
5/20/10 at 3:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tighr View Post

I get pro-logic surround just fine, but if I set the audio to surround in the menu, I get no sound. That's not true 5.1.

I don't know, my onkyo 807 doesn't seem to care either way.
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post #2808 of 4010
5/20/10 at 3:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tighr View Post

I get pro-logic surround just fine, but if I set the audio to surround in the menu, I get no sound. That's not true 5.1.

Are you connecting directly to a TV, or through a receiver that can lift the 5.1 off the HDMI connection?

Many, many TVs do not understand 5.1 when it comes directly via HDMI as they don't have DD decoders. (My TV does this -- if I use HDMI and send DD5.1 audio, I hear nothing...and this is true from my U-Verse box, my old DirecTV box, and an upscaling/HDMI DVD player.)

And of course, some older receivers w/HDMI are passthru only (again, mine is one); it will pass the audio along (which again won't be understood by the TV) but it doesn't have the ability to actually grab the digital audio and output it; I have to use Toslink/optical.

On the other hand, if you are connected to a receiver and it does handle digital audio via HDMI, it ought to work.
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post #2809 of 4010
5/20/10 at 4:10pm
Perhaps that is the issue. I am going U-Verse via HDMI to the TV, and have optical going from the TV to the receiver. I imagine the TV is failing to pass the 5.1 through. My current setup prevents me from going HDMI directly to the receiver because then the HDDVD, Blu Ray and Xbox will not have dedicated HDMI. All of those pass true 5.1.

I would ordinarily just send the optical straight to the receiver from the U-Verse box and bypass the HDMI all together, but then the Wii and HTPC would not have audio either.
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post #2810 of 4010
5/20/10 at 4:31pm
Do you have enough optical inputs on the reciever to run the optical from the the uverse to the reciever and then run an optical from the tv to the reciever on a different imput?
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post #2811 of 4010
5/20/10 at 4:51pm
No problem here with 5.1.

I'm running the HDMI from everything thru the AVR (Sony), out from there to the TV.
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post #2812 of 4010
5/20/10 at 5:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tighr View Post

Perhaps that is the issue. I am going U-Verse via HDMI to the TV, and have optical going from the TV to the receiver. I imagine the TV is failing to pass the 5.1 through.

Yep -- my TV behaves the same way, though I am given to understand that some really will pass it. On my TV it's only functional when I'm watching OTA ATSC.

You might look into an inexpensive optical switchbox; I got one with a remote that works quite well.
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post #2813 of 4010
5/20/10 at 7:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tighr View Post

Perhaps that is the issue. I am going U-Verse via HDMI to the TV, and have optical going from the TV to the receiver. I imagine the TV is failing to pass the 5.1 through. My current setup prevents me from going HDMI directly to the receiver because then the HDDVD, Blu Ray and Xbox will not have dedicated HDMI. All of those pass true 5.1.

I would ordinarily just send the optical straight to the receiver from the U-Verse box and bypass the HDMI all together, but then the Wii and HTPC would not have audio either.

Hi tighr, most receiver has Coax In jack for digital audio. May want to consider an Optical to Coaxial Converter so you can get 5.1 from Uverse (keeping HDMI cable to Tv). This would also allow you to watch cable with or without your receiver on. Plus you can still keep the optical cable connection from Tv to receiver for Wii and HTPC.
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post #2814 of 4010
5/21/10 at 9:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JChin View Post

Hi tighr, most receiver has Coax In jack for digital audio. May want to consider an Optical to Coaxial Converter so you can get 5.1 from Uverse (keeping HDMI cable to Tv). This would also allow you to watch cable with or without your receiver on. Plus you can still keep the optical cable connection from Tv to receiver for Wii and HTPC.

This is probably my best case scenario. I don't have a spare optical, but I do have a spare coax.

As Cheer mentioned, my TV does pass 5.1 audio when I'm watching OTA ATSC, so I'm not sure why TVs don't do direct audio pass-through from HDMI.
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post #2815 of 4010
5/25/10 at 10:32am
The UV phone service has been out in this area for at least 4-5 hours or more. I checked on the uversesupport web site and they're aware of it. Apparently, there's no way to get an estimate of how long this will continue.

Is this sort of normal? I've been with UV for about 2 months and been totally satisfied with all 3 elements to this point. Never had this problem with the local telco landline service.
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post #2816 of 4010
5/25/10 at 7:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by kg7or View Post

the uv phone service has been out in this area for at least 4-5 hours or more. I checked on the uversesupport web site and they're aware of it. Apparently, there's no way to get an estimate of how long this will continue.

Is this sort of normal? I've been with uv for about 2 months and been totally satisfied with all 3 elements to this point. Never had this problem with the local telco landline service.

fyi
Quote:


Widespread outage for AT&T's digital phone lines
By PETER SVENSSON, AP
NEW YORK — AT&T's new digital home phone service failed across the country Tuesday, illustrating continuing reliability issues with Internet-based phone service.

Customers of AT&T Inc.'s U-Verse Voice said their landline phones have had no dial tones since the morning. Reached by cell phone, the customers said those who call them get a message that the line has been disconnected. Support personnel are telling customers that a server crash brought down U-Verse Voice in AT&T's entire 22-state local-phone service area.

AT&T spokeswoman Mari Melguizo said the outage started at about 10:30 a.m., and service was restored to most subscribers at 2:45 p.m. She said the extent the outage was unknown.

AT&T has 1.15 million U-Verse Voice customers. The service sends calls over subscriber's Internet connections, making it technically similar to independent Internet phone services such as Vonage. The technology, known as Voice over Internet Protocol, has a spotty reliability record compared with standard phone service, though it has been improving. U-Verse Internet and TV services weren't affected by the Voice outage.

Charles Tillman, a bank employee working from his home in Jupiter, Fla., said the outage was "infuriating."

"If you have a client calling and they get message saying it's a non-working number, they don't know it's a service outage," he said. "Thankfully, I have my cell phone."

Kimberly Dotseth, a real-estate broker in San Diego, was also upset that clients were unable to reach her.

"It's a big deal to me to just have the calls go off into the ether somewhere," she said. She has been a U-Verse customer only for a month and now wants to switch back to a regular landline.

U-Verse voice is only available in areas where AT&T has upgraded the local phone network to support TV service over phone lines.
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post #2817 of 4010
5/25/10 at 8:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KG7OR View Post

The UV phone service has been out in this area for at least 4-5 hours or more. I checked on the uversesupport web site and they're aware of it. Apparently, there's no way to get an estimate of how long this will continue.

Is this sort of normal? I've been with UV for about 2 months and been totally satisfied with all 3 elements to this point. Never had this problem with the local telco landline service.

It is not normal. This is the first time it happened since Uverse was launched. They had bad luck that both main and backup switches failed.
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post #2818 of 4010
5/26/10 at 6:32am
I don't have there phone service so I never noticed.
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post #2819 of 4010
5/26/10 at 10:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by XavierMike View Post

I've heard a few different things from different people. Is it possible to get 5.1 sound through HDMI using Uverse?


I get full 5.1 Dolby Digital sound , when the channel is broadcasting it of course , over hdmi from my uverse box to an Integra DHC 9.9 pre amp processor. That has been working since Uverse did a major firmware upgrade maybe a year or so ago. I still get the occasional audio dropouts though. Not as bad as before, but they still happen.
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post #2820 of 4010
5/26/10 at 2:08pm
I have problems with my STB freezing - frozen picture, no sound, can't change channels. Is this a common problem? Anyone else have this problem?
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