[m.white]

After doing some research and founding out that my soon to be installed Uverse uses IPTV. I have been wanting to get a tuner card so I can record some of my television shows, but have now hit a wall with the fact that AT&T uses IPTV.


Basically I am looking for what are my solutions or what can I get that lets me record my television shows and playback with my HTPC?

A few things I was wanting before I knew about this, but not sure what I can still get:

~Record HD channels (two at a time if possible)

~Plays nice with VMC (would like to keep as much control in VMC as possible)

~Storage will be on a WHS


Thanks for any help.


PS: I have looked at, and was about to buy either, AVerMedia AVerTV Combo PCIe or Silicondust HDHomeRun. Though now I am unsure with this QAM v. IPTV situation.

 

[Stereodude]

You're out of luck.


This is what has kept me from switching to u-verse myself.

 

[m.white]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Stereodude /forum/post/15440153


You're out of luck.


This is what has kept me from switching to u-verse myself.

Really, this sucks now.

I do believe I got the DVR with my service, so I can at least record a few shows, but the limits on DVRs is what I was hoping to get away from.

Question, if I split the coaxial cable from my wall could I get local QAM channels or do I need a set top box for this also?

 

[umdivx]

Because it is IPTV, it isn't streaming all of your channels at the same time, like cable tv does. There is no "copper" per se like you get with fios or cable.


Each tv will need a receiver/box to get the tv services.


Also a big downside to uverse is that it shares the same bandwidth you have for internet, so if you are streaming (watching TV) say a HD stream while you are using the internet, your internet speeds will drop due to the streaming of the tv channel.


If you want to use media center to record tv, you can do that, but you would need to do the IR blaster setup and your currently limited to SD only with VMC as right now the Hauppage HD PVR isn't supported in media center.


- Josh

 

[m.white]



Quote:
Originally Posted by umdivx /forum/post/15440549


Because it is IPTV, it isn't streaming all of your channels at the same time, like cable tv does. There is no "copper" per se like you get with fios or cable.


Each tv will need a receiver/box to get the tv services.


Also a big downside to uverse is that it shares the same bandwidth you have for internet, so if you are streaming (watching TV) say a HD stream while you are using the internet, your internet speeds will drop due to the streaming of the tv channel.


If you want to use media center to record tv, you can do that, but you would need to do the IR blaster setup and your currently limited to SD only with VMC as right now the Hauppage HD PVR isn't supported in media center.


- Josh

Wow, and I was really happy about getting Uverse, now I am getting a bit turned off. Guess I will just have to stick with their stock DVR, maybe get a second one for more recordings if I want. I was also unaware of the internet/television sharing, might need to bump up what speed of service I got.

 

[Stereodude]



Quote:
Originally Posted by m.white /forum/post/15440594


Wow, and I was really happy about getting Uverse, now I am getting a bit turned off. Guess I will just have to stick with their stock DVR, maybe get a second one for more recordings if I want. I was also unaware of the internet/television sharing, might need to bump up what speed of service I got.

The TV can't completely cut off your internet. The total bandwidth to your house is fixed. The higher the internet speed in your package the more likely it is to be affected by the TV watching in your house.

 

[cheeseman42001]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Stereodude /forum/post/15443385


The TV can't completely cut off your internet. The total bandwidth to your house is fixed. The higher the internet speed in your package the more likely it is to be affected by the TV watching in your house.

I have Uverse and I'm pretty satisfied with it. It's not like if you are watching HD TV and your internet browsing speed goes down the crapper, I haven't really noticed any problems, and any downloads i've done have been fairly fast. I think I have the U200 package with the

- can't remember exacty with elite internet speeds i believe (D: 6.0mbps, U: 1.0mbps)


edit - I've played some games on the Xbox 360 online and PC (Halo, GOW, etc) while the HD Tv in the other room was on and there weren't any noticeable lag times, just figured I'd add that in if that helps

 

[ianagain]

This is complete FUD. I can easily both HD streams (watching one, recording another) while at my peak download speed of 1.1 Mb (U400 and the Max 10 Mb package). The pipe may be shared, but theres plenty of room for both. Maybe if you subscribed to the Max18 internet package you would actually see a performance hit, but you're still above the maximum offered by most cable providers.


Your DIY DVR options are definitely limited, but the DVR they ship isn't the worlds worst. It not Myth or Tivo, but its tolerable. I wouldn't be so hard on Uverse until you've used it.

 

[wiggimt]



Quote:
Originally Posted by umdivx /forum/post/15440549


Because it is IPTV, it isn't streaming all of your channels at the same time, like cable tv does. There is no "copper" per se like you get with fios or cable.


Each tv will need a receiver/box to get the tv services.

Also a big downside to uverse is that it shares the same bandwidth you have for internet, so if you are streaming (watching TV) say a HD stream while you are using the internet, your internet speeds will drop due to the streaming of the tv channel.


If you want to use media center to record tv, you can do that, but you would need to do the IR blaster setup and your currently limited to SD only with VMC as right now the Hauppage HD PVR isn't supported in media center.


- Josh

This is FUD. Uverse has a total bandwidth to your house of about 25/2 down/up. The only internet package affected by TV streams is the Max 18 plan, which is 18/1 for internet. Some report that with all 4 streams used (2 HD, 2 SD), the speed can drop to about 13 mbps. None of the other packages are affected by this.


Not being able to record with an HTPC isn't too bad since you can watch your recordings on any box in the house since there is Total Home DVR running off your DVR box.


If you want more forums for Uverse, check out uverseusers.com and the 'official' utalk.att.com

 

[Stereodude]



Quote:
Originally Posted by wiggimt /forum/post/15444115


This is FUD. Uverse has a total bandwidth to your house of about 25/2 down/up. The only internet package affected by TV streams is the Max 18 plan, which is 18/1 for internet. Some report that with all 4 streams used (2 HD, 2 SD), the speed can drop to about 13 mbps. None of the other packages are affected by this.

It's not FUD. You just confirmed it was real. There's also got to be more than 25Mbit/sec or you'd always be cutting into your internet. As I understand it the HD channels are close to 10Mbit/sec each, so 10+10+3+3+13 != 25.

 

[umdivx]

how is what I said FUD? You all have confirmed that it does in fact "share" the same internet connection to your home.


Another down side I see is you are limited to only 2 HD feeds at one time. What is a person suppose to do with more than two HDTV's?


- Josh

 

[Stereodude]



Quote:
Originally Posted by umdivx /forum/post/15445980


Another down side I see is you are limited to only 2 HD feeds at one time. What is a person suppose to do with more than two HDTV's?


- Josh

Or someone who wants to record more than 2 HD feeds at a time, or record two and watch another. The whole system is completely half-assed and offers a negligible cost savings.

 

[m.white]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Stereodude /forum/post/15447240


Or someone who wants to record more than 2 HD feeds at a time, or record two and watch another. The whole system is completely half-assed and offers a negligible cost savings.

So if I want to record two HD channels to my DVR, and watch and HD show upstairs and another HD show downstairs, I cannot? Is there a connection speed that will allow this, one of the packages they offer?

I am not judging AT&T Uverse at all, I am still extremely happy about getting it. The past year has been a extreme pain with Comcast and their support, and what quality of product I get from them. Plus add in the horrible support I get at work from them, I do the IT partially, and it has been a non-stop fight with Comcast.

I will have to find out what package I got, I think U200 for television, but unsure of for internet speed, I might upgrade it right away if needed.

 

[rdilliker]

Does Verizon FiOS have the 25 Mbps bandwidth limitation too or is their bandwidth higher?

 

[Stereodude]



Quote:
Originally Posted by m.white /forum/post/15447643


So if I want to record two HD channels to my DVR, and watch and HD show upstairs and another HD show downstairs, I cannot?

Correct.

Quote:
Is there a connection speed that will allow this, one of the packages they offer?

Nope, the system only recently got upgraded to handle 2 HDTV streams at once. Before you were limited to one.

 

[Stereodude]



Quote:
Originally Posted by rdilliker /forum/post/15448216


Does Verizon FiOS have the 25 Mbps bandwidth limitation too or is their bandwidth higher?

No, it's completely different. It's comparable in capability to the way cable works.

 

[m.white]

So when they say I can record two HD shows, that is correct, but can I be watching an HD show? (Not two) What would happen if I was recording two HD shows and changed to an HD channel?


Also, looks like I got the most basic connection speed, I will attempt to upgrade that to the 6 down and X up (unsure of the upstream).

 

[rdilliker]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Stereodude /forum/post/15448550


No, it's completely different. It's comparable in capability to the way cable works.

Cool, yeah, as I was trying to read up more on it I saw something about FTTN vs FTTP which seems to make the difference...not sure though.

 

[Stereodude]



Quote:
Originally Posted by m.white /forum/post/15450690


So when they say I can record two HD shows, that is correct, but can I be watching an HD show? (Not two) What would happen if I was recording two HD shows and changed to an HD channel?

I don't know. I have not personally tried u-verse mainly for the reasons we're discussing here.

 

[m.white]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Stereodude /forum/post/15455867


I don't know. I have not personally tried u-verse mainly for the reasons we're discussing here.

Well then I guess I get to test it out and will report back on what happens. It seems all the glitz and glamor around Uverse is nice, but they are having major issues with competing in terms of services. Will have Uverse installed in about two weeks and will report back with my results.