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Mattftlaud3
Premium Member
join:2012-02-07
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Mattftlaud3

Premium Member

ATT UVerse Question

I'm thinking about switching from DTV to UVerse and just wanted to ask a question about the UVerse receivers. I know i've already looked at the ATT website about what receivers they offer but the info is a bit confusing.

Do they offer both a Wireless DVR receiver and standard (non-dvr) receiver or does the wireless just come with non-dvr receiver from which u can watch recorded shows on the dvr? Either way how reliable is the wireless receiver in terms of keeping connection to the gateway, etc?

Also I use a Harmony One remote ........is this remote compatible with Uverse receivers?

Also just interested..... is prgramming basically delivered/streamed to you receivers via the internet thru your phone line/gateway? If not then how does it work?

Nuckfuts
Premium Member
join:2003-10-18
Joliet, IL

Nuckfuts

Premium Member

IDK about their receivers anymore but I think the DVR has to be hardwired. Just the receivers are wireless and from reading here 2 is the max you can have for wireless. I have to ask though (assuming it is probably pricing) why are you leaving DTV? U-Verse TV has limitations like amount of streams in HD, effects your internet bandwidth, not the best HD PQ. Your receivers from U-Verse are fed from the RG (over the internet) you will be supplied by either Cat5, Coax over HPNA, or wireless if needed or wanted. IDK how reliable the wireless receivers are but some have posted good results here with them.

dslfan90
@sbcglobal.net

dslfan90 to Mattftlaud3

Anon

to Mattftlaud3
said by Mattftlaud3:

I'm thinking about switching from DTV to UVerse and just wanted to ask a question about the UVerse receivers. I know i've already looked at the ATT website about what receivers they offer but the info is a bit confusing.

Do they offer both a Wireless DVR receiver and standard (non-dvr) receiver or does the wireless just come with non-dvr receiver from which u can watch recorded shows on the dvr? Either way how reliable is the wireless receiver in terms of keeping connection to the gateway, etc?

Also I use a Harmony One remote ........is this remote compatible with Uverse receivers?

Also just interested..... is prgramming basically delivered/streamed to you receivers via the internet thru your phone line/gateway? If not then how does it work?

All the U-verse DVR's are hard wired. Wireless standard receivers are available. You are allowed 2 wireless receivers per account. The wireless receivers have only been offered for about 3 months. There are still a few bugs to workout but, for the most part they work fairly well. I have 2 of the wireless receivers, and I am fairly pleased. Some have reported some issues with the wireless receivers as far as disconnections for the Wireless Access Point. AT&T is aware of a few issues with the wireless receivers, and there was a post on the U-verse Facebook page that there will be a firmware update to address the bugs.

Yes, there are a number of U-verse customers who use the Harmony remotes to control the receivers.

The U-verse TV streams do not travel over the public internet, but are delivered to the gateway on AT&T's private network.

The total bandwidth delivered to you is shared by all U-verse services (TV, internet and voice). The bandwidth priority is as follows:

1. U-verse voice
2. U-verse TV
3. U-verse internet

Thus, the use of U-verse TV could have an impact on the available bandwidth for internet. The impact depends on: 1) You line profile; 2) The internet package subscribed to; 3) The number of TV streams in use at the same time.

Prior to switching to U-verse, I had both DirecTV, Dish Network and cable. I am please with U-verse, and don't miss any of my previous providers. No one TV provider works for everyone, so you need to weigh all the factors and chose the one that you feel will best meet your needs.

If you have any more questions about U-verse TV or of the other U-verse services, just let us know. The are a number of current U-verse customers who visit this forum who would be more than happy to provide whatever information that you need,
Mattftlaud3
Premium Member
join:2012-02-07
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Mattftlaud3

Premium Member

How does the installer determine whether or not to use Coax or Ethernet Cat5 cabling? Boy, would be nice if the installer used CAT5 b/c i already have 2 CAT 5 runs going from my computer area where the gateway would be placd to my two current directv dvr's (same place my Uverse receivers would be placed).

dslfan90
@sbcglobal.net

dslfan90

Anon

The DVR and wired receivers can be connected to the gateway with either cat5 cable or coax cable. The wireless receivers use a wireless access point (WAP) which is connected to the gateway.

If there is existing wiring already in place, the installer will use that. If not, the installer will basically do the install in the way that is easiest. If you want the wiring done is a certain way, you can run your own wiring prior to the install.
Mattftlaud3
Premium Member
join:2012-02-07
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Mattftlaud3

Premium Member

Does the type of wiring coax or cat5 make a difference in pic quality? I saw your post about the HD pic quality and that concerns me.

There are a few reasons I am thinking of switching. First, is i live in an apartment complex on the 2nd floor and currently my slimeline-5 dish is installed on the back of the building on the side of an overhang. Got that setup back in 2007. I've been with DTV since 1999. But the bigger the dishes get the more of a pain in the butt in terms of where I can have my dish installed. The install back in 2007 was a pain in the butt b/c my landlord only allows dishes in the back of the building and the only place u can put it is on the side of the back overhang. I asked the installer just to put it on the roof where the overhang is but he refused b/c he claimed he thought where he drilled the dish into the roof wuld leak. So anyways long story short where i live is just a royal pain to have DTV. My dish isnt easy to access since it's 2 floors up on an overhang. The gate to the back alley of our apartment complex was sealed shut by my stupid landlord so now if DTV has to come out for service calls they have to go around the block and drive into the alleyway in the back of my building to get to my dish.

2nd reason is (and i might be wrong) but at first glance it looks like UVerse offers more HD channels than DTV. It's been almost a year i think since DTV added any HD channels that i actually watched and i'm getting sick and tired of waiting around for them to add some. It's always the same story with them. "next quarter, next quarter" and then it never happens.

Last, DTV recently updated software and put a new HDGUI on the receivers. Since then (december) my dvr's have been EXTREMELY slow and DTV just doesnt seem to be doing anything about it. All they can tell people is restart your receiver ....clear the RAM etc etc instead of putting out a fix for this. It's just all getting old. The promise of more HD channels never happens now this new stupid and slow software.

But after all that i said if you are saying the pic quality isnt nowhere as good Uverse compared to DTV i just might have to put up with the bad i have to deal with DTV b/c PQ is very important to me.

dslfan90
@sbcglobal.net

dslfan90

Anon

No, the type of wiring does not effect HD picture quality.

Yes, U-verse has more HD channels than DirecTV.

»www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/ ··· 14422029

One thing to remember is that with U-verse, you have a 30 day guarantee. You can have it installed and keep your DirecTV service. That will give you an opportunity to do your own comparison. At the end of 30 days, you can decide which service you want to keep. If you decide that U-verse is not for you, you can cancel all of your U-verse service and owe nothing.

Nuckfuts
Premium Member
join:2003-10-18
Joliet, IL

3 edits

Nuckfuts to Mattftlaud3

Premium Member

to Mattftlaud3
Well, you will get many here including myself that will tell you their HDPQ is the worst or one the worst out there. Some here think it is better or ok. I am not trying to start a forum war here so I post from my experience(s) with providers. There are things U-Verse has that are good like alot of HD channels but it was it's limitations that swayed me away. For one, depending on what profile you could be put on (32/5= 4HD streams, 25/2= 3 HD streams) if you are a heavy recorder and watch at the same time U-Verse could be an issue because of it's limited amount of HD streams. The max is 4HD which includes the ones that are recording. Second, to provide the 3HD, 4HD profiles AT&T decided to compress their HD bitrate down to 5.7-6 Mbps which causes alot of pixelation during fast-moving shows plus what I noticed when I had it is the color was not as vibrant and very dull. I know that U-Verse DVR's come with 500GB HDD's now but that is sometimes no enough room for some people and you only can have 1 DVR. There are some here who figured out how to put a 1TB or 2TB drive in their DVR. With DTV you can have up to 6 DVR's or with their new HR34 you can record 5 HD at once. I have 2 HDDVR's each with 500GB and you can use external HDD's if you run out of space. I also have the new HDGUI and am not having the problems you are having. What receivers do you have? My 2 HDDVR's (HR22-100) and my 2 HD receivers (H24-700) actually have been working better since the upgrade. I would take dslfan's advice if you try it and see them side by side to compare. That is the best way to know. But to be honest IMO DirecTV HD looks alot better than U-Verse HD.
nephipower
join:2012-02-20
San Antonio, TX

nephipower

Member

I think Nuckfuts and other people have made some good points. Trying it out for 30 days is definitely something that you can do with their 30 day guarantee.

Also, I am pretty picky about PQ for video. People are exactly right that the PQ isn't always great and can be pixelated. However, I have also noticed that it varies a lot depending on the channel and also the show on a channel. I have seen that ESPN video quality is actually pretty good and most of the time I don't see any pixelation.

But then other times it is a different story. So really the best way to find out is to try it out yourself and see what you think. Also I changed to the newer VIP2250 DVR recently and surprisingly I noticed better picture quality with this DVR. I know that this new DVR has better CPU.

Hope that info helps
GusHerb
join:2011-11-04
Chicago, IL

GusHerb to Mattftlaud3

Member

to Mattftlaud3
Uverse HD looked like complete and total crap on our 52" LCD flatscreen. I've seen Uverse SD on other peoples smaller flat screens or CRT TV's and it looked no worse then any other type of service.
Travis299
join:2004-08-03
Cary, NC

Travis299 to dslfan90

Member

to dslfan90

Re: ATT UVerse Question (dslfan90)

Thanks for a great & intelligent reply!

PapaJoe
Just My Two Cents Worth
join:2000-07-05
Chicago, IL

PapaJoe to Mattftlaud3

Member

to Mattftlaud3

Re: ATT UVerse Question

I made the move from DirecTV to Uverse a little over a year ago and haven't looked back. While I don't have any of the wireless receivers, the HD quality is suberb on my wired receivers. I don't know about the Harmony One remote. I also have the 12MB internet and am very happy with the speeds.

The only thing I disliked about Uverse was the install. I know 3 people who ordered Uverse and like me the actual install was a nightmare. ATT needs to get their installers properly trained and capable of performing installs. In each case the installer had to call a line tech out which delayed the installs by days. The finger pointing between the techs was horrible. But on the plus side, once the system was in it works beautifully. I agree with another poster, do not cancel your DirecTV until the Uverse is up and running.
Mattftlaud3
Premium Member
join:2012-02-07
Fort Lauderdale, FL

1 edit

Mattftlaud3

Premium Member

U know given all the feedback on picture quality I think I just might wait down the line and maybe UVerse will have a better quality product out there in terms of PQ. I'm in no rush. The 4HD streams would yes be important to me b/c i watch a ton of tv and record a ton of it too. I already have an ethernet cable going to my DTV HD DVR in the living room and one for the DTV HD DVR in the bedroom so i might just get two Uverse dvr's when i decide to switch since i'm already wired up and the service includes total home DVR. So just for future reference when u order Uverse do they tell u all this about how many HD streams u can have and what internet package u need to get them all or is this something u find out after the fact/after the install then have to get on the phone to actually get what u want? BTW, just for future reference what internet package wuld i need to get the 4HD streams? Looks like from the package choices i would most likely get the U450 package since HD and HBO are included. They have a special with that pacage and Max internet for 121/mo for 6months but i notice under the Max package the green checkmark isnt there for streaming video. So would the Max Plus (18down) be better for my needs? Or is there really no difference between Max and Max Plus for the Uverse TV service with HD?

I'd really love to get some feedback from anyone living in south florida on Uverse. Since ATT bought out Bellsouth a few years back i've been having all kinds of problems (like once every couple of months) with my DSL service that I have with ATT right now. In the 8yrs Bellsouth owned the service i had not one single outage. I know Uverse and DSL are delivered to your neighborhood in different way but just wondering if the old phone wiring in my apartment complex might have some impact on the TV PQ considering how many issues I already have with my DSL.
dave006
join:1999-12-26
Boca Raton, FL

dave006

Member

You mentioned that you might consider one in the living room and one in the bedroom. You can only get one DVR with U-verse. Currently you can only record / watch up to a max of 4 different live streams per household. The profile that you end up with is based on the actual performance of the connection once the install is complete.

The internet package is not directly related to the IPTV package you order and the number of streams supported. IPTV will always have a higher priority over internet data. Any HSIA speed tier above 12 Mbps will be impacted (adjusted down in speed ) by the number of streams of IPTV that are active at any point.

Max 12/1.5 will stream video just fine.

PQ on U-verse for HD is not quite as good as DTV so your experience will vary based on this initial PQ factor and any and all issues related to the install and the quality of your connection.

Now some specific South Florida feedback. I have only had one outage since moving to U-verse from BellSouth in 2009. This outage was when a tech took my F2 pair while connecting another customer on the block for U-verse. Outage was just over 1 hour.

You may be seeing issues with your current DSL do the the turn up of U-verse. When they were installing our VRAD and conditioning lines within our block we had a number of short outages while all P-commit pairs were tested / repaired.

Dave
Mattftlaud3
Premium Member
join:2012-02-07
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Mattftlaud3

Premium Member

So then i could get the hd dvr for the living room and a standard receiver for the bedroom from which i could watch recorded shows on the living room dvr with the total home dvr service,right?
Rammer
Premium Member
join:2001-03-06

Rammer to Mattftlaud3

Premium Member

to Mattftlaud3
Hope the hd was better then mine as i canceled mine before the 30 days and kept my direct tv

i live in GA most of the time and in Navarre fl the rest of the year
direct installed a dish for nothing and all i do is take my box and that gives me only 1 bill for TV.