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poodleguy
join:2014-06-26
Fort Lauderdale, FL

poodleguy

Member

Goodbye Dish. Hello Uverse. But what about my dvr size and recordings?

My HOA for my new condo won't allow DISH (I know the FCC rules but I have no balcony or patio so satellite is totally out of the question.) So next week I have Uverse coming for an install.

I am not excited yet as I have over 1.5 TB of recordings on my Dish plus external and I understand Uverse DVR is at most 155 hours of HD. Yikes. And no external is possible? And only 2 channels (or is it 4 of HD) recording at once. Wow I am in for some changes.

Can anyone clarify if it is possible at all to connect an external? I've been reading lots of this forum and it seems I could switch the ATT hard drive to a larger one on my own but I am not that technical. Any clear advice for me? And any ideas on how I might get my Dish recordings to go along with me? Dish says they can't be read by any device but Dish DVR. Can I convert them or can I read them on my computer as long as they are on my external?

I've driven the att service agents crazy asking them so many questions. Any help from anyone here is much appreciated.

rolande
Certifiable
MVM,
join:2002-05-24
Dallas, TX
ARRIS BGW210-700
Cisco Meraki MR42

rolande

MVM,

Depending on the U-verse bandwidth profile the tech is able to install, you should get 4 HD and 2 SD streams.

I don't know the options for Dish DVR video extraction off hand. However, I am pretty certain that anything that you could do would all be an unsupported hack. Not that it won't work, but if you aren't technical enough to follow the directions, good luck. There may be a client app out there that can grab all the video off the Dish DVR and pull it down to watch on the computer. I don't believe there are any options to convert and dump other DVR video onto a U-verse DVR. If I were you, I would get ready for some marathon TV watching. At least watch all the stuff that won't be available On-Demand with U-verse.

Good luck!

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena to poodleguy

Premium Member

to poodleguy
You cannot own more then ONE DVR with AT&T, and you are limited to the amount of hard drive space it has, you cannot expand it like you can with Dish and DirecTV. I believe the current, new models have 1 TB of space, but there are models with 500 GB out there. I don't know if you are guaranteed a new model, or whether you get a recycled DVR. Just like Dish, DirecTV, and Cable companies, they re-use returned DVR's.

As far as extracting your Dish recordings, its very likely they are encrypted on the hard drive with a Dish network encryption. They do this to prevent piracy, and I do believe that the AT&T DVR has a similar encryption, so no offloading from it to free up space either.

I believe there is a maximum of 4 channels that can be recorded at the same time, and every recorded channel is taking away from a channel you can watch. So if there is 2 HD being recorded, you can watch 2 other HD channels. (and still 2SD of course).

Regarding the Dish issue, have you considered a Dish on a tripod? Sometimes the back yard (which should be private enough) has enough visible southern sky to allow you to setup a tripod somewhere.

Also you should know that whether you can actually GET 4HD streams, greatly depends on the distance of the VRAD, and the quality of the lines. If the HOA is hardcore about dishes, chances are the VRAD is kept well out of range too to not disturb the pristine lawns you pay your outrageous HOA fees for. You may find you can only get e.g. 3HD, 1SD if the distance is too great.

Also keep in mind that the internet speed will be affected by the number of recordings. Everything goes through the same profile speed. So if you have a 32 meg profile, and have 18 Mbps internet, and you watch 1HD at around 6 Mbit/s there is no problem. Even 2 HD would fit, as that would use up 12 Mbit/s from the 32, and still leave 20 Mbit/s for the 18 Mbit/s internet. If you however record or watch a third HD channel, you will have 14 Mbit/s left for internet, and with a 4th it will be 8 Mbit/s.

You may get a much higher profile, and be able to qualify for 45 Mbit/s internet. But the same math applies eventually.
poodleguy
join:2014-06-26
Fort Lauderdale, FL

poodleguy

Member

Thanks Rolande and Maarteena. Yes I am having marathon dish viewing to watch as much of my recordings before I lose them. Dish stated I could use the Dish Pause service ($5/mo) to suspend service at no cost and would be able to watch all my recordings locally without the dish satellite. I'm a little unsure about this but I can hope this works and I can do a lot of viewing once I'm moved while having my ATT Uverse initiated and running also.

I do have one last hope as Dish will come out before ATT and give me the final word on whether there is anything they can do. I asked about the tripod but I still think it's unlikely given the common shared areas of the HOA.

You guys and others in diffferent forums have mentioned Uverse has larger DVRs. This is news to me. I've chatted them several times and they say their largest hold 155 hours. That would be about 400MB drive I think which is not the 500MB or 1TB mentioned here as possibility.

Can someone address 2 follow-ups I have?

The Uverse profile and VRAD stuff is more new info to me. Is there something I can request or "beg" of the technician at install to make sure I get a higher profile or able to record more HD channels at once. Maybe I'm misunderstanding and profile is simply the clarity and proximity of the connection? FYI...my new condo was built in 2005 and was designed with fiber optics throughout. In fact, a local company (I'm in south florida) called hotwiremail.net was the ONLY internet/tv option for the first few years (except the few owners who can mount dish on balcony tripod) and only recently has the HOA allowed UVerse to come in and provide service to some owners. I'm hoping the design of the building with new wiring will produce great speeds and options.

Also, does anyone have thoughts on the ATT/DirecTv deal as far as early impressions on whether ATT might eventually offer or somehow integrate Directv's Genie DVR into its own model? I know it's probably a guessing game but I sense a great deal of experts who here probably have a good finger on the pulse of possible scenarios in this deal.
benk016
join:2011-06-05
Owasso, OK

benk016

Member

said by poodleguy:

You guys and others in diffferent forums have mentioned Uverse has larger DVRs. This is news to me. I've chatted them several times and they say their largest hold 155 hours. That would be about 400MB drive I think which is not the 500MB or 1TB mentioned here as possibility.

I have the Larger DVR. it is a 500gb dvr. It holds around 155 hours of HD. There is a larger 1tb DVR, but I've only heard it being installed for users on the gigapower service in Austin. There is also a smaller DVR that you get if you subscribe to the TV packages of U200 or lower. u300 or higher I think are supposed to get the 500gb DVR.
benk016

benk016 to poodleguy

Member

to poodleguy
said by poodleguy:

The Uverse profile and VRAD stuff is more new info to me. Is there something I can request or "beg" of the technician at install to make sure I get a higher profile or able to record more HD channels at once. Maybe I'm misunderstanding and profile is simply the clarity and proximity of the connection? FYI...my new condo was built in 2005 and was designed with fiber optics throughout. In fact, a local company (I'm in south florida) called hotwiremail.net was the ONLY internet/tv option for the first few years (except the few owners who can mount dish on balcony tripod) and only recently has the HOA allowed UVerse to come in and provide service to some owners. I'm hoping the design of the building with new wiring will produce great speeds and options.

Your profile will depend on your distance from the VRAD, which is a box on the street that serves all the customers around it. Basically fiber is ran to that box, and from there its VDSL to your house. The closer you are the faster your speeds are. There is also the possiblity that you would be connected by FTTP or Fiber to the Premises. In this case fiber is ran all the way to your condo. At this point you would be able to get all 4 HD streams plus any more when they allow them. I have FTTP at my house and am able to get up to 24mb internet and all 4 HD streams.

When you go to order U-Verse, what options does it give you? I'm guessing you know it lets you order TV service, which means you are on either VDSL or FTTP. What internet speeds does it allow you to choose?

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

1 edit

maartena to poodleguy

Premium Member

to poodleguy
About profile/VRAD: It depends on distance to the VRAD from your appartment. I don't know about your fiber cable situation and whether it is owned by AT&T or by this hotwiremail company. In 2005 there was no U-Verse in existence yet (I believe it was launched in 2007) so I don't think that fiber is AT&T, but I could be completely wrong. If other companies were using it, it is likely not owned by AT&T. You can't "beg" for a higher profile, it is limited by distance, line quality, and the technical limitations that come with it. There really is no way of finding out what it will sync to until the tech comes to your home.

About ATT/DirecTV: No one really knows. My experiences with other BIG merges (Sirius XM comes to mind) is that it takes several years to combine a company with regards to billing, technology used, receivers used, etc. My car still has an XM radio, and they really just started releasing car stereos that do both XM and Sirius for the full packages. It is possible that AT&T will borrow DirecTV technologies to design the next generation U-Verse DVR, but I think we are at least several years away from that happening. They may come up with a "hybrid" system that delivers part of the TV through satellite, and part through U-Verse, in order to deliver unlimited television streams like satellite, but still be able to offer a LOT of sub channels and low-interest channels without taking up precious satellite space. We don't know what the future will hold, but I think this deal will be a win for AT&T in the long run.

About the DVR size: It seems that 500 GB is the standard, and about 155 Hours is what it will contain. Keep in mind with that that although 500 GB is the hard drive space, part of that is used for the operating system, space to put updates, space to cache/buffer VOD, space to cache channels being watched (so you can rewind, pause, etc), etc.... so it could very well be that only about 400 GB is available for actual recording, while the remaining 100 GB is used for the OS, caching as described above etc.... you still want to be able to rewind a bit on the 4 channels you watch, and that cache will take space.

Lastly, just my general opinion: When I bought a house, I specifically bought without a HOA. HOA fees go up each year, and even when your house is paid off, you'll end up paying ever increasing fees, only for them to tell you what you can and cannot do. Okay, they may provide a pool, tennis courts and a mowed lawn for you, but to me.... it isn't worth it. I painted my house last year, and although the house is a nice, probably by your HOA approved taupe, I went with TURQUOISE for the trim and wood, and it makes for a beautiful combination. HOA's just want boring colors, and if you have the wrong HOA, they will tell you you can only plant from a certain list of plants too. I'd like to decide myself what color I want to paint my door, thank you very much.

Here in California is a city called Irvine. A planned community with all nice lawns and prettied-up streets and pristine sidewalks.... but you can only get 3G on your phone because they refuse the telco companies to put down more towers for 4G and LTE. If you live somewhere near the center of this planned community, you may actually be lucky if you GET cell service. There is no U-Verse from AT&T (the only city in the area) because the HOA of all the "villages" refuse to let them place VRADS. Dishes are the same problem, NO Dishes whatsoever. To overcome the FCC ruling however, they have "master" Dishes for DirecTV in several areas, so you can get DirecTV, and they just connect your receivers to a dish that is cleverly hidden somewhere on the block.

No thanks.... HOA's are almost communist to me, way too restrictive, way to "conform to the same", way to little choice.
poodleguy
join:2014-06-26
Fort Lauderdale, FL

poodleguy

Member

When I go to sign up for Uverse, I get the option to do full services TV/Internet/Home Phone. I can opt for Max Turbo (24Mbps) and their U450 tv plan. So it seems I have good options (pricing is a different animal all together). I should point out that Dish is so high on my list in every category especially their dvr and remote technology. I've had them for years and I've twice threatened to leave and ended up getting a big price reduction for months at time to stay with them. Almost feel guilty but I've been paying less than $50 total for America's 250 with showtime and a slew of sports regional channels with 2TB drive/HD. That's more like a new customer deal and I've been able to get that more than once in the last 5 years.

Yes, the idea of HOAs (especially the crazy fees here in South Florida) was a big turnoff. I did a lot house shopping (actually made an offer and was accepted and moved ahead with inspection but backed out last minute.) The cost of insurance makes houses a real challenge here. And the threat annually of major hurricane damage creates a big set of potential issues for any homeowner (versus most condos.) So for now I went the condo/HOA route but I am continuing to consider a Florida home for the future (my dog craves a big back yard.)

As for the fiber optics, you raise a good point. The developers contracted with hotwiremail.net (if you are curious, check their website at gethotwired.com) but I am not impressed. Here's their tag "Hotwire communications is one of the nation's leading fiber optic telecommunications providers specializing in multi-family communities. Hotwire employs cutting-edge fiber-to-the-home technology in which fiber-optic cable serves as the backbone for all of the community's communication services."

I would assume this means they own the fiber optic and ATT is just recently allowed to provide service through their equipment? Not sure how that works exactly. Hotwiremail.net's concierge type web page is boring and offers little. Their prices are ridiculous and they have no promos or packages. You order basically a la carte with no savings. I can't imagine they have many in the community who use them except maybe the snow birds who come down and want just basic cable and perhaps home security. My rough review of their site tells me I would pay about $185 for a package of only tv/internet that would be much fewer channels than i have now with Dish or would get with Uverse (again they have no initial signup promo so full cost from day one.) And they give no details on their DVR or muti-tuner capacity but I'm guessing it is small and probably limited to 2 simultaneous channels. I can't imagine they have any type of advance programming or remote viewing/recording or ipad functionality. I would have to go the TIVO route to get dvr capacity and recording features so that puts me well over $200 for this on-site option. Yuck.

I jokingly told a friend I should quickly shower my upstairs neighbor with gifts and kindness and ask her to allow me (for some $$$) to tripod a Dish on her balcony so I could have them connect to my unit from above. After laughing about it, I have decided to mention that to Dish guy when he comes out next week to confirm there is nothing he can do.