U-verse?

[jeffski]

Instead of switching to satellite tv when I get married in Feb. and moving to Greendale (UNLESS TWC adds at least 9 more HD channels by then) I may switch to Uverse. As of now it's not available in Greendale and I see nowhere on their website that shows when it would be available (btw...satellite isn't an option due to many tall trees surrounding my fiance's house..especially se,s and sw of the house)
Any opinions on Uverse? Also,is there a way to find out future availabilty?

[kevbeck122]

They are very tight-lipped on availability. The only way to find out is to call or look at their availability site and put your address/phone number in. You might be able to find an AT&T tech who will give you more info.. but any of the ones that seem like they'll tell me never respond back when I give them my address/phone#. Check out uverseusers.com.. some of the local techs/home solutions consultants are on there.

[RLJSlick]

If you have more then one HDTV in the house you may want to reconsider.



Instead of switching to satellite tv when I get married in Feb. and moving to Greendale (UNLESS TWC adds at least 9 more HD channels by then) I may switch to Uverse. As of now it's not available in Greendale and I see nowhere on their website that shows when it would be available (btw...satellite isn't an option due to many tall trees surrounding my fiance's house..especially se,s and sw of the house)
Any opinions on Uverse? Also,is there a way to find out future availabilty?

[klwillis45]

If you have more then one HDTV in the house you may want to reconsider.
Or if you wanna DVR 2 HD shows at the same time. 1 HD stream at a time :(

[waterhead]

I tried to output the program to my PC based DVR. I couldn't get the HD signal at all. I can get the SD signal, so you could set up a PC based DVR. You would need a card like the Hauppauge PVR-150.

I'm using MythTV with a AverTV MCE A180. It has composite inputs, but they don't work very good under Linux.

[Gregg Lengling]

2 HD streams will be available in mid 2008 along with whole house DVR...right now they are ramping up Uverse Voice (cVoiP)

[jeffski]

no,only 1 hdtv

[klwillis45]

Just got notified that Uverse is now available in my neighborhood. As soon as mutiple HD streams and whole house DVR is up I'm dropping TWC.

[gparris]

Just got notified that Uverse is now available in my neighborhood. As soon as mutiple HD streams and whole house DVR is up I'm dropping TWC.

So am I!
Now, once our "city fathers" in lovely Kenosha County decide that TWC isn't the only "game" around, that is.

Those technological "loopholes" they found will soon be gone for good as U-Verse's technology develops and I am sure it will.

With 2 HD channels to record at a time, this will do just fine on my HD DVRs!:rock:

[Gregg Lengling]

Just got notified that Uverse is now available in my neighborhood. As soon as mutiple HD streams and whole house DVR is up I'm dropping TWC.

That means you'll be signing up in mid next year 2008.

[RonH]

What format does U-verse use? Can you set the box to output the native format of the original signal, or do they turn it all into 1080i during mpeg4 conversion? Turning a channel like espnhd (720p) into 1080i results in something like 720i I would guess, which is only a slight improvement over SD, and it may even be throwing out every other frame.

[kevbeck122]

I would imagine they keep the native resolution of the signal up until it gets to the box, but I'm not positive on that. The box either outputs 720p or 1080i.. you can't do it based on the native resolution of the channel... it's just one or the other. You can probably blame that on Microsoft.. it's their software running on the box. It's the same way when using the media center extender on the xbox 360.

[RonH]

So then if you have a 720p tv, and set it to 720p, you are probably ok. If you have a 1080p tv, and set it to 1080i, and then watch espn-hd, you get some upscaled 720i signal? Yuck.

[kevbeck122]

You're probably not going to notice the difference. The box will upscale the 720p to 1080i, then your TV will upscale to 1080p if you have a 1080p TV. The box/TV is upscaling to 1920x1080i, not 1280x720i. If you set it to 720p, the TV will upscale to 1080p. I usually leave my TWC box at 1080i because it gives me the best picture quality.

[RonH]

I would think it gets the pixel up/downscaling correct regardless of how you do it, although some will be better than others. My concern was how does the u-verse box take a 60fps 720p signal, like espnhd, and turn it into a 1080i signal with 30fps? Sounds like every other frame is thrown out, thus negating the purpose of sports programming going with 720p.

[klwillis45]

Just got notified that Uverse is now available in my neighborhood. As soon as mutiple HD streams and whole house DVR is up I'm dropping TWC.

OK...I lied. I stopped by the Bayshore store today to finally see Uverse in action. All those HD channels + the lack of stuff to DVR = I just signed up online, install set for 1/11. (The writers strike did you no favors TWC)
I'll post my experience after.

Hopefully that 1Q 2HD stream rumor comes true soon to tide me over til whole house & 4HD gets rolling.

[gparris]

Good luck on your decision and setup.:wave:

Let us know how it is once you got it and how it went with the setup.

The whole Writer's Strike means overall less new programming and without more HD channels in the lineup, TWC is going fare worse than it already is!

More means a larger variety of HD channels = more chances to watch in HD:
So with Dishnet, Directv and U-Verse, there are more options than TWC Wisconsin.

But always remember: TWC will try to work on this to "spin" this to their side once again.

-At least you have a "way out" with TWC with U-Verse availablity.:D
-Now that's something we Kenosha County folks cannot say we have-or will have-for some time.
Comcast, please take us over...please!

[LowSignal]

Really enjoying the Uverse, I was surprised they are so deep in TWC territory over on 27th and edgerton, Only thing messed up was signed up for the $100 gift card instead of the free HD channels for a year:bang: my bad..........

[picopir8]

I have had Uverse since April and I must admit that I have been very pleased with them. I have had zero service outages in that time frame (I usually experienced at least 1-2 outages with satellite or cable in the same time frame), and it seems every few weeks more channels are added (both HD and SD). The installers rewired the entire house complete with wall plates at no additional charge, and even put on little booties and cleaned up after themselves. My only complaint is that some of the local channels "hiccup" when switching from the network to local feeds. I think there is some synch signal embedded in the broadcast that confuses uverse. It causes the last half second to be lost on a few commercials and if I watch the morning news, Al Roper only gets out "Here's the weather in your neck of the" before it switches to the local weather. It is a very minor inconvenience that I can live with considering the savings over satellite and cable. Well when I first signed up I had a couple DVRed shows appear as all black but that has not happened in a long time.

My only fear is that uverse will increase their prices once they steal away a few more customers. D* did that to me shortly after they purchased USSB but now that there are 2 satellite and 2 "wired" compeditors, prices will fall rather than rise.

[gparris]

Really enjoying the Uverse, I was surprised they are so deep in TWC territory over on 27th and edgerton, Only thing messed up was signed up for the $100 gift card instead of the free HD channels for a year:bang: my bad..........

Hey, you only lost $20 over that decision and you DO have U-Verse, right?
($10/month for HD access x 12 months/year vs. $100 gift card).

-Great to see U-Verse is as good as advertised for the lucky to have it.
I'll have to update my new comparison matrix for clients to add U-Verse, now.:D

FYI:
TWC's so-called "Free HD" is not "free" at all:
I don't see "Free" in my HD box rental billings (to get those "Free" HD channels), Digital Service billings or anything like that.
It's a deception, IMO, plain and simple.

Also compare the fewer HD channels that TWC Wisconsin does offer, including fees for approx. $7/month for HDNET/HDNET Movies and a couple others:
The price of $10/month ("HD Technology Fee") that all you U-Verse HD subs pay for 40+ HD channels (which includes HDNET/HDNET Movies), is definitely worth it!

[TPK]

Really enjoying the Uverse, I was surprised they are so deep in TWC territory over on 27th and edgerton, Only thing messed up was signed up for the $100 gift card instead of the free HD channels for a year:bang: my bad..........

Could you do me a favor and report your hardware and software version(s) for your DVR box?

I have a feeling that u-verse has newer boxes out there going to new subs... If they do then I want one (I will try to get them to swap mine out)... The slow buggy windows-CE based DVR boxes are driving me crazy...

You can get this information by going to the Menu, then Options, then System Settings, then System Information:

Here is what I have:

TV2 client version: 1.2.42004.2 (RELEASE)
Platform OS/Version: WinCE/5.0.1400
Bootstrap ROM version: 141.14897913
Set-Top Box / CPU: MOTOROLA VIP1216 / 297

[klwillis45]

Looks like whole house dvr is imminent (http://www.xchangemag.com/hotnews/81h894154.html) :rock: Now if they can get that 2nd HD stream going we'll really be in business or they can skip that step and go straight to 4. ;)

[TPK]

Looks like whole house DVR is imminent :rock: Now if they can get that 2nd HD stream going we'll really be in business or they can skip that step and go straight to 4. ;)

Great...

Can you fix-up the link though?

[kjnorman]

Even though I do not live there anymore I noticed that U-Verse is being installed in Whitefish Bay. From WhitefishBayNow (http://www.whitefishbaynow.com/watch/?watch=32&date=1/7/2008&id=33866)

Site selected for 'ugly' AT&T box

The Whitefish Bay Village Board on Monday had a difficult time selecting a spot for a 5-foot utility box that AT&T will use for its new U-verse service.

A proposal to hide the box in a corner of the municipal parking lot behind Winkie's Variety Store, 629 E. Silver Spring Drive, failed with a tie vote.

Then a proposal to put the box across the street on North Hollywood Avenue just south of East Silver Spring Drive passed. The box will be on the grass between the sidewalk and the street. Another, smaller utility box is nearby, which was key to Village President Kathleen Pritchard.

"It's ugly," she said of the box. "I would rather concentrate them so we are not polluting two places."

[TPK]

Looks like whole house dvr is imminent (http://www.xchangemag.com/hotnews/81h894154.html) :rock: Now if they can get that 2nd HD stream going we'll really be in business or they can skip that step and go straight to 4. ;)

Thanks for fixing the link.....

Whole-house DVR??? Im guessing that its not going to work reliably (if at all) because the boxes (at least the DVR box) is already under-powered as it is.... Now were going to ask it to perform a second and possibly a third video stream (with possibly another decryption/encryption cycle) over the 100 megabit network (unfortunately, these are 100 megabit switches built into the RG, too bad they couldnt go right to gigabit), and at the same time record multiple SD (or HD) video streams????

As it stands right now, I hit the "Guide" button and I have to wait a full second (or two) for the guide to pop up..... I wonder how thats going to change once it has to maintain streams going to the other boxes in my house??

.... Note to AT&T.... I hope your going to fix (upgrade, replace) these under-powered boxes before you go ahead and add all these great features, or your going to have a lot of ticked off customers to deal with ....

[klwillis45]

Curses!!! Install guys came but I'm too far from the VRAD so I get to wait until they build another one in my area or upgrade the loop length.
They did most of the install so when I'm finally good to go it won't take long to be up and running. Stuck with TWC for now.

[jreinardy]

"The installers rewired the entire house complete with wall plates at no additional charge, and even put on little booties and cleaned up after themselves. "

I am thinking of going this since I don't have a logical place for a dish. I was curious about the rewiring job they did. Were the wires fished through walls, or run outside? I have three TV's, only one of which is HD. That one is also the only one on cable so new wiring would be needed upstairs at least.

Thanks,

Jim

[picopir8]

I am thinking of going this since I don't have a logical place for a dish. I was curious about the rewiring job they did. Were the wires fished through walls, or run outside? I have three TV's, only one of which is HD. That one is also the only one on cable so new wiring would be needed upstairs at least.

Thanks,

Jim

In my case all the wires were fished through the walls. The one and only exception was I pointed out a hole behind my radiator drilled by a D* installer to run coax. I told the uverse installer that he could use the same cable for that one since it was there. However, instead of running the cable through the hole directly to the uverse box, he ran the wire, tacked it along the baseboard, then mounted connector box next to the radiator. The cable plugged into the uverse box then plugged into that connector. It looks much better than just having a cable disappear behind the radiator, but if I had not said anything, I am sure that I would probably have had the wires fished through the walls just like with the other rooms.

I own a duplex though so they only needed to wire the first story which makes it easy. Usually, if you need a second story wired, cable/satellite installers will either run the cable outside and up the side of the house or along the side of a chimney or cloths chute because it is difficult to fish through two stories . Uverse may do the same.

If coax is already available upstairs, they can connect boxes to those TVs with coax and then just run network cable for first story boxes and computers. Or if most devices are upstairs they can probably drop cable through the attic.

[markndonna]

I switched from time warner 3 weeks ago. Slightly less picture quality on some hd channels , not all of them. I got sick of time warners lack of hd channel additions, big ten network, nfl channel etc. I will never go back they just keep sticking it to the man.

[Acragas]

I just got an HDTV, finally (go me!)

Unfortunately, I can't get an upgraded satellite dish yet - I live in an apartment, and while my flimsy window board is enough to hold my SD dish, they'll need to do a pole install for the HD dish - and it's obvious that no one is going to be able to dig many holes for a few months.

So, what I'd like to know is - is there any type of long-term contract or commitment for U-Verse? What I'd like to do is put my satellite account on hold until they can do the install, and have U-Verse for about 3 months or so in the meantime. Would I be able to do this without any early cancellation fees/penalties?

[klwillis45]

No contracts with uverse.