ATT U-verse

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farscapesg1

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So we just purchased a new home and found out that we can get AT&T U-Verse instead of Comcast. Has anyone had any experience with it?

I've spent some money over the last 2 years getting my HTPC setup for cable with a SageTV server (running 4 SD Tuners and 2 HD QAM tuners), along with two client systems for the living room and bedroom.

While I would love to get away from Comcast, I'm not sure if it is worth the headache, or even if it is possible to reconfigure my setup to make use of the U-Verse offerings. I would assume that I would have to connect the receivers to my tuners cards via s-video, but SageTV doesn't even offer a listing for U-verse in their EPG lineup.

Am I stuck with Comcast as long as I want to continue using a HTPC setup for my recording needs?
 
hmm good question.

I would take U-verse over comcast (I am a current comcast customer) just for the fact that its fiber and not cable. I think you should be asking the beyondtv forum folks if their will be an update for U-verse.
 
Treyshadow said:
hmm good question.

I would take U-verse over comcast (I am a current comcast customer) just for the fact that its fiber and not cable. I think you should be asking the beyondtv forum folks if their will be an update for U-verse.
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Hmm, you mean SageTV folks? ;) That was my next stop.
 
Treyshadow said:
hmm good question.

I would take U-verse over comcast (I am a current comcast customer) just for the fact that its fiber and not cable. I think you should be asking the beyondtv forum folks if their will be an update for U-verse.
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I hate comcast and timewarner as much as anybody else here, but there is a word of caution I would like to give here. Verizon / ATT are *NOT* bound by any of the laws that apply to cable carriers, since their content is delivered over fiber. This means that they have no requirements to enable firewire ports on set top boxes, and no mandates for interoperability.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

-q
 
Well, no repsonses from SageTV yet...

Zap2it doesn't even have U-Verse listed in the zip code, so I doubt SageTV will be able to do anything for the EPG.

I posted my dilemma on Uverseusers.com also, but no responses. After all the horror stories of the ATT techs cutting the existing coax line when installing, I'm not about to switch until I can get some good answers. For the time being, it looks like I will just have Comcast move our service to the new address and when/if U-Verse matures I may look into it again.

I'm kinda sad though as the idea sounds good and I would love to get away from the cable companies. I could go satellite, but having to get 4 STBs for my recording purposes, plus having to by a HDTV antenna to get the local HD channels isn't very appealling, Not to mention my horrible experience with Dish Network about 7 years ago when I first moved to Houston (bad reception, incompetent installer that punched a hole in my wall with his drill when installing the cable, having to sign a contract, etc.).
 
Supposedly their PVR can record 4 shows at the same time, but you can only watch HD channel at a time. The system is more similar to on demand in that only what you are watching is sent to you. It's all MPEG-4 too. It's completely incompatible with PC TV tuners and all that jazz.

My new house (not finished being built yet) is supposedly serviced by U-verse, but I have some real concerns about getting it. Thankfully the local cable company is not Comcast though.
 
Honestly, other than the price increases, I've been very happy with TWC/Comcast. The whole transition thing from TWC to Comcast is still ongoing in my area (I still have rr.com account even though the bills say Comcast). I rarely have to contact customer service, but the few times I have it wasn't an issue.

It all boils down to wanting to cut the TV/Internet/Phone cost, but not at the expense of loosing my HTPC capabilities.
 
Stereodude said:
I don't have any big complaints with the service from Comcast, but I hate the price. It's out and out highway robbery.
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first of all i am a loyal hating comcast customer i thinkn thier prices are awsome ...you smoking rocks or what buddy?.... compare them to verizon and anyone else with the fine print in mind.. verizion has crappy service..not bound to shit plus outragious prices aswell.... comcast atleast is bound by law for certain criteria....ontop of that you think thoughs others use pure fiber/? who are u kidding... their services are the same as comcast...main lines are fiber but to the house pure coax.... which comcast has more reliability in as far as they have been around longer and maintained theirs alot better off... i pay 29.99 for 16mbps.......cant beat that even with a differnt isp.... so what you have to call in every 6 months for a new promo.. you wouldnt even be able to do that with fios which is slower unless you pay 180/m.......now tell me ya wanna switch lol.......i did and regreted it and paid them to cancle my shit and went back to comcast... thier t.v. setup sucks yes... but dish is more exspensive then comcast plus i had crappy service was always down...so idk my 2 cents... but id take reliability anyday or decent or half way working for better...and more cost...
 
Their dvr can record 4 streams at one time, only one being HD. I hope you know that they only have enough bandwidth for those 4 streams and that if u ARE recording 4 at once, you cannot watch tv from another stb. 26mbps cap ftl. 6 reserved for internet, the rest for tv.
 
D.petersen84 said:
first of all i am a loyal hating comcast customer i thinkn thier prices are awsome ...you smoking rocks or what buddy?.... compare them to verizon and anyone else with the fine print in mind.. verizion has crappy service..not bound to shit plus outragious prices aswell.... comcast atleast is bound by law for certain criteria....ontop of that you think thoughs others use pure fiber/? who are u kidding... their services are the same as comcast...main lines are fiber but to the house pure coax.... which comcast has more reliability in as far as they have been around longer and maintained theirs alot better off... i pay 29.99 for 16mbps.......cant beat that even with a differnt isp.... so what you have to call in every 6 months for a new promo.. you wouldnt even be able to do that with fios which is slower unless you pay 180/m.......now tell me ya wanna switch lol.......i did and regreted it and paid them to cancle my shit and went back to comcast... thier t.v. setup sucks yes... but dish is more exspensive then comcast plus i had crappy service was always down...so idk my 2 cents... but id take reliability anyday or decent or half way working for better...and more cost...
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umm...what?

First of all, FiOS is not a crappy service. In my experience, their picture quality beats out comcast's analog AND digtal PQ. Especially in high motion scenes where compression artifacts are most obvious.

I had comcast cable internet (the "6 mbps" package) and was paying about $53 a month, it would have been $57 if i had opted not to get their basic analog package as well. Download speeds were on the order of 2mbps, if i was very lucky. Verizon charges $47 a month with no contracts for ther 5mbps service, and the highest speed i'd ever gotten was 4.89mbps, quite regularly. It was mind-blowing.

Verizon lists their basic TV package starting at $42.99, with $5 for each additional STB you want to add. Comcast's programming starts at $53.20, with a significantly smaller amount of channels, some of which come in Analog even with the STB. They charge $9/mo for each additional SD STB. Oh, and HD is included, you just have to pay $10 per HD STB. Comcast charges you an additional $5 a month for HD boxes.

Verizon's Multi-Room DVR allows you to have one DVR in your house ($15 a month for that STB), and stream any recorded shows to ANY other box in your house. Comcast will....let you have a bunch of dvr's.....each costing $12 a month...

Finally, after your year of discounts, comcast VOIP is $45 a month, and relies on the availaibility of the internet. Which, in my experience, can be spotty at best, especially in an older neighborhood with bad SNR's. Verizon charges you $49 a month for a similar unlimited service, or $42 if you don't see yourself placing calls to Canada or Guam. Verizon comes out to a little bit more in this area, (local only is $30/mo), but you can also use your phone if your power goes out because of the battery backup installed with the FiOS box. Comcast....well i hope you have a cell phone.

All in all, Verizon, in my mind, comes out a little ahead of Comcast in price and quality of service. Granted, each service has its ups and downs, but after using both extensively i can safely say verizon offers higher quality services.

I'd be curious to see if you ever approach 16mbps, or if you even need that much downstream. Unless you're downloading large files 24/7 i don't see much point for anything above the 5/6 barrier. And calling in for a discount every 6 months is quite a hassle for bragging rights.

Verizon runs a fiber optic cable to your house. Not a coax cable.
 
If you are a SageTV user, you cannot switch to U-Verse - period. There is nothing Sage can do with U-Verse.

Keep your analog cable and QAM channels coming until something else comes along or changes the landscape - but AT&T U-Verse is a totally closed system.

In practice, it's pretty cool, so long as you don't need Sage. MPEG-4 delivered over MPLS via multicast. It's basically a high-def version of YouTube, ala AT&T style. The problem is nobody else's tuner is compatible.

Robert
 
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