EXCLUSIVE: AT&T HomeZone First Look

**Scott Greczkowski** · 06-10-2006 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by Shawn95GT

The Video on demand is cool but the rest of what you listed Tivo does Today, and then some.

Not even close. If you set a remote timer it could take your Tivo up to 24 hours to download the change in the timer. With Homezone it happens instantly.

I'm not a big fan of the PPV style of distibution. Now if there were no monthly fee I'd feel a bit differently.

I agree with you and they are working on tiers and other options. Not everything is pay though there is free content as well. When they demo they like to show that they have support from the studios with recent hollywood films.

I think ondemand would be attractive if on the backend there was a huge farm of DVRs feeding all available content to the ondemand servers. Basicly from the consumer end you'd be able to watch anything and everything time allowing. Who needs two tuners in a DVR when your provider is already recording all 500 channels

.

This is what Cablevision wants to do.

**Scott Greczkowski** · 06-10-2006 07:48 PM

Originally Posted by Endorphin

Scott - what's the upfront cost on this box looking like?

Probably nothing except a long term commitment to AT&T.

**stevo/65** · 06-10-2006 07:59 PM

An egineer "my mentor" back in 92.....Predicted that customers will be able to choose what movie they want...like blockbuster,only thru cable.
He also said you will be able to request an actor ...and every show or movie the actor was in will pop up on screen for your choosing.
Looks like he was right.....and this was back in 92!

**slimoli** · 06-10-2006 08:15 PM

Why is AT&T required? Can we have it only subscribing to DishNetwork? Thanks.

**Scott Greczkowski** · 06-10-2006 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by slimoli

Why is AT&T required? Can we have it only subscribing to DishNetwork? Thanks.

Because it requires AT&T / Yahoo DSL service. (This way when you do TV stuff your going through their own servers and not actually out on the internet. Basically AT&T / Yahoo Service is like a proxy server to the Homezone box.

**mdonnelly** · 06-10-2006 08:31 PM

Originally Posted by Scott Greczkowski

Because it requires AT&T / Yahoo DSL service. (This way when you do TV stuff your going through their own servers and not actually out on the internet. Basically AT&T / Yahoo Service is like a proxy server to the Homezone box.

Well, as a long time sub to ATT (SBC) Yahoo DSL and Dish (separately), I'm hoping that I'd qualify for one of those boxes. I doubt that Lightspeed will make it to my rural suburb in the next five years.

**jcvaughan** · 06-10-2006 08:36 PM

Scott, thanks for all this great info. Did the homezone folks mention anything about requirements for the home network connection. Do you have to be operating on a windows system or will it also work with Macs?

**korsjs** · 06-10-2006 08:43 PM

Originally Posted by jcvaughan

Scott, thanks for all this great info. Did the homezone folks mention anything about requirements for the home network connection. Do you have to be operating on a windows system or will it also work with Macs?

i second this. this trip to team summit has been very valuable to all of us here and the visitors from the other sites.

**Shawn95GT** · 06-10-2006 09:13 PM

Originally Posted by Scott Greczkowski

Not even close. If you set a remote timer it could take your Tivo up to 24 hours to download the change in the timer. With Homezone it happens instantly.

If it's phone connected, yeah. With broadband I've been able to schedule a record recording inside of an hour's notice. I beleive the check-in is something like every 15 mins.

This AT&T box sounds pretty slick though - the price point and the content will make or break it. It sounds like they're making headway on the content!