EXCLUSIVE: AT&T HomeZone First Look

[Scott Greczkowski]

Yesterday walking the show floor I saw one of the most exciting devices I have ever laid my eyes on and it was not made by Echostar, instead this beauty came to us from the folks at 2WIRE. The products name is the AT&T HomeZone and what it does is truely amazing.

The AT&T HomeZone combines a Satellite Receiver with the power of the internet.

I am not going to write up a full review now as I am expecting a test unit, however from what I have seen so far I know I am going to cry when its time for me to send my review unit back.

One of the main features of the unit is true video on demand, and this video on demand goes way beyond what the cable companies offer (who only offer you between 200 - 400 selections) basically with the HomeZone the playlist is massive and keeps growing every day as AT&T partners witl additional content providers.

Let's say you came home one night and wanted to see the Movie Greese, you can go into a menu seach for Grease and for a small fee be watching Greese in full DVD quality in just a few moments (depending on your internet connection speed it may take a few seconds to a few minutes for the movie to buffer and start.

Have a favorite Internet Radio Station? You can listen to it on your TV or home stereo.

HomeZone can also store your digital photos and audio on its hard drive or better yet it can access your photos and audio available on computers on your home network. But whats even cooler is let say your at work and you want to show a co worker pictures from your recent vacation, by going to Yahoo you can log in to your HomeZone account and view all your pictures, plus you can even access all the music from your home network anywhere in the world.

Another neat feature (and one I have been waiting for) is the ability to program DVR timers on the internet. To do this just go to Yahoo and login to your HomeZone Account click on the program guide button and you can then program your DVR over the internet. Now you never need to say "Dang I forgot to set the DVR to record CSI" CSI again. For the demo I was given I was shown that as soon as I clicked on the record button on the web interface the red record circle was displayed in the guide for that program on the DVR, it was instant no waiting.

There is just so much you can do with the HomeZone it's an amazing device. Want to check your email on your TV.. You can... want to chat with Yahoo Messanger... You can...

Another thing loved about it was it has 2 Digital Off Air Tuners a feature lacking on Echostar boxes. Also one HomeZone box can feed two TVs (1 in HD and the other in SD).

The unit comes with two huge remotes which can double as Ping Pong Paddles. (Ok dont use them for Ping Pong Paddles) however these will be remotes which will be really hard to lose. the remotes even feature a full QWERTY keyboard on board.

As this service grows you will be able to watch what you want when you want, the AT&T HomeZone makes you in charge of your viewing almost like your running your own TV station.

I cant wait to get one to demo.

[Sean Mota]

how big is the Hard Disk on this thing? 1 HD feed is ok but I would have preferred two. I am not much into on-demand programming but I see the potential of this if you could have all you DVRs networked to this one.

[Scott Greczkowski]

The one HD feed is setup like just like the 622 is. The big plus is the two OTA tuners.

I will find out about the size of the hard drive today for you as I am going back in a bit for a meeting with the AT&T and 3WIRE Guys.

[BFG]

I can't wait for bellsouth to switch to AT&T....

[DWS44]

Looks awesome ...shame I'll never get to own one, since no at&t here. Phone & TV BOTH controlled by the same local monopoly.

[JamesJ]

come on HOme zone be released to ohio soon!

[kingbenj]

Any chance you can watch shows from your homezone on computers in another location (like slingbox?). Seems like they should be able to integrate that type of feature.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Any chance you can watch shows from your homezone on computers in another location (like slingbox?). Seems like they should be able to integrate that type of feature.

Not yet. (Thats all I will say about that)

[kingbenj]

not yet is better than nope.

[Emma Peel]

Is it just me or is $5 dollars per movie a little pricey? I know most providers sell for about that but at that price I will never switch away from Netflix. Four movies and I am paying more then Netflix. I can watch more than that per month with Netflix. Also I am a pretty patient person so their instant avaliability does not really seem to be worth the extra cost. If the price was 2.50 per movie then I think it might be good.