Thread: U-Verse DVR Questions

Hello all,

ATT U-Verse has finally made it to my neighborhood and they are chomping at the bit to get my business. However I can't seem to get a straight answer from either the sales people that are calling or the sales people knocking on the door.

My main question is in regards to the number of DVR's one can have? I have 4 TV's (only one of which is currently HD) and with Dish I have 2 boxes but DVR access on all 4 TV's.

This is a must and a deal breaker but I've heard different things from the different sales people.

Wish this still be possible with U-Verse?

The prices look pretty good as I would be saving over $100.00 combined but I need (make that want) DVR access on the 4 TV's.

Thanks for any assistance and clarification.

David

One DVR only viewable on one TV only, the one that the DVR is hooked up to.

This is supposed to change before the end of the year when they enable Whole House DVR. WHDVR is supposed to extend the DVR playback functionality to all your TV set top boxes...but it's not out yet.

Oh, and that DVR can record up to 4 channels at a time:
2HD+2SD
1HD+3SD
4SD

...but DANGER. If your DVR is recording 4 programs at a time you can only watch a pre-recorded program on your DVR and nothing on your other TVs. See, your entire house has to share the 4 video streams. That's very important to remember.

Originally Posted by FWGMills

One DVR only viewable on one TV only, the one that the DVR is hooked up to.

This is supposed to change before the end of the year when they enable Whole House DVR. WHDVR is supposed to extend the DVR playback functionality to all your TV set top boxes...but it's not out yet.

Oh, and that DVR can record up to 4 channels at a time:
2HD+2SD
1HD+3SD
4SD

...but DANGER. If your DVR is recording 4 programs at a time you can only watch a pre-recorded program on your DVR and nothing on your other TVs. See, your entire house has to share the 4 video streams. That's very important to remember.

Thanks neighbor (I'm in North Fort Worth but grew up in Arlington).

I guess I'm going to hold off until the come through with the promise.

I've been let down with Dish (and most other companies that provide service) to believe what they say.

I could live with DVR access on 3 TV's for a while but not one. No WAY, No HOW.

There are days I wish I had a DVR on my car radio. <G>

Originally Posted by david in texas

Thanks neighbor (I'm in North Fort Worth but grew up in Arlington).

I guess I'm going to hold off until the come through with the promise.

I've been let down with Dish (and most other companies that provide service) to believe what they say.

I could live with DVR access on 3 TV's for a while but not one. No WAY, No HOW.

There are days I wish I had a DVR on my car radio. <G>

I agree with you. Dish has sometimes taken way too long to fulfill their promises but they're pretty good now.

I have high hopes that when they enable Whole House DVR that external storage will come soon after that. 24 hours of HD storage ain't much and I did get used to saving shows on my ViP622's external drive. Time will tell I guess. Losing my DVR functionality in the Master bedroom will only suck when we're sick and need entertainment. I'm thinking of getting a Media Center Extender to fulfill that need.

I also have reached up to rewind my car stereo only to curse at it when I can't.

So I heard a commercial today on the radio in regards to u_verse. the announcer type person said that with 1 DVR one can watch said recording from ANY TV in the house so long said TV has a Box, which is 5.00 more of course.

So, is this going to be like the Dish Dual Tuner DVR, expect it's a Quad Tuner?

Has anyone tried this yet?

Maybe it is time to finally leave Dish.

Comments?

Thanks

Originally Posted by david in texas

So I heard a commercial today on the radio in regards to u_verse. the announcer type person said that with 1 DVR one can watch said recording from ANY TV in the house so long said TV has a Box, which is 5.00 more of course.

So, is this going to be like the Dish Dual Tuner DVR, expect it's a Quad Tuner?

Has anyone tried this yet?

I have it and here's the deal. Depending on where you live (I'm in Arlington, TX but I've heard that all DFW is included) AT&T is rolling out Total Home DVR (THDVR). I have a DVR and two extra boxes ($5 each) plus HD ($10). I can stream to my house a maximum of 4 channels at a time, either 2HD/2SD or 1HD/3SD or 4SD.
Now my living room TV is HD and and has the DVR on it. The other two TVs are SD. If I'm recording 2 HD channels I won't be able to watch those channels on any other TV. If I'm recording 4 channels on my DVR I can't watch live programming on ANY of my other TV sets. That's the downside. AT&T is actually testing new compression so that eventually they'll be able to stream 3HD/2SD channels to a household, but that's a promised upgrade.

Knowing all that, if you are recording 4 channels on the DVR any TV in the house can play back anything already recorded on the DVR. So while I'm recording Eureka (HD) and Fringe (HD) and Biggest Loser (SD) all at the same time I can either watch a SD channel or I can watch Heroes (HD) that I recorded last night on any TV in the house. If memory serves AT&T will feed your house 2HD/2SD streams and your DVR can feed seven different boxes from the DVR...I think I remember it being 3HD/4SD but I might be mistaken.

As for switching, the HD is not quite as good as DishNetwork (whom I will cancel) but it's not bad. If I had a 50" TV and not a 61" I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I do however, much like getting 3x better data speed for my computers. I was at 3Mb down/512Kb up (2.3Mb/400Kb actual) but now I'm at 6Mb down/1Mb up (5.9Mb/970Kb actual). Makes downloading HD shows and watching NetFlix "watch now" movies much better/faster.

Your mileage may vary.

WOW. Thanks for the reply.

I currently only have 1 HD TV and don't think we ever watch all 4 TV's at the same time so now I just have to decide to make the switch or not.

My HD TV is a little older (2yrs) so it's not 1080p and it's only 56 inches so like you said, I may not be able to notice the difference either.

Thanks again.
David

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