Review: AT&T U-VERSE

**cwbuckley** · 06-30-2009 11:53 AM

I am considering switching from D* to U-verse. What I would like to know is how does the HD quality compare to D*. Thanks

**rad** · 06-30-2009 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by cwbuckley

I am considering switching from D* to U-verse. What I would like to know is how does the HD quality compare to D*. Thanks

I recommend you find an AT&T store that shows U-Verse live and see for yourself. Theres one by me that has U-Verse and DirecTV side by side and to me U-Verse doesn't look good. When I was watching too many short pauses in the video and occasional macroblocking which I didn't see on the DirecTV feed.

**KAB** · 06-30-2009 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by rad

I recommend you find an AT&T store that shows U-Verse live and see for yourself. Theres one by me that has U-Verse and DirecTV side by side and to me U-Verse doesn't look good. When I was watching too many short pauses in the video and occasional macroblocking which I didn't see on the DirecTV feed.

Unfortunately, that will not tell the tale. A lot depends on the wire, distance to hub. Of course the store will look good. I have not read of very many people who have been happy once installed in their homes, especially those coming from Sat.

**fsds** · 06-30-2009 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by cwbuckley

I am considering switching from D* to U-verse. What I would like to know is how does the HD quality compare to D*. Thanks

At first I was a bit disappointed however now I would say equal or even better HD quality,compared to DirecTV. U-verse SD is excellent compared to DirecTV. I would now like to see additional HD streams and I will be totally satisfied. I have not had any problems other than one day I was down and the problem was immediately fixed. Coming from sat to IPTV I will never go back to sat and I had it for many years. Voom was the best Sat HD that I had. Compare true HD programing to true HD programming that is the bottom line. hope this helps

**rad** · 06-30-2009 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by KAB

Unfortunately, that will not tell the tale. A lot depends on the wire, distance to hub. Of course the store will look good. I have not read of very many people who have been happy once installed in their homes, especially those coming from Sat.

That's true, but if you're not happy with what should be their 'best' setup for demo then you won't be happy at home.

**Lkr** · 07-03-2009 06:10 AM

What is the max amount of streams I can get for HD? I have 3 HDTVs and one needs an HD DVR

**Bulldog** · 07-03-2009 10:25 AM

Anyone using U-verse voice together with their TV service?

Would like to get comments pertaining to your usage; positive and negative on the service. Also installation problems and service uptime.

**daverp** · 07-13-2009 12:14 PM

Originally Posted by Lkr

What is the max amount of streams I can get for HD? I have 3 HDTVs and one needs an HD DVR

Uverse is different than other services. Your house gets 2 hd and 2 sd streams. You can use these on any number of boxes you choose. (hd streams can be used as SD, so you could view 4 sd streams and no hd streams)

A house can have one DVR and the remaining boxes are salve boxes off the master dvr. Slave boxes can watch, schedule, and delete recording but can't time shift.

**KAB** · 07-13-2009 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by daverp

Slave boxes can watch, schedule, and delete recording but can't time shift.

That IS time shifting.

**mattopia** · 07-14-2009 09:53 AM

Thought I'd throw my 2 cents in here, it's been awhile since I've visited SatGuys.

I've been with D* for about a year and a half. While I wasn't super disappointed, I was on about a 3-month problem cycle. In other words every 3 months they came out to replace something. I went through 3 LNB's - they must have terrible QC on those.

Anyway, my HR-20's hard drive bit the dust a week ago, and I had an infuriating call with D* in which they walked me through removing batteries from my remote. This irritation caused me to look up what uverse offers existed. I was able to get $300 cash back by talking to their livechat.

Anyway, I have both active at the moment and I can say a few things:

1) I completely agree with technikal's brief review. I don't like the way skip works, their remote stinks (but I use a Harmony), and their VOD stuff is both low quality and a poor selection.

2) Objectively I think Uverse HD quality is better. No I haven't run any tests. However I've watched the lovely ladies on HDNet and a few programs on HD Theater, and I'm impressed. I've always felt D*'s picture was a little soft.

3) The 6mb Uverse package is performing better with standard web browsing than the 9mb Cox package I was on. Although it's less bandwidth, latency seems far, far better - it feels like I"m on broadband again, no more waiting 10-15 seconds for a page to load.

4) Apparently phase 2 rolled out the day I got my installation. The installer was briefly confused when the box he just hooked up said downloading update. Then he said something like "Oh, phase 2 must be out now". Apparently they've been waiting for it for awhile and didn't know it was coming. I'm not familiar with how it worked before, but the menus and guide are decent. It's no TiVo but I've come to accept the fact that nothing will be.

I haven't canceled D* yet. I'm waiting a week or two to make sure everything keeps working well. But, so far I'm pretty impressed. I always hate changing providers and learning something new, but so far it seems like it was a good move.