Dish vs ATT U-verse

[bthom70]

We are considering dropping Dish in a few months when our 622 commitment is done.
After 5+ years of iffy Dish service all things boil down to crazy HD channel pricing, DVR rental fees and other stupid fees, Lastly, the biggest reason is that fact that we live in CT and are forced to watch NYC local channels. All due to Neilson ratings for Fairfield county and various DMA subsidy's. What the F happened to SHVA and the other variations.

Does anyone have any experience with ATT U-verse?
We were pricing is out over the weekend and it'll save at least $10-15 off of our monthly bill. We'll gain CT local channels and 2 free TV outlets, the package comes with 4 TV outlets standard.

We already have ATT DSl and landline, so a package deal will work out even more.
We like 90% of our Dish service, but we're tired of the run around for the other 10%.
We'll never go back to Comcast and ATT U-verse is our next option.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Check the IPTV section here at SatelliteGuys.

I had UVERSE for 3 months and canceled it.

You only get 1 HD stream for your entire house. This means only 1 TV can watch 1 HD channel in the entire house. In addition you can't record one HD show while watching another.

Another thing the HD picture quality is some of the worse I have seen from any provider. The Dish Network HD PQ is worlds above what UVERSE owns.

Another issues is the receivers they use, they are the slowest boxes I have ever used.

But dont take my word for it, if you want more opinions check out UverseUsers.com - Home

Its a great technology, however its not ready for primetime yet.

 

[rcdallas]

I heard there is 6 streams now, however you use them is up to you.

They will also wire cat 5 if no prewire - they have the right mindset no cable company can use THEIR cat 5.

 

[clrntsqueak]

I haven't personally had it but I know that there are just TOO many limitations. Only a certain amount of streams will be allowed. I don't know what the exact number is but say you have a maximum of FOUR streams. That means only FOUR programs can be watched or recorded. If you have a DVR recording two shows and there's two rooms viewing TV, you're SOL in another room.

 

[caam1]

My brother-in-law has it here in the DFW area. The picture quality on the SD channels was excellent and the HD quality was close to Dish and the price is good. The big limitation is 4 SD streams at a time but only ONE HD stream at a time. In our household this would not work.

 

[clrntsqueak]

Yeah, that wouldn't work here at all either. There's usually always two programs recording on the HD DVR in the living room.. or there's at least one program recording while one is being watched. The DVR upstairs also usually is recording something while I'm watching something. So that's the FOUR streams already being used up. There's two additional rooms in the house. So I need at least 6 SD streams and 2 HD streams because I occasionally have one HD program recording while watching another one.

 

[abricko]

this is ATT's grand vision... it's like cable but a little better.
They run fiber to the neighborhood, then run a local short loop from the box to the house and they offer DSL like internet speeds up to 7meg down in some areas then the TV stuff. Lame! the only company who has it right is Verizon. FIOS will own for a long time. Spend the money ATT and maybe you can be there to.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I heard there is 6 streams now, however you use them is up to you.

Ture sort of, up to 6 SD streams (The DVR can record 4 SD channels at once) however the single HD stream is still true and will not be corrected until at least q3 of next year.

I may not have UVERSE in my house anymore, but I still have access to UVERSE service and follow it closely.

 

[pulltab]

As an installer here in the San Diego area, my customers are unhappy with the picture quality and are re-connecting their 622's with Dish. There is a "push" by ATT.... The re-connected customers tell me that the door to door sale people are promising the moon..... The most HD channels....you can get whatever combination of signals you want....better pricing....etc....but, according to my re-connects, is not what is being delivered...

Maybe sometime in the future, but this product is not what is advertised or sold to the customers at the present time....

I wonder how shaky the ATT/Dish marriage is these days, and is the "divorce" coming???

 

[rcdallas]

Ture sort of, up to 6 SD streams (The DVR can record 4 SD channels at once) however the single HD stream is still true and will not be corrected until at least q3 of next year.

I may not have UVERSE in my house anymore, but I still have access to UVERSE service and follow it closely.

Ahhh.... I've been talking indirectly with a former co-worker who started with uverse. I keep hearing the tail end of everything. Maybe I should just give him call myself and get the skinny on it all.

 

[cslegs]

hd picture quality on dish vs. uverse

I just switched from dish to at&t uverse. Everything is great with uverse except the hd picture quality. My hd picture on dish was much better than on uverse! Anyone else seeing this??

 

[KAB]

It's long been reported and discussed that their PQ is lacking overall.

 

[JEFFinINDY]

I just switched from dish to at&t uverse. Everything is great with uverse except the hd picture quality. My hd picture on dish was much better than on uverse! Anyone else seeing this??

I went to see Uverse at an AT&T store on Friday. The HD channels were not good. The backgrounds shifted and pulsed once or twice per second in a steady beat due to the compression. I did some Google searching and this is a common complaint. I don't understand how some people can claim not to be able to see it -- it was so obvious!

Apparently the Uverse box doesn't work well with HDMI - it doesn't carry DD 5.1 audio and is also prone to lock-ups and handshaking issues.

 

[Hall]

I thought threads this old weren't allowed to be replied to ? It's 1 year and 3 months since the last post. Well, was....

 

[joeyjojojnr]

Just me pondering the universe, but...I have a hunch 5 years from now, we'll all just be paying for channels via the internet.

This past weekend I got Boxee hooked up to our TV. Boxee is an open source software project that is basically emulating what the AppleTV does, but not locked in to iTunes.

Right now, via Boxee, I can watch: Streaming Netflix, Hulu, CBS, CNN, Comedy Central, WB, Youtube, and others.

Essentially, we get ala-cart/DVR/on-demand all via the regular internet connection.

So, I'm optimistic that in 5 years from now, the actual TV provider will be out of the equation, which given our universal loathing of them all, will be a good thing.

In the interim, though, I think most of the internet-based options (like U-Verse) are going to be the 'iffier' services just due to the newness of the implementation.

 

[riffjim4069]

If you were comparing Dish versus FiOS TV, then I would say dump Dish in a hearbeat. However, since you're looking at U-Verse I would say it is a toss up: go with U-verse if saving a few dollars is more important and stay with Dish if having the best HD DVR on the market and slightly better HD PQ Is more important.

 

[allargon]

Apparently the Uverse box doesn't work well with HDMI - it doesn't carry DD 5.1 audio and is also prone to lock-ups and handshaking issues.

Reads like the early days of the 622. U-verse has up to two HD streams now. However, watching TV steals bandwidth from your Internet connection according to posts on DSLreports.com. I just orded their Max 18 service. I'm sticking with Dish for now. However, I might consider U-verse (doubtful) or DirectTV early next year. I won't go back to Time Warner though.

 

[allargon]

Apparently the Uverse box doesn't work well with HDMI - it doesn't carry DD 5.1 audio and is also prone to lock-ups and handshaking issues.

Reads like the early days of the 622. U-verse has up to two HD streams now. However, watching TV steals bandwidth from your Internet connection according to posts on DSLreports.com. I just orded their Max 18 service. I'm sticking with Dish for now. However, I might consider U-verse (doubtful) or DirectTV early next year. I won't go back to Time Warner though.

 

[llzel]

Just me pondering the universe, but...I have a hunch 5 years from now, we'll all just be paying for channels via the internet.

This past weekend I got Boxee hooked up to our TV. Boxee is an open source software project that is basically emulating what the AppleTV does, but not locked in to iTunes.

Right now, via Boxee, I can watch: Streaming Netflix, Hulu, CBS, CNN, Comedy Central, WB, Youtube, and others.

Essentially, we get ala-cart/DVR/on-demand all via the regular internet connection.

So, I'm optimistic that in 5 years from now, the actual TV provider will be out of the equation, which given our universal loathing of them all, will be a good thing.

In the interim, though, I think most of the internet-based options (like U-Verse) are going to be the 'iffier' services just due to the newness of the implementation.

So how do you connect PC to TV? HDMI, Component cable, Coax?

 

[joeyjojojnr]

So how do you connect PC to TV? HDMI, Component cable, Coax?

The original idea behind Boxee was it would run on an AppleTV. AppleTVs support HDMI.

However, Boxee is still in alpha and some things, like Netflix, aren't working yet on the AppleTV hardware.

For now, I'm just running it on my MacBook and connecting it to our TV via the VGA input. It sort of works, but I can't get full screen via it. I probably would be better off going from the MacBook to the TV via component.

But, for now, it's mainly a toy. Boxee is DEFINITELY a fun way to watch TV and I definitely see it as the future.