HomeZone - About F-ing Time!

[GaryPen]

Plus, they're adding OnDemand in addition to already planned Dish programming, Yahoo web content, and home media network functions. Sweet. And about time! (My Comcast "ditch the dish" discount is ending in 4 months.)

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/14376302.htm

AT&T announced Tuesday that it will team up with San Mateo-based Akimbo to allow customers to download movies and shows over the Internet through AT&T's upcoming television service this summer.

The new AT&T service, called Homezone, is set to start in California and 12 other states by late summer.

 

[token]

...no HD service at this time though...soooo, I won't be buying into it yet.

 

[hawksfans]

HomeZone will have HD, it is Dish Network programming + AT&T Yahoo High Speed Internet + Home Media functions. You are refering to the upcoming IPTV (FTTP) plans, which does not have HD programming yet (currently being tested in San Antonio). Two differnet animals...

 

[Tom in TX]

Gary Penn lives!!! Where have you been? We missed you (kind of)!
Tom in TX

 

[token]

HomeZone will have HD, it is Dish Network programming + AT&T Yahoo High Speed Internet + Home Media functions. You are refering to the upcoming IPTV (FTTP) plans, which does not have HD programming yet (currently being tested in San Antonio). Two differnet animals...

ah, cool. thanks.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Here is more info...

http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/05/23/atandts-new-hi-def-homezone-box/

God thats an ugly remote.

 

[Purogamer]

Gee, who wants to be the guinea pig on this thing?? AT&T tech support PLUS Dish Network Tech Support...

Excuse me while I hide in the fetal position...

 

[jcvaughan]

Did anyone notice the two antenna inputs in the back of the reciever?

http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/05/23/ata...-homezone-box/

Does that mean this box has 4 tuners? Two satellite and two OTA? Not bad.

 

[pdxsam]

Did anyone notice the two antenna inputs in the back of the reciever?

Does that mean this box has 4 tuners? Two satellite and two OTA? Not bad.

It could be a dedicated tuner for the MovieLink connection. It might all be downloaded to the same box.

That's gonna be one busy box. You'll need an HVAC upgrade to cool the thing.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The Movielink operates over the DSL connection.

You tell it the movie you want and it downloads it in the backround then tells you when your show is ready to watch.

 

[sdsumann]

The questions is how much for the box $100 lots of people, $500 very few people.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I dont think they will make you buy it, it will be included with the service much like if you got cable tv.

There are two models available the 1022 which is a SD version and has dual tuners and the 2042 which is the MPEG4 HD version.

 

[pdxsam]

The Movielink operates over the DSL connection.

You tell it the movie you want and it downloads it in the backround then tells you when your show is ready to watch.

Gotcha... must be a special Movielink implementation. The external boxes they sell work over the air. Broadcasters are selling airspace to Movielink and sending the data on their digital channels.

 

[token]

I dont think they will make you buy it, it will be included with the service much like if you got cable tv.

There are two models available the 1022 which is a SD version and has dual tuners and the 2042 which is the MPEG4 HD version.

sooo, hopefully that will solve my problem of them not letting me swap out my 811s for a box that can do mpeg4 and get those HD 'faked header' channels

 

[kevcar0603]

Does anyone know what cities this will be in?

 

[Tom Bombadil]

But do they have a license from TIVO?

 

[M Sparks]

Did anyone notice the two antenna inputs in the back of the reciever?

http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/05/23/ata...-homezone-box/

Does that mean this box has 4 tuners? Two satellite and two OTA? Not bad.

With OTA tuners, you wouldn't need two connections. You could have 50 tuners, and you only need one antenna.

My guess it's so you can hook up cable and/or an antenna. In the early 90's, lots of TVs had two inputs and you could switch between them. (Geez, remember the cable systems that had two cables and you had to reach behind the TV to switch between them? I know they had that in Toledo in the 80s.)

 

[M Sparks]

Gotcha... must be a special Movielink implementation. The external boxes they sell work over the air. Broadcasters are selling airspace to Movielink and sending the data on their digital channels.

Errr...that's MovieBEAM, not Movielink. Totally different service.

BTW, this is the first I've heard of Akimbo, which looks really cool. But all these separate box services (XTV, Moviebeam, Akimbo) seem like a step into the past. It's like when they had Wometco Home Theater, OnTV, ect. Actually, I would consider trying Akimbo, but they recommend 1mps internet or above...simply not possible where I live.

I'd love to see someone do a setop box that licenses all kinds of these services and combines them. Similar to this box, but with even more...and music services too. Put XTV, Akimbo, Movielink, CinemaNow, Napster, E-Music...put them all in one box with a satellite TV AND radio receiver. You can sign up for as many or as few services as you like.

 

[pdxsam]

Errr...that's MovieBEAM, not Movielink. Totally different service.

Too many danged movie sites rolling in

BTW, this is the first I've heard of Akimbo, which looks really cool.

Akimbo has been around for a while. When they first came out the boxes were wildly expensive and the only content they had was from websites letting them leech video. I hadn't looked in a while and it's nice to see the content from the Beeb and NatGeo and Discovery there.

It also seems like they got intelligent and dropped the price of the box to affordability. The 199 lifetime is a little pricey but if the BBC content is kept up, in 24 months you're home free.

 

[GaryPen]

I'll tell you what guys. I'll be happy to report all about the hardware and service, because I'm gonna be all over this thing like flies on rice. I can't freakin wait.

Too bad I'm not eligible for ATT's DSL Elite (6Mb). I'll just have to settle with my current slow 3Mb "Pro" speed for the online features of the service. I wonder if that will make much of a difference?