UVerse

[Paul S.]

Hey people!

Yes, I know its been forever since I've been here. Between divorce and my 'new' car and a ton of other stuff, I've been flying low and keepin off radar! HT stuff has taken a major backseat. I hope this finds you all well.

Anyways, UVerse is now available in my 'hood. I've had TWC for my cable and internet for years and I wanna know if a switch is in order. I know they have a few more HD channels (which I'm all about!) but I remember something about the HDDVRs being an issue here. I'm gonna have a roommate soon, and theres no doubt that he's gonna also need a HDDVR box. Was there a somewhat recent 'pros/cons' thread that someone can direct me to?

EDIT_ looking at the 200 package.

Thanks!
P.

[gparris]

Friends of mine own a 65" Mits HDTV and love it.

BTW, they live off of Congress and 77th St for U-Verse offerings.
They tell me how much better it is than when they had E*, at least customer service and PQ wise, including having a HD DVR included.

They also told me that when something goes wrong, they lose internet, phone and TV services, one time for a week (or so they said), but that was awhile ago.
The best part of it is that since they really dislike (they have other verbs) TWC, it was a no-brainer and plan to keep U-Verse.

Thanks for coming back, Paul S., I was just thinking about where you were after the divorce and all!:wave:

(How is the 60" Sony XBR1 holding up (I still have mine, too)?:huh?:

[oz]

My friend reports the HD picture quality is not as good than TWC's.  Other then that, he really likes that the DVR can record 4 shows at once.

[bschmidt25]

I've had it since April and I actually really like it.  I know some have complained that the picture quality isn't as good as TWC or OTA, but to be honest with you I just don't see it.  I've had one problem with it so far where I lost all services (TV and Internet), but they came out the same day and fixed it.  During that time I switched back to OTA and didn't notice much, if any, difference.  The VRAD is 50 feet from my front door though, so I wonder if PQ goes down a bit if you don't have as much bandwidth to it.  If you need more than one DVR you're out of luck right now.  The first box is an HD DVR and all of the other boxes are HD capable, but no DVR.  They were supposed to rollout whole house DVR soon though.  There's also an issue with the HDMI port on some boxes with some TVs (no video).  Mine has this issue so I'm using component cables.  It works until you turn off the box.  If you want to get it working again you need to reboot it while your TV is on.  They've have released updated software recently though, so this may be fixed now.  They also recently added an additional HD stream, so now you can watch/record 2 HD and 2SD  shows at a time or up to 4 SD streams.  Some other things that I really like are the remote (internet) DVR programming and built in apps on the box to access Flickr and news/sports, and obviously having ~50 HD channels doesn't hurt either.  Changing channels and the video on demand are very quick and the VOD picture quality is good, although unfortunately no HD on demand yet.  Premium on demands (HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz, etc.) are included if you get the regular channel unlike TWC.  I have the U300, which is basically everything except for the sports package, HBO, and Cinemax.  I'm happy with the switch and wouldn't go back to TWC if you paid me.  Give it a try.  You don't have to sign a contract, so why not?

Hope this helps!

[Paul S.]

That helps a ton! I'm looking at the 200 still with the 3 mbps internet package. I think I'm really close to a station, too, so we'll hafta see.

[Gregg Lengling]

Just an update on what is going on with Uverse.  #1 distance shouldn't matter you will have the same bandwidth (unless you are right on the edge but they can make up for that by limiting you to 1 hd stream).  

HD on Demand is now available.

TWHDR whole home DVR is coming in the next 45 days for Milwaukee, you will still only have 1 DVR but will be able to watch any recorded show on any of the other STB's, and you can even pause it on 1 and pick it up where you left off on another Box.  So with this even if you have 8 boxes you can watch 8 different shows, 4 live and 4 recorded.

[gparris]

ATT U-Verse is now across the road from me with its HD movie channels like StarzHD, CinemaxHD, The Movie Channel HD, Sci-Fi HD and USAHD, to name a few.
For me, TWO HD streams of good quality would do the trick, ATT just doesn't know when it will arrive to my newer subdivision...maybe never.

[UncleMeat]

The channel lineup, ability to record 4 shows, SD picture quality are all great.  Still a lot of bugs (I've heard some friends in the past week or so having the same DVR issues that made me not regret leaving UVerse).  I do really miss the NFL network, if you're a football fan and can't get satellite, it's a fantastic channel to have.  The ability to program your DVR via internet, when it works, is a very handy feature as well.

The only thing I can really say about switching to UVerse, is don't do it because you hate TWC.  As far as corporations that have zero respect for their customers, TWC/ATT are in a virtual tie.

[gparris]

I am not desiring to switch based "getting back" on TWC Milwaukee, no way, looks like attempts are being made to add more HD channels, although very slowly.

-Just wanting to the same HD channels available from TWC that other areas get now for the same approx. bills paid in other TWC-serviced areas, only seems fair to us in TWC Milwaukee.

Of course, the USAHD, Sci-FiHD and the other NBC/Universal HD channels would be great, too, that U-Verse subs get already.

[bubbaridesfast]

A friend at the office just had it installed 3 weeks ago. He said that if watching HD on 2 stes and SD on 1 set at the same time he has some pixellization (sp) and the installer implied that he had no idea when the whole house DVR would be in but thought there where no changes coming until November.

[Paul S.]

Well, I signed up for the 200 package. Looks like the 4th or 11th (I'll hafta check) it gets installed. I want the switch because of more HD- I'm paying almost the same for TWC, but for less stuff. Lets hope its not a mistake. Then again, I'll get $225 cash back, so its like a few months for free

[TPK]

How many STBs are u-verse setting you up with on their standard package???

When I signed up (1.5 years ago) they gave me 3 boxes (1 DVR and 2 non-DVR boxes), but I heard that they had scaled that back to 1 (DVR) box and you have to pay for the other 2 if you want more TVs...

Is that still the case???  If so, how much are they charging you for extra boxes??

[Gregg Lengling]

You just get the DVR now, it's $5.00 each extra box.

[gparris]

-Still less expensive than the $16 per DVR box or $7-8 per standard box (depending on serviced area) with service than TWC, though and more HD channels, too.
-Thanks for the info, Gregg.:wave:

[Paul S.]

Gets installed today!