# DISH HD vs ATT UVerse - Picture Quality



## Nightmare (Nov 3, 2002)

ATT just completed the fiber run down the street from my house. I guess the last 200-300 yards will still use the copper lines installed in the ground.

I received a visit from the ATT sales guy last week. Here are the key items that caught my attention:

Record 4 Channels at the same time
The off site data storage holds 37 hours of HD programming (I assume they could upgrade this in the future)

I've been trying to look up information on Uverse, but most of the reviews and postings are over 6 months old. They talk about problems with the 4 HD streams (Some people say they only get 1 HD and 3 SD). They say that the SD picture quality is very good, but the HD is compressed too much.

Has anyone here seen a side by side comparison between DISH and ATT?


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## makers78 (Jan 23, 2007)

I know there will be regional variations, I'm in Austin, TX, but when they came by awhile back it was still 1 HD, 3 SD. Last I heard on a local HD thread in another forum Uverse is up to 2 HD and 2 SD simultaneously. When they asked me what I was getting from Dish and what I was paying, I told him watch/record up to 3 HD and told him the HD Absolute price, he thanked me for my time and left


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

I went into the local AT&T a couple of weeks ago to look at iPhones. They had UVerse running in the store. The HD picture was a lot worse (in my eyes) then Dish with a lot of artifacts in even medium motion camera pans. IMHO, it's not even close to Dish's picture quality. In our area you can do 2HD and 2SD streams at the same time.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

Nightmare said:


> ATT just completed the fiber run down the street from my house. I guess the last 200-300 yards will still use the copper lines installed in the ground.
> 
> I received a visit from the ATT sales guy last week. Here are the key items that caught my attention:
> 
> ...


I had U-sere.. You have to be close to the box to change channels. You cannot watch two HD channels at the same time on two sets. There are lights inside all receivers blinking 24/7. As you see I'm back with Dish, & I had to pay $177.00 cancel.

BEWARE of U-serve!!!!!!!


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## ZBoomer (Feb 21, 2008)

I'll let you know about U-Verse directly compared to my Dish 722 on my Pioneer Kuro in a few weeks.

I'm getting U-Verse hooked up, just for the internet. Plan is to cancel the TV service before 30 days, and keep the internet. I'll have plenty time to play with it though, but I doubt there any way I'll give up my dish. I'm very happy with Dish.


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## nataraj (Feb 25, 2006)

ATT made a bad decision - they went for the (much) cheaper fiber to the "Neighborhood". That means simply not enough bandwidth for multiple HD streams to home ... and all the associated problems.

An old but good link --> http://searchtelecom.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid103_gci1275983,00.html


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## rocket69 (Oct 27, 2008)

$15 for the DVR ... r u crazy.. And you cant just get intenet must have tv also hooked up or not u still pay for the tv service. Att is still about 5+ years from making this work. Fios has it down pat but the pricing on gear is way to high. 

Stick with dish till you see how well uvers works for your neabors .. goggle uvers problems and u will see all they have to offer..


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

rocket69 said:


> And you cant just get intenet must have tv also hooked up or not u still pay for the tv service.


Wrong. Many have had UVerse installed and cancelled the TV service but kept the UVerse Internet. In some areas AT&T is now offering UVerse Internet without the need to even install the TV part.


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## Glen_D (Oct 21, 2006)

rocket69 said:


> $15 for the DVR ... r u crazy..


But the $44/mo. U-100 & U-Family packages are the only ones that don't automatically bundle one DVR with the package. Since U-200 is $15 more per month than U-100 and includes more channels, why not just go with U-200 if you really want a DVR?

I think the U-100 package with the non-DVR receiver would best suit those people like the ones who scoff at my DirecTIVO, saying their VCR works just fine for them, and they don't have to pay a monthy fee to be able to record programs!


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

HobbyTalk said:


> Wrong. Many have had UVerse installed and cancelled the TV service but kept the UVerse Internet. In some areas AT&T is now offering UVerse Internet without the need to even install the TV part.


That's what I want! My dialup speed can't get over 26.5, I don't believe standard DSL makes it out here (too far from the CO hence the lousy dial up speed) so UVERSE broadband is my only hope (well except for COX Cable which would be my last choice for broadband).

I see the UVERSE trucks at the top of my street in the yards of the homes closest to the access boxes (btw what is the correct name for those big uguly boxes?).

I keep entering my address at the UVERSE site and keep coming up "sorry".

Adding to problem, I'm not even an AT&T customer - I have an alternate local phone provider that uses AT&T lines. So AT&T would want to "convert" me to their landline service that I have no interest in.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

Michael P said:


> That's what I want! My dialup speed can't get over 26.5, I don't believe standard DSL makes it out here (too far from the CO hence the lousy dial up speed) so UVERSE broadband is my only hope (well except for COX Cable which would be my last choice for broadband).


I've had them in my area for over a year now. No uVerse in my neighborhood.


> I see the UVERSE trucks at the top of my street in the yards of the homes closest to the access boxes (btw what is the correct name for those big uguly boxes?).


VRAD


> I keep entering my address at the UVERSE site and keep coming up "sorry".
> 
> Adding to problem, I'm not even an AT&T customer - I have an alternate local phone provider that uses AT&T lines. So AT&T would want to "convert" me to their landline service that I have no interest in.


You may have to call as it's well known their web site isn't up to date (sound familiar?) They can ask all they want, you don't have to take he phone service  Lots of uVerse info on the DSLReports site with info on getting UVerse Internet without UVerse TV.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

rocket69 said:


> $15 for the DVR ... r u crazy.. And you cant just get intenet must have tv also hooked up or not u still pay for the tv service. Att is still about 5+ years from making this work. Fios has it down pat but the pricing on gear is way to high.
> 
> Stick with dish till you see how well uvers works for your neabors .. goggle uvers problems and u will see all they have to offer..


I kept U-verse Internet which is a cut above DSL. I received my bill by E-mail today. $30.00 for phone & Internet. Their TV service is bsed on DSL and that's why is slow.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

HobbyTalk said:


> You may have to call as it's well known their web site isn't up to date (sound familiar?)


Larry, Darryl and Darryl been doing contract work again?

:lol:


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

It's really kind of funny. I used to have AT&T DSL and hung out in a few AT&T forums. I now have Comcast for Interent and visit a few of those forums. I also visit here once in a while. In all of these forums you could just switch names and the complaints would all be the same


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## ZBoomer (Feb 21, 2008)

I just went through the process of trying to get U-Verse internet only. You CAN do this, but you must call and speak to a representative. The option is not available on their web site.

So I called, and we were about to work it, until she looked deeper and discovered an interesting rule AT&T enforces right now. If AT&T DSL is available at your address, they will NOT sell you U-Verse internet-only service, you can only get DSL, which isn't as fast. She was nice, I begged pleaded, begged some more to make an exception, and nope...

So I ordered U-Verse internet and TV; I'll cancel the TV service 29 days in, get my money back, and keep the internet. Sucks to do that, but oh well.

I'm extremely happy with Dish; but it will be interesting to compare U-Verse for a month.


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

It's illegal for AT&T to require you to buy their phone service in order to get some other service. It's called "unlawful bundling of services" and it's in violation of an FCC rule. You can file a complaint with the PUC or even the FCC and you will find AT&T to be your new best friend until you agree to drop the complaint.


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## jjb45 (Mar 31, 2006)

I switched from Dish HD to Uverse HD one year ago. I cannot see a difference in the HD quality. It did take a few visits from the at&t people to tweak everything correctly. I also found at&t service to be excellent. I understand that some lab tests show at&t to be inferior. 

The DVR can record 4 streams at a time, 2 HD & 2 SD. A few people are limited to only one HD stream due to distance from the vrad.

Whole house DVR is great, but is currently NOT the same as a DVR in each room. Any TV on the system can watch recordings or pause them but cannot delete or schedule programs. Also, the non-DVR boxes cannot pause live shows. Supposedly, more software changes will add these functions sometime this year.


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## cb7214 (Jan 25, 2007)

rocket69 said:


> $15 for the DVR ... r u crazy.. And you cant just get intenet must have tv also hooked up or not u still pay for the tv service. Att is still about 5+ years from making this work. Fios has it down pat but the pricing on gear is way to high.
> 
> Stick with dish till you see how well uvers works for your neabors .. goggle uvers problems and u will see all they have to offer..


$15 for a dvr is only if you subscribe to the cheapest package U100 otherwise it is included in the price, and not coincidently the U200 is exactly 1$15 more and you get more channels and it includes the DVR


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

Mr.72 said:


> It's illegal for AT&T to require you to buy their phone service in order to get some other service. It's called "unlawful bundling of services" and it's in violation of an FCC rule. You can file a complaint with the PUC or even the FCC and you will find AT&T to be your new best friend until you agree to drop the complaint.


Technically they are not refusing to offer broadband without TV since he can get dry-loop DSL. What he can't order is premium broadband (UVerse) without the TV part. Last I looked Dry-Loop DSL from AT&T is limited to a max of 3M, can't even order the 6M tier. This has been hashed out a bunch in some of the AT&T forums.


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

I was talking about the assertion that they said he had to have AT&T phone service in order to get their other service. This is illegal. Now, whether or not they can force you to buy TV service in order to get broadband, I don't know. I have not been involved in FCC rules for carriers since the advent of video over broadband.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

Mr.72 said:


> I was talking about the assertion that they said he had to have AT&T phone service in order to get their other service. This is illegal. Now, whether or not they can force you to buy TV service in order to get broadband, I don't know. I have not been involved in FCC rules for carriers since the advent of video over broadband.


Oh, thought you were talking about the UVerseTV/broadband bundling. Since you didn't quote the related post it was hard to tell which post you were commenting on.


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## ZBoomer (Feb 21, 2008)

They did NOT tell me I had to get phone to get internet, they told me I had to get U-Verse TV to get U-verse internet. They will not install U-verse internet only, IF they also offer regular DSL at your location. If you want internet only they want you to get DSL.

If they don't offer DSL they'll install U-Verse internet only, but I'd venture to guess there are very few places that offer U-Verse and not DSL.


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

Michael P said:


> Adding to problem, I'm not even an AT&T customer - I have an alternate local phone provider that uses AT&T lines. So AT&T would want to "convert" me to their landline service that I have no interest in.


This is the post I was referring to, sorry I didn't quote it the first time.

Above is a description of "unlawful bundling of services" and is a violation of the FCC rules, which have the force of law.

AT&T may very well try and tell you that you have to have their local phone service (land line) in order for them to be able to bill you correctly, or that the billing is indexed based on your phone number so if they don't run your phone number, they can't give you a bill. But it's still illegal for them to require this. It is a violation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which further de-regulated phone companies and created competition for local phone service to begin with. The intent of this law is to prevent the phone company from using their other services as leverage to force you to buy their phone service, considering that they have to allow for a competitor to offer you local phone service. In practice, most people with a land line are going to buy it from AT&T (or whoever your regular regional local phone company is) anyway, and not from a co-located lessee. But this may not be true if you have *no* land line, and only use cell phones for phone service.


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## paja (Oct 23, 2006)

I went from DISH to U-verse and to me, the hd is the same. My brother-in-law comes over every weekend to watch football on our tv. One weekend I had DISH, the next weekend U-verse. I didn't tell him we switched. After we watched most of the day, I asked him if he noticed any difference. He said he didn't , that the picture was excellent. Then I told him we switched. Said he couldn't tell.


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## mikeyinokc (Jan 11, 2006)

My in-laws have U-verse as does my step son. I think the HD quality on both is terrible compared to my Dish setup at home. I know that's not "side by side" but it's the best comparison I can do. 

I've watched a few football games at each of their houses this past fall. It's really been hard on the eyes.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

The good news is that Uverse PQ is going to be even worse in the near future, as they crank up the compression even more to squeeze a 3rd HD stream into the pipe (3 HD/1 SD).

AT&T will increase HD compression on U-verse



> Good news, U-verse fans, you'll be upgrading from the current 2 HD / 2 SD video stream system to three live HD streams in 2009. The (potentially) bad news is that comes with the price of additional compression, as AT&T's IPTV service squeezes its MPEG-4 video streams down to *5 Mbps* from a current size of 6-8 Mbps, according to CTO John Donovan.


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

Paul Secic said:


> I had U-sere.. You have to be close to the box to change channels. You cannot watch two HD channels at the same time on two sets. There are lights inside all receivers blinking 24/7. As you see I'm back with Dish, & I had to pay $177.00 cancel.
> 
> BEWARE of U-serve!!!!!!!


I did not think ATT Uverse had early cancellation fee, can anyone confirm this?


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## ZBoomer (Feb 21, 2008)

^^^ As far as I know U-Verse has a 30-day money-back guarantee, and no long-term committments required.

If nothing else I hope they can pressure the satellite providers to fall back and provide a little better terms as well. I don't think either E* or D* have any trial period, and both require committments.


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## paja (Oct 23, 2006)

jacmyoung said:


> I did not think ATT Uverse had early cancellation fee, can anyone confirm this?


NO COMMITMENT


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

paja said:


> NO COMMITMENT


Thank you. I will try their MRV DVR for a month to find out for myself.


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## ZBoomer (Feb 21, 2008)

Just had U-Verse installed today; I'm 3059 feet from the box, so right at the edge (they state 3000 is the limit), so I had to get "lower tier" service, which is one HD stream of TV at a time max. I really don't care, I got it just for internet, but I'll be comparing the TV to my Dish for a month, until I get the TV part cut off.

First glimpse is the DVR has some cool features I'd like to have, like one-touch recording and setting up timers, very cool VOD offereings, but the first view of the HD on my Wife's 40" Samsung was that it looked pretty bad.

I'm going out of town this weekend, when I get back I'll hook it up to my Kuro, and make a direct comparison to my Dish. I have to admit I can't make a good judgement on an LCD TV, but the Plasma will tell all.


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## paja (Oct 23, 2006)

jacmyoung said:


> Thank you. I will try their MRV DVR for a month to find out for myself.


I'm sure that you have found out what I did. DISH is the "coming soon" service, U-verse is the getting it done service. With little fanfare U-verse just added the following HD channels to their already long list:

1134 E! HD
1149 G4 HD
1380 STYLE HD ( now my wife is happy,she can watch Niecy Nash in HD)
1855 SH2 W HD
1857 SH W HD
1859SHX W HD
1883 TMC W HD


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

jacmyoung said:


> I did not think ATT Uverse had early cancellation fee, can anyone confirm this?


Well I've got the bill to prove it. My 622 is thosands times better their clunky boxes. Their channel lineup is superb I'll admit...


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

paja said:


> I'm sure that you have found out what I did. DISH is the "coming soon" service, U-verse is the getting it done service. With little fanfare U-verse just added the following HD channels to their already long list:
> 
> 1134 E! HD
> 1149 G4 HD
> ...


They had SH w SH2 HD SHX W HD when I had it in November. In fact they had all the EAST/WEST versions of premiums.


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## ZBoomer (Feb 21, 2008)

They also have SpeedHD. <sigh>


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## Suomi (Jan 7, 2006)

My parents just got Uverse installed (old neighborhood with lots of tall trees means no satellite service), and their HD looks outstanding. It's definitely better than their Comcast was, and I'd say about on par with what I see with Dish. I'm sure that the Uverse quality is highly dependent on how the particular neighborhood is setup. AT&T just finished laying the fibre optics in their area recently, and they signed up as soon as it was available so they could leave Comcast. When they become available in my area, I'll be very tempted to switch. They have a very impressive HD lineup, and their receiver interface isn't bad at all—not quite up to the 622/722 standard, but light years ahead of what Comcast had.


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## paja (Oct 23, 2006)

Suomi said:


> My parents just got Uverse installed (old neighborhood with lots of tall trees means no satellite service), and their HD looks outstanding. It's definitely better than their Comcast was, and I'd say about on par with what I see with Dish. I'm sure that the Uverse quality is highly dependent on how the particular neighborhood is setup. AT&T just finished laying the fibre optics in their area recently, and they signed up as soon as it was available so they could leave Comcast. When they become available in my area, I'll be very tempted to switch. They have a very impressive HD lineup, and their receiver interface isn't bad at all-not quite up to the 622/722 standard, but light years ahead of what Comcast had.


My U-verse HD is outstanding but my DISH HD was also excellent. U-verse blows DISH away on HD channels , especially movie channels.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

paja said:


> My U-verse HD is outstanding but my DISH HD was also excellent. U-verse blows DISH away on HD channels , especially movie channels.


The $177.00 was my regular bill. They had 15 different kind of taxes tacked on. I just noticed it. If you like falsehoods then keep U-vese.


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## paja (Oct 23, 2006)

Paul Secic said:


> The $177.00 was my regular bill. They had 15 different kind of taxes tacked on. I just noticed it. If you like falsehoods then keep U-vese.


I have no idea what you are writing about?? When I had DISH my monthly bill was 139 for everything with hd and the SS package(I paid extra for All-American). Then I had to pay Comcast 60 for internet and ATT 50 for phone. Now with U-verse my monthly bill is 162. That is with their U400(top package) with hd and the hd plus. I have more hd stations, now over 40 hd movie channels(when is the last time you watched THRILLER MAX HD). That 162 includes internet(pro) and telephone and the total home hd ddvr and two stb's. After a year my bill will go up to 182, still much less that when I had DISH and split internet & phone. Did DISH have any increases since I dumped them last August? Also got 140 in cash back. When did Charlie ever send you any money for signing up?? Oh, I also have ZERO COMMITMENT. Drop anytime NO PENALTY.


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## ZBoomer (Feb 21, 2008)

I discovered something lame about my U-Verse DVR; it passes only stereo PCM through HDMI. I can't believe it. I had to attach an optical cable to my receiver to get DD 5.1 with my new AV receiver, even though I'm using HDMI.

So about daily I find something I like about it, but that gets cancelled by something that sucks, lol.

It's obvious no DVR has every good feature out there, and they all have some less desirable chacteristics of some kind as well.

Pros for U-Verse so far are practically instant channel switching, true VOD of all kinds, more HD local channels (ABC, FOX, CBS, NBC, PBS, CW), way more HD movie channels, SpeedHD, one-button record for single or series, lower power usage, local "weather on demand", local traffic and news info feeds, CC that works perfectly, and "trick play" buttons that work very well.

Some pitfalls are only a single HD stream, and two SD streams at my location. I am not close enough to the VRAD to get multiple HD streams. This alone means I won't be keeping U-Verse, regardless of how much I may like it. Being able to watch or record only a single HD channel at a time is a MAJOR drawback for me. I have a 722, 622, and another DVR, so I have the capability to record up to SIX HD channels and an SD all at the same time with Dish right now.

I don't believe the HD quality is as good as Dish either, but at least it is very constant. Tonight I had the local NBC HD channel on Dish cutting out, pixelating, etc. while it was rock steady on U-Verse.

U-Verse for some reason has a more local "feel" to it, sorta like cable, in that it seems to have many more local features, compared to Dish which seems more national, with a few local channels thrown in. Not sure this makes sense, but it's a combination of U-Verse offering EVERY local channel we have in HD, the instant on-demand weather, traffic, news, etc. It just seems more "local."

The remote seems more advanced in some ways, less in others. For example, when you press power it turns on both the DVR and TV with a single press, that's pretty cool.

The entire system is IP based, which really opens up so many options in the house, if you know much about networking. If you have multiple DVR's each can play programs on another DVR, can continue a show you started on the another DVR, etc. Even with a single DVR you can take it anywhere on your network you want, and have full TV. Once the signal gets into the gateway, it is pure IP on the internal network, so anywhere you put the DVR, it works. Pretty cool stuff.

I wish Dish could use their ethernet port to do some of this; share recordings among DVR's, etc. That would be huge.

Overall it doesn't have what it takes to make me drop Dish, but there ARE some things I really like about it, and I can see it being a damn good option for many folks.

More later as my month-long test continues...


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## AED55 (Oct 2, 2008)

Michael P said:


> I see the UVERSE trucks at the top of my street in the yards of the homes closest to the access boxes (btw what is the correct name for those big uguly boxes?).


 VRAD stands for - *Vi*deo *R*eady *A*ccess *D*evice

Speaking of VRAD boxes, my parents live in a small town near me and about 6 months ago AT&T requested permission from the city to install their VRAD boxes in the easements of a number of properties. Some of these big ugly boxes were going to be placed in the backyards of a number of citizen's homes. Needless to say, these homeowners were up in arms about this and petitioned the city council to stop AT&T from proceeding. After a long court battle, AT&T won out and the boxes were installed. I have seen a number of them and I agree, I would never want one of these monstrosities in my back yard.:nono2:

It appears, at least in my area, this small section of town is the only place AT&T has installed Uverse. I am guessing they are "testing the water" so to speak to see if there is enough interest to go further with their coverage.

Shortly after the install, an AT&T rep went door to door in my parent's neighborhood trying to sign people up. As far as my folks know, no one, at least on their block, subscribed to the service.

As a side note, AT&T had a serious problem with the first VRAD boxes they installed. The following is an excerpt from a report by the Connecticut Attorney General's office.

_Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced today that he has called for the immediate replacement of certain lithium batteries - used as backup power for AT&T's U-Verse video service - that have caused at least four explosions, fires and property damage. 
AT&T has installed "V-RAD" boxes around the state in order to provide its U-Verse service. According to numerous published reports, at least four Avestor lithium batteries, which provide backup power to the boxes, have exploded violently, creating fires and property damage, but fortunately injuring no one._


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

HobbyTalk said:


> Wrong. Many have had UVerse installed and cancelled the TV service but kept the UVerse Internet. In some areas AT&T is now offering UVerse Internet without the need to even install the TV part.


U-verse Internet is fast enough to watch shows on HULU. I'm happy with it.


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