# Moving to Uverse from DirecTV



## circadianswing (Feb 16, 2007)

After 6 years with DirecTV, I decided it's time to leave. I scheduled an install of ATT fiber Uverse, but before I go, I wanted to hear from those who may have attempted to move away. 

I'm so disappointed with the sluggishness of my HR2X series HD DVR, and I've been holding onto my old HR210, only to get SD but Tivo dual tuner in the bedroom. they came out and gave me a slimline dish and tested everything, but won't give me an HR24, which I hear is a bit quicker. I heard tivo is coming back, but it seems like it will never happen. I'm sick of paying a premium for D*, I only have 1080i capable tv's anyway.

Did anyone move to AT&T Uverse fiber optic tv and come running back???

if so why??? I really appreciate any advice!


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

Picture quality is bad on Uverse. You can get a HR24 for around $199 or less.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

+1, and pray you get a Uverse installer that knows the difference between an HDMI cable and a component cable. 

You can get an HR24 for less than 199 at costco, overstock, and several other places.
Id really go that route, but hey, you can suspend your directv account and try Uverse, but I dont think you will be happy with it.


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## circadianswing (Feb 16, 2007)

I was considering the purchase of the HR24; however, I'm very curious to see if the ATT Uverse box performs better. especially in the areas of... changing the channel, multi room viewing, response time on just about every function.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

circadianswing said:


> I was considering the purchase of the HR24; however, I'm very curious to see if the ATT Uverse box performs better. especially in the areas of... changing the channel, multi room viewing, response time on just about every function.


Changing channels will definantly be faster, since its an IP stream, and doesnt have to send voltage and tones to the LNB and wait for confirmation. MRV will be about the same. Response time was about the same as my HR24, but faster than any of my other DVRs. 
Remember also that you need the high priced package to get HD, and you will be limited to two HD channels at one time. Its worth a try, but I dont think it holds a candle to DirecTv on a HR24.


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## circadianswing (Feb 16, 2007)

Davenlr said:


> Changing channels will definantly be faster, since its an IP stream, and doesnt have to send voltage and tones to the LNB and wait for confirmation. MRV will be about the same. Response time was about the same as my HR24, but faster than any of my other DVRs.
> Remember also that you need the high priced package to get HD, and you will be limited to two HD channels at one time. Its worth a try, but I dont think it holds a candle to DirecTv on a HR24.


that is excellent information... I only really use 2 of the 4 tv's I have. the other 2 are in the kitchen and a guest room. In regards to recording, I'm planning on recording all the my children's stuff in SD, keeping my recordings in HD.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

circadianswing said:


> I was considering the purchase of the HR24; however, I'm very curious to see if the ATT Uverse box performs better. especially in the areas of... changing the channel, multi room viewing, response time on just about every function.


A HR24 or 2 on DECA handle MRV great. 24s are faster on everything.

Uverse hard drives are small, and you only get 1 DVR for MRV. Plus, you can only get 1-3 (3 is rare) HD streams at once.


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## jeslevine (Jul 21, 2002)

I am going the opposite way, from UVERSE to DIRECT

Uverse is just OK. Their receivers are only fair in my view. The biggest factor for uverse is how far you are from the AT&T box. SD quality on uverse very good, HD ok, but the HD is definitely not as good as Dish. I cannot compare it to Direct since they will be installing Direct at my house this Saturday.

My main reason for leaving Uverse is customer support.

Good luck to both of us


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## HoTat2 (Nov 16, 2005)

And only about a two (or three with VDSL 2) maximum HD stream limit is almost comical to me. :nono2:

Internet service is very good though ...


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## circadianswing (Feb 16, 2007)

jeslevine said:


> I am going the opposite way, from UVERSE to DIRECT
> 
> Uverse is just OK. Their receivers are only fair in my view. The biggest factor for uverse is how far you are from the AT&T box. SD quality on uverse very good, HD ok, but the HD is definitely not as good as Dish. I cannot compare it to Direct since they will be installing Direct at my house this Saturday.
> 
> ...


at this point I'm willing to sacrifice a little picture quality for functionality... all the HR units prior to the HR24 (don't have that one), are so slow, I appreciate my older SD tivo unit. customer service on d* can't do much for me on there, but I will say they're quick to pick up the phone. I will take the cautious route and not cancel my directv until I'm satisfied with the att... yes... good luck to us both!


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

It's always good to check out any other options you may have.
The HR24 is a big improvement over all the other models.
I've seen the Uverse ad with their multi-viewing and use DirecTV's. I know DirecTV's doesn't work like the Uverse ad shows, but then wonder how real their ad is [like any ad from anyone]. I can't pause in one room and continue in another, but I can stop in one room and continue in another.

I've got 3 DVRs that can record six shows at once in HD. Uverse can't to that.

Long ago, I took my local cable for a test drive and really wanted to dump DirecTV. It lasted less than a week and I came back and knew why I did. Overall this helped me to know why I wanted DirecTV.

If you find yourself in the same spot, try Uverse and put your DirecTV on suspension. If you find you want to come back it's easier to and if you don't, you can then "dump" them.


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## circadianswing (Feb 16, 2007)

veryoldschool said:


> Long ago, I took my local cable for a test drive and really wanted to dump DirecTV. It lasted less than a week and I came back and knew why I did. Overall this helped me to know why I wanted DirecTV..


I agree with your statement here... it will be a pain to put it all back to DirecTV if I'm not happy, but then again, right now, I'm not happy anyway.


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## dlvh (Dec 15, 2006)

I had a slow HR21 main unit in my house, the guide was acting up, and I was excited to see Uverse had Multi-Room viewing. I called D* and told them I was considering quiting them. They told me that as a "Valued Customer" I qualify for a free (yes free) DVR (although that DOES require a 2 (two) year commitment) if I decide that I want it. I did not take them up on it at that point, but remembered it and had them write it down.

Days later, I had Uverse TV installed at my home and tried it for about 3 weeks before canceling. The one (and only) DVR is a bit quicker than my HR21. The Multi-Room viewing was nice, but was limited to that one and only DVR...everything MUST be watch off that units HDD, but at other locations, if you want to. Pixelation during sports, or anything with quick movement was annoying compared to D*. The HDD on it is quite a bit smaller than the ones in the current HR2x's. The pros vs cons for our family went to D*, overwelmingly.

Just days later I called D* back (I never canceled them, or even put them on hold) and asked them if I could still receive my free DVR (with the 2 year commitment) and was told "you sure are". I asked if I could receive a HR24, and was told "we cannot guarantee it, but you can cancel if it doesn't come in at the time of your appointment". I made the appointment to have my new DVR installed, and was also credited at the same time, with several "perks" that made it VERY worthwhile for me to stay with D*. The HR24 came in, and was installed, and is currently hooked up thru MRV and I am a very happy camper with D* for now.

I also see that D* is offering free HD access for 24 months for current D* customers, and I plan on taking advantage of that here very soon.

So my advice to you is...Threaten to leave D*, and see what they are willing to do to keep you. If you are a customer in good standing with them, they should offer you a lot of "perks" to stay. Ask for the "Retention Department" if you really want to stay, if not, try Uverse, and see if you like it better than I did...it can't hurt, but if you can afford it, don't quit D* if you are even thinking about going back!

Edit: Also to note, IF you decide to TRY Uverse, make sure that you are not charged for any hidden fees or surcharges. They say that you can try Uverse for free, but be aware. I went with a Uverse bundle, and then got a bill for a lot of added "surcharges" and fees. Make sure that if you go with Uverse, ALL fees and surcharges ARE indeed free with no hidden install-type (or other) fees.


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## TDK1044 (Apr 8, 2010)

circadianswing said:


> After 6 years with DirecTV, I decided it's time to leave. I scheduled an install of ATT fiber Uverse, but before I go, I wanted to hear from those who may have attempted to move away.
> 
> I'm so disappointed with the sluggishness of my HR2X series HD DVR, and I've been holding onto my old HR210, only to get SD but Tivo dual tuner in the bedroom. they came out and gave me a slimline dish and tested everything, but won't give me an HR24, which I hear is a bit quicker. I heard tivo is coming back, but it seems like it will never happen. I'm sick of paying a premium for D*, I only have 1080i capable tv's anyway.
> 
> ...


Yes I did. First point...it's only fiber optic to the node...then they run copper to the house. U-verse offers a lot of flexibility, with the ability to record several other channels while watching another channel. Of course, how many other channels you can record in HD depends on your profile and how far you are from the AT&T VRAD. You will either have a 2HD/2SD profile, which only allows you to record one other channel in HD if you are currently watching an HD channel, or a 3HD/1SD profile if you are in an area that offers that profile. They won't be able to tell you that until they are at your house.....whatever they tell you on the phone.

I think it's also fair to say that although you will lose the lag in channel changing, the U-verse DVRs are still evolving and have some way to go. There are some very frustrating things with them, and the newer D* boxes are way ahead of them in my view.

The main issue though will be the HD picture quality. If you watch a lot of sport, you will be very disappointed with the artifact issues with U-verse HD pictures. It's not an issue for regular programs, but with fast moving images and panning cameras...it's not pretty.


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## mmmason23 (Apr 27, 2010)

I echo the thoughts in here. I've had comcast, time Warner, uverse, dish and now direct. Uverse is a good service, especially the Internet. The multiroom is very nice, but now direct can match that. I never had a problem with hard drive space, but I only had two hdtvs so I never ran into a problem with only two hd streams. If you have more than two hdtv's I'd avoid uverse. The picture quality in sd is good to excellent, but the hd quality is noticeably softer. I couldn't get satellite at the time, but it was much better than cable IMO. Give it a try, if you don't like it, keep the Internet part of it, which is very good and direct


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## ralphfurley (Jun 12, 2004)

Ive had UVERSE since March 2009. The DVR is much much faster than my HR21. no key bounce, no waiting for guide to pop up. I have well over 100 HD channels...I'm not counting PPV either. They just added TCM in HD. No more rain fade. 

I just got the 3HD/1SD stream upgrade. Much easier. having to share D streams was an issue. I really dont notice much picture quality difference.


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## PeterB (Jul 25, 2002)

One this that drives me crazy with Uverse and every other system,

The channel numbers.

Why on earth is my local Ch 3, like channel 1078 in HD? Why are there HD channel numbers AND SD channel numbers. 

DTV has had local channel remapping for what seems like a decade now. How come they are the only ones?


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## cody21 (Sep 26, 2007)

My bro-in-law switched to Uverse from D* abot 8 months ago -- the issue he was having was that D* installers were unable to get him a perfect line-of-site with the dish. He became frustrated calling support and having D* techs show up that were clueless. So he bit the bullet and switched to Uverse. I must tell you that the pic. quality was horrid when I was there last month to see it first hand. Uverse is sold in various "speeds" and depending on how many computers & TVs you have connected will depend on the overall quality and response. Uverse uses VDSL technology that basically "shares" a (very) high speed data connection to a router and then splits from there to various components. So if someone is "streaming" lots of data to a Compuer and you're trying to watch HD content on a TV (or 2 TVs), you might experience issues. The highest speed package is something like "32" - but is not available everywhere. "24" seems to be failry common.. Not sure of the price differences between the various "speed" packages so you need to do some analysis of your needs and prices of each. As far as the lousy HD pic quality that I was seeing, I wish I would have had more time to analyze his problem when I was there -- and since learning more about Uverse technology. Good luck.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

circadianswing said:


> I agree with your statement here... it will be a pain to put it all back to DirecTV if I'm not happy, but then again, right now, I'm not happy anyway.


Actually shouldn't be a pain at all. 
Just call DirecTV and put your account in suspend which you can do for up to 6 months.
Leave all your equipment in place.

Have AT&T install their stuff and it won't get in the way of DirecTV.
Try AT&T out, you only have to keep it for 30 days. If you hate it you can cancel with no penalty and just call up DirecTV to lift the suspend and you're back in business.

FYI that Uverse Internet is the best I've ever had. So even after 30 days if you feel you don't like their TV service you can leave the Internet only active.

Uverse TV isn't all that bad. SD picture quality is the best I've ever seen.
The DVR is very fast and channel changes happen very quickly.
HD isn't as good as DirecTV but not bad (in my area anyway). If it's acceptable to you or not is up to you. But their selection of HD channels is as good as DirecTV (currently).
You are limited to 2 HD streams at once but if that isn't an issue for you then no big deal.

If you want the larger hard drive in the DVR be sure to sign up for their top package with all the movie channels and HD. They give the big hard drive to those with that package. After 30 days you can knock your package back down to whatever level you want and you of course get to keep the DVR with the bigger hard drive. So that's an easy way to make sure you get the bigger hard drive. 

And check online especially for all the cash back offers. When I signed up they gave me $250 in cash back offers and the only thing I had to do was keep TV service active long enough for the rebates to process. After that you can cancel. So they basically paid me $250 to sign up with no commitment. Can't beat that and that's also the best way to get a free install even if all you want is the Internet.

So it's certainly worth trying it out, there is nothing to lose and money to gain from the rebates. Worse thing is the TV sucks, you cancel that, keep the Internet and the rebates and go back to DirecTV for TV service.


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## rogburr (Oct 24, 2006)

I'm researching move to DirecTv from U-Verse which I have had for 18 months. The UV DVR has a great UI and channel changes are instantaneous. Guide movement is very fast. HD picture quality on my 42 inch plasma is very good. SD picture quality is outstanding. Some of the posts here are obviously biased. There is some blocking on sports programming, but, for me, only on replays. I have not found it to be a problem at all. UV does not have Tennis Channel HD and it takes 24 presses on remote to turn CC on or off; highly irritating to be. Good luck to you.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

My friend has Uverse and his Cisco HDDVR is slower than my HR's and the GUI while it may be pretty is so ergonomically handicapped its virtually unusuable, also there is pretty bad macroblocking on most stuff I have seen over there and audio dropouts....so be careful b4 you pull the trigger...he spends more time over at my place watching my D*...my experiences with Uverse in my community are not good at all...the 2 satellite companies are by far the best choice here.


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## Satelliteracer (Dec 6, 2006)

circadianswing said:


> After 6 years with DirecTV, I decided it's time to leave. I scheduled an install of ATT fiber Uverse, but before I go, I wanted to hear from those who may have attempted to move away.
> 
> I'm so disappointed with the sluggishness of my HR2X series HD DVR, and I've been holding onto my old HR210, only to get SD but Tivo dual tuner in the bedroom. they came out and gave me a slimline dish and tested everything, but won't give me an HR24, which I hear is a bit quicker. I heard tivo is coming back, but it seems like it will never happen. I'm sick of paying a premium for D*, I only have 1080i capable tv's anyway.
> 
> ...


Next door neighbor switched 5 months ago to Uverse....last month he came back to D* but kept Uverse for phone and internet.


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## jstrossner (Feb 5, 2006)

Satelliteracer said:


> Next door neighbor switched 5 months ago to Uverse....last month he came back to D* but kept Uverse for phone and internet.


Same situation...Uverse for 2 months. D* being reconnected Friday but keeping internet/phone.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

TDK1044 said:


> Yes I did. First point...it's only fiber optic to the node...then they run copper to the house.


They don't run fiber to the Demarc?


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## PCampbell (Nov 18, 2006)

I signed up for all three TV Voice and internet. The internet is great and the voice is OK. The TV SD was very good but as said the HD is not as sharp and not goog for fast movment. DVR is not bad but channel numbers suck, as for rain fade not a problem but the system dose go down for no reason at times but not a lot. I droped the TV for HD PQ and here you only get two streems of HD. Overall it is a nice system and I tell everyone to try it if you do not like it drop it. 
Note it is not a fiber to home system, it runs on the pots line from the VRAD and thats why the HD PQ is lower. The farther you are from the VRAD the more problems you will have. For some they are to far from the VRAD to get it to work at all. Had to pull the complete system from my mother in laws house as we could not get it to work at all.( not that we wanted to)


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## mis3 (Mar 4, 2010)

Had D*. Tried u-verse for about 6 months, then had to switch back. U-verse version of MRV is pretty good, and lots of good specials to join, but I had 3 problems.

- PQ was awful. Constant pixelating watching sports or fast motion.

- DVR response was slower than my HR23, IR only remote, and frequently, press one button, and something else happens (google u-verse remote problems)

- I'm 2700-3200 ft from the node (each tech gave me a different distance), so I had constant service problems. Main box dropped signal every other day and required a service call.

So, I'm happier with D*.


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## djrobx (Jan 27, 2009)

The UI on the U-verse box is a bit more modern looking. AT&T has some sort of patented technology on channel changing. It's lightning quick - Analog TV fast. I would really like to know how they pulled it off.

Aside from that the box is no speed demon and the Microsoft DVR software seems to be a "start over from scratch" effort, meaning it's not as mature and you'll probably miss lots of things the HR2x DVRs offer. The "extra features" are PAINFULLY slow to load. However, AT&T's MRV seems a lot more refined.

The small hard drive is one problem, but the biggest issue for us was being limited to 2 HD streams, and the HD quality. There's a very frustrating lack of smoothness. It's especially apparent in the background of nearly still video. Things like rolling fog or grass in a sports field seem to "freeze frame" or pulsate once per second. This is not tiling or pixelization indicative of a problematic transmission - it's just artifacts due to the way the video is encoded because of all they're trying to squeeze in to a small pipe to the home.

U-verse TV is a really nice system, much better than our dreadful cable company, but we like our two HR24s much much better.


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## Earlyadopt (Jan 20, 2007)

My goal for me attemp with U-Verse was to integrate my cell and landline's voicemail and get super fast internet. Neither of which were able to happen. AT&T is not a VoIP provider so they coulnd't pick up my phone number which sits in their CO, but out of area. Their internet was GREAT in the begining. 2 months in it started to get slower and slower until i was getting less than modem speeds. 

I had 9 hours of additional tech visits to no avail.

Needless to say I'm back at TWC for internet and Vonage for my phone.

Long live the costly DirecTV.


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## lovswr (Jan 13, 2004)

veryoldschool said:


> It's always good to check out any other options you may have.
> The HR24 is a big improvement over all the other models.
> I've seen the Uverse ad with their multi-viewing and use DirecTV's. I know DirecTV's doesn't work like the Uverse ad shows, but then wonder how real their ad is [like any ad from anyone]. I can't pause in one room and continue in another, but I can stop in one room and continue in another.
> 
> ...


I wish I was as smart as you. I just recently moved & switched to cable. Got off of 6M DSL (finally!) & it seemed that Comcast HD was good enough. boy I could not have been more wrong. I am actually thinking about giving up my 16M cable modem & slumming it with DSL again, just so I can get back on D* in my apartment (assuming the many trees don't make it impossible.

Somebody needs to figure out how to make DeCA & Cable modems play nice on the same wire together! :grin:


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## PCampbell (Nov 18, 2006)

Channel changing is very fast, the system is Microsoft IPTV. Whan you change channel you are just requesting a differnt streem from the VRAD. There NO tuners in a uverse box.


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## mmmason23 (Apr 27, 2010)

I completely forgot about the freeze frame or pulsating. I was watching pirates of the carribbean on uverse and there was a scene with fog and it would move, stop, move, stop. Very annoying.


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

My inlaws have U-Verse. I really don't notice the channel changes being any faster than with D*, but I also have HR20-700's.

One thing I have noticed is that you really need to point the remote at the box. Its IR is not anywhere close to as sensitive as the HR's. 

Its an OK service and great for the inlaws, but if you have a bigger family (which it sounds like you have multiple children) then the 4 stream max could be an issue. I know at any one time, we may have 5-6 recordings going on in HD. U-Verse can't even do that in SD.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

lovswr said:


> Somebody needs to figure out how to make DECA & Cable modems play nice on the same wire together! :grin:


"Lots of filters".


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## ht2 (Dec 14, 2008)

bonscott87 said:


> Actually shouldn't be a pain at all.
> Just call DirecTV and put your account in suspend which you can do for up to 6 months.
> Leave all your equipment in place.
> 
> ...


I totally agree nothing to lose. Too bad AT&T has not started service in my area.


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## ChrisPC (Jun 17, 2003)

I tried U-verse a few months ago, but went back to D* for TV. The channel selection is better than D*, but the PQ leaves much to be desired. The receivers are a lot faster, though. The internet and VOIP are great, so I kept them.


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## Hoosier205 (Sep 3, 2007)

U-Verse is to DirecTV as a Ford Pinto is to a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti.


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## whitepelican (May 9, 2007)

I tried U-verse TV out for a couple of months recently. I got $400 in gift cards by ordering all three of voice/internet/tv using their online ordering system. I have to say I was very impressed with the UI of their DVR/receivers. It was much, much quicker than any DirecTV receiver I've ever used, especially my now (not so dearly) departed HR20 & HR21. I also really liked a lot of the features of the UI, particularly the "picture-in-picture" view where you could browse through other channels and actually see what was on them while you were still watching a recording or live TV.

The big downfall to the system was, as others have mentioned, the number of streams available. I knew it would be a problem, so I only had three of my five TVs hooked up to U-verse. But it was still a big issue for my household. I never really planned on keeping it after I got my $400 in rebates anyway, but I was glad to see it go. Personally, I would really recommend U-verse to anyone who was only going to hook up 1 or 2 televisions to it. But any more tv's than that, and it becomes a giant pain in the patootie.

I'm currently glad to be free of both U-verse and DirecTV. In fact, I cancelled them both on the same day just last week, after having had DirecTV on suspend for the past six months.


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## Hoosier205 (Sep 3, 2007)

whitepelican said:


> I tried U-verse TV out for a couple of months recently. I got $400 in gift cards by ordering all three of voice/internet/tv using their online ordering system. I have to say I was very impressed with the UI of their DVR/receivers. It was much, much quicker than any DirecTV receiver I've ever used, especially my now (not so dearly) departed HR20 & HR21. I also really liked a lot of the features of the UI, particularly the "picture-in-picture" view where you could browse through other channels and actually see what was on them while you were still watching a recording or live TV.
> 
> The big downfall to the system was, as others have mentioned, the number of streams available. I knew it would be a problem, so I only had three of my five TVs hooked up to U-verse. But it was still a big issue for my household. I never really planned on keeping it after I got my $400 in rebates anyway, but I was glad to see it go. Personally, I would really recommend U-verse to anyone who was only going to hook up 1 or 2 televisions to it. But any more tv's than that, and it becomes a giant pain in the patootie.
> 
> I'm currently glad to be free of both U-verse and DirecTV. In fact, I cancelled them both on the same day just last week, after having had DirecTV on suspend for the past six months.


What do you have now?


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## whitepelican (May 9, 2007)

Hoosier205 said:


> What do you have now?


OTA-only with three Tivos and Netflix.


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## gilg1 (May 13, 2008)

Well if you have been with DTV for 6 years I don't see why retentions would not give you a credit to your account so that you can buy an HR24 yourself. I was ready to switch to ATT U-Verse because all the receivers were HD and MRV compatible but retentions upgraded two of my receivers to HD (1 H24 and 1 H21) and gave me a $200 credit to my account for buying the HR24 from a third party. AND YES the HR24 is so much faster than my HR22 and HR20 receivers. I have been with DTV since 2007 and have the Premier package + ST.


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## sat4r (Aug 27, 2006)

Just as others have said I had U-Verse TV,Internet and VOICE phone.The HD was no comparision to DTV HD. I have the Turbo 24 which by far is the best connection I have ever had and now recently I went back to the standard phone line because I lost my fax. A standard fax will not work with their VOIP line.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

circadianswing said:


> After 6 years with DirecTV, I decided it's time to leave. I scheduled an install of ATT fiber Uverse, but before I go, I wanted to hear from those who may have attempted to move away.
> 
> I'm so disappointed with the sluggishness of my HR2X series HD DVR, and I've been holding onto my old HR210, only to get SD but Tivo dual tuner in the bedroom. they came out and gave me a slimline dish and tested everything, but won't give me an HR24, which I hear is a bit quicker. I heard tivo is coming back, but it seems like it will never happen. I'm sick of paying a premium for D*, I only have 1080i capable tv's anyway.
> 
> ...


I had lots of trouble with U-verse. No TV for a whole day, lousy DVRS ETC. I'd think twice before switching!


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

circadianswing said:


> I was considering the purchase of the HR24; however, I'm very curious to see if the ATT Uverse box performs better. especially in the areas of... changing the channel, multi room viewing, response time on just about every function.


Their boxes are Motorola junk!!!!!


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

Paul Secic said:


> Their boxes are Motorola junk!!!!!


I thought it was a Cisco running MS CE.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

dennisj00 said:


> I thought it was a Cisco running MS CE.


When they brought the boxes in they said Motorola. The receivers had Motorola printed on them.


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## circadianswing (Feb 16, 2007)

Paul Secic said:


> I had lots of trouble with U-verse. No TV for a whole day, lousy DVRS ETC. I'd think twice before switching!


I'm taking your advice, I had an appointment for next tuesday to move everything, but I just found this out in a forum discussing there dvr....

"The units in other rooms were not dvr's, meaning all you could do was play programming remotely from you main dvr but you couldn't pause, rewind, etc, ie all the other normal DVR functions. With Directv I have a dvr in each room and complete DVR functionality as a result in every room so this was a big thing to give up at that time"

basically, you don't have a dvr in the other rooms, just ability to do play back, that doesn't work for me, and not worth switching, although I hear they're going to roll that out down the line. Once again, sticking with d* and I'll just pony up for the HR24


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

circadianswing said:


> I'm taking your advice, I had an appointment for next tuesday to move everything, but I just found this out in a forum discussing there dvr....
> 
> "The units in other rooms were not dvr's, meaning all you could do was play programming remotely from you main dvr but you couldn't pause, rewind, etc, ie all the other normal DVR functions. With Directv I have a dvr in each room and complete DVR functionality as a result in every room so this was a big thing to give up at that time"
> 
> basically, you don't have a dvr in the other rooms, just ability to do play back, that doesn't work for me, and not worth switching, although I hear they're going to roll that out down the line. Once again, sticking with d* and I'll just pony up for the HR24


I told you that here : 


sigma1914 said:


> Uverse hard drives are small, and *you only get 1 DVR for MRV*. Plus, you can only get 1-3 (3 is rare) HD streams at once.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

I'd like to clarify that as far as my research has shown you *can* indeed pause/FFW/RRW a *recorded* program on an STB.

It's only Live TV that you can't pause, etc. from an STB, only the DVR itself.

So if you're watching a recorded movie on the DVR in the living room you can stop it, go to the bedroom STB, resume from where you stopped it and you can pause/RRW, etc on that movie on the bedroom STB no problem. What you couldn't do in the bedroom STB is if you were watching that movie live you couldn't pause it.

Phase 3 update will bring Live TV pausing and trickplay to the STBs, due this year according to the Uverse forums.


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## circadianswing (Feb 16, 2007)

bonscott87 said:


> I'd like to clarify that as far as my research has shown you *can* indeed pause/FFW/RRW a *recorded* program on an STB.
> 
> It's only Live TV that you can't pause, etc. from an STB, only the DVR itself.
> 
> ...


Yes that is the information I got, and until that "phase3" roll out happens, I'll keep my directv, as i have no contract commitment. I'm just not willing to lose any dvr functionality.


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## kokishin (Sep 30, 2006)

circadianswing,

Do you have Verizon FIOS in your area?


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

kokishin said:


> circadianswing,
> 
> Do you have Verizon FIOS in your area?


One telephone company usually serves a large area or state.


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## dirtyblueshirt (Dec 7, 2008)

circadianswing said:


> After 6 years with DirecTV, I decided it's time to leave. I scheduled an install of ATT fiber Uverse, but before I go, I wanted to hear from those who may have attempted to move away.
> 
> I'm so disappointed with the sluggishness of my HR2X series HD DVR, and I've been holding onto my old HR210, only to get SD but Tivo dual tuner in the bedroom. they came out and gave me a slimline dish and tested everything, but won't give me an HR24, which I hear is a bit quicker. I heard tivo is coming back, but it seems like it will never happen. I'm sick of paying a premium for D*, I only have 1080i capable tv's anyway.
> 
> ...


Remember, U-Verse is NOT Fiber Optic TV. it is IPTV delivered via DSL. Fiber is only sent to the neighborhood, and is copper to your house, much like current phone and cable technology. Thus the bandwidth is far less than true fiber (such as Verizon's FiOS, which is true fiber-to-the-home).


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## dirtyblueshirt (Dec 7, 2008)

Paul Secic said:


> One telephone company usually serves a large area or state.


The local telco may be AT&T, but there are several areas served by FiOS that aren't in Verizon's local telco range, such as Seattle and Los Angeles, that I know of off the top of my head.


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## dtvmike1652 (Jun 14, 2010)

circadianswing said:


> After 6 years with DirecTV, I decided it's time to leave. I scheduled an install of ATT fiber Uverse, but before I go, I wanted to hear from those who may have attempted to move away.
> 
> I'm so disappointed with the sluggishness of my HR2X series HD DVR, and I've been holding onto my old HR210, only to get SD but Tivo dual tuner in the bedroom. they came out and gave me a slimline dish and tested everything, but won't give me an HR24, which I hear is a bit quicker. I heard tivo is coming back, but it seems like it will never happen. I'm sick of paying a premium for D*, I only have 1080i capable tv's anyway.
> 
> ...


I have heard of quite a few people going back to Directv after they've went to UVERSE. For the most part it has been about pricing but there are other issues as well. First of all is the pricing. ATT will quote them a great price but then once they receive the first bill it is a lot higher. The U200 pkg has 187 channels and it runs for $67.00 after the rebates expire. Then of course HD access and DVR service fees too then $7 per additional receiver. Then is the HD. The main issue is if you watch a lot of sports, you'll be very disappointed with the artifact issues with the fast moving pictures and where it's fiber optics the more televisions and computers you run off that network will slow the speed and picture quality down tremendously. Not to mention in most areas you can only have a max of 2 HD tv's because they don't have the capability to handle more than that. Plus they don't offer international programming if you need it and the sports aren't half of what Directv offers. Again with the HD though the max number of HD channels is 133 whereas Directv offers 160 full time channels. UVERSE is like Dish they over inflate their numbers to make it look like they have more than they really do. Best bet is to keep Directv before you end up paying twice as much as what you may be now.


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## dtvmike1652 (Jun 14, 2010)

dirtyblueshirt said:


> Remember, U-Verse is NOT Fiber Optic TV. it is IPTV delivered via DSL. Fiber is only sent to the neighborhood, and is copper to your house, much like current phone and cable technology. Thus the bandwidth is far less than true fiber (such as Verizon's FiOS, which is true fiber-to-the-home).


UVERSE is fiber optic to the node then copper to the home itself. Causes a lot of problems with the picture quality and has a lot to do with the speeds and if someone is streaming data to a computer and you're trying to watch HD on a tv if so you'll probably experience some issues.


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## dtvmike1652 (Jun 14, 2010)

Davenlr said:


> +1, and pray you get a Uverse installer that knows the difference between an HDMI cable and a component cable.
> 
> You can get an HR24 for less than 199 at costco, overstock, and several other places.
> Id really go that route, but hey, you can suspend your directv account and try Uverse, but I dont think you will be happy with it.


Make sure that if you do purchase at one of those retailers that you know that it is a leased receiver with a 24 month commitment you will not own that receiver.


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## dtvmike1652 (Jun 14, 2010)

circadianswing said:


> at this point I'm willing to sacrifice a little picture quality for functionality... all the HR units prior to the HR24 (don't have that one), are so slow, I appreciate my older SD tivo unit. customer service on d* can't do much for me on there, but I will say they're quick to pick up the phone. I will take the cautious route and not cancel my directv until I'm satisfied with the att... yes... good luck to us both!


Hard drives and storage capacity are the same with the HR22 and above. I've had my HR23 and 21 sitting next to a HR24 i cannot tell a major difference. Who cares if it changes channels a millisecond faster than the other.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

dtvmike1652 said:


> Hard drives and storage capacity are the same with the HR22 and above. I've had my HR23 and 21 sitting next to a HR24 i cannot tell a major difference. Who cares if it changes channels a millisecond faster than the other.


I've had U-verse and it wasn't a picnic. One Saturday the TV part was off for 12 hours. We called for a tech in the morning and he didn't come until 6PM. He re-wired everything and it was on. The next day we called Dish and subscribed again. NO more U-verse for us. You can't trust U-verse!


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## MaxxFlash (Feb 6, 2008)

I was so on the verge of switching all for just one HD channel uverse has the DirecTV doesn't. Anyway. Long story short; the rep over the phone lied about a wireless discount. It wasn't until I called back to confirm that I was made aware. A good friend has it; they like it, esp for "easy" dvr sharing. Like most have said, the installer was at their place for 8 hours. I've scrutinized the image quality versus channel change time, etc. Yes it seems faster buy the picture quality still isn't near what DirecTV offers. Stay with D.


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## sat4r (Aug 27, 2006)

As I have said before there is no comparision to the picture quality with Directv. By far the best.


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## Manctech (Jul 5, 2010)

Well here it is for you. I'm a DTV Installer. I really do like DTV. But I really do like U-Verse as well.

U-Verse is great if you have a ****ty TV that won't make a difference in picture quality.

There are some really nice things about U-Verse. They are far ahead in the Multi-rooming. Their total home is seamless and on point. Channel changing is instant. I'm talking fraction of a second. It's awesome.

Picture quality is sub-par to directv. More noticeable difference on quality televisions.

Menus/Recording are a little ... how should I say... disorganized. Overall U-Verse is nice and if your like me and hate 2 year contracts... then It's nice.

5 months now, 0% downtime. (they also paid me 200$ to sign up  )

Receivers are fairly quick but take about 15mins to warm up. Till then they are a bit sluggish. Remotes program pretty easily.


OH- And theres built in volume on the receivers.


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## xmguy (Mar 27, 2008)

dirtyblueshirt said:


> Remember, U-Verse is NOT Fiber Optic TV. it is IPTV delivered via DSL. Fiber is only sent to the neighborhood, and is copper to your house, much like current phone and cable technology. Thus the bandwidth is far less than true fiber (such as Verizon's FiOS, which is true fiber-to-the-home).


I had a VDSL based video service for 2 years (BLTV in McMinnville,TN where I live) . I HATED IT! It was SD only but signal was POOR( not to mention they received the "locals" via a antenna This was when analog was still in use so I'd get ghosting on my "digital" signal). I had constant issues with caller ID not working. They now have HD and DVR's. Take it from me. IPTV or VDSL is a LONG way from being as good as either Dish or DirecTV.


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## CTJon (Feb 5, 2007)

I had Directv for over 11 years and for financial reasons I had to sell the big house and move to a condo. The complex comes with Uverse and since I don't have a Southern sky view..
Other than cost I can see nothing about UVerse that is close to Directv.
First the concept of 1 dvr and other "dumb" devices accesses is a bad concept which isn't even well executed. You can only pause, rewind, etc. live tv from the tv attached to the dvr. This is a big problem to me. The dvr has only very basic features and is years and years behind the directv ones. You can't even change the defaults for series recordings so if you want to record first run only you have to change that for every series you record. Priority and number to keep started rolling out to the world in May but I don't have it yet. 
Then the "you can record 4 shows at once" - true but for most users you can only do 2 HD. Many can only do 1 HD at once. Even if you can handle 3 HD (depends how far your location is from the AT&T hub) that will be 2 recorded, and, if on the dvr, watching one already recorded - if not on the DVR you can may be able to watch a live HD. Anyway only 4 shows can be watched in the whole house. I have to manually manage recording times to keep within the limits - and this isn't even prime tv season.
Picture quality is terrible. 
Cheap yes but you get what you pay for.
Bad design badly executed.


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## TDK1044 (Apr 8, 2010)

U-verse is just not quite there yet. It's well on the way, and two years from now, assuming a standard 1SD/3HD profile and improved HD picture quality, U-verse will be a serious threat to DirecTV and Dish. 

Right now, the quality of the U-verse HD pictures is a deal breaker for many people. Not much point in having super fast channel changing if the channel you end up watching looks like crap.


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## mdavej (Jan 31, 2007)

I must be blind. I can barely see any difference between D* and Uverse HD PQ (my local AT&T store has a side-by-side demo with identical TV's) except for a bit more macro blocking on fast moving scenes. But I can tell that Uverse SD PQ is vastly superior to D*. I'm patiently waiting for Uverse to get to my street so I can get the 30 HD channels they have that D* doesn't.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

mdavej said:


> I must be blind. I can barely see any difference between D* and Uverse HD PQ (my local AT&T store has a side-by-side demo with identical TV's)* except for a bit more macro blocking on fast moving scenes*. But I can tell that Uverse SD PQ is vastly superior to D*. I'm patiently waiting for Uverse to get to my street so I can get the 30 HD channels they have that D* doesn't.


IMHO that's a fairly big *except*. I've seen uVerse on sports programming, like football, basketball, auto racing and for that type of programming it's totally unacceptable, at least to me.


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## lmabadie (Jul 19, 2010)

I did the 30 day trial with Uverse and I am dissapointed. Some features are good but several important things (for me) are lacking.


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## brett1198 (Jun 16, 2007)

U-verse pq is horrible, especially sports. I tried it for 30 days and I spent hours each day trying to get the picture to look like D*. Most of ny neighbors have U-verse and say they love the picture, but I still think it looks bad, or, not as good as D*. Maybe I'm just an HD snob?


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## drded (Aug 23, 2006)

The Uverse remote control is infrared, no RF. So, can't change the channel from another room. Have to be in front of receiver.

Dave


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

lmabadie said:


> I did the 30 day trial with Uverse and I am dissapointed. Some features are good but several important things (for me) are lacking.


The grass isn't as greener on the other side especially U-verse!


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

Manctech said:


> Well here it is for you. I'm a DTV Installer. I really do like DTV. But I really do like U-Verse as well.
> 
> U-Verse is great if you have a ****ty TV that won't make a difference in picture quality.
> 
> ...


HUH??:eek2::eek2::eek2::eek2:


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## mdavej (Jan 31, 2007)

drded said:


> The Uverse remote control is infrared, no RF. So, can't change the channel from another room. Have to be in front of receiver.
> 
> Dave


 Of course you can. The uverse RF remote is actually better than D* since you can use RF and IR at the same time.


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## drded (Aug 23, 2006)

Must be area dependent or something new. My mother and sister both have uverse and have only infrared. They live in Racine, WI.

Dave


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## mdavej (Jan 31, 2007)

It's optional. It's pricey, but you can order one HERE that works anywhere with any receiver.

Can you tell I really, really want uverse?


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## TDK1044 (Apr 8, 2010)

mdavej said:
 

> I must be blind. I can barely see any difference between D* and Uverse HD PQ (my local AT&T store has a side-by-side demo with identical TV's) except for a bit more macro blocking on fast moving scenes. But I can tell that Uverse SD PQ is vastly superior to D*. I'm patiently waiting for Uverse to get to my street so I can get the 30 HD channels they have that D* doesn't.


When it gets to your street, it will be fiber to the node and copper to your house. Check those pictures out. Your SD/HD profile will depend on your distance from the VRAD, and the DVR has some way to go.

Most people who have tried both D* and U-verse rate D* higher in most areas.


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## mdavej (Jan 31, 2007)

I know D* has a better picture (slightly IMO). They've got way more bandwidth. So I wouldn't expect any different. I'm actually surprised Uverse looks as good as it does, considering the low bitrate. 

But in my case I'm looking for quantity over quality. Uverse still has 35 more HD nationals than D*. I've been hoping D* would finally catch up, but it looks like they've shifted focus to PPV for the near future. Meanwhile, I'll miss yet another season of Mad Men in HD. So slightly inferior uverse HD beats the heck out of D*'s unwatchable SD. I like D* overall, but I'm out of contract and I'm tired of waiting.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

TDK1044 said:


> When it gets to your street, it will be fiber to the node and copper to your house. Check those pictures out. Your SD/HD profile will depend on your distance from the VRAD, and the DVR has some way to go.
> 
> Most people who have tried both D* and U-verse rate D* higher in most areas.


The VRAD is on the street directly behind my house so it'll always will screw up. I had U-verse twice & that's enough!


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## georule (Mar 31, 2010)

I'm a regular on a forum for owners of Mitsubishi big screen TVs, from 60"-82". Anytime a new owner complains about his crappy HD pic on his new big screen (PQ problems are more noticeable the bigger the screen), it's pretty much even money that they'll turn out to be a Uverse customer. Jes' sayin'.


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## dsodko (Aug 1, 2010)

I've had DirecTv for 2+ years and when something went south well they addressed it, remotes, HDVR replacement, ACESS mag issues, PPV problems. Except rain fade. Well I was thinking of Uverse. I have a friend a mile away has it and looked too cool ! After weeks of talking to Bellsouth/ATT&T the tech in my area says it should work. All the gear is across from our subdivision. I starting to get tired of the runaround !!! I have their DSL, cell service, local and long distance. Then my home phone died. 4 days of no local service. I wonder if AT&T really cares about selling any SERVICE or getting bigger.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

dsodko said:


> I've had DirecTv for 2+ years and when something went south well they addressed it, remotes, HDVR replacement, ACESS mag issues, PPV problems. Except rain fade. Well I was thinking of Uverse. I have a friend a mile away has it and looked too cool ! After weeks of talking to Bellsouth/ATT&T the tech in my area says it should work. All the gear is across from our subdivision. I starting to get tired of the runaround !!! I have their DSL, cell service, local and long distance. Then my home phone died. 4 days of no local service. I wonder if AT&T really cares about selling any SERVICE or getting bigger.


I had lots of problems with U-verse: day long outage with television ETC. Long story short, I cancelled and went back to Dish.


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## Dave from Kazoo (Nov 28, 2004)

I had Direct TV from 1999 till March of 2010. We moved from a 3 bedroom house to a 3 bedroom apt. I decided not to fork out the extra $250.00 deposit(for any damges to the building) to have Direct TV installed at the time of the move. I added up all my bills, Direct TV, Phone(AT&T), DSL(At&t 1.2 down) and with going to U-verse I saved about $50.00 a month. PQ - looks about the same(HD) my son has 42" Samsung and he would complain. Would I go back to Direct TV ..... maybe or maybe not. More HD channels(full time) then Direct TV. 3rd provider at my location Dish - haven't tried it. 4th provider Charter cable and HD is bad, few HD channels and priced to high.


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## tkrandall (Oct 3, 2003)

Davenlr said:


> You can get an HR24 for less than 199 at costco, overstock, and several other places.
> Id really go that route, but hey, you can suspend your directv account and try Uverse, but I dont think you will be happy with it.


HR24s are at Costco????? Since when?


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