ATT U-Verse

[farscapesg1]

We just purchased a new house and found out that we can sign up for AT&T's U-Verse package instead of Comcast.

My dilemma is,
1) SageTV doesn't appear to support the U-Verse TV listings as an option for the area code (77386)
2) My current setup consists of one server with 4 SD tuners and 2 HD tuners + 2 client systems (living room and bedroom).

Is it even possible to connect the STB (Recievers) to the tuner cards, say via s-video, and then then control them with either serial or IR blasters?

Anyone with experience with the U-Verse setup and installation process, and how it relates to an HTPC setup?

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by farscapesg1

We just purchased a new house and found out that we can sign up for AT&T's U-Verse package instead of Comcast.

My dilemma is,
1) SageTV doesn't appear to support the U-Verse TV listings as an option for the area code (77386)
2) My current setup consists of one server with 4 SD tuners and 2 HD tuners + 2 client systems (living room and bedroom).

Is it even possible to connect the STB (Recievers) to the tuner cards, say via s-video, and then then control them with either serial or IR blasters?

Anyone with experience with the U-Verse setup and installation process, and how it relates to an HTPC setup?

Besides the French network equipment that drops packets on the copper, the Microsoft software that is unreliable on the box and the servers, and the great AT&T outside plant that carries the signal (oh, and batteries that have a tendency to explode in the VRAD cabinets), U-verse is a fine product.

I would stay away from it completely. You can't record HD signals, even locals in the clear, in fact, you can't record HD at all except on their system, and there is no way to feed the IPTV stream to a computer, it's stuck in the box, enslaved to the MSFT DRM.

Of course, if you want to have some fun call up the sales number (I guarantee you won't have a wait), and tell them you'd love to take it, but you don't want to use their box, but feed it into your computer based DVR system like you did with cable. Let them explain to you how closed their system is and why that won't work, and then tell them too bad and call comcast to hook you up.

Thanks,
mike

[farscapesg1]

Hmm, yeah that was kinda what I figured Personally I would like to get away from the cable company monopoly, but my SageTV setup is too important to me to loose.

[oddjob]

Uverse is a new product, give them some time to work out the issues.

[farscapesg1]

Originally Posted by oddjob

Uverse is a new product, give them some time to work out the issues.

I agree, but I'm not about to be their "beta test" guinnee pig for something as important as TV and Internet

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by oddjob

Uverse is a new product, give them some time to work out the issues.

With those ingredients, it's more than a few "issues" that need to be worked out.

The big issues is that with an IPTV product, there is no RF signal to tune. The only output is from the box itself, and because they don't allow you to recieve an "IPTV" stream, there is no way for you to feed HD into Sage. For SD, it's not that big deal, just another STB, but there is no possibility of something like a QAM tuner working, or cablecard, or R5000-HD, etc... None of that stuff works or can work.

Not to say that it might not have some advantages, and that some folks might like the service it provides, just not the type of folks who use Sage.

Thanks,
Mike

[Addict]

Just got off the phone with support and confirmed that you cannot watch HD content on anything but their device. Bummer. I had an install scheduled, but had to cancel.

I'd love to ditch Time Warner for a better solution.

[Serra]

Originally Posted by Addict

Just got off the phone with support and confirmed that you cannot watch HD content on anything but their device. Bummer. I had an install scheduled, but had to cancel.

I'd love to ditch Time Warner for a better solution.

Yea, if you are going to U-verse, you'll be turning Sage off. The two simply don't work together.

The choice between Sage and U-verse comes down to what does the user want, Sage software style cool stuff or U-verse more generic content. Personally, I want comskip more than I want the ease of U-verse. If I ever get sick of Sage PC issues, then I think U-verse would be a nice alternative.

[stevech]

Originally Posted by oddjob

Uverse is a new product, give them some time to work out the issues.

AT&T cannot succeed in changing the laws of physics: You can cram only so many bits/Hz reliably on a sh**ty copper pair intended for 4KHz analog voice. Especially old copper buried years ago and with a serpentine route to their power hog VRAD.

AT&T tried to compete with Verizon FIOS but avoid the capital outlay of fiber to the home.