ATT U-Verse Questions

[javadog]

SUggestion was that i push my questions regarding ATT UVERSE here and so with out further......:

Thank you all in advance for such a valuable resource. IT Hardware company owner here, quite technical, and always looking to extend my components/hardware as far as i can. that being said, i have some interest in the UVERSE DVR box that is sitting on my system:

the main 'DVR' unit is a motorola 'vip1216' <-only number i could find on it. its got a couple USB, on in the front one in the back, as well as an HDMI and most importantly an ETHERNET. being the hardware geek i am, i want to know if i can mate this thing with my network at home. i have a bleeding edge computer system with all the latest and greatest hardware, and a gigabit backend LAN.

i would love if i didnt have to burn my .img/.iso movie files anymore (hell, even all the .avi/wmv that i used to make SVCDs out of) and could slave this head unit into the network and just push media towards it. will it allow in its controls somewhere to view an alternate video feed from an external unit? also, hearing that the size of the HDD is so small, i know with my old DVR from DirecTV i was able to add an external drive via USB (granted, bypassing the internal) but it would allow for almost unlimited recording (ie, 1TB drive attached) what are my options?

am i also to hope that i will see the PQ going up or down? some of the threads ive read regarding the compression have me a bit concerned. i love the whole package, i am saving money and the bandwidth and VOIP phone work flawless. the TV though, it seems almost EVERY DAY, we get picture stutter, sometimes it goes blank with audio behind, or a screaching sound like audio tearing. happens almost every single day, weather makes no difference (obviously). any suggestions on that? is it the network still being dialed in, or can i expect this is just the kind of service its going to be? thanks again, -java

[curt8403]

SUggestion was that i push my questions regarding ATT UVERSE here and so with out further......:

Thank you all in advance for such a valuable resource. IT Hardware company owner here, quite technical, and always looking to extend my components/hardware as far as i can. that being said, i have some interest in the UVERSE DVR box that is sitting on my system:

the main 'DVR' unit is a motorola 'vip1216' <-only number i could find on it. its got a couple USB, on in the front one in the back, as well as an HDMI and most importantly an ETHERNET. being the hardware geek i am, i want to know if i can mate this thing with my network at home. i have a bleeding edge computer system with all the latest and greatest hardware, and a gigabit backend LAN.

i would love if i didnt have to burn my .img/.iso movie files anymore (hell, even all the .avi/wmv that i used to make SVCDs out of) and could slave this head unit into the network and just push media towards it. will it allow in its controls somewhere to view an alternate video feed from an external unit? also, hearing that the size of the HDD is so small, i know with my old DVR from DirecTV i was able to add an external drive via USB (granted, bypassing the internal) but it would allow for almost unlimited recording (ie, 1TB drive attached) what are my options?

am i also to hope that i will see the PQ going up or down? some of the threads ive read regarding the compression have me a bit concerned. i love the whole package, i am saving money and the bandwidth and VOIP phone work flawless. the TV though, it seems almost EVERY DAY, we get picture stutter, sometimes it goes blank with audio behind, or a screaching sound like audio tearing. happens almost every single day, weather makes no difference (obviously). any suggestions on that? is it the network still being dialed in, or can i expect this is just the kind of service its going to be? thanks again, -java


you may not get a lot of answers here on your question, this is a satellite forum. We generally do not deal with cable in any way (Except to bash it) Good luck though

[BattleZone]

Right now, you don't have any options with your current box. It doesn't have any media-viewing capabilities, and you can't add to the hard drive space. Uverse is new, so there's no way to know if AT&T will develop the software on the receiver to allow some of these features, but the cable companies, who are the biggest users of Motorola receivers, almost never do.

And, yes, you can expect the PQ to go down again this year, as Uverse's compression is going to be increased again to allow a 3rd HD stream. Most areas are currently 2 HD/2 SD, and this "upgrade" will allow 3 HD/1 SD, but since the total bandwidth can't be increased, the only way to do this is to compress everything more.