[Davenlr]

I was looking at some of those links earlier to compare services. Are they correct that only AT&T TV has >720p video, and NONE of them have anything > Stereo? I need at least 1080 and 5.1 Sound. None of the streaming services have that?

 

[Davenlr]

Thanks. Wont be giving up DirecTv then. At 75", 720p looks like crap. Why I gave up my great deal with Xfinity and came back to DirecTv. They dropped all their channels to 720p.

 

[Davenlr]

You realize that several of the channels you get on DirecTV are in 720p, right?

Yep, The only things I watch on a 720p channel are Nascar races and a college football. Disney I stream from Disney+ in 4K, Movies I buy on 4KBluRay or watch on HBOMax

 

[Davenlr]

Called DirecTv trying to add a third receiver I had to my account (I owned it, they said they would send an access card for it, and asked for the serial # and RID to verify). They sent an entire new DVR with access card, but swore they would not change my contract, only add $7 a month. After spending 2 hours on the phone with the Philippines which must have really slow internet, they said not only could they not pair my owned DVR with the card they sent, but could not pair it with the DVR they sent with the card preinstalled. Wanted me to pay $99 for tech to come out (guessing with another box which would trigger a new contract). After the third time getting hung up on, and having to start over, I called to cancel Directv, totally planning to pay the 15 months of ETF just to get it out of my house. The retention department spent 10 minutes reading all the notes the Philippines CSRs added and just started apologizing profusely, and said they would cancel my DirecTv account, waive the ETF, and connect me to ATT TV folks and had them set me up with a no contract account, same channels, three streams, less cost. Had it up and running, then turned off the dish, and said to just carry the stuff to the UPS store and keep my receipt that I sent the DirecTv stuff back. I'll send them my owned HR-24 (after I remove the 2TB hard drive), two H24s, and a H25 I have in my closet along with my HR54 and C61K, and the HR24 they just sent me. Maybe someone can make use of that stuff, since they wouldnt let me activate it.
Now, my only question is, what would I gain by buying the ATT TV box that is $120 vs just using my Roku-TV's, and Roku Ultras? I declined the rental, but see they have them for sale on ebay. Just not sure what the purpose is unless they have a hard drive built in to record the streaming stuff vs using the cloud.

 

[Davenlr]

I noticed it is not available for Nvidia Shield...but there is a you tube video on how to install it.
Had anyone here done that, and is it worth the price to get HDR and and such? Ive heard the ATT box is pretty slow. Any comments there?

 

[Davenlr]

So on the Roku, how do you just forward 15 seconds? I keep getting kicked back to the beginning of the show.

 

[Davenlr]

Yea, not only the audio sync, but if I start playing a recording that is in Dolby 5.1, if I do any skip or FF with the Roku, when it starts back, the audio switches to PCM and volume jumps up about 6 db. Terrible job of writing an app in my opinion. I might try out Fubo once they cut off my discount for bundling with internet.

Edit, just tried tapping the >> button, and it just went into FF. Maybe Roku TV is different than a regular Roku.

Ah, just noticed you said > button. Yep, that works. Never gave that one a try. Thanks.

 

[Davenlr]

I tried the FireTv version, but the picture quality isnt as sharp as Roku. It is quite apparent. Also, when using FireTv, I get no small window that pops up showing where I am, so I have no idea when to hit play again. On the Roku app, it shows the picture in a small box above the FF timeline, and when you hit play, backs up a few seconds like a real DVR. I just ended up putting an external Roku into the AVR, and not using the Roku TV version. The app on a real Roku works perfectly. I was thinking of getting an Nvidia shield, but no one can tell me if the ATT TV app works on it. Only thing I can find is a youtube video showing how to sideload it. So I sure dont want to spend $200 if its no better than the Roku.

 

[Davenlr]

OK Thanks. I will just stick with the Roku then until I can find a demo video of how it works on their ATT Osprey box, which might be worth the money if allows you to see what is scheduled to record, and has a previous channel button. I just cannot believe how many DVR features that have been added and honed over the years have been thrown out the window for the most antique interface I have ever seen in a DVR. And the services are not THAT much cheaper than regular cable. If cable hadnt dropped their resolution to 720p and stopped adding channels to cablecard, and charged extra for each room, I would probably still be using my Tivo bolt.

 

[Davenlr]

OK, so if I have a show scheduled to record, it will show up in "My Library" ? I have been deleting shows after I have finished, since I only have 20 hours. If I do not delete them, does it delete the oldest show and record the new one, or just stop recording? I couldnt find that answer either.

 

[Davenlr]

Yes, it will show there. Go to 'all dvr recordings' and at the top of the list is 'upcoming', click that and it will show what is scheduled.

As to how it deletes, I've been told that it deletes oldest first and records the new, if you run out of space. I'm on an older TV Now sub and have 500 hours so I haven't had an opportunity to see if that is actually what happens.

Ok thanks. I finally found it on my ROKU. You have to arrow right on the My Library all the way to get to the option. It should be there with the GUIDE, ON NOW, LIBRARY options tho. But, at least I found it now that you verified it was actually there. Appreciate it.

 

[Davenlr]

OK, Other than legal, copyright or other reasons...
Is there any TECHNICAL reason why a TIVO (or a new device) could not be upgraded to be a DVR for ATT TV?
I would think if ATT could work with Tivo to come up with an APP for the Tivo to record to hard drive, and allow all current Tivo trick play functions, it would greatly increase the sales of both. I Never understood why streaming services are not supported (for recording) on TIVO's. Even a ROKU with a SSD and some DVR functions that allowed recording and playback later would be a great seller I would think.

 

[Davenlr]

Ah, I was going to ask you about PQ and 5.1, which you answered. I just have to much money invested in a Dolby atmos/DTS sound system to switch to any service without 5.1. To be honest, I just got a email from Comcast wanting me back, and their package has all the channels I watch for a year, for $50. But then I only get 720p. I never understood why Comcast did that. They have plenty of bandwidth for 1080i.
I am on ATT-TV Entertainment. Has all the sports channels that carry Nascar, and the entertainment channels the family watches, and its $69 a month with no contract. $13 a month more than you are paying with better PQ and 5.1 is OK with me. I noticed the ATT app reloaded last night on my Roku. Now I have a previous channels option hitting up arrow. Yea, I think $50 should be the going rate, but as I can see with all these streaming services, its the channels themselves raising prices forcing the high monthly rates. I could get by with just Peacock, HBOMax (both free to me), Disney+ and Paramount+ for the family...and it would cost me almost nothing....But Sports... If only I didnt like watching sports

 

[Davenlr]

You can do this with the Channels DVR app and server. You can record the TV Everywhere (TVE) streams to a local hard drive connected to whatever you use as your DVR Server. I use an nVidia Shield for this.

I was looking at that website. So, assuming a dedicated Windows PC, I could install the DVR software, pay them $80 for a year, and then it will allow me to record my HDHomeRun and ATT-TV shows to my computer and I can watch it on a FireTv or Nvidia Shield attached to any TV in the house? Or stream it to my smartphone when away from home?

 

[Davenlr]

No, I am just not a big fan of this cloud DVR after using it for a week. One day it will work fine, the next day it will pause half way through a show, say "Opps, this show is taking longer to load than expected" then it will just jump back to the beginning and start playing all over again. If you didnt happen to catch where it was to fast forward back to, you miss stuff. And it is annoying. It can't be the internet speed, its fiber 1 gb/s from the same company as the streaming service. And while it is sitting there saying it cant access the show, my computer is working fine on the same network.

I'll give it a little bit longer, but I can see myself giving up my 1080p and going back to Xfinity and my Tivo Bolt, and 2 mini's.

 

[Davenlr]

.TiVo doesn't do this with anyone else, so why would they do it with AT&T?

They did it with DirecTv. Same company now.

 

[Davenlr]

I'm having issues with the AT&T box remote not turning on the TV. This is occurring on only one of the TVs and happened suddenly and without me doing anything. The settings are the same as the TV that is working (both Vizio's but different models).

The volume and all other buttons like changing input, still all work fine, it's just the power button will not turn the TV on or off at the same time that I turn the AT&T box on and off. (My Apple TV is working as it should).

Anyone having similar issues?

Is your Vizio a new model with HDMI 2.1 ports? There is a known bug with those failing to turn on after being fed a signal that is, or they think is, 4K@120hz.

 

[Davenlr]

Having an issue on both Roku Premier, and Roku Ultra.
Watching a recorded show, get a spinning circle, message"sorry, your video is taking longer to load than expected" or something to that extent, and then the show starts over again from the beginning. No way to get back to where you were except FF and hope you find it.
That is totally unacceptable. Anyone know the cause? Using their Gig fiber internet, using their gateway, one Roku is wireless, the other is ethernet. While the circle is spinning, my computer still has access to the internet on the same network.

I wont be able to deal with this if it continues. This is the second day now. The first two days it worked perfect. Weather has been bad here, but don't see why that would affect it. Same weather they have all winter in Wisconsin.

 

[Davenlr]

VID_20210218_201534604.mp4
Well, if it is the Roku, it is 3 different models on three different TV's...which would make it ATT TV's problem with their App.

At the 1:10 mark you can see where it goes crazy. IF I had hit pause there, it would have backed up 15 seconds and continued on. I did that 4 times in that show already. As you can see, however, if left, it starts the show over. To make matters worse, as you can see when I pulled the show up on the DVR library, it actually showed 3 minutes remaining. I hit resume, and it DID NOT RESUME. I even tried it again by going to restart and then back to resume, and it DID NOT RESUME. This is terribly buggy.

So now my next question is, what service do I want to try next. Sling Blue looks good, but YouTubeTV has lots more sports, and the option for the Red Zone channel this fall. Choices and decisions. Looks like Ill have to ditch the 1080p and Dolby Digital, or go back to cable.

Disregard going back to cable. $60 for their smallest package plus $14.45 for locals, plus $15.45 for regional sports and those add ons are NOT optional.

 

[Davenlr]

Followup to above post. I ran a new ethernet cable directly from the ATT gateway to the bedroom through the attic, and plugged the Roku ultra into the switch, and went to test the connection, and found out it had defaulted to wireless, even though it had an ethernet connection. Why Roku set up that way, I have no clue. I reset the boxes network connection to ethernet, and tested it, and no longer have the above issue with the cloud DVR. I also tested the Roku TV plugged directly into the gateway, and it also played the whole hour without error.

So my takeaway is the Roku app has serious issues with glitches in the stream, and the ATT Gateways wireless is less than 100%, since the Roku I was connected to wirelessly is less than 5 feet from the gateway.

In any case, I havent found any other service with 1080p and Dolby digital, so Ill stick with ATT TV for now. It looks like T-vision might be a viable option once they allow Sprint customers (or the general public) to sign up for it. They claim they also support 1080p, 4K as well as DD, DD+, DTS, and Atmos. Will see. The price is cheaper.