Do not see the 30 Second click forward button or the backward click button.
Rich
While watching a program the left directional arrow and right directional arrow are used for quick skips. One click either way is 15 seconds at a time.
Thanks for that review. Good info. Hopefully they will work on the channel change time. 4-6 seconds is long IMO. In my experience YTTV is 2-3 seconds max using the live guide or the live channel tile row. Also, I think they will need all the major apps not just some. Not having Amazon Prime Video would be a big miss. Also, what about support for 4k HDR/DV and ATMOS using the various apps like NetFlix, Disney+, etc. Again, without that it can't be THE streaming device for many people, it would have to be yet another streaming device to be added.
The 4-6 seconds was due to the device updating. The previous owners never did a factory reset and since it already had an older version of the Hulu app that is fully functional so I didn't want to factory reset it and go through the setup process brand new (in fear of losing the Hulu app). When setting up the device brand new or via a factory reset it will download and install the update first as part of the setup process. After the device was fully updated AT&T TV Now went back to switching between channels about 2.5 seconds similar to YTTV.
The device supports 4K HDR output for apps that support the feature, however my TVs are 1080p non-HDR sets. The device outputs to the highest resolution possible when connected to a non 4K set. I just watched the last two episodes of
The Mandalorian on both my Xbox One X and the AT&T TV device and the PQ and sound was exactly the same.
Since it has Disney+ and ESPN+ (through the ESPN app) I'm not sure why it doesn't have Hulu or Amazon Video. I'm still exploring the apps to see about any other inconsistencies however I would expect AT&T to get Hulu and Amazon Video at some point for AT&T TV device.
Nice! Thanks for the review. And yes, I have questions. Please answer/update once you've spent enough time with it to know the following:
1. Please comment on the trick play experience with live TV (pause, rewind, FF). How well does it work?
2. How easy/difficult is to accurately FF/rewind during playback of cloud DVR recordings?
3. How does the HD picture quality compare between cloud DVR recordings and that same channel when viewed live? (The cloud DVR PQ was noticeably inferior a couple years ago when I was a beta tester. I haven't gotten any definitive answer whether that's changed.)
4. How would you compare PQ overall for AT&T TV Now from this device versus DirecTV via the C41W?
5. What sort of bugs/reliability issues, if any, are you noticing with the C71KW and/or AT&T TV Now?
6. What's your impression of the Google Assistant on this device, accessed via the voice remote? Is it responsive or clunky? How well does it integrate with AT&T TV for tasks like finding content, setting up recordings, etc?
Trick Play/Cloud DVR
Combining the first two into one here. Pausing, rewind and fast-forward works the same on both live TV and the cloud DVR recordings. During Live TV if you pause then hit the down arrow you can restart the program from the beginning (for channels/shows that support it). This is also where you can quickly enable/disable CC and jump to Live TV. Rewind and Fast Forward during Live TV and recordings work similar to YTTV where a thumbnail/box appears and you can see how far back you are rewinding or how far you are FF.
When you press play its almost instant and very accurate on the 1x and 2x speeds. Those speeds are actually faster than on D*'s hardware-based DVR where you need 2x or 3x to get the same effect on hardware-based DVR. Similarly when you go to 4x and then it play it may skip ahead by 5 seconds (just like how D*'s hardware-based DVR skips slightly ahead at that speed after you hit play.)
Picture Quality
Actually it seems AT&T has improved the service since its launch from 2016. Live TV and Cloud DVR recordings both have the same level of PQ now. If you tune into a program late and begin recording it the Cloud DVR mimics a hardware-based DVR and starts recording at the point you told it to record. I actually watched a couple of episodes of
Reba on CMT and recorded them at the same time. After the Live TV airings ended I went back and watched them via the Cloud DVR and the PQ was the same. I also had the same episodes recording on my Genie and then watched the first 15 minutes of the satellite hardware-based recording and it was the same quality as the Cloud DVR.
During Live TV the PQ between AT&T TV Now via the C71KW and DirecTV via a C41W was the same on most channels. I did notice 315 - QVC2 on both services were not the same quality. On D* QVC2 is broadcasting in SD while on AT&T TV Now its broadcasting in Full HD. Looking at the channel lineup for
AT&T TV service QVC2 is listed as an HD only channel.
I also noticed 272 - Logo is listed as being in SD and HD on AT&T TV's channel lineup as well despite being in SD only on DirecTV. Since I don't have AT&T TV Now's Xtra package I can't verify its actual format as it isn't included in the Max base package. So if anyone happens to have Go Big or Gotta Have It All at the grandfathered prices best to have them check Logo to see what format it is streaming in.
The PQ on tonight's NHL Hockey game between the Detroit Red Wings vs Columbus Blue Jackets looks the same to me on AT&T TV Now as D* in HD. Only obvious thing is AT&T TV Now is 20 seconds behind D*. Again why they don't show FS Ohio as a full time HD channel on D* is beyond me.
Bugs/Reliability
This is something that is inherited with the Android platform in general but since this is a mid-range device it is affected by it. If you try to open and switch between a bunch of apps one right after the other this will cause the device to temporarily slow down. I noticed this when I was going from one app to another to activate them. When this happens you just need to give the device a bit of time or highlight the previous app you opened and click the "..." button to close the app completely. I don't blame this on the device itself because I have noticed this same thing happening to Amazon Fire TV Sticks (non-4K model) and the regular Roku Streaming Stick.
While rare I have noticed the AT&T TV app will crash when pressing the "Home" button to switch back to AT&T TV/AT&T TV Now and it has to reload. This happened once so far. Similarly the CBS All Access crashed once (which also happened on my Amazon Fire TV Stick before.) Occasionally the device is a bit slow when opening an app especially if you haven't used it in a while. While pressing the "Home" button while in another app is quicker to get back to AT&T TV I find its better to press the "Exit" button as it completely closes the app but this takes a few extra seconds.
Google Assistant
This will be a friend when using the device however it is important to hold the remote in the manner they show in the ads
. When asking Google Assistant to tune to a channel using its channel number it is best to say the full number (i.e. when saying "Tune to channel 206" its best to say "Tune to channel two-hundred and six") If you try to say "Tune to two-zero-six" or "Tune to channel two-O-six" sometimes the assistant will mistake the command as "Tune to channel 6."
For my RSNs (FS Ohio, FS Cincinnati and SportsTime Ohio) the assistant can't find the channel by name so I have to ask it to tune to the specific channel number.
If your TV is too loud or the remote is to far away it may misunderstand a command and think you want something else. Like I had the TV volume high and then asked it to tune to Boomerang and it misunderstood the command that I wanted to see videos from the Minecraft YouTuber DanTDM and proceed to open up his YouTube channel for my viewing pleasure.
The assistant can be used cross-apps so if your watching something on Netflix but then realize its game time on a sport channel you can ask the assistant to tune to the channel the game is on and it will quickly load up AT&T TV and tune to the channel. I actually used this when I almost forgot about the hockey game on FS Ohio since it is the only time AT&T TV Now and D* are showing the same program on that channel in HD.
Overall Google Assistant is responsive and quick most of the time, however there have been a few times where it was a little slow at first. In most cases it is easier asking the Assistant to do things especially if you know the name of show or channel. They have integrated the assistant well I must say.
I did have one instance where it wasn't registering my voice commands so I had to remove the batteries out of the remote for 10 seconds and put them back in which fixed the issue.
Overall at this point it seems AT&T has worked a lot of bugs out of it to improve stability which at this point what remains is small. The only negative I have right now sometimes it can be a little slow switching from AT&T TV app to another app but its not a deal-breaker. The other negative is the current omission of Hulu and Amazon Video. I should have a list tomorrow for the apps.
