(1) Uverse uses Microsoft’s MediaRoom technology. This is not quite the same as Media Center. Media Center is actually a bit more advanced in features (such as supporting live TV pause/ff/rew from extenders, more options when programming series (such as the “keep xx shows” functionality you mentioned), etc. Unlike Media Center you cannot use standard Media Center extenders (like Xbox 360), so you are locked into paying for the extender rentals (which I believe are now $7 per box unfortunately).

(2) On the bright side, it does seem like MS and AT&T are working to get all the features from Media Center into this new system gradually, so I expect it to improve as time goes on. I get the impression that there have been a number of reliability issues they had to fight, which they seem to have chased down and fixed (in my experience). Seems like now they can move on to the other features instead of fighting bugs.

(3) You alluded to this in your review, but I think it should be clarified a bit. Like you, I have a new house with “fiber to the premises”. From what I have heard, this eliminates most all potential issues with Uverse. People without this (and a home wired for networking) should expect MUCH lengthier install times and potentially some issues that need to be worked out over time. From what I have heard, one of the things that will go a LONG way towards eliminating issues inside the house is to make sure they do the wiring with Cat5e rather than taking the simple route and using coax.

(4) My installer mentioned that they are also working on allowing hookup of external USB drives to the dvr to increase capacity. This was a concern of mine as I come from using Media Center where I had one terrabyte of storage and never had to worry about running out (such as with your Curious George episodes). Another nice thing with that is if I did come close I could simply delete the programs through Windows Explorer en masse, much easier than the four clicks or so per program that going through the interface requires.

(5) I was also quite disappointed to find that I cannot delete programs from the extenders. Media Center allows this. It is more of an issue for me, as my dvr is in my office and we often watch shows from the living room. I have to remember which ones we watched and delete them in the office later. However, the bulk of my scheduling is done in my office, and that can’t be done from extenders either. I hope improving the extender functionality is their number one priority right now, as this is to me the biggest weakness (esp the lack of pause/ff/rew).

Thanks

I just had U-verse installed today (Royal Oak, MI) including the phone, cable tv and internet. I have not had the opportunity to play with it too much, but what I have seen I have liked. The interface is much better than what I had before (Wide Open West). The ability to schedule a recording via the internet is cool, although I don’t know how much I’ll use that capability. A couple things I don’t like: 1) for tvs other than the one with the DVR, you have to have a small receiver attached, which is an extra $5/month each (I have 4 of those). 2) The other annoyance at this time is the inability to pause live tv on those non-dvr sets. The installer said that capability would be added in the near future. My service here is $109 for the tv (which includes the $20 for the receivers) $30 for internet and $30 for phone. I still have to add the wireless phones to the bill, but my understanding is that there is no added bonus to doing that other than less paperwork for us since the cell phone bills will be together with the other stuff.

You said you wondered if U-verse was DSL. Since you said it’s a fiber-optic connection, I really doubt it. Wild guess, but it might be a T3 connection.

It was interesting to see their suggestion about using a cell phone in the case of a power outage. In Tulsa with the big ice storm 13 months ago we certainly found out to not rely on cell phones. Their batteries only last so long too. Plus, the cell towers were going out of service as _their_ battery backup died!

Regards,

-james.

And I didn’t see anything about having your cell phone thru AT&T getting you a discount… seems like they should bundle their cell phone family plans with this.

1. I had AT&T DSL, POTS, and DishNetwork for television. With MytTV, I used Cox Cable, but that was at an old house. Cox wouldn’t install a line to our new house (neighborhood too new, so there wasn’t “enough demand” so AT&T and DishNetwork won).
2. I don’t know that I expect it to better (I hope I didn’t imply that). What I meant was there’s nothing exciting there. Assuming everything’s working, broadband is broadband in my books. Based on the speedtest.net results, though, it seems I’m able to use almost all of the available throughput, which is more than I can say about previous providers. As good as that is, I just don’t think anyone would sit down and say, “Wow! This is so cool!” Unless they’ve never seen broadband before.