How to compete with AT&T

[B-Dog]

AT&T U-Verse offers some nice features, the ability to record 4 shows at once, and multi-room viewing. DirecTV should try to compete with this, I would love to see the ability to link multiiple receivers together to make 1 super receiver (something similar to bonding T-1s) ie you have one interface and one playlist that will show up the same on all receivers. You schedule a recording, and it looks for an available tuner, if not available on it's own box, it will send the request to another box on the network, without having to physically go to that box, and if hard drive is full on one box, but another has room that recordings would be shifted to other hard drives so you don't have to worry about losing shows.

Essentially it would be nice to have a way to combine resources hard drive space and tuners from multiple boxes to appear as one super box. This would be way better than IPTV can give, as it can utlize resources from multiple boxes seemlessly across the network, but there service lacks in the availability and quanity of HD. Currently in my area IPTV provider support a max 3 simultaneous HD shows, regardless of the number of boxes, I would have 3 boxes, which would mean 3 hd shows at once, if DirecTV links everything together like I suggested above, you would have 6 HD tuners, and 750GB of hard drive space, local IPTV provider would have 3 HD tuners and 600GB hard drive space. Not to mention more HD chanels, this would clearly make DirecTV the technology leader with the best services.

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

I concur

 

[raoul5788]

AT&T U-Verse offers some nice features, the ability to record 4 shows at once, and multi-room viewing. DirecTV should try to compete with this, I would love to see the ability to link multiiple receivers together to make 1 super receiver (something similar to bonding T-1s) ie you have one interface and one playlist that will show up the same on all receivers. You schedule a recording, and it looks for an available tuner, if not available on it's own box, it will send the request to another box on the network, without having to physically go to that box, and if hard drive is full on one box, but another has room that recordings would be shifted to other hard drives so you don't have to worry about losing shows.

Essentially it would be nice to have a way to combine resources hard drive space and tuners from multiple boxes to appear as one super box. This would be way better than IPTV can give, as it can utlize resources from multiple boxes seemlessly across the network, but there service lacks in the availability and quanity of HD. Currently in my area IPTV provider support a max 3 simultaneous HD shows, regardless of the number of boxes, I would have 3 boxes, which would mean 3 hd shows at once, if DirecTV links everything together like I suggested above, you would have 6 HD tuners, and 750GB of hard drive space, local IPTV provider would have 3 HD tuners and 600GB hard drive space. Not to mention more HD chanels, this would clearly make DirecTV the technology leader with the best services.

Don't forget that with Uverse you can record four shows at once, but they can't be hd, only sd. IOW, I don't care about that feature, since I can do two with the Directv hd dvr.

 

[armchair]

AT&T U-Verse offers some nice features, the ability to record 4 shows at once, and multi-room viewing. DirecTV should try to compete with this, I would love to see the ability to link multiiple receivers together to make 1 super receiver (something similar to bonding T-1s) ie you have one interface and one playlist that will show up the same on all receivers. You schedule a recording, and it looks for an available tuner, if not available on it's own box, it will send the request to another box on the network, without having to physically go to that box, and if hard drive is full on one box, but another has room that recordings would be shifted to other hard drives so you don't have to worry about losing shows.

Essentially it would be nice to have a way to combine resources hard drive space and tuners from multiple boxes to appear as one super box. This would be way better than IPTV can give, as it can utlize resources from multiple boxes seemlessly across the network, but there service lacks in the availability and quanity of HD. Currently in my area IPTV provider support a max 3 simultaneous HD shows, regardless of the number of boxes, I would have 3 boxes, which would mean 3 hd shows at once, if DirecTV links everything together like I suggested above, you would have 6 HD tuners, and 750GB of hard drive space, local IPTV provider would have 3 HD tuners and 600GB hard drive space. Not to mention more HD chanels, this would clearly make DirecTV the technology leader with the best services.

I concur

Me TWO

 

[B-Dog]

Although not very often, we do record 3 or 4 HD shows at once. However, it probably happens 3 or 4 times per week that 3 shows we want to record are all on at the same time, I currently have to get up off my lazy behind and go to the other receiver and set the recording, still worth it when factor in DirecTV

 

[twizt3dsist3r]

We all agree that its a better feature for directv to have the ability to record multiple hd programs at once, what were saying is if directv worked like uverse, it would be even better yet.

 

[B-Dog]

Short sweet and to the point, combine the multi-room and network abilities of IPTV but bring the nationwide availability and age technology of satellite, and you have the best television period, not mention no unfair business practices with multi million dollar settlements, that both competitors have been a part of recently.

 

[Jimbo]

Short sweet and to the point, combine the multi-room and network abilities of IPTV but bring the nationwide availability and age technology of satellite, and you have the best television period, not mention no unfair business practices with multi million dollar settlements, that both competitors have been a part of recently.

Problem is, when they try to do all this at the same time, it usually gets things screwed up or running very slow.

Speed of the units should be priority 1 first, then implement other things.

 

[JosephB]

They are working towards some of this already. They are doing the unified playlist stuff with MRV, and there is a "whole house DVR" solution coming, which I'm willing to bet will be a super-receiver with a lot of tuners that talk to remote boxes.

 

[armchair]

They are working towards some of this already. They are doing the unified playlist stuff with MRV, and there is a "whole house DVR" solution coming, which I'm willing to bet will be a super-receiver with a lot of tuners that talk to remote boxes.

Sounds great!!

Makes me wonder if this is when the planned roll-out of NR MRV finally happens. If so, maybe we're just testing the scheme and direction of the new software; therefore, DirecTv isn't too concerned with the slow remote response and video splats that we're seeing with our current HD equipment.

I would like to know more about the direction DirecTv is going so I'll know when to jump on board with an extended contract. I thought maybe I only needed to add the SWM switch but that may only be the first item needed and won't play to potential until the whole package is rolled out.

 

[JosephB]

They are going to put MRV on the current boxes, so speed, etc. is still a concern (at least from my perspective. I'm sure they will be updating the hardware too at some point but of course there's no news out about anything hardware related.

 

[armchair]

They are going to put MRV on the current boxes, so speed, etc. is still a concern (at least from my perspective. I'm sure they will be updating the hardware too at some point but of course there's no news out about anything hardware related.

That's good to know; it also suggests to me that I don't need the SWM switch until next generation HD equipment is rolled-out. These days, it's best to hold the money for things needed or future needs.

 

[btedford]

Actually....DirecTV is partnered with AT&T for those who don't want/can't get Uverse then they can get DirecTV.

 

[B-Dog]

Or Dish in some areas, I think it depends on region, as I looked into U-verse here, and it wasn't available but they offered Dish Network instead, which integrated into the DSL to get network features, then I learned we didn't qualify for DSL. So cable internet which I love, and after a year of cable tv we made the switch to Directv for video, and that was the best move we made. On a seperate note, U-Verse IPTV is now available, but after reading reviews and talking to a neighbor with, boy I am glad I did not sign up for that. I loved on demand from cable, that was the only reason I went with cable, but then directv supported it, and the choice was clear.

At any rate, I don't know what is going with AT&T, but if they would just lay more fiber, they would address a lot of issues, in the meantime, DirecTV is a better choice, if they offer super boxes or "farms" they'll be able to stay ahead of the competition, satelite transmission has been around for years and is tried and proven IPTV, is new and dependent on really fast IP connections, AT&T is using to much copper to get good speeds, so the service is spotty, Verizon on other hand is using much more fiber and in several areas they are going FTTH, at least FTTC, and they have better performance, but they are suffering from spotty software, so for now Directv has my vote, lets just focus on rolling it out faster to stay ahead of the competiton before people jump ship and sign contracts elswewhere.

 

[Jimbo]

Actually....DirecTV is partnered with AT&T for those who don't want/can't get Uverse then they can get DirecTV.

Yup,
Since Feb. '09 :up

 

[wh.white]

I wish DirecTV would add the Nashville My Network TV (Ch. 30) and CW (Ch. 58) high definition feeds. The HR-21 has no built-in over-the-air tuner, so you cannot tune them in with an antenna and record the programs.

I also wish DirecTV would return Channel 39 to its local channel lineup, and would add NewsChannel 5 Plus.

 

[Jimbo]

I wish DirecTV would add the Nashville My Network TV (Ch. 30) and CW (Ch. 58) high definition feeds. The HR-21 has no built-in over-the-air tuner, so you cannot tune them in with an antenna and record the programs.

I also wish DirecTV would return Channel 39 to its local channel lineup, and would add NewsChannel 5 Plus.

No D* boxes since the HR20's have OTA tuners in them.