Trying to decide between Uverse and Direct --need help with recording limitations

[thowe21]

Current Time Warner customer (complex didn't give me much of a choice when they bundled my cable with the rent, I used to be happy with Dish and their 722 DVR), so I plan on moving in the next couple months. Trying to decide between either DirectTV Genie Whole Home DVR (1 Genie with 2 mini Genies) OR AT&T UVerse (1 DVR with 2 wired receivers). Since Dish doesn't carry TimeWarner SportsNet in LA they are out of the question since I'm a big Lakers fan.

I have 3 rooms and foresee the following happening all at the same time:

• recording possibly 3 HD shows at a time during primetime
• viewing 2 HD recordings
• viewing 1 HD live channel

Therefore, what are the limitations with the new Whole Home DVRs with both providers? I know with UVerse they advertise 4 HD streams but what are the recording and viewing limitations with these streams? Same for the Genie?

What's my best case scenario on a whole home DVR system.

 

[Mr Tony]

The Genie can record 5 things at once. It has 5 tuners so you can record 5 things or record 3 things and watch 2 other shows as example

So with 2 clients and 1 Genie you could all watch different programs live while recording 2 other shows. Or you can watch recorded content too

so in your example

I have 3 rooms and foresee the following happening all at the same time:
recording possibly 3 HD shows at a time during primetime
viewing 2 HD recordings
viewing 1 HD live channel

that can be easily done as you're only using 4 tuners

 

[rlinman]

Also the Satellite supports up to 8 tuners so if you really needed you could get a genie (5) a dvr (2) and a client which is only 7 tuners of the 8 available.

 

[Aridon]

I'd avoid Uverse at all costs. Lots of downsides. I'd go:

Comcast (good in my area)
Dish
OTA / Torrents
Uverse

If I ever left D*.

 

[mdram]

i would avoid the clients, go with at least an hd receiver

 

[andrewj0781]

i would avoid the clients, go with at least an hd receiver

I totally agree. I don't like the client system. If you would need to record 5 shows at the same time your other two clients can't watch live tv. My setup is using the Genie by its self so I can record 3 shows still watch live tv with PIP or record up to 4 and still watch live tv. No matter how much I record my other 4 rooms still get to watch live tv (unless the hr24 records two shows but that's the wife's DVR so not sure if that happens)

That's why I'm not a big fan of Dish system. You lose tvs as you set recordings. I know you can watch recorded program but sometimes you do want to watch a show when it airs like me being a sports fan. So go with separate receivers, a good idea.

Sent from my iPhone 5 using SatelliteGuys

 

[thowe21]

Thanks for the feedback. I heard with UVerse that although they promote 4 feeds you can only record/watch 2 HD feeds at a time. Not sure how true this is.

Looks like I will be going with Direct then. With my original scenario, I have 6 streams going on at the same time so just the Genie alone probably wouldn't handle this scenario. So I was thinking of getting 1 Genie with 1 Client (thats 5 streams for two tvs) and 1 HD-DVR for the other TV (2 additional streams). I would just have to fork over the $199 for HD-DVR. Any foreseeable problems with this hookup?

 

[Jimbo]

Thanks for the feedback. I heard with UVerse that although they promote 4 feeds you can only record/watch 2 HD feeds at a time. Not sure how true this is.

Looks like I will be going with Direct then. With my original scenario, I have 6 streams going on at the same time so just the Genie alone probably wouldn't handle this scenario. So I was thinking of getting 1 Genie with 1 Client (thats 5 streams for two tvs) and 1 HD-DVR for the other TV (2 additional streams). I would just have to fork over the $199 for HD-DVR. Any foreseeable problems with this hookup?

Personally, IF you could afford it (and I would inquire before hand to see what it would cost).
Get the Genie and a HR24 and HD recvr .... this set up does NOT use any of the tuners from the Genie, so you can record 5 at any time and have the HR24 for 2 more feeds potentially recording 2 , giving you the ability to record 7 at any time.

 

[am7crew]

When I had U-Verse we could record any 3 HD channels at any time and 1 SD. Same goes for watching. You basically get 4 streams (3 HD/1SD) But other closer to the VRAD can get the 4HD stream profile. With that said Directv has 5 streams with the genie. Start up costs will kill you if you dont go with the clients as others suggested. No cost to set up U-Verse DVR and 3 Boxes, Same for Directv.

 

[rlinman]

Client = using a genie tuner, internet acces, pause live TV
HD reciever = own tuner, no interne (unless you have blue ray etc with wifi enabled) no pausing live TV

That is why I suggest maybe getting a HR34 HR24 and one client ... it might be like 100 bucks upfront but i cant forsee anything going wrong and yu still dont need the SWM16

 

[mdram]

you can pause with an h24, just have to hit record first

 

[thowe21]

When I had U-Verse we could record any 3 HD channels at any time and 1 SD. Same goes for watching. You basically get 4 streams (3 HD/1SD) But other closer to the VRAD can get the 4HD stream profile. With that said Directv has 5 streams with the genie. Start up costs will kill you if you dont go with the clients as others suggested. No cost to set up U-Verse DVR and 3 Boxes, Same for Directv.

From what I hear, a recent software upgrade killed the 3HD/1SD stream on UVerse. Again don't know how much of it's true.

 

[thowe21]

Personally, IF you could afford it (and I would inquire before hand to see what it would cost).
Get the Genie and a HR24 and HD recvr .... this set up does NOT use any of the tuners from the Genie, so you can record 5 at any time and have the HR24 for 2 more feeds potentially recording 2 , giving you the ability to record 7 at any time.

The HR24 plus a HD receiver might be a little further out of my initial acquisition costs then I would want to go, but good idea none the less. Thanks.

Got to admit, though. If it wasn't for Time Warner's lame excuse for equipment, they would get a little more consideration. (Key word is a little..LOL)

 

[harshness]

Thanks for the feedback. I heard with UVerse that although they promote 4 feeds you can only record/watch 2 HD feeds at a time. Not sure how true this is.

This varies by address. Some locations now permit three HD feeds.

Going back to the original post, the requirement was for up to four live channels spread across three TVs. You don't need six feeds to accomplish this and as Iceberg pointed out, the Genie and two clients will cover that scenario.

You may not be impressed with the performance of either solution when compared to the ViP722.

 

[raoul5788]

This varies by address. Some locations now permit three HD feeds.

Going back to the original post, the requirement was for up to four live channels spread across three TVs. You don't need six feeds to accomplish this and as Iceberg pointed out, the Genie and two clients will cover that scenario.

You may not be impressed with the performance of either solution when compared to the ViP722.

Will the 722 get him the YES Network or any other channel that Directv has that Dish doesn't? Unless there is something inadequate about the hardware, the programming should come first. What good is a particular box if you can't watch the channels you want to? Did you miss the op saying that Dish didn't carry TW Sportsnet LA?

 

[hoggyz3357]

dtv has 1000 harddrive, uverse i believe has a 250 gig, and client has pause, they just run alitle slower, i still like them tho, they ill get better as software gets better

 

[thowe21]

This varies by address. Some locations now permit three HD feeds.

Going back to the original post, the requirement was for up to four live channels spread across three TVs. You don't need six feeds to accomplish this and as Iceberg pointed out, the Genie and two clients will cover that scenario.

You may not be impressed with the performance of either solution when compared to the ViP722.

Ok, misunderstood the original reply. If the Genie can handle 4 live feeds simultaneously while playing back to 2 recorded feeds, then this is all I will need. Thanks.

 

[harshness]

If the Genie can handle 4 live feeds simultaneously while playing back to 2 recorded feeds, then this is all I will need.

It can handle five live feeds (whether or not you have the OTA adapter) and play back four recordings with more or less full DVR capability at each TV.

 

[TheTechGuru]

I'd avoid Uverse at all costs. Lots of downsides. I'd go:

Comcast (good in my area)
Dish
OTA / Torrents
Uverse

If I ever left D*.

What's wrong with UVerse? Their HD offerings look way better than Time Warner's and they offer WealthTV HD, a channel a lot of us C-Band guys miss having.