Get schooled at the U-VERSE-ity

[pixelthis]

A friend just got this service, likes having all of the movie channels.
But like when he got Direct TV his Dolby Digital doesn't work.
Probably like Direct TV, the high school dropout that installed it used analog audio,
most likely
Otherwise my friend likes the service, after I fix his install he will like it more.
HE GOT A FIVE hundred dollar rebate to get out of his direct TV .
Gonna get me some of that.

[Woochifer]

The issue with AT&T U-Verse is that they use cap the peak bandwidth with HD channels, so the HD picture quality will have more issues than satellite, fiber, and most cable services. A lot of early complaints about the HD picture quality. Not sure if they've resolved those issues. OTOH, their SD picture quality is purportedly better. U-Verse is basically IPTV that shares your home internet connection.

If you enable Dolby Digital by default, then anyone without a Dolby Digital decoder will only hear silence. That's why Directv's default audio outputs are analog and two-channel PCM. Dolby Digital has to be enabled manually -- that's just how the boxes are configured.

[pixelthis]

The issue with AT&T U-Verse is that they use cap the peak bandwidth with HD channels, so the HD picture quality will have more issues than satellite, fiber, and most cable services. A lot of early complaints about the HD picture quality. Not sure if they've resolved those issues. OTOH, their SD picture quality is purportedly better. U-Verse is basically IPTV that shares your home internet connection.

If you enable Dolby Digital by default, then anyone without a Dolby Digital decoder will only hear silence. That's why Directv's default audio outputs are analog and two-channel PCM. Dolby Digital has to be enabled manually -- that's just how the boxes are configured.

My friend has trouble with HT, its not intuitive for him at all, but he loves it.
Direct TV didn't even hook up the digital connection, just the analog right/left.
So I hooked that up, and then went into the menu to enable Dolby Digital.
THEN I used the front display of his Onkyo to set the defaults to DD, then pologic II.
My point is that if installers are not trained, and lazy ones fired, this is always going to be a problem with this industry. Not everyone has someone who has install experience
to go behind a lazy installer and clean up his mess.
As for the bandwidth issues, good point, and thinking about UVERSE myself, I have looked into it. And Comcast has excellent fiber optic , and ATT is supposed to.
I do know that the pic in the ATT store in amazing(of course), and Comcast's "upgrades"
is taking forever. MEANWHILE UVERSE has a top of the lline tier that has
every movie channel, everything basically, for the same price as my current
Comcast setup, two HD DVRS and extra charges for everything.
My only problem, I TAKE CARE OF ELDERLY folks, and have had a devil of a time helping them learn the HD channels. They love the quality, but have trouble finding them,
as they have watched the old channels their entire life.
They would be lost in the woods with UVERSE, and I can't afford to run both.
BUT I am geting underfoot at the ATT store, I do love what they have developed.
Won't do much good without decent tech support in the field, tho.