AT&T To Allow Xbox 360 As U-verse Set-Top Box 62
suraj.sun sends this quote from Engadget about U-verse subscribers soon gaining the ability to use an Xbox 360 as a set-top box:
"A so-called Wired Release will roll out to AT&T U-verse customers next Sunday, and it'll bring the long awaited feature with it (though you'll have to wait until November 7th for that particular aspect). This means an AT&T U-verse customer's Xbox 360 will have a Dashboard app, and when launched, it'll let it function exactly like any other U-verse set-top. The only major catch is that it can't be the only set-top — you'll need at least one DVR at another TV in the house to enjoy one of the four HD streams that could be funneled into your home."
Four HD streams? (Score:4, Insightful)
Is that new somewhere? I think I only get four total streams, and only two of them can be HD.
Re:Four HD streams? (Score:5, Informative)
They have been touting "more streams" for a long time (as long as you don't cross them...) They started with 1, went to 2 pretty quick and have been teasing 3 or 4 streams for a year or more...
Here is an announcement about the "four HD streams" from just two weeks ago: http://www.fierceiptv.com/story/u-verse-customers-getting-upgrade-4-simultaneous-hd-streams/2010-09-16 [fierceiptv.com]
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Re:Four HD streams? (Score:4, Informative)
They are at a bandwidth limitation though. The number of streams you get is determined by how fast your local loop is. If you get more than 30 megabit, you get 2 streams, if you get over 60 megabit (I think) you get 3. You would have to be right on top of the DSLAM to get 4 streams. I have about 2000 feet of local loop and get about 38 megs, so my copper isn't too good.
They mix the internet service in with that available amount too so it just takes that right out of the total. If you sign up for super max internet speeds, it will kill the amount of streams you can get (when you are using it).
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Microsoft embedded systems - WinCE and Co have had all the necessary support for IPTV for a long time now. I am no microsoft fan, but credit where credit due - their IPTV implementation at least in theory is very good and should work over nearly any network.
I am surprised this is not used more often. After all, the last gen of consoles already has app signing and app delivery frameworks so you can do all kinds of fancy stuff on them at very small incremental cost.
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Technically U-verse boxes are already running Windows CE - they look a lot like Media Center, and if you go into the About menu you can see Microsoft had their hand in it.
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Yep. They crash in the same manner too.
Requires the full 4 second power off to reset.
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Meh, mine are pretty stable...
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Technically U-verse boxes are already running Windows CE - they look a lot like Media Center, and if you go into the About menu you can see Microsoft had their hand in it.
No wonder my box is a slow piece of shit.
Directv can do more and beter PQ then U-verse (Score:2)
Directv can do more and beter PQ then U-verse.
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you guys pone trying to see who has the biggest HD-penis yet?
My penis looks great in HD.
...By the way, HD is a type of magnifying glass, right?
U-verse costs more must buy moives to fox business (Score:2)
U-verse costs more must buy U-300 that comes with the moives pack to get fox business network and others. also needs sports pack to get NBA TV / NHL network as well. ALSO NO MLB TV.
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It depends.
My U-Verse connection could handle four streams just fine, but only one HD. It was provisioned that way because I have a very long loop to the VRAD, which sync at most at about 19,200kbps. 19,200kbps isn't enough for four HD streams along with 6Mbps of Internet.
Others with better/more recent/shorter cabling have higher speeds. A friend of mine, not too far from my own house, has no problem doing 4 HD streams at once. As far as I can tell, having 4 HD streams is more the rule than the exceptio
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Did I state I would again be a 1st generation adopter of anything they make? Where did you read that? I'm saying if they make a really nice piece of hardware that proves itself and is a market leader I may purchase it. As for now we are happy with our PC and original PS3 which has never given us any i
With things like this, systems could live forever (Score:2)
A couple of die shrinks and they're all set.
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Nah. Eventually it becomes cheaper to sell the new system that can do the same thing plus more. The price dump that the old systems typically take late in life is a result of inventory being liquidated.
Example: even if Dell really wanted to, do you think they could make a 486DX 25Mhz based system (brand new) for less than one of their cheapo current Celeron systems? Nope. The specialty chip, specialty RAM, etc would catch up with them.
It's much the same reason why Intel intentionally cripples some highe
Sounded good... (Score:1)
"...The only major catch is that it can't be the only set-top — you'll need at least one DVR at another TV in the house to enjoy one of the four HD streams that could be funneled into your home."
This lead me back to the fact that it's still AT&T and they will never get another penny from this guy.
You'd be surprised (Score:2)
Never thought I'd fit the niche of one of these "[whatever] added to your console" stories.
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switching from 360 to my secondary Uverse set-top box
You sound like the kind of person that desperately needs to shove a TV tuner into a Windows Media Center box ;)
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TV isn't very important to me. I usually only watch TV when I'm too tired to do anything else.
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Uverse sucks (Score:1, Informative)
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Try limiting the number of connections. I had a problem with Uverse when downloading torrents because they would saturate the number of connections and slow down the connection. Also, if you saturate the uploading bandwidth, you won't be able to download except at a crawl. I'm waiting for them to allow me to use Windows Media Center for my TV before I'll pay for that service. Until then, internet only please.
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The fact it hasn't supported Windows Media Center still blows my mind, considering the current set top boxes are running a form of it.
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That's odd... I've had cable for as long as I can remember (different companies, Ohio [time warner, wow] and Chicago area [comcast]) and I've never been tied to a contract or ETF.
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Re:Uverse sucks (Score:5, Funny)
Wow, finally, a DVR worse than the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD.
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If I had mod points, I would mod you into the heavens and above.
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I don't know, my Motorola DVR is good at skipping to the end of the show if I fast forward through too many commercials.
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As stated above, I don't have U-Verse TV anymore, but...
The DVR does suck. It does some stupid things. Some of those stupid things that it does, though, could easily be explained by patents held by other folks who also produce DVRs.
My chief complaint about it is that it does a lousy job scaling from 480i to 1080i, and refuses to output 480i natively so I can scale it myself without a diving into the menus every time I switch between watching SD and HD programming.
Regarding internet connections: I abuse m
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Re:Set-Top Box? (Score:4, Informative)
This is U-verse. You know.. fiber to the last mile, DSL to the home? There is no cable or satellite involved, here.
In Canada... (Score:1, Informative)
TELUS has had this feature with their IPTV offering for quite some time. However, don't start thinking that you can just plug it into your home router and start watching - you will need to register your Xbox with your service provider in order to receive the content decryption key, and they can happily charge you for it. In our case, TELUS charges $5/mo for your own Xbox (1/2 the price of a non-DVR box rental), so it's almost a good deal.
Now where it gets really interesting is that your Windows 7 based comp
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You kind of circumvented your own point - you're right, it is the service picking and choosing how devices work, but nobody said U-verse works that way, you only said Telus, which is not even in the same country.
Ironic... (Score:1)
How is this news? (Score:2)
Unless I'm misreading this, AT&T has been subleasing (ie. beta testing) this service through mom and pop telcos for a long time now.
The real news is how ATT has beaten them on both ends by being one of the few games in town who will be able to negotiate content prices while small shops will have to go with whatever price they are given (ass rape, seriously ass rape).
U-verse and Apple TV next? (Score:2)
Hmmm AT&T already allows you to stream shows to your iOS devices if you have a U-verse account. I wonder if they'll add the Apple TV to their line-up of approved set-top boxes for streaming content similar to the Xbox option.