Do not switch to U-Verse TV from DirecTV!!

cspahrb · ‎10-27-2011

I am very very very disappointed with U-verse TV!! We have had DirecTV for almost 20 years. The U-Verse rep said we could record 4 programs at a time! Sounded great - until we got it. We have five adults and three children living in our home. We are paying for five TV's and five receivers. But there are only FOUR lines coming into the house! So we can only have 4 TV"S on different channels - and if we are all watching different channels - we can't record ANYTHING!! DirecTV gave us five receivers that were also DVR's! We could each record or watch two programs at a time. So we lost over half of our TV watching/recording capacity. We are DEFINITELY switching back to DirecTV!!

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

With your large household, U-verse may not work for you depending on your household viewing habits. U-verse does work for many, many people, thus I don't understand your warning to DirecTV customers.

By the way, you might be interested in the discussion in the link below:

http://forums.att.com/t5/The-U-verse-Lounge/DirecTV-Carriage-Dispute-with-Fox/m-p/2927007/message-ui...

RCSMG · ‎12-10-2007

Its too late for me. Switched from DTV to UV in December 07 and haven't looked back. My reason was I had enough of losing signal in heavy rain, clouds, or snow. Having 5 TVs and 4 streams if you hadn't had a conflict one was coming eventually. I have 4 TVs and 4 streams and there are nights that there is only one stream available to watch live tv. And some times no streams, and we have to watch recorded programming.

There is definitely a need for juggling when live tv prgrams will be watched and when recordings will be watched. It is important to know how one service works as opposed to another. You must NEVER assume things are the same, because they aren't. IMHO

happyharry · ‎10-13-2010

That will only be the first of your disappointments. The only thing that Uverse has over DirecTV is the ability to watch TV in bad weather. When I moved I had no choice but I'd move back in a minute if I could.

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

happyharry wrote:

That will only be the first of your disappointments. The only thing that Uverse has over DirecTV is the ability to watch TV in bad weather. When I moved I had no choice but I'd move back in a minute if I could.

So you are saying that DirecTV has everything that U-verse has (programming, features, etc.) and more, and U-verse has nothing that DirecTV doesn't already have?

RCSMG · ‎12-10-2007

Its a matter of preference as opposed to need. The OP needs to be able to watch different channels on all of their TVs while recording other shows simultaneously. The only way to do that is to have multiple DVRs on some if not all TVs.

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

No TV service is all good. No TV service is all bad. They all have their pluses and minuses, and they each have something that other services don't have. It's a matter of choosing the one that will best meet your needs. No one TV service will be right for everyone.

RCSMG · ‎12-10-2007

I agree. When I first came to UV I had to adujust to the different ways the dvr worked. I thought it buffered the channel being watched and you could turn away from it and then return and continue watching the buffered program. I was wrong. I came up with a workaround for that and I was good to go. The real test came when the first storm rolled in and I was able to continue watching tv. Oh the joy.

wingrider01 · ‎05-26-2008

texasguy37 wrote:

happyharry wrote:

That will only be the first of your disappointments. The only thing that Uverse has over DirecTV is the ability to watch TV in bad weather. When I moved I had no choice but I'd move back in a minute if I could.

So you are saying that DirecTV has everything that U-verse has (programming, features, etc.) and more, and U-verse has nothing that DirecTV doesn't already have?

major factor of Directv over uverse

Uverse = 4 tuners max shared through the whole house no ability to add drive space

Directv = 2 tuners per DVR, supposed limit = 64 devices or 128 tuners, with the advent of the HR34 whole home unit that unit has 5 tuners, expandable storage to 2TB per reciever with external esata drive,not to mention the new nomad device.

When Uverse came available in my area I suspended my Directv account and tried Uverse, it did not last past the first week of summer vacation with all the kids home and the arguements started on who could record or watch what. Sorry there is nothing that uverse offers that is not avaialble through directv, but there are things that directv offers that is superior to uverse.

skeeterintexas · ‎12-09-2007

Now see, in my household, it would be STUPID to pay for Direct vs. Uverse since there's only 2 of us & 3 TVs total.

It's like Texasguy said, it depends on your situation. A blanket statement of "Do not switch to U-verse from DirectTV" is reckless and irresponsible.

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

wingrider01 wrote:

major factor of Directv over uverse

Uverse = 4 tuners max shared through the whole house no ability to add drive space

Directv = 2 tuners per DVR, supposed limit = 64 devices or 128 tuners, with the advent of the HR34 whole home unit that unit has 5 tuners, expandable storage to 2TB per reciever with external esata drive,not to mention the new nomad device.

When Uverse came available in my area I suspended my Directv account and tried Uverse, it did not last past the first week of summer vacation with all the kids home and the arguements started on who could record or watch what. Sorry there is nothing that uverse offers that is not avaialble through directv, but there are things that directv offers that is superior to uverse.

The U-verse DVR does not have "tuners".

U-verse has programming and features that DirecTV does not have. DirecTV has programming and features that U-verse does not have. Example: Both U-verse and DirecTV have a whole house DVR system. The U-verse system allows live TV to be paused on TV's not connected to the DVR. The DirecTV system does not allow live TV to be paused on TV's not connected to the DVR.

Choose the service that best meets the needs of your household and go with it. Don't try to convince others that your choice should be their choice. No service will fit everyone's needs.

skeeterintexas · ‎12-09-2007

texasguy37 wrote:
wingrider01 wrote:

major factor of Directv over uverse

Uverse = 4 tuners max shared through the whole house no ability to add drive space
Directv = 2 tuners per DVR, supposed limit = 64 devices or 128 tuners, with the advent of the HR34 whole home unit that unit has 5 tuners, expandable storage to 2TB per reciever with external esata drive,not to mention the new nomad device.

When Uverse came available in my area I suspended my Directv account and tried Uverse, it did not last past the first week of summer vacation with all the kids home and the arguements started on who could record or watch what. Sorry there is nothing that uverse offers that is not avaialble through directv, but there are things that directv offers that is superior to uverse.
The U-verse DVR does not have "tuners".

U-verse has programming and features that DirecTV does not have. DirecTV has programming and features that U-verse does not have. Example: Both U-verse and DirecTV have a whole house DVR system. The U-verse system allows live TV to be paused on TV's not connected to the DVR. The DirecTV system does not allow live TV to be paused on TV's not connected to the DVR.

Choose the service that best meets the needs of your household and go with it. Don't try to convince others that your choice should be their choice. No service will fit everyone's needs.

I've never had Dish or Direct and until recently didn't know that they didn't offer the 'pause on one box/pick it up on another' feature.

I'm not changing service but that certainly might be a reason I would ultimately keep Uverse.

happyharry · ‎10-13-2010

People aren't going to agree on this - just the dvr functions in Uverse don't even come close to DirecTV - and since DirecTV updates theirs every quarter at least the gap just keeps going - double buffers (not sigle with "work arounds") on each dvr, finding alternate showings automatically, multple-favorites which you can select and it stays between, etc. etc. etc.

Most DirecTV households have multiple DVR's which you can have vs 1 per house on uverse and you can pause on each of those vs. the new and often not working feature on Uverse.

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

happyharry wrote:

Most DirecTV households have multiple DVR's which you can have vs 1 per house on uverse and you can pause on each of those vs. the new and often not working feature on Uverse.

That is interesting. I would be curious how you know this. Has DirecTV published statistic on the typical household of their customers?

RCSMG · ‎12-10-2007

happyharry wrote:

People aren't going to agree on this - just the dvr functions in Uverse don't even come close to DirecTV - and since DirecTV updates theirs every quarter at least the gap just keeps going - double buffers (not sigle with "work arounds") on each dvr, finding alternate showings automatically, multple-favorites which you can select and it stays between, etc. etc. etc.

Most DirecTV households have multiple DVR's which you can have vs 1 per house on uverse and you can pause on each of those vs. the new and often not working feature on Uverse.

The feature that I miss that the DTV dvrs had was the dual buffering tuners. But since the UV dvrs don't have tuners the workaround I came up with was to record the 2, 3 or 4 channels I am trying to watch and then watch the recordings. But then I thought, I'll just record the other channel(s) and watch them later. Making it easier on myself.

Dixie.Girl · ‎10-30-2011

TV shouldn't be used as a babysitter during summer vacation or so frequently that people have this problem. Too dependent upon TV so you don't have to take the time to properly parent and educate...no wonder we have such idiocy in the world today.

Uniblurb3 · ‎09-14-2009

happyharry wrote:

Most DirecTV households have multiple DVR's which you can have vs 1 per house on uverse and you can pause on each of those vs. the new and often not working feature on Uverse.

Those must me some rich households which have multiple DVR's. Especially when a Directv "HD DVR Receiver" costs $199/each and then they are not even yours to own. With U-verse service the DVR (HD/SD) is free with packages of U200 or higher

Why would you even need Multiple DVR's if you have "Directv Whole Home-DVR" service? The answer is in the below offer details (1) where you can only only have "one remote viewing per HD DVR at a time".

¹Limit one remote viewing per HD DVR at a time. DIRECTV Whole-Home DVR service requires a DIRECTV Plus HD DVR, a Whole-Home-enabled HD Receiver for each additional TV, HD Access ($10/mo.), DVR service ($7/mo) and Whole-Home DVR service ($3/mo).

U-verse "Total Home DVR" service is as follows:

"Total Home DVR functionality available for up to eight TVs and requires a receiver for each additional TV at $7 per month each."

Also I'd rather pay $7/month for leasing additional STB's/receivers (all capable of HD) they will fix/replace for free, rather than paying $99/each for a "Directv HD Receiver". Again, not yours to own even though you are paying for it.

Sure Directv will replace/repair their equipment you bought if you pay $5.99/month for their protection plan. But if you don't buy it you are looking at $80 for a service call and it's up to you to pay for any equipment repairs or replacements

Sometimes U-verse will charge a $55 truck roll charge for service calls on equipment problems but you can get this fee waived if you call CS.

Sorry if I sound a little bitter but I had Directv for 7-8 years and am so glad I left them 3 years ago. Had nothing but problems the last 6 months of service trying to get a reliable HD signal which went out in any type of inclement weather. I won't even go into the deal breaker and having to cancel my debit cards before they robbed my bank account. It also made me feel real good when I had to ship my HD DVR to Directv when I paid $200 for it at Best Buy just 6 months earlier. Nothing but a nightmare on my end with Directv.

DouglasPHill · ‎01-22-2008

There is always fine print with all providers. Wow, I can't imagine the cost of having 4 dual tuner DVRs from Direct. I had a DirectTivo years ago (with dual buffers), it was great. I left for Uverse, yes it took some adjustment. The 4 lines Uverse works for me. Sounds like Direct might be best for you. I have no contract with Uverse. That works even better for me. The only change, only change, only change that Uverse needs to make is on the rare occasion when the signal is down from Uverse, the DVR needs to be able to play recorded content. Unfortunately, if the signal is down from Uverse, everything is down.

jh1978 · ‎03-30-2011

A little research on your part would have avoided all your issues. Recording 4 programs at once means just that, what did you think? You could record 4 programs at once and have 8 other streams?

Uniblurb3 · ‎09-14-2009

cspahrb wrote:

DirecTV gave us five receivers that were also DVR's! We could each record or watch two programs at a time.

They gave you $1,000 worth of DVR's (5 x $200) and you didn't have to pay for them?? Kind of hard to believe......

oufanindallas · ‎02-08-2010

Uniblurb3 wrote:
cspahrb wrote:

DirecTV gave us five receivers that were also DVR's! We could each record or watch two programs at a time.

They gave you $1,000 worth of DVR's (5 x $200) and you didn't have to pay for them?? Kind of hard to believe......

I agree, if that's the case, someone probably lost their job over it.

” Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports … all others are games.”- Ernest Hemingway

thomasr1950 · ‎11-29-2009

I wish i could get uverse & compare it to DTV. I could save a bundle of money if i could get it. I have DTV, it's ok, getting expensive. As far as service calls go my experience with DTV lately is that you call when you have a problem. That's if you have the protection plan. I had a issue at 5am recently while getting ready for work. They stated call when you have a issue. My issue was a intermittent issue, then again at 5am i'm getting ready for work. I ask for Supervisor & was told the same thing "call when you have a issue". I stated i couldn't i had to go to work. I also had a bad remote, they replaced it as a one time deal. Well remotes are covered under the protection plan. DTV used to be a lot better, in the last 3ys. it's gotten bad. I have the Media Share, installed by DTV, it doesn't work, they say it's my pc. Well my pc is new, but DTV will not support the fix. If i had ATT they would install/support all their equipment. That would be a big plus for me if i could get Uverse. Also DTV is getting very espensive.

Uniblurb3 · ‎09-14-2009

thomasr1950 wrote:

I wish i could get uverse & compare it to DTV. I could save a bundle of money if i could get it. I have DTV, it's ok, getting expensive. As far as service calls go my experience with DTV lately is that you call when you have a problem. That's if you have the protection plan. I had a issue at 5am recently while getting ready for work. They stated call when you have a issue. My issue was a intermittent issue, then again at 5am i'm getting ready for work. I ask for Supervisor & was told the same thing "call when you have a issue". I stated i couldn't i had to go to work. I also had a bad remote, they replaced it as a one time deal. Well remotes are covered under the protection plan. DTV used to be a lot better, in the last 3ys. it's gotten bad. I have the Media Share, installed by DTV, it doesn't work, they say it's my pc. Well my pc is new, but DTV will not support the fix. If i had ATT they would install/support all their equipment. That would be a big plus for me if i could get Uverse. Also DTV is getting very espensive.

I take it U-verse is not available in your area and that's the reason you don't try it? If you could we've seen users here who get UV installed, tell the installers not to cut/disrupt the DTV cabling, and compare them side-by-side. You'd have to get a UV package w/o a 1 year service agreement and you are supposed to be able to cancel within 30 days with no penalties. Guess it also depends where you are in your DTV contract and if you can cancel w/o penalties. Some users will use their UV rebates to pay off a DTV ETF (early termination fee) when they break the contract.

My problems w/DTV weren't real bad until I had the HD service and had to hit 3 HD satellites at the same time. The far SW satellite, which is real low on the horizon in my area, is very difficult to hit and that's the reason my HD signal cut out in any type of inclement weather. With the SD signal they only had to have line-of-sight to 1 satellite and I only lost the signal during real heavy rain/snow storms.

I could have been a DTV installer and installed the heavy Triple LNB Dish on my metal roof peak since their policy is to not drill holes in a roof. I also ran a lot of the double/single RG6 coaxial cabling. Helped a tech supervisor tweak the satellite on the install, and a couple other occasions, with the HD signal still being lost frequently. DTV was also using my garage almost as a warehouse between 2 cities to store their new equipment in. They said I could have all the equipment I wanted except for the receivers/DVR's. LOL.

After about 6 months I was completely fed up with the DTV HD signal loss and this is the same time they started charging $6/month for their protection plan. They also started charging $80 for a service call w/o the plan. There was no way I was going to pay for either one of these charges, UV came to my area, and I decided to cancel service.

I called DTV CS and spoke to a very unhelpful/nasty rep. I told her I was canceling my service due to lack of HD service. She offered to send a tech out for $80 since I wasn't subscribed to the protection plan. I told her they have already been here 8-10 times and couldn't fix the service. She said if I broke my contract I owed them a $360 ETF since I still had 18 months left on a 2-year contract left at $20/month. She again urged me to have a tech sent out for $80. I asked her if they couldn't fix my service, and I cancelled, would this $80 charge be added to the ETF? She said, yes then I would be charged $440 total if I cancelled. I told here to forget it and cancel my service. I said I was not going to be paying for a HDTV service , or an ETF, since Directv was failing to provide a reliable service. She said, "we have your bank debit card number and we are going to take the money out of your bank account whether you want us to or not!". I told her DTV does not have my permission to take that money out of my bank account and I want to cancel my service. She again said they are going to take the money out of my bank account with, or w/o, my permission. I canceled my service and ended the call.

The next morning I went to my bank and cancelled both of my debit cards through a personal banker. She asked why and I told her to stop Directv from taking money out of my checking account for an ETF. She said I was the 3rd person in there that month doing the same thing because of Directv threatening to take money out of their accounts. She also said one of their good customers gave DTV their credit card number and he's stuck since he doesn't have the money to pay off the balance/open another account, before DTV adds their ETF charges.

So I didn't pay DTV another dime and they decided to not come after me for the ETF. Kind of ironic just 2 weeks after canceling my DTV service/account they were sending me great offers to get me back as a customer. LOL!

thomasr1950 · ‎11-29-2009

U verse tv is not availabe in my area. ATT told me & i checked i can get uverse internet but no tv. They told me it was coming since i can get internet. But ATT says it's stopped rolling out Uverse to expand their LTE wireless service. Directv is just too high for what they offer. I complain & get the VP's Office calling me but it does no good. I'm not under any agreement with DTV, therefore i can cancel & not pay any ETF, thank goodness.

Uniblurb3 · ‎09-14-2009

Kind of figured it wasn't available there and maybe someday you'll get lucky and U-verse will roll out in your area. Good deal you are no longer under a DTV contract and wouldn't face an ETF if you canceled.

BTW, 1950 was a very good year!

mdsaler · ‎11-19-2010

The problem I found with direct tv is that their equipment is junk. During my 3.5 years with them I had 2 replacement dvr receivers and 5 dvr replacement remotes. Now they are sending me boxes to pack up their junky equipment so they can pass it to the next direct tv customer. I was surprised the didn't want the satellite dish; it was the only equipment that didn't fail even in a tennis ball sized hail storm. I now have u-verse which would not be a good choice if I had more than 2 TV watchers and computer users.

NorthLineTony · ‎09-20-2008

cspahrb wrote:
I am very very very disappointed with U-verse TV!! We have had DirecTV for almost 20 years. The U-Verse rep said we could record 4 programs at a time! Sounded great - until we got it. We have five adults and three children living in our home. We are paying for five TV's and five receivers. But there are only FOUR lines coming into the house! So we can only have 4 TV"S on different channels - and if we are all watching different channels - we can't record ANYTHING!! DirecTV gave us five receivers that were also DVR's! We could each record or watch two programs at a time. So we lost over half of our TV watching/recording capacity. We are DEFINITELY switching back to DirecTV!!

Maybe you've already switched back, but yes you can record 43 shows at a time. That is if all the TV's are off or if recorede TV is being watched, or the channel that's being recorded is watch. So NOBODY was lying to you. Excuse my typs, I need better glasses.

ERIC8585 · ‎09-02-2010

Actually you can pause and rewind live TV on any of the DirecTV receivers now. You just need the new home media center DVR (HR34?). You can also record five shows at once with the single DVR.

texasguy37 wrote:
wingrider01 wrote:

major factor of Directv over uverse

Uverse = 4 tuners max shared through the whole house no ability to add drive space
Directv = 2 tuners per DVR, supposed limit = 64 devices or 128 tuners, with the advent of the HR34 whole home unit that unit has 5 tuners, expandable storage to 2TB per reciever with external esata drive,not to mention the new nomad device.

When Uverse came available in my area I suspended my Directv account and tried Uverse, it did not last past the first week of summer vacation with all the kids home and the arguements started on who could record or watch what. Sorry there is nothing that uverse offers that is not avaialble through directv, but there are things that directv offers that is superior to uverse.
The U-verse DVR does not have "tuners".

U-verse has programming and features that DirecTV does not have. DirecTV has programming and features that U-verse does not have. Example: Both U-verse and DirecTV have a whole house DVR system. The U-verse system allows live TV to be paused on TV's not connected to the DVR. The DirecTV system does not allow live TV to be paused on TV's not connected to the DVR.

Choose the service that best meets the needs of your household and go with it. Don't try to convince others that your choice should be their choice. No service will fit everyone's needs.

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

ERIC8585 wrote:

Actually you can pause and rewind live TV on any of the DirecTV receivers now. You just need the new home media center DVR (HR34?). You can also record five shows at once with the single DVR.

Not according to the discussion from today found in the link below on the DirecTV forum.

http://forums.directv.com/pe/action/forums/displaypost?postID=11011075

ERIC8585 · ‎09-02-2010

Maybe not I guess. Their advertising is always misleading, as well as this spec sheet for the HR34 which says you can pause and rewind live TV in all rooms.

http://www.weaknees.com/pdf/hr34-spec-sheet.pdf