AT&T Eases Out Whole-Home DVR
Telco Enables Playback of Recordings on Any U-verse Set-Top
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 9/8/2008 8:01:00 PM
AT&T this week is launching U-verse Total Home DVR, which will let customers play back standard- and high-definition recorded programs on any TV connected to the telco’s set-top boxes in the home.
Initially, the feature—available at no extra cost to U-verse TV subscribers—is available only to customers in San Francisco. AT&T said it plans to roll out whole-home DVR to all U-verse TV customers by the end of 2008.
Using the whole-home DVR feature, customers can access, play, pause, rewind and fast-forward up to four simultaneous HD and SD DVR recordings to U-verse-connected TVs (with a maximum of three recorded HD streams). The feature can be accessed from up to seven additional U-verse-connected TVs.
Users also can pause a recorded show and pick it up in another room, and record up to four programs on a single DVR. AT&T’s DVR service allows subscribers to store up to 37 hours of HD content or up to 133 hours of SD content.
In the future, AT&T said, it plans to add the ability to schedule recordings and pause or control live TV from non-DVR receivers.
AT&T said customers will not have to replace their current set-top boxes. The telco will update customers’ equipment for whole-home DVR over the network on a market-by-market basis.
The whole-home feature was developed by Microsoft and is part of the software giant’s Mediaroom IPTV platform.
AT&T isn’t the first video provider to deliver a whole-home DVR service. Verizon Communications, for one, has offered an option for whole-home DVR features for two years with FiOS TV, although the feature currently plays back only standard-definition content to secondary set-tops.
Also Tuesday, AT&T announced the availability of the IP-based U-verse Voice service in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area.
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AT&T says it uses the HomePNA Alliance's 3.1 spec, which provides data transfer rates of 320 Mbps.
Todd Spangler - 9/10/2008 10:48:00 AM EDT -
Is this whole-home solution based on HPNA? MoCA?
John Hildebrand - 9/9/2008 11:43:00 AM EDT -
Now into being a 3rd year U-verse customer, I have been hearing all about the potential of true home networking. I also have a blog covering AT&T's three screen strategy at 3Screens.net
Total Home DVR works because of the HomePNA standard that AT&T has adopted.
The real future of home networking will be on the G.hn standard -- the next generation standard for existing-wire home networking (a wired and complementary counterpart to the very popular WiFi wireless home networking standard). G.hn has targeted gigabit per second data rates and operation over all three types of home wires: coax, powerline and phone wires.
Alan Weinkrantz - 9/9/2008 8:16:00 AM EDT
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