Multimedia-PCs » Cable/Satellite

DirecTV iPad App Now Streams Live TV

Jeremy Jones — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:18:57 +0000

The already awesome DirecTV iPad app got even better buy streaming live TV. It only works in your house, like the whole-home DVR. Not every station allows for streaming. There is a list of around 30 stations. The funny thing is Fox is on the list but DirecTV might lose Fox soon if they can’t reach a deal.

One of the cool features is you can swipe up the live show playing on your iPad to send it to your TV. I’m still playing around with it but I’ll get a full review of the app soon.

More at DirecTV.

Video: New DirecTV HD UI

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 02:18:22 +0000

As a DirecTV customer I have been waiting for the HD UI to be released. I have three HD-DVRs with multi-room viewing. Updating the UI and speed of the menues will make it a better setup. It is rumored that it will be available starting November 1st. DirecTV has a page up about all the new features and I have listed some below.

* A sleek new look and feel
* Lightning fast scrolling
* 1080p HD resolution
* Visual browsing experience
* One place for all DIRECTV CINEMA™ and On Demand movies
* Recommendations based on your past viewing preferences

Video of the UI below:

Dave Zatz posted about this and asked the question about the DirecTV Tivo. DirecTV should scrap the whole thing. There is nothing that Tivo is going to offer that we already don’t have, especially since DirecTV has been pumping out new features for their current receiver lineup.

AT&T Launched U-verse iPhone App

Jeremy Jones — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:42:21 +0000

AT&T launched a U-verse iPhone app that allows you to manage your DVR and download and watch content. There are other DVR management apps, like DirecTV, but none have the ability to watch content on the go. It’s a nice feature if you U-verse service and doesn’t cost extra. The app is free and you can get it in the iTunes store.

Press release below:

AT&T* today announced its AT&T U-verse® Mobile App is now available on the App Store.

The U-verse Mobile app gives U-verse subscribers the ability to download and watch popular TV content on their iPhone so they can take their U-verse TV experience with them, wherever they go. AT&T is the first TV provider to offer an integrated mobile app that allows you to both manage your DVR and download and watch select shows. The app is another example of how AT&T delivers more value to U-verse TV customers with continued service enhancements and innovative apps.

U-verse Mobile replaces the popular Mobile Remote Access for iPhone app and incorporates the ability to browse the U-verse TV program guide, view program descriptions, schedule and manage your DVR recordings, while adding the ability to download available episodes over any Wi-Fi connection, and watch them in full-screen mode on your iPhone from anywhere. U-verse TV customers already enjoy the flexibility of remote DVR management. More than 100,000 U-verse TV customers use the Web and Mobile Remote Access apps every month.

“We’re making it possible for you to watch TV shows on your iPhone at no extra charge. It’s just one more valuable and innovative feature available on U-verse TV,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “Our U-verse multi-screen promise is now a reality for millions of U-verse TV customers, with content available on U-verse TV, U-verse Online, and today, U-verse Mobile. No cable provider comes close to matching the cross-platform experience we’re delivering today, and we’ll continue to add unique features that further integrate these screens.”

All U-verse TV customers can download the app to manage their DVR, and the ability to download and watch content is available for customers that subscribe to the U300 package or higher. U-verse customers can upgrade their TV packages at any time at www.att.com/u-verse. New U-verse TV customers and iPhone owners that order AT&T U-verse U300 or U450 will receive a $75 iTunes gift card.

You can browse or search a library of downloadable shows, and select which series or specific episode you want to download. The content is downloaded to iPhone over a Wi-Fi connection. All AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet customers have home Wi-Fi installed as part of their service and get access to AT&T’s U.S. Wi-Fi network at no additional cost.

The U-verse Mobile App includes TV shows from several popular networks and AT&T will continue to add more content on an ongoing basis.

U-verse Mobile is the latest way that AT&T is mobilizing everything that’s important to customers — their favorite content, apps, entertainment and social networks. AT&T today delivers the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network as well as the nation’s largest Wi-Fi network, giving customers the best combination of speed and coverage.

The U-verse Mobile App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

AT&T U-verse offers numerous features and apps that enhance your entertainment experience, including many ways that TV and wireless services work together — a benefit that cable providers don’t offer. In addition to U-verse Mobile, you can check your wireless and U-verse Voice messages from a single voice mailbox; use the YP.COM TV app to search for local business information and send the call to your home or wireless phone with the click of your remote; and more.

AT&T U-verse TV is the only 100 percent Internet Protocol-based television (IPTV) service offered by a national service provider, making AT&T U-verse one of the most dynamic and feature-rich services available today. AT&T U-verse TV ranked “Highest in Residential Television Service Satisfaction in the South and West Regions Two Years in a Row,” according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 and 2009 Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction StudiesSM. For additional information on AT&T U-verse — or to find out if it’s available in your area — visit www.att.com/u-verse.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

BT Working on Home Media Tablet

Jeremy Jones — Tue, 18 May 2010 01:44:17 +0000

BT is working on a home media tablet that will give you your email, voicemail and text messages all in one place. It would be perfect for a kitchen device but it reminds me a lot of the Verizon Hub. The Verizon Hub didn’t last very long. Even though I have an iPad it hasn’t fit my kitchen computer needs, so I think there is still a market for a inexpensive kitchen computer. More at SlashGear.

Random Posts:

DirecTV Multi-Room DVR Now Available

Jeremy Jones — Sat, 15 May 2010 18:06:11 +0000

I reviewed the DirecTV multi-room DVR service back in February. I like the service then and I have been happily using it since. Now that the service is available to everyone there is a fee of $3. That fee isn’t as bad as I thought and really it’s worth it for what you get. I have two HD DVRs that are linked together but I’ll probably order the H24 for the bedroom.

You can find out more about the service and pay for it at DirecTV.

(via ZatzNotFunny)

Comcast Working on iPad App

Jeremy Jones — Thu, 13 May 2010 04:35:00 +0000

Comcast is working on an iPad app that acts as a remote control for your cable box. While I haven’t always liked cable companies, it’s nice to see Comcast putting forth so much effort into new technologies. The app isn’t anything groundbreaking but it could be extremely useful. A video of the app in action below.

(via CrunchGear)

DISH VIP 922 Slingbox DVR is Here

Jeremy Jones — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:32:42 +0000

I posted a video of the Dish VIP 922 back in January 09. It’s finally time for Dish to release the DVR to the masses. It’s a sling loaded DVR with 1TB of hard drive space. It also has all those apps the video shows even though I don’t understand apps on your TV while you are trying to watch TV. I’m not a Dish subscriber but if you are the new VIP 922 will be a huge improvement.

(via ZatzNotFunny)

DirecTV TiVo Won’t Be Premier

Jeremy Jones — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:58:26 +0000

The new TiVo Premier was announced just a few days ago and people were wondering if the DirecTV/TiVo deal would get the new stuff. The answer to that is no. While TiVo might be moving ahead with new software and hardware the DirecTV version will be on the old stuff.

“Their [DirecTV's] next implementation of us is not going to have this look and feel,” said TiVo’s Peter Aquino. “It’s based on the classic TiVo.”

This doesn’t bother me a bit. DirecTV has been making lots of improvements to their own DVR and I don’t see what TiVo is bringing to the table. But it has been a year and a half since their partnership so who knows if it will even happen.

(via highdefdigest)

Details about the new DirecTV H24-100

Jeremy Jones — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:25:31 +0000

DBSTalk has details on the new DirecTV H24-100. There are a few key features to this receiver has that their current lineup doesn’t. The receiver is only HD, not a DVR, but it has multi-room viewing capabilities. If you have HD DVRs in your house it can pull those recordings. You can read my review on multi-room viewing here. The receiver also has DECA built-in. DECA allows you to send internet over the coax line to the receiver. For houses that don’t have ethernet ran all over this is huge. In order to enjoy multi-room viewing, media streaming and apps these receivers need Internet. The last big improvement is speed. If you have used their current HD DVRs scrolling through the guide can be slow. DBSTalk says the H24 can scroll just as fast as you can click the button. That’s probably because it doesn’t have a hard drive spinning to slow down the data.

I’m not sure when launch is but it should be soon. I’ll probably have to order one to replace my bedroom SD box. The multi-room viewing is seller for me.

Review: DirecTV Multi-Room Viewing

Jeremy Jones — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:49:19 +0000

DirecTV announced multi-room viewing a little over a month ago. I finally got around to setting it up and putting it through it’s paces. Like I said before the service is only in beta. DirecTV is not supporting the service right now so don’t call about it if you have trouble. The service is also free right now but they plan on charging later on, probably once it leaves beta.

What you need:
You need to have more than one HD-DVR. You also need them connected to your home network.

Setup:
Setup of multi-room viewing is fairly simple, as long as you already have it wired into the network. I’m going to assume you already have network connections. To get multi-room viewing going you need to “Menu” and navigate down to “Parental, Fav’s & Setup”. When the next set of options come up go to “System Setup”. You will now see “Multi-Room” on the left side menu. You will now see “Name Location” and “Beta”. You need to go into “Beta” and opt-in to the service. It explains that the service is free right now. After that you can name the DVR. You need to do this on both DVRs. After that the DVRs should be able to connect to each other.

Usage:
When you go to your recording list all recording from both DVRs show up in one big list. There isn’t an option to share just certain shows or really any way to organize them by DVR. One option that you do have in the setup is to say weather you want to allow deletion on remote DVR. Allowing for remote deletion is nice but it needs to tell you how much storage you have left on each location. For instance, if I’m in the living room looking at recordings from both locations, it only gives me remaining storage on that DVR. I would have to walk down to the basement to see how much storage that DVR has. I know it’s only in beta so features like that could be added.

Playback from the remote DVR is flawless even in HD. There is a slight delay when starting a remote recording but that is normal while it queues up from the network, only a few seconds. I tried a few different scenarios to try make things not work. I tried recording a HD show on the remote DVR in the basement while streaming to the upstairs DVR. I didn’t have issues no matter what I tried. My DVRs are hard wired into a gig switch so if you are using wireless your results may vary.

Pros:
* Easy to setup
* Easy to use
* Delete recordings on remote side
* Playback in HD is great

Cons:
* Service will cost at a later date
* Doesn’t show free space on remote DVR

Conclusion:
Multi-room viewing is on the wanted list for anyone that has multiple DVRs. Even with the DirecTVs multi-room viewing in beta, it works well and was easy to setup. DirecTV wanting to charge for this service is the biggest problem. They raised fees for equipment, HD and DVR service it is hard to justify another charge that you have to opt into. But the time for DirecTV to charge isn’t here yet and they might change their mind. If you have multiple DirecTV HD-DVRs I would recommend setting this up.

Multimedia-PCs » Cable/Satellite

DirecTV iPad App Now Streams Live TV

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DirecTV Multi-Room DVR Now Available

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