Should I take the HD plunge?

DaCommish · ‎04-14-2008

I've been with Uverse nearly a year now and have nothing but great things to say about it. Now I'm ready to go HD and I keep reading all the stories about HDMI conflicts and poor picture quality. I have read countless posts on how video is not synced up with the sound and other annoying factoids. The HDMI seems to be an issue with Motorola STB as well as Cisco. Ok, I can get past the HDMI conflicts with Component video but the poor picture quality and sound problems are a concern. So this is my question. Do most HD users experience problems or is this relatively isolated?

RCSMG · ‎12-10-2007

It appears that some issues are related to the hdmi cables, handshake issue, tv settings are incorrect. The bottom line is, your results may vary. IMHO

SomeJoe7777 · ‎01-30-2008

Most of the HDMI problems are centered around older, non-HDMI 1.3a-compliant TVs, or cabling issues. I have an HDMI 1.3a-compliant Sony TV hooked up with HDMI, and I have no issues.

Component will result in hardly any difference from an HDMI picture assuming you don't get interference on the cables, so if you have to use component, you're not going to lose anything.

The HD quality discussions are valid ... U-Verse's HD quality is a bit below that of other providers, but not horribly so. It certainly is not "unwatchable" by any means. Don't let the discussions detract you from getting HD ... they still look wonderful compared to SD.

hpmsrm · ‎09-14-2009

I agree. Early on we had turn-on problems with our Sony 55" HD set but apparently AT&T has sent down some updates because we have not experienced those problems for quite a few months now.

HD is great. My wife and I view the channels above 1,000 almost exclusively. With the addition of all the new HD channels we now have 76 HD channels here. Yes, some do use some stretched SD source material but that's the problem with the supplier....not U-verse.

Phil

Need help? Call AT&T at: 1-800-288-2020 then follow recorded instructions.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin

oz_1 · ‎10-25-2008

I get a great picture using component for HD its the sound that will have a few milli-second drop at random on different channels.

jkramer5 · ‎11-06-2007

I have a 2006 Toshoba Regza HD LCD and a 2003 Samsung HD capable widescreen CRT connected to the DVR (the toshiba) and a 2nd reciever (the samsung) via HDMI cables I got a monoprice.com. The cables arent exactly the same but they aren't anything special either and both recievers/tv's work fine. They did with Dish recievers too. I don't use the HDMI for audio on either one, that's done thru optical cables into an Onkyo reciever for the toshiba/dvr and a sony reciever for the Samsung/non dvr box. YMMV.

I'd agree with SomeJoe about the quality, and also about not letting it stop you. I noticed a slight loss of quality when I switched to U-verse recently but after about 3 days I stopped caring and began enjoying the new features and the reduced bill.

Message Edited by jkramer5 on 11-04-2008 01:31 AM

steverinoh · ‎11-06-2008

HD? What for? American Idol in HD? Stock ticker in HD? The picture is indeed better, but the content is still "no" D!!

mibrnsurg · ‎07-15-2008

I have HD and very very rarely wander into SD (even though it was leaps and bounds above my Dish SD). HD looks very very good on my 42" Panasonic plasma and there is plenty of content on all the HD u200 channels.

Chris

I want Good weather w/radar & 6 day forecast -coming soon!
Please NO SD stretch-o-vision HD Channels

TheSpook · ‎11-07-2008

Our HD signal is no worse than our crappy SD signal from U-verse.

That said, YES, take the plunge! HD is great (though we're using component cables).

MarkShadid · ‎09-27-2007

I have a Mitsubishi 57" DLP and have never had any problems with using HDMI.

zerauso · ‎05-22-2008

I have a 57" Toshiba and refuse to watch it in SD if it is available in HD....

MarkShadid · ‎09-27-2007

zerauso wrote:
I have a 57" Toshiba and refuse to watch it in SD if it is available in HD....

Oh yeah, if it's available in HD, i'm there.

MyLastChance · ‎11-11-2008

It all looks 100% the same to me, to tell you the truth. I've got an HDTV, and I've had it for about 3 years now... before AT&T I had Cox Communications, and AT&T by FAR blows Cox out of the market. The HD is noticable, but I wouldn't switch a cable company over it. It's definitely better than Cox's was.

ckellyne · ‎01-04-2009

fyi...I was having the SAME problem with dropped audio ONLY when watching HD channels and figured out the solution and no more audio problems when viewing / listening to HD channels. My system was installed October 31, 2008 and I had the tech out 3x and they couldn't fix it. They thought it was my audio receiver system which I knew it was not since it worked fine with other services and on non-HD channels. This is what I did to FIX the problem:

1. Select "Menu" with the remote

2. Scroll over to "Options"

3. Scroll over to "System Settings"

4. Select "System sound effects"

5. Select "Play sound effects" and then "Save"

Exit and I now listen to HD channels with NO audio drop whatsoever. Yes, I hear a sound effect when I use the remote to view the Guide, or Info for a channel, etc. but that is no problem. I'm not sure WHY this fixed it but there is obviously a bug and this is an EASY workaround to fix it.

SomeJoe7777 · ‎01-30-2008

ckellyne wrote:
fyi...I was having the SAME problem with dropped audio ONLY when watching HD channels and figured out the solution and no more audio problems when viewing / listening to HD channels. My system was installed October 31, 2008 and I had the tech out 3x and they couldn't fix it. They thought it was my audio receiver system which I knew it was not since it worked fine with other services and on non-HD channels. This is what I did to FIX the problem:

1. Select "Menu" with the remote
2. Scroll over to "Options"
3. Scroll over to "System Settings"
4. Select "System sound effects"
5. Select "Play sound effects" and then "Save"

Exit and I now listen to HD channels with NO audio drop whatsoever. Yes, I hear a sound effect when I use the remote to view the Guide, or Info for a channel, etc. but that is no problem. I'm not sure WHY this fixed it but there is obviously a bug and this is an EASY workaround to fix it.

Unfortunately, this does not work correctly. Please see my response here.

RCSMG · ‎12-10-2007

So, turning on the sound effects causes the stb to send 2.0 audio to the receivers. Thus giving the appearance that the audio dropout issue has been elimintated, when it actually hasn't.