robertbascom's profile

Tutor

 • 

6 Messages

Thursday, October 11th, 2012 5:38 AM

hide channels?

Why can't the channels listed be restricted to teh ones on your plan? And then why can't we hide channels by SD/HD, type, language, etc.?

Accepted Solution

Official Solution

Expert

 • 

14.5K Messages

11 years ago

To hide channels:  MENU > Options > Channel Options > Hide Channels

 

You can also use Channel Shortcuts:  MENU > Live > Channel Shortcuts

Contributor

 • 

1 Message

11 years ago

The Uverse guide is pitiful.  It is difficult to hide channels.  The original question is around functionality that is missing that Comcast and Directv have.  The answer is that Uverse's guide is not user friendly, and does not allow you to do the simple things you have mentioned.

Guru

 • 

778 Messages

11 years ago


@tdubnicka wrote:

The Uverse guide is pitiful.  It is difficult to hide channels.  The original question is around functionality that is missing that Comcast and Directv have.  The answer is that Uverse's guide is not user friendly, and does not allow you to do the simple things you have mentioned.


 

Wow...  You registered just to post that Comcast/DTV advertisement?  Nice first/last post and very helpful (not).

Explorer

 • 

18 Messages

11 years ago

And you think Comcast has a better guide? Are you kiddning me!?! I have Comcast and wish our guide was like U-Verse.

Tutor

 • 

4 Messages

11 years ago

sbraind,  his response was extremely valid and, if you were reading, useful.  He said the product has serious issues.

 

I just got Uverse today - switching from DTV just to see... and the guide is absolutely awful.  The only way it could be worse is... well... I can't really think of anything.  What is worse is that the problems with it are all pointed out in posts from 2010!!! U-verse has had 2 1/2 years to make simple improvements and has done NOTHING.  (Yes, I wish I had read all these posts before I got this installed).

 

Among the issues I ran into 1st day:

Setup:

  • I have 303 SD channels to hide.  Down-Enter for every one.  That is over 600 (SIX HUNDERED) presses of buttons on the remote before I can even start to customize the HD channels I will watch.
  • The favorites & hide options let you check all but not uncheck all.  Hundreds of more button presses.
  • 1 set of favorites - and it isn't even the default you get from pressing GUIDE.  So I have to customize 2 things (guide and favorites - hundreds of more button presses - I'll stop saying that - pretty much anything having to do with channel setup adds hundreds of ... you get the idea)
  • No way to jump around in the hide/favorites lists by direct number entry... you guessed it... more buttons to press and more time to wait (sorry - I said I'd stop with the buttons)
  • No way to exclude whole categories - I should be able to just block all at once shopping, superstition, kids, sports or whatever channels.
  • No way to automatically exclude channels I don't get (I suspect this is the result of customer-abusive management policies)
  • No way to see all channels without unhiding - I can't just try channels I've excluded without modifying my selections and suffering all the pain that entails
  • No way to see what is checked (or is not checked) - the tools have one option but not the other.
  • No channel description with the channels
  • No way to watch a single channel while doing all this painful button pushing and waiting.  Like in the guide (see below), they force a picture-in-picture of the channels and blot out what I am watching.

Usage:

  • The guide blots out the show you are watching and shows a picture-in-picture of the show highlighted in the guide. This is a total interruption of the show I'm watching so I can't see what's coming up and watch a show at the same time. Very unfriendly. Its like turning off the TV and going to get the newspaper to see what's on.  Terrible experience.
  • Navigation has lots of multi-step nonsense (like menu>live>favorites or menu>live>channel shortcuts>[more pain]) but they are too much work and assume you want to spend your time pressing buttons instead of watching TV.
  • No interface for using a PC as a remote control.   Yes, I wrote my own for DirecTV but at least I could do it.
  • No simple API to the DVR so I could write my own controls and skip the trashy guide. There is an SDK for iOS but they require massive authorization instead of a simple http interface.

Customer service:

  • I had been told by everyone during my purchase experience that there is a PC based remote control where I could see what is on and tune the channel to that station from the PC.  That was not true.
  • I called customer service and asked about this and was met with the question "what do you mean by remote control?"  When I explained as above, I was asked to clarify.  Clueless customer service is worse than no customer service.

 

So yes, it is likely I will cancel Uverse within the first week and go back to DTV.  That isn't an "ad" for DTV as you say, it is a simple statement that Uverse is not keeping up with the competition in even the most basic ways.  I switched because I hoped a newer service would have even better facilities and beter usability.  If I'd known they (apparently) stopped developing a primitive on-screen guide in 2010 I would not have switched.

Expert

 • 

10.1K Messages

11 years ago

Waltz49 - I agree the hide channels is way too much work. There are a couple more disadvantages - If att adds new channels you will need to hide them - Some channels cannot be hidden - No on/off toggle to activate full guide for free trial.

Give favorites a try - only add the channels you want (far fewer than the quantity to remove) - Full guide still available - Direct number access to setting (while viewing channel).

Press enter (bottom right) - press OK to add channel

To view favorites guide - Enter-Down arrow-OK

To use PC for selecting viewing, instead of hiding current show - https://loginprodx.att.net/commonLogin/igate_edam/controller.do?TAM_OP=login&USERNAME=unauthenticated&ERROR_CODE=0x00000000&ERROR_TEXT=HPDBA0521I%20%20%20Successful%20completion&METHOD=GET&URL=%2FFIM%2Fsps%2FATTidp%2Fsaml20%2Flogininitial%3FRequestBinding%3DHTTPPost%26PartnerId%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Flogin.yahoo.com%2Fsaml%2F2.0%2Fatt%26Target%3Dhttp%253a%2F%2Fuversetv.att.yahoo.com%2Fwra%2Fuverse%2F%253f.lts%3D1366800476%3Ftucd567%3Dw&REFERER=&HOSTNAME=loginprodx.att.net&AUTHNLEVEL=&FAILREASON=&PROTOCOL=https&OLDSESSION=#tabs_guide

Set up recording via guide on PC..

Remotes seem to be available only for IOS devices. Att versions are in various states of disrepair.

The best IOS remote is Buddy TV. It is an image of a U-verse remote that is paired to your STBs. It is usable. Also, the app has the ability to review guide listing on the IOS device. Or, you can do that with the browser.

Mentor

 • 

73 Messages

11 years ago

Hiding channels is one of the worst features of UVERSE (and if you stick with it you'll find others) partially because UVERSE adds channels all the time - sometime more that once a day.  Real channels - No - things such as advance hair restoration techniques and you have to go through the process paging down again and again to hide both the sd and hd versions and you get to do it on all your boxes.  Done - wait they'll add more tomorrow.

I'm convince whomever is in charge or designs these things doesn't actually use it. If if is going to be hard to hide channels than at least only do it once a week at worst.

 

ACE - Master

 • 

6.9K Messages

11 years ago

And those channels PAY to be put on UVerse and they can add 100 / day and it wouldn't bother me. 

Tutor

 • 

4 Messages

11 years ago

Thanks aviewer.

 

The onscreen guide is nice and its good from a PC. Too bad it can't act as a remote but the scheduling is easy. 

 

I really like BuddyTV.  It is similar to the one I wrote for myself for DTV. BuddyTV is slicker & more sophisticated but requiries a little more navigation.   Definitely worthwhile tradeoffs since it is targeted at a broader audience.  Thanks again for that. Fortunately it looks like it might work w/ DTV too. 

 

I am utterly livid about AT&T customer service right now since 2 seperate reps wouldn't even talk to me about an obvious problem with their email systems' authentication unless I forked over $49 so I probably won't stay with AT&T long enough to try the Favorites options.  Maybe... I'll sleep on it. 

 

(FWIW, like the TV support rep not knowing the term "remote control", the internet support reps didn't know basic terminology like "email client".  I finally found the problem... a bug in their authentication mechanisms: google "AT&T DOC-1307".)

 

Thanks again.  I hope the guide problems will be fixed because the guide presents a very unpleasant face on an otherwise fast, robust, feature rich service.

Expert

 • 

10.1K Messages

11 years ago

Waltz49 -
There are many posts about the e-mail problem on this site.

Your Google suggestion provides the most concise explanation that I have seen - https://getsocial.att.com/docs/DOC-1307.

I do not have the patience for such shenanigans. My recommended solution is to open a gmail account. Download anything from att. In the att mail settings set it to forward to gmail.
Not finding what you're looking for?
New to AT&T Community?
New to the AT&T Community? Start by visiting the Community How-To.
New to the AT&T Community?
Visit the Community How-To.