Pipeline Publishing, Volume 5, Issue 5
This Month's Issue:
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Performance Management?
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OSS NewsWatch
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By Alana Grelyak

Here we are, in the last quarter of the year. And of course, we have plenty of news! This month, we've gone a little more in-depth on a few topics, presenting them to you with our usual flair, and making the news as colorful as the leaves of October. Enjoy!

AT&T is making it possible for its U-verse customers to watch their favorite TV programs in the room of their choosing. The Total Home DVR service, currently available in the Bay Area of San Francisco, gives subscribers the option to record shows via DVR in one room and watch them in any of up to eight other rooms. Programs can be started in a new room or even paused in one room and resumed in another, thereby making those pesky familial TV control arguments a thing of the past. Customers who have several can't-miss shows can also now record and playback up to four programs at the same time. The service runs through IP technology and customers have no need to switch out their current hardware. "While some other providers may claim to offer some

This month, we've gone a little more in-depth on a few topics, presenting them to you with our usual flair, and making the news as colorful as the leaves of October.



TVs, versus up to 8 connected TVs with U-verse TV." However, when asked for a comment, a Verizon representative stated that "AT&T is playing catch-up.  We introduced a multi-room DVR for FiOS TV customers two years ago. Our multi-room DVR allows customers to use one DVR to record programming that can be watched on up to 7 TVs in the home. Customers also can subscribe to our Media Manager service that provides them the capability of streaming their personal photos and music from their



form of whole home DVR, AT&T U-verse Total Home DVR is the only one that truly lets you play back recorded programs from a single DVR on any connected TV in the house," said Jeff Weber, AT&T vice president of video products. Verizon is currently offering a similar service via their FiOS TV, but when contacted for clarification about its services, AT&T had this to say: "…[W]ith AT&T U-verse Total Home DVR, you can play back any recording – SD or HD – on any connected TV. Verizon FiOS Multi-Room DVR does not support HD playback, only SD. FiOS can only play back 2 recorded shows at once; U-verse Total Home DVR lets you play back up to 4 simultaneously. Other whole-home DVR services support two


PCs to their TVs. This soon will also include personal videos. We've led the industry in these types of applications, providing home entertainment experiences that are unmatched by other providers."

AT&T's service is available at no extra charge to U-verse subscribers and the company has mentioned plans to roll out the service to the rest of the country by the year's end. And whether customer choose Verizon or AT&T, a service like this may mean that cable companies that don't offer anything similar will have to come up with something that will allow them to compete or face losing customers who prefer the convenience of watching a show in any room at any time.

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