Is HD being provided? It's what I'm paying for

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@Brian80 wrote:

Hi so I noticed that my picture quality is far below par. I researched my tv (1080i); I made sure the receiver was set to HD; and I ran a few stress tests on my tv using both the att program and a couple other private programs. All checked out good to go except that I still was not actually GETTING HD. So I researched the issue and found that apparently not all the time the HD channels deliver HD TV... I don't know about anyone else, but I pay an extra $10 to get the HD. I don't pay $10 a month to SOMETIMES get HD. If that was the case, I would only pay $10 SOME of the time... This is a simple clear cut case of false advertising deliberately misleading the customers to believe HD is always on these extra channels. If I asked 'NBC on your side' to investigate this, what would they turn up? [Per Guidelines:  Keep it Relevant and Appropriate].

 

I have also yet to receive the gift cards that I was told I'd receive for signing up even though I claimed them and called to ask about. I have also had to cancel fox soccer channel because it only shows rugby. All of this is adding up to a very interesting story... 

 

Would any at&t rep rep care to respond? I work longer hours than nearly all of the people who CAN answer these questions so HERE is the forum, apparently...

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ATT delivers what is provided to them so your complaint would have to be with each network/programmers that you deem inferior.

Is Gunsmoke in HD?  Uhh...no.

Is and old(er) movie in HD?  Maybe yes/maybe no.

Is a new-ish movie in HD?  Should be.

Is "Dancing with the Stars" in HD?  Definetly.

I've seen commercials that are closer to SD than HD during an HD program.  Are all HD programs at the same caliber?  It has been my experience that no, they are not.  They're still HD but some look better than others.

I'm always impressed with the HD quality of The View and some of the NFL pre-game shows. 

I have to ask these questions:

1. Have you connected your U-Verse set top box to your TV via HDMI or component cables?

2. Are you browsing the HD channels? (for example channel 124 is USA, channel 1124 is USA in HD)

Every channel on U-Verse that is less than 1000 is in SD with it's HD equilivent being in the 1000's. Not all channels are broadcasted in HD (ex. Discovery Health & Fitness)

OP, if you wish a response regarding your gift cards, I'd suggest that you click this U-verse Customer Service link to send a Private Message (PM) to the AT&T customer service team to help you resolve your issue. You can expect a reply via return PM (the blue envelope in the upper right hand corner of this site) in a business day or three.

This is a group of U-verse service specialists who are knowledgeable about U-verse and will stay with your problem until the end (instead of forgetting about it when the phone hits the cradle). Speed things up by including your Billing Account Number, and the best time and way to reach you.

Regarding the HD issue, please provide specifics so that we can be clear what you're talking about.

There is no false advertising going on.  AT&T only rebroadcasts what the networks give them. If a program is not in HD, then it's not going to be an HD program.  As has been stated, if the show is older than 5 maybe 6 years old, more than likely it isn't going to be in HD.

One way to tell if a show is in HD is to look at the guide on the HD channels.  If the program is in HD the listing will have HD beside it .  If the program is not in HD you will not see HD beside the program.

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@dinglesby wrote:

One way to tell if a show is in HD is to look at the guide on the HD channels.  If the program is in HD the listing will have HD beside it .  If the program is not in HD you will not see HD beside the program.

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Sorry, but NO ........

The best way to find out if a program is in HD or not is if you visit the website of the programmer (say A&E or HGTV) or by comparing guides online (i.e TitanTV vs TVGuide vs Zap2It).

TBS, for instance, offers "Seinfeld" reruns in HD on 1112/1113.  The guide is not always going to designate them as such.  And, in fact, I checked my neighbor's Comcast EPG, and they are NOT designated as HD in their guide -- even though Turner/Time Warner or Sony have upconverted them from SD to HD, and that's what TBS broadcasts on their HD versions.  The same can happen with U-verse's EPG.

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@vid30jk wrote:

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@dinglesby wrote:

One way to tell if a show is in HD is to look at the guide on the HD channels.  If the program is in HD the listing will have HD beside it .  If the program is not in HD you will not see HD beside the program.

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Sorry, but NO ........

 

The best way to find out if a program is in HD or not is if you visit the website of the programmer (say A&E or HGTV) or by comparing guides online (i.e TitanTV vs TVGuide vs Zap2It).

 

TBS, for instance, offers "Seinfeld" reruns in HD on 1112/1113.  The guide is not always going to designate them as such.  And, in fact, I checked my neighbor's Comcast EPG, and they are NOT designated as HD in their guide -- even though Turner/Time Warner or Sony have upconverted them from SD to HD, and that's what TBS broadcasts on their HD versions.  The same can happen with U-verse's EPG.

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That is right.  Not sure if the network is not pushing that info to the Guide provider, or the provider not pushing the info to U-Verse or if U-Verse is somehow stripping the indicator out in error.  That HD marker is hit n' miss.

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@vid30jk wrote:

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@dinglesby wrote:

One way to tell if a show is in HD is to look at the guide on the HD channels.  If the program is in HD the listing will have HD beside it .  If the program is not in HD you will not see HD beside the program.

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Sorry, but NO ........

 

The best way to find out if a program is in HD or not is if you visit the website of the programmer (say A&E or HGTV) or by comparing guides online (i.e TitanTV vs TVGuide vs Zap2It).

 

TBS, for instance, offers "Seinfeld" reruns in HD on 1112/1113.  The guide is not always going to designate them as such.  And, in fact, I checked my neighbor's Comcast EPG, and they are NOT designated as HD in their guide -- even though Turner/Time Warner or Sony have upconverted them from SD to HD, and that's what TBS broadcasts on their HD versions.  The same can happen with U-verse's EPG.

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NBC started going HD w/Law & Order pilot in 1988, then the whole L&O run from 1990 was in HD, as was ER from 1994.  Then many of the other NBC programs were HD, but not all.  Remember the letterboxing on these programs on SD?  The howl from the public, even though there was no OTA channel that could broadcast HD back then.

To the original poster, 720p Networks (ABC/ESPN/Disney, all Fox channels) tend to look better than the 1080i Networks (CBS, all NBC channels, TNT/TBS and the others).  1080i needs 10-20% more bandwidth to be equivalent to 720p Networks.

Chris

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
Need Help? PM ATT Uverse Care (all service problems) or ATT Customer Care (all other problems)
Your Results May Vary, In My Humble Opinion
I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

Sorry if I gave incorrect information. I was looking at the guide and some shows say hd and some do not so I just assumed if the guide did not say HD it was not in HD.  However the station is the one to complain to because not all programing is in hd but hd or sd does not bother me.  Since I do not sit in front of the TV 24/7 I will leave this discussion to the tv junkies as they can tell the difference better then me.

Here's a couple of examples that I found just "sitting in front of the TV":

Scarface made 1983 on IFCHD is shown with the HD tag.  Is it really HD?  It looks good but is it really HD or just the 16:9 format?

Iron Man 3 made in 2013 is showing on STZHDW with NO HD tag.  Now surely that is HD but is not carrying the HD tag.

Monster University from 2013 is on STZKHD and looks fabulous but is not carrying an HD tag.

So what have we learned?  You can't trust the HD tag.  The year that the movie/program was made may or may not give a hint.  The HD tag may or may not be in place. 

It's best to trust your eyes.

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@dinglesby wrote:

Sorry if I gave incorrect information. I was looking at the guide and some shows say hd and some do not so I just assumed if the guide did not say HD it was not in HD.  However the station is the one to complain to because not all programing is in hd but hd or sd does not bother me.  Since I do not sit in front of the TV 24/7 I will leave this discussion to the tv junkies as they can tell the difference better then me.

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If it's in HD, it will look like it's HD, the difference is dramatic, even though Uverse has the best SD of any provider.  Here in metro Detroit, all Judge Judy's are listed w/the HD designation, but only the last 1 or 2 years are in HD.

As skeeter pointed out, some programs are not listed HD, but they are HD.  One look and you'll see the difference.

If you watch any SD on the HD channels, it looks even better than the SD channel does, unless it's strectched. 😉

Chris

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
Need Help? PM ATT Uverse Care (all service problems) or ATT Customer Care (all other problems)
Your Results May Vary, In My Humble Opinion
I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

Really if you want to test your HD just put on any of the Premium channels (HBO, Cinemax, etc) or Fuse (1535) for example. These networks either run their HD feeds in HD 24/7 or upsampled SD converted into HD 24/7. There's plenty of others. 

The vast majority of Viacom's networks that have HD feeds for example do not run programming in HD most of the time. Nick, Nicktoons, MTV2, Comedy Central etc are examples. Only certain programming is in HD. 

An easy way to tell what is HD and what is not would be during music programming on MTV (3AM-9AM Eastern) Most modern music videos are in HD, but some (especially during the Clubland block 3-4AM Eastern) are in SD. You'll see boxed SD during that video. 

Another example would be South Park (Comedy Central) The entire series (minus Season 1 and 2) has been upsampled to HD. The networks plays reruns and new episodes in HD. However when they play reruns during the daytime hours (Prior to 9PM Eastern) they are the SD clean edits that were produced for syndication, so they will run in SD on Channel 1140 anytime before 9PM Eastern. 

I can't imagine that some AT&T employee is sitting around watching all the upcoming programs and determining if it's HD or not.  I do believe that info comes from a 3rd party.