Max bandwidth affecting picture quality?

When I ordered Uverse, I requested the 3 megs downstream speed for my Internet connection, their phone service, and to have it connect to 2 televisions, 1 HD, 1 non-HD.

The tech said I couldn't get any faster Internet speed as I'm far away from the VRAD or whatever. 3 megs is my current limit.

He then went into my DVR and under System Info > System Resources showed that my Max Capacity was showing at 18900000.
He said that means I'm at max bandwith.

Would that have any impact on my TV picture quality? That my bandwith is maxed? If I dropped the 2nd tv, or reduced my Internet speed, would that improve anything?

Is the picture quality bad now?? I'm not sure I'm understanding what you're looking for.

Unfortunately no, dropping a TV or reducing your internet speed won't help anything. I'm suprised at your Max Bandwidth is at 18900000. Mine is at 25800000 with 2HD / 2SD on both the Live Programs and DVR Recordings. Does it say you have 2SD/2HD?

To answer your question if the low bandwidth can have a bearing on picture quality because each HD stream requires about 7-9 mbps which 2 HD streams could use up the bandwidth by themselves. I'm not sure how they allocate the bandwidth with such a low figure.

It may be that if you want better HD service you will need to look at other providers.

Unfortunately no, dropping a TV or reducing your internet speed won't help anything. I'm suprised at your Max Bandwidth is at 18900000. Mine is at 25800000 with 2HD / 2SD on both the Live Programs and DVR Recordings. Does it say you have 2SD/2HD?

To answer your question if the low bandwidth can have a bearing on picture quality because each HD stream requires about 7-9 mbps which 2 HD streams could use up the bandwidth by themselves. I'm not sure how they allocate the bandwidth with such a low figure.

It may be that if you want better HD service you will need to look at other providers.

3 SD, 1 HD. Again, the tech said we're located pretty far from the hardware.

Not happy with TWC, it's why I switched. Tried to get Dish, but there are trees blocking the way...

Thanks for the info.

To answer your question if the low bandwidth can have a bearing on picture quality because each HD stream requires about 7-9 mbps which 2 HD streams could use up the bandwidth by themselves. I'm not sure how they allocate the bandwidth with such a low figure.


Could this bandwidth number be because they haven't rolled out the 2/2 in the OP's area yet??

Could this bandwidth number be because they haven't rolled out the 2/2 in the OP's area yet??
Yes, but it is still lower than what I had when I had 3SD/1HD.

If you are at a longer distance, they might have put you in on the lower profile of 19200 and by the statements you say the tech made... that would be my guess. Dropping the TVs will not make a difference, but there are some things that can be done.

How is the RG feed, coax or Cat5? How is the TVs feed, twisted pair, eithernet, or coax?

I don't know everything, but I will help with what I do know.

If you are at a longer distance, they might have put you in on the lower profile of 19200 and by the statements you say the tech made... that would be my guess. Dropping the TVs will not make a difference, but there are some things that can be done.

How is the RG feed, coax or Cat5? How is the TVs feed, twisted pair, eithernet, or coax?

I don't know everything, but I will help with what I do know.That's interesting. When they lower the bandwidth profile do they also reduce the quantity of streams available or do they reduce the bps on the encode? If it was the latter I could see how it would lower the picture quality.

You should take a look at this post over at the U-Talk forums

http://utalk.att.com/utalk/board/message?board.id=Uverse_TV_Equipment&thread.id=14676

BTW - everybody gets the same bit rate encoding whether you are 3000 ft from the vrad or have fiber to the prem, 19 meg or 25 meg profile. The encoding is done long before it gets to the vrad. If you have a poor signal the image will pixelate and break up or freeze, you will not lose resolution.

The link basically says the 25 meg profile allows for 2HD/2SD streams and the 19 meg profile allows for 1HD/3SD only. That answers my original question. Basically the HD streams are limiited by the lower profile.
everybody gets the same bit rate encoding whether you are 3000 ft from the vrad or have fiber to the prem, 19 meg or 25 meg profile
Yes that was my understanding as far as the picture quality goes, but some people still want to discuss this subject like there are differing picture quality issues other than break up and the typical low signal issues. Almost like there are two different levels of encoding between the profiles. I know early on the cable networks like ESPN had better PQ than the local network channels and some people who did some testing showed a higher bit rate for them vs their local network channels resulting in worse PQ.

See it seemed like Shorty's reply was not addressing pixelation or break up, but rather picture quality. Thus my inquiry.

It could be possible for ATT to have two levels of encoding back at the front end and stream whichever the STB profile required, so it was not a totally off of the wall question. Too bad ATT does not discuss much about the nuts and bolts of the technology and we have to rely on forums to get our information.

The lower profile is for adding a couple hundred feet to the service area...

The lower profile is for adding a couple hundred feet to the service area...Obviously. The question here is at what offset. There is the notion that ATT should charge less for the 19 meg profile since the service is less than the 25 meg profile. They have different charges for the different levels of internet speed and service, so why not on the TV side?

Obviously. The question here is at what offset. There is the notion that ATT should charge less for the 19 meg profile since the service is less than the 25 meg profile. They have different charges for the different levels of internet speed and service, so why not on the TV side?

I agree, if you are providing less of a service, then you should be charging less. In my personal experiences I have not noticed a PQ difference during installs of 19.2 vs 25.6, but PQ can be affected by many factors.

For now for the DSL customers there is a way to tell how many feet they are from the CO, or from the RT if they are run from one. As for the U-verse it is still new enough there is not a program, the only way to know the footage is to get a tech or a line engineer out.

As for charging different rates for different caps, as a customer I understand, as a business that is ridiculous. The amount of work on the back end that would have to happen. Once again what happens when the technology gets upgraded and your cap changes, should you as the customer expect increases in pricing?

AT&T as far as I can see it is trying to reduce that negative affect that cable providers have shown from constantly raising rates.

just my .02