HTPC + AT&T Uverse + Tuner Card

[Stridulent]

Performing a typical google search turns up a lot of bad news to those that would like to use their HTPC to view AT&T Uverse IPTV. I am interested in this as football season is around the corner and AT&T is the only cable offered in my area.

I need Uverse to be streamed through my HTPC in HD so that it can be displayed on my projector screen. This screen isn't the standard 16x9 resolution, as it is 2.35:1, and the HTPC is required to make the video output fit the screen.

I'm not really concerned with recording on the HTPC itself. I have heard of rumors that you can get specific TV tuner cards with IR blasters that will work with AT&T Uverse, but I would like to know of one that is proven to work before I start investing in anything.

TL;DR
Need AT&T Uverse to play through my HTPC in HD



EDIT: Major +1's if this card could work with an Xbox 360 as well (for the same screen size reasons). Not having any latency issues through a tuner card would seem pretty unrealistic.

[Trogdor2010]

I have been wondering about this too, at least since I've watched twitch.tv channels where people have streamed gameplay live. Many streamers seem to not have many self inflicted issues (although your upload speed can tax your internet and PC's CPU), and I have a twitch.tv channel myself (with PC games, I am having issues though).

I am not familiar with IPTV, but if you are using Uverse directly to your HTPC, I bet you'll be limited by the streaming player that AT&T provides, unless if it can work with third party software. Although whenever I watch a youtube video in 2.35:1, outputting at 1920x816 outputs the video as a cinemascope image, as it should.

Example

[HD] Infinite Stratos OP (2.35:1 scope film print) - YouTube

If you are just wanting to watch Uverse from the cable box or 360 as pass through, you should only need a capture card (or HD PVR) and the software to capture the video and audio output. I am not familiar with capture software, but I imagine there is some rudimentary scaling options that can crop or stretch the image to fit in your screen, just make sure that the software you are getting can do cropping and stretching. Any input from someone here would be great.

What I am wondering about is if the capture cards is that if I can use the PS3 with one, I could output LPCM audio from my analog outputs. I can only get lossless audio from HDMI on the PS3, and my receiver only has analog audio (using on my PC) and optical (my dead PS3).

[Stridulent]

Yup, passthrough works fine for me. I just want to be sure that the quality holds and there are no delays in audio. I would prefer for it to work with a blaster so I can control the Uverse box with the PC, but that's not a requirement.

[Stridulent]

Does anyone else maybe have some more information they could provide?

[Youre My Boy Blu!]

All I'm going to say is good luck.
I lost so much time trying to get a tuner card to work with AT&T Uverse.
I didn't go into it blindly either, I did a fair bit of research and was told the Hauppauge Colossus would work with some additional software, I tried it and I just couldn't get anything to work at all. It was a real pain in the ass. Fortunately I was able to return everything, so I didn't lose any money, but all the time wasted for nothing except a growing hatred of AT&T and wondering why things can't be as simple as they used to be as a kid when I could pop a chunky VHS tape into the VCR and record whatever and then take it out and take it whereever I wanted to watch it. I wasn't chained to a DVR or the locked down service it was connected to back in those days. The whole experience just made me bitter, pissed off and more confused. People shouldn't have to go through this much trouble to get their content stored HOW THEY WANT IT, not how the company tells them they have to.

[Stridulent]

Originally Posted by Youre My Boy Blu!

All I'm going to say is good luck.
I lost so much time trying to get a tuner card to work with AT&T Uverse.
I didn't go into it blindly either, I did a fair bit of research and was told the Hauppauge Colossus would work with some additional software, I tried it and I just couldn't get anything to work at all. It was a real pain in the ass. Fortunately I was able to return everything, so I didn't lose any money, but all the time wasted for nothing except a growing hatred of AT&T and wondering why things can't be as simple as they used to be as a kid when I could pop a chunky VHS tape into the VCR and record whatever and then take it out and take it whereever I wanted to watch it. I wasn't chained to a DVR or the locked down service it was connected to back in those days. The whole experience just made me bitter, pissed off and more confused. People shouldn't have to go through this much trouble to get their content stored HOW THEY WANT IT, not how the company tells them they have to.

I ended up buying a Hauppauge HD PVR for $200. The HD picture gets through to the computer, but the IR Blasters aren't working with the AT&T set top box and there is a lot of delay when using the remote. For this, I use the AT&T iPhone app which lets me select channels from the guide on my phone rather than having to search through channels with the delay. All in all, it works and I guess I'm satisfied. I really wish I didn't have to spend $200 and run 3 devices (HTPC, cable box, HD PVR) plus everything else just to make it work.