Cisco - AT&T U-Verse Cisco IPN-330HD Cable Receiver Review

Bottom-Line: If you are thinking about going with AT&T U-Verse you'll want to request the Cisco IPN-330HD Cable Receiver, you'll be glad you did.

No longer willing to put up with the Dish, we recently had AT&T U-Verse installed (we opted for the HD digital cable service and broadband Internet) and so far the results are spectacular using the AT&T U-Verse Cisco IPN-4320 DVR Receiver!  And we had an additional two AT&T U-Verse Cisco IPN-330HD Cable Receivers; one for the master bedroom and another for my daughters room.

The 411

The small, silver, Cisco IPN-330HD Cable Receiver isn't a Digital Video Recorder (DVR), but a simple cable receiver that is capable of playing back programming on the Cisco IPN-4320 DVR Receiver, including the ability to record programming onto the DVR receiver, as well as playback, and pause, recorded programming.  And added bonus: the ability to stream both HD and SD programming.      

The front of the Cisco IPN-330HD Cable Receiver is fitted with the usual controls; e.g. power button, menu controls, link (yellow), HD (blue), and Record (red) LED's etc.  The back of the unit is rather busy; there you will find an RJ-45 port (for connection to the residential gateway), another USB port, HDMI port, various video and audio ports including S-Video, and power.  The USB ports have a yet-to-be disclosed function.      

My Viewpoint

The Cisco IPN-330HD Cable Receiver works as advertised.  Whether its streaming live HD or SD programming, or playing back recorded programs from the IPN-4320 DVR Receiver the picture and sound quality is outstanding.

And I am seriously enamored with the ability to playback any recorded program through the unit, though I wish the IPN-330HD had the ability to pause live television.   Once programming is recorded it can be accessed any time via a menu system; a black Recorded TV button is located on the remote is used to access the "Recorded Events" menu.  

Once the program is viewed, it can be deleted, or protected from deletion from the IPN-330HD.  Note however, the protection procedure does not include a password.  Recorded programs are listed in chronological order making it easy to select the program you want to view.  Or they can be viewed in date order.  While viewing the program, you can of course pause it, or move forward or backward through the program. 

Overall, I have been very happy with the Cisco IPN-330HD Cable Receiver.  Picture quality is excellent utilizing the HDMI output directly to my Samsung HD television.  If you are thinking about going with AT&T U-Verse you'll want to request the Cisco IPN-330HD Cable Receiver.