Whole-home leader: AT&T U-Verse

AT&T U-Verse led the whole home DVR charge, offering up to four connected set-top boxes in its initial rollout, and traditional cable operators have been playing catch-up ever since.

U-verse's interactive guide includes the standards: video on demand, parental controls, and a number of applications including weather updates, games and Media Share, tied together with a customizable applications selection feature called UBar. Of late, the FTTH provider has been touting its Multiview, which allows users to watch up to four programs at once and offers preset multiviews of news, children's shows or sports.

Viewers can also remotely program their DVRs through a PC accessing their online U-Verse account, or gain remote access through their iPhones using a downloadable app.

Caller ID and message waiting features are also available to subscribers at no extra charge.