Xfinity's X1

[mijd]

My Directv contract is coming to an end and I'm not too crazy reading about Hughesnet, I'm trying to decide between Xfinity doubleplay and Verizon Fios doubleplay. I have Xfinity internet now and own my own modem which is a definite plus over Fios. However I haven't heard too many good things about Xfinity's X1. Also shopping for the X1 online is next to impossible.
Any suggestions as to how to go about inquiring prices for the X1? Also too has anyone had experience with both Quantum and the X1? Another pro for Verizon is they guarantee their prices for an additional year over Xfinity however it's $10 a month more for no-contract. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[tigerarmy247]

Not to throw a huge curve ball at you but have you thought about other satellite like Dish. I only suggest it because Comcast has one of the worst reputations for customer service basically of any company in existence. You may want to think about that before jumping in with them.

 

[levibluewa]

Unless Comcast's X-1 box fixes everything that was wrong with all their previous boxes combined I'm guessing its another total piece of junk.

 

[Bruce]

I have the X1 and it does just fine.

For the first few months I was ready to toss it out a window, but they kept doing updates and now after having it for about 8 months I find it works pretty damn good, it never misses shows, great guide, 5 tuners, fast, etc, etc.

What I can't beat is the price, I pay $115 a month for all the cable channels ( except premiums which I don't want or need), Extreme 105 and Home Phone, I see people that post here that pays that much for just Dish or DirecTV service.

 

[klang]

Another happy X1 user here. When I built the house here in Colorado it was hard to pass up the Triple Play pricing. I don't really notice anything in particular I miss vs. the Dish VIP receivers I used for years. Like bruce I get everything recorded that I want.

One oddity, I keep losing the surround sound signal to my soundbar. Going into setup and changing it to stereo and than back to surround fixes it.

I guess one thing I do miss from Dish is the external hard drive support. Just have to keep an eye on disk space.

I must be the exception but all my experiences with Comcast support have been positive.

 

[scifilaser]

I have X1 too and don't have any issues with it now they seem to have the bugs worked out!

 

[Stalker]

Does anyone know how many hours of dvr recording you get with X1 and how many programs you can record at one time? I currently have Tivo Premiere and was considering switching to X1.

 

[klang]

Does anyone know how many hours of dvr recording you get with X1 and how many programs you can record at one time? I currently have Tivo Premiere and was considering switching to X1.

I currently have 26 hours of HD material recorded and the X1 says it is 34% full. Comcast says it has 5 tuners and allows for 4 simultaneous recordings. Don't think I've tried 4 but I have recorded 3 shows at once without issues.

Edit: Comcast claims 60 hours of HD, so my numbers confirm that.

 

[mrhermit]

Unless Comcast's X-1 box fixes everything that was wrong with all their previous boxes combined I'm guessing its another total piece of junk.

I think I might agree with you. I recently moved from Colorado to Florida. In Colorado I had Dish with the Hopper and Joey. It worked great. I liked the features the system had. In Florida I live in a Condo complex that is wired for Comcast. No satellites are allowed nor is Verizon Fios. (Bummer). Comparing the X1 to the Hopper is like comparing a pair of beach sandals to a pair of high performance running shoes.

Not to throw a huge curve ball at you but have you thought about other satellite like Dish. I only suggest it because Comcast has one of the worst reputations for customer service basically of any company in existence. You may want to think about that before jumping in with them.

I move from Colorado to Florida this past July. I had been a satisfied dish customer for almost 10 years. I really liked the Hopper DVR along with the Joey for a second TV. In Florida I am living in a condo association that is locked in to Comcast. They do not allow any satellite dishes or Verizon FIOS. I have the Comcast X1 DVR in the living room and some piece of junk box in the bedroom. In a comparison of the two systems the Dish equipment is far superior than the Comcast equipment. If I had a choice I would definitely stay with Dish. The X1 does not have the capacity that the Hopper has. It will only allow you to save one favorites list, whereas with the Hopper I saved about six different favorite lists. Even though with the X1, I did save the favorites list, it would not come up by default once you turn the TV off and then back on. You would have to manually go in by pressing a bunch of button to get the default list back up. I have found their customer service to be okay the few times I have used them, so I have no issue with that. I also have the Comcast phone system along with Comcast Internet. I really don't have an issue with either one of those. Lately the X1 has been giving me problems not allowing me to delete a program. It also locks up more than I would like and I have to unplug the power cord and then plug it back in to let it power back up. I do like the search feature for finding programs. It is similar to what was on the Hopper. My biggest complaint is the box that is in the bedroom. You can watch programs that are recorded to the X1 box, but it does not allow you to pause live TV like you could with the Dish Joey. It to locks up quite a bit. I have noticed that the X1 will record for programs at once and still allow me to watch a live channel if needed. The Comcast DVR is easy to learn, but comparing it to the dish DVR as far as features, I would rate the Dish system at 9.8 and I would give the Comcast equipment a rating of 5.

 

[Stalker]

I currently have 26 hours of HD material recorded and the X1 says it is 34% full. Comcast says it has 5 tuners and allows for 4 simultaneous recordings. Don't think I've tried 4 but I have recorded 3 shows at once without issues.

Edit: Comcast claims 60 hours of HD, so my numbers confirm that.

Ok thanks. My Tivo Premiere records 75 hrs so that's a bit more than X1 but the X1 does have more tuners as I can only record 2 shows at one time but since so far I have not run in too any real conflict issues and since Comcast requires me to subscribe to Triple Play and I don't require their phone service I guess I will pass.

 

[berck]

I've been using the X1 system here in California since August. I've been very disappointed with their boxes. I've used Dish, Direct, U-Verse and now X1. By far, the X1 system is the worst of them all. The interface is fine, it's the hardware that I keep having problems with. Many times I get, 'X1 is not available right now'. Hence, I can't change the channels at all. Sometimes it comes back and sometimes it doesn't. I've had to hard reboot the DVR box probably a dozen times over the past 12 weeks. Most of that was in the initial months. Since I got in the habit of rebooting the box once a week, that tends to help. Only box I've ever used that I have to do that.
Another frustrating feature is the additional cable box. On that box, I can't pause live TV. That is only allowed on the DVR box. When I watch recorded content on that box, the skip ahead feature stops working in the last five minutes of the show. I think it maybe due to the fact that the skip ahead was originally five minutes. I changed those settings to 30 seconds ahead and 15 seconds back. Which work fine on both the DVR and the additional box, but only the additional box has a problem in the last five minutes of the show.
Oh, and that box also needs to be rebooted about every two weeks, or it starts having problems too.

 

[mrhermit]

You just have described my X1 system. I have also had to reboot booth boxes multiple times. I have also set my remotes to the 30 seconds ahead and 15 seconds back feature. Maybe some day Comcast will get it right.

 

[larrykenney]

Mrhermit said> I have also set my remotes to the 30 seconds ahead and 15 seconds back feature.

How do you do the 30 second advance? I know about the 15 seconds back on the X1, but haven't found the 30 second advance.

Thanks.
Larry
SF

 

[larrykenney]

Just found the 30 second advance feature.
30 second skip programming:
http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-program-a-30-second-skip-button-for-xfinity-x1/
Larry

 

[mrhermit]

Mrhermit said> I have also set my remotes to the 30 seconds ahead and 15 seconds back feature.

How do you do the 30 second advance? I know about the 15 seconds back on the X1, but haven't found the 30 second advance.

Thanks.
Larry
SF

I see that you found your answer. I remember when I programed my remotes, it automatically gave me the 30 second advanced and the 15 second back feature.

 

[larrykenney]

The 30 second advance / 15 second back feature is working great!

Do any of you know of a custom entry for turning captions on and off from a button on the romote? Now it requires several button pushes to turn the captions on and off. Sometimes you just can't make out what's being said during a show and the captions are a great help. A quick "captions on/captions off" button would be a nice addition.

Larry

 

[berck]

That would be a great one. I wish I had an answer for it.

FYI: The 30 second / 15 second features are not programmed into the remote. They program the DVR/STB to accept those buttons as those values. I had replaced one of the remotes already and didn't have to reprogram it.

 

[mijd]

Decided on Verizon Fios DP and not real impressed so far. There is a definite picture quality difference between Fios DVR and the Genie. As far as the internet is concerned, I was real happy with Verizon's 50/50 and found a DP package that was the same price contract or no contract ...not eligible for the $200 Visa GC with no contract.
Saturday I spoke with two Xfinity reps at Walmart. Seems they were offering TP bundles with the same deal as Bruce described above. The difference is $10 more but with double the speed and a heck of a lot more channels. As before the bundle price is good for 1 year, however the 2nd year price guarantee is $20 more a month. The one draw back is the installation charge which they wouldn't wave. I persuaded Verizon to wave the fee... but Comcast won't. **Oh and I went I told these reps I wasn't interested in the phone they told me they would substitute their security system for the same price as the phone I said no thanks. I remember reading about that nightmare in these forums.

One thing about D* is I've been with them for many years and their bundles from the beginning were contract based. May be they might change if they acquire AT& T Uverse and start offering bundles. It would be nice and I would definitely think about switching back. I've had Comcast internet since 1999 and never had a problem with customer service or their tech support.

 

[larrykenney]

I had this info included in another thread but thought I should include it here too. I found a quick way to turn closed captions on and off without having to go through several clicks on the menu.

Just hit the arrow down button on the remote, go the the yellow CC symbol and click. It toggles the captions. If off it turns them on. If on it turns them off. It's a great short cut!

 

[dishfan82]

So can additional boxes pause live TV ?? Or is that still not an option?