We currently have an HDHomeRun and use Windows Media Center to watch it, but I am getting fed up with having to maintain this. Windows Media Center is a mess, and there's no obvious replacement for it, especially if you have copy-once channels. I've been looking into alternatives, and honestly, TiVo looks like the most promising one right now. Not only can it handle watching and recording the normal channels, but also streaming services we care about (Netflix, Amazon Prime), and can watch stuff on our local media library via Plex. Basically, it looks like it supports everything we currently watch, with the addition of VOD support. Not to mention that I've read plenty of good things about TiVo's DVR functionality, which I expect to be better than Windows Media Center's clunkiness. And it's expensive, especially if we go the route of an "all-in" lifetime subscription, but compared to Comcast boxes to support two HDTVs with DVR service (about $30/month), it should pay for itself within 2 years.
So this sounds great to me, but I have one big concern. I've read rumors about Comcast planning a transition to IPTV, which the TiVo would obviously not support. And there seems to be evidence of this: the tv.xfinity.com website, the Roku app, and the recent switch to MPEG-4 and dowgrade to 720p. What do y'all think? Should we buy a TiVo Bolt and a TiVo Mini for our TVs? Or would we be better off doing something else?
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TiVo: Good idea? Or would we regret it?
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Did Xfinity X1 Drop Cast and Crew From Program Info?
There's a thread in the Comcast Support Forum asking about this. So far no answers.
http://forums.xfinity.com/t5/X1/Xfinity-cast-and-crew/td-p/2945445
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[Rant] Comcast increases rental fee of DTA without notice.
So it seems Comcast new policy is to increase fees without notification.
I did receive notification that the broadcast TV fee and Regional Sports fee would be increasing for the month of July but they did not tell me the DTA rentals would be increasing double to $3.99 per month each.
Final straw think it's time to cut the cord when our contract is up.
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[X1-X2] Xfinity X1 now available to New Customers
I just heard a brand new radio commercial for the new Xfinity X1 cable box on local radio station 94.1 WIP Sports radio. But like others have said its currently only available for new residents and customers :( I am a long time Triple Play customer and I wonder if I called up and complained if I could get comcast to hook me up with a few X1 boxes? My guess not very likely :( But the good news is at least its here for new customers so maybe spring or summer 2013 it will be available for the rest of the Triple Play customers.
If anyone here in Philly gets it maybe you can give us a nice review with some photos and video :)
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[X1-X2] Free to me guide
You can now press guide twice and choose free to me and see only your subscribed channels.
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[Cable Card] CableCard will not pass validation with HDHomerun and no VCTIC
Hi,
I am currently on the 5th cable card I've tried and I am unable to get a single one to work. I have gone through the process of setting up the HDHomerun, but the cable card is unable to pass validiation. I am able to get a successful authentication and card oob lock, but card validation sits at none. I have contacted the cable card hotline 6 times now, been to the store 3 times, and I am truly at a loss. I am able to connect an analog antenna to the Homerun and scan my channels no problem, but the cable card doesn't want to work. When the cable card is inserted, the web page channel scan button is missing, so I have to attempt through the installed application. It instantly fails. If I remove the cable card and scan, I get 26 channels which I assume is my local channels. I've been able to get one channel to play, once. I did the troubleshooting on the SiliconDust website and found that my VCTIC is zero, along with the the VCT. I reached out to the cable card hotline to have the perform a "cold init", which didn't do anything, and the rep on the phone wasn't sure of what the command even did.
If someone could please provide some guidance, I am almost ready to rip my hair out. This is 3 straight days of me trying to get this to work.
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[X1-X2] Compatibility
We recently just got convinced by phone to upgrade to x1 FREE of charge (yes I also made her repeat under her recording our current bill would NEVER change) she also stated our 2 smaller boxes would still work. Keep in mind these boxes have zero features and limited channels. Now I'm still hesitant. Anyone know if I was fooled before I set this up or shall I just return it asap.
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[HD] SA 4250HDC - How do I get HD Channels and better Resolution?
Hi everyone, I'm using the SA 4250HDC with a cable card, and I've been wrecking my brain the past couple of days, it seems like I keep getting 480i, and the channels look so blurry and hard to see.
Its not autotuning to hd local channels either, and when I called comcast, they were clueless in assisting me.
I was wondering how do I auto tune to hd channels, and get better resolution? Thanks in advance!
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[Bill] Comcast wants to be my electric company now too
Comcast does what now?
* Television
* Internet
* Phone
* Home security / automation
what's next? well electricity of course... my bill that I got today has an add to sign up for Comcast electric service (not really comcast, but they played it off as them).. They will sell me Electric for 1 year "locked price" through a provider they choose and I *MAY* qualify for things like a $25 gift card *gasp* or free HBO and maybe even movie tickets! sign me up now! *lol* anyone else get an odd offer like this?
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HDTV 4k sampling
I have a Samsung UN65JS8500 HDTV and would like to view some 4k sampling from some sources to compare. I do not have a HD 4k Bluray player to use and evaluate what blue ray disks offer in 4k.
I have tried Youtube and viewed their supposed to be 4k oudoor animal documentaries but it does not look so good in my opinion.
Can I get 4k sampling from any other apps?
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[Other] Getting Cable Brought to Home
So it has been a few years. I have watched the cable line slowly and slowly get closer to my home. 10 years ago I received a quote from Comcast for $6,000 to bring cable to my house which just under a mile. At the time I thought that was high. I had 3Mb DSL which was OK for then. Times have changed. I still have slow DSL and cable is much faster. I received a quote now saying it would be $48,000. They sent me a statement of work saying they would have to bring a whole new line from the node instead of just picking up where the line left off increasing the price. - "ROUTE HAS BEEN PROPOSED BACK TO THE NODE DUE TO EXTENSIVE NEW CONSTRUCTION. FROM THE AERIAL NODE OVERLASH +/- 6,225', THEN BUILD +/- 3,300' OF NEW STRAND AND COAX TO THE TRANSFORMER POLE AND PLACE A TAP. FROM THE AERIAL TAP SERVE WITH A +/- 150'" They technically just have to attach the new coax on 12 more poles which would make it to my house.
With this being said - anyway I can get the price down? Anyone had any experience with this? This new connection could potentially serve 15 new households. Many of them have satellite, but would most likely use them for at least internet, if not both internet and TV. I could potentially survey everyone at every house and get them to check whether they would like TV, or Internet, or Both, and if they could donate to the cause, if so how much? Some of these people who live out here purchased land and built a nice home to get out of the city. They may be willing to chip in a few dollars to the cause.
I am in Fairview, Tennessee. Williamson County area. If there are any engineers that could work some magic that would be great! Thanks in advance!
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[Comcast Equip] XiD box software update required installation of a MoCA filter
I just had an interesting problem resolved by a couple of Comcast techs. I have an X1 DVR, 2 Pace set top boxes, and 2 XiD set top boxes. One day, the 2 XiD boxes started acting up at the same time, where any channel would show live for a bit (usually less than a minute), freeze for a bit, then pop up an error message (I think it was XRE-03044), then resume live for less than a minute and repeat the entire process.
After talking with a customer service rep who spoke barely passable english for about half an hour, I was transferred to someone in the states, and we repeated the entire process where they attempted to remotely diagnose and reset my equipment for another 45 minutes. They then transferred me to a level 2 technician, and somehow I was disconnected almost immediately. Fortunately, they called me back and after spending another half an hour with the problem, they decided that I needed a service call (which I had asked for from the beginning)
Two trucks showed up a day later, and I showed them both the working and non-working boxes. They pulled up the diagnostic screen on one of the XiD boxes, went to the MoCA diagnostic screen, looked at the MoCA Mesh Transmission Rates, and asked to see my splitter.
One of the techs installed a MoCA filter at my splitter on the incoming cable, and everything just started working. When I asked why they just suddenly stopped working after being fine for so long, he speculated that a recent software update might have caused the issue. Anyone else seen a similar problem?
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[Content] EAS changed to Spanish
Within the last 3 - 5 weeks, my Emergency Alert System notifications have changed from English to Spanish for both the verbal bit and also for the TV screen display.
Is this a Comcast issue, and if so -- whom would I contact ? Could it be account-related ? I did call Comcast about a TV issue and wonder if the CSR dabbled with something she shouldn't have.
Thanks very much !
MODS: I did search "eas" and "eas spanish" but didn't find a similar thread.
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[Cable Card] Upgrades to Digital Economy w/o hardware?
We have had virtually zero interest in Cable TV services for quite a number of years and have been happily getting by without it. 8 months ago it was time to renew of Internet-only package and Comcast offered us a strange deal that would essentially get us TV (plus HBO) for about the same price we paid for BLAST Internet. Plus we could do all this with a cable card that I could use on our TiVo Roamio OTA 1G that I bought just for my antenna service. It would also give us HD with an HD fee. It initially seemed a bit crazy and too good to be true so I decided to give it a shot. I didn't seem to have anything to lose.
So, here we are, several months later and I have:
Digital Economy 100+ Channels
Performance Internet Performance Internet
HBO
Streampix
Blast!
Broadcast TV Fee
That's it all for $85.56 with all taxes and fees. (It's listed as having a box, but I don't. I was able to send it back immediately, though they insisted on sending it at first). I also have NO interest in phone so I do double plays.
I do miss a couple channels that are not on this package and I also wouldn't mind getting Comcast SportsNet Philly.
I currently have a Roku as well and pay for the NHL package on it each year to simply watch the Flyers (I'm just outside their blackout zone).
Sadly, on the day they offered this deal we weren't really sold on it being a real deal and they offered a higher deal for another $11 that would have included the next jump up in channels including Comcast SportsNet Philly. I didn't take it, thought about it, called back the next day and the deal was gone.
Now it seems that my only option is to just up to a STARTING cost of about $129 a month (PLUS fees) for that same package and it seems it may even require other things like a box (which I am never going to accept) and possibly more restrictions.
Does Comcast ever offer a chance to upgrade to the next step up for cable card users and is it ever discounted? I figured I'd wait a couple months and the deal would resurface. It never has and I'm starting to think that that specific deal was never real and that if I had taken it, I'd have had a big surprise waiting for me at the end of the first month.
The only qualms I have with the service:
1. Until I called and complained I was getting literally daily calls from third-party partners trying to up-sell me into more service I didn't want.
2. I still miss my FiOS symmetrical upload/download speeds, but moved out of FiOS territory.
3. The On Demand via TiVo isn't quite as intuitive as it is on their box, but I rarely use it anyway.
4. I don't trust Comcast at all and just keep holding my breath for when I'm going to experience overbilling or similar CS issues.
Thanks.
Edit: On this site there's an August Deals thread that shows:
$79.99/mo for Starter XF Triple Play
75 mbps ↓ and 5.0 mbps ↑
Digital Starter TV
Home Phone XFINITY® Voice - Unlimited
2-year promo rate.
Contract Term: 2 years
Some areas have a 1TB data cap.
Setup: Free professional installation. $29.95 voice activation fee may apply.
Modem w/ WiFi: $10/mo
I wonder if I might be able to get that, pay $13 a month for Blast and that would essentially mean paying just $10 more a month to get the channels I'm interested it (I think it includes Comcast SportsNet).
I don't need the phone, but I can just ignore that so I wonder if I could get this via cable card only and not have to pay the extras. If so, that would do it.
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xfinity set top box control
can I use a 3rd party universal remote instead of the Comcast remote (eg: RCA, GE, Philips, Logitech, etc?)
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[Price] Best way to re-negotiate special deal?
Hi all,
Last year around mid-October I finally called Comcast and threatened to cut the TV cord and go Internet-only. From the voicemail menu I picked "reduce or cancel services" which I suspect auto-routes you to customer retention specialists. I ended up not cutting the cord, but agreeing to a one-year deal for 50 bucks less than I would have been paying for what I had, plus I got HBO thrown into the deal as well.
I wouldn't mind just extending what I've got for another year, but if I start with that as my opening bid, I suspect they'll try to upsell me (and I don't need more than I have). So my instinct is to just say I want to cut off TV again. Any experiences/advice would be welcome.
Thanks in advance.
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[Content] Google does deal with Comcast: Youtube coming to X1 STB
Looks like the X1 STB system is picking up another streaming service: Youtube. That adds to Netflix, Pandora, Facebook, etc.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/comcast-nation/Blurring-line-between-internet-and-TV-Comcast-will-put-YouTube-on-Xfinity.html
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EAS frequency
Up till Jan of this year I was using the older DVR/HD service. I then updated to all new X1 equipment. Prior to X1 it was not unusual for me to see an EAS test "AT LEAST" twice per week. It was happening often enough it was interfering with some recordings I was doing which caused me to have to set multiple recordings of the same show per day just to ensure I got one that was not interrupted by an EAS test. Mostly early mornings.
Fast forward to current times and I've only seen ONE EAS test since early Feb. And it only happened within the last few weeks. It's always possible I'm just lucky and missing them but compared to what I used to see I'm wondering if Comcast/whomever has cut down on the EAS testing. I was actually going to post on here that I hadn't seen one in 6 months but then the one occurred a few weeks ago. I record quite a bit of prime time broadcasts.
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[Comcast Equip] Rack Mount equipment for XFINITY TV
I am very interested in rack mount equipment for XFINITY TV. I currently have an MX011ANM with 2 x PX022ANM in a rack (all on shelves). I would LOVE to have them in rack mount versions. Any chance?
I saw a post back from 2016 but it was too old to reply to so am starting this new thread.
Look forward to any input and feedback!
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[HD] Limited Basic customers - Are u getting HD channels on HD-DTA ?
I've been having lots of fun trying to get this XiD-P DTA I recently received working with HD channels and wanted a sanity-check here. I was on the Internet Plus double play with SD-only limited basic, HBO, 2 devices - SD-box and CableCard, and internet, then dropped to just limited basic TV. Everything I've read about the HD locals with limited basic suggest they don't charge the HD tech fee for limited basic (we don't even get 1 dozen HD channels) but it has, traditionally, been a low-end DTA equipment limitation making me use SD on this secondary tv. This new XiD-P box is slick and has HDMI, but I feel like it's still gimped with an SD-only channel lineup.
I've got the DTA hooked up with the HDMI cable and see locals in SD, but the HD versions won't tune in on the DTA but they're just fine on my computer with a cablecard. I've gone through the online "missing channels" dialog that resets the DTA, had an online chat session as well as the 1800 number, and left posts on comcast's forums that have gone unanswered. The 1800 csr even went so far as to schedule a technician visit 1 month out after my cell phone disconnected.
As best I can tell, there must be some channel lineup code that enables HD that my DTA is missing (and maybe CableCard has a different lineup code?). This is semi-supported by how a full, pull the power plug, reboot of the DTA shows the HD channels like 104 in the channel guide until it starts getting authenticated/downloading program info and then it removes 104, etc from the guide. Typing in 104 directly just jumps to 118 and then gives a "not authorized for this channel" pop up.
It's already frustrating dealing with customer support, but when you come up without a solution and can't explicitly tell them what needs fixed... argh.
So, am I mistaken ? Should I be getting HD channels with Limited Basic on this DTA ? Does anyone have any insight on which CSRs can fix this channel issue and how to lead them into the right settings/channel codes ? I found a 2 year old reddit post describing a code bahdstbprim for HD on limited basic but I'm not certain that's right or who can enter that code.
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