Here's the bottom line first - For $1.99 a month, what do you expect?
Pros
Box is very small
Comes with RF remote that also operates TV (box can be hidden out of sight and still be controlled by remote)
HD image quality is indistinguishable from other Comcast HD boxes
It's cheap
Cons
No guide, program info, clock, or most other standard menu options
No On Demand (this was expected, no big deal)
No premium channels, Sports & Entertainment Package, most non-premium movie channels (Sundance, Encore, MGM, etc.)
Also, missing some Digital Preferred tier channels
This evaluation was done in Comcast service areas in Canton, Northville, and Plymouth, MI.
Once the box is activated you're instructed to hit the Xfinity button on the remote, which brings up the 'Setup' menu of 5 items:
- Audio Language lets you select the available languages from the channel you're viewing
- Locks Setup lets you select a PIN, and select individual channels to lock or unlock
- Closed Captioning lets you select the standard CC options; analog, digital, and font size
- HDMI Setup lets you select Aspect Ratio and Output Resolution
- Remote Control lets you pair the remote with the box, set the remote to ignore pairing requests, turn off IR, and gives battery level as a percentage.
Interestingly enough, while in Setup mode there is a PIP of the current channel in the upper left corner and sound is on all the time, which allows not missing a moment of the program you were watching while making changes.
When changing channels, a small light blue box appears on the right side of the screen with the channel number (1, 2, 3, or 4 digits) in white, and below the number the channel name in black. There are 7 digits available for the channel name, the rest get chopped off. For example in the Detroit TV market the CBS station call letters are WWJ so the channel name reads "WWJ CBS", all the other local stations have 4 call letters so for example the ABC station reads "WXYZ AB", the NBC station "WDIV NB", etc. Takes a little getting used to.
When using the remote keypad you must select a channel number that you receive or the box remains on the channel you were previously watching. It does not figure out the general channel number range you want and tune to the next closest channel.
Remote Info, model XR2 version 1 - http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/cable-tv/xr2-xfinity-tv-remote/
The remote is the same as is being used on the X1 platform.
Setup menu pics, although slightly different because the pics are from a standard DTV, not the HD DTA - http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/cable-tv/dta-on-screen-guide
(PLEASE NOTE - The Remote Help, SmartBar, TV Listings Guide Grid View, and Program Information are not available on the HD DTA version being used in my area. As noted in other topics here at DSL Reports, Comcast is testing these features in limited service areas at this time.)
Channel changing time is about the same a standard HD box.
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