Comcast XFINITY TV → [X1] Xfinity X1 now available to New Customers

Okay, I think I finally got one of my X1 issues fixed. Made the call and got a tech to come out to my house. Couple issues with the initial install apparently. He said signal strength was way too strong coming into the house. He also had to add a powered amplifier inside my house for the X1 units. Going off what him and I were casually talking about...it sounds like those amps are the key to making things work smoothly. He said they were in very short supply. Once he added that and rebooted the system, my Anyroom DVR functionality worked perfectly.

Now on to the next issue, Caller ID not appearing on my tv (minor issue I know but I'm paying for it so I should expect it to work right?). I'll also be placing a call in the next few days to get my modem set to bridge mode.

It looks like Comcast has updated/added a bunch of X1 info/support pages on their Xfinity TV Support site.

Here's new one that I just came across that provides a comparision between the X1 DVR (hub) and non-DVR (companion) boxes:

X1: Equipment Comparison
Updated on August 21, 2014 at 2:11 PM
»customer.comcast.com/hel ··· nion-box

[Note that the upcoming Xi3 box is not included in it (yet). However, you can always refer to this chart from the Comcast Cable TV FAQs area for now: »i.dslr.net/syms/2e96296e ··· f335.jpg ]

So does anybody have the Samsung RNG150N that is listed on this page »customer.comcast.com/hel ··· nion-box

September update notes from the Comcast forum:

In the coming weeks XRE 1.45 will be released to all X1 customers. Release notes are below:

Common Sense Media and Parental Guidance displays updated
New Episode Guide display for episodes available for purchase
Recent TV Shows row added to On Demand menu
Favorite button added to sports entity pages
Movies can now be sorted by Rotten Tomatoes rating
Channel number now displayed under record options
Sports genres now searchable
For You menu expanded to include Recent Apps and Recent Purchases rows
New alternate Mini-Guide view
Improved Sports Team pages
Comcast Labs beta features available to preview:
Faster Menu Navigation
Restart Notifications

»forums.comcast.com/t5/X1 ··· 3#M31392

And before that post in that Comcast Support forum, "ComcastChad" had posted this (first) one:

From: »forums.comcast.com/t5/X1 ··· 1#M31299

quote:

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A new version of the XFINITY TV app and website has been released to customers this morning (9/8). This release now allows X1 DVR with cloud technology customers to stream and download COMPLETED recordings outside the home connected to any Wifi or 3G/4G/LTE connections. Please see release notes below:

• Expanded functionality and content availability out-of-home (over non-comcast wi-fi or cellular networks) including:
• Device provisioning
• Streaming of completed recordings
• Downloading of completed recordings (mobile only)
• Setting/canceling of recordings
• Browsing guide and OnDemand libraries
• and more!

• Rotten tomatoes ratings
• Player support for iOS 8 (iOS only)

Note: Live TV and On Demand Streaming still requires connection to your in-home XFINITY Network. You can now browse the Guide and On Demand listings outside your home.

---

And then:

quote:

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Chad,

My guess is that multiple DVR support will be in a later release, from what you say here?

 
By the end of this month, Whole Home DVR scheduling will be deployed to customers with more than 2 X1 DVRs in the home.

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Noticed a mention about a "Samsung six-tuner DOCSIS 3.0 set-top box" in this MCN article: »www.multichannel.com/new ··· o/383698

I wonder if this could be a Samsung version of the XG1 that goes along with the Samsung RNG150N X1 companion box?

"ComcastSarah" published this less abbreviated, more descriptive version today:

From: »forums.comcast.com/t5/X1 ··· /2306169

quote:

---

The following updates are new customer facing features and improvements coming to the product in September – this does not include any of the development work to improve stability and other RDK issues.

Movie and TV Series screen updates:
-A Common Sense Media score has been added to Movie and TV Series screens so parents can more accurately determine if a program is age appropriate for a child. Select 'Parental Guide' from the action bar of a Movie or TV Series to find more details about the program’s rating.
-“More from this network” row added below Cast & Crew, includes more programs from the same network, providing a new way to discover content from your favorite providers.

DVR Improvements:
-Channel number is now included with “This Channel Only” recording option to better communicate the channel the program will record on.

Saved Improvements:
-Expanded ‘For You’ section includes a Recent Apps row, as well as a Recent Purchases row.
-New ability to add Music Videos and Fitness videos to your Favorites.

Browse Improvements:
-Recent Rows have been added at the top of TV, Kids, and Music Videos in On Demand, to help users keep up with the programs they are watching.
-Rotten Tomatoes sort: New sort options have been added to improve the browsing experience and help users find the top rated movies. Select the sort option while browsing content in On Demand, and select Critic Score (tomato icon) or Audience Score (popcorn icon) to sort in descending order by rating score, showing the highest rated movies first.

Guide View Improvements:
-Movie Guide View sort options now also include Rotten Tomatoes sort.
-Common Sense Media score added on programs within the Kids Guide View.

Search Improvement:
-Popular sport genres in search link to sports listings pages which makes it easier to find sports event programming. Search for “Football” to see an example.

Parental Controls Improvement:
-Fixed an issue with Parental Control locked channels: when flipping through channels, users can now channel up or down past Parental Control locked content.

Comcast Labs:
-Restart Notifications: Turn this feature On to see an onscreen notification when the program you tune to is available for Restart.
-Faster Menu Navigation: Turn this feature On to automatically select the Main Menu and Guide View options without an extra key press “OK”.

---

I have a printed rate sheet from the local Comcast office, here in Springfield MA they'll gladly upgrade your DVR and boxes to X1 for a $49.99 fee. It says X1 Platform upgrade fee $49.99.

Yeah, Comcast dropped that fee down from its original $100 price in most markets starting back in March: »Upgrading to Comcast's X1 May Incur $100 Fee for Some [13] comments

 
The latest update on the deployment of the X1 platform:

Comcast: 5 Million X1 Boxes Deployed
‘On Track’ To Have Most Video Subs On X1 Within 3 Years
By Jeff Baumgartner, Multichannel News - October 23, 2014
»www.multichannel.com/new ··· d/384990

EDIT: Karl has a DSLR news item up on this now: »Comcast Has Deployed 5 Million New X1 Set Tops [20] comments

Looks like there are two X1 Updates this month, one last week (1.46) and now yet another one this week (1.47):

1.46

From: »forums.comcast.com/t5/X1 ··· 7#M35486

quote:

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Below are the major changes with 1.46 (should be available to all customers by the end of next week):

• Settings Updates: The Settings menu is being updated to better reflect the use experience for the new guide for XFINITY on the X1 Entertainment Operating System

• Accessibility Menu Add: The Settings menu is being updated with an Accessibility sub-menu

• Movie Entity Page – HD Trailer Plays When Available

• Updated Sports App Notification

• Tip Notification: When a customer begins navigating forward or backwards through the On-Screen Guide, a notification appears informing them how to skip ahead or back a full day

• Sports Subtitle Added to Grid Guide Information: Additional information added to sports entities to provide more detail (e.g. MLB Baseball: Phillies vs. Pirates)

• Movie Guide View Enhancements:
Primetime Tonight Row: Displays all movies available after 8:00PM local time
Upcoming Row: Displays all movies airing each day for up to 14 days

• Comcast Labs Updates: Playlists and the RF Signal Indicator have been added to the Comcast Labs page

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Also, from: »forums.comcast.com/t5/X1 ··· 7#M35556

quote:

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Something I came across that wasn't on the list. If you go to watch a repeat (using World Series of Poker as an example) and it's past the start time, you have the option to restart, and the program is pulled automatically from On Demand.

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These additions appear to be the ones discussed in this MCN article today:

Comcast Rolls Out, Tests New X1 Features
Restart Notification, Custom Playlists, Improved Movie Guide On Offer
By Jeff Baumgartner, Multichannel News - October 24, 2014
»www.multichannel.com/new ··· s/385014

 
1.47

From: »forums.comcast.com/t5/X1 ··· 7#M37539

quote:

---

below are major enhancements with 1.47

• Updated Voice Control Display

• X1 DVR with Cloud Technology XFINITY TV app Promotion: After scheduling a new recording, X1 DVR with Cloud Technology customers will be reminded that they can download and view recordings using the XFINITY TV app.

• Next Episode Suggestion: Customers will be prompted to view the next episode of a series once playback is complete, or after pressing Exit when more than 85% of an XFINITY On Demand program is complete. If the next episode has not yet aired, they will be given the option to schedule a recording.
Note: This feature was previously located in the Comcast Labs beta menu, but can now be found under Settings > Preferences

• Offline Recordings: Removed from For You menu, Entity pages, Recording page, Recordings List and Last Nine

• Year Added to TV Series in Search

• Cast and Crew Improvements:
• Cast and crew information on Entity Pages now display actors’ role information
• Maximum personalities in row extended to 20

• Titles Added to Music Video Images

• Low Battery Notification

---

 
EDIT: Some of the new features are shown in this Comcast Voices blog item:

This Month on X1: New Features to Make Watching Videos Even Easier
By Peter Nush, Exec. Dir., Prod Mngmt, Comcast Voices blog - October 23, 2014
»corporate.comcast.com/co ··· update-1

Got the 1.47 "Updates". Things not to like:

- Favorites menu (hitting Guide button twice) suddenly doesn't work any longer
- Audio dropouts, both during On Demand & Live tv, have increased (via HDMI)
- New settings menu is a step backwards, now it takes additional clicks to get to each settings detail
- Nightly Audio mode reset issue of dropping back to Stereo still not fixed. Note that this doesn't happen when I'm still watching tv when the reset occurs around 3:00am, even if I say "OK" to have the reset happen at that point. So this is somehow related to some type of handshake problem via HDMI after the tv/receiver are restarted, but only if that Restart happens unattended & the other devices are powered off. I think I tested this one day by connecting audio via Coax/Optical instead of HDMI & didn't have this issue.

On the positive side they added the option for Mono Audio back to the menu (not that I care but some might).

 
Well, Darknessfall just pointed out to me that this page has been updated, as of yesterday, adding the "Pace Xi3" "Non-DVR HDMI Only" box now (as shown above):

X1: Equipment Comparison
Updated on October 24, 2014 at 1:05 PM
»customer.comcast.com/hel ··· nion-box

when is the live last 9 feature they displayed in june supposed to roll out?
Also my box keeps getting stuck on switching to hd and I have to reboot it how can I fix this?
Lastly when will cloud dvr be deployed in Pittsburgh area?

Found this info about the Xi3 roll-out in a thread on the Comcast Support forum:

From:
Xi3 Availability in Boston
»forums.comcast.com/t5/X1 ··· 5#M38186and

An article on the MCN site about this now:

Comcast Starts To Deploy All-IP Boxes For X1
‘Xi3’ HD Client Being Rolled Out in Select Markets
By Jeff Baumgartner, Multichannel News - October 28, 2014
»www.multichannel.com/new ··· 1/385122

interesting that the Xi3 rollout is starting. does anyone know where one can find the technical specs / teardowns of the various Xi3 boxes? interested to learn what silicon chips etc are inside the Pace, Arris, Humax, Technicolor etc Xi3 boxes

They keep most of that stuff confidential.
There's a few tidbits here and there from press releases and some high-level info on manufacturer's sites.

»www.lightreading.com/mee ··· d/698739

»rdkcentral.com/humax-ent ··· network/

»ir.entropic.com/phoenix. ··· ghlight=

»www.engadget.com/2012/11 ··· ble-box/

»www.technicolor.com/en/s ··· -clients

A new X1 platform feature announced today:

X1 Talks: Comcast Launches Industry’s First Voice Guided TV Interface
“Talking Guide” Reads Aloud Channel Names, Show Titles and DVR Commands; Allows For Independent Search and Discovery For People With Disabilities
Comcast Press Release, Business Wire - November 12, 2014
»www.businesswire.com/new ··· e-Guided

Also an article on the MCN site: »www.multichannel.com/new ··· 1/385494

I have an install scheduled for Thursday to upgrade to X1.

Is the X1 what the new STBs will run, or is the base guide what was once known as X2 now? If it's not the X2, should I just go ahead and upgrade that right away while the tech is here?

Also, should I still be trying to get the Arris DVR instead of Pace?

Thanks.

The new UI for X1 (which some called X2) was rolled out to everyone earlier this year. So that's what you'll get with the install, you won't have to upgrade it. Most updates happen on the server end and these happen automatically every few weeks. You can see what version you are running in the Settings > about page.

The latest firmware is 1.3.4 and tech support can push that to your box if it doesn't come preinstalled with it. Although it should update automatically on it's own.

I've only had an Arris box so I'll let someone else answer that question for you.

Ah, thanks, that is exactly what I was trying to find out. I know at one point you had to put in like **8 or something and it would bring up the beta X2 software, but couldn't find a post here saying that it had been rolled out to all devices as the base software.

The most important thing to have the tech check is that you have a good signal at each outlet you will have an X1 box attached to. Since X1 will work poorly with signal problems as it requires constant communication with the servers for even basic tv functions.

Anyone know when the X1 Cloud DVR functionality will be expanding to more areas? I see so many people on here that already have this useful feature, but nothing has been announced at all for the Little Rock, Arkansas area. Cloud DVR was one reason that I decided to switch back to Comcast, and I hoped that X1's faster update cycle would allow it to be released in my area fairly quickly. At the beginning of the year, Comcast said "This new platform release will be available to customers in early 2014." In October, they said "And we expect that most of our X1 customers will have access to these features by the end of year." It's so annoying that it hasn't arrived yet.

still nothing here in the Pittsburgh area either. Plus the live last 9 feature promised in june kinda fell to the burner somehow.

AFAIK, Cloud DVR hasn't been scheduled for any Comcast areas that they will "be rid of" after the merger. I haven't received that here in Indiana either, nor have we received upgraded HSI speeds (Blast is still 50 Mbps)

As far as X1 software features, my hope is that they've been working on improving the server-side code rather than what we see. It's clear that there have been a lot of stability issues on that end.

last I checked the Pittsburgh area won't be going to greatland unless they changed their minds plus I think the FCC isn't going to ok the merger or it will time out.

A Comcast Voices blog item today about some of the latest X1 platform features and enhancements:

New On X1: Improvements That Simplify The User Experience
Comcast Voices blog - January 14, 2015
»corporate.comcast.com/co ··· perience

EDIT: Also an article on the MCN site about this: »www.multichannel.com/new ··· s/386927

While I believe the Xi3 client box is still being rolled out in "select markets" »Re: [X1-X2] Xfinity X1 now available to New Customers (but maybe getting ready for general deployment soon?), here's some news I came across about the "Xi4":

Comcast’s next-generation Xi4 set-top box passes the FCC
By Janko Roettgers, GigaOM - January 21, 2015
»gigaom.com/2015/01/21/co ··· the-fcc/

quote:

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It looks like Comcast is getting ready to ship its next-generation set-top box to consumers: A filing for the company’s Xi4 set-top box just popped up in the FCC’s database »apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/r ··· IITV8100 . The filing, which has been approved by the FCC, is heavily redacted but it does give us some clues as to what the new box is all about.

The new set-top box is being made by Pegatron on behalf of Cisco, which is notable, because its Xi3 predecessor has been made by Pace. The device goes by a range of model numbers, including Cisco CX041AE1 as well as Cisco ATV8100, but it looks like Comcast will be calling the box Xi4v1-C. The box includes support for 2.4Ghz Wifi and Bluetooth, which is likely being used for the remote control. A photo of the FCC label shows a square device, much like what Comcast has been showing off for some time as its next-generation X1 set-top box. ...

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Nice find!