Going from Dish to Comcast

[AJF]

We will be moving next year to a development that doesn't allow sat dishes so I will be switching to Comcast. The house is being built so I can have it wired to accommodate whatever is needed for cable. We will have at most 6 TV's one of which is a home theater, with 3 of us living in the home.

I'm guessing the X! would give us the most features. How do you feed the remote TV's? What if I need to be able to record more than 4 channels at a time ?

 

[klang]

We will be moving next year to a development that doesn't allow sat dishes so I will be switching to Comcast. The house is being built so I can have it wired to accommodate whatever is needed for cable. We will have at most 6 TV's one of which is a home theater, with 3 of us living in the home.

I'm guessing the X! would give us the most features. How do you feed the remote TV's? What if I need to be able to record more than 4 channels at a time ?

First of all, there is no such thing as 'a development that doesn't allow sat dishes'. That is against federal law. Google OTARD.

Remote TV's are wired into a switch that the X1 is connected to. Have at least one coax run to each TV location from your wiring closet. You might want another coax run as well if you think you might want to use OTA.

A second X1 would be required to add tuners. I don't personally know how multiple X1's interact together.

Edit: Link to OTARD summary: https://www.fcc.gov/guides/installing-consumer-owned-antennas-and-satellite-dishes

 

[AJF]

Thanks. Does anyone have a link to an installation manual or wiring diagram?

 

[Bruce]

We will be moving next year to a development that doesn't allow sat dishes so I will be switching to Comcast. The house is being built so I can have it wired to accommodate whatever is needed for cable. We will have at most 6 TV's one of which is a home theater, with 3 of us living in the home.

I'm guessing the X! would give us the most features. How do you feed the remote TV's? What if I need to be able to record more than 4 channels at a time ?

First off, the X1 now has 6 tuners.

http://www.multichannel.com/news/next-tv/comcast-unlocks-6th-tuner-x1-dvrs/392098

And Comcast will give/rent you up to 3 X1, so that is 18 tuners plus any other boxes you want like the X1 extender box.

The plus with Comcast is if you don't need a DVR in every room, they have a low cost HDMI DTA box that gets every channel but no guide or DVR options, it is perfect for kids rooms since it is only $2.99 a month

Now I have the X1 and love it, it is fast, no problems at all, I have been a happy Comcast customer since I left DirecTV ( and Dish before DirecTV ) both in price and service, I only pay $106 a month for Starter package, HBO, MAX and Showtime with the Extreme 105 ( soon to be 150) broadband ( I do have a 2 year contract-18 months to go-but at that price I did not care since Extreme by itself is $109 a month), we don't have the phone service since we own our own modem but have Magic Jack which is only $45 a year and only have two boxes ( X1 and the DTA) since the kid's rooms have Rokus, Computers, Tablets and they never watched Cable anymore I returned those boxes and the kids never noticed.

Again I have been very happy with Comcast, they are a different company then what they were when I left them years ago when I went to Sat.

 

[klang]

First off, the X1 now has 6 tuners.

http://www.multichannel.com/news/next-tv/comcast-unlocks-6th-tuner-x1-dvrs/392098

Thanks, I hadn't heard about this. Mine still showing 5 tuners so I guess it's the old pace box. I hear fan noise when I record four at once so I wonder how this box would do with five or six recordings.

I've generally been happy with my X1 although recently, the last couple months, I've had a few seemingly random instances where timers quit working. Fortunately almost everything is available On Demand so it was a minor irritation.

 

[whiskers999]

Thanks, I hadn't heard about this. Mine still showing 5 tuners so I guess it's the old pace box. I hear fan noise when I record four at once so I wonder how this box would do with five or six recordings.

I've generally been happy with my X1 although recently, the last couple months, I've had a few seemingly random instances where timers quit working. Fortunately almost everything is available On Demand so it was a minor irritation.

 

[whiskers999]

HI,I have had X for about a year and have 4 set top boxes + DVR i can watch what is on dvr in another room the really bad problem i have is the internet is so much faster then a dish i think i may go thru with draw symptoms if i had to use a dish for the internet that is why i have been rooting around on the internet to get some idea as to what download and upload speeds really mean as i know of a person that is stuck to DSL setup that zings along at about 1mbps when it is working really good so i do not want to get stuck with something like that but so far i have not been able to get any decent answers from anyone just yet as to what would be the lowest speed that will download and upload file at reasonable time.

 

[AJF]

So if the X1 is sitting in my equipment closet, and I have RG6 run to each TV, is there also a box at each TV to convert the signal to HDMI, or does the cable just connect to the TV's antenna input as you would connect an OTA antenna? And then does each TV location or person have their own set of recordings? IOW, I can access my recordings on my TV and my kids can access their on their TV's? Are the remotes RF and do they charge you for each one??

 

[klang]

So if the X1 is sitting in my equipment closet, and I have RG6 run to each TV, is there also a box at each TV to convert the signal to HDMI, or does the cable just connect to the TV's antenna input as you would connect an OTA antenna? And then does each TV location or person have their own set of recordings? IOW, I can access my recordings on my TV and my kids can access their on their TV's? Are the remotes RF and do they charge you for each one??

Typically the X1 would be sitting at one TV. The other TV's wanting access to it's tuners and DVR function would need a client box at each location. I pay $9.95 for each additional client box. It shows on the bill as a Digital Converter. Bruce above talked about a different, cheaper box that does not have DVR capability. I have no experience with that.

With a single X1 everyone would see all the recordings. There is a section in the menus for parental settings but I've had no need to venture in there to see what you can do.

The X1 is either RF or IR. The client boxes are IR only.

 

[AJF]

Typically the X1 would be sitting at one TV. The other TV's wanting access to it's tuners and DVR function would need a client box at each location. I pay $9.95 for each additional client box. It shows on the bill as a Digital Converter. Bruce above talked about a different, cheaper box that does not have DVR capability. I have no experience with that.

With a single X1 everyone would see all the recordings. There is a section in the menus for parental settings but I've had no need to venture in there to see what you can do.

The X1 is either RF or IR. The client boxes are IR only.

Got it thanks. Yea I really need DVR capability on all the TV's.

 

[NAM]

We are new customers -6 months- to Comcast. Recently, we have been having the following problems with the Client Box: We have had to reboot an avg of 2 X Wk, limited access to On Demand, while trying to change channels to Network TV, we receive the msg; Please be patient, will be back in a few min. We have not contacted Comcast CS yet, but plan to after the Holiday! This msg is as much to give you a heads up, as it is to request any feedback from other affected customers!

 

[Bruce]

We are new customers -6 months- to Comcast. Recently, we have been having the following problems with the Client Box: We have had to reboot an avg of 2 X Wk, limited access to On Demand, while trying to change channels to Network TV, we receive the msg; Please be patient, will be back in a few min. We have not contacted Comcast CS yet, but plan to after the Holiday! This msg is as much to give you a heads up, as it is to request any feedback from other affected customers!

Did they put a amp in for you, they did for us when I had the client box and the X1 installed.

 

[NAM]

Did they put a amp in for you, they did for us when I had the client box and the X1 installed.

Thanks for the feedback Bruce. Not sure what an AMP is. How can I check to see if this took place?

 

[Bruce]

Thanks for the feedback Bruce. Not sure what an AMP is. How can I check to see if this took place?

AMP-Amplifier, to increase your signal strength.

Find your cable line coming into your house, it would be inside your home and close to a electrical outlet so they could plug it into, if you do not have one contract Comcast and tell them you need one as the installer was supposed to put one in in any home with more then one box.

 

[klang]

AMP-Amplifier, to increase your signal strength.

Find your cable line coming into your house, it would be inside your home and close to a electrical outlet so they could plug it into, if you do not have one contract Comcast and tell them you need one as the installer was supposed to put one in in any home with more then one box.

I've got the X1 plus two clients without an amp. Working fine so far. Might be location dependent.

 

[AJF]

Is the X1 with clients slow or laggy in response to remote commands ?

 

[nuttz565]

Make sure if you do get the client boxes that you get the Xi3's. These are the newer boxes that come with a SD card that give you DVR functionality and also up to a 30 minute live buffer. Also IR/RF remote

 

[klang]

Is the X1 with clients slow or laggy in response to remote commands ?

I've not noticed the X1 being slow. The clients are occasionally.

 

[AJF]

Thanks guys. And I'll make sure I get the Xi3 boxes too