Is it time to ditch Tivo for an xFinity DVR?

I switched from Spectrum with cable cards to Xfinity using their X1dvr(2) and have decided NOT to go back to Tivo. Both have their advantages and disadvantages My main grip with Tivo is many times you go to watch a recorded show and that spinning circle would pop up. Voice remote did not work good. Xfinity X1dvr does no have auto skip for ads. BUT I can live without it. Yes storage is small, BUT I realize I watch the program once and that's it. Voice remote runs circles around the Tivo voice remote. X1 platform seems more stable the Tivo platform. Cost wise for me is is a wash. I crunch the numbers and cost comes in a little lower with Xfinity. I had annual subscriptions on 2 Tivo's. App's work good and their is many to choose from on X1 platform. I only need to use my firestick or Roku for Disney plus because of the problems between Disney and Xfinity.

 

Don't do that to yourself man! Seriously, just keep the TiVo and shrink your Xfinity cable package while moving your premium channel content to better platforms like a 4K streaming stick from Fire TV or Roku. When you're done with TiVo there are far better alternatives than a cable company box, but for now I'd keep that Roamio as long as I can! That's what we're doing here.

 

Let me rephrase my question .. TiVo interface or ACCESS to Xfinity On Demand?

It sounds like there’s nothing that Xfinity can offer you then. Don’t bother switching.

As far as charging for old TV, that’s not just Comcast, that’s the industry. Amazon and Apple do that too. That’s only going to become worse with the next crop of services: CBS All Access, Peacock, Disney+, HBO Max, etc

For me, the on demand aspect is becoming more and more annoying. I see a movie I want to watch, but it started 30 minutes prior. So I can’t On Demand to watch from the beginning. ...or I “discover” a TV series, three episodes after it started. Yes, I can hop from the TiVo box to the Fire/Roku/AppleTV and see if a Comcast-authorized app is available, but that’s also hit or miss.



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X1 is not that bad and the UI is pretty much like TE4.
It is almost like Tivo decided to copy the X1 UI.
Since almost all X1 packages now include the box/DVR at no extra charge I can see why some would want to use it.

 

If a person has any TiVo w/PLS & Mini(s) it should NOT be that difficult to venture into a new Xfinity commitment that would include an XG1V4. I've a XG1V4 @ my main TV and a Mini, a Roamio 3TB (TE3) at another TV with Ethernet everywhere and I'm very happy. I had no difficulty accomplishing a 2 year commitment that was very competitive. A person needs to use Xfinity to their benefit. Very dependent upon maybe location if you're using anything other than Xfinity Mobile along with your Xfinity Internet & TV you're likely paying to much for total services.

There's things the XG1V4 does very well. Very, very well.

 

I've owned several TiVos, the first in 2002. The loss of Xfinity On-Demand is a real problem in the household. No longer does TiVo tell us if a program is available on XVOD. While I can grudgingly live with that, other family members cannot and I understand why.

One of TiVo's best selling points is (was) the search across platforms. Now, no XVOD, no Disney +, etc. I can see this issue getting worse as time goes by. TiVo has cheated death for years. I hope it can continue to do so but I'm not overly optimistic.

 

You don't lose XVOD if you get cheap Roku sticks.

 

The issue is that the XVOD shows don't show up when searching TiVo. I am using a Roku stick and it's an infinitely better than the old TiVo app.

 

Time to cut the cord! That's the way everything is going, and cable just doesn't make sense anymore. Most of the good content today is on streaming, and there is more of it than ever. Even without the cord, you'll still have too much to watch!

XFinity Mobile is OK for some people with relatively basic mobile needs, but it is basically an MVNO-level service, with no Extended or Roaming coverage in the US, and poorly priced international roaming. I believe it is also depri.

 

Depends on if you have a cap on usage.
I only stream Netflix and come close to going over the cap every month.
Everything else I watch/record is on cable TV.
I am not willing to pay an extra fifty dollars a month for unlimited usage.

 

I am not a cord-cutter, but I do watch quite a bit of streaming content--always in 4K when available. And I have yet to exceed the half-way point in my 1TB data cap, let alone take advantage of the two months per year that Comcast will waive the overage charges.

Of course, I would rather not have to think about a cap; but I can't say that it impacts me in any significant way.

YMMV if you have a large family or heavier than normal viewing habits.

 

Yeah, but search has been broken ever since Rovi took over. Some stuff works, a lot doesn't.

The Roku app experience more than makes up for missing this on Tivo.

 

I agree completely.

I just helped my sister and BIL to subscribe to Comcast for the first time in their lives (leaving Dish). They signed up for the X1 Premier Pro Triple Play w/HBO that includes Gigabit HSI and the XG1v4 DVR. I told them to ditch the Comcast STB on their second TV for a Roku Stick+ within the first 30 days. Until Comcast starts charging an ADO fee for the Roku app, there's little point in renting a device for the service.

 

I could not live without live buffers which the X1 does not have. I use them extensively with sports and regularly with other programming. And trick play on the X1 is clunky.

 

Maybe the cloud X1 models this is true but the 4K XG1v4 has a 500GB hard drive and does have a live buffer.

 

I'll pay the $10 to have a real remote that uses the system much better. Unless it's a TV that gets little use.

 

DVR does, but only 1 tuner does live TV.

 

This is true for a small minority of households. Most are either nowhere close to the cap or way over the cap anyway. The thing is, moving from cable to streaming only moves a relatively small amount of content from cable to streaming, as most content today is either on OTA or exclusively on streaming.

If they haven't plugged the X1 streaming loophole then that would be another reason to have TV I guess. I'm not sure if they got X1 streaming to count against the data cap, since we don't have Comcast caps here. You can also put a Roku or whatever on xfinitywifi if you rent their crappy router and it won't count against the cap, so that's another workaround. Not that the cap isn't idiotic and illegal, because it is.

From a price perspective, they have priced their TV in an illegal and anti-competitive manner that makes it cheaper to have their TV service than a streaming service and Unlimited data, although compared to DirecTV, it's still cheaper to get Unlimited Data and a streaming service. That being said, I'd just pay the $14/mo for the router and use xfinitywifi instead of paying $50/mo for Unlimited Data. Unfortunately the town I'm in right now is Cox, which is far worse and there is no way around their cap. The towns that are Comcast don't have a cap.

 

I have a pair of Bolts and three X1 boxes; an ARRIS XG1v3 DVR and a pair of Pace Xi3 STBs. In the den I have both a Bolt and the X1 DVR, in my bedroom a Bolt and then in my kitchen and office the X1 STBs. Note there are newer X1 boxes.

IMO the Bolt is still better at setting up/managing recordings as well as playing them back. However, with some Tivo patents having recently expired and Comcast adding their own commercial skip the gap is getting kind of small. The X1 commercial skip works by hitting fast forward (multiple time for a faster skip) when a commercial starts; one nice thing about their implementation is when the recording status bar appears, you see where and how long each of the commercials are. Like with Tivo, the commercial skip is only available with popular shows. The Tivo patents expiring now allows for remote scheduling and deleting of recordings. You can also watch any of your recordings in or out of the home via their Stream app, or if you like you can download them. If your into using Quickmode, you're out of luck with X1.

If you have any specific questions, just ask and I'll try to answer them.

-Bruce

 

It's good to see that you're in a circumstance that even you consider 'far worse' that the Comcast/Xfinity you 'slam' on a quite regular basis!! It matters not where you post - get over it. There no one specific plan you can present us that is 'BEST OF ALL'. I'm very happy with my current Xfinity subscriptions and BTW the PQ/VQ on a premium 64" plasma (and I had L3TV streaming with HDD storage) is comparable.