# Hope I made the right decission...leaving Dish Hopper for Xfinity X1



## SeanB2000 (Mar 8, 2015)

My install from Comcast isn't scheduled until Friday and I'm hoping I have made the right decision. I have been with Dish for a couple years, having 2 hoppers and 3 Joey's. While the Primetime Anytime feature was great, it was also a bother when it conflicted trying to record non network channel shows during the primetime hours. My wife also found it all difficult to use, having swapped from being long time DTV customers. Even after a couple years, she still doesn't like Dish; so the unhappy wife does play a part in this decision.

While the massive recording capacity of having 2 hoppers has been great, the X1 seems to make that irrelevant with the top 100 shows being available on demand. My rose colored glasses vision is that this will dramatically cut down on the need to record shows.

I have 6 tv's that I will be supplying with one X1 DVR and 5 X1 HD platforms. With the ability to watch so much on demand, I'm hoping this won't lead to too many dvr conflicts. Anyone have experience with that?

And of course, there was a financial incentive. In the mix, I am able to double my internet speed up to 105Mpbs, get HBO and Showtime free for two years, and will be spending about $50 less per month. By the time my contract ends, I'm sure the market will have changed again.

Am I about to go off a cliff, or am I making a good move?


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

I have not used a Hopper much , and I have used the X1.
X1 wasn't very impressive. It was slow and buggy. 
The Hopper with sling I thought was way better.
The X1 reminded me of Directv HR34 in performance.

But it's not always about just the equipment, 
Prices, programming ,customer service are also factors that are just as important .

I'm not sure about Comcast, but I have Blue ridge cable, and it's a small family owned company so their customer service is really good.

I've had 4 internet issues in in 6 years, and 3 of them were same day service. 
That is sweet.


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## ces1948 (Jan 10, 2008)

I don't know if you're jumping off a cliff or not but I'll be right there with you. My X1 install is April 2nd and I'm dropping Dish the same day.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Why don't you all just suspend dish for a month or so while you test drive X1?


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## hdAddict (Jan 10, 2006)

I did the same thing except with DTV at the end of January. I suspended DTV for a couple of months and last week finally canceled. Infinity X1 is pretty good, but still some software teething problems that I've experienced. I was a DTV believer for 19 years but with the increased cost of Infinity internet I was paying almost $300/mo for TV and internet. By going to Comcast I save $145/mo for the first year and $125/mo for the second year. After that, my projected savings will be around $85/mo. AT that time, I may just cut the cord once and for all. We'll see.


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## Old_School (Nov 29, 2011)

I did the same in Feb. We suspended directv and test drove X1 for about 2 months. It was a little buggy and hard to understand at first but they have come a long way over the last several months to make it decent. Hey you got to admit that voice controled remote is pretty cool.... We then canceled Directv at the end of March but, have now decided to re enlist in the minimum so we can benefit from the sunday ticket.


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## dconfer (Nov 18, 2005)

Old_School said:


> I did the same in Feb. We suspended directv and test drove X1 for about 2 months. It was a little buggy and hard to understand at first but they have come a long way over the last several months to make it decent. Hey you got to admit that voice controled remote is pretty cool.... We then canceled Directv at the end of March but, have now decided to re enlist in the minimum so we can benefit from the sunday ticket.


I am thinking of dropping directv myself for the cost. But does the X1 DVR start early and stop late if it can like directv dvr? I am trying to find this info and can't seem to find any info on it.


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## DanB33 (Nov 17, 2003)

I recently moved from DISH to Comcast X1. Yes, the X1 will extend the recordings, before and after. But you have to set the time extensions when you program the each recording. You can set it for one recording or all recordings of the series.
Also, to record a block of time, Go the the Guide of the channel you want to record and LEFT Arrow to the Channel name. You can then set a timed recording. But you can only record once, not repeating times.
You can also set to record Only One Episode or All Episodes. You can limit the Recording to a specific channel or all channels. I find that All episods recorded all the episodes leading up the the new one.
I also found the Comcast X1 Forum very helpfull in finding the differences between DISH and the X1.
James Daniel Bishop


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## Chuck W (Mar 26, 2002)

dconfer said:


> I am thinking of dropping directv myself for the cost. But does the X1 DVR start early and stop late if it can like directv dvr? I am trying to find this info and can't seem to find any info on it.


Another option is a Tivo Roamio. I just switched from Directv to Charter(huge cost savings) and pretty much hated their dvr and missed my Genie. So I picked up a Roamio Plus and a Tivo mini for another TV and it has been great. It has 6 tuners and the mini piggybacks on one of those tuners. It feels like the Genie but OMG is it faster. I had been with Directv for 16 years and never realized how slow their DVRs had become till I started using the Roamio. It's so nice to have a responsive DVR again.

To answer your question, the Roamio does allow you to set a default start/stop time just as the Directv DVRs do. So just tossing out another idea if you want something more similar to what you were using.


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## rjhseven (Jun 7, 2012)

I thinking of doing same due to Genie going bad and I will lose all my unwatched recordings. Cost aside, would you switch to Xfinity1 from Directv? I don't mind paying for quality product. Just remember Comcast boxes used to be absolutely the worst DVRs I've seen. Haven't used Xfinity.


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## SeaBeagle (May 7, 2006)

Not thing that I did not like when I had Comcast for TV is there is not any skip forward button on the remote control. Not a biggie I guess but for me it is.


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## SeaBeagle (May 7, 2006)

One thing about the X1 receiver one has to have Comcast three services. TV, Internet and phone.


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## twizt3dkitty (Aug 29, 2009)

This is not the case now.. I have an x1 hd box and internet, cheapest way for me to get Internet is to have digital economy cable with it.

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## Skytrooper (Jan 27, 2016)

Had Dish for quite a few years. I really liked my 2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys. But it has gotten down to economics. I'm paying $70 a month just for 25 meg Comcast Internet. By going with their Double Play, my internet speed tripled, I get 260 channels for around $60 less per month than having two separate providers.


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## quagmire0 (Dec 15, 2006)

I'm making the switch this week. How as the X1 dvr service been for you guys lately? Any tips for when I get it up and running? Going from DirecTV. Honestly, the issue is mostly the AT&T internet. Service has been bad and their hardware is maybe even worse. Comcast is the only other player in town and it's more cost-effective to get their TV service with the internet vs. continuing with DirecTV. This will give me the trifecta of Dish/DirecTV/Comcast.


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## quagmire0 (Dec 15, 2006)

Got the Xfinity X1 and 75mb Blast service on Friday. Here are my notes thus far:

The Good:

- Installer did a great job. Managed to get me all set up, despite the fact that I sort of had two separate coax 'networks' going on due to what the DirectTV guy did previously. He was able to find the original cable going to the attic, which serviced the rest of the house and connect that to everything else. 
- I got the Motorola version of the X1, not sure how that might impact my review, but probably good to note.
- The menu moves a LOT faster than my Genie (I had the v1 of the Genie, for reference).
- Picture, to me, is a lot better. Which is saying something. I remember going from Dish to DirecTV and noticing a change in picture, this is even better IMO.
- The voice feature on the remote is awesome. You can use it to jump to channels, find a show, find a movie, get info on an actor, etc. etc. Easily the best feature.
- The other boxes have the same remote, with voice capability, which is nice.
- Kids Zone feature allows a kid-safe menu and shuffling/continuous play of shows for temporary babysitting. 

The Bad:

- There's no way to lock out purchases. You *can* put a pin lock on On-Demand, but that makes it annoying when you just want to use the 'shuffle' feature in Kids Zone. It requires you to enter the pin every time a new show wants to start. 
- System already locked/rebooted on us once during an On Demand show. Hopefully it's an exception and doesn't repeat itself often.
- Remote is limited in that it can control the TV volume/power OR a receiver volume/power. So, if you program it for the receiver, it won't power on/off the TV when you press power off. Unless I'm doing something wrong there. Would be nice if you could set it to control both.
- Bought a new modem that was listed on Comcast's site as 'approved'. However, installer proceeded to tell me that the modem is marked 'end of life' and would likely stop working soon. So I need to go buy a new modem and return this one. A small hassle. Wish they would either remove these end of life models from their site or note that they are slated to be discontinued. 

All in all though, so far so good. Internet is loads faster than AT&T and it's nice being able to buy my own hardware again.


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## mdavej (Jan 31, 2007)

You can get an older Comcast universal on ebay for $3 that can be programmed to do anything you want (except voice control). You can even program it from PC/Mac/Linux if you want:
http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=124304#124304

I'd take that modem thing with a grain of salt. If you have a DOCSIS 3.0, that's not going anywhere anytime soon. It will probably work indefinitely. Pre-3.0 will also work but will max out at 30 Mbps.


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## quagmire0 (Dec 15, 2006)

mdavej said:


> You can get an older Comcast universal on ebay for $3 that can be programmed to do anything you want (except voice control). You can even program it from PC/Mac/Linux if you want:
> http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=124304#124304
> 
> I'd take that modem thing with a grain of salt. If you have a DOCSIS 3.0, that's not going anywhere anytime soon. It will probably work indefinitely. Pre-3.0 will also work but will max out at 30 Mbps.


The voice feature is extremely useful though. I just turn everything on with the Harmony and then use the Comcast remote to control the TV.

Re: the modem, I did find out on the Comcast reddit that the 'end of life' for that model only applied to the leased version of the modem. So, the tech saw it on his end but didn't realize it didn't apply to purchased modems. So I should be safe.


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## bigbw (Jun 25, 2003)

I installed an X1 and companion last week. I have been with DTV for years, but they just got too $$$.. I am saving about $60 a month bundling internet and TV.. I heard lots of bad things about the X1, but they have made improvements.. You can now set the guide to default to your favorite channels and I only had to set up favorites once on the main unit, and they showed up on the companion. Re picture quality, to me it is just as good.. I understand the DVR may not be as good, but that is not a big issue to me.. We don't use it that much anyway. My DTV service is suspended but unless something bad happens, I will cancel soon and stay with the X1..


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