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13 Messages
X1 TV Guide --- Horrible guide design, inefficient user interface - any help available?
Hello, just trying out X1 w/ XG1v4 DVR in place of Dish Network Hopper, so far I'm fairly confident I can't realistically switch to X1. Could anyone please share a few pointers on how to make using the X1 service less horrible? Remote shortcuts, UI Tips, Customizations, recommendations? Curious primarily about the following:
- The guide and basic remote commands are so laggy they're unusable. Like "Skip ahead" using page up literally requires waiting 3 seconds between button presses, making skipping commercials painful and frustrating. Have to guess Comcast didn't intend for the user interface to be this bad, right? It's almost like the UI isn't actually running on the TV Box, but a cloud-based service. If that's the case - why have a TV Box? Why am I paying 7.50 per month for functionality that could be done just as poorly through an App installed on my TV?
- Not only is the guide horribly slow, it also contains shockingly little information. Only 5 channels are displayed on the guide screen at a time. (NOTE: that's not a lot). When scrolling up/down with page up/page down through this whopping 5-channels-per-page, 3 of the 5 channel rows are BLANK (!) and don't re-populate until after 1-2 seconds of lag each time the button is pressed. It's so slow it would likely take 30 minutes to scroll through all the channels - who the hell has time in 2022 to deal with something so poorly designed?
- The channel layout / organization doesn't make sense. Can you someone please help explain why there are multiple groups of the same channels in multiple places? Is there a simple way to organize the channels I care about vs. 98% that I don't want to see? (Like "Free to Me" guide, but HD only + Free to Me + Other Filters)
This probably sounds like a rant, but it's just shocking to see how bad this is still in 2022. Coming directly to X1 from a Hopper makes it even more obvious and noticeable that whoever designed this interface really shouldn't be in the job they're in.
Andyr1
Gold Problem Solver
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8K Messages
3 years ago
It sounds like you may have the XG2v2 cable box. It's the one with the blue-green light bar on the front right. If so, it's grossly underpowered. I have the XG1v4 (very hard to get these days), and the speed is generally very good.
The multiple channels are a legacy of long-time service in many areas. The 1000+ numbers are a national lineup, and other than local channels (1000-1199), they are the same everywhere. They will also automatically be the highest resolution.
A channel may have at least 3 numbers. A sub-100 number for SD, another for HD, and a 1000+ for the national lineup. For example, here in Chicago, 2 is WBBM in SD, 189 is WBBM is HD, and 1002 is a copy of the HD version.
In some cases, the 1000+ channels are IPTV channels and may be the only way to get HD. Smithsonian is one example where 1477 is the only HD feed.
Lastly, all X1 boxes are more like thin client terminals. They rely heavily on servers for most all data and have a built-in DOCSIS modem and use the Comcast Internet infrastructure to access them through a private network. If you have a poor signal connection, it may cause problems.
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Andyr1
Gold Problem Solver
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8K Messages
3 years ago
Forgot to add to make a custom list, just set the channels you want as Favorites. You can then set the guide to always default to Favorites mode.
I do agree that there is alot of wasted space in the guide. The old legacy guide had an option for 2-line or 1-line titles, although going 1-line only gained one extra channel. The current guide could easily go 2-line with the current 5 channel list, and maybe 6 or 7 with a true 1-line.
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user_888b4
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13 Messages
3 years ago
Thanks for the detailed response on the channel lineup. I do have the XG1v4 like you, guess I'm just used to a way, way, more useful/efficient/responsive TV interface with my Dish Hopper. When signing up for X1, I specifically asked the agent for an XG1v4, and after the agent confirmed yep, that's what we're sending, a week later I received an Xi6. Then they sent a 2nd one, guaranteed this time to be an actual XG1v4 ... - NOPE, they shipped out another Xi6. Meanwhile they immediately started billing me for each wrong device they were sending. I only ended up getting the XG1v4 by driving to the store and waiting in line, even though the phone agents claimed the stores don't have them.....
Understanding now how completely incompetent Xfinity / Comcast is, along with the multiple issues with the hardware and X1 TV service itself, for now I'll be sending this junk back and continuing with Dish Network.
Since you seem to be almost the only one responding here, I'm guessing Xfinity doesn't even monitor these boards to know how badly they look to prospective customers.
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