Xfinity Stream....get rid of rental equipment

[billethkid]

I am continually in the process of reducing our television/internet monthly billing.

I learned a couple of things today from Xfinity/Comcast.

If I choose Xfinity auto pay it is a $10 per month credit.

By switching to Xfinity Streaming I can eliminate all set top box rentals....we have three @ $8.50 per month....$25.50 savings per month.

So now I am trying to educate myself how user friendly Xfinity Streaming is and does it allow all record and watch features (as with set top box/DVR).

With the above two actions I could reduce my Comcast monthly bill by $35.50.

I have found so far that Xfinity Stream is not compatible with Vizio smart television sets....but can be accessed via Apple TV.

I have downloaded the Xfinity stream app to my iphone and ipad....all functions and channels seem to be available to stream with no problem.

Other questions I have are related to ability to record as with set top box/dvr?

Anybody using Xfinity Stream please share your thoughts.

[retiredguy123]

I think you would need to subscribe to the Xfinity DVR service to record programs to the cloud using the Xfinity Stream app. If you don't have a set top box, everything you record will be stored on the cloud.

"Is X1 Cloud DVR available to existing X1 customers with DVR service?
Yes, X1 Cloud DVR is available to all customers with X1 DVR service and is automatically included in your service for no extra charge. Once you’ve acknowledged the terms of service, you can begin using the functionality."

I have 2 smart TVs, but I added a Roku stick to each of them because Roku is so much more functional than the smart TV functions. You can buy a Roku Stick from Amazon for less than $50, and it will include the Xfinity Stream app as well as many other apps. And, you can add as many additional apps as you want. There is no charge to use the Roku functions and it offers a lot of free content. I highly recommend the Roku investment.

[Michael G.]

FYI.........
If you use any apps from a smart TV, I was told by Xfinity they will remove any of their apps from your plan
if you're already receiving them from any smart TV with a reduction in price.

[billethkid]

///

[Carla B]

We've been using Comcast for internet and Roku for streaming since early 2015. I don't understand the need for Xfinity streaming, period.

[Arctic Fox]

I am trying to educate myself how user friendly Xfinity Streaming

We have found it to be the least user-friendly device possible - have retried it several times and always give up in frustration

[Caymus]

I am continually in the process of reducing our television/internet monthly billing.

I learned a couple of things today from Xfinity/Comcast.

If I choose Xfinity auto pay it is a $10 per month credit.

By switching to Xfinity Streaming I can eliminate all set top box rentals....we have three @ $8.50 per month....$25.50 savings per month.

So now I am trying to educate myself how user friendly Xfinity Streaming is and does it allow all record and watch features (as with set top box/DVR).

With the above two actions I could reduce my Comcast monthly bill by $35.50.

I have found so far that Xfinity Stream is not compatible with Vizio smart television sets....but can be accessed via Apple TV.

I have downloaded the Xfinity stream app to my iphone and ipad....all functions and channels seem to be available to stream with no problem.

Other questions I have are related to ability to record as with set top box/dvr?

Anybody using Xfinity Stream please share your thoughts.

It is hard to imagine that Comcast is offering lower cost solutions. Their business model is to keep increasing service and rental fees.

[Arctic Fox]

It is hard to imagine that Comcast is offering lower cost solutions. Their business model is to keep increasing service and rental fees.

...and upsetting long-time customers by making us fight every year to get the same rates as new customers.

[mixsonci]

What is it with Vizio TVs, I have 3 and found out that I can no longer get HULU since they did some upgrades and now Vizio (at least mine) is not compatible. Yes my TVs are Smart TVs. Now, Vizio is not compatible with Xfinity Streaming?

[Bill14564]

What is it with Vizio TVs, I have 3 and found out that I can no longer get HULU since they did some upgrades and now Vizio (at least mine) is not compatible. Yes my TVs are Smart TVs. Now, Vizio is not compatible with Xfinity Streaming?

All streaming services require an app - HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Xfinity, DirectTV, etc. The apps need to be built to run on different equipment - Vizio Smart TVs, Samsung Smart TVs, Roku boxes, Firesticks, etc. If the equipment is too old or the app creator doesn't feel the market is there then they won't build an app for that particular equipment.

In many cases you will find that even if the Smart TV is able to run the app it is slow. The TV is optimized to provide a pretty picture but doesn't always do well with running a program/app to receive someone's streaming service. Rather than struggle with the TV you might want to look into a Roku box or Fire stick. These devices are designed to run the apps well and let the TV provide the picture - the best of both worlds.

I like the Fire stick but others prefer the Roku. Take a look at both and choose the one that's best for you.

[Altavia]

We have found it to be the least user-friendly device possible - have retried it several times and always give up in frustration

I agree, very frustrating to use, my 89 yo parents could never understand how to get to a show they wanted.

[bozosmom]

We have tried Xfinity Stream on our smart tvs with no luck when we remove set top boxes. We just gave up. Very frustrating. Works great on iphones and ipads.

[Worldseries27]

i am continually in the process of reducing our television/internet monthly billing.

I learned a couple of things today from xfinity/comcast.

If i choose xfinity auto pay it is a $10 per month credit.

By switching to xfinity streaming i can eliminate all set top box rentals....we have three @ $8.50 per month....$25.50 savings per month.

So now i am trying to educate myself how user friendly xfinity streaming is and does it allow all record and watch features (as with set top box/dvr).

With the above two actions i could reduce my comcast monthly bill by $35.50.

I have found so far that xfinity stream is not compatible with vizio smart television sets....but can be accessed via apple tv.

I have downloaded the xfinity stream app to my iphone and ipad....all functions and channels seem to be available to stream with no problem.

Other questions i have are related to ability to record as with set top box/dvr?

Anybody using xfinity stream please share your thoughts.
said goodbye to xfinity. Had only wifi with them and youtube tv. Bill at 1 year renewal eent from 60 to 109. Plus if you go over your data 2x they hit me with 100 penalty basically forcing me to get unlimited wifi. Good luck

[CosmicTrucker]

I've been using TiVo DVRs for a long time. Currently TiVo is running a special on their lifetime service for only $99. Buy the DVR and a TiVo lifetime plan and your set. Xfinity will supply you with one of their cable cards for free. If you have more than one TV you can add a TiVo mini which doesn't require a cable card or service agreement. The TiVo mini talks to your main TiVo box and will access any of the 6 tuners or prerecorded shows. The TiVo mini's can also use your wifi to communicate with the main box so this allows flexible in where the extra TVs are located.

TiVo.com

[westernrider75]

Just curious because we are new to streaming, do you get local news and through what app?

[dkintzer1]

I have been with Comcast/Xfinity on and off for many years. I recently changed from Xfinity for streaming and Wi-Fi to T-Mobile Wireless for Wi-Fi and cell service. I added You Tube TV to replace Xfinity streaming. I was with Verizon wireless since they were Bell Atlantic Mobil. That's a whole lot of years. I had the best plans available from Xfinity and Verizon. I now have the best plans available from T-Mobile for cell and Wi-Fi. The bottom line is I have saved $83 per month and have better service by far than with Xfinity or Verizon. BTW, the plans and rates from T-Mobile are not teaser rates; they won't jump up in 6 months or a year. I think it's worth looking at for anyone who is with Xfinity and Verizon. There are other perks to switching to T-Mobile too. Netflix included for as long as you stay with them, and they pay off any phone you currently have a balance due up to $800 per phone and there isn't any contract time to remain a T-Mobile customer. FYI, I get no commission for this information. It just seemed to me to be a no brainer that I wanted to share it with everyone. Do your own research and happy savings.

[jaygardens]

when i try to list ALL channels - it starts with channel 24 and skips 2-23....

anyone else have this problem?

[Buckeyephan]

Spent time on the phone with Xfinity yesterday. Got a new Samsung smart tv to replace our old broken one. Tried watching GOT again but when going through our remote to access HBOMax, the program constantly went to buffering and we couldn't watch. Was told that since June, in order to get the service, I now have to use my Firestick. That gives a great picture, but I lost the convenience of using just one remote. New technology isn't always the most user friendly.

[Miekies]

You can record but it has very little space compared to the standard cable. If you like to record and save lots of programs, that won't work. We record maybe 4 shows and it fills up quickly. It will erase and replace once it's full. So if you like to keep lots of programs, it's not able to do that. But you do have on demand and most of those shows are available that way. You just have to watch commercials instead of fast forwarding. I have also noticed that a lot of shows don't have commercials on the on demand programming but if they do have them it's pretty quick. We've been happy with the service

[richs631]

I am continually in the process of reducing our television/internet monthly billing.

I learned a couple of things today from Xfinity/Comcast.

If I choose Xfinity auto pay it is a $10 per month credit.

By switching to Xfinity Streaming I can eliminate all set top box rentals....we have three @ $8.50 per month....$25.50 savings per month.

So now I am trying to educate myself how user friendly Xfinity Streaming is and does it allow all record and watch features (as with set top box/DVR).

With the above two actions I could reduce my Comcast monthly bill by $35.50.

I have found so far that Xfinity Stream is not compatible with Vizio smart television sets....but can be accessed via Apple TV.

I have downloaded the Xfinity stream app to my iphone and ipad....all functions and channels seem to be available to stream with no problem.

Other questions I have are related to ability to record as with set top box/dvr?

Anybody using Xfinity Stream please share your thoughts.

Don’t worry, cable companies are experts on making you pay some how some way

[TNLAKEPANDA]

Use either Roku or FireStick on all TV’s except the main TV. Not quite as convenient as having an Xfinity box but you are not paying $8.50 + tax per month. Also buy your own modem do not rent theirs at $18 + tax per month… in the course of one year you could have paid for a good modem.

[Rzepecki]

What is it with Vizio TVs, I have 3 and found out that I can no longer get HULU since they did some upgrades and now Vizio (at least mine) is not compatible. Yes my TVs are Smart TVs. Now, Vizio is not compatible with Xfinity Streaming?

Smart TVs aren’t smart; limited by brand’s software. Buy a Roku for each TV (lowest price is usually through Roku.com; purchase price is only cost; very reasonable) and download any app you want.

[retiredguy123]

Just curious because we are new to streaming, do you get local news and through what app?
Go to "suppose.tv" and select the local channels that you want (or any other channels). It will show you the least expensive streaming services that will have those channels.

[rsmurano]

All streaming services lack a good dvr setup. I just went thru looking at all he top streaming services and the dvr service is lacking. Most are all cloud services which require good upload bandwidth which none of us have in TV (take uploading 4 or 5 shows simultaneously and working on your computer uploading and downloading things), most only record 100-300 shows and only keep them for a short period of time. My wife has all the x files shows recorded which is over 100, and we have hundreds of other shows recorded on terabytes of hard disk.

[cherylncliff]

I am continually in the process of reducing our television/internet monthly billing.

I learned a couple of things today from Xfinity/Comcast.

If I choose Xfinity auto pay it is a $10 per month credit.

By switching to Xfinity Streaming I can eliminate all set top box rentals....we have three @ $8.50 per month....$25.50 savings per month.

So now I am trying to educate myself how user friendly Xfinity Streaming is and does it allow all record and watch features (as with set top box/DVR).

With the above two actions I could reduce my Comcast monthly bill by $35.50.

I have found so far that Xfinity Stream is not compatible with Vizio smart television sets....but can be accessed via Apple TV.

I have downloaded the Xfinity stream app to my iphone and ipad....all functions and channels seem to be available to stream with no problem.

Other questions I have are related to ability to record as with set top box/dvr?

Anybody using Xfinity Stream please share your thoughts.
You should look into youtube tv. You get the 3 major networks plus about 80 other stations, 2 simultaneous streams, dvr as much as you want..... $70/mo

[retiredguy123]

Smart TVs aren’t smart; limited by brand’s software. Buy a Roku for each TV (lowest price is usually through Roku.com; purchase price is only cost; very reasonable) and download any app you want.
I agree that a Roku stick is far better than using the smart TV functions. Generally, smart TVs are not worth buying, if you need to pay extra. A Roku stick does the same thing, but better.

But, I don't agree with purchasing the Roku stick from Roku.com. I purchased the Model 3820R from Amazon about a week ago for $40 with free overnight shipping. The current Amazon price is $47.40. The Roku.com price for the same model is $49.99, and if you want overnight shipping, they charge an extra $32. Also, you can buy the same item at Best Buy for $49.99 and they have it in the store.

[laboutj]

All streaming services lack a good dvr setup. I just went thru looking at all he top streaming services and the dvr service is lacking. Most are all cloud services which require good upload bandwidth which none of us have in TV (take uploading 4 or 5 shows simultaneously and working on your computer uploading and downloading things), most only record 100-300 shows and only keep them for a short period of time. My wife has all the x files shows recorded which is over 100, and we have hundreds of other shows recorded on terabytes of hard disk.

Not quite true, YoutubeTV has an unlimited DVR and does not use your bandwidth to make the recordings. Only downside is that the recordings are only good for 9 months. If it takes me 9 months to watch something, it wasn't worth recording in the first place.

[spinner1001]

Just curious because we are new to streaming, do you get local news and through what app?

A YouTube TV subscription gives you local TV channels and much more.

[rsmurano]

Not quite true, YoutubeTV has an unlimited DVR and does not use your bandwidth to make the recordings. Only downside is that the recordings are only good for 9 months. If it takes me 9 months to watch something, it wasn't worth recording in the first place.

Not true! YouTube records to the cloud which requires internet bandwidth. “YouTube TV's cloud DVR storage is unlimited and requires no extra fees.”

The only way you won’t use internet bandwidth for recordings is if you have a receiver with a built in hard disk, ALL other recordings using the upload internet bandwidth which is very slow in TV. I have xfinity 1.2G network speed internet hitch is only the download speed, upload speed is 20-30M.
We record 5-6 shows simultaneously and this chews up internet bandwidth.

[thebish]

I went from comcast to Youtube TV and now saving a bunch a month.....switched to century link for internet....got faster speed and $15 a month cheaper and was paying $250 a month for comcast now it's $65 a month for youtube tv.
and youtube tv has unlimited recording.

[laboutj]

Not true! YouTube records to the cloud which requires internet bandwidth. “YouTube TV's cloud DVR storage is unlimited and requires no extra fees.”

The only way you won’t use internet bandwidth for recordings is if you have a receiver with a built in hard disk, ALL other recordings using the upload internet bandwidth which is very slow in TV. I have xfinity 1.2G network speed internet hitch is only the download speed, upload speed is 20-30M.
We record 5-6 shows simultaneously and this chews up internet bandwidth.

Are you sure about that? It's recording in the cloud, why would the stream come through to your router and back out to YoutubeTV's servers if it's stored in the cloud? And with 1.2G network speed down (overkill unless you are running torrents or bitcoin mining) you could stream 30 programs concurrently and not notice anything.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

We've been using Comcast for internet and Roku for streaming since early 2015. I don't understand the need for Xfinity streaming, period.

We have two TV sets; one in the living room, one in the "man cave (the insulated laundry shed outside).

We have a ROKU stick on the living room TV, and the Xfinity flex device in the cave. Why? Because the flex device was free and hubby only wants to watch certain channels when he's in there, and we don't need a whole service for that.

We have YouTubeTV for streaming service on anything that doesn't already come with the devices, and I have Amazon Prime Video as a "premium" service.

I also watch TV on my computer sometimes, but usually I just watch movies and reruns and Prime video shows.

Everything works fine, but the Flex with Xfinity streaming is very limited. But it comes with our internet service, which we only pay $50/month for, so it's all good.

[Bill14564]

Are you sure about that? It's recording in the cloud, why would the stream come through to your router and back out to YoutubeTV's servers if it's stored in the cloud? And with 1.2G network speed down (overkill unless you are running torrents or bitcoin mining) you could stream 30 programs concurrently and not notice anything.

Correct, using the DVR capability to record a channel from YouTube TV or Hulu Live does not use any bandwidth at all. The data generated by YouTube or Hulu goes directly into storage without coming into your home at all.

You need bandwidth to watch the shows but that is true for all streaming whether it is Netflix, Hulu Live or YouTube DVR.

[DonnaNi4os]

I am continually in the process of reducing our television/internet monthly billing.

I learned a couple of things today from Xfinity/Comcast.

If I choose Xfinity auto pay it is a $10 per month credit.

By switching to Xfinity Streaming I can eliminate all set top box rentals....we have three @ $8.50 per month....$25.50 savings per month.

So now I am trying to educate myself how user friendly Xfinity Streaming is and does it allow all record and watch features (as with set top box/DVR).

With the above two actions I could reduce my Comcast monthly bill by $35.50.

I have found so far that Xfinity Stream is not compatible with Vizio smart television sets....but can be accessed via Apple TV.

I have downloaded the Xfinity stream app to my iphone and ipad....all functions and channels seem to be available to stream with no problem.

Other questions I have are related to ability to record as with set top box/dvr?

Anybody using Xfinity Stream please share your thoughts.

My bill recently jumped from about 140 to 170. That included internet/cable/phone bundle with very basic cable, 2 dvr cable boxes and 300 speed on the internet. My first attempt to reduce my cost went nowhere. I called back later and said “cancel” into the automated system. Quickly a woman answered my call and came up with a few suggestions, some that would work for me and others that wouldn’t. By giving up my landline, reducing my internet speed to 100, streaming XFinity and buying my own modem I would save some money. I settled on no landline, 100 speed and my bill went to a low $130 including limited dvr storage for both boxes. I was hesitant to reduce my internet speed but so far so good. They continue to provide Peacock as well as my modem.

If you do decide to stream XFinity you will likely need a Roku or Firestick. Streaming can be frustrating and speed is important if you are planning to stream, use gaming devices or if there are several people in the house. Remember when tv was free? Remember when everyone was concerned about the “Ma Bell” phone monopoly? Those days are gone…but they were the good old days. I wish you luck.

[DonnaNi4os]

While we are on the subject, does anyone use Hulu and can you get local news stations? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Bill14564]

While we are on the subject, does anyone use Hulu and can you get local news stations? Inquiring minds want to know.

Hulu Live has the local affiliates for the three major networks. What news stations are you interested in?

YouTube TV should have the same local channels and is worth comparing to Hulu Live

[T Streb]

Yes

[CoachKandSportsguy]

you may be saving money now, but just wait, the cost of internet service will continue to rise. its cheaper right now because you are already getting internet, and its up to you to have the correct equipment, versus being supplied with equipment. So the cost to deliver service just dropped for the cable company. . . and once everyone has internet and no boxes, the price will start to rise for upgrade equipment to keep up with the ever growing demand and people joining your neighborhood circuit