Comcast Enthusiast (Or XFINITY as they are now calling it)

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Comcast Universal Caller ID

In various places over the past few years I have seen Comcast advertisements about the ability to see incoming calls on your TV. A couple months ago I got an email from Comcast about a new feature coming soon called Universal Caller ID. This product allows you to see incoming calls on your TV or your PC. At the time the product was not available in all areas and apparently my area was one of the areas that it was not available in, as it was not working.

To enable the cable TV caller id you need to go into the interactive menu. A few months ago when I tried to do this I had no interactive menu. They must have since released a new version of the Guide software, when I went in yesterday a menu selection for Interactive TV was there. So in a few seconds I went in and enabled Caller ID. We tested it out today and it works as advertised. A box comes up at the bottom of the screen with the name and number of the person calling....see below

The second piece of this feature is Caller ID to PC. In order to get this to work you need to install some software. After the software is installed you need to log in using your Comcast account and you get an icon running in the lower right hand corner if your PC. It works pretty much the same as the TV version. See below:

The PC software and additional info can be found at the Link below:

http://www.comcast.net/callerid/

Of course you need to have Comcast Digital Voice in order to get this feature to work. I though the feature was pretty cool but my wife wasn't impressed. I asked if she wanted the software installed on her laptop and she told me no....when I inquired "why" she told me the phone is right next to her laptop she can just look at who is calling there. Oh well, I still think it is cool.

One disappointment was that it did not work on my TV where I have the Comcast TIVO software installed. This is where we do 95% of our TV watching. No info on the site regarding whether they will be updating the TIVO software to include the feature anytime soon.

I continue to be impressed by the new "free" features that Comcast continues to add to their product line. I love to see the products integrating and working together. The features probably will not impress the masses buy we geeks out here really appreciate them.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Comcast iPhone Mobile App

I am usually an early adopter of new technology but one area I have always lagged a bit behind was with a cell phone. I have had a cell phone for almost ten years but I only use it to make calls. I had a very basic plan with the minimum amount of minutes you can get. I was an early customer of the short lived Comcast Pivot/Sprint Cell phone plan which kind of made me hate cell phones in general for a while

With the recent popularity of the iPhone and other Smartphone devices we recently started researching upgrading our current plan to a data plan so we could surf the Internet and check email. We decided to stick with our current provider (Sprint) and picked up two Blackberry Curve Smartphones this weekend.

I have to say I love the phone. I can check my email, get news updates and listen to music. I have been really missing out on some great technology. One of the great features of these Smartphones is all of the apps that you can download. I noticed a few weeks ago that Comcast was offering an iPhone app that allows you to check Comcast email, check Comcast voicemail and check TV and OnDemand listings. The app looks pretty slick and it is free, click the link below to check it out:

http://www.comcast.net/iphone/

Unfortunately Comcast has only built the app to work on the iPhone. I realize that the iPhone is the new hip thing to have but it would be nice to have the Comcast app that works on other platforms as well. Blackberry has been around for much longer than the iPhone and they must have a much larger user base. I would think it would be worthwhile to build an app for the Blackberry users out there as well. If anyone at ComcastCares is out there is listening I for one would love to see the Comcast app for my Blackberry.....and while you are at it include some functionality so I can schedule recordings on my Comcast TIVO DVR from the app.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Comcast Tivo Online Scheduler

Back in June I got a postcard from Comcast advertising some new features for the Tivo on Comcast. One of the features that I was really excited about was the online scheduler. This feature will allow you to schedule tivo recordings from any computer. A very nice feature if you are not at home and realize that you have forgotten to record something. The postcard just said the feature was coming soon and pointed to this page: http://comcast.net/tivo to check for availability. At the time the feature was not available for me and I kind of forgot about it.

Earlier this week I decided to check the website again and was presented with a page allowing me to activate the TIVO online scheduler. You click on the button it verifies your TIVO box and you are good to go. In order for the feature to work I think you need to be logged into http://www.comcast.net/ using your Comcast ID. Then you need to access the TV listings for your area. The TV listing Guide with the TIVO Online scheduler is below.

It is pretty simple to use, just click on the show you want to record and a little box pops up on the right allowing you to schedule the recording or set up a season pass.

If you click on the little Tivo Online Scheduler Button on the upper right another box pops up (above) that allows you to view or cancel your upcoming recordings and season passes.

There is also a DVR selector page that will appear if you have multiple DVR's. I assume this page did not appear because I have only one DVR.

First Impressions:

The interface was easy enough to use and I think is a great new feature. This is a feature that is included if you buy a real TIVO box so it is time that Comcast added it.

Issues:

The TV Listing page can take a while to load. Not all of the time but a couple times when I went into it I thought my screen had locked up.

The Online Scheduler screen seems a little buggy. When I cancelled a recording the list of programs got all crunched together and I could no longer read them. See below:

Not really an issue but something to keep in mind. You need to give the DVR some time to sync up with the online changes. So if you need to record something that starts in 5 minutes you probably will miss it.

I wish Comcast would notify their customers where these features are available. I got the initial postcard in June but it was not available at the time. Some time over the past couple months they turned this on and did not notify me. I have a friend who also has the TIVO box and he was not even aware of the Online Scheduling functionality

Overall:

Despite the few issues I have I am very happy that Comcast continues to add features to its products. The online scheduler is not something that I will use that frequently but will be nice to have when needed.

Monday, July 13, 2009

WeatherScan on Comcast

About little over a year ago I noticed that Comcast had added channel 845 (Weatherscan) to the HD grouping of channels. At the time the channel just displayed a message stating that the channel required a subscription. I assumed that the channel was just not part of the package I am subscribed to. No big deal.

Then a few months later I started noticing that when I was scrolling through the 800 level channels when I got to 845 (WeatherScan) I would be automatically be redirected to 245 which was the digital version of Weatherscan. This was a little annoying as I could no longer just scroll through the HD channels. I called Comcast to report the problem and was told that a new version of the Guide software being released in the next couple weeks would fix the issue, which it did.

Just this weekend I noticed that I am now getting the live channel WeatherScan on channel 845. The channel is identical to Weatherscan on 245 so I am not sure why it is included with the rest of the HD channels. It is definitely not being broadcast in HD and since it is just a loop of the current weather, forecast, traffic, etc I am not really sure it needs to be in HD. With limited bandwidth being a concern with cable providers I would much rather have one of the many other HD channels that Comcast doesn't currently carry than this one.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

DVD Rental vs Netflix vs Comcast On Demand

I will preface this post by saying I haven't seen a movie in a theatre in about 5 years. I spent thousands of dollars on my HDTV and surround sound system so we happily watch all movies in the comfort of our family room couch.

Up until about a year ago all of the new movies we watched were rentals from Blockbuster. At the time it was a good deal for me. I used points on my rewards card to get 8 free rental certificates every few months so I basically was not paying anything out of pocket to see new releases. Our local Blockbuster was in a pretty convenient location so it was not too out of the way to stop by and rent/return movies. Then suddenly our local Blockbuster closed and it was no longer convenient so no more blockbuster for us.

At the time it was not that big a deal because of the writer's strike there was not a whole lot of new movies out that we wanted to see. We also added a baby to our family so our movie watching time was fairly limited. When there was something we really wanted to see we would watch in on Comcast On Demand. Usually when we did this though we had a free coupon. Since the ON Demand rentals are $4.99 and I was used to renting movies for free we probably only ever paid for 2 or 3 movies in total.

A couple months ago we noticed there were a bunch of new movies out that we were really interested in seeing. A couple of our friends have been using Netflix for a while and are really happy with it so we decided to give it a shot. We signed up for their one at a time unlimited plan for $8.99/month. We usually only have time to watch movies on weekends and with our schedule we usually only watch one movie a weekend. Given this we still get 4 movies a month for a cost of about $2.25 a movie.

Compare that to Comcast On Demand's cost of 4.99 a movie and the choice was pretty simple for us to stick with Netflix. The one advantage that Comcast On Demand has over Netflix is that you can order using your remote rather than needing to mail the DVD back. But to me that is only a minor advantage. The only way Comcast On Demand is going to compete with Netflix is if they offer some kind of monthly plan structure similar to Netflix where you get 4 OnDemand movies for around $10/month, 5 movies for $12/month etc. I am sure Comcast has thought about this and my guess is the movie studios are preventing them from doing it. Another hurdle may be that they would need to rewrite the cable box software to allow for the operation of a plan structure. So something like this is probably a way off but in my opinion it is the only way On Demand is going to gain market share form Netflix. I look forward to what the future holds for Comcast On Demand but for now I am staying a Netflix customer.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Comcast DVR with TIVO New Features

I got a postcard in the mail today from Comcast regarding some new and upcoming features on the Comcast Tivo DVR.

Reminder to Pad Live Recordings - When you schedule a recording for a live program, you will now get a reminder to add extra recording time in case the game or event runs long. I guess this is a nice feature but I think it may get a little annoying to be reminded every time I schedule a recording.
Recently Deleted Folder - If you accidentally delete a recording you can now recover it from the recently deleted folder. I noticed this folder a couple weeks ago. Nice feature but it is pretty difficult to accidentally delete something with the TIVO interface.
Saved On Demand Programs - If you find an On Demand program that you want to watch later you can just save it to the Saved On Demand folder in the Tivo Recording List. This is should be a pretty useful feature as it will save time navigating through the menus to get to Saved On Demand
TIVO Online scheduler - Soon you can schedule your recordings away from home - even manage your Recording schedule and Season Pass Priorities. This is the feature that I am pretty excited about. On a couple occasions I have forgot to record something and was not home in time to set it. This is a feature that the full-blown TIVO has so it is about time that Comcast gets it out there. There is no time frame on the postcard regarding when it will be available. It just says that an email will be sent to my Comcast Account. Based on previous rollout schedules I have to assume that the feature will be available within the next couple months. There is also a website link http://comcast.net/tivo but it just says that the feature is coming soon.