Contributor
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131 Messages
Got an email saying Older TV Boxes will no longer support Caller ID
I have 3 legacy boxes, the Motorola DCX3400M DVR and two DCX3200M HD. Been using them since 2010 and plan on for as long as possible, as I am not a fan of X1 (did try it out for several weeks) and I have an external 2TB drive connected for DVR storage.
Last year (or the year before) the older boxes lost the ability to use On Demand, which was no big deal since I never use it.
Now I get an email saying that the boxes will no longer support Caller ID of the Xfinity Voice landline.
Why is this? We keep our house phone ringers turned off (due to spam/robo-calls/political) and use the Caller ID on the TV to see who is calling since it shows the name and number. Now if that is taken away, we would have no idea if someone is calling. This means we'd have to keep one phone on so it's Caller ID and Ringer will work.
"Beginning June 15, 2024, at least one TV Box on your account will no longer be able to securely support Caller ID notifications, so we’re removing the feature.
You can still receive Caller ID notifications on digital handsets compatible with Xfinity Voice and any X1 TV boxes in your home. If you’d like to upgrade your TV equipment, please call 1-800-XFINITY. Shipping fees may apply."
XfinityThomasA
Official Employee
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1.8K Messages
6 months ago
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sts_66
Visitor
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18 Messages
6 months ago
First they took away VOD, which I DID use, and now they're taking away CID displaying on your TV - they're trying to get everyone to upgrade to X1 boxes, which is a pure money grab - it costs $10 more/month to start with, and if you want 150 hours of HDTV storage it costs another $10, and an extra $20 for 300 hours - this is a total ripoff, and they know they can get away with it because they are the only cable TV provider in most areas, which is called a monopoly. I have spotty internet and there's no way in Hadies I'm going to use cloud storage for shows I recorded. I also don't like the trend I'm seeing here on this help forum - mods are directing everyone to send them direct chat msg, which means all discussion of an issue goes offline and nobody will ever know how the problem was resolved, or not resolved. They do the same if you go to https://www.reddit.com/r/Comcast/ - and for technical issues that require techs to come to your house, it's a blessing, no wading thru the impossible to get to a human voice system they have if you call the tech support phone #, but complaints like this get hidden on Reddit too. I only pay $10/mo for my old Cisco RNG200 DVR that holds who knows how many hours of HDTV - I've never gotten my storage level over 30%, so it holds at least 150 hours of HDTV on the internal hard drive at no extra cost to me.
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Andyr1
Gold Problem Solver
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7.9K Messages
6 months ago
Those ancient iGuide boxes are basically unsupported. Comcast stopped getting support from Rovi when they came out with X1. They have not gotten any updates in many years. The backend software needed to control them is probably out of date and not secure given the growing risk of cyberattacks.
You can cancel cable TV and go to something like YouTube TV, which has UNLIMITED DVR, but with a 9 month expiration (DVR's are for time shifting, not archiving.) Even Comcast has started imposing a 1 year expiration on recordings.
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SammyFL
Contributor
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131 Messages
6 months ago
Yes, I am aware the older iGuide boxes are no longer being updated and the software is outdated. But it still works perfectly fine, the channel guide is easy to view, and the DVR drive is 500GB + 2TB external drive, so I have a lot of recordings over the past 10 years that I can watch at anytime.
The X1 DVR box that I got (to test out) two months ago also has a 500GB internal drive. When recording a program on it, it is stored on the internal drive AND on their cloud service. This is to allow you to stream it on a phone, PC, etc. But the DVR recordings on the box clearly says they are only good for a year and then erase. Why? Probably because Comcast has a "deal" with the studios to not allow for long term storage on the DVRs.
The Live Buffer "time shift" on my Motorola DVR is 3 hours on SD and about 2 hours on HD, but the X1 boxes are strictly 1 hour. Why is it so limited?
Lastly, the overall menu and guides on the X1 box horrible in my opinion. The Black background with small white text is difficult to read on my 32" bedroom TV and even the 43" living room TV. The layout and guide system is also more complicated to navigate requiring multiple steps to do the same thing that the Motorola box can do in less steps.
I did a side by side comparison between the Motorola and X1 box, and the Motorola is easier to read and navigate through. I'm sure the day will come when they send an email and letter saying that the older boxes will no longer be supported and will be deactivated and will force X1 on us.
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