Xfinity TV beta for Roku and FireTV devices

[PGHammer]

Comcast has a pair of new betas of the XfinityTV streaming application - for Roku and Amazon's FireTV devices; the two are simultaneous.  This review covers both devices, as I have one of each.

 

In both cases, the application installs alongside your existing loadout, and uses a similar authorization process; also, as is suggested with any streaming software, 5 GHz N is preferred (or better).  You have all the features of the existing streaming software (or STBs for that matter); therefore, it COULD actually obviate them altogether. (You only need Xfinity Internet - not cable TV - to participate in the beta.  Rather surprising.)  And considering how much even the base STB costs per month in lease fees, a FireTV Stick 4K pays itself back in a mere three months of lease-fee avoidance per STB replaced.  We have two full-size STBs that are thus candidates for replacement with 4K FireTV sticks - one of them is attached to the only 4K HDTV currently in the house.  (At this price - and given that it is rock-solid in ooperation - as my own usage is showing on a day-in and day-out basis - why wouldn't I consider it - or you if you are a Comcast customer willing to actually cut the cord?

[PGHammer]

FOLLOWUP - It looks like the test of whether it can actually replace an STB will come sooner, rather than later, as one of our two full-size STBs has gone flakey and switched at a specific time to SAP mode by itself.  (It is only this one - which was in trouble due to being connected to the only 4K HDTV currently in the house.)  In any case, the problematical STB needs to go.

[PGHammer]

FOLLOW UP #2 - I have added another deployment to the mix - this one on a Samsung 1080p Tizen-powered HDTV connected to a FireTV stick of the 4K sort.  (Okay - why a 4K stick on a non-4K HDTV?  Easy to explain - the 4K stick is a bargain, bargain, bargain - and the resolution of the TV does not matter - it is no harder to deploy - this deployment replaced an HDMI-based small-STB - and lost no features in the process.