Comcast confirmed that it has pushed an update to its “Xi3” client devices that enables the all-IP boxes to buffer as much as 25 minutes of live TV.

Comcast added that capability last month to currently-deployed Xi3s and will be offering it in all Xi3 models shipped to customers from here on out, an MSO spokesperson said. The Xi3, which does not support a local hard drive for DVR functionality (it can access recordings off of the primary XG1 HD-DVR and is expected to support Comcast’s new cloud DVR), buffers live TV via integrated SD (Secure Digital) memory card that carries the “Xfinity Instant Replay” label. The ability to pause live TV on the Xi3 has been high on customer wish lists, according to this thread on the Comcast X1 customer forum.

That feature, which lets Xi3 users rewind, fast-forward and pause recently viewed live TV programming, will apparently also grace a new “XG2” gateway that’s under development, and possibly on the Xi4, a smaller, next-gen version of the Xi3. A Samsung-made XG2 and a Cisco-made Xi4  recently passed through the FCC.

Comcast started to deploy the Xi3 in select markets last fall, noting then that the plan was to make the product “widely available across our footprint” in the first or second quarter of 2015.

The HDMI-connected Xi3 is designed to be a more elegant, non-DVR companion to the primary X1 HD-DVR, able to support the full slate of X1 apps. By comparison, Comcast’s initial batch of non-DVRs (the Pace and Samsung RNG150N) that work in tandem with the X1 HD-DVR and support the MSO's new cloud-based user interface, do not let users pause and rewind live TV. Those RNG-class boxes also support only a subset of X1 apps. This page compares and contrasts the current lineup of equipment, including set-tops and remotes, for X1. 

Comcast has deployed more than 5 million X1 boxes so far. 

Marking another step forward for a next-gen device for Comcast’s X1 platform, an iteration of the mysterious “XG2” box spec’d out by Comcast has passed through the FCC.

This one,  made by Samsung, comes a few months after a rendering of it from Cisco Systems made an appearance online.

First spotted by The Donohue Report, the Samsung device, referred to as the Xfinity XG2v2-S, looks about the same as the Cisco rendering. But within the same test on the Samsung product, Donohue also found an image of a 4 Gigabyte flash memory card from SanDisk (see image above), though there’s no explanation on how it will be used. You can poke around the report here. 

But considering how the memory card is being labeled ("Xfinity Instant Replay"), there’s a distinct possibility that it could be used as a way to buffer a limited amount of programming (15 to 30 minutes with some headroom, perhaps?), giving viewers a way to rewind and fast-forward through recently viewed TV programming. Or it might also be used as a vessel to transfer digital media to and from the device.

Comcast isn’t commenting on the capabilities of the XG2, but a source familiar with it said that the Cisco model that appeared is a headed gateway that won’t contain a local DVR, making it a logical candidate for Comcast’s new Cloud DVR.  

And the idea of using an SD card in a non-DVR cable box goes back a ways.

In 2010, Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) showed a tru2way “set-back” box targeted at retail that also lacked a local DVR, but did come equipped with a slot to hold a standard SD High Capacity card for a limited amount of video storage. At the time, ADB referred to it as “DVR-Lite,” noting that it could be used for some limited trick-play functions on live TV.

As for other capabilities, I expect the XG2 to be capable of supporting native 4K video. Comcast offers a limited 4K streaming library to new Samsung Ultra HD sets, and has expressed that it will eventually enable 4K on a new class of boxes for the X1. I am trying to find out if it’s another hybrid QAM/IP device, or if this one will be IP-only. However, the innards of the XG2 show that it does contain a CableCARD. 

And while we’re talking about what’s on the X1 roadmap, a source did tell me that the Xi4, a new IP-only client box that also showed its face at the FCC recently, will indeed be 4K-capable.

So, the XG2 and Xi4 – a match made in next-gen video heaven? We’ll see. 

Taking a step toward deployment-readiness, a new IP-only video client device for Comcast’s X1 platform has passed through the Federal Communications Commission.  

First spotted by GigaOm, the device in question is the Xi4, an IP set-top made by Pegatron for Cisco.

The FCC filings are short on detail, but Matt Strauss, Comcast Cable’s senior vice president and general manager, video services, told Multichannel News at last year’s Cable Show in Los Angeles that the Xi4 is a smaller version of the Xi3, Comcast’s first IP-only video client product.

Comcast hasn’t made any further announcements about the Xi4, but confirmed last fall that it had begun to deploy the Xi3, initially supplied by Pace, with plans to make it “widely available across our footprint in Q1 or Q2 of next year [2015].”

Comcast is also working on a next-generation of the XG1, the HD-DVR/gateway that currently anchors the MSO’s X1 platform. A rendering of that product, labeled as the XG2, appeared online late last year. A person familiar with the project, which also includes Cisco’s involvement (though other vendors are also expected to be working on it), said the version that appeared online is a headed gateway that won’t come equipped with an internal DVR, making it an obvious candidate for Comcast’s new Cloud DVR.  It’s also possible that the XG2 will be made to work in tandem with the new Xi4 client over the home network.

Comcast has also acknowledged that it is working on new boxes for X1 that support HEVC and 4K streaming, but it’s not clear yet if HEVC will factor into the XG2 or Xi4. Comcast’s first 4K product, Xfinity in UHD, is a streaming app that is initially being offered on 2014 Samsung UHD TVs

Comcast and has been pursuing strategies that will put it in position to tap into smaller IP video devices that also eat up less power. Notably, Comcast and Cisco are among the founding members of the Linaro Digital Home Group, whose aim is to accelerate the use of ARM-based silicon in digital home applications. The low-power ARM architecture is already being used in tablets and smartphones, and now appears poised to show up in set-tops and other types of video devices.