Comcast's X1 Coverage Doesn't Change TV, but It's Great for the Olympics
Comcast’s X1 box doesn’t offer you anything you can’t get anywhere else. Sure, there’s voice control and a clean interface, but every second of the Olympic games can also be seen on the NBC Sports App. What it does so well is bring all of that to your TV without having to hook up a laptop or use a separate piece of hardware.
Still, it’s far from flawless. Navigating to live events can be frustrating, the menus aren’t updated frequently enough, and you have to dig around to find what exactly is going on right now.
Pros
Oh man it’s pretty great. Everything is here. I don’t have to use up my laptop or phone to watch every single second of the Olympics. All I have to do is go to a dedicated menu on my box, flip through, and watch ANYTHING I want. Dressage? Yup. All of the rugby? Uh huh. Individual stations in the gymnastics events? Give me floor exercise or give me death. For the most part, all events have commentary, instant replay, and analysis. One of the most frustrating things about NBC’s prime time coverage is that you end up hearing the same voices over and over again. Here, I got some Australian dude telling me about archery, a Brit (or maybe another Australian) running down rugby, and another British woman getting all kinds of hyped about power-lifting. A lot of them are British.
The live medal count menu is nice, and you can click on individual countries to find out which medals were just won. I’ve never used it before getting a picture of this post, though.
And when there is no commentary, it’s actually fascinating. With many of the events’ being less than spectacularly attended, removing the commentary actually gives you the feel (and sounds) as if you’re there. It doesn’t help when you don’t know what some rules are, but it’s strangely soothing. The ability to sit on your couch and switch to any event you want with just a remote is a great feeling. You can watch hours of footage you’d never see otherwise, without a skew towards the American competitors. How else could I have seen this live?
You’ll actually find yourself constantly asking “why isn’t this always on TV?” Except for sailing. Sailing is boring as hell and should never be broadcast.
Considering Comcast was giving customers a free upgrade to the X1 box, it’s well worth the price of admission.
Cons
Surprisingly, I haven’t had a single event drop out on me. There’s no buffering. Everything is HD. But the menu? It’ll make you want to punch through your roommate’s dad’s TV that he left for you. Here’s where all the NBC Sports App streaming content is laid out:
Great. Now here’s the problem: Some of these events are over. There’s no sense of what started when, when any event ends, or what’s just beginning. And if you select an event that is over, you either get a placeholder screen that says “Coverage has Concluded” or – and this is the frustrating part – nothing happens. It just doesn’t load, and you’re left to assume it’s over. And sometimes events start before they actually pop up for you. The other night, as the Croatia basketball game was getting underway, it wasn’t on the menu. I found it by saying “Show me Croatian basketball,” which is sweet as hell, but the stream was about a minute or so behind what the app was showing on laptops, phones, and tablets.
A side menu off of the medal count page actually gives you up-to-date scores, accurate start times, and which events are truly live – 69kg snatch anyone? – but you have to dig a little deeper to get there (I just found out that you can get here by hitting the “C” button, but that’s not really explained anywhere).
And the ads. THE ADS. I know NBC’s gotta make money on this, and I’m sure it’s the same on the app, but you get a fresh ad every time you change streams and sometimes at timeouts or down moments in the action. And as with every streaming service, it’s the same five or six ads over and over again. If I see Jim Gaffigan trying to sell me a van one more time I’m gonna lose my shit.
All in all the X1 Olympics coverage doesn’t change TV or sports forever. But it does give a glimpse at a future where any sporting event in the world can be seen on your TV, as long as NBC has its rights.
