Comcast Xfinity HD uDTA Pace DC60Xu Unboxing and Setup Instructions
Today I picked up two Comcast Xfinity uDTA (HD Digital Transport Adapters). These are the latest DTA's from Comcast that allow you to view HDTV using a tiny cable box as opposed to the huge boxes. They also have the advantage of being much less expensive to rent than the settop boxes. In my area they are easily exchanged for the for the original Thompson DTA's (http://blog.trebacz.com/2010/03/comcast-dta-digital-transport-adapter.html) from a couple years ago.
Advantages of Comcast Xfinity HD DTA:
- Small compact size
- HDMI output or standard cable TV
- RF remote option (no line of site needed)
- Same monthly rental as standard definition DTA's
Disadvantages of Xfinity HD uDTA:
- No menu system (or extremely limited)
- No on-demand programming
- No channel favorites
Below is the unboxing process and what it took to hook it all up.
If you'd rather see a video of the process, I did that also. You can see the video on my YouTube channel at:
Plain brown box containing Pace DC60Xu DTA.
Package contained all the instructions and quick start guide. Everything you need to set it up is on the inside of the top cover of the box.
Every component in the package is clearly labeled with what it is.
Package contained two coaxial cables and a nice heavy duty HDMI cable. Each cable had labeled velcro cable ties to keep the cables nicely organized behind your HDTV or composite tv.
RF capable remote came with 2 AA batteries.
Universal Digital Transport Adapter (uDTA) in it original package.
110 Volt AC adapter.
User guide (never needed to open it).
User Guide and legal stuff.
Remote came with labels to put on it after your RF pair it with the uDTA in your house. The RF ability allows you to hide the Comcast HD uDTA completely out of site. The labels allows you to tell your remotes apart if you have more than one in your house.
Rear of DTA shows the cable output (for 4:3 standard TV's) and the switch to select composite transmission the cable signal on channel 3 or 4. The new thing is the full size HDMI port to connect to your HDTV to get full HD quality broadcast you pay for.
HDMI cable with velcro cable tie and gold plated connectors. The HDMI cable felt very high quality. It's about 6 foot long.
AC adapter showing a pretty large wall adapter. Also includes a velcro cable tie that is nicely labeled "power". Cord is also about 6 foot long.
Bottom of Pace DC60Xu uDTA. I attached the two velcro pads to the bottom of the DTA. I used these velcro pads to mount it to the bottom of a cabinet in our kitchen. This pulled all the wires nicely out of the way and kept the counter uncluttered.
Pace HD DTA (DC60Xu) shown with all cables connected for an HDMI setup. The Xfinity labeled velcro cable bundles are a very nice touch from Comcast.
Here is the very same adapter with all the cables in place for a standard definition tv without and HDMI input.
After I plugged the adapter in it downloaded a software update that took about 5 minutes. I tried online activation at Comcast's website, but it didn't work on two adapters. I called the 888 number on the screen and the voice response automated system did a nice job getting me activate without having to be put on hold (this activation sequence is at the end of the video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6tvUbli94U).
After plugging both units in I'm very happy with them. The uDTA's are very compact. The HD signal looks great on our 23" widescreen kitchen HDTV. The other one is plugged into a standard definition TV now, but that will probably get replaced soon. The micro DTA's are a great way to get HD signal almost anywhere in your house. In our market it's just $2/month rental for the HD uDTA.
The only disadvantages that I felt was the lack of a digital programming guide and favorite channels. We now have hundreds of channels. To combat that I just printed out a list of the HD channel numbers in our area.
10/20/2013 Update:
DC60XU_HDDTA_SETUP_GUIDE.pdf - Generic setup guide from Pace - Couldn't find Comcast Xfinity guide
XR2_RemoteControl_rev_122911.pdf - Remote control user guide and instruction manual (with IR codes)
DC60XU.pdf - Pace specification sheet
10/20/2013 Update:
DC60XU_HDDTA_SETUP_GUIDE.pdf - Generic setup guide from Pace - Couldn't find Comcast Xfinity guide
XR2_RemoteControl_rev_122911.pdf - Remote control user guide and instruction manual (with IR codes)
DC60XU.pdf - Pace specification sheet
Is this connecting to an X1DVR?
ReplyDeleteNo. We have a Motorola HD DVR in the house, but the xfinity HD DTA's are completely independent. That both a pro and a con.
DeleteWhere do you plug in the RF Remote Sensor? I don't see any place on the DTA box to do this.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
DD
There is no external remote RF sensor with this DTA. It is all built into the DTA and the remote provided by Comcast. All you have to do is enable it. The manual on the remote explains how to pair the RF in the remote with the RF in the DTA. Your remote manual should have a section called "Installing your DTA out of sight". Or something like that. I'll add links to the manuals to the blog post...
DeleteDavid,
ReplyDeleteI just installed the HD DTA but the aspect ratio is way off. I already set it to 16:9 but the program is not occupying the entire screen. I have a 60' LG 1080p plasma. Also, the supposedly HD content looks really bad. It appears to me that the compression ruined the quality. Do you not see the same on your set? BTW, I have the same DTA unit as you.
Wilson
Seattle, WA
I ended switching to 4:3 to get it to fill the screen. I don't know why this seems backwards. Comcast rep had no clue.
DeleteI am having an issue with receiving limited channels. The rep stated there is an outage in the area that is only affecting this unit, as my other 2 boxes appear to be working fine.
Hi Wilson,
DeleteI have the same issue with the HD DTA connected to LG 40" LED TV (1080p). I've set the aspect ratio to 16:9, but the HD content sent to the TV is awful. And the picture doesn't fill up the screen either.
I called Comcast customer service, but they don't have a clue. Were you able to resolve the problem?
thanks,
D
This stumped me too but then I realized I was looking at SD channels. e.g. Around hear (southern NH) CBS is channel 4, that's an SD channel. If you set it to 4:3 it fills the screen with a scaled up SD picture. Everything will be stretched.
DeleteWhen I went to 704 I found the CBSHD channel. If you set the HD DTA to Auto it works fine.
How do you procure one of these HD DTAs? Do you have to call in, go to a service center, or can you order online? Thanks this is encouraging news.
ReplyDeleteThe cable office is close to my house, so we just went in and picked it up. I dropped off my old DTA's at the same time. I didn't see them on the website yet. Probably best to call you local office and ask.
DeleteNice write-up... Does anyone know how to enter diagnostics mode on the DC60Xu?? Hard to find any info even on Pace's site (I have 2 that won't activate and Comcast is at a loss)
ReplyDeleteTIA -
The DC60Xu would not work with my JVC 37" flat panel. I would get sound, but no video when using the HDMI connection. The DC60Xu HDMI output is version 1.3a, and the TV is version 1.3. I put an HDMI splitter between the DTA and my TV and that solved the problem. The output from the splitter is HDMI 1.3.
ReplyDeleteComcast really messed up with these uDTAs. There is no way to power cycle the uDTA with the remote so you need to unplug it and re-plug the power to properly initialize the HDMI !!. This is messed up, big time!
ReplyDeleteGreat write up. Was there any additional recurring charges over and above your bill with the SD boxes?
ReplyDeleteNo the monthly charges were the same as the SD DTA's. In my market that $2 each a month.
Deleteso does this mount on the back of the tv? Does that mean you can't watch on demand
ReplyDeleteYou can mount it anywhere you like since the remote can work over radio frequencies. Back of the TV would be nice and out of the way. Mine is mounted to the bottom of a cabinet.
DeleteThis type of adapter doesn't offer on-demand programming. My other ones do, but I think this are just to small to pack in the power to deal with on-demand streams.
Dave: I visited my local Xfinity Service Center to get 3 uDTA boxes to replace the pervious DTA's I had just like you did so I could take full advantage of my HDTVs again. I like the fact that you can pair the remote to your TV and hide the small box behind the TV. However, when I went to activate with the rep. on the phone, he couldn't send me a picture until he had me take off the HMDI connectors and use cable to the TV's, which result in the same inferior picture. I have HD Premier XF triple pay service, so what gives? Shouldn't I be getting HD programming with my HD Premier service??
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming you got some bad information from the rep. From what you say you have HD service in the house -you should get HD signals through these DTA's. That was my experience.
DeleteI set mine up with the HDMI cable connected. Just try switching back to the HDMI cable from the coax -or give Comcast a call about the HD service.
Nice write-up. Like Anonymous' post on Nov 18, our Dynex 32" LCD TV gets sound and no picture. Comcast nor Dynex can help. Maybe we will try the HDMI splitter also. Would be nice if one company would take ownership of the issue. Seems the common factor so far is the uDTA box. I've seen this complaint for Samsung, JVC (above) and our Dynex.
ReplyDeleteI called Comcast to ask if I could just exchange my old SD DTA to the new HD DTA and they said that it'll cost me $10 each! I'm wondering if I'm the only one that's getting told this?
ReplyDeleteI live in the same area as David, picked up 4 of these boxes, easy to setup. beyond the issues David already mentioned, here are few other issues: 1. will only handle digital starter channels, why? not sure, I have digital preferred so 150+ HD channels vs. 80+ HD channels so I lose 70+ channels with these boxes, forget watching MLB network, or BBC world news. Total flaw that Comcast needs to correct. 2. Boxes never power off without removing power cable, remotes do not power down device and the very bright, annoying green power indicator is ridiculous, why must these boxes remain on sucking electricity not to mention money. When I press the power button on the remote to turn off TV I expect everything to shut down. again another flaw that needs to be corrected.
ReplyDeleteIt's Comcast's way of wanting you to spend the extra $8.00 (10.00 total) for the upgrade box. It's still smaller than the Motorola behemoth I used to have. I need to upgrade as it turns out. Has anyone experienced "no video" from the DC60Xu? My LG 32" HDTV will not display HDMI video. I get the audio and menu form all the channels, just no video. RF (ch3-4) works fine. I've tried 3 new DC60's and all the same. (yes, I've tried every HDMI device configuration and 6 or more HDMI cables to no avail) I tried the RNG110 and of course that works fine. I have a strange feeling there is a firmware/software incompatibility between my LG 32LD400-ua and the Pace DC60Xu adapter. any thoughts? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI have an old Vizio 26-inch HDTV and I get no sound or video after powering off the set and turning it back on. The only way to correct this is to either power cycle the uDTA or to toggle the input from HDMI to HDMI2 and back again to HDMI1. The tech at Vizio made the following recommendation, "What we suggest trying first is set the audio out on the connected device (cable box) to PCM or LPCM. What happens is the digital audio out on the device connected to the TV is set to Dolby Digital. This overloads the chip on the TV which causes anomalies such as this." Nice.
DeleteOf course, you can't do this on a uDTA so I'm stuck with toggling HDMI. If the uDTA were powered off with the TV, this might not be an issue, but that doesn't seem to be the case even with using All On. Maybe there's a similar issue with LG if they use a similar chipset.
Hi - I just got some of these boxes installed this past weekend and came to realize there's no channel guide?? That is one of the stupidest things I've seen in my life. How the hell can they not have a channel guide on these things? What kind of box do we have to upgrade to to get a simple channel guide?
ReplyDeleteRegarding bright green power LED:
ReplyDeleteThe remote/box is RF capable. So if you "link" your remote and the DTA, you can hide it since it doesn't need line of sight anymore. That's what I did and I'm free of bright green lights!
Has anybody found a way to delete or remove channels not included in the package?
ReplyDeleteThere is no way to remove channels, or to create a favorites list, with Comcast's HD DTA, at least currently. (The remote control has lots of unused buttons, so maybe Comcast will update the software in the future to at least allow for a favorites list or a basic programming guide.)
DeleteHello! Happy to find ANYTHING pertaining to this device - I need to find a way to mount it to the wall behind the TV... The Velcro pads that Comcast provides are a waste of time: the units give off enough heat to melt the glue such that they fall off eventually... Any suggestions? Many thanks.
ReplyDelete