Learn the key differences between a TV Box and a TV Adapter.
What is a TV Box?
A TV Box (also known as a digital cable box, digital converter box or digital receiver) processes digital-quality signals. With a TV Box, you can view our on-screen channel guide, which includes access to TV listings, program information, search tools, parental controls and more. You'll also get access to Xfinity On Demand and Pay Per View programming.
You can get a Comcast TV Box by purchasing an Xfinity TV package online or by contacting us.
Find your TV Box and view the user manual and other support materials for it.
What is a TV Adapter?
The TV Adapter is a small device that lets you enjoy content from an all-digital cable network, right on your analog TV. Since the TV Adapter has coaxial input/output only, you won’t have access to such features as premium channels (HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc.), Pay Per View or Xfinity On Demand programming. Even if your TV has an embedded electronic program guide, you’ll need to use your TV Adapter remote control to change and tune channels. You also won’t be able to use your TV's picture-in-picture feature.
However, you can still continue to watch your favorite shows as you have before and still enjoy Closed Captioning service. Just follow the Closed Captioning instructions in your TV's user guide. The TV Adapter also comes with an easy-to-use remote control. What’s more, we can use the bandwidth once reserved for analog to offer additional digital services.
When you activate the TV Adapter, your digital TV Box will turn off and back on again. If the TV Box doesn’t turn back on after a few minutes, simply press the power button or use your remote. The activation will then finish processing.
Here's what one of our TV Adapters looks like:
When you activate your new TV Adapter online, you might notice that the online activation page lists more devices than the one you’ve ordered. That’s okay. The other devices are most likely devices you already own. Activating your new device won’t impact the other equipment you have at home. Just confirm the serial numbers of your new devices, and proceed with the activation process.
