When I learned that the issue of pausing live tv had been resolved on the Xumo Streaming Box, I decided to try it out yesterday. Installation was relatively easy with no significant issues. When watching Live TV, I was pleased that the picture quality was better than that provided with the standard cable box.

However, after working with the Xumo, there were significant downsides to the Xumo vs the cable box.

1. The guide is not as informative. Details and descriptions of the episode are not available when scrolling through the guide. There is no indication on whether an episode is New.
2. Navigating through the guide is not as good. Scrolling is limited to one channel at a time rather than a section of channels using the channel up/down on the cable box remote. Selecting a future date in the guide is not as easy.
3. The process for pausing/rewind/FF is cumbersome, as well as returning to live TV after pausing.
4. The ability to rewind 10 seconds with the push of a button was very helpful on the cable box remote. Unfortunately, this feature is not available with Xumo.
5. The remote for the Xumo could be better labeled. It is not a very intuitive remote to use. Also, it could use more buttons like Channel Up/Down, Info, Guide, Exit.
6. Overall, navigating through the menus and selections was confusing and frustrating.

The Xumo Streaming Box has potential and upsides such as picture quality, but the experience of using it needs to be improved.

I will be returning the Xumo to Spectrum soon.

Although the standard cable box with DVR is a better selection for my family, it does not mean that it is a perfect system. We have experience on-going problems with being unable to fast forward recorded live TV. Also, we can change channels and find that the new channel is one hour behind. You must fast forward through 60 minutes of programming to get to the live view. These problems have continued to persist despite service calls and changing out cable boxes.