As the entertainment hub of every household, a great home theater deserves the best operating system. We’ve been working hard to enhance and customize the X1 platform to make it the centerpiece of any home theater system, and today, we’re proud to announce three big steps forward in that effort.

Starting this week, home theater installers will be able to order a specially designed, rack-mountable X1 set-top box. The new, sleek box delivers all the features of the X1 platform, but in a device designed to fit easily into standard home theater racks.

We’re displaying the new rack-mountable X1s in Dallas this week at CEDIA Expo 2015, the nation’s premier event for home theater manufacturers and installers.

We’ll also be demonstrating two powerful features of the new boxes – coming early next year – that will make the X1 home theater experience more dynamic and integrated.

  • IP Control will make it easier for home theater users and installers to seamlessly operate X1 over both standard and customized universal remote controls.

  • Dolby Atmos Integration will bring one of the most powerful sound experiences ever designed to X1-enabled home theater systems. Built from the same technology that powers cutting-edge movie theatre sound systems around the world, Dolby Atmos delivers rich, detailed and clear sound that can be precisely placed and moved anywhere in three-dimensional space, including overhead. When X1 integration of Dolby Atmos goes live in 2016, Comcast will be the first MVPD to offer this next-generation sound experience.

All three of these developments come as part of our Custom Xfinity Integration (CXI) program, created in 2012 to serve the custom home integrator community.

The program is focused on ensuring X1 and all Xfinity products are equipped with the most advanced technology available in the areas of video, audio and integration. It also serves as a clearinghouse and central contact point for home integration companies to access tools and support that was previously not available to them. This allows the integrators to set up and adjust Comcast Services and ensures a smooth installation experience on the behalf of our joint customer.

We’re excited to see all the technologies on display at CEDIA 2015, and to show why we think X1 is the best choice for the ultimate home theater experience.