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Comcast DVR Box Continues To Annoy
If you’re, uhm, fortunate enough to have a DVR box from Comcast, you’ve probably experienced some problems with it. If you’ve had one for a while like me, you’re actually happy with it right now; previous boxes of mine used to die every few weeks, and the old firmware barely worked. Box #7 has worked fairly well so far, but I still am kind of in constant worry it will break again. It’s also slow and stalls and requires a power cycle every other week or so. And there’s no group delete and there are these annoying “messages” that pop up and, okay, maybe I don’t like the DVR all that much. I suppose the honeymoon over the fixes Comcast did make is over. Chris Albrecht wrote about another problem: Some networks don’t send the data for ‘new’ or ‘repeat’ episodes, so the DVR treats everything as new. Comcast says it’s fixed; Albrecht says it’s not for him. (Not fixed for me, either!) He has also written about key queuing, where the Comcast DVR stalls and then inputs all the button presses one after another. All of this remains unfixed. Meanwhile, you can buy Slowskys merchandise. (Note to Brian Roberts: If I ever make it big, I’m more than happy to sell out and make commercials for you.) Dear Comcast, Why is My DVR So Dumb? [NewTeeVee] |
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Omigod, it’s not just me! I’ve been going crazy - everytime I come home there’s 12 more “new” episodes of Parking Wars and Rock of Love clogging up my DVR. (I know, with my taste in programming, I should probably just have my DVR taken away…)
It’s OK, you should see how many episodes of the local news I have saved because I think, “Oh, I’m going to do something on this.”
> Chris Albrecht wrote about another problem: Some
> networks don’t send the data for ‘new’ or
> ‘repeat’ episodes, so the DVR treats everything
> as new. Comcast says it’s fixed
This is a problem beyond “fixing.” It happens to every PVR.
During the writers strike, for example, some nightly shows couldn’t preannounce their guests in fear of interference by the union.
The box has two possible behaviors:
- treat such shows as if they are New and record them — and sometimes you’ll record reruns as a result
- treat such shows as if they are Reruns — and sometimes you’ll miss recording new shows as a result
The only “fix” for this problem is to know that this happens and why this happens.
Still, Comcast’s DVR suffers from every other fixable problem, I’d rather they not spend any time fixing this incurable one.
It doesn’t happen to TIVO DVR’s. If Comcast got their program guide info from the same place as TIVO, then the problem would be “fixed” - I’ve never had this issue, to this extent, with my TIVO that runs simultaneously in the bedroom.
I am on my third DVR box–the first one worked the best before the picture started breaking up. I returned the box and the replacement was worse than the first. I noted that the “new” box had two previous users. I called comcast and a repairman was dispatched a few days later. He refused to accept the fact that the box was deficient and proceeded to install a new outside line and new splitters throughout the house. When there was still no clear signal, he announced the box was bad. The new box is here a week today and I cannot get a picture. I’ve noticed on rainy days, like today, the box is problematic. I will give Verizon a shot when it’s available in Philadelphia.