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]

About The Best Book Jacket Possible

Yep. If only the book were photos of puppies and not tales about stupid owners and their stupid dogs. Still: Aww.

Second Chances: Inspiring Stories of Dog Adoption [Amazon]

‘Metro’ Debate Style: Of Goggles And V-Necks

Yes, it’s time for another edition of Metro Debate Style, where I poke fun at the people interviewed for the Metro debate section, then they Google themselves and write me angry letters. It’s fun for the whole family!

Today’s topic is a, uh, topical one, with everyone obsessed with shopping as the holiday season quickly approaches. (Or, as some stores would like you to believe, is almost over, since they’ve had decorations up since Halloween.)

Let’s get to today’s contestants:

• Margarite Showers: Love the shirt, but not a big fan of the v-neck sweater. If it were a normal sweater, it’d be perfect. The glove-sweater matching is also very impressive. Nice attention to detail. But brown boots with black pants? Even I know not to do that. Er, wait, lemme check. No, nevermind.

• Antonio Harris: Our man Antonio — a very young-looking 47, might I add — is wearing the classic hotel employee outfit, complete with nametag and finely-pressed shirt. But, man, those glasses are hot. They’re like swim goggles, but, uh, glasses. Awesome. Now we all just have to figure out why he wants all the stores to be closing their doors forever.

• Tara Newman: Ah, the classic layered brown coat-over-white hoodie look. Fantastic.