XfinityTV and Equipment

[LeeSoFL]

Supposed fix is due out in the next FEW MONTHS.  But yes, this is now FIVE MONTHS of their equipment not operating as we're (*paying for and) expecting.

[ball-bag]

Uverse just became available in my neighborhood and I signed up tonite. I'm leaving comcast because of this dvr problem i'm having! I don't mind paying their high prices, but dangit it should work!

[macbrad]

I have this problem on a regular basis. We record several programs each week and about 1 in 5 doesn't work properly. It has been going on since the software upgrade. I checked earlier this year and was told they were working another release to correct some problems and address concerns, but I haven't seen any updates.

Brad

[tstevensufl96]

ball-bag, not sure if you can still access this site, but if so, please let me know how Uverse is working out for you. I only know two people that have it, and they both love it. Let me know how the on-demand is too. My wife loves the Comcast on-demand, or I would have switch a few months ago when this DVR issue popped up. Wondering if the anti-Uverse commercials with the ball of wires acting slow, etc. is true of Uverse. Thanks for any info.

[LeeSoFL]

Middle of November is now the expected date for the patch (at least down here in So FL.) which would be SEVEN MONTHS of failed service.

[fudgenittany]

I'm in Pittsburgh and Comcast couldn't estimate when they'd fix this problem. I decided I was done with Comcast after 26 years of using Adelphia then Comcast when they took over Adelphia. As of Thursday I canceled my Comcast account and am now a Verizon FIOS customer. The difference, so far, is stunning. No black screen, no unrecorded shows, no shows that have stunted recordings! When I called Comcast to cancel my service, they tried to convince me to hold on and made the excuse that eventually the service would be much better. Of course they couldn't say when "eventually" would be. Not sure what other services are available in your area that you could switch too, but I'm definitely glad I did.

[rog286713]

what do you mean by auto erase?  Do you mean to get rid of all the shows on the dvr at once?  I have never heard of that.

[MFBL]

Sorry - no thoughts but also having these issues.  Comcast has sent info to our box and told us to wait 45 minutes and it should be "fixed"; however, it is now worse.  Told us to get another box.  This is our 3rd box.  The noise of these boxes is annoying.

[rjc1247]

Lee,

How definitive is your "mid-November" -- as a fellow sufferer in SE Florida, I'm especially interested!

Thanks,

Bob

[LeeSoFL]

Bob,

After speaking with two supervisors down here (one is working on the writing of the code for the issues) I think November 18th is the date they think is real.

The big issue that irked me is they spent six weeks (March/April 11) to scroll the bottom of the screen with the "amazing new X-fiasco service coming soon" then delivered it to our houses with a thud.  This is not a mom and pop, down the street neighborhood cable company, this is an enormous operation that is NOW actually in the Tee-Vee business.  Shame on them!  Fool me once......

Kabletown at it's finest.

[rjc1247]

Thanks, Lee!

[ERoss1]

I wish I discovered this website before I spent a frustrating hour on the phone with Xfinity.  This after swapping out the box last week and still having the problem of recordings being cut off.  Both CSRs I spoke with told me conflicting information.  The first one said it was a known issue and was being worked on.  She sounded convincing and I resigned myself to waiting for the fix, but then she went on to discredit herself by stating that if I wanted to record something in the middle of the night I had to leave my cable box on.  So I called back to speak to another CSR, who instructed me to turn off clipping in the DVR menu to resolve the problem of recordings being cut off in the middle.  After reading the discription of the clipping feature, I knew that this was not the resolution, even though the CSR was very proud of herself for finding the fix.

After reading the many descriptions of the same  problem here at least now I don't feel bad because I am too stupid to program a DVR.

I live in Port St. Lucie, Florida and will be waiting with baited breath to see what happens on November 18th.  Why am I not optimistic?

[snets]

I took a box over to be replaced - waited an hour - I asked the girl when XFinity would be fixed - her reply - "well you know that's just a name" - I said while my service is constantly compromised with all the problems since the change - her reply "really - I hadn't heard there were any problems - everyone loves the new format"  Wasn't going to get anywhere, so I took my new box home - well now - not only are all the old problems still there, now the recordings pixilate about every 4th one so badly - you have to erase them.  I called Comcast - they said oh we're so sorry, bring it back and we'll give you another one - I asked if I could walk in and get it and skip the line - "oh that wouldn't be fair to the people that are alreadyn waiting"  In other words - it has gotten worse.  I have a conundrum in that, I am moving next month - where I go - Comcast basic cable is included in the HOA fees - I have to decide whether to just pay the extra and get UVerse or not - I've heard many folks with UVerse are having problems also - any feedback?

[StephanieC07]

Wow! I am in the same position! I am going to have to get my 3rd new box within a 6 month time period! And to make it worse---each time I have lost all of my recordings

[donba]

Hey people wake up !!!!   If you spent the time to come out here amd post a complaint..take the time to read some of the other posts.  You can get a new box every day and your not going to solve the problem. It's a software problem that Comcast has been promising to fix for the past year.  Each month it gets worse. Don't bother calling customer service or even talking to a rep in the office.....Most of them know less about the problem than you do.  The only way that I was able to get answers was to email  Rick Germano who is a SR VP of Customer Operations. His email address is  Comcast ECARE ecare@comcast.com.  They got me in touch with the local supervisor in my county who has kept me up to date with whats going on. This was my email to them...

When is Comcast going to wake up and start
communicating with your own people?  You came up with a great Idea to
have customer forums, but it's apparent that no one from Comcast reads
them. There have been major problems in area's using Scientific Atlanta
equipment however nobody at your customer service area seem to be aware
of the problem. Continuing to send tech's to the houses to replace the
boxes which is not going to solve the problem is a total waste of your
tech's time and your company's money. In addition, its really annoying  your customers. In one of the messages on the forum a representative
from Comcast states;"We are aware of a DVR truncation issue on
DVRs. It has been confirmed that the issue impacts all SA and Cisco
branded DVR?s. I apologize that you are experiencing this issue. The
issue is set to be corrected in an upcoming guide release which is
currently scheduled to begin customer deployment in early August. The
firmware fix is currently being validated in Cisco and Comcast labs and
going through a Quality Assurance phase.
In speaking with Cisco
and Comcast engineers who have identified the root cause of this issue,
one way to alleviate DVR truncation occurrences is to avoid changing
channels when in a delayed playback state. I certainly realize that this
is a big customer issue and an inconvenience but I wanted you to know
that a fix is in process"
It would seem to be a simple process
to inform your customer service phone support people of the problem so
that they can better handle customer trouble calls without unnecessary
trips to the customer homes which is a total waste of time and
money

[CrazeeChester]

Thanks for the Info. I'm going to email Rick too. He needs to add the Motarola 3400 to his list. I've had three that have had the same problem. 

[snets]

Yeah I know getting a new box is a waste of time - I had to because the hard drive failed on the one I had - however the new one that I was given now has the same problem but also is pixilating some of the recordings - that's why I need to go and get a new box (if I decide to do so)  There is a center close to my home and you go and get a number like at a deli - it takes about an hour to get through and it irks the stuffing out of me that I am going to have to do that again (because of the pixilation).  As I said - i have to decide to stick with Comcast with the free basic service, only paying for the premium stuff or pay the entire freight with UVerse - just wanted to hear if anyone has friends with UVerse and what they think of it - my assistant has it and loves it but i've heard a lot of anecdotal 411 out there about problems with that system also.

[limeykat]

I did NOT know that I had to leave the box ON for it to record. that would have been a very helpful piece of informaiton from the installer who was only worried about getting out for the rest of the day to have a beer and watch a game and dodge calls from dispatch so he didn't have to visit another customer.

I had FIOS where I lived before and before that Cable service from another company. I did not have to leave it on.   Installer said nothing about that and I had an expensive surge protector that would function by turning OFF all components unless the TV was on - which is now worthless really as I have to keep playing with remotes and make sure someone else doesn't turn it of OR the power goes out as then I won't get the recording.  makes no difference to use the remote access DVR recording on my laptop if it won't record anyway.  I have no way of knowing remotely if it is off or on.  I will now have to get a second extension for just the cable box so I can stil turn everything else off but doesn't correct the issues with remote use of ALL ON. 

[ERoss1]

limeykat - You don't have to leave the box on when sheduling a recording.  The CSR was wrong in telling me that, which is why I didn't believe anything she said after that.  Say you are recording a show in the middle of the night.  You finishing watching TV at 11:00 pm and turn the cable box and TV off.  In a perfect world, at the scheduled time the DVR starts up and records the program.  After it is done recording the DVR goes back into standby mode.  The only time you have to leave the cable box on is when it is actually recording something.  If you try to turn it off while it is recording a warning message will pop up. 

This is one of the few features that actually does work correctly on my DVR.  I am waiting patiently for the other issues to be resolved via the promised software fixes since I shutter at the thought of having to move my cable,phone and Internet to a different provider. 

[macbrad]

Befor the software upgrade, you could turn off the DVR and it would finish recording and then go to standby mode. I have the remote programmed to turn everything off, which is not as useful as it was as I now need to turn off each component except the DVR. Not a show stopper, just annoying.

Much more annoying is trying to record a show that is not new and getting several recordings a week or none at all. If you have, say, 3 shows at the same time, and one of them is rebroadcast later that night, you can't set it in the guide since it will either record every episode or nothing. This happens mostly on cable channels, like Comedy Central, TNT, USA, etc. You either need to set the one show each week, or program it like an old VCR, setting the day, start, stop time, and channel. What a step backward!

Brad.

[snets]

You do not have the leave the box on - it will turn on when the recording time is reached, however, what is different from the way it used to be - if you have a sound system connected, and left on, it will start up also and scare the tar out of you (in the middle of the night).

[macbrad]

I am not talking about scheduled recordings. If you are in the process of recording something, if you turn it off, it will stop the current recording. It gives you a warning, but you will still need to leave it on to finish the recording. The old software didn't do that.

Brad.

[snets]

Yep that is absolutely correct - the only thing I like about the change is when you stop watching a recording and then come back to it - it remembers where you were, where the old software didn't.  This is especially useful as you can come back later and watch the program you recorded and then find out it cut the last 20 minutes off - you know - delayed pain and frustration!!!!!!

[rog286713]

the box is never really off, so if you turn it "off" its using the same amount of power as if it was on, so just leave it on.

[jwelsh54]

Right in the user manual that came with SA8300HD. Sorry no screenshot, not worth the time. Anyway, found another way. DVR settings-Series priority-change when I delete to when space needed.

[dirtCF]

Been having the same problems for months! I keep gettin the same answer, "we'll send you a signal ". I've had a tec come out, put in new box and now I have the same problems PLUS 'Searching For Signal' ! Called again and demanded a discont. Was told they can not give one until the problem is fixed?!?! Another tec is sceduled to come out tomorrow. Im sure nothing will change. I have had just about enough of omcast/XFinity!    PLEASE- if anyone has had their problems resolved let me know how so I can as well. Otherwise Im about a day away from switching services. Thanks.

[rog286713]

I take it that you have read this thread as you are saying you have the "same" problems.  If you have then you see that this is a known issue and a fix is suppose to be rolling out. 

[donba]

The fix was going to be rolled out in August of this year..........Last time I looked we are almost 1/3 of the way through October ???????

Almost sounds like  "The check is in the mail"

[rog286713]

The upgrade for the SA and Cisco market is suppose to roll out by year end, so comcast says. 

[snets]

As someone pointed out a few posts ago THERE IS NO FIX - getting a tech out or a new box will not solve anything - it is pure and simple a software issue.  There is some kind of glitch in the way their mainframe communicates with these boxes.  What is so galling is they continue to soft pedal the issue instead of doing a massive mea culpa.  I have a friend who is a tech and when they get sent out on these fruitless fix-it missions and then the customer calls in again - the tech gets dinged in his performance review.  What is also galling is this is not new.  they are rolling out XFinity in different regions all over the country.  These problems have been occurring for awhile now but they just keep rolling the flawed system out because they can sell those banner ads etc.

I have to move in a few weeks.  Where I am moving to, the community has free basic Comcast.  I have 6 TV's (what can I tell you - it's a big house)  I have opted to have the free basic on three of the sets and UVerse on the other three. 

Let me tell you about UVerse a little though - a few things that are worse than Comcast.  UVerse employs a central System - a server if you will and the other sets are the clients.  The server system is the only set you can pause live action.  You can watch a recorded show on anyone of the clients but you can only pause LIVE action on the main one.  I'm not entirely certain but I think you can only set programs to record on the main frame.  This causes a bit of a problem for me.  As I am bundling UVerse tv, DSL and home phone and as I do a lot of work from home.  I want the modem/ router hard wired to my office computer in the house.  This means that the main hub or server for everything will have to be in my house office.  I don't watch a lot of TV in that room so this will be a bit of an inconvenience.

I am just so sick of losing my recordings - I have replaced boxes (not because of this problem but because they just keep failing in general)  I have to stand in line an hour each time and they give you some half baked refurbished box - the ladies at the windows are so surly because they are sick to death of listening to people kvetch at them.  I have a new box (well new to me) in my great room and it is still doing all of the standard mess ups - but now it is starting to pixilate on about half the recordings.  I recorded that George Harrison special on Wed and Thursday nights and had to erase both recordings - it got the whole recording but it pixilated and stopped and started - it was impossible to watch.

Most of the problems we encounter can be minimized if you remember to not erase a program when you are finished watching it.  When a program ends - hit the button to see your other recorded programs and start watching the next one - then go back and erase it.  If you allow it to end and then it goes over to a channel in real time (remember you only have two tuners) if you are recording what it changes to - that recording will be damaged for certain.  Don't do that and you will not cure the entire problem but you will cut it way back.  Anyway - so endeth the rant for the evening.

[LeeSoFL]

They've been doing some tinkering, because yesterday the order of the listings for On-Demand came up in a different order on both boxes.  About two weeks ago, they added a dozen or two new HD channels, ranging from channels 380 to 520 or so.

I am STILL not able to record two programs at one time, and delay start watching one or the other.  It stops recording one or both.

[Biff101]

I of course have experienced ALL of the outrageous DVR issues everyone has described, to the point that my Comcast DVR service is basically worthless since I can never depend on it actually recording all of a show instead of skipping to the end without warning, and never knowing when the picture will be garbled and frozen or just black.

unfortunately since neither Verizon FIOS nor DirectTV (I face east) is available to me,  I am captive to Comcast for television cable.    however in protest I am switching my high speed Internet service away from Comcast and to Verizon, and I am buying a TiVo unit subscribing to TiVo service.    however since all the DVR and picture issues are obviously a problem with what Comcast is sending out, does anyone know if a TiVo unit would acutally work either, connected to the Comcast television cable?

it's amazing, for years I had been pleased with Comcast's service, especially the DVR which worked flawlessly, until they totally destroyed everything with their spring "upgrade."     now I have never ever been more dissatisfied with anything as I currently am with my totally and completely unacceptable Comcast service.   

it is unbelievable that Comcast has not fessed up to this problem, and they could be driving away long time previously-satisfied customers like me.

[rog286713]

The problem with the dvr's is the software in the SA Cisco market, the Tivo will not experience this as all it is getting is the signal from comcast.  You are still going to need to get cable cards from comcast and pay them even with tivo but at least you will get your recordings.  Now depending on where you live it could be a chore getting those cable cards activated with comcast.  good luck.

[Biff101]

THANKS for the TiVo explanation.. you are correct!   today I found out one of my neighbors (high rise building) is using TiVo and has had absolutely NO PROBLEMS like the nightmare all the rest of my Comcast neighbors and I have had since the Xfinity "upgrade" disaster in the spring.    he said TiVo works beautifully, and said he's heard other people in the building complain about the countless problems with Comcast supplied DVRs since the "upgrade" but he's had no problems with TiVo  cutting off recordings and also no garbled or frozen picture issues. 

first I'm going to switch my Internet away from Comcast and to Verizon DSL (just as a protest for what Comcast has put me through the last six months) so my new internet service will be ready to connect my new TiVo through it to the TiVo service, then have Comcast intenet and Comcast DVR dropped.    and I think my neighbor across the hall (who has been in tears at times the last months about all her Comcast DVR problems) might drop her Comcast DVR service too and get a TiVo with me.

[falconut]

---

Biff101 wrote:

THANKS for the TiVo explanation.. you are correct!   today I found out one of my neighbors (high rise building) is using TiVo and has had absolutely NO PROBLEMS like the nightmare all the rest of my Comcast neighbors and I have had since the Xfinity "upgrade" disaster in the spring.    he said TiVo works beautifully, and said he's heard other people in the building complain about the countless problems with Comcast supplied DVRs since the "upgrade" but he's had no problems with TiVo  cutting off recordings and also no garbled or frozen picture issues. 

first I'm going to switch my Internet away from Comcast and to Verizon DSL (just as a protest for what Comcast has put me through the last six months) so my new internet service will be ready to connect my new TiVo through it to the TiVo service, then have Comcast intenet and Comcast DVR dropped.    and I think my neighbor across the hall (who has been in tears at times the last months about all her Comcast DVR problems) might drop her Comcast DVR service too and get a TiVo with me.

---

Do you know if the OnDemand works with the TiVo box?  I was told by Comcast that OnDemand won't work with the Cablecard.  But, the TiVo website says it works with Comcast OnDemand.  Wonder who is telling the truth.

My main issues seam to be getting narrowed down to recording 2 shows at a time.  It's 50/50 if it's going to record both.  Watching a recording that's not live, it wants to jump to live when FF.  Pausing one channel that's recording, then switching to the other and it cancels the one I switch to, so I can't go back and watch from the beginning.  Sorry, if I'm just saying the same stuff, but it is so annoying.  Does anybody know if the fix is definitely supposed to be mid November for all areas or just So. Florida?

If Fios was in my area, I would have switched already.  I'm so fed up with it and can't stand being left in the dark by Comcast.  We know there's an issue, tell us you know and are working on it and hope to have it fixed by ___ date.  This way we don't feel ignored.

I tried the Email above and got the most generic email response back.  Something like "We can't access your account without and address.  I hope this helped.  If you need further assistance call 800 Comcast.  What a joke.

[Biff101]

for once it sounds like Comcast may be telling the truth..    Comcast On-Demand does not work through my neighbor's TiVo.    but I will happily give up "Comcast On Demand" for a DVR that I can depend on to actually record programs and play them back 100% of the time, instead of about 70% percent of the time which is all my Comcast DVR does now..   since Comcast's "upgrade,"  my Comcast DVR service drops or cuts off about 3 of every 10 things I try to record.   like last night.. can anyone tell me how the World Series game was after the 6th inning which is when my Comcast DVR cut off the rest of the program?

[JayInAlg]

The newer retail Premier Tivo's will be getting Comcast On Demand in the future. 

Announcements have been posted, but no dates have been set.  The Tivo will need to be connected to a Comcast High Speed internet connection, as it will need to talk back the the system.

[snets]

A month or so ago i mentioned that I would be moving to a community  that provided free Comcast - Even though that's so I opted for UVerse and I will be reporting back in a few weeks of what I think of it.  Well today I phoned to cancel my service  -  first thing - the message on hold was a whole tutorial about how bad UVerse was compared to Comcast - I finally get an operator and they ask me why I was leaving - especially when I could get the basic package for free - I said - seriously?  You aren't inundated with people that are upset since XFunkity - she says - no not really - people really seem to like it - I asked her if she was obligated to say that - she said no - I ended the conversation - I said - look this certainly isn't your fault and there's no reason you need to hear me rant - if they ever fix this software I may come back - but not until then.  She was polite - I did my best to be polite - it wasn't the operator's fault - I'll report back on what I think in a few weeks - D-Day is next Wednesday!

[mplsrain]

The new "upgrade" to the DVR is absoutely terrible!  The DVR only works if you never watch television.  I just lost two more shows today because I DARED to actually watch a show that I was recording.  This is absolutely nutz to think a company would be so backwards as to allow this to happen to their customers.  Furthermore, when I call for tech service they have no idea about the problem and their only response is to return the DVR to customer service and get another one.  I've already programmed my settings for this one as well as set my favorites channels, etc. and I don't actually believe that getting a new box will fix the issue!  I will also lose all my programs that I have saved!

This "ugrade" to the DVR works exactly as well as programming would from the late 1980s~!!!!!

I HATE IT.

[mplsrain]

What's with all the messages?  I don't need to know that I'm recording, or about to record, or the recording is finished.  Also, please don't interrupt me and ask me if if i REALLY want to record the upcoming show that the DVR is programmed to record!  How absurd are these features?  I want to see the TIME and nothing else, NO messages.  I HATE THIS DVR!

[mplsrain]

Brad, if I manually record a program and set it to for "Monday through Friday" then it only records for ONE WEEK.  Each Monday I have to go in and manually reset all the shows.  It is SO IRRITATING.

[snets]

I have moved in and have started using UVerse on 3 TV's - The DVR is fantastic - no pixilation, great picture, no lost programs, you can record more programs than on Comcast (at the same time) you can go online and set up your programs so you don't have to do it at the TV.  You can pause the recording and go in another room and watch it - you can set up recordings on any of the sets.  (that one I really like) it is cheaper - you bundle it with home phone and DSL - anyone who wants to email direct with queries - feel free snets@att.net

[Ucfsteven]

Can we get some feedback from those in Texas that comcast is reporting had the firmware patch pushed through in the past week for the Dvr truncation issue? Is everything back to normal for them? Is there hope for the rest of us?

[LeeSoFL]

---

Ucfsteven wrote:
Can we get some feedback from those in Texas that comcast is reporting had the firmware patch pushed through in the past week?

---

Is there anywhere this info on fix timetable is available?


I had it on good local authority that SoFL was somewhere mid Nov.

[Ucfsteven]

http://blog.comcast.com/2010/05/new-guide-for-scientific-atlanta-cable-boxes.html#comment-content

That is the link to the page my info comes from. Looks like Texas got the patch last week and Mississippi and louisiana is this Thursday. Nothing for any other states listed. Where did you get the mid November time frame from? I am in south Florida as well and this Dvr issue has been the worst thing ever.

[LeeSoFL]

November 18th is the magic date I was given by regional (So FL) Comcast manager.

[tstevensufl96]

Fingers crossed for November 18th and that it actually works!

[sirch2]

Don't hold your breath I live in Houston and as far as I know I have not received an update and lately the recordings that do work cut in and out so much you cannot even keep up with what it going on. Does anyone know how to tell if you got the update or not?

[jerrywagner]

Sorry,

The patch rolled out in SE Houston around October 29th.

No more truncated recordings, is the only benefit I noticed.

But... now I can't get to On Demand at night, when they are resetting the guide, and pixelation is horrible all day.

[sirch2]

I checked last night I did get the update. I have not seen truncated recordings on my new recordings but Jerry is right about the pixelation it makes some recordings unwatchable.