U

Visitor

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6 Messages

Tuesday, November 8th, 2022 4:39 PM

Closed

DVR recordings disappearing

We are long-term Xfinity/Comcast customers, and similar to another post I saw on this forum, we have been noticing that recordings are just disappearing off our DVR. We have plenty of storage space left on our DVR, and no, we are not deleting them ourselves. These recordings tend to be older, but there are some recordings that are older than the ones that have been deleted, so the pattern is not clear. Might it be related to certain series that have moved to streaming services, and there is something that detects that we have recordings of such programs and therefore are subject to removal? But it's quite random and a mystery. Thanks.

Accepted Solution

New Poster

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3 Messages

2 years ago

XfinityAmira, I don't think I can Delete & Cancel; the recordings that are disappearing are no longer airing. (Or in the case of some, they have moved to streaming channels instead.) I appreciate the posts from @binaural2000 & @user_c8b21c, especially user_c8b21c. The theory that we might have a box that has recordings originally recorded on the hard drive, that are getting deleted during regular updates because everything going forward is Cloud, that makes sense to me. No, I don't like losing those beloved recordings -- we hang onto them because we like seeing them again -- but it makes sense.

Given that you both have clearly invested a great deal of time in trying to get answers, I realize that if I want to pursue this, I have to be prepared for a similar investment of time and energy. Pardon the expression, but I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole. Thank you everyone for your comments.

Problem Solver

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743 Messages

@myXfinityAcct I understand where you're coming from, and we appreciate your time and willingness to work with us. If you change your mind and would like to look into this further, we're always here for you. 

 

 "Search for Xfinity Support" won't work. To send a "Direct Messaging" message to Xfinity Support:

 

  • Click "Sign In" if necessary

 

 

  • Click the "New message" (pencil and paper) icon

 

  • The "To:" line prompts you to "Type the name of a person". Instead, type "Xfinity Support" there

 

  • - As you are typing a drop-down list appears. Select "Xfinity Support" from that list

I no longer work for Comcast.

Official Employee

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3.8K Messages

2 years ago

Hello and thanks for taking the time to reach out to our Digital Care Team. We appreciate you being a customer with us and as someone who avidly uses the DVR function to record my favorite shows, I absolutely understand your concerns. We certainly want to assist you with further investigating this. 

 

Just for troubleshooting purposes, have you attempted to "Delete & Cancel Upcoming" recordings for these specific shows, and then reset the recordings back up to see if that helps correct this issue on your end? 

Contributor

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37 Messages

2 years ago

It is mind blowing how often it happens.  I’ll get lucky and it won’t happen for a few months, then it happens several times, several days in a row usually, for no reason every few months.

It has been reported over and over and over again by many people for years.  The normal trouble shooting, “send us a private message”, reset your boxes, “check your deleted recordings” all do nothing.  It all leads to the same end conclusion of huh, something’s wrong somewhere, we don’t know what it is, and it is never resolved.

I am at less than 20% capacity, and it happened to me once again overnight last night.  Poof, another recording disappeared, and of course it is is ALWAYS one that is not available anywhere else on demand or upcoming to re-record.  Sorry for the negativity, but I am just sick of it.  I literally keep track on a note on my phone every single night now what my # of recordings was when going to sleep, and without fail it happens every couple months, around 10-20 times a year minimum that recordings just disappear overnight.

Gold Problem Solver

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7.2K Messages

Hello binaural2000, have you tried the steps that XfinityAmira shared to remedy this issue? 

I no longer work for Comcast.

Contributor

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37 Messages

Yes, I have tried every single trouble shooting step possible, for years.  None of them ever fix the issue.  This has occurred on multiple different boxes, at multiple residences.  Nothing ever fixes it and it is clearly an issue on Xfinity’s backend, which is usually the result everyone arrives at, but nothing ever fixes it and it never stops happening.  Just beyond maddening.

Official Employee

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1.6K Messages

I'm glad to see you've attempted to troubleshoot on your own to help remedy this issue, @binaural2000. I'd like to help find a solution to this by reviewing your account information.

 

In order to get started, can you please send me a private message to Xfinity Support with your full name and full address by clicking the chat icon in the top right?

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick

Contributor

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49 Messages

2 years ago

I have been dealing with this same issue for more than a year.  I have had several tech guys out.....new DVR boxes installed and have had many many phone conversations with the Executive Care team at Xfinity.  As recently as today I reported to Dean with the executive care team that the newest DVR box installed last July 2022 is now deleting recordings in random order.  Not always the oldest.  He informed me that for the past year and a half Xfinity DVRs only record to the cloud and never to the hard drive anymore.  Older boxes used to record to both hard drive and cloud but that is no longer happening.  All support articles state recordings are located both on the hard drive and the cloud.  This I've been told is no longer true.  And if you have an older DVR that has recordings on it's hard drive it will be wiped clean during nightly system updates.  Clearly Xfinity wants to go "all cloud" and get rid of the older boxes that you could store recordings for more than one year.  Yet another revenue stream for Xfinity.  What a terrible business model.

Official Employee

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1.3K Messages

@user_c8b21c - I really appreciate you taking the time to provide this feedback around your latest experiences, and I'd love to dive in a bit deeper if we can (just in case there's anything we can try to remedy the missing DVR recordings or at the very least report this issue). If it is a known change on the engineering/programming side of things, I would say more information should become available. And you might be able to help!

 

If you are willing to send us a Direct Message, we can spend some time working on your account and running some diagnostics specific to your lost recordings. Then, we can go from there and see how else this might be resolved! 

 

To send a "Direct (private) Message":
• Click "Sign In" if necessary
• Click the "Direct Message" icon (or https://forums.xfinity.com/direct-messaging)
• Click the "New Message" (pencil and paper) icon
• Type "Xfinity Support" in the "To:" line and select "Xfinity Support" from the drop-down list which appears. The "Xfinity Support" graphic replaces the "To:" line
• Type your message in the text area near the bottom of the window
• Press Enter to send it

 

Thank you! I look forward to speaking with you again :)

I am an Official Xfinity Employee.
Official Employees are from multiple teams within Xfinity: CARE, Product, Leadership.
We ask that you post publicly so people with similar questions may benefit from the conversation.
Was your question answered? Please, mark a reply as the Accepted Answer.tick

Visitor

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2 Messages

2 years ago

Like the above post, I just found several recordings simply gone on my DVR. YES, there was plenty of space. The recordings are no more than a few month old, at the oldest. I finally had the time to catch up, and the recordings of several shows were simply gone. Not in the “recently deleted” folder. Just gone. So why am I paying for a DVR if it doesn’t work? 
Unacceptable 

I already know I can get comparable internet from  Windstream. I will probably see what I can get off the air. If it works, goodbye Comcast. 

Visitor

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1 Message

2 years ago

We're having the exact same issue, movies/shows from the library of favorites we've built have been randomly disappearing, not oldest first, never available in "deleted items," and many NOT available anywhere else. It is beyond frustrating considering how much money we spend on xfinity every month. Ridiculous they think this needs to be worked on an individual account basis. There is a problem here and it isn't with us or our accounts.

(edited)

Contributor

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127 Messages

Hi there @user_415005! I hope you are having a fabulous Monday so far! We are terribly sorry to hear that you are having these issues with your recordings. This is absolutely not the experience we intend to provide, and I can only imagine how frustrating this must be for you. You have gotten in touch with a Corporate Team, and I will do everything I can to help you with this today. For this type of issue, I have to ask that you please send me a Direct Message. 

 

Here are the detailed steps to direct message us: 
 • Click "Sign In" if necessary
 • Click the "Direct Message icon” (upper right corner of this page)
 • Click the "New message" (pencil and paper) icon
 • Type "Xfinity Support" in the to line and select "Xfinity Support" from the drop-down list
 • Type your message in the text area near the bottom of the window
 • Press Enter to send your message

I no longer work for Comcast. 

Visitor

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2 Messages

2 years ago

Same issue happening. No way to even see them in deleted folder, just disappear. And xfinity cant figure this out? 

Problem Solver

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788 Messages

Thanks for taking the time to reach out to us regarding the concerns with your recordings. Can you please provide us with full details of what you are experiencing? What do you have the recording settings at? Do you have them set to be stored for up to 1 year? The DVR will delete the oldest recordings first if your storage space becomes low. Are you seeing any of the deleted or missing recordings in the deleted section of your DVR? 

I no longer work for Comcast.

Visitor

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4 Messages

2 years ago

Has anyone found a fix yet? If so, can you point me in the right direction?

     I use Xfinity Stream. Currently, my basic cloud based DVR is 78% full, with 16 recordings. At that level, in the past, I would have had DVR space for at least 4 more hours (each hour uses approx 5% of storage), or at least 4 more recordings before I hit 20 recordings. Also in the past, the limit was always based on percent full, and not the actual number of recordings. So it was not uncommon to have more than 20 recordings, and still be below 100% full.

    But the last few weeks, when I record new shows, even short 30 minute shows, most of the shows will unexplicably be deleted as soon as they finish recoding, and also don't even appear in the Deleted Recordings folder. This just happened again, for an hour long recoding, while I was at that 78% full with 16 recordings. This never happened in the past unless the recording would reach the 100% full limit. This is making me very angry and I'm considering dropping Xfinity, since the Xfinity Cloud DVR no longer works in a reasonable way. It's broken and unreliable. Just terrible!

    Since I use the Xfinity cloud based DVR, the only answer is that this is a problem on Xfinity's side, and not anything to do with my streaming devices (FireTV 4K, Windows 10 PC, Android 11 phone...). Or the database Xfinity uses to keep track of my recordings and storage has gotten corrupted.

     Currently, all of the recordings I have, have the "Keep for 1 Year" set, in an attempt to not have them mysteriously disappear. But that should not break new recordings, since I should have space for new recordings if Xfinity Stream & cloud DVR wasn't broken. I currently see 6 shows in my Deleted Recordings (4 hours worth), so it doesn't appear I've reached any limit that would cause my new recordings to immediately disappear, as they often do.

    I am paying for technology I expect to work reliably in a way that makes sense. Please fix ASAP.

New Problem Solver

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318 Messages

Hello @S-Kell, thank you for taking the time to reach out to us on the forums. I can understand the frustration caused by this issue and this is not the experience we want you to have with your service. We would be more than happy to help troubleshoot this issue with you. Please send us a direct message with your first and last name and address to get started.

 

To send a direct message: 

 

  1. Sign into the community. 
  2. Click the message count or envelope icon to go to our private message inbox 
  3. Click the New Message icon. 
  4. Enter Xfinity Support in the Send to field. 
  5. Type the reply in the Message box. 
  6. Click Enter to send your message. 
  7. You can see your back-and-forth messages with any user by clicking the messages. 

I no longer work for Comcast.

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